I’ll have my own thoughts about Star Trek Into the Darkness out tomorrow in my review (hint: it’s not exactly glowing), but until then, I present to you something that may have made for a more entertaining feature. It’s Star Trek re-imagined as a middle school musical. It’s as exactly ridiculous as it sounds.

It may be too irritating to be funny at the beginning, but least stay around until Kirk and Gorn have their duet together. That’s where the money is. I also like how the Enterprise itself is a girl in a modified inner tube. See all the absurdity above.

Last night, there was an epic battle. Not on Game of Thrones, which gave us another relatively tame week leading up to a presumably explosive last pair of episodes, but rather between me and my cable box.

Time Warner somehow shut off my cable intermittently all last night, so I was forced to plug in my laptop to my TV and watch the episode through HBO Go. Impressive that they put it online as soon as it airs, but less so when Time Warner continued to dick me over by periodically stopping to buffer every few minutes, turning a 50 minute episode into a 70 minute, hair-pulling ordeal.

But enough about my own experiences last night. What about the episode itself, which I’m sure all of you got to watch uninterrupted? Continue Reading »

This is one of those days where I’m simply in awe of the artist I’ve featured. It’s not for his raw talent this time, though I do like his animation style, rather it’s the sheer SCOPE of his work.

His name is Тхе Мичо, and I’m not sure what language that is. Russian? Anyway, he set out with the lofty goal of drawing a portrait of every character from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series. EVERY character, meaning if they have a name a vague description, they’re included in this list.

The grand total I believe is over three HUNDRED portraits of characters both major and minor, and it really is truly astonishing both how many characters Martin created, and how this guy was able to hunt them all down and draw them all, animals included.

Check out some of the more well known favorites below (all are inspired by the book, not the show), and you can see the rest of the collection here. Beware, you may run into as spoiler or two along the way.

Thanks to Jeremy for sending this in. Continue Reading »

Everyone and their uncle has been badgering me to watch History Channel’s Vikings ever since it aired a little while back and somehow became cable’s #1 new scripted series in a really short amount of time. Usually when this many people say this many good things about a show, there’s some truth to it, and it’s how I’ve discovered many a good program. I waited until the season had runs its course and last week I sat down and watched all nine (odd number?) episodes in a row.

Our own E. Lee Zimmerman has already posted his thoughts about the show, which he equates to Star Trek in a comparison I never thought to make while watching, but I understand what he means. Vikings, at its heart, is about exploration, and Ragnar Lothbrok and Captain Kirk do share more than a few traits.

There are three main reasons why I liked the show, though it has its fair share of flaws. One of its best aspects is minor, but pulled me in nonetheless. I officially declare Vikings to have the best intro on TV right now: Continue Reading »

I’ve recently stumbled upon a new tumblr by Azad Injejikian called “Comics of Ice and Fire” which is exactly what it sounds like. He’s started a new comic series based on Game of Thrones, and often drafts jokes from very, very recent episodes. I always thought Game of Thrones could use a good webcomic, and this is the best one I’ve seen by far.

I was going to feature all my favorite comics here, but I hat when people rehost webcomics, so just go to his site here and check them out for yourself.

Update: Whoops, the above image was actually taken from a reblog by the site, and isn’t from the same artist. That would be Kendra P. Badass though.

Kit Harington, known to most as Jon Snow, was at a Leafs game recently, where he was known to even the producers as Jon Snow. This is a real graphic they put up onscreen, and it makes me exceedingly happy.

I thought he was actually shaking his fist in mock anger at the classification, but my finely-tuned lip-reading skill tell me that he’s actually just saying “Go Leafs, go!” which is less funny. Still, this is amazing.

I’m glad Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) wasn’t there. I can’t even imagine what sort of things they might have said about him.

[via 2zday]

Yesterday, during my A Song of Ice and Fire Mysteries post (spoilers!), longtime reader Postal shared a link that took a solid chunk out of my day. It’s a 14,000 word essay on a Game of Thrones forum explaining what the author calls “the mad genius” of Petyr Baelish. Even those who only watch the show likely already recognize his coldness, cunning and smiling brutality that allows him to pull strings behind the scenes for his own benefit. Readers of the book have seen his plans evolve even further.

He’s always felt like one of the most dangerous characters on the show to me, and even though this esssay is mostly a really long summary of book events, it’s a fascinating read because I didn’t realize half of his plans were actually his, which is exactly the way he wants it. When you go back and really analyze what he’s done, he’s singlehandedly responsible for nearly all of the chaos in Westeros, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Read the essay here, but yeah, lots of book spoilers, so be careful.

The series finale of The Office airs tonight. It’s hard to believe really. Through all the jokes about cast members leaving and the quality declining, this final season has actually been rather excellent, and it’s shameful to forget that the first few seasons were some of the best of any comedy ever scripted.

I’ve had a connection to this show for years, one that likely ran deeper than most casual fans. Early on, the show spoke to me, and influenced my life in unexpected and odd ways. You see, I was Jim. And back then, there was a Pam.

I first started watching back in 2005, my freshman year of college. It seems so far away now. I’d seen the British version, but my affinity for British comedy hadn’t really blossomed yet, and David Brent was more irritating than annoying, with Tim more mean than funny when tormenting Gareth.

The American version, other than the practically word for word pilot, was different. It was more lighthearted. Michael Scott was incompetent, but not a sociopath. The humor was subtle, yet present enough not to be overlooked completely.

And then there was Jim and Pam. Continue Reading »

In honor of Arrested Development’s triumphant return, here’s a look at how the show influenced another under-watched yet critically acclaimed show, Community.

The broad-strokes parallels are obvious: both shows are extremely self-referential and leaned heavily on meta-humor and contextual humor as opposed to situational humor.  Both shows found little success on network television but have a hardcore fanbase.  Both were really amazingly good for 3 seasons and then were, well, not.  (AD because it was cancelled, Community because Dan Harmon left/was let go)

But passing up some of the larger parallels, some of the characters from both shows are similar in some interesting ways.  Not just in tone or approach, but in narrative structure as well.  For example…

Continue Reading »

As excited as I am for the return of Arrested Development, we shouldn’t forget that another comedy classic is returning to TV this summer. Whose Line is It Anyway is returning in full force with Colin, Ryan and Wayne, and they’re not dicking around by calling it by another name or using a different improv format. This is Whose Line damnit! They even have the same music people!

The first actual clip from the new version of the show, which is now hosted by Aisha Tyler. Yes, Drew Carey was cool, but if you’ve ever watched Archer, you know Tyler has a knack for comedic timing, and I’ll look forward to seeing what she can do as host. And really, it’s the three guys who were always the most important anyway.

The show is airing on the CW, hence why this clip is focused on the recent demise of 90210. Even working with that lame premise, the guys still manage to be pretty funny. I just hope we’re not going to have to sit through one episode based on each CW show. “Human scenery featuring The Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev!” Alright, I’d actually watch that.

Those of you who have been following along over the past month or so know that I’ve just finished reading George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I did this partly to immunize myself against spoilers for the show, but also because well, they’re really damn good books.

Now that I’ve reached the end, I wanted to take a look back and discuss with you readers some of the lingering questions  that accompany finishing the books, and boy, are there plenty to choose from. Below you’ll find a mix of mysteries and cliffhangers that I found whirling around my head as the books ended. I think I’ve got a handle on a few of them, but I’d love to hear your own thoughts below.

Do I really have to say “spoilers ahead”? Alright, SPOILERS AHEAD! Continue Reading »