Avacyn Restored trailer

Avacyn Restored Trailer - Liliana saving Innistrad?

Save this shiny rock... or save the lives of your fellow warriors!

Wizards of the Coast has just released the Avacyn Restored trailer on YouTube.

And now, to the trailer proper:

Impressions

The video is pretty epic, as is the music score. Of course, I agree that lately the word epic has been trivialized, but epic in its original sense, can refer to a people's struggle, and that is what we see in this video, a final struggle of a people against the relentless forces of darkness.

The video features phtoto animations made ​​from Magic cards illustrations, as has become the norm. To see Liliana the necromancer-muse so "alive" is always a treat, but I must confess that her "voice" was not a good choice, as well as the voice of Sorin Markov in the previous video, Dark Ascension, and unlike Garruk's voice for the Innistrad video, which was quite adequate.

To our Liliana, she who exudes youth and lust, was given an "old" and tired voice , but maybe that was deliberate, since, the fans know, Liliana is not the young girl she appears to be, but in fact an old witch in a beautiful and young body, who traded her soul for eternal youth. Moreover, the consequences of this deal are the very reason for this video.

Did notice that the story told in the video emulates the ultimate ability of the card Liliana of The Veil? "Save this shiny rock... or save the lives of your fellow warriors!"

In conclusion, more of Liliana is always good, even when it is not so good. Oh, and I still don't buy the fact that Sorin was able to create an all-powerful angel .... But, what the hell ...


And speaking of relentless: Garruk is also missing in this story ...

I Kissed a Girl - Power Metal Version

Katy Perry + Heavy Metal = I Liked It

Medieval fantasy is something so magical and powerful that permeates not only books and games, but also music. Mainly heavy metal. With the exception of medieval music, properly speaking, and a few works of classical music, perhaps no other type of music complements medieval fantasy as well as heavy metal. Perhaps because the word "metal" remits to the metallic sound of metal swords and armor, war and knights.

Some bands in particular represent this mixture with praise. To cite a few: Manowar, with its lyrics full of epic and mythology; Savatage with its Hall of the Mountain King; Cirith Ungol with its name taken directly from The Lord of the Rings, and Blind Guardian, with its lyrics also inspired by Tolkien literature. Of course, we can not forget Rhapsody of Fire (formerly Rhapsody).

Rhapsody is known to "sing" an epic and fantastic saga in their songs, the Emerald Sword Saga. Spanning over five albums, the saga is like a medieval fantasy book packed in heavy metal format.

For fans of medieval fantasy and heavy metal, it is a true "eargasm". Rhapsody masterfully proves that heavy metal and medieval fantasy complement each other as bread and butter, a blend that can not go wrong. But what if metal is mixed with something not so complementary, and even something totally opposite?

What happens when we mix Rhapsody with Katy Perry? Well, listen to this "mashup" made by a guy named Andy Xiong and draw your own conclusions. Is it like mixing water and oil, or heavy metal makes everything better? In my opinion, Katy Perry would make a great metal singer!

Music written, recorded and performed by Andy Xiong
I Kissed a Girl performed by Katy Perry, owned by EMI

Game of Thrones - Season 2 Preview

Be invited to the set of Game of Thrones Season 2

Watch this new video of Game of Thrones Season 2 and get even more anxious for April 1.

The video comes straight from the set of season two, which, as we can see, will be more cinematic, with massive sets, shocking twists and new characters.


The first season achieved the feat of proving that the genre of medieval fantasy, often despised and distrusted in Hollywood, can sustain a lot of success and ensure a large and loyal audience, as much as any other HBO series.


The second season comes to consolidate this success. We know that the first season was done within a tight budget (for the standards of an epic series), and many fans who read the book felt that several important battles were missing, and these could not be made due to budget issues. The restricted budget is due to the fact that the big shots of the studio decided to invest in the series with caution. But in season 2, things are apparently different. The investment may be higher because the series has already proven its potential to distrusters, and it is expected that there will be no more sacrifices in the name of economy and discredit. We get to see a Game of Thrones as epic as it should be.

The second season of Game of Thrones owes much to the strength of the community. I urge all the sers and ladies  to continue supporting our favorite genre.

Buy the Game of Thrones DVD, follow its Facebook profile and Twitter, YouTube channel... Let us ensure that all the books in the series are filmed!

Meanwhile, we will identify the new characters in the video, and when they appear:

0:11 Margaery Tyrell

1:34 Davos

1:36 Brienne

1:39 Melisandre

1:51 Stanis Baratheon

Gargamel finally eats the Smurfs

A bit of dark comedy... or would that be "dark blue" comedy?

Smurfs, the movie (2011), although having received much criticism, was a box office success. I'm no film critic, but as someone who enjoyed the Smurfs cartoon in the '80s, I liked the movie, and I think it was decent, and a good movie for the whole family. My five years old daughter, who had never heard of the blue gnomes, loved it.

