Do you like a good sword? Now available on DVD, the documentary Reclaiming the Bladegeeks out on the history and power of “the Medieval and Renaissance blade, a profound and beautiful object hand-crafted by master artisans of old.” Indeed, the weapon is
an object of great complexity, yet one with a singular use in mind – it is designed to kill. The truth of the sword has been shrouded in antiquity, and the Renaissance martial arts that brought it to being are long forgotten. The ancient practitioners lent us all they knew through their manuscripts. As gunslingers of the Renaissance they were western heroes with swords, and they lived and died by them. Yet today their history remains cloaked under a shadow of legend.
Astro Boy, the American CGI feature based on Japanese manga master Osamu Tezuka’s 1951 character, opens today. It features the voices of Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy, with Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, and Donald Sutherland, among others, pulling up the rear.
With every new release since 2004’s Saw, the brutal horror movie series has co-promoted its “Saw Nurse” “Give ‘Til It Hurts” Halloween blood drive campaign with the Red Cross. However, this year’s set of posters, featuring model Katherine MacDonald, above, may be the creepiest yet.
Ever seen this movie?: An angry couple is in their humid apartment’s living room, screeching at each other. The man, in a fit of passion, loudly slaps the woman.
Instead of cowering, though, she becomes enraged. “YOU FILTHY MOTHER$%&@#%!!” she curses, holding her bruised cheek in pain and shock. He tries to apologize. “Baby, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened!” She’s done, though. Her eyes go cold. “Oh, I got somethin’ for you…you dirty MOTHER$%&@#%!!” she screams, as she disappears into the darkened bedroom.
Typically, she returns with a gun. But wouldn’t it be cool if the next thing you heard were servomotors…then the sound of a smashing bedroom door frame as she emerged from the dark, not with a .38, but piloting one of these, above: A Super Armored Fighting Suit (S.A.F.S.), from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion?
Marketed by the unstoppable Sideshow Collectibles, this Medicom Toy piece, marketed in collaboration with Toys McCoy, is fully 1:6 scale. The eight-pound, 16″ tall, finely detailed unit
combines vinyl, PVC, and metal to bring you this articulated fighting suit, complete with fully realized 12-inch figure pilot. The Super Armored Figure Suit features opening hatch and arms, articulated shoulders and waist, and a manipulator on the right arm. The interior details of the machine are perfectly realized with lights and the 47mm Prg. 56 Examiner razor revolves for added authenticity. Driving this detailed super suit, the female pilot features a headset inspire by U.S. and German models, comes with switch-out gloved and bare hands, and comes clothed in an authentic figure uniform.
The mecha opens out and can completely encase the pilot inside, above. Plus the driver’s got what every guy collector wants on his toy girl warriors: Fully erect nipples, engorged, no doubt, from the adrenalized rush of battle. Hey, no one should ever put their hands on anyone else in aggression, and no man, especially, should ever do so to a woman. But when you’ve gotta fight back, girls, go robotic. Out 1st Qtr 2010, limited to 600 pieces. MEDICOM TOY Super Armored Fighting Suit (S.A.F.S.), $1,249.99.
Even as a supporter of Gaza and the West Bank, I was immediately taken with the texture, shapes, and angles of designer Michael Tsinzovsky’s “Little Night Lamp For Sderot,” above, and below right. As the text on Yanko Design noted,
The lamp is created from a bomb shelter light switch as a gesture to the citizens of Sderot, Israel who have been living under siege for years.
Commenters on the site, though, don’t seen to feel Tzinzovsky’s politics. For example:
” the citizens of Sderot, Israel who have been living under siege for years”.
with my all knowledge of the middle-east history, I can’t recall such a period. Sieged by who?
Or this one, in reply:
Sieged by the Palestinians of course! With their.. rocks?
despite the stupidity of the gesture, its quite a nice piece of design. Perhaps a night light for the Palestinian children would be more appropriate.
It could be made out of the rubble of the houses they grew up in?
Dag: Everything in the Middle East is political, even home design. That’s why we gotta free Palestine!
I wasn’t a big ThunderCats fan. They raised their leonine heads in 1985, long after I’d stopped watching violent, action-packed, Saturdaymorningesque animation. In fact, the only reason I probably know anything at all about this profoundly ugly pride of superheroes is that my youngest brother, Louis, couldn’t stop talking about them.
Well, Lou, knock yourself out: Early next year, Hard Hero Enterprises, makers of collectible fantasy and comic book statuary, will release a limited-edition, cold-cast porcelain statue of Lion-O, leader of the T-Cats, above.
Sculpted by master artist Paul Bennett, the fully-painted piece is a whopping 14 inches high from its rugged, stone outcropping base to the tip of Lion-O’s gleaming sword. Packed with detail, as you can see in this 360-degree QuickTime movie, the work comes with a “color collector box,” whatever that is, and retails for $199.00, $215.00 for one with Bennett’s John Hancock ‘pon, thus. Hey: Since Lou just had a birthday, maybe his wife will jump in with one more present. Cue intro.
a single sheet hood. Fibre-reinforced plastic head light housings – which, by the way, are housed rather than mounted, which is a fabulous idea because tractor lights that are mounted break off basically every five minutes.
Projected grill up front, exposed engine parts, partly covered fender for driver safety. The future is the basic super-simplification of all machines based on the knowledge we’ve gleaned from the past few decades of trial and error.
“Beyond” is probably where this ram’s head balaclava, above, goes, or, as she calls it, a “baalaclava.” For those of you who swing needles like a samurai’s katana, the pattern, which she sells via the web,
is entirely seamless – the ears are worked by picking up stitches, and there’s a little grafting at the front – instructions for which are given in the pattern.
As per my previous mask patterns, I’ve used an aran weight yarn with 4mm needles. The pattern gives two sizes – standard (19″ to 23″) and extra large (24″ and up).
Plus, I just had this thought: Though Dunbar has strived for a…er…naturalistic appearance in the piece, this being yarn, you can color yours in any hues you want. Orange face with teal horns and nose, Dolphins fans?
So, sign up to Ravelry.com, order the pattern for $5, pay via Paypal, and knit one up for the Aries in your life. Just remind ’em not to wear it on their next SWAT call.
B3TA’s mashup movie poster contest resulted in a gang of inspired entries, like this fusion between Star Wars and A Clockwork Orange, above, or this melding of Das Boot and Yellow Submarine, below. Plus, there’s a lot more where that came from, too, on the site. Hooray for Hollywood! Hooray for Photoshop!
Videogames are getting more and more life-like. In this Japanese TV ad, below, for the upcoming Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, out here September 29th for the Playstation 3, gamers get a look at one character’s stunning new moves.
Marketed by the unstoppable 
Commenters on the site, though, don’t seen to feel Tzinzovsky’s politics. For example:
