Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2364
July 30, 2016
Meet the Man Who Made the STAR WARS Opening Titles
Everyone, whether they have memorized the name of every planet in the galaxy far, far away or they call him Nick Skywalker, knows what Star Wars‘ opening title looks like. The font and design of those two words are so iconic that any words written in the same style are instantly recognized as the “Star Wars font.” Well somebody was responsible for creating that, and it turns out a career spent working with letters and fonts paints a much more interesting life in Hollywood than we might imagine.
This behind-the-scenes look at the career and work of title designer Dan Perri comes from Academy Originals, “a documentary-style video series produced by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences,” and while, as Star Wars fanatics, we might be fascinated by the shots of alternate title designs he presented to George Lucas shown here, his entire career and other works are just as compelling.
From his love for letters (as in A-B-C, not correspondence) as a twelve-year-old (which resulted in a successful sign making business as a teenager) to his “stalking” of Oscar-winning title designer Saul Bass, Perri was destined, it seems, to spend a life crafting the words that introduce us to the stories of the big screen.
This video offers lots of great, interesting insights into the actual process and rules of making title sequences, like how actors names have to be sized at 50% of the movie’s title, and how those sequences on average take two to three months to make. Like with any art form, it’s clear this isn’t a job just anyone can do; it’s an art form that requires a skilled artist at the helm.
One that even Nick Skywalker’s biggest fan can appreciate.
What is your favorite movie title sequence? Tell us in the comments below.
Images: Academy Originals
The Official Magikarp Music Video Celebrates the Infamous Pokemon’s Awfulness
We’ve all made fun of how useless Magikarp are, and it’s no secret that they are widely known as one of the weakest Pokemon out there. Still, you can’t help but love the little floundering bastards, right? Maybe you don’t want to have to rely on them for battle, but they do bring a special energy to our Pokedexes, right? In that spirit, Pokemon released an official music video singing the praises of Magikarp, and it’s nothing short of hilarious–and a little sad.
While the song is is Japanese, our friends at Cheezburger did manage to translate the song’s chorus for us. I’ll be honest: it doesn’t really pull any punches. The cheerful child singing the song declares, “Weak Pokemon, Magikarp. The weakest in the world. Weak Pokemon, Magikarp, so weak that it’s actually shocking.” It’s not the most flattering of anthems, to say the least, but it is pretty catchy, even in a language I don’t understand.
While most of the music video is spent taking Magikarp’s weaknesses and brutally highlighting them by showing the Pokemon zapped by Pikachu in battle or actually getting booed, it does seem like the song ends in a relatively happy place. After all, the song is called “I Love Magikarp.” The song reminds us that even though it’s a bit of a worthless Pokemon, and quite a liability for trainers, we all have love for that goofy looking fish, right?
What do you think of Magikarp? Do you think the Pokemon is as worthless as everyone says? More importantly, if you speak Japanese, what does the rest of the song say? Tell us in the comments!
Image credit: Vonguard/Flickr
OATHBREAKER Return With New Album (Scream at a Wall)
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 finally have the details on the new Oathbreaker album. Titled Rheia, it’ll be in our hands on September 30th, but in the meantime we have a new track to savor. “Needles in Your Skin” is an evolution for the band, while still capturing the intensity and energy that makes Oathbreaker so unique. Parts of the song are haunting and beautiful, drifting subtly into your soul. Then the track hits and it hits hard. It screeches and climbs, violently clawing at you while pummeling away with a blast beat rhythm.
Helms Alee are such a great band. The more we hear from this band, the more we love. “Untoxicated” is another heavy trip, a sonic explosion and total mind f*ck. Ripping guitars, droning vocals, and a breakdown that will hammer the brains from your head, Helms Alee are a whole new class of metal. It’s easy for bands to get lost in the sea of new releases that come out every week, but don’t miss this one, guys. They’re the real deal, and a force to be reckoned with.
