• The Hands on a Hardbody musical is coming to Broadway. I’m excited. Playbill
• IndieWire takes a look at 16 breakout talents from the first half of 2012. IndieWire
• Troma is releasing a 4-Disc DVD pack of Father’s Day. I have to assume there’s a market there. Shock Till You Drop
• Ever wonder how much cash transactions get you in free to play games? The Gameological Society
• Om nom nom zombie cookie jar. Bit Rebels

I'd tint every cookie blood red

• A friendly PSA from Helen Killer on how to respond to criticism. Regretsy
• I guess there could be a bad side to the Les Miserables trailer. Not enough Cosette? The Film Experience
• BroadwayWorld is launching a theater database with recommendation features. BroadwayWorld

Finally, my brother strikes again. Enjoy John Mayer mocking the musical hologram phenomenon.

• Redundancy is redundant, even when you earn money for it. The Trenches
• I’m still wrapping my brain around a possible post about Lee Daniels and the critical response to The Paperboy. Accusations from Daniels about possible racism are not helping. IndieWire
• All in favor of more sumi-e styled games, say “aye.” Kotaku
• This is a brilliant film festival experiment. I wish I had the nerve to hand other writers blank paper and ask them to record their response right after a screening/panel/show/event. MUBI
• Oh, goody. Another Prometheus teaser. I think we’ve seen a fifth of the film by now. Shock Till You Drop
• Dustin Rowles announces the totally not made up on the spot 2011-2012 Network Television Awards. Pajiba

How many awards does New Girl rack up? A lot.

• As someone who has run garage sales since he was 10 years old, I find this Craigslist rant shortsighted and hilarious. PassiveAggressiveNotes
• Settlers of Catan, the undisputed king of sheep trading board games, is getting a simplified update for children. Merry Christmas, every much younger cousin/nephew/niece in my life. Ars Technica
• What would happen if Link and Pit (Kid Icarus) hung out? Brawl in the Family

Finally, Garbage finally put out a new album. I’m digging its super-processed style as a way of turning Shirley Manson into an instrument. Here’s Shirley performing at the House of Blues in Atlantic City last weekend stopping the show to shut down a man beating a woman. NSFW language.

• A 6 year old is competing in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. That makes her the youngest competitor ever. Team early over achiever. Raw Story
• This is why you file your legal paperwork in full. A big time video gaming lawsuit could end with $1 in damages. Check Point
• I think all creative people have “Don’t wanna art” days. Whomp!
• Felicia Day took swing dancing lessons. It eventually goes smoother than you might imagine. Flog
• I want a Cthulhu Barbie dream house. Bit Rebels

The ancient ones have risen and they come with many accessories.

• I was ok with The Road film and liked Cormac McCarthy’s novel well enough. I guess Deadlight, an eerily similar story only with zombies, is close enough to a video game adaptation. Kotaku
• No, Robert Pattinson is not in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as Finnick. Now stop reporting on Internet fan rumors with no basis in reality. Cinema Blend
• It’s sad that it took Harley Quinn DLC to finally get me to start playing Batman: Arkham City. Quarter to Three

Finally, The Gossip have a new album out. I think I’ll get around to reviewing it this week. Hopefully. In the meantime, please enjoy their super stylish video for the single “Move in the Right Direction.”

• An insider look at how Hollywood productions tend to view the screenplay. Den of Geek
• I wish we got video game musicals like this Phoenix Wright production in Japan. Kotaku
• How about some femme fatales to kick off your weekend? Pajiba
• Tim Barribeau takes a look at how exposure therapy really works. io9.
• If love is a mixtape, what does a gigantic wooden mixtape coffee table stand for? Dude Craft

I wish I could afford one of these Jeff Skierka Designs Cassette Tables

• Someone is embroidering Kanye West’s ridiculous tweets. I’ll take one of each, please. Regretsy
• You can’t fund every Kickstarter even if you want to. Penny Arcade
• Turns out Phillip Phillips doesn’t care for his coronation anthem and thinks he’s not a great singer. An American Idol winner with a backbone and perspective? What have we done? Vote for the Worst

Finally, my brother sent me this pun-based zombie video that tickles me just right. Presenting: The Walken Dead.

• Amanda Palmer explains how she will use the oodles of Kickstarter money she brought in for her new album. Spoiler alert: she’s not turning much of a profit if you look at the percentages. Amanda Palmer
• Steve Bowler breaks down the creation of Penny Arcade’s Ping Pong ECG, aka Paint the Line. The PA Report
• Here’s the cast of Snow White & The Huntsman doing dramatic readings of 50 Shades of Gray. PS: This is why you have to watch Young Adult. Charlize Theron is incredible at assuming full-bodied comedic rules with a dark twist. MTV
• In news I expected four years ago when the game was still new, Shadow of the Colossus is being adapted into a feature film. Kotaku
• So, it turns out Michael Gondry didn’t like his stab at The Green Hornet, either. Happy now? IndieWire
• What’s better than burlesque art? Burlesque zombie art. Bit Rebels

