Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1740
June 3, 2018
These SANRIO Characters Created By Predictive Text Are Almost Better Than the Real Thing
Technology can be used in one of three ways. It can be used for good, like making advancements in the medical field. It can be used for evil, as almost any sci-fi movie can show you. Then the third way is to just have some fun, and Dami Lee from The Verge has done just that. Thanks to Voicebox, the web-based predictive text writer from Botnik studios, Dami was able to create her own Sanrio (Hello Kitty) characters. From the looks of it, she may have a future career, and Sanrio may have some new fans.
I trained a predictive keyboard on Sanrio characters and their personality descriptions to create my own unlovable Sanrio characters pic.twitter.com/Rgo8gy1xw5
— Dami Lee (@dami_lee) May 31, 2018
Voicebox isn’t just a meme generator: what it creates depends on the person using it. You can upload any text you want, and in this case, Dami uploaded all the character bios from the Sanrio Wikipedia page. Then when you choose a word or phrase to start with, Voicebox finishes the sentence using predictive text within the context of the content you entered. While it sounds like a lot of work, it’s a great way to spark creativity. As shown in her above tweet, Dami took the descriptions Voicebox created and drew pictures based on them. There’s Mr. Steam, the Badtz Caramels, and our personal favorite, Aggressive Daniel. What is so wrong about his birthday? Is it listed incorrectly on his ID, or did something happen on his birthday we can’t speak about?
So what do you think? Are you hoping there will be an SDCC exclusive Aggressive Daniel doll this year? What would you use Voicebox to create? Let us know on Facebook or sound off in the comments below.
Images: Sanrio
Let’s get cute…
Sanrio somehow made Godzilla adorable.
Doctor Who by way of the Mister Men.
Hello Kitty movie crossover merch is crazy at Universal Studios.
June 2, 2018
CAPTAIN MARVEL Shoes From Vans Are Coming
Right now, cosmic super hero Captain Marvel is a character that the average person only knows about if their geeky friend explained to them just what that post-credits tag in Avengers: Infinity War was all about. But by this time next year, a whole lot of folks are going to know a lot more about Captain Marvel, also known as Air Force pilot Carol Danvers, when the movie starring Brie Larson is released to theaters. And those new fans are going to want Captain Marvel merch…like shoes, for instance.
Marvel, no doubt anticipating a whole new group of fans for Carol Danvers once she officially joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has licensed the Captain Marvel design to Vans, we have learned thanks to Comic Book. Their new shoes, part of their Sk8-Hi high tops line, will display Carol’s famous red, blue, and gold colors, and the Kree star insignia. Although there has not been an official announcement from Vans yet, images of the shoe have shown up online already, as you can see via the Tweet below.
New Captain Marvel Vans! @CaptMarvelNews #VansXMarvel pic.twitter.com/4nUCsZW9Ug
— Becky S
Benedict Cumberbatch Just Became an Actual Crime-Fighter
We expect him to fight the villains on TV and in the movies with a sociopathically supernatural sleuthing ability, or some supremely (Stephen) Strange magic. But it turns out that all Benedict Cumberbatch needs to fight crime in the mean old metropolis of London is his two hands and authoritative voice.
According to Reuters, Cumberbatch was riding in an Uber when he noticed a grocery delivery cyclist being attacked by four muggers. Undaunted by the numerical odds, and perhaps coasting on more than a little Marvel adrenaline, the actor utilized his great power in the service of great responsibility, pulling the men off their victim, and intoning, in his best, most imperative tones…
“Leave him alone!”
Okay, that’s not the sort of catchphrase anybody says in the movies. But it worked! The villains are still at large, but they made away with nothing, and the victim was not seriously hurt. And now there are four scared scalawags roaming the streets, telling tales of the day their consumable purloining schemes were thwarted by the master of the mystic arts.
Cumberbatch denies that he’s a hero, which is exactly the sort of thing you can do when a massive fanbase, two major movies, and a TV show say otherwise. But if he doesn’t feel it, he’ll just have to console himself with the facts that he’s fabulously handsome and talented.
Which Marvel actor would you want to be rescued by in real life? Let us know in comments, and bonus points if you remember Scott Adkins was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Oops, now you all do. But you feel better knowing it, right?
Images: Marvel Studios
Keep it Strange…
Benedict Cumberbatch as a chocolate bunny.
