The Pop-Culture E-Zine
There is no shortage of awesome and talented artists in this world. The latest artist to capture our attention is Johan Karlgren, aka: Pappas Pärlor.
Johan’s creations are unique as they are refashioned framed art pieces injected with very clever pop culture themes and franchises, including popular Star Wars and video gaming characters.
Check out all Johan’s art works here. Here are our favourites:
source: Pappas Pärlor
Graphic artist Mauri Helme has quite amusingly created 3D animations of classic Atari 2600 video games, including Pitfall, River Raid, Frostbite, Keystone Kapers and the infamous E.T.
Imagine playing these on your trusty old Atari VCS/2600 😉
source: Mauri Helme
story source: laughingsquid
French Street artist, In The Woup have shared their awesome pixel art mosaics of Super Mario cosplaying as different characters as part of their MARIO WORLDZ project – how darn cute are they??!!
If you are lucky to be wandering around Lyon (France), Villeurbanne (France) or Korčula (Croatia), then be on the lookout for the Italian plumber cosplaying as your fave pop culture characters!
Just in case you aren’t in France or Croatia right now, here are a few of our favourites. Check out the rest here!
image source: In The Woup
There are some images that need to be shared for their informative awesomeness, and this NEO•GEO games infographic is one that definitely fits that bill.
Created and shared by Ange Albertini of the Corkami Reverse Engineering and Visual Documentation github repository, this image speaks to us loud and clear! We love the fact that in one image, we can see the timeline of all the games that were released for SNK’s mighty NEO GEO.
To get a sense of this amazing graphic creation, please click on the image below to see it in its native resolution!
Oz Comic-Con gets back to the grassroots of pop culture with the launch of community-based OCC POP UP shows
In a year that relegated fans to virtual conventions, the team behind Oz Comic-Con are thrilled to announce the launch of their first LIVE event of 2021. OCC POP UP is a community-based event
showcasing the local pop-culture scene and is set to hit Sydney Showground on March 6th and 7th. We can assure you that masking up has never felt this good.
Since its Australian launch back in 2012, Oz Comic-Con has secured a permanent place within the hearts of fans across the country through its ongoing support of the local community. Although things may seem a little different this time around, OCC POP UP will encompass everything we have come to love and know over the years.
With a jam-packed schedule full of workshops and activities, attendees can expect appearances from local creators, comic artists, gaming and freeplay opportunities, industry talks and panels and exclusive merchandise that can’t be found anywhere else. Some of the highlights include:
Confirmed guests for the OCC POP UP include Queenie Chan (The Dreaming, Fabled Kingdom), Christopher Sequeria (Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook, The SuperAustralians ), Louie Joyce (Haphaven, Past the Last Mountain ), and JusZ Cosplay, with more announcements yet to come.
A first-of-its-kind event in Australia, OCC POP UP is truly an event for the whole family no matter what fandom you belong to. For more information about the event, guest announcements, and to purchase tickets, please go here.
EVENT DETAILS:
TICKET INFO:
Tickets to OCC POP UP will be sold in sessions with a limited amount of full day tickets available for each day. In full compliance with government guidelines and regulations, session times will allow for crowd management in a controlled environment. For more information about ticketing and general information regarding OCC’s COVID guidelines, please visit the Oz Comic-Con site.
Well, well, well, wonders never cease to amaze us! If you are yearning for your stuff to look more like they did in the mid 80s, then this Commodore 64C beige spray paint is for you!
The clever peeps at Retrohax are behind this nostalgia inducing spray paint, so if you want to get all artistic and go nuts on painting stuff all beige, then hit their store (~the spray paint is approx. AU$36.25).
Oh yeah, with this ongoing COVID-19 situation, spray paints are flight restricted items so they won’t get past the origin border, so unless you are situated in Poland, you may have to wait a bit to get some.
Just in case the C64C beige paint isn’t your thing, Retrohax also has Amiga 500 Beige and Atari XE/ST Grey spray paints to ensure you get creative! Now, if only they had a C64 breadbin brown spray paint 😉
image source: Retrohax
Whoa, the team at Retro Bones have been busy tinkering on VergeWorld: Icarus, a new sci-fi racer shoot’em up game (with exploration elements) for the Amiga, Atari and Mega Drive!
What is VergeWorld you ask? Far into the future, on a distant and inhospitable planet, mankind engages in one thing it knows well – war. The tyrannical corporate regime wants to enslave all inhabitants of the Kingdom – humanity’s new home. As a young smuggler, Nix, aboard the aircraft Icarus, you want to help the oppressed by joining the Revolt.
Download the Amiga demo to prove your worth by completing the infamous Death Run challenge and convince the Revolt to accept you as one of them!
image source: Retro Bones
We got quite giddy when we came across John Henderson’s tweet depicting his bitmap creation of Palace Software’s Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior as C64 Barbarian He-Man Edition.
To say we hope this coding continues to fully recreate the ultimate slash’em up game on the C64, is an understatement! I have the POWER!
[image and story source: John Henderson via Twitter]
Let’s start by saying we don’t condone illegal graffiti. However, when graffiti is welcomed as street art and makes a societal impact, we definitely take note.
The /r/Graffiti Reddit thread is one place that is full of great graffiti, some topical with recent events, and some tugging on our nostalgic heartstrings.
Here are a few that caught our eye, even the freight train carriage with the three-button NES controller! Check out the rest on Reddit.
image source: reddit – /r/Graffiti
The very first game we bought when we got our Neo Geo MVS arcade machine was Metal Slug. That was quite a while ago, and we must admit, we have the series on pretty much every format – the games are that darn good!
Once we had heard that Bitmap Books was going to publish a book on this brilliant gaming franchise, our interests were obviously piqued. Upon receiving Metal Slug: The Ultimate History from Pixel Crib, we noticed this thing was heavy, which is a good thing when it comes to these kinds of publications.
If you have read any of our previous Bitmap Books book reviews, you’ll know what to expect from this published work of art – it oozes quality and quantity. When you hold a Bitmap Books tome in your hands, we guarantee you’ll be smiling from start to finish. Sam Dyer and his amazing team have done a wonderful job in bringing us a fully licensed art book on the Metal Slug series.
With unprecedented access to SNK‘s vast archives, this book contains some of the best high-resolution artwork (including concept artwork) and illustrations, with some being made publicly available for the very first time. Even though it is primarily an art book celebrating Metal Slug, this tome also contains eleven exclusive and detailed interviews with key members of the development team, including Kazuma Kujo, Takushi Hiyamuta, Andoh Kenji and Takeshi Okui, the latter two of which have never spoken about the series previously. These insightful discussions bust myths and reveal the real truth behind the creation and evolution of this esteemed franchise, extensively covering the formation of Nazca and the truth behind Metal Slug Zero – the version of Metal Slug when you only controlled the SV-001 tank. The book also dives into and explores the roots of Metal Slug, looking at Irem titles In the Hunt and GunForce II and how these arcade cult classics influenced what was to come later. This page turner is definitely a must for any fan of the Metal Slug series, and if you are into art, then this book is for you too.
Since Christmas is around the corner, we reckon the Metal Slug: The Ultimate History book would look pretty good under that Christmas tree.
The important bits:
Disclosure: Metal Slug: The Ultimate History book was provided by Pixel Crib for this review.