Grand Theft Auto: Westeros

Have you ever wondered what "Game of Thrones" would be like if it took place in the 80's/90's?

Well, if you haven't, artist Mike Wrobel has, and his art is a crazy look into a neon-hued Westeros clad in oversized-clothing. You have to check it out here and here.

Things That Make Us Feel Old: The OC Edition

Do you know it's been TEN YEARS since The OC premiered???

We could turn this into an incredibly long-winded nostalgia post, but if we started, we probably wouldn't be able to stop. Those astute cultural references! Those height-of-early-2000's-fashion choices (remember, Marissa had Uggs before anyone did)! Seth's favourite bands becoming our favourite bands! THE ACTING!

Entertainment Weekly has the scoop on what our favourite Californians have been up to since 2003.

We might also marathon Season 1 in the near future and see how a decade has treated the show. In the meantime, let these dulcet tones sweep you away to a simpler time...

Oh My God!

Holy crap! We're so sorry it's been so long! Exciting life things do tend to get in the way of blogging, but we promise to try and make it up to you.

So much has happened, though, that we feel the need to acknowledge a couple of pop culture-related items (in no particular order) so you know we haven't totally slipped:

• All hail Prince George! (But we actually we mean this Prince George. Oh, Canadian humour!) Hopefully the little one will inherit his mother's shining head of hair and not his namesake's speech impediment. Fingers crossed...
• Angry, horny Kanye = love from Pitchfork
• Mad Men, what exactly was this last season? We're still puzzled.
• Catching Fire trailer omg Katniss + Peeta 4-eva11!!

More to come from us in the days to come. Until then:

Song of the Summer

Thought "Blurred Lines" couldn't get any sexier?

You thought wrong.

Happy Father's Day, Don Draper

As a special treat for Father's Day, Vulture has given us The Mad Men Guide to Being a Father. It includes this little gem (spoiler alert):

Do leave the back door to your apartment unlocked at all times. That way if a random woman who calls herself Grandma Ida shows up, she can just walk right in while your kids are alone and unsupervised, then make a nice plate of scrambled eggs before she steals a bunch of your stuff. Remember: A nutritious breakfast is important for young bodies, even when it’s served late at night by a home invader.

A father like Don, however, begets a daughter like Sally, who most definitely has some issues of her own. Like what, you ask? Well, let's ask a qualified mental health professional. Actually. This guy is a real psychiatrist who spends his spare time analyzing the problems of television characters. But what the hell, why not? At least it's not fanfiction.

Things That Make Us Feel Old: MuchMusic VJ Edition

Remember when you'd come straight home from school and turn on MuchMusic immediately, because you know that's what all your friends were doing too?

And then you'd go to school the next day and rehash The Countdown minute by minute, and be like "Did you see that Jennifer Lopez is a singer now? I bet that video cost like a hundred thousand dollars. And that's probably not even including that BRAND NEW iMac she threw into the swimming pool..."

(1999, people. 1999.)

In a similar vein, the first MuchMusic Video Awards were held in 2002, and were hosted by the two best VJs MuchMusic ever had: George Stroumboulopoulos and Bradford How (if you disagree, COME AT US.)

Perusing the above wikipedia entry got us to thinking: what are all those former MuchMusic VJs doing these days? You know, now that music television is no longer the cultural zeitgeist it once was...

Luckily for us, omg at Yahoo wondered the same thing. Click on over and reminisce with us!

We Wish This Was Real!

We were going to make a post about Mad Men and our thoughts on the season so far, but then Mocha saw this awesome recut and knew it needed a post unto itself:

Seriously, just watch this. Isn't it crazy what some creative recutting of dialogue/scenes can do? We'd love to see crazy unhinged Pete Campbell go after the equally deranged and unstable Don Draper. And when you add that ridiculously epic "Inception" soundtrack to the mix, things get real (even though this whole thing, technically, is not. Boom.)

It gives us the creepies, but in a good way. Awesome!

Sigils For All!

It feels like sigil-mania right now on the internet in the wake of the Game of Thrones Season 3 premiere. Seriously, every time we open one of our favorite websites, someone has done a sigil version of something, to the nerdy delight of all.

