Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2211

Pickstarter: WILD TIMES Looks Back at Jim Lee’s WildStorm Studios

Back in the ’90s, Jim Lee‘s WildStorm imprint featured the breakouts of many of Image Comics’ first titles and several future superstar artists. After it was purchased by DC in 1998, WildStorm pushed the comics medium even further with books like The Authority and Planetary that are still influential to this day. Now, author Joseph Hedges has assembled a new look back at the history of WildStorm—but he needs your help to make it a reality.

Over on Kickstarter, Hedges has launched a campaign to publish Wild Times: An Oral History of WildStorm Studios, a comprehensive history of the imprint for which he’s already completed interviews with 75 comic book writers, artists, editors, and others involved in the 18-year history of the studio.

On his website, Hedges posted a sample chapter as well as a video teaser featuring artist Lee Bermejo discussing his work on Warren Ellis‘ Global Frequency and a NSFW example of how the WildStorm office dealt with Ellis’ late scripts in a very funny way:

While WildStorm standouts J. Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, and Scott Dunbier are among the creators who agreed to be interviewed, neither Lee nor Ellis appear to be among the contributors. However, the book will cover not only Ellis’ groundbreaking run with the company, but its entire history—including the brief period that Lee and WildStorm worked on Marvel’s Heroes Reborn imprint and up to DC’s decision to close down WildStorm and incorporate its characters into the DC Universe. However, since this is an unauthorized work, Wild Times will not include any illustrations from the WildStorm comics.

Hedges has set a relatively modest goal for his Kickstarter campaign: $6,640 by February 2. Among the rewards for backers are digital and print copies of the book, as well as the opportunity for WildStorm fans to be interviewed about their passion for the comics in a special spot on the book’s website. You can follow the Kickstarter campaign here.

Are you excited to see some of the behind-the-scenes stories of WildStorm come to life? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Wildstorm/DC Comics

ONE PIECE FILM: GOLD Dazzled a Franchise N00b (Review)

I would classify myself as a fan of anime, but I would be exaggerating greatly to say that I’m a student of all that the vast Japanese art form has to offer. I’m well-versed in the films of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Mamoru Hosoda, have lots to say about Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and consider Cowboy Bebop one of the best TV shows in any medium. But I have several major blindspots. This is why, when it came time to review One Piece Film: Gold, having never seen a second of the 770 episodes of One Piece nor any of the previous 12 feature films, I was a bit apprehensive. Would I understand even one second of what was happening? Turned out… not really. But then again, it didn’t really matter!

What you (and I) need to know is pretty much set up in the opening action scene: a crew of weird ragtag pirates, each with a different off-the-wall power or ability, sail the seas in search of treasure so that the rubber-appendaged young Captain Luffey can become the king of the pirates. They are chased by bounty hunters to a massive gold island that’s also a sailing vessel. This place is called Gran Tesoro, a huge, shimmering casino and gaming community catering only to the highest of rollers. After disrupting the show of the island’s ruler, Gild Tesoro, the Straw Hat Pirates are treated to opulence the likes of which they’ve never seen.

Unfortunately, this is all a ruse on the part of Tesoro and his gang of bosses, which include the literal embodiment of Lady Luck, who can grant and remove luckiness to suit her purpose, a weird floating nightmare who can move through any inorganic material, and a muscle-bound psycho who longs for pain to feel alive. The crew, given their unbelievable luck, get tricked into betting 10 times what they have and wind up losing it all, forcing them to join the ranks of the island’s indentured servants. How can they get out of this debt, and how can they overcome a foe who has dominion over all the gold in the world?

What makes the movie work for a complete newbie such as myself is that it reveals character through action and not through exposition, which has become the downfall of most “introductory” sci-fi/fantasy/action movies. The characters are all long established, so people who know nothing get to experience them entirely through doing what they’re good at, and their eccentric personalities speak for themselves. There’s very little needless dialogue or exposition, and instead we’re treated to a number of really impressive and frenetic action sequences, including a Mario Kart-style race, a straight-up Ocean’s Eleven heist, and a finale in which there’s lots of flying around and powers being used.

