Transformable Owl

Check this out — this South African owl “transforms” to modify its appearance in reaction to threats.

Retropolis T-Shirts

I swear, if I didn’t already own too many t-shirts, I’d be all over these guys.

Recycled 'Bot

This guy built a 21-foot tall robot out of old styrofoam containers. Looks pretty neat!

Marathon Bot

To raise money for charity, this guy built a fiberglass and foil robot costume, put it on stilts, and “ran” the London Marathon wearing it.

It took him five days to complete the course.

Virtuoso Computer Animator

Tyson Ibele is a 21-year-old animation savant. Check out his reel on BoingBoing. He offers some good tips — start slowly, try every feature of the program.

"Scale" Modeling

I think this guy is a little unclear on the concept: he built a working half-scale Panzer tank.

Yes, the gun works, though it shoots empty Red Bull cans.

(Via Slashdot)

Monkey Business

If they can teach a monkey to ride a miniature “crotch rocket” bike, skate, and snowboard, and a zillion other “human” things, how come we still treat them as animals instead of just really dumb sentients? Just because they’re hairy? Eh?

(I think I caught the trick with the bike-riding monkey: the poor thing has a leash, which his trainer yanks really hard to cause the moneky to move forward. Watch the video carefully.)

April's Fool!

This is April’s Fool done right:

Blizzard Entertainment

BBC

Google

Nintendo/IGN

Google Sky

Google Sky — for the amateur astronomer in all of us.

Food Court Musical

This is brilliant: a moment of “spontaneous” singing in a public place. The faces of the crowd are priceless.

Artifex Animation Studios Demo Reel

And while we’re talking about YouTube, we put the studio’s demo reel on it, just to get it out there. Let people know!

Yep, our staffers worked on all these! And no, they don’t know how Lost is going to end — they were only asked to crash the plane.

Japanese Rock

Here’s a modern twist on an old instrument.

(Via Nodwick)

UPDATE: Here’s more info on the musicians, the Yoshida Brothers.

He's Back!

Check out the new Indiana Jones trailer — I think it was worth the wait!

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

My wife brought this video to my attention the other day, and I laughed my head off. I remember seeing Jeff Dunham at the Just for Laugh festival a few years back, he’s really good.

Mauvais Rôle

To make the link between my last and next jobs, here’s a short CGI film about a videogame villain eager to reinvent himself. It’s in French with English sub-titles.

(Via BoingBoing)

Life of a Henchman

Ever wonder what life is like for the faceless mooks that staff the supervillains’ bases in all those super-agent spy movies?

Wonder no more.

Canned Cheezeburger

Someone has been brave enough to eat and document this newest prepackaged fast food. It looks decent, but it’s really not something I would eat unless given no choice in the matter…

I find this whole “canned fast food” thing especially funny because right before we got on the road to GenCon 1994 (or 1995), Jean had seen a can of poutine sauce and he thought that it contained the whole thing, fries, cheeze curdle and sauce. We made fun of him the whole way from Montreal to Milwaukee, trying to figure out ways to keep the fries somewhat dry (“what if we wax the fries?”).

Mini R/C Choppers

Far in the past are the days when I bought R/C magazines to lust over the models I couldn’t afford (and probably lacked the skill to build and operate, anyway).

But check out how small and inexpensive they are making them these days. I should get one to freak out the dog.

Antigrav?

Naw, merely a well-synchronized camera shutter.

(Hey, I don’t blog for half the week, gotta come back with a bang!)

Big Amateur Rockets

These guys are nuts, but in a good way. They’re flying model rockets that are not just a class above the ones I used to launch, they’re a magnitude above (multiple “L”-class engines? Yikes!).

There’s a video of their X-Wing disintegrating after launch on Gizmodo.

Awesome

This is like a funny poster that my Dad once gave me: “Never, Ever Give Up”.

Of course, in the context of this Webcomic the little girl actually has the power to do what she’s about to do. Still, the last panel remains powerful, especially compared to the ones that preceed it.

