Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
YouTube user TrainDozer re-imagined Star Trek: The Next Generation as a wholesome 90s sitcom, and the trailer is hilarious:
Data – A 90s Sitcom by TrainDozer on YouTube
The best part is that TrainDozer clearly pulled in material from the gag reels. (My only criticism is that from this trailer, you can’t tell that the series supposedly centers Data. Ohwell!)
Found via File 770.
In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.
Now this is a treasure, preciouss! A Finland-based company built these amazing custom bookcases for a collection of figurines and other materials from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Many (if not all?) of the bookcases also have carved crowns. Here’s the Rohan one:
There are also metal shields that function as handles:
Puustikki talk about their project a bit on Facebook:
“Finally we’re able to publish photos of these custom made, epic showcases for LOTR and Hobbit figurine collection. Probably the biggest collection in Finland and now it’s also displayed in showcases it deserves! This whole thing is 100% handmade out of solid oak and we wanted to use glass doors to maximize visibility into the cases. Each one of the showcases has distinct features to corresponding races/nations; carvings on the top and a custom made steel handle.
“Height of these wooden marvels is 250cm, so they barely fit into a regular house! [sic]”
Puustikki is run by carpenter Jarkko Pilvinen and jeweler Juho Manninen. The makers pull their inspiration from history and historical fantasy. At this writing, their online store includes drinking horns, a picnic table and benches, beds, dragon pegboards, runed coasters, and jewelry, among others.
My goodness! Astounding, aren’t they? Stylistically, a lot of their other wares are not our style at all, but as a maker myself, I really admire and appreciate the consideration and effort that went into all of their designs.
Check out the Puustikki website or Instagram for more.
Images by Jukka Alasaari Photography via Puustikki on Facebook
In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.
The first trailer for director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is making its rounds, and it sure looks shiny:
Dune Official Trailer by Warner Bros. Pictures on YouTube
We don’t see many women doing much of anything, just standing, staring, emoting, and kissing, which is complete, utter, and total hooey compared to the book; I hope it’s just a case of trailers always lie.
At least Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is prominently monologuing, but we hear nothing of Lady Jessica or Chani. As Charlotte Rampling is playing the Mother, Rebecca Ferguson Jessica, and Zendaya Chani, I have no doubt we’ll see stellar performances for the main female roles.
Timothée Chalamet plays Paul. I’ve only seen him as Laurie in the newest Little Women (2019, directed by Greta Gerwig) and apparently in Interstellar; I didn’t like his version of the former and remember nothing of the latter, so he’s a big unknown as far as I’m concerned. I saw someone critique him as being an okay choice for young Paul at the beginning but not having enough gravitas (to paraphrase) for the older Paul Muad’Dib. Plausible, I agree; I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Oscar Isaac I’m looking very much forward to, if for nothing else then to see whether he has the range to play Duke Leto. Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, and David Dastmalchian I would also expect to do just fine if not directed to be too hammy. But the rest… Well. I get that Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, and Dave Bautista are big names, but I find them uninspiring choices. Again, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’ve also seen the two previous big screen adaptations (the 1984 movie directed by David Lynch and the 2000 miniseries directed by John Harrison). Both had some flaws that to me weighed the adaptations down more than the positives could buoy them, so I’m looking forward to Villeneuve’s version. It certainly looks gorgeous.
At the same time, I agree with an online contact who elsewhere said that they’d like something that’s more relevant to 2020s than to the time the story was written (1965).
At this writing, Dune is set to be released on December 18, 2020.
I doubt we two will see it in the theater unless there’s significant improvement in the local covid-19 numbers, so I’m hoping for an early release to either streaming services or disc.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
A new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 is out:
Wonder Woman 1984 – Official Main Trailer by Warner Bros. Pictures on YouTube
I don’t know about you, but for me the most delightful thing in the trailer was the quick glimpse of young Diana running into an arena with other amazons. She was an absolute joy in the first movie!
