Underwire Taking the Pulse of Pop Culture

Brave and the Bold Returns With Multiversal Batmans

Batman Brave and the Bold

After months of hibernation in the Bat-cave, Cartoon Network’s surreal animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold returns to brain-frying life Friday night with its mind on the multiversal money-shot.

Riding the same parallel-universe possibilities that energized recent films like Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and comics like Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis, Brave and the Bold’s latest episode, “The Super Batman of Planet X!,” upgrades France Herron’s 1958 story of the same name for a new millennium.

The continuity crossovers are a dizzying good time. Brave and the Bold’s Batman, voiced by Diedrich Bader, accidentally opens a wormhole (oops!) and lands on Herron’s planet Zurr En Arrh, only to find that his powers are more like Superman’s there (as seen in the video clip below).

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Retro Tron Intro Mimics ’60s Cool of Saul Bass

The original Tron title sequence gets reimagined, ’60s-style, in this flashy animated clip by Vimeo user Hexagonall.

“I love the simplicity and minimalism of Saul Bass,” who did animated intros for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and North by Northwest, writes Hexagonall. “I love the film Tron and I thought, ‘[What] if Saul Bass had done the opening title of the film?’”

The simple animation and the screaming horn lines in the accompanying audio make for a killer retro piece. (See a similar intro by Hexagonall for Lost below.)

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Playlist: Top-Shelf Tracks From SXSW Standouts

Oh No Ono

Danish band Oh No Ono's space rock lights up the mind.
Photo courtesy The Leaf Label

A team of Wired.com editors descended upon Austin, Texas, last week for the annual South by Southwest festival. A flurry of gadget fidgeting, film watching and music listening ensued — all that and a lot of barbecue, cocktails and Lone Star beer.

Michael Calore was one of those on the ground. In this special SXSW edition of the Playlist podcast, Calore picks five standout acts from the more than 2,000 bands and solo performers that played at the music, film and technology expo this year.

Playlist Podcast: Episode 22

Who: Capsula
Song: “Magnetic Brain”
Album: Rising Mountains
This trans-Atlantic trio originally hails from Argentina, but is now headquartered in Spain. Last year at SXSW, Capsula caught the ear of Rolling Stone magazine’s underground music guru David Fricke, and the band has been gaining steam since. Psychedelic grooves and noisy, undulating walls of feedback permeate this track from Capsula’s 2009 BCore release. The band’s live performances are equally chaotic: During Capsula’s SXSW set, front man Martin Guevara crawled about the stage, jumped from the drum riser and threw his guitar on top of a speaker, leaving it to do its thing while he frantically danced about the stage.

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Alt Text: How Will Nintendo 3DS Work? 5 Eye-Popping 3-D Theories

stereomario

Nintendo revealed few details when announcing the upcoming 3-D version of its DS gaming handheld, other than saying you won’t need special glasses to play. The company then winked coyly before disappearing behind a corner and blending into the crowd.

bug_altextWith so few particulars, I’m left to wonder how Nintendo is going to pull off this hardware coup. An eyewear-free platform is the holy grail of 3-D gaming, both in the sense that it’s unattained and highly sought-after, and in the sense that Jesus probably owned one.

Here are my best guesses about how the Nintendo 3DS might work.

Magic Eye Technology

The 3DS will actually be two plain old DS consoles, set about 6 inches apart. To play the game, you’ll have to sit back and unfocus your eyes, as with the old Magic Eye posters. This means that only about half of gamers will be able to see the 3-D images; the other half will merely get headaches after anywhere from two to eight seconds. As an added bonus, every game will come with an expert mode where you cross your eyes instead of unfocusing them, so everything looks inverted.

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SXSW: Byrne Doc Ride, Rise, Roar Burns With Strange Grace

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne performs with on-stage dancers in David Hillman Curtis' new concert film, <cite>Ride, Rise, Roar</cite>. Image courtesy of Hillmancurtis, LLC.

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne performs with onstage dancers in David Hillman Curtis' new concert film, Ride, Rise, Roar.

AUSTIN, Texas — Most of the time, David Byrne’s face is a mask of stoicism. He speaks in a scattered monotone. His smile can seem forced. He’s a thoughtful artist, a serious guy.

But there are moments in Ride, Rise, Roar, the new documentary by David Hillman Curtis that centers on Byrne, when the musician is obviously and sincerely overjoyed. They happen when he’s onstage performing. He’s bouncing on his feet, yelping and grinning from ear to ear.

CES 2010The movie chronicles the live shows Byrne and his band played to promote his 2008 collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. For the show, the band played a selection of songs from all of Eno and Byrne’s collaborations, including the Talking Heads albums More Songs About Buildings and Food, Remain in Light and Fear of Music. Their first Duo project, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, was skipped, at least in the film.

No stranger to theatrical bunting, Byrne added a troupe of three modern dancers to the onstage cast. The result isn’t a stuffy piece of hybrid dance/live-performance theater, but rather a rock show filled with great songs and some really bizarre, energetic and sexy dancing.

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Calling All Pill-Poppers! Who’s Your Alice?

With just north of a half-billion dollars tucked beneath its mad hat, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland continues to clown most iterations of Lewis Carroll’s famed narrative of sense and nonsense. But is it your favorite?

We already listed our five favorite Alice iterations, and offered up a free copy of Jonathan Miller’s stripped-down, satirical entry (at right) to one lucky commenter who shared theirs. The winner of that giveaway reached through the looking-glass to an esoteric, surreal Mickey Mouse short called “Through the Mirror.”

