10 Things You'll See in Almost Every Tim Burton Movie [Daily 10]

10 Things You'll See in Almost Every Tim Burton Movie [Daily 10]:
We all know that Tim Burton loves pancake white makeup, black eyes, spirals and stripes — but those are not the only things he loves to feature over and over again!
You'll see the same handful of characters, plot devices, and even facial expressions over and over again, throughout Tim Burton's films. We've rounded up some common Tim Burton tropes and sorted them into categories, for your next drinking game.
Here are 10 things that turn up in almost every Tim Burton movie.

10) The Pudgy Weasel

Never trust a smiling face with a bit of weight in a Burton movie.

Otho - Beetlejuice

Beadle - Sweeney Todd

Limbo - Planet of the Apes

Tweedledee / Tweedledum - Alice in Wonderland

Augustus Gloop - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Francis Buxton - Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Finis Everglot - The Corpse Bride

The Penguin - Batman Returns

9) The Flashback

What better way to explain your character's pain, than with a flashback!

Emily sings about her nasty death - The Corpse Bride

Ichabod Crane dreams of his busty mother's death - Sleepy Hollow

Willy Wonka has hilarious flashbacks to his sad candy-free past - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The entire movie Big Fish is one flashback after the other

Sweeney Todd remembers his flaxen-haired family before they were taken away from him - Sweeney Todd

Bruce Wayne dreams of his parents - Batman

Alice remembers her Wonderland past and the Hatter his Wonderland war - Alice in Wonderland

8) The Same Actors

Burton loves to dip from the same well all the time. While some actors (Winona Ryder) have appeared in two or three Burton movies, these guys pop up over, and over again.

Johnny Depp

Helena Bonham-Carter

Christopher Lee

Jeffrey Jones

7) The Monster

The thing that goes bump in the night. Hardly ever the main character or real menace, these monsters are built to threaten, propel or set boundaries for Burton's cast. But each one is pretty spectacular.

Oogie Boogie - The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Headless Horseman - Sleepy Hollow

Sand Worm - Beetlejuice

Jabberwocky - Alice In Wonderland

6) The Impossibly Kind Parent Figure

Someone needs a hug! The Burton world is stuffed with insanely wonderful parent figures. That's not to say all the other parents are bad, but for each absentee father or neurotic artist, there's usually one elderly character ready to pick up the pieces and tuck you into a soft waterbed.

The Inventor - Edward Scissorhands

Peg/Bill - Edward Scissorhands

Barbara/Adam - Beetlejuice

Karubi - Planet of the Apes

Alfred - Batman/ Batman Returns

Elder Gutknecht - Corpse Bride

Grandpa Joe (really the whole Bucket family) - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

5) The Witch

Whether misunderstood or just no good, Burton loves to throw in a sassy witch to stir the pot. Each one of these ladies is an intimidating creature on their own. With great powers that they use to get what they want.

Angelique Bouchard - Dark Shadows

Lady Van Tassel - Sleepy Hollow

The Witch - Big Fish

Mrs. Lovett - Sweeney Todd

The Red Queen - Alice in Wonderland

Catwoman - Batman Returns

4) Nightmare Face

Horrific, bug-eyed scare jumps that make the audience jump out of their chairs. You never actually get to see Michael Keaton's "nightmare face" in Beetlejuice, but there are plenty more to pick from in that movie.

Large Marge - Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Max Shreck's Kiss with Catwoman - Batman Returns

The bug-eyed witch in the woods - Sleepy Hollow

Barbara rips off her face! - Beetlejuice

The horrific Smilex transformation in Batman, which is also the name of the toothpaste company Charlie's father works for in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

3) The Punky Rebellious Young Lady

The misunderstood ladies trapped in a world of their own. These rebels are often the voice of reason in Burton's mad, mad world.

