For when you’ve had enough of the weatherman, which is like, always. The Tempescope is a cool invention that lets you know of tomorrow’s weather forecast by actually simulating sunshine, rain, fog, and even lightning indoors.
Created by Japanese designer Ken Kawamoto, the device features a small box that gathers weather information online and then simulates that forecast using a combination of LED light, water, and ultrasonics (for the fog). Great if you’re too lazy to get up off the couch and look out the window.
DIY experts can help themselves to Kawamoto’s open source version for the Tempescopeby accessing it at ‘OpenTempescope’. Others will have to wait a bit longer as the Tempescope team is still getting ready to launch a Kickstarter campaign later this year.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD MY LITTLE PONY BECAUSE OF COURSE
Even if the movie wasn’t the biggest smash hit of the year, the way it should have been, Mad Max: Fury Road has certainly taken the prize for the film with the largest permeation on the internet. The number of essays and articles written about George Miller’s post-apocalyptic, people-driving-in-a-straight-line action film became a must-see for fans of cinema and discourse about gender roles, internal politics, and blind devotion. It’s also precipitated all sorts of awesome DIY projects, par exemplesome Mad Max Power Wheels.
The newest and, we admit, most absurdly awesome of these projects are custom-made (and totally unofficial, via artist Kelsey Wailes) Mad Max: Fury Road My Little Pony figurines. That’s right, two weird worlds that are even weirder together. The artist used the older variety of My Little Pony dolls, from prior to the Brony days, and Polymer clay, acrylics, leather, and faux fur to create highly-accurate equestrian representations of Max Rockatansky, Imperator Furiosa, Nux, and Immortan Joe.
They look so happy together, don’t they?
Both the Nux and the Max figures had heads that could rotate, but all four figures have the ability to drive cars (not true). I don’t know which is more impressive — Joe’s toothy face mask/breathing apparatus or Furiosa’s mechanical artificial hoof. They somehow even managed to get the look of pure chrome-fueled martyrdom in Nux’s eyes, although I seem to recall that’s just how My Little Ponies looked anyway.
The figures were available for sale at last weekend’s Awesome Con in Washington, D.C., so unfortunately that’s over, but you can still witness them in their full glory in the gallery below.
Mad Max Fury Road Ponies: Because I am a monster.
They were super fun to make and super horrifying (I’m looking at you, Immortan Joe)
Made with My Little Pony toys, Polymer clay, acrylics, leather, and faux fur.
The long-awaited continuation of the series based on the novel written by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan come on FX channel on Sunday, July 12. This information appeared on the website IMDB and official confirmed.
The second season of this bloody show promises to be very exciting – ancient vampire The Master begins a full-scale invasion of New York. More and more people infected with the worm, and thus become slaves to the will of Jusef Sardu. To stop the spread of the “Strigoi worm” CDC employees Nora Martinez and Eph Goodweather come up with a plan.
Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain had a fantastic first season that I enjoyed watching. FX has announced that vampire series will return with its second season on July 12th. From then on out you’ll be able to watch the show on Sundays at 10pm.
The series is based on the horror thriller from del Toro and Chuck Hogan, and it was apparently the most-watched new cable drama of 2014. That's not really surprising, because of how good the show was.
The first episode of the second season will begin at 22:00 on channel FX. Wait is quite a bit!
The Strain TV series
FX announced the most terrible TV show of summer 2015. They release it on July 12
Rate TV series:
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Famous Mexican producer Guillermo del Toro in 2009-2012 wrote a book trilogy: "The Strain", "The Falling", "The Night Eternal". Their story was inspired by the famous novel by Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Books were written in Spanish and Chuck Hogan helped with the translation of these books into English. In America, they had enormous popularity. On this wave of success Del Toro decided to film the first part of the trilogy. TV Show script made by Carlton Cuse.
About "The Strain":
TV series is based on the 2009 novel by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan named "The Strain". FX announced 12 episodes in first season of TV show starting from July 12. Forget about ordinary vampires - FX fearless show you true face of evil this summer.
