Month: November 2008

television

Yo Joe!

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2009 is shaping up to known as “Year of the Joe” as there will be a new animated series titled GI Joe: Resolute, a full length live action blockbuster movie titled GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and a new Hasbro toy line of GI Joe figures. Sweet. I have kept my VCR in large part so I can watch the tapes I have of the 80’s cartoon (I have the first 100 episodes and the Cobra-La movie on seven tapes that I bought off of eBay about a decade ago). Yes, I love GI Joe that much.
Regarding the cartoon, esteemed comic writer Warren Ellis is penning the script for the new Joe series which will all of one hour long – there will be 10 five minute episodes and one 10 minute concluding episode of this dark adult themed “Ghost in the Shell” inspired cartoon. The bootleg trailer of Snake Eyes slicing open Cobra Soldiers is pretty bad ass but no one knows yet if it will be released as webisodes, TV episodes or straight to DVD and I frankly do not care.
Regarding the movie, while the fanboy universe is currently panning it, I have to say that the Snake Eyes costume looks, to reuse a phrase, pretty bad ass and I’m keeping my finders crossed. The Wikipedia entry reports that the film is an origin story set 10 years in the future, showing the rise of the Cobra Organization. The director Stephen Sommers said, “For people who know nothing about it, it’ll make sense. And to people who love this stuff, it’ll show where they all came from.”
Know you know all about the cool Joe stuff coming and remember, as Duke, Flint, Lady Jay and others always said, “Knowing is half the battle” The other half I suppose is actually watching these goodies when they debut.

tech

Can a sub be above and not just below?

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DARPA is asking for a Flying Submarine concept which technically should be called “a submersible aircraft, as an aircraft design can be pressurized and submerged far more easily than a heavy submarine could be made to fly.” I believe the word I’m looking for is cool.
Another cool tidbit is that this is post #700. While most people start a blog and stop posting after only a few entries, WGTCTIP2 is going to turn five this coming January. Onwards and upwards as we head to post #1000!

science

A Luminous Alien Landscape Fiber Optic Style

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I have no idea why I do not read io9 more often but that is about to change.
For instance, I know how that outside of Cornwall, England lighting designer Bruce Munro has placed his outdoor installation, “Field of Light.” Thousands of fiber optic cables topped with acrylic orbs illuminate the countryside, giving the impression that the field is populated with bioluminescent vegetation from another world. To sum it up in three words, I would call it just plain sick.

io9 is Gawker Media’s blog about all things Sci Fi and their manifesto says in part that,

“The problem is that science fiction doesn’t always seek out the strange new worlds it purports to be cruising for. That’s why we’re plagued by franchises like Star Trek and Superman that return, again and again, to the historical times in which they were born. Superman is still basically an old-fashioned, small-town white boy in an age more suited to postcolonial urban hero-mutants; and Star Trek is a prisoner of the Cold War, rehashing old conflicts and stereotypes.

io9 is from an uncharted region in futurist culture. Our idea of science fiction includes things like Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica TV series, the architecture of Frank Gehry, and the writing of Michael Chabon. These creators don’t cater to fanboys with trivia obsessions, and neither does io9.

Heady words but after checking out their last few posts, I have to say that I am seriously not spending nearly enough time on this site.

politics

Believe the Hype?

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I find it very odd that over the past year, my favorite NYT columnist has slowly become David Brooks (Sorry Paul, Thomas and Maureen).
The reason why Brooks has vaulted to the lead is because he consistent writes thoughtful and pragmatic columns which come from the central moderate point of view. Even though I post about a lot of liberal topics and care deeply about many liberal causes, at heart I am a moderate.
The most recent Brooks piece on Obama’s Cabinet appointments is an especially good read because it shows how Obama can unite Red and Blue America together. After reviewing a number of Obama’s specific appointments, he ends with:

“Believe me, I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now sweeping the coastal haute bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have been superb. The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left or would suffer self-inflicted wounds because of his inexperience. He’s off to a start that nearly justifies the hype.”

