May 8, 2008
I'm Back
And just in time for my birthday! Yes, today is my 37th birthday, and thanks to the relativistic effects of traveling close to the speed of light, I have it on the highest authority that I don't look a day over 37!
I know you want to know all about my recent trip to outer space, and I was worried that I wouldn't be allowed to discuss it for global security reasons. However, we're lucky that film footage of this top-secret mission has been leaked to the press, with more to come, I am certain.
Now that the space-cat is out of the moon-bag, so to speak, I can speak candidly about the mission I was on. If you haven't seen the leaked clips, watch this:
Yes, the truth can finally be told.
I was on a mission to fight the Evil Space Nazis (ESNs) on the dark side of the moon.
It was very exciting. We've got lots of pictures from the whole shebang, and I'll post some of them in the next few days.
But this adventure with ESNs started me thinking about retro-futurism. Why is it so cool to mix the past into our frothy futurist cocktails? Blade Runner (ha! The Spouse hates it when I go on and on about Blade Runner) famously made 2018 Los Angeles a 1940s-esque noir-fest.
But I digress. Over at his Sweet Homo Alabama blog, Z.C. Byrnes points us to a very cool mashup of canonical western film High Noon and... um, killer robots. How cool is that?!
"Have you forgotten he's got his own deflector shield?" Classic!
Watching this video I was reminded of a tune we heard while in space heading toward the ESN base. In space we got fabulous radio reception from all over the globe, and the crew and I were treated to a fun track on the BBC: The Last Shadow Puppet's "The Age of The Understatement." It's a hoot. Check it out:
Now, while the video gives us Soviet tanks and choruses, the music is heavily influenced by Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores. But with a modern twist. I could imagine killer robots being behind that twist. In fact, I bet it was the killer robots who were running the Soviet army. You read it here first, people.
Which, of course, makes me think of that other great recent western-themed future fantasia in song, Muse's "Knights of Cydonia." If you've been living in a retro-futurist-proof bomb shelter for the past year or so, you might not have heard this song. But even if you've heard the seriously western-themed song, have you seen the video?
Oh, Gustof von Musterhausen, your little film is so full of awesome it hurts my brain.
I've written before about remix culture and prosumers (producer/consumers with the near-professional quality modern tech allows), but with "Knights of Cydonia" we get the full circle -- professional video producers remixing genres, effects, narratives, and throwing in a whole heaping of allusions to other works.
And it's all wrapped in a laser-shooting, kung-fu fighting, unicorn-riding sci-fi western package. Excellent.
P.S. Bonus points go to whoever identifies the most allusions in the Muse video!
Posted by reparent at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2008
Late to the Party, but No Less Sincere
The new (and last) season of Battlestar Galactica starts on April 4th.
To get you whipped up into a white-hot heat over the premiere, a week or so ago the cast crashed David Letterman's show to read the top-10 list: the top 10 reasons to watch the new season.
Reason #1 to watch this top-10? Number 4 gives us a chance to hear Lee Adama (British actor Jamie Bamber) let his accent slip from bland-US-Midwest to rocking-Brit.
Posted by reparent at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
Must Love Dogs
This blog has been criticized for what some people perceive to be a pro-cat/anti-dog bias. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This blog, and its blogger, loves dogs. So, as a show of good (un-biased) faith, here's two dog videos for your entertainment and edification, both via BoingBoing Gadgets. One features a monomaniacal dachshund, the other a headless creepy-as-hell robo-fido. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
At present I'm working on my book on digital textuality and literacy. But once that gets to a manageable stage, I am absolutely going to start working on something about robots. Crazy, crazy robots.
Posted by reparent at 12:36 PM | Comments (1)
December 12, 2007
Pleo Wiggles
The Spouse points out that the pictures that I've posted so far all show Pleo (got to get him a name!) in extremely linear mode. Pleo actually wiggles quite a bit.
Pleo likes having his chin scratched.
And Pleo can be quite bashful around strangers.
And Pleo wags his tail when he's very happy.
