giantrobotsix

090909

2009-09-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today is brought to you by the number nine. Here are some useless facts about today, but please exercise caution with that article. DO NOT be "that guy" and paste it into an email, make each paragraph a different font/color, and send to everyone in the office. Because no one likes that crap. Knock it off already. I'm just sayin'.

G.I. Joe - The Complete Set.

2009-09-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of posts in the queue back from when I was slammed at work, and this is one of them. Digitalbits announced the G.I. Joe Complete Set (there's also a website set-up specifically for the set). I am stoked, and I really want to buy this, even though I have copies that "fell off a truck" and I've only watched a couple of discs at most. But I dig the packaging and it looks like they've added a lot of extras to make it worth it. It is kind of steep though ($145), but you do get a flash drive dog-tag and rub-on tattoos, which is pretty awesome.

At some point, I will might write a review of the recent G.I. Joe movie (yes, I saw it). Yo Joe!

Crash Course.

2009-08-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, I guess I've never talked on this blog about one of my favorite shows; Wipeout!, but, unless you live under a rock, you should know by now that it is the awesomeness. Well, last night ABC premiered Crash Course, and after one episode, it is my favorite new show. And ABC really didn't do a great job of promoting it; the only reason I watched it was because it was after a new episode of Wipeout!, no wonder it earned only average ratings.

They take teams of two people and they make them drive through courses or due stunts. The cars are all reinforced with roll-cages and they wear a ton of safety gear, but they can severely crash the car; in the first episode, one team managed to roll their car and end up on the roof. It is awesome.

Did I fail to mention that it's hosted by Dan Cortese and Orlando Jones? Because it is. I don't think that they add much to the show, I just think it's funny that both of their careers have winded up with them co-hosting a show like this.

You can watch the first episode here.

Papa Johns Camaro.

2009-08-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Really cool story about the Papa Johns Camaro. I had noticed lately in a couple of commercials that he drives a Camaro, but apparently that was one that he had built to replicate the one he had when he was a teenager. It must be nice to be able to offer $250,000 to find an old car. But I guess when you're the CEO of a national pizza chain, you've got a lot of money that needs to get spent.

The funny thing is that Papa John's is offering a free large one-topping pizza to Camaro owners. I have a 1967 Camaro, but it is at my Mom's house and the battery probably needs to be charged. So that's a lot of work for a free pizza.

It's stories like this that make me glad that I never sold my Camaro, which I've had since I was 19. I first learned that lesson from my Dad. In 1997, my he was lucky to find the 1966 El Camino that he bought brand new in '66. He saw it rolling down the street with a for sale sign and immediately jumped in a car, tracked the guy down and bought it. He was the first owner in '66 but had to sell in the '70s when he and my Mom were starting a family. Before he bought it back, he told me that he really regretted selling it. In forty-three years, it has had three owners and has stayed in the same five block radius, which I think is pretty awesome.

Blogging.

2009-08-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

Does anyone read or write blogs anymore? I'm kind of more into Facebook. It seems like a lot of people aren't actively reading blogs and most of the blogs I used to read are updated so sporadically I've just stopped reading them. I have pretty much done the same thing as well (sporadic updates), except that I don't have a huge following, so no one really cares. I probably have about 20 posts in the queue, but they're mainly just links pasted into a new post, so I have to go back and remember why I thought they were noteworthy and then write something about it and possibly find art to go with them. That's a lot of work, and my job has ratcheted up the workload like 19 notches, so I don't have the free time I once did.

I guess I'll keep doing this, but I've just noticed a pretty big decline in the blogosphere.

Veer Summer Activity Book.

2009-08-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Veer just released their 2009 Summer Activity Book. In past years, these were mailed out and they were pretty awesome. While still pretty awesome, this year's offering is now only available as a pdf download. I guess in these troubling economic times, printing seasonal activity books are not that profitable.

The last couple of years are also available to download, all you have to do is scroll down on that page and they're all there. They are all pretty fun.

Machete.

2009-08-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yahoo announced that Robert Rodriguez has started filming on Machete. Remember that "preview" from Grindhouse? I am totally stoked about this news. When I saw Grindhouse, I walked out wanting to see Machete already. And the cast is ca-razy: Danny Trejo, Jeff Fahey and Cheech Marin are joined by, get this, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson and Lindsay Lohan.

Here's the preview from Grindhouse in case you forgot:

This is going to be the greatest movie ever made.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe

2009-08-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Featuring cameos by Henry Rollins, Billy Crudup, Chuck Liddell, and Sgt. Slaughter:

Caring is Creepy.

2009-07-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

I stumbled up on this article about how a girl searched Facebook for her name, and found a dude with the exact same name and now they are getting married. Creepy. How are they even going to answer their phone after they get married? That is just one question out of about 9 million that I have. This is way too weird.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

2009-07-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

So I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Sunday. I gotta say, it was pretty "meh".

None of the movies in the series have really blown me away, they're kind of formulaic and they all pretty much end the same. But they are mildly entertaining, except for this one. It just seemed like there wasn't a whole lot going on. And then when the big "event" happened at the end, I think I sat there and said, "Ok, so, THAT happened". I think it was the length, it was a solid two hours and twenty minutes; about two hours of which, stuff happened, but nothing really happened. So by the time it did get to the end, I was pretty much just ready to leave. It seemed like a two hour and twenty minute set-up for the last book, which will be divided into two movies. All I have to say is, these last two movies better be action packed to make up for the last two snooze-fests.

::I guess this is a spoiler:: The one very annoying thing is that the bad dude (Voldemort) never shows up in the movie. Basically, his only appearance is as a cloud. Totally lame. So that means he hasn't made a significant appearance since the fourth movie/book. That's just totally lame in my opinion. I mean, we've gotta sit through a terribly long movie and then the main villain isn't even in it?

By the way, after it was over, some kid next to us said, and I quote, "Wow, that was QUICK". I looked over to him all wide-eyed. That movie was the opposite of quick.

In other events, I am going to attempt to read the entire Harry Potter series. I am doing this because they are readily available (my girlfriend has all of the books) and I am currently out of things to read. And yes, I am a sadomasochist. It shouldn't take me too long, I am a fast reader and they seem like easy books to read because they're written for "young adults". I ripped through the first 15 pages of the first book in like five minutes last night while I was waiting for dinner to heat up. I am hoping I can bang them all out within two months.

Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit up.

2009-07-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is the greatest thing the internet has ever made:

Dr. McNinja Volume 3.