(Via RPG.net)

Anime Song Generator

Having recently watched anime with friends, I can say with confidence that this anime song generator works. The two provided samples are exactly like the stuff we heard during the various opening credits. It’s both cool and a little sad, but then again we all know these anime aren’t supposed to be great art anyway.

Star Wars Simpsons

On a lighter note, here’s a great fan-made Simpsons Star Wars parody.

80s Licensing Fad

You know that if they keep doing things like this, we’re going to end up with things like that. [shudder]

Peanuts

Charlie Brown and crew re-imagined as manga characters, and it works! Don’t worry, this is just a fan-made thing.

Rollerman

A crazy Frenchman has built a suit covered with wheels. Watch as he “races” a motorbike down a steep hill (“races” because the bike rider seems overly cautious to me).

(Actually, seeing the suit in action reminds me of the Motorball cyborg players in Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita).

Futuristic Radio Station

Yes, this is a real place.

ReBoot is Back!

The fun CGI show ReBoot is set to make a comeback. Alphanumeric!

V-Bot R/C Transformer

It’s not enough to have radio-controlled cars now — it’s better if they also transform into a R/C robot, too! (Alas, no video of the toy in action.)

Halo Live Action

No Master Chief, alas. Bungie has a short live action promo for Halo 3 on their site. Very nice, though the fun stuff starts roughly at the one-third mark. Also, check out the links to the director’s other short works.

Homemade Nuke

Not really. But these kids got close enough (don’t try this at home, folks!).

Halo 300

Someone went and used the soundtrack of the 300 movie trailer and matched it to scenes from Halo 3. It works!

Astonishing Adventures Magazine

Astonishing Adventures! Magazine — because pulp fiction is an important part of your imagination’s balanced diet.

Ouch

I hate terrorists as much as the next guy, but any normal male has got to wince when faced with a headline like this:

I KICKED BURNING TERRORIST SO HARD IN BALLS THAT I TORE A TENDON

Happy Fourth of July to our American cousins!

Quickie Movie Reviews

I’m really blogging up a storm today…

Shrek the Third: the latest and weakest of the three movies. Most of the jokes fell flat, and too many were reused from previous movies (fighting princesses, Puss in Boots making kitten eyes, etc.). Also felt remarkably short, despite being 90 minutes long. Keep it for rental, and even then feel free to skip it – if you’ve seen the trailer, you saw the best jokes already.

Fantastic Four 2 – Rise of the Silver Surfer: not as bad as many of Marvel’s previous superhero movies, but not great either. Jessica Alba phones in her performance; she looks like she’d rather collect her paycheck and be elsewhere. A combination of this and the script makes it hard to believe that Sue and Reed are really a couple in love, not just two persons that have to be a couple because they were in the comic. As to the Surfer himself, he was spot on, from the voice to the gestures and so on. I wish I could say the same of Galactus, which was little more than a cloud-shaped footnote. Dr. Doom was much better than in the first movie. A good rental for a slow night.

1408: didn’t see it, but my wife says that it’s an okay horror movie. She was hoping for a The Ring-level scare, and the movie only delivered in a couple of scenes. (Personally, I only read the short story, and it was scary as heck.)

iPhone Round-Up

Boing Boing does a round-up of iPod news and first impressions. I’m going to wait a bit myself — not only do I want Apple to shake the early bugs out before I give them any money, I don’t think having constant Web access in my pocket is going to be very healthy. I spend enough time online as it is…

Face Bank

What the heck is wrong with the Japanese? First there’s the robot baby from Heck, now we get an animated bank that looks like a refugee from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

M41-A Pulse Rifle

As seen in the 1986 movie Aliens. Here’s how to build a functional one.

Mega Anime Poster

How many individual anime can you recognize?

Jet Truck

Optimus Prime picked the wrong truck to model his Earth form on. It would be easier to catch Megatron with this.