If you are looking to take a journey into the weird, look no further than Brain Tentacles. It’s nearly impossible to describe this stuff, but we’ll try anyway. Funky, jazz-infused black metal? Kinda? It’s ripping for sure, and it has a horn breakdown, and there are elements of strangeness here we can’t even come up with words for. It’s weird, let’s just say that. Weird stuff, but still something that metal fans will probably dig, assuming you are okay with weird stuff. Did we mention this is weird, cause it’s super weird, folks. Weird.
We’ve been preaching about this new Ringworm album for a while now. It’s time you heard the call for yourself, brothers and sisters. Gather ’round and blast your earholes with the entirety of Snake Church. This album is relentlessly heavy and exactly what you need to expel (or invite) the demons in your soul. Free yourself and seek out Ringworm. Snake Church is divine, an unholy mass of metal, hardcore, and brutality. Get thee to church, people.
Caskitt play straightforward, modern punk rock, the sort of stuff you sing along to in your car at full volume. It’s fast, filled with shouting, gang-style vocals that are meant to get the pit circling and the crowd singing. It’s easy for these type of tunes to go bad real fast, but Caskitt delivers the goods by keeps things raw and earnest. It’s not overdone, nor over produced. It sounds like dudes playing fast, intense punk rock and that’s exactly what it is. You can hear “Blinders” below and judge for yourself, but we think this stuff is pretty great.
Anciients play metal in the truest sense of the word. It’s galloping, heavy, and filled with a rhythm that’ll get your head banging and your fist throwing up some horns. It’s technical, but not too technical, not to the point that it’s obtuse and you can’t get into it. It’s just wall to wall riffs and some harmonies mixed with a death metal growl. It’s good stuff any way you cut it, and we’d cut it with a sword and bathe in the blood of the damned while listening to this. You do you, but that’s our suggestion.
(via Blabbermouth)
Lastly, we have Departures. Their new record Death Touches Us, From The Moment We Begin To Love is a dose of raw hardcore that’s overfilling with emotion. This band plays their hearts out and you can tell they leave it all on the record. “Broken” is a track that fans of Touché Amoré and Frameworks will dig, and since we love both of those bands we really love Departures. We highly recommend this album and would say if you’re looking for something new, give it a try. It’s okay top get emotional, tough guy. Let it out, we won’t tell anybody. Death Touches Us, From The Moment We Begin To Love is just plain good, so spin it already.
Death Touches Us, From The Moment We Begin To Love by Departures
That’s it for this week. Go forth; throw some horns up and keep spinning in the black circle. If there’s a metalcore, grindcore, hardcore, or any other core song you think the world needs to hear, sound off in the comments below. \m/
Featured Image: Oathbreaker/Deathwish Inc.
Gif: Cartoon Network
On the New Season of STARTALK, Whoopi Goldberg Wants Middle-Aged Superheroes
The National Geographic Channel just announced that season 3 of the Emmy-nominated StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson will premiere on Monday, Sept. 19th at 11 p.m., with Whoopi Goldberg as the featured guest. In keeping with the show’s philosophy of allowing celebrities to let their geek flags fly, Tyson doesn’t necessarily steer the topic to his specialty of science, and in this clip, Goldberg definitely strays from that. Like many of us, she wants to see more diversity in superheroes, but if you thought she was going to appeal for more female and black characters specifically, you might be surprised. No, what Whoopi wants to see in a super hero, more than anything, is a “50 year-old ass.” And being immortal, Dr. Manhattan presumably doesn’t count.
Tyson, who points out that superheroes don’t need muscles if they have powers, agrees but is barely able to hold himself together. It’s quite the kickoff for a season that will also include Ben Stiller, Robert Kirkman, Herbie Hancock, Michelle Gomez, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, NOAA head Kathy Sullivan, and many more.
May we suggest The Incredibles, Ms. Goldberg? It’s animated and stylized, but it never shies away from certain very middle-aged aspects of its patriarch’s physique. There is a sequel on the way, so maybe we’ll see more peers of the Incredible family succumbing to the re-shaping that time does to all our physiques.
Would you be onboard for a superhero with a typical dad- or mom-bod? Who would you like to see play one, if so? Jog down to comments and give us your gut reaction.
