Greybishop's Board

So PROUD!

2012-02-18T18:19:00.001-05:00

Hee hee!

As I write this, Bishop has a mouse cornered! It's her first one. Rook got involved but he doesn't have her patience and has since wandered off.

She actually had it caught, twice. Sadly, she's a little gunshy and I may have to step in (if she can catch it again!) and put it out of its misery before she does something horror movie worthy.

Looks like these furballs might actually earn their keep after all.

Hee hee!

I'm SO Jealous!

2012-02-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

This is video of a guy in Saskatchewan who is using remote controlled toys to dig out his basement. The one I've embedded will lead you to about a dozen others if you're interested. Personally, I was giggling all the way through them. What a great way to marry a hobby and a practical project! Granted, it'll take him about a decade or so to finish, but he says he's in no hurry, so good for him!

Awesome!

Ghost Rider 2 - Spirit of Vengeance

2012-02-17T21:21:00.003-05:00

I just came back from the opening night of the new Ghost Rider flick.

To say it's better than the first movie is pretty much saying "Hey, the sky is blue." You would have a hard time making a worse movie than the original Ghost Rider, so there's that.

Not having high expectations going in, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was actually enjoying this one. Cage is better in it (somehow, he almost looks younger now!) than the first one, at once more reserved in his character and cutting loose more effectively.

The female lead was palatable (again, out performing Eva Mendes in the first movie is not exactly setting the bar very high - I have mold in my fridge that could deliver a line with more conviction) if nothing special. The kid as well, but I will say I can see him growing into a solid leading actor someday.

The villains are better too, particularly the supporting gopher villain guy. Kinda have to be, since Peter Fonda spent the first movie in something like an emotional coma and the supporting gopher in that film just outright sucked.

The visuals are WAY ahead of the first one. The Rider's charred skull sits atop a visible spine, its halo of flames pumping out black oily smoke all the while, making him ten times more menacing than he was as the the disembodied flaming white skull from the first film. The bike is simply bad-ass, again far more aggressive and dangerous feeling than the bike from the first one. Visually I'd put this up against any action movie out there, it's just nasty good. Well, minus the stupid shakey-cam that makes an occasional appearance.

The story is basically Terminator 2, with the Rider having to save the kid who is the destroyer, not the saviour of mankind. The movie is full of chases and set piece fights that I thought were done very, very well. Sure, the story is a bit predictable, the characters too, but this isn't a movie you go to if you want Oscar quality performances. It's a kablooie-fest.

I was particularly impressed with the quarry battle, 'cuz it brought the BOOM! Some very creative use of heavy machinery and shoulder mounted missles there. Fun stuff all around.

For a straight up action movie I'd give it a B-. I'm still not sold on Cage in the role, the main villain wasn't nearly as menacing as he should be, some of the plot was a bit disjointed, but overall the film worked for me.

Plus, as much as it sucked, I own a copy of Ghost Rider. So what do I know, right?

DC Comics Chess Set News

2012-02-16T18:21:00.003-05:00

Hey all.

I was just surfing over at bleedingcool.com as I often do and found an article about a DC Comics chess set offered in Great Britain on a piece by piece basis to those who subscribe to...okay, I admit I didn't get that far before curiosity got the better of me and I clicked the video.

Nice set, good looking pieces. Too bad I ain't British!

Still, what's newsworthy for me is that in the post video youtube gallery there's my little old handpainted DC Comics Chess Set video right next to the one I just watched. Sweet!

So, if any of you are dropping by here as a result of the bleedingcool.com or youtube links, I'd love to hear it!

If you want to see more of what I've done on this front, click here to go to my chess set blog. The top post is a video for my Marvel set, followed by a lengthy post of pictures of the final adjustments made to some of the figures. Below that you'll find video for the DC set and the Star Wars set that I've made. Tons more pix and explanation if you keep on going back in time on the blog.

I hope you enjoy!

It seems that the link has disappeared from bleedingcool while I wrote this. Sigh.

Ten Bucks Well Spent

2012-02-09T01:19:00.003-05:00

Back in the summer I was working on one of those great summer days when everybody hauls their junk out of the cellar or the garage, sets up some lawn chairs and hopes that some fool drives by who will buy what they're only going to throw out the next day.

A bit of haggling and ten bucks later, I'm wrestling a drafting table into my work truck.

I like to draw every now and then but without a decent table in the living room (and regular readers know that I can't leave my cats and plants alone in the same room for long) I rarely bother anymore. So these days I have the drafting table set up and handy in the living room for those moments the drawing bug hits.

Voila.

A quick rendering of Jay Garrick, the original Flash from the 40's and 50's. All credit to the original artist that I blatantly ripped off...

Now I Know What I Want For Christmas!

2011-12-12T20:56:00.002-05:00

Cute kitty video got nuthin' on baby sloths!

I'd Growl With Rage...

2011-12-04T21:15:00.002-05:00

If only it wouldn't make me cry like a baby to do so.

I've been battling (unsuccessfully it would seem) a cold for a week now. It started very mild, continued very mild until today. Now it seems I have developed from cold sufferer to laryngitis sufferer.

When I finished work today, I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on cold stuff. Not cold meds (those I have) but orange juice and soup!

But.

They were OUT of Campbell's Chicken Noodle! How can a store be out of Cambell's Chicken Noodle soup? Arg!

It's my "I have a cold and need something quick, easy, hot and filling" soup!

It's just not fair, I tells ya.

Update - Humanity AND Justice In A Superman Story

2011-11-15T18:00:00.002-05:00

It's not often that I get a chance to tell my readers (I think that there might still be a couple of you out there...) about a really happy ending AND a bit of justice served.

A while back, I related a story about Mike Meyer, a mentally disabled man who had his extensive Superman collection plundered by a man he met at a local comic book store. Long story short, the dastardly fink was arrested following another lowlife crime (he assaulted a senior citizen who had hired him to do some work for him) and the collection was largely returned to Meyers. By that time the fanboy community had rallied around Meyers and replaced (and then some) what he had lost.

Great story to that point.

When the collection was returned, Meyers was asked what he'd do with the extra stuff that the comic book community had donated and he said at the time that he'd likely donate it to a children's hospital as a way to repay the generosity of his fellow Superman fans.

To me, that was the point where I realized that the real hero of the piece was Meyer himself. Mentally disabled he may be, victim he may have been, but this man is a super man in the truest sense.

Imagine my delight as I scanned the interwebs today and found these two stories:

From blog.cleveland.com (go there to see a pic of Meyer and the sketch mentioned below)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In the very room where a young Jerry Siegel created Superman, Mike Meyer sat transfixed Monday as he drew his own sketch of his hero.

Meyer, 48 and mentally disabled, said sitting in that room in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood was a lifelong dream he never thought would come true. Several months ago, a man posing as a friend stole Meyer's comic and Superman memorabilia collection from his Granite City, Ill., home.

John Dudas, owner of Carol and John's Comics in the Kamm's Corner neighborhood, flew Meyer and a friend into Cleveland to see where it all began. They also flew in Keith Howard of Belleville, Ill., who represented the Superfriends of Metropolis group that organized a nationwide effort to replace the stolen items.

Howard has several Superman costumes, but the one he wore Monday is modeled after the uniform Superman wore in his earlier adventure, which is fitting considering the occasion.

Hattie and Jefferson Gray, who own the home where Siegel once lived, were happy for the visit.

"We get people driving by here all the time, some even stopping in and asking if they can see 'the room,' said Jefferson Gray. "But this is special."

Dudas collected 200 pounds of Superman items that he sent to Meyer and was ecstatic when Tracey Kirksey of the Siegel and Shuster Society and the Glenville Development Corp. offered the one present every Superman fans wants: a private tour of the Siegel house.

"I feel like I'm connected with Siegel and Shuster, a piece of history was created here," Meyer said, looking around the living room of 10622 Kimberley Ave. He walked to an old desk in Jerry Siegel's bedroom on the second floor and timidly asked, "Can I sit here?"

"When Jerry lived here this was a very crowded house," explained Jefferson Gray. "He used to write his Superman stories here, on the third floor and even in the basement, wherever he could."

The colorful entourage went upstairs to the tiny third floor room where Jerry did much of his script writing. The room is now full of Superman items that Jefferson has collected over the years -- a Superman record played in the background Monday. Meyer took it all in and then sat down and drew a perfect sketch of his hero with a speed that Joe Shuster would envy. He signed that one and two others he made and presented them to the Grays to be enshrined in the room.

Today, Meyer will visit other Superman Cleveland landmarks, including the site of the old Siegel and Shuster art studio and the building at 750 Huron Road, which is believed to be the model for the Daily Planet.

He will visit shops like Comic Heaven in Willoughby, North Coast Nostalgia in Parma and York Comics in Parma, where he will receive gift certificates. He will also receive a gift certificate to Big Fun on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights.

The whirlwind vacation concludes tonight at 7 p.m. with a party at Carol and John's Comic Shop with local members of the Facebook group, Pop!: The Comic Culture Club, which helped Dudas organize the donation. They will watch classic Superman television and cartoon episodes, a Superman fan's paradise.

And lest anyone feel sorry for Meyer and his lost Superman trove, like the old-fashioned Superman comics, there is a happy ending.

Police arrested the man who talked his way into Meyer's home and stole his valuables. Most have been recovered and returned to Meyer.

But what about the comics and gifts from Superman fans across the nation that were sent to Meyer?

He took a cue from the Man of Steel and donated them to the Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, to inspire sick children.

Because that's what Superman would do.

Yeah, that's awesome. Superman could take lessons in humanity from this humble man.

And finally, from BND.com:

Lex Luthor is behind bars: The man who stole a mentally disabled man's Superman collection will go to prison.
Gerry Armbruster, 37, pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing a massive Superman memorabilia collection from Mike Meyer, a mentally disabled man who works at McDonald's and adores the DC Comics superhero. Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli sentenced Armbruster to six years in prison.

Armbruster had tricked Meyer into showing him the collection and stole it while Meyer was distracted while watching a movie in his Granite City home, police said.

Comic-book fan groups, actors and celebrities associated with the Superman franchise engineered a massive international effort to replace the collection, which was delivered by local Superman fans, some of them in costume.

However, police caught up to Armbruster in September while investigating another crime: he had beaten and robbed a 76-year-old man who was trying to hire him to clean up a vacant business on the block.

Armbruster pleaded guilty to residential burglary and aggravated battery, according to Madison County State's Attorney spokesman Stephanee Smith.

He should be grateful that there weren't any Superman fanboys on the jury or he'd have likely fared a lot worse based on the howls of outrage I read surrounding the story. The range of suggested comic book related punishments for his crime was both imaginative and disturbing. I wonder if he ever imagined that his one claim to fame would be being the most villified man on the planet among comic book geeks?

For the record, I think that's a reasonable sentence. With parole and good behaviour he'll likely be inside for 2 or 3 years. I'd say justice is served.

Okay, Now That Is Just COOL!