The story really resonates, especially after the year we’ve just had, in a way I wasn’t expecting. It’s all about the fight between the haves and the have-nots, the oppression of the poor by the absurdly rich, and the way we all take enjoyment in watching the suffering of others. Tesoro is a wonderfully detestable villain who can physically control and manipulate gold; if he has gotten some of his tainted AU on you, you are powerless to fight against him. He plans to hold a public execution of arguably the most badass of the Straw Hat Pirates and relishes the crew’s public defeat with the chilling line, “The moment hope turns to despair! That, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest entertainment in the world.” As with the best pieces of art, we see our real world reflected in the likes of One Piece Film: Gold and Tesoro. If we didn’t already like the Straw Hats, we appreciate their strife even more.

There were a few things in the film that I didn’t care for; in fact, these were the sort of things I dislike about a certain variety of anime in general, and the stuff that I’m sure is part and parcel to the One Piece brand. For one, characters’ penchant to scream the name of the various special moves they’re about to enact as they power them up. Additionally, the goofy art style of the comedic characters juxtaposed against the physics-defying anatomy of the female characters. Finally, the over-the-top slapstick of several characters that really overshadows the more dramatic moments. But, in the 13th film in a long-running series, I’d hardly expect these things to be completely absent, and they didn’t detract too much.

As a total newcomer to the franchise, I was overall very captivated and charmed by One Piece Film: Gold. It had action to spare, a totally relatable good-versus-evil storyline, and a cast of lovable rogues that each get a moment or two to shine, even if you might not remember their names all the time (thankfully, the movie opens with a roll call). One Piece fans will likely already want to check out the theatrical run of the movie in select theaters from January 10-17, but anyone who likes anime will find a lot to enjoy here. I did.

4 out of 5 delightfully confused burritos

Images: Toei Animation/FUNimation

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He’s the writer of Studio Ghibli retrospectives Miyazaki Masterclass and Takahata Textbook. Follow him on Twitter!

Woody Harrelson Reportedly Eyed to Play Han Solo’s Mentor

Oh, that galaxy far, far away just keeps getting fuller and fuller these days. Thought it’s still a year and a half away, Lucasfilm’s Young Han Solo project already boasts a pretty impressive cast, including Alden Ehrenreich as Han, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, and Emilia Clarke in an unconfirmed role. Now it would appear another great actor with sci-fi franchise ties is being added to the roster, and playing a very pivotal character. Variety is reporting on Tuesday that The Hunger Games saga’s Woody Harrelson is being eyed to play Solo’s mentor.

Now, naturally, this is just a rumor, and Variety only says that Harrelson is being eyed for the roll and that he’s the “top choice” so we would not say anything more than “this might be a thing that could conceivably happen down the road.” BUT, the movie officially titled Untitled Han Solo Star Wars Anthology Film, is being produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Allison Shearmur, and the latter worked with Harrelson on those Hunger Games flicks, so at the very least it would make sense for her to want to work with an established character actor she knows will do a solid job.

A character named Alexandr Badure existed in the Expanded Universe/Legends of Star Wars in the book Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, which was the final entry in The Han Solo Adventures novel trilogy from 1979 and 1980. (Sidebar: the first entry, Han Solo at Stars End, was the very first Star Wars spinoff novel.) He was a retired stormtrooper turned ruffian who takes Solo under his wing. Whether Harrelson will be playing this character or if it’ll be a whole new character is anyone’s guess. So far, Legends character Grand Admiral Thrawn has been legitimized in the current canon through a major story arc on Rebels, so it’s not unheard of for Badure to be the mentor in the movie. Either way, Harrelson certainly has the chops to play mentor to a spacefaring scoundrel.

What do you think of Woody Harrelson joining the Star Wars universe? Will it be Alexandr Badure or someone else? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Image: Lionsgate

What would Rogue One‘s discarded crawl have said?

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!

