PS4 Announcement, Shortened.

Did you miss the Playstation 4 announcement event? ME TOO!

Luckily, Matt Lees of VideoGamer.com has given us the short, short version.


I cannot wait to stand in line this fall to see those lovely clouds in person!

El Professore Movie Reviews: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

1978
Director: John DeBello
Starring: David Miller, George Watson, Costa Dillon
* *

"It's man vs vegetable!"

Watching this wannabe cult item from the 70s is a bit like going to a friend's party and having to deal with that one guy who has to be the life of it, but really isn't.

Full review after the jump.

OK, You Convinced Me. Why Iron Man 3 is Going to be Great...

Okay, you guys, so Iron Man 3. It's always easy to be cynical about the third entry of a franchise, but here's the first image that gives me a huge amount of hope for the third entry in this popular superhero series. Let's be honest, the Mandarin is a pretty stupid idea for a bad guy, but the following character poster has just the right amount of humour and irreverence that makes me excited about director Shane Black's vision. Feast your eyes on this tasty Mandarin...

That is pretty awesome, right? The very best thing that Marvel ever accomplished was accepting that they COULD be silly and outlandish and poke fun at themselves while embracing their over-the-top comic origins. I salute you, Sirs! Looking forward to this one!

Thank GIF It's Friday!

Friday is here! Friday wants to snuggle you like a kitteh! You're ok with kitteh snuggles, right?

(This is that singing fellow Ed Sheeran who I don't have any strong feelings about either way, but this was just way too cute)

My Night With Celtic Thunder

Last Christmas I bought my Nan tickets to see Celtic Thunder live in concert because I’m an awesome grand-daughter and I had to give her something better than the Celtic Thunder DVD I’d given her the Christmas before which she’d promptly become obsessed with (I suspect ‘fandom’ may be a thing that could run in our family). I’d said I would go with her and do the good grand-daughterly thing, but the concert was mooooonths away and I was secure in the fact I didn’t have to worry about it for ages. Last weekend the moment of truth was upon me. I was going to be going to a Celtic Thunder concert. I was going to be surrounded by the sort of people who liked Celtic Thunder. I’d seen one of their DVDs, I’d seen the crazy look in the eyes of their fans. I didn’t really know if I was emotionally ready to deal with something like that.

Head below the cut to read about my night of horror and/or lulz.

Bundle of Books, and More Literary Freebies

What do you get when you take a bunch of RPG writers, a pile of their fiction, and charity? The Bundle of Holding, which offers up to eight ebooks in the Bundle model. I came for the Chuck Wendig, but I stayed for the other deals, which are almost certain to multiply as time goes on. As of this writing, the average donation is $16, which is a heck of a discount for these books. Definitely worth a look.


If you're a fan of Boing Boing, you certainly know Cory Doctorow. He just put out his newest novel, a young adult 1984-style thriller called Homeland. What you might not know, however, is that Doctorow releases all his work under a Creative Commons license for free on his website. Even the newest book is out for free legitimately (although you should probably read Little Brother first).


Tor, the publisher, had three novellas nominated for Nebula awards this week, so they are offering all three of them for download for your ereader of choice. I don't know how long they'll be free, but, hey, free!

Thursday Threesome: The Top Three Irrational Pop Culture Fears of my Childhood!

Thursday Threesome is the weekly opportunity for one of the fine Fruitless Pursuits contributors to share and discuss a set of three... well, just about anything! I’m going to use my turn by delighting you with... The Top Three Irrational Pop Culture Fears of my Childhood!

Now let’s be perfectly honest. I was kind of a pussy kid, afraid of my own shadow, burdened by an overactive imagination and - if the following stories are any indication - most probably suffering from some degree of undiagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder. I had plenty of little rituals to keep me “safe” that nobody really ever knew about. My recent trip back to my hometown has convinced me that this all stemmed from spending those formative years without a father and in a small and relatively isolated city. I think I felt vulnerable. But let’s not analyse me, let’s find out why Yoda is terrifying.

That story and more... after the jump!

David Rapoza's TMNT Art Is Totally Rad!

While everyone is gushing over new glossy and colorful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise, there is something dark and dirty lurking underground that blows away all of the competition.

Artist David Rapoza created these HIGHLY detailed, HIGHLY stylized fan-made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle portraits. And he didn't just stop at the main dudes. Or even at April O' Neil and Casey Jones. There is a freakin' Wingnut and Screwloose portrait. Also, Baxter Stockman! Everyone you would expect and a few more.

The only exception is that my man Kraang is sadly MIA. If you are reading this David... we need Kraang!

The above image is just a taste of it. These were made to view at hi-res. Click through the jump for a handful of my favorites, and visit http://davidrapozaart.deviantart.com/gallery/30154029 for all 15 portraits and much more.

Stryder's Favourite Comics - 2/13/2013

Lots of comics to check out this week, including of course the much-anticipated finale to the "Death of the Family" event!  Let's sink right in, shall we?

Batman #17 - "I so hope you like it everyone...I made it with lots of love!"

