Anyone who knows me knows how excited I am about the upcoming Tron sequel. The original hasn't particularly aged well, but as a kid I absolutely adored it - not just for the special effects, but also for the glimpses of the society inside the computer that the movie depicted.
Years ago I was lucky enough to see the Making of Tron feature in the anniversary edition DVD of the original movie. For those who aren't so lucky, though, the entire feature is available on Youtube. Watching it really drives home just how huge an undertaking the movie was at the time, and how far special effects technology has come in only thirty years.
Here's the first part (of 9). The rest can be found going to Youtube directly.
Showing posts with label Nerdy Monday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nerdy Monday. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Tim Burton Movie That Almost Was...
Back in the 90's, there were persistent rumours of a Tim Burton-directed Superman movie. Few details were known, but I recall one of the theories was that it would involve the electric Superman (dubbed Superman Blue) rather than the more classic supes, since that's the version that was in the comics at the time.
Turns out the rumours were pretty much spot on, as a gallery has recently been unveiled for what would have been Tim Burton's Superman Lives. You can view it here for epic lulz.
Really dodged a bullet on that one.
Turns out the rumours were pretty much spot on, as a gallery has recently been unveiled for what would have been Tim Burton's Superman Lives. You can view it here for epic lulz.
Really dodged a bullet on that one.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Legion Election
Apparently it's a bit of a tradition in the Legion of Superheroes to have a fan-vote election for the next leader of everyone's favourite teenagers-in-the-future superteam. Prior to a few days ago, I had no idea this was the case, despite having read the series off-and-on over the years.
You can cast your vote for the candidate of your choice here.
And you should definitely go and vote! Why? Because, as Mightygodking points out, one of the candidates is a forward-thinking, charity-minded, red-blooded socialist! And he's even a half-slug-caterpillar-bird thing from the planet Vyrga. With teleportation powers.
So vote for Gates today!
You can cast your vote for the candidate of your choice here.
And you should definitely go and vote! Why? Because, as Mightygodking points out, one of the candidates is a forward-thinking, charity-minded, red-blooded socialist! And he's even a half-slug-caterpillar-bird thing from the planet Vyrga. With teleportation powers.
So vote for Gates today!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Is Your Kung-Fu Strong Enough?
A pair of martial artist sisters in China have been having trouble finding a suitor whose kung-fu is strong enough to be worthy of them, it seems, so they've arranged a tournament for would-be suitors. Only those strong enough to make it through the tourney, and then best them in one-on-one combat, win their masks... And their hands in marriage.
As unbelievably awesome as this sounds, I'm not making any of this up.
And what might be the best typo of all time:
Then again, maybe it wasn't a typo?
 |
| Avoid, rather than hug. Hug, rather than kiss. Kiss, rather than fondle. Fondle, rather than... well, you get where I'm going with this, oui? |
As unbelievably awesome as this sounds, I'm not making any of this up.
And what might be the best typo of all time:
Marital arts experts Xiao Lin, 22, and little sister Yin, 21
Then again, maybe it wasn't a typo?
Monday, October 11, 2010
I've Never Been a Big Avengers Fan...
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Top Ten Retro Gaming Secrets
I found this article both interesting and sufficiently nerdy to qualify for a monday post. Goes to show that for all the hype and bluster about innovations in gaming, really the industry's mostly just refining processes that have been in use for almost as long as there's been a video game industry.
Monday, September 27, 2010
New Roommates
I haven't said anything about this yet here, but I figure it's time. I've got a couple of new roommates.
They were born on August 13th (that was a Friday), so they're still pretty wee. I bought them on September 14th.
The white one is named Iago, the dark one Othello.
We're not quite friends yet - these two guys are extremely timid even by baby rat standards - but we're getting there.
Even in the short time I've had them, they've grown quite a bit. Here's Iago when I first got him...
And here's how big he is now.
I'm plenty nerdy when it comes to rats, so I figure this still qualifies for a Monday entry.
They were born on August 13th (that was a Friday), so they're still pretty wee. I bought them on September 14th.
The white one is named Iago, the dark one Othello.
We're not quite friends yet - these two guys are extremely timid even by baby rat standards - but we're getting there.
Even in the short time I've had them, they've grown quite a bit. Here's Iago when I first got him...
And here's how big he is now.
