My Zombie Peach Photo Shoot!

I recently shared my Black Widow photo shoot, so I figured it might be apropos to also share my latest foray into photographing cosplay which took place this past weekend. I got to shoot a Zombie Princess Peach with model Cherry Badgirl, who was the genius behind the concept, the make-up and the styling while I stood around like an idiot and pressed the shutter button.

This is apparently what happens if you don't rescue her in time...

More rapidly decomposing Peach after the jump!

Retro Review: Nintendo Game Pack Trading Cards!

This past weekend we ventured to a vintage market where, amongst dusty LP’s, burlesque prints, and fancy hats, I managed to find some sealed packs of classic Nintendo Game Pack trading cards for a mere two dollars a (waxy) pack. I didn’t know what was lurking inside - I didn’t even need to know - all I knew is that I needed them and that I’d force you to hear all about them. Even though, let’s be honest, Nintendo is notoriously sissy. DON’T HIT ME! (Or should that be “ineffectually slap” me?).

Join me after the jump and we will crack these cards open and ROFL at the gloriously retro art and fun to be had inside. Or should I have spent that $4 on a coffee? Let’s find out!

Kickstart the Week: Epic Mario by Zachary Pollock

This is something that I would love to see get made.





I've personally tried to make video game images, pixel by pixel out of Lego bricks, but it's insane. The NES screen resolution was 256 x 240 pixels, which means one screen has 61,440 pixels. If you needed to use single 1x1 bricks at the Lego.com price of .10 each.. each screen would cost you over $6,000. Luckily, Super Mario Bros had a solid blue background for most of the level, and a 16 x 16 plate can be used, bringing the cost of each background pixel down to less than 2 cents each.

Another issue with Lego is the amount of colors available. The NES had a color palette of 48 colors and 6 greys. Lego has that many, but not in every piece. The amount of colors that are readily available is way less than 48. But it's close enough to make work, especially in the earlier less detailed video game designs.

It would take a miracle to hit the goal within the next three days, but Kickstarter miracles do happen. Plus at the pledge levels of $25 and above, you get a pixel by pixel Lego recreation of level specific items, characters, and even full scenes. If some of the big gaming sites took notice, this could still be successful. Anyone up for sending some emails to Kotaku, Joystiq, IGN, G4TV, 1up, etc..? :)

Epic Mario on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/plaidsquirrel/epic-mario

Super Mario 3D Land - Two Sentence Review

After 15 years, I still can't get the hang of 3D (non-sidescrolling) Mario games. That being said, this game looks and plays beautifully.

Movember day 23: The Mario Bros

How can you not be hooked on these brothers? Look at those stashes!

now swing your hands side to side

Yes live action rapping Mario is a thing that exists. I have no idea what is going on at the start of that video but it looks amazing. These vids are the intro and end credits for the Super Mario cartoon

I've always wondered if the names are Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. Or if Mario's first name is something like Patrick or Jones or maybe it is just Super. That would be a bit of a burn on Luigi by their parents.

Oh one last thing I learnt from watching this cartoon is that the Mario brothers are from Brooklyn.

Super Mario Bead Animation

Super-awesome-cool animation of a particular moustached plumber using perler beads. I totally want to make some more stop-motion animations now. Someone send me a script!

Yardsailing: The Boring Batman Edition (Plus a Bunch of Much Better Toys)

It's Batman week and I just happened to pick up a bunch of Batman figures at a yard sale. They are all actually Batman (I think). I know they make like 50 million variants of the superhero, and then one or two of the villains. It's pretty boring, and each one gets more ridiculous than the last (SEE EXAMPLE).

The rare, exclusive Armpit-Sniffing Batman

...but forget about the crazy ones and check out my 7 boring Batmen, and then a if you survive the boredom, check out the groups of AWESOME toys I picked up. There's Mighty Max, Biker Mice From Mars, Duck Tales, Super Mario Bros (The Movie!) and Last Action Hero.

Vadrum Destroys NES Classics With His Unbelievable Skills With His Skins

Vadrum is an Italian genius who plays the drums. His videos have been around for a while, but nothing says a ROCKTOBER WedNESday better than Vadrum killing the songs from Super Mario Bros 2 on his epic drum set..

Now, Super Mario Bros 2. may be the redheaded stepchild of the Mario universe, but I feel very strongly that Koji Kondo delivered some of the best music of the entire series. But somehow Vadrum still improved on it.

If you can only spare 30 seconds today, skip forward to 2:05. Holy shit.

If you're into it, here are some more of his videos.