The reported closure of politically incorrect shirt site T-Shirt Hell due to e-mail complaints was nothing more than a stunt to boost sales, the site's operator said Monday.

"Do you really think I would hang it all up because of hate mail?" wrote Sunshine Megatron in a post explaining what he called a "personal stimulus package."

"Give me a break.... The site is called T-Shirt Hell."

Megatron, formerly known as Aaron Schwarz, got his colorful name from a 2006 publicity stunt in the form of a $25,000 contest to crowdsource his renaming. Now he's offering $50,000 to the person who predicts how and when he will be "murdered by an angry moron."

Continue reading "T-Shirt Hell Staying in Business After 'Stimulus' Stunt Pays Off" »

Have you had enough of Valentine's Day? Is there too much chocolate and alcohol still stuck in your head? Let us help you clear out your romantic cobwebs.

From the cathartic noise of The Drones (pictured) to the crunchy hypnotics of Pontiak to the lonely, reissued machine music of Dntel and more, our new playlist takes lethal aim at your post-coital hangover. Don't kill the messenger.

Continue reading "Sunday Soundtracking: The Drones, Robyn Hitchcock, More" »

The Day of the Triffids is about to dawn again at the BBC.

The apocalyptic tale of giant, mobile, man-eating plants munching on a human population blinded by one night's celestial show will find its way to the screen again with an impressive cast including Dougray Scott, Eddie Izzard, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox, according to U.K. paper The Guardian.

Originally a novel written by John Wyndham, the bleak story packs a timely environmental twist as the deadly plants of its title are created as an alternative fuel source. In the book, humanity goes green, goes blind and then goes away. BBC Radio produced multiple versions of that story in the '50s and '60s.

A 1962 Triffids film (trailer above) took a more traditional, monster movie approach to the story -- pitting Howard Keel against a blind, bite-size world full of killer alien weeds. British sci-fi fans will note an early appearance by Carol Ann Ford, Doctor Who's first assistant and The Doctor's granddaughter, Susan.

Continue reading "BBC Digs Up Man-Eating Triffids for New Mini-Series" »

The first trailer for Alan Moore's Tales of the Black Freighter (the spinoff DVD featuring a subplot from the author's Watchmen) reveals imagery and tone ripped straight from the original graphic novel.

Premiered at MTV.com (above), the gothic horror tale describes one man's ill-fated battle of wits with a cursed ship crewed by deadly (not to mention dead) pirates. The rapid-fire montage should give fans no reason to worry that someone tampered with the animated Black Freighter during the production process.

Set for a March 24 release, the Black Freighter DVD  includes a re-creation of Watchmen's "Under the Hood," a fictional, autobiographical film about the story's original Night Owl, Hollis Mason.

See also:

• DC Comics Posts Its Own New Watchmen Sites
  
• Watchmen Viral Vid Outlaws 'Masked Adventurers'
  
• First Watchmen Posters Since Last One Premiere
  
• Fox, Warner Bros. Settle Watchmen Dispute

Peter Gabriel sent the Oscars a "no, thank you" note when producers decided to cut his appearance on the awards show to about a minute of screen time.

The singer, songwriter and activist (seen performing live in a 9/11 memorial, above) was set to sing his Best Song nominee, "Down to Earth" from Wall-E, at the Oscars. But, as explained at Deadline Hollywood, the show's producers mashed Gabriel and other Best Song candidates into a single mid-show number. They then cut that number back so "Down to Earth" would end up with about a minute of that montage.

The former Genesis front man decided that was hardly worth the trip, as a minute wouldn't do his song -- or any other entry -- justice. There's no official word yet on what will become of the show's ill-fated mini-number.

See also:

• Why So Serious? Oscars Snub Dark Knight for Top Awards
  
• Criterion Offers Streaming Library as Oscars Near
  
• Ledger's Oscar a Sure Thing After SAG Win
  
• One-Eyed Robot Competes With Funny Frog for Student Oscars

With its debut Friday night, Dollhouse cracked open a premise that can launch a thousand stories: Echo, the so-called Active played by star/producer Eliza Dushku, will take on a different personality imprint in each episode.

