Sunday, July 17, 2011

Crushable

Crushable


Crushable’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 2 Dream Cast

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Casting for the second season of Game of Thrones is well underway– and a good thing, too, since a second season has been in the works since the airing of the show’s very first episode. This season will cover the second book of the series, A Clash of Kings, and has a whole bunch of new characters to get to know. Among them are Margaery Tyrell, the sister of Ser Loras “Knight of Flowers” Tyrell, who will be played by The Tudors actress Natalie Dormer, and Brienne of Tarth, an exceptionally tall warrior maid who will be played by the 6’3″ (you heard me: 6 foot three!) actress Gwendoline Christie. There are still plenty of roles left to fill, though; here’s who we’d like to see join the cast:

Stannis Baratheon: Christopher Eccleston
Robert’s brother Stannis is technically the true heir to the throne of Westeros, since Joffrey isn’t Robert’s and Renly is the youngest of the three brothers. This is the primary reason Ned was trying so hard to win support for Stannis. Unfortunately, the middle Baratheon brother also happens to be a pretty unpleasant guy with no sense of humor who is unlikely to inspire much loyalty. He has a tendency to get bent out of shape about anything he perceives as an insult, and he doesn’t forgive or forget anything (there’s a reason everyone would rather have Renly on the throne: He’s just so much more likeable). Stannis a bit of a dark horse, though; he’s known for being an excellent naval commander, so there’s a possibility that he might make a good, if not wildly popular, king. Christopher Eccleston is rumored to be in talks for a role in Game of Thrones; if the rumors are true, he’d make a superb Stannis. Eccleston is probably most well-known to American audiences as Claude the Invisible Man from the first season of Heroes, but he’s widely known in geekdom for his brief yet glorious season as the 9th Doctor on Doctor Who.

Melisandre: Christina Hendricks
There are many different religions warring for a place in Westeros, and Melisandre, often referred to as the Red Lady, is a high priestess of one of them. She worships R’hllor, the Lord of Light, which doesn’t make her that popular with most people. Stannis adores her, though, and she quickly converts him to the faith. Melisandre always dresses in red and has red eyes, so gee, that doesn’t sound evil at all, does it? Anyway, she’s also capable of great power– she has magic at her disposal and can see into the future. If Christina Hendricks is available while Mad Men is on hiatus, someone should call her up and book her for Melisandre, stat.

Ser Davos Seaworth: Tony Curran Mark Sheppard
One of Stannis’ most trusted advisers, Davos wasn’t always a knight. Nor was he upper class. In fact, he was once a lowly smuggler. Stannis knighted him and gave him a keep of his own after Davos managed to smuggle in a whole bunch of food to Stannis’ besieged castle– but not before taking a joint off of four of Davos’ fingers as payment for his past crimes. The food Davos smuggled in included a bunch of onions, giving him a nickname: The Onion Knight. Davos is one of many knights with lower class backgrounds roaming around Westeros, but unlike, say, the Mountain and the Hound, he’s got a sense of honor and justice that most of the others seem to lack. He’s fascinating character with a tough journey ahead of him. I’ve been hearing rumors that Tony Curran (left), who you probably saw (or rather, didn’t see) as the Invisible Man in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is up for a role this season; I’d cast him as Davos if that’s the case. Though maybe Mark Sheppard (right)– our good pal Badger from Firefly would make a good Davos as well…

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Crushable’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 2 Dream Cast

Snap This: Yoda Orders a Pizza

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 10:20 AM PDT

Or at least, he tries to in this comic by cartoonist Jim Benton. Unfortunately, the Mighty Green One’s unique sense of grammar proves to be a little too much for the clerk of the Dagobah Domino’s…

[Via The Daily What Geek]

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Snap This: Yoda Orders a Pizza

14 Actors Who Have Played Gods

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 08:45 AM PDT

Haven’t heard of Gods Behaving Badly? It’s okay; we hadn’t either, until recently. The upcoming film, based on the novel of the same name, follows the ancient Greek gods, who, it turns out, are not only alive and well but managing a brownstone in New York. Last week, casting was announced, and believe you me, it looks like it’s going to be hilarious. Oliver Platt as Apollo? Win! Edie Falco as Artemis? Sold! John Turturro as Hades? On par with James Woods! Christopher Walken as Zeus? PERFECT. We’ve walked you through the actors who have played the Devil before; so now, in honor of Gods Behaving Badly, we bring 14 actors who have all played gods, ranging from Greek to Norse to Christian to fantasy deities. Time to get smiting!