2011-11-13T22:44:00.002-05:00

Nope, this isn't Lucas's latest CGI-fest. This is time lapse photography taken from the International Space Station with a special low light camera.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

"Mind blowing" is the phrase that comes to mind when viewing the images.

You can read more about the photography at Universe Today.

From The Pen Of Penn

2011-10-31T21:55:00.003-04:00

Penn (of Penn and Teller) recently released his new book, God, No. I've said before on the blog that I'd steer clear of religion in general but I think most will agree that this isn't exactly a religious post, nor is it really about atheism. Penn's book is about his own atheism and I haven't read it so I can't comment on it, nor would I do so here.

What this post is about is living. More specifically, it addresses the idea of "rules to live by" for those who don't follow one holy book or another. I've been asked the question "well, if you don't believe in (insert appropriate deity/prophet/messiah here) then where do you get your morality" and my response has always been something like "from my logic, my humanity and our common laws". We could (and I have) argue religious influence on law and such for hours, but I promised that this wouldn't be a religion post.

What I'm going to show you here is Penn's own version of the Ten Commandments. In his case he calls it an Atheist Ten Commandments, but really once you read 'em I think you'll agree that it's really more of a Humanity's Ten Commandments.

1. The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.

2. Do not put things or even ideas above other human beings. (Let's scream at each other about Kindle versus iPad, solar versus nuclear, Republican versus Libertarian, Garth Brooks versus Sun Ra— but when your house is on fire, I'll be there to help.)

3. Say what you mean, even when talking to yourself. (What used to be an oath to (G)od is now quite simply respecting yourself.)

4. Put aside some time to rest and think. (If you're religious, that might be the Sabbath; if you're a Vegas magician, that'll be the day with the lowest grosses.)

5. Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children. (Love is deeper than honor, and parents matter, but so do spouse and children.)

6. Respect and protect all human life. (Many believe that "Thou shalt not kill" only refers to people in the same tribe. I say it's all human life.)

7. Keep your promises. (If you can't be sexually exclusive to your spouse, don't make that deal.)

8. Don't steal. (This includes magic tricks and jokes — you know who you are!)

9. Don't lie. (You know, unless you're doing magic tricks and it's part of your job. Does that make it OK for politicians, too?)

10. Don't waste too much time wishing, hoping, and being envious; it'll make you bugnutty.

I'm no theologian but these 10 make more sense to me than most of the religiously inspired "morality" I've seen and read about in my life. Don't get me wrong, I know full well that religion can and does inspire works of great compassion and charity, I just think that everyone, religious or not, would benefit from reading, thinking about and hopefully trying to live by Penn's more grounded version of those stone carved rules.

That's not to say that he has it perfectly correct, either. There's not really a provision to protect women and children from sexual abuse, not to friviolously litigate and on and on. He does make a good start though and it's worth taking a look at.

A Touch of Cassini

2011-10-25T19:19:00.003-04:00

No, this isn't some new art print. It' a picture of four (yes four) of Saturn's moons juxtaposed with a part of the ring system of the planet. Cassini took it as hung around the system on September 17, 2011.

Truly breathtaking.

For more on the image (including where that pesky fourth moon is hiding), click here.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!

2011-10-11T13:42:00.001-04:00

Avengers Assemble!

May can't come soon enough!

A Different Kind Of Superman

2011-09-16T22:38:00.002-04:00

I've been following a story at Bleedingcool.com for a week or so and it ended so well that I have to share.

It seems that a mentally disabled man named Mike Meyers who had been collecting Superman memorabilia most of his life had his collection stolen by someone who conned his way into the guy's apartment after meeting him at a comic book store.

You can read the original story here.

When Bleeding Cool reported the story, there was a groundswell response from the fanboy community. While calling for the thief's head on a kryptonite platter, the community started sending Mike all sorts of Superman collectibles to replace what had been stolen. That alone was enough to melt even the most cynical heart.

You can read that story here.

Today it was reported that an arrest had been made in the case. Not only that, but the stolen Superman stuff was found and returned to Mike Meyers. Once again, I'm a bit misty over this. Great stuff.

You can read that story here.

Be sure to read that last story all the way to the end. You'll see an update from St. Louis today"

"As for his Superman collection, Meyer now has close to double what he had lost. Smith has about 40 more items ready to be delivered, and dozens more have been promised. Meyer said he wants to take the donations and give them to charity, possibly delivering them to a children’s hospital.

“People were generous to me; this is how I can be generous in return,” he said."

And here I was thinking that the fanboy community was the superhero in this story.

More Superman Stuff!

2011-08-31T14:55:00.011-04:00

Below we have one of the first really clear pix of Henry Cavill in his Superman outfit. They've made some changes to the costume (most of which line up with the new version of the iconic Superman suit we'll be seeing this month in DC's relaunch of they're entire comic book line) that work fairly well.

Many in the fanboy community are angry about the lack of red trunks, yellow belt and general brightness in the new costume. I've done a quick colour correct/paint to show the changes that they're clamouring for on the web. To my eye, the difference doesn't warrant all the fuss.

I will admit I miss the red trunks for a sense of symmetry, but it's just not that big a deal. Cavill looks HUGE in the costume and I say he looks more like the Superman I see in my mind than any who have gone before.

If I had had any say in the costume, I might have argued for this, more subtle changed. It gives the impression of a break in the blue bodysuit without the silly underwear on the outside look.

If You Could Get In Your Car...

2011-08-31T09:07:00.005-04:00

...and drive straight UP at about 77,600 MILES PER HOUR (My car only goes this fast on the way home if I have hot food in the car) for 20 days or so, then turn around and take a picture, this is what you'd see:

Earth & Moon Portrait -
First Photo transmitted from Jupiter Bound Juno
This image of Earth (on the left) and the moon (on the right) was taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Aug. 26, 2011, when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. It was taken by the spacecraft's onboard camera, JunoCam. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Long time blog readers will know of my reverence for Carl Sagan's impassioned Pale Blue Dot speech, which he wrote in reaction to a similar image of our little planet, suspended in a filament of light that was taken by one of the Voyager spacecraft. I think this image is as important and while I am no scientist or philosopher, I do have some thoughts of my own on it.

Consider these two pinpoints of light. The slightly larger one is us. All of us. Everyone alive right now lives somewhere on that tiny speck of light. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars and plagues rage violently across its surface. Individuals, families, tribes and countries live and die here every day, but to the universe our home shows only a peaceful glint of pale blue light. Had the spacecraft that imaged this picture turned its lens a few degrees left, right, up or down, our entire existence would literally be out of the picture.

A few degrees.

To us, the world is a huge, all-encompassing place and it comprises everything we are, everything we know, everything we love, everything we hate, everything we ever hope to achieve. Yet viewed from the outside, the Earth is tiny, insignificant, hopelessly lost in the background of the universe. Here we sit, on our speck, supposing ourselves important.

The smaller light is our tiny moon and the distance between the two represents the farthest that mankind has ever travelled. We think of those journeys as milestones in human history, even though a viewer from outside our solar system would categorise our monumental odyssey to the moon as nothing more than a local sightseeing trip. As the universe reckons these things, humanity has had less impact upon its stage than a flea travelling on the back of an elephant has affected all of our planet's history.

So, rejoice in the knowledge that no matter the crisis, no matter the celebration, we live snug on our little mote of light, orbited by an even smaller jot of light, floating in a vast cosmic ocean of planets, stars and other more wondrous objects and events, all of which will continue to dwarf us and our progeny for the next several billion years. Our tiny pinpoints of light are all we have and likely all we'll ever get. Given how well we humans have managed our resources and ourselves thus far, one can imagine that the universe might judge that it is probably just as well that we are so marooned on our tiny, dim archipelago.

Our islands of light are so small, so fragile and we are totally dependent upon them for our survival. It is good to see them for what they really are once in a while.

Pix and Stuff

2011-08-17T22:43:00.004-04:00

The other day I had the rare opportunity to photograph a deer. I see them all the time, but by the time I get my camera out, poof.

This was on a back road and I spotted this little lady a ways away and stopped the truck to grab my camera. Fortunately, she didn't spook easily.

So after I got the first pic, I eased the truck forward.

Closer.

And finally I was about 15 or 20 feet from her. She never moved. Until she did.

Poof.

This next one was taken from a bridge. I've tried to get shots of herons before, but like the deer they're usually gone by the time I fumble my camera out of the glove box. This pic was taken at the extreme end of my zoom with the sun behind me, so I was basically shooting blind. Fortunately the camera didn't shake too much.

Rook in the window. Not a bad picture.

I think this one is better though. Sorta greeting card-ish.

That was a lot of work!

Go Ahead. I Dare You.

2011-08-17T22:39:00.002-04:00

Try to watch this and not find yourself blinking furiously and wondering if you just saw what you saw. I dare you.

I've posted the checkerboard illusion before (with a really, really complex explanation linked to it) but this demonstrates it brilliantly.

I'm off to buy stock in Tylenol.

The Cape! It's All About The Cape!

2011-08-04T18:06:00.008-04:00

Check out these pix of the various dudes who've played Superman. Pay particular attention to the cape, where it fastens to the collar.

This is one of the things that has ALWAYS pissed me off about the various Superman costumes. Superman's cape should look regal, imposing, noble. In every case, it looks like they tucked the damned thing inside his collar and pinned it there, the way my Mom used to do with a towel when I wanted to play superhero as a kid.

This is the classic look, gathered and attached at the collar bone, which means that the cape is WAY wider than the body wearing it, giving it volume and character when Superman moves. Look how much volume there is in the cape, compared to all the towels pinned to all the shirts above.

I have yet to see this on film. They tried something like it in the early days of Lois and Clark, but the result was chunky and comical rather than noble.

After an episode or two, Dean's Mom tucked his cape inside his collar and pinned it there for him.

Today, WB released the first picture of Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel. I am SO happy!

Go here for a bigger version of the picture.

While the blogosphere explodes with fanboys whining that Cavill has too much hair, the shield is too big, or the texture of the suit is distracting (seriously, I've read those three complaints like a dozen different places so far), I for one am STOKED that somebody FINALLY got the damned cape right! The rest looks just fine to me. Cavill has the "I'm a nice guy, but also hold the power of a god in my little finger and you just really, really ticked me off" look down, too!

Can't. Friggin'. WAIT!

Aww...

2011-07-30T22:55:00.003-04:00

From bleedingcool.com comes a pic from this year's ComicCon:

“This kid had lost his dad in the crowd, and freaked out until he saw the Flash and Wonder Woman. He went up to the Flash to ask for help, because he knows him.”

Now, that's a sweet story with (I assume) a happy ending.

ComicCon: Taking the creepy out of men in full body spandex, one rescue at a time.

It's Not All That Often...

2011-07-29T18:29:00.006-04:00

...that I come up with a new concept. Something that is (to the best of my knowledge) completely my own idea and which covers unbroken ground is a rare and wonderous thing.

So, here is my new meme.

I want you to think about the top 5 stupidest things you've ever seen, heard, thought or done.

