Archive → May, 2010
Making Prince of Persia: Jordan Mechner
Prince of Persia came out in 1989 and has since spawned a slew of sequels and now a major motion picture. While video games movies aren’t exactly a new concept anymore, the fact that one of the folks credited on the screenplay is original series creator/designer Jordan Mechner has me confident the movie will be slightly better than most video game movie fare. Even excluding Uwe Boll’s oeuvre, there’s some pretty bad stuff out there.
Anyway, Mechner’s got a great blog which contains excerpts from his personal journals from the late 80s and early 90s developing the original Prince of Persia. It feels like you’re reading a making-of documentary of the game READ MORE!
My Desk Is 8-bit by Alex Varanese
You know that stop-motion classic NES video that’s been making the rounds on the internets?
I can only take so many cute iPhone gags and I am an avid opponent of rampant Nintendo nostalgia (I can’t tell you how much I loathe the Zelda and Metroid franchises and everyone else’s UNDYING DEVOTION to them).
This, however, is gorgeous and far superior.
Enjoy:
MY DESK IS 8-BIT from alex varanese on Vimeo.
[Source - Alex Varanese]
“I’ll Never Be LOST Again” – Auto-tuned Greatness
Regardless of your opinion of the finale of Lost (it was unsatisfying or it sucked are the only acceptable opinions), I think we can all agree that the best thing about Lost is the score by now-Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (I jumped up and cheered when he won Best Original Score for Up).
Well, here’s an auto-tune-filled remix/retelling of the best moments of the 5 seasons of Lost (I’m at the point where I don’t even want to count Season 6 as canon) by The Injustice League. Clicky below the jump for video! READ MORE!
Back to the Future 2 Hoverboard Created Five Years Ahead of Schedule
One of the most oft-repeated stories regarding the Back to the Future franchise is that kids thought Mattel was actually working on real, working hoverboards for all the kids to demand from mommy and daddy come Christmas-time. They of course weren’t real, but now that we’re far into the future it’s not too unreasonable to expect some goddamn jet cars.
We’re coming up on 2015 pretty quick and we’re off pace here; we need to make at least 13 more Jaws movies over the next five years.
![Where we're going, we don't need roads. [Photo - Nils Guadagnini]](http://www.woogmoog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hoverboard2.jpg "Where we're going, we don't need roads. [Photo - Nils Guadagini]")
However, we can now at least check one thing off of our future-list: someone has made an actual hoverboard (an actual hover-hoverboard). Video after the jump! READ MORE!
LOST: To Kill a Hurleybird
About 5% of these are dumb, nitpicky things (“what happened to the original Henry Gale” “who was Libby’s husband”) but this pretty much sums up my feelings for the series. UPDATE: STILL NO EXPLANATION FOR HURLEYBIRD(S).
[Source: CollegeHumor]
Rock Band 3 to Feature Ridiculous Multicolored Plastic Keyboard
Apparently, when you play through the Green Day: Rock Band demo (shudder), you’re treated to this little teaser screen, which features OH SHIT IS THAT A KEYBOARD
Hell yes. Here’s hoping Rock Band 3 won’t force me to abandon the hundreds of DLC songs I’ve downloaded for the second game. The folks at Woogmoog‘s art department have created a mockup of the new controller, check below the break to see it. READ MORE!
1927 Paramount Studios Map of California Shows You Where to Find the Rest of the World
![1927 Paramount Map of California [Source: Flickr - Ambrosia Voyeur]](http://www.woogmoog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/1927-california-filming-locales.jpg "1927 Paramount Map of California [Source: Flickr - Ambrosia Voyeur]")
I actually recently read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Love of the Last Tycoon, and adored it. It’s basically The Great Gatsby plus golden age Hollywood, and now I’ve just reminded myself that I need to watch Elia Kazan’s film version starring Robert DeNiro and Jack Nicholson (!). All I could find on YouTube is this wonderful ditty in dire need of some spell-check.
This also reminds of of RKO 281. Oh, Liev Schreiber, what have you done to deserve this?
Space may be the final frontier, but it’s made in a Hollywood basement
[Source: Flickr - Ambrosia Voyeur]
Shrek Forever After Box Office Opening Disappoints, DreamWorks Stock Drops
DreamWorks’ stock plunged more than 13% this week after the very 3D and very expensive Shrek 4: Endgame stumbled at the box office this weekend. The weekend totals were just a hair over $70 million, the lowest opening for the franchise since the first Shrek. You know, Shrek, that movie that ended up raking in nearly $500 domestic + foreign. Shrek 4: The Revenge also cost nearly $100 million more than the original. Those numbers are even more galling when you consider the inflated 3D ticket prices and the panic over the possibility of crossing the $20 ticket threshold.
DreamWorks’ earlier animated effort this year, How to Train Your Dragon, managed via word-of-mouth READ MORE!
Review: The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The Human Centipede is a great movie.
It is a fucking great movie.
It is precisely what a horror movie should be, and that is horrifying. Lately, way too many horror movies have been taking the easy Saw/Hostel route READ MORE!