https://www.feanorsworkshop.com/blog/logorss.jpg An online journal... of DOOM! Mon, 28 May 2012 08:28:00 +0000  by Fëanor

I must sadly report that Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars is not a very good game. Which is really too bad because it's a great concept for a game, just very poorly executed. The idea is that you play out your favorite giant monster movies as a board game. The board is a simple grid pattern laid over an illustration of a city that's clearly already been through at least the beginning of a monster invasion. You pick one of four famous monsters (Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Gigan, and Rodan - each represented by a pretty cool color, plastic figure), and one of four game scenarios, then set up the board as the scenario describes, positioning various plastic and cardboard tiles which represent tanks, personnel carriers, buildings, ponds, gardens, fire, and rubble. Then you start destroying! Most of the scenarios require specific monsters to face off against each other, on a board where things are laid out in a specific fashion, but the first scenario (recommended for first-time players) is a more vague, open-ended affair that's just about destroying more than your opponent, and/or being the last monster standing.

As instructed, my brother and I chose to play the first scenario, entitled "Monster Law!" Our problems started right away. The rules tell you: "Evenly divide buildings, ponds, gardens, fire and rubble amongst each player. Roll to determine which player gets to place the special Restaurant buildings. Then take turns placing 4 markers on the board at a time." First of all, what do they mean by buildings, exactly? There are 90 thick, plastic, stackable building tiles, with a building looking thing on one side, and a rubble-looking thing on the other with big monster footprints in it. So clearly we split these. But there are also cardboard building tiles, a couple of which are clearly labeled with "food," so we know they're the special restaurant tiles. But then there's another tile that says something about a restaurant on it, but doesn't say food, and we weren't sure if that was a restaurant or not. And what is the difference between the cardboard building tiles and the plastic ones? Are they basically interchangeable, you just can't stack the cardboard ones? The rules do not explain. And does one person place all the restaurant tiles, as the rules seem to suggest? That doesn't seem fair. As far the ponds and gardens, these are all two-sided, but some of the ponds have gardens on the other side (and vice versa), and some of them have a fiery building on the other side, so these apparently were doing double-duty as pond/garden tiles and fire tiles. So... do we place them down as ponds, or as fire? There are not an even number of them, so how do we split them up? Do we put down all the fire tiles before the game even begins? If we do, then how do we indicate that another building has been set on fire later in the game (which can sometimes happen)? Do we pick up a garden we've already placed and flip it over and move it somewhere else? The rules also mention rubble, but rubble is only represented on the opposite side of the building tiles. Again, are we allowed to just place rubble down on the board during the setup phase, or what? This scenario also tells you to place down some military units (we at first thought it meant ALL the military units, until we realized how insane that would be), but the military units are also two-sided and some of them are different colors and have different numbers on them, and it's not clear at first that most of these differences are meaningless.

It's all very confusing. Basically, even though "Monster Law!" is described as a good first-time scenario, it's actually the exact opposite of that, as the setup phase requires you to know everything about the way the game and the tiles work in order to know which to put down where, and even whether you should put them down at all.

After we finally agreed to just give up on the incredibly long, frustrating, and confusing setup process and get started, we ran into further confusion. There are a ton of cards to sort through, some of which you don't even need if you're playing with Basic combat rules (which we definitely were; after the setup, we did not feel at all ready to tackle anything that the game itself described as Advanced). So first you have to work out what actually applies to you and what does not, and remove anything that does not. The way you take your turn is by expending energy points to perform various actions. You can perform as many actions as you want, until you run out of energy, which refreshes at the beginning of your next turn (although apparently you might want to hold onto some for defensive actions between turns - this never came up during our game). Although you have a handful of cards that describe the actions you can take, you don't really "play" the cards to perform the actions; the cards are just there as reminders of what you can do, and how much energy you have to pay to do it. In fact, there are piles of info cards that you have to have spread out in front of you throughout to remember all the point values and fiddly rules for movement and line of sight.