Strange Mechanisms

Here’s a cool page I stumbled on recently: The Strange Mechanism Museum. Great stuff for modelers and alternate history gamers — I sure wish I had access to that when I worked on Gear Krieg.

Paleo-Future

Here’s a look into the future that never was.

The Muppet Matrix

Some people have too much time on their hands: The Matrix — with Muppets.

Kinetic Sculptures

Animaris rhinoceros transport, Strandbeest, Kinetic Horse — it’s all about assembling the correct shapes and hinges. Funny how it looks almost alive when seen from afar…

I Can Has Cheezeburger??

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? is a cute cat/dog/pet blog, but going the extra mile with funny captions. If you read it while very tired (like I do), you can go from giggles to full belly laugh in two seconds flat.

(Hint, if you don’t understand the captions: try reading them aloud in a cute voice.)

W00T!

I mentioned the other day that we had launched the new version of Tetris that I had been working on for the past year or so.

Well, the first official review is out, and… 9 out of 10! It’s my personal best and also one of the best scores the Montreal studio ever got.

Big congratulations to my team, who spent a great many hours on this, and to the Los Angeles team for their work on the server component. We rule!

Funny Movie Review

Whoa. I think he really liked that Tarantino/Rodriguez new Grindhouse exploitation movie.

(Caution: link NSFW, must be 18 to ride, proceed at own risk, etc. etc.)

My Eyes!

Live action Simpsons. Not, not this.

Actual live-action Simpsons. [shudder]

Demons and Such

Demons and such is Elie Charest’s new blog. Elie and I worked together for a time at the Pod. He mostly writes about the fantasy novel he’s writing, but I imagine other topics may come by if he feels like it.

A New Rush Album!

Yes, I’m a big RUSH fan. And they have a new album coming out on May 1st!

You can sample one of the new songs (“Far Cry”) at the Web site above.

YouTube Monday Night Roundup

A bunch of fun short movies:

Jet-Man — now imagine a bunch of these jumping out of a C-47 in a pulp WWII setting…

Killer Robots — please make sure there are no bugs in your code.

Weightless Dog — I’m never doing that to Laika. Despite her name, I don’t think she’d enjoy it much.

Reliant Shuttle

I don’t understand why a shuttle flight costs $1B in total. The Brits manage to do it with an old car and some ingenuity.

Oh — you mean it has to reach orbit and land, too?

Medieval Tech Support

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Piano Cat

I put it in the “Cool Stuff” category, but this should really go in “Cute Stuff:” Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat.

Balls of Brass

Soldiers strapped themselves to the hardpoints of attack helicopters to try to save a fallen comrade.

Under fire. Both ways.

Armor Suit

The guy that used to build armored suits to study grizzlies has made a prototype armor suit for the military. Well, he still has to convince them it works.

Maybe he could put it near an IED and see if it holds together?

iPhone

I was thinking of buying a larger memory card for my MP-3 enabled cellphone, but screw that, I’m keeping my money until June:

Behold the iPhone.

Apparently it’s going to be a Cingular exclusive at first. Rogers had better support it at some point…

P.S. PvP shows Brent’s reaction to the announcement.

Tool Manuals

I forgot to blog this when I came across the page yesterday. Here are Navy technical manuals in PDF format — this is the stuff they use to teach new soldiers. All free, since it’s already been paid for by the U.S. taxpayers! [grin]

Very neat stuff. If at some point I find a decent tablet PC, I‘d have lots of reading to do.

Flying the DC3

The venerable Douglas DC-3 has always been a favorite aircraft of mine. Read what it’s like to fly the bird seven decades after it first flew.

DefenseTech's "Best of"

The military/science blog Defense Tech has a list of 50 favorite posts of 2006. Excellent place to keep up with the latest developments — I try to visit once a week.

UPDATE: Here’s another set of 50 posts, this time the most read in 2006 (I think).

USS Clueless/Chizumatic

I just noticed that the link to USS Clueless Archives (in my blogroll at right) now automatically redirect to Chizumatic.