I'm plenty nerdy when it comes to rats, so I figure this still qualifies for a Monday entry.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Webcomics Reviews V
Shi Long Pang: (Pronounced Sher Loong Pong, apparently.) A kung-fu epic starring a young wandering Shaolin Monk, Pang, in 17th Century China. The art style is well-suited to the subject - simple enough to allow all kinds of crazy action sequences when the need calls for it, but stylized enough that some of the backgrounds that creator Ben Costa put into his panels are evocative of Chinese watercolour paintings. Equally impressive is the effort Costa puts into the historical and cultural depictions of 17th Century China - which lends his narrative a certain air of authority that it would otherwise lack.
If I can criticize it for anything, it's the plotting - I find that for an action/adventure/comedy, the whole thing moves a bit slowly at times; this isn't helped by often-infrequent updates. Your mileage may vary, of course.
It's worth noting that Costa won the Xeric Award for his work on the comic. The Xeric Foundation was founded by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle co-creator Peter Laird, and awards grants to winning comic creators designed to help them self-publish their creations (as well as feed and house themselves while they do so.) It was founded in 1992, and has given almost two million dollars in grants since then. I thought that was pretty cool, and Shi Long Pang a very worthy recipient of the award.
Bobwhite: This webcomic by Magnolia Porter follows the exploits of three friends as they struggle their way through life, love, and art school at Bobwhite University. The thing I love about this comic is how honest it is; while the characters are obviously exaggerated for comic effect, there's nevertheless a lot of truth in everything they do. Each of them is imperfect in a myriad of their own ways, but even for all their flaws it's hard not to love them.
If there's a flaw I can criticize with Bobwhite, it's the art. Don't get me wrong - the art's quite good, and the style is very appropriate to the theme and humour of the comic. However, at times it gets a little inconsistent, as if Porter is just kind of phoning it in - getting it to where it's good enough, rather than getting it to where it's good. I also get the feeling it's often limited by the newspaper-strip format, which is a shame - I often get the feeling that if she'd break out of the format constraints and take the time she needs, she could make some truly mind-blowing visuals.
Starslip Crisis: This is a Sci-Fi parody comic from probably the most prolific creator in webcomics, Kris Straub. It's a webcomic parody of Star Trek, science fiction in general, and pop culture and art, not necessarily in that order, and it's very, very good. The art is not to everyone's tastes - though I think it's vastly improved these days over the style he used when he started the comic - but it's sufficient to drive the story and the humour.
In addition to Starslip, Kris Straub also does/did F Chords, which is to music what Starslip Crisis is to Science Fiction, Checkerboard Nightmare, which is a webcomic about a cartoon character developing his own webcomic, and Chainsawsuit, which is a webcomic parody of webcomics billed as "disposable internet humour." Like I said, the guy's prolific. Starslip Crisis is my favourite of his creations, but if that's not to your taste then there's probably something Straub's done that suits you - maybe even Chainsawsuits you get it it's a joke okay I'll stop.
If I can criticize it for anything, it's the plotting - I find that for an action/adventure/comedy, the whole thing moves a bit slowly at times; this isn't helped by often-infrequent updates. Your mileage may vary, of course.
It's worth noting that Costa won the Xeric Award for his work on the comic. The Xeric Foundation was founded by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle co-creator Peter Laird, and awards grants to winning comic creators designed to help them self-publish their creations (as well as feed and house themselves while they do so.) It was founded in 1992, and has given almost two million dollars in grants since then. I thought that was pretty cool, and Shi Long Pang a very worthy recipient of the award.
Bobwhite: This webcomic by Magnolia Porter follows the exploits of three friends as they struggle their way through life, love, and art school at Bobwhite University. The thing I love about this comic is how honest it is; while the characters are obviously exaggerated for comic effect, there's nevertheless a lot of truth in everything they do. Each of them is imperfect in a myriad of their own ways, but even for all their flaws it's hard not to love them.
If there's a flaw I can criticize with Bobwhite, it's the art. Don't get me wrong - the art's quite good, and the style is very appropriate to the theme and humour of the comic. However, at times it gets a little inconsistent, as if Porter is just kind of phoning it in - getting it to where it's good enough, rather than getting it to where it's good. I also get the feeling it's often limited by the newspaper-strip format, which is a shame - I often get the feeling that if she'd break out of the format constraints and take the time she needs, she could make some truly mind-blowing visuals.
Starslip Crisis: This is a Sci-Fi parody comic from probably the most prolific creator in webcomics, Kris Straub. It's a webcomic parody of Star Trek, science fiction in general, and pop culture and art, not necessarily in that order, and it's very, very good. The art is not to everyone's tastes - though I think it's vastly improved these days over the style he used when he started the comic - but it's sufficient to drive the story and the humour.
