Barely Related: Community lives on, buy Laura Palmer's house
Light up the grills and pop open those cold cans – it's nerdy news time!
Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs.
Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
You can live in Laura Palmer's house, but should you?
We're just thinking about your sanity here. The house shared by Sarah, Leland and Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks is for sale for $549,950, in Everett, Washington. It's four bedrooms, one-and-a-half baths, 4,104 sqft, built in 1930, and full of murder. That last part isn't on the listing – in fact, the listing doesn't include any mention of Twin Peaks or the Palmers – but it's probably a safe description.
Bonus: Much of the house has been updated since the show, but Laura's wicker rocking chair is still there.
Community season six picked up by Yahoo
Yep, Yahoo. Community is back on track to its famed promise of six seasons and a movie, with the sixth season to debut on Yahoo Screen this fall. The cast includes creator Dan Harmon and actors Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong. At a PaleyFest panel in March, Harmon said he'd try to get Donald Glover, the actor who plays Troy Barnes, back on the show if and when a sixth season happened – Glover exited a few episodes into season five.
"I am very pleased that Community will be returning for its predestined sixth season on Yahoo," Harmon said in a statement. "I look forward to bringing our beloved NBC sitcom to a larger audience by moving it online. I vow to dominate our new competition. Rest easy, Big Bang Theory. Look out, BangBus!"
Yahoo can't confirm a movie at the moment, but season six is a sure thing. McHale comments on the whole deal: "Thank you, Sony. Thank you, Yahoo. Thank you, Dan Harmon. And thank you to the greatest f%$#ing fans in the history of the human race. It's the internet. We can swear now."
A heart-stopping teaser for Doctor Who series eight
Luckily, the good Doctor has two hearts. Still, all of these trailers for Doctor Who series eight give off a seriously dark, creepy vibe. The new season of Doctor Who debuts on August 23 in the UK and US.
In other delicious Doctor Who news, series seven is now streaming on Netflix! Go, go, go!
Take a stroll through South Park on Oculus Rift
Production team Tool created a 3D romp through South Park's 2D, cardboard-style world for this year's Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, using Unity and Oculus Rift. A video (not in standard Oculus double-vision) shows a first-person view of wandering the South Park streets. You can download the South Park experience for Oculus Rift at the bottom of Tool's website.
Tool offers a surprise and a hint for would-be South Park denizens: "As an exciting Easter egg for the experience and another way to push the limits of the Oculus Rift, we created an additional scene in Unity and allowed users to 'fall' to their doom by walking through the South Park church doors and into a tunnel to hell. (Hint: Find Saddam Hussein next to Satan, bump into him and he'll take you back to South Park)."
You can't spell "freedom" without "fireworks"
Or something like that. It's freedom day in the US, meaning it's time to hop in a pool, salute our veterans and watch some pretty lights explode in the night sky. To find out just how fireworks work, we turn to Reactions, a YouTube channel from the American Chemical Society that explains the chemistry in everyday life.
Today in "Did you know?" – barium makes green fireworks, sodium silicate and calcium nitrate makes yellow-orange, copper oxide makes blue and strontium chloride makes red.
A reminder from The Oatmeal on this most explosive of days
To all celebrating the 4th of July, Happy Scare The Crap Out Of Your Dog Day! Also, take this advice from Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal comic: "On a serious note, be sure to check on your pets today. Animal shelters see huge spikes in the number of runaways dogs & cats on the 4th."
[Images: Estately, Sony Pictures Television, The Oatmeal]