First episode starting in New York. Transatlantic liner landing to airport with dead passengers on the board. After some time they all become alive, it is not only people, but fiends, ruthless vampires... From this moment the terrible strain begins, which triggered the epidemic. All of America is flooded with ruthless vampires. To protect humanity are seemingly not the right people: Ephraim Goodweather epidemiologist, Professor Abraham Setrakian, exterminator Vasiliy Fet and doctor Nora Martinez. Only together they can stop pandemic before it goes woldwide.
The Belgian non-governmental (NGO), non-profit organization APOPO has made it their incredibly admirable mission to train the highly intelligent African giant pouched rats aka HeroRATS to use their noses for such humanitarian purposes as expediently detecting bombs in post-conflict countries and detecting tuberculosis in developing countries, thus potentially saving the lives of thousands of people. The rats are trained from a young age and are rewarded through positive motivation.
APOPO trains the rats through operant conditioning, using a combination of a click sound and food rewarding. Training starts at the age of 4-5 weeks, with socialization. The young rats are weaned from their mothers and APOPO’s trainers begin socializing them to the sights, sounds, and textures of the human world. Once our rats are six weeks old, click training begins, where we teach the rats to associate a click sound with a food reward – usually banana or peanuts. After two weeks at this stage, the rats learn that click means food, and are now ready to be trained on a target scent. After these steps, our rats specialize in a target scent in either TNT for detecting landmines or TB for detecting TB in human sputum samples. After odor imprint, the complexity of their tasks gradually increases until they reach the final training stage where they have to do a blind test in order to be accredited.
As of this date, none of the HeroRATS have died in the line of duty and the trainers take special care to apply sunscreen to the rodents’ ears when they are working outside. Anyone wishing to contribute to APOPO can either donate directly or “adopt” a HeroRAT with an ongoing subscription.
Metal heroes portray wildlings on latest episode of hit fantasy show
Mastodon on Game of Thrones … You know nothing, Jon Snow. Photograph: PR
They are savage, brutal men from a remote place, barely attuned to civilization. And so are the wildlings, which might be why Mastodon were invited to appear as the wild men from north of The Wall in the latest episode of Game of Thrones.
The metal quartet appeared in the episode that was broadcast on Sunday 31 May in the US and goes out on Monday 1 June in the UK, at the invitation of the show’s creator/executive producer Dan Weiss.
mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in early 2000 and composed of bassist Troy Sanders, guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor. Their musical style features progressive concepts and unique instrumentation. All four members participate in vocals, creating a unique blend of singing styles and voices.
Mastodon’s Brann Dailor said, in a statement that contains spoilers unlikely to be central to the plot:
“It was such an incredible experience to be on set as extras for our collective favorite show Game of Thrones, and to be wildlings murdered and then brought back to life by White Walkers was beyond amazing. I watched my best friends, Brent and Bill, murdered right in front of me as I myself was stabbed in the stomach and had my throat slit multiple times, and I didn’t mind at all. It made me love being in Mastodon even more. We are more than privileged and honoured to have been a part of one of the greatest stories ever told on film –
There are few places more dazzling in the Robot Restaurant located in Shinjuku, Japan. We use the term 'restaurant' very loosely because it's more like a variety show, that you just happen to be dining at.
A visual feast for the senses, where the every which way you look is a kaleidoscope of colourful lights and relentless noise, where drummers are armed with glow sticks, cyber strippers fling themselves around neon poles and life-sizes robots go head-to-head in boxing matches.
But the fun doesn't end there, we haven't even mentioned the flying Terrordactyls, giant sharks, bigger Anacondas and the dance off between robots starring a bevy of scantily clad women, naturally.
So if you're in Japan and literally want to have your brain overloaded to the point where it's nearly melting, make sure you head to the Robot Restaurant, it's an experience you won't forget anytime soon.