“I remember that we had it on a VHS tape at home,” wrote lnorthstar, “and as a child I thought it was sincerely creepy…. I think it was more of an experimental animation on [Disney's] part, and one of the more ‘grotesque’ that I’ve seen from Disney.”

That short can be found as a bonus feature on the DVD of Disney’s 1951 animated movie Alice in Wonderland, and also online.

Did Burton’s 3-D Alice leap-frog any of your favorites? Or do you remain partial to Miller’s cerebral iteration or the strange riffs from Jan Svankmayer, Tom Waits, Alan Moore and more? Trip down the rabbit hole to the comments section below and let us know your favorite Alice in Wonderland of all time.

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Photos: Inside Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

<em>Harry Potter</em> film stars Daniel Radcliffe (pictured), Rupert Grint and Emma Watson appear in exclusive footage shot for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the heart of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, e

Harry Potter film stars Daniel Radcliffe (pictured), Rupert Grint and Emma Watson appear in exclusive footage shot for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

A sun-baked replica of Hogwarts castle opens its doors to the public June 18 when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme-park attraction finally goes live in Florida.

Universal Orlando Resort on Thursday announced the long-awaited opening date for its J.K. Rowling-inspired theme park. The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride will be the centerpiece of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was originally slated for 2009 completion.

“This all-new adventure combines a powerful story line with spectacular new technology so effectively that guests will be completely immersed in the experience,” promises the press release. “And as they live their adventure, guests will feel things no one has ever felt inside a theme park attraction, move in ways no one has ever moved, experience film like no one else ever has, explore vast sets punctuated by amazing special effects — and have an adventure only possible in Harry Potter’s world.”

Other attractions include the Triwizard Tournament-inspired Dragon Challenge roller coaster, The Flight of the Hippogriff and re-creations of Hogsmeade and other Potter haunts.

See more images from the theme park world below.

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9 SXSW Bands That Blew Us Away Unexpectedly

Seeing standout bands like Dr. Dog makes South by Southwest worth the trip to Texas.

Seeing standout bands like Dr. Dog makes South by Southwest worth the annual trip to Austin, Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas — The best thing about the South by Southwest music festival is the nonstop blur of bands from around the world. Even with thousands of musicians converging on the so-called Live Music Capital of the World, it can be difficult to catch a truly transcendent show — if nothing else, the sheer volume of venues (and the sheer volume of the bands) can make it hard to navigate the sea of sound.

CES 2010Of the dozens of shows the Wired.com team caught while at the festival, which ended Sunday, these are the bands that made the strongest impressions. Some were on our short list of bands to check out; others came as total surprises. (Be sure to let us know which SXSW bands blew you away in the comments section below.)

Broken Social Scene

I didn’t believe the hype, but I should’ve. Like any good big-venue band, Broken Social Scene sets out to offer a transcendent concert experience, and succeeds. Band founder Kevin Drew is the ringleader of almost a dozen musicians, directing everyone throughout the set. At any given time there are three or four guitarists and vocalists onstage, plus keyboards and drums. Both the sonic space and stage tend to get crowded, but the Canadian band makes it work, miraculously, achieving a sound so big and beautiful you can’t help but feel your heart swell. The songs are fresh and unique, and catching a Broken Social Scene show is akin to attending some sort of musical church. –Keith Axline

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Exclusive: New Time Lord’s Take on Doctor Who




No one knows quite what to expect as Matt Smith steps into David Tennant’s shoes as Doctor Who’s new Time Lord. In the quick clip we’ve seen so far, Smith seems quirkier for sure — and he looks to be an enthusiastic traveler.

So what is Smith’s take on the Doctor’s psyche?

“I think the Doctor’s got a lot of blood on his hands,” says the new star of the long-running British sci-fi show in this exclusive video for Wired.com. Smith also tells why he thinks the good Doctor travels the universe.

The new 13-episode season of Doctor Who, with Stephen Moffat taking over as the show’s lead writer, will be shown on BBC One starting April 3 in Britain. It comes to BBC America on April 17.

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James Cameron Pegs Avatar DVD Release to Earth Day

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HOLLYWOOD — James Cameron is taking Avatar’s eco-friendly message seriously, announcing Tuesday that the sci-fi blockbuster’s DVD release will be pegged to the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

“I’m not trying to sell DVDs on the back of the hardship of the planet as much as I’m hoping that continued conversation surrounding Avatar and these issues will elevate consciousness and help us get the things done that need to get done,” said Cameron, pictured above.

Avatar on DVD and Blu-ray hits stores on Earth Day, April 22. <BR/>Image courtesy Fox.

Avatar on DVD and Blu-ray hits stores on Earth Day, April 22.
Image courtesy Fox

During a presentation at a Hollywood Hills mansion, Cameron and producing partner Jon Landau discussed hope that their 3-D epic — which became the highest-grossing movie of all time — would catalyze a fresh wave of eco-activism inspired by the film’s story about an alien planet whose gorgeous natural resources risk ruination by human business interests.

“So many different groups who deal with environmental issues and indigenous rights have been coming to us” since Avatar’s record-breaking release late last year, Cameron said. “They see Avatar as a kind of a focusing lens for all of these issues.”

The standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, which hit stores April 22, will include a code that allows consumers to sign up for the AVATAR program at the official Avatar website. There, fans can adopt one of the million trees that Earth Day Network plans to plant worldwide. Registrants will receive a virtual tag enabling them to locate on a map the spot where their tree is planted.

In November, Fox plans to put out an “Ulitimate” Avatar package including bonus features. But for now, Cameron wants to hype April’s movie-only disc to crank up awareness for Earth Day. “That’s kind of my mission now,” Cameron said.

Photo of James Cameron: Art Streiber/ Wired magazine

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