Ooh, Shiny!

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Black Panther Official Trailer

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The Black Panther official trailer dropped yesterday and it’s looking mighty shiny:

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther – Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment

Judging by this trailer and some of the tidbits we saw in the teaser trailer, this might well be the visually most astounding Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to date. (And that’s saying something, since we’ve visited Thor, Loki et al.’s domain and the deep corners of space…) Also, the Wakandan design ethos looks deep—like it rises from a long line of traditional crafts still practiced, and acknowledges the country’s history. Wonderful!

Four months to go.

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Annihilation Teaser Trailer

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The opening volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation, will hit the big screens in February 2018. The teaser trailer looks wonderful:

Annihilation (2018) – Teaser Trailer – Paramount Pictures

Writer / director Alex Garland seems to be doing a good job on the basis of the little we see. Certainly the effects and scenery are breathtaking. And the cast looks so awesome!

I’ve read the trilogy, but since it leans more towards horror than I’d like my speculative fiction to be, I’m not sure I want to see the movies. I do applaud VanderMeer’s mindfulness, though: he donates part of his royalties from the novels to environmental causes.

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

Star Trek: Discovery Poster & Trailers

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A whole slew of tidbits and sneak peeks for the upcoming series Star Trek: Discovery were unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con, including this GORGEOUS poster:

Tor com SDCC star-trek-discovery-poster

The official trailer was also released at the con:

Star Trek: Discovery – Official Trailer by Star Trek

It adds nicely to the first teaser trailer:

Star Trek: Discovery – First Look Trailer by Star Trek

I am getting chills every time I see either—definitely looking forward to Discovery! Who knows, it may even replace Deep Space Nine as my favorite Star Trek franchise.

Image: CBS via Tor.com

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Rosetta Stone Online in 3D

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The British Museum has made a 3D-scan of the Rosetta Stone and released it for exploration, download, and sharing. The model is available at the museum’s Sketchfab site:

Sketchfab British Museum Rosetta Stone Screencap
Screencap of the Rosetta Stone 3D model by the British Museum at Sketchfab

I just love the effort museums and libraries are making to bring their collections online. Providing 3D models is another step in making the collections relevant to the 21st century life.

Visit The British Museum at Sketchfab for additional 3D models—over 200 at this writing!

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

Black Panther Poster & Trailer

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A little more news on the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Black Panther trickled out from San Diego Comic-Con. At this writing, the SDCC trailer hasn’t been released outside the con yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be out soon.

Meanwhile, we have this gorgeous poster to tide us over:

Tor com BPPoster

And, since apparently I didn’t post this before, here’s the teaser trailer:

Black Panther Teaser Trailer [HD] from Marvel Entertainment

It looks so amazing! Good thing February 2018 is just six and a half months away.

Image: Marvel Studios via Tor.com

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

Wonder Woman Theme Bagpipe / Metal Cover

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This irresistible version of the Wonder Woman theme is played on a bagpipe and an electric guitar and backed up by a heavy metal drum track:

Wonder Woman Theme Bagpipe Cover | Metal Version | The Snake Charmer by TheSnakeCharmer

Produced and guitar by Karan Katiyar, bagpipes by Archy J / The Snake Charmer.

I was wondering how on earth it might work, but it did and so, so well: the hair on my arms stood up within the first five seconds—surefire way to know a piece of music is really great!

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Texts from Wonder Woman: Weaknesses

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One of the brilliant takes among The Best Wonder Woman Texts From Superheroes (No Movie Spoilers):

Texts from Wonder Woman Weaknesses

Batman: So what are your weaknesses?

Wonder Woman: What do you mean?

Batman: I’m just making a list. Green Lantern can’t affect yellow, Superman is hurt by Kryptonite, Flash is bad with cold. What about you?

Wonder Woman: Put down nothing.

Batman: You’re saying you don’t have any weaknesses?

Wonder Woman: I’m saying if I did I wouldn’t be dumb enough to tell people what they are.

Go and read more!

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3D Video of Flying above Mars

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Jan Fröjdman hand-built a short tour of Mars using high-resolution images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Here it is on Vimeo:

A Fictive Flight above Real Mars by Jan Fröjdman

Not only did Fröjdman add color to the original black-and-white photos, he transformed them into 3D. The four-and-a-half-minute video starts with an approach to Mars from beyond the moon Phobos and then moves to several clips of “flying” above the planet, looking down over craters, plains, and other features.

“This film is not scientific. As a space enthusiast I have just tried to visualize the planet my way,” Fröjdman says.

Scientific or not, it looks absolutely beautiful. Being a visual person, I just love being able to glimpse at the scenery. Kudos!

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Ending of Rogue One Seamlessly Connected to A New Hope

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This nine-minute video by Barre Fong combines the very ending of Rogue One seamlessly to A New Hope:

https://vimeo.com/209263699

“Rogue One” Spliced with “A New Hope” by Barre Fong

Nice job! It was pretty clear from just seeing Rogue One in the theaters how well the team not only wrote but propped, set-dressed, and costumed their movie to match the George Lucas -led original. This merger makes it very explicit, though. A hat-tip to all involved.

In general, I really enjoy comparing originals and recreations (or originals and adaptations), and the pleasure is multiplied when the successor is expertly and thoughtfully made. That’s one reason why Peter Jackson et al.’s making-of documentaries for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies are still the gold standard for movie extras—hearing about the design process is fascinating.

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