Programmers create scale model of Middle Earth, invite you to stay forever

Until now, those wanting to visit J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth had to settle for flying to New Zealand, buying a horse, and riding o'er the verdant hills while Howard Shore's soundtrack blasted in their ears- or reading the books and using their imaginations. Whatever works. Luckily, a group called the Middle Earth Digital Elevation Model Project (MeDEM for short) is working to close the gap. The MeDEM team has modeled the entirety of Tolkien's fantasy world using the Outerra engine, a tool used to create detailed digital landscapes with minimal amounts of data, which in this case consists of descriptions of Middle Earth's topography taken from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books. When inside the model, users can zoom out and view Middle Earth from on high, walk around the barren plains of Mordor up close, and anything in between.

The build of Middle Earth currently on display is incomplete- there aren't yet any buildings in place, for example- but the MeDEM team plans to add detail to the model as time goes on, including "rivers, vegetation, buildings, roads, [and] even subterranean features." Eventually, the model could allow users to explore Middle Earth from the tops of the Misty Mountains all the way down to the depths of Moria. Just don't delve too greedily or too deep- you know what the Dwarves awoke down there.

Download the (free) Outerra engine tech demo and current build of Middle Earth here, and watch a video from inside the model below.

Showtime pits William H. Macy against the Super Bowl

On this coming Sunday, the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks will face off in the Super Bowl, a reliably popular athletic contest that in its last iteration was watched by an estimated 108.4 million viewers. In the face of what is expected to be, barring a series of impossible events, another widely viewed Bowl, most networks have decided to get the Hell out of the way. HBO, for example, has opted to move new episodes of its comedies Girls and Looking to Saturday rather than get crushed underfoot of the biggest television event of the year. Showtime, on the other hand, has announced that it will air original episodes of its shows Shameless, House of Lies, and Episodes opposite the Super Bowl, proving there is still a place for brazen foolhardiness in the television business.

Showtime executive Kim Lemon explained the decision: “We’ve looked at the competitive landscape, and we have an opportunity to be one of the few scripted alternatives on Super Bowl Sunday." The network will join PBS, which will air original episodes of Sherlock and Downton Abbey this Sunday, in taking a stand for the fans who will probably just DVR the shows to watch later anyway.

And here's what The Shining looks like without Delbert Grady

Last week, special effects artist Richard Trammell digitally removed Tyler Durden from a scene in Fight Club, laying bare the madness of Edward Norton's Narrator and giving people a reason to slack off on their jobs for another minute-and-a-half. For his follow-up, Trammell has scrubbed Overlook Hotel caretaker/axe murderer Delbert Grady from the bathroom scene in The Shining, although he left Grady's dialogue intact because the character's existence is "a bit murkier" than Durden's. The editing brings more creepy to an already creepy scene, and makes Jack Nicholson's character look even more cuckoo's nest nuts than before.

Trammell, who has quickly cornered the market on editing movie scenes to make crazy characters seem even crazier, has indicated he wants to give this treatment to more films, so by this time next week we may see his edit of A Beautiful Mind with half the cast removed.


The Shining minus Delbert Grady from Richard Trammell on Vimeo.

Here's what Game of Thrones would look like if it were set during World War II

If you were worried we would let you go two straight days without some nifty Game of Thrones fan art, you can relax. These images come courtesy of designer Olivia Desianti and answer the question on almost no Game of Thrones fan's mind as they look forward to the Season 4 premiere: if the clashing factions fighting for control of Westeros' Iron Throne fought on opposite sides during World War II, what would their propaganda posters look like? Desianti uses bold lines and saturated colors to ape the style of the day, and whether you're Team Lannister, Team Targaryen, or Team Arya With a Sword, everyone can agree that she makes a mean fake poster. Feel free to declare your allegiance by patronizing Desianti's Etsy page.