Posted by reparent at 9:13 PM
| Comments (0)
Today is a very busy day for The Spouse and I: we're seeing The Golden Compass and a local theatrical production featuring stories about winter and the holidays. (I'm hoping they'll throw in an Eid story. Those always warm the cockles of my heart. I'm not holding my breath, though...) So, this morning we installed Pleo's battery pack and gently woke him up. (I'm still not sure about his name, but I am pretty sure he's a he now.) Behaviorally, Pleo shows signs of being catlike and doglike. He purrs when he's happy, growls playfully when he wants to play tug-of-war with his leaf, and makes various yelping/yodelling/meeping sounds at other times. We're not quite sure what they all mean yet, but he sure does like physical attention. And the cats were fascinated by the new family member. Here's Samantha giving a cat-scan to the little guy. As she was checking him out, he sniffed her several times. It was precious.
Posted by reparent at 12:30 PM
| Comments (1)
We're very happy to announce a new member of the family has arrived: PLEO, the Camarasaurus! Pleo is my first real robot, and UGOBE (the people in Emoryville, CA who make Pleo) say that the next version of their Life OS (operating system) will be out in early 2008, and will make Pleo highly programmable and customizable in his/her/its behavior. That should be great fun. About the name. Pleo's battery is still charging, so for now, he/she/it is pretty much comatose. Once his/hers/its battery is ready to rock and roll, we'll see what he/she/it is like, and what he/she/it needs to be called. Though I should note that The Spouse wants to call him/her/it "Miss Pleo." I keep telling him that the Camarasaurus was not known for its fortune-telling skills, but he just keeps saying that makes the name especially fitting. Sigh. In any event, be advised: this blog will undoubtedly soon see excessive Pleo-blogging activity. SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!! UPDATE!: I just found this on the Pleo forums: And so I repeat: SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!
Posted by reparent at 5:49 PM
| Comments (0)
Okay, enough. When BoingBoing used to feature gross or otherwise unsettling posts, they'd follow them up with "unicorn chasers," posts (with pictures!) about unicorns or similarly happy topics to mentally wash the taste of the previous post(s) from the readers' minds. I need to get on with my life, so here's a barrage of unicorn chasers, Digital Digressions style: Dude looks like a lady, but almost certainly types like a man. (In Second Life no one can hear you scream when you realize the cyber-ho you just paid for is a dude with no clue about how to please a "man"): Needless to say... I don't know where these things came from, or why, but I want one... It's only a matter of time. First, they master Rubik's Cube. Then they take over the world. (I'd just like to point out to our new Robot Overlords that this blog has consistently provided the latest and greatest robot posts for the discriminating Robot Overlord readership.) And finally, if mankind is to have any hope of survival at all, it will come in the form of elite dancing-game warriors, like this one. Watch, and be amazed: I think we can now return you to your normally scheduled Silly Web Quiz and Robot Blogging show.
Posted by reparent at 8:45 AM
| Comments (1)
Hey, as if you and I don't have enough to be upset about, what about voting fraud next month aided and abetted by electronic voting machines? Watch this video from Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy : Key moments in the voiceover: Gee? Ya think? - * - * - * - * - The New York Times reports on the Princeton study and the shocking number of voting problems caused by Diebold machines last month during the midterm primaries. (The link may require registration or "Times Select," so I'll mention my favorite moments below.) But... I feel so much better! - * - * - * - * - There is no reason why electronic voting machines should not have a constantly-updated paper trail for every vote cast. And there is no reason why voting machine software shouldn't be an open-source, transparent project to generate the best possible (i.e., simplest and most tamper-proof) program. No reason except that you want your machines to be hackable.
