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Pop Culture

Movies, Books, and Video Games Reimagined As Dr. Seuss Art

By Jason Bailey on

We’ve pointed you towards the ingenious work of Dr. Seuss-loving artist DrFaustusAU on a couple of previous occasions, but he’s simply outdone himself with his new Seuss-inspired take on The Evil Dead, titled The Evil Dead Are in My Shed! We were so taken by this one, in fact, that we started poking around the “Seussian Gallery” on his DeviantART site and found several additional mash-ups of Seuss and films, books, and video games. Check out our favorites after the jump. … Read More

Fashion

Fandom Goes to the Beach: 10 Gloriously Geeky Swimsuits

By Julia Pugachevsky on

Now that spring break (and Spring Breakers!) is upon us, we’ve been fantasizing about the beach. What could be better than wading through the water with an air of calm gracing our once-fevered brow? Well, how about doing all of that with the uniform of a comic book heroine printed on our bikini? And what could be a more appropriate adornment for that bathing suit than the image of a favorite action-flick heartthrob? If you agree, click through for our roundup of gloriously nerdy swimwear. … Read More

Pop Culture

Geeky Ways to Propose: 15 Creative Pop Culture-Themed Rings and Boxes

By Julia Pugachevsky on

By now, photos of a Dungeons and Dragons-themed engagement ring (as well as a video of the actual proposal) have gone viral and drawn many admirers of the 20-sided die reference (the woman behind the magic says she “[feels] like [she] rolled a natural 20 when [she] started dating her.”) In fact, there are plenty of pop culture-themed wedding rings and boxes out there, with many betrothed couples sealing their betrothal with keepsakes of the fandom that brought them together in the first place. Whether bonding over a shared love of Ocarina of Time or finishing each other’s Star Wars-quoting sentences, there is something below for everyone (or, at least, every nerd). … Read More

Film

The Most Bizarre Tie-In Merchandise from ’80s Movie Classics

By Jason Bailey on

Your Flavorwire resisted the temptation to wade into the recent controversy over those collectible figures from Quentin Tarantino’s Djanjo Unchained, but we’ll say this much: it’s important to remember that those toys were aimed at adult collectors, while we can recall (or have managed to suppress our memories) of some thoroughly strange movie tie-ins from our youth that were aimed directly at kids. After the jump, stroll back to the ‘80s with us, when any movie was marketable to anyone, no matter how bizarre or inappropriate. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Fascinating Inspirations Behind the Names of 8 Famous Video Game Characters

By Jennifer Lewis on

Did you know that Princess Zelda was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, or that Luigi’s name was inspired by pizza? If not, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve always been curious as to where our favorite video game characters got their names, so we did a bit of digging and found some interesting results. After the jump, you’ll find the name inspiration for everyone from Kirby to Guybrush Threepwood to Solid Snake. Check it out, then hit the comments to share your fun character facts. … Read More

Tech

Pac-Man, Tetris Among MoMA’s First Video Game Acquisitions

By Judy Berman on

“But it’s art, Ma.” Teenagers, rejoice, for MoMA has legitimized what you’ve been telling your parents for years. The museum has announced its first video game acquisitions, a collection that includes 14 titles ranging from classics like Pac-Man and Tetris to more contemporary game-design paragons including Katamari Damacy and Portal. According to Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, this is only the beginning of “an initial wish list of about 40 to be acquire in the near future.” Kottke points out that Nintendo titles are conspicuously absent, likely because negotiations with the company are still in progress. Check out the rest of the games MoMA bought, all of which will be on view (and, we assume, available for playing) at the museum in March 2013, after the jump. … Read More

Music

Hear 3 New Beck Songs from the Video Game ‘Sound Shapes’

By Judy Berman on

Beck has a new album coming out, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ll never get to hear it. That’s because, as you might have heard, he’s releasing Song Reader solely as sheet music, via that great clearinghouse of retro and twee projects, McSweeney’s. But don’t worry: he’s still managed to spend some time in the studio this year. Stereogum points us to three new songs — “Cities,” “Spiral Staircase,” and “Touch the People” — the musical iconoclast has contributed to the Playstation 3 game Sound Shapes, which came out last week.

The tracks are fairly diverse, taking full advantage of Beck’s talent for genre-hopping. “Cities” is searching, slow-building, and percussive, with undertones of African pop, whereas “Spiral Staircase” is a wispy, dreamy ballad. Full of beeps, thumps, and robotic vocals, “Touch the People” would be just as appropriate soundtracking Dance Dance Revolution. Click through to see all three songs in the context of the game — which, incidentally, is adorably animated and looks like a whole lot of fun. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we discovered the American towns that have the most unfortunate names. We found out that Guantanamo Bay detainees are obsessively watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. We remembered Devo at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and then we visited the London Olympics in 1908. We spotted a pulsating … Read More

Pop Culture

See What Video Games Look Like from the Bad Guys’ Perspective

By Judy Berman on

Have you ever considered the plight of the bad guy in a first-person shooter? Sure, he may be a foot soldier on the wrong side of a vague war of good vs. evil, but he still gets a pretty raw deal. How come he goes down with a single bullet, yet he can hit the player ten or 20 or 40 times before this apparently superhuman being dies? And it’s got to be disorienting to finally pick off a hero, only to see him vaporize and then reappear, fully healed and armed, just a moment later. In the hilarious live-action clip below, Fatawesome Films shows us how video games might look from the bad guys’ perspective — and guarantees that you’ll never see those faceless enemies the same way again. … Read More

Books

Soon You Will Be Able to Play a Video Game About Salman Rushdie’s Fatwa

By Emily Temple on

If you know anything about Salman Rushdie (besides his dating history), you probably know that the author was the target of a fatwa requiring his execution issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran some 23 years ago, in response to his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. You may not have known that Iranian… Read More