‘Nuff said.

humor

"Telling Cute Animals What's What" since October, 2008

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I checked out Fuck You, Penguin a blog where BZA “tells cute animals what’s what” about 15 minutes ago and still am smiling. Any place where I can read a post titled “Panda accomplices fully liable” which contains the copy below is a place for me.

“Attention people who have access to Pandas. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT KIND OF POWER YOU POSSESS. You are like a child that stumbles upon one of the rings from lord of the rings, only instead of a ring it is a FUCKING PANDA. Keep all pandas away from toys and other human objects like cars, hats, and exercise machines. If not, you will be held fully responsible for the damage they inflict.
Oh yeah, and fuck you, Panda.”

Love it. Happy Friday.
Via Ben

humor

Epic Fail

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“Epic Fail” is a term which is being used more and more these days. It can mean a number of different things but they are all sort of the same. For instance, it can symbolize the highest form of fail known to man or it can be used when something can be seen to be a total failure, like this dance routine below:

The site Failblog charts all of the fails out there and some of them are truly epic in scale. If you have any sense of schadenfreude in you, you’ll get a kick out of more than a few posts on this site.
For instance, you might get a kick out of the guy below who thought it would be a good idea to climb inside a balloon. Nothing says “Epic Fail!” more than that!

Via Chris and others

ramblings

Prefab Cabin Loveliness

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For the survivalist or minimalist in your family this holiday season, the MetroCabin a prefabricated livable 16 feet deep by 20 feet wide multi-use open plan space. It’s a livable getaway cabin, a studio, an extra room, a cabana, or a mountain retreat and starts at $32,500.
As the site says, “The simple and sophisticated design allows it to exist easily in an urban setting, while the quiet strength and sturdy attitude are comfortable in a more rugged environment.”
I haven’t been in one of these cabins myself but I have been in plenty of small studio apartments. At first blush, I would say that its a pretty fair comparison. Once you have the cabin, all you need is a small croft of land to plunk it down on and some plumbing to hook it up to the local water supply and you are all set.
Here are some pics below of the MetroCabin in situ:
Suburban setting:

Rustic setting:

Inside the MetroCabin:

Via Brian

politics

Election Hang Over Funny Business

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Its been about a week and a half since Obama won his electoral landslide. Some of the counting isn’t even done yet – Missouri is still outstanding. So many people, so many organizations, so many nations have commented on the election and said so many different things, it is at once expected and astounding and it has run the gamut from the serious to the silly.
I’ve been serious for so long, I’d like to focus on the silly. For instance, South Park provided a brilliant parody of the election twenty four hours after the event took place. It’s episode “The Greatest Thief Club in the World” perfectly sends up both our country and Ocean’s 11, 12, 13 and whatever else comes this way. Parker and Stone have reset the bar once again. A great con – a beautiful twist. Loved it.
I chuckled reading the short Onion article Black Man Was Given the Nation’s Worst Job. Here is half the article:

As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”

When you put it that way, being the President doesn’t sound too fun…
Another gem from the Onion comes from its video division. Its piece on how die hard Obama supporters are completely adrift was a little too close for comfort. I wonder how many of my posts over the past two years have mentioned Barack? Hmm. I almost don’t want to count.
The Daily Show has a good piece on the search for the First Dog. Lucky for me, when it came time to get a dog I sort of didn’t have a choice – a friend of the family had just had a Shih-Tzu litter and I was locked into a little Ewok.
Last but not least, here is the truth which just sounds like a joke: “A black man and a hard ass Jew walk into the Oval Office and…”

ramblings

Not Famous? Be Happy.

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After watching Posh Spice attempt to leave LAX I am deliriously happy I’m not famous. I mean, seriously. Is this the life you want to lead?

Yes, she could have traveled in a private jet at a smaller airport and avoided this LAX nonsense altogether but at some point, she has to enter the public space, like by going to a restaurant, and I’m sure the above would just happen then. I think the only way to avoid this type of craziness is by not being famous. Then again, being famous but ugly might work. So, I guess the question is then do you want to be beautiful and not famous or famous and ugly because beautiful and famous sucks donkey!