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I made this. From an idea by my friend Wes Stitt. Kind of a hack job on GIMP, the Linux freeware Photoshop, but I'm pretty proud of it. The number in the corner is the year the original Doctor Who serial The Tomb of the Cybermen debuted.
Check out this awesome R2-D2 beanie Wendi made for me! I love it so much I've been wearing it around the house even when there's no one here to see it.
We knew there was a foundry on Long Island called Gratz Industries, but we didn't know they were famous for making Pilates equipment* until our friend Sarah Mlynowski snapped this pic with her camera phone. Awesome! We applaud industrious Gratzes of all ilks.
*And is it me, or do Pilates machines look like torture devices!?
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I've been saving this box from a little toy I bought at a Tokyo Swallows baseball game during my visit to Japan in the spring for a little while now, because I've been meaning to blog it. The toy was just a little plastic brick guy in a baseball uniform, but the box turned out to be something special. All along the top there (half-hidden by a sticker) and along the sides are...advice? Life lessons? Philosophical musings? Social commentary? I'm not quite sure. Whatever it is, the author certainly has a lot to say on the matter.
I present the text here in the hopes that you, dear readers, can discern some truth or meaning from them. From the front of the box:
Everyone is playing himself or herself, in spite of he or she is conscious it or not. People cannot stop the play because their ideas are strongly affected by international information that is brought by TV and Newspapers, and they are conscious themselves by social bonds, although they may believe that they are making decisions by themselves first, then they take actions, but these are strongly affected.
The daily life that does not have any changes is passing with unexpected fine balances.
Everything that people is feeling by their five senses is in their inside. They cannot show them to other people as they are.
And from the side:
The imperfection is becoming a motivation to cope with social environment. However suppose people could love others only to the level that they can compromise. You should take more interested in yourself. What really am I?
What really am I indeed? A toy box that has given us a lot to think about for sure.
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In honor of Jo's favorite new expression (and when I find the person who taught it to her, I'm not going to let him be her dad anymore!) here's a funny as hell collection of prints where the only thing the people can really say is...WTF?
Anybody remember the Ellery Queen TV series? It only ran for one season--1975-1976--which is astounding because it was so much fun. I watched these in reruns at some point, but I still haven't seen them in years. Now they're finally available on DVD!
Ellery Queen was a lot of fun. Developed by Levinson and Link, the minds behind Columbo and, later, Murder, She Wrote, the episodes followed amateur detective Ellery Queen of short story fame as he stepped in to help his father, Detective Queen, solve the oddest of odd mysteries. The series broke the fourth wall by setting the scene in narration, having murder victims sit and talk to the camera, and then allowing Ellery, when everything had been laid out, to turn to the audience and say, "Have you figured it out yet? You've got all the clues you need!" The murders are clean and cozy too, making this one to share with the whole family.
Ellery Queen also stars a host of great actors from back in the day. In addition to regulars Jim Hutton (father of Timothy Hutton, who would go on to play a TV detective himself: Archie Goodwin!) and David Wayne, who plays his father, the series features Tony Hillerman as a recurring radio detective character, George Burns, Eve Arden, Rudy Vallee, Ray Milland, Don Ameche, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Mel Ferrer, Kim Hunter, Joan Collins, Ray Walston, Tom Bosley, Betty White, Robbert Loggia, Rene Auberjonois, Jim Backus, Larry Hagman, June Lockhart, John Larroquette, Eva Gabor, Dean Stockwell, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Ed McMahon, Dick Van Patten, Tricia O'Neil, Cesar Romero, Dick Sargent, Diana Muldaur, Noah Beery Jr., Troy Donahue, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Victor Buono, and Eddie Albert--just to name a few
Why did this show ever get canceled?* Sheesh. Ah well, to the Netflix queue!
* Well, this might have something to do with it: according to Wikipedia, Jim Hutton died four years later in 1979 from liver cancer. What a loss.
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AMC theaters are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future with two days of shows around the country. The nearest show for us looks like Charlotte, which is two and a half hours away, or else I'd take Jo to see it on the big screen. Here's the list of cities and theaters, in case yours is on there.
There's that word again; "heavy". Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?
After Adam Savage tweeted merrily that he was on his way to the White House, word finally comes as to why: President Obama will be appearing on an episode of Mythbusters this December!
According to reports, the move is part of a Presidential initiative to promote science and math. Speaking before a group of young science fair winners, Obama said that sports team winners traditionally got invitations to the White House, but winners of math and science prizes did not.
"I thought we ought to do the same thing for the winners of science fairs and robotic contests and math competitions," he told the group. "Often, we don't give these victories the attention that they deserve. When you win first place at a science fair, nobody's rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head."
According to the President, American 15-year-olds are ranked 21st in science and 25th in math when compared to students the same age in other countries around the world. He'd like to see American kids at number one in both fields by the end of the decade.
