Chllngr: Change

Bits and pieces of Macross, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ralph Bakshi's rotography style and a chill Jamaican sound come together for this awesome music video directed by Chad Turner and Ryan Todd. Its a perfect track to put you in the mindset for those 2012 resolutions. Beautiful stuff, and a happy new year to everyone!

Teddy The Porcupine Gets New Years Belligerent

This is how most of expect to be in just a few hours. Belligerent drunk and gnawing on cobs of corn while knocking over bottles and glasses, like this fine porcupine simply called 'Teddy.' Nomnomnomnom.

The New Rebecca Black? (NSFW Lyrics)

Um, yeah, so there's this.  Looks like there's a new kid on the block, and her name is Shira.  A rather rough-faced looking broad whose debut single makes outrageous claims of being desired by men.  "Pound On My Muffin" should clearly be the anthem of this New Year's Eve. Hell, maybe even 2012.  The end of the world doesn't sound so bad now (if you believe in that mumbo jumbo, of course).

The Very Mundane Life of Abby

This is a pretty damn cute and spot-on animation depicted the life of a student.  Actually, it pretty much works for anyone who likes to procrastinate and just do fun stuff instead.  Not that I would know what that's like, or anything... It's not my fault that the internet, TV, games, and sleeping is infinitely more fun than work.  Wait, how did this turn into something about me? Ahem, anyways... For an art student intro class, this is awesome.

Mega64: TODD & AARON'S GAME AWARDS 2011!!!!!!!

It's the end of the year, and how else would you want to end the year? Todd & Aaron reunited to share their love of the arts. Will their own unique perspectives challenge your own views? They tell you their picks of the year with one of the most amusing endings of a Mega64 video I've seen. Happy new year folks!

STUDIO KXX

Almost as cool as Soccer, almost. (via) 

Studio Kxx is a design studio founded by Krzysztof Domardzki, and they pretty much do anything visual/ graphic design related... but they take it to the next level. With  BIG names on their list of clients and Kxx's versatilty of styles and design approaches, they are considered to be the MI6 of design studios.

Located in Poland, the studio vibe and their skill is even more ''James Bond-ish'' (Less British, more in a professional sense). Check out more samples of Kxx works, and a picture of their interesting offices after the break!

The Best Backstreet Boys Karaoke

Driving home the other night, we were listening to the 90's station, when the Backstreet Boys "Everybody" comes on.  Because we are far too cool, we naturally turned it up and rocked ("rocked") out.  Fate would have it that later on in the evening, we would come across this absolute gem of a video.  A group of guys do a spot-on mimic of an animated karaoke version of this pretty memorable (if embarrassing) song.  It was the smell of pure win at 2am.

Japanator History Lesson: The Art Of Trolling

Have you ever fallen trap to a video that claims to be one thing but turns out to be the other? We're not talking rickrolls or trolololo here, but an ingeniously crafted masterpiece of trolling that has been sitting unloved for months now. We recently uncovered this video created by Marcus from Japanator, which offers a hilarious retelling of the history of Japan like you wouldn't believe. Pure genius.

Awesome Robo Presents: Podcast #1!

I'm pretty happy that we can finally announce the arrival of our first Podcast! Robobrain, Robogal and Unicornsexist get together for over an hour of discussion about movies, videogames, this year in review, and one of the editors' strange man crush on Daniel Craig. If you want to hear about Prometheus, the Ocean Marketing fiasco, and some of our blog plans for 2012..Give us a listen, and subscribe if you want to show us some love.

On a side note, we're going to be answering reader/viewer questions on the next podcast. We're throwing out 2 questions of the week, but feel free to send other questions our way:


A) What was the most awesome thing to happen to you in 2011? 
B) What was the worst movie you've seen all year?

Send emails to: Sirio@awesome-robo.com , and Happy Holidays from everyone here! 

Arrow To The Knee : It Gets Old

This is a pretty excellent representation of what should happen when internet jokes are drawn out to the point of oblivion. Lets not forget the terror of 'Cake is a lie' jokes that plagued the internet and conventions for years past their expiration point. Well played with this animation, PsychicPebbles.

The Legend Of Cucco

One bad chicken. (Via)

A new take on a old joke. In the Legend Of Zelda series, the Cucco will will attack you if provoked. But DjBisparulz and rickadias on Deviantart explore a new idea; how can the Hero of Time use this to his advantage?

The Awesome Toy Designs Of ManiZamani

A Fairy Tale In The Sky (Via)

Mani Zamani is a Swedish toy designer with a knack for creating some really cool toy prototypes, especially of the transforming and highly articulated variety. I found an image of his work while researching another article and tracked it back to his blog, which was full of some really creative, nicely designed toys that channeled the works of Moebius and even Hayao Miyazaki.

 If this man had a chance to design a toy line that would go into production, I'd be first in line to pick these up. I'd keep an eye out for this guy, because I do feel that he's going to have his big break sometime soon. Check out a few more samples from his portfolio after the break!

The Brute's Passion

It's just another day in the life of a dude running a medieval torture chamber.  That is, until a witch is brought in and her attempt to place a spell on the guy, presumably to escape, backfires in an unimaginable way.  This is a fun and silly animation that is probably better suited for Halloween, but I say f**k it, I'm gonna post this now while it's fresh and new.

Mutant Land By Tippett Studio

Mutant Land is an awesome little short that the folks at Tippett Studio just released recently for festival runs. The short revolves around some human hunters and their prey mantis friend finding the food chain table turned on them during a hunt for the least mutated thing they can find, a flesh eating rabbit.

The VFX studio was founded in 1984 and has been responsible for some of the best CG, stop motion and prop work for movies in the last 30 years or so. A few noteworthy titles: Robocop, Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers, Matrix Revolutions, Hellboy and Cloverfield.

DeichKind: Illegale Fans

We received quite a few emails about the track that we used in our recent AwesomeRobo X Magic Mountain video, so here is the music video for Deichkind's 'Illegale Fans.' Deichkind is a German Electro-rap group which started up in 1997 with a tendency for absolutely insane live shows. Despite not understanding the lyrics, I absolutely love their hyper frenetic, furious sound.