Look at the cheek bones on that one

• New York Legislators did not think this one through. Proposed law would ban anonymous comments online. So…we’re banning free speech ala the mask-wearing revolutionists speaking in public squares before the US declared independence? First Ammendment? Bueller? Wired
• I might have mentioned before that I’m pretty sure Kristen Stewart can actually act. These clips from The Road (combined with reviews from Cannes) seem to corroborate that opinion nicely. Cinema Blend
• Sony has a great strategy for handling Dan Harmon’s firing from Community: tell everyone else in the cast to ignore it and hope everything blows over. The Internet never forgets. Warming Glow

Finally, after watching enough episodes of Cupcake Wars to see a real nutter add the innards of mass-manufactured cigarettes to frosting, I never thought I could enjoy the work of host Justin Willman. Turns out I was wrong. He’s a geek street magician and Nerdist gave him a web series.

• I haven’t mentioned how much I love Angela Lansbury recently. This interview reminded me why I’m drawn to her. The Telegraph
• Another personality I love is Mark Twain. Here he is taking a librarian to task for exposing children to two novels that are now standard middle school reading. Letters of Note
• I’m fascinated by how Ryan Murphy’s brain works. He does weird train wrecks in such a watchable way. Here he talks about season 2 of American Horror Story. Fangoria
• Internet addiction is not funny, except for when it is funny. Cyanide & Happiness
• Looking for a new avatar? How about a custom version of you based on your Twitter habits? Bit Rebels

It took 2 weeks of up with people tweets to not be surly anymore.

• I’m down for three of these five comics that will change everything you know this week. Bring it on, mind bending science comic. Kotaku
• Anyone for tennis? How about tennis on film? I love Strangers on a Train because of the unending tennis match at the climax. The Film Experience
• If not tennis, how about a Mortal Kombat retrospective? 20 years already? I remember playing on the original machine at arcade birthday parties. Gamespot

Finally, this optical illusion uses celebrity faces to demonstrate a very strange phenomena with the human eye. If you view a rapid succession of faces in your peripheral vision, they start to distort. Whatever. Mila Kunis still looks great.

• David Cronenberg’s son Brandon is a filmmaker now, too. Here’s a great interview about his debut feature Antiviral. It premieres at Cannes. Fangoria
• Apparently, we’re way ahead of the curve on 3D printing. Even science fiction writers didn’t predict negative space scanning by 2012. Bit Rebels
• Any other William Carlos Williams fans in the house? Greer Mansfield has you covered. Bookslut
• The best and worst of 37th season of Saturday Night Live. Pajiba
• This vintage-styled Batman mask is incredible. Dude Craft

Batman, 1920s Style

• Kotaku teaches you how to really play video games. The sequels usually are better. Kotaku
• The 10 Most Depressing Alternate Realities from Marvel Comics. I vote for #3. io9
• Frankly, I prefer the stairs because elevators have a 50/50 shot of setting off my claustrophobia. Passive Agressive Notes

Finally, spoiler alert! The hosts of Mythbusters are not particularly athletic or coordinated. However, they are quite funny as they compete on Chris Hardwick’s All Star Celebrity Bowling.

• Painting people is hard. That doesn’t stop these 10 artists from reaching for their Justin Bieber portrait dreams. Regretsy
• Turns out the Oscars only like gritty powerless crime fighters in their comic book honorees. The Film Experience
• I’m jealous of the west coasters who get to participate in The Walking Dead Escape during SDCC. The Walking Dead Escape
• The Boondocks is officially coming back for Season 4. And there was much rejoicing. IndieWire
• Tyler Nerden looks at the balancing act between burn out and work ethic for self-employed writers. He speaks the truth. Footsoldiers of the Apocalypse
• A new series of novelty toasters is coming out based on popular geek franchises. I’d love some Gremlins toast. Shock Till You Drop

A little Watchmen with your coffee in the morning?

• Finally, an infographic about writing that makes perfect sense. Editing versus Proofreading: which revision process reigns supreme? Bit Rebels
• This spoilerific claymation version of The Raid: Redemption is as gory as it is cat-filled. Fangoria

Finally, Rachel Gilmore got to make her Met debut two months ago when Kathleen Kim became ill the day of a The Tales of Hoffman performance. With only a few hours to prepare, she knocked “The Doll Song” out of the park. This is how you perform under pressure.

• Guillermo del Toro adds co-directing a stop motion Pinocchio to his unending list of products in development. Cinema Blend
• The long-gestating Chaplin musical is finally coming to Broadway this fall. Slow and steady wins the race? I hope so. Broadway World
• Shock Till You Drop has a huge write-up of visiting the set of ParaNorman. I’m seething with jealousy. I want to visit the set of a stop motion horror movie for kids. Shock Till You Drop
• Hitchcock may have disliked actors, but he sure had a way with kids. A principal’s thank you letter to Alfred Hitchcock. Letters of Note
• The Monster Man himself, Cleve Hall, gives a candid interview. He doesn’t want to call you out for being terrible. He’s just obligated to do it for the fans, you see. Fangoria
• This makeup transformation for a horror movie promo in China is very impressive. May Daily

Applying veins to a makeup