Saw the trailer to Sucker Punch at Comic Con this past week and boy does it look like a doozy. Not only have you got Madman’s Holy Movie Trinity involved (samurais, dragons, machine gun-toting females), but it’s actually directed by very capable hands. I am a legitimate fan of Zack Snyder’s, who I had hoped after 300 wasn’t just a one-hit wonder. When Snyder aimed to film the “unfilmable” Watchmen graphic novel, I was paradoxically anxious and excited — but after seeing it opening weekend, I am firmly in the pro-Watchmen camp (I have heard valid counter arguments to Watchmen, but I respectfully and strongly disagree). Not much has been revealed about Sucker Punch yet, other than much of it takes place in a young girl’s dreamworld, but expect plenty of Zack Snyder goodness: signature slow-mo/sped up action sequences, highly detailed sets and beautifully rendered design. I cannot wait…

Freshjive has just released this tshirt as a tribute to Dennis Hopper who recently passed away at 74 years old. The image, taken by photographer Guy Webster, captures Hopper at his disheveled, sorta zoned out best. Rick Klotz, founder of Freshjive, gives his reasons for the homage:

“Originally making a mark in the 50s alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, he will always be remembered to me from the various colorful and unforgettable roles he played throughout his life: The photojournalist in Apocalypse Now, Frank Booth in Blue Velvet, the father in Rumble Fish, Clifford Worley in True Romance, Howard Payne in Speed, and countless others. He also directed the critically acclaimed Colors, and most notably, Easy Rider in 1969 which became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, and which a film critic once noted that, “No other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper.” Besides acting, Dennis was a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor, while once known to be one of Hollywood’s most notorious drug addicts for 20 years.”

Sure you could pen an encyclopedic volume on the merits of Dennis Hopper (altho he did cash in more than a couple times, didn’t he? I mean, Mario Bros???), but sometimes something as simple as wearing a tribute tshirt will do…

For its fourth (and final) edition, the annual Vader Project commissions world class artists to re-imagine a lifesize replica of Darth Vader’s iconic helmet. This year the customizations were unreal, provided by superlative artists like Jeff Soto, Gary Baseman, Joe Ledbetter, Peter Kuper, Jermaine Rogers, BXH, The Pizz, Dalek, Paul Frank, Ron English, Michelle Valigura, Frank Kozik, Plasticgod, Simone Legno, Bill McMullen, Secret Base, Alex Pardee, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Mister Cartoon, Shag, Amanda Visell, J. Otto Seibold, Urban Medium, Tim Biskup and 75 others. After completing its epic world tour, The Vader Project will return to Los Angeles in June for a special ten-day exhibition. The Los Angeles Preview Exhibition will be free to the public with an opening reception on June 11 from 6-10pm. The show will also feature a 200-plus page, full-color, limited edition catalog that is being produced for the auction and is available for pre-order for $40. This Hollywood Preview Exhibition will be open June 12-20, and then in July it travels to Freeman’s Auctioneers in Philadelphia for a 5-day exhibition (July 5-9) — the final opportunity to view the helmets in person before they are sold at auction (most bidding will begin at $1,500). Some of the pieces were truly inspired — if you want a more comprehensive gallery than below, click here. Man if I had the funds I would be all over Alex Pardee’s Full Metal Jacket-inspired version above…

[View with PicLens]

It’s a sad day here at the secret headquarters of LIAS, as we just found out about the passing of Frank Frazetta, unarguably the greatest fantasy illustrator of all time. He inspired legions of fans and imitators alike, but his style could never be duplicated —there certainly were more precise artists, guys who could almost create photo-realistic images of swords and sorcery, but no one had the subtlety and vague despair that Frazetta could summon from his brushes. As a Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed teen I used to dwell on his paintings for hours, and my childhood bedroom was plastered with his paintings (the Ice Giants, Serpent, The Apparition, Berzerker, Sacrifice, Conan the Destroyer and of course the Death Dealer, above). Besides tapping into all the more obvious teen boy tropes —barbarians, boobs, blood, gore, violence, heroics, carnage — there was always an overwhelming sense of storm cloud adventure that permeated all of his illustrations; there was a perverted part of you that wanted to be in that heap of bodies, swinging a bloody battle axe while iliciting a primal scream until victory flowed from your vanquished enemy’s veins. Quite simply, if a book or movie had a Frazetta painting on it I was taking it to the cash register, no matter how poor the content inside might be. He inspired entire weeks of lost day dreaming, and that is no small feat. In my world, Frank Frazetta was a genius. Rest In Piece my man, you made our lives better…