"Death of the Family" ends tonight in the caverns beneath Gotham City, as the Joker's plans for his "Bat-King" come to fruition!  The Clown Prince has managed to capture and subdue Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl and even poor Alfred and it's up to the Dark Knight to try and salvage what's left of his family, now that the clown's had his way with them!  Who knows what might have happened to them while they were alone and helpless in the dark with the maniacal master of mirth??

Of course, in the end, as it always does, it comes down the the Joker and the Batman, face to cowl...order versus chaos...and as always we can only hope that good may, perhaps, prevail...
 
Really fascinating and beautifully rendered ending to this mega-crossover event!  I can honestly say that I was taken by surprise at just how the ending played out.  It's sure to be controversial, and really makes me curious to see how the "Family" will deal with the fallout from this event in the months ahead...

Of course, Batman isn't the only story this week!  Superboy, Batgirl and more after the JUMP!

The Book Was Better Podcast Episode 36: Star Trek Generations (With Guest Host John Robertson!)

The Book Was Better is the podcast where we debate/discuss/demolish the (usually) ridiculous tie-in novelization of famous (and infamous films!).

In the epic Episode 36 guest host, the mighty John Robertson, and I set phasers to “kill” for Star Trek Generations, the awkward book of the awkward film that took Captain Kirk and Captain Picard and hideously mashed them together!

John is a comedian, writer, performer, MC, and general gad-about-town who knows infinitely more about Star Trek than I do. So if you’re a fan of Star Trek you’re going to love this, and if you’re not then you’re about to learn about it in one of the most entertaining ways possible!

Download it right now from the official site, or why not give us all a much needed thrill and subscribe to us on iTunes!

Nerd History: The Best Things I've Found on the Retro Campaigns Tumblr

The photo above is an image of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States of America.

He is eating an ice cream bar.

This is some of the wacky stuff that gets posted occasionally on my favorite Tumblr blog, Retro Campaigns. It's a collection of historical documents, pictures, gifs, and other assorted things, like good old Dwight enjoying his ice cream. Follow beyond the jump for some President's Day fun from Retro Campaigns.

Review: Hot Toys Thor (The Avengers) 1/6th Scale Collectible Figure!

When Marvel first announced that they were intending to take a billionaire in a robot suit, a frozen World War II super soldier, a green behemoth, and a thunder God and put them all together on the big screen it seemed far too silly to actually work. And yet they did just that. So it turns out that it still looked kind of silly, but despite all that I now get to assemble this superhero silliness on my shelf. And, let's be honest, Thor was always the silliest. Once they made him work they proved they could now get away with anything. (Yep, even a talking, rocket-toting raccoon!).

But I digress. Hot Toys' Thor 1/6th scale collectible figure, capturing fellow Australian Chris Hemsworth's meaty likeness and flamboyant costume, straight out of The Avengers film has arrived, hot on the coveted tail of the recent Black Widow...

I have him and, guess what, I'm going to tell you all about him, and clog up your precious internets with about a billion pictures. You can enjoy this gross intrusion... after the jump!

Let’s Talk About Those Harrison Ford Returning for New Star Wars Rumours!

So the other day at Latino Review a scooper, with a solid track record for getting it right, broke the news that Harrison Ford is allegedly signed up for Star Wars Episode VII. Whether that comes as a surprise to you or not, it’s actually a far more pivotal piece of information than you may at first suspect and, if true, creates a ripple effect which will help craft many of the decisions made about the sequel trilogy. Because that means the whole thing is set some 30 years after Return of the Jedi and that means a giant leap forward for our favourite characters.

What ramifications does such a decision have? As always we’ll wildly speculate... after the jump!

El Professore Movie Review: The Man From Hong Kong (aka The Dragon Flies)

1975
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby
* * * 1/2

The year was 1975 and the Australian film industry found itself knee deep in it's incredible exploitation cycle (Ozzploitation as it has since been dubbed). The current craze for Hong Kong action cinema had reached it's peak and the Aussies were anxious to attempt a hybrid Chinese/Australian action fest. They imported well known, yet somewhat faded Hong Kong star, Jimmy Wang Yu (the most popular action star in Asia prior to Bruce Lee's arrival; hence the fading) to play a Chinese Dirty Harry-like hero and landed failed James Bond, George Lazenby to play the debonair, yet sinister villain. Up and coming British born director Brian Trenchard-Smith (in only his fourth lensed film) was assigned the task of brining the proceedings together. The resulting film was 'The Man From Hong Kong', a fairly amazing collage of heavy hitting martial arts and ahead of their time stuntwork.

Full review after the jump.

Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines

In 2012 I went to the Perth Revolution Film Festival and fell in love with a documentary. The documentary was called Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines. It traces the influence that Wonder Woman and other female superheroines had on people around the world, and in America in particular, on the evolution of the female story and on the historical backdrop that influenced the female heroes that permeated our culture, even though they were somewhat limited in their reach.

I recently tried to get a copy of the DVD because I loved it so much, and discovered that they currently do not have a distributor for sale of a DVD for home use. This is coming though, and in the meantime there are distribution options for if you would like to pay more for the DVD and in return have the option to screen it at community events or use it as an education tool in schools. This makes me excited.

So let’s review this amazing documentary under the jump; but first, check out this trailer.

vimeo.com/36060144

Unfortunately blogger won't allow me to embedd vimeo links. Go figure.