Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2264

Bizarre States #110: Tiki Surf Witches!

Bowser and Jess are back this week to talk about a mysterious noise in Alaska, an update on Robert Durst and Tiki Surf Witches!

Subscribe to Nerdist on Twitch to catch Bizarre States live every Wednesday at 4!

Follow @JessicaChobot, @andrewbowser and @Bizarre_States on Twitter! Keep up to date by Liking the Bizarre States Facebook page! Watch Nerdist News!

THE WALKING DEAD Co-Creator Robert Kirkman Isn’t Telling AMC How the Comic Ends

Way back in 2003, Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore unleashed The Walking Dead comic book series and described it as a zombie movie that never ended. 13 years later, the comic is a massive bestseller thanks in part to The Walking Dead TV series on AMC. And while Kirkman has spoken about an ending for his comic, he’s not sharing those plans with his network.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman noted that he knows “exactly how [the comic] ends” and added that he is “always taking baby steps toward that point as I’m telling the story.” Kirkman went on to say that AMC has “no approval over what happens in the comic. So, they’re kind of a hundred percent in the dark, which I guess is pretty remarkable, and I would probably say it’s a testament to the trust that AMC has in me. I mean, I guess to a certain extent, at this point, the comic book is kind of a workshop of future seasons of the show, and it’s fun to think that I can just completely torpedo the story if I wanted to.”

Moore left The Walking Dead comic book after the sixth issue, and Kirkman is currently on an incredible 154-issue run with artist Charlie Adlard that has no announced ending in sight. In terms of story, the comic is several years ahead of the TV series, which is already into its seventh season. The reality is that there is no way that the television show could ever catch up with the events of the comic without skipping storylines or in the unlikely event that the comic will come to a conclusion soon. Characters can always be drawn into a comic, but actors and actresses may eventually want to move on to new projects. Are Walking Dead stars like Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira really going to stay with the show all the way through say…12 seasons? AMC has floated that number of seasons before, and it is possible that it could last even longer than that. But major cast departures are inevitable.

It’s more likely that the TV series will run its course before the Walking Dead comic book series comes to an end. That would require the television creative team to either adapt an existing story as the conclusion or come up with an original ending. If the series can make it to the current Whisperer War storyline, that could be an ideal place to leave the show at high point. Alternately, the series could attempt to survive any major casting changes by replacing performers or adding in new characters to take their place. As for the comic, it’s anyone’s guess how that will wrap up. Perhaps we’ll see Rick Grimes live to be an old man, or maybe his luck will finally run out at some point and another character will step up as the new lead. However the ending plays out on the TV screen or on the page, we highly doubt that this franchise is going away any time in the near future.

How do you think that the TV and comic versions of The Walking Dead will end? Share your predictions below!

Image: Image Comics/Skybound

Learn all about Ezekiel and his cool-ass tiger!

Leonard Cohen, a True Lyrical Genius, Has Died at 82

It is with extremely heavy hearts that we report the Leonard Cohen, a singular songwriter who has contributed to the great canon of American folk has died at 82 years old. Much of his recent press has focused on darker themes, emphasizing the final stages of his life, but this still comes as a shock to lose such an icon.

Though we will have more to share in the days to come, we are resharing an article written merely weeks ago, celebrating his unmatched songwriting abilities even during the final stages of his career. Though, as the piece below points out, he was often compared to Bob Dylan by press throughout his career, his late start to songwriting gave him a unique perspective that offered us some of the most beloved songs of all time. Thanks for all you have given us, Mr. Cohen.

—

Ask anyone who the modern touchstone for lyric writing is and, more often than not, you’ll hear Bob Dylan. Many regard him to be the end-all, be-all of songwriting, and unabashed “greatest of all time” declarations seem to rain down wherever he pops up. There is another man, though, who doesn’t simply get swept under history’s rug with the patronizing “Dylan-esque” comparison. Leonard Cohen, seven years Dylan’s senior, is just as talented and deserves equal footing with the Minnesotan folk bard—as different as their writing styles and career trajectories are. Yesterday Cohen turned 82 years old, and a new original album (Dylan’s last two releases, in comparison, have been Frank Sinatra cover records), is forthcoming, continuing what has already been a monumental career.

Novelist. Poet. And, above all, songwriter. Outside of religious circles, he was the first to proclaim “Hallelujah.” Through all the minor falls and major lifts, this is Leonard Cohen, the baffled king of songwriting.