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14 Actors Who Have Played Gods

Sunday Cute: Baby Hedgehog Plays Tug-of-War

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 07:15 AM PDT

Baby hedgehogs are unbearably cute. They’re even cuter when they’re playing tug-of-war. This one seems especially attached to his bit of tissue. Go, hedgehog, go! You can do it! I believe in you!

Happy Sunday!

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Sunday Cute: Baby Hedgehog Plays Tug-of-War

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Indian Lake Project

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:40 PM PDT

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

On July 9, 1997, a metal box was discovered in a wooded area around Indian Lake in upstate New York. The box had clearly been buried for some time; it was only found after a hiker tripped over an exposed edge which had worked its way free from the ground. The lid of the box was decorated with three shapes– an upside-down triangle and two circles– and had no lock. Inside, the hiker found 21 photographs with varying degrees of water damage, three reels of 8mm film, and an assortment of documents. The photographs largely depicted children, and the documents indicated that these children had been part of a government-run experiment between the years of 1952 and 1955. The experiment was known as:

THE INDIAN LAKE PROJECT

The hiker passed away due to an unrelated cause in 2002, but he left the box to his nephew, John, after his death. John began systematically going through the items in the box in October of 2005 and documented his findings on his website. This is the box:

The pictures in the box ranged from images of the military base that housed ILP to the children who were apparently the subjects of the experiments. John draws particular attention to three children who are referred to as Roger, Sam, and Sally (names which he notes are probably not the children’s real ones):

The child known as Roger had the most pictures in the box. They are all identified with the number 837 and depict Roger at different ages, indicating that he and the other ILP children were in the possession of the military for a number of years. The pictures include an image of Roger sitting at a table for a meal, which is at odds with some of the information contained on the film reels. The reels had been heavily damaged after their time in the ground, so John was only able to salvage stills from them; the accompanying sound would undoubtedly help shed light on the goings-on of the reels, but John has had to make due with the images alone. The first reel seems to show four children eating a meal while confined within a cage-like structure– not at a table, as Roger is shown to be in his photograph. Other clips from the film reels provide images of children listening to what John believed to be high-frequency sounds which may have been used in some form of psychological conditioning. Troubling, indeed.

As John dug deeper, he unearthed more and more disturbing facts. He learned of the existence of a CIA project known as Project ARTICHOKE, a program geared towards researching interrogation methods that arose in 1951 from something called Project BLUEBIRD. A memo dated January 1952 states, “Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self preservation?”, implying that Project ARTICHOKE was based in the idea of mind control. Furthermore, it was not a defense program; rather, it was an offensive program in which the Army, Navy, Air Force, and FBI all took part. The ILP is believed to have been a part of it as well. The project was renamed MK-ULTRA in 1953, after which the ILP’s roll was reduced, then eliminated. When the project came under fire in a series of congressional hearings, documents were brought forth which suggested that the methods of mind control included hypnosis, radiation, and LSD; however, none of the declassified documents from the hearings recognize the use of children being used in an of the experiments. It is believed that after this point, the ILP. was buried– as John notes, literally and figuratively.

However, after a trip to Indian Lake itself, during which John found several cement structures deep in the woods which he believes to be the remains of the ILP base, John pulled back from his exploration of the box. He began to receive strange phone calls– as many as 20 a day– and his house was broken into and searched. Luckily, John had hidden the box somewhere outside of his home, so it remained safe; but in the interests of protecting himself and his family, he called it quits at the end of October, 2005.