And you know whats great? We shared the video we made using 'Illegale' with DeichKind, and they gave us a one word reply: Geil! Which means 'Wicked!' That was pretty awesome. If you like Deichkind on Facebook, you can get the MP3 for this badass track for free.

IN THE SEARCH OF BEKSINSKI

(via) 

There was something bothering me about that huge head in the Prometheus posters that I thought I had seen before but wasn't quite sure where.

I kind of became obsessed by the image and started a search online. The obvious was to look for Giger's books or some Magic The Gathering artist that could have drawn something similar. In fact, Giger and Brom and a couple other artist have inspired a lot of the atmosphere for the Pirexian marshes in the famous TCG, with imagery that could have been directly drawn out from the Aliens setting.

But after a few weeks I wasn't sure if  a could really find out who else could bring the atmosphere that oozed from the poster/trailer ( besides the work of Giger), until yesterday.

Walking downtown, I came across this bookshop that had a book on display that made me smile. It was one the many omnibus/compendiums that abound on H.P Lovecraft stories, but this time it had the cover made by this amazing illustrator from Poland, a legend on its own, with a really extensive bio and even a wikipedia profile.

It was this guy that I was looking for; Zdzislaw Beksinski. As usual after the break more of his really really amazing, macabre works, ( the guy has amazing skills, considering he paints, like proper brush and canvas painting) and links to his profile.

Lego Shaun Of The Dead

You get red on the set... (Via)

Have you ever wondered what Edgar Wright would like like if his movies were made from Lego? This is the Winchester, the pub from his most quoted film Shaun Of The Dead, lovingly crafted in Lego.

Rather than sprout quotes from the film, I just would like to point how amazing this thing looks and how fast I would buy this if it became a set for sale. Lego should get on this, I hear Shaun is almost as famous as a certain underground book series...

The Best Of AwesomeRobo! 2011 Edition

Hell yes! One year down.

We've had a great year here at AwesomeRobo, and decided to prepare a mega post commemorating the most explosively viral, incredible posts that helped put us on the map since our debut in February. In some ways some of the posts that went viral left us scratching our heads, but that's the beauty of online content..There's really no way of predicting if its going to take off. 

On behalf of the team, I'd like to thank all our readers for giving us one hell of a first year and helping us surpass our wildest expectations for how AwesomeRobo would fare. Without further ado, check out our ten 'best of' posts from this year after the break!

Left Boy : Outro

Left Boy's new track is a personal dedication to all the haters out there, a 4 minute message about how nothing is going to get in the way of him reaching his goals. Inspiring stuff, delivered in his distinct electro/hip hop style with some pretty colorful visuals and copious amount of slow mo footage. The one second shot of the girl snorting coke cut with a Magic The Gathering card at 2:45 is pure visual gold.

Rabbit Warriors By WinB

#3 (Via)

This awesome series by WInB, a concept artist based out of the Guangdong province(China) features a wide variety of rabbit warriors, each with their own speciality. Each one is beautifully painted, yet he chose to not give any descriptions or titles to any of these pieces. I kind of like that, because it seems like he's leaving it to the reader to come up with the backstories for all these very distinct looking characters. Check out 7 more warriors after the break!

RoboGal's Weekly Cute Mixtape

If you need help digesting all of that Christmas food, and are in need of something soothing, then look no further. My weekly cute mixtape has arrived, albeit a day late.  Sorry, I just got caught up in holiday grubbins' and general laziness.

4 more lovely pics after the jump!

Spacewarp: Marble Rollercoasters

Spacewarp is a very interesting product that has been around for years: A build it yourself marble rollercoaster that challenges you to create a self sufficient, looping cycle using the limited amount of pieces provided in a set. The difficulty is determined by the pieces, and are assigned a complexity/difficulty rating of 1-8. Like any hobby though, some people have taken this hobby to the extreme, creating insanely complex, impossible looking creations. You can pick up one of these bad boys at any hobby store, or online of course.

THE ART OF NICOLAS DE CRECY

Desolation (Via)

I came across De Crecy while looking for images of Vasco Mourao, and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. Nicolas is a French comic book artist born in Lyon, with a consistent and incredibly varied body of work in multiple mediums. De Crecy has worked on animation films like the Triplets Of Belleville, and has some Bande dessinée (comics in French) published that are really damn beautiful.

With a sketchy style and a tendency to create some incredible architecture in his worlds, he's got a very distinct style. Check out 7 more pieces from Nicolas' body of work after the break!

Colin Stetson: Those Who Didn't Run

Colin Stetson delivers a mesmerizing orchestral buildup of drones, percussion, voices  and more in this ten minute journey. The song is illustrated by Isaac Gale's kaleidoscopic direction for the music video, featuring all kinds of natural vistas mirrored and overlayed on top of each other. Its an evocative, experimental piece that feels like a dream unfurling.

6 Maroquinaris Zoologicae by Billie Achilleos

British artist Billie Achilleos sure has found herself a pricey way to create some rather interesting sculptures.  I couldn't imagine cutting up Louis Vuitton accessories and apparel (I can't imagine myself buying it in the first place, but that's neither here nor there).  I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it.

Against all belief though, Ms. Achilleos has and she's created some really fun, and quirky pieces using the premium fashion accessories as a collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Check out 6 unique, and probably insanely pricey LV sculptures after the break!

AwesomeRobo Vs. Magic Mountain

Did you guys know that we have a Youtube channel? Yeah, we sometimes forget that too..But here's a new video to make up for it. This footage was captured at one of the best theme parks on the west coast for rollercoaster goodness, Magic Mountain. To say that we weren't prepared for the intensity of some of the rides was an understatement, considering that we had to sit front row for every ride to capture the footage we needed. Nonetheless, its a little taste of summer in December. Full screen it and watch it in 1080p if you want to see it the way it was meant to.

