Rubik's Cubism

Check this out:

TOP 10
Uploaded by extermitent. - Discover more animation and arts videos.

There are so many creative people on the internet, aren't there?

Video footage found in Rebel Alliance recorder

You're welcome.

Coming soon

Next Wednesday (July 8th) we will be receiving one of the cool promotional BLACK LANTERN RINGS! Come on in and check it out:


Then get your ring FREE with the purchase of BLACKEST NIGHT #1, slated to ship on July 15th! I love cool giveaways like this! Thanks DC Comics!

Captain America: Reborn arrives in store tomorrow!

That's right! The next chapter in the saga of Steve Rogers is about to begin! But before you pick up your copy of Captain America: Reborn #1 tomorrow I recommend checking out the exclusive 8 page prelude Marvel is offering readers free on their exclusive Reborn website!

It's well worth the read!

Behold:

No hope.

Star Wars guys in fast vehicles

And some not so fast ones.

If I had a pet it would have to be a giant prehistoric rodent

I ran across this awesome page on Metafilter. I always thought Capybaras looked weird/cool and thought it would be neat to own one. This lady has one and takes great joy in it. Go read.

BONUS CAPYBARA FACT: Apparently they are also delicious, and make great wallets.

R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett

Well what can I say? Certainly personal tragedies are more important to us than the deaths of celebrities. That being said, who can't help but feel a bit sad for the passing of a classic '70s icon, American beauty Farrah Fawcett? Like most young men of the mid-to-late 1970s, I was enamored of Farrah's classic wholesome beauty. Her iconic poster was pretty much everywhere back then. (Here's a neat story about that poster and the guys who produced it.) She became a symbol of that era, cemented by her single season (!) appearance on the TV show CHARLIE'S ANGELS. She WAS the '70s, and truly one of it's icons.



Anyway, I was saddened to hear of her struggle with cancer and of her passing yesterday. In memory, I give you this clip from the movie LOGAN'S RUN (1976):



Rest in peace, Farrah.

The Weekend Comics Chat Open Thread - the Lego My Eggo Edition

Anyway.

There was a huge mound of comic titles that came in this week, like AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #598, ASTONISHING X-MEN #30, AVENGERS INVADERS #12, BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1, DAREDEVIL #119, DARK AVENGERS #6, DARK REIGN LETHAL LEGION #1, DARK REIGN SINISTER SPIDER-MAN #1, DARK REIGN ZODIAC #1, DARK WOLVERINE #75, DETECTIVE COMICS #854, FREDDY JASON ASH NIGHTMARE WARRIORS #1, GI JOE #6, GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1, GREEN LANTERN #42, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #34, NEW AVENGERS #54, PREDATOR #1, PREVIEWS #250, SECRET WARRIORS #5, SGT ROCK THE LOST BATTALION #6, SKAAR SON OF HULK #12, STAR WARS LEGACY #37 TATOOINE PT 1, SUPERMAN #689, UNCANNY X-MEN #512, WOLVERINE WEAPON X #3, X-FORCE #16 and more... so what did you read? What was good? What tanked? Tell us in the comments!

(WARNING: Comments Section may contain spoilers!)

Character photos from Tim Burton's upcoming ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie

Although I think Tim Burton is a terrifically overrated director (it's just me seriously please don't yell at me), I thought these looked amazingly cool:






That White Queen is completely awesome by the way. Whoo. She has a hint of Vlad Tepes to her doesn't she?



(And I've always liked the somewhat surreal"Alice In Wonderland"-themed video for Tom Petty's DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE.)

Access Problems

Hey, a few of you have probably noticed that I haven't posted much the last couplefew days... I've been drowning in the monthly comic orders, then had sporadic internet access problems the last three days. There is nothing more disheartening than creating a post and then having it lost to the ether. (Oh and then I visited friends and drove golf balls, ate hardshell crabs and drank beer all day on Monday, so that day was shot.) Anyway, Mechanicsburg Manager Joe Hare picked up the ball for the weekend, so thanks for that, Joe! I'll try to get the posting back to the regular daily grind from here on out. By the way, thanks for checking in everybody! I really appreciate it!

Mystery on South Street

If this image looks familiar to you, then you may know of the history of the mysterious Toynbee Tiles. I'd heard about them some time ago thanks to a story on NPR, but I had never actually seen one. Today though as my girlfriend and I were out and about on South Street in Philly before the Camera Obscura concert, I happened to look down and saw one as we were crossing the street.