Lydia Deetz - Beetlejuice

Ari - Planet of the Apes

Carolyn Stoddard - Dark Shadows

Alice - Alice in Wonderland

Sally - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Emily - Corpse Bride

2) The Blonde Ingenue

The other side of the lady coin in Burton's world. This director's obsession with the innocent, blonde ingenue is so strong he's be-wigged countless brunettes to get that perfect bleached from all sins look. In fact Dark Shadows might be the first Burton movie where the innocent love interest isn't blonde (Corpse Bride doesn't count, since Victoria's hair was some sort of light grey).

Sandra Bloom - Big Fish

Katrina Van Tassel - Sleepy Hollow

Kim - Edward Scissorhands

Johanna - Sweeney Todd

Vicki Vale - Batman

Daena - Planet of the Apes

The White Queen - Alice In Wonderland

1) The Skittish Outcast

Burton has built his entire career on the twitchy outcast.

Edward Scissorhands - Edward Scissorhands

Beetlejuice & Lydia - Beetlejuice

Pee Wee - Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Mad Hatter - Alice in Wonderland

Ichabod Crane - Sleepy Hollow

Willy Wonka - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Ed Wood - Ed Wood

Sweeney Todd - Sweeney Todd

Barnabas Collins - Dark Shadows

Ubisoft Files Against Author’s “Frivolous” Lawsuit

Ubisoft Files Against Author’s “Frivolous” Lawsuit:

I can only assume I Inceptioned the idea into Ubisoft’s collective head. Yesterday, reporting on the news that John Beiswenger had dropped his daft lawsuit against Ubisoft, I contacted the publisher to ask if they were now going to respond to the extreme allegations of illegal activity made against them by Beiswenger’s lawyer. Despite the promise of a statement in return, nothing came, and yet today via Gamasutra they’ve announced they’re filing a complaint against the eccentric author. I think I’ll email Ubisoft asking them if they’re planning to drop all their stupid DRM forever more, and see what appears elsewhere tomorrow! Anyway, the news is, they’re filing a complaint against the eccentric author whose lawyer made such extreme allegations of illegal activity against them.
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Joss Whedon explains why he had to do unspeakable things to one character in The Avengers [Joss Whedon]

Joss Whedon explains why he had to do unspeakable things to one character in The Avengers [Joss Whedon]:
Now that most of the planet has seen The Avengers, we're going to freely talk about one of the more tragic aspects of Joss Whedon's movie. So if you wish to remain spoiler free stop reading here!
Spoilers ahead...
We've already analyzed why Whedon always kills the characters we love most — but now we want specifics. What made him want to kill Agent Coulson off? And wasn't he worried that killing off this beloved agent, the "character-killer" stigma would stick to him worse than ever?
At the junket for The Avengers we asked Whedon, and he responded that is just simply had to be done... and totally wasn't his idea.
Are you worried about perpetuating the "Joss Whedon kills your favorite character" stigma, with what you did to Agent Coulson in The Avengers?
Joss Whedon: In our first meeting Kevin Feige said, this is what we're gonna do and I said, "Oh but you have to go out there and tell everybody that it was your idea because this is going to get me so much shit. Because they are all going to be like, "Oh he did it again!" It was stipulated from the beginning, and I completely agree that it was the right thing to do, and so did Clark. Who said in the early days, when I was busy apologizing for it, "In a movie like this, with what's going on if there isn't some toll, it's just irresponsible story telling."
Full disclosure: Disney paid for io9's travel and expenses at this press junket.

Dark Souls PC will use Steamworks

Wow. Didn't expect that.
Dark Souls PC will use Steamworks:
The delight of learning that the challenging sinister RPG, Dark Souls would be coming to PC was tempered by the presence of Games for Windows Live, which still lingers, like that guy at the end of a long house party that just won’t leave. Wow, is that the time already, Games for Windows Live? It’s been so nice to see you again and all but I have some pressing not-being-around-you matters to attend to. Oh, you want a coffee? Well..
The Dark Souls community has discovered a good, direct solution to this problem. A petition, with 22,736 signatures. Harsh, but effective. It certainly seems to have done the trick. Eurogamer report that Dark Souls will use Steamworks, though retail versions will still be tied to GfWL.