Don’t worry, that’s normal. It’s the same guy (Steven Deb Beste), only now he is writing about anime instead of geo-politics (note that you can still read the moved USS Clueless archives for those). Why? Same reason the political posts have dropped to almost nothing on my own blog, really — he got tired of the feedback. Arguments and questions, one can live with; nitpicking and insults? Life’s too short. (And it’s not like we’ll save the planet by making one or two persons share our personal opinion about world politics, is it?)

That said, Chizumatic is a cool blog about anime. Check it out!

Work in Progress

Not sure if I mentioned this before, so here it is. Work In Progress is a forum where modelers post images of their Warhammer 40K conversions and scratchbuilds. Lots of diamonds in the rough.

Hypersonic Cruise Missile

Popular Mechanics has an article on the planned X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile. Useful to strike at highly mobile terrorists and other moving targets if you don’t have an UAV in position.

Mondo Spider

Seen at the Burning Man festival, the Mondo Spider is a cool one-man walker.

A Mustang Station Wagon?!

That’s just wrong on so many levels.

Transforming Tables

If you want to see what the “folding, interlocking panels” transformation style of the new Transformers will look like, check this live action example: DB Fletcher Furniture Design.

It’s not CGI — the table really does shift and change shape when you turn it.

(Via Boing Boing)

Insane Stop-Motion Film

With live-action characters: Tony vs. Paul. The planning and patience it must have taken to do this, I can’t imagine (note how smooth the camera movements are).

(Via Nodwick)

NinjaScience

If you like mecha, you could do worse than visit ninjascience’s Flickr photo album. The guy is near-obsessive in collecting mecha images and designs.

Bond, James Bond

Here’s a compilation of all the James Bond film intros so far.

(Also check out the ReBoot parody while you’re at it.)

Lil Formers!

Transformers caricatures. Funny!

(Apparently, will soon be found at www.LilFormers.com.)

FichtenFoo

There are some seriously cool mecha models on this page. I’m jealous.

Transformer Costume

I’ve seen some of those before, but never in action.

UPDATE: Here’s another one, though this one doesn’t transform.

Early Tachikoma?

Some guy is tooling around Tokyo in a cool robot vehicle somewhat reminescent of the Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell.

(Via Boing Boing)

Modern Warning Signs

Given the rapidly evolving status of technology, we’re going to need new categories of warning signs for tomorrow.

Robot's Dreams

Robot’s Dreams is a neat Web site concerned with (mostly Japanese) robotics.

I'd Like One for Christmas

There’s a guy in Great Britain who shelled out £14k on an old army tank to use as a personal vehicle. It’s a Sabre, part of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) family of vehicles. The latter is among my favorite armored vehicle design — they’re cute, darnit.

Ultimate Game Desk

If I had one of those, I’m afraid I’d never get anything done.

(Via Kotaku)

Steampunk Lion

Some guy built a mechanical lion to ride on. Too bad it isn’t faster, though.

Toybot Studios

Not sure if I’ve mentioned this cool toy/mecha blog before. Use the label tags to check out the specific stuff that you like.

Choppers Over Downtown

As I sit writing this, a pair of Griffon helicopters from the Canadian Army are making rounds above my place. They’ve been practicing stopping right above the 1000 de la Gauchetiere, a tall skyscrapper downtown. From the looks of things, they are doing assault insertion drills — they’re not coming low enough to pick up people from the roof (they can’t land anyway - no heliport), but it’s just the right hover height and timing to drop a few men, rappeling down. Note that they’re not actually dropping people, just doing stop-and-go maneuvers.

They’ve been at it ever since I came home from the office. The noise here is loud, but at the foot of the building (see the picture after the fold), it was way worse. When I came out of our office building, I first thought one of the choppers was landing in the street!

UPDATE: Still at it. I’m pretty sure it’s an assault drill now. The choppers are coming in with their nav lights off, lighting them again once the maneuver is complete and they’re making way for the next guy.

