We pick interesting products and trends for you!
I am more of a coffee drinker but this will definitely give me an excuse to drink more tea – a Death Star tea infuser. It’s so cool that it even comes with a Tie Fighter at the end of the chain – as if it is guarding the Death Star. Can you imagine the hours of fun you will have playing with this…..I mean while drinking your favorite brand of tea of course.
MSRP: $19.99USD
For more info, go to: ThinkGeek – Star Wars Death Star Tea Infuser.
I’ve learned math and how to make a good burrito today. Word of the day: Hexaflexagon.
I think this is one of the coolest LEGO minifigs – The HULK!
For more on the Hulk minfig, go to: LEGO – Marvel Superheroes.
These days, blood suckers are everywhere in popular culture – you’ll see vampires, zombies, and werewolves on the tube, in films, and in comics. One of the most popular horror characters of all time is Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula and critically acclaimed novelist Kim Newman, takes the Count into an alternate universe where Van Helsing and friends failed to kill the famous vampire. As a result, Dracula eventually takes over England, where vampires become part of the society at large.
Dracula Cha Cha Cha is the third book in the Anno Dracula series (Anno Dracula & Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron) and the setting is 1959 Italy, where Count Dracula is to wed the Princess of Moldavia Asa Vajda in Fregene, Italy. Journalist Kate Reed intended to visit old “friends” Charles Beauregard and Genevieve Dieudonne in Rome, but gets wrap up in a murder mystery with secret agent Hamish Bond, where vampire elders are being murdered. And the like the Anno books before it, Kim Newman is known for using historical settings of the time to move the plot, and the characters meeting famous historical people and popular fictional characters from that era. The book has an added bonus short story – Aquarius with protagonist Kate Reed trying to solve 2 murders in London 1968. Journalist Kate plays detective and meets an enemy from the past. And I liked the fact that there is also a chapter of Annotations explaining various references in the story. If Twilight films are not your cup of tea, then you should definitely pick-up this bloody vampire book and may I also suggest reading Kim Newman’s first book Anno Dracula.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Paperback: Anno Dracula – Dracula Cha Cha Cha
Author: Kim Newman
Publisher: Titan Books
MSRP: $14.95USD
Available: October 26, 2012
You’ve probably seen his artwork floating around the World Wide Web, email links from friends saying take a look at these cool movie posters, or seen his box art for the PS3 video game Resistance 3. If you don’t know who Olly Moss is, well you should take notice now with his first collected art book by publisher Titan Books – Silhouettes from Popular Culture.
This book collects Victorian art of silhouette portraits with Olly’s own style, with a sense of fun and wit. Flipping through the pages, you will be amazed at the various silhouette portraits of pop culture characters from comics, films, TV, cartoons, anime, and videogames. Olly started this small project as a way to put up nerdy art that his girlfriend would like in the house and since ballooned to around 300 “paper cut” silhouette pieces. With only 144 pages in this book, Olly picked his favorite silhouettes to be in this collection. When you look at the various silhouette art pieces you might be wondering to yourself, how the heck did he get so precise with just scissors? Well, he admits to using industrial laser cutters.
A video time-lapse of the space shuttle Endeavour traveling through the streets of Los Angeles.
Furnish your bachelor pad with this collab collection from mastermind JAPAN and Herman Miller. The Eames Furniture features two items – a chair and table. It’s a tad expensive but it looks geek cool.
Wire Base Table LTRT
MSRP: $1,609.00USD
Life, passion and humanity would be the key words that summarize Cloud Atlas. The film grows with possibilities as it interweaves the lives of its characters and is the most creatively made film this year!
In Cloud Atlas, we begin with a series of unfinished business: a journal needs to reworked for clarity, there’s a quest for a masterpiece, an investigation to resolve, one must break their path for a better life, and lives must be saved, which sets up its characters to take action for an end, for clarity, for completion and for a better being.
The protagonists of Cloud Atlas pursue change as they pursue their lives, and we eventually see the connecting theme across time from the mid 1850s to the distant future as one larger than life story to resolve. The six protagonists’ physical looks and gender change as they live different lives, but are given a birth mark so we can identify them.
As complex and interconnected the film may be, the simple thing I love about Cloud Atlas is that it artfully tells us about our continuing existence through time. We are born, cultured with a life, and proven to learn through our existence. If given another opportunity to change for the better, we would.
