io9: gears

Gears Of War Trilogy A Bloodier Lord of the Rings?

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:00:00 PST

Turns out the Gears of War movie is actually a trilogy that's "basically a harder-edged Lord of the Rings," says director Len Wiseman. Now I'm envisioning Hobbits with chainsaw bayonettes — and it's beautiful.

I'm not really sure what LOTR and GOW have in common, but I'm totally OK with Wiseman planning a trilogy for the video game movie adaptation. In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Wiseman revealed that he didn't want just one movie adaptation of this amazing Locust Horde-murdering video game but three. And thank goodness, it's going to be more science fiction than straight-up horror:

"It’s going to be much more [on the] science fiction side of it than the creature side of it. I’ve always been much more of a sci-fi action fan than a horror fan,” he reveals also explaining that he wants the scope of the film to be told over the course of three films! “The hope is that we're wanting to do three movies, and really cover the bases on everything. Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings.”

Fan freaking tastic — come to think of it, the Hobbits would have been a bit more badass if they had used chainsaws. Just think of it, they'd be cutting everyone off at the knees. The story of Gears Of War is a solid science fiction tale: a rag tag military unit is the planet's last hope to defeat an mutant race living underneath the crust. As the game moves forward, so does your knowledge of the Locust Horde, and your love for Marcus Fenix grows.

But the problem with Gears Of War is, who's going to be Marcus Fenix? Who can fill in the shoes of this great leader who swims in worm blood? Who? I thought Vin Diesel but he's too shiny and pretty. We need someone really roughed up, does Mickey Rourke have a younger, equally tragic, brother?

Read the rest of the interview at Bloody Disgusting, and let's all hope that Len Wiseman does it justice.

Clockporn Tour for Retro Futurist Gearheads

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:23:20 PDT

Does it get you all wound up when you look at gears and measurement devices on giant, old machines? That's a perfectly normal reaction — we all feel a little awe in the face of machines whose precision and beauty has nothing to do with the digital. And the Long Now Foundation is celebrating those machines in the San Francisco Bay Area with a special "Mechanicrawl" tour this Saturday. A couple of weeks ago, Wired got a sneak peek at the tour route, which includes touring a 1940s warship whose sophisticated torpedo targeting computer (pictured) is all analog. Check out more clockporn below.

Here you can see a few of the beautiful gears powering the Long Now Foundation's Orrery, a device that measures the location of six planets relative to the sun. These gears are modeled partly on Charles Babbage's second Difference Engine. Want to see more? Go on the Mechanicrawl, or look at more of Wired's cool photographs in their gallery. Photographs by Jim Merithew for Wired.

Mechanical Marvels Hide in Plain Sight [Wired]

The Insect Brain of a New Analytical Computer

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:20:21 PST

Mike Libby uses the carapaces of real insects to create tiny, mechanical works of art. They look like they could be part of a new insect-driven A.I. Not only does Libby's work adorn a new anthology of speculative writing from Tachyon Press called The New Weird, but he has upcoming shows you can check out in Boston and Philly. A few more bugs (and one arachnid) lurk below.

These remind me of the clockwork insects in Guillermo Del Toro's movie Cronos. Libby works in a studio he calls "Insect Lab," and he describes it thusly:

Insect Lab is an artist studio that customizes real insects with antique watch parts and electronic components. Offering specimens that come in many shapes, sizes and colors; each insect is individually adorned, each is one of a kind and unique.

Insect Lab [Artist's Site]

The Tarnished Gears of Steampunk Microscopy

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:03:00 PST

Anne Bruce is a microscopy photographer who likes to put antique watches, gears, and gauges under her low-power microscope. She creates glowing, strange images of tarnished gears and fragments of watchfaces that look like giant, rusting dynamos and the remains of nineteenth-century factories. We've got a gallery of her haunting work after the jump.