See also:

Whedon's Sci-Fi Dollhouse Opens Its Mind-Wiping Doors

Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon made a name for himself crafting shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly that attracted intense cult followings. So great is Whedon fan fervor that some hatched a premature online campaign to save Dollhouse months ago.

But given Dollhouse's far-out scenario -- a memory-erasing organization hires out its army of zombie assassins to rich people for a variety of weird assignments -- the Friday premiere of Whedon's new sci-fi series raised far more questions than it answered.

(Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you have not seen the show.)

Continue reading "Dollhouse Blowback: Does Whedon's New Show Blow Your Mind?" »

Marvel Comics can't seem to keep its hyper-popular Spidey and Obama team-up on the shelves, so it's offering a free, digital version of the comic online.

The fast-selling The Amazing Spider-Man No. 583, with four pages of never-before-seen prologue, went live Friday on Marvel's digital comics site. All five variant covers are also available for viewing in the digital version.

"We were completely blown away by the overwhelming response to the 'Spidey Meets the President' story line.... We thought it would a fitting way to celebrate Presidents' Day by offering free online access to all fans to view and read the story line -- including some exclusive new content -- only at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited," said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Publishing, in a press release.

To compound the presidential party, the publisher will give away an exclusive digi-comic Monday that celebrates Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Gettysburg Distress (pictured) will also be available through Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited site.

In the six-page special edition, Captain America and Spider-Man are on hand to witness Lincoln's epochal Gettysburg Address. Just don't ask how they got there. It's classified.

Photo courtesy Marvel Comics

See also:

• Obama Gives Lincoln Thumbs Up in 5th Spider-Man Variant
• Obama-Spidey Comic Sells Out, Gets New Variant Cover
• Obama Gets Guest Spot in Amazing Spider-Man
• Bugle Blows It -- Obama Beats Colbert on Marvel Electoral Votes
• 'Truthiness' Could Swing Stephen Colbert Into Marvel White House

Like the similarly revivalist Asobi Seksu and Film School, A Shoreline Dream sounds like a band out of time, drowning in reverb-drenched guitars and vocals, head-tripping into walls of sound and wonderment once derisively branded as "shoegaze."

But like so-called shoegaze trailblazers My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver, A Shoreline Dream's members are not keen on the branding. Nor are they willing to hand the band over to a label they don't own.

So for the group's spaced-out sophomore effort, Recollections of Memory, released Tuesday, chief dreamer Ryan Policky put his Colorado house and its live-in music studio on the line as collateral and joined guitarist Erik Jeffries, bassist Enoc Torraca and new drummer Sean Merrell in forming the band's own label, Latenight Weeknight Records. Serendipitous praise from another shoegaze-branded soundscaper, Germany electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss, led to a collaboration, and A Shoreline Dream reached the beach.

What sets the band apart from its obvious influences, worn on the players' sonic sleeves like a badge of honor? Wired.com caught up with Policky and Jeffries by e-mail to work it all out.

Continue reading "A Shoreline Dream's Sonics Outrun Terminology, Shoegaze" »

The name of the show is Stealing Lincoln's Body, but digital artist Ray Downing had an entirely different agenda. His job: Bring Lincoln's body back to life in digitally constructed film clips. 

To enliven the two-hour documentary, which airs at 9 p.m. Monday on the History Channel, Downing and his team at Studio Macbeth scanned in two "life masks" made from plaster molds of Lincoln's face (see video, above). They then filmed an actor going through various motions and mapped the Lincolnesque features over the live-action human.

Downing tells Wired.com that Studio Macbeth spent a year assembling about five minutes of faux footage for Stealing Lincoln's Body.

The hardest part? "In term of his physiology, Lincoln was completely asymmetric, and that's really hard to get past when you build a model to look like Lincoln," Downing says. "I've never seen a human being with such asymmetrical features. The left and right side of his face look like they come from two completely different people."