Cohen, a Canadian, is in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the American Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and he’s been appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. So, while he may be less recognizable than Dylan, he’s no less decorated—despite the relatively late start to his music career.

Dylan achieved acclaim early in his life, releasing The Times They Are a-Changin’ (already his third record) when he was just 22. Cohen didn’t release his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, until 1967, when he was already 33 years old. After becoming financially frustrated with his writing career, Cohen moved to New York City and began making music, becoming a fringe figure in Andy Warhol’s “Factory” crew. Warhol posited that Nico was especially influential in the early stages of Cohen’s songwriting.

The lyricist would go on to release six albums in the ’60s and ’70s, an output bolstered by his 1971 masterpiece, Songs of Love and Hate, a nonpareil effort of the folk music canon. The album is exemplary of Cohen’s gifts. Cohen can make magic with nothing but an unexceptional voice and an acoustic guitar, pairing artful phrases with the busy plucking that accompanies most of his songs. Sparse and unassuming, it is magical. The perfect vehicle to highlight his unique interpretation of life.

Cohen’s most enduring track, “Hallelujah,” wouldn’t arrive until his 1984 LP, Various Positions. In an episode of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell‘s podcast, the author examines two dialectical types of genius, polarizing the songwriting styles of Dylan and Cohen for one of his case studies. Dylan could famously whip up a silver-tongued ditty in 15 minutes. On the other side of the fence, Cohen might spend years on any given track, and of all of them,”Hallelujah” proved to be his Everest. Gladwell discovers in the episode that Cohen wrote upwards of 80 verses in pursuit of that summit, a climb that continued beyond the song’s 1984 release.

Cohen’s piece, which was obviously pared down to far fewer than 80 verses when it was finally recorded, received little attention until 1991, when the Velvet Underground‘s John Cale covered it for a 1991 Leonard Cohen tribute album. For his rendition, Cale plumbed the mountain of lyrics Cohen had written, cherry-picking some of the “cheeky” verses that Cohen had, until then, only revealed in live performances. In 1994, Jeff Buckley heard Cale’s version and was inspired to cover his cover, ultimately resulting in what is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs ever recorded, a piece of art whose effects were potentiated by Buckley’s mysterious death less than three years later.

Today, “Hallelujah” has been covered by more than 300 artists, which makes it a bonafide folk standard. Pieces like “Shady Grove” and “John Henry,” passed from generation to generation via oral transmission, exist unattributed, seemingly birthed by immaculate conception. These songs’ anonymity gave rise to the term ‘folk’. They were music of the ‘folk’, plain and simple, because no one remembered where they had actually come from. Like these folk songs, “Hallelujah” has a natural mutability, and an empyrean quality that feels as though it were drawn from some divine reservoir. The difference is that we know who wrote this one. We remember this particular reservoir, and as the piece is further enmeshed into the fabric of humanity’s collective musical consciousness, we’ll always be able to trace it back to Mr. Cohen.

The ’90s and aughts were filled with more albums, poems, and books, as well as a five-year stay at a Buddhist monastery, where Cohen was eventually ordained as a monk. In 2011, he received the prestigious Princess of Asturia Award for literature (Dylan, in 2007, received the same award for “the arts”), cementing his reputation as a multifaceted wordsmith. And all the while he continued to make music. His upcoming album, You Want It Darker, will be his third in six years, marking a creative outburst that seems to belie Cohen’s reserved fettle.

In July, his first long-time partner, Marianne C. Stang Jensen Ihlen, died of leukemia. The two of them dated throughout much of the ’60s, and when she passed, Cohen penned a portentous goodbye:

“Well, Marianne it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.”

Considering the context, it’s hard not to envisage Bowie and his final album, Blackstar, which, after much hype, arrived just in time to usher Starman to his death. Cohen has shared tidbits to hint at the tone of You Want It Darker (unsurprisingly, it’s dark as hell) and a snippet of the title track appeared on Peaky Blinders. In it, he sings: “If you are the dealer / Let me out of the game / If you are the healer / I’m broken and lame.” Later, The New Yorker published an introspective new poem titled “Steer Your Way.” Like the lyrics on Bowie’s final release, Cohen seems to be confronting his—perhaps imminent—death. It’s sad, and powerful, and, like most everything else he’s done, genius.

In 2014, Cohen’s son, Adam, described his father as being “on the very upper floors of the tower of song.” Whether or not this is his final album (hopefully it’s not), it’s safe to say that Cohen has long been on the upper floors. But perhaps, at long last, he’s reached a summit, finally mounting the Everest he sought while toiling through “Hallelujah.” Alas, Leonard Cohen is still here, baffling us with his brilliance.