2009-07-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

I recently pre-ordered a copy of Dr. McNinja Volume 3. I was actually beginning to wonder if/when it was going to come out and what stories it would include. $22 is kind of spendy (especially in these troubled times) but it is 226 pages and it is pretty awesome. So, you should really check it out if you are a fan of the awesomeness. Yes, these stories are available for free on the internet, but sometimes it feels good to support the cause.

I also bought the Chainsaw Nunchaku Shirt which is destined to become my new favorite shirt once it arrives.

Ghostly International.

2009-07-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

Oh man, Scott Hansen is one of my favorite designers, and he designed a poster for the record label that's he's on that is so awesome, it's painful. I want it so bad. Anyways, he has a pretty awesome blog where he posts all kinds of retro design examples, from packaging, to interior design, and it's one of the blogs I check every week. Also, his store is pretty awesome as well, I've bought a couple of shirts there, and I've been meaning to buy a couple of prints for a couple of years now, but I just reviewed the amount of prints I have, and I don't think I'm going to be able to but half of them up, so I really shouldn't be buying any new ones. It sucks to be responsible.

Barrel Monster.

2009-06-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've been sick lately, that's why I haven't been posting. I had a couple of post saved up, so I'll be publishing them this week.

One is this funny story about an NYC student assembling a "monster" made out of barrels. What's not so funny is that he got arrested for the stunt. Kinda lame that they wasted taxpayer money to arrest him if you ask me. I do like that the construction company is asking him to recreate it for their corporate offices and will possibly pay him for it. Hopefully that will offset his court fees and fines if any are incurred.

Voltron Camera

2009-06-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

So if you're like me, and when you were young you loved watching cartoons, specifically: G.I. Joe, Transformers, Robotech and Voltron, and you like cheap, plastic cameras, then you'll love this Voltron transforming camera.

According to camerapedia it's a terrible camera, but it more than makes up for that in the awesome department with it's transforming ability. I think it's pretty rad, even if the SLR lens is fake. I would rather have one of the transforming toys from the '80s, but this thing is just as cool.

Photo: Voltron Star Shooter by John Kratz on Flickr.
Original Link: again sent by faithful reader Carrie.

Styrobot.

2009-06-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

This link is from faithful reader Carrie. A boy made a giant robot from packaging material. While it is cool and crazy, that kid has way too much time on his hands.

Speaking of giant robots, they are setting up for the Tranformers 2 premiere a couple of blocks away and the Optimus Prime truck is out already. I will try and get some pictures at lunch.

Get Your Basketball On.

2009-06-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Lakers won the NBA Championship last night. This makes me a little sad because basketball is my favorite sport and the end of the Finals means that basketball season is over with. There have been a couple of very good marketing campaigns for the playoffs this year. Everyone and their mother knows about the MVPuppets, Kobe and LeBron, but I think the funniest and best campaign kind of flew under everyone's radar. In fact, I think I only saw it two times, and I watch a ton of basketball. I'm talking about Get Your Basketball On starring the totally awesome Charlie Murphy. I love the laser backgrounds and '80s graphics. His twitter page is pretty rad as well. Also, this video for his "DVD" is pure hilarity.

That Dragon costume cracks me up every time. I am motivized! Are you?

Stop...Hammertime.

2009-06-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

Continuing the '80s theme, and I'm sure everyone has seen this already, but here's the Hammer Pants video. It's pretty awesome:

I hope they bought those pants in bulk or got a discount somehow.

It's Alright Cuz I'm Saved By The Bell.

2009-06-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

So this guy in my bowling league on Tuesday looked like he was an extra from a Saved By The Ball episode. Acid washed jeans, white shirt with a black vest over it, '80s hair; he had it all going on. The only problem was that he was like 17, so I don't think he was going for a retro look. I guess that's how they do it in Reseda. Anyways, I've had the SBTB theme song stuck in my head ever since. Then I found a link about Zack Morris showing up as a guest on Jimmy Fallon's show the other night. I hate Jimmy Fallon, but this video is pretty awesome. Check it out:

No Service Fee Wednesday.

2009-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Live Nation is having a promotion today where they are not charging any service fees for concerts at their venues. Here's more information. I would take advantage of this, but ever since I turned 30, the amount of concerts I've gone to has shrunk each year. It sucks getting old.

iPhone Drawing.

2009-05-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

There's a really cool story and video on the Times' website about Jorge Colombo, the iPhone artist. One of his iPhone drawings was recently featured on the cover to the New Yorker. Here's a link about the cover and a time lapse video.

Bootie.

2009-05-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

I like mashups because they are cool. One blog on my run read list is Bootie Blog. They usually have their monthly 10 tep mashups and then at the end of the year, they release their best of. Like the best of 2008. I posted this on my private blog before but, Sad But Superstitious is pretty much the best mashup I've ever heard. I can't seem to listen to it enough times. Good stuff.

Footloose Update.

2009-05-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Footloose remake update! Some dude from Gossip Girl (Chace Crawford) has finally signed on to play the lead role of Ren McCormack in the remake of the eighties classic, "Footloose", creativity entitled "Footloose".

The remake will be produced and directed by "High School Musical" director Kenny Ortega, thereby insuring that it will be a train wreck. I cannot wait. I also cannot wait to watch the old movie before I see the new one to see which one is worse.

Muscle Koushinkyoku.

2009-05-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

I don't remember where I got this link from, but I may have just found the craziest game ever produced. It's called Muscle Koushinkyoku. You make a body-building character and then you run through walls trying to match the form of the person who's in front of you. It's kind of like Hole In The Wall, but with bodybuilders. And you have to run through the wall and try and catch the person in front of you.

Here's a preview:

It's a one-to-four player game that will be released on May 26 and it will cost 800 Wii Points. I expect Muscle Koushinkyoku parties to replace Rock Band parties as the new thing for 2009.

Mom of the Year.

2009-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

**sigh** Kids in back seat of car while mom has sex in front.

So you need a license to drive a car, a taxi or pilot a plane. You need one to get married, sell real estate, broadcast a radio station, and fish or hunt. But there's no baby license. Anyone can just up and have a baby. Seriously, there outta be a license to have kids. You take a test when you hit puberty and if you fail, boom!, you get sterilized. If you pass, you have to get an extension every two years. One of the questions is, "Do you think it's ok to have sex in the front seat of a car while your children are in the backseat?" If you answer yes, boom!, you get sterilized. Make it happen, Congress.

Wikpedia hoax.

2009-05-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

I read an awesome story on yahoo about how an Irish student entered in a fake quote on Maurice Jarre's wikipedia page and it got used in several obituaries. So far, The Guardian is the only one to acknowledge the mistake, others seem content to just delete it from their online listings and pretend that it never happened. This just reinforces my stance that everyone just goes to Wikipedia now to research something.