Video courtesy History Channel

See also:

• How CNN's Holograms Almost Stole the Show
• Obama Gives Lincoln Thumbs Up in 5th Spider-Man Variant
• USC Lab Creates 3-D Holographic Displays, Brings TIE Fighters to Life

"When sales control stats, I place no faith in the majority," El-P rapped on Company Flow's 1997 underground classic Funcrusher Plus, which revitalized indie-hop at the turn of the millennium.

So who better to bring the influential release, which has been out of print since 2006, back into circulation?

El-P's hardy label Definitive Jux plans to reissue Funcrusher Plus, an extended version of Company Flow's knockout 1996 EP Funcrusher, in May on vinyl, disc and digital.

Thanks to the wonders of technological compression, the digital version will include early Company Flow singles "Juvenile Techniques" and "Corners 94," as well as later tracks like "DPA," "Simian Drugs" and the brilliant, moody and ridiculously hard to find "Simple."

Those still hanging onto their obsolete discs have been suitably warned.

Photo: Wikipedia

See also:

• From Anime to Games, RZA Is a Soundtracking Samurai
• DJ Shadow Teams With Reebok to Hawk Shoes, Music
• Bang Your Nerd: Rob Crow Talks Goblin Cock, Star Wars and Comics
• Paul's Boutique Reissue Recalls Beastie Boys' Essential Hip-Hop
• DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation Hits the History Circuit
• Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis Lets It RiP on Copyfight, Tour Vlogging

Anyone who doubts the ongoing geek infiltration of mainstream culture need look no further than prime-time television.

Earlier this week, ABC announced that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (pictured) will strut his stuff on the new season of Dancing With the Stars starting March 2. Woz will presumably leave his beloved Segway at home.

Now comes word from CBS that Nobel Laureate George Smoot comes to Los Angeles next week to tape an episode of Big Bang Theory, the network's Monday night sitcom about brilliant Caltech students.

Smoot, who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for his research on cosmic microwave background radiation, wrote Big Bang producers a year ago expressing his fondness for the show.  They reciprocated with a cameo for the University of California at Berkeley professor.

To make the stunt casting even more surreal, Smoot will share Big Bang Theory screen time with action babe Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), who is also guest-starring on the March 9 episode. 

Photo courtesy ABC

See also:

• An Injection of Hard Science Boosts the Prognosis for TV Shows
• Geeks Who Dress Like Dorks on Screen, but Still Look Cool
• Wozniak: My Way Is the Segway
• Mainstreaming Silicon Valley Culture: The Big Bang Theory

The first official look at the upcoming Star Wars documentary, The People vs. George Lucas, arrived Thursday and will be available in HD on YouTube "for the next few days," according to its producers.

The film examines the passions and debates inspired by the work and creations of Lucas and his legendary movie creation . The teaser trailer includes "New Hope" producer Gary Kurtz, David "Darth Vader" Prowse, various film executives, critics and colorful fans.

Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe, this documentary invites fans with a video camera to submit interviews, rants, songs, skits, animated shorts and other items for possible inclusion in the film through Sept. 30 via the film's website.

See also:

• New Star Wars Cartoon Goes 'Springer' on Adm. Ackbar
  
• Review: Fanboys Might Have Been Funny 'A Long Time Ago'
  
• Review: Clone Wars TV Series Packs Action, Kiddie Humor

GoAnimate.com: Kirk waxes philosophical

Whether the thought of J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek movie fills fans with excitement or dread, they can now shape their pent-up creative energies into fresh, free cartoons.

Do-it-yourself cartoon site GoAnimate.com wrapped a licensing agreement with Paramount and CBS, allowing fans to use stylized versions of classic Trek characters, sets and props in original short animations. Setting up an account is free -- unless you count the time you're going to burn making your cartoon.