UPDATE (10/04/06): They’rrrre baack… Different pattern, though. Coming in dark from much further, and this time both choppers fly in formation. And still not a word in the press.

Brain-melting Anime

Come on, you know you want to watch it.

See how many science-fiction and anime references you can catch. Keep in mind this is from the early 80s, though.

(From Nodwick.com)

Robot Anime History

Someone went and made compilations of all (or nearly all) the opening sequences of the various mecha anime shows from 1963 and onward. See the entire series here — start with 1 of 13 and make your way up!

Evolution, Gundam-style

Obviously, it’s funny only if you’re an anime mecha fan, like me.

(Not mine. Taken from here.)

Impressive Scratchbuild!

Now this is what I call good work. The guy made a working Transformer toy out of styrene, based on the Megatron from the Heart of Steel comic.

It’s hard enough to scratchbuild, but making it transformable?!

GunWalker

Radio-controlled mecha models are available now. They don’t quite move anime-style yet, though (more like the shuffle), so don’t plan on recreating the mock battle at the start of Gundam 0083 in your living room any time now.

Also available in GunRoller format, if you prefer a more sensible, wheeled approach to high-tech combat.

(Via Gizmodo)

MANOI

When I was a kid watching Mighty Atom (or whatever the name was in English — to me, he was Astro le Petit Robot), I would have killed for one of those.

It’s not just cool from a robotic, engineering viewpoint — it looks cool, too!

Gundam Cosplay

I once built a clumsy-looking armored suit out of cardboard for a game club Halloween party (thankfully, all pictures have been lost).

But this Strike Freedom Gundam costume is something else!

Too Much Time on His Hands

A guy went and made a complex video edit mashup of a bunch of anime shows to create a wacky race. Amazing stuff.

Amazon Unbox?!

Wow, Amazon must be doing really well these days. Well enough to turn away customers, in fact.

Why else would they go to such lengths to piss off the very people that give them money?

Nice leg

It’s pretty scary how fast things are moving. A few years ago, robots couldn’t even walk without a tether. Now they climb stairs and run, and if this thing works out, they’ll be able to jump soon.

It's Lukas

Well, color us surprised.

The wife and I have been loosely following Rock Star : Supernova, and we thought we had it pegged. My wife thought it would be Dilana; I thought so too, until lately, when I started thinking it would be Toby.

Neither of us thought that the weird little man had a chance, but what can I say? He does have the “rockstar” aura about him.

And, of course, he’s Canadian. You want quality, you come up here. (grin)

The secret is out

I can now tell you all what I’m working on nowadays — I’ve got a title in the pipeline. A colleague of mine produced the splendid Mahjong title, as well.

classical music

But with added electric guitar. Check out the Canon in D by JerryC.

not quite there yet

But at least there’s progress. I’m talking, of course, of the guys that are building a mecha in their backyard.

(Via Ephemeral isle)

tau manta

After a year of work, the Forgeworld crew has finished their Tau Manta kit. The Manta is a fairly large dropship, and the 28mm scale resin kit weights nearly 30 pounds fully loaded!

It’s gorgeous, but really, you can’t use this in a tabletop battle except as a set piece (“this week, yet another Manta crashes down in the middle of the battlefield!”). And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I have a shelf big enough for a display model that large.

A different kind of wrestling

I had no idea something like this could exist, but evidently it does: the Christian Wrestling Federation. There’s also Ultimate Christian Wrestling, and I’m sure there’s more. I presume that a “fire and brimstone” sermon is more interesting to listen to when delivered from the top cord?

The things you find while surfing on a slow Saturday night…

(Via BoingBoing)

Enhance!

Well, how about that.

You know how in TV shows like CSI, they’re always enhancing tiny, grainy images and extracting improbable amounts of information from them?

A company is now offering a software product that does just that. It uses aliasing information and how it differs between film frames to reconstruct probable missing data and improve the resolution. Though I doubt it can clear up print, it should be enough to see the general shapes of objects.

Life catches up on fiction so fast these days, it’s scary.

