Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2366

Germany Closed a Bridge for POKEMON GO Players

There was a time not long ago when Düsseldorf’s Girardet bridge (or “Girardetbrücke” in German) looked like this:

Now, thanks to Pokémon Go, it looks more like this:

It turns out the bridge, which is typically open to both vehicles and pedestrians, has became a German Pokémon Go hub because it has PokéStops on both sides, all of which can be accessed by being on the bridge. Instead of breaking up this influx of traffic, the Mayor of Dusseldorf has decided to block off the bridge so players can safely be on it, with transport officials there to block off traffic when it gets crowded (via Kotaku). They’ve even brought in portable toilets and garbage cans to be more hospitable towards players.

According to a Google-translated article from German publication RP, nearby business don’t seem to mind all the hubbub. The owner of Restaurant La Terrazza said, “The Pokémon players are a win for the [area], at last is something going on here. I even [have] guests who play [Pokémon] on my terrace.” Bilk, a local fast-food restaurant, has even adopted a merit-based rewards system for players: Depending on a player’s level in the game, they can get free muffins, drinks, or even an entree for free.

Now, a local bus service has themselves a winner of an idea, setting up a route that will take passengers to the city’s best spots for catching Pokémon or visiting PokéStops and Gyms. Here’s a free opportunity for our lovely readers: Be the first person to write a funny Yelp review of the bridge (nobody else has yet) and claim your 15 minutes of internet fame.

What of the science of this “Pocket Monster Go”?

Images: The Pokémon Company, Google Maps, Uwe-Jens Ruhnau/RP Online

I Took My Son to Comic-Con… to Meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The convention passes were not cheap. Neither were the train tickets. And the hotel room I magically pulled out of my bag of tricks at the last minute? Let’s just say it wasn’t a fair price for a Sheraton with a broken ice machine.

And after all the promise of seeing new movie trailers, meeting stars of films and TV shows and collecting as much free swag as we could stuff into a Dark Horse Comics tote bag – all my son wanted to do was meet NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar…

Who was at Comic-Con signing his new Mycroft Holmes comic book.

At some point in between Comic-Con 2015 and last weekend, my son’s entire level of interest in superheroes, comic books, and nerd culture shifted… to the NBA.

A year ago, he would have jumped at the opportunity to meet five guys dressed as Power Rangers, or been enamored with the voice cast of Teen Titans Go! who were greeting fans on the convention floor… His little nine-year-old mind would have filled with wonder to get a photo with a Stormtrooper or a guy dressed as Deadpool. He would have left with a Suicide Squad t-shirt and a fistful of comic books. But not this year. All that was over.

“It’s sort of kid’s stuff,” he said. “I want to meet Kareem.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has put out a diverse array of great books ranging from historical to kid’s fiction. He has also penned a Mycroft Holmes comic book and was set to speak at a panel on the first day of the Con – which is when we arrived.

Upon arrival, my son fooled around with some LEGO video games and spent ten minutes posting photos to his Instagram account bragging about being there. He then checked out the Square Enix booth and found that they were not giving anything cool away… unless you signed an email list. Then, you got a free tote bag.

In fact, it seemed everybody was giving away tote bags. That’s ALL THERE WAS.

Fantastic Beasts offered us a bag, so we grabbed one. Then we scored a Supernatural bag – which I’m sure was a network priority since the show has been on for 17 seasons and obviously needs to find an audience… Then we got a Walking Dead bag, a Legends of Tomorrow bag, an iZombie bag and finally a Supergirl bag. Within one hour of arriving, we had made it to nine booths… and had 45 fucking tote bags.

“What time is Kareem signing?” My son asked.

I looked it up. 1:30. It was 11:00 a.m.

“Should we just go to where he’s signing and wait for him?” He asked.

“No, dude – this is Comic-Con! Look at this place! Do you know how many kids would give a pinkie finger to be here?”

“Meh,” he said.