It’s hard to imagine an experience more perfectly suited to Tokyo, and one less likely to exist anywhere else, than Shinjuku’s Robot Restaurant. With a stage show that stretches the definition of terms like “elaborate” and “bizarre,” the restaurant has quickly become one of the city’s most popular venues.
We were dazzled by the Robot Restaurant from the moment we spotted it. The entire facade was illuminated in blinding LED lights, and towering lady robots with giant bouncing breasts were roving about the foyer. A band inspired by Daft Punk was rocking out behind the robots, and everything was flashing and loud and over-the-top. Sensory overload? Definitely. And we hadn’t even picked up our tickets yet. I suspected that the performance was going to be more like sensory assault.
Having arrived well in advance of the evening show, we passed the extra time in the restaurant’s upstairs lounge. You’ll want to do the same, because the lounge is unbelievable. It’s as though the world’s most outrageous interior designers were given crayons, glue sticks, glitter and mescalin, and told to go crazy. Everything is mirrored and shining. On every table, there’s a robot dinosaur. On the stage, a lady-band clad in metallic bikinis and angel wings is playing soft lounge music. The drinks are cheap and the vibe couldn’t be better. You and the people around you are in a place unlike anywhere any of you have ever been, and you’re all excited and giddy and talkative. It’s a bonding experience.
Now, however, it’s showtime. You and your new friends head into the underground theater, take your seats, and await the spectacle. Soon, the lights go out, the speakers switch on, and giant vehicles appear on either side of the narrow stage, ridden by ladies dressed as Amazonian war princesses from the year 3000. They’re pounding on drums, rotating around the stage, screaming and dancing to the music, and you’re just… confused. What the hell is happening? It’s hilarious, pointless, impressive and overwhelming in equal measure.
And that’s just Act One! By the end of the show, which stretches out across seven or eight acts, you’ll have perhaps seen boxing robots. Women riding huge mechanical cows. An alien-eating shark robot. Huge motorcycles and airplanes with pole-dancing lady passengers. A tank, I think. There was definitely a freedom-fighting panda. The shows change frequently, so you might see other things entirely, things which no sane human would ever be able to predict.
We had fun from the moment we entered the Robot Restaurant, and I’m not sure my brain has yet been able to process everything we saw. Almost as much as the show, we enjoyed watching the spectators sitting across from us. Without exception, they had their eyes wide open and huge smiles plastered across their faces. I’m sure it’s how we looked, too.
A new super short teaser for the upcoming Starz series Ash vs. the Evil Dead (previously) features just one word: groovy. The show, based on the Evil Dead movies, is scheduled to premiere in fall 2015.
…we present a novel single-sheet structure that self-folds into a centimeter-sized mobile robot that subsequently walks, swims, and dissolves. The robot is controlled using an external magnetic field exerted by embedded coils underneath the robot. Equipped with just one permanent magnet, the robot features a lightweight body yet can perform many tasks reliably despite its simplicity. The minimal body materials enable the robot to completely dissolve in a liquid environment, a difficult challenge to accomplish if the robot had a more complex architecture. This study is the first to demonstrate that a functional robotic device can be created and operated from the material level, promising versatile applications including use in vivo.
You've Already Seen A Few Of Them In The Fellowship Of The Ring!
The Hobbit
Whether you’re in the group that loves or in the group that hates the Hobbitmovies, there’s no denying that these were pretty big films that made A LOT of money! Even though the movie was called The Hobbit, most of the attention was focused on the dwarves and their epic quest to retake the Lonely Mountain from the dragon, Smaug. We spent three movies watching these dwarves fight for what was rightfully theirs, so it’s hard not to get attached to some of them.
But have you ever wondered what happened to the dwarves after all was said and done? Dwarves live for a while, so where were these characters during The Lord of the Rings trilogy? The answers for some of them might not be exactly what you wanted to hear!
Let’s dig in!