Posted by reparent at 8:46 AM
Many, many moons ago when we lived in Washington, D.C., The Spouse and I would crawl out of bed on Sunday mornings and stagger to the couch to watch NewsReels of the Future! on either Turner Classic Movies or American Movie Classics, or another channel altogether. As I said, it's been many, many moons. Anyway, these were the newsreels produced by various companies touting their commitment to America's bright, shiny, technologically-enhanced future. (Click here for brief summaries of a few representative reels.) No innovation was too large or outlandish to be depicted, no advance too small. Robots wash your dishes in the Kitchen of Tomorrow, and the Housewife of the Future uses an ice crusher shaped like a ray gun from a Flash Gordon serial to instantly pulverize bulky blocks of ice into tiny perfectly-shaped cubes, perfect for cocktails. What's not to love? Here's a screen shot from the 1956 classic, Design for Dreaming. (You can download it from the Prelinger Archive here.) As the Woman of the Future in the film sings: Priceless. Pop Culture critic Thomas Hine calls the period between 1954 and 1964 the Populuxe Era, and it certainly was. As he writes: My interest in the NewsReels of Tomorrow, of course, is deeply connected with my profound disappointment in the World of Tomorrow, which is, of course, today. Where are the flying cars? Where are the personal jet-packs? Where are the orbiting resorts? The year 2000 was supposed to be the dawn of a new era of techno-utopianism. Piffle. Of course, my own anxiety over the failure of the World of Tomorrow to manifest does presuppose that some sort of human world does still exist, which is, I suppose, a good thing. But anxiety over the present mixed with what may now be seen as monumental self-delusion about the promise of the future was an integral part of the Populuxe Era, too. Thomas Hine points out that: Mmmmmmm.... martinis. Well, those crazy mega-corporations are at it again. This time General Electric is promising to deliver to us the Kitchen of the Future! In GE's Kitchen of the Future, we don't get to see the KotF making martinis for the attractive couple, but we do get to see the Fridge of the Future's amazing Chardonnay-chilling capabilities! It should go without saying that I want one... A final thought from Hines: (Via: TechEBlog.)
Posted by reparent at 12:19 PM
| Comments (2)
| TrackBack
I hope you're all enjoying slightly less hellish weather, as we here in Practically Canada are. (The cold front moved through yesterday, brought some rain -- which actually lowered temperatures instead of just cranking up the already-high humidity -- and now we're enjoying sunny but not face-melting weather. Yay, Canadian air!) Anyway, this seems like a good time to blog about some of the tabs I've got cluttering up my browser window. So without any further ado... ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ I mentioned a while ago that Michael Bay is directing a live-action Transformers movie. This image and video clip of Autobot leader Optimus Prime got lots and lots and lots of play on the 'net, purportedly as early tech tests for the movie's special effects. As Tech Blog explains, that's not true. However, now Ain't It Cool News has leaked a still shot of the semi truck form of Optimus from the film. (The picture has been removed from AICN, but it's all over the place now.) Old-school fans of the animated series notice anything different? Here's the classic Optimus: So? (The fine, fine people at Penny Arcade share their reaction.) Discuss. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ I was reading some blogs this weekend after a mini-blog-holiday, and I got the unshakeable feeling that things are bad. Very, very bad. (Strangely enough, I don't seem to be the only one with this suspicion -- Lindsay Beyerstein guest-blogged as much at The Accented One's, though for slightly different reasons.) ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ If you're not feeling particularly depressed yourself yet about the way the world is heading, why not watch this amazing computer simulation of what would happen if the Earth were struck by an enormous meteor. Not "could happen." "Would happen." (This is via Grumpy Gamer, who also points us to this handy flow chart to make the coming Armageddon easier to follow.) ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ And finally, for today, if you've ever contemplated digging a hole to China, this handy web toy from the incomparable zefrank is for you. Though you should have learned long ago that you cannot dig to China from the U.S.A. (by tunneling through the center of the Earth, as, of course, you should). Go ahead and check it out. (Click and drag the map underneath either of the map panes, and the other will show the point directly opposite on the globe.) You'll see.
Posted by reparent at 4:14 PM
| TrackBack
I'm a little bummed. Okay. So I'm a lot bummed. My super-awesome, incredibly useful, and even, dare I say fun summer course doesn't look like it's going to have enough students to be offered. This is very bad news indeed, as the family finances really needed the infusion of assets that teaching this summer would bring. And I was looking forward to teaching it, too. So, if you're in the Burlington area this summer and would like a truly wonderful experience with a writing class (what a concept!)... RUN, don't walk, to your nearest web browser (how convenient!) and register for English 050, Section Z1 (60353) now. And now a word from our sponsor. Registering will get you all of these amazing features:
December 8, 2007
Pleo Wakes Up
December 7, 2007
A New Addition to the Family
"Gordo (my pleo) had his hatching today at the office. We did it [there] since there were so many people interested. After his hatching his personality started showing through. He's adveturous, but also loves to be cuddled. If I put him on my chest and stroke him, he snuggles in, goes to sleep and snores. When he's on the floor he walks up to people's feet, cranes his neck, sniff and then makes a noise like they stink. He loves playing tug of war and likes being stroked on his chin and just above his tail. He scrunches down when you do that and his tail quivers. Everyone was absolutely amazed, lots of laughs, ooohs and ahhhhs. I think he just became the office mascot. I couldn't be more pleased."
