It shouldn't be too surprising that Disney's Matterhorn is based on the Matterhorn in Switzerland, but you might be surprised to see just how many real life locations the company has used as inspiration on their rides and attractions.
From Utah's Bryce Canyon (the inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) to New Orlean's Jackson Square (which inspired its own section inside Disneyland park), it's amazing to see how many places you've never been to look oddly familiar thanks to Disney.
Artists, crafters and writers who become obsessed with board games often wonder if they can make their own game, and I've heard some great ideas from my many gamer friends over the years.
But theory and execution are two very different matters, and creating miniatures, art for the game and the perfect playing surface is really hard- unless you're a WETA Workshop artist like Johnny Fraser-Allen.
Johnny is a lifelong Jim Henson fan and sculptor who is working on a 3D board game based on Labyrinth, which he was happy to share with Adam Savage on this episode of Tested.
I can't watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show without wondering about dog breeds, or more specifically why breeds look the way they do.
That's because dogs are often defined by the look of their breed, and we assume certain things about their temperament and even give them a basic personality profile based on their breed.
But dog breeds get to break free of these generalities when they're featured in pop culture, and breeds we assume are weak, like the Maltese or the Pomeranian, are made mighty by the gods of geekdom.
I never want to go near a Pomeranian again after seeing this cute little guy in Blade: Trinity!
Pop culture franchises also do a really good job of turning killer dog breeds into total lovers, which is a much more realistic transition. Remember that vicious pit bull Backup in Veronica Mars?
Yeah, he was a real brute, just like that vicious German Shepherd Samantha from I Am Legend or that angry and violent Bullmastiff Butkus from Rocky.
Of course, some breeds have a hard time burying the bad rep they gain from starring in movies and TV shows, like poor Cujo the Saint Bernard who became the stuff of nightmares for all 80s kids.
There are many little details of Mario's character design that seem like they were included just to give him the look of a lead character, and we're probably better off leaving our questions about his details at that.
Because, as this Fake Webcomic reveals, the less we know about what lies under Mario's clothes the better!
Seventeen years doesn't seem like that long of a time, but when you look at this list of the best movie fight scenes from the 21st Century, you might find yourself surprised that certain movies were even released this century. Some of the great movies you'd expect are on the list -like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon- and there are some surprises on there that did have a great fight -like Anchorman. I'll leave the #1 spot as a surprise for you though.
Tom Cruise's career has been falling very, very slowly since the 80s, with a few updrafts here and there during his otherwise perpetual descent from superstardom.
But what's causing this fall? A string of bad roles? His connection to Scientology? That one time he went crazy and jumped on Oprah's couch?
Maybe Tom should just embrace the fall and work a "falling Tom Cruise" cameo into every movie that comes out!
KISS, or more specifically Gene Simmons on behalf of KISS, has been working hard to create as many types of KISS themed merchandise as possible, cashing in on everything from condoms to Kaskets.
But one of their latest releases seems too dumb to be true- KISS air guitar strings. It's a bag of air with a KISS header card on top, created for all those KISS air guitarists out there who keep breaking their strings.
If you think this $3.99 bag of air is taking KISS merchandising too far you're not alone, because Gene's son Nick seems to think this is a ridiculous idea too:
Rogue One has captured the hearts of old school Star Wars fans and new fans alike because it's just that awesome, and when artists are inspired by a movie they show their love with illustrative lines.
Some were happy about the return of the Sith we love to hate, who hasn't changed a bit since the 80s, while other artists got a kick out of that sassy reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO:
But after all the arguments are said and done the best thing about Rogue One is the fact that it gave us that good old fashioned Star Wars movie feeling again!
Romantic movies have been made as long as they've been making movies. From cheesy chick flicks to epic love stories, this Good Housekeeping article features the best romantic movie from each year since 1930 so you can identify the best one from your birth year. For me it's Terms of Endearment, which I admit, I've never seen. How about you guys, what's the movie from your birth year, and did you like it?
Disney used to be the undisputed masters of the animated feature, and they made some mighty fine live action films too, so when Disney movies started to flop in the theater people noticed.
Nowadays Disney's track record at the box office (not including Pixar or Marvel movies) is about fifty-fifty, which is pretty low compared to their classic days.
Movies like Mr. Magoo, Home On The Range and The Country Bears seemed destined for failure, but John Carter's failure was a surprise.
The Black Cauldron and Treasure Planet were even bigger surprises, because they both bombed hard despite being pretty great films that later got lots of love as cult classics.
That's why The Black Cauldron and Treasure Planet are also on WatchMojo's list of underrated animated Disney films, because they were sadly overlooked just like The Great Mouse Detective and Brother Bear.
Lady and the Tramp's pasta scene is one of the most classic scenes in animation history. But while it's cute to see dogs roll meatballs with their noses and suck on a string of pasta, it's kind of weird (and hilarious) to see humans do the exact same thing. It's even funnier when those humans are total strangers who are trying to be polite and not creep each other out while still trying to slurp a noodle together. It's surprising how hard it is to find a shared noodle without breaking it, but then that's exactly what makes this video so fun.
Video game designer Toru Iwatani wanted to get away from the shooter games that dominated arcades in the 1970s. This video tells how he came up with the idea for Pac-Man.
At the time, Pac-Man was simpler than it needed to be, but its very simplicity was a genius idea that made the game stand out among the crowd. Video Game Story Time explains Iwatani's reasoning for what became the video game icon of the 20th century. -via Geeks Are Sexy
Rocket Raccoon became a big hit with fans after appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy, The Tick is about to have his third TV show, and Howard the Duck got his own (albeit crappy) movie decades before Spider-Man.
Know what else these characters all have in common? They all started out as joke characters that became seriously popular.
Rocket Raccoon was initially named Rocky, created as an homage to the Beatles song, but after his first few guest appearances he became popular enough to get his own mini-series.
Then we didn't see him again for like 25 years...but now Rocket's one of the most popular Marvel Comics characters of all time!
The Tick started out as an absurdist parody of superheroes Ben Edlund created for the New England Comics newsletter, and folks liked The Tick so much he became the comic chain's mascot.
Ben began drawing Tick strips for the NEC newsletter, and then the company got into the business of making their own comics and started releasing The Tick as a series.
Lastly there's my favorite cigar chompin' duck Howard, who was created by Steve Gerber as a gag but became a pluckin' hero.
Howard came from an alternate Earth full of funny animals instead of humans, so he was the perfect everyduck to star in a comic series that satirizes American culture and genre fiction.
The original Howard The Duck series dealt with existentialist themes and life in a multiverse, and this is the series' main joke, according to Gerber-
"that life's most serious moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often distinguishable only by a momentary point of view."
Movie poster artwork is supposed to capture the feel of the film, but over the years creativity has been replaced with generic mass appeal, leaving movie posters looking dull and lifeless.
But it's hard to tell just how boring they've become until you check out these action packed movie posters by Frank McCarthy.
Frank's posters were made for people who like to watch movies full of action, and his posters are so dynamic they're often more exciting to view than the movies they're advertising!
Frank created amazing poster artwork for movies like Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen, The Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries) and Thunderball, and his art style influenced generations of comic artists looking to put the "pop" back in pop culture.
I wonder how Shirley would feel about this game if she knew it had an "endowment" slider during male character creation and genital physics? Heck, I don't know how I feel about that!!