LOST - Season Finale.

2009-05-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm really kind of pissed about last night's LOST episode. Mainly because of the REAL bomb they dropped on us; no new episodes until 2010. 2010?!?

I kind of expected a wait this, but it still sucks, especially after the GIANT cliffhanger ending. This season and the last season have been very good, I just hope the last season lives up to the hype. If it starts off slow and waits until the last three episodes to pick up the pace, I'm going to be pissed. I want answers too. Give me some answers. My fear is that I just don't think they have enough episodes left to explain everything without bringing up new questions that they won't have time to answer. I guess that's what movies will be for.

Damn you, LOST.

Top Gun Day.

2009-05-13T12:51:00.001-07:00

Today is Top Gun Day. I was a little relieved to hear that someone else loves that movie as much as I do and celebrates it for it's horribleness. Because although it is a horrible, terrible movie, it might just be one of the greatest movies ever made.

Anyways, you can head over to topgunday.com for all kinds of fun. Like the Call Sign Name Generator. My call sign is "Keg" (which is AWESOME and totally fits if I do say so myself), what's yours?

El Gorgo.

2009-05-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hey, remember on Monday when I said that if someone made a Robot Gorilla Ninja comic book, I would be all over that? Well, the closest thing I think I'm going to get to that is El Gorgo, the world’s greatest gorilla luchador.

Have I mentioned my love of luchadors and luchador masks? Well, they're pretty high up on my list of awesomeness (along with Robots, Ninjas, and Gorillas of course).

So anyway, you can download issues here (it's free), and you can buy t-shirts here.

Vintagraph.

2009-05-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

I found this pretty cool website named Vintagraph that reprints old posters going as far back as World War I. There's lot of really cool stuff on their site, and their prices are pretty reasonable. I am really having a hard time trying to keep myself from buying ten of them. But I've got a ton of posters I can't hang already, so I'm going to have to resist.

I like this one a lot, I might buy it for my bathroom that has a wall that I don't know what to do with.

The only complaint I have is that their sizing is a little strange. 8x10 and 11x17 I get, but the 19x13 and 22x17 are just weird. And that's with an inch to an inch-and-a-half white border around it. I guess it's so you can matte it, but that's like a two-inch matte with an inch-and-a-half border. Strange.

I really wish they had more travel posters, the only interesting ones are the "See America" poster (which is off to the right here) and the "Grand Canyon" poster. I guess the Yellowstone Poster is cool too, but I'm just saying that I could use some more options in the travel department, because I think there were a lot of those kinds of posters back in the day. I guess that's all they could get the rights to. Hopefully, they'll add more. I will keep checking in the meantime.

They have a pretty robust New Deal and WPA (Works Progress Administration) section; I love the posters from that era, especially this one. It's just so perfect.

Monitor Punching.

2009-05-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

I've had this post brewing for awhile, the reason I haven't posted it is because I seem to keep finding articles to add to it.

On thing that really grinds my gears is when celebrities or rich people complain about their situation. Like this Brook Shields article I read a few weeks ago. News Flash Brooke! Everyone gets old! Deal with it. And you have millions of dollars, do you even HAVE to work?

But the one that really made me want to punch my monitor in the face was this article about rich people complaining about Obama's new tax. I mean the whole article is infuriating. Regular people are unemployed and walking away from houses while the people they interviewed are complaining about having to work seven days a week to make over $250,000/year. One woman also complained that her 2,500 square-foot home is too small. Boo-hoo. I really feel bad for you.

Then they interview someone making over $400,000/year and he says his family is "barely getting by." Right. Could your view of reality be distorted because you make too much money? I think it is.

Then they go back to the first couple and the second to last paragraph is just hilarious. After ALL of their deductions and bills (including things like retirement and health care and food and college funds) they ONLY have $1200/month that goes into savings and to use for family stuff. I'm sorry, but Ellen and Donald Parnell, you need to be punched in the face. And your final quote at the end, "I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury." just makes me want to punch you in the face again. If you're not going without, then why are you complaining? I really wish someone would punch these people in the face sometime soon.

King Ken.

2009-05-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

I like ninjas and I like robots, but I also like primates. A lot. Monkeys, Gorillas, Chimpanzees, it doesn't matter, I think they are all pretty cool. If someone came out with a Robot Gorilla Ninja comic book, I'd be all over that. Until then, I will just have to figure out how to buy all of these cool Gorilla toys from Strangeco.

But I already have too much stuff at my place, so I'm kind of disappointed that I probably won't be getting any of these. Because they are totally rad.

Peapod.

2009-04-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Chrysler announced their electric car the other day, they're calling it the "Peapod". BUT, it's a NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle), so it's not legal to drive on freeways or streets that have posted speed limits higher than 35mph. I guess it has an iPod dock and room for four, so you can rock out when you're driving the group to Taco Bell at 2am in the morning. If I lived 10 miles from work and could take streets all the way there, I'd think about getting one, but since I don't, it's probably not going to be on my radar the next time I'm thinking of buying a car; besides, by the time I'm going to be in the market for a car, Chrysler won't even be around.

Farewell To Arms.

2009-04-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I really, really, really, REALLY want this tshirt.

Someone buy it for me.

Or I will slice off one of your appendages with a lightsaber.

That is all.

Regards,
-Tyler

G.I.Joe on DVD.

2009-04-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

In other G.I.Joe news, Shout Entertainment is re-releasing G.I. Joe A Real American Hero on DVD. Apparently, Shout is owned by the guy who used to own Rhino, and Rhino let the licensing run out, so Shout is basically just repackaging the previous Rhino release (which was commanding up to $100 per set used on Amazon and eBay). The live-action movie is probably prompting the re-release, but it is good news because the series was effectively moth-balled after Rhino stopped production. I'm hoping the entire series gets released, not just what Rhino released, just like what they're doing with the comic book. We'll have to see if that happens, I guess.

Yo Joe! Classic.

2009-04-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

I posted this on the comics blog that I share with my friend Chris (that I think we have pretty much abandoned), but it deserves a reprint here, because it is about G.I.Joe and it is pretty awesome news.

I'm a little late to the game on this one, but IDW is republishing the Marvel G.I. Joe series in trade paperback form. I think the first couple are just sanitized versions of the old Marvel trades (they erased the Marvel logos off of the covers), but hopefully they release the rest of the series in trades.

To be honest, this series was the reason I got into comics and it was the first series that I followed with any kind of regularity. I really think this was an underrated series and Larry Hama is a pretty underrated writer. I am planning on trying to buy as many of the trades as I can, currently they only have the first two released (Volume 1: Issues 1-10, Volume 2: Issues 11-20) (EDITOR'S NOTE: I bought Volume 2 off of eBay because Amazon was back ordered on the reprint. It should be coming any day now. I cannot contain my excitement) but two more are on the way (you can pre-order Volume 3: Issues 21-30 and Volume 4: Issues 31-40).

