Super Punch

Plush Judge Death

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Plush Judge Death by TADO and Bigshot Toy Works for Corgi. Via.

Plush Chewbacca

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:51:00 +0000

Plush Chewbacca by Denn Rodriguez, who has goods on sale at Etsy.

Watch Jon Stewart lose a pushup contest...

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:57:00 +0000

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

to Paula Broadwell for charity. Via.

Luc Besson's Lockout looks terrific

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:49:00 +0000

New trailer for Lockout, which is basically Luc Besson's remake of Escape from NY. Via.

Vampires advertise Audi's new car

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:30:00 +0000

The rare commercial that's very funny and actually tells you something notable about the product.

Homemade Wheatley personality sphere from Portal

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:08:00 +0000

Wheatley personality sphere made by Sabretooth and on sale at eBay.

Link roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:57:00 +0000

1. "The Los Angeles Police Department is warning real estate agents not to use images of properties taken from unmanned aircraft, saying the flying drones pose a potential safety hazard and could violate federal aviation policy."

2. Hilarious (and horrifying) anecdotes about bats. (Probably NSFW.)

3. Animated turnaround of Ron English's Fat Tony vinyl toy.

4. The photo of a giant jellyfish you've probably seen floating around is a lie.

5. The BBTS now has available for preorder the upcoming Arkham City and Dark Knight Rises figures (the prices are just a rough estimate). Mr. Freeze is particularly cool.

Mass Effect and Bioshock wallpapers

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:40:00 +0000

A sampling of the outstanding new wallpaper-sized screenshots from Mass Effect and Bioshock posted today at Dead End Thrills.

*Buy Mass Effect toys at Amazon.

A Walk in the Dark

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Very cool corrupting smoke monster in this trailer for A Walk in the Dark. Via.

Retro space noir Lego Batman and Batmobile

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000

One of Shannon Sproule's designs for a Lego Batmobile design contest.

*Buy Batmobiles at eBay.

Illustration roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:47:00 +0000

One of Dave Filoni's illustrations for the Lucasfilm charity event.

Two by Anand Duncan. Leia is also for the Lucasfilm charity event. (lots more art for the benefit has been posted.)

Three by Annette Marnat.

Three by Dan Thompson on sale here.

Two by Chris Garbutt.

Halo Micro Ops; Toy Story Cosbabies

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Halo Micro Ops by McFarlane:

McFarlane Toys expands its long-running, best-selling line of Halo collectibles this fall, with the addition of Halo Micro Ops. This all-new series consists of miniature figures, vehicles, and locations from the entire Halo universe, at roughly 1:100/15mm scale.

Todd McFarlane, CEO and founder of McFarlane Toys says, "Halo is known for its massive, larger-than-life visuals. From the towering Forerunner relics, to the enormous military transports, to the Halo rings themselves, everything is designed to make your human character feel small and overwhelmed. That's awesome for a video game, but it's a challenge for toy makers! With our standard 6-inch action figures, we found we could release small vehicles like the Ghost and the Mongoose, and medium ones like the Warthog, but that was about as big as we could go. In order to be able to create anything larger—to really bring the rest of the Halo universe to collectors—we had to go smaller. Much smaller."

With its smaller size, Halo Micro Ops covers the Halo universe, from the tiniest Grunt to the largest Scarab. With such a wide range of product sizes to cover, Micro Ops is available in four different packages. Small carded sets include small vehicles like the Warthog and Ghost. Larger carded sets offer bigger vehicles such as the Falcon, or small buildings like the Bunker from the Halo 3 multiplayer map High Ground. Larger buildings, including the Tower or Gate sections of High Ground, are packaged in small boxes, while large vehicles such as the Elephant will be packaged in an even larger box.

"When you turn the scale down, you turn the possibilities up," Todd explains. "With Micro Ops, we're pulling the camera way back, and looking at a bigger picture. Our 6-inch figures are a great way to bring the individual characters of Halo to collectors—from Master Chief, to Noble Team, to the Elites and Grunts of the Covenant. But the Halo universe is so much bigger than that. Vehicles like the Pelican, the Falcon, the Phantom—they're all important pieces of the universe. Environments like New Mombasa, High Charity, or The Library; these are all as memorable and important as Master Chief himself. With Micro Ops, we can now begin to bring the full scope of Halo to fans."

Starting at $9 at the BBTS.

Toy Story 3 Cosbabies - - $10 each or available as a set.

Illustration roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:11:00 +0000

Murder She Writes book cover by John Allison, who has several eBooks on sale here.

Poster by Daniel Danger for The Woman in Black. Via.

Cover by David Drummond for Richard Stark's The Dame, which is $9 at Amazon.