In addition to Starslip, Kris Straub also does/did F Chords, which is to music what Starslip Crisis is to Science Fiction, Checkerboard Nightmare, which is a webcomic about a cartoon character developing his own webcomic, and Chainsawsuit, which is a webcomic parody of webcomics billed as "disposable internet humour." Like I said, the guy's prolific. Starslip Crisis is my favourite of his creations, but if that's not to your taste then there's probably something Straub's done that suits you - maybe even Chainsawsuits you get it it's a joke okay I'll stop.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Webcomic Reviews Pt. 4
Books, Beers, and Ballpoint Pens: The best word I can think of to describe this darkly humorous gag-a-day webcomic is "rough." It's got rough art, rough writing, rough punchline delivery... There's craft underneath it all, but not much polish. Infrequently updated, and sometimes it just falls flat. So, why do I read it? Because every once in a while it comes out with something absolutely golden. The birthday skeleton won my readership for at least a year.
Pictures for Sad Children: Deceptively simple art is perfectly blended with the subject matter for this webcomic, which presents an overwhelmingly cynical view of the world at large. Very witty and humorous, but the laughter it elicits is often accompanied by a certain dawning horror at just what you're laughing at. A very sophisticated gag-a-day comic, but its sophistication only emerges in retrospect.
The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: A once-a-week gag webcomic done with Adobe Illustrator, following the absurdist exploits of slacker superhero Wonderella. Extremely funny, though I imagine readers familiar with supers comics and genre conventions found therein - particularly conventions related to legacy heroes - get more out of the comic than others. Other frequent themes include celebrity, pop culture, dating, and modern life. At first I found the art style somewhat annoying and cheap, but it's grown on me and now I find it adds to the webcomic's charm.
The Meek: A fantasy comic that follows the adventures of a dryad in her quest to save the world... I think. Art-wise, this comic is incredible, right up there among the best - just a few notches below Lackadaisy Cats, which I consider to be the pinnacle of webcomic visuals. Writing-wise it's harder to assess this webcomic, because while the scripting is good and it's drawn me in quite well, I find the pace to be rather maddeningly slow... We're on the third chapter and the creator Alexds1 is still introducing the cast, so it's hard to make any statements about the broader strokes of storycraft that might be at work. Still, like I said, it hooked me pretty quickly so I highly recommend giving it a try.
Pictures for Sad Children: Deceptively simple art is perfectly blended with the subject matter for this webcomic, which presents an overwhelmingly cynical view of the world at large. Very witty and humorous, but the laughter it elicits is often accompanied by a certain dawning horror at just what you're laughing at. A very sophisticated gag-a-day comic, but its sophistication only emerges in retrospect.
The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: A once-a-week gag webcomic done with Adobe Illustrator, following the absurdist exploits of slacker superhero Wonderella. Extremely funny, though I imagine readers familiar with supers comics and genre conventions found therein - particularly conventions related to legacy heroes - get more out of the comic than others. Other frequent themes include celebrity, pop culture, dating, and modern life. At first I found the art style somewhat annoying and cheap, but it's grown on me and now I find it adds to the webcomic's charm.
The Meek: A fantasy comic that follows the adventures of a dryad in her quest to save the world... I think. Art-wise, this comic is incredible, right up there among the best - just a few notches below Lackadaisy Cats, which I consider to be the pinnacle of webcomic visuals. Writing-wise it's harder to assess this webcomic, because while the scripting is good and it's drawn me in quite well, I find the pace to be rather maddeningly slow... We're on the third chapter and the creator Alexds1 is still introducing the cast, so it's hard to make any statements about the broader strokes of storycraft that might be at work. Still, like I said, it hooked me pretty quickly so I highly recommend giving it a try.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Did You Know Jack Layton Loves Star Trek?
Well, he does.
This is him at a Star Trek convention circa 1991. That's right, fellow nerds - he's one of us.
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Webcomic Reviews
Oglaf: This is an often-R-rated webcomic that frequently borders on X-rated, being extremely naughty. It's also hilarious, particularly if you're familiar with the sort of source material it parodies, being a comedic fantasy comic. (Not all its strips involve pornographic material, though - sometimes it's perfectly tame, though this never hurts the humour.) Solidly drawn with beautiful colours, it doesn't really have a story per se, though it does have some frequently returning characters - the most common of which is an evil sorceress and her hapless apprentice.
Plan B: Billed as "a tale of love, revenge, and supervillainy," I don't have a whole lot to say about this comic. A usually-but-not-always parody strip, it's certainly good enough to have drawn me in and keep me reading. It's frequently amusing. The art is serviceable-to-good for the most part, with only the occasional easy-to-overlook flub. Having said that, the main reason I read it is the genre - if it were, I dunno, a webcomic about sports or video games or pretty much anything else besides superheroes/supervillains, its charms probably wouldn't be enough to hold me.