Featured image: National Geographic Channel
THE ROCK Charms Again in These FAST AND FURIOUS 8 BTS Clips
Throughout all of his outlets, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a social media darling. Hold on, let’s face it, he’s an EVERYTHING darling. From Instagram to interviews, he’s always bringing that amazing charisma that made his transition from wrestling superstar to Hollywood superstar not that surprising at all.
Well, we are happy to report that he is no way slowing down. Via Collider, Johnson, via his Instagram account, has given us a behind the scenes look at the next entry into the “superhero franchise that’s not REALLY a superhero franchise but let’s face it, it’s a superhero franchise,” Fast and Furious 8.
WARNING: Audio is NSFW
A lil’ kiss kiss bang bang. #OnSet #Fast8 #PlayinWithFire #IcemanCometh
A video posted by therock (@therock) on Jul 29, 2016 at 11:17pm PDT
Here’s Dwayne shooting an action sequence as Hobbs (It would be weird if he were shooting it as Dominic Toretto). From the looks of it, he’s catching a grenade, throwing it, and jumping out of the way of the impending explosion. While the lighting is a tad on the dark side, you get the idea. Anything that involves the Rock and explosions? Sign me up.
The UNCHARTED Movie Has a New, Big-Name Screenwriter
Box office gold may be the one treasure that has eluded Uncharted’s Nathan Drake, but that may soon change, as Sony has lined up screenwriter and director Joe Carnahan to write the next draft of the potential Uncharted live-action movie.
Variety was the first to report the news, and Carnahan himself confirmed that he will only write Uncharted, because he is already slated to direct Bad Boys 3 next year. Carnahan’s previous credits include Smokin’ Aces, The Grey, Narc, and The A-Team adaptation, as well as the TV series The Blacklist.
While Carnahan expressed regret about being able to helm Uncharted himself, he sounds very excited about joining the project as a writer. “Archaeology today is in itself an antiquity, but that world has always fascinated me,” Carnahan told Variety. “Especially when you go to a museum today and wonder how a piece got there to begin with. Plus, the property itself is so popular that it was hard to turn down an opportunity to work on it.”
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted video game franchise came to an end earlier this year with the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The game series and its leading character seemed to draw a great deal of inspiration from Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, while Nathan Drake himself was depicted as more of an ordinary everyman than his fictional rivals.
There is currently no announced release date for the Uncharted film, but it appears that Sony is hoping to begin shooting it as soon as next year.
Are you excited to see Carnahan’s take on Uncharted? Who would you cast as Nathan Drake? Reveal your choices in the comment section below!
Image: Naughty Dog
Go Back in Time to 2015 with These BACK TO THE FUTURE Hot Toys
Lately, Hot Toys has been known for taking our favorite superhero movies and creating highly detailed, museum quality figures that fans can display in their home. From BvS to Civil War, Hot Toys has had you covered. However, not everything they make is based on a comic book. They’re great at recreating the classics, too. They’ve proven that with these latest figures. On their Facebook page, Hot Toys has released the first photos of Doctor Emmett Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future II.
Of course Doc Brown is going to have that surprised look on his face. Not only is he surprised he’s 30 years in the future (or one year in the past, depending on your point of view), but he is surprised by how much he looks exactly like Christopher Lloyd. Doc comes with his Bret Hart sunglasses, two scanners, two watches, the future version of USA Today, his briefcase with different time period monies, and three interchangeable sets of hands.
When there’s a Doc Brown running around, you know that Marty McFly can’t be far behind. Looking exactly like Michael J. Fox, this figure, like its movie counterpart, looks a) like he has no clue what is going on, and b) about to cause all sorts of trouble. This could quite possibly be my favorite posed picture Hot Toys has ever done. The only thing missing is having an alternate head of Marty looking completely freaked out. He does, however, come with his shiny hat, his self-lacing Nikes, the sports almanac, Pepsi Perfect, and of course, the hoverboard with a dynamic stand for flying poses.
You can check out a few more pictures in the gallery below, and both figures will soon be up for pre-order with Hot Toys’ U.S. distributor, Sideshow Collectibles.
