Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Grab black paint, duct tape in a few colors, permanent markers, and two plastic pumpkins to make your very own BB-hate pumpkin this Halloween.
Check out the tutorial by Karen Heffren at Desert Chica. She’s also made a cool BB-8 from an actual pumpkin!
Image by Karen Heffren
This post has been edited.
In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.
The Star Wars family of spinoffs is about to have a new member: The Mandalorian. Here’s the trailer:
The Mandalorian | Official Trailer | Disney+ | Streaming Nov. 12 by Star Wars on YouTube
A much darker view of the SW galaxy like in Rogue One; the story is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order.
The writing credits are split between George Lucas and Jon Favreau, and episode directors include Taika Waititi and Bryce Dallas Howard. It won’t be Howard’s first directing gig, but the first I’m likely to see. (Basically I only know her as the twit of a corporate lady whose heels were practically glued on for the chase scenes in Jurassic World, although apparently I’ve seen her as Gwen Stacy in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3.) The series music is by Ludwig Göransson, whose work on Black Panther I really liked, so that’s also promising.
One point of personal delight is the glimpse of a small craft flying over a flat, wooded land dotted with small lakes and smaller fields (the sequence starts at about the 15-second mark). It’s one of the very few instances on the large, international screens of places that look like my home that I’ve seen. I hope that’s not all of it!
Other than that there’s not much definite info to be got, so we’ll have to see. I can’t even decide yet on the basis of this trailer whether The Mandalorian is worth the trouble of looking up what Disney+ streaming might take to access or whether we should just wait for the disc release.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
I’ve been aware of the movie The Aeronauts for a good long while (got it on a list that I blogged about here, in fact). Now it’s two months to release time!
Set in 1862, the story is about two people looking to break barriers by hot-air-ballooning higher than anyone before. Felicity Jones stars as Amelia Wren, a female balloonist who agrees to take meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) up to the sky to perform experiments.
Here’s the trailer:
The Aeronauts – Official Trailer by Amazon Prime Video on YouTube
Whoa—looks rather incredible! Although there seems to be a little too much of a pet peeve of mine: climbing on things only to fall down. It’s getting to be an overused feature in contemporary visual storytelling, if you ask me.
The trailer says it’s inspired by true events. Indeed: Glaisher broke the world record for altitude in September 1862, although Wren’s character is a complete fabrication. If you’ve come across more, please share.
The Aeronauts is directed by Tom Harper, written by Jack Thorne (with Harper’s input on the story), and set to come out on December 06, 2019, here in the U.S.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
There’s this amazing white flower, Diphylleia grayi, whose petals turn transparent in the rain!
The perennial is sometimes called skeleton flower for good reason. According to My Modern Met, they grow on moist, wooded mountainsides in the colder regions of East Asia and Japan.
My goodness! I could’ve never seen this—wouldn’t have known to look for this—with my own eyes if it weren’t for the Internet.
Found via Good Stuff Happened Today on Tumblr. Visit My Modern Met for more photos!
Image by Jiro at Minkara
Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
Downton Abbey the movie comes out on Friday! Here’s an official trailer:
DOWNTON ABBEY – Official Trailer [HD] by Focus Features on YouTube
Situated in 1927, this story will have the king and queen—George V and Mary of Teck, of whom I know nothing—visit the Abbey. From the IMDB casting list it sounds like we have a few new characters.
Since there seems to be little hope of another Jane Austen production (beyond Sanditon, which has not been released yet, and another Emma, which is of very unknown quality) I guess Downton will have to do. Even though I’m not really a fan of the era, I am looking forward to seeing the fabulous, fabulous acting (especially Maggie Smith!), multi-faceted characters, and gorgeous costuming and sets again.
I do, however, confess that the rigid adherence to artificial rules of “good” society really rubs me the wrong way at times. Sadly, a royal visit makes it sound like there might be overly much of the artificial, but we’ll see.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
The PAC Dance Team from Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona, went above and beyond in their Marvel Homecoming Assembly Dance performance:
“Marvel” Homecoming Assembly Dance by ThePac Walden Grove on YouTube
Based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the performance recaps the story of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
You go, kids! 😀
Found via File 770.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
What else is there to say about this video? It’s an orchestra of Lego’s programmable Star Wars droid models playing the Star Wars theme on real instruments. What more can you ask for?
“Watch this awesome droid orchestra! – LEGO Star Wars™ BOOST Droid Commander” via LEGO
This project is the work of Sam Battle. Find more of his inventive musical performances at lookmumnocomputer.com.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Emmy Award winning screenwriter Andrew Davies has adapted Jane Austen’s last, unfinished work Sanditon into an 8-episode series. To my knowledge it hasn’t been adapted for the big screen before, so this is rather a big thing!
Here’s the trailer:
Sanditon Preview by Masterpiece PBS on YouTube
Among the big names in the production are Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood (e.g. in Medici) and Theo James as Sidney Parker (the Divergent movies, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, among others). Anne Reid as Lady Denham is also a well-known career actor (I mostly remember her from Doctor Who “Smith and Jones”—the Judoon on the moon episode).
I heard through the grapevine that Davies will move entirely away from Austen’s material after the first half of the first episode. Wow, that’s soon! I did already notice a number of character names not found in the book in the IMDB listing. I hope Davies will not go overboard, though; I’ve seen a number of his adaptations, and he can be a bit of a hit or miss for me.
The U.S. release set to 2020. Can’t wait!
Found via Frock Flicks.
This post has been edited to update a removed link to video.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
The story of Rani Lakshmibai, Queen of Jhansi, is not a new one and has been both written and filmed before, but the 2019 movie Manikarnika is the first I’ve heard of her. Apparently she was one of the leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 / the First War of Independence against the British East India Company in northern India after the death of her husband, the Raja of Jhansi.
Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi | Official Trailer | Kangana Ranaut | Releasing 25th January by Zee Studios on YouTube
Phew—the trailer’s even bloodier than the one for Tomiris. (I wonder whether it’s a Game of Thrones effect—the popularity of that bloody show begetting other series with high liquid velocities?) Apart from that, the two trailers and/or stories seem to share a remarkable amount of basic similarities, yet are set thousands of kilometers apart. An interesting coincidence.
On the other hand, Manikarnika looks incredibly gorgeous! According to IMDB, it’s already available—the release date is given as January 25, 2019—and Amazon offers streaming versions in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil with a selection of subtitles.
The bloodiness makes me really apprehensive, though. I’m in for more humane stories at the moment, but I think I’ll have to keep Manikarnika in mind.
Found via Frock Flicks.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Apparently, there is a Kazakhstani movie on the historical female leader Tomyris of the Massagetae, and we also have a trailer with English subtitles:
TOMIRIS – Official trailer (HD) (English subtitles) by SATAIFILM on YouTube
We know for sure that Tomyris fought Persians in the 500s BCE, but as far as we know she did not unite all the people of the steppe as the movie claims. Well, it wouldn’t be the first movie to play fast and loose with history.
At this writing, IMDB only has the most rudimentary information and gives the year 2019 for release. Director Akan Satayev’s credits include a dozen or so writing and producing projects, mostly local and directed at a decidedly non-English-speaking audience.
It’s possible, then, that Tomiris will also remain outside of the Anglo-American market. I, for one, would find that sad, for the production looks really interesting (although I could do with a little less blood flying around).
Come to think of it, I should have a look to see if I can find any movies of ancient Persia or thereabouts. Anything you can suggest would be welcome!
Found via Helsingin Sanomat (NB. Finnish only).
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Co-Geeking 