ROGUE ONE’s Scrapped Opening Crawl: Decoded

Fans have had a field day picking out all the references, easter eggs, and callbacks hidden throughout Rogue One. But for all of the film’s devotion to the original trilogy there was one classic element of Star Wars that was pretty obviously missing; the opening crawl! Rogue One was the first flick set in that galaxy far, far away to not open with a big block of chunky yellow text floating helplessly in the void of space. However, that wasn’t always the case. Director Gareth Edwards recently revealed that the original script for Rogue One did in fact include a crawl, and it wasn’t until a mere six months ago that the higher ups at Disney told him to take it out. This has naturally left all of us opening crawl enthusiasts scratching our heads, wondering what could have been. We may never know the complete answer, but we have a few ideas.

For one thing, we know that most of Cassian and Jyn’s backstory were added in after the reshoots. Apparently the original cut jumped directly from Jyn as a child to her as an adult getting interrogated by the Rebellion. That means a lot of the character building, like her prison escape, was likely covered by the crawl. Same goes for Vader. We may only see him on screen for a few minutes, but the Rogue One team put a lot of thought into his appearance. The original concept was that Vader built his castle on Mustafar to reflect and meditate on his loss there to Obi Wan. We wouldn’t be surprised if the crawl had a line explaining this. Rogue One is also a bridge from the prequels to the original trilogy, so we wonder if the crawl offered a little more connective tissue. It’s not impossible, as we’re clearly seeing the new movies getting slightly more comfortable including some elements from Episodes I, II, and III.

What do you think was in that opening crawl? And was Rogue One better off for not having one? Let us know in the comments.

POKÉMON Slam Poetry Is Super Effective

Although Pokémon and slam poetry each experienced their heyday in the 1990s, it has, for some reason, taken until now for somebody to combine the two. It’s finally happened, though, thanks to The Warp Zone, in their video that, just to be clear, doesn’t feature expressive writing about the move Slam (via ViralViralVideos).

What it does feature, however, is some of the most recognizable (human) characters from the Pokémon anime, revealing some impactful truths about their Poké-centric lives. First up, of course, is Ash Ketchum, our beloved protagonist. Ash begins his poem with a deep, pronunciation-based exploration of the show’s tagline: “Gotta catch ’em all. Gotta catch… ‘EM all. Gotta catch ’em… all? [He takes a drag off his cigarette] Pokémon.”

It’s about as cheesy as it sounds, but it’s also fun and clever enough where we’ll let that slide. The bass and bongos kick in, and we also get some verse from Professor Oak: “I must profess, that I am a professor of Pokémon, from Aipom to Zapdos.” And of course, following a string of percussive alliteration, he has to mic drop with his most classic query: “Now tell me: Are you a boy, or are you a girl?”

Then there’s Team Rocket’s Jesse and James, who, as viewers know, come with a built-in slam poem that they recite virtually every time they appear on screen. Still, The Warp Zone has some fun with it and makes the credo their own, so mellow out, brother, and slip into some slam Poké-poetry above.

Featured image: The Pokémon Company

MARIO WARFARE Is the Live-Action Mario Movie Nintendo Never Gave Us

In 1993, Nintendo and Disney came to the end of a noble quest. They tried their very best to make a live-action Super Mario Bros. movie. And man, did it turn out poorly. The characters looked and behaved bizarrely. The plot was weak. Its only real redeeming quality is its kitsch. Despite the $48 million that was thrown into that movie, it turned out all wrong. To be honest, we suspect that a fan could do a better job.

Those suspicions have been confirmed, actually, as YouTube filmmakers Beat Down Boogie went ahead and did just that. At its best, it’s a gritty and fun reimagining of a darker Mushroom Kingdom in which Bowser’s aggressions are taken seriously. Even at its worst, it’s definitely better than the real Super Mario Bros. movie (via Neatorama).

The saga began as an eight-part series of short films released between 2012 and 2014, and once the initial project was completed, they decided to re-cut the clips into a feature-length, 77-minute movie. And one that features Toad as a total badass, Princess Peach finally standing up for herself, and a bunch of violence that’s fun for the whole family, to boot! In a fun twist, Peach decides to reach outside the Mario universe when she realizes that she needs an army to defeat Bowser. She ends up recruiting some other pals that we’ll let you discover for yourself.

