Nerd Bastards’ Bountiful Bagginses Birthday Bash Bonanza

It’s time to slip off your shoes, put your hairy feet up, light your pipe if you’ve a mind and preference to, and raise your flagon to celebrate the birthday of two of the Shire’s most famous Hobbits; Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. You remember those Bagginses, they actually like to wander around outside the Shire among all those Elves, Humans, Orcs, Goblins, Giants, Wizards and what not. I know . . . I know, utter nonsense. What is there that any self respecting Hobbit could possibly need out there? Nothing I say, but when they came back they did tell a good tale, didn’t they?

Saturday, September 22nd marks the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (Bilbo is reported to have been born in the year of 2890 and Frodo in the year of 2968 during the Third Age, 1290 and 1368 respectively in Shire-Reckoning.). As most of you already know, Hobbits enjoy a good party and there’s no better party than the birthday party of a Bagginses. Why, there might even be wizardly fireworks!

We’ve collected a gallery of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobitt themed birthday cakes to celebrate the occasion. There are home made cakes and very professional cakes to admire in the collection below. I’m sure any self respecting Hobbit would enjoy a large slice of any of those cakes during breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. Hmm, I think I’ll go downstairs and see if there is any cake left in the refrigerator.

Which cake would you want a slice from? Let us know in the comments section below.

Amazing Make-Up Artist Makes Women Disappear Into The Streets Of London

Body painting is a very specific skill. Not only do you have to know the basics of being an artist – colors, lights, shadows, etc. – but you have to be able to make all of it work on a living canvas. Make-up artist Carolyn Roper does just that, and she does it with such talent that you can’t help but be impressed.

The UK channel Really took note of her skills and hired her to help promote their series Covert Affairs. They commissioned Roper to camouflage women in body paint to blend into London’s streets. She made models disappear into a vegetable stand, a bus, and a street. The results are almost unbelievable.

Have your mind blown by more images and check out a behind the scenes video after the break.

(Huffington Post via Laughing Squid)

Spartan Ops Promotional Images released by 343

Spartan Ops Promotional Images released by 343
Here's a whole bunch of Halo 4 Spartan Operations that I found at the Xbox site in the Press Kit section. Elites go boom and Grunts go flying in them. The images show off in really good detail some of the customisation you'll be able to apply to your solider and some of the kit they'll be using such as the rocket launcher, warthogs and ghosts.

Rocket Man

Excuse me good Sir, do you mind moving?

Sexy Cosplay of the Week: Alexia-Muller

Time for this weeks Sexy Cosplay of the Week where we travel to the Ukraine and come back with Alexia-Muller.

After seeing several of her favorite characters portrayed in some very bad cosplay Alexia-Muller took it upon herself to dive into cosplay and right a few wrongs. Alexia-Muller has pulled off some odd choices for cosplay, like a female Kadaj from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and a human take on Hello Kitty, but she’s pulled them off so well. Honestly, anyone who can rock Dead or Alive‘s Ayane or Panty & Stocking‘s Stocking as good as Alexia-Muller deserves some kind of award in their home.

Check out more of Alexia-Muller on World Cosplay, Deviant Art, Cosplay Cure or Cosplay.com for more.

Wear a Skirt With Your Favorite My Little Pony Cutie Mark

No matter how hard you wish, you won’t suddenly find yourself surrounded by magical ponies. What you can do is wear one of these skirts that features the cutie mark of your favorite My Little Pony character. They’re handmade from cotton sateen and are 19″ long. You can choose from Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash or Apple Jack.

See more skirts after the jump…

Product Page ($39.99)

REVIEW: ‘Arrow’ – Episode 2 – “Honor Thy Father”

After its promising premiere I’m happy to say Arrow continues to deliver action and drama with a hint of superhero camp. Stephen Amell‘s exposition-heavy voice over kicks off the episode and makes it clear this is a storytelling tool they’re sticking with, whether we like it or not. And honestly, it stops grating on you after a little while, especially because I’m not sure what other way they would get across the inner workings of Ollie’s mind. The struggle within himself over whether he can fulfill his promise to his father and be the son everyone expects him to be is at the heart of this episode.

Continuing to hunt down the men in his father’s book, Arrow’s target this episode is a billionaire, Martin Summers, who’s operating a drug trade with the suspicious Chinese Triad. He’s also the target of Laurel (Katie Cassidy) who’s trying to bring Summers in on charges for murdering a young women’s father. We get one courtroom scene for Laurel to strut her stuff and it’s just not doing anything for me. Maybe I’m jaded by the millions other courtroom dramas on television but I really don’t give a shit about any lawyer-thing Laurel does. Hopefully over the season they’ll develop her thirst for justice because right now it feels like she’s a lawyer only because it allows her to come up against both her father, Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne) and Arrow on a regular basis.

With Laurel pressuring Summers she becomes the target of the Triad’s assassin, China White (Kelly Hu). Her appearance in this episode is brief, but what she brings is badass. White’s an accomplished martial artist and can easily handle anything either Ollie’s bodyguard, David Ramsey putting in a surprisingly sympathetic performance as Diggle, or Ollie himself can throw her way. Even wearing a ridiculously platinum wig, she’s fierce. White’s not defeated come the end of the episode, and I expect and am looking forward to more of her in the future.

