Tag Archives: Mad

Entertainment

Mad Max: Fury Road’s iconic fleet of post-apocalyptic War Rigs are up for auction

Leave a comment

Over a dozen vehicles from the 2015 cult classic Mad Max: Fury Road are being put up for a virtual auction. The vehicles will be available for bidding in a series of auctions held by Lloyds on September 25th-26th.

Reading through the descriptions of each vehicle — and hats off to the auctioneers, they really did a commendable job describing each lot — really made me want to fire up George Miller’s blood-and-sand-drenched movie for another watch. WITNESS ME!

Blown, super-turbo charged and armed to the teeth with weaponry and War Boys, the machines that outran the end of civilisation have been unearthed in the greatest barn-find ever recorded.

Nitrous, noxious, and no-nonsense harbingers of hell, marking man’s uncanny ability to wring beauty even from that designed for death and destruction, art from power, meaning from machine.

Imagine going for a grocery run in the War Rig that was driven by Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky and Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa. Or picking up your kids from school in the Nux Wagon, the super-turbocharged, nitrous-boosted Deuce Coupe driven by Nicholas Hoult’s chrome-lipped true believer.

Personally, I may put in a bid for the Doof Wagon, the speaker-staked “morale machine” of Immortan Joe’s army of War Boys, intended to rally the troops and keep them pumped up for battle. As the film’s production designer said, “Every army needs a Little Drummer Boy.” Joe’s army had the Doof Warrior, a blind, bungee-attached psychopath who wielded a fire-breathing guitar.

(Unrelated to the auction, I was today years old when I learned that the Doof Warrior’s mask was made from the dried skin of his murdered mother’s screaming face, and now I probably won’t sleep for a week.)

If you live in Australia and need to inspect any of the vehicles before putting in a bid, an appointment can be made through Lloyds. The auction will also be livestreamed, so tune in if you want to see who gets what. No base prices have been set as of the publication of this article.

Here’s a full list of the available vehicles:

  1. The War Rig: Prime Mover Inc. tanker and ball pig-trailer
  2. The Gigahorse: W16 Cadillac pair
  3. The Doof Wagon
  4. Nux Car: 1932 three-window Chev Coupe, V8
  5. Convoy Car: Elvis
  6. Convoy Car: Jag Flamer
  7. Razor Cola: 1973 XB Falcon Coupe (The Interceptor reborn)
  8. Pole Car: Pontiac Surfari with 20’ pole counterweight
  9. Sabre Tooth: F250 Claw Car
  10. Fire Car: Dodge
  11. Caltrop: El Dorado
  12. Buggy: Ratrod Chev
  13. Buick: heavy artillery with Hummer weapon mount

Read original article here

World

Red Bull Still Mad About Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen Crash

Leave a comment

Photo: AP (AP)

There’s probably nothing left to say about the controversial coming together of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at this year’s British Grand Prix a week ago, but that doesn’t mean that Red Bull isn’t out here still saying things.

It was revealed Tuesday that Red Bull requested that the FIA review the incident, according to Formula1.com, with a conference set for Thursday on the matter in Budapest ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. It will be attended by Red Bull and Mercedes representatives as well as the stewards. Red Bull apparently has some kind of new evidence about the Verstappen’s crash, which occurred when Hamilton’s left-front tire touched Verstappen’s right rear, sending Verstappen spinning into the wall.

The FIA’s International Sporting Code permits a right to review if “a significant and relevant new element is discovered which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned”.

If Red Bull do not meet that criteria – and it is unknown at this time what they intend to present – the request will be rejected. Should the stewards feel it meets the criteria, the investigation will be reopened.

Formula1.com also says that the review was requested on Friday, the same day that Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner published a bitter letter on Red Bull’s website. Horner had this to say about the stewards in that letter:

The stewards themselves are, and always have been, a totally independent body and during the 16 and a half seasons I have been Team Principal, I have never walked into the stewards’ room in the middle of a race or session.

It was brought to my attention through the TV broadcast that Toto was going to see the stewards with information he had tried to email to Michael before they had ruled on a penalty. It is a little bit like trying to lobby a jury while they make their final verdict. The Stewards are locked away to ensure they are independent of external influence in order to reach their own conclusions.

So having heard that Toto was lobbying the stewards, I went up to see them and raised the point that neither of us should be there and it was not appropriate for anyone to interfere while the decision making process was underway. It is also detailed in the sporting code that this is not acceptable and I am now pleased to see that the FIA have clarified that this sort of lobbying will not be tolerated in the future as it may well pressure the stewards into a decision that is not wholly fair or impartial.

[…]

It is no secret that we felt at the time, and still feel, that Hamilton was given a light penalty for this type of incident

G/O Media may get a commission

Horner said that the crash cost Red Bull $1.8 million, an amount that, “has massive ramifications in the budget cap era,” which is probably true. Still, every time Red Bull talks about the crash, it makes me more and more certain that Verstappen had some culpability; it would probably be best for everyone just to move on. Now, that won’t be happening till Thursday at the earliest. I hope that the crash has exactly zero ramifications on who wins the title, as otherwise we may never stop hearing about it.

Read original article here

Technology

Smash Player Scores Mad Disrespectful Steve Minecraft Kill

Leave a comment

Last night, a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competitor styled on his opponent so hard that the entire venue lost their minds.

Mega Smash Mondays is a weekly Super Smash Bros. event held in La Mirada, California that, after moving online due to the covid-19 pandemic, recently returned to in-person competition. Whether that’s a smart move remains to be seen, what with rising infection numbers and concerns over new variants, although I guess you’re never going to get a moment like this over netplay.

But I digress. A few rounds into the 256-player tournament, local competitors RockMan and Marvelous Marco found themselves tied up heading into the third and final round of their set.

RockMan, using Steve Minecraft rather than his namesake, took a commanding lead thanks to his smart building strategies. Marvelous Marco was on the ropes as the match came to a close, giving RockMan just enough time to not just eliminate his opponent for good with a well-timed Smash attack, but construct a giant “F” on the battlefield beforehand.

G/O Media may get a commission

Naturally, everyone went nuts.

Using the letter “F” to denote someone’s failure or humiliation has been popular in gaming culture since the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2014. While a critical and financial success, the first-person shooter was also widely lambasted for its unintentionally hilarious “Press F to Pay Respects” prompt, which boiled down a poignant scene to a simple quick-time event.

Since then, the meme has expanded to dropping an “F” in the comments of a video or live stream chat when something embarrassing happens, sometimes at the request of the uploader or streamer themselves as a show of solidarity. Leave it to the internet to turn a single letter into a meme with layers and layers of meaning.

Shortly after this amazing display of disrespectful block-building prowess, RockMan himself would be eliminated from Mega Smash Mondays, tying for a respectable 17th in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate bracket. That said, he should definitely win some sort of consolation prize for providing one of the craziest moments of the night.

Read original article here