Dammit. Those pre-teen years had hit my boy early. He needed constant stimulation. We can all blame cell phones and everything else, but that’s just the way things are going. As a kid, all I had was the radio and an activity I called “staring out the window.”

All my son wanted to do was to post Kareem autographing his comic book so he could upload it to Instagram and make his friends respond with something like, “Dude, so jelly.”

I decided to find where the signing was taking place and make sure we were in the vicinity of where we needed to be once the all-time NBA scoring leader made his appearance.

“Do you know where booth 5537 is?” I asked countless employees of the convention center.

“There is no row 5500,” was a common response.

In the convention center, large numbers correspond to the booth numbers on the floor – beginning with 1000 and going to 5000. However, row 5500 was impossible to find.

Eventually, we discovered that row 5500 was located on the back walls of each convention hall. We found booths 5566, 5552, and then 5549. And then the numbers stopped. We asked again.

“Maybe it’s listed incorrectly,” An employee responded.

“No, Kareem is gonna be at 5537, the Titan Comics booth at 1:30,” I said, referencing the Comic-Con app on my phone.

Finally, we found the booth.

We walked up and my son came alive when he saw a sign reading Kareem Abdul-Jabbar signing today at 1:30.

He took out the glossy photo of Kareem in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey that we had ordered online a week earlier, hoping he might meet him. He showed the Titan Comics employee his item.

“Kareem’s not signing any Lakers stuff,” he told us.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, he’s only signing his comic book,” he said smugly. “This isn’t a sports memorabilia shop… it’s Comic-Con.”

My son’s head fell. So did mine. Much has been read about my history of autograph collecting as a youth – and I know the feeling when a player refutes your request… It hurts.

“Let’s buy a comic and go meet him anyway,” I said. “Maybe he’ll change his mind.”

“He’s signing in Autograph Alley – upstairs,” the employee informed us.

We bought an issue of Mycroft Holmes and headed toward the escalator. I was convinced Kareem would see the look on my son’s face and sign his glossy photo anyway. Come on, I thought to myself. He’s Kareem! He was in Airplane!

Upstairs, crowds formed to meet one-time actors from Battlestar Galactica and Falling Skies. Other small crowds awaited writers and voice actors… but one line in particular had begun to form early and was noticeably over-crowded… And in the line were roughly 50 grown men wearing Lakers jerseys.

“Is this the Kareem line?” I asked a 40-something who was preparing to have a pair of cartoonish Kareem socks autographed.

“Yeah, the drawing was at nine this morning,” he said. “Did you get a ticket?”

Excuse me? Drawing? Ticket? For what?

Apparently, autographs have become so highly desired at Comic-Con, that raffle drawings are held in the early mornings to determine who is lucky enough to get a ticket that will allow them to get a signature. Around 100 people won Kareem tickets and were waiting in line. Nearby, roughly 200 people – many in Lakers jerseys – stood around looking dejected, mumbling about how autograph raffles had ruined Comic-Con.

My son buried his head in my arm as a security guard asked us to stand 20 feet away from the line.

“I’m sorry, buddy” I told him.

“Dad, it’s so unfair!”

“I know, I know… what a bummer.”

At that point, a really kind woman who had been managing the line saw me comforting my son. She walked over and whispered in his ear.

“Wait here and I’ll see if I can find you a ticket,” she said.

“Really?” he said, lighting up like the scoreboard during the Lakers’ 1985 NBA Finals win.

Sure enough, she came back with a ticket a minute later. There was good in the world.

“Thank you SO much!” He said.

My son waited in line for another hour to meet Kareem. The same nice lady even let me go in close to take my son’s photo with the six-time MVP.

Kareem was personally signing everything – meaning he was adding each person’s name to the autograph – as to foil would-be flip artists looking to sell an autograph on ebay the next day for a quick buck. Even the guy with his dumb Kareem socks had them signed “To Phil. Abdul-Jabbar.”

Finally, my son got his Mycroft Holmes comic signed. Then he pulled out his 8×10 glossy. Kareem looked at it and smiled and signed it. My kid shook his hand and came out and gave me the biggest hug I’ve ever received from one of my children.