Pedro Pascal, the actor for the male antagonist Max Lord, does a very good job—I’m repulsed by the character already; I just hope the performance isn’t too huge a hock of ham. I’ve only seen Pascal in Kingsman: The Golden Circle (plus a smattering of smaller roles in a variety of tv series), so I don’t have much to go by.
Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen reprise their roles; that’s lovely. I did complain, if you remember, that Antiope should be bought back when I was writing about the first trailer. I hope she doesn’t just get shunted into a mere flashback.
What we can tell of Kristen Wiig’s performance looks good, too; I’ve seen her in Ghostbusters and The Martian and enjoyed her voice acting (e.g. How to Train Your Dragon and the Despicable Me series); here’s hoping the trailer doesn’t lie in this respect.
I’m also delighted that Patty Jenkins has been given the chance to write the story and screenplay, not just direct. Here’s hoping she can make 1980s more interesting and less cringe-worthy than when I went through it!
According to IMBD, WW1984 is now set to release October 02, 2020. We’ll see whether the pandemic eats up this premier, too…
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Here’s a beautiful computer reconstruction of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, focusing on the riverfront and the great ziggurat, created by Zero One for the Melbourne Museum.
The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia by Zero One
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
A new Mars video is out, and it’s incredibly beautiful. The compilation was created on the basis of images captured by three Mars rovers. The imagery was turned into a 10-minute video with amazing detail.
Yoinked from the description by ElderFox Documentaries on YouTube:
“A world first. New footage from Mars rendered in stunning 4K resolution. We also talk about the cameras on board the Martian rovers and how we made the video.
“The cameras on board the rovers were the height of technology when the respective missions launched.”
New: Mars in 4K by ElderFox Documentaries on YouTube
It’s amazing enough to think that we, ugly bags of mostly water, have sent probes into the far reaches of our solar system to capture high-definition photos and send them back. Now we also have rovers on multiple planetary bodies. (Two counts as multiple in my book, LOL!)
Found via Colossal.
Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
This video by Nick (who posts as yeti dynamics) has been out for over a year at this writing, but it’s still very impressive: what would it look like if, as impossible it was, all of the planets (plus Pluto) in our solar system were between the Earth and our moon?
What would it Look like with all the planets between the earth and the moon? by yeti dynamics on YouTube
Wow. Great job, Nick!
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.
Anybody else who grew up in the 1980s and remembers the song “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins? Here’s a treat: Jackson McKay mashed it up with X-wing clips from Star Wars movies for a really thrilling video.
Danger Zone: X-Wing Tribute (Ep IV-IX & Rogue One) by Jackson McKay on YouTube
What a blast! 😀
Found via Tor.com.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
To ease some of the covid-19 cabin fever, Wendy and Richard Pini have released a pdf version of an ElfQuest coloring book that was included in a past Kickstarter project of theirs.
The coloring book is free to download for private use, with one catch. In their words:
“One condition: You may not post images of the uncolored line art from the coloring book publicly online anywhere. The art is still copyright Warp Graphics. Thanks for your understanding. Bootleggers already steal ElfQuest images for unauthorized t-shirts and such; we don’t want to give them any more access than they’re already thieving.”
Thank you for sharing!
Image by Wendy Pini
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Under two months to go to the Black Widow movie, and we have a second trailer.
Marvel Studios’ Black Widow | Final Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube
There are a few more clues of the Taskmaster character. He apparently has taken over the Red Room and somehow brainwashed / controlled a number (a class?) of Widows. Nat is shown connecting with her first found family, with some amusingly (and painfully) familiar bickering at the dining table. Since trailers always lie, I’m hesitant to call the writing good on the basis of what we’ve seen so far, but I’m cautiosly optimistic. Just, please, let it not be utter crap (like so many female-lead superhero movies of yore have been).
Otherwise, from the filming or type of action shown, somehow I get a similar wibe as Winter Soldier. As that’s one of my favorite MCU stories, this is a good thing. 🙂 Also, I’ll be glad to see northern European neoclassical cityscapes; it reminds me of home.
Black Widow opens May 01, 2020.
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Co-Geeking 