My SDCC 2013 Exclusive Favourites! Lego! Ackbar! Venture Bros! MORE!

San Diego Comic Con 2013 is looming and that means that a crap-ton of convention exclusives are jumping up and down, hollering, and vying for our already stretched thin attention. I, of course, will be isolated on the opposite of the world while all this is happening, so I can either satiate myself by looking at these pretty pictures or pay premium prices on eBay. And there's about a billion things to choose from, so I'm going to share with you a hand-picked selection of my most favourite collectibles that have been revealed for the weekend...

Marvel at my refined tastes... after the jump!

DexCon Recap Part Two: Pixel Lincoln, Maximum Throwdown and Kingship

Part One of my DexCon recap can be found here: 
http://www.fruitlesspursuits.com/2013/07/dexcon-recap-part-one-pigpen-and-hanabi.html

As we continued playing games at DexCon last weekend, I ended up playing/hosting a few of my own. I brought Pixel Lincoln, Maximum Throwdown, and a handful of prototypes. Pretty much everything made it to the table, which is opposite of most conventions where my games never leave my bag. I will haul them around all day, but never get a chance to play. At DexCon, we played them all and more.

Photo taken by Suzanne Zinsli of Cardboard Edison

Onto the games!

Big Brother Power Rankings: Week 3

This is my fourth Big Brother season, and the last three weeks have been crazier than anything I've ever had the opportunity to watch. Things are nuts, and it's almost becoming pointless to try and predict what's going on. The MVP twist is both super predictable and is creating absolutely unexpected results, the house racism watch is off the charts, the alliance everyone thought was strong fell apart in a matter of hours, one houseguest is finally showing the promise she hadn't delivered on...

Let's just get to it, since it's clear I have no idea what I'm doing.

The Heat Review

I'll admit The Heat wasn't a movie I had planned on seeing. In fact, I was barely aware it existed. I'm not sure if this was a marketing issue or if it just got lost in the shuffle amongst the season of blockbusters. I certainly never saw a trailer for it playing before any of the many films I've caught this year.

It seems the film is having a little trouble finding a male audience. While it has female leads, it's not one of those cliched "chick flicks". Not even close. It's an old fashioned buddy cop action comedy that just happens to star women. It's a sad truth that films with female protagonists always struggle to get guys' butts in the theatre. (Case in point, our session was 90% female in audience) This is why we still haven't seen a Wonder Woman film (well, that and the abominations that were Catwoman and Elektra). It's a phenomenon I don't truly understand. I'll see a film if it's good regardless of the gender of the cast.

With that in mind, I headed along to Event Cinemas in Innaloo and catch a showing of the film. With a good mate in tow we caught it in Gold Class with some good food and a little bubbly. Nothing wrong with a little "man date" in my opinion.

I look plenty manly sipping my bubbly

So, what did I think Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy getting all Lethal Weapon? Hit the jump and find out!

DexCon Recap Part One - Pigpen and Hanabi

A few weeks back, we saw the coverage from Supanova in Perth with lots of cosplayers, mass media guests and huge hauls of toys and comics. And on the other side of the planet and the other side of the convention spectrum, I was at DexCon, a small-ish tabletop gaming convention in central NJ.

DexCon is one of 3 conventions held by Double Exposure each year. The focus and mood of each varies a little, but they are all based on tabletop gaming. DexCon is big on playing scheduled games from your favorite publishers and while being much, much bigger, it has the down-to-earth feeling of a game night with your friends in your local game store.

And that's exactly what I did. I played games with friends, some of which I see more regular than others, as well as a few new ones that I met at the convention for the first time. I mostly played prototypes too, including one that's launching on Kickstarter next week and one that's currently on there.

I'm going to break the coverage up into a few parts and today's part will focus on pigs and fireworks. Somewhat fitting for a July 4th holiday weekend convention.

Review: Monsters University!

Has Pixar lost it? Have they still got it? Are they being crushed under the weight of obligatory sequels to past successes? Do we need more films about cars? Planes? Fish? Spatulas? Such is the discussion that hangs heavy over their latest film, Monsters University, a prequel that nobody really asked for but is here nonetheless, staring us in the face with all those colourful crazy eyes...

Cynical cash grab or something special? My opinion may surprise you... after the jump!

Sideshow Collectibles Round Up! Pacific Rim! Pre-Order Harley Quinn! Black Widow!

Our good pals at Sideshow Collectibles have put up so many intriguing things for pre-order lately that I am compelled to round them all up and lead them over to you. Pacific Rim is crashing its way into theatres today so they have a giant Knifehead kaiju statue (the first time I've had a real good look at him), a sixth-scale Harley Quinn figure, and a comic-styled Premium Format Black Widow to cram into your overflowing house. 

I dig all three of these things, so please allow me to share more images, gushing and pre-order info... after ye olde jump...

Electro Officially Revealed for The Amazing Spider-Man 2! Insert Some Pun About Shocking You.

Sure, we've seen glimpses of him on the set, but here's the first fully CGI'd, crackling version of villain Electro from next year's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. How does Entertainment Weekly always manage to out-scoop us? The only scoops we ever get are ice cream. And we pay full price!

