Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2356

Learn How to MacGyver a Hydroelectric Phone Charger

Are you lost in the wilderness near running water and some useful garbage and desperately need to make a phone call? Well not right now you’re not, but plan for your future and learn how to MacGyver yourself a hydroelectric charging device before it’s too late! In the video above, real world MacGyver Thomas Kim teaches you everything you need to know.

Give it a watch and see how Kim pieces together a makeshift wheel generator that will charge your out-of-juice phone, or even power that small LED light you happen to have with you. With a plastic wheel, a wooden dowel, a waterfall, a plastic bottle, and some wires extending from an electronic device inside that bottle, Kim patches together a piecemeal generator that’s able to power his phone. Later he uses the setup to turn on some lights glued to the underbelly of a CD. It’s pretty ingenious, and the video is just the latest in a series of ersatz creation vids that Kim has manufactured.

To be fair, as Gizmodo points out, Kim didn’t construct his device because he needed it, but he’s a survivor and, like I said earlier, it’s prudent to plan ahead. Who knows what you’ll have with you when you get lost next to that waterfall! From now on, forget about back-up batteries and just bring this Kim-approved kit of miscellany on all of your hikes. And, if you’re actually able to make this thing work, may it be a light to you in dark places.

Has anyone ever MacGyvered a charging device, out of pleasure or necessity? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Thomas Kim/YouTube

Weekend Earworms: Royally Good Uses Of Queen Songs in Film

An estimated 92% of us experience earworms. Despite the annoying times we can’t get a chorus or a hook of an overplayed pop song out of our heads, getting a really good earworm stuck can be one of the best things, ever. We here at Nerdist are dead set on bringing you those types of songs—even if only for the weekend. So shove this into your grey matter!

Before we get going, let’s address the DC Film- shaped elephant in the room. I’ve not seen Suicide Squad yet and I am truly bummed at the response from both critics, fans, and their reactions to each other. It’s completely fine if you don’t like something, there’s just no need to start fights about entertainment. The majority of my life (and part of my job sometimes) is spent ripping down the very things that I love in an attempt to be funny. This–most likely unhealthy–practice in combination with the majority of the cinema ever produced causes me to go into any superhero movie with relatively low expectations. I never think they’ll ever be a good or great film as a whole, but I still hold out hope for some cool scenes and moments in the film. It’s a pragmatic approach that allows me to still enjoy terrible things and I suggest everyone try it instead of blindly devoting 5000% of your heart to anything that isn’t family or friends.

So, thus far, my only interaction with Suicide Squad‘s actual footage has been the trailers and I am still hoping for the best case scenario. That best case scenario being is this trailer, set to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”:

This was the very first glimpse most of us had for the movie back in January of 2016 and I sort of wish it was just left at that. The more we see of something before its release allows us to pick everything apart and set expectations that aren’t necessarily in line with what the final product is. I may be overstepping here but had we just been given that trailer, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten such a poor reception because showing us a bit of the film with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” playing is, in my opinion, a near-perfect trailer. Quick glimpses of characters, slight plot details, and a fair amount of action sets up the… uhh… it sets up the… OK, OK, it’s the song. It’s almost 100% the song that had me so excited for this. Despite Suicide Squad’s reception so far, I expect I’ll still enjoy moments of it but I think we can all admit that cinema is just so much more damned memorable and exciting when paired with Queen songs.

Now, I’m not saying everything can be saved by Queen’s music and one needs only to look to things like Happy Feet, The Heartbreak Kid, or recent political campaigns as evidence of train wrecks. But, having no knowledge of the finished film I will, for now, count the “Bohemian Rhapsody” trailer for Suicide Squad in the “win” column of movie moments. While we’re on the subject of perfect usage of that particular song, let’s revisit Wayne’s World.