In theaters this Friday, October 26th 2012
Directed by: Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant
In Australia the safe driving campaign starts with body art from body painter Emma Hack. Each of the 17 men and women involved in this artistic endeavor had 5 layers of paint applied to their bodies and it took around 18 hours to shoot.
Scott Campbell (known professionally as Scott C.) is an American painter and illustrator who also works as Art Director for the brilliant game development studio Double Fine Productions. We recently got the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his wonderful new book The Great Showdowns – a collection of his 130+ paintings showcasing the greatest confrontations in film, where we find out how his love of movies has influenced his life, which one showdown would “rule them all,” and just how awesome Neil Patrick Harris is.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RTNDR: The Great Showdowns has over 130+ film-inspired paintings and you seem to be a serious fan of cinema and the confrontations presented within them – so have you watched all of these films in their entirety and what is it about these struggles that lead you to draw them?
Scott C: I have seen all of the films in the book and almost all the films on the site, but i must confess that there are a few that i skimmed. There were some that i recognized as culturally significant, but just never felt like watching them. Heh heh. But there were always moments that stuck with me through the years, even if just moments from the TV ads! But pretty much most of them i have seen through my many years of existence. But most people have seen as much as i have, i have just started painting them all. I do absolutely love watching films though. They have influenced every part of my life since i was a kid from the clothes that i wore to the jokes that came out of my mouth. When i was younger, my favorite films were a part of my identity. And struggles are something we can all identify with, whether it is struggling with an enemy or struggling with a menu to figure out what the heck dish to order. There are so many moments that have stuck with me through the years and it is crazy how much nostalgia just floods back when I go back and watch those films. I love exploring those moments and i love assembling them into an epic mix tape of great film moments.
RTNDR: There are many more Showdown paintings on your website, GreatShowdowns.com, but we wanted to know how did you decide which paintings would be included in this art book?
Scott C: The book collects my favorite of the first big chunk of them. Some of the more obscure ones we did not include in the book. We have obscure ones in there for sure, but we tried to choose ones that would be most enjoyable for everyone to figure out. With plenty of good obscure ones though, don’t worry. The project is ongoing, so there are plenty for more books in the future!
RTNDR: Our editors’ favorite 80’s movie is Top Gun and they tried looking for a Top Gun showdown in the book to no avail – that got us to asking were there movies that you really wanted to draw for but thought that it just might not work? Did you consider painting TV series-inspired showdowns?
Scott C: I’ve done Top Gun twice! But maybe i wasn’t into how they turned out enough to include them in the book. I know that the most recent one was made too late for the book, the volleyball scene. The first one was Maverick versus Iceman. But anyway, there are for sure showdowns that i havent figure out how to make yet. I really want to do a Memento showdown, but i want to do him with his shirt off and all his tattoos and i can’t figure out what he would be showing down with. Some movies aren’t unique enough for me to find good visual elements to work with, like war movies or westerns. I have done TV shows and video games for special events. Like that LOST event that happened at Gallery 1988 a few years back. But for the Great Showdowns site, i am sticking to films. That is my rule for now! Just because you have to have rules and I’d be opening a huge can of worms with TV shows that i am not ready to open just yet.
Make your smartphone cute with these mini-like purse cases. The Cliché line-up features cases for your iPhone 5/4/4S, Galaxy S3/S2, Galaxy Note and HTC OneX. The cases start at $28.50USD and up to $50.00USD.
For more info, go to: Candies.
NYC fashion design firm Nooka founded by artist/designer Matthew Waldman teams up with apparel brand FILA to bring a fresh mini-capsule shoe collection to the Chinese market. Please FILA, bring these shoes here to the US market! The orange sneaks would go well with my SF Giants gear!
For more info, go to: Nooka x FILA.
Apparel company EDWIN releases a mini-capsule collection inspired by Toyota’s latest ride the 86 aka Scion FR-S which features jeans, khakis, graphic tees and polo shirts. Prices start at $110.00USD for the graphic tees and up to $240.00USD for the jeans.
I’m a In & Out burger guy and haven’t eaten at McDonald’s for a very long time, but I do have to admit – Mickey D’s French Fries are really delicious. McDonald’s Canada gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how the French Fries are made.