The Portable Gamecube Mark II: The Envision

Today we premiere the fruits of 7 months of design, prototyping and manufacturing courtesy of Youtube user/modder Tchay. The Envision is an ultra compact, portable Gamecube that runs off batteries and uses an SD card to run all the games. As well as being a damn sexy device, the portable is also hooked up with progressive scan to make the titles look even more beautiful. The entire presentation is set to an awesome remix of the insanely catchy Windmill Hut track from Ocarina of time, and can be found on OCRemix.

Gifts From Above

This excellent scifi short was created by the Make Visual design studio for Childs Play, the charity foundation that delivers videogames and toys to hospitalized children yearly. This eexcellent CG promo is a mix of Halo, Avatar, Killzone, Starcraft and a few other games all mashed up into a heartwarming blend perfect for the holidays.

Jeremy Kool's Paper Fox

Paper Fox (Via)

Jeremy Kool is a Melbourne based 3D artist and graphic designer working on an awesome looking children's book by the tentative title of 'Paper Fox.' The entire project spun off from the fox created above, and even got funding from Pozible (Australia's Kickstarter). I really love the highly geometric, origami-esque look that he captured in all the creatures and environments he's created.

Check out a few more animals that are going to appear in the book after the break! And don't forget to drop by his blog for further updates on the project, including the beautiful looking environments.

High Speed 2011

A fun compilation of slomo footage captured througout 2011 using a high speed camera known as the Olympus iSpeed 3 for various projects. The slowmo grind shot at 1:48, complete with paint chips slowly being sprayed out is just one of the many cool moments in this 4 minute compilation by Charles Bergquist.

House Party Comedy Presents Christmas Eve

It's almost 4:00am in my part of the world right now, so it's technically no longer Christmas.  But because I like to dictate the days by my sleep/wake schedule, it's still Christmas to me!  So I feel okay squeezing in one last holiday post. And I couldn't do better than a slightly naughty claymation short.  Mrs. Claus isn't tired of not getting her "stocking stuffed" by Santa, so she decides to drink the pain away, and stumble into some couples home.  Come on, Santa, you give everyone else what they want; do the same for your wife.

The Devil Inside: Redband Trailer (NSFW)

Its been a while since we've had a good old exorcism movie, and this redband trailer has me pretty sold on the Devil Inside. The premise of the movie revolves around a woman trying to find out what caused her mother to murder three people during her own exorcism 20 years earlier. After hiring two exorcists to cure her mom using unconventional methods, she gets a first hand account of the powers of some truly dark, disturbing forces possessing her. "Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many."

The trailer mentions that its based on a true story, but I'd take that with a massive grain of salt (The Fourth Kind was revealed as a hoax) as using 'based on a true story' has become a staple of misleading marketing in Hollywood. The trailer is pretty promising, so lets hope we get a decent horror movie that doesn't rely on cheap startle moments to get its point across. The movie comes out on January 6.

El Camino Del Rey

The Caminito Del Rey, aka "The Kings Little Pathway" is a walkway located close to Malaga, Spain originally created in the early 1900's to transport materials between different hydroelectric powerplants located at two different falls (Chorro and Gaitanejo).

The walkways have long since fallen into a deep state of disrepair, and this has become an attraction for some people with not much to lose. Multiple people have lost their lives attempting to walk across this incredibly dangerous, unstable walkway..And after watching this video of a man casually crossing some insanely precarious looking areas, I can understand why. Enjoy your video vertigo, and check out this guide to El Caminito Del Rey if you're so inclined.

The Grey: Trailer

In short, this is a tale of a group whose plane has crashed has crashed in rural Alaska have to defend themselves against the wild.  Even though Liam Neeson is usually pretty cool in most of his movies, my thoughts toward this movie were more on the neutral side.  As in, "meh, maybe I'll go see it."  But at the end of the trailer, when Neeson is facing off with some bloodthirsty wolves, puts mini liquor bottles on his hands, then gives them a badass break as if to say "It's on, motherf***ers"?  Oh, yes, it IS on.  January 27th, see you there.

THE IMPOSSIBLE CITYSCAPES OF VASCO MOURAO

Oh dear. (Via)

Vasco Mourao is a Portuguese artist, an obsessive one. His wicked cool illustrations revolve around architectural artifacts and impossible perspectives, taking a lot of time and thought in the details and ornaments.

As I was browsing his work, it kind of reminded me of the conceptual art done for Spirited away( Miyazaki's movie); fantastical structures rendered carefully as if constructing a catalogue of building techniques( not unlike some of Piranesi's work). After all, Vasco is an architect too. Check out more of his amazing, intricate work after the break!

Happy Holidays From AwesomeRobo!

Happy Holidays from everyone at Awesome-Robo! We couldn't have made it this far without you guys, and we'll be working through the holidays to keep the website updates coming. We couldn't have done it without you guys, so thank you for helping us accomplish and blow away our own expectations for the Awesome-Robo project. Its been a dream come true for us, and the best gift we could have ever asked for.

Stuck In The Sound : Pursuit

Stuck In Sound, the French indie rock group from Paris just released this excellent track from their upcoming album dropping in Jan 2012. The awesome music video features all the cast members faces mapped onto classic movie characters, although its one of the most uncanny valley things I've ever seen. Nonetheless, its a great track which deserves a lot more love, and a ton more views.

Gvozdariki's Steampunk Zoo

(Via)

Russian artist Vladimir Gvozdev, also known as Gvozdariki, has a special touch when it comes to the steampunk genre.  His mechanic animal menagerie is nothing short of whimsical, and somehow a bit childlike.  As in, there is a small sense of wonder captured in each painting.  So it should come as no big surprise that Gvozdariki has a fascination with recapturing his childhood, as evidenced by his most favorite art medium: creating dolls.  Check out his other work at his blog.


More of Gvozdariki's steampunk zoo after the jump!