Put the list in order, with number one being the very, very, very stupidest thing you know of. It could be something someone did that you witnessed, something someone (or you) said or an idea that you've only heard about. Doesn't matter.

From here on, that's your list. Five things that mark the stupidest low points you know of.

Keep that list in your head, forever.

Now enters my new meme.

If, at any point in the future, you see, hear, think or do anything that supercedes those five things, you have to think of that new thing as:

Proto-stupid.

Proto-stupidity is any concept or action that is so profoundly ridiculous, idiotic or stupid that it actually leaves the average person's scale of dumb and comes before number one on a list of the stupidest ideas or actions know of up to that point.

I submit my thinking about this concept for over a half an hour as a prime candidate.

Well Now, Ain't That Purdy!

2011-07-24T18:08:00.001-04:00

These are growing on my side of the fence, but I must confess that they are not my doing. My neighbour has the green thumb. I'm lucky if my weeds don't die.

And no, I don't know what kind of flowers they are beyond "purple and pretty".

"Needst" Is Not A Word...

2011-07-23T21:58:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I came within a hair's breadth of growing up to be these guys...

At some point in High School, I discovered that Dungeons and Dragons wasn't quite as cool as Beer and Blunts.

I'm still going to go see this and laugh my ass off.

The Latest From Here And There

2011-07-11T23:58:00.010-04:00

This? This is the world's shyest kitty cat. I'm baby-sitting my neighbour's cat, Frannie and this is about all I've seen of her.

I coaxed her out from under the couch with some treats (that's her paw above, slyly pulling the treats under the couch one at a time) but she stuck around for exactly two pix.

She's cute...but elusive.

These are a couple of horses I met in my travels recently. I could only take a few pix, since standing too close meant risking the laces in my boots getting eaten. Very friendly, very, very hungry.

And finally...before...

...and after.

Rook needed a shave and he finally got it today. He's half the man he used to be!

One Small Step For Students...

2011-07-06T22:05:00.004-04:00

Well, I suppose it had to happen. I'm still left shaking my head a bit.

From Time.com:

Typing Beats Scribbling: Indiana Schools Can Stop Teaching Cursive

Who still writes in cursive?

That age-old writing method you might never have used since fourth grade will no longer be taught in Indiana schools come fall, thanks to a memo from school officials. Instead, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.

Seems like a smart move as being able to type efficiently is a vital skill in today's world, as opposed to knowing how to write cursive, which — like being able to churn butter and knowing how to hitch a horse to a wagon — is no longer needed.

Click here to read the whole article.

The best part of the article is the idle speculation about how future students will learn to sign their names. Personally, I figure we'll transition to some form of biometrics (retina scan, finger print, etc) by then, leading to a whole new class of crime, known as "Identity Dismemberment".

The comment section stopped me cold.

"Rocky" won the annual "BEST INTERNET COMMENT EVER" contest with:

"Ha! A secret language for us old people that the entitled little punks won't be able to read.
Muahahahahahhaha!"

Kitties!

2011-07-06T21:48:00.002-04:00

Dad! Help me out here! I caught this futon for you and it just won't die!

You mean you kilt this futon all by yerself? I can't believe it!

This Is The First Time...

2011-06-29T20:12:00.002-04:00

...that I've ever heard of a good reason for a flight delay.

From Cnn.com:

Love is in the air at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. More than 150 turtles crossed over an active runway and disrupted air traffic on Wednesday so that they could continue their mating season.

The diamondback terrapins were trying to get to an ideal location to lay their eggs. That's a sandy area that happens to be across Runway 4, according to Carol Bannerman of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The turtles were primarily female, and the fertilization of their eggs occurs in the water, Bannerman said.

JFK is surrounded by a bay and wetland areas.

Read the whole article here.

I've heard of swimming the deepest ocean and climbing the highest mountain, but I don't think I'd ever cross an airport runway for nookie.

Best Movie Tie-In, EVER

2011-06-28T17:07:00.002-04:00

Usually, fast food or retail tie-ins for movies (particularly superhero films) either make me yawn or gag. This one made me cheer.

Oh and note that the dog's name is Stanley. That's just awesome sauce.

Been A While

2011-06-27T20:04:00.002-04:00

My roommates haven't put in an appearance around here in a while. Thought they should do their part.

Bishop, sittin' pretty.

Rook, displaying an almost Greybishop-ian love of books...

...and napping.

More Conan, More Gore!

2011-06-18T18:06:00.002-04:00

Below you'll find the "Red Band" Trailer for Conan the Barbarian. It's aimed at the 18+ audience that will be legally allowed to see the movie when it hits theaters.

To be honest, I don't see the big deal (no nudity, no language, just blood 'n' guts) that makes it "18+" but I'm not the arbiter of these things.

Please don't click if you're not over 18.

It seems to me that they've incorporated a bit of Jason Momoa's Ronin character from Stargate Atlantis into this. Lines like "How many names do I need?" and "Not bad" seem more Ronin than Conan. I'm on the fence about that, but hopefully the movie as a whole will make them seem a bit less obvious. I'm still more excited about this than I can express! A RESTRICTED (meaning violent in the extreme!) Conan is a dream come true!

I'd Explain Just How Excited I Am About This...

2011-06-15T18:22:00.002-04:00

...but then you'd all think I was really, really wierd.

Just watch the new Conan The Barbarian TV spot.

Now watch it again while imagining me squeeling like a girl through the whole thing.

Disturbing, i'n'it?

Geek Guys Identify!

2011-06-09T23:27:00.001-04:00

It's so friggin' true.

Aww.

2011-05-20T22:09:00.003-04:00

I'm not much of a one for gimmicks and I'm certainly not the authority on relationships and marriage, but if any of my friends ever came to me and asked me to help in producing a flashy marriage proposal, like the done to death Jumbotron at the game proposal or some silly trick proposal at work, I'd do my best to convince them to go with the old down on one knee shtick. Classics are classics for a reason.

Still, this guy deserves a medal for the effort and I gotta say, it made me laugh and I'm certain that she'll never forget it.

You will note that after all the film, sweat and popcorn, he went with the old down on one knee shtick. Classics are classics for a reason.

Frazetta Would Be Flattered (And Maybe Interested In Pursuing Litigation!)

2011-05-13T17:39:00.005-04:00

Take the power of this:

The layout of this:

Add the raw energy of this:

Mix 'em all together and you'll get something like:

Of all the movie posters I've ever seen, this one is the most like a live action Frazetta painting. Regardless of how Conan The Barbarian does in 3D, the poster is immortal.

Kepler. The Gift That Keeps On Giving.

2011-04-14T23:34:00.006-04:00

Long time blog readers might remember that a couple of years ago people were invited to compose a 500 word message to send into space on a dvd on the Kepler probe. Yours truly is one of the many voices out there in the void. I don't have kids, so that's about as close to immortality as I'll ever come. That's a pretty sweet notion to attach to a piece of hardware floaing in space.

More important, by far, than my little slice of eternity is the reason that Kepler is out there in the first place: Finding earth-like planets that might have a chance of harbouring life. That's a really sweet notion.

And yet, Kepler isn't done giving.

From Time.com:
In the two years since it went into space, the Kepler satellite has revolutionized the search for planets around other stars. Before Kepler went into space, about 500 so-called exoplanets had been found, one by painstaking one over the course of more than a decade. Since then, Kepler has added another 1,200, and that's just a fraction of the planets the probe will ultimately discover. (To be technical, the bodies Kepler finds are known as "candidate planets" that need confirmation, but no one doubts that the vast majority of them are real.)

One reason Kepler has been so wildly successful is that it stares at a huge number of stars — some 150,000 of them, around the clock — looking for tiny dips of light. That change in luminescence indicates that a planet is passing in front of the star. No human could possibly sort through all that data, so the Kepler team has created a kind of sifter software that looks for patterns hinting at orbiting planets.

But while computers are terrific at high-volume data-processing, nothing beats the human eye for pattern-recognition — which is why a project dreamed up by Yale University astronomer Debra Fischer, a veteran planet hunter and Kepler project scientist, has turned out to be so extraordinarily useful. Called Planethunters.org, it lets ordinary folks with no scientific training at all help find planets the Kepler software has missed. It works so well that in just a few short months of operation, the more than 22,000 visitors to the website have found nearly 50 potential planets, which are being sent on to Kepler headquarters at the NASA Ames Research Center in California for followup.

You might think the planethunters team would require people who click on the site to undergo a fair amount of online training before allowing them to look at real data — but you'd be wrong. "We've got all sorts of online tutorials which explain the science," says Fischer. "But people don't have to look at them, and most don't."

Instead, you can cut straight to the real stuff : a simple explanation of what you're supposed to look for (a series of regular dips in a given star's "lightcurve," which is just a graph of its brightness over time) and how use an onscreen box to mark any suspicious spots. That's pretty much it — except that the last screen asks: "Logged in users get to see the best stars and get credit for their work. Would you like to login?" Think many folks say no?

Once they start looking, says Fischer, some people stay only a short while, but others hang in, looking for dips and answering simple online questions about them. "We have people doing 100 [stars], 5,000 — the users created their own 5,000 club — and even 20,000." No one sighting qualifies as a likely detection, but if enough users finger the same star, the scientists take notice.

"It really is the wisdom of the crowd," says Meg Schwamb, a Yale postdoctoral fellow who serves as the lead project scientist. When users prove unusually good at spotting potential planets, says Fischer, "we upgrade them, and weigh their opinions more heavily."

The scientists at Kepler mission headquarters, meanwhile, by no means resent contributions from the untutored masses. Quite the contrary. "It's absolutely no surprise to me that they'd find planet candidates we missed," says Natalie Batalha, Deputy Principal Investigator for the Kepler mission. Software can pick up signals the human eye and brain can't, she says, but it has to account for the fact that individual stars vary in brightness even when they don't have planets. You don't want to mistake a pulsating star for a star that dims because of a planet's shadow. "Our software does a good job of weeding out these stars, but it's not perfect," Batalha concedes.

Indeed, says astronomer Chris Lintott, currently at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, this isn't the first time the untrained human brain has been able to help astronomers out. Back in 2007, Lintott and his grad student Kevin Schawinski were trying to catalog a million galaxies by shape. Schawinski did about 50,000, but balked at looking at the other 950,000. Together, they created something called Galaxy Zoo, which let amateurs do the identifying for them. "Recognizing patterns," says Lintott, "involves exactly the same skills we evolved to hunt and to avoid being hunted."

The project proved so successful that Lintott and Schawanski expanded into other online citizen-science projects under an umbrella they call Zooniverse. And last year, when Schawinski had moved on to Yale, he began talking with Fischer about how the search for planets might be helped by this same kind of vox pop effort.

If the scientists are happy with the help they're getting in processing their data, they're flat-out thrilled that so many outsiders are getting so excited about the science. "I get emails," says Fischer, "or see postings on our message board that say 'wow, I'm going to go back to school to learn more about astronomy,' or 'I can't believe I can get a chance to look at real data and do real planet detection!'"

