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 ...

Real Disney Princesses

Disney Princesses in flesh, bones and beauty.

Like a fairy godmother  armed with a magic wand, a skilled photographer with powerful lenses can turn dreams into reality, peasant girls into princesses, with the touch of a finger.

Our princess series has been a success, presenting different views on the muses of our childhood, but it was clear that the more grown up and fetishists missed their dream actually coming true, ie, the princesses materializing in flesh, bone and pure beauty.

It was up to the photographer Ryan Astamendi to make this dream come true. Do you like gorgeous women? So you have to check his portfolio!

Rejoice at the work of this lens wizard as he brings fairy beauty into life:

Rapunzel

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Snow White

Pocahontas

Jasmine

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!

It's Magic Cards! With gOOgly EyEssss....

What do you get if you have some female Magic players coupled with a (probably) boring day?


Magic cards with googly eyes! DUR!

This wacky style of "art" is by a group of female Magic players that call themeselves the Lady  Planeswalker Society. According to their Tumblr page, it all started when one of them, Mercedes, brought some "googly eyes" (the kind you find in some art and craft stores) for one of their meetings. The rest is history.

The "activity", apparently unpretentious, went viral, and many people have contributed their own creations:

Atogs, by Drew Sitte, known for his 3D Magic cards alterations

Don't know about you, but I found it very funny. And it's a relief from all the seriousness that many Magic players impinge to the game.


Below is a selection of the best googly eyes (click to enlarge):

Liliana Vess in flesh and blood - cosplay in good taste

Liliana Vess in Flesh and Blood

 

Yes, you read that right: the muse of grown men Magic players (myself included) in flesh and blood!

In the video below you will see a Liliana Vess cosplay. The cosplayer is NinaLaNoir, pseudonym of Ashley Regimbal-Kung. You can see the girl's profile and portfolio page on artists community site DeviantArt and see more of her work.

What is interesting about NinaLaNoir cosplay is that she does justice to the beauty of Liliana. Not to mention that the material she uses for the costume is of excellent quality, and very well done. Confess, you have always dreamed what would it be like if we had a real life Liliana, and NinaLaNoir just made your dream come true. In fact, we are very lucky to have someone like her to cosplay our favorite planeswalker. Lots of fatty, acne-ridden girls cosplaying around... (No offense to fatty acne-ridden cosplayers around).

Well, enjoy Liliana in all her necromantic glory!

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.