Storm Origins

This high energy, kinetic short is a showcase of various urban sport disciplines in effect by some seriously talented parkourists and rollerbladers. The addition of a faux story element to tie the entire thing together was a nice touch as well. The entire piece is slick and incredibly cinematic, from the color grading down to the editing.

The Beautiful Art Of BaoPham

Flora Luna (Via)

BaoPham is an excellent artist based out of Iowa who aside from painting beautiful females, has been doing his fair share of world travel as of late. Who can blame him? New settings and culture bring all kinds of new inspiration for artists, and typically work as a great palette cleanser for stale imaginations.

His work typically centers around female subjects in ethereal states, fading away or in a dreamlike trance and he creates some truly vivid and beautiful palettes in his pieces. His signature staples also include incorporating flowers into his subjects as a strange amalgam of flora and flesh. Check out seven more beautiful pieces by BaoPham after the break!

Gundog : The Christmas Action Movie To End Them All

Gundog is the combination of just about every classic Christmas time action movie/police drama from the last few decades. Think Robocop plus Die Hard, blended together with a cute dog thrown in and just about every cop drama cliche imaginable. Its a hilariously random, heartwarming special about the powers of good toppling the forces attempting to destroy Christmas. Props to 39 Degrees North for creating a film that brought a few tears to our eyes.

Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime - Holiday Edition

Nothing like a beautiful, quaint little dinner to celebrate Christmas.  Yeah, well toss that idea out the window, because the dudes at Swedish Mealtime have another idea in mind.  The European counterparts to Epic Mealtime put their own little 'ordinary' spin on the holiday feast. Why?  Because f**k you, that's why.  EAT UP, B*TCHES.

The Humble Indie Bundle Within A Bundle

Charity just got bigger (Via)

Give and you shall receive. The Humble Indie Bundle 4 now comes with extra supplies to titillate you to the good cause. For the minimum of $5.23, you get the soundtrack for each individual game, and the Humble Indie Bundle 3 set which contained some really sweet games. They include VVVVVV, And Yet It Moves, Hammerfight, Crayon Physics Deluxe, and Cogs.

This Christmas do you really not have $5.23 to give and get all these games? You have just 2 days left but the package is worth it. Give deep children!

The Dark Knight Rises: Sweded

I think Sweding is the best new video meme to pop up over the last year or two. For those unaware, Sweding involves taking trailers and recreating them with zero budget..With often hilarious results. This Dark Knight Rises trailer is the best one yet, and they even improved on the original! I can actually understand what Bane is saying, compared to the mumbling, muffled mess in the actual trailer. Check out the original trailer after the break!

Prometheus : The First Official Trailer

After an entire series of teasers featuring Ridley Scott himself, the official trailer has finally arrived for Prometheus, and it looks absolutely stunning. We've got all the elements of an excellent Alien prequel here: A scientific expedition of sorts, the discovery of a crash landed space ship (Like in the original Alien), and last but not least..A feeling of complete dread. I get this great feeling that Ridley is going to breathe life back into this series, which has been mishandled since Alien 3. Maybe we'll see a Nolan-esque reboot of the franchise!

The title of this movie is a story in itself, and I can see how it plays into the whole Alien origin story. This Greek mythology centers around the story of Prometheus, a Titan who attempted to steal fire from Zeus and give it to mortals. In doing so, he suffered quite the terrible punishment. If you think about it, this whole series has been about man attempting to meddle with forces unknown, and suffering the consequences. It'll be interesting to see how, and if they intend to play up the title of Prometheus. Nonetheless, this excellent trailer hints at a release date of 6/8/2012, and we can't wait to see more.

The Awesome Art Of Omocat

And the crowds go wild. (Via)

I found Omocat via this awesome little image, brought to life by a simple flickering animation that brought back a flood of nostalgia. And tracking it down to her website, I found a whole treasure trove of simply animated, vibrant artwork that is both fun tribute, as well as more personal pieces.

Omocat is a really versatile artist, having delved into just about every online art form possible. Awesome shirts, prints and pins? Check. An active tumblr? Check. Webcomics? Check. She's got a great sense of color and layout, and her subject matter just hit all the right geeky notes one after the other. Check out a few more samples from Omocat's portfolio after the break!

SEED

This crazy little short won best animated short at Slamdance last year, and it absolutely deserved it for having the most bizarre premise I've ever seen. An apple and a bird compete for supremacy over a radio signal by building bigger and bigger broadcast towers in a strange tale of survival and supremacy. Ben Richardson directed this incredibly strange stop motion short, which channels the work of Dali, Jan Svankmajer, Rick Baker, and Alejandro Jodorowski all in one. I enjoyed the unorthodox storytelling and quirky, demented visuals.

Meme Marriage Proposal : Like a boss!

Tim asks Audrey to marry him. With the help of the internet and an extensive collection of memes he asks for Audreys hand in marriage, like a boss. And guess what? They're both hardcore bloggers.

Happy Holidays?

Tim & Eric meets my worst nightmares? Happy Holidays, courtesy of the interesting folks over on the Geoff&Dallas Make Videos tumblr. Its like a bad trip that just won't end, interrupted by magic wizards and beard trees.

Hackers Heart Leather

Hollywood sometimes adapts weird stereotypes about how certain characters should look, and these things tend to stick for decades. In this case, this Youtube user created an awesome little compilation showcasing how every hacker is always wearing leather for some reason, set to "Connection" By Elastica. Seriously though, leather? That's so 1995.

Best Fails Of 2011

TwistedNederland returns with his compilation of the best failures in humanity this year in a 12 minute format. Sit back and celebrate the fact that you didn't find yourself in these situations with a fine glass of brandy in hand.

Aardman Animation: Behind The Scenes

The folks from Hey You Guys recently had a chance to visit the actual Aardman Animation studious to get a behind the scenes look at the Pirates! : Band Of Misfits movie currently in production. I was kind of surprised that they were animating this with claymation, because I had assumed they had switched to CG with their recent projects of Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas.