Girly: The most fascinating thing about this comic is the evolution Josh Lesnick's art's gone through over the years he worked on Girly. In the beginning, it was rather animu crap - not horrendous for animu stuff, but still way too heavily influenced by animu. As time passes, the art slowly evolves to the point that Lesnick develops a clear style all his own. At its best, the art was really worth eating up and studying in every detail - a wonderfully cartoony style that screams energy and is truly Lesnick's own.
However, I have to admit I have serious misgivings about his latest stylistic evolutions. I find that in throwing himself into the energy of his drawings, Lesnick's lost a lot of the structure - nowadays his faces are unnecessarily melty, and the action can be really difficult to follow from panel to panel.
Oh, yeah, and then there's Lesnick's sense of humour. It can range from lame to decent. He frequently jumps into lolrandom humour ("Magic whale fetus! LOL!"), which really only works when done well and he doesn't always do it well. Not a comic for everyone, but still head and shoulders better than most of what's out there. In fact, I'd have to say that the humour - and the writing in general - was of much better quality during the early and middle parts of the run than in the last parts. Between that and the way I feel his art has evolved in bad directions lately, the only reason I'm still reading this comic is due to inertia - Lesnick's been working on the final story for about six months, and will be ending the comic after that, so I figure I might as well keep reading until it's over.
It's also worth noting, for Scott Pilgrim fans, Lesnick did a back-up mini strip in the last Scott Pilgrim book. So, um, yeah. That's relevant somehow, I'm sure.
Sorcery 101: A solid urban fantasy comic about a high school teacher who's secretly a foreign prince, is an apprentice sorcerer being taught by a reluctant vampire, and who lives with a married couple (a former demon hunter and a werewolf) and their werewolf daughter (she takes after her dad). That probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is - the strip is very often comedic, but it's never actually silly. Well, maybe the bits with the kid necromancer excepted.
This, like Girly, went through an interesting art evolution as well. In the beginning, it was often downright badly-drawn, with frequent basic mistakes of anatomy and perspective. Unfortunately, I can't really show you any of this - Kel McDonald's art evolved to become solid (at worst) to excellent (at best), and as it did he went back and re-did his early stuff so it's not available to make comparisons with. Just trust me, the stuff that's up now is much, much better than what used to be there. (His writing is always solid, though sometimes I have to overlook some spelling mistakes - I think he's said that he's dyslexic and has to do a lot of proofreading. I hope I'm not misremembering that.)
Plan B: Billed as "a tale of love, revenge, and supervillainy," I don't have a whole lot to say about this comic. A usually-but-not-always parody strip, it's certainly good enough to have drawn me in and keep me reading. It's frequently amusing. The art is serviceable-to-good for the most part, with only the occasional easy-to-overlook flub. Having said that, the main reason I read it is the genre - if it were, I dunno, a webcomic about sports or video games or pretty much anything else besides superheroes/supervillains, its charms probably wouldn't be enough to hold me.
Girly: The most fascinating thing about this comic is the evolution Josh Lesnick's art's gone through over the years he worked on Girly. In the beginning, it was rather animu crap - not horrendous for animu stuff, but still way too heavily influenced by animu. As time passes, the art slowly evolves to the point that Lesnick develops a clear style all his own. At its best, the art was really worth eating up and studying in every detail - a wonderfully cartoony style that screams energy and is truly Lesnick's own.
However, I have to admit I have serious misgivings about his latest stylistic evolutions. I find that in throwing himself into the energy of his drawings, Lesnick's lost a lot of the structure - nowadays his faces are unnecessarily melty, and the action can be really difficult to follow from panel to panel.
Oh, yeah, and then there's Lesnick's sense of humour. It can range from lame to decent. He frequently jumps into lolrandom humour ("Magic whale fetus! LOL!"), which really only works when done well and he doesn't always do it well. Not a comic for everyone, but still head and shoulders better than most of what's out there. In fact, I'd have to say that the humour - and the writing in general - was of much better quality during the early and middle parts of the run than in the last parts. Between that and the way I feel his art has evolved in bad directions lately, the only reason I'm still reading this comic is due to inertia - Lesnick's been working on the final story for about six months, and will be ending the comic after that, so I figure I might as well keep reading until it's over.
It's also worth noting, for Scott Pilgrim fans, Lesnick did a back-up mini strip in the last Scott Pilgrim book. So, um, yeah. That's relevant somehow, I'm sure.