This scene is probably the the most iconic use of Queen in all of cinema and it’s reasonable to assume it’s the reason we all got so jazzed for Suicide Squad earlier in the year. This scene from 1992’s Wayne’s World immortalized an already monumental song and has strained the neck muscles of entire generations since. The renewed popularity of the then 17 year old song even had it sailing up quite a few international music charts in 1992. If you’re of a certain age, there’s a good chance you’ve spent many a celebration mimicking Wayne and his friends’ headbanging like there’s no tomorrow.



How could I not include this epic song in a proposal that Queen makes otherwise OK movies even better? I have a fondness for 1980’s Flash Gordon but let’s not kid ourselves: despite Flash saving everyone of us, it’s a bit of a chore to get through. For anyone not willing to sit through the copious amounts of 1980 schlocky-ness, 2012’s Ted had one of the best cameos of all time with Sam Jones playing a hard-partying version of himself and featured the song during a planet Mongo dream sequence that goes down as not only one of the better reference/joke payoffs of the film, but also one of the most memorable scenes.



Oh boy. What can I say about the absolutely perfect way Edgar Wright used Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” in 2004’s Shaun of the Dead that hasn’t already been said by smarter folks than I? Syncing the action of film’s final fight with the pop song speaks volumes to the way Wright is able to fill every single frame with comedy. Shaun of the Dead is the only movie in today’s article I would ardently defend for being great and still this scene wouldn’t have been as good without Queen. In a film already filled to the brim with unforgettable moments, it stands out as leader of the pack. Or.. zombie horde. What have you.



It’s probably easier to name movies that don’t use this Queen song in some form or another (or “We Will Rock You” for that matter). It’s the quintessential song for any celebration where the good guys win and the bad guys get their comeuppance. Initially, considering a certain worldwide sporting event happening now, I was going to make the focal point of this particular scene from D2: The Mighty Ducks but after re-watching it, something struck me as odd. There is absolutely no way that a group of diverse hockey-playing high school kids in 1992 would all know every word to “We Are The Champions” so seamlessly. My guess is that the Ducks were cheating all along and they were all much older than they claimed.

Until I see Suicide Squad myself, I’m sticking with the Queen-enhanced trailer as being a great movie moment. Especially since I just discovered Panic! At The Disco covered “Bohemian Rhapsody” for the film and… ugh… how do I put this? There are just some things you shouldn’t do, guys.

What movies did I miss that were made better by Queen songs? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: NBC, Paramount

Blake Rodgers writes for Nerdist from Chicago, IL where he lives happily with his Guinness World Record for High Fives. You can be his pal by following him on Twitter (@TheBlakeRodgers)

Hugh Laurie’s Back to TV Doctoring in the Mental Thriller CHANCE

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Hugh Laurie is starring in a dark series about a doctor, titled with the last name of his character.

No, House is not returning for another season. This time, Laurie will executive producer and star in Chance, Hulu’s provocative new psychological thriller adaptation of Kem Nunn’s novel about Eldon Chance, a forensic neuropsychiatrist who reluctantly gets sucked into a dangerous world of police corruption, sexual obsession, fractured identities, and violence. And when Laurie was asked about the similarities to House, he was shocked to realize just how similar the two shows sounded.

“It’s a monosyllable. That only just occurred to me as you said that,” Laurie said at the 2016 TCA Summer press tour. “It should be called Chancefordburry.”

But, for Laurie, the similarities stop at the title and logline coincidences.

“I honestly don’t see any similarities,” Laurie said. “Maybe that’s because I’ve artificially … sort of, ‘built a wall,’ between the two things. Maybe I’m incorrect. Maybe it will be a terrible distraction for the audience but I hope not because to me, the characters are massively different. Their practices are different, their attitudes about life are different, the story that unfolds is infinitely removed from that other world you mentioned.”

Looking back on his long-running drama House, Laurie recalled how the series was both a comedy and drama. But unlike House—who dealt with physical injuries and diseases and disorders—Chance deals with the much more nebulous field of the mind, which can lead to feelings of being worthless when you can’t “cure” a patient.

