There’s a great paper cutout feel to Thomas Plaete’s short film Nimbus Machina. An engineer in a monstrous steampunk vehicle must flee the storm he created. Plaete uses his monochromatic palette to a nice industrial effect, while employing a limited geometry to create a grand sense of scale. There’s also some rather gorgeous concept art…
As part of his Masters of Branding study at the School of Visual Arts, Tyler Adam Smith is creating 100 covers for books that should be written, from goofy snarks at popular authors to imagined sequels to beloved books. Designer Debbie Millman, who chairs the branding department, charged each student in the program to come…
Retired from the tracks, many old trains find themselves in glorious graveyards, filled with car upon rusted car. Photos of these scrapyards let us witness the magnificent decay of these mighty vehicles. The last stop before the scrapyard, a railway ferry harbour built in the 1980s, somewhere in Germany (via Eike Ramba) Uyuni Train Cemetery,…
The Saturday Comic-Con schedule is now up, with panels on Catching Fire, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Futurama, True Blood, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, and much, much more.
What do you do with that old unwanted time machine? In this week’s writing prompt, this clunker of a time travel device is going up for sale. This piece is titled, quite directly, “Time Machine For Sale” by Tom Colbie, via Geek Art Gallery. It’s part of Colbie’s surreal series, Shots from a Parallel Dimension,…
Even if World War Z isn’t your cup of undead tea, it’s fascinating to see how the visual effects artists at MPC created the massive zombie crowd in the Jerusalem scene, using a combination of motion-capture performances and AI interactions. Hat tip to Scott!
The latest entry in Jason Heuser‘s badass presidents series sends Richard Nixon back to the ice age, where he takes on a Smilodon with his not-quite-bare fists. Heuser includes this blurb with the image: When Richard Nixon first traveled through time there was a considerable malfunction with his time machine, he was transported back to…
Last weekend, when the casting for Oberyn Martell, the A Song of Ice and Fire character commonly known as the Red Viper of Dorne, was announced, many commented that the actor was fairer skinned than they had anticipated the character would be. On his blog, author George R.R. Martin weighed in on the casting of…
Reformation Church pastor Kevin Swanson recently went on his Generations with Vision radio show to condemn Star Trek Into Darkness because it shows James Kirk in a post-coital bed with members of the “wrong species.” To which we can only respond—has Swanson ever seen Star Trek? On a June episode of Generations with Vision, Swanson…
The king cobra’s favorite food is other snakes, and this week-old snake makes its first meal of a water snake that isn’t much skinnier than it is. It’s fascinating to watch it wolf down the long body of its prey. National Geographic posted this act of snake-on-snake predation. The king cobra’s genus name, Ophiophagus, means…
If you’re not already reading KC Green’s webcomic Gunshow, I recommend tuning in for his latest longform arc, Graveyard Quest. In it, a Gravedigger travels through the underworld on a hunt for his mother’s stolen bones and encounters ghostly hijackers, a wise mole, a village of worms, and the constant disapproval of his long-dead father.…
Remember Game of Thrones Season One, when all the major characters were still alive? The ladies of Not Literally are back with another pop culture-parodying video, this time using Gotye to pay tribute to “A Character I Used to Know.” Spoilers for Season One. Now that we’ve gotten through the Red Wedding, we need a…
San Diego Comic-Con is less than two weeks away, and Comic-Con International has posted the schedule for the first two days. Let’s see what’s on tap for the entertainment extravaganza. For Thursday, we’re psyched about hearing more about Europa Report, Ender’s Game, and Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem. And on Friday, there will be peeks…
This week in the world of cartoons, Avengers Assemble begins its weekly run on DisneyXD, Deadpool makes an amazing cameo, and Bender tries to steal the powers of a guitar hero on Futurama. TMNT is off, but returns July 20th. As always – minor spoilers ahead! Ultimate Spider-Man – “Ultimate Deadpool” Most days I feel…
Bert Haanstra’s Glas is a short 10-minute documentary from 1958 about glass that won an Oscar. It’s a beautiful short that shows the art of glass blowing versus the character-less mechanism of automated glass bottle making machines. There’s no voice over, no narration, just beautiful scenes of glass being made. It’s like porn for manufacturing.…
Daredevil’s life is admittedly pretty horrible, but it might be possible that it’s not entirely undeserved. This page may provide some context: …or not.
Still wondering how the whole of humanity wound up on a giant train in the middle of a frozen wasteland? Bong Joon-ho’s latest trailer for Snowpiercer and CG backstory video explains (almost everything). What happened: Snowpiercer is set in a future where, after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off…
The annual refresh of the casual console version of Magic: The Gathering gets high marks for fun, well-constructed decks, but the highly anticipated sealed deck mode leaves a lot to be desired. It’s still a great MtG fix for $10. The core of the DotP experience is playing the game’s built-in preconstructed decks, unlocking new…
Arsenic is one of the oldest and most well-known poisons in the world. It changed political dynasties and spawned the science of toxicology. It also might be responsible for two different movie monsters. Arsenic is such a famous poison that it earned an affectionate little nickname — “inheritance powder” was what you slipped into dear…
Hey, remember that time you thought a spider bit you? Well, it probably didn’t. According to arachnologists, that “bite” you got was more likely from one of the many other creepy-crawlies out there. It could even be an infection (unrelated to spiders). I like spiders. If I see one in my house, I don’t kill…