So what do you think? Are you excited to pick up Doc and Marty? Are you more of a western fan and are holding out for their Back To the Future III figures? Let me know on Twitter or sound off in the comments below.
Images: Hot Toys
July 29, 2016
Cosplay Friday #174 – Silk, Gaston, and More Cosplay by Beautiful Syn
Some cosplayers always seem to embody the characters they dress as, and that is absolutely true of Beautiful Syn, a.k.a. Amie Abernathy. I spotted her incredible Silk costume when a photographer shared it and had to flip through her portfolio. She’s been cosplaying since 2007 and in that time has dressed as a variety of characters from Silk, to Gaston, to He-Man, to Elsa. She creates her costumes and always nails every last detail–she’s especially awesome with wigs.
Just look at this Silk cosplay:
Photo by Photosnxs
When she cosplays as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, she undoubtedly eats five dozen eggs and sticks to reading books that have pictures:
Photo by Clay Moore Images
And that’s not all. Scroll to the gallery below to see Syn’s take on Seras, Killer Frost, and more. Then, go follow her on social media to keep up with her latest costumes. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram. You can purchase prints featuring her cosplay at Storenvy.
Are you a cosplayer or cosplay photographer? Then show off your work so I can include it in a future Cosplay Friday gallery. Or maybe you saw a creative costume at a convention and grabbed video or photos–that counts too. You can drop links to your submission in the comments, send me pics on Twitter, mention or tag me on Instagram, or email me at alratcliffe at yahoo dot com. Please give credit to the cosplayer and/or photographer so I can include it in the post.
Images: Courtesy of Beautiful Syn, featured image by Brilan Imagery
OUTCAST’s Superb “What Lurks Within” Was The Show’s Best Yet (Review)
When the opening sequence of this week’s Outcast, the show’s eighth episode titled “What Lurks Within,” ended, I jotted down in my notes something very simple, but also very accurate: “holy ****.” Turns out it was an apt description for the entire episode, arguably the best yet in what has already been an excellent first year.
One of the strengths of the show has been the portrayal of the “bad guys,” the demons that possess the humans. We know what evil their possession can produce, having witnessed among other things the horrors young Kyle experienced with his mother, the murder of his elderly neighbor, and the rape and brutal murder of an innocent woman. Yet, they haven’t been presented as mindless, one-dimensional monsters. In fact, the more they talk and the more we learn about them, the more they start to make sense—and the more reasonable they start to seem.
Now before you think I’m justifying anything they’ve done, I assure you I am not. What I am talking about is depth of character and clear motivations, which make for much better villains than one-dimensional caricatures. Once you start seeing their side, like Kyle and Chief Giles, the scarier they become.
If the notion that what happens to these people isn’t actually that terrible, and if co-existing with a demon/having your loved ones be okay with it had been the only thing this episode had conveyed, it would have made for a fascinating hour (one where lots of questions were answered about how the possession of this world happens). But the story went well beyond that.
The show has consistently presented the idea that evil is not limited to the possessed, that humans like Donny are perfectly capable of heinous acts, and that sin can corrupt even good men (like with Reverend John Anderson and his pride), but this week took it to a whole new level with Sidney’s backstory.
Sidney has been the epitome of evil thus far—both big and small—having mocked Kyle’s mom for her brave fight against her demon, killing Kyle’s neighbor, and literally carving up the reverend (with what was clearly a successful plan to drive John Anderson insane to discredit him with his followers). Yet, it turns out the old human version of Sidney was even worse, much much worse. That opening scene was a mini-masterclass in how to tell a story with a twist ending. In just a few short moments we got an idea of who this seemingly sweet man was before being overtaken: a patient and kindly amusement park worker who extolled the virtues of fairness to kids, with an affinity of jazz and photography. He seemed like one of the better people we had met thus far, and it made his possession that much sadder.
Until we found out he was a pedophile and a monster, having kidnapped and locked up that polite boy in his torture room. “Holy ****” indeed.