“I feel inconsequential and impotent every day. That is my natural state,” Laurie said with a laugh. “My father was a doctor, a general practitioner. And very clearly, I remember at Christmas and various times of the year, he would get gifts from grateful patients. A pair of socks, a bottle of wine. ‘Dear doctor, thank you for lancing my boil.’ He did things and made people’s lives better and people expressed gratitude for that.”

He continued, “In preparation for Chance, I spent some time with a neuropsychiatrist in London, and I asked him whether he kept in touch with patients, whether he got Christmas cards. He said, ‘absolutely not, because the truth is, I don’t heal anybody. The best I can do is manage incredibly damaged people. My job is about trying to find the least bad option. That’s the best I can hope for. Nobody leaves my office saying, ‘Thank god, I’m cured.’ It doesn’t happen.'”

According to Laurie, “the toll this takes on therapists and practitioners of mental health is unimaginable to me.”

“I don’t think I would last a week having to confront this kind of pain and suffering and know that actually, the best you can do is hold someone’s hand and just guide them through something that is almost unsurvivable,” Laurie said. “That takes an enormous toll and when we join him in the story, Chance has paid about as much as he can pay of that toll. He’s reached a point where it has become intolerable to simply carry on, knowing that he’s not making a difference. After all, what we’d all like to have on our gravestones is they ‘made a difference.’ It’s a modest ambition but a pretty important one, I think.”

And that’s why this role and series appealed so much to Laurie, because it dealt with something that is still so wildly misunderstood and is generally still a mystery.

“Neuroscience is absolutely fascinating,” Laurie said. “And yet, psychiatry and neuroscience, we can’t know everything. We don’t. We’re coloring bits of the brain. I don’t mean to disrespect, but it’s got a ways to go and I think it will become more and more valued as time goes by.”

Are you looking forward to Chance? Let us know in the comments below.

Image: Hulu

Chance premieres Wednesday, Oct. 19 on Hulu.

Scream At A Wall: The New RUSSIAN CIRCLES Is Freaking Amazing

Wipe the blood from your teeth and get in the pit: it’s time for a recap of this week’s best hardcore, metal, and punk rock. We dug through the record crates to find the new tunes we think you need to spin and rage to. Looking for some new death metal to bring into your life? Got you covered. Need some grindcore to get your wedding reception off on the right foot? Say no more. Strap in kiddies, it’s time to rock.

We’ve been so excited for this record. When it comes to heavy, riff-driven, instrumental rock, nobody is better than Russian Circles. Every single album this trio has done is amazing, and their latest effort, Guidance, is no exception. Produced by the masterful Kurt Ballou, this album is Russian Circles at their rawest. It’s a post-metal godsend, a pummeling triumph from start to finish. This is the perfect soundtrack to kick some ass and chew bubble gum to, the sort of record that gets you fired up. You can finally own this bad boy or stream it below, but we highly recommend picking this thing up. It’s the kind of album that you want to have in your collection, just in case you need to get super pumped at any particular moment.

In considerably less awesome news, The Dillinger Escape Plan have announced that their upcoming album will be their last. After two decades and a revolving door of members, the chaotic and volatile band is calling it quits, but not before they unleash a little more mayhem on the world. “Limerent Death” is the first track they’ve shared off of Disassociation which is due October 14. It sounds like a Dillinger Escape Plan song, but somehow stranger and more twisted. Frantic and fearless, this band has always been one of those acts that you assumed would always be there, tearing up shows across the world every few years and leaving fans bloodied and bruised. Their demise is a shocker, for sure, but at least they are going out on top. We’ll miss you, Dillinger.

Holy crap, Knife Hits just might be our new favorite band. These dudes do not mess around, as is evident by the track below. Intense and blistering, this stuff hits you hard, crushes your heart, and is done in fifty-two seconds. Fans of the screamo slash grind of yesteryear will love this stuff. Knife Hits are releasing their first album, titled Eris, this September and the whole thing is a freaking ripper. Half the tracks on this monster don’t even pass the minute mark. It’s all killer; it’ll set your ears on fire. [Decibel]

New Trap Them! Guys, we freaking love Trap Them. They are, perhaps, the ugliest band in hardcore, playing grimy, dirty songs that are sure to make any mother cry. Case in point, “Hellionaires,” off of their upcoming Crown Feral. Listening to this song is like getting your face dragged across the asphalt, but in a good way, you know? It’s relentless and vicious in a way that only Trap Them seem to truly capture. We should also note that this one is also produced by the Kurt Ballou. That dude knows how to pick his projects,right?

