Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2294
October 10, 2016
Funko Reveals New BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES POP! Line
So who’s the best Batman ever: Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton? The true Batman fan knows the answer is “none of the above” — the greatest Batman of all is Kevin Conroy, who voiced the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series during the ’90s, the single greatest on-screen interpretation of Batman of all time.
Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s animated series took the best elements from fifty years of Batman stories and distilled them down to their core. They also took formerly lame villains and made them A-listers (Mr. Freeze, Clayface) and created one of the most popular DC characters of all, Harley Quinn. These are some of the many, many reasons the show remains so beloved nearly 25 years later.
Now, the folks at Funko have announced (via CBR) that they are introducing their own take on the Gotham heroes and villains from the animated show in a new line of POP! Vinyl figures. The first wave will include Batman, Robin, Batgirl, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. The line is set to debut this November. You can check out images of wave one of the Batman: The Animated Series line in our gallery below.
Who would you like to see in future additions to the Funko POP! Batman: TAS line? (I’d like to add my two cents and say I’d really like a Catwoman, Mr.Freeze, Tim Drake as Robin, and a Nightwing, please!) Would you guys like to see the line extended to the other DC Animated Universe shows like Superman, Batman Beyond, and Justice League Unlimted? Let us know in the comments below.
Did you know our own Kyle Anderson recapped the entire series? Check them out in Batman: Reanimated.
Images: Funko / Warner Brothers Animation
John Lennon is Getting a Comic Book Biography
Nearly 36 years after John Lennon’s passing into the great white gates of rock god valhalla, his life will officially reach superhero status. According to The Hollywood Reporter, comic book company IDW Publishing—on the Sunday of New York Comic Con—announced Lennon, a graphic novel biography about the most iconic member of the Beatles.
The new book will adapt a 2010 novel by French screenwriter David Foenkinos that imagined a hypothetical conversation between Lennon and a therapist during his New York City days. Rather than simply focusing on his time with the Beatles, the biography will stretch from his childhood to the later years of his life when he was living in the Dakota with his wife, Yoko Ono. The black and white comic will be available in May 2017.
With the release of Ron Howard’s new documentary about the Beatles’ touring years on Hulu, there has been a recent surge of interest in the perennially fascinating band. And while a graphic novel about Lennon’s entire life will obviously be great (so so so much to cover), I almost would prefer the book to pick a specific chapter of his life and focus on that, perhaps with occasional flashbacks. An NYC-centric graphic novel about John Lennon could be such a cool entry into an already saturated market of Beatles retrospectives. That said, it is hard to a make anything boring about Lennon’s life, so we shall see what Lennon entails.
Are you excited for this? Did you get a chance to watch The Beatles: Eight Days A Week? If so, what did you think? Let us know on Twitter.
Image: Apple Records
Here’s Our First Look at SUPERGIRL’s President Lynda Carter
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Supergirl‘s President of the United States! The most powerful woman (that’s actually a human) has landed in National City to go toe-to-toe with Kara Zor-El in the upcoming third episode of the CBS-turned-CW series. And we’ve got your first look at just how impressive and imposing it is to have a universe where Wonder Woman is your POTUS.
Slated to first appear in the third episode of season two—”Welcome to Earth”—it looks as though the Secret Service is getting extra protection of the alien sort as things go a bit haywire in the search for a potential alien baddie.
From The CW:
An attack is made on the President (guest star Lynda Carter) as hot-button, alien vs. human rights issues heat up in National City. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and the DEO are assigned to protect the President and bring in the responsible party. Alex (Chyler Leigh) teams up with Detective Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) to investigate the case while Kara searches for a recently escaped Mon-El (Chris Wood), who she fears may be the alien behind the assault. Rachel Talalay directed the episode written by Jessica Queller and Derek Simon (#203).
The episode is slated to air on OCtober 24th, with the premiere of season two happening Monday night (tonight)!
Check out the rest of the images in the gallery below!
Are you looking forward to Supergirl‘s flying leap from CBS to The CW Monday night? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: The CW
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist, creator/co-host of Fangirling, and frequent Twitter dot com user.
