Ooh, Shiny!

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Trailer for The Death of Robin Hood

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Oh, I had not come across this—a new Robin Hood adaptation is coming to the big screen. It involves an old, wounded Robin, and they’ve scored quite a big name for the titular role: Hugh Jackman.

Here’s a trailer:

The Death of Robin Hood | Official Trailer HD | A24 by A24 on YouTube

There are some impressive locations and cinematic beauty, like when the little girl (who sounds like one of the protagonists) and Robin meet in the woods and he promises to make her a bow. Sadly, though, I find the trailer a bit too vague; too many flashbacks to Robin’s past, perhaps? Also, some of the scenes are too dark to see. While that’s a benefit for me when really graphic violence is depicted, I can’t say I really care for either. (I wish the movie business would get out of the if-it’s-fantasy-it-must-be-explicitly-violent-because-Game-of-Thrones-was-and-that-did-great rut already!)

It seems that Jackman is the only name I know from the cast. Even the writer-director Michael Sarnoski is completely unknown to me, so I can’t even guess at the style of story this might be. I do like what I see of the adult and young female protagonists, though (played by Jodie Comer and Faith Delaney, it looks like).

While there is something to be said for a tale where a man and a girl form a meaningful connection, this doesn’t look like a movie for me. (Like I implied in my post about the 2025 Red Sonja reboot, there is no longer a need to see absolutely everything SFFnal if you want to see anything, since the selection has grown so much.) We’ll see if that changes with further trailers.

According to IMDB, The Death of Robin Hood has only two release dates at this writing: one for Mexico on May 28, 2026, and merely 2026 for United States.

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A WoW Player Housing Treasure: Winter Sauna by CottageWizard

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The next World of Warcraft expansion, Midnight, will be released at the beginning of March, but one of the new features—Player Housing—was made available already at the beginning of December 2025.

This early access has been hyped quite a bit in some circles—we were certainly excited about it, and followed various news items. A lovely feature I stumbled upon is the Midnight beta gallery of user-submitted builds at Wowhead.

There are so many inspiring houses and rooms at the gallery, with inventive uses of items and decorative elements—not surprising from gamers, right? 🙂 However, I want to especially highlight one: a Winter Sauna Cottage by CottageWizard.

Wowhead CottageWizard Winter Sauna Cottage Mashup Sm

In real life, little cottages like this are quite popular here in Finland, and typically contain a multipurpose room (or two) plus a sauna room with washing facilities in a corner.

CottageWizard describes the idea like this: “Winter sauna cottage built on the Midnight Beta. Tried to create the illusion of a snowy environment without snowy housing items! This was created at house level 3.”

The whole is really, really impressive. I absolutely love it! And, having messed about in the housing editor, I can see how much effort went into the build. The facade. The snow. (Snow!) The covered firewood storage. Towels on their pegs in the hallway. Creating the wood panels and benches in the sauna. The added platforms and beams in the room (e.g. as molding in the kitchen area). The kitchen backsplash.

What I don’t get is how the snow outside is achieved. I wish CottageWizard had included a little more detail; I’ll have to ponder that a bit.

But the sauna is absolutely perfect! The heater (kiuas) is protected with railings, as it should. Wood paneling throuhgout, ditto. Buckets (barrels) of water and ladles. A couple of levels of seating to adjust your bathing experience when it gets too hot or cool. A window is a bonus. (But HOW does it look snowy outside?!?! HOW?!?) There even is a sauna whisk (vihta or vasta, depending where you’re from) and a thermometer on the wall!

LOVE. IT!!! 😀

Images: screencaps from World of Warcraft: Midnight beta release by CottageWizard via Wowhead, mashup by Eppu Jensen

Of Dice and Dragons talks about games and gaming.

Darude: A Finn Immortalized in World of Warcraft

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Lately Erik and I have been preparing for the new player housing in World of Warcraft, to be released before the upcoming Midnight expansion. Before that arrives, though, there’s a little detail in the current expansion, The War Within, that I want to save for posterity. (Even if it’s just myself. 🙂 )

Blizzard is known for using references to pop culture personages or phenomena in WoW. What comes immediately to mind is Rio Duran (a Duran Duran reference) in Mount Hyjal, Harrison Jones (Harrison Ford / Indiana Jones), the Very Light Sabre swords (Star Wars lightsabers), and Haris Pilton (Paris Hilton) in Shattrath City, for example.

Now there is also a compatriot of mine! The Finnish artist Darude has been immortalized as D’rude, a randomly appearing NPC found in delves. One of the mob’s abilities is Sandstorm, which confirms it. “Sandstorm” was Darude’s big hit single in 1999, and still pops up here and there.