Its a pleasant surprise to see this entire project being executed with classic stop motion techniques, a practice that I thought disappeared following the massive fire that destroyed most of their props, models and scenery back in 2005. Good to hear that this art form is still alive and well.

Underground Gingerbread Men

Sometimes you really have to look past all of the holiday cheer and fluff.  You need to get to the dark underbelly of the Christmas world.  You think gingerbread men are just for decorating and eating?  How wrong you are, my friends.  Tucked far away from your sheltered world lies a culture drug use, and cock fighting.  And only one red-suited, heat-packing man can f**k that s**t up...

Why Unicorns Are Extinct

I read his line in the voice of Family Guy's Mort Goldman. (Via)

I like to believe that once upon a time, unicorns roamed this great Earth.  In my world, they were as beautiful and graceful as the fairy tales make them out to be.  But sadly, they are no more.  And perhaps this comic explains why.  Now to break the sad news to my esteemed co-editor, Unicorns Exist...

The Hobbit Trailer Has Landed

There's been a flurry of trailers as of late, but I definitely wasn't expecting the Hobbit to drop so unexpectedly. Familiar faces return, and a whole new cast is introduced for Bilbo's classic adventure to get his hands on treasure guarded by the legendary dragon known as Smaug. From this first peek, its hard to deny that this is going to be nothing short of stellar with the incredible team working on this project. We're looking forward to a more action packed trailer next.

Batman: Arkham Inc.

The Bat now has a free skin for you to use. Sell-out. (Via)

Rocksteady Studio loves you, Arkham City sold very well indeed! As a token of their appreciation, they will be offering a brand new Batman Inc. Batsuit skin absolutely free! You will be able to download the skin tomorrow from Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Games for Windows Marketplace.

Ohio - Justice (Lovesluts Remix)

This fantastic cover by the Lovesluts is based off the excellent Justice/Midnight Juggernauts collab. The track, which was simply called 'Ohio', was one of my favorite tracks from "Audio, Video, Disco," the recently released, and long awaited Justice release. It's a mellow, laid-back track that picks up nicely and is the equivalent of a road trip for your ears. Seeing that Justice hasn't released a music video for the track yet, this was the best excuse I could find to finally post it seeing that the cover is pretty damn good. Enjoy.

10 Lego Masterpieces By DasNewten

Incredible. (Via)

DasNewten is a true Lego architect, using the blocks to their full potential to engineer some truly fluid, insanely complex, yet seamless pieces of scifi art. Its been incredible to see these Lego artists achieve absolutely unreal pieces, to only see their work be blown away by some newcomer a few months later.

Since April, Kwi Chang was considered to be the closest match for the title of 'Lego God,' but it looks like DasNewten's masterful pieces might just be next in line to take the title, and rightfully so. Check out nine more specimens from his incredible scifi collection after the break!

Krampus

So we recently discovered Krampus, the absolutely horrifying Euro/Alpine demonic Santa companion created to strike petrifying fear into the hearts of unruly children. I heard that every December, people in Krampus outfits wander the streets to remind kids to be at their best behavior. Curious to see if anyone had filmed this bizarre event, I did a quick search on Youtube..And my god, its about a thousand times more terrifying than I could have ever imagined. I mean, seriously...I wasn't expecting the entire inventory from Stan Winston's FX studio to be out on parade at the same time. If I'd experienced this as a 5 year old I'd probably be scarred for life.

RoboGal's Weekly Cute Mixtape

You smell that, child?  That is the smell of victory.  To battle, we ride! (Via)

We have but a few days until Christmas, and I have yet to get you all a gift.  Just kidding, it's my Cute Mixtape.  I know, I know... I shouldn't have.  I just love to see that joyous look on your faces.  Six more glorious gifts after the jump!

Prometheus: Ridley Scott Teases Trailer Release

This generation of marketing is getting weirder and weirder. We no longer have trailers, we have teaser trailers for actual trailers. It's a practice I find very weird, but strangely effective. As such, I present to you the second biggest film of next year, Prometheus.

We've hyped the film enough on this site do I really need to say more? Possible Alien prequel, Ridley Scott, Damon Lindelof of LOST fame...2012 couldn't come fast enough.

Dark Knight Rises : The New Trailer

This new trailer premiered in theaters with the arrival of Mission Impossible 4, and reveals even more strange things afoot in Gotham city. From stadiums being blown up to Bruce Wayne being threatened by the 99%, it looks like this movie might play up some relevant social issues at play in this day and age. It looks like Gotham will be embroiled in some form of uprising, possible orchestrated by Bane. Wait and see till the next trailer drops! Check out a variant of the trailer, also released at the same time after the break!

LATIN AMERICAN EDDIE VEDDER

Talent shows have spread all over the world, every nation has a version of what we know as *insert country* Got's Talent.  There have been really good artists coming out of them; Some even jump-started proper careers in show business. Others became novelty acts and changed their everyday lives for a moment. And others were just toying around for little more than their faces on T.V.

In South America, Chile to be precise, there is one of those T.V. shows. But rather than looking for new stars, they are looking for the best double/impersonator/imitator of any artist.  Javier Diaz is one of these guys, and he imitates Eddie Vedder. Even if his pronunciation is not perfect, Diaz sounds damn similar to the original. Listen, and judge for yourself.

More cool performances, after the break.

Les Gobelins FX Showcase

These bite sized, 30 second animations were created as part of an FX animation exercise at the acclaimed French animation school. Teams of five 2 year students all worked for 3 weeks to created these awesome animations showcasing everything they'd learned so far. It never fails to baffle me just how advanced these guys are within just two years at the school, but I guess that's why the school has such an epic reputation. Check out 4 more excellent little animations after the break!

Max Cooper - Echoes Reality 4D

This mind bending music video is filled with so much optical illusion that its nothing short of mind blowing. 4D cubes, hypercubes and other objects and patterns that are simply hard to accept as possible are all presented to ask a simple question by Max Cooper: Are we sticking to 3 dimensions as a matter of conditioning, or is it possible to broaden our horizons and accept the possibility of many other dimensions existing in this same reality? Its a question that throws science out the window, but is nonetheless an interesting issue to ponder.