But here's one of the game's biggest problems: the rules are different depending on if you're reading the cards or the rule book!! How many destruction points is a tank worth? Three or two, depending on what you're reading. How many destruction points is a building worth? 1, 2, 3, or 6 points, depending on how many floors it has... or maybe it's 2, 4, 6, or 10 points depending on how many floors... but then it's actually 5 or 8 points if you set it on fire, which you can only do if it's three or four floors high... Also, even though your attack cards tell you to roll a die to determine whether you actually hit your target or not, the rule book says you don't need to roll a die if your target is a building or a military unit. Also, the rule book is very clear about the fact that the military units only move on the most destructive monster's turn, but the cards say military units move toward any monster in their line of sight whenever that monster moves, and the most destructive monster just breaks ties. Working out who the military units can see, which way they should move, and whether they should fire or not, is ridiculously fiddly and complex, making each step a monster takes a bit of an ordeal.

During your turn, you can also spend energy to buy a card on the event track, if it's purchasable (most are not). Once each player has taken a turn, the round ends, and you roll a die and activate the event card that's in that numbered slot, doing what it says - which could be setting a bunch of buildings on fire, or healing a monster, or taking a bunch of energy away from a monster. Events often affect a random monster, and the game suggests no method for selecting a random monster, so we just made up one. These events are actually a pretty fun idea, although again there can be confusion, as the text on the cards is pretty brief and there's not always enough details for you to know exactly how to handle them.

After you're done with the event, you discard the event card, fill the empty event card slot with a new card from the deck, reset everybody's energy, and determine which is the most destructive monster, as he gets to go first next round (which seems to me like a mistake - why should the player who's winning always get to go first? Doesn't that make it harder for anybody who's losing to catch up?).

You need markers to track health and energy for all monsters, but they seem to have included only four markers total, even though if you're playing with four players, you'd need eight markers. Also at least one of the actions requires you to roll four dice. They include only two dice in the box. Sure, you can just roll those two twice, or dig out some other dice from some other game, but man. Cheap!

One final complaint, and it's in the classic "this food was so bad, and such small portions" format. After all the confusing set up, and all the confusion of our first couple turns, we actually only ended up each taking two full turns, and activating two event cards, before I took half another turn and met the victory conditions for the scenario (35 destruction points). That was it, it was all over, just like that. We had never even gotten close enough on the board to fight each other; we just stomped a couple buildings and tanks and it was all over. Of course, maybe this was because of the way we'd set the board up - with tons of high point value four-story buildings all over the place - but how were we supposed to know that was a mistake, since this was our first time playing?? Why tell first-time players to design the game board? That's a terrible idea.

I feel like this could be a good game, maybe even with the pieces included, but the rules need to be almost entirely rewritten - and, most importantly, they have to be consistent!

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Board games, Gaming, Godzilla, Kaiju, On the Board]]> Board games Gaming Godzilla Kaiju On the Board Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:21:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Hey, remember when I used to post things like this to this here blog?? Thought I'd try it again, just to see how it goes. Enjoy!

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Some fun recent posters on Reelizer: My Neighbor Totoro, Blade Runner, and Seven Samurai.


• Speaking of Blade Runner and My Neighbor Totoro... And here's another amusing mashup.


• Make your own chocolate D&D dice. (Via)


• This bootleg copy of the Dark Knight Rises trailer is crazy exciting. (UPDATE: Here's the official trailer.)


• A holiday-themed Wondermark! And here's one that's far too accurate to my experience.


• Dude! Officially licensed Lord of the Rings LEGO toys?? There goes all my money.


• Commercials are now legally obligated to not be so damn loud, which makes the fist-waving old man inside me very happy.


• The house banners from A Song of Ice and Fire, redone in super-cute, chibi style.


• The trailer for Expendables 2. Just a teaser, really, but how about that cast!