WoW TWW Nightfall Sanctum Drude
Wowhead Krionix Drude

Incidentally, the “Sandstorm” music video with parkour and running (so much running!) around southern Helsinki was directed by Juuso Syrjä and has become a bit of a hit, too, with over 300 million views.

Darude – Sandstorm by Darude on YouTube

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Darude’s career, a Sandstorm Run event was held in Helsinki, Finland, at the end of this August. We were not in town for it, but we did save a map of the route and walked it later for our own enjoyment.

Anyway, Finland was mentioned! Torille! 🙂

Reddit Finland Mentioned Torilla tavataan

Images: Screencaps of D’rude by Eppu Jensen and by Krionix via Wowhead. Finland Mentioned by moerkoet via Reddit Finnishmemes.

Of Dice and Dragons talks about games and gaming.

Mapping Middle-Earth

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Want to see something amazing? Check out this project to create a detailed map of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth using modern geographical software.

The level of detail is incredible. There are both 2D and 3D versions of the map that you can zoom in on and fly around like a modern digital map. Here’s a view of Rivendell and the nearby Misty Mountains from the 3D version.

The Middle-Earth Map is a project Micah Vander Lugt, a geographic information sciences analyst. It’s great to see people put their professional skills to work on hobbies that they’re passionate about!

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

Star Trek: Discovery Theme as Disco!

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There’s a brilliant version of Star Trek: Discovery theme—in disco style:

Star Trek Discovery Theme but the theme is DISCO by Craven In Outer Space on YouTube

It really packs a lot into its minute-and-a-half running time. I can’t figure out a single thing that’s extraneous or out of place; everything fits either into disco or Discovery, even the tempo change at the end. Ha! 🙂

Found via Daniël Franke on Mastodon.

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

Thumbs & Ammo Nopes Out of Gunplay

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The other day, I was rummaging around in some old stuff when I found this. The blog Thumbs & Ammo collected movie posters or screencaps with firearms replaced by a thumbs-up.

Some of my favorites are below.

Thumbs n Ammo Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond by Pulai A. via Thumbs & Ammo
Thumbs n Ammo Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne in Matrix Reloaded by Jonathon J. via Thumbs & Ammo
Thumbs n Ammo Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens by Elliot D. via Thumbs & Ammo

And saving the best for last:

Thumbs n Ammo Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope by James L. via Thumbs & Ammo

Epically hilarious! 😀 Looks like the blog hasn’t been updated in a good while, though. Shame.

Images via Thumbs & Ammo

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Official Trailer for the Rebooted Red Sonja

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The Red Sonja reboot I mentioned a while back has a trailer out now:

Red Sonja | Official Trailer HD by Samuel Goldwyn Films on YouTube

Hm. Not very many fantasy elements, merely the large cyclopian monster on the arena. Other than that it reminds me of Game of Thrones and not in a good way, sadly.

I’m looking forward to another trailer—at least I’m hoping we’ll get another one—and a few more details, since at this writing it still doesn’t look like there will be a theatrical release in Finland.

Finally, a PSA since some people on the Internet seem to need it: this version of Sonja does not wear a chainmail bikini. I am not an expert in armor, but I do know what chainmail looks like, and this isn’t it. This is scale mail of some sort.

According to IMDB, this version of Red Sonja is already out in Australia, Greece, and Kazakhstan, with releases coming in the U.S. (Aug 13, 2025), Ireland (Aug 18), and Thailand (Aug 21).

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Trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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For a long time, superheroes and mutants were kept apart in Marvel Cinematic Universe screen adaptations due to contractual hassles. No more! Wolverine & Deadpool started opening doors and pulling characters from their earlier, separate silos into a more comprehensive world.

The Fantastic Four is now getting a new adaptation. The group’s gone through a few attempts before. I haven’t seen the 1994 version, but it looks like the lovechild of ST:TOS, the original MacGyver series, and Indiana Jones. I am okay with the 2005 and 2007 adaptations as far as the characters and actors are concerned. Alas, the 2015 abomination was dreadful all round, except for Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara.

The upcoming movie looks to integrate the Fantastic Four into the MCU. Here’s the teaser trailer…

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Official Teaser | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

…and the first full trailer…

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Official Trailer | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

…and the final trailer:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Final Trailer | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

It seems quite cheesy at first—very sixties, and the tv show intro that the full trailers start with is so corny. The Silver Surfer and Galactus seem appropriately celestial, but these clips don’t really give us much; they just imply a run-of-the-mill slugfest. I’ve gathered that’s not all, though, that the multiverse is somehow involved.