An Ode To Transformers Box Art

Sound wave,  the perfect nemesis for Major Lazer.

As Christmas approaches, gift unwrapping frenzy time is just around the corner. I want to pay a personal homage to one of those things that really made my holidays: box art from any toy in the 80's and early 90's. ESPECIALLY Transformers package art, which was like half the fun of getting one from Santa.

Back in the day, there was no wikipedia nor any kind of wiki page where you could search for extended information on your toys/games/figures/characters. Box art was part of the magic behind the universe toys came from, and that compelled you to piece together things, fill in the blanks, and eventually use your brain to make something compelling and coherent out of a simple image.

And for that task there was nothing better than the box art made for Transformers toys. From the color palettes, through the poses, to that neon grid that extended to cybertron and beyond. Everything was so neat and cool that I almost felt sorry for playing with the damn things. Props to Botch the crab, for the most extensive online database for package art on the web.

Now travel back in time (if you were born in the eighties) for a small selection of Transformers after the break!

TATTOO DESIGN TIME LAPSE BY DAVID TEVENAL

Let me throw this out there: I'm not a big fan of tattoo art, I think that like graffiti art in particular, it shares some common shortcomings. For example both of them have just a handful of artist that really push the boundaries of their medium, be it by incorporating new techniques, by not following the trend or by re-contextualizing their work.

Even if well executed, some art expressions become self referencing, mimetic. Obscuring their possibilities as valid communications channels, or as artforms per se. However, that could be said for any discipline.

As simple spectators what we only get to see, 90% of the time, is the collected work, the finished product, packed and serialized for us to collect until we sate our urge of it, and move on. What we do not get to see as often as at least I would like, is the beautiful process behind any artwork, the long way from the blank canvas, to something radically different. A piece of art.

The video above is a time lapse of David Tevenal's process, a damn fine artist who really cares about advancing the medium of tattoo art.

Every Snowflake Is Yo-Chemical Romance?

I love the Aquabats, and I loved Yo Gabba Gabba. Since the birth of my nephew I've loved it even more with me sitting down with the kid, watching the show as the 8 month-old baby stands, jumps along and enjoys the show. Christmas day?  Me and him will be dancing to one of my favourite bands.

Recorded by My Chemical Romance, this sweet little number was released with the promise the Yo Gabba Gabba christmas special will have a few other surprises up there sleeves. The show is known for it's celebrity cameos, with stars like Tony Hawk, Jack Black and Elijah Wood making appearances. Also, check this for some pictures Gerard drew after talking to Christian Jacobs (Aquabat Commander and creator of the show).

The Maccabees - Pelican

After coming home from a chaotic midnight showing of Rocky Horror, and then staying up until 6am, this was probably not the wisest of music video viewing choices.  But what's done is done, and I'm quite tripped out.  This music video for "Pelican", by The Maccabee's, keeps going and going.  Literally.  No amount of food, electronics, or human heads will stop this camera from delving deeper and deeper.  

The Highly Mechanized Art Of St Theo

Sheperd Helldiver (Via)

Saint(?) Theo is a UK based artist with a heavy emphasis on really cool mech artwork based off a universe he's created over time. Each of his units fall into a category of 'Helldiver,' varying from orbital drop exosuits to various types of vehicles, each with its own distinct specialization. He puts a lot of thought into each of his units, breaking down all the functions, weapons and backstory to fully flesh out his characters. At some point, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole Helldiver series will get optioned for a movie adaptation. Check out 6 more concepts after the break!

Misteur Valeire : DanDan

Fantastic music video for the Quebecois electro group known as Misteur Valeire. Dan Dan follows the exploits of a monkey in the darkest depths of space. The visual style of the music video is really cool, playing up angular shapes, fine mustaches and poppy animation. You can check out more of Misteur Valeire's work on their website.

PROMETHEUS OFFICIAL MOVIE POSTER

Thank you for opening Pandoras' box. (Via)

A while ago we posted some news about the current status on the new take of the Aliens saga by none other than Ridley Scott himself. Scheduled for June 8th 2012, this is the first official poster for the upcoming prequel/side story to the entire Aliens series, Prometheus. So far, it looks pretty damn creepy. We hope the movie lives up to the hype and expectations, and manages to tie into the actual

Documentary About Us

This is truly an offbeat, yet kind of fun animated short.  A school project, it shows the parallels between the wilds of Africa and a big city (in this case, London).  The clip uses audio from an interview with acclaimed British broadcaster and narrator David Attenborough.  That in itself should deem this short worthy for some National Geographic special, if only to be filed under "quirky".

Sonic, You Run Like An Idiot

Flail (Via)

We just love it when the most random ideas simply take off and gain massive steam, and the 'Dumb Running Sonic' tumblr has been one of these instances. The idea started off with an image by the awesome 'I Draw Nintendo' artist Zac Gorman simply stating "I think it would be cute if Sonic ran like an idiot." This has spawned a current explosion of hilarious gifs with that same theme in mind. Check out 12 more instances of Sonic running like an idiot after the break!

Young Magic: Sparkly

Some chill, heavily instrumental music to get your day off to a relaxed start. The Australian born, New York based Young Magic delivers a music video that is devoid of context, but relaxing and incredibly pretty to look at. The entire video was shot on Australia's beautiful East Coast and directed by Dylan Wienhan.

Scream-Dubbed Cat Yawn Compilation

I'd say on the most part, funny videos on the net illicit a chortle or a "heh" out of me.  They're good, sometimes even great, but for whatever reason I just don't have any huge reaction  (unless watching with someone else, in which case we kinda bounce off each other laughter-wise).  But this... THIS... Made me lose my s*it.  There were tears, yes.  And all it took was a simple idea to dub yawning cat videos.  We've helped unearth a true gem.