In June of 2006, however, he began researching the mysteries of the box once again. He was surprised to receive an email from a woman who claimed that her father had been stationed at the ILP base in 1955. What initially convinced John that she was telling the truth was that she cited information that he could confirm based on the evidence contained within the box. They corresponded for several months, but in October 2006, suspicion crept in on John. The woman was more than willing to send John her father’s personal effects, which struck him as weird; she also asked that he send her the original photographs and documents from the box, which he was certainly not willing to do. Unclear on what her motives were or even if she was who she said she was– and how she got the information that she had– John cut off all contact with her. Meanwhile, he found this photograph not in the box, but on the web:

The typed notes on the photo read as follows:

“Unidentified white female between the age 8 and 10 years old. Subject underwent 6 months of treatment using heavy doses of LSD, electroshock and sensory deprivation. Experiments under codename: MKULTRA about early 60s. Subject's memory was erased and her brain is that of a newborn baby.”

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Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Indian Lake Project

14 Fictional Witches and Wizards To Help You Deal With ‘Harry Potter’ Withdrawal

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 01:15 PM PDT

I know, I know; the last Harry Potter movie just came out, and now NOTHING MAGICAL WILL EVER HAPPEN AGAIN. EVER. But don’t worry! That’s not actually true! Look, here are 14 more fictional witches and wizards that already exist, just waiting for you to discover them and enjoy their adventures! They may not have Chocolate Frogs or Firebolts, but they’re just as fun. Really. Why not give these magical guys (and gals) a chance?

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14 Fictional Witches and Wizards To Help You Deal With ‘Harry Potter’ Withdrawal

Why I Don’t Need to See ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ (Spoilers, Sort Of)

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 11:50 AM PDT

I went to the movies a few days ago. This is not an unusual thing for me to do– I dig movies, and I dig writing about them– but I’m not about to write about the movie I saw. I’m going to write about a trailer I saw instead. It was a very bad trailer, but probably not for the reasons you’re thinking. The trailer was for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, for which we’ve been seeing trailers for a while now; but this one was one I hadn’t seen before, and to be honest, I still kind of wish I hadn’t seen it. Check out the trailer in question below:

Here’s the thing: Reboots and prequels are interesting because we already know where everything’s going. The fun part is seeing how we get there. This is what makes Batman Begins worth watching– rather than being a movie about Batman, it’s actually a movie about Bruce Wayne and how he got from point A to point B (point B being Batman). Rise of the Planet of the Apes should, in theory, be pretty much the same thing. Even if you haven’t seen the original 1968 film– or even the fairly terrible 2001 remake– odds are, you know what it’s about: Astronaut crash lands on planet; planet looks deserted; astronaut discovers planet is run by highly evolved monkeys with humans as their slaves; wackiness ensues. Furthermore, if you’ve seen Battlefield Earth (IT’S TERRIBLE. DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT.), you even know what the twist is, since Battlefield Earth ripped off Planet of the Apes like it was its job (spoiler alert): That weird planet with the wacky strange-creature society? It’s actually Earth in the very far future! Whoa! MIND-BLOWING!

Well, maybe less mind-blowing now, but that’s where this particular prequel should come into play. Since we know without a doubt that the Earth will be taken over by superapes, Rise should give us some awesome/crazy/totally unexpected insight on how it happens– as with Batman, it’s point A (Earth) to point B (Planet of the Apes). And up til now, the trailers have been pretty good about letting us known that this will be case without giving too much away. This new trailer, though? Not so much. Because it literally tells you the ENTIRE MOVIE: Scientist is developing a cure for Alzheimer’s; cure is tested on ape; cure makes ape super smart; ape defends human family by attacking another human; ape is shut away because of this; imprisoned ape decides to evolve and free all apekind; apes take over the earth. The end. This sort of comprehensive storytelling, while impressive as an editing exercise, is pretty much exactly what you DON’T owant a trailer to do, because hey, guess what? I don’t have any desire to see the movie anymore, because you just told me everything about it! Good going, film execs!

Trailers are tricky. Less is usually more, but you don’t want to have so little that your potential audience has nothing to grab onto. It’s equally dangerous going the other way, though, which is what’s going on here. But in both cases, you risk pushing away your viewers, either because of having given too little or too much information. What do you guys think?

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Why I Don’t Need to See ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ (Spoilers, Sort Of)

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