The Art of Epic

The Art of EPIC

If you not familiar with animation house Blue Sky Studios they are the team that brought you Ice Age and Rio, and this summer movie season they have teamed up with 20th Century Fox Animation for Epic.  Based on William Joyce’s book “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs”, Epic features an inspiring witty heroine in Mary Katherine and her eccentric father Professor Bomba in researching the “Leafmen” who protect the forest from the forces of evil.  Mary finds herself transported into this magical world by touching glowing leaves and thus, her adventure begins.

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A Big Rubber Duck in Hong Kong Harbour

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Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong under attack by a big ass rubber duck!

Actually this “Rubber Duck” art project is by artist Florentijin Hofman.  The duck is so big that a tug boat has to push it along as the duck measures 46 ft tall by 55 ft long.

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Supernatural: Carved in Flesh

supernatural carved in flesh

The award winning sci-fi drama Supernatural has been following the Winchester brothers – Dean & Sam for 8 seasons on the CW as they hunt down demons, ghosts, and monsters.  And with the CW picking up the series for the 9th season there will be more thrilling adventures for Dean & Sam.  The young Winchester brothers lost their mother from a demonic figure and from that point on their father groomed them to fight supernatural evil.  Titan Books has released a series of novels with different authors in expanding the Supernatural universe and in “Carved in Flesh” by Tim Waggoner, this novel takes place during Season 7 of Supernatural.

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Classic Martial Arts Film Posters

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Like the Wu-Tang Clan, as a kid growing up I saw many kung fu flicks with gravity defying kicks, flying swords and super speed punches.  And if you are in the LA area, The Academy of Motion Picture & Sciences is showcasing classic martial arts film posters from Bruce Lee to Kill Bill.  This huge 800 film poster collection & related materials was donated by producer & screenwriter Stephen Chin in 2011 to the Academy.  This exhibit will run through August 25, 2013 and it’s FREE.

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Deco Art by Mads Berg

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Retro art deco by Danish designer Mads Berg.

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Viral Video Friday: The Science of Coffee

Dunkin' Donuts Coffee

It’s all about creating the perfect cup of coffee and I admit I had a $25.00USD cup of coffee.  It was very good indeed, but I’m not a coffee snob.  I rather go enjoy a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.  Check this NPR’s Science Friday feature on coffee.

Mickey D’s Car Cup Holder for French Fries!

french fries cup holderIn Japan, when you order an extra value meal with large fries, Mickey D customers will get a free cup holder that holds the yummy French Fries for your car dashboard.  It’s only available in Japan and through the end of May 2013.

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Re-Vision – Postcards

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This Re-Vision project by Spanish design studio Forma & Co takes iconic characters and puts in simple colorful silhouettes.

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5-years of Drawing on Sandwich Bags

sandwich bag art

For graphic designer David LaFerriere it just started out as fun with his kids and get his creative juices flowing for the day by drawing colorful artwork on his kid’s sandwich bags.  The power of a Sharpie marker!  I think Sharpie PR/marketing should do a commercial with this super dad.  Presently he has drawn over 1,100 sandwich bag artwork for his kids.

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The Loyal Subjects: G.I. Joe Vinyl Figures

gijoe blindbox 01

Vinyl mini-figs are very popular in collecting and now The Loyal Subjects have released a very detailed 3″ vinyl figures of G.I. Joe with approval from Hasbro.  Designed by Les Schettkoe the Series 1 set features 8 popular Joes:  Cobra Commander, Destro, Duke, Snake Eyes, Zartan, Storm Shadow, Gung-Ho & Snowjob and also 3 chase figures.

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Excel spreadsheet turned into a video game RPG: Arena.Xlsm

excel rpg 01

Image via Ars Technica

Accountant by day and game developer at night – Cary Walkin had the idea of making his boring Excel spreadsheet into an RPG – Arena.Xlsm.  The requirements are you will need a PC and Excel versions 2007, 2010 or 2013 to run this turn-base RPG game.  And you will need to enable Macros for the game to work.

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Emily the Strange needs a Kickstart for her band: Calling All Guitars!

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Emily the Strange 01

Our friends at animation studio Ghostbot and Robert Reger need your help in getting Emily the Strange animated in music.  It’s not just Emily, but her band and her cats will get animated too!  Check out the Kickstarter page for info in helping this project along – Kickstarter – Emily the Strange MV.