On the train home the next day, my son was looking at something on my phone when he asked me a question.

“Dad, can we go to the Magic Johnson’s TGI Fridays in Baldwin Hills to get Magic’s autograph tomorrow?”

I took my phone back and told him to stare out the window…

Images: Titan Comics, Stance Socks, Zach Selwyn

Listen to a Metal Version of the STRANGER THINGS Theme Song

I am three episodes deep into Stranger Things and right now, I live for the end of the show’s cold opens so I can get straight to the John Carpenter-esque title theme and hum along to its spooky, driving groove. It is the perfect complement to the show’s eerie, supernatural elements and fans have already latched onto the song, tracking down the musicians responsible for its sinister thump. However, some musically inclined viewers have taken it a step further, remixing and covering the theme with their own equipment. Our favorite cover so far? Little V’s metal rendition.

Since the original song is essentially perfect, the metal cover isn’t so much an effort to improve the track as it is an example of how deeply evil the entrancing progression sounds. Little V’s cover is far more confrontational and abrasive than S U R V I V E’s roiling, disconcerting synth composition, but still manages to suck you into the same abyss, if you aren’t simply watching the incredibly hokey video of the musician going to town on an assortment of electric instruments. Visuals aside, can you imagine if this shredding opened the show? The style of the series would have to lean much harder into Rob Zombie, over-the-top-horror territory. I love the show as is, but that certainly would be a strange take.

What do you think of the metal version of the Stranger Things soundtrack? Think the original was already metal enough? Let us know in the comments below.

Image: Netflix

Matt Grosinger is the music editor for Nerdist and desperately needs to finish watching Stranger Things so that his coworkers don’t spoil him.

The Best of SDCC Cosplay is Here in New Montage Video

I just spent five full days at Comic-Con in San Diego (I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the floor on Wednesday), and while there I saw thousands and thousands of cosplayers in person (including roughly 400 Harley Quinns). In the convention center, on the street, in every restaurant, bar, hotel, and bathroom I entered there were scores of people dressed as their favorite video game, movie, television, and cartoon characters.

To fully appreciate the scope of the cosplay community and the massive crush of humanity that is Comic-Con though, watch this outstanding montage (set to “The Weekend” by Allen Stone) of some of the very best get-ups from the Nerd Super Bowl, put together by Sneaky Zebra in conjunction with Loot Crate.

What’s crazy? For every amazing costume you see here, I basically didn’t, which should give you some perspective on just how many people show up to the event dressed in character. Since I’ve left San Diego, I’ve found myself looking through galleries of some of the best, angry with myself that I missed this one or that. But I also know I witnessed some that haven’t been celebrated yet that deserve just as much praise, but the sheer number of people doing it is just so massive it is impossible to get them all.

It’s also worth noting that even though it was San Diego, it was not only really hot but incredibly muggy there, so know that the people in the big, heavy, complicated costumes made a real commitment to help set the tone and tenor of the event, which feels like the happiest place in the world (even if you can’t get anywhere and then have to stand in line when you do).

Comic-Con wouldn’t be the weekend it is without all the cosplayers adding so much flair, creativity, and talent to the proceedings. I just wish instead of thousands and thousands I could have seen them all.

But hey, there’s always next year.

Which cosplay from SDCC 2016 is your favorite?

Images: Sneaky Zebra

THE EXPANSE Cast and Creators on Season 2

At San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, we had the pleasure of sitting down with a few of the folks behind Syfy’s hit show, The Expanse. Those who’re caught up, will understand why it was such a big deal. The season one finale in February was exciting, and we’ve had questions ever since. With filming under their belt already, actors Thomas Jane (Miller), Cas Anvar (Alex), and Wes Chatham (Amos) were able to tease what’s on the pipeline for their respective characters, with additional context provided by showrunners Mark Fergus, and Naren Shankar.

