Abandoned Toy Story 3 Concepts Reveal a Fate Worse Than Sid

Remember that one scene in Toy Story 3 when Woody and his pals were being  rapidly sucked into the gaping molten hell-mouth of an industrial incinerator? Yeah, it could have been worse. The production of the third installment in the Toy Story franchise dates all the way back to 2004 (just five years after the release of Toy Story 2). Despite this, the final film would not see the light of a projection booth until 2010. So what happened?



In 2005, Pixar were in the midst of a "conscious uncoupling" from Disney. However, Disney still contractually retained the rights to create sequels to any of Pixar's properties produced during their initial 7-year contract, albeit complying with Pixar's right of first refusal. The contested film in question? None other than Toy Story 3.

A proxy animation-house named Circle 7 Animation (derisively nicknamed "Pixaren't") was created in 2004 to helm this new project. Few details emerged regarding this incarnation of the film; only the plot to rescue a malfunctioning Buzz from being decommissioned at a Taiwanese recall factory. Well, the concept art for that version has surfaced just in time for the holidays, and they are terrifying.

Special thanks to comicbookmovie.com and kudos to reddit user oz27varela for uncovering and compiling this treasure trove of production art!

Kubrick's "The Shining" Analysis - Fake Moon Landings And More

Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining is one of the most widely interpreted works of film in the last few decades, spawning countless theories,documentaries and articles attempting to decipher the countless implied themes present in that ominous Overlook hotel. Netflix just recently added Room 237, a feature length documentary with various analysis touching upon theories ranging from the implied Native American Genocide aspect, imperialism, and even supposed clues to the supposed faking of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The infamous Apollo 11 shirt - Fuel on the fire.

The insanely meticulous, detail oriented nature of Kubrick helped create that strange aura of mystique around his films (I still get chills thinking about the implied themes of Eyes Wide Shut), which were always packed to the brim with strange visual clues that never quite seemed incidental. This recently unearthed documentary offers one such angle, breaking down The Shining as a facade implying Kubrick's involvement with faking moon landings, rumored to have been filmed at the same time as the film. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I have to say they definitely make a very compelling case...Was it all just a coincidence? Be the judge, and don't forget to check out Room 237 on Netflix for more Kubrick-conspiracy goodness.

Lost & Found - Portrait Of A Tinkerer

'One man's garbage is another man's treasure.' That's the saying that comes to mind while checking out Joey Bania's fun portrait of a New Zealand based inventor living in a remote forest in the South Islands. Incredibly ingenious and a tinkerer at heart, Blair Somerville's curiosity is really inspiring to watch, and his entire environment is just visually rich and fun to look at. Every available space, organic and inorganic is imbued with some form of mechanism, bringing everything to life with his incredible range of automata.

For over ten years Blair has single-handedly owned, operated and ceaselessly expanded the Lost Gypsy Gallery, his wonderland of homegrown wizardry and a playground for kids and adults alike. Using only recycled materials, Blair takes DIY to artistic extremes. His creations are ingenious, interactive, and often hilariously impractical. They take many shapes and forms and share an uncanny ability to amaze, entertain and inspire.

Hollywood's History Of Faking It - The Evolution Of Greenscreen Compositing

Created as an instructional film for Filmmaker IQ, a creative community dedicated to filmmakers, The Evolution Of Greenscreen Compositing presents a fascinating look at over 100 years of compositing, starting off with the revolutionary work of Georges Méliès, who pioneered techniques including multiple exposures, time lapse photography, hand painted colorization and screen dissolves in his time. This fascinating video goes in depth into the evolution, and iteration of the techniques used up to modern day digital green matting techniques which are prevalent in the film industry today.

The Pirate Bay : Away From Keyboard Premieres Online

It’s the day before the trial starts. Fredrik packs a computer into a rusty old Volvo. Along with his Pirate Bay co-founders, he faces $13 million in damage claims to Hollywood in a copyright infringement case. Fredrik is on his way to install a new computer in the secret server hall. This is where the world’s largest file sharing site is hidden.