Watch a trailer for Mario Warfare above, the complete film below, and some bonus features, deleted scenes, and other extras here.

Featured image: beatdownboogie/YouTube

Sliced Fruits Look Brilliantly Purple When Filmed with an Ultraviolet Camera

We see our world in a variety of vibrant colors that often make us wonder how any of this is possible. But in truth, we can’t see that much light at all, at least if you factor in all the types of light. Our visible spectrum consists of less than one percent of the electromagnetic spectrum, leaving us unable to see the likes of gamma rays, X-rays, infrared, microwaves, radar, and ultraviolet light… at least with the naked eye.

While we can’t see these types of light naturally, we do have ways to perceive and visualize it. French filmmaker Mathieu Stern and UV photographer Pierre-Louis Ferrer recently decided to collaborate on a project that would make these normally unseen wavelengths stand out, by shooting 10 different types of fruit with a UV camera and checking out the results.

The fruits were illuminated by UV-emitting lamps, then they were filmed through a UV lens filter, which allows only ultraviolet light to pass through and be perceived by the camera. According to the video description, “UV filters are made from special colored glass and may be coated or sandwiched with other filter glass to aid in blocking unwanted wavelengths.”

As you might expect, the results varied from fruit to fruit, although each was beautiful in its own way. While kiwi and strawberry seemed to absorb almost no UV light, fruits like apple, orange, and especially pineapple absorbed a lot and shone through a brilliant and saturated purple.

Check it out for yourself above, and let us know why you think certain fruits react this way. Could it be due to acidity, or some other set of factors? Hypothesize in the comments!

Featured Image: Mathieu Stern/YouTube

Music Dispatch: Watch Paul McCartney and The Killers Play Together on New Year’s Eve

Can you imagine the experience of enjoying one of your favorite band’s concerts, only to have your joy multiplied by the appearance of surprise guest Paul McCartney, suddenly grinning at you from behind a mic? Some lucky Killers fans can, because that’s exactly what happened this past New Year’s Eve. The turn of the year brought plenty of additional joy, too: Bruce Springsteen joined Marc Maron for a podcast conversation, Emma Watson sang beautiful in a sneak peek of Beauty and the Beast, Patti Smith brought Michael Stipe onstage for her birthday, and Sleater-Kinney teamed up with members of Spoon and The Thermals to cover David Bowie.

We can all agree 2016 was tough, so why not cap it on a good note? That’s exactly what The Killers thought to do when they played a private New Year’s Eve party in St. Barts. The band played several songs, but then invited a special guest onstage to join them: Sir Paul McCartney. They then launched into an intense rendition of “Helter Skelter” that saw McCartney and frontman Brandon Flowers singing the vocals, pointing at one another, and getting the crowd riled up. Hell, we got excited just watching video footage of it. May 2017 be better because of it. [Rolling Stone]

Image Credit: tonyshek/GabboT

Bruce Springsteen fans know plenty about the singer’s life now that his brand new memoir, Born to Run, is on shelves worldwide. Marc Maron decided to dig a little deeper on his podcast WTF; the ensuing discussion is one that promises to surprise fans of Springsteen. The Boss talks about New Jersey, his father, and mental illness, among other things, with extreme openness and earnestness. It’s refreshing to hear. Listen or download the podcast right here. [Pitchfork]

Here’s your exclusive first listen of @EmmaWatson singing ‘Something There’ from Beauty and the Beast. #BeOurGuest pic.twitter.com/AWpcrDmELY

— Beauty and the Beast (@beourguest) December 31, 2016

In a little under three months, the first live action take of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters. It’s also our chance to hear Emma Watson sing. The Harry Potter actress stars as Belle alongside Dan Stevens as The Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, and Stanley Tucci as Cadenza. We’ve already gotten hyped on the trailer, but now Disney tossed another reason for giddiness: a 30-second clip of Watson singing “Something There.” We won’t spoil the film, but, spoiler, the clip above is good. [Consequence of Sound]