In my opinion, issues #20-55 are the height of the series. They are very well written, the story arcs are excellent, the art is great, and there are plenty of ninjas involved. After issue #55, it kind of starts tailing off, I think Hama was under increased pressure to come up with and push new characters and vehicles. It got to the point where a lot of favorites were getting phased out of the story. I ended up dropping the series because I was getting into the X-Men and other traditional comics, but every once in awhile I'd check it out. I still try and pick up some reader copies whenever I'm at a con. But now you can pick them up rather inexpensively, they're all in the $13 pricepoint.

I highly suggest picking them up, they're well worth your time. Yo Joe!

Playstation.

2009-04-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, Sony is going to drop the price on the Playstation 2 down to $99.99. Like my Playstation 3, my family bought my PS2 for me for Christmas for $399. In that article they mention that analysts have been calling for a price reduction on the PS3 for months, but Sony isn't budging. I think $399 is way too much for a system, and there would have been no way I would have bought it if my family hadn't gotten it for me. That's why I think that Onlive idea that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago will be the future of gaming. I love that the PS3 comes with a Blu Ray player, because I just bought a 58" Plasma TV, but I think you can wait a couple of months and catch a Blu Ray player on sale for $200. In a year, that could be their normal price. I dunno, I just think they'd sell a lot more if they'd lower the price. They're getting hammered by the Wii, and I think they're still losing out to the Xbox, so they need to do something, and I think lowering that initial cost would be a solution.

::UPDATE:: Here's another interesting article, the PS3 finally outsold the Wii in Japan for the month of March. Japan has always had an affinity for Nintendo, but Playstation has always done well there too. A lot of trends come out of Japan when it comes to video games and they're saying that the Wii's sales are starting to sag in the U.S. as well. The rest of the article is pretty interesting. It's saying that the Xbox and PS3 hold a higher market share, and developing a game for either console a pretty similar process, but you can't just simply port over a game to the Wii. And Rockband and Guitarhero account for about half of the game sales, so unless they come up with some other kind of series that is Wii-exlusive, I think their stranglehold on the market could shrink rather dramatically. I guess we'll have to wait to see what happens.

Boba Sweat.

2009-04-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

I was reading a Sci Fi Magazine at lunch, and there was a highlight on the back page about this Boba Fett hoodie. I got WAY too excited about it, when back to my computer and then was really disappointed. A. It's made by Marc Ecko, and B. It's $98. That's way too much to spend for a hoodie, even if it is totally awesome, and, to be honest, I'm not Marc Ecko's biggest fan. I really think that people that wear his stuff look like toolboxes.

So, I guess I can hint that I want it for my birthday, but that's not for another nine months I'm kind of screwed because I guess these are special, limited edition pieces, so they'll most likely be sold out by then. They have a bunch Star Wars stuff, including a Stormtrooper hoodie for the same price. But since Boba Fett is my favorite Star Wars character ever, I really want that hoodie. I guess I just have to scrap together $98+tax+shipping and it will be mine, all mine.

24 Hours of LeMons.

2009-04-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

I read about the 24 Hours of LeMons in ESPN The Magazine the other night, and I really, really, REALLY, want to get a team together and enter this. It looks like fun.

The funny part is, your car can't be worth more than $500 (not including safety equipment). So, you pretty much have to buy an old Fiero or a Dodge Neon with 265,000 miles on it and hope it holds up. There are also all kinds of crazy rules, like at one point they stop and vote on who they hate the most and the team with the most votes gets their car destroyed. And if you get enough penalties for hitting other cars or course markers, a woman comes over and welds non-aerodynamic things onto your hood while you're in the penalty box. Oh, and if you're lucky enough to survive and win the thing, you get $1500 in nickels, which weighs over 500 pounds, in case you were wondering. It sounds like a good time.

Here's a video of the race from a car with a hood mounted camera:

I really, really, really want to do this...

P.U.M.A.

2009-04-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article on Yahoo! Auto about GM and Segway partnering together to create a new two-wheel urban vehicle. They're calling it the P.U.M.A., which stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility. Apparently, it has a complex communications network and they will be able to interact with each other to regulate traffic and avoid collisions. It does sound interesting, but I remember when the Segway was supposed to be the "invention of the millennium" and that everyone would own one inside of five years, but that hasn't happened.

If you ask me, all you have to do is add some lasers or guns to it, and it would look like a G.I. Joe or Cobra vehicle. And for that reason, I really, really want one. It also helps that they used an acronym, because I think 90% of G.I. Joe and Cobra vehicles were made up acronyms. It also doesn't hurt that it's rolling on what looks like 20's.

Gold Rush.

2009-04-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

So, I watched this video the other day where it was reporting that because of the recession, there is a new gold rush here in California. People are renting equipment and going out to try and find gold. And the crazy part is; some of them are pretty successful. Crazy times we're living in.

Shipping Container Houses.

2009-04-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Awesome article on Yahoo's site about some people who made a house out of shipping containers. Some of these are really cool and it's an interesting way to recycle something and make it useful.

They are a little expensive though, the econopod, which is basically a single container with walls and main doors, goes for $26,000 cdn (that's Canadian, eh). I think it's a cool application, and I like a student housing project in Amsterdam is using them as a cheap, economical, and environmental way to expand housing in a dense region. I think it's just really cool.

Shamwow.

2009-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

You've all seen the commercials for the Shamwow; you know how awesome it is. Well, apparently, Billy Mays is a little upset that Vince Offer ripped him off and has challenged him to a pitch-off (more on that later). Well, science has backed the Shamwow. Popular Mechanics tested the Shamwow and the Zorbeez, and the Shamwow won. And it wasn't even close. The Shamwow won "by a mile".

If you scroll down to the bottom of that article, there are two Youtube videos. The first one is Billy Mays on The Adam Corolla Show calling out Vince, and the second one is a video comparing the commercials for the Shamwow and the Zorbeez, and they are eerily similar.

The next time I am in Bed, Bath & Beyond (which will probably be sometime tomorrow or Wednesday; it's like I'm there everyday now), I am going to buy a Shamwow. I've been using a lot of paper towels lately, and it's like I'm throwing money away. Vince, you've sold me.

So, who do you think wins in a pitch-off? Vince or Billy Mays?

OnLive.