The Fate Of The Dwarves
Oin
Forty-eight years after being settled in the Lonely Mountain, Oin made his way back to Moria to reclaim the realm for the Dwarves. It was five years later that the orcs attacked, and when he could not escape over the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Oin tried to exit through the Hollin Gate. It was there he was killed by the Watcher in the Water, a creature that Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship would later encounter.
UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!
Gloin
Ah yes! Gimli’s father. His life was much longer and more peaceful than his brother’s. He remained at the kingdom under the mountain and was also sent at the Council of Elrond when the Fellowship was formed. He would later die naturally at the age of 253.
Dwalin
Dwalin was a smart one. He decided to stay at the Lonely Mountain where he lived out the rest of his life, dying at the ripe, old age of 340. He lived through the war of the ring, but it was never revealed if he or Gloin ever took part in it.
Balin
Good ol' Balin. In the Hobbitmovies he was always one of the most liked Dwarves. In fact, he ended up leading an expedition to Moria where he later became The Lord of Moria for some time – until the orcs attacked and he was killed by one of their archers. Remember that Tomb in Fellowship of the Ring? Yup. That was Balin’s tomb.
Poor, old Balin 🙁
Bifur & Bofur
Bifur has an axe in his skull, I think he’s had to deal with enough stuff in his life to be bothered with anymore violence. He also stayed back in the Lonely Mountain and lived out his life. His age at death is unknown. Ditto for Bofur. He also lived out his life in the mountain.
You know, for a place called the Lonely Mountain, it doesn’t seem quite so lonely there, does it?
Bombur
Bombur, like many of the others stay behind in the Lonely Mountain and enjoyed the rest of his life…a little too much. Bombur had grown SO FAT that it eventually took the strength of six dwarves to lift him to the dinner table.
Dori & Nori
Dori and Nori also stayed in the mountain where they grew their wealth and lived rich, and happy, for the rest of their lives.
Ori
Like Dori and Nori, Ori – the lovable idiot – also stayed in the mountain where he lived out his life peacefully with a wife and children.
EXCEPT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
Ori actually joined the expedition to Moria and after burying Balin he was killed by the onslaught of orcs that attacked. Remember that morbid diary entry Gandalf read in the Fellowship of the ring? That was Ori’s diary.
And that’s Ori...
BONUS ROUND
Bard Bowman
NOT Will TurnerBard rebuilt his ancestral town of Dale at the foot of the Lonely Mountain. He eventually became its king, establishing and maintaining good relations with the dwarves, where he lived peacefully and his son Bain succeeded him after his death.
Tauriel
I should save this for when I do my Hobbit 'Based On' video eventually, but I need to vent it here. Kili never fell in love with an Elf, much less meet Tauriel because she wasn’t even a character in the book. Peter Jackson created her just for the movie so he could force in an awful dwarf/elf forbidden relationship to emotionally manipulate the audience (it didn't work). Evangeline Lily was great in her role, but her character felt unnecessary and only weakened the story in my opinion.
--
So there you have it, the fate of the dwarves! The adventures that happened inThe Hobbit definitely impacted what would eventually take place in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, mainly due to it being how Bilbo found the ring of power. While, at times, there were unnecessary moments in the films, there were also moments that captured the magic of Middle-Earth and made you want to be part of it!
KUNG FURY - FULL MOVIE
Autodesk Helps Fido Unleash Action-Packed VFX for "Kung Fury". Warning: Bad Language
| kung-fury | production
Following a successful Cannes Film Festival premiere, David Sandberg's 80s-inspired film Kung Fury makes its highly anticipated online debut this week. Kickstarter-funded by 17,000 backers, the 30-minute film follows a Miami-based kung fu cop as he time travels from the 80s to the 40s on a mission to take out Adolf Hitler - a plotline augmented by 399 over-the-top VFX shots delivered by a 46-person crew at Scandinavian VFX house Fido. Using Autodesk 3D modeling, animation and digital sculpting solutions, Fido created and refined dynamic 3D assets and scenes to bring Sandberg's 80's cop drama homage to life.