• I was surprised that Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was getting such good reviews until I remembered it's directed by Pixar genius Brad Bird. Yeah, I might have to see that.


• The Avengers trailer! You think you've seen it already, but have you seen this version?? It has extra scenes, and it's in German!


• So even though Ridley Scott's Prometheus is essentially a prequel to his Alien film, it will not actually feature the alien, or xenomorph, at all. Huh. Okay then.


• Every year Matthew "defective yeti" Baldwin writes a guide to the best new board games. Always fun! Here's this year's.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Advertising, Aliens, Art, Avengers, Batman, Boardgames, Comedy, Commercials, Craft, Food, Gaming, Holiday, LEGO, Links, Lists, Mashups, Movies, News, Recyclotron, Song of Ice and Fire, Star Wars, Tolkien, Toys, TV, Video, Web comics]]> Advertising Aliens Art Avengers Batman Boardgames Comedy Commercials Craft Food Gaming Holiday LEGO Links Lists Mashups Movies News Recyclotron Song of Ice and Fire Star Wars Tolkien Toys TV Video Web comics Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:41:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Awesome Krampus illustration.


• Cute plush Star Wars creations.


• Impressive pixelated Samus Aran cosplay.


• These Star Wars tabletop games sound pretty cool.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Art, Board games, Christmas, Cosplay, Costumes, Craft, Gaming, Holiday, Links, Metroid, Recyclotron, Star Wars, Toys, Video games]]> Art Board games Christmas Cosplay Costumes Craft Gaming Holiday Links Metroid Recyclotron Star Wars Toys Video games Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:32:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Hey, it's Mumm-Ra the ever-living! What a guy! I always loved that subtitle, "the ever-living."


• The latest entry on Making Game of Thrones is about designing the throne room.


• Oh man, Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Cosmic Cube would be so awesome. Way better than Crystal Skull, surely.


• Paramount just greenlit a movie version of The Martian Chronicles. I'm not sure it'd be possible to make a good film adaptation of that book - it seems uniquely... bookish; delicate and lyrical and easily ruined - but I'd be excited to see someone try.


• Here's the first episode of the new web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. But yeah, don't bother watching it unless you're really curious or a superfan. It's composed almost entirely of cliches. Also, if you're going to shoot a person with a gun, why would you move really close to that person first? You've got a gun! It hits people from far away! Sigh.


• Here's a cool thing: a World of Warcraft player hit the level cap without ever killing anything, and completing only one quest. The person apparently leveled up almost entirely via exploring and discovering.


• AT-AT for America seems like a worthy cause. Let's do this, people!


• The art of banana carving.


• I posted this to Twitter a while back, but it's worth another link: George R.R. Martin's top 10 fantasy films. A lot of great picks here. I'm especially excited about the inclusion of Ladyhawke, a little film from the '80s that my brother and I seriously adored when we were younger.


• Nesting robots.


• Oh sweet lord. Taco Bell is testing taco shells made from nacho cheese Doritos. Is this disgusting or deeply desirable? I can't seem to decide. All I know is, I'd definitely eat one. (Via)


• Have you seen this one-of-a-kind, fan-made Tron light cycle board game yet? Great concept, wonderful execution.


• "Comedian Brett Kreischer is apparently in the habit of leaving surprises for the hotel maid."


• LEGO mechs.


• Hey, Warren Ellis is going to write a couple more novels! The first one will be called Gun Machine. I really enjoyed Crooked Little Vein, so this is good news. Plus, you know, Warren Ellis. (Via)


• Oh no! One of the blogs I read - Download Squad - is closing up shop. Sadness.