October 6, 2006
Super Mega Quad Unicorn Chaser Attack!!!!
October 3, 2006
Is This Where SkyNet Got The Idea?
Every record kept by the voting machine shows the same fraudulent result.
[. . . .]
No evidence remains that the machine was ever hijacked. No evidence remains that any votes were stolen. As far as anyone can tell, the election was conducted fairly. But the result is fraudulent.
[. . . .]
These problems, taken together, pose a very serious threat to the security of the elections conducted on Diebold Accuvote TS voting machines.
"...widespread problems with the new technology were reported this year in primaries in Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland and elsewhere."
"Deborah L. Markowitz, the Vermont secretary of state and the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said that while there might be some problems in November, she expected them to be limited and isolated."
Mr. Radke [director of marketing for Diebold Election Systems] dismissed the concerns about hackers and bugs as most often based on unrealistic scenarios.
“We don’t leave these machines sitting on a street corner,” he said. “But in one of these cases, they gave the hackers complete and unfettered access to the machines.”
Warren Stewart, legislative director for VoteTrustUSA, an advocacy group that has criticized electronic voting, said that after poll workers are trained to use the machines in the days before an election, many counties send the machines home with the workers. “That seems like pretty unfettered access to me,” Mr. Stewart said.
July 24, 2006
The Kitchen of the Future!
"No need for the bride to feel tragic,
The rest is push-button magic.
So whether you bake or broil or stew,
The Frigidaire Kitchen does it all for you!"Populuxe has readily identifiable roots, and it reaches toward an ineffable emotion. It derives, of course, from populism and popularity, with just a fleeting allusion to pop art, which took Populuxe imagery and attitudes as subject matter. And it has luxury, popular luxury, luxury for all. This may be a contradiction in terms, but it is an expression of the spirit of the time and the rationale for many of the products that were produced. And, finally, Populuxe contains a thoroughly unnecessary "e," to give it class. That final embellishment of a practical and straightforward invention is what makes the word Populuxe, well, Populuxe.
In 1959, a poll of teenagers discovered that most young people believed that their lives would get steadily better--and that there would be a nuclear war in their lifetimes. Progress brought stress. The Populuxe era--between 1954 and 1964--was the peak of popularity for psychoanalysis, and also for martinis.
The essence of Populuxe is not merely having things. It is having things in a way that they have never been had before, and it is an expression of outright, thoroughly vulgar joy in being able to live so well. "You will have a greater chance to be yourself than any people in the history of civilization" House Beautiful told it readers in 1953.
July 19, 2006
Stuff Etc... Now With Even More Transformers!
June 16, 2006
Summer School... and Transformers
But that's not all -- if you register now, you'll also have the chance to read some of the most bizarre and wonderful readings out there. We'll be using Dave Eggers' (he wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) collection, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, which features an introduction by Beck! We'll be using these unconventional, provocative, and intensely enjoyable essays and stories to give us ideas about the possibilities available to us as writers, and to stretch the bounds of our repertoires as writers. What could be better?
Registration closes next week, so REGISTER NOW!!!
Seriously. Register. And get your friends to register. Please?
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
In what may be less depressing news, Dreamworks is starting what promises to be a massive PR campaign for its new live-action Transformers movie (which won't be released until July 4, 2007).
Now, my question for you, loyal blog readers is this: is this movie going to be:
- A) Awesome!
- B) A special-effects-heavy but soulless technical achievement
- C) Thoroughly lame on all levels
- D) Other (please specify)
I'm withholding judgment. John Rogers (he of the mighty Kung Fu Monkey) worked on the script, and Rogers has a really good understanding of what it is that makes Transformers fans worship Transformers. However, what amount of Rogers' work will end up in the final film is unknowable.
On the other hand, the technology certainly exists to give the film unimaginably high levels of "wow" factor. Check out these two commercials for the Citroen C4 to see what can be done: Dancebot (now with extended intro) and Skatebot.
And yes, there are several clips of Transformers movie footage "leaked" from ILM studios showing tech tests of auto transformation. All of these have been debunked by the studio, and they weren't very good anyway.