Adds Batalha: "You've got kids doing this, experiencing the thrill of seeing something for the first time that nobody else has ever seen. It's just fabulous." When some of those kids can say they've helped change the very map of the cosmos, they could be hooked on science for life.

So, folks like us can participate directly in the search for earth-like planets. I plan to take put some time in scouring the data next week. I'll let you know how it goes!

As I get older, I find that the only real regret I have is that I didn't pursue a career in the sciences. In school, I actually hated science classes. Looking back, that failing falls more at the feet of disinterested science teachers than my own enjoyment of the subject. At least, that's how it seems a million years later.

At last I get a chance to translate some of my love of science into a real contribution, however small, to the field.

That's a notion too sweet for words to express.

More Painting

2011-04-14T18:23:00.003-04:00

I continue to putter away at my Conan project, aiming to create an homage in miniatures to each of the classic Conan covers from the original run of the paperback releases. I recently learned that there actually is earlier art to go with these books, but to be perfectly honest, it sucks. It all looks like bad romance novel covers with Conan dressed either as a Roman soldier or a gay pirate.

Nothin' beats the Frazetta/Vallejo work that I consider the definitive Conan.

I just finished the first miniature for the homage to Vallejo's Conan the Wanderer cover.

I'm using some new techniques and some new paints. You can't see it, but this figure is lunging foward, thus the poor focus on the head. I guess I need a better camera! This is my take on the villain of the piece, Baal-pteor:

"Slightly taller than Conan and much heavier, Baal-pteor loomed before him, a daunting image of muscular development. His mighty arms were unnaturally long, and his great hands opened and closed, twitching convulsively."

Almost Too Close For Comfort...

2011-04-08T16:55:00.004-04:00

From yahoo.ca:

Mark your calendars for an impressive and upcoming flyby of an asteroid that’s one of the larger potentially perilous space rocks in the heavens – in terms of smacking the Earth in the future.

It’s the case of asteroid 2005 YU55, a round mini-world that is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in diameter.

In early November, this asteroid will approach Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances.

Due the object’s size and whisking by so close to Earth, an extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being planned.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005.

En route and headed our way, the cosmic wanderer is another reminder about life here on our sitting duck of a planet.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

If Anyone Ever Wondered...

2011-04-08T16:53:00.001-04:00

...what I think of things like homeopathy, aura reading, alternative medicine, speaking with the dead, psychics and such, I think I'll let British comedian Tim Minchin explain.

The key bit is the "I'd spin on a fucking dime" part. If there's ever real evidence of any of this stuff, I promise to put it in banner type here on my blog and tattoo it on my forehead. I have no trouble admitting that I'm wrong when presented with verifiable evidence.

Yet all the folks who think like Storm that I've met in my life...

"...we'd as well be ten minutes back in time for all the chance you'll change your mind."

So true.

Just A Jawdropping, Gobsmacking Image

2011-03-30T15:12:00.002-04:00

The image below is simply staggering in its implication.

What you're looking at is a visual representation, to scale, of the stars with "earth like" candidate planets so far found by the Kepler probe. In other words, exo-planets the approximate size of Earth, orbiting their stars at what might be the "Goldilocks zone" where conditions are neither too hot nor too cold, allowing the possibility that liquid water could be found on the surface.

Each star is shown in scale, with Jupiter and Earth transiting Sol by themselves below the first row. You need to view the picture at its original size by clicking here to see the Earth, since the visible dot you're seeing on my blog is Jupiter.

If you scroll down the original image when you get there (and let it load, it's quite large), you'll see that some stars that approximate ours in size do indeed have candidate planets on the order of our Earth. Some stars have more than one candidate planet as well!

Much work is yet to be done to confirm that the planets are indeed rocky type planets that could support liquid water on their surfaces and that they actually fall within the Goldilocks zone, but...just...wow.

For more info on the picture, click here.

Another Chapter

2011-03-29T21:13:00.002-04:00

That's right, folks. Chapter 4 of A Big Ball of Dirt is now up for your reading pleasure.

Click here to read.

Please comment here or at the comment section of the new page. I LOVE to get feedback, positive or constructivley critical.

Enjoy!

Someone Wanted To Say "Hello"

2011-03-29T19:15:00.003-04:00

Actually, Bishop was rather indifferent to the idea, but she hasn't been seen around here for a while...

What Might Have Been But Never Was

2011-03-28T23:19:00.002-04:00

Imagine a world where Jim Henson never did Sesame Street and instead did a muppet version of the popular "Wizard of Id" comic strip. In the late 1960's, as Henson was working up both projects, fate might have gone either way. As it was, Kermit and friends populated Sesame Street and went on to {ahem} greener pastures from there.

Things might have gone very differently...

Is Anybody Buying From These People?

2011-03-24T12:00:00.002-04:00

If so, STOP.

My yahoo e-mail address was apparently hijacked overnight by spammers looking to sell my e-mail contacts some cheap viagra or whatever.

As annoying as that is (and it's pretty fucking annoying), I have a deeper question.

Who the hell buys ANYTHING from one of these spamming idiots?

Obviously, someone MUST buy from them at some point or they would simply give up and try to market their crap in some new and doubtless more irritating way. But they don't. They keep spamming.

So who is buying?

Somebody is buying.

I want names.

Captain America!

2011-03-24T11:54:00.002-04:00

I gotta say, I was on the fence about Chris Evans as Cap, but this looks pretty damned cool. They've hit all the high notes in the trailer, added a nice tie in to the Iron Man movies in having Tony Stark's Dad be a lab assistant here and they've done just enough to introduce the character to audiences that might not know the Captain America story. If the movie can live up to the promise of the trailer, it's gonna rock!

Look What I Found!

2011-03-17T19:18:00.002-04:00

I found it at a ReaperMiniatures.com, bought it, painted it and glued it together.

You didn't think I meant that I found it in my basement, did you? ;o)

It's the center piece of the diorama I'm doing in an homage to the cover of "Conan and the Spider God".

I picked red, orange and black since they're sort of the universal "Oh shit!" colours of the insect/arachnid world, but to my eye this came out more pretty than sinister. Still, I think it'll look pretty cool once I mount it on a base with the other figures.

Game of Thrones!

2011-03-16T21:19:00.003-04:00

Five promotional posters for the new show!
The first one is a GREAT shot of Sean Bean as Ned Stark sitting on the Iron Throne. It is reminiscent of the promo for The Tudors (and probably a hundred other movies and tv shows about kings) but what's great about Game of Thrones is that Ned Stark has NO ambition to the throne and spends the book trying to keep the king in power while protecting his own family. That makes the poster all the more powerful.

The next four are individual character posters with their credo overlaid.

Ned Stark

King Robert Baratheon

Queen Cersei Lannister

Exiled Queen Daenerys Targaryen

I'm gonna go hold my breath until April 17 now.

I Care Not...

2011-03-11T22:04:00.003-05:00

I live, I love, I slay and I am content.

Ah, Conan. What a poet.

I'm mucho impressed that they included a (nearly complete) quote from an original Conan story (Queen of the Black Coast) by Robert E. Howard in the teaser. I know that the actual story of the movie isn't taken from a Howard tale, rather it's a Hollywood origin story (parents murdered, Conan seeks revenge, sort of a Hyperborian Batman) but the inclusion of source material like the quote is a reason to hope that the filmmakers will put a Conan I can recognize on the screen. I'm also hearing from the cyber-ether that the sequel (is there any doubt?) will be based on an actual Conan story from one of the original novellas.

I'm not a fan of the "Conan as Hyperborian Batman" scenario. That makes him a victim from the get-go and one thing Conan most definitely is NOT is a victim. In the books, he leaves his northern Cimmerian homeland because he wants adventure, plunder, wine, women and song. And women. And more women. Conan is basically a big, tough, swashbuckling adventurer who does what he does not because it's his duty to his dead parents, but because he likes it.

Sadly, the original Conan films with Arnold the Governator have set a template that movie execs assume to be the way the public sees Conan and the way they'll best accept him. Heaven forbid that a barbarian reaver not have a noble motivation for cutting all those people to pieces. Idiots.

Thankfully, somebody convinced them to ditch the furry Speedo.

Ah well. I guess I can't have everything. At least (for once!) I got the actor I wanted in a role that I've been waiting to see him do. Momoa was born to play Conan. I've said it since before they cast him and when this movie kicks ass in August, I'll be proven right. I'm hoping for a long and awesome series of Conan movies following Momoa into his middle age.

I'll probably only get a trilogy, but I'll be there every opening day if they keep makin' 'em into my old age.

The Robots Are Coming!

2011-03-11T18:48:00.002-05:00

This is almost too real. After a bit, it's obvious that it's a machine, but it fools the eye (at least it fooled me!) at first.

Just A Little Painting

2011-03-10T10:51:00.004-05:00

Here's a snap of a miniature I've been working on for the last little while. I absolutely LOVE the sculptor's vision here. I'm not sure if he intended that the wraith would be wrapped in fire or if he was just modeling the lower half more ragged than the top, but this piece just cried out to be bathed in flames. I'm not sure I have lived up to the potential of the figure with my paint work, but I like the result. I'm particularly proud of the "light" being cast onto the tombstone.

When it's done (still a touch up or ten to go), this piece will be the villain in a little diorama I'm putting together.

Amazing Discovery...And The Amazing ISS...And The Amazing Sun...

2011-03-09T19:19:00.004-05:00

Below is yet another cool (and extremely lucky) photograph by an amateur astronomer, courtesy my new favourite site, www.universetoday.com

What you're seeing is sunspot activity taken with a sun filtered telescope. Personally, I'm always impressed that we can take this kind of picture. Now, as cool as that is, there's just a little more to the image and the story.

What makes it cool is that little extra bit that they've broken out for you. That's the International Space Station and the just undocked Discovery Space Shuttle there on the left as they transit the sun. What's more than a little amazing is that the picture is pure luck (the photographer was after sun spot activity and didn't know that the ISS was going to be there), made more amazing by the fact that the ISS's transit of the sun takes less than half a second.

Click here to read the article.

Get Outta My Head II

2011-03-08T16:19:00.004-05:00

It turns out that I'm not the only fan of Batman and Spiderman after all.

This is from last year's Carnival in Rio, so I'm told.

That's just a bucket full of hydraulically powered awesome!

Thank You, Discovery!

2011-03-08T11:05:00.001-05:00

On it's last mission, the Discovery got a special wake up call on one of it's very last days in orbit. Really, this says it all.

Thanks, Discovery. I will miss you.

Amazing Images From Space...From The Ground

2011-03-05T22:07:00.010-05:00

This is a cool photo of the International Space Station, taken by an amateur astronomer. Most interesting bit? The tiny spot of light that is actually an astronaut on a space walk! Click the pic to enlarge and take a closer look!

I found this at one of my favourite daily stops, www.universetoday.com and they found it at the website of amateur astronomer Ralf Vandebergh.