What “Honor Thy Father” is looking to hammer home is the personal sacrifice Ollie will need to endure in order to see his mission through. Amell continues to deliver a strong performance and does quite well at bringing the many facets of Ollie to screen. In the few flashbacks this episode we see his heartbreaking struggle to bury his father on the island and it’s a really touching moment reminding us his struggle on the island was as much emotional as physical.

Amell’s physicality continues to shine and he can be quite imposing as Arrow. We’re gifted a few more gratuitous training shots that I don’t believe anyone will complain about. And Arrow has some fun interrogation techniques creatively involving his skills and easily getting the desired results. I’m seeing more and more of the archer we’re familiar with in this episode.

At home Ollie is drifting away from his family, pushing them away, and this doesn’t go unnoticed. Cue another heartfelt scene between him and his sister, Thea (Willa Holland). Have I mentioned I want her so badly to actually become a vigilante herself? She’s proving she could be a real asset to Ollie, even is she isn’t slinging arrows alongside him, and I look forward to seeing their relationship grow. In public Ollie continues playing up the partying billionaire and, seemingly, continues to be a disgrace to his father’s memory. In fact he’s doing such a good job his mother, Moira (Susanna Thompson), who’s clearly far more involved in her husband’s death than we thought, believes he knows nothing of what’s really going on.

Arrow is shaping into a show with exciting action and an intriguing mystery around Ollie’s time on the island plus his mother’s shady dealings. I wouldn’t expect any of the cast or writers to be hit up with Emmy nods next year, but things are plugging along nicely. It’s filled a gap in superhero media and has become a welcome addition to my weekly TV schedule. Have you been enjoying Arrow? What are you hoping to see the show explore as the season progresses?

Arrow airs on the CW, Wednesday nights at 8pm.

Nerds on the Red Carpet: The ‘Silent Hill: Revelation 3-D’ Premiere

On Wednesday evening we got a chance to attend the Silent Hill: Revelation 3D premiere at the ArcLight in Hollywood, CA. The film is written/directed by Michael J. Bassett (Cinemax’s Strike Back), produced by Samuel Hadida (Resident Evil: Afterlife), and stars Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Adelaide Clemons (The Great Gatsby), Sean Bean (Missing), and Carrie-Anne Moss (Vegas). The film is the sequel to Silent Hill, and is based on the groundbreaking video game franchise of the same name. The film synopsis states:

Heather Mason (Clemons) and her father (Bean) have been on the run, always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn’t fully understand. On the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she’s not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever.

At the red carpet event before the cast and crew screened the film, I got the opportunity to speak with Harington, Clemons, Hadida, and Bassett about the film. First up, I spoke to Kit Harington about what it was like to be in his first film following the success of the hit HBO series, Game of Thrones, which is also adapted from a previous work. Unlike Thrones, which is based on a best-selling book series by George R. R. Martin, I was curious what the experience was like to film a horror movie based off of a video game. Harington replied:

“I enjoyed them both, you know? I’m not used to working in this sort of industry, so to do anything is very exciting. I’ve always wanted to do a horror movie, so I really enjoyed doing this.”

After Harington finished talking to the press, he went over to the fans who had been waiting for hours just to see him. He then proceeded to take photos, and sign autographs. After I spoke with him, I got the opportunity to talk to the producer Samuel Hadida. Hadida was understandably very excited about the film, and had a lot to say about what fans could expect.

“Silent Hill is very influenced by Jacob’s Ladder.” Adding “We wanted to give you a more detailed version of Silent Hill. We wanted everybody who saw the first movie to be very excited to see their character back in the city of Silent Hill, and to fulfill their recollection of what happened six years later.”

After Hadida, I was lucky to get the chance to hear Adelaide Clemons thoughts on filming Silent Hill. When asked if she had previously done a horror movie, Clemons responded, “I have done several, but not one anyone would have ever seen.” She also thinks fans will find the plot of this film to be very interesting. One of the burning questions was whether or not she ever got scared filming the movie. Clemons said:

“Oh, yes, absolutely! As you will see, the monsters are really graphic, so you can’t help it.”

The last person I was able to talk to was the film’s writer/director Michael J. Bassett. Like Hadida, Bassett is a fan of the horror genre. When asked why he chose to direct the Silent Hill sequel, Bassett replied:

“I just like the horror movies. They’re the ones that I grew up with, you know? No matter what I do in any genre, I don’t know, maybe I’m just a creature kind of guy. If you’re going to make a movie, then make a movie you love.”

Bassett also talked about his upcoming project with David S. Goyer (Man of Steel) titled, Da Vinci’s Demons. It’s a television series that tells the “untold” story of Leonardo Da Vinci that is in the vein of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He has also just wrapped the Cinemax series, Strike Back.

I wan’t able to screen the film, but from the trailer the special effects look really great. Also, Hadida revealed that there will be more monsters, and action in this film than the first. Also more of Sean Bean! Silent Hill: Revelation 3D opened nationwide today (October 26th).