 

Image: Rama via Wikimedia Commons

Watch a Water-Filled Exercise Ball Drop from 150 Feet Up

Helloooooooooo. Helloooooooooooo! Everybody remember the classic Seinfeld episode, “The Voice,” where Kramer starts up “Kramerica Industries” and decides that his first great product is going to be a bladder used for transporting oil? You know how that turned out, right? Well, if we needed just a bit more evidence that that idea is indeed quite awful, now we have it: Presented above is an exercise ball filled with roughly 30 gallons of water dropped from about 150 feet up. And yes, you’re in for watching a mondo splat.

The video, which comes via Sploid, was created by the crew at YouTube channel How Ridiculous; the crew that’s made up of a “Team of Aussie guys who love sport, trick shots and making a difference.” And while it seems like this particular video doesn’t really fall into any of those three categories, it does fall—get it?!—into the category of being explosively entertaining. Plus, none of Jerry’s girlfriends were harmed in the making of this video.

Perhaps the best part of watching the ball drop is watching it explode against the ground in slow motion. If you need a way to release some tension in your life right now, then this slow-mo GIF is here to help:

If this video or GIF didn’t do the trick, you can also check out our list of 12 Pop Culture Pick-Me-Ups that may help you to keep your head up. Although if your name’s Claire and you happen to be standing outside of an office building and hear somebody shouting “Hellooooooo,” do not keep your head up; just move aside as quickly as possible.

What do you think about this mondo water-ball splat caught in slow-mo? Have your intern named Darin give us your thoughts in the comments below!

Images: How Ridiculous

THE EXPANSE and THE MAGICIANS Get Season 2 Trailers and Premiere Dates

In a landscape of truly amazing television programs, a lot of series get swallowed up under the behemoth weight of shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that Syfy is making some of the best genre shows on TV. Two of their very finest are returning for season twos (seasons two?) and have just shared new teaser trailers and release dates. One is the fantasy adventure The Magicians, based on the novels by Lev Grossman, and the other is the sci-fi mystery-drama The Expanse, based on the novels by James S.A. Corey.

The first season of The Expanse was one of the best in sci-fi TV history, in the humble opinion of we folks. It unveiled a larger story of the disparate people of Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt growing ever-nearer to the brink of war, all housed in a mystery story of a missing girl and a sabotaged spacecraft. It also happened to be one of the more cinematic shows we watched last year, and the trailer for season two looks just as epic. Now that hardened detective, Joe Miller (Thomas Jane), and rogue ship’s captain, James Holden (Steven Strait) are working together, and the tensions between the planets are even higher, we’re sure it’s going to lead to all the intrigue we could possibly ask for.

The Expanse returns February 8, 2017, with a double-episode premiere, at 10/9c.

The Magicians, a show we also super like, is sort of like a magical X-Men, following Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) and his 20-something friends as they discover their magical abilities at Brakebills University, a secret grad school specializing in magic. After realizing the fantasy novels they read in their youths are all too real, and unwittingly opening the world up to horrible ancient malevolence, season two will unleash an evil that threatens to destroy magic itself, and our heroes will have to use their novice skills to pay their magic bills.

The Magicians returns January 25 at 9/8c. You can also catch up with a season one marathon this Saturday, November 12 from 9:30am-11pm.

Tell us what you think of season two of both of these shows and theories you have for both!

Image: Syfy

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

Here we talk to the cast of another Syfy show, Dark Matter!

SUPERGIRL, THE FLASH, ARROW and the LEGENDS Join Forces in 1st Crossover Images

It’s been a rough week for all of us, so I couldn’t think of a more appropriate time for our favorite superheros to join together to fight the forces of evil, could you? Luckily, the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has blessed us all with some truly amazing and joyful pictures from DC‘s Ultimate Superhero Crossover.