When the hacker prodigy Gottfrid, the internet activist Peter and the network nerd Fredrik are found guilty, they are confronted with the reality of life offline – away from keyboard. But deep down in dark data centres, clandestine computers quietly continue to duplicate files.

The feature length documentary regarding the founders of the Pirate Bay, a website that still lives on in infamy despite numerous attempts to shut it down is now out for the world to see. Directed by Simon Klose, the doc covers the ongoing legal battle between the founders and Hollywood, which ultimately culminated in the US threatening Sweden with actual trade sanctions for hosting the torrent website back in 2009.Their story is one of defiance, and the penultimate example of the type of gray legal area that has emerged from the emergence of filesharing, especially in international cases.

The Evolution Of Real Time PC Graphics (2000-2013)

Compiled by Youtube user PerfectHand, this video features about 13 years worth of Nvidia graphic demos, benchmarks and in game demos from the period at full setting. Starting off with Nvidia's Grove and ending on benchmakrs like Platige Image's Catzilla, this video shows just how far we've come in just over a decade.

My only qualm with these graphic demos is that they've lead to about a decade worth of false expectations for most gamers, especially considering that the practice of benchmarking lead companies to misleading practices like creating 'gameplay target videos,' with the final product being inevitably inferior.  Let's hope that companies have learned for their mistakes int he last few generaations regarding setting false expectations.

The Junk King

Vince Hennemann is a bit of an icon in Austin's more ecclectic circles, dubbed 'The Junk King,' by anyone who has seen his cathedral, a construct of found objects fueled by his passion of installations. Perhaps he's got a bit of a hoarding mentality, but hearing him talk about how his creation has affected people is truly fascinating, and how his environment has affected him in the form of an unfortunate city code violation debacle. The saying of 'One man's junk is another man's treasure' couldn't be a more fitting description for what Vince's vision is all about. An excellently put together mini-doc by Evan Burns.

Frank Ocean - Pyramids (NSFW)

I don't know what I just experienced, but Frank Ocean's latest music video is just plain out fantastic. A transcendental, stylishly filmed endeavor, chronicling Ocean's attempts to escape a state of stupor and find new meaning. It's abstract at times, dissonant, but altogether fascinating entry by the Odd Future artist, who has been relatively quiet since coming out earlier this year. The music video was directed by Nabil, and even features a brief cameo by a stoic John Mayer. The track is from Mr. Ocean's Channel Orange
 album, which I'd highly recommend checking out.

0 To 100 Years In 150 Seconds

Ever seen a 'youth lapse?' The Amsterdam based artist behind this fascinating video decided to document people from his town, approaching them and asking them to state their age in front of a camera. The video captures people from ages 0-100, with his statement mentioning that the youngest and the oldest were the most difficult to track down. As he put it himself:

'My aim was to 'collect' a group of 100 people, from age 0 to 100. At first my collection grew fast but slowed down when it got down to the very young and very old. The young because of sensivity around filming or photographing children and the very old because they don't get out of the house much. I found my very old 'models' in care homes and it was a privilege to document these -often vulnerable- people for this project. I had particular problems finding a 99 year-old. (Apparently 100 year-olds enjoy notoriety, but a 99 year-old is a rare species...) And when I finally did find one, she refused to state her age. She simply denied being 99 years old! But finally, some 4 months after I recorded my first 'age', I was able to capture the 'missing link' and conclude this project.'

The LEGO® Story

In honor of the 80th anniversary of Lego (1932-2012), the company has released an awesome little look back at the history, and humble beginnings of the company as a carpentry business. The CG animated retelling of the companies history goes into the idea of a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen, who spun a wooden toy idea into the famous interlocking brick business millions have come to love.

It's an amazing story of a man with an ambition, who one day took the Danish phrase 'Leg Godt,' which meant 'Play well' and created the famous company name (It also means 'I put together' in Latin).

If you've ever loved the plastic bricks, you'll love hearing about how this company came to be, especially when it came to Ole's uncompromising standards when it came to quality. The story spans 3 generations, and features a narration from the perspective of the latest generation of the Christiansen line.

