Our Week of Reading! Vol. 3!

I didn't think we had it in us, but the team came through! We are LITERATE (barely), and a few of us actually read stuff this week, even though many of those things were obscure, ridiculous, or very, very, very short.

Join us after the jump to shake your head disapprovingly at our reading level!

Amusing Pop Culture Art at Society6.

Inspired by J's post, I see so much amazing pop culture homage, parody and mash-up art being showcased online that it's very easy to lose track of my favourites. Society6 is a hub site where thousands of artists sell art prints (plus less appealing things like iPhone cases, but don't let that throw you) and it's a pretty solid sampling of the work that's out there. I don't know anything about the quality of the prints themselves, but as a gallery to browse I was certainly pleased to make some new finds and to be reunited with some forgotten gold.

Voltron Dans Les Coquelicots by Hillary White.

Join me after the jump for more!

Project Runway Recaps: S09 E06

 

Did you watch Project Runway this week? No? Well, would you like to see some hastily drawn illustrations done from memory without any reference photos? You WOULD?!? Well step this way!

Mega Buzz Lightyear and more Nerd Shenanigans by Dan Hipp!

Someone thankfully retweeted Dan Hipp's awesome mega Buzz Lightyear illustration a few days ago, and I immediately had to check out his website. Maybe the comic peeps here already know about him, but the last comic I bought for myself was Batman: A Death In The Family like 20 years ago.. so I was really excited to see his style and pop culture goodies.

Here's a selection of AWESOME illustrations that I found on his website, including Ackbar, bounty hunters, turtles, pizza, zombies and more.

Is that a Lovely Package or are you just pleased to see me?

I can't even remember where I first stumbled over Lovely Package , but it was complete love at first sight. The premise is very simple - product packaging, of any type, that is unique or innovative or has something very different about it. It covers all products and can be either authentically created products or student work.

A helluva lot more after the break...

The 1950's. When Coffee was Terrible and Men Were Jerks.

I first enjoyed these vintage coffee commercials some time ago, and now someone has put together all the best bits in a crowd-pleasing compilation, with the brilliantly apt title Coffee Jerks. Hollywood, you are leeching off everything right now - please make a big screen movie adaptation of Coffee Jerks starring George Clooney. Preferably playing the amazingly in-your-face guy who upends his coffee in the garden. Women of the fifties had only two simple jobs and it's astounding to me that they could mess up one of them so badly...

This time via The Mary Sue. But join me after the jump and I'll show you my other most favourite set of commercials, this time combining a psychotic panda and cheese!

Thank Gif it's... Saturday?!

Whoops! So it seems that this week Team Fruitless Pursuits didn't watch many movies, didn't read any books, and couldn't post any gifs!  We're operating on a skeleton staff this weekend! Possibly me sitting alone at my computer in my cave, but dammit, Dear Reader, I will still do my dardenest to entertain you! Please except this unorthodox Saturday gif as a peace offering:

Thundercats Thunder-recaps Episode 7: Legacy!

How many episodes is this series anyway? What have I unknowingly committed to here? Ten? Twenty? Fifty-five? A thousand? How long can a group of homeless man-cats, led by the super dickish Lion-O, wander aimlessly through a forest?

That said, last week's episode was pretty great, with C3-PO style cock-blocking,  Indiana Jones style traps, obscene mummy Mumm-ra hulking out and spewing lasers. You know what else I've been watching? Hell's Kitchen. And that Gordon Ramsey hulks out a thousand times worse than Mumm-Ra. That guy would head-butt Wolverine and dent his adamantium skull. He's all, "YOU! DONKEY! WATCH YOUR F***ING MEAT! OR YOU'LL BE WATCHING MY F***ING MEAT, FLAPPING AGAINST YOUR FAT F***ING FOREHEAD!" Ha ha! I love that show.

Oh right! Thundercats! Here's the preview image:

Hmm... an episode called "Legacy" and here's Ye Olde Mr. Muttonchops Cat. I can sense some flashbacks coming on...

Join me after the jump and we'll figure it out! (SPOILERZ!):

We Used to be (Super) Friends.

After reviewing the new Justice League #1 I was pretty shocked and how often the so-called Super "Friends" punched each other in the face. Was this a new thing? Or were they always not-so-super-friendly? I did a little bit of research and the following graphic represents my findings. With friends like these...

Friday Night Movie Review 3!