On season two, executive producer Naren Shankar stated, “Now we can play a lot of things in forward momentum and discovery. That’s the big difference. It’s not a shadow play, like ‘who’s doing what, and what is it about.’  It’s about this Protomolecule: what it means, what it actually does, who has it who wants it. It’s a different tone in that sense.”

With the new season, we’ll be introduced to a fan favorite from The Expanse book series: Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams). As with Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Bobbie is being introduced much earlier than in the books. According to Shankar, the character will appear within the first five seconds of season two. “She brings a different perspective into the storyline, one that we didn’t really dwell on or drill into last season, and it gives us another set of people to play with and launches the show into a very different place. It’s kind of a mission statement for us for season two”, Shankar explained.

As he mentioned, Bobbie will provide the Mars perspective (much like Chrisjen did with Earth) of what’s been going on. Though we will see her suit, her introduction serves as more of a prologue for the character. In the season premiere, it was also teased that we’ll be seeing a massive battle, with more on the way.

“It’s a little bit like a prologue actually. It almost exists a little bit out of time. You’re meeting Bobbie on Mars. It could be happening some time earlier in season 1.” explained Fergus.

“The heart of the mystery this year is the protomolecule: what is it, how is it changing, what it means, what is it trying to do? That just runs through the entire thirteen episodes of season two”, teased Shankar.

Aside from the new character, familiar favorites will be faced with some difficult times next season. Miller, for instance, has a lot of baggage after finding Julie Mao dead. “When you’re looking for someone, and you find them dead, you feel like a failure.” explained Jane. “I think he [Miller] takes it personally.”

Miller will be pretty upset about stuff at the beginning of the season, but according to Jane, his season two arc will be something you won’t want to miss.

As for Amos’ relationship with Naomi, Chatham explained:

“You get to see it really tested. Amos relies on Naomi in a lot of ways. One of the ways he relies on her is she is his moral compass. Amos was traumatized at an early age, and lost the ability to connect and socially interact with people as a result. Naomi is such a special relationship because she showed him how to behave, how to interact with the world and decide what the right thing to do is, and he trusts that. When that relationship is challenged, we see who he really is, how he needs her, and what he becomes with out her. We really explore in season two.”

In terms of Amos’ character, basic survival is his motivation. Chatham explained that he is not caught up in concept of justice or revenge.”He is not concerned with what’s going on.” he elaborated. He cares about his family and he is willing to do whatever he has to do to take care of them.”

Alex, on the other hand, is more concerned with justice. Anvar notes, “In season two he [Alex] has to deal with the consequences of having witnessed the injustice that has happened to the Belters, and that’s going to have a profound effect on him in season two. He is very empathetic, sensitive and concerned with the impact of what’s going on with everyone around him.”

Considering how opposite their morals seem to be, Anvar takes Amos’ interest in Alex as a friend as a compliment. “He [Amos] picks his friends really selectively. For him to actually invest in someone, it says something about Alex, that Amos has found him compelling.”

We’ll be on the edge of our seat until the show returns in 2017. Stay tuned for future coverage of the show.

Hav you been watching The Expanse? If so, are you excited for next season? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Syfy

Audio Rewind: Remembering Eric Clapton’s Other Band, Blind Faith

Eric Clapton is a living legend—we all know that. His fabled music career spans more than five decades and too many albums to name. Recently, though, time has caught up with the guitar god. In 2014, he stopped touring, stating that “the road has become unbearable” and even hinted that “odd ailments” might force him to eventually forego guitar playing altogether. 50 odd years of moving your fingers at breakneck speeds in the name of rock takes a toll, and people expect a certain level of excellence out of Slowhand’s guitar playing—once that capability is gone, is it worth continuing?

A nervous system disorder discovered last month hasn’t helped things. He is still going though, and fellow legends, The Rolling Stones, just announced that Clapton would appear on a “couple of numbers” on their upcoming record. It’s yet another prolific collaboration for Clapton in a career that’s been built atop countless high profile partnerships and a number of seminal bands: The Yardbirds. John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Cream. Derek and the Dominos. Just to name a few.