If this is the first you’ve heard of the Ultimate Superhero Crossover, allow me to explain it to you. This crossover will be an epic, four-night television event that will take the comic book heroes from some of the most beloved shows on The CW—Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow—and have the heroes from the shows working together to save humanity. By now, you’ve probably seen the delightful cover of EW‘s latest issue, featuring Oliver Queen, Kara Danvers, and Barry Allen:

On the bright side, things look SUPER on @TheCW! Your scoop on #TheFlash, #Supergirl & #Arrow’s EPIC crossover: https://t.co/Qvgsb3C46r pic.twitter.com/CsADQeBOoV

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) November 9, 2016

But the cover is just the tip of the goofy, delightful iceberg. While a lot of the images most prominently featured are of Supergirl, The Flash, and the Green Arrow:

Peak inside DC’s ultimate superhero crossover with stars of #TheFlash, #Arrow, #Supergirl and #LegendsOfTomorrow: https://t.co/EiOYPnbP7t pic.twitter.com/tvTMHkgrIC

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) November 10, 2016

There are also plenty of photos that showcase your favorite heroes from Legends of Tomorrow.

There is so much to love in this cover gallery https://t.co/cXtVTx3jOB #SupergirlCW #Arrow #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/fy9nKcISqH

— Samantha Highfill (@samhighfill) November 10, 2016

So when can you expect this epic superhero even to fly into your living room? The crossover begins in the final scene of the November 28th episode of Supergirl, and will unfold over the next three nights on The Flash and Arrow, finishing up on Legends of Tomorrow. The event is going to be the biggest we’ve seen in the DC superheroverse, and will be a great way to officially welcome Supergirl into the CW family (just in case you hadn’t done that already). So if you’re behind on your CW superhero shows, be sure you’re caught up for one of the coolest events in the DCEU!

What do you think of the crossover event and the pictures? Are you excited to see the four shows interact in such a huge way? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Feature Image: The CW

ARROW Recap: Prometheus Launches His Personal Assault in “So It Begins”

Warning: this recap contains major spoilers from this week’s episode of Arrow, “So It Begins.” It is a recap, after all! Don’t say we didn’t warn you …

Team Arrow got one step closer to figuring out the identity of Prometheus. After the mysterious hooded villain had been keeping in the shadows all season, he finally made his M.O. known in the appropriately titled “So It Begins.” After setting up an elaborate prank to let Oliver know “so it begins” (literally those words were written in flames, so Prometheus clearly has a flair for the dramatic), Oliver decided not to tell the other new recruits about the growing threat of Prometheus. Dig agreed since one of them (cough, Wild Dog) already gave up Oliver’s secret identity to a gangster. They didn’t believe the new team could handle this just yet. However, Felicity thought they should clue in the new team members, especially when Prometheus started killing more and more seemingly random people.

To try and figure out who Prometheus is, Dig told Felicity to steal one of Prometheus’ throwing stars from evidence at the SCPD. In other words, from her new boyfriend Billy Malone/Detective Boyfriend. That was a little bit of an issue since he was starting to suspect that she wasn’t being truthful about her work and her friends with him. But she stole it anyway! Not a good way to keep a healthy relationship, Felicity. Even Oliver knew that, and that’s saying something!

As for Oliver’s love life, now that he knew about Felicity’s new boyfriend, he was ready to move on with someone new as well. Too bad he picked ruthless reporter Susan Williams as the new object of his affections, because unknown to him, she had just discovered one of his many deep secrets: he was in Russia when he was supposedly stranded on Lian Yu for five years. She also incited a city-wide panic by reporting on the “throwing star killer” a.k.a. Prometheus, causing a riot that Team Arrow had to stop and clean up. That meant Oliver finally clued in his new recruits about this new threat, but they were salty that they weren’t told about him earlier.

However, their hurt feelings were put on the backburner when Curtis and Felicity realized that Prometheus was killing people whose names were anagrams for names on Oliver’s season one List—the people that he killed as the Hood way back when he first returned to Star City. Whoa, twist! What an awesome way to bring things full circle. I love it. The new recruits, however, were all shocked, horrified and disgusted to hear about Oliver’s past as the Hood and the Arrow before he became Green Arrow, and Ragman even went so far to say that Prometheus was sending a message that the Green Arrow is the true serial killer here. Ouch.

The new recruits met up to discuss their issues with Oliver hiding his past and only sharing new information with his A Team a.k.a. Original Team Arrow. The recruit who took it the hardest: Evelyn. Meanwhile, Dig had a heart-to-heart with Oliver after the way the recruits reacted to his past really got to him. Dig helped him see he’s not the same person he used to be when he had the List, and only kills as a last resort now as opposed to the first resort, meaning he has evolved and grown in the past four years. But they all had to pause in their processing of feelings when Felicity figured out six potential new Prometheus victims in the city, so Team Arrow suited up and split up to guard each one.