On Fridays it is traditional (this is the third time) for the Fruitless Pursuits staff to post their mini movie reviews of any old movie that was made whenever. This time we've only got three movies. "WHAT A DAMN OUTRAGE!" you bellow. I hear you, pal!

While the FP staff have been watching a lot of things this week: their weight, the skies, their 'p's and 'q's, paint dry; it appears that they have not had time to watch many movies! The lousy bums! Shiftless deadbeats!

 And the three movies that were watched? Well, I'll let you judge for yourself:

And if that banner isn't the most unappealing thing you've ever seen in your life, then please join our skeleton staff of avid, dedicated, movie-watchers, who have suffered cruel indignities to put your entertainment ahead of their own...

Star Wars Blu-rays: Why Giving Ewoks CGI Eyes is Akin to a Boob Job.

So as Star Wars Blu-ray footage begins to work its way online through a range of official and non-official sources, the entire Internet seems to be imploding with nerd-range at evidence of further changes to the film. The biggest uproar was triggered by the revelation that the once stoic Darth Vader will now be yelling, "NOOO! NOOOO!" as he hurls the Emperor to his doom, and this has been followed by altered Krayt dragon calls, bigger doors, more rocks, and a Sebulba in Jabba's palace. It's all pretty superficial stuff, but it has definitely rubbed "fans" (I use the word hesitantly because they appear to loathe Star Wars) the wrong way. In an unsexy way.

As you may know, I'm a lifetime fan myself and up until now I've refrained from posting about all of this. I'm kind of numb to it. I'm super excited about the Blu-ray experience and I'm not going to let anything spoil it for me. The good is always going to vastly outweigh the bad for me. Empire Strikes Back in high-def? I can't wait! Just think of how detailed Dengar's loafers are going to be! Seriously, you'll feel like you're wearing them.

However, one alleged change has finally wrenched a comment out of me. One of my favourite childhood characters, plucky ewok Wicket W. Warrick has had his cherubic, fuzzy face tampered with. I love you, George, BUT YOU DON'T MESS WITH AN EWOK'S FACE. And don't put your fingers close to their mouths because they eat people. What am I talking about? Check out this screenshot from the forums at Millenium Falcon (Forums full of funny people. Angry funny people).

Join me after the jump and we'll watch the footage and I'll tell you why Wicket's blinking CGI eyes are like a breast augmentation.

KingBrick - Are You Bricking It?

KingBrick is a tactical finger-flick battle game. I stumbled across it a few months ago via a random geek list on boardgamegeek and it came up again in conversation the other day. I started to freak out for a few seconds because I couldn't remember the name and thought that it would be lost forever... but luckily I found it. 

I love everything about KingBrick. From the amazing cover art below to the D.I.Y. look of the dice. From the silly tag lines ("ARE YOU BRICKING IT?") to the sweet father/son instructional videos. 

U900 covering I Want You Back

Japanese amigurumi ukulele duo U900 have announced an album titled "Ukulele Michael" made up of Michale Jackson and Jackson 5 covers. This here is the first video from it.

And if you're new to U900 there's a little primer for you after the jump:

Review: Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program! The First Ten Free Games!

So apparently I am one (of about 25) Nintendo 3DS suckers who paid full price for the system at launch. Since mid August it took a rather dramatic $100 price drop, so the sheepish Nintendo have contacted me to assure me that I'm not actually a sucker after all - I'm actually an AMBASSADOR. An ambassador! Well that changes everything! I feel important! Like Ambassador Jar Jar Binks!

But (the sheepish, won't-look-me-in-the-eye) Nintendo are making good by gifting me today with 10 free downloadable classic NES games!

More on this eggplant bullshit later!

Now, we have a lot of old school Nintendo fans that write for the site, but I'm unforgivably not one of them. In fact, most of these classics I have never even played in my life!

So join me after the jump as I review my ten free games after playing them for the first time!

Review: Justice League #1 (2011). DC's Uphill Battle.

So if you haven't heard, in the wake of rapidly diminishing sales, (former?) giant DC Comics has abandoned decades of continuity and has rebooted many of their series (and added some new ones). In fact, this month will see a mind-boggling 52 new issues one in an attempt to appeal to a broader/changing audience. Part of this plan will be to offer each issue digitally on the same day that the print version is released. It's a ballsy move and while I'm not by any means a regular mainstream comics reader, I'm very interested to see how this new sales/distribution model works.