2009-03-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article on Yahoo!'s video game site yesterday. A start-up company called OnLive is releasing a subscription gaming service early next year. The major difference when you compare it to the Xbox, Wii and Playstation is that there isn't a major hardware purchase; game are streamed onto your TV through your internet connection, so there also aren't any games to buy and there is zero install or download wait times. You can even stream it onto your Mac or PC. Personally, I'm kind of shocked it's taken this long for someone to develop this. The subscription cost is rumored to be competitive with Xbox Live and they are already partnered with some major gaming companies.

New Music.

2009-03-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't bought a new CD in about a year. I have about 1000 CDs (that are currently all boxed up because I just moved), but there really isn't that much out there that excites me right now. I occasionally download a single or two off of iTunes, but that's been it. I've pretty much been in a drought. But that ends today. Today I am going to go to BestBuy and pick up not one, but two "new" albums.

Pearl Jam - Ten: That's why "new" was in quotes, because this is an old album. It is shocking to me that this album is almost 18 years old. I still remember the day in late 1991 where I rode my bike down to the Wherehouse (Where? The Wherehouse.) to buy it. Ah, the '90s. I still have that cassette by the way. I found it when I was packing, but now I don't know what box I put it in. I remember that in the spring of '93 it cracked in half one day because it was always in my backpack and I superglued it back together so I could listen to it. That's how much that album meant to me.

Anyways, the album has been totally remastered and from what I've read, it sounds even more awesome than when it was first released. The only problem is choosing which version you want. You can get the Legacy Version which is a two disc set: the first disc is remastered, the second disc is remixed and contains extra songs. There's also the Deluxe Edition, which is the 2 disc set plus their appearance on MTV Unplugged on DVD, which apparently has never been released before. Then there's the Vinyl Edition. And finally, the Collector's Edition which is the boxed set. It contains 2 CDs, 1 DVD, 4 vinyl records, 1 Cassette (what?) and Memorabilia. I am probably going to get the Deluxe Edition so I can have their Unplugged set on DVD.

Apparently, this is the first in a series of reissues that they're going to be releasing over the next two years. So that should be interesting.

Doom - Born Like This: MF Doom is one of my favorite MCs. I'm a little disappointed that he dropped the "MF" from his name (I dislike when artists/bands do that because then stores never know where to put the albums) but I am excited to hear this album. I've been waiting for him to something out since the Dangerdoom album. There has been a rumor ever since that album came out that he was going to team up with Ghostface Killah and put out an record, but that just headlines the list of rumored albums that he's supposed to be putting out. Another Madvillain album, a second Dangerdoom album, The John Robinson Project and KMD, and new albums under his Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah aliases round out the list. I'm a big fan, I just wish it wouldn't take him three years to put something out. Because I need new music.

Darth Vader 4-Port USB Hub.

2009-03-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I really want this Darth Vader 4-Port USB Hub, but it's $67 and I can't justify spending that much money on something that I already have. I really want to know what the sounds are that it makes. Man, I REALLY want this. If one of the sounds is "No, I am your father", I might have to break out the credit card and make an impulse buy...

Rocket Raccoon.

2009-03-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

I just moved out of my apartment building about a week ago, and someone I'm going to miss is Rocket. Rocket was a Raccoon that lived in the empty lot next door. He had only started coming around within the last four months or so. I nicknamed him "Rocket the Raccoon" after the comic book character of the same name, because the comic book character is, A. Pretty rad, and B. he's in one of my favorite comic books right now. So, I thought the raccoon should have a cool name, and there's no better compliment than to be named after the most badass Raccoon in the galaxy, right?

I hadn't seen Rocket in about a month, and I was getting a little worried because there were two pitbulls that lived on the other side of the empty lot, but then late at night on the last day I was moving, I saw him again. I was walking back down the alley and my girlfriend was waiting at the gate and I thought there was a cat climbing up the stairs, so I said "there's a cat coming", so she turned around but then she yelled out. When I climbed the stairs and got to the landing she said, "That was not a cat, that was a raccoon". So then I said, "Oh, it's Rocket!"; he was on the other side of the rail down below on the grass in the empty lot and he turned around and looked at us. So then I said Good-bye and waved to him and then we got the last of my stuff and left. I will miss Rocket.

Powerthirst.

2009-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is probably one of the funniest videos I've seen on youtube in a very, very long time:

KENYAAAAA!

License Plates.

2009-03-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

My family used to drive a lot. We regularly drove to Arizona about once every other month and we also drove up to Oregon and to Niagara Falls, Canada. During these trips, I used to play a game with my sisters where if you saw an out of state license plate, you had to identify it and then you got to punch whoever you were playing with in the arm. I was probably responsible for coming up with this game, mainly because it involved punching. It was basically our version of Slug Bug, which we also played, just not as often (I guess it's more commonly known as "Punch Buggy"). After awhile, we actually got really good at identifying plates, and it could get a little scary, because we even knew older plates to most of the states.

So, a couple of days ago, I found this license plate website that has pictures of license plates from each state. I was trolling through the site and it brought me back to the '80s and early '90s when we did most of our traveling.

I'm only 33, but I think I have owned a car with every California license plate going back to the black version in the '60s. When my Grandfather died, we found his license plate collection in the garage, and he had plates going back to the '30s. You can click on history to see earlier ones, and specifically remember seeing some of those much older California plates that he had.

Cancelled TV Shows.

2009-03-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

I love watching TV. There's an interesting list over at Yahoo TV called The Best Brilliant But Cancelled Dramas of the Decade. I watched roughly half of the shows on that list and I was probably the most disappointed when I heard that Deadwood and Veronica Mars got canceled. Jericho was also a good show. One that they left out was "Journeyman" starring Kevin McKidd, who was also on Rome, which was on that list. Are there any shows that are on or off the list that you loved and were disappointed when they were canceled? I mean, besides Parker Lewis Can't Lose?

Storm Shadow.

2009-03-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

Speaking of Ninjas, check out this super awesome Storm Shadow action figure that Sideshow just put out. It is pretty freakin' awesome. If I had $120 to blow on an action figure, this one would be at the top of the list.

They also have a Snake-Eyes, I'm not as excited about that one. For some reason it just doesn't do much for me. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Snake-Eyes, it's just Storm Shadow has more of a traditional Ninja look. And he has a removable head. I'm also not that impressed with their Cobra Commander action figure. Cobra Trooper though, that's a different story. That one is pretty rad. I think these are being released for the upcoming movie, so they're probably not going to do Serpentor, but I would totally buy a 12" Serpentor action figure. As long as it came with the floating air chariot.

From the Archives: Dr. McNinja, M.D.