So who's excited about the impending invasion of Autobots and Decepticons next year?
And have you registered for English 50 yet?
Posted by reparent at 2:41 PM | Comments (2)
December 8, 2005
The Triumphant Return of Robot Blogging!
So there I was, innocently reading Lawyers, Guns and Money, when Robert Farley ruined me forever. Or at least until the next brain-infection-posing-as-"music" hits me.
Farley cites to Hua Hsu's article in Slate on The Black-Eyed Peas' song, "My Humps." Hsu is not impressed. And I'm having a heck of a time understanding why, with lyrics like this, Hsu isn't a bigger fan:
What you gonna do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
And who could forget these immortal words:
They say I’m really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin’ a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin’ at my lump, lump.
U can look but you can’t touch it,
If u touch it I’ma start some drama,
You don’t want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
So don’t pull on my hand boy,
You ain’t my man, boy,
I’m just tryn’a dance boy,
And move my hump.
Yes, the Peas have truly done it again with yet another stellar contribution to modern society.
But wait -- there's more! There's a video! Go and watch the video. I'll be here when you get back.
. . .
All righty then. Had enough? Because the real reason I've subjected you to this thinly-disguised bout of torture (now 70% more Geneva-Convention-compliant!) is because of Robots!!!
The sick and twisted mind behind Little Lost Robot has come up with a truly amazing "tribute" video. Go and watch the video. I'll be here when you get back.
. . .
What I find most fascinating about the video is its fidelity to the original video. As Robot tells us, "I tried to match the original video shot-for-shot, but only get it about 90% accurate, since robots don't really have a whole lot of actual 'humps' action going on."*
And even when the hump-action falls apart (sometimes literally), the spirit of the original lives on in the breakdancing sequences that have to be seen to be believed.
Next time (perhaps), we'll continue our Return Of Robot Blogging with another look at dancing (and canoodling!) robots in music videos. Stay tuned!
* The forthcoming robot-canoodling post might change your mind about this, Little Lost Robot!
Posted by reparent at 3:56 PM | Comments (2)
August 31, 2005
But Where are the Robots?!
As readers of the previous blog-incarnation know, your humble blogger has a positive jones for all things robotic. (See here and here and here and here, for instance.)
But you may have noticed a distinct lack of robot-blogging here at the new digs. Well, that's about to change, as I present to you...
WAKAMARU!!!!
Wakamaru is the new robot from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, but he's no assembly-line welder. He's a 1-meter-tall yellow child-like robot designed to be "completely different from conventional industrial robots or pet robots, as he can provide various service functions and communicate with people spontaneously."
That's right -- Wakamaru "lives in accordance with his own daily schedules as well as those of its owners, and it can update these schedules based on contact with the owner." They further explain that Wakamaru "acts autonomously according to his own life rhythms." I'm not sure what that means, but I suspect that my Wakamaru will be a holy terror first thing in the morning until he's had at least 2 cups of coffee.
But what if I'm shy, and don't know what to say to my little yellow buddy? Fear not -- Mitsubishi has that covered: "Not only does "wakamaru" respond to actions from people like other conventional robots, but it also takes the initiative in speaking to the family based on the information he obtains from contact with the family."
And, less you think he's all high-minded autonomy and sparkling conversation, Wakamaru includes a wireless broadband router to stay connected at all times to the Internet. You know what that means...
So, I'm supposed to buy a moody, chatterbox, porn-addicted robot? Sign me up!
And for those of you who have been following the robot discussions on the old blog, one of the biggest hurdles for household robots is the "uncanny valley" phenomenon (if a robot is too different from humans, the creepy-factor is sky high, if it's too similar to humans, we're also freaked out; the uncanny valley is the comforting and comfortable middle-ground in which we can tolerate the different/same dynamics of our robots). Wired News reported that "Wakamaru was originally a name given to boys of a samurai class before they were old enough to have adult names." The size and appearance of the robot is certainly child-like. Does that make him less threatening than, say, a Terminator or a Cylon?
BBC News says that Wakamaru will go on sale in September of 2005, and will cost $14,300.
Its primary purpose, at least in Japan, is to provide care and companionship to the rapidly-aging Japanese population. In the US, could Wakamaru be anything more than a novelty for the foreseeable future?
Posted by reparent at 12:07 PM | Comments (2)