Gorillaz Share New Multimedia Story, “The Book of Russel”
Forget about Melancholy Hill and Plastic Beach. Gorillaz stopped traveling and returned home to record new music. The band shared another new visual story, this time for drummer Russel, and it hints that they’re going to have new material very soon. That’s not the only good music news. Weezer shared a video with Patton Oswalt, Trent Reznor dropped a sweeping score cut, Sky Ferreira covered music from Twin Peaks, and Paul McCartney performed live with Neil Young at his side.
Discovering that life in a glass dome is not all it’s cracked up to be, Russel shakes off his mistaken identity… #TheBookofRussel pic.twitter.com/YV3MCAulf6
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) October 7, 2016
Not too long ago, Gorillaz joined instagram and shared a visual s tory called “The Book of Noodle.” As it suggests, that release tracked what the band’s cartoon guitarist had been up to since “the attack on Plastic Beach.” Now the band have more to share. “The Book of Russel” surfaced and tracks the drummer’s trek since we last saw him. Turns out he swam to Plastic Beach, grew 60 times his size, was attacked by pirates, was held hostage in Pyongyang when mistaken for Godzilla, and eventually escaped to London where he caught word that “the band was getting back together.” In case there was any doubt in your mind, yes, Gorillaz are back. Russel gave an interview with Pitchfork today about the new album, sneaker brands, and kitty cats which, duh, we highly suggest reading, too. [Pitchfork]
Patton Oswalt is the everyday man who makes anything funny, but in Weezer‘s newest music video, he ups the stakes. The comedian stars in “I Love the USA” as a super patriotic dude that finds himself in the Oval Office. He sings Rivers Cuomo’s part while parading around the room, eventually letting things run so amok that he triggers a nuclear war. No big deal. Check it out above. [Nerdist]
Earlier this year, we caught word of an awesome new film score that Trent Reznor was working on. Today, you can hear some of it. The Nine Inch Nails frontman has been hard at work on composing music for Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate change documentary, Before the Flood, with help from Atticus Ross, Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla, and post-rock icons Mogwai. By name alone, it sounds like a swirl of intense stress and natural wonder. First single “A Minute to Breathe” fulfills that. Check it out above via Apple Music and keep your eyes peeled for the full album of music to be released later this October. [Nerdist]
A video posted by elo t (@helloelo) on Oct 10, 2016 at 1:56am PDT
Over the weekend, a bunch of cool artists performed cool music for one of the coolest people on Earth: David Lynch. The film director, musician, and all around magical man threw Festival of Disruption at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. A stacked bill saw memorable performances over the nights, especially by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Rhye. Angelo Badalamenti performed something called “The Music of Twin Peaks,” which was, as it sounds like, an ode to Lynch’s TV show of the same name. Sky Ferreira, Julee Cruise, and more joined for those songs, including a beautiful rendition of “Falling.” Watch fan-shot footage above and try not to get lost in the eerie vibes of that fictional town. [Pitchfork]
This past weekend, a little festival dubbed “Oldchella” took place. The people who book Coachella threw Desert Trip, a festival of giant classic rock acts and staple bands numerous generations grew up on: The Who, Roger Waters, The Rolling Stones, and more. Not everyone gave a solo set, though. Neil Young joined Paul McCartney onstage to perform “A Day in the Life” and “Give Peace a Chance,” as well as the live debut of “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” As you can imagine, it was pretty fricken sweet. Thank god fans filmed it so we can watch it with AC blasting on the comfort of our couch. [Consequence of Sound]
See you back here on Wednesday for another Music Dispatch!
Did THE WALKING DEAD Just Confirm Our Big Theory?
In just under two weeks, we’re definitely, finally going to find out who died in the season six finale of The Walking Dead. During New York Comic Con, AMC released a clip from the season premiere that revealed at least one fan-favorite character didn’t get a barbwire bat to the head…but that doesn’t mean that they’re coming home intact. In fact, that very tense moment between the survivor and Negan may have confirmed one of our theories about season 7! Today’s Nerdist News is going all CSI, and examining the clues!
There are potentially big spoilers ahead, and there are definitely spoilers for the original Walking Dead comic book. You’ve been warned!