Festive Greetings From Cyriak

Cyriak returns with a true piece of bait and switch gold. I'll be enjoying the slew of nightmares I'm going to have of Santa hat wearing spawns from the netherworld. As Cyriak said it himself 'Something to remind us of the true spirit of Christmas.'

One Block To Rule Us All

EVERY fantasy geeks dream come true. (Via)

Just about a decade since the release of the first theatrical LOTR movie, looks like Lord Of The Rings is finally getting the block treatment. In the same way that Star Wars, Batman, Minecraft (ha) and every other franchise in the world, the world famous series has been officially become the next beloved series to get blocked up.

What I'm sure will lead into various video games, toys and other items I'm really looking forward too will start in summer 2012. LOTR Lego sets will roll out beginning in June, with sets based on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey scheduled for release closer to the debut of the film's December 14 opening. Stay tuned for updates on the official Lego website.

The Art Of Youtube Mashups

I'd like to take a moment to honor the folks online who spend hours creating incredible synchronized mashups of Anime, hit TV Shows, Team Fortress 2 and My Little Pony to various types of music. Its a strange art form that evolved from the same school of thought as memes that's definitely grown in popularity over the last few years, and these videos take a long ass time to make. Its very niche, but they're definitely fun to watch if they're well done. Check out a few more of these bizarrely awesome mashups after the break!

The Awesomeness Of Danger 5: Diamond Girls

The Aussie folks at Dinosaur Worldwide, the same little company which created the fantastic 'Italian Spiderman' series a way back are finally back with their higher budget followup: Danger 5. This throwback spy thriller features the misadventures of a group of international super spies, shot in a ridiculously convincing 70's style. Danger 5 delivers a hilarious dose of shameless exploitation, re-dubbing of already English dialogue, unbelievable practical FX and awesomely retro camera work with a gratuitous emphasis on zooming.

The mix could be best described as Inglorious Bastards and James Bond (We're talking Sean Connery Bond here) colliding head on with something akin to Adam West's Batman from the sixties. According to the website, this 5 part web series is supposed to be a prelude to an actual 6 episode series that will air on Australian TV. That's plain out awesome. With less than 100,000 views since its premiere in late November on Youtube, Danger 5 deserves a ton more love! According to the website, this 5 part web series is supposed to be a prelude to an actual 6 episode series that will air on Australian TV. Spread the word about this little gem so it'll go viral, and check out parts 2-4 after the break!

An Artistic Tribute To Extinct & Endangered Animals

The Black Rhinoceros, fading away. (Via)

As part of a holiday show at the Fabric8 Gallery in San Francisco, artist Martin Hsu has created three beautifully ethereal paintings. As a tribute to extinct and highly endangered animals, he has decided to showcase the Black Rhinoceros (one subspecies, the Western Black Rhinoceros, was just recently classified as extinct), the Narwhal, and the Poison Dart Frog.  Check out the rest of his work on his website!

The other two paintings after the jump!

THE WTF SONG

You know, at first i didn't know if this ranked as a valid posting, but the whole thing is kind of contradictory so it qualifies as cool. About, 4% of the the internet population uses this service to (*cough*) ''transfer files and data'', Not to mention the movies, albums, and books  you can download for free ( DON'T  DO THAT, IT'S ILLEGAL).

For many years, music companies and artists alike have complained about the damage services like this do to the whole industry, record sales bla bla. Some music labels, even have dedicated teams that roam the forums and blogs of the world, ( stone throw records is not the case) putting down links and erasing the illegitimate use of copyrighted music.

But now, for my surprise, after waiting those 60 damn seconds, a youtube link popped up with this catchy tune, featuring, guess who... a bunch of very copyrighted artists, and of course, Kim Kardashian. And guess what? UMG and Will.I.Am, who starred in the damn video sent takedown notices to Youtube and had the video temporarily taken down when it started to go viral.

BOOK TOPOGRAPHIES BY NORIKO AMBE

Trippy. (via)

Saitama born Japanese artist, Noriko Ambe does things to books that many of us that buy or collect them, would never dream of. But for Ambe, books are something more than just reading material, they're a canvas for creative expression.

His Sculptures take advantage of the format he works in, layers of paper. Page after page Ambe creates complex patterns that once finished, end up looking like small canyons, carved on atlases, encyclopedias and novels. More of Ambe's astonishing works, after the break!

World War III By BHEAD

Absolutely incredible. (Via)

These drop dead gorgeous custom figurines were created by the Korean concept/figure artist known as Bhead for a line known as '(The) Day After World War III. Being a videogame conceptual designer mainly working on fantasy titles, Bhead picked up figure making as a way to exercise the opposite end of the spectrum, Scifi.

These large, insanely detailed post apocalyptic figures were painstakingly created over the course of weeks, and just ooze personality. You can tell he slaved away on every individual element, making sure to give it a distinct function that would help them survive in a grim, post apocalyptic world. Check out more of his incredible work from the WWIII series after the break!

Trent Reznor Feat. Karen O: Immigrant Song

This awesome cover of the classic 1970 Led Zeppelin song features an awesome, noisier and grittier sound, the signature treatment we've come to expect from Trent Reznor. If this is your first time hearing it, the track was created for David Fincher's western adaptation of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," and it fits absolutely perfectly.

I loved this 2011 remake for the fact that it improved on the original (IMO), adding a much improved chaotic, urgent finale to the track. The music video itself features some pretty badass, grungy imagery that kind of reminded me of Tetsuo The Iron Man. Fantastic cover, and I can't wait for the film to hit theaters.

Proteigon

Some seriously mind bending stop motion courtesy of Steven Briand, featuring a simple piece of paper being manipulated, cloned and distorted in every which way before coming full circle. This needs to be turned into a feature length movie, with an over the top protagonist with the power to wield paper as a weapon.

The Dictator Trailer Is Out

Having enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen's many past hilarious and at-times controversial characters, I was obviously pretty excited to hear about this new movie.  His new character?  An over-the-top dictator.  Sounds like a shot in the barrel, right?  Well, after watching the trailer, I'm a tad hesitant.