So I'm submitting myself to be part of the experiment. If DC is willing to make a bold move to appeal to new readers, then I an willing to dip my toe in and give them a try. Can the new slate of books engage (and more importantly keep) a casual/lapsed reader like myself who has been put off by impenetrable continuity and soap opera style stories.

The first book released today and it is Justice League #1 , written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee.

I like that the new version of Green Lantern has a mini-gun for a dick!

Fellow contributor Greymattersplat already submitted an early review of the book here, so be sure to check out his thoughts (as someone who has been following the current continuity. And to hear my noob thoughts join me after the jump!

8-Bit Banter - Earthbound

It's Wednesday night.... so time for 8-Bit Banter! If you missed out on last weeks 8-Bit Banter, you can check it out here. Tonight I want to discuss a very special RPG. No, I'm not talking about Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger, tonight I want to babble on about a modest little game called Earthbound!

If you're not familiar with Earthbound (how sad...), it's a turn based RPG for the Super Nintendo. The story, which is very simple as a whole, can get complex as you progress through the game. You play as Ness, a boy who plays with yo-yo's and crushes baddies with his super brain. In the middle of the night, a mysterious meteor crashes into Ness's hometown. Very quickly the entire town, along with all the neighboring towns are infested with strange aliens and smelly hippies. Along his journey, Ness discovers he has telekinetic powers and makes friends with some other cool kids.

New Toys!: When Muppets and Star Wars Collide!

Isn't it magnificent when two things you love are recklessly mashed together? Kind of like a bra made of pizza. At this site many of us have already confessed our love for both Star Wars and Muppets, and dammit you'll no longer have to choose between the two thanks to these upcoming action figures being released by Disney!

Now I think that these are exclusive to Disney theme park stores, but it's difficult to tell because the scans are from this site where much of the scarce text is in Japanese (I think?). Now haven't you always dreamed of seeing this?:

Actually, this could potentially be a leaked image of Uncle George's continued tinkering with the soon-to-be-released Star Wars Blu-rays. See more delightfully obscure mash-ups after the jump!

Blankets - Craig Thompson

The absolute first thing you notice about Craig Thompsons autobiographical graphic novel is that it's obscenely huge. 582 pages huge. Despite this it took me two days to read - granted, I WAS sick, and staying in bed all day with a book I could use to knock out a burglar with seemed like a good idea - due in most part to the incredible speed of the story.

Episode 14 of The C-List Podcast! Screaming Pit Witch Spooktacular!

I know! This is getting ridiculous! Just 24 hours later I have another podcast episode for you! This time it's #14 of The C-List, and the spookiest thing about it is that we're actually keeping to a weekly schedule!

Here's the show notes:

It's our super spooky fourteenth episode where we return to our original format and dare to discuss Casey (Drew Barrymore) in the original Scream, and the Pit Witch of Army of Darkness psuedo-fame! Along the way we also re-enact the famous telephone scene, and we'll help you get your footing in the lucrative pit witch business! Plus learn about some other exciting podcast projects on the horizon! 

Hosts: Mike and LukeRun Time: 57:37Original Music by The Data Parade(C)Rap by Luke

Go to THE C-LIST SITE TO DOWNLOAD!

This is an artist's impression of me leeching your valuable time/life essence.

Zack Synder's Superman is Scaly Like a Fish!

New close-up photos have leaked of Henry Cavill all suited up in Zack Synder's upcoming Man of Steel, and they've revealed a lot more than we could ever have anticipated. Certainly there is no doubting Superman's brazen lack of pants, but did you know that he is also a scaly, aquatic mammal with He-Man gauntlets and a parasitic space-belt? You do now!

I am totally ready to roll with all of this before because a) I'm not remotely precious about/invested in Superman and b) Zack Synder is a total badass who will make Superman all crazy and pumped. Even in this candid photo we see Henry Cavill having just punched out the lighting assistant.

Now normally during these big Superman reveals I turn to the John Byrne Forum, where the legendary comics artist's legion of lackeys will be blind with fury at this development. HOWEVER, no such rants for you today because Mr. Byrne himself has wisely locked the Superman movie thread down to avoid potential anyeurysms. You can see more shocking supermanfish images here at Super Hero Hype.

What do you think of the new Superman look? And does he have gills or a blowhole?

Wanted: Pithy Title for Article on the DC Relaunch.

I tried to come up with one, but it's late, and I'm not as energized as I had hoped to be.