A little mad-lib theater with Benedict.
Is “Cumbermusk” a thing?
This ‘Realistic’ Nigel Thornberry as Sailor Moon Cosplay Is…Wild
Quick: who’s the most frightening character Tim Curry has ever played?
Odds are your first thought was Pennywise the clown. Maybe the Lord of Darkness from Legend. And if your biggest fear is that a man’s lipstick and eyeshadow will be more on-point than yours, Dr. Frank N’ Furter. Nigel Thornberry, of The Wild Thornberrys, probably didn’t even make the top ten.
And yet, much like the creature known as IT, Tim Curry has a way of tapping into fears you never even knew existed, even if it’s only done through proxies. What if the amusingly caricatured Nickelodeon nature documentarian were to be translated into “realistic” human flesh? And above and beyond that, he were to try and use a magical brooch to become the Soldier of Love and Justice?
Creator Julianna Maz has the answer, and to quote Merlin in Excalibur, it’s a dream to some…a nightmare to others:
@donttrythis what do you think of my Hyperrealistic Nigel Thornberry mask?? I learned so much from watching tested videos while I was making it (especially @FrankIppolito‘s videos on painting silicone) pic.twitter.com/59KlfDQIvP
— Julianna Maz (@MazMade) June 1, 2018
Rating it as an achievement, however, we should quote Nigel himself, and acknowledge that it is, in fact, “smashing!” Is it “realistic”? Well, we’ve never met anybody who looks quite like this, but if you believe Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean books, such people seem to be everywhere.
So now that you’ve had a chance to take this in, how do you rate Nigel Thornberry on the scary Tim Curry scale? Above or below his Clone Wars take on Palpatine? Give us a comment and let us know.
Images: Nickelodeon, ABC
More fun stories for your eyeholes:
The wrongest way to eat a Kit Kat.
Is the next Wonder Woman movie set in 1984?
An expanded Lovecraft universe is coming.
June 1, 2018
Darth Maul and Boba Fett are BFFs IRL (And Here’s What it Means for STAR WARS)
The galaxy far, far away is chock full of dynamic duos: Han Solo and Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2, Anakin Skywalker and not having the high ground. Now there’s a brand new terrific twosome in town and they’re blowing up Instagram like so many Death Stars with videos of them hanging out, surprising fans, and practicing sweet stunts together IRL: Darth Maul and Boba Fett. Or, more accurately, actors Ray Park and Daniel Logan, who portrayed Darth Maul (physically) and young Boba Fett in the prequel trilogy, respectively.
A post shared by Ray Park (@iamraypark) on May 18, 2018 at 4:10pm PDT
A post shared by Ray Park (@iamraypark) on May 19, 2018 at 8:57am PDT
A post shared by Ray Park (@iamraypark) on May 14, 2018 at 2:10pm PDT
A post shared by Ray Park (@iamraypark) on May 14, 2018 at 7:58am PDT
But we have a theory that these two aren’t just flipping out on Instagram for Siths and giggles. What if they’re training for an adventure in the galaxy far, far away? And not one about Han Solo, but rather a movie all about the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. Join host Hector Navarro for a spoiler-filled, speculatory journey into the future of Star Wars as we break down what this friendship could portend for the galaxy far, far away on a brand new episode of Nerdist News Edition.
Thanks to the new expanded universe canon, we have seen more of Boba Fett’s adventures outside the original trilogy. Now with a rumored Boba Fett movie from Logan director James Mangold on the way, it looks as thought we’re about to get a whole lot more of the Mandalorian-armored mercenary in the future. We have a few theories as to what this movie could be about, and they’re tied to the real-life friendship we’ve seen blossoming between Park and Logan.
Option #1: Boba Fett Begins
Set around the same time period as Solo: A Star Wars Story , this movie could show us how Boba Fett earned the deadly reputation he has when we meet him in The Empire Strikes Back. Imagine a gritty crime drama set in the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe as Boba Fett makes a name for himself working for crime lords like Jabba the Hutt, the Pyke Syndicate, and eventually Darth Maul himself, who could serve as a unifying thread and the overarching villain for each film. This could serve as an indirect sequel to Solo–in which Maul had that shocking cameo at the end–and enable Lucasfilm to still use characters with ties to the underworld like Han Solo, Chewie, Lando, and Qi’ra, all of whom likely signed contracts locking them in to multiple movies. A story like this would also set the stage for a third film where Han and/or Boba work together or against each other in order to take down Maul, Qi’ra, and the Crimson Dawn for good, blowing up a whole bunch of stuff in the process. For example, it might finally explain why Vader singles Boba out for his tendency to disintegrate people in Empire.