2009-03-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

Every once-in-awhile, I will publish something I wrote from my old blog. Since I love ninjas, here's the first installment. It's about the radness that is Dr. McNinja, M.D.:

I posted this over at Asteroid F, but since it is the awesomeness, I should post it over here as well. Enjoy.

So, I was late with getting my friend Chris something for his birthday and I was really struggling trying to figure out what to get him, and that's when I stumbled upon The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. I read a couple of panels online (it's free) and decided I needed to buy the first two trade paperbacks. So I bought two sets, one for myself and one for Chris. Now that I think about it, I don't know if it's the crappiest 30th birthday gift or THE MOST AWESOME GIFT IN THE HISTORY OF GIFT GIVING! I'm leaning towards most awesome gift ever. If you doubt this as fact, keep reading.

So basically after I found out about it, I think I got through three pages before I had to stop and order copies. I've been reading the current story, but I held off reading the older stuff until the books arrived. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. There are Velociraptor riding Bandidos involved in one of the early stories. Really, if that doesn't convince you of how awesome this comic is, I don't know what will.

For those that are STILL not yet convinced, here's some back story; Dr. McNinja is a doctor (obviously), and he's also a Ninja (again, pretty obvious), so he is tragically conflicted by his need to kill and the oath that he took as a doctor to protect life. He has a gorilla receptionist named Judy, and comes from a long line of Ninjas. His dad is a ninja (you can tell he's his dad because his ninja mask has a cutout for his mustache; which is pure genius if you ask me), his Mom is a Ninja and his brother is a Ninja.

The first story/storyarc is pretty cool. He treats a boy who has a very rare condition; he has Paul Bunyon disease. He grows about 10 stories high and has a giant lumberjack beard. How awesome is that? Dr. McNinja treats the boy without killing him, but does manage to kill a bunch of hunters who hunt down people with PBD.

The current storyarc has kind of pushed the envelope of awesomeness to an unheard of degree. Dr. McNinja gets transported to Dracula's castle on the moon and at one point grabs Dracula while wearing an astronaut suit in hopes of killing him when the sun comes up while they are flying through space. HOWEVER, Dracula swapped himself out with a Draculabot and Dr. McNinja had to call his brother to figure out how to hack a Draculabot to fly home. The sequence ends with him riding the Draculabot like a surfboard (see the panel to the right) and hilarity ensues.

Why are you still reading this? Go to the website and start reading already. You can thank me later.

Little Big Planet.

2009-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

I borrowed Little Big Planet from a friend at work for about a week a couple of months ago, and I guess I must have talked about it a lot, because my girlfriend bought it for me for Valentine's Day. One of the things I really like about the game is the soundtrack. They really need to release that on CD, I would totally buy it. I found a partial track listing but I would really enjoy the entire soundtrack if they released one.

Photoshoppery.

2009-02-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Continuing the design related posts, I stumbled across German adbusting campaign and thought it was pretty cool. I really dig the attention to detail that was put into the layers palette. And it's pretty crazy to see Photoshop blown up that big, it's just weird to see it that huge.

Pepsi.

2009-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

In yet another design related post, there's a very well-written article over at Before & After Magazine about the new Pepsi logo.

Personally, I am not a fan of the rebrand, there's just something about it that annoys me. The new take on the circular mark looks very strange to me. It looks like it's either a printer's error or someone wasn't paying attention to Pepsi's style guide and decided to modify the logo a bit (which happens ALL THE TIME, no matter what you put in the style guide). I do like the typeface though, it's clean and modern, and it's not as bold and in-your-face as it was in previous versions of the logo. I also like how there's a clear separation between the circular mark and the typeface, I never really understood why they always felt that they had to put the type over the mark (like in the four logos above the picture of the splash about halfway into the article).

Pepsi must be on a rebrand kick lately, because I bought a bottle of Sierra Mist out of vending machine a few weeks ago and they have rebranded that line as well. I was in the grocery store a couple of days ago and if I hadn't known it had been redesigned, I would have never found it if I was looking for it. A lot of people have remarked that it is a rather bland redesign, and I would agree.

Another interesting rebrand is the Tropicana packaging. They have followed it up with a pretty aggressive marketing campaign (an example of it can be seen here), including a lot of bus shelter ads and even a lot of building-sized ads (one of which was on the side of the Sherman Oaks Mall for awhile which is visible from the 405/101 Interchange. I think that their new packaging is interesting, and it is very nice and clean, but that alone is not going to get me to go out and buy it when I'm at the grocery store looking for OJ. In face, I'll probably just stick with what I normally buy, which is Minute Maid. I don't see a real reason for the amount of money that they have spent on this campaign, it's the same product in a different package.

So, what are your thoughts, and which one is your favorite?

::UPDATE:: Well, according to Brand New (an excellent blog about branding) and this article on the New York Times website, Tropicana has already pulled the new packaging and is going back to their old look, mainly because of public outcry. Interesting.

Brand New also blogged about Jack in the Box's new rebrand. I don't know if I like it or not. Recent events in their commercials make a whole lot more sense now, they will probably be "killing off" Jack again (like they did in the '70s) and launching the rebrand soon. Which is a shame, because I love all of their commercials with Jack.

Shepard Fairey, Part 2.

2009-02-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

I used to collect Obey Giant posters, but now, not so much. I have probably 10-15 of them and at least two of them are very early prints that I bought off of eBay for a good amount of money. Then, about two years ago, he had some trouble shipping his product. He blamed it on the person who he had handling the shipping, fired them, hired a new person, and then raised prices. Then, you couldn't get a copy of a new poster because they were being sold out within minutes and then being resold on eBay for 3-5 times the price. That really made me upset, because before you could decide if you wanted the poster or not, it was too late, it was already sold. That was about the time that I read that article about how he rips work off and said enough.

He's got a cool style, and he makes nice color choices, but his "appropriations" (see the previous post) are kind of shocking. I agree with Glazer's comment in that he walks a tight-rope between fine art and commercial design, but when some of this stuff ends up in print ads and it ends up being the face of one of the most high-profile of marketing campaigns (in my opinion, nothing is bigger than a presidential campaign), then he's crossed the line and needs to be designing "cleaner".

In design school, we had to do a report on a designer. I chose Brute! because, at the time, I was not familiar with Fairey and his Obey Giant campaign (this was in the mid to late '90s). At one point in the report, I made the same remark that a lot of people are making about Fairey; Brute's work walks a fine line between commercial are and traditional fine art. Brute is most known for his KMFDM covers. He also was involved in the making of a video game based on his art. Fairey and Brute have similar styles and I would even guess that Brute's work influenced Fairey to a degree, but I would say that the fundamental difference between the two is; Brute does not trace or copy anything, all of his art is original. Or at least I have no knowledge that he does. I have not seen any evidence that he does. But I have seen overwhelming evidence that Fairey does and he doesn't seem to hide it.