On Mythbusters, the President will challenge Adam, Jamie, and the rest of the gang to prove once and for all whether Archimedes' Death Ray was possible--a myth they've busted twice before. I wish they were doing something else, but perhaps the boys have a new take on it. According to a spokesperson for the show, a re-test of the myth is always high on the list of viewer requests.
Obama's biggest regret about the episode, which has already been taped: "I didn't get to blow anything up. I was a little frustrated by that."
Round three of the DragonCon 2010 pics! We begin with a really great McGonagall and Snape.
Samurai Jack and Aku as a female assassin.
Jo insisted we get this one: James from Pokemon's Team Rocket!
A great Lucious Malfoy and Mad-eye Moody. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
Can I do this caption without saying "you damn, dirty ape"? No, apparently not.
A really terrific Bossk. He was a winner in the Masquerade too, I think.
Gandalf the White and Gandalf the Grey, together again for the first time. :-)
You can always trust that someone will show up with a Flying Spaghetti Monster costume. This year as we were driving home up 85 out of Atlanta, we saw this costume stuffed into the
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Check out this new Japanese vending machine. Instead of the old plastic bottles on display with push buttons for the choices, it has a 47-inch touch panel display. Customers can use the panel to zoom in on products and read more information about them too.
When people come near the vending machine, sensors detect age and sex with a reported 75% accuracy, and the machine makes recommendations based on those factors as well as the season, time of day, and temperature. When no one is near it, it cycles through different full-screen advertisements, including the one in the video that has big, blinking eyes and says, "I'm thirsty!"
The first of its kind, the "Smart Vending Machine" has been installed in Tokyo's Shinagawa Station.
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Wow! @barryholdblatt and @curiousmartha tweeted this image this morning. I went digging to see who the artist was and I found out IT'S AVAILABLE ON A T-SHIRT! want want want want want. . .
I'm looking forward to seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which is based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's fun graphic novel series in which otherwise dopey Scott Pilgrim must defeat his girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to date her. For those curious about how faithful the movie remains to the comic, check out this fan-generated recut of the movie trailer, using scans from the graphic novel to stand in for scenes in the movie. It's amazing that pretty much the entire trailer came, shot for shot, from the graphic novel. I have high hopes for the film!
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Here's a great free short story by Neil Gaiman on Tor.com: "I, Cthulhu." Gaiman describes it as fan fiction he wrote when he was 22 years old, which is both really impressive and really demoralizing, as at 22 he was already better than I am now. Ah well, enjoy!
San Diego Comic Con happened last weekend, and once again, I wasn't there. (Boo.) Tons of tons of fanboys and fangirls were though, as were a few idiot protesters there to tell all the revelers they were going to hell and that God hates them:
Word had gotten around that these jokers would be protesting though, and the Comic Con faithful responded in overwhelming numbers, forming a mob of their own to protest the protesters!
I love the total randomness of the signs and costumes, a real testament to the way the various fandoms all come together to revel in their respective geekeries at events like this and DragonCon, our annual geek-family pilgrimage.
Jesus, letting everyone know the real deal.
And yeah, seriously, how the #?*! do they work!?
Read more (and see more pics) at Comics Alliance. Rock on, geek nation.
Time to put some of those Japanese toys on display!
I came back from Japan with a few toys. (Ahem.)
Just a few more than would fit in the case I wanted to put them in.
I got a lot of them in there though, and I love the look of it! I still need one more toy to fit in there next to the pink-haired girl with the spear. I'm sure I'll acquire something soon enough...
While I had the drill out, I put up a case for toys that had been hanging out on my bookshelves. That's Cal Ripken, Barry Larkin, and Tim Gunn on top--all world-class shortstops. (Sort of.) My old Star Trek phaser and tricorder also finally found a good home.
Look at us with the videos all of a sudden! This one comes via the Nerdist blog, and features a cute little AT-AT at play. Enjoy it while I pack for Arkansas--I'll be there tomorrow for the So Many Books, So Little Time Literary Lab in Searcy.
Here's a GREAT post that takes four revolutionary modern devices--cell phones, MP3 players, handheld video game systems, and laptop computers--and imagines transporting them back to the 1970s to introduce them thirty years early to reap huge financial rewards. The 70s redesigns are fantastic, but the best part is the faux retro magazine ads they make up for the products.
The ad copy is fantastic:
"So the next time you're looking for a way to bring your tunes with you on the go, remember two things: nothing beats the Pocket Hi-Fi, and our company definitely wasn't started by by rogue time travelers from 33 years in the future. Like, at all."
The Pocket Hi-Fi's tag line: Like a party in your pocket. But not in a weird way.
Via Boing Boing, the Ewok celebration song with lyrics so you can sing along! Nyub nyub!
When I was in high school, my friend Tommy Green and I used to play one part of Return of the Jedi over and over again, because it sounded like the Ewoks were saying, "Hurrry. I'm horny."
By: Alan Gratz,
on 2/14/2013