Ah! That’ll be your taxi, Games for Windows Live. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon, next year, maybe. Or whenever. No, don’t worry, I’ll call you. Goodbye now.
Dark Souls will arrive on PC on August 24. It’ll have extra bosses, loot and a PvP mode. Check out these Dark Souls PC screenshots for an idea of how the port is shaping up.

Stellar Spacecrafting: StarForge

Stellar Spacecrafting: StarForge:

Edit: added info on the game’s ‘free to play’ model below.
This morning I received an email telling me that the first playable build of StarForge was available. It’s a free first-person game of blocks and building inspired by the usual suspects, Minecraft and Terraria…and Warcraft 3, Borderlands and Halo. Something a little different to what I expected then, so I figured I’d at least watch the video that came with the press pack. Six and a half minutes later I was wondering how to put my excitement into words. Thirty seconds after that I decided to forget words and just share the bloody video. Watch.
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Epic v. Silicon Knights: Jury finds for Epic on all counts

Hahahahahahahah. Anybody surprised?....Nope. Didn't think so.

Epic v. Silicon Knights: Jury finds for Epic on all counts: Tweet from Epic VP Mark Rein says it's over

An unapologetically reductionist cartoon about Australian wildlife [Webcomics]

An unapologetically reductionist cartoon about Australian wildlife [Webcomics]:
In case you're unaware, Australia bears the mildly unfair reputation as a continent brimming with freaky fauna. And as artist Katie Lisk explains of this webcomic, "My boyfriend has decided he wants to move to Australia. I decided to make some scientific depictions of what life there would be like." The stonefish in the mailbox absolutely kills me (figuratively).
[Pokketmowse's DeviantArt via Metafilter]

Pinky: Doom 3 Gets “BFG Edition”, Mounted Flashlight

Pinky: Doom 3 Gets “BFG Edition”, Mounted Flashlight:


Bethesda send word that they’re re-releasing Doom 3, with a few changes. It’ll release with Doom 3 itself and expansion Resurrection of Evil, but there will be seven new levels – constituting “The Lost Mission” – and the feature we were all crying out for the first time around: the “armour-mounted flashlight.” Now you’ll be able to illuminate stuff and shoot at the same time!
BFG Edition will arrive in the Autumn. Trailer below.

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Quite The Thing: Dead Space Teases “New Chapter”

Quite The Thing: Dead Space Teases “New Chapter”:

I love how kitschy pulp sci-fi some aspects of Dead Space are. Sure, its exterior may be grimdark and gore-spattered, but this (fairly impressive) digital comic focuses around “Earthgov” and a planet called “Uxor.” That, to my mind, is admirably silly. Granted, that’s hardly the only influence poking through Visceral’s exosuited sleeve here. An overbearingly icy planet? Parasitic monsters crawling from every crevice? A poor, fleshy human struggling to come to grips with it all? A new main character whose name, John Carver, sounds suspiciously similar to John Carpenter? Yeah. I’m thinking the words “Wow, Dead Space 3 is quite the thing” will soon take on a whole new meaning.
Granted, while Dead Space 3 hasn’t had its official reveal yet, this comic sure aligns well with the limb-severing barrage of recent rumors. Also, it’s apparently “just the start of John Carver’s saga in the Dead Space Universe.” So jump past the break and watch as this post’s flesh bubbles and bursts, revealing a grotesque trailer creature not of this world.
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Wild Things Still Roam: Among The Sleep

Wild Things Still Roam: Among The Sleep:

What contains stealth, scares, a rather unique first-person perspective and surreal dreamscapes colliding with recognisable realities? The answer is Among the Sleep, in development at Krillbite Studio in Norway. It could be the most interesting horror game of next year. Here’s why:

Among The Sleep invites you into the mind and body of a two year old child. After being put to bed one evening, mysterious things start to happen.

The trailer below, spotted at Edge, is also why.
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