More amazing amateur astronomy images can be found at the website of The Society for Popular Astronomy, particularly this shot from member Martin Lewis.

Now, that's just cool!

Get Outta My Head!

2011-03-04T17:53:00.001-05:00

SHUT UP, CRIME!

It's Kick-Ass all over again, just with grown ups and Ellen Page!

Me Likey!

This Is Gonna Be The Best Show EVER!

2011-03-03T20:02:00.004-05:00

Sadly, Entertainment Weekly won't let us embed the trailer they just posted, but if you click here you can go and watch the newest, BEST, two and a half minutes of fantasy television ever.

Sean Bean.
Peter Dinklage.
Jason Momoa.
Leana Heady.

Oh and the girl playing Anya, Maisie Williams (the second best character in the books after Peter Dinklage's character of Tyrion) does an interview and we see some sword fighting in the video below.

I'm not only impressed by this little girl's poise and maturity (um...wow!) but the fact that she undertook learning how to sword fight LEFT HANDED when she um...isn't. Sure, in the books, Anya's a leftie, but even rabid fans of the books wouldn't have bitched if the 10 year old girl had done her sword fights using the wrong hand. The giddifying factor of that sort of detail coming from a child actor on the show is almost through the roof.

April 17 baby!

Oh and for anyone interested in the books (Read them! To not do so will be to miss out on one of the BEST long form fantasy series, ever, and that would be terrible for you!) you will be THRILLED to learn that the fifth book in the series will be released (FINALLY!!!!) in hardcover on July 12 this year!

I'm gonna bust with giddiness!

Niiiice.

2011-03-03T07:23:00.002-05:00

The "Motion Poster" for the upcoming Conan movie. Awesome.

Removed due to the annoying music.

This Is Almost Creepy

2011-02-26T22:59:00.007-05:00

So, I'm watching old Twilight Zone episodes this week. Up comes one with a young girl who turns out to be a robot. All through the episode, I kept thinking "who is that playing the young girl?" When I figured out it was Shirley Jones (she of the Partridge Family) I was still left thinking that something didn't quite add up. Then it hit me.

Below are two actresses separated by two generations. On the left is Shirley Jones in 1960 something. Below her on the right is Canadian actress Natalie Lisinska. Lisinska plays the lead on the Canadian comedy, Insecurity. It's a spoof of the 24 genre of spy television, but as much as I like the show, it's Lisinska's uncanny resemblance to a young Shirley Jones that really has my attention.

It's pretty normal to have "so and so looks like so and so" celebrity comparisons, but this one is almost too close to be creditable.

Bring on the Partridge Family remake!

You Just Don't See Dragons And WWII Soldiers Together Very Often...

2011-02-22T23:48:00.005-05:00

But in Zack Snyder's latest movie, Sucker Punch, you get that and a whole lot more.

Hot girls, sword fighting, dragons, WWII soldiers, giant samurai, robots, chicks shooting fire out of their hands, zepplins and a whole whack of other cool looking stuff.

Now, I have NO idea if this will be a good film or not. I have only a marginal understanding of the plot and no knowledge of anyone involved except director Snyder. All I have to go on is the trailer.

But holy crap, what a cool trailer!

Snyder's next project is the Superman reboot. I'm having a geekgasm!

Stunning Science

2011-02-21T17:02:00.005-05:00

There is great article at wired.com showcasing 10 amazing visual representations of science.

This War of the Worlds looking critter is actually an enterobacteria phage T4 virus that makes its living by injecting its DNA into Escherichia coli bacteria to produce copies of itself.

Check out the rest of the stunning imagery by clicking here.

Thor Brings The Boom!

2011-02-18T16:36:00.002-05:00

While I've always been leary of putting the Norse Thunder God (or his Marvelized version, at least) into the same world as Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, I gotta say I'm lovin' the trailer. Whether or not The Thunderer will mesh with his Avenger cohorts remains to be seen, but as a standalone product, Thor looks pretty damned awesome.

And The New Wonder Woman Is...

2011-02-17T12:08:00.005-05:00

Adrianne Palicki.

I have no idea who she is. I thought I'd never seen her in anything but it turns out she played "Kara" (we all thought she'd turn out to be Supergirl, but it wound up that she was a fake) in the Season 4 episode of Smallville called "Covenant". I don't remember her one way or another from that, but she's hot and from the little I've read on the various blogs talking about the casting, she's a capable actress, so I'm fine with the casting call.

What I'm most concerned about is the premise. Direct from the DC Comics blog:

Wonder Woman – aka Diana Prince – is a vigilante crime fighter in Los Angeles but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Make her a soldier. A spy. A cop, even. Ass-Kicking first, everything else a DISTANT second. Wonder Woman is NOT a corporate executive.

If you want that show, it's called "Power Girl". In the current comic book incarnation of the DC Comics character, Power Girl is a super powered vigilante crime fighter in Los Angeles but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

Seriously. That's EXACTLY the premise for the current 20+ issue run of the Power Girl comic. It's not a bad comic, but compared to the recent DC Direct to DVD Wonder Woman movie, it's lame. David E. Kelley would do well to source the animated movie and toss out his "WW meets Ally McBeal" treatment.

Better still, set it in the 1940's and make her a warrior for good, fighting on the side of the Allies.

I love WW. I'm a fan from my childhood. And I'm deeply concerned that this latest version is going to set the character back into obscurity when it fails. I can't help but draw comparisons to the failed Bionic Woman reboot that spent more time worrying about Jaime Summers emotions than her ass kicking.

I hope that I'm TOTALLY wrong here. I'm not, but I hope so!

I Don't Actually Care About The Story...

2011-02-17T00:16:00.003-05:00

Truly.

This story from yahoo.ca about Dicks & Co. shutting down their printing operation in St. Johns doesn't have any impact on me directly or even indirectly.

What I loved was the headline:

Dicks To Stop The Presses

Sounds painful.

Well This IS A Surprise

2011-02-10T21:26:00.002-05:00

I fully expected to be neutral (at best) on the new X-Men movie, X-Men First Class.

Since Fox owns the X-Men rights (Marvel owns many of its own characters for the purposes of filmmaking, but not the X-Men or Sony's Spiderman, both of which draw criticisms from us fanboys) most of us weren't expecting much.

I'm not saying this is the X-Men movie I wanted (it ain't and that's a fact), but it is a movie that looks a LOT better than what I was expecting based on the production news I've seen. Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) directs, so that probably has a lot to do with it looking better than expected. Hopefully the writing and acting are equally surprising.

A pleasant surprise, even if it's not the definitive X-Men that will never happen so long as Fox owns the mutants.

My Favourite News Story This Month

2011-02-08T19:20:00.001-05:00

Oh, this is just spectacular.

I won't spoil it. Just click here to go to CNN.com's video piece.
Hats off and a round of applause!

Kindle!

2011-01-29T11:12:00.004-05:00

That's right. For those that have made the leap to Amazon's Kindle (or other e-book reader) I have published Bred in the Bone to the e-book platform.

I'm currently editing the second book in the series, An Oath As Strong As Bone, which should be available to own as an e-book soon.

I've kept the price low ($2.99 is Amazon's lowest allowed price and that's what I'm charging) to give anyone who's interested the chance to buy the book as inexpensively as possible.

Click Here To Purchase Bred in the Bone at Amazon.com

If there is sufficient interest in Morgan's adventures, I will finish the trilogy and collect it into a single volume as Morgan's Lament when time permits.

Seeing that I don't have a Kindle, if anyone does spend the three bucks on my little book, please feel free to post a note here or at the Purple Hatch as to how the formatting worked. I did my level best, but without a device of my own to test it on I can't be 100% sure of the results.

This Is Going To Hurt Your Brain

2011-01-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

This image below is known as the "Checker Shadow Illusion". I call it a brain hernia.

Square A and Square B are obviously different colours, right?

Wrong.

They are the same shade of grey.

Don't believe it? I sure didn't. Watch the little YouTube vid to see the proof. I recommend doing so with asprin in hand, 'cuz this made my brain hurt.

Uplifting Statistics!

2011-01-08T18:58:00.014-05:00

This is just so cool! Take 4 minutes and watch how statistics can be turned into a graphic display that drives home a point in an elegant, fun to watch way!

Due to Blogger's limitations (or more likely my own design limitations), this isn't allowing me to hit the "full screen" button on the far right. To go to the youtube post directly, so you can see it full screen, click here.

Obviously, there are some statistical problems in the presentation. Number one is that dollars per year is hardly an accurate portrait of wealth. Over time, a dollar buys more or less, so someone making $20,000 a year would be far wealthier in 1950 than in 2010 and that same person would be considered much wealthier if he lived in say Cuba as opposed to Chicago. A better measure of "wealth" would be percentage of income that could be considered "disposable" (and there are arguements about what would be considered "disposable" income too) so that the graph would show someone who made $40,000 a year but spent $39,000 on food, shelter and medicine as being poorer than someone who made $4,000 a year but spent only $1,500 on those staples.

Further, the bottom axis is SEVERELY skewed, since the distance from $400 to $40,000 is only twice the distance from $400 to $4,000. It makes for a tighter but somewhat misleading representation.

Still damned cool thought!

The Most Positive News Story So Far This Year

2011-01-08T08:24:00.007-05:00

I don't often post about anything to do with religion, but this one's a story that needs to be as widely spread as possible. Regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, the actions of these people are to be applauded and repeated in the future if we are to continue our claim of being a civilized species.

Bravo!

From Ahram Online:

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

By YASMINE EL-RASHIDI - AHRAM ONLINE

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.

Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.

“This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”

Click Here To Continue Reading

Update: CBS.com has an article (you have to dig for it) about the Coptic Christmas celebrations in Egypt. The majority of the article details past atrocities and highlights the fear and anger of the Coptic community. They make a single reference to Muslims attending the services and NO mention of the human shield angle. Once again, the internet proves vastly superior to traditional news outlet reporting.

Update II: A quick Google shows a Washington Post article as the first about the story and it leads with the human shield angle. It continues on about the escalating violence in Egypt, but that's real news too, but it's nice to see a balanced presentation in the Western media. Good to know that not all traditional news outlets are given to fear-mongering.

More...

2011-01-04T01:14:00.001-05:00

Yet another chapter of "A Big Ball of Dirt" is up. Please check it out and I'd love a comment or twelve!

Click here to read.

A Nice Story About Kids Getting Buzzed

2010-12-22T20:49:00.004-05:00

I love this story. In an age where most news stories about school kids involve things I'd rather not think about kids doing, this story about kids and buzzing is much more to my taste!

From Yahoo.ca:

LONDON - It came with wobbly writing and hand-drawn diagrams, but an elementary school science project has made it into a peer-reviewed journal from Britain's prestigious Royal Society.

Biology Letters published a report Wednesday conducted and written by a group of eight- to 10-year-olds from an English elementary school investigating the way bumblebees see colours and patterns.

The scientific organization — which is more than three centuries old and includes some of the world's most eminent scientists — said the children reported findings that were a "genuine advance" in the field of insect colour and pattern vision.