• Heh.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Art, Boardgames, Books, Captain America, Cartoons, Comedy, Comic books, Craft, Dinosaurs, Food, Game of Thrones, Gaming, George R.R. Martin, Indiana Jones, Internet, LEGO, Links, Lists, Mortal Kombat, Movies, News, Photography, Recyclotron, Robots, Song of Ice and Fire, Star Wars, Toys, Tron, TV, Video, Video games, Warren Ellis]]> Art Boardgames Books Captain America Cartoons Comedy Comic books Craft Dinosaurs Food Game of Thrones Gaming George R.R. Martin Indiana Jones Internet LEGO Links Lists Mortal Kombat Movies News Photography Recyclotron Robots Song of Ice and Fire Star Wars Toys Tron TV Video Video games Warren Ellis Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• I'm more excited than I should be about this official pronunciation guide for Game of Thrones. Turns out I've been saying almost every one of these names wrong!


• Photos of a giant Settlers of Catan board game from Burning Man 2007. (Via)


• New Radiohead album! New Radiohead album! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!


• Speaking of good music news, the best album of 2010 was actually recognized as being such by the Grammys. This doesn't mean I'm going to start respecting the Grammys or anything, but still. Nice.


• An excellent poster for one of my favorite movies of all time.


• The Sword is awesome. The band even has awesome concert posters.


• Super Punch found some "delightfully bizarre MODOK drawings."


• A selection of quality Twin Peaks merchandise.


• Groupon was criticized for airing a couple of rather offensive commercials during the Super Bowl, so Conan O'Brien took things to the next level with some even more offensive parody ads. (Via)


• Awesome action figure crossover two-pack: Aquaman versus Mer-Man!


• io9 has a 6-page preview of a one-shot Dollhouse comic, which acts as a precursor for an upcoming series. Looks like it tells the story of the apocalypse that we saw the aftermath of in the "Epitaph" episodes of the show.


• Love the Vinz Clortho action figure depicted here - mainly because of the great accessories it comes with.

Thumbs Up? (3)

Tagged: Advertising, Art, Awards, Board games, Books, Comedy, Comic books, Commercials, Dollhouse, Game of Thrones, Gaming, George R.R. Martin, Ghostbusters, Links, Masters of the Universe, Movies, Music, News, Photography, Products, Recyclotron, Song of Ice and Fire, Toys, TV, Video]]> Advertising Art Awards Board games Books Comedy Comic books Commercials Dollhouse Game of Thrones Gaming George R.R. Martin Ghostbusters Links Masters of the Universe Movies Music News Photography Products Recyclotron Song of Ice and Fire Toys TV Video Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:52:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Evan Shaner wishes a happy birthday to Comic Twart by posting a representative image for every theme chosen in the blog's first year.


• Dan Hipp illustrates one of my favorite moments from Return of the Jedi.


• Somebody made a board game version of a tower defense game. Sounds like it's pretty cool, too.


• Baby-sized TARDIS! I feel like Griffin should have one of these.


• I've been reading a collection of old Russian folk tales, so it was interesting to find this post about an upcoming novel that re-envisions the stories of old Russian folk figures. You can read an excerpt here. It takes the elements of Russian folk tales - the repetitions (often in threes), the moments of sudden and inexplicable magic - and analyzes and re-imagines them in the context of communism and socialism. It's absolutely fantastic.


• Now that a mad scientist is cloning a woolly mammoth, io9 has suggestions for some other extinct animals we might want to bring back.


• Fringe fans just have to love this "Walter is my homeboy" T-shirt. Because you know what? Walter is my homeboy.


• Good news, everyone! NBC has ordered a pilot for Ron Moore's police show set in a world ruled by magic - Precinct 17.


• Sounds like Marvel is once again making an attempt to turn Black Panther into a movie.


• The bikini- and carnage-filled trailer for the DVD/blu-ray release of the modern classic, Sharktopus, complete with catchy beach rock theme song.