Another thing that is really annoying is that example that I brought up in yesterday's post where Fairey designed some posters to commemorate the Presidential inauguration and they were being sold for $100 or $500. Now I know that he probably doesn't have any control over what that website decided to charge, but it's still pretty outrageous that they would charge that much for a poster. These posters are screen printed, and screen printing is a very cheap way to print a lot of posters. For example, Fairey normally sells posters on his website for $35. And they are all signed. And are limited to runs of 300. So, and I understand that they're trying to raise money here, but charging $100 (let alone $500) for a print that you could make a profit on for $35 seems outrageous to me. And this was a high-volume run, I believe they printed 10,000+ posters.

So, to summarize, I will no longer be buying or supporting Fairey's work. I will still check out his website from time to time, but I won't be making any purchases and I won't be looking on eBay for older prints.

Shepard Fairey, Part 1.

2009-02-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

This story about Shepard Fairey kind of blew up over the last week or two, and I had a whole bunch of stuff written out about it, but I decided to edit it down to the timeline/facts and have a separate entry for my thoughts on the matter.

First of all, I get The Daily Heller, which is an excellent email blast/blog written by Steven Heller and is distributed by Print Magazine. A couple of weeks ago, he talked about Esquire's cover involving Obama and brought up a very good point when he said, "We all know that President Barack Obama is the best thing for souvenir marketing since Elvis was reincarnated. But amid all the visual hoopla for #44, is there a line to be drawn?"

Awhile back I got an email from a group associated with Obama (manifesthope.com) announcing that they were selling two different posters commemorating the inauguration of the 44th President, with art by Shepard Fairey, and they would both have two different price points. One would just be the poster itself for $100. The other would be a signed poster for $500. I immediately thought back to that email when I read the question that Heller posed in his email blast.

Then I read on yahoo's main page about the Associated Press taking legal action against Fairey. In his iconic poster for the current President, he apparently used a photo that the AP owned without their permission. Obama's people even asked him to redesign it with an authorized photo but he refused and the art ended up on pretty much everything and everywhere. I STILL can't go a day without seeing a bumper sticker on the freeway during my commute.

Then, Milton Glazer blasted off on Fairey and he had some pretty compelling arguments. I love the fact that he brought up the point about it's impact on design students, "It’s a dangerous example for students, if they see that appropriating people’s work is the path to success."

In regards to plagiarism and Fairey's work, this is not a new charge. About a year ago, I read a very good and detailed article by artist Mark Vallen about Shepard Fairey and plagiarism. He has side-by-side comparisons of Fairey's art and the actual art that, in many cases, Fairey straight up ripped.

::UPDATE:: Now there is a story circulating that Fairey is counter-suing the Associated Press and then the AP Photographer, who is no longer with the AP, is saying that he owns the rights to the photograph, so really, who knows who owns what. Steven Heller posted another excellent blog with thoughts and pictures a couple of days later.

Fun Slides!

2009-02-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

Nowhere to run? Nowhere to ride? NOW, wherever there's carpet, blast off! With FUN SLIDES! The amazing carpet skates that glides, slides or rides! You decide!

I had a horrible case of insomnia one night last week and couldn't sleep, so I was watching something on Boomerang at like 3am and this commercial came on. After rewinding it a couple of times, I gotta say, this is pretty awesome. Watch the video a couple of times, it just keeps getting ~~worse~~ better every time you watch it.

Not only can you get two pairs of Fun Sliders for $24.99 but, as a bonus, you also get a Tips 'N Tricks DVD that features Pro and Semi-Pro fun sliders getting XTREME!

That's right, I said XTREME!!!

As you can imagines, I am totally pissed that I just found out about Fun Slides mere weeks before I move to my condo that has hardwood floors and ZERO carpeting. It's like I wasted the last six years living in my carpeted apartment because I walked everywhere when I could have been Fun Sliding. I also probably could have turned Pro (or at least Semi-Pro) by now and I could be cashing those huge Professional Fun Sliding checks. Bogus.

SexyEngrishLaserDisasters.

2009-02-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

Eventually these will go in the sidebar under "Links of Awesomeness", but for now, I'm just going to link to some of my favorite blogs:

We Have Lasers. Remember when you had to get your school portrait and the kid that you hated always made you super jealous because he got the laser background? Well, click on over to that site, because it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but they just look like douchebags now.

Sexy People. Speaking of portraits, this blog is just as good as the laser blog, but it has a far broader focus. Pretty much any bad portrait taken in the last forty years can end up here. It also has handy-dandy tags in the sidebar to view by decade and by background. By far, this one is my favorite. Ah, the '80s. What a train wreck.

Photoshop Disasters. Everyone knows about this one already, right? It's pretty awesome, and I've actually witnessed a couple of similar mistakes like in what he posts actually make it to print. It happens a lot more than you think.

Engrish Funny. This blog is from the geniuses behind Lolcats. I can't read this blog at work anymore because I laugh way too much. They also have another blog called Fun With Charts. I could link to like 913 different funny ones, but this one about the shower made me laugh out loud and it's forced me to focus more when I take my shower in the morning.

Bird's Nest.

2009-02-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Remember the Bird's Nest from the Olympics last year? In shocking news, they're going to turn it into a shopping complex. Wow. I think it's interesting that they didn't really have a fall-back plan for it, they kind of just built it and then hoped that they were going to get sporting events to host. I guess they had a contract with a soccer team, but they backed out. Now they're going to pump $450 million back into it to get some kind of revenue from it besides tourists, because it costs $8.8 million annually to maintain it. It really just sounds like poor planning.

Passwords.

2009-02-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, I stumbled across this article about the most popular passwords. There's a link in there to the 500 worst passwords of all time. They are both pretty good reads.

My favorite part of the first article is "For reasons no one can explain, 'dragon,' 'master,' and 'killer' all crack the top 20 passwords. (On the top 500 password list linked above, 'dragon' is #7.)"

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to change all of my passwords from dragonmasterkiller to something that's not on the list.

Monster Mash.

2009-02-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

I know it's a long way away from Halloween, but it is Friday the 13th, so maybe this content is related. was searching Veer's website the other day and stumbled on this Monster Mash set. It's got some cool pulp-looking illustrations. Veer is expensive but they have some cool stuff. I could have sworn they had a robot gallery that was pretty rad, but I can’t seem to find it right now.

Their ideas website is pretty awesome too. They have a new section called "Lightboxing", where they come up with a theme, then put together a lightbox (a group of images), usually like five images, and then tell two designers to battle it out. It's like a design mashup. My favs are; the current battle Lost, Madscientist and Fembot.

