Lauren Davis, Author at Gizmodo

Justice means scooping out a man’s eyeballs on Haven

Haven is not a great place to live if you’re keen on hanging on to your body parts. Not only is the Bolt-Gun Killer running around collecting bits of their victims, some Troubled person has caused Haven’s local upskirt photographer to lose his eyeballs. And, true to form, the Trouble is just getting started. When…

Television Lauren Davis

Liberals and goblins, beware: Stephen Colbert will have a cameo in The Hobbit

Stephen Colbert is an enormous fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. Just look at his explanation of American politics using Lord of the Rings action figures or his challenging James Franco to a Tolkien debate. Colbert even owns Aragorn’s sword, Anduril. So if any satirical political pundit deserves a role in Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, it’s Colbert.…

Movies Lauren Davis

How many characters can you identify in this massive original Star Trek poster?

Time to get your digital magnifying glasses out and enjoy a Star Trek scavenger hunt. Dusty Abell, creator of the 1970s superhero panorama, has illustrated tons of characters, ships, and creatures from the original Star Trek series, assembling in a single, enormous poster. https://gizmodo.com/suddenly-the-1970s-look-a-lot-awesomer-than-i-realized-5139068 You can see the full-sized, detail-packed poster at deviantART. If Abell…

io9 Lauren Davis

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Girl Who Was a Giant Eyeball

As we are drawing closer to Halloween, this week’s writing prompt is inspired by a rather bizarre costume. What sorts of stories does this dancing eyeball in a dress stir up? Collector’s Weekly posted this photo in their roundup of 20 Halloween Costumes So Unsexy, They’re Downright Scary (via Neatorama), but doesn’t list a source.…

io9 Lauren Davis

Nibbler is Cousin Itt in the Futurama Addams Family

Bender’s selfish. Fry is lazy. Zoidberg’s shellfish. Farnsworth’s crazy. Their business plan is hazy. Clay Yount dresses the Planet Express crew as the Addams Family and makes us realize that Charles Addams original comics needed more brain slugs. All it needs is Thing. Maybe Bender has an extra hand lying around? Futurama/Addams Family mashup! [Clay…

io9 Lauren Davis

Ponies and Pikachu are blown up in the name of art

We’ve been in love with Alan Sailer’s high-speed photographs ever since he first fired a bullet at a strawberry. When he’s not aiming ballistics at fruit, Sailer is blowing up beloved childhood toys, from Play-Dough to Pinkie Pie. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-it-looks-like-when-a-bullet-shatters-a-str-5804488 Sailer sometimes fills his inanimate victims with gelatin to capture the shape of the explosion, but…

io9 Lauren Davis

What if H.P. Lovecraft wrote the Fantastic Four?

If they weren’t outfitted in brightly colored spandex, the Fantastic Four might come off as creepy: a man who can slither and snake his stretchable body parts, a woman who can appear out of nowhere, a fellow who can summon fire with a thought, and a pile of living rocks. Comedian Mike Sterling applies a…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

A haunting animation of Italo Calvino’s tale of would-be lovers stranded on the moon

As we’re learning more about the strange, explosive birth of Earth’s moon, let’s return to a more fanciful version of lunar history. This short film animates Italo Calvino’s short story “The Distance of the Moon” about a love quadrangle involving two men, a woman, and the moon. https://gizmodo.com/new-evidence-that-the-moons-explosive-birth-was-weirder-5952497 The story, from the 1965 collection Cosmicomics,…

io9 Lauren Davis

Andy Serkis is directing a family-friendly, motion-capture version of Animal Farm

Andy Serkis’ stunning grasp of motion capture acting is one of the reasons Peter Jackson made him a second unit director on The Hobbit. Now the Gollum actor plans to apply those directing skills to a motion-capture project of his own: a new adaptation of George Orwell’s political fable Animal Farm. The Hollywood Reporter has…

Movies Lauren Davis

Saturday Webcomic: The Not-Quite Historical Adventures of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage

Tuesday was Ada Lovelace Day, a day when we celebrate women in science and remember the contributions of Augusta Ada Byron, later the Countess of Lovelace, who wrote devised an algorithm for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. Cartoonist Sydney Padua celebrates Lovelace in her webcomic 2D Goggles, or The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, imagining…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Watch Groucho Marx try to stump Ray Bradbury on You Bet Your Life

In 1955, two very different media luminaries, Groucho Marx and Ray Bradbury, met on Marx’s game show, You Bet Your Life. Bradbury already had a couple of science fiction classics under his belt, and stayed on his toes as Marx quizzed him on his biography and then tried to stump him with a little movie…

Television Lauren Davis

Concept art reveals the gruesome chestburster that didn’t make it into Prometheus

If there was something missing from Prometheus aside from logic and quasi-competent scientists, it was an alien creature bursting from a human chest. An earlier version of the movie’s script involved a particularly bloody encounter with just such a critter. Spoilers ahead. If you’ve seen Prometheus, you’ll remember that Logan Marshall-Green’s none-too-bright archaeologist, Charlie Holloway,…

Movies Lauren Davis

Baumgartner’s space jump has already been recreated in Lego

This is how you know Felix Baumgartner has made it: his supersonic skydive has already been reenacted by Lego minifigs. It’s not quite as majestic as the real thing, but it’s a fun little tribute—as well as a handy plug for Vienna’s ModelMaker Fair, which takes place October 25-28. [via Laughing Squid]

io9 Lauren Davis

The difference between terrorists and freedom fighters is perception on Clone Wars