Option #2: Post-Sarlacc Pit
If you’ve steeped yourself in classic Star Wars Expanded Universe lore, then you know that Boba Fett’s story didn’t end after he was swallowed whole by the sarlacc dwelling within the Great Pit of Carkoon in Return of the Jedi. While it’s unlikely Fett will be fighting in the Yuuzhan Vong War anytime soon, we could see him potentially making his way to the Outer Rim and doing some dirty work for an up-and-coming power broker and literal Scarface: Supreme Leader Snoke. Boba’s latter-day adventures would help explain how Snoke rose to power, and also how Boba helped deliver not one, but two Solos fall into the hands of the bad guys.
Option #3: Teen Boba
Maybe they’ll recast Boba Fett completely and go with a film set just after The Clone Wars showcasing the young bounty hunter as a moody, disrespectful teenager brought to heel by Aurra Sing before she’s later killed by Tobias Beckett.
And, of course, this is to say nothing of option #4, which is that none of these things come to pass and all of our wonderful ideas get cut off at the knees like…
Too soon?
But what do you think? Are Darth Maul and Boba Fett training to do a movie together? Which of these movie would you most want to see? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: Disney/Lucasfilm
Additional reporting by Jesse B. Gill.
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Nerdist News: WTFriday #7: Can Sequels Ever Top The Original? with Travis McElroy!
Can sequels ever really top the original? The Empire Strikes Back did it, but in a summer filled with pretty much only sequels – does every film need a follow-up? Plus – Solo reactions! And speaking of Star Wars, we’re looking at a new ranking for the John Williams scores. Then the Spawn movie makes a big leap forward with some new casting news. Also, is Andrew Lincoln really leaving The Walking Dead? What will the show do? And finally – in honor of the latest Pokemon news, we’ll be testing our panel’s knowledge of all thing pocket-monster. All this and more on today’s Nerdist News: What The Friday!
Be sure to check out WTFriday live every Friday at 1PM (PDT) on Alpha!
This is the Wrongest Way To Eat A Kit Kat
Some things are pretty general with how you’re supposed to eat them, like an apple–just go for it. Then there are things that are more specific and procedural. With bananas, for example, you have to peel them before you eat them (or you could be a savage and eat the peel). While Reese’s slogan used to be “There’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s,” the same cannot be said for the Kit Kat, about which people have strong feelings.
Haley Byrd, a political reporter for The Weekly Standard, posted a photo of a Kit Kat that her boyfriend, ignorant about Kit Kat consumption, had bitten, leaving a jaw-shaped crescent across the middle of all four bars. It’s a photo you’d see in image galleries meant to frustrate you.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a Kit Kat before,” my boyfriend remarks before doing THIS pic.twitter.com/UQbuD3Etpg
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) June 1, 2018
Twitter is pretty up in arms about it too. CNN’s Jake Tapper, for instance, insisted that Byrd leave her beau behind.
Break up with him at once https://t.co/522TLFnZxl
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 1, 2018
Others chimed in as well, questioning her boyfriend’s mental fortitude, and even Dictionary.com agrees with Tapper:
Break off: What one does to a @KITKAT.
Also break off: What one might do to a relationship with someone who does this
Uncovered POKEMON Demo Reveals Creatures We Never Knew About
As it stands, there are currently over 800 different Pokémon species. Back in 1999, though, when Pokémon Gold and Silver first came out in Japan (they hit the US in 2000), there were 251, thanks to the 100 that the second generation of games added to the total. Now, it seems like they had at least a few more than that ready to go, though: A demo of the games from 1997 leaked online, and some data mining unveils some pretty interesting stuff (via Digg).
In today’s Nerdist News, host Amy Vorpahl breaks down the tragic news that maybe you didn’t catch ’em all.