In the comic, Robert Kirkman chose Glenn as Negan’s first victim. But would that really surprise anyone who was watching the TV show? Last season already played with our heartstrings by making us think that Glenn was dead for a few episodes. We still think a swerve is possible, and Glenn could survive on the show. But if Glenn does die at Negan’s hands, then we think he won’t be the only one!
Listen closely to Negan’s dialogue with Rick in the scene that debuted over the weekend: It’s almost verbatim from the comic, and seems to strongly suggest that Negan’s already killed more than one person. We’ve got a few ideas about who that second victim may be, and there’s potentially more bad news for Rick in it, as the clip may be teasing that he’ll be buttoning up his shirts one-handed from now on! Comic book Rick has had this problem for years, and now Andrew Lincoln’s incarnation of the character may be going in that direction as well.
What do you think about the potentially different path for Negan’s first face-to-face with Rick’s group? And who should the second victim be? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!
The Witchiest Movies to Watch This Halloween
Whatever their abilities, appearance, or setting, there’s something fascinating about witches. These creatures that are more than human, but often far from humane, boast scads of incredible powers that leave us in awe and envious. They can soar through the skies, be it on broomsticks, vacuum cleaners, or with the help of a bedknob. With the brew from of a bubbling pot, some spell-casting sisters, and a couple of cryptic recipes, they can stir up concoctions and incantations that bring love, power, transformation, or destruction. Whether they are good or wicked, we can’t get enough of witches.
As Halloween approaches, you can smell the magic of the season in the air laced with cinnamon, and hear it as dried leaves crackle under footsteps. So let’s celebrate these entertaining enchantresses by toasting the very best the witch genre has to offer. Because these sorceresses possess the power to be funny or frightening, this list has a mix of horror movies and more family-friendly fare. But whether it’s rated R or rated G, each of these tricky treats is devilishly delectable!
HOCUS POCUS (1993)
Deliriously campy and sweetly creepy, this ’90s cult classic centers on the return of Salem’s infamous Sanderson Sisters, three witches who lure children to their humble home so they might make meals of their youth. With the terrible trio running amok amok amok, it’s up to a dopey virgin (Omri Katz of Eerie Indiana fame), his crush (Vinessa Shaw) and kid sister (Thora Birch) to send these insidious Sandersons back to hell where they belong! Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy star as a powerful (and comedic) coven, conjuring laughs through slapstick and one enchanting musical number. Bonus: genre fans can geek out over creature feature icon Doug Jones, who piles on the prosthetic make-up here to play a resurrected ex-boyfriend with an axe to grind.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
In the infancy of the Internet, a low-budget independent film took the nation by storm, thanks to a groundbreaking marketing campaign cleverly painted The Blair Witch Project as a real documentary. Whispers on the web claimed this unusual offering dedicatedly divulged the final fright-filled hours of a film crew lost in the Maryland woods where a notorious witch was once said to roam. The movie-inspired hysteria not only spurred genre-shifting box office success and countless copycats, but also made the found footage landmark a cinematic event that would define a generation of horror fans. Even 17 years later, we revel over the memory of sitting in a theater packed with people rigid with fear and marvel how well its low-gore style scares holds up.
SUSPIRIA (1977)
One of the most haunting horror movies to dabble in witchcraft is Italian writer/director Dario Argento‘s giallo masterpiece, Suspiria. Set against the unlikely backdrop of an esteemed ballet academy, this freaky film awash in unsettling insert shots and surreal lighting centers on American dancer Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), who has no idea the chief lesson of this German academy is terror. But as the blood runs and bodies begin to pile up, this naive waif must face off against a vicious coven if she’s going to survive the night. As visually stunning as it is unnerving, this witch’s tale will deliver nightmares in vibrant Technicolor!
HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS (2013)
After breaking through with the outlandish and outrageous Nazi-zombie comedy Dead Snow, Norwegian writer/director Tommy Wirkola teamed with Will Ferrell‘s production company to transform the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel into a blood-drenched and sexy adventure well deserving of an R-rating. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the titular twosome who’ve survived their childhood brush with a witch’s delectable candy cabin, and made it their lives’ mission to execute any enchantress who crosses their path. Boasting a creepy cast of witches, trolls, and a sneering Peter Stormare, this fantasy-horror is so totally bonkers it demands to be watched again and again.
