Black Panther opens today, finally! Like I said elsewhere in a comment, every poster, clip, and trailer looks more and more awesome.
And tomorrow we get to see the movie! So excite!
Images: Black Panther Dolby Cinema poster via Mark Ruffalo on Tumblr. Kermit flail via Walker—Bait on Tumblr.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Kristie Wolfe built a Hobbit hole in the mountains of central Washington state. And what great work it is—the attention to detail is superb!
The house hole has a bedroom, a small living room, and a bathroom with a large wooden oval jacuzzi. As befits a Hobbit hole, the structure is mostly underground and has a round door.
The small yard is edged by a stick-and-branch fence woven by Wolfe’s landscaper sister.
There are loads of thought-out details like the floors made of wooden disks of various sizes and a beautiful metal door decoration/knob. But where is the kitchen? Wolfe explains in this video:
A Hobbit House You Can Stay In by Zillow
In case you can’t access the video, she says she’s planning a total of three holes, and since it’s not very practical for each to have its own kitchen, she wants to build a bigger shared one in the style of an English pub.
Read the article at Zillow for more details and photos.
I can understand that you can’t always overcome restrictions, but I still think a kitchen is vital, VITAL, in a Hobbit home. On the other hand, an indoor bathroom is often omitted in favor of an outhouse when building in a challenging location, so full marks to Wolfe for including a full bath.
Also check out a Scottish Hobbit hole I blogged about earlier—which do you prefer and why?
In Here is an occasional feature highlighting geeky spaces created by our fellow geeks all over the world.
Alku (‘Beginning’), a piece by the Finnish vocal folk hop ensemble Tuuletar, appears in a Game of Thrones commercial. The band’s website says,
“’Alku’, the opening track from Tuuletar’s debut album “tules maas vedes taivaal” has been sold for the use of one of the most popular tv-series in the whole world, HBO’s Game of Thrones. The song will be heard in the season 7 DVD and Blue-Ray [sic] commercial, which will be broadcasted worldwide. The deal was made together with Finnish record label Bafe’s Factory and ThinkSync Music from London.”
The ThinkSync news page on the sale links to a German-language DVD / Blu-Ray trailer for GoT season 7 on YouTube with Alku in the background:
GAME OF THRONES Staffel 7 – Trailer #2 Deutsch HD German (2017) by Warner Bros. DE
Tuuletar mashes up a cappella, beatboxing and Finnish folk music and poetry into a unique combination. Their debut album, Tules maas vedes taivaal (‘On Fire and Earth, in Water and Sky‘), won the prestigious Emma Award (the Finnish version of a Grammy) for the best ethno album of the year in 2016.
Vocalists Venla Ilona Blom, Sini Koskelainen, Johanna Kyykoski and Piia Säilynoja make up Tuuletar. More videos at YouTube or Tuuletar website.
Congrats, Tuuletar! I first found the band two years ago just before they released their debut record, and am absolutely delighted to see them doing so well. And Alku is so amazing it gives me chills—always a sign of greatness!
Image via Tuuletar
This post has been edited.
Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
For a good long while, I’ve been having unpredictable hiccups when submitting comments on other people’s blogs. It’s gotten so bad that I routinely copy & paste my comment in a text document before submitting it in case it’s eaten up by the hungry Internet Mawster.
Sometimes logging in and out helps, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes disabling my ad blocking software helps, sometimes it doesn’t. Et cetera, et cetera.
This past week takes the cake, though: now I can’t even like a post reliably anymore. Clicking on the little star just doesn’t necessarily register regardless of whether I’m logged in and browsing a blog, or reading a post through my subscription feed, or running around the house howling at the full moon.
I might be a tad bit… miffed.
Ohwell. I dare say I’ll find a workaround at some point.
Rant over.
Images: Computer Technician, detail of a Scandinavia and the World comic by Humon. Flames on the side of my face via Two Bossy Dames. Alan Rickman table flip via Natalie Luhrs at Pretty Terrible.
When the suckage just sucks too much.
The Snow Village hotel in Kittilä in Lapland, Finland, has gone all-out Game of Thrones for their 2017-2018 season. The snow and ice sculptures of various characters and scenes embellishing the resort were created in collaboration with HBO Nordic.
According to an Yle article (NB. in Finnish only), the hotel’s current look was finished at the beginning of December. While Finns built the structural parts of the snow village, the carving was done by an international team of artists with members from Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, and Russia.
Check out the interiors in this video by Snow Village:
Another short video with more indoor and outdoor shots by LADbible can be found on Facebook.