Gatecreeper definitely wins the award for best band name, that much is certainly. Their heavy, menacing sound is likely to win some awards. Best growl? That one goes to Gatecreeper. These Arizona natives are poised to go big time and songs like “Craving Flesh” are the reason why. This is the sort of metal that requires some serious horn throwing and head banging. Plus, these guys are going on tour with Oathbreaker, Iron Reagan, and Skeletonwitch this fall. If that’s not one hell of an amazing show, then we don’t know what is. Cut the sleeves off of your shirt and grow your hair out, Gatecreeper is taking over the world.

Sonoran Depravation by GATECREEPER

Turnstile play a brand of hardcore that you don’t hear enough these days. If these guys had hit in the ’90s or late ’80s they’d be the biggest band in the scene. This stuff invokes the old guard, like Gorilla Biscuits or Youth of Today, the kind of hardcore that demands a stage dive into an endless sea of circle pits. The vocals are all shouts, the guitars are punk rock, and there’s even a breakdown (or two). This is the hardcore most of us grew up with, no frills, no bullshit. It’s not about fancy haircuts and cool fashion, it’s about energy, insanity, and shouting your lungs out.

Aside from having the coolest album cover we’ve seen in a while, Barishi also have some riffs and atmosphere. “Blood from the Lions Mouth” a track from the album of the same name and it’s rad stuff. It’s metal that takes you on a journey; listening to this song is like stepping into the Upside Down. It’s almost pretty at times, if not for the shredding vocals and sinister mood. It’s never overdone, never bigger than is has to be. Barishi is just a presence, a band you can’t ignore and that demands your attention. If these guys aren’t on your radar you probably need to take your radar in for repairs. It’s clearly broken and not functioning properly. [Revolver]

Hey, that’s it for us this week. What are you spinning lately? Got a heavy playlist you need the world to hear? Sound off in the comments below. Keep on screaming.

Image: Nicholas Sayers/Sargent House/Russin Circles/Cartoon Network

 

George R.R. Martin’s Comic Anthology, WILD CARDS, is Coming to TV

Long before George R.R. Martin was a world famous fantasy author, he was a huge comic book fan who even wrote letters to Marvel in the early years of the Fantastic Four. But Martin’s love of comics ran deep; he even went so far as to play a key role in founding the Wild Cards superhero universe that has spanned multiple authors across several anthologies and novels in its 30 year existence. And now, Wild Cards is making the leap to live-action TV.

On his official site, Martin announced that Universal Cable Productions has picked up the rights to adapt Wild Cards for “what we hope will be the first of several interlocking series,” executive produced by WC originator, Melinda M. Snodgrass. However, Martin will not directly participate in the Wild Cards adaptation because he has a development deal with HBO, and as he puts it: “I am writing The Winds of Winter, as I believe most of you will recall.” So don’t freak out, A Song of Ice and Fire fans! Martin added that “I hope you’re as excited as I am. Of course, Hollywood is Hollywood, and nothing is ever certain in development… but I think I hope I cross my fingers that the Wild Cards will be coming to your home screens in the next year or two.”

Snodgrass—who still co-edits the series alongside Martin—will executive produce the adaptation with Gregory Noveck, who previously attempted to bring Wild Cards to Syfy Films and Universal as a movie in 2011.

For the uninitiated, Wild Cards is set in an alternate universe in which an alien strain (known as the Wild Card virus) was released over New York City in 1946. And while 90% of the virus’ victims died, 9% were physically mutated and given the nicknames “Jokers” and 1% of the infected humans developed superpowers, which led them to be nicknamed “Aces.” Wild Cards actually began as a RPG that was run by Martin and played with his fellow science fiction writers before they decided to turn it into an anthology series. High Stakes, the newest Wild Cards anthology, will be released by Tor Books on August 23.