• As the entire world knows by now, Anne Hathaway will be Catwoman and Tom Hardy will be Bane in the next Batman movie. It took me a while to mull this news over. I haven't seen Anne Hathaway in much. She seems a bit goody-goody to play Catwoman, but hey, she's an actress! She should be able to pretend to not be goody-goody, the way actresses do. Tom Hardy seems a bit of an odd choice, too, for a monstrous, wrestler-type villain, but Tom Hardy is awesome, and also pretty damn ripped, so I think he can pull it off. Plus, Christopher Nolan's instincts are pretty damn good as far as these things are concerned (anybody remember Heath Ledger, the best Joker ever?), so I'm cautiously optimistic.


• The 1600th episode of Laugh-Out-Loud Cats is pretty mind-blowing, you guys.


• Dark Horse/Mike Mignola need to hire Enrique Alcatena to draw a Hellboy book RIGHT NOW. I'm just saying. This guy is GOOD.


• Someone has invented a game that's a combination of bowling and billiards. That's actually kind of vaguely brilliant.


• Here's a video of someone throwing boiling water into the air somewhere where it's so cold that the water instantly evaporates (or turns to snow, or something - I don't know, I was an English major, not a science... guy).


• You can simulate a fake incoming call with Samsung phones? Hey, I have a Samsung phone!


• A guy attached a tiny video camera to some arrows and shot them with his bow! Nice!


• More and better images from the X-Men: First Class movie.


• Blastr has compiled an impressive list of 83 differences between Fringe's alternate universe and ours.


• Muppets inserted into 2001: A Space Odyssey.


• Cinematical gives us a rundown of at least 13 movies that you can expect to see ads for during the Super Bowl.


• It sounds like Johnny Depp may be taking Robert Downey Jr.'s place in Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz movie.


• Even for a non-American Idol fan like myself, this recap of the latest American Idol is truly entertaining. I love the quick, spot-on critique of those horrible Bing ads, too.


• Btw, don't worry, George Lucas wasn't really serious about that thing about the world ending in 2012. He claims. He probably just wants to make sure no one goes looking for his secret escape spaceship.

Thumbs Up? (3)

Tagged: Advertising, Animals, Art, Batman, Board games, Books, Celebrities, Clothing, Comic books, Commercials, Craft, Doctor Who, Football, Fringe, Gadgets, Gaming, Hellboy, Links, Lists, Monsters, Movies, Muppets, News, Oz, Phones, Photography, Recyclotron, Shirts, Sports, Star Wars, Super Bowl, Technology, TV, Video, Web comics, X-Men]]> Advertising Animals Art Batman Board games Books Celebrities Clothing Comic books Commercials Craft Doctor Who Football Fringe Gadgets Gaming Hellboy Links Lists Monsters Movies Muppets News Oz Phones Photography Recyclotron Shirts Sports Star Wars Super Bowl Technology TV Video Web comics X-Men Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:18:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• The latest Comics Alliance link roundup includes a video where Mike Mignola tells stories about his career, and this link listing five made up sci-fi children's books.


• Farel Dalrymple draws Batman, and Dan Hipp draws Inception and the Justice League!


• So J.J. Abrams is doing another TV series about time traveling and a mysterious island starring Jorge Garcia. Sigh. It's called Alcatraz, and Sam Neill just joined the cast.


• Cool shirt on Threadless: Technicolour Rex. (Via)


• Apparently there is a brand of rum called Kraken? Anyway, the company has some cool accessories for sale on its online store. Although oddly, no rum. (Via)


• Evan Shaner draws Velma! Clearly I need to subscribe to his blog. (Via)


• In case you somehow missed hearing about this somewhere else, Gawker got itself hacked. If you have a commenting profile on one of its sites, you probably want to go in and change your password.


• A new trailer for Thor is online. It has good bits and bad bits. Most of the bad bits happen when people say things. Which doesn't bode well, as I imagine there will be a good deal of talking in the movie. I'm still hoping it will somehow be an entertaining film, however.


• Gwyneth Paltrow says Pepper Potts will not appear in The Avengers. Can't quite work out whether I'm sad about that or not.