In the past several weeks, I've been to two conventions, a State Fair show for a local horror host, and a movie shoot; planning the whole time to write something up for each of them for the blog here at Fruitless Pursuits. Sadly, due to circumstance "A", excuse "B", et cetera, et cetera... none of that happened. So when I heard that my local comic shop here in Indianapolis (Comic Book University, for those keeping score) was doing a midnight release party for the launch of DC's "New 52", I thought, "this is my chance, I need to make this happen"...and so here we are.

Two New Ticket to Ride Expansions!

Days of Wonder announces two new map expansions for Ticket to Ride!

What's New? Week of 31st of August

Put your shoes on and check your hair because you're going to want to run to your local comic shop! Here's where I look at the Diamond shipping list and see what's coming out this week.

FanExpo Canada 2011!!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to one of the largest sci-fi/comic book/anime/gaming/horror conventions in my nation, Fan Expo! The day went by in a whirlwind of colour and motion, but luckily I took (for me at least) a ton of pics!

Jazz says, "Heeeeeeeyyyyyy.  Sit on it!"

I'll try to piece together the events of the day from the pics and my hazy memories after the jump!

Kia Commercial: Robot Hamster Dancing WTF?!

This commercial for Kia starts out really awesome, and then it gets really confusing, and ultimately it's really unsettling. It's a baffling combination of everything that is right and everything that is wrong. Like a naked woman in a Jar Jar Binks mask.

By far the biggest WTF I've seen on the Internet today. Share it with me!

Our rad new podcast: The Book Was Better

And by "our" I mean Jessica McLeod and Luke Milton, and by "podcast" I mean recorded nonsense, and by "new" I mean the first episode is out today, and by "rad" I mean radical!

That's right, Luke and I have collaborated on perhaps* the greatest podcast ever created. It's a fortnightly barrage of speculation, mockery and occasional profanity on the subject of novelisations, the cheaply-produced 'books of the film' that end up looking sad on op-shop shelves. We discuss one per episode, and the first one is a DOOZY. In fact, it's the first one I ever bought and the book that inspired the podcast itself! Please, go check it out, give it a listen and tell us what you think!

*Perhaps!

Pre-Order Gears of War 3 Retro Lancer Replica! Head Says No. Crotch Says "HELL YES!"

I received an email today from EB Games here in Australia urging me to pre-order a life-size replica of the retro lancer, to celebrate the pending release of Gears of War 3. Why describe it when I can just show it:

OHHHHHHH YEEEEEEAAAAAH!!!

Join me after the jump and we'll analyse the specs.

Tuesday Bounty! Yet More Glorious Bounty!

Another Tuesday means yet another page of Grug and my glorious serial sci-fi comic series Glorious Bounty!

When we last left the shifty crew they had arrived on a strange insect planet and had descended into a back-alley underground complex to see a "friend" of Deevis's who can supposedly solve the origin of Furious Bruce's mysterious face. But no one trusts that asshole Deevis so he's wearing a detonator collar that will explode if he attempts to double-cross the team yet again.

Click to enlarge, or view it at the official site.

If you're new to the series, then do not fret! It is never too late to hop on board the Glorious Bounty gravy train! Even if you wind up squished in the caboose! You can read book one here, and book two here, and it won't cost you a cent! Just a fair bit of precious time THAT YOU'LL NEVER GET BACK.

Last week I promised to regale you with tales of a different famous bounty hunter each week (as a bonus) but seeing as how (virtually) nobody participated in my Dengar fan-fic origin story, I'm going to put that idea on hold. AND YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELVES TO BLAME! Caps lock! POW!

Saturday Night Board Games: The Impossible Machine, Survive: The Giant Squid, The Resistance, The Settlers of Catan, and Alhambra

We had a pretty epic board game marathon this past Saturday. There was a hurricane a brewing so we got an early start, and managed to squeeze in 5 games. We played some old favorites, and tried out an all new game and a new expansion. 

Click through the jump for a recap of our Saturday Night Board Games.

Doctor Who S06 E08 Let's Kill Hitler

I'd mostly avoided spoilers for this one, so aside from Hitler being in it, I knew nothing about the episode. To say it wasn't what I expected is quite an understatement. Read on for masses of spoilers and pictures.

Metal Mondays: Meet Metal Mickey!

What was British childrens' television like in 1980? Horribly performed and full of boob jokes! But to its credit, one show, at least, starred an ape-like, sarcastic robot who was always randy. I am, of course, talking about Metal Mickey! And you don't get much more metal than THIS:

Looking like the love child of R2D2 and a monkey, Mickey delighted easily amused English audiences for a full three years with his zest for life and his spontaneous boogie. My own memories of Metal Mickey are very vague, like a dream, or a phantom, so I fired up the old youtube time-portal and took a look at episode one to investigate what it was all about.

