adaptations

Creatures Trailer and Final Trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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Paramount Pictures is trying to drum up interest for their D&D movie with a short creatures video and a final trailer.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Meet The Creatures (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

Clearly by creatures they really mean monsters. The big fish-like critter at the 4-5 second mark interests me most, because it’s the least media sexy and I can’t think of what it could be. Or why they’d include it! But I could’ve done without the brain monsters, though—urgh, blech.

The final trailer really sounds like a puff piece, though:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Final Trailer (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

I’m perfectly willing to be entertained by a D&D movie that turns out to be better than my expectations, but “Best movie of the year”? Please.

More exciting is the 3-minute “Let the Games Begin” clip:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Let the Games Begin Clip (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

That’s more like it, even if it doesn’t tell us why our intrepid adventurers end up on the arena, let alone competing with at least two other groups.

Looks like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves opens today, if it already hasn’t in your neck of the woods. I really hope it’s at least a little good.

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

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Second Trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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A brand-new trailer is out for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | NEW Trailer (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

We’re not seeing much new plotwise, just some beefed-up scenes from the first trailer. Glimpses of the Red Wizards and the orifice are on par with the typical medieval-inspired D&D worlds, but WHAT ON EARTH is going on with that broomhead wall?!?

Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves Screencap House

The roof looks properly thatched, but I have serious doubts of the durability of the facade. There’s obviously plenty of timber available in this area of the world for framing the house with, so the little detail above the door must be decorative. Perhaps there wasn’t quite enough to do the whole outer wall? Or the straw is there for easy repairs?? The original builders blew all of their money on framing and had to make do for cladding???

Anyway, if a trailer commentary can be so easily stolen by funky set design, the question arises whether the trailer in question really did fulfil its function or not… I hope we’ll get another, better one before the release day.

According to IMDB, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is now expected on April 07, 2023, but the trailer still says “this March”, so go figure.

Image: screencap from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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

A Viking-age Version of Spider-Man by Madeleine Fjäll

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This piece of original artwork by Swedish illustrator and concept artist Madeleine Fjäll captures the essence of Spider-Man but transports him into Viking age:

Madeleine Fjall Viking-Age Spider-Man

Neat, isn’t it?

According to her website, Fjäll is also historical reenactor who sews some of her own clothes. That explains why Spidey’s Viking version looks so authentic. (As far as I can tell, the only piece where artistic license was taken is the lower head covering inside the hood and the spiderweb decoration on the red fabric.) Kudos all round!

In Making Stuff we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Ancient Pants for a Rider Reconstructed

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The precise construction of ancient textiles is often a matter of educated guesswork, since fibers—if they survive in the first place—tend to rot in most soil types. Now we have a little more to go on: in March 2022, a study was published on the technical details of fabric and finishing techniques of eight wool garments, including a spectacular pair of pants, belonging to a rider buried ca. 1200-1000 BCE.

One of the oldest preserved pairs of trousers in the world, the garment was found at Yanghai, Turfan (also known as Turpan), in the Xinjiang area in Northwest China. It’s an area with a long history and multiple tombs, as befits a stop on the Silk Road.

The breeches were made from three pieces: one for each leg and one for the crotch to combine the two sides.

HS Archaeological Research in Asia Wagner et al Turfan Rider Pants1

All three pieces included some woven patterning. Besides striping, the leg pieces also had a decorative band in a T-hook pattern (a kind of geometric design) around the knees.

HS Archaeological Research in Asia Wagner et al Turfan Rider Pants2

Interestingly, it seems that the pant pieces were woven on a loom into the final size and shape; no cutting from a longer length of cloth was involved. A combination of multiple techniques was also discovered: regular twill weave on the majority of the work, the weave on the knees, and a third method on the upper areas to create a thick waistband.

All this means a high skill level was needed in gauging not just the size of the future wearer, but also the amount of yarn required, plus naturally the various weaving techniques.

In the course of studying these clothes, reproductions were made. The outfit consists of the trousers, a poncho with belt, two pairs of braided bands (one below the knees and another at the ankles), and a wool headband.

HS Archaeological Research in Asia Wagner et al Turfan Rider Pants3

I’ve recently done some reading on recreating prehistorical clothing from scratch, and let me tell you, all of the shearing, washing, sorting, carding, spinning, dyeing, and—only at the very end—weaving plus sewing was no mean feat. The gorgeous (pre)historic garments we have managed to find must have taken a simply enormous amount of work to create. Even with a little weaving and band making plus a lot of sewing under my belt (pun intended—sorry, not sorry) I have a hard time imagining the magnitude of effort required in textile production before modern machinery.

Found and images via Helsingin Sanomat. (NB. Finnish only.) In English, you can read more at Science News.

How It Happens is an occasional feature looking at the inner workings of various creative efforts.

Trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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I had completely missed the news that there was a big budget D&D movie in the making! On the basis of this trailer, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves looks kinda bad, but fun kind of bad. Take a look yourself:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Official Trailer | Comic Con 2022 by IGN on YouTube

I’ve been playing so much World of Warcraft in recent years that I’m woefully out of date with D&D, but I think I spotted familiar things in the trailer. Also handsome, at least on a quick view; they sure churn out decent special effects these days.

At this writing, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is expected to release in theaters on March 03, 2023.

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

Mashup of Themes from Avengers and The Lord of the Rings

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Perfection can be improved on occasion. Bearing witness is this inventive mashup of various themes from The Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Avengers by Alan Silvestri:

The Lord of The Rings X Avengers EPIC ORCHESTRAL MASHUP by Samuel Kim Music on YouTube

The mashup was arranged and orchestrated by Samuel Kim. I don’t have enough formal musical education to tell you why it works—both movie scores certainly are epic enough—I just know it does. 🙂 Kudos!

An occasional feature on music and sound-related notions.

Fan Project for Home Bakers: Sandworm Bread

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In honor of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune release in Europe, here’s an older but still impressive project for making your own sandworm bread with—you guessed it—spice filling.

Kitchen Overlord Chris-Rachael Oseland Sandworm Bread

The recipe is by Chris-Rachael Oseland at Kitchen Overlord, and it’s an entertaining read as well as a very neat fan project. Please visit her site for more foody, nerdy goodness of all shapes!

Found via File770.

Image by Chris-Rachael Oseland at Kitchen Overlord

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

A Cappella Computer Sound Effects Uncannily Close to the Original

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MayTree is a Korean a cappella group quite popular in Asia. They broke into my consciousness with this amazing short video of Windows sound effects performed by human voices:

windows sound effect (acapella) by MayTree on YouTube

Found via Whatever.

LOL! I just love my fellow nerds—we have an unparalleled dedication and interest in details.

Check out the MayTree YouTube channel for more.

An occasional feature on music and sound-related notions.

Animatic Murderbot Fanart

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Creator mar made an animatic Murderbot video – because who wouldn’t want Murderbot on the screen! – and uploaded it for us to view.

Note: the creator’s content warning’s are: blood, guns, scopophobia, slight body horror, and injuries. There are also slight spoilers for Network Effect.

I’m Not Your Hero – The Murderbot Diaries Animatic by mar on YouTube

The animatic is set to Sara Quin and Tegan Quin’s “I’m Not Your Hero”. The song wasn’t familiar to me, but I have to admit it fits pretty well.

And, seriously, someone please buy the rights and develop a fantastic longform Murderbot screen adaptation. Like, now! *standing with money in my outstretched hand*

Found via Tor.com.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Wholesome 90s Sitcom

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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.