These tiles started appearing nearly thirty years ago in Philadelphia, but have since been reported all over the world. Initially the tile was about the size of a license plate, but the one we saw today for example was only maybe two inches in height by four inches in length. But as intriguing as the geographical placements and differences in size and materials may be, the real mystery lies in the basic inscription that has been a part of each tile since their first appearance in Philadelphia all those years ago.

TOYNBEE IDEA

IN KUBRICK'S 2001

RESURRECT DEAD

ON PLANET JUPITER.

The tile's meaning has been theorized by connecting the references made in the tile. It is believed "Toynbee" refers to Arnold J. Toynbee, a famous 19th century English religious historian and of course "Kubrick's 2001" refers to 2001: A Space Odyssey, co-written and directed by the late great filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Wondering what's the intersection though between the works of Toynbee and Kubrick? Toynbee's writings spoke of a man named Zoroaster who conceived the idea of monotheism. Looking at the musical score to 2001: A Space Odyssey its theme song is curiously entitled "Thus Spoke Zoroaster." But what of the "Resurrect dead on planet Jupiter" business? Well, around the time the tiles first showed up writer David Mamet published the one-act play 4 AM, which depicted an odd interaction between a radio host and a strange caller who wants to talk about a plan to resurrect the dead on Jupiter.

While Mamet has always claimed he invented this caller, in 1983, a real caller identifying himself as James Morasco, a Philadelphia city social worker, rang Clark DeLeon at The Philadelphia Inquirer. DeLeon then published his remarks of that exchange.

Wanna run that one by me again?
By Clark DeLeon

Call me skeptical, but I had a hard time buying James Morasco's concept that the planet Jupiter would be colonized by bringing all the people of Earth who had ever died back to life and then changing Jupiter's atmosphere to allow them to live. Is this just me, or does that strike you as hard to swallow too? Morasco says he is a social worker in Philadelphia and came across this idea while reading a book by historian Arnold Toynbee, who's theory on bringing dead molecules back to life was depicted in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"There are no scientific principles I've found that can make this possible," Morasco said, "especially colonizing the planet Jupiter, which has a very poisonous atmosphere. The possibility of giving that planet an oxygen atmosphere is beyond even science fiction writers' imaginations."

Now that quote may sound as if Morasco doesn't believe it can be done, but that's not true. He thinks that between Toynbee and Stanley Kubrick there is a way to pull it off. That's why he's contacting talk shows and newspapers to spread the message. He's even founded a Jupiter colonization organization called the Minority Association, which he says consists of "Me, Eric, Eric's sister who does the typing, Frank. . ."

You may be hearing more from Morasco. And then again, you may not.

Weird, huh? But trust me, this mystery only gets weirder the more you read on the topic. So if I have piqued your curiosity and you'd like to read more on this, there's a great write up here. I know I've enjoyed mulling it all over in my brain since seeing it earlier today. This concludes my odd little side note of a very entertaining and fun day!

Blackest Night Prophesied 23 Years Ago?!?

Although he's largely known as the master storyteller behind Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Miracleman, Batman: The Killing Joke, Swamp Thing, Tom Strong, Promethea, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and numerous other works, Alan Moore also contributed some rather unique tales to some of the cornerstone characters of the DC Universe. One of those stories, "Tygers" from the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2, introduced a chilling prophecy of doom for the very Guardians of the Universe and their corps of galactic policemen. So here we are 23 years later and I'm wondering if this is the predication of doom now set to befall the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps?



The planet Ysmault, the Daxamite Green Lantern Sodam Yat, the sentient city of Ranx... we have seen all of these pieces of the prophecy... will OA soon lie in ruins too?

And does it surprise anyone that such an anticipated event such as Blackest Night has a touch of the genius of Alan Moore?

JLA Gets a New Creative Team!

Well, there's been all sorts of rumors regarding a new creative team on The Justice League of America, but it looks like DC has officially announced writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley for the book. Their run on the title starts after Len Wein finishes his story on the book and the events of Robinson's 6 issue Justice League mini-series Cry for Justice will apparently serve as a set up to his run on the ongoing book.



So there's something to look forward to for JLA and if you missed signing up for Justice League: Cry for Justice there's still time to do so! Just let any of us counter monkeys in Mechanicsburg or York know, and we'll take good care of you!

SIMPSONIZED!

Mike Bollinger sent me a link to the Springfield Punx site, a cool place where there are "Simpsonized" renderings of all kinds of characters, from James Bond to Ms Marvel. Go check it out!