PARANORMAN (2012)
The Oscar-nominated LAIKA offering focuses on a strange and lonely boy named Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who harbors the incredible ability to communicate with the dead. The ghosts of Blithe Hollow are by and large a friendly lot. But when the legendary witches’ curse promises to unleash an band of the Puritan zombies upon the sleepy town, Norman must round up a motley crew (Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Casey Affleck and Tucker Albrizzi) to put a stop her ghoulish vengeance. Told with a pronounced love of the horror genre and a big thumping heart, this stop-motion marvel is a witchy wonder the whole family will love.
THE WITCH: A NEW-ENGLAND FOLKTALE (2016)
Since its Sundance debut, this surreal bit of art house horror has been brewing up rave reviews, building a reputation as modern masterpiece. Set in 17th century New England, The Witch follows a doomed Puritan family as they build a home on the edge of an ominous wood. As cruel clues suggest something sinister lurks on their land (the youngsters chanting to a goat is definite red flag!), the finger of blame is aimed squarely at daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), spurring the spirited teen to make some grim choices. Methodically paced, spiked with gore, rich with mood, and enraptured with historical accuracy, this chilling indie will terrorize then tempt you to “live deliciously.”
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004)
Insanely, this is the least financially successful of the eight Harry Potter films. (Which is to say it was still a huge hit.) But as the years passed and various directors (Chris Columbus, Mike Newell, and David Yates) came to shape the franchise, Alfonso Cuaron‘s spooky Prisoner has become a fan favorite. This fantastic film was flush with dark goodies. It introduced audiences the melancholic and secretive Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) as well as Harry’s unhinged and notorious godfather, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman, scraggly but strangely hot). And in the whole wide world of witchcraft and wizardry, what monsters were more terrifying than the soul-sucking Dementors?
THE WITCHES (1990)
To bring to life the adored and darkly entertaining Roald Dahl novel, director Nicolas Roeg enlisted Jim Henson and company to bring their unique puppetry and practical make-up skills to a tale packed with hideous witches and one very clever mouse. When a seven-year-old orphan (Jasen Fisher) accidentally stumbles across a witch convention, where the wicked women transform him into a seemingly helpless rodent. But that won’t keep plucky Luke from battling back! It’s a kids movie so creepy its mere mention still makes children of the ’80s shudder. Come for the nostalgia, stay for all the slay Angelica Huston brings to the role of a witch who revels in glamor and relishes the grotesque.
BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971)
While music plays a major role of many of the movies on this collection, this Disney romp is the only witch musical to make the cut. Based on the children’s books of Mary Norton, Bedknobs and Broomsticks stars Angela Lansbury as Miss Eglantine Price, an apprentice witch who reluctantly takes in a trio of homeless children to rescue them from the earth-rattling World War II Blitz threatens to rain down on London. But after the Rawlins siblings see their beautiful guardian fiddling with a flying broomstick, off they go on an adventure that folds in a con man with a heart of gold (Mary Poppins‘ David Tomlinson), bewitched warriors of empty armor, animated animal allies, and a fantastical flying bed!
THE CRAFT (1996)
“We are the weirdos, Mister.” With one snarky rejoinder and a smirk, The Craft won the hearts of a generation, causing confusing crushes and sending countless girls to Hot Topic in search of suitably witchy gear, like studded chokers, red-lensed sunglasses, and dangerously short plaid skirts. Robin Tunney stars as the new kid in a Catholic Prep school, who falls fast into a bad crowd of outcasts who are secretly aspiring witches. At first, this clique/coven is a coveted sanctuary from racist bullies, family trauma, and scars physical and emotional. But as their witchcraft begins to deliver everything they ever dreamed–from popularity, beauty and wealth, to boyfriends–their leader Nancy (Fairuza Balk) goes mad with power. From there, these tenacious teen witches will take “mean girls” to a whole new level. But hey, relax. It’s only magic.
What’s your favorite witch movie? Tell us in comments.