Throughout ?Kung Fury,? the story unfolds in three major environments: a street intersection, a police station interior and a huge steampunk-inspired Nazi hall. Fido created each environment digitally and then integrated the work with live action green screen footage of actors. Given trailer assets originally designed by Sandberg in 3ds Max, Fido transferred the files to in-house Maya workstations and used the assets as an aesthetic guideline to model, texture and refine the film?s environments, elements and main CG characters, including two robots, a Tyrannosaurus rex and an eagle. After finalizing VFX work and compositing, Fido?s crew then applied a specially designed filter to footage to achieve the VHS-reminiscent look that Sandberg envisioned.
?The movie is essentially a 30-minute VFX rollercoaster ride, so we had our work cut out for us, but having Maya as a pillar of our pipeline put us at ease. David also directs with a strong creative vision and deep understanding of VFX, so even though we faced some pretty crazy challenges, it really helped that he speaks the same language we do,? shared VFX Supervisor Cameron Scott. ? All our Autodesk tools were stable workhorses throughout production. Using Maya?s Alembic support, we were able to quickly transfer 3D assets between programs to work efficiently and meet David?s deadlines.?
?There are so many fun, crazy characters, environments and scenarios in ?Kung Fury? that VFX played a crucial role in the story. Because of my background in commercial production, I?m familiar with all the VFX tools and techniques, so I worked closely with Fido on the VFX,? said Sandberg. ?I?ve worked with Autodesk tools for a while now, and they?re some of the most best 3D modeling and animation tools out there. With outstanding creative talent like Fido behind the wheel of software like Maya, almost anything is possible, and that?s evident in the VFX they delivered for ?Kung Fury.??
About ?Kung Fury?
?Kung Fury? is an over-the-top Kickstarter-funded action comedy written and directed by David Sandberg with VFX by Fido. An 80s style action packed adventure, the film takes place in a variety of exotic locations, including Miami circa 1980s and Asgard and Germany circa 1940s, and features over-the-top characters like arcade-robots, dinosaurs, nazis, vikings, norse gods, mutants and a super kung fu-cop called Kung Fury. Sandberg completed the film in a little over a year with a strong vision and help from Kickstarter supporters, friends and family. The director is currently in talks with Hollywood producers to recreate the film as a full-length feature.
Credits:
Director and Writer: David Sandberg
Fido VFX crew:
VFX Supervisor: Cameron Scott
VFX Producer: Matilda Olsson
VFX Executive Producer: Claes Dietmann
VFX Production Manager: Anders Singstedt
Lead Lighting TDs: Johan Gabrielsson & Filip Orrby
Composting Leads: Daniel Norlund & Tomas Näslund
VFX Pre-Production Breakdown: Nils Lagergren, Kaj Steveman, Eva Åkergren
Pipeline Engineer: Erik Johansson
Systems Administrator: Thomas Eriksson
Asset Management: ftrack
VFX Artists: Alexander Eriksson, Anders Nyman, Cameron Scott, Carlos Correia, Chris Judkins, Daniel Norlund, David Enbom, David Nelin, Egil Eskilsson, Erika Johansson, Filip Orrby, Fredrik Höglin, Fredrik Olsson, Gustav Alexandersson, Janak Thakker, Joakim Eriksson, Joakim Olsson, Johan Gabrielsson, Jonas Lindfors, Jonas Manell, Jonathan Skifs, Karl Rydhe, Klas Trulsson, Kristian Livén, Kristian Rydberg, Kristian Zarins, Laura Andersen, Magnus Eriksson, Martin Borell, Mattias Sandelius, Mattias Snygg, Niklas Lundgren, Rickard Engqvist, Rodrigo Vivedes, Sandra Scholz, Staffan Linder, Stefan Lagerstam, Sven Ahlström, Teo Mathlein, Tomas Näslund, Viktor Andersson, Zebastian Lilja