American commandos rescued hostages from Somali pirates

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

The White House:

In a phone call from the U.S. Capitol immediately after the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama informs John Buchanan that his daughter Jessica was rescued by U.S. Special Operations Forces in Somalia, Jan. 24, 2012. First Lady Michelle Obama stands behind the President. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Here's the story.

Link roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:00:00 +0000

1. Warren Ellis is selling Valentines showing off his special brand of humor. (NSFW?)

2. Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles is hosting a Celebrity Charity Dungeons and Dragons Game this weekend and the game will be streamed online.

3. Figure out your ring size using this downloadable chart and scotch tape.

4. Now there's a Sith Lord called Darth Undead?

Hellboy/Peanuts mashup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Hellboy/Peanuts mashup by Chris (Raid71) Thornley on sale here as a $35 print to raise money for cancer research. Via.

Mary Jane as Venom

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Mary Jane as Venom by Joe Quinones - - the variant cover to Amazing Spider-Man #678, which is available at eBay.

Book review roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

1. Dune by Frank Herbert: I watched the movie when I was too young and thought it was weird and dumb. But Rob Beschizza's post about Dune without dialog interested me enough that I decided to read the book. It truly deserves its fame. More like Game of Thrones than Star Wars. $10 at Amazon.

2. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman: Pleasant all-ages novella starring Thor, Loki, Odin, and a seemingly unremarkable boy. I look forward to reading it to my sons. Not crazy about the illustrations, though. Currently $6 at Amazon for the hardcover.

3. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen: With a $16 cover price, I can't bring myself to recommend this since you can read the whole thing in about two minutes (even if you go slow) and it's basically the same drawing over and over. It really should be a board book at half the price. But. The illustrations are charming, and the book has a very, very funny (and dark) conclusion. I strongly recommend you borrow a copy from the library, or grab the $6 used copy currently at Amazon.

Cheap Kindle downloads

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:05:00 +0000

In light of the now expired cheap download price for American Gods, I decided to see if any of the books on my wishlist were also available cheap. Here's what I just downloaded:

Sandman Slim: A Novel is 99 cents.

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse) is $2.99.

Debris (Veiled Worlds Trilogy) is $2.99.

(I have no recollection of specifics, but I must have seen these recommended somewhere.)

Also, Susanna Clarke's outstanding, tremendous, and wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is a $2.99 download.

New post-apocalyptic story by Jeff Vandermeer and Eric Orchard

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Tor is hosting a new serialized creepy science fiction illustrated story by Jeff Vandermeer and Eric Orchard. You can read the first 20 pages of The Situation now.

Photo gallery of the new Red Lion and Lance set

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:42:00 +0000

Definitive photo gallery of the upcoming Red Lion and Lance figure set. You can preorder it at the BBTS (but be prepared for sticker shock).

Lucasfilm's annual benefit art auction

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Illustration by Marcus Velazquez for Lucasfilm's annual benefit art auction.

My new favorite iPhone game is Puzzlejuice

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:26:00 +0000

Puzzlejuice by Colaboratory is 99 cents at iTunes. It's like Tetris and Bookworm combined.

The dirty, lucrative business of the sperm whale excretion known as ambergris

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:12:00 +0000

Businessweek:

Ambergris, a waxy excretion formed in the intestines of sperm whales (thanks to their inability to digest squid beaks), is one of the most sought-after substances in the world. Ambergris sells for roughly $20 a gram, gold for $30.

...

Like truffle sourcing, the ambergris trade is shrouded in secrecy. Chris Kemp, a neuroscientist from Grand Rapids, Mich., spent years investigating the ambergris business, which he documents in his book, Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris, to be published by the University of Chicago Press this May. “If you believe what you read in the media,” he says, “you’d think ambergris is something that people just find by accident.” The truth, he claims, is far more clandestine. “There’s a whole underground network of full-time collectors and dealers trying to make their fortune in ambergris. They know the beaches and the precise weather conditions necessary for ambergris to wash up on the shore.” And when whale-poop gold is on the line, he says, “it can get violent.”

Read on.

Link roundup

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

1. Like the Prisoner, but with good intentions:

Its detractors may end up dubbing it "Dementiaville", but Switzerland is brushing aside a debate raging among geriatric-care experts with plans to build a mock-1950s village catering exclusively for elderly sufferers of Alzheimer's and other debilitating mental illnesses.

Via.

2. "What do Army junior officers actually recommend reading?: Their own top 10."

3. A hobbyist piloting a drone spotted a river of blood - - a meatpacking plant in Dallas was simply ejecting blood into the river. Via.

4. Sam Wolfe Connelly has a new shop featuring some illustrations I've featured.

5. Paul Pape's having a sale on his custom made stuck in carbonite sculptures.