See also:

• Star Trek Looking to 'Insure' Hype With New Site
  
• Star Trek Merchandise Reaches for Kid Market
  
• Star Trek Tweaker Talks Perils of Remastering Original Series
  
• Gay Star Trek Episode Finally Beams in at 'Phase II'

Opening This Weekend

The International
Synopsis: Clive Owen portrays a tough Interpol agent who teams with a Manhattan assistant DA (Naomi Watts) to bring down The International, a "dirty" bank involved in money laundering, arms trade, terror cells and murder. The duo follows the money trail through New York, Berlin, Istanbul and Milan. Germany's Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) directs.
Rated: R
Photo courtesy Sony

Friday the 13th
Synopsis: Remake of the 1980 horror flick revisits Crystal Lake, where Clay (Jared Padalecki) searches for his missing sister (Amanda Righetti) in the woods. Hockey-masked Jason Voorhees' (Derek Mears) awaits. Marcus Nispel (2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directs the script from Freddy vs. Jason co-writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. Danielle Panabaker co-stars.
Rated: R
Photo courtesy New Line Cinema/Paramount Pictures

Gomorrah (limited)
Synopsis: Italian hoodlums wreak mayhem in crime-saturated Naples as director Matteo Garrone follows five loosely interwoven stories. The Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner is presented by Martin Scorsese.
Rated: R

Under the Sea 3D (IMAX only)
Synopsis: Jim Carrey narrates this documentary that dives deep beneath the surface in Southern Australia and New Guinea to photograph rarely seen marine life. Shown only at IMAX venues.
Rated: G

Confessions of a Shopaholic
Synopsis: Romantic comedy features Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) as a shopping addict who climbs out of credit card debt with a little help from her handsome colleague (Hugh Dancy). P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) directs. Joan Cusack, John Goodman and John Lithgow co-star.
Rated: PG

Two Lovers (limited)
Synopsis: Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow play Brooklyn neighbors who form an unlikely attraction. James Gray (We Own the Night) directs.
Rated: R

Continue reading "Movies: In Theaters This Week (Feb. 13)" »

TV auteur Joss Whedon plays with the ultimate blank slate in his new sci-fi series Dollhouse.

The show from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly revolves around a mysterious organization that erases the memories of men and women — so-called Actives — and imprints them with a different personality for each "engagement."

Programmed with somebody else's expertise, the Actives render exotic services for weird clients, then forget all about the mission once they return to their spa-like headquarters.

The catchy premise of the show, which premieres Friday on Fox, gives Whedon a nearly endless canvas for exploring sex, murder and other complicated ares of human existence.

Whedon has built his daring Dollhouse around Eliza Dushku (pictured right, with Whedon), who stars as Echo, the lead Active. Dushku, an executive producer on the show, played Faith in Whedon's Buffy series, and here she assumes one fresh identity after another. Echo's memories of previous engagements have been "wiped" — although not entirely.

Whedon and his ever-shifting star spoke to reporters about sex, multiple personalities, brainwashing, crossbow hunting and the roller coaster ride they've got planned for Echo and her fellow Dolls over the next 13 weeks.

Dushku, Sex Object?: Fox promo site Echo Chamber shows Dushku posing nude with the tag line, "Get to know Echo intimately." The photos, and the show's undeniable parallels to the prostitution trade, raised some executive eyebrows during development. But Whedon tackles the sexuality issue head-on.

"I saw the [Echo Chamber] photo shoot and I do support it," he said, "mostly because Eliza was very comfortable with it and very pleased with the photos. She's very comfortable with her body.... Those photos bring up what is ultimately the touchiest issue of this show, which is: Are we actually making a comment about the way people use each other that is useful and interesting and textured, or are we just putting Eliza in a series of hot outfits and paying lip service to the idea of asking those questions?"

Continue reading "Whedon's Sci-Fi Dollhouse Opens Its Mind-Wiping Doors" »

A week before Broadway star/superhero Hugh Jackman trots on stage as the grinnin', dancin' and singing' host of the Oscars, he'll be baring claws in the first of three new 60-second spots for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. 

