Awesome Leisure

To indulge in whiskey tastings without the need for a designated driver, Blind Barrels delivers these fun blind-tasting boxes to your door. Each box includes four 50 ml samples of hidden American whiskey gems and new craft distillery releases labeled A, B, C, and D so you can taste blindly to discover new favorites.

If you love showy smoke-infused cocktails but hate craft bar prices, do it yourself with a Cocktail Smoker Kit from Bark & Barware. The handsome wood gift box contains six wood chip flavors (like cherry, hickory, and maple), a torch (sans butane), four whiskey stones, a metal brush, and tongs.

Despite the name of Akiyuki’s latest LEGO Great Ball Contraption module, it doesn’t involve minifigures grinding on poles for tips. To transport balls from one end to the other, it carries them to an upper ramp using LEGO worm gears and hockey sticks. A ready-to-build kit is available from Build A Moc or you can buy just the instructions from Planet GBC.

This smooth but potent whiskey from Memphis, Tennessee distillery Blue Note has won back-to-back Double Gold awards in San Francisco’s World Spirits Competition. The easy-to-sip spirit is finished in toasted French oak barrels for a bold caramel flavor with vanilla undertones and a deep amber color.

Solo developer Dan Govier is promising both scale and detail in this ambitious sandbox game. He claims that he’s designing the spaceships as if they were real-world naval vessels, including having full wiring and plumbing. To top it off, the game is set in a 1:1 scale adaptation of the Milky Way, filled with other systems and life forms. A demo is out now on Steam.

To commemorate 2024’s total solar eclipse, Hopkinsville, Kentucky-based Casey Jones Distillery introduces four-grain Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon and releases a new batch of its Total Eclipse Moonshine, first created in 2017 when it was named the “Official Spirit of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse” on the Kentucky Senate floor.

Creep out your friends and family with NECA’s life-size replica of the Model 3 Generative Android robot from the hit horror flick, M3GAN. The freaky figure measures 55 inches tall and is based on film-used digital files for accuracy. Her clothes are made from the same fabric used in the movie, and she has an articulated armature and movable eyes.

Nico Fischer is an amazingly skilled parkour athlete. This clip shows Nico bouncing between two walls with such command that he looks like he’s defying gravity at times. He couldn’t decide if the moves were more Spider-Man or Prince of Persia, so his pal Aziz came up with a more appropriate superhero name, “Elevator-Man.” More wall-climbing antics here.

Janus Films presents a digitally restored 4K version of one of the most influential noir films of all time. Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 film Le Samouraï has it all: a cool and quiet hitman, austere cinematography, calculated actions over expository dialogue, and a head-scratching mystery. Premieres 4.5.24.

Flasutie shows off an insane toy gun that looks and works like an oversized revolver. It fires plastic projectiles using a high-voltage igniter and oxyhydrogen (HHO) gas as a propellant. Before building the main weapon, he made a single-barrel unit to test its firing system. Despite the TPU bullets being relatively soft, they could still leave a mark on unprotected skin.

Oldboy director Park Chan-wook teamed up with Robert Downey Jr. for this limited-run series about a spy who was planted in the South Vietnam army and later moved to the U.S., where he secretly reported back to the Viet Cong. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, it Stars Hoa Xuande as The Captain and premieres 4.14.24 on Max.

The residents of a rural town are powerless to stop the construction of a glamping site in their area. It may seem like a tragic but cliche tale of man destroying nature, but Evil Does Not Exist builds up to a different and equally disturbing observation. A quiet thriller from Drive My Car writer and director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Premieres 5.3.24.

If building a gaming PC is out of your budget at the moment, manifest that machine with this neat kit from LEGO knockoff brand Pantasy. The kit has a surprising amount of detail and distinct parts, including a motherboard, GPU, and storage drives. It even has an RGB light. Pantasy also has equally impressive 90s PC and 80s PC kits.

veridiz vz•tv put together a full-length recreation of Pink Floyd’s classic album Dark Side of the Moon using 8-bit synthesizer sounds. After a very monotonous start with Speak to Me, things kick into gear by the time they hit On the Run and Money. veridiz has also made chiptune covers of Another Brick in the Wall, Echoes, and The Final Cut.

(PG-13: Language) “Are you ever so horny you’re like, “I can figure out Palestine”?” Ramy Youssef had more to say after his 2019 standup special. Then everything happened. And is still happening. But the comedian went ahead with More Feelings anyway, giving us a bit of release while sharing the lose-lose situation of a celebrity trying to help out. Out now on Max.

Scott Sloan builds 1:6-scale digital pinball machines that are fully playable. The 3D-printed systems can play many games using Visual Pinball X and are powered by a GMK 5105 mini-computer. They have a 7″ playfield and a 5″ backglass display. Want one? Contact Scott on Facebook. Glen’s Retro Show has a demo video here. Images courtesy of Scott Sloan.

Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 drivers Max Verstappen and Checo Perez took on Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in a different kind of race. The teams headed to Hampton Beach in Melbourne, Australia, to see who would make the best lifeguard – or at least who could drive a Can-Am Commander side-by-side the quickest on the sand.

Over the years, we’ve seen all kinds of interesting vehicles built from LEGO bricks. Build It with Bricks made this LEGO Technic drift car, which moves around using a fan blade. Its propeller is driven by a powerful BuWizz motor module geared to maximize speed. An additional motor lets its driver steer the blade’s direction remotely.

Some of Conan O’Brien’s funniest shows were the ones where he traveled to different countries. On his new series, the comedian and talk show host visits fans around the planet and embarrasses them by defiling their local traditions. Along the way, Conan stops in Norway, Thailand, Ireland, and Argentina. It debuts 4.18.24 on Max.

These beautiful playing cards from Neversleep Co feature imagery of cats dressed in samurai armor. Each face card illustrates a different feline warrior, equipped with swords and other accessories surrounded by flourishes. The number cards have unique geometric patterns. Add-ons include poker chips, enamel pins, and a red deck as a stretch goal.

You don’t need to be Ranni’s lackey and trek all over The Lands Between to get your hands on this bad boy. Though you may need to farm for its cost and the shipping fee. Panda Studio’s officially licensed life-sized resin replica of the Dark Moon Greatsword from Elden Ring is a crazy 59″ long. Limited to 88 units.

Yolopark’s upcoming Transformers G1 action figures are way too good for their price. The AMK Pro Series Optimus Prime and Megatron action figures have sweet battle-damaged paint jobs on their metal and plastic parts. They’re both about 8″ tall and come with lighting effects, weapon accessories, and a display stand.

In 1987, Disney Imagineering teamed up with George Lucas to create Star Tours. The Star Wars-inspired thrill ride took passengers on a misdirected flight to Endor. While it’s not the same without the motion simulator, it’s still fun to see this digital remaster of the 70mm film that was created for the ride. A new version of the ride has more than 250 story variations.