Gaze upon my often chilling findings AFTER THE JUMP!

Metal Mondays - Amon Amarth show you how it's done

One of the things I love about metal is the extensive (but rather strict) reference points. Shirtless? Devil horns? One foot up on the amp? All of this I can promise and more.

But one of my favourites is the Windmill. It's dependant on a full and luxuriant head of hair, some elbow room and some co-ordination with your fellow musicians.

Dude is so incredibly hardcore. 

Because to try and windmill with a crewcut is a shameful thing indeed.

More Metal Education after the break...

Metal Monday: Slayer

Slayer at Soundwave 2011

'What do you MEAN we only need four amps? We're SLAYER, asshole!'

Metal.

8-Bit Furniture Invades Your Living Space!

Designer Igor Chak is eight years younger than I am and about a thousand time mores talented. He has a passion for designing motorcycles, but what I'm most entranced by on his site is his foray into furnishings inspired by classic 8-bit battles. Some of these are just concepts, but his Space Invaders styled couch is actually now available for sale, and at a not-too-unreasonable $5,000 it could invade your own space. Dear Reader, you could invade my personal space any day of the week!

Check it out! For realistic effect I would actually suspend it loosely from the ceiling and watch it slowly descend upon me with a growing sense of dread:

Pictured here with a lot of space around it.

Join me after the jump for another Space Invaders inspired item, and a shelving unit that you will totally go ape shit for!

My New Model Shoot! Burlesque Spider-Man!

Shot a new series yesterday, this time with the amazing Lady Lace! The theme this round is our favourite neighbourhood, sass-talking, web-slinger Spider-Man! It was styled by both of us, and I hope you like what we got!

More after the jump! Nothing NSFW this time. Just wholesome web-slinging fun! And an unmasking!

ATTENTION ENTHUSIASTS - THIS MEANS YOU

Have you ever thought "boy, I sure would like to read up on on the happenings at Fruitless Pursuits, but I just don't have the time to leave Facebook" Well Fruit fans, heres your chance!

Fruitless Pursuits has recently created a Facebook page where you can get all the same information from here - there (sorta)

I know Mrs. J's Mom, Fruitless Pursuits is on Facebook!

"Like" us on Facebook, and help make us seem credible, while also being instantly informed of the important things that are happening in the world on Facebook, then share them with all of your friends so they too can be well informed of important matters and share them with their friends, and so on.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fruitless-Pursuits/241650395872910

Weekly Re-Crap - Week Ending August 28th

It's the end of the week. The whole world discussed hurricanes, earthquakes, and Libya... but what kind of crap did we discuss here at Fruitless Pursuits? Read on for a complete list broken down by topic. (HINT: It was a lot of movies this week.)

U.F.O.'s in New York?

Over the weekend a bunch of videos popped up on YouTube, showing possible U.F.O's over New York City. Here's one of the better videos.

Some have also posted satellite videos from NASA that showed the same (or different) objects flying by. These were covering Hurricane Irene, but managed to catch SOMETHING fly by.

The Three A's of Awesome

For the most part this site is all about general nerdery and geekiness. This may fall into the realms of comics, toys, games, science, or maybe Star Wars (usually Star Wars), but geeky is a given. But sometimes you come across something that just needs to be reshared that falls outside your realm of comfort. Comfort in this case being what we do well, which is be geeky and nerdy.

Neil Pasicha has a website called 1000 Awesome Things and was invited to speak at a Tedx talk in September 2011. This is that talk.

10 Best Classic Sesame Street Segments

Parts of the world are being buffeted by monster storms, and even some of our own contributors are hunkered in their bunkers, eating canned food, and waiting for it to pass. Let me help cheer you guys up and while away the time with some classic Sesame Street animation and clips from the seventies and eighties. Here are my ten favourites, and if you're close to my age at all they should soon be pounding on your nostalgia button with reckless abandon!

Do you remember this sour-faced goat? When life gave him lemons he didn't get even. He got MaaAAAaaAD!!

If you felt that clip tug on your nostalgia lever like there's no tomorrow, then join me after the jump for nine more!

Project Runway Recaps: S09 E05

 

Welcome to Project Runway recaps! As always, you don't need to have seen the show to enjoy my stupid drawings.