Working with a neuroscientist from University College London, the children carefully documented their methodology and discussed the data they collected.

The group trained bees to go to targets of different colours by giving them a sugar reward, and reported that the insects are able to learn and remember cues based on colour and pattern.

The study successfully went through peer review — although its presentation was slightly unconventional.

Check out the rest of the article here.

More On That Conan Project Of Mine

2010-11-26T20:06:00.002-05:00

Here are three more "in process" pictures from the project I'm working on currently.

First a layer of cobalt blue. I always pictured the giants in "The Frost Giant's Daughter" as frost giants as they are depicted in the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, that is blue skinned with white hair. As cool as the Frazetta painting is, this is how I see the moment from the story.

Steel on the armour and weapons.

A layer of light blue and some white highlights. Also some gold trim on the armour.

Actually, I've gotten a little further than this (in fact the piece is pretty much finished) but I need one more touch before I'm ready to publish the finished piece. Stay tuned!

Happy Carl Sagan Day Everybody!

2010-11-09T22:43:00.003-05:00

Those who know me know that I'm not particularly fond of celebratory occasions as a rule. Today is a bit different for me. I actually like this day in both concept and execution and hope that somehow, some way, one day it will be observed as a national (or better still an international) holiday. We celebrate religious figures and nationalistic figures with holidays, why not a man of science? To me, since science is so central to our continued happy existence on this planet, such a day (hell, I'd be happy with a National Science Day, if not Carl Sagan Day) makes more sense than all the other holidays combined. A holiday that celebrates science and progress...what a novel concept.

Anyhow, there's a diatribe in there if I keep going, so without further blathering, here's the greatest scientific educator every born to remind us all what it's all about.

A Big Ball Of Dirt

2010-11-08T20:02:00.003-05:00

Chapter 2 is now up (I know! Months from Prologue to Chapter 1 and then days between chapters!?!?) and ready for perusal.

Check it out here. Please comment and let me know that it's being read!

I've also added a permanent link to the novel on the side menu of the blog.

The Custom Marvel Chess Set

2010-11-07T17:39:00.006-05:00

And that, as they say, is that.

Almost.

I've begun collecting pieces for a Star Trek set (why I never thought of that before is a total mystery!) and the additional pieces necessary to create several more Star Wars sets. If anyone is interested, I may even be able to make up sets that reflect A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, rather than a more generic Star Wars set as I've already created. I have a few other projects on the go at the moment, so I'm in no rush to start another Star Wars set at the moment, but if there was interest, I'd drop everything else for a custom order.

Thanks for watching! I hope you enjoyed following the project as much as I enjoyed doing it!

YouTube is being a pain and I'll have to do an audioswap. Grr.

If you'd like to view the vid with proper music, download it by clicking here.

The Very Last Pieces...

2010-11-06T14:38:00.011-04:00

On a rare (like hen's teeth rare) Saturday off from work, I managed to catch my professional etcher in his shop and pick up the last glass jars for my chess set. What follows are pix of the VERY LAST figures to be permanently encased in their jars. The set is now complete, meaning the project is now almost officially over. All that remains is to cobble together a quick video of the Marvel set in all its glory and that's that!

Without further blathering from me, here are the Marvel Pawns, completed.

The Mole Man. Sharp eyed observers will note that he's now carrying his trademark power wand, thanks to some "green stuff" and a length of phone wire.

Venom

The Green Goblin

Electro

Ultron

The Vulture

Mysterio

The Silver Samurai. Sharp eyed (well, pretty much everybody) observers will note that S.S. is missing his sword arm. The glue that I used let go and he needed some surgery to fix it. I actually had to shorten the sword too, so it would fit in the jar.

Scarlet Witch

Colossus

Captain America

The Submariner

Nightcrawler

Hawkeye

Wolverine. Sharp eyed observers will note that Logan now sports some fetching claws thanks to some tiny pieces of braided phone wire and a lot of patience.

Dr. Strange. He was the final figure painted and now he's the final figure to be put under glass.

And that's it folks! Look for the last of three videos coming soon.

A Big Ball of Dirt

2010-11-02T23:21:00.004-04:00

I posted the prologue to my science fiction book a couple of months ago.

Chapter 1 is now up. I'm posting the book in a single post, so I've added the new chapter to the bottom of the post with the prologue, so if you've read the prologue you can scroll down until you see "Chapter 1" and start reading there.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

This is an ongoing project, and it's not a finished product. I plan to edit, craft and otherwise mess with this until it's awesome, so your feedback is always appreciated and taken into consideration.

Pictures From My Glide

2010-10-26T21:05:00.006-04:00

Getting ready to climb (and it's so small, you really have to climb into it) in.
That's me in black beside the glider. I'm the one not wearing a hat.

In. Neil(white hat) is beside the glider giving me the lay of the land.

Tow plane all hooked up.

Our glider as it leaves the ground. Note that the tow plane hasn't left the ground yet.

And we're in the air!

Clearing the trees and away we go!

Coming in for a landing.

Almost down...

While this isn't actually it...Touchdown. You get the idea.

I can't think of a better way to spend part of a Saturday afternoon!

Oh, That Darned Cat

2010-10-26T20:57:00.002-04:00

This one speaks for itself.

And to keep the other half of my little family from feeling left out...

That Conan Project

2010-10-26T20:48:00.005-04:00

As I told y'all a while back, I'm working on a new mini-project. It's a series of dioramas based on Conan book covers.

Up first this famous Frazetta piece that is on the cover of the second book in the series (ignore the banner at the top which is from a Dark Horse series of comics, not the books I mentioned):

As I said in the earlier article, I am not trying to create a 3D duplicate of the cover, but rather an homage in my style. To that end here are the two giants I'm working on. Note the green bits. Those are modifications I've done to bring the figures more in line with both the cover and the text of Howard's work:

"(Conan) did not wonder at the strangeness of it all - not even when two gigantic figures rose up to bar his way. The scales of their mail were white with hoarfrost; their helmets and axes were covered with ice. Snow sprinkled their locks, in their beards were spikes of icicles, and their eyes were as cold as the lights that streamed above them."

Beards and axes stood out to me. One figure had no beard, the other no axe. Sadly, neither have helmets, but that's not something I feel makes a big statement on the figure, so I'm leaving them as is.

Neither had a proper base to work with (I absolutely hate slotta-bases for painting since they never hold the figure properly, letting it flop around too much) so I've used some leftover plastic from my chess set project to make bases.

Now THIS Is A Woman To Be Reckoned With

2010-10-26T20:29:00.002-04:00

From Yahoo.ca:

TORONTO - She's 89 years old, has won her 12th term as mayor of one of Canada's largest cities, and still keeps a pair of skates and a hockey stick in the trunk of her car in case she comes across a pick-up game.

Hazel McCallion, a former professional women's hockey player in Montreal in the 1930s, still holds the seemingly uncontested title of oldest mayor in Canada.

Still, a scandal over a conflict of interest in her last term seemed to cost McCallion — known affectionately as "Hurricane" Hazel — some of her support.

She was first elected to lead Mississauga, Ont., in 1978, and scored margins of victory of 92 per cent in each of her last two elections.

With more than three-quarters of polls reporting Monday, McCallion had 76 per cent of the vote — a decisive victory for any politician but not the numbers of old.

She also failed in her efforts to sink the re-election chances of several councillors that drew her ire, said Renan Levine, a social sciences professor at the University of Toronto.

"Hazel's power is not absolute," he said.

McCallion was a rookie mayor when Mississauga suffered its worst-ever disaster: a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed with tankers of hazardous chemicals catching fire and exploding, forcing about 240,000 residents to flee their homes in November 1979.

Despite spraining her ankle early in the disaster, McCallion kept hobbling to update briefings. Her handling of the situation won the rookie mayor the confidence of her city's voters, something she has never lost.

McCallion saw the conflict of interest issue as so small a threat to her chances for re-election that she didn't even put up any campaign signs.

She remains one of the most popular politicians in the country, said Renan Levine, a political scientist at the University of Toronto.

"You don't find many 89-year-old politicians. You don't find very many female mayors, especially of a city as large as Mississauga, and you certainly don't find many mayors who have stuck around 32 years," said Levine, who lives in Mississauga.

"There's good reason why Hazel doesn't need to actively campaign: she's very visible, she's very well liked and she's very much appreciated for her performance."

McCallion also refuses to accept political donations, instead asking her supporters to donate the money to charity.

Born Hazel Journeaux in Port Daniel, Que., in 1921, her father owned a fishing and canning company. Her mother was a homemaker and ran the family farm.

After high school she attended business secretarial school in Quebec City and Montreal. After working in Montreal, she was transferred by Canadian Kellogg company to Toronto.

She met and married her husband, Sam McCallion, and they had three children: Peter, Paul and Linda. McCallion has one granddaughter, Erika, born to Paul and daughter-in-law Donna Marie.

Prior to becoming mayor, the McCallions founded The Mississauga Booster community newspaper, which her son now edits and publishes. In 1997, Sam McCallion died of Alzheimer's disease.

She does all her own chores from shopping to cleaning, and McCallion still isn't above admonishing one of her middle-aged sons for leaving the lights on after he's left a room.

McCallion was hailed as a hero in 2006 during a police standoff involving a distraught man who was threatening to kill himself. The five-hour standoff came to a peaceful end when McCallion appeared and demanded the man stand down so police, paramedics and fire personnel could attend to more important matters.

Last month McCallion admitted, grudgingly, there might have been an appearance of conflict of interest when she pushed for a multimillion-dollar land deal for the city that would benefit her son's business interests.

Mississauga is debt free, one of the best run cities, fiscally, in the country, something most other municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area can only look at with envy.

McCallion used lower taxes in Mississauga to attract businesses from its much more expensive neighbour, Toronto, to help increase the city's growth and create jobs. It's now the third largest city in Ontario and the sixth largest in Canada, with a population of 734,000.

McCallion likes to boast that as many people commute into Mississauga each morning now as leave the city for jobs in Toronto, but the city now has serious traffic congestion problems.

Her performance in Mississauga has not gone unnoticed by other politicians, but McCallion has turned down requests by the Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats to run for them federally or provincially, saying politics is far more satisfying at the local level.

The Mississauga News applauded McCallion's record in office but refused to endorse her bid for re-election, saying the mayor "alternated between doddering senior and man-eating shark" during her testimony at a public inquiry into a conflict of interest.

"McCallion is becoming a lame-duck mayor who won't work with anyone who challenges her authority. After an illustrious career, it is time for McCallion to vacate her office," said the newspaper's editorial Monday.

Peter Fonseca, a provincial Liberal cabinet minister who represents Mississauga-East, called McCallion an "icon" and said there's a simple reason she doesn't need to put up campaign signs or knock on doors.

"She campaigns every single day. If I could keep up with her schedule I'd have to be 20 years younger because I don't know if she ever sleeps," said Fonseca, 44.

"She's always working for the city and that's what the people see in her, her work ethic and what she’s been able to achieve."