One of his bands, though, is a little less recognizable than those aforementioned. And the short-lived super-group Blind Faith, who released their only record at this time back in 1969, deserve remembering.

Blind Faith was formed in 1969 by Clapton, Steve Winwood, legendary Cream drummer, Ginger Baker, and Family bassist, Ric Grech. It grew largely from the ashes of Cream, which had become a blues-rock powerhouse, helping to shift heavy, psychedelia-inflected blues-rock into the mainstream. The genre’s newfound popularity and financial viability would go on to inspire bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath.

With Blind Faith, Clapton wanted to explore a less commercially driven form of blues rock, one with more room for experimentation than Cream’s now entrenched mainstream identity would allow. So did Winwood, who left the Spencer Davis Group in 1967 and was on hiatus with his latest project, Traffic. The two were good friends from their time together in yet another super-group, Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse, and the band was soon birthed from jam sessions held in Clapton’s basement.

After Blind Faith was fully assembled, buzz spread of a new mega group that media outlets labeled, “super Cream.” Clapton, whose goal was to forge a separate rock identity, wasn’t happy about the connection. In an attempt to establish Blind Faith as Blind Faith, the foursome shifted into high gear, hurrying through songwriting sessions and, before they were fully prepared, they hosted a free concert in London’s Hyde Park in June, 1969. Clapton was underwhelmed by the performance and thought they didn’t deserve the plaudits they received from fans, but they continued to tour, nonetheless, interjecting recording sessions with quick jaunts to Scandinavia and the United States.

The band still didn’t have enough songs to fill a full set, though, and so they were forced to append original material with old Cream and Traffic songs—much to the pleasure of audiences and much to the chagrin of Clapton, who felt like his new band was sliding into the very territory he’d been trying to avoid. In response, the guitarist began spending more time with tour opener, Delaney & Bonnie, than Blind Faith, in turn making Winwood the de facto band leader. Baker said it was obvious that Clapton was intending to leave the band following the tour, which he did, ending the super-group’s brief tenure.

Still, their time together was hardly fruitless. They’d put together a modest compilation of sumptuous blues-rock tracks rife with each player’s respective instrumental mastery. Clapton’s fiery solos. Winwood’s distinctive voice and lively piano playing. Baker’s rhythmic prowess. Grech’s rolling basslines. In the summer of ’69, six songs were pressed to vinyl, and, thanks to its enduring second track, “Can’t Find My Way Home,” Blind Faith continues to linger on our airwaves.

“Can’t Find My Way Home” is gorgeous, a masterpiece marked by acoustic guitar counterpoint, Baker’s inventive percussion, and Winwood’s soaring falsetto. Its defining lyric, “And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home,” nicely contrasts the song’s beauty, evoking a sense of amused inebriation on some moonlit road—a pleasant place to find oneself in such a state, or at least an idyllic setting to imagine the next time you forget where your house is. The song has been covered by everyone from Joe Cocker to Bonnie Raitt to Swans.

Blind Faith’s self-titled record would top the UK and Canadian charts, as well as the Billboard 200. It also rose to number 40 on the Billboard Soul Albums chart, which was unprecedented for a British rock band. Aside from the album’s success, its most notable attribute is its contentious cover. The art features a topless pubescent girl holding the phallic hood ornament of a Chevrolet Bel Air. Photographer Bob Seidemann, best known for his photographs of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, created the image. After gaining permission from her parents, Seidemann photographed Mariora Goschen—reported to be 11 years old at the time—and built the cover art from there. He released this explanatory statement to Badcat Records:

“I could not get my hands on the image until out of the mist a concept began to emerge. To symbolize the achievement of human creativity and its expression through technology a space ship was the material object. To carry this new spore into the universe, innocence would be the ideal bearer, a young girl, a girl as young as Shakespeare’s Juliet. The space ship would be the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the girl, the fruit of the tree of life.

The space ship could be made by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art [sic]. The girl was another matter. If she were too old it would be cheesecake, too young and it would be nothing. The beginning of the transition from girl to woman, that is what I was after. That temporal point, that singular flare of radiant innocence. Where is that girl?”