With a universe as expansive and chockablock with colorful characters, there’s still much to discover about what a Wild Cards TV series will look like. Martin did offer one hint, however: “Only one thing I can say for (almost) sure. You will be seeing Croyd Crenson, no matter shape the eventual show or shows ends up taking. It wouldn’t be Wild Cards without the Sleeper. So there it is.” In the novels, the Sleeper has one of the most unique abilities in that world—spoilers ahead!—every time he goes to sleep, Croyd Crenson wakes up physically transformed into a new man with new powers. He can even alternate between a powerful Ace and a hideously deformed Joker. Potentially, that could mean that several actors could portray the Sleeper, if his entire physical shape changes in this adaptation.

Which network would you like to see pick up Wild Cards? And which characters do you want to see in live-action? Unleash your thoughts in the comment section below!

Image: Tor Books

Skynet Alert: You Can Now Get a Tattoo from a Robot

Like any rational human being, you probably long for the day when a machine can stab you hundreds or thousands of times while you’re strapped to a workout bench in an industrial warehouse. Fortunately, that day isn’t too far off.

The Verge is reporting that design team Appropriate Audiences (Pierre Emm and Johan da Silveira in human speak) has improved on Tatoué, their earlier tattooing robot triumph built by adding a needle arm to a 3D printing machine, to bring a sci-fi-esque tool to tattoo shops. The new project involves an industrial robot that looks like it would be more at home sliding a Buick door into place than doing the delicate work of depositing an inky spiral into a man’s skin without, say, ripping his entire leg off. But here we are.

Check out the video below from the Vimeo channel Pier 9:

Okay, so, the downsides are as obvious as the duct tape burn that guy’s about to experience, but the upsides are fantastic. As these robots advance, they should be able to work faster and longer than human artists, although it’s hard to say that they’ll be able to create more intricate work if you’ve seen some of the fantastic stuff artists are churning out these days.

Still, it’s no wonder why Appropriate Audiences is planning to turn their robo-inker into a commercial venture.

“It was not the goal in the beginning,” they told The Verge. “But many of the tattoo artists and studios we have worked with along the way are impatient to get their hands on these machines.”

Of course they are. You can just imagine formerly annoyed artists pointing drunken idiots toward the tattoo bot when they request the standard Peeing Calvin off the wall. Want Kanji symbols that may or may not mean “Happiness”? Lie perfectly still and let the robot take over.

Featured Image: Pier 9/Vimeo

SAUSAGE PARTY, Rocky Rococo, Baseball Stories, More: Upcoming Podcasts

Coming up this week on the Nerdist Podcast Network (subject as always to schedule changes, production issues, and random mishaps):

After a Hostful Nerdist Podcast comes your way, we’ll have Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg on to talk about comedy and movies and Canada and their new R-rated animated movie Sausage Party, sentient food voiced by an all-star cast, and producing the TV version of Preacher. So there’ll be plenty to talk about.

Maltin on Movies has a great, great guest this week, Phil Proctor, who you would know… well, you’d know his voice, because he’s been everywhere, most notably as Phil and Lil’s dad Howard DeVille on Rugrats but with voice roles in, oh, The Lion King, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., little pictures like that. And video games like Assassin’s Creed. And that’s all burying the lede: The Firesign Theatre, and if your reaction is “what?,” go right this second and get your hands on their albums How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All (Phil’s Rocky Rococo, the Peter Lorre-like weasel who dogs Nick Danger, Third Eye on side 2), Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers (my personal favorite), I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus, and Everything You Know Is Wrong for a crash course on surrealist comedy. He’s had an amazing career that’s still going strong with a YouTube series Boomers on a Bench and tons of voicework. Comedy nerds, do not miss this one.