Images: Warner Bros./A24/Disney/Artisan Entertainment
Eat These NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Wreath Cookies Before They Eat You
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene! Nerdoween is finally here! Shout it from the roof tops, spook your co-workers, because it’s the scariest time of year when we get dressed up, drink our fill of pumpkin spice and bring out all the tricks and treats.
These no-bake cookies are easy to make and a fun way to incorporate Nightmare Before Christmas into your holiday baking. Cereal treats with a little bit of green dye, dried mango eyes and coconut teeth, these sinister sweets are what makes Halloweentime the best time. All hail to the Pumpkin King!
Nightmare Before Christmas Wreath Cookies
You’ll need:
-Red hots
-Dried mango
-Black food gel dye
-Dried coconut
-Fruit roll up
Ingredients:
-6 cups corn flakes cereal
-1 package (approximately 40) marshmallows
-2 Tablespoons butter
-Green food gel dye
Prep a baking sheet with a silpat or wax paper.
In a large pan melt the butter and marshmallows over medium heat. Add the green food gel dye and stir together until completely melted. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the corn flakes until coated, then spoon onto the prepped baking sheet, forming 4-inch wreath shapes.
Use clean kitchen shears to cut the dried mango into almond shapes for the eyes, then use a toothpick to add a black pupil for the center of the eyes.
Cut coconut into pointed strips for the teeth and add red hots to decorate.
Use the kitchen shears again to cut the fruit roll up into a bow shape and place onto the bottom of each wreath.
Serve immediately.
(And tell us how yours turned out in the comments below!)
Images: Jenn Fujikawa
This Artist’s Canvas Is Freshly Fallen Snow
Why does an artist create something? Why does a painter put brush to canvas, or a writer put pen to paper? Is it to merely express themselves, or to make something that can be shared and appreciated by others? Or is it to create something that will outlast themselves, a record of their time here on earth, and the person they were?
It’s hard not to think about the nature of creation after watching this mini documentary about artist Simon Beck, whose chosen medium isn’t paint, or marble, or music, or the written word, but who instead works in the fleeting canvas of fallen snow. (You can really start to watch him get to work around the three-minute mark.)
This gorgeous video was shared by National Geographic, and it comes from Flash Studio, who followed Beck as he worked on one of his patterned art pieces in the mountains of beautiful Stryn, Norway. “Inspiration is what comes before motivation,” Beck said, describing how he finds patterns in the world that then drive him to create his large, and temporary, works.
Unlike a normal artist who can step back and look at his creation while making it, Beck isn’t totally sure what he has made until he has finished and walked away to view it the way any spectator would, from afar. His walk through the snow results in elegant and moving pieces.
Which will last a couple of days if he is lucky.
So why apply your skills and time to creating something that is truly beautiful, but in a form that is as fleeting as a short rainfall?
For the same reason you wouldn’t ask why someone would sit and watch a sunset. Simon Beck might make art that isn’t mean to last, but he creates something beautiful, something bigger than himself, something that makes the world a better place, even for a short time, for having had it.
What better reason could one have for creating anything at all?
What do you think of his work? Why do you think he has chosen such an unusual medium to express himself? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.
Images: National Geographic/Flash Studio
October 9, 2016
WESTWORLD Recap: Here to Serve You
Before you saddle up, there’s a snake in your boot and spoilers in this recap. You can freeze the snake with your mind, though.
In “Chestnut,” Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is on a compu-spiritual walkabout, but Maeve (Thandie Newton) is the one tripping through a hallucination of peace ripped apart at the scalp by marauding Native American warriors. Meanwhile, reluctant hedonist William (Jimmi Simpson) has entered the park with a white hat, Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) pitches a gruesome new side quest, and The Man in Black (Ed Harris) takes out a whole village in order to find “the entrance to the maze.”
This is how all over the map this show is. No rest for the wicked in Westworld.
First we get a shiny new train and a peek behind the curtain as William enters the bespoke park with his pal Logan (Ben Barnes), a veteran visitor who’s rarin’ to get steel in his hand and something fleshy on top of him. They are the shoulder-dwelling angel and demon personified: one curious about the softer edges of the world, the other trying to convince his white hat-sporting friend to let himself loose.