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Custom G.I. Joe Skystrikers

skystrikerbox

As a kid I could never get the G.I. Joe Skystriker and because of Robotech and Top Gun, I wanted this toy even more.  When Hasbro re-issued it 2011 for it’s 30th Anniversary, I was able to pick one up.  I think this is one of the coolest G.I. Joe toy vehicles ever.  And now fans have been building really amazing custom Skystrikers.

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Famous Paintings on Toasted Bread

arttoastproject

Artist Ida Skivenes likes to re-create famous paintings on toasted bread and then eats it.  Ida is a super cool foody and you have to check out her Instagram page for more on this eatable toast series.

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Combat Creatures – The Attacknids

doomrazerThese toy robots will be great stress relievers in your cubicle.  Combat Creatures – the Attacknids can fire battle discs at unsuspecting co-workers.  Batteries are not included.  From the office desk, grab the remote control and  sync these Attacknids together for the attack.

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Assassin’s Creed in China

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Well, if the next Assassin’s Creed game takes place in China, you can thank artist Chaoyuan Xu for inspiring it.  This is not just any old fan art, his Assassin’s Creed China collection is something to look at.

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UD Replica Batman Backpack

dark knight backpack

We here at Retrenders is the one stop shop for everything a superhero ever needed – we brought you the zombie survival machine, the dark knight motorcycle suit, and the samurai umbrella sword. Now we got the The Dark Knight Rises Leather Motorcycle Backpack for all those little gadgets a superhero might need but it wouldn’t fit onto the utility belt, such as your bottle water, some chap stick, an mp3 player (you know, while you’re waiting for the baddies), your tablet, and many other items you wanted to carry while out on the town. These backpacks were featured in both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, has room for up to four 16 oz water bottles, and is made from form molded leather over motorcycle-grade body armor.

MSRP:  $300.00USD

For more info, go to:  UD Replicas – Batman Backpack.

Bring the Boom with the iHome iP4

boombox time

The 1980s are back with these iHome iP4 FM stereo boombox for your Apple iPhone or iPod.

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Lollipop House

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This “Lollipop House” from Korean architecture firm Moon Hoon looks tiny in scale, but it’s actually really big inside.  It’s deceiving to the eyeballs.

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Portable Crapper for the Great Outdoors

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This city boy is off to the wilderness this weekend.  I got drag into camping outdoors, but I would rather stay at a resort hotel.  And as you get older, you worry about your where to take a leak or dump.  Well, you can take this Shit Box anywhere.

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Viral Video Friday: [Touhou] Bad Apple! on Sega Megadrive

Here’s something hackable you can do with the SEGA Megadrive/Genesis, just watch this cool video playing:

 

G.I. Joe: Team Ninja

gijoe blind masterHasbro’s G.I. Joe toy line has had some famous real-life characters join the team, like WWF wrestler Sgt. Slaughter and NFL Chicago Bear lineman William “The Fridge” Perry, and now, you can add Wu-Tang Clan member RZA to the list.  Maybe it was just me, I found it hilarious that RZA was playing the Blind Master in G.I. Joe:  Retaliation.  I was cracking up and enjoyed the stiff dialogue he had in the movie.  What I liked about the movie was all the ninja stuff which hearkens back to Larry Hama’s old Marvel Comics G.I. Joe universe.

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Taylor Digital Measuring Cup & Scale

digital measuring cup

If you’re like, I’m still an amateur cook and still learning how to measure.   I can never eyeball and visually know how much sugar, salt, water, etc to put in when cooking.  Now, the problem can be solve with the Taylor Digital Measuring Cup & Scale.

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The Messenger Bag Director’s Chair

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Our Retrenders staff member and film connoisseur Johnny Moreno sometimes fancies himself as a big time director, like he’s the next Pedro Almodóvar.  He will definitely like this item, it’s not just a director’s chair, but folds up into an easy-to carry messenger bag.

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Teach your kids to be Mad Scientist with these Alphabet Blocks

mad science alphabet blocks

Instead of getting your kids those old-fashion alphabet blocks, why not buy these Mad Science Alphabet Blocks from Xylocopa?  You can now teach them Bioengineering and Nanotechnology through these alphabet blocks!

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