Evelyn’s target was the unlucky next victim of Prometheus, and she engaged him in a brutal fight in a subway car while the rest of Team Arrow arrived. Prometheus escaped, but blew up the train after he left. Oliver, Evelyn, and the target managed to get to safety just in time though. Success! As Mayor, Oliver helped put the six potential victims into witness protection until they caught Prometheus, and Evelyn later reconciled with Oliver.

As for Felicity’s romantic issues, she decided to come clean to Detective Boyfriend about her working for the Green Arrow after seeing how Oliver once again tried to hide secrets from his team, and to her surprise, he actually took it really well! I think he kind of fanboyed about it for a bit, too. However, something not taken well is the news that Prometheus has been using throwing stars made from metal from Oliver’s arrows that he had used over the past four years. Felicity and Oliver then realized that Prometheus has access to the SCPD lockup if he’s using arrows from past crimes, meaning he’s a member of the SCPD. That is really, really not good.

Meanwhile, Thea wanted to put together a music and arts festival to generate revenue for Star City, and Oliver gave her the go ahead to work on it with Deputy Mayor Lance. But after the recovering alcoholic kept disappearing and showing up late, she started to suspect the worst, and went through his office and found a bottle of booze. Uh-oh. Turns out that Lance never actually recovered, and he’d been drinking this entire time. While Lance tried to get Thea to give up on him, she refused, and decided to go with him to an AA meeting to help him actually recover this time. But when the camera flashed to him at the very end of the episode, his arm had a deep gash in it, and he had one of Prometheus’ throwing stars on his table. There’s no way he’s Prometheus … right?!

And in this week’s Russian flashback, Kovar (Oliver’s target) declared war against the Bratva. He attacked a Bratva bar to warn them to stay away from his new casino, and so Oliver’s superiors told him to pretend to be an interested investor in the casino using his old identity as “rich playboy” to get into Kovar’s inner circle. It almost worked until Oliver got caught and knocked out. He woke up tied to a chair in front of Kovar. Ladies and gentleman, Dolph Londgren has arrived!

What did you think of this week’s Arrow? Tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Images: The CW

GAME OF THRONES Re-Throned: “Blackwater” (S2, E9)

Winter is coming, but not soon enough. So to help pass the time until season seven of Game of Thrones, we’re doing a weekly re-watch of the series, episode-by-episode, with the knowledge of what’s to come and—therefore—more information about the unrevealed rich history of events that took place long before the story began. Be warned, though: that means this series is full of spoilers for every season, even beyond the episode itself. So if you haven’t watched all of the show yet immediately get on that and then come back and join us for Game of Thrones Re-Throned.

Because the next best thing to watching new episodes is re-watching old ones.

——

Season 2, Episode 9: “Blackwater”

Original Air Date: May 27th, 2012

Director: Neil Marshall

Written by: George R.R. Martin

Game of Thrones‘ first ever episode dedicated to just one locale, season two’s penultimate episode “Blackwater,” which takes place entirely in King’s Landing and its surrounding waters, has some great “What if?” moments; like what if Sansa had escaped with the Hound? Or what if Cersei had poisoned Tommen a second before her father burst into the throne room? And, obviously, what if Stannis had actually won?

But unlike most episodes, going back and re-watching this one now is less about identifying important themes and moments, or even about trying to find clues about how this whole story might end, and more about seeing how it holds up in the pantheon of the show’s event episodes.

At the time of “Blackwater”‘s airing, the show hadn’t actually shown a massive battle, and the hype for this showdown between Stannis and Joffrey was real. The budget for this episode was the highest yet, and it was even written by George R.R. Martin himself (only his second script at the time). This was going to be a spectacle. So did the show deliver?

For the most part.

One of the best aspects of this has nothing to do with the CGI or battle scenes (we’ll get to them), and everything to do with the story being told, and how we see it from every angle. We get to see this war through the eyes of Stannis, Davos, Sansa, Cersei, Tyrion, Joffrey, and the Hound, and all of them bring a different perspective on the true nature and sacrifice of war. Going from the tense ships of Stannis to the huddled high borne women of King’s Landing highlights that while not all fight, all are in danger. This bouncing back and forth from different factions makes the show feel like a normal episode, even though it’s not. It takes one of the show’s strengths, telling multiple stories, and does it in a confined environment.

The CGI here is also phenomenal. The explosion of the wildfire is still as stunning now as it was then. It’s horrifying to see those ships go up so quickly, and the closeups of burning men is brutal. With the green eruption set against the black water and sky, it still looks better than Cersei’s wildfire-aided destruction of the Sept of Baelor.