• The Ultimate New Frontier Collector's Set is up for bid on eBay. And hey, Christmas is coming up soon now! Hint hint. (Via)


• This is a clever idea: The Boardgame Remix Kit. Interesting new rules for those old family boardgames everybody already owns. (Via)


• Dinosaur versions of various superheroes.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Art, Avengers, Batman, Board games, Books, Celebrities, Clothing, Comedy, Comic books, Darwyn Cooke, Dinosaurs, eBay, Gaming, Hellboy, Internet, J.J. Abrams, Links, Lists, Mashups, Mike Mignola, Movies, News, Recyclotron, Scooby-Doo, Shirts, Thor, TV, Video]]> Art Avengers Batman Board games Books Celebrities Clothing Comedy Comic books Darwyn Cooke Dinosaurs eBay Gaming Hellboy Internet J.J. Abrams Links Lists Mashups Mike Mignola Movies News Recyclotron Scooby-Doo Shirts Thor TV Video Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:31:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Who doesn't love a good novelty toaster? This one's like a defibrillator! Imagine how dramatic your breakfast could be: "Live, damn it, live! You've never given up on anything in your life, now fight! Fight!!"


• There are already way too many versions of Monopoly out there, and a DC Universe-themed one would make exactly no sense, so it's probably just as well the project got cancelled. But I still love these sketches by Mike Allred for the Community Chest cards. (Via)


• At last, some plot details for Lars von Trier's upcoming sci-fi epic, Melancholia. Intriguing.


• The Venice Film Festival's competition lineup sounds pretty impressive. Included are the latest projects from Sofia Coppola (Somewhere, starring Stephen Dorff), Tom Tykwer (Three), Takashi Miike (13 Assassins), Vincent Gallo (Promises Written in Water), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), and Tsui Hark (Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame).


• That Total Recall readaptation is on the way, with direction by Len Wiseman (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard) and writing by Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen, Salt, Equilibrium). Hmmm...


• Various Grant Morrison movies are in the works! Woo hoo!


• This teaser trailer for Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage isn't particularly impressive, but the filmmakers appear to be following in Ray Harryhausen's footsteps, which could be fun.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Art, Board games, Comic books, Food, Gadgets, Gaming, Links, Movies, News, Products, Recyclotron, Video]]> Art Board games Comic books Food Gadgets Gaming Links Movies News Products Recyclotron Video Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:57:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• A sequel to Monsters Inc. is scheduled to be released on November 16th, 2012. Good stuff! (Via)


• Dark Night Of The Soul, the musical collaboration between David Lynch, Danger Mouse, and some dude who calls himself Sparklehorse, now has a release date: July 13th. (Via)


• Fun new clips from Iron Man 2.


• The Venture Bros' awesome ode to progressive rock. YES!


• If Daniel Craig doesn't come back for the next James Bond movie (whenever that is), Sam Worthington might take his place. Man, that guy gets all the jobs anymore!


• Word has it Marvel might make a series of smaller budget films to cover some of its lesser known properties, like Dr. Strange and Luke Cage. While I'd definitely like to see a Dr. Strange movie, I'm not sure I like the idea of them throwing together a cheap film adaptation just to have one. But we'll see how this goes.


• Ridley Scott revealed some plot details for the upcoming Alien prequel in an interview with MTV. It'll be set 30 years before the first movie and focus on the story of the "space jockey" who appeared in the derelict spacecraft.


• Check out this beard trustworthiness scale. Depending on whether you interpret my beard as a "Full Beard" or a "Homeless Beard," I'm either "Very Trustworthy" or verging on "Threatening." (Via)


• A couple of cool gamer-related images.


• Fun with LEGO.


• Looks like The Last Airbender and Green Hornet are both getting converted to 3D now, too. I was all for 3D at first, but this is really getting a little ridiculous.