I do like Pedro Pascal’s work, but I can’t quite see him as Reed yet. Vanessa Kirby should also be fine as Sue, but I know next to nothing of Joseph Quinn (playing Johnny Storm) or Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm; although technically I have seen him in Andor s1, but am drawing an absolute blank on his role).

A month to go and I still have no idea whether it’s worth seeing this on the big screen. MCU’s really struggling lately.

FF:FS is set to premier on July 25, 2025.

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Murderbot Inside Look Clip and Cast Tease

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Murderbot the tv adaptation releases today with the first two episodes! Woot!

There’s a 2-minute inside look clip with some new footage…

Murderbot — An Inside Look | Apple TV+ by Apple TV on YouTube

…and a 15-minute cast tease:

Alexander Skarsgård and cast of Murderbot TEASE what to expect from All Systems Red adaptation by Radio Times on YouTube

I haven’t yet seen the latter; I’m saving it for just the right time. (It’s Eurovision week, and as Finland entirely and utterly unofficially has two representatives this year, I have more incentive to stay up wayyy past my usual bedtime three nights this week. I’m almost too old for this shit, but not yet!)

Despite digging, I haven’t been able to find exactly when the episodes become available. keydekyie on Tumblr very kindly reminded the world that Apple lists the next day as the air date to avoid confusion due to different time zones, so the first episodes actually dropped on Thursday at 9 p.m. EST.

Woot! Although in Finnish time, that’s 4 a.m., which is definitely not the easiest of viewing times. (It’s been a long while since being 7 hours ahead of EST felt this hard.) OTOH, it means we could see each new episode over breakfast… That’s an intriguing thought…! Anyway, we *still* need to decide whether we want to see one episode a week, or whether we’ll wait till the end to binge it all at once.

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Murderbot Trailer, Clip, and Images

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Earlier this month, Vanity Fair published a picture-heavy first-look feature on the upcoming Murderbot adaptation.

The article is definitely worth a look, especially since (at this writing) it has more photos than IMDB. Way more. And they look great! I mashed up some of them into a collage, below, mostly for my own enjoyment:

VF Murderbot First Look Mashup

(Some are also available for download at the Apple TV+ Press website.)

We still don’t see much of the company or Corporation Rim even in these first look photos, but it looks dark and imposing (top left in my mashup). I assume the other spaces with orange accents are either the Preservation Aux habitat down on the planet or their hopper, or (less likely) the DeltFall survey habitat.

Readers of Murderbot books know that Preservation is everything Corporation Rim isn’t when it comes to human rights and comfort, and it’s fantastic how the set design has implied that with a paler, more cheerful color scheme and with plants (bottom right in my mashup). Looks like some of them are edible, but some look decidedly decorative.

A tidbit that’s definitely not from the first Murderbot book is revealed by the first look article: “One of the funniest sequences in the series involves […] a human indentured servant who has been alone too long in the reaches of space and makes the mistake of trying to seduce the uninterested security unit.”

Err. Hm. I could see why they’d want to include the scene (as a further hint of how SecUnits in general work), but mostly I can’t see how it could add more than confuse. We’ll have to wait for the series to dissect it further.

There is also a trailer…

Murderbot — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ by Apple TV on YouTube

…and a very short clip (content note: a large, exposed wound):

Murderbot — Premieres May 16 on Apple TV+ #Murderbot by Apple TV on YouTube

The clip doesn’t reveal much, just that Murderbot doesn’t have a bellybutton or nipples.

But the trailer!

(Confession: My very first thought was ‘Murderbot has a stupid voice’—sorry, Alexander—followed by ‘but I’m sure I’ll get over it’.)

The writing team has included Murderbot’s favorite show The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. For real: we’ll actually get to see some of the show, and it looks fabulous! And what a cast—according to Vanity Fair, Sanctuary Moon stars John Cho, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise.

Also, they’ve kept Murderbot’s inner dialogue—woot!—and the Preservation team looks and feels absolutely bang on. They even have colorful rugs on their mission! Plants and rugs lugged along on a planetary survey—if that doesn’t tell you anything about Preservation’s attitude towards life in general, I don’t know what will.

I’m ridiculously excited about the Murderbot series. (I had to force myself to go back and delete a whole bunch of exclamation marks from this post, if you can believe it!) I really, truly hope it’ll be good, and no-one’s marketing-directored it to death. So far it’s looking promising!

Images by Apple TV+ via Vanity Fair

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