It looks absolutely amazing! Just out of curiosity, I also had a look at the restaurant menus, and it sounds. So. Delicious! (Sadly, now I miss home!)
The downside is that the pricing is, erm, quite high, to stick with a polite understatement. Then again, what else is to be expected when you have to rebuild a significant part of your infrastructure every winter?
Check out more and/or follow Snow Village on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. There are also photos I haven’t seen elsewhere (both of GoT and other themes) in the photo gallery at Laplandhotels.com.
Images: White Walker via Snow Village at Laplandhotels.com. Hall of faces via Snow Village on Instagram. Ice bar with dragon via Snow Village on Instagram.
Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
Author Ursula Le Guin is no longer with us.
One of the most poignant remembrances I’ve yet seen is by author Catherynne Valente on Twitter:
I’m most fond of Le Guin’s Earthsea stories, some of which I’ve read and re-read in Finnish and in English over the years. I’ve only managed one of her science fiction books so far, though. Time to rectify that.
Forever read, Ms. Le Guin. Your intellect, inner fire, and vision will be deeply missed.
(Hat tip to Nnedi Okorafor for the phrase “forever read” in lieu of “rest in peace”.)
Royal Mail in Britain is releasing Game of Thrones stamps. The Character Stamp Set focuses on popular characters:
According to the BBC, an additional five-stamp sheet is also going to be published. It features giants, direwolves, dragons, the Iron Throne, and the Night King and his undead White Walkers.
The stamps will be available at post offices across the U.K. or by calling Royal Mail’s customer service line from next Tuesday, January 23, 2018. Pre-orderes on the Royal Mail website are also possible.
I’m counting 5 women and 5 men on the Character Stamp Set. Counted another way, 4 Starks (go, Starks!), 4 Lannisters, and Daenerys plus old dame Tyrell. Cool cool cool!
Found via File 770.
Image via Royal Mail
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
There is now a teaser trailer for the tv adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s cyberpunk novel Altered Carbon:
Altered Carbon | Date Announcement [HD] | Netflix
Looking very slick! Favorite actors among the cast include James Purefoy (Rome, Mansfield Park, Sharpe’s Sword), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Torchwood, Dollhouse), Tamara Taylor (Bones, Serenity), and Ato Essandoh (Elementary). Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs is almost entirely new to me (I’ve seen him in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but have no recollection); however, I’m glad to see another northener in a big world production.
I wonder whether I have time to re-read the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy with all the other books on my TBR pile… 🙂
More short clips at Twitter @AltCarb. The series debuts exclusively on Netflix February 2, 2018.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Phew, we made it!
May 2018 fulfill promises, bring joy, and push you to exceed your goals.
Image: screenshot from World of Warcraft
Announcements from your hosts.
Although the Star Wars and Star Trek fandoms have not always gotten along entirely peacefully, I hope that the two fan videos below show that singing is a pastime shared across the divide.
Take it away, Chewbacca and the crew of Deep Space Nine.
Silent Night by Chewbacca via How It Should Have Ended
“Merry Wookie Christmas from HISHE and James Covenant! (http://tinyurl.com/jkc9f7l)
The brilliant idea for “Chewbacca Sings Silent Night” was actually created in 1999 by Scott Andersen (story here: http://room34.com/chewbacca/) and since then his audio has been shared many times, often without crediting him. You can download the original at the link above, or better yet support his genius by hiring him for web design at http://room34.com
“With Scott’s “blessing” and in honor of Christmas and Star Wars season, James Covenant (creator of the awesome Star Trek “Make It So” video: https://youtu.be/oiSn2JuDQSc) was inspired to create this new video for our channel to wish you all a very Star Wars Christmas!”
Captain Sisko & the DS9 Ensemble sing “Wonderful Deep Space Nine” by John C. Worsley
“In the grand tradition of Star Trek captains singing holiday standards, for your consideration: ‘Wonderful Deep Space Nine’ sung by Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Constable Odo, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Chief O’Brien, Congenial Barkeep Quark, Plain Simple Garak, and the rest of the Star Trek: DS9 ensemble. Special appearances by Morn, Martok, Moogie, and Vorta Iggy Pop.
Apologies to Berman, Piller, Brooks, Visitor, Farrell, Auberjonois, Siddig, Shimerman, Meaney, Dorn, Robinson, Eisenberg, Lofton, Grodenchik, Alaimo, Biggs, Marshall, Jens, de Boer, Barrett, Sadler, and Combs.”
We’re vacationing for the rest of the year. Until 2018, Happy Merry!
This post has been edited to correct language.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Co-Geeking 