Awesome Leisure

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.

The Journey track Don’t Stop Believin’ made its mark on the pop charts, as a baseball team anthem, and playing on the jukebox in the final moments of The Sopranos. Now, hear it like you’ve never heard it before. Musician Frank Tedesco switched it up and played the melody in a minor key, which always makes things darker and more dramatic.

DJ Cummerbund’s latest musical mashup pays tribute to three musical greats and a wrestling legend. The tune is a delicious bouillabaisse of sounds from Wham!, Amy Winehouse, ZZ Top, and Blink-182, resulting in the most upbeat song ever about a heavy subject. Bonus points to TonyZed68, the YouTube commenter who called her Amy Whamhouse.

This fun DIY kit from Robotime’s ROKR line lets you build a hypnotic wood and plastic marble run. It includes a motorized elevator to bring balls to the top of the track, and lots of twists, turns, ramps, and a high-speed spiral. Bundle it with the Night City marble track for a even larger display.

It’s been a while since we saw the early concept for Squirrel with a Gun. The finished game is almost here, and it’s just as deranged as the title sounds. The sandbox shooter lets players use their squirrel’s jumping and climbing abilities while wielding firearms to shake down the neighborhood for treats. Coming to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 Fall 2024.

This cool retro LEGO kit is based on the design of a 1970s portable AM/FM radio. The 906-piece kit has working power and tuning dials, a movable antenna, and a carrying handle. It includes a Sound Brick with fun vintage radio sounds, and you can place your smartphone behind its speaker grille to listen to your own tunes. Drops 6.1.2024.

If you spent any time on the Web in the early 2000s, you surely encountered some of those over-the-top song covers performed by Crazy Frog. Musician Luca Stricagnoli classes up the joint with a fingerstyle acoustic guitar medley of the Frog’s Eurodance remakes of Axel F, Popcorn, and Blue.

Prior to this video, the fastest recorded flight speed for a battery-R/C drone was 224 mph. Luke Bell and his dad, Mike, built a custom drone that set a new Guinness World Record of 298.47 mph and an unofficial top speed of 317 mph. But the feat wasn’t without its challenges, including multiple battery fires. Stick around til the end for some cinematic shots.

These playful playing cards from magician Bao Hoang’s company BAOBAO Restaurant are the perfect deck for sushi lovers. The box art is designed to look like a bento box full of sushi, while each card is decorated with artwork inspired by delicious Japanese meals – and the royal court is chowing down. Choose from salmon or tuna nigiri card backs.

LEGO adds another awesome kit to its NASA collection with this Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV) model inspired by the one carried by Apollo 17. The 1913-piece Technic set is packed with details, including three mini equipment sets based on experiments the LRV toted on the moon. The finished rover measures 5.5″ H x 15″ L x 10″ W and folds up like the real thing.

No sensible human has asked for a peanut butter-flavored tequila, but here it is: Chica-Chida, a peanut butter and espadin agave spirit. Co-creator/Barstool Sports personality Caleb Presley calls it “peanut butter, butt better.” Puns aside, it pairs well with PB&J sammies and uses allergen-free peanut butter extract, so no-butty gets hurt.

Intent on breaking the world record for the longest ski jump, Ryōyū Kobayashi and his team realized there was no ski jump long enough to make it happen. So they flew to Iceland and carved a massive ramp into a snowy mountain, enabling the Olympic medallist and FIS World Cup Champion to fly 291 m (954.7 ft) and stay airborne for 10 seconds.

The Daft Punk hit Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger owes its funktastic sound to Edwin Birdsong’s Cola Bottle Baby. Instead of using samples, Josh Plotner performed the groovy dance track on soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophones. A robot was still involved – in the form of a drum machine.

“You will no longer be beloved celebrities. You will be wrathful gods.” Homelander grows even more powerful within Vought and decides that he and The Seven are done playing nice. Meanwhile, Butcher thinks he’s found a hell of a weapon. But if you watched Gen V, you’ll probably be as conflicted as The Boys are about it. Season 4 premieres 6.13.24 on Prime Video.

While it’s not as well-made as something by a luthier, Bernth’s homebrew harp guitar has more strings than we’ve ever seen on a string instrument. He cobbled it together from several smaller instruments and tuned them all differently to perform his track I’ll Still Miss You. We’re impressed that he can remember how all of the notes are arranged.

Masked Marble used thousands of GraviTrax parts to create this incredible 6.5-foot-tall, 9-foot-long model of Notre Dame that incorporates multiple marble runs. Before getting to the big build, he assembled a few off-the-shelf models of the iconic Parisian cathedral and built marble tracks through them.

In 2016, freeskier Jesper Tjäder performed a crazy stunt: He skied a rail grind through a loop-de-loop. Now, he’s back to attempt a similar stunt. This time, the top of the loop is missing, so he has to jump from one side of the loop to the other while upside-down. Here’s a different perspective of the trick, captured from beneath the loop.

Postmodern Jukebox dusted off The Romantics’ 1980 hit What I Like About You and sent it even further back in the time machine. Their fresh interpretation gives the pop hit a 1960s sound, straight out of Motown, and clearly inspired by The Way You Do the Things You Do. That’s singer Tia Simone belting out the soulful vocals.

Tools: A Visual Exploration of Implements and Devices in the Workshop is a wondrous guidebook filled with stories and explanations of 118 different kinds of tools. Author Theodore Gray and photographer Nick Mann teamed up to create the 256-page hardcover edition, which includes a pull-out Periodic Table of Tools poster.

Geeki Tikis makes all kinds of wonderful tiki mugs inspired by pop culture. Their Star Wars collection is quite extensive and includes this awesome ceramic mug that looks like a TIE fighter. It holds up to 24 oz. of your favorite Star Wars cocktail. They also make a Death Star tiki mug for tipsy fly-bys.

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited passion project drops us into a city on the brink of disaster. It follows the story of an idealist named Caesar (Adam Driver), who, flouting authority, hopes to rebuild the once-great metropolis as a sustainable utopia. This first look teaser sees Driver standing precariously on a ledge overlooking a stylized New York City.

Previously a limited offer, tool maker Woodpeckers’ MT Center Gauge is now permanently in stock. This centering and doweling jig makes it easy to find and mark the center of wood boards by using stainless steel marking bars instead of dowels. There are variants that have marking bars with imperial or metric measurements and a deluxe set with all bars included.