The spaceworld 97 Pokemon gold demo has leaked and is being documented. Look at all these unused pre evolutions, evolutions and Pokémon eventually added after Gs. Not to mention the legendary dogs look like deviant art drawings. pic.twitter.com/56m8ANZIo1
— ThatTallGuy86[Legendary] (@Seanbo124) May 31, 2018
Footage of the demo has found its way online before, but now that we have the actual ROM (game file) of the demo, people have been able to dig into the game data, and they’ve found a bunch of unused Pokémon sprites. For example, here are the starter Pokémon:
Chikorita and Meganium look similar to the Pokémon that appeared in the actual games, but beyond that, there’s not much here that’s familiar. The fire starter (which you have in your party at the start of the demo), for instance, is nothing like Cyndaquil. Instead, it’s more like a fire version of Pikachu that eventually transforms into a bushier, Ninetales-like creature.
Ditto never got an evolution, but it did in the demo. By giving it a Metal Coat, it turns into this screaming monstrosity:
There’s a lot more to find in the demo and its data, so check out the wiki about the demos if you want to learn more and explore it for yourself.
What’s your favorite of the unreleased Pokémon? Do you think any of them should have made the final cut? Let us know what you think down in the comments!
Images: The Pokémon Company
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Is WONDER WOMAN ’84 the Title of the Sequel?
The sequel to last year’s smash Wonder Woman starts filming soon, and although we’ve learned a few tidbits here and there about Patty Jenkins‘ follow up film, the movie currently doesn’t have a title. Is it just Wonder Woman 2, or is it something more poetic? Well, DC’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns recently changed his Twitter header to a new logo which suggests that Gal Gadot‘s second outing as the Amazing Amazon may very well be called Wonder Woman ’84. Look at the image:
.@geoffjohns Twitter header is WW84 – is that a clue as to when #WonderWoman2 is set and possibly a clue to the name of the film? Wonder Woman ‘84 does have a nice ring to it #DCU pic.twitter.com/xisjbATZDc
— Geek Vibes Nation
RE-ANIMATOR Star Says ‘Expanded Lovecraft Universe’ in the Works
We live in an age where every movie studio with a known genre property wants to create their own shared cinematic universe to rival the juggernaut (ha!) of . It doesn’t always work, but the allure is strong, especially for comics and novel properties that already have a huge shared roster of characters. One writer who was on the cutting edge of this was early 20th Century horror and weird fiction author H.P. Lovecraft, who created his own mythos of gods, aliens, and creatures simply because he wanted to, never expecting they’d be read by anyone.
Evidently, the wheels are in motion for an “Expanded Lovecraft Universe,” though not on the scale we might have hoped. Actress Barbara Crampton, who starred in Re-Animator and From Beyond, which kicked off the Lovecraft movie mini-boom of the ’80s, tweeted that a remake of the 1995 shot-on-video chiller Castle Freak is happening, and that it will see the beginning of a shared universe of Lovecraft characters.
The tweets (which we saw via Bloody Disgusting) are as follows:
And have you heard we are reimagining it in a new film? The story will have elements of the first but with many new characters and an expanded Lovecraft universe. https://t.co/LJcbj7wEWW
— Barbara Crampton (@barbaracrampton) May 31, 2018
CASTLE FREAK reimagining is BEING WRITTEN as we tweet… https://t.co/eyEvIfl57i
— Barbara Crampton (@barbaracrampton) May 31, 2018
From BD: “Castle Freak will be directed by SFX guru Tate Steinsiek with original star Barbara Crampton producing alongside Dallas Sonnier, Amanda Presmyk, and Charles Band.”
Of the films made by director Stuart Gordon based on a work by Lovecraft, Castle Freak is easily the least faithful or well-known. Extremely loosely based on his classic “The Outsider,” Castle Freak tells of an estranged family (with Re-Animator alums Jeffrey Combs and Crampton as the mother and father) who move into his family’s ancestral castle to try to start fresh, only to find a nasty creature lurking inside.
A reimagining of this movie would surely be a welcome one, especially if it, as Crampton says, introduces more Lovecraftian elements and characters for future installments. The Lovecraft “Cthulhu Mythos” is an extremely rich and layered one, which has been expanded upon by other writers long after the author’s death. I’ve long hoped a Guillermo del Toro Lovecraft movie would happen—and it still may now given his deal with Fox Searchlight—but I’ll take an indie approach too!
Would you watch a Lovecraft expanded universe? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Full Moon Entertainment
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He is the writer of 200 reviews of weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!
More Lovecraftian goodness!
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Why aren’t there more Lovecraft films ?
A guide to Stephen King’s roster of Lovecraftian gods !
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