[View with PicLens]

[View with PicLens]

Liquor, leather, and the world’s most festive nation all come together to create a package that has a sophisticated and antique feel. Oronoco Rum is a super-premium white Rum made from the sugar canes of Brazil. But really, shouldn’t it be cachaca if it’s going to be so pro-Brazil? The slender shape and aged look of the label make this bottle look like a classic, but its most unique feature is the leather wrap embossed with a map of Brazil — just so you’ll never forget where this delicious alcohol comes from (until you polish off half of it)…

Frank M. Rinderknecht — Swiss-born inventor, entrepreneur and founder of Rinspeed Inc. — always seems to debut something wacky and automotively fringe every year in Geneva, and this year was no different. Compared to the Rinspeed sQuba or Splash (or last year’s uber-useless iChange, the first car to be controlled by an iPhone), this year’s unveiling won’t turn as many heads as it only drives on land (booooring!), but it still has its own particular appeal. The two-seat electric drive concept UC (Urban Commuter) is actually designed for future production so it has to be more realistic. The idea is pairing the UC with public transportation, integrating it with a new rail car in which the UCs can be loaded and carried to their destination, then unloaded for short-range driving. While being transported, charging stations would deliver the UCs fully powered and ready to go. The ultimate goal being to reduce long distance driving, gridlock, rush hours and congestion in general, all while conserving significant energy. You could even buy train tickets from inside the car to save time. But that’s not where the innovation ends: the UC car is driven by a centrally positioned force-feedback joystick, meaning the vehicle can be driven from either seat — depending on whether the driver is right-handed or left-handed. Now I’m not so sure about the joystick steering wheel, but I do think the tight integration of automobile with public transportation would be an epic boom — significantly cutting down on rush hour gridlock and commute times while still providing people with the independence of a car. Nice one, Mr. Rinderknecht.

[View with PicLens]

We’re not the biggest fan of steampunked designs around LIAS, but when done well it can add a rugged and bespoke aspect to normally banal items. Such is the case with these Machine Lights designed by Frank Buchwald. There are 12 different models in the Machine Lights series, produced in low volume. Each object is unique, manually produced from up to 200 individual parts. Raw steel and brass are burnished by hand, creating a black surface structure with a brownish hue. Special bulbs and light tubes with partially visible filaments allow the Machine Lights to glow mysteriously.

Produced in Berlin, they require at least 4 weeks to manufacture (depending of the model), and range in price from $3,800 to $15,500.

I’ve got a few kids to buy Christmas gifts for this year and whilst stumbling around looking for something outside the Bratz-Bakugan-Hannah Montana junta I found these Lego Architecture sets and I became insanely jealous. Sure, I had that awesome castle set when I was a young’un, and of course copious space/moon sets (anybody out there remember those wicked awesome Girder & Panel kits?), but these are really one step beyond. Stupid kids nowadays get all kinds of cool shit — I can’t even tell you how many months would’ve been lost into the ether of time if I’d had Dragon Age or Assassin’s Creed when I was in junior high. It’s possible I wouldn’t have even graduated.

Well Lego, in conjunction with Brickstructures, decided to one-up my childhood again by releasing a 811-piece recreation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1935 architectural masterpiece Falling Water (complete with 5 special sections that slide out to reveal different floor levels, a 100-page spiral-bound book with drawings, photographs and a history of the Mill Run, Pennsylvania house, as well as the surrounding river and trees that are so integral to the building’s design). They’ve also just released Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York and four other architectural gems: Chicago’s Sears Tower and John Hancock Center, New York’s Empire State Building and the Space Needle in Seattle.

Check out Adam Tucker of Brickstructure’s large-scale Lego models if you really want to put your childhood creativity on check. And I was impressed when I made that square-wheeled General Lee replica.

The Falling Water set is available for $115 and the Guggenheim (below) you can get for $55 shipped…

…and a short detailed video of the Falling Water Lego set replete with plants, river, and corny ass music…