Offbook - The Art Of Glitch

Absolutely amazing. I've always been a fan of seeing people take glitches in various mediums, something typically seen as negative and use it to elevate their work into something truly unique and captivating. The absolutely fantastic ongoing PBS Off Book series interviews artists working in just about ever medium of glitch, from music to photography and exposing the cultural significance of the medium as a counter movement to the overly perfect, heavily photoshopped imagery we are bombarded with daily.

I actually recently found myself browsing dozens of videos of circuit benders, a subset of the electro music scene who take any toys that can output sound and modify them to be distortable and glitch ready. That aside it's been awesome to see the glitch medium evolve over the last few years, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

VICE - How To Get Away With Stealing

I had a situation sometime last year at a dentist's office which definitely put me in a bad situation, when my card was declined working while trying to pay a bill for the appointment. It's embarrassing to find yourself in that situation, but what was even worse was discovering what had happened to the funds that I had, and the -6,000 dollar balance that all of a sudden popped up on my account. Mind blown, I called the bank and was asked questions like: 'Did you buy a $3,000 watch in London?' and 'What about purchasing 60 prepaid phone cards in Romania?' Needless to say trying to explain that was a grueling experience, and it took over a month to recover the stolen funds.

It turned out that a card skimmer on a local ATM had done the trick, and my information ended up on an online black market credit card database, only to be bought and used by unscrupulous people online. This brings us to the video created by VICE, which showcases the British fraud industry and the unapologetic mindset of the type of people who turn to that life to make a living. It's interesting to see it from their perspective, but it's nothing short of violating to know that these are the types of people who think identity theft, credit damage and stealing are viable ways to make a living. Also known as the 'f*** everyone but myself' mentality, the amount of narcissism in this video might give you a small headache.

18 Awesome Thai Film Movie Posters

Total Recall

Remember our 70 Bootleg Movie Posters, courtesy of traveling movie shows in Ghana? There was something fascinating about seeing how different countries interpreted various movies in the US with a lack of official movie posters, using hand painted recreations to advertise the films being screened.

Once again we've stumbled into a veritable archive of amazing movie posters, this time from Thai movie theaters. I have to say that compared to the movie posters from Ghana though, these hand painted creations are masterpieces in comparison. All the posters seem to be characterized by a pastiche of iconic visual elements and scenes from the movies, with the film's main protagonists typically dominating the compositions. The colorful, bright and sensationalized micro-industry of Thai movie posters have become a part of the nation's cultural heritage, and I can definitely see why. Check out 17 more amazing movie posters after the break!

Trolli's Gay Fortress 2 (NSFW)

(Via)

As the current political campaigns in the US have turned their ear towards the pro/anti gay rights issue, rabid debates have engulfed internet communities, airwaves and television with people offering their different points of view. But us? We really don't care, as long as people have the chance to live the life they want. We support Clint Eastwood's sentiments.

Seeing that these mind blowing images of wonderfully illustrated Team Fortress 2 fanart have been sitting unused in our art archives for a few days now, I saw it fit to share them as a result of recent developments. I added a NSFW tag for the overly sensitive, but rest assured its all pretty tasteful work created by some very talented artists. These images surfaced during a search in a strange corner of the internet for Japanese/Korean fanart of Western videogame franchises, and lets just say we were surprised with what we found. We've thrown in a few Assassin's Creed images for good measure after the break. Venture forth with open minds!

The Art Of Plastic Chamber

Orange Wedge (Via)

I've had a soft spot for model kit bashers since being exposed to them at a hobbyist convention, so finding the work of the Plastic Chamber truly made my night. The group, which is a collective of three Japanese artists: Gerusea, S3 and STEVEN is dedicated to the art of taking existing model kits and combining, painting and modifying them into all new designs.

I try to think of it as working with a much more complex, high end set of Lego pieces. Its an art in itself, which takes a certain mindset to be able to extrapolate the many different, unintended uses of different model kit components. Thankfully Plastic Chamber didn't hold back at all with their work, creating some truly fantastic pieces that you can check out after the break!

The Valve Employee Handbook: A Must Read

(Via)

Having had the chance to be friends with a few people who developed a game called Narbacular Drop, the student game that went on to become that obscure series called Portal, I've been no stranger to hearing stories about what an awesome company Valve is. Within the gaming community as a whole, its rare to see people speaking negatively about the company, due to their very pro-consumer, avant garde approach to making games and experimenting with new models for older games (Team Fortress 2 free to play comes to mind).

I have no idea how this handbook ended up online, but what I learned via this 56 page pamphlet for new employees solidified why most people consider Valve one of the best gaming companies to work at, period. Just like their approach to gaming, the way they run the company is unorthodox at best, empowering their employees to reach their maximum potential. From stressing the fact that working too much overtime is the result of a failure in planning, to giving employees the freedom to work on any projects that they believe they'd be best at, this handbook should be a bible of sorts for most new gaming companies. If there's one thing that's definitely wrong with the game industry right now, its that there is no clear cut system or standard as to how to run them. This typically ends up resulting in creative, and often disastrous approaches to management, resulting in horror stories and scandals that often pop up on gaming blogs.

Take some time and read through the PDF, as it is nothing short of a fascinating and intimate read detailing their fascinating approach to keeping employees happy and putting out fantastic games.

The Art Of Film And TV Design

I think this minidoc did a fantastic job of giving a behind the scenes look at the importance of proper title and opening credit design, interviewing the minds behind some of the best examples to come out of that highly specialized field in recent years. A good title sequence has the tremendous responsibility of setting up the viewer for things to come, ideally encapsulating the core of the movie or TV show in a minute or less. I can definitely appreciate the Off Book mini documentary series for taking a look at fields and subjects that are rarely in the spotlight, with this installment being no exception. If you've ever watched Mad Men, you'll appreciate the opening that much more after watching this.

James Cameron Diving To All New Depths

As part of a National Geographic expedition, James Cameron has decided to immerse himself in an incredible expedition into the Mariana Trench, which is well known as having the deepest point in the ocean at a whopping 6.83 miles deep. The last time a manned expedition was accomplished to those types of depths was in 1960 with the Trieste submersible, which reached the bottom with a crew of two. I've always been fascinated with deep sea exploration, because its definitely been one of the unexplored frontiers due to the lack of technology to reach those types of depths.

I can only imagine that James Cameron might be diving this deep, and taking such a risk in order to achieve two goals: Research and inspiration. There have been rumors circling that the Avatar sequel is supposed to have aquatic themes, so I'll be curious to see how this plays into the development of the film. The fact that I found this video thanks to a WETA employee posting it goes even further to possibly confirm that theory. National Geographic hasn't announced when the dive will occur just yet, so stay tuned on the Deepsea Challenge website.

Everything Is A Remix: System Failure

Kirby Ferguson has been working on his 'Everything Is A Remix' series for over a year now, simply trying to showcase how creativity on the most part, is a derivative process. One inspiration leads to a new creation, and that creation goes on to inspire yet another creation. Kirby's formula is as follows for techniques related to invention: Copying, transforming, and combining to create something new. Its a fascinating look at how people regards ideas as property, even though they were probably derived from something else at some point. You can check out part 1-3 of the series after the break if its your first time hearing of this series.

The Somali Pirate Movie

A pretty incredible trailer for an upcoming film by Cutter Hodierne aptly named, "Fishing Without Nets," showcasing the whole Somali pirate controversy from their perspective. I'm incredibly interested in this because I know the issue is simply not as black and white as people make it to be, and has more to do with the social/economic climate in the downtrodden region. The striking shots and music in this trailer really leave an impression.

One interesting thing to note is that there have been multiple articles talking about the reasons that caused the massive upsurge in piracy, and some of the most interesting ones discussed toxic waste dumping in the waters, illegal fishing from foreign companies, and the destruction of fishermen's livelihoods. I look forward to seeing which angle Cutter gets in this documentary.