20th Century Fox unveils the first chapter in a continuing narrative beginning this Sunday during the TV network's Family Guy.  Part 2 follows Feb. 16 during House, with the third commercial airing during the Feb. 17 edition of American Idol.

In a release, 20th Century Fox described the 180-second trilogy as an "unprecedented event" aimed at whetting appetites for the X-Men sequel.  Liev Schreiber, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds and will.i.am co-star with Jackson in Wolverine, which opens May 1.

Photo courtesy Fox

See also:

• New Wolverine Clip Traces Origin of Angry X-Man
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine Coming in May
• 2009 Movie Guide: Where the Wild Films Are

When composer and saxophonist Lars Horntveth launched Norway's avant-garde jazz collective Jaga Jazzist in 1994, he was barely in his teens. His group's epic, hybrid music eventually influenced American prog-rockers like The Mars Volta, but Horntveth has taken a detour into experimental classical music in his latest solo effort, Kaleidoscopic.

How experimental? The record consists of a single, 37-minute composition that compresses electronica, ambient, indie, jazz and further evocative soundtracking through Horntveth's encyclopedic musical filter, which is lined with inspiration from artists as different as David Lynch and Dr. John.

Created with the Latvian National Orchestra and released last month on Smalltown Supersound, Kaleidoscopic is a gorgeous exercise in influence and ambition from a prodigal musician who has yet to enter his 30s.

Wired.com caught up with Horntveth by e-mail to discuss the origin and goal of Kaleidoscopic, the lasting impact of Alfred Hitchcock's musical collaborator Bernard Hermann, and how someone with zero musical education can lead not just a stellar Scandinavian jazz outfit but also a 41-member orchestra.

Continue reading "Lars Horntveth's Classical Experiment Goes Kaleidoscopic" »

After landing millions from the military, Roomba maker iRobot branched out into the theater of war. The Daily Show's Samantha Bee recently took the opportunity to mock the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of what she calls "adorable killing machines" and robot ethicist Noel Sharkey in the latest installment of her tech segment, "Future Shock."

"These robots aren't just sucking up dust," Bee cracks about iRobot's new line of armed machines, "they're blowing evildoers. Away."

Using clips from the Robocop and Terminator franchises to hammer home her point that robots "are about to help us cross the last frontier of human unpleasantness" (that would be "killing"), Bee wastes little time before searching for robot genitals and lampooning Sharkey, who's called for legislation mandating ethical guidelines for their construction and deployment.

Continue reading "Daily Show Lampoons 'Roombas of Doom'" »

If you get tired of watching the Watchmen, you can play the Minutemen.

An online, '80s-style fighting game a la the Double Dragon series puts Watchmen's original costumed crime-fighters Night Owl and Silk Spectre in full "Billy and Jimmy Lee" mode. By design, it's not difficult to finish off the game -- the player is rewarded with a look at Watchmen trailer No. 977.

Image courtesy Warner Bros.

See also:

• DC Comics Posts Its Own New Watchmen Sites
• Watchmen's 'Black Freighter' Arrives March 24
• Watchmen Viral Vid Outlaws 'Masked Adventurers'

It doesn't stretch the bounds of reasoning to realize that toy sales are one huge reason why movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Paramount's new Star Trek get made. After all, there was a reason George Lucas wanted merchandising rights back in 1977.

This Japanese site offers a good luck at detailed action figures and toys based on movie props from Trek. We'll see if the script bothers to explain how changing a time line makes phasers look cooler.

Transformers fans can get a look at toy designs of Devastator and others via TFW2005.com. For those born after, say, 1975, Devastator is a massive villain formed by six other building-themed Transformers -- The Constructicons.

Image courtesy Paramount, DreamWorks

See also:

• See Super Bowl Trailers Early: Trek, Transformers, More
  
• Anatomically Correct Transformers Arrive for Sequel
  
• Cool DVD Releases Await 2009's Old Gift Cards