Sorcery 101: A solid urban fantasy comic about a high school teacher who's secretly a foreign prince, is an apprentice sorcerer being taught by a reluctant vampire, and who lives with a married couple (a former demon hunter and a werewolf) and their werewolf daughter (she takes after her dad). That probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is - the strip is very often comedic, but it's never actually silly. Well, maybe the bits with the kid necromancer excepted.
This, like Girly, went through an interesting art evolution as well. In the beginning, it was often downright badly-drawn, with frequent basic mistakes of anatomy and perspective. Unfortunately, I can't really show you any of this - Kel McDonald's art evolved to become solid (at worst) to excellent (at best), and as it did he went back and re-did his early stuff so it's not available to make comparisons with. Just trust me, the stuff that's up now is much, much better than what used to be there. (His writing is always solid, though sometimes I have to overlook some spelling mistakes - I think he's said that he's dyslexic and has to do a lot of proofreading. I hope I'm not misremembering that.)
Monday, August 16, 2010
How is this guy married?
If you've been reading my blog, you may remember where I talked about the verdict in the latest Gaiman v. MacFarlane case, here. If not, you may want to go read that post for context.
MacFarlane is one of the founders of Image comics. Another one of the founders is Erik Larsen, who earned his fame largely the same way MacFarlane did - being the art guy on the front-running Spiderman title. After the biggest artists in the biz left Marvel to form image, he settled into doing the Savage Dragon, a character of his own creation, and he's been doing it faithfully ever since.
Once upon a time, I rather liked Savage Dragon. A superhero who's also a cop? Without it being a secret identity? So, a super-cop? Well, sure Robocop did it first, but it was still territory that was mostly untrod at that point. The comic eventually left this original premise though before that happened I'd long since lost interest in the title. At some point, his protagonist's backstory was explained (apparently he's an intergalactic conqueror tyrant with amnesia - who knew?)
Larsen's often lauded for his energetic, out-there imagination. The sort of imagination that can think up such amazing villain concepts as Dung.
Yep. Somehow, the guy gets lauded for this sort of imagination. And I guess it is kinda impressive, if you're, I dunno, 14 years old and still think farts are really funny.
Anyway...
Besides his crazy imagination, Erik Larsen's also known for putting his foot in his mouth. So after the verdict was handed down regarding his friend and business partner Todd MacFarlane, Larsen just couldn't keep his big mouth shut:
Seriously, I couldn't make this shit up. Well, I could, but why would I when Erik makes sure I don't have to? He's basically blaming the verdict on them wimmins being all swoony over Gaiman's accent.
Way to be classy there, Erik.
MacFarlane is one of the founders of Image comics. Another one of the founders is Erik Larsen, who earned his fame largely the same way MacFarlane did - being the art guy on the front-running Spiderman title. After the biggest artists in the biz left Marvel to form image, he settled into doing the Savage Dragon, a character of his own creation, and he's been doing it faithfully ever since.
Once upon a time, I rather liked Savage Dragon. A superhero who's also a cop? Without it being a secret identity? So, a super-cop? Well, sure Robocop did it first, but it was still territory that was mostly untrod at that point. The comic eventually left this original premise though before that happened I'd long since lost interest in the title. At some point, his protagonist's backstory was explained (apparently he's an intergalactic conqueror tyrant with amnesia - who knew?)
Larsen's often lauded for his energetic, out-there imagination. The sort of imagination that can think up such amazing villain concepts as Dung.
Yep. Somehow, the guy gets lauded for this sort of imagination. And I guess it is kinda impressive, if you're, I dunno, 14 years old and still think farts are really funny.
Anyway...
Besides his crazy imagination, Erik Larsen's also known for putting his foot in his mouth. So after the verdict was handed down regarding his friend and business partner Todd MacFarlane, Larsen just couldn't keep his big mouth shut:
"it seems patently unfair that Neil could claim ownership of "Spawn on a horse" much less that an all woman jury, charmed by his English accent and sad story would award him that.
...
The McFarlane/Gaiman thing still burns me up in the basic unfairness of it all. As you said, "Had the judge asked them, I'm sure the all-female jury would have been happy to give Neil the rights to Spawn, Todd's house and cars, Madonna's uniform from A League of Their Own and the Mark McGuire baseball and anything else Neil expressed an interest in" and that's not right."
Seriously, I couldn't make this shit up. Well, I could, but why would I when Erik makes sure I don't have to? He's basically blaming the verdict on them wimmins being all swoony over Gaiman's accent.
Way to be classy there, Erik.
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