I particularly like the bit about the police standoff. I can just hear her: "Enough of this foolishness, young man. These people have more important things to do than standing around babysitting you while you sulk."

Awesome.

Well, I knew THAT...

2010-10-26T20:27:00.001-04:00

From Macleans.ca

When Patrick House gets to know someone, he often finds himself silently assessing them for Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite doctors and scientists are linking to increased aggression and recklessness, among other things. "I find myself typing people as, 'Oh, they probably have it,' or, 'They probably don't,' " the Stanford University neuroscientist says. "I imagine whether or not people have it in their brains, based on personality profiles."

About one-third of the world's human population carries a Toxoplasma infection, the origin of which is overwhelmingly associated with an unlikely sinister source: the common house cat.

Though it can only reproduce sexually in a cat's gut, Toxoplasma gondii can make its way into humans through contact with cat feces, eating undercooked infected beef or chicken, or drinking untreated water. (It can also be passed on in the womb - which is why pregnant women are told to stay away from cat litter.) Its effects vary: many people with Toxo don't even know they have it; others can take seriously ill and are at risk for everything from suicide to schizophrenia.

Parasitic mind control sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but in fact that's along the lines of what happens when Toxo infects the body. The parasite needs to reproduce, so it overrides the normal behaviours of its host to achieve its own goals. Rats infected with Toxo lose their fear of cats, and in fact become attracted to their scent because it would bring the parasite closer to its natural habitat.

When Stanford University professor Robert Sapolsky first read about Toxoplasma gondii, he was "blown away" by the parasite's ability to manipulate a host's behaviour. Other parasites affect human behaviour, he says, "but in terms of the behavioural profile - one cluster of traits related to increased risk of schizophrenia, another cluster related to neuropsychological and behavioral dis-inhibition - there's nothing else like [Toxo]." Findings linking Toxoplasma infections to increased risk of car accidents are of particular interest to him. If people infected with Toxoplasma become less inhibited and more reckless, they're more likely to do things like speed. Sapolsky recalls talking to Toxoplasma clinicians over lunch one day. One doctor piped in about his own medical experience with the parasite. "It had to do with when he was a medical resident, doing a rotation in transplant surgery," Sapolsky says. "He remembers an old surgeon telling the residents, 'Whenever you get an organ from someone killed in a motorcycle accident, check it for being Toxo-positive. Don't ask me why, but there tends to be high rates of Toxo in those donors.'"

Two recent independent studies showed that when compared to people with the same severity of depression, people infected with Toxoplasma were more likely to attempt or commit suicide. These ?ndings point to impulsiveness, Sapolsky says. Doctors have also identified a correlation between Toxoplasma infections and schizophrenia, says Dr. Robert Yolken, director of developmental neurovirology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "What a number of researchers have found is that you take a population of people with schizophrenia, wherever they are, the rate of Toxoplasma is somewhat higher than in the controlled population," Yolken says. Most people infected with Toxo aren't schizophrenic. "But there are a small number of people where evidently it contributes to the disease," he says.

Perhaps the strangest theory surrounding the parasite comes from House, who argues that soccer teams from countries with high Toxoplasma infection rates fare better at the World Cup. Infection increases testosterone in male brains, he says, making them more aggressive and less inhibited. "Brazil, France, Germany and African countries all have some of the highest infection rates in the world, and generally that's associated with cultures of eating raw meat, which is the most common way of getting Toxo," he says. "I was watching the World Cup and I recognized that the countries that had more Toxo seemed to be winning." House admits the relationship is not foolproof. Ghana, with an infection rate of 92 per cent, ranked well below first-place team Spain, which has an infection rate of 44 per cent.

House first became interested in Toxo after reading an article in Discover called "Do parasites rule the world?" He says if they do, Toxoplasma gondii is just the beginning. "Conceivably, we're going to learn there are many more of these types of parasites influencing behaviour that we just weren't aware of," he says. "A tiny neurotransmitter, a tiny drug, or a tiny parasite that potentially changes neurotransmitter levels can have profound impacts on your personality, both individually and at large culturally."

So, yeah. When I say my cats are driving me nuts, I might just be right...

What Did I Do This Weekend?

2010-10-18T18:45:00.002-04:00

A Little Something Aboot This Weekend

2010-10-09T21:39:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Yahoo.ca for this.

Canadian Thanksgiving, held on the second Monday of October, has origins dating back to a 1578 homecoming feast for explorer Martin Frobisher when he returned to Newfoundland after his search for the Northwest Passage. However, like Native Americans to the South, Canada's First Nations people celebrated harvest festivals long before Europeans came to North America.

The purpose and frequency of Canadian Thanksgiving has fluctuated over the years, but the current commemoration date was set in 1931. After WWI, Armistice Day and Thanksgiving had both been celebrated on the Monday falling during the week of November 11. In the 1931 the holidays split and Armistice Day became Remembrance Day. The holiday is statutory for all provinces except Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

For Americans our version of the holiday seems quirky, fitting in the same category as pronouncing the letter "Z" as zed, calling soft drinks "pop" and paper money in multiple colours.

In the U.S., Thanksgiving originated in 1621 as a three-day harvest feast celebrated by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony and incorporated prayers to survive the winter ahead. During the American Civil War, president Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday to be celebrated on the final Thursday of November. Today the holiday is held on the fourth Thursday of November.

The American holiday is now focused on family reunions, NFL football games and, of course, turkey. Over the years, Canada's holiday has come to mimic U.S. celebrations - with family and food taking centre stage.

I had no idea that ours was the older of the two! Learn something new every day.

More Comic-ee Fun

2010-09-29T21:38:00.001-04:00

Another couple of pages up at my little comic book project.

Check 'em out here.

And a constructive comment or two wouldn't hurt my feelings...

This Should Be Front Page News...

2010-09-29T19:46:00.002-04:00

...in every newspaper on the planet.

Sadly, science just isn't as sexy as some D list celebrity doing something they shouldn't. Sad.

Anyhow, from Time.com -

The star known as Gliese 581 is utterly unremarkable in just about every way you can imagine. It's a red dwarf, the most common type of star in the Milky Way, weighing in at about a third the mass of the Sun. At 20 light years or so away, it's relatively nearby, but not close enough to set any records (it's the 117th closest star to Earth, for what that's worth). You can't even see it without a telescope, so while it lies in direction of Libra, it isn't one of the shining dots you'd connect to form the constellation. It's no wonder that the star's name lacks even a whiff of mystery or romance.

But Gliese 581 does have one distinction — and that's enough to make it the focus of intense scientific attention. At last count, astronomers had identified more than 400 planets orbiting stars beyond the Sun, and Gliese 581 was host to no fewer than four of them — the most populous solar system we know of, aside than our own. That alone would make the star intriguing. But on Wednesday, a team of astronomers announced they'd found two more planets circling the star, bringing the total to six. And one of them, assigned the name Gliese 581g, may be of truly historic significance.

For one thing, the planet is only about three or four times as massive as our home world, meaning it probably has a solid surface just like Earth. Much more important, it sits smack in the middle of the so-called habitable zone, orbiting at just the right distance from the star to let water remain liquid rather than freezing solid or boiling away. As far as we know, that's a minimum requirement for the presence of life. For thousands of years, philosophers and scientists have wondered whether other Earths existed out in the cosmos. And since the first, very un-Eearthlike extrasolar planet was discovered in 1995, astronomers have been inching closer to answering that question. Now, they've evidently succeeded (although to be clear, there's no way at this point to determine whether there actually is life on the new planet).

Click Here To Read The Entire Article.

I shall be very disappointed if this doesn't soon get more press.

The Custom DC Comics Chess Set

2010-09-28T19:12:00.001-04:00

Custom Star Wars Chess Set

2010-09-08T16:55:00.001-04:00

Almost Done Part III

2010-09-07T20:38:00.007-04:00

And finally part III of my epic day. Phew!

Marvel black Knights. The Scorpion

Dr. Octopus

DC black Knights. Sinestro

The Joker

Star Wars black Knights. Boba Fett

Greedo

Marvel white Bishops. Thor. Note the slight change of pose. Same trouble as Iron Man.

The Human Torch

DC white Bishops. Superman

Dr. Fate

Star Wars white Knights. Luke Skywalker

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Star Wars black Bishops. Captain Needa

Grand Moff Tarkin

DC black Bishops. Darkseid

Mordru

Marvel black Bishops. Dr. Doom

Magneto

DC white Queen. Wonder Woman

DC white King. Martian Manhunter

Marvel white Queen. Jean Grey aka The Phoenix

Marvel white King. Professor Charles Xavier

Star Wars white Queen. Princess Leia Organa

Star Wars white King. Yoda

Star Wars black Queen (but don't call him a queen to his face). Darth Vader

Star Wars black King. Emperor Palpatine

Marvel black King. The Kingpin

Marvel black Queen. Mystique

DC black Queen. The Emerald Empress

DC black King. Lex Luthor

And that's it. At least until I get a chance to make a hobby store run for the last supplies for the project. My next post will hopefully be a video of the whole set on their boards, on display. Stay tuned!

Almost Done Part II

2010-09-07T20:05:00.006-04:00

Blogger wouldn't let me post the enormous amount of pictures from today in one go, so here is part 2 of the day's work.

Because of fit troubles, I've assembled the back row in order of pieces, that is Rooks all at once, Bishops all at once and so on. Thus the out of order photos.

DC white Rooks. Hawkgirl

Hawkman

Marvel white Rooks. The Hulk

The Thing

Star Wars white Rooks. C-3PO

R2-D2

Marvel black Rooks. Rhino

The Juggernaut

DC black Rooks. Giganta

Solomon Grundy

Star Wars black Rooks. Imperial Guard

Imperial Guard

Marvel white Knights. Iron Man. Note the slight change of pose for Iron Man. He simply wouldn't fit in the Jar without a little re-pose.

Spiderman

DC white Knights. Batman

Green Lantern

Star Wars white Knights. Han Solo

Chewbacca

On to part III...

Almost Done!

2010-09-07T18:38:00.030-04:00

And I'm all but done!

The only bit missing is the white side pawns for the Marvel set, which will be a few more days since I have to buy another kit of plastic to pour the bases. I have enough left for about 4 to 6 bases, but have 8 left to pour. Annoying to have to spend another $40 (Plus gas since I can't get it here and shipping is more than gas to Kingston or Ottawa to buy it) for the last bit, but what can I do? Also, I have a minor problem in that two of the dark side pawn jars were broken in my early experimentation with fit, so I need them made too. So, Marvel will have to wait a week or two.

But!

Everything else is done! The only last touch is to trim the odd bit of sloppy glue from the outside of the pieces once they've fully cured, but that's it!

So, here's what I did today.

The last four Rebel Soldiers

On to DC Pawns. Green Arrow

Jayna (one of the Wonder Twins)

Wildfire (My very favourite Legionnaire)

Huntress

Wonder Girl

Nightwing

Robin

Jan (the other Wonder Twin)

Here you see the difference between the pawn row and the back row of Rooks, Knights etc. I've shown you this since it's basically impossible to get good pics of the whole assembly of the back row figures once the glass goes on. They're just too tall!