The Jonah Keri Podcast goes Montreal Expos again for a visit with the ‘Spos’ longtime radio voice, Dave Van Horne, who is now the longtime radio voice of the Miami Marlins, owned by Jeffrey Loria, who… well, it’s a story best told in Jonah’s book “Up, Up And Away,”, which you should read. Dave is one of the grand Voices of the Game and has stories galore from 48 (!) seasons of broadcasting baseball. And Friday’s episode has a talk about baseball, faith, and other deep stuff with Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis.

Actor Matt Cohen (South of Nowhere, General Hospital) will bring facts to Today We Learned; Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, The 100, The Middleman), Brian Michael Bendis (you know him, Marvel and his own stuff and all that), and Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones) face The Writers Panel to talk about comic book TV shows at the ATX Television Festival with our own Ben Blacker moderating; and there’ll be a Bizarre States live stream episode and part 2 of a Todd Glass Show “family show.”

And we’ll have way more than that, so go to the Nerdist Podcast Network homepage and Facebook page and listen up already.

Photo: Columbia Pictures/Annapurna Pictures/Nitrogen Studios Canada/Point Grey Pictures

Explore the Cosmos in the “Crystal Universe” Installation

Ever wanted to wander unencumbered through the cosmic expanse? None of humanity’s constructions—just stars and space. I’m talking journey through the astral plane, or trip through an imagined astrological Upside Down… but where there aren’t bloodthirsty monsters. TeamLab, a digital art collective, have created an experience that comes pretty close.

The “Crystal Universe” is a collection of LEDs arranged in a three-dimensional environment. Currently on display in Tokyo, the traveling art exhibition gives the illusion of an endless universe. TeamLab had this to say of the piece, via Sploid:

“This artwork uses accumulated light points to create a sculptural body, similar to the way distinct dots of color form an image in a pointillist painting. In Crystal Universe, the particles of light are digitally controlled, and change based on the viewer’s interactivity with the work. The result is an installation consisting of an accumulation of lights, forming a sculpture that expresses the universe.”

The viewers themselves are the ones given digital control over the environment. By selecting a “universal element” or their smartphones and swiping in the direction of the exhibit, people can interact with, and even control, their cosmic experience. If you’ve ever actually wanted to be the center of a universe, this is your chance.

The Crystal Universe is one of several recent immersive art exhibitions (the Rain Room and Infinity Mirror Room are similar examples) that quasi-replicates a virtual reality experience. Without any VR device, viewers have the ability to feel that they’re in some other realm, like a lucid dream, or Eleven’s mind while in the depths of a sensory deprivation tank. Pretty cool stuff.

Anybody have the opportunity to check this out yet? Let us know in the comments.

Image: TeamLabNet/YouTube

Tiny Disney Toys Get Their Own Comic in MARVEL TSUM TSUM #1 (Review)

If you enjoyed this summer’s Stranger Things, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Marvel Tsum Tsum #1. Yes, really.

Before we continue, I suppose I should explain just what the heck a Tsum Tsum is to the uninitiated. Basically, Tsum Tsums are these little collectible stuffed toys based on popular Disney characters, including those from Star Wars and Marvel. The name “Tsum Tsum” is derived from the Japanese verb tsumu meaning “to stack,” since the toys are designed to stack on top of each other and form a pyramid shape.

The toys were originally released back in Japan in 2013 as a tie-in to the Tsum Tsum arcade and mobile games developed by Konami and Line Corporation. Not long after, Disney began to sell them in the United States in Disney theme parks and stores. A sort of combination of Beanie Babies, Funko POP! vinyl figures, and Hello Kitty, the Tsum Tsums have become quite popular with collectors as of late.

So how in the world do you make a narrative story out of Tsum Tsums of all things?? Well, luckily writer Jacob Chabot doesn’t really make it about the little critters at all, but instead about a group of kids who discover the creatures. (In this story, Tsum Tsums are from outer space.) In fact, space is where our story begins, with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians are trying to stop a shipment of some sort of mysterious illegal cargo, which slips away from Rocket and Groot and ends up barreling towards Earth in a crate.