They also represent a core question of Westworld as an experience. William turns down sex with Angela (Talulah Riley) and, later, with Clementine (Angela Sarafyan) because he’s got real love waiting for him back home, and while we’re not sure exactly what Logan has waiting for him back home, he doesn’t seem to mind treating Westworld as an ultra-realistic simulation.
Is it cheating if it’s with a robot? Even if you can’t tell the difference between it and a real person? What’s the line between a vibrator and a sex doll, and a sex doll and a sentient vibrator? Whatever the answers, William errs on the side of the angels.
Speaking of a sentient sex toy, Maeve gets the lion’s share of the story here, with a stunning performance from Newton, who delivers the smoldering temptress angle to varying degrees of sensuality and sadness before living a red screaming nightmare in the body shop. Her hallucination about being back on the farmstead (maybe she used to be Dolores?) was terrifying, and The Man in Black showing up made as much sense as a polar bear on a tropical island, but waking up during “surgery” and seeing all of her cohorts (Teddy no!) piled high like some nightly robot Holocaust is PTSD fuel.
Her storyline was also promising because of how it came about: with concerns of Dolores’ (Evan Rachel Wood) virus being contagious. Last week we focused on her, and she seems to have passed the story baton to Maeve by reciting “these violent delights have violent ends” to her on the street. Solid shout out to Shakespeare, but the line that comes after it is “And in their triumph die / like fire and powder.”
Let’s keep our eyes peeled for an explosive ending.
Is this how the show plans to structure itself? Watching as the robots each gain sentience one by one and get their own episodes?
And how about all these sequences where scientists sit six inches away from the face of a robot they plan to decommission? The robot, forlorn and edgy. Stoic as conversation about placing it in the deep dark of cold storage swirls around. A fate sealed. These scenes are always shot with such magical foreboding, giving us the sense that, one of these days, that humanoid arm is going to fly out and choke someone.
Out in the wilderness, The Man in Black saves Lawrence (Clifton Collins, Jr.) from being hanged using his God Mode ability to survive bullets, dragging him to a town that almost no one knows about, and then slaughtering all of his cousins with the the menacing heartlessness of a 14 year-old kid taking out ghouls in Fallout 4. Even though the character work and tough guy one-liners are solid, this story feels like mostly hollow calories still. It’s Mystery Box intrigue that could either be the key to unlocking everything or as ho-hum as most video game easter eggs that you slog through the online guide to experience for yourself.
This one comes complete with a little girl’s riddle: to follow the blood to the place where the snake lays its eggs. It also comes after she tells him the maze isn’t for him. Buddhist-style dedication test? Is the maze for Hosts only? Or is it for people, and The Man in Black isn’t as human as he seems? His character is clearly modeled after Yul Brynner’s in the ’70s Westworld movie, and when you line up The Man in Black’s line about how long he’s been coming to the park (3o years) with Bernard’s line about the last time the park had a critical failure (30 years ago), the plot thickens.
Maybe this is a sequel instead of a reboot.
On the inside of the scalp we’ve got a horseshoe maze, a pyramid, and a stick figure version of the Vitruvian Man that acts as the model for new Hosts. After three decades of playing, I hope the lowest level of the game doesn’t disappoint.
Also out in the wilderness, Dr. Ford hangs out with a childhood version of himself (when you find a vest style you like, you stick with it, people) and contemplates a blackened church as the centerpiece of a new story he’s writing. The conversation is an exploration of some of the philosophical underpinnings of why he’s creating in the first place: a treatise against boredom, boring minds and the barren spaces they can’t help but see. His casual dismissal of incredible danger (that rattlesnake) hints at his own current boredom. He’s created a sprawling virtual reality, but even that joy must reach its limits after so long.
His new story will also come in handy since he firmly rebukes Sizemore (aka Yelling British Guy) for creating a new side quest that’s all empty spectacle. I’ve seen others online mark this as a rebuke to the blood and sex of Game of Thrones, but that only makes sense if 1) you think HBO would want to cement a sibling rivalry and 2) you don’t consider Game of Thrones an impressive chess match of character building and melodramatic genius as well as a bucket of breasts and lies.