For the first half of the episode it wasn’t clear if he had already been taken by that point, but by the scene with him and Kyle in the jailhouse—where he explained that these humans are basically chosen at random (“You land where you land,” with Kyle as a sort of “match” in the dark forest that makes the people around him more susceptible)—it was undeniable, and far more horrifying, to realize that the child molester was just a man capable of terror as bad, or worse, than any demon.
It’s why the ending—where the possessed Sidney freed the boy (and also fought the urge to harm Patricia’s son, the worst child alive, in the present)—was equally as shocking. These are the bad guys, supposedly, but they seem to have a code of their own, one that has its own morals and standards. So between that, and Kat Ogden explaining that things aren’t so bad being the way she is, as evidenced by her non-possessed husband’s love for the new her, the bad guys aren’t as bad, especially when compared to the good guys that consistently aren’t so good.
(Note: Brent Spiner was so good in this episode that platitudes seem insufficient. I’ll just say that he was asked to do in this episode was incredibly difficult, but he made it seem easy.)
The bad guys are starting to make sense, and who and what is the right thing to do against them is murky enough that for the first time Kyle’s inaction seems like it might be right.
Which is why things have never been scarier in Rome, West Virginia. The man of god has been discredited, kicked out of the lord’s house, and labeled a lunatic. Meanwhile, the citizens of the town, the ones that know the truth of what is happening, are ready to accept it for what it is and co-exist with demons.
“You take this out of me you will leave behind a monster.” That makes sense, and he was right, but the lesser of two evils is still evil, and if no one is willing to fight against all evil in the name of good, then there are no good men left.
This was a standout episode, fraught with danger and suspense, both written and acted superbly, but the best part was it made the bad guys sound reasonable. But they aren’t. What is happening is not okay, and it will not end okay for anyone. The evil that has overtaken the town is a virus, and it will infect everyone. The classic line from The Usual Suspects, the one that says, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist,” was wrong.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he wasn’t wrong. That’s a much more dangerous and scary idea.
What did you think of this week’s episode? We can’t wait to discuss it with you in the comments below.
Images: Cinemax
New Ant Species Named After GAME OF THRONES’ Dragons
Fans of George R.R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire and the HBO adaptation Game of Thrones have long waited for the dragons of Daenerys Targaryen (First of Her Name, etc., etc.) to take flight, but the closest we’ll get to seeing Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal in the flesh might just be in new species of … ants?
A new publication in PLOS One, for a paper titled “Inordinate Spinescence,” describes two new species of ants dubbed Pheidole drogon and Pheidole viserion; sorry, Rhaegal, but you’ll have to wait your tun. The research aims to revise the taxonomic group P. cervicornis based on observations of differing thoracic spines of each species. Unlike the dragons of Game of Thrones, which have free rein across the seas and skies of the Known World, these ants are only known to exist in New Guinea.
Catchy names aside, the science behind this research is just as interesting. These ants have characteristic spines along their bodies that were previously thought to act as a defense mechanism. However, new evidence suggests that there may also be another function to the spines, as lead author Eli Sarnat at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology told :
“The spines in the back do not have any muscles like the shoulders, so [shoulder] spines might be important as a skeleto-muscular support mechanism for the head in soldiers.”
The massive heads of the larger “major” workers or “soldiers” have powerful mandibles capable of cracking seeds open — much like Drogon might crack open the armor of a Westerosi knight — something the smaller “minor” workers can’t do. While there’s still more research to do in proving out this theory, the names are already set; the researchers opted to name the ant species after the cream-and-gold Viserion and black-colored Drogon. The naming convention beat out Sarnat’s wife’s suggestion of a more classic name for the ants:
“We thought it would be a little more fun,” Sarnat said, “but my wife wasn’t too pleased. She’ll get to name the next one.”
Fingers crossed for Rhaegal! You can check out better looks at the newly described critters in our image gallery below.
If you discovered a new species, what pop culture icons would you want to name it after? (Bonus points if it’s Nerdist-related.) Let us know in the comments below!
Images: PLOS One, Masako Ogasawara, Eli M. Sarnat et al.
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