The cover was, of course, controversial, and Atlantic Records, who released the album in the US, replaced the image with a picture of the band. Rumors swirled that Goschen was perhaps Baker’s daughter, or, more outrageously, a child slave kept by the band against her will. She wasn’t, of course, and her agreement to partake in the shoot was predicated on her asking price: a young horse. Goschen was instead compensated with £40 and a lifetime of infamy. And when all was said and done, Seidemann decided to call the piece, “Blind Faith.”

Blind Faith is but a blip on the tour de force that has been Eric Clapton’s career. In that brief stint, though, Slowhand helped craft some of the finest music attached to his illustrious name. When Clapton does eventually decide to hang up his axe, hopefully Blind Faith gets its proper due. Because sometimes, when roads become unbearable, and when finding our way home is more difficult than it should be, blind faith is all we’ve got.

Image: Island Records

Jenny Lewis’ Nice as F*ck Share Vibrant Video for “Door”

By now we’ve all been introduced to Jenny Lewis’ new super-group, Nice as F*ck. Alongside Au Revoir Simone’s Erika Forster and The Like’s Tennessee Thomas, Lewis helms what Father John Misty calls “objectively the best all-female band in the last 25 years.” The trio surprise released their self-titled debut album about a month ago and we’ve been listening ever since. Last week, Nice as F*ck made their network television debut on Colbert and marked the occasion by playing one of the album’s lead singles, “Door.” Today, as Pitchfork reports, they dropped the song’s official music video.

The clip opens with Adam Green holding a copy of the “Peace and Love Times.” “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” he shouts. “Is the Deep End Club closing?” After he shrugs, we’re directed into the club in question, where a bevy of women are sitting around in NAF’s already signature “Give a Damn” tees. The landlord, played by The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr., walks in and tells them, “Gotta pay the rent by August 1 or you’re out…August 1st or this Peace and Love party is over.”

Then we dive in to the chugging anthem, whose lead sentiment—“Don’t close the door”—drives the narrative of the video. It ends with a “To be continued…” message, leading us to believe that the story will continue in a forthcoming vid.

The “Door” video is set in New York—could this be a commentary on the city’s infamous rent issues? The gentrification that is constantly changing the fabric of its neighborhoods? Perhaps we’ll learn more in the next segment.

Check out the video above. Will the women find the cash by August 1 and keep the club open? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.

Image: Nice as F*ck

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE Gets a HOW IT SHOULD HAVE ENDED Makeover

At Comic-Con, the How It Should Have Ended team debuted a new episode of the popular web series that placed its sights solely on X-Men: Apocalypse, the third and final film of the X-Men prequel trilogy. But this time, it was an episode written and submitted by the fans themselves!

The episode certainly has the flavor of previous HISHE episodes, as Magneto over-explains his darker turn to his terrified daughter and then goes a bit over-the-top when he learns that he has a son. The multiple movie references are also quite fun, as Mystique has a Jennifer Lawrence sized moment of jealously and Ian McKellen’s likeness is used as an amalgam of Gandolf and old Magneto. Deadpool even usurps Wolverine‘s cinematic cameo, but that doesn’t stop Marvel’s most overworked mutant from a little inopportune reprise of X-Men: The Last Stand.

Angel’s recruitment as one of Apocalypse’s horsemen is also heavily mocked, even though it ignores Archangel’s cooler incarnation in the comics. The X-Men also come up with their own way to stop Apocalypse’s rampage, by giving him a new passion project. This brings up a lingering question from the film. If Apocalypse caused Professor Xavier to lose his hair and turned Storm’s hair white in this new post-Days of Future Past timeline…then how did those things happen in the original timeline of the X-Men films? Perhaps it’s best not to dwell on it!