Still, this episode of Westworld has a lot to say about Westworld itself. Ford’s monologue about what the guests (a.k.a. us, the viewers) really want is a defense of meaningful storytelling that doesn’t rely on shock and awe alone. It pairs nicely with William’s host explaining that there is no user’s manual to the park because “figuring out how it works is half the fun.” We, like William, are on our own, deciding how we want to approach this violent safe haven. If you’re experiencing Westworld, the park (or Westworld, the show), Ford trusts that you already know yourself, and that both William and Logan can enjoy themselves in vastly different ways.
At the same time, this episode questions whether we’re our “true selves” when we’re playing by the societal rules (William’s Philosophy) or if we’re our “true selves” when we unclench and become pure, roaming Id (Logan’s Philosophy).
Can we leer at the Grand Guignol and still have our hearts shatter when Maeve watches the same bloodbath? The answer seems obviously to be yes, but it’s unclear what that says about us.
Last but not least, we’ve got the mildest corporate intrigue back in the bunker. Sizemore continues to impotently scheme, and his tantrum-fueled pitch flops, no doubt pushing him further and further against Ford. Plus, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Theresa (Sidse Babett Knudsen) are something of a couple, and he shares that the Hosts interact with each other because they’re constantly error-correcting, trying to become more human.
One more way they’re just like us.
SOME STRAY THOUGHTS:
Westworld must be pretty dull if you aren’t a good shot.
The Man in Black sequence is also a great parallel for video games where you can get shot 50 times before dying.
There has to be at least one paying guest who is pissed at hearing Radiohead’s “No Surprises” on the pianola. He paid for antique authenticity!
Which one of these people is a Cylon?
Westworld’s has some seriously inept employees. The two morons working on Maeve could have their own sitcom spin-off.
Seriously. The janitors at Google go through 5 abstract interviews, and those bozos get to perform robot surgery every night?
Did you visit Westworld tonight? Giddyup to comments below and share your thoughts.
Images: HBO
Japan’s TED-Themed Cafe Is Your Food Thunder Buddy
We sure do appreciate it when fandom of a movie leads to inspiration of something else. The world would be considerably less fun if movies and TV came out and there weren’t toys, spin-offs, theme parks, or fast food tie-ins. And while they’re not all 100% winners, we sure tip our hats to anyone who loves something enough to devote effort to recreating the experience in a new way. Enter; the Ted themed cafe in Tokyo, Japan.
While it may seem odd to debut a theme restaurant more than a year after the film it’s modeled after was released, there’s more to this one. As rocketnews24.com pointed out, Japan actually released an edited version of the 2015 film that toned things down a bit thus making it family friendly. Instead of the explicit version we saw here in the states, Japan released what (we’re sure something is lost in translation here) was called Ted 2 “I Can’t Wait Until I Become an Adult” Version with parental guidance recommended for viewers under the age of 12.
The Ted Cafe & Bar boasts quite a few Ted-themed items which basically boil down to “Hey look, we made something teddy bear shaped” but it’s a bit, oh…I dunno, off-putting to see the menu alongside a quote from the film on it. Because as we all know “Excuse me, where’s your non jerk off bathroom” is totally family friendly, right?
You’d think there would be more popular quotes from a film, especially in the supposed toned down version but hey, who are we to judge for being the film’s country of origin. What we really take umbrage in is that the dessert menu features what appears to be a ¥700 (almost $8 USD) tiny bowl of gummy bears for dessert. 
Some Instagram users have visited and, as it’s the thing to do, shared pictures of their dining experience.
Ted cafe VIP席
TED
A photo posted by mamitas (@mamitas1216) on Sep 20, 2016 at 7:22pm PDT
もふもふロコモコ〜 もう食べた方、いますか？ 可愛いだけじゃなく、ちゃんと美味しいんです♪ まだの方は、ぜひ食べてみてくださいねー:) #Tedcafebar #テッド #Ted #テッドカフェアンドバー #tedcafeandbar #東京 #TOKYO #2016 #渋谷 #Shibuya #ted
What do you think of Japan’s Ted diner? Let’s discuss in the comments below!
Images: Ted Bar Tokyo/Universal Pictures
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