Rolling armor

Check this out. It only took twenty years for this to come out for real as this.

atomic cars

Ah, the Fifties were a more naive time, but they had some bold ideas. Of course, combine one of their atomic automobiles with today’s cell-talking, latte-handling idiot driver and watch the ambiant rad count soar.

Dangerously cool

Steampunk style raygun props!

Completely useless, but what a conversation starter for the living room…

(Via BoingBoing)

BallBot

This is probably how the Daleks got started, you know.

Imperial march

As played by LEGO Star Wars figures.

Personal crawler

Continuing on the theme of personal conveyances, check out this thread bike. It combines the mobility of a motorbike and a snowmobile. Just pray that you don’t throw the thread.

And yet no marionnette pilot in sight

Check out this new business jet!

Looks like something straight out of Thunderbirds (or any of Anderson’s shows, for that matter).

Goldorak!

The whole family (me, wife and dog) went to see an outdoor showing of the Fantasia 2006 film festival last night. They presented the last four episodes of Goldorak (the French version of UFO Robo Grendizer), which was originally shown on Quebec and French TV back in the early 80s.

Yes, I was a fan. I saw the entire original series, and never missed it when it was shown on the tube. We were fortunate that anime series were plentiful on the old Quebec TV networks of my youth.

The Global Hawk grows up

The Grumman drone has been completely revised. It’s now larger and has way more capabilities than before. Check the article for the full list.

MedBot

How cool is that? A robotic combat medic that can go pick up casualties in the field.

Heck, give them a gun and send them in instead of the soldiers.

Like being there

I love YouTube. Just watch this video of a R/C airplane, flown from the cockpit with a homemade VR rig!

LEGO Who

Now this is just plain cool. I almost missed K9 (look in front of the Doctor).

crazy japanese

I know, these two words just go together. But this is beyond that.

They’re actually making the one-man powered glider from the Nausicaa animation and manga.

Granted, it doesn’t have the micro-jet engine and fearless princess rider yet. But it’s coming.

the showdown you always wanted to see

Star Trek vs. Star Wars.

No kidding — it’s masterful editing. Just ignore the disparate costumes.

Nice kitty...

This is one Tabby cat you don’t want to piss off.

Paradise is Overrated

Or so say the Zarkman at Iowahawk. I’ve been following the “Al Quaeda/Office Space” mashup he had going for a while, and I can think of no better send-off for that swine that to mock him mercilessly. Rest in pieces, indeed.

Skating bot

The latest Citroën ad is up. This time, the C4 “transformer” goes skating.

Sensor dependent

You’ll need this SilCORE vehicle flaw to accurately model near-future combat vehicles. Neat!

Damn interesting

That’s actually the name of this Web site on neat stuff. Fun to read if you’re bored or need ideas.

Kawaii!!!

Oh my. Apparently, they make Maschinen Krieger Kubrick toys. So cute!

(Compare with the originals.)

"We now return to the Transformers..."

The line was uttered at the end of each commercial break when I watched the show on TV back in the 80s. Okay, so I was a little old for it (13), but it let me learn English. And it had robots! Transformable robots!

And now Hasbro is bringing back the era with their new Transformers Classics line, which offers the G1 characters we all know and love, but in a more modern toy format (with articulations, for once).

I like the prices, too. I usually don’t allow myself to spend money for stuff that will merely decorate a shelf, but $9.99 for an articulated, three-mode Astrotrain? I’m there. I’m so there.

Rocky Horror

This guy has got to cut minerals in his diet. They’re ruining his skin — which might explain the bad attitude.

(via BoingBoing)

Mario!

Had dreams where you were Mario, the rotund plumber from Nintendo’s flagship franchise?

Well, now you can be.

A bit disturbing when you think about it.

(Via Gizmodo)

Update

Sorry about the lack of new stuff, things have been busy on the homefront. I barely have time to do my usual browsing before heading to bed.

I’m rediscovering an excellent Web comic called Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler. I knew about it but didn’t take a second look because of the art. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and it’s true. Great stories, characters, and technology.

