Awesome Leisure

A trailer for a new Beetlejuice and a new Beverly Hills Cop movie on the same day? It must be the 1980s again! We’re hoping Eddie Murphy and his co-stars can capture more of what made the first movie so great. Look for a blend of comedy and action as Axel F returns to the West Coast to save his daughter with the help of a new partner and some old friends.

We’ve seen Beetlejuice about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every time we see it! The long-awaited sequel to Tim Burton’s macabre masterpiece re-releases Michael Keaton’s evil genie from his model. Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara are back and joined by Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Arthur Conti, and Willem Dafoe.

WeArtDoing’s Liquid Modernity Series distorts iconic pop culture characters as if they were made of a viscous fluid. Their Dark Lord and Soldier sculptures are take-offs on Darth Vader and the Empire’s Stormtroopers. The resin figures come in two sizes and various color schemes, our favorite being the sparkly Dark Lord Nebula and Liquid Silver Soldier.

This custom build from Brick Machines combines two of our favorite pastimes – LEGO and candy. Built primarily from LEGO Technic and Mindstorms parts, the tabletop factory includes a mechanical candy hopper, an optical color sorter, a conveyor belt, color-matched lights, and an elevator to keep the sweet treats flowing in an endless loop.

This long-nosed NERF blaster uses a pump-action mechanism to fire five soft gel rounds at a time. Its hopper holds up to 800 rounds, which you saturate with water so they burst when they hit a target. No batteries are required, and you don’t have to worry about electronics getting wet. Includes 10,000 NERF Pro Gelfire rounds plus eye protection.

Add to your collection of amber-colored Ultem gear with this unique fidget toy from Pacific Sons. The durable, lightweight polymer is wrapped around a metal ring with bumps on it, providing a delightful tactile experience as you turn it with your thumb.

Camp-Zero’s rugged rotomolded cooler holds 10 liters – or up to a dozen cans. Thick insulation provides excellent ice retention, and its lid has two built-in cup/can holders. An aluminum handle has a padded handle for comfort. It comes in a wide variety of colors, and they sell larger coolers up to 110-liters.

Jordan McLaughlin’s Rookie Mage Games created this adult party game inspired by classic horror movies. Designed for 3 to 5 players, it turns one person into the killer and the others their victims. Can you and your friends escape almost certain doom, or will the murderer win out? Start playing it now so you’re in practice by next Halloween.

Henry Behal’s captivating documentary short 26,000 Days introduces us to stunt pilot Eric Tucker, who describes the things that keep him going in his thrilling and dangerous pursuits, and what it’s like to intentionally cut his engine mid-flight. Among its highlights is an incredible 95 seconds of chase footage captured by cinematographer and drone pilot Alex Vanover.

We bet you’ve never heard a song by The Smiths like this. Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Ashley Campbell took Johnny Marr and Morrissey’s gloom-and-doom-filled 1986 track There Is a Light That Never Goes Out and gave it new life as something that could have been one of Marty Robbins’ old gunfighter ballads.

James Beard Award-winning mixologist Toby Maloney and the bartenders of Chicago’s The Violet Hour created this 320-page guide to the fundamentals of cocktail making. You’ll learn about balancing ingredients, getting the right textures, aromas, and temperatures, then advance to making your own concoctions.

The second single from Empire of the Sun’s new album Music on the Radio is as good as nu-disco gets. The Aussie duo describes the smooth and groovy track as “a love song to the underground, to celebrate all the underdogs of music and how everything can lift you up and take you to great places.” We couldn’t agree more.

Released in 1980, the Best Mecha Collection 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam was the first ever Gunpla. It was, of course, based on the simple art of the original anime. For Gundam’s 45th anniversary, Bandai came up with an updated version of the model kit. It will have pre-colored parts, better articulation, and a snap-fit assembly. It drops Q4 2024 for around $7.

This coffee table book from author and video game expert Mike Diver and Numskull delves into the brief but wonderful history of electronic table-top games. The book features pristine photography and information about sixty such games from the 1970s and 1980s, each designed to bring the video arcade experience to your home. Ships 7.2024.

George Lucas once said that the Star Wars movies were “designed as silent movies.” His approach was to let music and visuals drive the story. Danny Boyd from CinemaStix explores this concept and whether watching the films without dialogue makes them even more powerful. If you ask us, it’s John Williams’ masterful scores that truly elevated the franchise.

LEGO walks into Mordor with this incredible model of Barad-dûr, the Dark Fortress of Sauron. The 5471-piece set (#10333) measures 35.2″ tall and is packed with details like a dungeon and throne room, topped off with a rotating and light-up Eye of Sauron. It comes with 10 minifigures, including Frodo, Sam, Gollum, Gothmog, an Orc, Sauron, and Mouth of Sauron.