No one celebrates life on Earth the way Patti Smith does, and that includes celebrating her own life. The musician, activist, author, and more celebrated her 70th birthday by playing at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, the city she was born in back in 1946. Of course, it wouldn’t be a party without friends. R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe showed up to gift Smith a cake and lead the audience in a joyful version of “Happy Birthday to You.” They then teamed up to play “People Have the Power,” one of her greatest songs to date that has changed and will continue to change the lives of thousands of activists in the making. Thank goodness she was born to write it. [Rolling Stone]

Unfortunately, the start of the new year isn’t all good. At the beginning of 2016, we lost one of music’s biggest icons: David Bowie. Now, a new year means another anniversary of his passing, but we can turn that into a celebration rather than a mourning. That’s exactly what members of Spoon, Sleater-Kinney, and The Thermals did. On New Year’s Eve, the fellow musicians took the Masonic stage in San Francisco to play their own material as well as to pay tribute to lost icons, which included a rousing take of Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” which you can watch above. Future years, take note. This is how remembering Bowie should be done. [Consequence of Sound]

See you back here on Wednesday for another Music Dispatch!

Image: jikatu/Jimmy Baikovicius/Flickr

Let This Video Teach You A Random Fact About Every Country in the World

How many countries there are is a matter of dispute, since the definition of the term varies depending on the factors you consider, but one thing we can agree on is that there are 206 sovereign states in the world, so that’s the figure we’re going to go with. Anyway, the reason we bring this up is because with so many countries in the world, there are bound to be a ton of interesting facts about them.

The latest video from Wendover productions proves that, as they just put out a video that reveals at least one interesting fact about the world’s countries, and boy are there many. Here are a few of our favorites, some of which you may already know:

Due to the bizarre time zones of Afghanistan and China, “stepping over the 47 mile long Afghanistan-China border jumps you forward by three-and-a-half hours. That’s the largest single time zone jump on Earth.”
Canada “is so huge, in fact, that its easternmost point is closer to Croatia than it is to Vancouver.”
South Africa is “the only country in the world to have three capitals: Cape Town is the seat of parliament, Pretoria is home to the president, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.”
Mozambique’s name “scores higher in Scrabble than any other one-word country.”
In Liechtenstein’s last military engagement “in 1886, none of the 80 soldiers were injured or killed, and they actually returned with 80 people, since they made a ‘new Italian friend.'”

There’s a ton more to unpack here, and this video only has half of the world’s countries (the second part will be released soon), so check it out above and learn yourself a little something today.

Featured image: Neil Tackaberry

This Impractically Tiny Arcade Cabinet Fits In Your Hand and Will Totally Play DONKEY KONG

It’s really crazy to see how far video games have come; Even just looking at home consoles, there’s such a more advanced level of hardware that can fit into a Nintendo Entertainment System-sized shell than could back when the 8-bit console was the greatest thing on the market. But video games weren’t always in the home: Our younger readers may have heard of these places called arcades, where you actually had to leave the house and pay in quarters in order to enjoy Donkey Kong on a machine that was the size of a refrigerator, a machine that could play just that one game.

Now, there’s an arcade machine that’s known for its size, but only because it’s remarkably tiny (via Engadget).

Using a Raspberry Pi Zero computer, Phillip Burgess created a tiny Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator cabinet that’s a mere 67.2 mm (or barely over 2.5 inches) tall. Aside from the Raspberry Pi Zero, the project required a 0.96″ RGB OLED display, an I2S class D audio amplifier, buttons, and other bits and pieces. Burgess stressed that while his creation is totally playable, it was more of a spontaneous project that he doesn’t recommend anybody else recreate, simply because it’s not that practical or worth it: “I suspect a lot of the ‘playing’ is just muscle memory from past experience. Honestly the whole thing’s a bit gimmicky for the sake of smallness. Sharing it for a laugh.”

For those interested in trying to create something like this, though, Burgess wrote about his process over at Adafruit, and also recommended some more useful alternative projects for tinkerers looking to try their hand at a Raspberry Pi-based retro game emulator.

Featured image: Adafruit Industries