It’s Saturday, which means it’s time to pack up our NFTent and get away from it all for a day or two. But will we be able to see the wood for the trees? Let’s find out…
Anthony Hopkins Launches Eternal NFT Collection
Movie legend Anthony Hopkins this week launched his first NFT series, dubbed the Eternal Collection, in association with Orange Comet, a Web3 creative studio startup. Hopkins is known to be a fan of Web 3.0 and bought his own Ethereum domain, AHopkins.eth, in June before tapping up other NFT fans such as Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon to ask their advice on his first NFT purchases.
Hopkins told an online press conference that NFTs are “a blank canvas to create art in a new format,” and added that the metaverse “offers an incredible opportunity to connect with an audience in an entirely different way”.
The two-time Oscar winner added that “I’m probably the oldest guy in the NFT community and on social media, which proves all is possible at any age.”
Legend.
Orange Comet is thrilled and honored to announce our collaboration with the great @anthonyhopkins
Presenting: Anthony Hopkins: The Eternal NFT Collectionhttps://t.co/KyKsr49Oj2 pic.twitter.com/xaPCY0qIHD— Orange Comet (@OrangeCometNFT) August 17, 2022
Bored Apes Come Under Scrutiny Again
The dark symbolism that some argue underpins the Bored Ape Yacht Club this week took on a new dimension when hacking group Anonymous announced that it was investigating the collection to see if any of the claims were valid.
The hacking group, not known for its investigative journalism, has taken the lead of conceptual artist and BAYC critic Ryder Ripps, who this week also doubled down on his claims in his legal battle with Yuga Labs, who accuse him of infringing their copyright with his own collection of similar-looking digital simians.
Critics say that BAYC collection is made up of elements relating to Nazism, racism and peadophilia among other ills, which Yuga Labs denies. Anonymous said it will publish its findings and let the public decide, which is an odd move for the hacking group.
Netflix Promotes The Gray Man in the Metaverse
Netflix has taken to the metaverse to promote its new film, The Gray Man. The Ryan Gosling vehicle, which launched this month, has been advertised in all the usual quarters, but Netflix has chosen to dip its toe into the metaverse in the first such example of Web 3.0 promotion.
Netflix didn’t do things by halves either, creating an entire metaverse experience in Decentraland to promote the project. The streaming platform partnered with digital-first advertising agency Media.Monks to create the experience, with The Electronic Factory developing and designing a The Gray Man game inside Decentraland. The game sees players navigate a 3D maze while answering trivia questions about the film. If they correctly guess all the answers they are entered into a draw to win an NFT.
Netflix’s experimentation with the metaverse is a great first step for the new technology, and hopefully we will see it become more mainstream over time.