And if you haven't been keeping up, that's Django Unchained's Jamie Foxx with his head lit up like a plasma globe at a science center. I'm not sure how Spider-Man can resist pressing his fingers all over it and cooing, "OoooOOOOoh! Pretty!" 

I have a lot more stupid things to say about all this... after the jump!

Thursday Threesome: Three Things I am Seeing in Melbourne This Week

Welcome to a Melbourne edition of the Thursday Threesome as I am currently drinking their coffee and eating their cupcakes.

Here are three things that I am seeing this week in Melbourne! Join me under the cut for more.

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

Hot on the shiny armoured rocket-heels of the Mark VII Iron Man follows another highly anticipated Hot Toys release to tie in to The Avengers, however, this time it's a villainous one. Meet the meticulously detailed, 1/6th scale rendering of Loki, God of lies/mischief/evil and brother to the Mighty Thor (adopted). Time to kneel...

Seriously, this late in the game these reviews are such a no-brainer. You already know that I love them, right? Just look at that crazy picture! Hot Toys are at the top of their game! 

But you will want to see a LOT more pretty pictures and find out more about this gaunt, greasy, mischief-maker... after the jump!

DC Comics New 52 - Stryder's Weekly Top 5

Hey hey boys and girls!  Time to check out some more comics!  These ones were released July 3, 2013...

NEW!! Pandora #1 - "That was the day I destroyed the World..."

With the mega Justice League crossover "Trinity War" event all set to debut, we receive this prequel offering...a new title finally exploring the lady who appeared in every single #1 issue and who was instrumental in starting the whole New 52 back in Flashpoint...Pandora!  This first issue of her new series explores Pandora's origin and the fateful day that she stumbled upon a golden, skull-shaped box in the woods.  Within the box?  The Seven Deadly Sins of Man...

This first issue was surprisingly good for what I thought would be mainly a marketing tool...written by Ray Fawkes, it immediately endeared me to the character of Pandora, her choices and her tragic life as a cursed immortal...I'm quite interested to see where it goes!  There's so many possibilities when you have a character whose life affects literally EVERYONE else in the Universe!

What other comics made my top 5 this week?  Find out after the JUMP!

The Book Was Better Podcast Episode 50: Ghost Dad with Jessica McLeod!

The Book Was Better is the podcast where we brashly and inconsiderately read and make fun of (usually) terribly written novelizations of your favourite (and not so favourite) films!

This week is our GOLDEN 50TH EPISODE! And what better way to celebrate than with original co-host Jessica McLeod who makes her triumphant return after popping out an (allegedly) human child!  And to further escalate our little podcast party we've chosen to read our most anticipated novelization ever... Ghost Dad! You know, the movie where Bill Cosby plays a ghost... dad. Anyone? Trust me, you'll love it.

Get on your tuxedo, pop a champagne bottle, and help make our golden 50th the best episode yet!

You can download it right now at the official site, or why not give us the golden gift of subscribing to us on iTunes?

Pacific Rim Review

The biggest blockbuster of the year will finally be unleashed on the world this week. Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro's love letter to the mecha and giant monster movies of his youth and no other film this year can match the scope, size or pure spectacle of this 131 minutes of pure fun.

Hit the jump to hear my thoughts on a film that mashes Independence Day, Evangelion and Cloverfield into one of my favourite big screen experiences of the year.

Pre-Order Hot Toys Man of Steel Jor-El : GO RUSS GO!

Flaws and all, I kind of loved Man of Steel. And Big Russ Crowe is kind of a stand out. At first he stands there in his robes and delivers his lines like he's in a community Shakespeare play, but then suddenly he's all, "SCREW THIS! I'M BIG RUSS CROWE!" and he starts headbutting and punching people and riding a dragon! And while all the other Kryptonians are being uptight squares and growing embryos on underwater trees, Russell Crowe is like, "NO! I'm going to be an unshaven lout and have Krypton's first vagina baby in centuries! HEADBUTT!" Man! I love you, Russell Crowe!

The geniuses at Hot Toys have now lovingly crafted a fitting tribute to the man, the legend that is Big Russ as Superman's daddy Jor-El.

You can pre-order him straight away from our pals at Sideshow here: Man of Steel: Jor El - Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series Man of Steel: Jor El Movie Masterpiece Sixth Scale Figure Or if you want to see more images and hear me sing more praises, man up and join me... after the jump!

Review: Hot Toys Iron Man Mark VII 1/6th Scale Collectible Figure!

My Hot Toys Avengers are nearly assembled, thanks to the recent addition of fan favourite, big gun, genius, playboy billionaire philanthropist Iron Man, sporting the gadget packed Mark VII armor that he unleashes to kick off the third act of the film.

And I hope you pre-ordered him, because prices for this guy have absolutely skyrocketed to prices that only playboy billionaires will be able to afford. I was fortunate enough to pre-order and nab the Sideshow exclusive edition (my first exclusive, I think) and I’m going to show you all the pretty pictures, and give the full scoop on Stark... after the jump!