Top Hat Sasquatch

Disney has always been a home for great stories. Every decade since the 1930s, when Disney’s first feature animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, debuted, has seen its share of classic films, including 1967’s The Jungle Book and 1970’s Aristocats. Today our kids have grown up on DVD and Blu-ray copies of these films, but now they can also marvel at the same stories told in a new way – interactive e-books on the iPad and iPhone.

Plot

Both books follow the storyline of the movies quite well. They cut the parts that are a bit superfluous, but keep in the important plot points so that the story continues to make sense. If your kids are fans of the movies, they’ll have no problem following along with the e-books.
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LEGO is trying awfully hard lately to make me look like this, and I must say, it’s working. Between the Super Heroes, Lord of the Rings, and Monster Fighters lines, there is just way more LEGO awesomeness than I can afford right now. Somehow though, I’m going to be budgeting in this awesome haunted house that comes out in September as part of the Monster Fighters line. Just look at it, pure LEGO Halloween fun.

This set just has a lot going for it. It comes with some extremely nostalgic (to me, at least) ghost minifigures, along with a few monsters, and get this, a Zombie Chef! He may not have a brain in his pan, but that’s one of the coolest minifigures I’ve seen in a long time.

I love the detail in this set too. The boarded windows, the zombie heads on the columns, the gate, the gargoyles. Not to mention the detail I haven’t even seen yet, like the three floors inside that include an office, kitchen, and more. The set will be around $179 in September, and you can expect a detailed review here when it comes out.

Via The Brothers Brick

With our mascot being a fancy Sasquatch, we don’t mention cryptozoology as much as one might think around here. Well, when I saw this awesome Bigfoot-shaped air freshener I couldn’t resist. It’s pine scented (of course) and it’s made by Archie McPhee, purveyors of all kinds of weird crap. Seriously, I can’t even count how many gag gifts I’ve gotten for people over the years that have came from there.

I’d love to see them branch out into other popular mythical creatures, like the Jersey Devil, Chubacabra, and Lock Ness Monster. I wonder what those would smell like?

Via Laughing Squid

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Indie Game: The Movie at the Indianapolis Museum of Art thanks to our favorite gaming site, HorribleNight.com and a little help from the Canadian Consulate. Justin from Horrible Night helped get this movie shown in Indianapolis, and I’m very glad he did. It’s not only a fantastic documentary for people who love video games, it’s just a great film. My wife didn’t know what to expect at all, and she loved it.

The movie follows the creators of Super Meat Boy and Fez, two super awesome and popular indie games, as they struggle getting their games done in time with just one or two people handling all the work. The film has interviews from a lot of people in the gaming community, and is just a lot of fun to watch. The passion these guys have for their work takes center stage here and makes for a very personal and fascinating documentary.

I’ve been wondering when I could own the film after seeing it, and soon after our screening they announced that digital copies can be bought through VHX for a very reasonable $9.99. You don’t get all the special features the physical copies have, but you still get:

• HD 1080p
• HD 720p
• Mobile
• English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Traditional Chinese, English Subtitles
• Clean (Swear-free) versions available

I’ve already pre-ordered my copy, and I can’t wait to add it to my media center. I’ll probably end up buying a Blu-ray once their released too, because I’d love to see the bonus content and support the filmmakers even more.

You can pre-order the digital copy here for $9.99.

I haven’t written much about Community on here, but it’s one of my all-time favorite TV shows, right up there with The Simpsons, Arrested Development, and a few seasons of The Office. A few weeks ago, the third season was wrapped up with an amazing tribute to retro games in the episode Digital Estate Planning. In the episode, Pierce (Chevy Chase) gets a note about his deceased (and super racist) Dad leaving him a video game to beat in order to claim his inheritance.

The game is called Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne, and one intrepid fan of the show has created a playable and downloadable version of his own, which you can grab here.

It’s incomplete, but it’s a great start. The graphics and sound are all dead-on from what was on screen in the show, and I can’t wait to see the end boss battle against Pierce’s Dad, complete with Troy and Abed riding dinosaurs and shooting lava.

Even if you haven’t followed all three seasons of Community, you should check out the episode if you’re a gamer. There are some jokes that are made just for us. I had to pause the show I was laughing so hard when everyone first gets in the game and Pierce is running back and forth saying “Which one am I?”

Via The Verge