LEGO! Robot Hybrids! Weird Al! Portable Game Machines! And more!

That’s what we’ve got to kick off your week, with your Monday Daily Blast!

Movies

• At the top of the post: in time for the DVD/Blu-Ray release tomorrow, LEGO builder Ryan Ziegelbauer was commissioned to build a LEGO model of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. The above video shows how he did it.

• In a savvy move, Fox has assigned one of the writers for HBO’s Game of Thrones, Bryan Cogman to write the film adaptation of collectible card game Magic: The Gathering.

- Looks like Jon Chu (GI Joe: Retaliation) will direct Now You See Me 2. Is it too much to ask that he brings Dwayne Johnson to THIS franchise, as well?

- The Studio Ghibli documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness will receive a US release. This is a definite must see!

- Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) has completed the script for his next film, The Nice Guys. Word is, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are being courted to star. Me, I don’t care who’s in it. After Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I’m in for ANYTHING he does.

TV

• Hopefully better than the awful US movie version, Astro Boy is getting a new lease on life with the forthcoming Astro Boy Reboot series, a combined France/Monaco/Japan production.

- NBC is developing a TV mini-series event about The Beatles by the team behind The Tudors. Didn’t we say all we had to say with The Beatles Anthology, though?

- Heavy Metal and Weta Workshop are teaming up to bring Image Comics’ Rat Queens to the small screen as an animated series. The comic didn’t do much for me, but I know the series has a rabid fanbase who I’m sure will devour this news.

www.youtube.com/watch

• If he weren’t smug enough already on-screen, Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek now holds the Guinness World Record for “most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter.“

Gaming

• Luigi isn’t quite giving his death stare, but hey, the next McDonald’s Happy Meal toys are for Mario Kart 8!

• The open-source nature of Valve’s Steam Machine means we’ll see boxes of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Who wants the hand-held SteamBoy?

Tech

- Netflix has itself a fancy new logo and look. I kinda like it.

- Word is, this is a look at the iPhone 6, which will come in 2 sizes - a 4.7 inch screen and a 5.5 inch screen. What does it say about me that for my next iPad, I’m interested in the smaller model, but if true, I’m kinda into a bigger iPhone?

Toys

• Among its SDCC 2014 Exclusives, Mattel will be releasing the first ever Star Wars Hot Wheel, based off of Darth Vader!

• Titan Merchandise - they who made the blind-boxed Doctor Who figures - will be branching out a bit with their next line of vinyl collectible figures. Behold the Breaking Bad Heisenberg Collection! Yeah Bitch!

• This past weekend was the Tokyo Toy Show, and among the many Transformers showcased was this ridiculous (yet still awesome) Optimus Prime/EVA UNIT-01 hybrid.

- I love this custom LEGO Arcade Machine build by Andrew Lee.

Food

• In an odd colliding of worlds, looks like Ben & Jerry’s will be releasing some Saturday Night Live inspired flavors.

Music

• Look for a new album from “Weird” Al Yankovic - possibly his last - on July 15th.

Be back tomorrow with another installment of your…Daily Blast! Be sure to stick around here at Blast-O-Rama for any big breaking news!