New Maleficent trailer really hopes you remember and love Sleeping Beauty

Earlier this week, Disney released a new trailer for Maleficent, the latest in the company's ongoing attempt to remake their animated catalogue with more expensive people in the lead roles. Their strategy for this trailer is to remind you that Sleeping Beauty was a movie, that you liked it, and that it will be the same this time. They achieve this by splicing in bits from the animated original alongside the corresponding scenes from this live-action version, which works okay until you remember that Imelda Staunton, who plays good fairy Knotgrass, is not that small and cannot fly. Disney has promised that the movie will explore the betrayals that turned the title villain's "pure heart to stone." There's still isn't much to suggest what those betrayals involve, but Angelina Jolie continues to look suitably imposing in the lead role, smirking, scowling, and tittering maniacally in great big billowy gowns it's assumed she'll have the grace not to trip over when the movie opens on May 30th. Watch the trailer below.

Watch the special effects reel for SFX extravaganza The Wolf of Wall Street

There are certain movies and television shows people watch knowing full well that much of what's on screen has been added afterwards. Until genetic engineering allows us to create dragons and sea monsters for less money than it takes to model them in Maya, this is just the way things are. But special effects are increasingly cropping up in movies you wouldn't have thought needed them.

Take Martin Scorcese's debauched take on the American financial industry, The Wolf of Wall Street. The studio responsible for the SFX in the film, Brainstorm Digital, has released a reel breaking down the special effects shots. Some of them are shots you probably could have guessed were worked over, like the one involving a lion walking through main character Jordan Belfort's office. But others, like one where the folks at Brainstorm switched out the facade of a London townhouse, come as a surprise. It's just another step toward a glorious time when even over-the-shoulder shots in romantic comedies will be the results of months of green screen work. Watch the reel below.

Brainstorm Digital also did post-production work for such special effects bonanzas as Frost/Nixon, Julie and Julia, and the FX sitcom Louie.

Team behind FX's Archer to release country music album, complete with cover of "Danger Zone"

This past Monday, the reliably bonkers FX comedy Archer kicked off its fifth season with an excellent episode that set up the criminally incompetent spies at ISIS with a new gig as actual criminals. Buried within the gargantuan pile of jokes was a bit about how ISIS secretary/arson enthusiast Cheryl Tunt planned to become a country singer- she even sang a country tune over the episode's closing minutes. People watching at home could be forgiven for thinking it was a throwaway gag, but not only will Cheryl's country career be an ongoing story arc, FX will be releasing a 12-track digital album of original Cherlene songs on February 17.

The album, tastefully titled "Cherlene," will feature songs with Cheryl-ish titles like "It's All About Me," "I'll Burn it Down," and "Gypsy Woman." In a nod to one of the series' many, many recurring jokes, it will also feature a cover of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone," with Loggins himself joining Cherlene for a duet on one of Sterling Archer's favorite tunes. All of the tracks were produced by Kevn Kinney, frontman for the Southern rock back Drivin' N' Cryin', with country singer Jessy Lynn Martens providing the singing voice for Cherlene. The whole project is nicely ambitious and bodes well for the show's fifth season. If the Archer team cares enough to put this much thought into a side project, imagine how hard they must have worked on the actual episodes of television.

Watch The Simpsons' animated tribute to Hayao Miyazaki

In September of last year, beloved animation director Hayao Miyazaki announced that he is retiring from making movies. No, for real this time. To honor the 73-year-old filmmaker, or possibly just because, the animators over at The Simpsons set about creating a lush, elaborate promo thick with references to Miyazaki films like My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and about 30 different allusions to Spirited Away. Watch it below.

China and Japan compare each other to Voldemort, crossing line that cannot be uncrossed

Japan and China have always had an antagonistic relationship. After several failed invasions and a pair of Sino-Japanese wars, this can only be expected. But recently, relations between the two countries reached a new low after they compared each other to Lord Voldemort, megalomaniacal dark wizard and the primary antagonist of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.

