Category: Featured

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Gaming News

OMG! What An Awesome Uncharted 2 Trailer

If you ever speak to a PS3 gamer and ask them about the fondest memory they’ve had, more often than not, they’ll tell you about their experience playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Developed by Naughty Dog and released exclusively on Playstation 3 in 2007, Uncharted featured stunning visuals, witty dialogue, a great musical score – the kind of high production values one would find in summer blockbuster films. Named PS3 Game of the Year (2007) by IGN, Uncharted has sold over 2.6 million copies worldwide.

And very soon, fortune hunter Nathan Drake will return in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, being pulled back into the treacherous world of mercenary treasure hunters that he had sought to leave behind. Giving nothing of the story away, the latest trailer for Uncharted 2 shows what you can expect from this epic action-adventure title. Have a look, it’s awesome.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves drops October 13th in the U.S. and October 23rd in Europe. You don’t want to miss this – sell your kidney (or preferably someone else’s) if you have. ;-)

[via PS3Blog]

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Awesomeness Cautionary Tales Featured Movies

Aliens Among Us: District 9 Soars to Box Office Glory!

An aliens-among-us story by a first time director has topped the American box office, raking in US$37 million this past weekend!

Helmed by 29-year-old South African born director, Niell Blomkamp, District 9 has no big name stars – in fact, the lead actor (Sharlto Copley) had never acted in a movie before – but that didn’t prevent the film from outgrossing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by a whopping USD 14.5 million! District 9 is no slouch in the ratings either, scoring a solid 88% at Rotten Tomatoes.

We South Africans have to wait a bit longer to watch Wikus Van De Merwe and “prawn” friend Christopher Johnson taking the fight to the seedy MNU corporation. District 9 releases officially in local theatres on August 28th, but word is that Joburg will see a premiere screening this Wednesday, August 19th, at the Zone in Rosebank – full details are available at SterKinekor. Canal Walk in Cape Town might be hosting a premiere too, but no details have surfaced as yet. We’ll keep you posted though.

[ Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 ]

BONUS: Vanity Fair had a chat with Sharlto Copley about working on District 9. Read the Q&A HERE.

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Arty Eating and Drinking Featured

Shake and Bake: Onelargeprawn Makes a Cake

Shake n’ Bake mix is very convenient for students, amateurs, and harassed soccer moms. It’s usually our M.O. too, but today, Team Onelargeprawn got adventurous on our own  awesome asses, and  decided to make a cake from scratch. And it turned out to be a great looking and delicious piece of confectionery. See the story below.

Using a classic all-in-one sponge cake recipe from domestic goddess dinosaur Delia Smith, Lucy Furr and I set about mixing our ingredients together, poured them into the pans, and after 30 minutes, two cakes emerged from the oven. They looked bland, much like my underwear collection. But all was not lost…

Next up, the icing – butter, icing sugar, a splash of milk, and “crimson red” food colouring. Not exactly the fiery red I was hoping for, but the result was pretty cool.

Breaking free of my kitchen assistant shackles, I decided to ice the cake. It went surprising well, my palette knife blurring as I did my thing.

Finally, the “cherry on top” – we stuck on a Bull Terrier stencil I made several years ago, and sifted icing sugar over the top. I’m pretty pleased with our effort, so pleased I just had to blog about it ;-)

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Arty Featured

Money as Art: Won Park’s Dollar Bill Origami

Origami master Won Park is known as a money folder for bending, twisting, and folding American dollar bills into beautiful life-like structures. His one dollar koi is stunningly detailed, from its perfect shape, to the eyes, and even the scales.

See a few more images in the gallery below.

More of Park’s fantastic dollar bill origami can be found on DeviantArt.

[via The Cool List]

BONUS: If you want to try your hand at creating his origami koi, Park provides downloadable instructions (PDF) and a set of video tutorials.

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Movies Video Clips

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

From Terry Gilliam, the acclaimed director of the cult movies Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, comes his latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Having made a deal with the devil, the 1,000-year-old Doctor Parnassus has gained the ability to take people beyond their imaginations. One day, the devil comes to collect on their arrangement, and the good doctor and his theatre troupe must travel through mystical parallel worlds to get back what is most dear to him.

This was final film role for the late Heath Ledger, who died a third of the way during filming. As a result his role was recast to use Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to portray “physically transformed versions” of Ledger’s character. See the fantastical HD trailer below.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is set for a UK release on October 16th, 2009.

[via MTV Movies Blog]

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Awesomeness Cautionary Tales Featured Video Clips

A Gentlemen’s Duel – Now With Steam-Powered Mecha!

“Aaah my lady. Your grace is matched only by your boobies, err, I mean your beauty.” With an opening line such as that, you know you’re in for something special.

In this hilarious animated short from Blur Studio, a cunning war of words between two gentlemen who seek the hand of a beautiful lady, quickly erupts into an EPIC battle in giant Steampunk mecha!

Packed full of explosive action and sexual innuendo, it’s one period drama you won’t soon forget. See it below or watch it in high quality on YouTube.

That’s totally made of win, don’t you think?

[via The Awesomer]

Categories
Featured Mindlessness

Bluntcard: Send One Today!

When it comes to sending greetings to friends and family, I tend to use e-cards for that extra personal touch. I thought Someecards was pretty outrageous but that was because I didn’t know about Bluntcard.

Inappropriate in ways I didn’t think possible, Bluntcard is for when you have to say it clearly. Send one today! :yes:

[via DoobyBrain]

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Photoworthy

A Celebration of Colour at Holi

If there was a ever a festival I wanted to be a part of, it would have to be Holi. Also called the Festival of Colours, Holi is a popular Hindu festival that is celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna, which usually falls in early March.

In a welcome to spring and the triumph of good over evil, people lose their inhibitions and get together for what looks like a massive water fight in the street, playfully throwing coloured paint, water, and powder at each other. Here are some striking images by Indian photojournalist and documentary photographer, Poras Chaudhary.

How rad does that look? See more images at Chaudhary’s Holi gallery.

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Gaming News

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet: Art Meets Video Games

Feeyyaad over at Utter Insanity sent this to me with an impassioned plea to take a look at it. I was mad at him for infecting me with his foul sickness and didn’t pay much attention to it, until now. Having seen it, I think I might just have to kiss him!

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a side-scrolling shooter from artist Michel Gagne and FuelCell Games. It’s packed with striking visuals, bizarre looking gameplay, and totally made of WIN. It’s the best thing you’ll see today. Here are some screenshots.

Check out the trailer below or see it in HD at GameTrailers.

As crazy-good as it look, the game currently has no publisher or platform, but Gagné gives this assurance: “Our goal is to get it on as many platform as possible.” Keep up with the game’s progress at its production blog.

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Awesomeness Featured Science & Technology

We Choose The Moon: Remembering Apollo 11

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first manned mission that took astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr to the moon.

The trip lasted 8 days, and on July 21st 1969, Armstrong stepped off the lunar module and into history as the first human to set foot on another world – “That’s one small step for a man…one giant leap for mankind.” Two and a half hours were spent walking on the moon and on July 24th returned home, making a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Boston.com’s The Big Picture is celebrating the anniversary with 40 images of that historic journey. Here are a few of those images.

Many more photos can be found at The Big Picture.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum honours the moon landing with the launch of a new interactive website, We Choose The Moon. It recreates Apollo 11’s mission, gives minute by minute progress using archival audio, video, photos, and “real time” transmissions. It’s in a pre-launch phase right now – according to the Apollo 11 timeline actual liftoff occurred at 13:32:00 GMT on this day four decades ago.

Follow the mission progress at www.wechoosethemoon.org.