• Okay, now that's just kind of twisted.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: 3D, Aliens, Art, Avatar, Cartoons, Celebrities, Comedy, Comic books, Craft, Gaming, Iron Man, James Bond, LEGO, Links, Monsters, Movies, Music, News, Pixar, Recyclotron, Star Wars, Toys, Video]]> 3D Aliens Art Avatar Cartoons Celebrities Comedy Comic books Craft Gaming Iron Man James Bond LEGO Links Monsters Movies Music News Pixar Recyclotron Star Wars Toys Video Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:57:00 +0000  by Fëanor

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

• Above, please find the thrilling, beautiful, atmospheric trailer for a modern day Western out of Australia called Red Hill. I need to see this. (Via)


• Damn it, now I might have to watch Clone Wars again. There's an episode coming up that features a teenage Boba Fett. (Also, it's been 30 years since Empire Strikes Back?? That hurts me in my heart.) (Via)


• A twisted web comic: Alien vs. Pooh. I got to page 26 before the thing crapped out on me. I think the site might be overwhelmed by heavy traffic. (Via)


• A preview of the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 seems to feature Imhotep vs. the Brood, Zhang Heng vs. a giant robot samurai, and Leonardo Da Vinci vs. Galactus. Holy crap!!! (Via)


• Pretty great new Arctic Monkeys track called "My Propeller." The band seems to be settling down and getting a bit more serious. (Via)


• Getting a character lost in time is the new thing to do in comic books these days. Here's a gallery of covers that show Iron Man travelling through time.


• Cargo sounds like a pretty amazing movie. Looking forward to it.


• Wish you could "improve" every video you own with Star Trek-style lens flares? Well, you're in luck! There's an app for that!


• Dude! The next album on Beck's Record Club list is one of my favorites of all time: Kick by INXS. Every track on this album is a hit. I'm really looking forward to hearing them all get covered. First up is "Guns in the Sky."


• Marvel will be celebrating Avengers Day at comic book shops across the nation on May 19th. Besides offering various Avengers-related memorabilia, Marvel will also be launching five new Avengers books that day: Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.; New Avengers by Bendis and Stuart Immonen; Secret Avengers by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato; Avengers Academy by Christos Gage and Mike McKone; and Avengers Prime, a miniseries by Bendis and Alan Davis. Well, I can definitely avoid Academy because I'm not a fan of Gage's work, and I definitely want to try Secret Avengers, because Brubaker and Deodato are both fantastic talents. The rest I'll have to flip through and consider.


• Dinoogle is Google, but with dinosaurs. Boom! (Via)


• Some details on what Avatar's deleted scenes contain, and when and how we might see them.


• I'm not sure what kind of card game Space-O is, but I kind of want to play it.


• I love this Magritte-inspired Magic the Gathering card. The Buckminster Fuller one is pretty great, too.


• Cute, fun greeting card designs, and an excellent illustration of some urban legends (although they're really more mythical beasts than urban legends). (Via)


• Pixar veteran Brad Bird might direct Mission: Impossible IV.


• That Buck Rogers remake that was talked about a while back is being revived, now in 3D (natch) with Paul W.S. Anderson at the helm. Seeing as how Frank Miller was the one guy originally attached to the film, this might actually be a step up.


• A weird new meme: Release the Kraken! (Via)


• The story of the life of a plastic bag, as narrated by Werner Herzog. Good lord.

Thumbs Up? (2)

Tagged: Aliens, Animals, Art, Cartoons, Comedy, Comic books, Dinosaurs, Gaming, Google, Internet, Iron Man, Links, Monsters, Movies, Music, News, Recyclotron, Star Trek, Star Wars, SW:TCW, TV, Video, Web comics]]> Aliens Animals Art Cartoons Comedy Comic books Dinosaurs Gaming Google Internet Iron Man Links Monsters Movies Music News Recyclotron Star Trek Star Wars SW:TCW TV Video Web comics