It’s here that we are introduced to our protagonists, a trio of preteen kids who live in the same apartment complex in New York City. There’s Holly Hae, a young girl who lives in 16F; Albert “Bert” Ergle, occupant of 9B; and Duncan Diggs, aka “Dunk,” resident of 7G. All three kids are nerds in your classic Goonies mold–and this is where the Stranger Things comparison comes in, because this kids are an extremely likable group of little nerds from the get-go. They’re are all obsessed with the superheroes of the Marvel Universe, so when they spot Iron Man flying around their neighborhood, it’s the greatest day of their lives.

But their lives get a whole lot more interesting than just Iron Man flying around when the alien crate holding the Tsum Tsums end up crashing on the kid’s apartment building roof, and they act like they all just got the coolest toys ever made (I suppose that’s where this comics gets the most on-the-nose as a giant toy ad). Dunk is convinced that these weird aliens are going to give him powers, and considering they all live in the Marvel Universe, that’s not a far fetched notion for a kid to have. The bulk of this issue is really the kids just interacting with each other trying to figure out what to do with these cute little creatures, and their interactions with each other are well written and actually quite fun to read.

Finally, Ultron attacks outside the apartment building, and the Avengers respond. The little Tsum Tsums, it turns out, are mimickers — they copy and absorb things they see, and in this instance they are proximity to the Avengers and presto — cute little bouncy balls that look and sound like famous superheroes. As far as explanations go, I can get on board with this. At one point, one of the kids asks if them they can turn into anything, like a bear or other animal, to which they respond, “Yeah, but why would they want to?” Well, when you put it that way, who am I to argue?

Jacob Chabot’s writing gives these kids a refreshing voice and makes this comic much better than it really has any business being (considering it’s really just a toy tie-in) and the artwork by David Baldeon is equally top notch. He gives each of the kids in the story a very distinctive look and brings a ton of personality to his pencils. This is definitely an artist I want to see more of.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Marvel Tsum Tsum #1. When you combine the cuteness of the comic with the fun kid characters, I can honestly recommend this without shame. It’s also the rare Marvel (or DC for that matter) comic that parents can give to their smaller children. Not bad for a comic about modern day Beanie Babies.

RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 BURRITOS

 

Marvel Tsum Tsums is available at comic book stores now.

Images: Marvel Comics

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH Movie is Back On

Norton Juster‘s classic children’s novel, The Phantom Tollbooth followed the journey of its leading character, Milo, as he found his way out of a fantasy kingdom. Now The Phantom Tollbooth itself may finally chart a course from development hell and arrive in theaters 55 years after its initial release!

The Tracking Board reports that screenwriter Michael Vukadinovich has signed on for a new draft of The Phantom Tollbooth, which recently jumped studios—to Tristar from Warner Bros, where it languished for years until the project lost its director Gary Ross and screenwriter Alex Tse. It’s still going to need a new director, but we’re excited to see it get some forward momentum again with Vukadinovich. Though the scribe doesn’t have many film credits to his name, he’s written a script based on Disney’s The Wind and the Willows and the famous Disneyland ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, as well as The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto for Fox (the latter two are currently in development).

The original novel (which was illustrated by Jules Feiffer) centered on Milo, a young boy who received a tollbooth that transported him away from his dull and ordinary life and into the Kingdom of Wisdom, where he soon found himself on a quest to save the realm and put his accumulated school knowledge to good use. Along the way, Milo teamed up with Tock, a literal watchdog —as in a giant, talking dog with alarm clocks on each side of his body—who became one of the book’s breakout characters.

There have been several attempts to bring The Phantom Tollbooth to life before, most notably an animated adaptation by Chuck Jones and MGM in 1970. Juster was reportedly less than thrilled with that version of his story, so we hope that Vukadinovich and the new director seek out his advice for the latest incarnation and actually bring it to life.

Are you happy to hear that The Phantom Tollbooth movie may be coming to theaters? Who would you cast in the film? Share your picks in the comments below!

Image: Random House