I've been using their catalogs as wrapping paper for years. You just save up until you have a pile of them, then find a couple of spreads that you like, tape them together and then start wrapping. A couple of months ago I found a link on their website for another cool way to recycle their catalogs.

::UPDATE:: I found the link to the Robot Gallery. Here's the link.

Alpha Coffee Table

2009-02-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

I am moving soon. I really love this Alpha Coffee Table from Crate&Barrel. It's pretty cool. Now I just need $899 that I can blow on a coffee table and I'm good to go.

Footrod.

2009-02-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

So I was watching the movie Hot Rod last Friday night, and there was an entire scene in that movie that made me yell out "Oh snap!" when I saw it, mainly because I knew the movie it was referencing. Here is a clip of the scene, about halfway into it, it transitions into a different scene where he falls down the side of a mountain for a ridiculous amount of time that is equally entertaining:

The movie it is referencing in the dance sequence is the 1984 classic, Footloose. Here is the warehouse dancing scene from that movie:

If you REALLY want your mind blown, turn down the sound on the Hod Rod video, start playing the Footloose video and when it gets to the 26/27 second mark, hit play on the Hot Rod video. Seriously. Do it. You won't be disappointed.

I get the feeling that Kevin Bacon REALLY regrets that scene still exists. Probably even more than those terrible Hanes commercials he did with Michael Jordan. At least there wasn't any dancing in those.

Personally, I love bad '80s movies/songs, and one reason I really love this scene, I mean, besides the awesomely bad dancing, is because of the music. The song is called "Never" by Moving Pictures. 80's synthesizer? Check. Bad saxophone riff. Check. And I never noticed this until I googled the lyrics, but it one of those songs that only contains one verse and one chorus. That's it. And it lasts almost four minutes. By far, my favorite part of the song is in the middle when he starts singing the chorus in one word sentences:

"If. You. Don't. Give. Your. Heart. Wings. You'll. Never! Never! Never! Ever! Flllllllllllllllly!"

Just wonderful, wonderful stuff.

23 and Me.

2009-02-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

I heard about this a couple of week ago on Kevin & Bean (the local morning radio show), it's called 23 and Me. It's basically a genome mapping service apparently, it was Time Magazine's "Invention of the Year" for 2008. It's pretty interesting.

It sounds cool, but it's $399 for the service, so it's kind of expensive.

Basically what you do is spit up A LOT of saliva into one of their test tubes, then you mail it in and then wait for your results. The results are online through their site, and it can tell you a whole lot of stuff about yourself and your heritage.

The first thing I thought when I heard about it was exactly what Bean was thinking, "How are they going to use this to set me up for a crime I didn't commit?" It does sound a little sketchy, but they had the owner on and it sounds pretty cool when she was explaining it. They can tell you where what region you came from. Apparently, you get information from your Father or Mother, depending on your sex, and this information does not change from generation to generation. So they can tell you where your family originated. People who were adopted and never knew their birth parents might want to know this information. They can also tell you what diseases you are preconditioned to, which is kind of cool because it's tough to remember family history sometimes.

I thought that one of the really cool things she said was that it's still a work in progress; so when they have new info and figure out what other DNA markers stand for, then they plug that into the website and your information gets updated. So it's not like you pay $400 and you just get a printout and that's all; it's constantly being revised and you can constantly find out more about your DNA. I forgot the actual number, but if I remember correctly, she said that they added over 6 new DNA markers in the last year and they continue to work to add more.

So it's pretty cool, I just don't think I'd ever want to spend $400 on it. But if you've got $400 laying around, look into it.

Fries.

2009-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

I read yahoo news a lot.

Here's an article about french fries. I had some Carl's Jr. yesterday as was rather shocked to find out that they changed their fries. I liked their old fries because they were the bad for you kind of fries, like McDonald's fries. Now, they're more like wedge-cut fries, which are good, but the only problem is that you get less of them, even when you upgrade to the "Large Size". I was kind of disappointed, because I love french fries. I think this may effect the amount of trips I make to Carl's for lunch and dinner.

People get ready, the robots are coming...

2009-02-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Let me start this off by saying that I love robots, but this story I found over on Wired's website kind of creeps me out.

"Warehouses run by Gap, as well as Zappos and Staples now use autonomous robots to pluck products from their shelves and send them to you."

The company that makes the robots is called ~~Cyberdyne Systems~~ Kiva Systems, if you watch the video, it's actually pretty cool how they work. The article is kind of long and boring, the video is much more interesting:

I don't know if I could work in one of those warehouses. It is kind of cool to see them working, there's a part in the video where they are moving around and getting in line, but part of me gets creeped out because it's actually real and I think that my imagination gets carried away with the idea that somehow the robots would try and take over the world. I'm just sayin'.

Bacon Explosion.

2009-02-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

There's an article on the New York Times website about The Bacon Explosion. It's two pounds of sausage wrapped in two pounds of bacon, then slathered in bar-b-que sauce and grilled. It's at least 5,000 calories and 500 grams of fat. And it looks delicious.

If someone bet me enough money and/or made one for me, I would probably attempt to eat the entire thing by myself. It would most likely end with me dying from a stroke, but I think it would be worth it.

Digital TV.

2009-02-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

I read this on yahoo's main page the other day, the Senate is going to extend the deadline to switch to digital TV signals by four months.

Great, so we've got another four months of annoying digital TV commercials to look forward to. Awesome. Just what everyone needed. Thanks, Government.

PBS is saying the delay will cost them $22 million.

P.S. - That Reuters picture they use in the article off to the left says it was taken at the Kmart that's like five blocks away from my apartment. I thought that was kind of funny.

Hi.

2009-02-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

So this is the first post on the new blog. I started a new job about a year ago and had to make my blog private because somehow it would come up if you did a search for my name, no matter what I did to my blog template or posts. I kind of missed having a public blog, so I decided to start a new blog. Hopefully, it will be a series of short posts on stuff I like, like robots, ninjas, old school hip-hop, and anything else I can think of. You know, fun stuff.

One thing that was challenging was coming up with a name. Anything good is already taken, and 99% of the time it's got one post from four years ago on it. I tried theawesomeness, tehawesomeness, superhappyfuntime, robotninja, robotmonkey and a whole slew of others. It's not easy. At one point it was The Chuck Taylor Chronicles. Currently, it's Mellonfarming, which is kind of a lame name. Any suggestions? Help a brotha out here and make a comment with a suggestion for a name.

::UPDATE:: I guess I've decided on giantrobotsix, but I'm still not sold on it. If you've got a better idea, let me know.