Yet more Lego win! Hyperion Battlecruiser from Starcraft 2

I'm seriously considering adding a Lego tag since I keep posting awesome things people build with them. This time, it's the Hyperion Battlecruiser from Blizzard Entertainment's Starcraft 2.

Made by a chap named Sven Junga and made up of 15,000 Legos, this is definitely one of the best I have seen so far.

You can check out the rest of the pictures on Junga's Flickr.

(h/t Obvious Winner)

Awesome graphic of Link's shields from the various Legend of Zelda games

Credit: blueamnesiac.

I like the second and third shields on the bottom row; they remind me of the emblem of House Greyjoy's from A Song of Ice and Fire.

(h/t Loyal K.N.G.)

Anyone got a spare 4 grand so I can buy this Eleventh Doctor sonic screwdriver?

The object of desire:

The preciouses...
Credit: QMX Online.

My response:

Credit: Three Word Phrase, by Ryan Pequin.

The reason it retails for $3,995 is because it's created by Nick Robatto, the prop maker for Doctor Who. Buy it here if you have the cash.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find a sugardaddy.

(via Nerd Approved)

Holy frak! Benedict Cumberbatch cast as the villain for Star Trek 2!

Can we all just agree that Benedict Cumberbatch is a very handsome man?
Credit: MaxUpdates.

 Holy crap on a cracker! That guy is sure making the rounds on the nerd circuit. First, he's playing Sherlock on the eponymous BBC series. Then, he's doing the voice of Smaug in The Hobbit, and now Star Trek! At the same time Noel Clarke, who played Micky Smith (Rose's boyfriend) on Doctor Who will also be in the movie as a "a family man with a wife and daughter."

(via Tor.com)

Praise the Lord, the live-action Akira movie is shitcanned

Saw this at Topless Robot and, after thoroughly getting jiggy with it, had to post it.

Warner Bros is pushing the pause button on Akira.
The project, which has been through several incarnations, is being shut down in the face of casting and budgetary issues. The production offices in Vancouver are being closed, with below-the-line talent and crew told to stop working. "Everybody is being sent home," according to an insider.

 Quote via The Hollywood Reporter.


I'm assuming that by "casting issues" they of course mean the fact that they completely white-washed Akira, a seminal manga and anime from Japan. It's true, instead of hiring Japanese and Japanese-American actors to portray Japanese characters, they instead went the "White is Right" route and hired Garrett Hedlund (of Tron: Legacy fame) to play the hero, Kaneda. Kristin Stewart and Helen Bonham Carter were also in negotiations to star, with the former being cast as Kei, Kaneda's love interest and the latter as Lady Miyako. The only actual Japanese person in the movie was going to be Ken Watanabe and that was only after Gary Oldman turned down the offer to play The Colonel.

I'm not even Asian, let alone Japanese or Japanese-American and even I'm offend by Warner Bros. blatantly racist dickmove. It's not like people in this country won't watch a movie with a non-white cast; after all, Slumdog Millionaire was a hit. Black Rain was another hit and it only had three white characters in a predominately Japanese cast. The Last Samurai also comes to mind. The American movie industry has to pull its collective head out of its ass and realize that the United States isn't populated only by whites and African-American, and making movies starring Asian, Latino, South Asian and Middle Eastern actors is perfectly fine.

Robin plays Dungeons & Dragons, consider your argument invalid

Robin vol. 2 #3.
Credit: Schwarbage.

I would read a comic series where Tim Drake (Robin, Red Robin from the Batman comics) and Young Justice play D&D or Pathfinder.

Steven Tyler, Weird Al Yankovic and Alice Cooper cover The Beatles' "Come Together"

The collab that no one saw coming.



A wild Mike Myers appears at 5:48.

(via The Nerdist)

This poster proves that Community's Inspector Spacetime is something that needs to exist

I wants it to be reals!
Credit: Sam Spratt Illustration.

"What is Inspector Spacetime?" You ask? Oh, you did ask? Too bad. Inspector Spacetime is a spoof of Doctor Who created for the popular-even-if-NBC-pretends-it-isn't comedy, Community. It appeared in the season three premiere of the show and the internet being the internet, a mock fan following appeared with an Inspector Spacetime Confessions on Tumblr and a page on TV Tropes. I would love for Steven Moffat to reference Inspector Spacetime on Doctor Who, the resulting nerdgasms would be epic.

Bob Anderson, the fightin' Darth Vader, dead at 89

Credit: FirstShowing.net

I'll admit that up until the other day I had no idea who Bob Anderson was. I never knew that someone other than David Prowse wore Darth Vader's garb whenever the Sith Lord threw down, but someone did and that was Bob Anderson. An Olympic fencer, he was initially hired to choreograph the lightsaber duels in the Star Wars Original Trilogy, but he soon stepped into Vader's shoes after Prowse couldn't quite get a hang of it. According to Mark Hamill, George Lucas wanted to keep a lid on this fact, but Hamill spoke out in 1983 and revealed Anderson's role. Apparently Hamill felt that the master swordsman deserved credit where credit was due.

"It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George (Lucas) I didn't think it was fair any more," Hamill told Starlog magazine, referring to the legendary director and producer. "Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man."

Unfortunately, he still seems to have been overshadowed over the decades. He also worked on other movies such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, two James Bond films, and The Princess Bride.

I tip my nerd hat to you, Mr. Anderson. You made Darth Vader even more fearsome and cool.

(h/t Science Fiction.com)

I love nerds: hackers want to launch their own satellites

In order to protect the internet from governmental attempts to censors and control the internet, a group of hackers want to create their own satellite network.

...hackers at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin are dreaming of creating their own network of communications satellites and ground stations to forestall any attempt to control the internet.

And they could do it too. According to the BBC, hobbyists have put small satellites into temporary orbit, but then again, getting something as big as a communication satellite is going to be more difficult and expensive. Still, I like and support the idea.

The internet is something more than just cat videos and memes, it's the greatest invention since the telephone. It represents the best hope humanity has to bridge our differences and ensure freedom for every man, woman and child on this planet. The idea of any government giving itself the authority to control and subvert this resource is an anathema to me. An independent network would also render net neutrality a moot point, since presumably you wouldn't need to go through one of the big telecomms to access the internet. That, and imagine how bad ass it would be if they managed to pull it off?

Chaos Computer Club.