Blogger is giving me a hard time, so I've had to split this HUGE post into two. The next one will show the back row figures.

Casting and Glassing

2010-09-06T15:00:00.015-04:00

So, some explanation is required here, since it's been ages since I updated on the chess set.

Several things have happened since the last update. I've finished most of the casting of the bases (just the white side Marvel pawns left to go) which has taken WAY longer than anticipated. Half the figures (the white sides) had to have their bases painted white before molding, which I finally got around to a few weeks back. Once that was done, the sets were ready to cast. Each pour requires five or so minutes of preparation and then ten minutes of set time before the piece can be demolded. Multiply that by 96 figures and it's a huge chunk of time. Had I stopped to take pictures at each stage, well let's just say I'd never get finished.

Once pieces were cast on their bases, some figures needed to have final touches added. I'll note those in each picture. The first two figures are "finishing touch" pieces and the rest are final stage shots. I ran out of battery power on the camera (and got hungry for dinner!) late this afternoon, so stopped gluing for the day. I hope to finish the rest soon. Here's what's done so far.

Green Arrow. Sharp eyed observers will note that he now has an arrow (a boxing glove arrow, natch) and bowstring that were conspicuously absent from the figure previously. The arrow is fashioned from a length of fine (what else?) telephone wire (we call it "jumper wire") while the boxing glove is made from Green Stuff. The bowstring is made by untwisting a length of phone cord (the flat stuff you run from a jack to a phone, not "proper" telephone wire) and using just one of the dozen or so braided strands that make up the wire's diameter.

Wonder Woman. Sharp eyed observers will note that she now has a proper Lasso of Truth. Again, a single unbraided strand from a braided telephone cord was employed to create the lasso.

And now, we move on to the main event. Gluing the etched jars to the plastic bases. I just got the jars back from the etcher today, so I'm jazzed to see some of the final products for the first time! I've taken a picture of both the figure on its base and the final glassed product.

Harley Quinn.

The Riddler. Note the recent addition of his Question Mark Staff. That telephone wire comes in handy!

The Penguin

Catwoman

Poison Ivy

Mr. Freeze

The Persuader

Captain Cold

All 8 Stormtroopers

Ultron

Electro

The Green Goblin

The Silver Samurai. Sharp eyed observers will note that poor old SS has no sword arm. The glue I'm using to glue the glass jars to the plastic bases is E6000 which is phenomenal stuff. Unfortunately it cures slowly and to a slightly flexible consistency, which is great for the glass/plastic application but not so much for a metal/metal application, particularly when gravity is involved. I discovered that his arm was pretty droopy after a week or so sitting and curing. Turns out that was a blessing in disguise, since his sword was too long to fit in the glass jar and needed to be trimmed down to fit. If (and that's a big IF!) I've done it just right, the glass jar should fit snuggly enough to hold his sword at the correct angle inside it's permanent home.

Venom

The Mole Man. More sharp eyes will note the new staff in his hand. Yep, telephone wire again.

The first four rebel soldiers from the white side of the Star Wars set.

So, the camera batteries are recharging and the next post should (hopefully) see the very last of the chess set tasks complete.

Gotta Paint

2010-08-30T21:14:00.006-04:00

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. One of the reasons I first started reading the books that collected the stories was the amazing artwork that had been selected for each. Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo were the artists who created the 12 covers for the collected works that Lin Carter and L. Sprague De Camp put together from the complete and incomplete stories that Howard had created and I've read and re-read them many times.

It occurred to me that I could marry my passion for the stories to my painting hobby and I'm now embarking on a plan to create homage works to each of the 12 paintings that adorn the original Conan collected works.

Up first this famous Frazetta piece that is on the cover of the second book in the series (ignore the banner at the top which is from a Dark Horse series of comics, not the books I mentioned):

Keep in mind, this is not an attempt to recreate the paintings in metal miniatures (probably impossible unless I learn to sculpt miniatures of my own) but rather to create homage pieces that blend the elements of the paintings and the stories that they're based upon. To that end I found this fantastic barbarian warrior figure that I think nicely evokes Howard's Cimmerian while also having a similar feel to the Conan that Frazetta created and painted.

I forgot to take a picture of the unpainted (and untrimmed - I had to cut a brace out that was between his raised foot and the ground) figure, but since all I've done so far is a quick layer of black on various parts of the figure, it's not like you've missed much.

UPDATE:

I didn't realize that the brown paint I bought was a gloss, so that's not great, but the brown is a deep undercoat, so once I layer a few coats of flesh tone on the skin and some lighter brown on the fur portions of the outfit, it'll likely be fine.

On the upside, I'll have a nice gloss finish on the belt when I'm done.

Further updates:

Using a new paint (that I'm not sold on - too yellow to be Caucasian fleshtone) added the flesh tones.

Now some brown on both the flesh and fur parts. Still too yellow.

Some steel on the sword, shield and belt buckle. A touch of gold on the sword too. A little more touch-up work still to be done to "de-yellow" the skin areas.

Yikes!

2010-08-30T19:46:00.004-04:00

I am one of those people that is lucky enough not to have much to worry about in the way of phobias. I may not like mice much, or bats for that matter, but I can deal with them (and do at work, these days) and snakes, tight spaces and heights too. My one true phobia is tornadoes. I've had tornado dreams all my life and the few times I've nearly been within sight of a tornado have been truly terrifying (and oddly fascinating too...) for me.

It goes without saying, if I ran into this, it would be about my worst day...

Kitties!

2010-08-03T21:27:00.004-04:00

Now that my computer woes are (hopefully) behind me, I can post some of the better shots of the kitties that have accumulated on my camera in the last while.

Rook, looking dapper in his new haircut. Note the perfectly healed ear. None the worse for wear and looking good!

See? The ear is just fine!

It's been a hot summer. This has been Rook's standard pose for most of it.

See?

Enough with the flash!

Same pose, different flat surface.

Like I said...

Flat surface, lap, whatever.

What?

A rare moment of sibling tranquility.

These last three require some explanation.

They're taken from the porch on the back of the house, which is where the infamous mole probably came from. Since the mole incident, both cats have been pretty insistent about getting onto the back porch (which they aren't allowed on) to do more hunting. Bishop is particularly adamant.

These days, she's more Tarzan than cat.

My Remedy For A Crappy Day

2010-07-24T19:52:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days. By mid-day I was wishing I'd stayed in bed. Just a totally "unsmooth" type day.

Then I met this guy:

He's an American Kestrel being hand raised after being dumped from the nest before he'd fledged. I was lucky enough to get to hold (and pet!) him and doubly lucky to get a snap taken so I could share my good fortune with everyone.

After this, the bad day just faded from memory.

It's Amazing How Excited...

2010-07-12T20:27:00.000-04:00

...my cats get about fresh kitty litter.

Got 'im!

2010-07-06T10:57:00.002-04:00

With infinite patience, my little pride staked out the fridge all morning.

Eventually, the little mole poked its nose out and got chased into the living room. The cats herded it behind a bookcase and when it tried to slip away from the other side of the bookcase, I was there with a plastic container.

I planned to kill it (like any mouse I catch) but I just didn't have the heart. Moles aren't trying to set up colonies inside my house, so I don't really have a problem with them. He's been released safe and sound (if a little worse for wear, somewhat traumatized and probably a little wiser) out behind my garage. May he live a long (outdoor) and cat free life!

I rewarded my fearless hunters with extra treats. Once those were gone, they returned to stake out the bookcase. Persistence. I like that in a cat.

Awesome! (Finally)

2010-07-06T10:05:00.002-04:00

So, today I'm off and enjoying a relaxing morning coffee, when what to my wondering ears should appear but a great squealing racket in the kitchen.

It seems that a mole (not a mouse, no tail) found its way into my kitchen at some point and my two fearless hunters have him on the run.

I couldn't figure out why both Rook and Bishop stayed in the kitchen for most of the morning, despite the a/c being on in the living room. Usually they hang wherever it's coolest, but today they lingered in the kitchen despite it being about 10 degrees warmer in there. Now I know why.

They didn't get the mole (he's holed up under my fridge at the moment, I think) but they were hunting. Well, okay, Bishop was hunting. Rook seemed more spectatorish, while his sister got in a few good bats at the thing. No blood has been spilled yet, but I'm very proud of my little pride!

Really?

2010-06-07T22:59:00.002-04:00

From cinemablend.com:

With all the craziness of reboots and remakes in Hollywood we feared this day might come. Universal may be planning a re-make of the 1975 Spielberg classic, Jaws. With the added popularity of Avatar’s 3D, there’s serious money to be made in a CGI reboot of the famous shark, presented in Real D 3D.

A source of ours over at Universal Pictures says the studio is strongly considering a remake of the summer blockbuster in hopes of dazzling younger audiences with new special effects. Their claim is that people now expect more, visually, from their movie going experience. So, Hollywood studios are inclined to take some of their tried and true franchise names like Jaws and bring them into the 3D world.

Our insider says Tracy Morgan was at one point being considered for the part of Matt Hooper, previously played by Richard Dreyfuss. While it’s uncertain whether that’s still the plan, it does indicate that they seem to be taking a more comedic direction with the part.

At this point, although this is just a rumour, I am making a bold prediction.

The ONLY way I'll be watching this movie is if the opening sequence is composed of the entire group of executives responsible for the film being fed to an actual shark. For real. In 3-D.

While the visual impact of Jaws rocked audiences in 1975, lesser actors, a more "comedic direction", a less capable director or weaker writing would have meant that Jaws would have been all gums and no teeth at the box office. No amount of CGI trickery can make a bad idea into a good movie.

"...people now expect more, visually, from their movie going experience." Yeah, 'cuz, little details like a story, good acting, writing and direction are just so insignificant when compared to the visual impact of a big fish in 3-D. I wonder if the shark will be a lovely shade of blue, glow in the dark or maybe spend half the movie in a wheelchair this time around...

I can honestly visualize some Hollywood hack trying to figure out how to write a big aquatic exoskeleton into the finale.

Somebody seriously needs to replace the infinite monkeys at the infinite laptops that pass for creative writing talent in Hollywood in the 21st century.

If you're still not convinced, say it out loud, slowly. "Jaws. Remake. 3-D. Comedic direction." I guarantee that by the time you say "direction" you'll either throw up a bit or try to stick your thumbs in your eyes.

A Couple More Pages

2010-06-03T23:30:00.002-04:00

A couple of new pages up at the comic blog.

I must credit the great Alex Ross for the originals from which I borrowed inspiration for several of the panels.

Check it out here.

More Comic-ee Fun

2010-05-26T22:53:00.002-04:00

Another night, another jolt of energy. Colour me surprised.

Speaking of colour, that energy was channeled into one of my projects, my comic book.

Three new pages up at the comic blog, here.

Check 'em out and feel free to leave a comment!