This week, Clone Wars gave us less of Ahsoka’s long, lingering looks, and a bit more action as the Onderon rebels launch their strikes against the usurper king and his droid army. But the question remains: Can the Jedi ensure that their rebels stick to the droid-killing plan and don’t descend into terrorism? In the…

Television Lauren Davis

Toy Story characters invade classic movie posters

Buzz Lightyear reaches the next stage of action figure development in Jim Tuckwell’s reinvented 2001: A Space Odyssey movie poster, and imagines how some of Toy Story’s other characters might look in dark and classic films. On Tuckwell’s Behance page, he’s cast Woody and Mr. Potato Head in the Tarantino spoof Reservoir Dolls, and the…

io9 Lauren Davis

Felix Baumgartner is giving a press conference on his historic jump right now [Ended, Updated with Jump Stats]

Now that Felix Baumgartner has made the world’s highest jump—from 128,100 feet above the Earth—he’s not resting. Instead, he and his team are answering questions about his amazing stunt. Watch above. Here are the stats from the jump: Exit Altitude: 128,100 feet Free Fall Time: 4 minutes, 20 seconds Free Fall Distance: 119,846 feet Maximum…

io9 Lauren Davis

Space Shuttle Endeavour takes its final trip through the streets of Los Angeles

The retired space shuttle Endeavour rolled into its final home this morning, the California Science Center at Exposition Park. But before being put out to pasture, Endeavour got one final ride this weekend, through the streets of Los Angeles, treating locals to the surreal sight of a space shuttle in their midst. Endeavour goes on…

io9 Lauren Davis

10 of the Grossest and Most Grotesque Vampires from Folklore

Vampires get a bad rap in modern Western media for being too pretty. And while there are tons of folkloric vampires who are stunningly beautiful and seductive, plenty of bloodsucking beasts are pretty darn gross. From vampires who let their intestines show to those who vomit up their victims, here are 10 vampires you won’t…

io9 Lauren Davis

This remarkable prosthetic hand was made for a 16th-century knight

A few weeks ago, we discussed the amazing prosthetic designs of 16th-century surgeon Ambroise Paré. Fortunately, a few mechanical prosthetics from that early era of artificial limbs survived, including this piece, worn by German Imperial Knight and mercenary Götz von Berlichingen. https://gizmodo.com/this-amazing-prosthetic-hand-was-made-in-the-1500s-5946835 Update: The above image is a misattribution. This image, via Coilhouse, is Berlichingen’s…

io9 Lauren Davis

Jane Lynch rallies the space troops in a new Wreck-It Ralph clip

Jane Lynch delivers tough love to the Cy-Bug-shooting grunts of her Wreck-It Ralph game, Hero’s Duty. Watch her psych up the troops for the battle ahead, just as John C. Reilly’s Ralph bumbles his way into the crowd. Lynch gives great tough-chick-with-a-hint-of-warmth voice in this clip, and she happens to look like my household’s FemShep…

Movies Lauren Davis

Lauren Davis

Justice means scooping out a man’s eyeballs on Haven

Liberals and goblins, beware: Stephen Colbert will have a cameo in The Hobbit

How many characters can you identify in this massive original Star Trek poster?

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Girl Who Was a Giant Eyeball

Nibbler is Cousin Itt in the Futurama Addams Family

Ponies and Pikachu are blown up in the name of art

What if H.P. Lovecraft wrote the Fantastic Four?

A haunting animation of Italo Calvino’s tale of would-be lovers stranded on the moon

Andy Serkis is directing a family-friendly, motion-capture version of Animal Farm

Saturday Webcomic: The Not-Quite Historical Adventures of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage

Watch Groucho Marx try to stump Ray Bradbury on You Bet Your Life

Concept art reveals the gruesome chestburster that didn’t make it into Prometheus

Baumgartner’s space jump has already been recreated in Lego

The difference between terrorists and freedom fighters is perception on Clone Wars

Toy Story characters invade classic movie posters

Felix Baumgartner is giving a press conference on his historic jump right now [Ended, Updated with Jump Stats]

Space Shuttle Endeavour takes its final trip through the streets of Los Angeles

10 of the Grossest and Most Grotesque Vampires from Folklore

This remarkable prosthetic hand was made for a 16th-century knight

Jane Lynch rallies the space troops in a new Wreck-It Ralph clip

‘Scream 4’ Is Back, and on Tape

Iran Threatens to Attack U.S. Tech Companies Starting April 1

Amazon Clears Out Netflix-Licensed Nebula Capsule 3 Mini Projector at 32% Off, Dolby Audio Home Theater for Less

Anker 160W Laptop Charger Briefly Returns to Black Friday Pricing in a Last-Minute Amazon Spring Sale Deal

The New ‘Backrooms’ Trailer Is Packed Full of Endless Dread

Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo Falls Under $25, a Budget Bundle Deal in the Final Hours of Spring Sale

Liquids Crack With an Audible Snap, Study Finds

Dyson V15 Detect Plus Cordless Vacuum Is a Late Spring Sale Deal at a Record Low on Amazon

The New ‘Supergirl’ Trailer Is Filled With Krypto, Lobo, and ’60s Soul

Vaping Comes With a Cancer Risk, Review Finds

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset