Lars von Trier is one crazy motherf***er, which you would probably know if you’ve seen any of his movies. The man loves his graphic sex, and it should hardly shock anyone that his next (assuredly NC-17) movie, Nymphomaniac, is full of it.

But how exactly do you do graphic sex when your actors are A-listers like Shia LaBeouf or Uma Thurman? For as much as they want to push the envelope by BEING in a Lars von Trier movies, they’re not actually going to f*** onscreen for his and our amusement. Enter special effects:

Nymphomaniac producer Louise Vesth provided a sneak peak into what we can expect. Vesth confirmed that the doubled-barreled feature will include graphic sex scenes between the members of the all-star cast including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf and Uma Thurman.

For the truly hard core elements of the film von Trier used body doubles for the stars. But, Vesth revealed, the Danish director will use digital technology to superimpose the actor’s non-explicit displays with the pornographic performance of the doubles.

“We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles who really did have sex and in post we will digital impose the two,” Vesth explained. “So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.”

With media getting more and more permissive as time goes on, I only see this becoming more commonplace as actual sex scenes enter movies. Someday we might be SO permissive, that most actors have no problem doing scenes like this themselves, and then the line between actor and porn star becomes quite a bit blurrier. This feels like a strange look at the future to me, and I haven’t even seen the film yet.

Keeping with the internet rule that everything must have a cat counterpart, artist Jenny Parks has taken it upon herself to render our favorite superheroes in feline form.

Yes, that’s the Catvengers you see above, but she also has variants of Spider-Cat and the Batcat and Banecat below. She even has a Daryl Dixon Cat. I guess he’s technically not a superhero, but he’s pretty damn close. Check out the rest of the kitties below: Continue Reading »

Unlike some people on this site (cough, Nick Verboon), I’m a big fan of Anita Sarkeesian and her in-progress video series about how women are portrayed in games. Similarly, I loved the Hawkeye Initiative which aimed to point out the absurdity in the posing and costuming of female comic book characters.

But even I have to draw the line somewhere, and this latest Disney-related controversy has me scratching my head. It’s a result of the above image, where the Merida on the right was posted to the Disney Princess website, given a slight makeover to look a little more like the other princesses. Namely, more sparkles.

Then it turned into a…thing, somehow. With people saying that this new “sexy” Merida was offensive to the central character of the original film, and even the director of the film spoke out about it.

Maybe it’s just because I’m more familiar with “sexy” Disney Princess art looking like this, but I think calling this Merida makeover scandalous is a stretch beyond plausibility. It simply looks like a different animation style to me. She has what, maybe slightly thicker eyelashes? A waist cinched in maybe another inch at the most? And…sparkles? I really don’t understand how this redesign is “objectifying” her character. If they’d morphed her into something like this, I’d get it, but I just don’t see the issue here. They were simply trying to make her match the aesthetic of the other princess designs on the site, and I have a hunch if that her dress was simply the right color, this wouldn’t even have turned into a controversy.

I’m all for calling out objectification where it exists in pop culture (and it ‘s everywhere), but I just don’t see it here.

I don’t know what possessed someone to redesign the cast of BioShock Infinite as cats, but I’m sure as hell glad they did. I love the internet, I really do.

That’s really all there is to say on this matter. Check out Booker Cat and Elizabeth Cat below. Sorry no Songbird. A giant metal cat ate it.

Have you seriously not played this game yet? Shame on you. Continue Reading »

Fun fact: A long, long time ago, one of my first internet writing gigs was working for an automotive website. I used to be REALLY into cars, and was thinking about a career in automotive journalism. Welllllll, I was eventually fired, and now I write about Pokemon and Disney Princesses instead. Just kidding, my life is awesome.

Anyway, I thought I’d go back to my automotive glory days just for a singular post her, even if we never, ever featured cars. But I am something of a futurist, so when a car comes out that looks cooler than anything I’ve ever seen in a sci-fi movie, that’s just right up my alley.

This is the Lamborghini Egoista, a one of a kind concept that only seats one, crafted for the companies 50th anniversary. I love how it even has “Egoist” in the name, Lamborghini knows how ridiculous they’re being with this, but who cares? Supercars are supposed to be ridiculous. Check out a gallery of the car below. Continue Reading »

There’s an author named Maureen Johnson who recently ran into a rather odd problem with her books. Guys liked to read them, but they wrote her saying they wished they didn’t have such girly covers, so they wouldn’t be embarrassed to read them in public.

“If you are a female author, you are much more likely to get the package that suggests the book is of a lower perceived quality. Because it’s ‘girly,’ which is somehow inherently different and easier on the palate. A man and a woman can write books about the same subject matter, at the same level of quality, and that woman is simple more likely to get the soft-sell cover with the warm glow and the feeling of smooth jazz blowing off of it. This idea that there are ‘girl books’ and ‘boy books’… gives credit to absolutely no one, especially not the boys who will happily read stories by women, about women. As a lover of books and someone who supports readers and writers of both sexes, I would love a world in which books are freed from some of these constraints.”

She decided to see what it would be like if famous books got “female-ized” versions of their covers. This isn’t to say these ACTUALLY appeal to women, it’s just what marketers THINK appeals to woman. The result? Some rather ridiculous book covers. I think Lord of the Flies might be my favorite. Check the rest out below. Continue Reading »

I swear I was having this exact conversation during Game of Thrones last week.

“We should name one of our kids Tyrion. That’s a badass name”

“No, but I’d maybe name a girl Arya.”

Turns out that sentiment is replicating itself all over the country, and a whole bunch of people are now actually naming their little girls Arya. It’s the name rising in popularity the fastest for girls, jumping from #413 to #298 in one year alone.

Will our kids be growing up running around with a bunch of Robbs, Cerseis, Tywins, Theons and Aryas someday? Perhaps, and that would be freaking awesome.

[via Nerd Approved]

I’m currently in the middle of planning my own wedding, and by planning I mean nodding a lot and going “mhmm, that’s great.”

I can’t help but think it would be a lot more fun if the whole thing was superhero themed, but it takes a special kind of dedication to make that happen. Dedication like this bride and groom.

She’s obsessed with Batgirl, he liked Nightwing. As Batman can’t exactly marry Robin (in most states) it’s the Bat-themed wedding they chose. The sheer level of detail in this gallery is astounding, and it looks like one of the most fun weddings I’ve ever seen. Be sure to check out all the pictures by Dianne Personett below: Continue Reading »

Alright, so my buddy had a rather cool idea for an Unreality contest. He’s looking for a Batman-themed tattoo to put on the arm seen above. You can photoshop or draw your way to victory, the winner will get a free video game and an immortal place on his body. I’ll let him explain the details:

“This contest is for the best entry of fan art (of any kind), where the winner’s submission will be tattooed on my body, specifically my left bicep.  All entries of any kind will be considered including, but not limited to: drawings, photoshop, or even verbal descriptions a tattoo artist could use to make a drawing.  You DO NOT have to be a great artist to win.  As long as I choose your concept, even though I may have it re-drawn, you will be the winner. PLEASE NOTE: Because this is something I will be getting tattooed on MY body, a winner is NOT guaranteed.

The winning submission will receive the video game of his or her choice for any gaming system available, including PC or Mac (Up to a value of $60), and will have the tattoo featured on the site when comleted.

Here are the specifications of what I’m looking for and please be as creative as possible:

• The tattoo is Batman themed, specifically focusing on the the topic of “the good (light) always rises out of darkness.”
• I would prefer the Batman logo in some way, but any Batman themed submissions are accepted and will be considered.
• Regarding the logo, I want it to be recognizably the Batman logo, but to be a unique twist making it one of a kind, sharp, dark, and have a sort of pop to it.
• I want the final product to also include some variation the the text: “We fall so we can learn to get back up.”  The EXACT wording and phrasing of this can be edited in any way to fit your design, as long as the message stays the same and is grammatically correct.
• The rest is up to you, so be creative, make it unique and sharp-looking, and I can’t wait to see the final product.

Please send all submissions, and/or any questions, to: batmantattoo12@yahoo.com and also paultassi@gmail.com (be sure to send him the submissions as well).”

Well, this should be interesting. Alright, make something good so he actually does this! And so I can buy someone a game!

(click for full size)

This has to be one of the best pictures I’ve been sent in quite a while, as yes, that’s Nathan Fillion saving Zelda and slaying Link, as if we needed any more reason to think he’s awesome.

I love when celebrities are able to take these awkwardly staged school photo background convention shoots and turn them into something awesome. No surprise that Fillion is one to do so instead of standing there hoverhanding with a fake smile frozen on his face.

And if we’ve reached the end of this post and you still don’t know who Nathan Fillion is, you’re permabanned. Or you would be if I knew how to permaban people with insufficient nerd cred.

[via imgur]

Yes, more Disney, but no princesses this time, only villains.

What we have here is a really cool series of Disney villain themed heels from footwear designer Kobi Levi. If you’re a girl and you don’t want your shoes to have crowns on them, well I just don’t know what to tell you.

Yes, there’s the the evil Snow White Queen, but also Maleficent and Ursula as well. Octopus straps? Amazing. I feel like this whole thing was a Project Runway challenge, and it’s fantastic. Check out the other shoes and angles below. Continue Reading »