Long forgotten, this is a “Video from the Vault”, a Retrenders car show video so to speak. Here we tried to conjure up and choreograph an introduction, on the spot, with limited time, and not to mention dealing with all the noise that takes place at a car show. As producers for Retrenders, we want to make things entertaining – So we pulled this video from the vault, slapped some music onto it, and hope that it adds some personality to entertain you.
In this Out-Take video, Lena Love teases me about our set-up and tries to help at the same time; Claim Ho (off camera) was just entertained by watching our mini choreography, and one other JDM Girl of FIRM400 in the video couldn’t make out what we wanted. Oh well, but that’s what happens when you’re at a fabulous car show with tons of noise in the background. To be honest, it was fun just trying to do something.
FYI: This took place at Hot Import Nights (HIN) in Pomona, California back in March 2012.
It’s hoodie week, a few more hot picks.
I like this blue color! The Undefeated Fightin Champs Zip Hoodie.
MSRP: $114.00USD
For more info, go to: UNDFTD.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One of the bigger streetwear brands today – The Hundreds. It’s simple and clean, and the added touch of the iconic logo, this is The Hundreds Forever Bar Pullover.
MSRP: $59.00USD
For more info, go to: The Hundreds.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Have you ever watch a movie and then a great scene appears on screen with an actor and thought to yourself, man that was an epic moment or just an iconic scene that will resonate in your brain forever? Well artist Scott Campbell thinks so, and his “Great Showdowns” series celebrates cool moments in films of various genres, from the classics, thrillers, romantic-comedies, action flicks and even documentaries.
The art book collects over 130 paintings of “Great Showdowns” and showcases Scott’s eclectic taste in films like The Roman Holiday, Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds and Psycho, Kickass, Black Swan, Say Anything, and others. The art style is simple and whimsical and will surely put a smile on your face.
This is one really cool trailer – Lex Luthor and Joker team up and the Justice League comes together for LEGO-style action & comedy.
With the cold Fall weather upon us, I love a good a hoodie that can keep me warm and stylin’.
Stussy x Nike SNS Circle Hoodie
MSRP: $60.00USD
For more info, go to: Stussy x Nike.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Diamond Life Script Hoodie in Heather
MSRP: $80.00USD
For more info, go to: Diamond Life Script Hoodie.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Us Versus Them Branded Zip Hood Sweat
MSRP: $59.00USD
For more info, go to: Us Versus Them – Hoodie.
What the … the Holidays already? It’s not even Halloween yet! Street apparel maker Diamond Supply Co launches their Holiday 2012 Collection. The collection has a total of 109 items and features lots of fresh graphic tees, hoodies, and long-sleeve shirts. Prices range from $30.00USD up to $120.00USD.
For more info on the Holiday 2012 Collection, go to: Diamond Supply Co.
A LEGO fan re-created the RedBull Stratos 2012 skydive by Felix Baumgartner.
Here’s the non-LEGO video with Felix dropping 96,640 feet breaking the freefall record. He had a top speed of 536 feet, man, that is crazy. I would have black out at that speed. I guess this can be a real “Iron Man” suit!
For more info, go to: Red Bull Stratos.
Urban apparel company Crooks & Castles dishes out another Fall 2012 set – Delivery 2 for Men & Women.
Delivery 2 will feature 75 items for the men’s collection. As always, Crooks & Castles has some super fresh graphic tees and hoodies in this collection, along with new stylish sweatpants, jackets, beanies, snapback hats and polo shirts. Prices start at $28.00USD and up to $334.00USD.
Singalong with Disney stars – Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle.
Street fashion e-tailer Karmaloop recently launched a new e-tail site for women only – Miss KL. As you know, Karmaloop.com is one of bigger street fashion e-tailers and also sells women’s clothing, shoes and accessories. This new sister site – Miss KL will feature and focus merchandise for women of all ages.
Image via Marco den Besten
Here’s a video clip of Marco den Besten’s custom LEGO build – Ondylion City.
For more in-depth details and images, go to Marco’s Flickr page @ Ecclesiastes – Ondylion City.
Johnny Moreno
Edward Ballar
GuestContributor
kellyannbrooke
Ramon Angel
Al Woo
Stephen Jang
SW biko
Retrenders 