But if you ask me to point out what is great about this movie, I would have to say that Gargamel steals the show.  Hank Azaria's Gargamel  accomplished the feat of being one of the few elements of the film acclaimed by the merciless critics, such as the one from USA Today, and deservedly so. His Gargamel may be a little more "friendly" and funny, along with the cat, Azrael (which my daughter loved), than the Gargamel you may remember, but in my opinion, this is an improvement over the cartoon.

Another difference from the cartoon Gargamel is that in the movie, the inept wizard is after the Smurfs for their essence, which is able to enhance his magic. In the cartoon, Gargamel wanted the Smurfs to use them in a formula to make gold or ... eat them.

That never happened, of course (otherwise we would have an entire traumatized generation), but what if it happened?

Well, the best answer I found was in the YouTube channel Elephant Larry... Not recommended for children!

Bonus Video: And what happens after Gargamel eats the Smurfs? Well, as we see in the video below, Smurfs are a good substitute for hallucinogenic mushrooms ...

The Zelda rap - Link the gangsta rapper

Zelda rap - Link with an attitude problem

Smosh.com  presents a fantastic and very well produced video, in which we see the hero Link, from Zelda video game series, with an unexpected gangsta rap attitude, complete with Link bragging about all his money (Rupees in this case).


In fact the video is so good that I'll leave you now to watch it for the umpteenth time.


Oh, and thumbs up for the parts in which the princess Zelda herself sings, and the part where Link and Ganon engage a rap duel.


Watch and enjoy, bro!

Dragon Age: Redemption - a brave web series

Dragon Age: Redemption

Dragon Age: Redemption is a web series set in the universe of Dragon Age. The series premiered on 11 October 2011, coinciding with the release of the DLC Mark of the Assassin for Dragon Age II.

Written and starred by the geek Muse Felicia Day, the first season of the series will consist of six episodes, each episode focused on presenting one of the central characters (including Tallis, Cairn, Nyree and Josmael).

Felicia Day plays the elf assassin Tallis, in the service of Qunari, her mission to capture the wizard Saarebas , played by Doug Jones (Abe Sapien in Hellboy II and The Faun from Pan's Labyrinth). Yes, the web series had the cunning to bring people of this caliber, surprising those who still take web series with a grain of salt.

Some criticize the series, comparing the production to questionable television series like Hercules & Xena. In our humble opinion, critics should consider that it is a web series, a format that is still in its infancy, but Dragon Age: Redemption is a big step toward more ambitious productions, and an evolution of the format itself. It is clear that the budget was lower than expected, and production had limited resources, as well as the actors, including wonderful Felicia, have their limitations.

But it is also clear that despite the limitations, the effort of both production and cast are legitimate and both did the best with what they had.

We must take into consideration that our favorite genre, medieval fantasy, always faces difficulties when transposed to the screen, like Game of Thrones, which even with the budget funded by the powerful HBO have faced it's own share. Surely a film set in our contemporary world would find far less difficulty than a production set in a medieval setting, with the same budget.

Still  with Game of Thrones as an example, the medieval fantasy genre finds an additional complication with disbelief by the studios and the massive public, that before Game of Thrones saw the genre with suspicion, taking it for a "nerd thing" or something for adults who did not grow up. Game of Thrones has changed a lot this view by general television audience, in spite of the little faith in the genre initially put by HBO itself . Dragon Age: Redemption can do the same for the web series genre, as long as the true fantasy fans  keep in mind that this is a web series, a format that is still in its infancy, and does much with little, and certainly still does not count with a Hollywoodian budget.

Dragon Age: Redemption did its part in the process by presenting a relatively decent series, now it's up to fantasy fans to do their part by acknowledging the effort. With this, our favorite genre can just profit by leaving behind the stigma.

PlayStation: Playing Since the Ice Age.

PlayStation: We are all players.

If there's one thing cavemen know is that we are all gamers by nature.

It's in our genes, and we would not be here if we had not defeated those damn monkeys in the survival game.

Monkey cheekiness aside, enjoy the fantastic PlayStation commercial by Argentinian agency Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi.

Diablo III street art at Gamescom 2011

Diablo III street art at Gamescom 2011

In the video below, you can follow the making of a street art by artist Manfred Stader, with Diablo as theme. The reason for the artwork is the presence of Blizzard at Gamescom 2011.

The piece lies in central Cologne (Germany), Hahnentorburg Rudolfplatz to be exact. Some unsuspecting observers may swear that they risk falling into the pits of the Burning Hell if too close to the painting, but the truth is that the technique used by the artist evokes a 3D hell illusion.

What do you think? Personally, I think the choice of illustration could have been better. Others are of the opinion that the release date for Diablo III could have been included in the painting ... And some christians surely loved it! :)

Diablo III Cinematic Black Soulstone - "Evolution" of terror in Diablo III

Diablo III Cinematic Black Soulstone - "Evolution" of terror in Diablo III

Another fantastic Diablo III video released. Apparently, this is the opening of the game, or some other in-game video that will serve as a transition between the chapters. The video shows Deckard Cain's niece, Leah, trying to decipher the secrets of a black soulstone from the writings of his old uncle. Notice in the video the old book, how fantastic it looks, apparently an authentic medieval codex, full of illustrations and Prime Evils lore. I would definitely love to put my hands on one of these. Would you not?