Better All The Time #29

It took time, but the Speculist has gotten around to posting a new edition of Better All The Time. Check it out.

Transformers Videos

It’s amazing what you can find on YouTube:

Photocopier Transformer

Nissan Transformer

Test Footage?

Wassup?

Magnus Test Shot

Shoe-former

2CV

Solving Parking Problems

Sally

don't lose your head

Can you identify all the mecha from their LEGO® heads?

See here if you think you can.

(P.S.: Brickshelf is a dangerous place — you can easily lose a few hours there.)

Cooking with LOX

Caution, for professionals only.

(Yes, that’s the remains of the barbecue grill at the end. Just a big pool of ash and rust.)

Robot Warriors - Fight!

The Japanese are at it again. Check out these cool radio-controlled fighting robots.

The Mazinger Z, the Iron Man 28 and the Gundam one are especially impressive.

(via Robot Dream, from Gizmodo)

I'm weak...

Stop me before I build again!

Actually, I have another box set to put together first, but then I’m done. I can stop whenever I want.

More Mecha

There’s been comments that I don’t have enough mecha here lately.

How about this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

(Okay, you need to have seen the original Macross opening sequence to get the joke on that last one. Kawaii!!!)

SpaceShot

Now this contest is a great idea: for $3.50, you get a chance to participate and possibly win a suborbital trip!

The odds are a little too long for my tastes, though, especially since you can buy pricier entries to jump ahead (there are 18 steps in the “race”). But hey, whatever works for them!

Me, I plan on waiting a few more years and just buy a ticket. Easier, safer, and I’ll probably be able to get to orbit by then, instead of a simple suborbital hop.

The waiting’s the tough part.

SWORD (or, Robots with Guns)

I don’t know why, but I kinda like this mechanized instrument of death. It’s the SWORD weapon system: based on a minesweeper robot chassis, it can be armed with missiles, grenade launcher or machinegun (pictured). It’s a project of the US Army — don’t worry, it’s not autonomous (yet). A human drives it into battle.

I do wonder why they haven’t armored it, though. Seems fragile with all the components exposed like that (and I bet it will snag on any kind of wire trap, too).

This Blew My Mind

Okay, this is one of these days where reality throws you a curve.

Imagine that you open the TV and the Simpsons are suddenly in live action?

Monster Kit

In this case, literally. What does 6 pounds of resin and a lot of work give you?

An accurate 1/72 scale Monster II Destroid from Macross, that’s what.

It’s neat, but where do you put it?

(Via Petergun)

A Real Life Lair

Wow. Villains actually build themselves elaborate underground lairs with concealed escape routes? It’s not just a comic book thing?

When Hens have Teeth...

It used to mean something impossible. And yet now they have developed chicken with teeth.

And lo and behold, the rebate check for the hard drive I bought at Future Shop more than a year ago arrived in the mail today.

Coincidence? I think not.

Cormorant Spy Drone

Lockheed-Martin is working on a fully automated spy plane that is straight out of a Gerry Anderson sci-fi puppet show: that thing starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater, being launched through a ballistic missile sub’s tubes and being retrieved underwater as well.

And the looks… Click on the link!

(Via Popular Science)

That's Gotta Hurt

The Enzo is a $1M Ferrari that was limited to 399 cars built.

Well, 398 now.

UPDATE: Whaddya know, there’s a game industry connection. Small world, eh?

10,000 Kits

Holy Crap. That guy had 10,000 plastic model kits when he died. I’ve seen hobby shops with less stock.

I knew there was a reason I agressively prune my own collection. I really don’t want to have to move something like this.

Machinalia

This is disturbing but strangely cool at the same time.

(Via BoingBoing)

An 80s Kick

I just finished watching The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension while my wife is walking the dog. Man I love that movie!

