Monday, January 28, 2013

The greatest shock of all time: Superman turns heel!

Oh that rat bastard! How could he turn his back on Batman and the rest of the Justice League!?



Some context: In the early 90s, Hulk Hogan jumped ship from WWF (now called the WWE) to its rival professional wrestling promotion, WCW. In 1996, he staged probably the biggest shocker of all time when he turned heel (became a bad guy) and formed the New World Order with two other villainous wrestlers, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Hogan's turn was shocking because he hadn't been a bad guy in like a decade at that point. It's actually a pretty cool moment in professional wrestling, as Hulk Hogan reinvented himself for the 90s as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan.

The video parodies the heel turn, replacing Hulk Hogan with Superman and Nash and Hall with Lex Luthor and Solomon Grundy. The guy interviewing Superman is supposed to be "Mean Gene" Okerlund, who interviewed Hogan after his heel turn. In fact, that's the actual audio (albeit, slightly manipulated) from the interview.

Friday, January 25, 2013

The ending of an era: Production stops on the PlayStation 2

I never used those stand things
and pretty sure I lost them not long after getting the console.
Wikipedia.
Old news, but still news. Kotaku reported last month that the venerable console of my youth stopped shipping to stores in Japan, effectively ending its run. With that, so also ends the sixth-generation of consoles. To say that the PS2 had a good run would be like saying The Sims is a sort of popular video game series. It was a beast, selling over 150 million units. Seriously, think about that for a second: the current population of the U.S. is about 315 million, so almost half would have a PS2. 150 million is more than most countries populations. If the PS2 were a country and each unit was a person, then it would be above Russia and just below Bangladesh in population.


GTA Wiki.
I have good memories of the PS2. I got one for Christmas in 2001, after almost choosing an Xbox. The first game I played was the hottest item on the shelf at the time - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I can't count the number of hours of my life I lost to that game over the years. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War was another good one. The last game I really played on it was Final Fantasy XII. I eventually sold the PS2 about a year after getting an Xbox 360 to a local GameStop. It wasn't an easy decision, given how long I had it, but it didn't seem right to let it sit at the bottom of my stereo cabinet, collecting dust. I like to think that someone bought it - maybe for themselves, maybe for a young gamer - and got as much fun and enjoyment out of it that I did.
I eventually acquired an Xbox and a GameCube, and while the former certainly grabbed my attention by the short and curlies, the PlayStation 2's hold was just a tiny bit stronger.

Funny thing is, I ended up getting another one - one of those slim models - as a gift last year. I was planning on getting rid of it this year, but now...who knows, I might keep it.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

This shall forever be the greatest picture of Randy Orton ever.

Mmm, yes, so warm.
Yup, that happened. After beating Rhodes Scholars and Wade Barrett on Smackdown, Kane and Daniel Bryan did a group hug with a very unwilling Randy Orton. It was magical. So magical.

Picture via The Wrestling Blog.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Animaniacs' parody of Le Miserables is amazing

I haven't seen Les Miseranimals since I was a kid and it's still good.



Seriously, though, this was an eleven minute segment from a thirty minute cartoon that used to air in the afternoons. I come home from school everyday (when I wasn't in the hospital) and watch this, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Batman: The Animated Series (amongst others). My childhood was awesome!

Check out this photo from Optimus Prime's short-lived film career

Transformers Wiki.
Prime was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as the giant transforming robot in the breakout indie hit, "I Have No Mouthplate and I Must Transform and Roll Out", which he also wrote and produced. Unfortunately, he lost out to Daniel Day-Lewis, much like everybody else does.

Despite getting a pile of offers to play the lead in big budget films, Optimus ultimately decided that the Hollywood lifestyle wasn't for him and retired home. Today, he spends his time gardening, giving motivation speeches to troubled youth and making small experimental films in his garage.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Two guys spent two years recreating the entire Toy Story movie with actual toys and it is awesome.

They definitely deserve jobs at Pixar. Possibly even an Academy Award or something.



I need to set aside some time to watch this all the way through and six or seven times after that.

Wonder Woman came to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and she's all out of bubblegum

Credit: Rahzzah.
Now this is a redesign I can get behind! The star tattoo/beauty mark under her left eye is a nice touch.

h/t Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Damn weird ass weather this weekend

I live in Virginia and on Saturday, despite being the middle of winter, was 72 degrees. Sunday was a bit cooler, but still warm. Some might cite this as evidence for climate change caused by global warming, but I think we all know the real culprit. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, COBRA has built another Weather Dominator!

It was only after he climbed up to the Dominator's chair
that Destro realized that he had forgotten two things:
1. His iPod's adapter. 2. A ladder.

Credit: Joepedia.
Motherfucking COBRA! When will your reign of terror and comically absurd plots for world conquest end!?

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Des Taylor's Fleischer-style Superman picture is beyond awesome

You can check out Des Taylor's other artwork on his blog. You can watch the Fleischer Studios Superman shorts on YouTube and I highly recommend them, they're pretty good.

h/t The Retroist.