The war of words began after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto shine built to honor those who have died in service to Japan. As of 1978, the honored dead include several Japanese soldiers convicted of war crimes committed against Chinese citizens during World War II, a fact that has caused tension between the two nations before. Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, criticized the visit in literary terms, giving readers a big hint as to how he spends his time while flying between London and Beijing:

In the Harry Potter story, the dark wizard Voldemort dies hard because the seven horcruxes, which contain parts of his soul, have been destroyed. If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.

Japan's British ambassador, Keiichi Hayashi, responded in kind, although with a slightly less nuanced knowledge of Potter particulars:

East Asia is now at a crossroads. There are two paths open to China. One is to seek dialogue, and abide by the rule of law. The other is to play the role of Voldemort in the region by letting loose the evil of an arms race and escalation of tensions, although Japan will not escalate the situation from its side.

The ambassadors' inboxes were promptly flooded with letters from Harry Potter fans advising them on the finer points of Potter mythology, and a few from concerned citizens about the ongoing conflicts between their countries. This past Sunday, Chinese President Ma Ying-jeou made his own statement and gave the debate a new, non-Harry-Potter-based focus.

Now someone has recreated Reservoir Dogs on Twitter

Using 15 Twitter accounts, 1,125 tweets, and a boatload of love, Argentenian advertising creative Jorge Zacher has tweeted the entire script for Quentin Tarentino's 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs, employing one Twitter account for each of the fourteen speaking parts, plus an extra one for narration. Zacher tweeted the last part of the movie first and worked his back backward through each line of the film over the course of two days, so it now unfolds from the top down for your enjoyment. If you enjoy Reservoir Dogs but have tired of viewing the conventionally produced version, or if you just don't have it on DVD, than this may be for you.

Italian promotional poster reimagines 12 Years A Slave as a Brad Pitt vehicle

Remember watching 12 Years A Slave, the harrowing account of a free black man's experiences as a slave in pre-Civil War Louisiana? And remember how, about four-fifths through the movie, Brad Pitt shows up for one scene as a kindly drifter and it was like: 'This is sort of weird. What's Brad Pitt doing in this movie?' Well, Mr. Pitt made such an impression that BIM Distribuzione, the company responsible for marketing the movie in Italy, created posters giving Pitt top billing and featuring his head framed front and center, back-lit by a dappled mid-afternoon sky. Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film's star, is relegated to the right-hand corner. For good measure, the distributor also created a poster giving top billing and prime poster real estate space to Michael Fassbender, who plays Ejiofor's abusive owner.

After making their debut at Italy's Capri Hollywood Film Festival last month, the posters went on to quickly offend people. BIM Distribuzione has since recalled the posters and issued an apology. "We apologize for creating and releasing unauthorized posters for 12 Years A Slave in Italy featuring Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in a manner inconsistent with approved advertising materials... We are very proud of the film and regret any distraction this incident may have caused."

12 Years A Slave will be officially released in Italy on February 20, 2014.

 

Discover one of cinema's most overused lines with this supercut

Sometimes it take a lovingly crafted supercut to make you realize just how often a certain line of movie dialogue has been repeated over and over and over and over. The folks over at FilmDrunk have crafted such a supercut based around the line "You just don't get it, do you?" which is used often enough to fill out eight-plus minutes of funny. No one is immune- not action stars, not animated lions, not Julie Andrews wearing a pair of fluttering fairy wings. Watch below, and view the corresponding list of movies here.

Check out this beautifully illustrated edition of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Originally published in 1899, Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness follows steamboat captain Charles Marlow on a densely symbolic journey up the Congo River into the rotting center of colonial Africa. Now, Tin House Books has published a new edition featuring an illustration to go along with each and every page. The artwork, by Ohio artist Matt Kish, is impressionistic, evocative, and borderline terrifying. Enjoy, if that's the word for it, some of the more visually potent images below.

Before this, Kish produced a fully illustrated version of Moby Dick which is also worth a look.