The problems begin when the actual the fighting between the two armies starts. Suddenly it all feels very small, like everything is being done on a sound stage, with only 50 men being maneuvered very carefully to make it feel big. This was a problem I was more willing to overlook when it aired originally, but after seeing what they did with “The Battle of the Bastards,” “The Watchers on the Wall,” and (the best spectacle event in my opinion) “Hardhome,” this could have used way more CGI over practical effects. [Editor’s Note: Blasphemy!]

The scenes where Stannis has gone over the wall and he is fighting in a narrow walkway just looks bad, in a way Game of Thrones never looks. It could have been a set piece made by a mediocre high school drama club. Obviously the budget wasn’t limitless, but it’s unfortunate that it looks like they ran out of money after setting off the wildfire.

If somehow they could ever combine the storytelling and pacing of this episode with the grand scale visuals of “The Battle of the Bastards” (a truly incredible episode that was full of plot holes and characters doing stupid things), it wouldn’t just be the best episode in the show’s history, it would be the best episode in television history.

But what did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments below.

Images: HBO

Surreal Ferrofluid Reflection Pool Magically Changes to Mimic Viewers

It’s time again for another round of everybody’s favorite combined physics/chemistry show… Fun! With! Ferrofluid!  This time around we have a creation by engineer and artist Eric Mesplé titled “Ferroflection Pool,” which utlizes 320 magnets, a video camera to track viewers’ movements, and of course, a big ol’ pan of the ever-mystifying ferrofluid.

Ferrofluid is, for those who haven’t experienced all of its slick, black, magnetic glory in CrazyRussianHacker experiments or hypnotic wall clocks, a fluid that can interact with magnetic fields. Ferrofluid is made of three components: nano-scale iron oxide particles, an organic solvent, and something called a “surfactant” that serves to chemically bond the two together.

The result of this combination is a fluid that can be manipulated by magnetic fields without the iron oxide particles being pulled out of the oil in which they float. The fluid was originally used as a rocket fuel in weightless environments, but is now used in a wide range of useful ways including for microphones, motors, speakers, and of course, this super sweet reflecting pool.

According to Mesplé, the Ferroflection Pool works by using a camera to record a viewer’s movements, which are then translated into inputs for a micro controller, which in turn switches on or off a series of several hundred magnets. When the magnets are activated, they cause the ferrofluid to bulge, and hey presto, you have a “reflection” of the viewer imprinted into the ferrofluid.

It’s a process that’s exceptionally magical to watch, as is usually the case with ferrofluid. It’s also an interesting take on the concept of a “reflection,” seeing as how the fluid isn’t directly reflecting the photons bouncing off of viewers, but rather using those photons to record an image of what a viewer is doing and then using that information to generate a reflection. Plus it’s oh so pretty.

What do you think about this “Ferroflection Pool”? Have you ever seen ferrofluid used in a cooler way? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Eric Mesple/YouTube

The correct way to design a Death Star, according to science

Unreleased DIDDY KONG RACING Sequel Featured Diddy Riding a Rhino

Although Mario Kart 64 was THE racing title to own for the Nintendo 64, Diddy Kong Racing was another great game in the genre that isn’t quite as beloved, but still has a broad legion of appreciators. Mario Kart received a throng of sequels between then and today, but all the red-hatted Kong’s racing gem got was a Nintendo DS remake in 2007, Diddy Kong Racing DS. That doesn’t mean a Diddy Kong Racing sequel was never considered, though.

In fact, Climax Studios created a pitch to present to Nintendo for a game called Diddy Kong Racing Adventure, and while the project was never green-lit, footage of the demo can be seen in a new video from PtoPOnline (via Kotaku).

The game was meant for the GameCube, although the demo was created on the Xbox since Climax already had development tools and experience on that console. As for the plot, Wizpig and the Kremlings plan to take revenge on Diddy by paving his island home and turning it into a massive raceway. From there, it’s up to Diddy to defeat the baddies in races that take place all across the island in order to regain control of the area and send the baddies packing.

Different from most other racing games, Diddy Kong Racing Adventure would have featured animals as the vehicle of choice, which would have made sense considering how they’ve been used in that capacity before in games like Donkey Kong Country and others in the Donkey Kong franchise. Alas, the game wasn’t meant to happen, but you can still check out footage of what could have been above.

Featured image: PtoPOnline