What did you think about X-Men: Apocalypse‘s HISHE makeover? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: How It Should Have Ended

Check Out This Fan’s Amazing STRANGER THINGS Poster

We’re no strangers to the ‘80s pastiche of Stranger Things. The new Netflix series has taken the world by storm with its retro appeal, concurrently reworking iconic ‘80s film themes and presenting them in an original storyline. (Plus, of course, it has the advantage of modern visual effects.) The best part of the show is that it always remains self-aware of its stylistic origins, playing on our nostalgia for a bygone era rather than cheapening our memories with a hackneyed recreation.

Understandably, such a show was bound to inspire some killer fan art. The coolest thing we’ve seen so far comes from artist and designer, Matt Ferguson, whose art we’ve highlighted before (he does a lot of work for Marvel). His new poster, seen below, is brilliant, a perfect juxtaposition of childhood innocence and the terror of discovering that that monster under your bed is real.

Just for fun and for you. I loved Stranger Things. pic.twitter.com/DCHYox7tY8

— Matt Ferguson (@Cakes_Comics) July 20, 2016

In the top two thirds, our heroic foursome—presumably post-abduction—is biking through the misty woods in a very E.T.-esque portrayal. The bottom third shows our lost boy Will in some Poltergeist-like realm, running from the grotesque creature that’s hunting him there.

“Just for fun and for you. I loved Stranger Things,” Ferguson said via Twitter when he posted the art. The artist alludes in the comments, though, that it may not be just for fun and that prints may be forthcoming. When prodded about selling them, he tweeted, “Announcement soon.” He was also unabashed about his love for Stranger Things, calling it “the best TV show in years.”

And it’s certainly right up there. What do you think of the poster? Any other great Stranger Things fan art you’ve seen? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Netflix

Recreating a 400-Year-Old Chinese Sword is Complicated as Hell

The smiths of Baltimore Knife and Sword have escorted us through Middle Earth, fathoms below an Aquaman-inhabited ocean, and into Kombat with a 10,000-year-old princess. Their latest build, however, stems from a location closer to home: China.

The Dan Dao saber dates back to 1616, a period of the Ming dynasty where battle was commonplace. During this time, Ming soldiers defended China’s coastline against the Wokou, a band of Japanese pirates who regularly raided their waters. But as is the case in most tales of war, the Chinese also stole something from their sailing opponents.

In a move that would teach the Ming army how to fight like their enemy, martial arts master Cheng Zong You developed a secret manual (Dan Dao Fa Xuan) that documented the swordsmanship from these battles. “Dan Dao,” which translates to “single knife,” was developed as the Chinese counterpart to Japan’s katana. It’s the longest of the Chinese two-handed sabers, and mirrored by “Shuang Dao,” the “twin knives.”

“Because this year marks the 400th anniversary of the manual, we wanted to recreate the sword using ancient techniques,” explains team member and master blade smith Ilya Alekseyev. “We used ironsand to create our steel.”

The black or red sand is rich in magnetite iron oxide, an ore that is often locked in with silica, manganese, and calcium. Superheating the substance with charcoal not only separates the impurities, but also fuels the chemical reaction that transforms iron oxide into workable iron. This technique has been used in steel forging for centuries, and it’s very much like what we would have seen in the creation of the first Dan Dao.

While not all of the Man at Arms techniques date back to the early iron age, watching the team role their steel through a 19th century press is undeniably satisfying.

Hand-cut dragon inlays, a traditional paracord tang-wrap, and hours of finessed polishing rounded off a blade composed of several hundred thousand layers – the first true historical build the team has taken on.

Even with modern machinery, this recreation took days of collaboration, but fine craftsmanship was an ideal held close by early Chinese swordsmiths. In fact, back in the ’60s, archeologists discovered a sword deep in the underbelly of a Chinese tomb that, despite being about 2,000 years old, was still etched and sharp enough to draw blood. The so-called sword of Goujian is made of bronze, and while the ductile alloy wouldn’t hold up against steel, the piece is a testament to the skill coming out of bronze and iron-age China. It was this attention to detail that the team hoped to honor.

“For being our first build with no modern tie-ins, we’re really proud of this one,” they say.

Images: AWE me/YouTube