Soccer blog The Fifth Pitch has taken the six of the makor Premier League football clubs and given them their own GOT-style sigils, complete with mottos, their in-universe counterparts, and the reasoning behind the choices. Naturally, we favour Liverpool:

The Fifth Pitch sees them as akin to House Targaryen, with the motto being "a playful attempt to make fun of Liverpool's obsession with their history (and subsequently their claim to success.)" Far enough, guys, but we have this to say in response:

And there is no arguing with Captain Fantastic.

Be sure to click here and see what The Fifth Pitch make of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs, and Manchester City. They get into the real nitty gritty of both the GOT universe and the football world to explain their choices, and we have the hugest internet crush on them right now.

But football not your thing? We got you. How about some custom sigils for Google, Wikipedia, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, just to name a few?

As far as the GOT series itself, Latte has dived right into it and has watched the first few eps of Season 1. Mocha doesn't know whether to read the books first or watch the show, but she's probably going to end up watching the show.

And for the record, we'll probably start calling ourselves "House Halfie" in a few weeks. Need to think of a motto, though...

Your favorite TV shows, 1995 style

Youtube user goestoeleven is burning up the internet right now with a couple of amazing videos. He explains it best:

"In an alternate universe, The Walking Dead aired in 1995. Here's the intro."

And here's his interpretation of Breaking Bad as a network family drama:

These two videos have even inspired other users to create the same kind of thing. Check out this awesome intro for a mid-90's Game of Thrones (spoilers!):

For us, it's the details that make these videos so great. That squiggly/warped lines that move down the screen, the weird colour "halos" that form around some outlines, the fonts... all of it takes us right back. Not to mention finding the perfect moments to take out of context and give them a whole new meaning (best example: Walter and the rooftop pizza.)

"Nostalgia-fying" current media is definitely going to turn into A Thing, so keep checking back here for the latest and greatest updates!

Ready for Mad Men Season 6?

Well folks, a new season of Mad Men is about to grace our television screens. Are you ready? Perhaps. But is the internet ready? Perhaps not.

This is the promo poster for Season 6, released just the other day:

We think the Onion A.V. club sums up the internet frenzy it caused with the following article:

"It's time to look at the new Mad Men poster and pretend we know what's going to happen."

But before we let ourselves get carried away with wild speculation, take a minute to just check out that poster. Pretty sweet art, right? Get this: the artist who drew it, Brian Sanders, is 75 years old, and he was working right in the thick of the advertising industry in the 1960's. He was even a fan of Mad Men before he was approached to do the art, because it took him "right back" to his early days as an illustrator. The proof?

 "I almost wanted to reach for a cigarette, and I haven’t had one for 30-odd years.”

That's authenticity for you!

Best of 'The Walking Dead' Memes

The second half of the third season of "The Walking Dead" begins tomorrow, amid news showrunner Glen Mazzara is getting the hell out of Dodge and ditching the series due to "creative differences" with producer Robert Kirkman (ugh).  This isn't the first time a showrunner's left the show--series creator Frank Darabont left after the first season. His exit was soon followed by actors James DeMunn (Dale) and Jon Bernthal (RIP Team Shane!). While TWD has never shied away from killing off main characters, the constant drama behind the scenes has led to wildly inconsistent seasons, with some major highs (the first half of season three) and some big lows (the first half of season two).

What has been consistent are the amazing memes generated after each episode. Fans of TWD are passionate and not afraid to call out some of its questionable choices, such as the apparent unwritten rule that there can only be one major black male character at a time, and the writing/casting of Carl. These memes sum up the best and worst of the TWD. In honor of its imminent return to your Sunday nights, we present our Top 10:

1. The Evolution of Sheriff Rick

2. Team Daryl, FTW!

3. Sounds about right.

4. Wish We Were Cameras

5. It's all in the details.

6. Dearly Departed Dale

7. Because Carl is THE WORST. Still.

8. Like a Boss.

9. T-Dog, We Hardly Knew Ye. Really. You had absolutely no character development whatsoever.

10. Two memes for the price of one. And because, again, CARL IS THE WORST.