Well, maybe not after seeing what happens to the poor Leah long after diving into the secrets of this devilish book. The helpless girl has a vision which shows a scene from hell, and she being tormented by the devil Azmodan, Lord of Sin, who promises to go after the black soulstone and take the world of Sanctuary with his hordes of demons. Azmodan is one of the Lesser Evils which led to the banning of the Prime Evils (Diablo, Mephisto and Baal) to Sanctuary. The video leaves us in doubt whether Azmodan is one of the main bosses, and we can only wonder how things will go between him and Diablo, as the two big devils are, in principle, mortal enemies. What do you think?

Diablo losing its "soul"?

With the progress of the game towards its launch, some criticisms arise from old fans of the franchise, who would compare Diablo III to its previous versions. Many say that the game is so far very "colorful" and "light" compared to Diablo I and II, and would be losing much of its gloom and appalling "feeling". Many say this is an influence of the huge success of World of Warcraft (another Blizzard title). Diablo III could have been "contaminated" by the more cartoonish style of World of Warcraft, a Blizzard's attempt to replicate the massive success of WoW with Diablo III, by bringing some WoW concepts to DIII, including the "lighter" and unpretentious feeling of WoW .

In the opinion of a fan of this franchise that spent much of his adolescence playing the two previous versions of Diablo, this is likely to happen.

For those who have forgotten how were these games or for one reason or another did not know Diablo I and II (probably because they were too young to play. After all, it's been ten years since the last version), I highly recommend the video below, in which Chris Metzen, Senior Vice President of Story & Franchise Development, talks about the 15 years of Diablo and its "evolution." Watching this video not only brought me good memories, but left me with the impression that Diablo I had a heavier atmosphere of terror than we saw in Diablo III so far (as "faux terror" it may be).

The Brazilian sleeping giant keeps walking - fantastic Johnnie Walker commercial

The Brazilian sleeping giant keeps walking - fantastic Johnnie Walker commercial

It's like I always say: Keep an eye always open for fantasy and you will find it sooner or later, in the most unlikely places and times.

I'm not really a fan of TV, but on one occasion I had a pleasant surprise. This was when I saw this new Johnnie Walker commercial for the Brazilian public. In this gorgeous production by agency NEOGAMA/BBH, we see the iconic Sugar Loaf unfold in the form of a rock giant, causing breaks in the landscape and shock and awe in Rio de Janeiro population.

The brazilian Johnie Walker YouTube page presents an interesting text to accompany the video, which I translated below (bolded text by us):



'In the beginning of time, in the southern part of the Americas, lived a giant. One of the few who walked the earth.


Giant by nature, and being nature himself, he was made of rocks, soil and forests that shaped his figure. Birds and animals landed and lived in his body and rivers ran in his veins. It was like a huge piece of landscape that walked and had his own free will.




Walked with steps the size of valleys and had the stature of overlapped mountains. To the north, on his way, he found the sun hot and bright in the four seasons. To the south, endless plains. To the west, plains and land full of diversity. And to the east, miles and miles of beaches where the sea gently touched the earth, forever. There was also a forest like no other on the planet. So big, green and lively that it worked as the lung for all  the continent.


 
Even with all that, one day, while walking, the giant upset.

 

Then stopped by the sea and there between the warm waters of the Atlantic and a portion of land that rose on hills, laid down. And lying in this splendid cradle, looked at the blue sky above asking, "What makes me giant?".
 

Then, imagining answers, fell into a deep sleep.
 

For ages, that are like hours for the Giants, he slept. His gigantic body stretched, the knee bent to form a great mountain, an immense rock denouncing his titanic torso and a unspeakable head , covered with trees and moss.
 

He slept until it became a legend in the world. A legend which said that the future belonged to the giant, but that he would never wake up and that the future would be to him always this: the future.
 

However, over time it became obvious that not even the legends should say "never."
 

After much dreaming about the question itself, the giant has finally awakened with the answer.
 

Woke up, got up on the land of which he was part and faced the horizon.
 

Then he took one foot off the ground and entering the sea, took a first step.
 

A decisive step toward the outside world to find his destiny.
 

Now knowing what makes a giant is not his size but the size of the steps he takes. '

For non-Brazilians, the message that the commercial intends to convey may sound puzzling. After all, what is the relation between the Sugar Loaf Mountain and a stone colossus asleep?

As our blog gets visitors from around the world (Americans and Brazilians are our two largest public), we are keen to explain. To this end, we use the passages of the Brazilian National Anthem  to which the commercial and the text above allude:

"Giant by thine own nature,
thou art beautiful, thou art strong, an intrepid colossus,
and thy future mirrors thy greatness"
 

and
   
"Eternally laid on a splendid cradle,
by the sound of the sea and the light of the deep sky,
thou shinest, O Brazil, garland of America,
illuminated by the sun of the New World!"

The commercial only shows the intrepid colossus who was asleep in a splendid cradle, which rises and continues moving toward a future that reflects his greatness.

Keep Walking, Brazil!