I had assumed that this was going to be another improvised "real life" film, a la Borat and Bruno, but its looking to be more of an actual movie like Ali G back in the day. Problem is, he hasn't quite tested this persona with audiences yet..Although its pretty damn topical with the current political climate.  Doesn't mean it can't be awesome in it's own way though, right? I'll make it a point to not skip this when it comes out May 2012.

Morphex

I absolutely adore simple objects that transform into robots. In this case, its a sphere that can deploy into a walker form known as a hexapod, which is pretty much a fancy term for spider legged. Its cute and all, but all I can imagine is that this will someday become a massive, multi story spherical weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield. Needs more lasers.

Team Fortress 2: Australian Steam Punk Christmas?

Nicolas Crowder would be proud! (Via)

What is Santa bringing you THIS Christmas? A piece of coal? A tinplate train? A piece of alien technology burning with the heat of a 100,000 suns?

This year, Valve is bringing us the second of its WETA updates and the first update of it's second annual Australian Christmas updates. Makes sense? Keep up. What started with a comic bringing the true meaning of Australian Christmas ended with us seeing the first in the 12 days of updates, first being an awesome update making you give Valve more of your hard earned money. And don't forget that Team Fortress 2 is free to play, so go nuts!

Matt Damon Enjoys Water Bottles

You really can't go wrong with Matt Damon in a Santa Suit, having a conversation with kids asking for gifts about bacteria resistant water bottles, microfinancing and clean water for Water.org's charity event.  Although I'd really like to point out that you guys should really pay attention at the 1:25 mark. When you see it, you'll gain +99 respect for Matt Damon for rolling with the punches, and enduring a wet knee.

Boardwalk Empire State of Mind

So, you're a character killed off in season one of HBO's Boardwalk Empire.  What do you do?  Come out with a f**king fantastic rap homage, of course.  Erik Weiner, aka 'Agent Sebso', stars in this pretty awesome video, with some of the show's opening theme music mixed in. Now that season two has just ended, this has come at the perfect time.  Can I get a hell yeah?!

Kyle Bean's Soft Guerilla

Kyle Bean's Jelly Grenade: Delicious (Via)

This fun series by the UK based artist Kyle Bean was created for an article in CUT Magazine about harmless 'guerilla' style practies, including guerilla gardening and yarn bombing. The photo series features a variety of weapons rendered harmless thanks to some fun materials added into the mix. Feather knives, bread knuckles and other fun weapons after the break! You can find more of his excellent work, aside from this series on his equally awesome website.

The Palm Springs Noire

This excellent animated short masterfully pulled off a self encapsulated, typical Noire story in just 50 seconds for the Palm Springs Short Fest. I loved the designs and the incredible fluid animation, all courtesy of the director behind this short: Andrew Chesworth. Check out his animation reel after the break!

Erik Omen: Payphone

Dreamy, hazy low key 80's tribute from Erik Omen's debut on Midnight Juggernaut's record label, Siberia Records. His debut features Payphone and another equally excellent track, Grade E which you can check on Erik's bandcamp. Perfectly chill tracks for getting your days off to a great start.

AND LET THERE BE LIGHT (at 1.000.000.000.000 fps)

I have no reliable knowledge on quantum physics, post newtonian mechanics or plenoptic imaging. But this, this for sure is a game changer. The capturing of a light particle movement, in slow motion, is something that might revolutionize the way we see things in many fields of knowledge (no pun intended).

The cousins of the Big bang theory guys explain the whole picture in simple words, on the video above.

Humble Bundle #4 Is Live!

These games going for cheap AND for charity? Donate here! (Via)

The Humble Bundle has always been a great deal. You receive seven new cross-platform, DRM-free games for what ever price you feel like donating. This bundle is.....much more recognisable than any other.

Let's remember, this is for PC/Linux/Sucker Mac gamers like me who can also download the games directly OR through a Steam code with the money not only going to charity but to the developers as well (with a choice of how the money is separated.).

For any price you feel like donating, you will receive a copy of Super Meat Boy, Shank, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, and NightSky. If you pay more than the average price (As of writing, $5), you'll also get two massive, well-loved indie favorites: Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. Most of these games are known by mainstream publishers AND are costing over $10 EACH. The bundle is a steal, and you are donating to charity. What have you got to lose?

Elektrotechnique (NSFW)

This music video was created for the Dutch band called De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig, featuring some very interesting, hilarious 'improvised' objects doing their thing to the point of malfunction. The music video won a motion design award for its creative, fun approach to an otherwise explicit topic. Fun stuff.

Krampus: Putting Fear In Your Christmas

Oh dear. (Via)

I was raised on threats of coal in my stocking if I didn't behave right, and I thought that the concept of simply not getting toys for Christmas was terrifying enough. That is, until I heard about Krampus. When I first heard the term and had it described to me, it kind of sounded like some kind of meme that would originate in the darkest depths of 4chan, a la Longcat/Tacgnol. Yet after a little bit of research, it turns out that this nightmarish entity is actually a real legend in European alpine regions.

Legend goes that Krampus would accompany Saint Nick (Santa) and kidnap kids who had been bad, after which he'd proceed to eat them. Well after finding that out, I guess my childhood was a walk in the park compared to those kids subjected to demonic mental trauma. On a side note, these cool pieces of art were all created by Miss Monster on Deviantart, so check out two more of her Krampus designs after the break!

GI Joe: Retaliation

The first live action GI Joe movie definitely wasn't as bad as the recent Transformer adaptation, but that's not saying much. However there is a small glimmer of hope with this sequel trailer, which looks like it might not be going the all out campy route like the first one did, (Green ooze missiles to destroy the Eiffel tower, anyone?) poorly. Maybe all the series needs is a dose of Bruce Willis, even more Snake Eyes and a noised up version of the classic White Stripes (RIP) track, Seven Nation Army to convince me that this sequel might make up for the sins of its predecessor. Wait and see.