I’ve been on a big 80s kick lately, it seems. Music, mostly. I also watched Streets of Fire, another 1984 movie that you have to see if you’re a big Cyberpunk 2020 fan. That movie contains at least 80% of the inspirations of the game, even though it’s not sci-fi: the roles (Solo, Nomad, Corp, Rockergirl, etc.), the music, the mission (extraction from a boostergang), everything.

Man, I miss the 80s.

Live Transformer!

Of course, it’s a bit smaller than the ones we’re used to.

But it’s real, not CGI, it does drive along, walk and transform.

I want one for Xmas!

Prince of Persia? Whimp

He had the Sands of Time to get him out of sticky situations. This guy doesn’t.

And here’s another (unrelated) video: this one has a plot. (Okay, a simple one, but still.)

Stormtroopers

There are those out there who think that US troops are nothing more than stormtroopers of the evil empire. Well, now an armor company wants to make sure they look like them, too.

Obviously, the soldiers are less than thrilled at the idea. Not because of the image issue, but because it’s another pound and a half to carry, and it has to be hot as heck. (And I’m pretty sure it’s bad for the field of vision, too.)

(via DefenseTech)

Qosmiq

Former Podder and good friend Ghislain Barbe has a blog: Qosmiq for the People.

You may remember him as the guy who filled all the DP9 books with such wonderful and evocative illustrations. Check it out.

Wasteland Crawler

Some people have waaay too many Lego®.

(Found on the BrikWars site. They also had cool mecha.)

Rescue Robot is Go!

Remember when I first mentioned the HyperRescue Robot?

Well, it’s available now.

(Via Gizmodo)

Better All the Time v26

I almost missed the newest edition of Better All the Time. Check it out.

Four Tales of Google

CNN has asked several people to provide hypothetical paths for Google’s future.

In one, Google dies.

And you have to read number four.

Strange Words

I came upon this vocabulary test while researching stuff for work.

I got 76 right out of a 100. How many can you get?

Verne's Elephant

You know, this mechanical elephant technically counts as a mecha. It’s piloted and it moves on legs.

Impressive!

Steampunk Transformers

Apparently this is old news, but it’s pretty keen nonetheless. I’ll have to track down a copy…

Sideswipe

Okay, so according to the producer of the Transformers movie, this test reel is a fake.

I don’t care. I love it.

Carnival of Tomorrow 17.0

To change from the dogblogging a bit…

These guys are prolific. Yes, it’s time once more for the Carnival of Tomorrow at The Speculist.

Carnival of Tomorrow 16.0

Man, it seems I just linked to number 15. Here’s the 16th Carnival of Tomorrow, hosted at a guest blog.

Also, see a Better All The Time Special Edition, just for Xmas.

Carnival of Tomorrow 15.0

Yep, there’s a new Carnival of Tomorrow at The Speculist. Check it out.

Movies Recently Seen

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: impressive, they managed to fit that huge novel into a less than three hours film! The pacing is brisk, and as usual the visuals match the book’s descriptions to a T. I do wonder how they are going to do the fifth movie, however, since many essential plot elements from the fourth novel got cut for time (the house elves liberation movement, for example).

Aeon Flux: given that the original Liquid Television animation had little or no continuity, it’s a wonder they managed to make a movie out of this. Not bad, but not great either. The characters are paper-thin, the texts are bland (I can’t recall a good one-liner) and while the action pieces were cool, most of them were included in the trailer.

Carnival of Tomorrow 14.0

The new Carnival of Tomorrow is up at a guest blog rather than its usual home. Check it out!

Back to the Past

I find this model of the CEV and Lander very nicely done, but the space vehicle system it’s based on is an abomination. It’s yet another “flag and footprints” effort destined mostly to put money in various Congressional districts.

I can’t wait until a private company sends a crew to orbit for a fraction of the cost. Maybe people are going to start asking about what they are buying with their tax money.

Better All the Time v25

There’s a new edition of Better All The Time up at the Speculist.

Get a change of pace from the usual mainstream media stuff, read some good news for once.

Whoa

There’s these two people standing on a platform, see, and then a 747 comes out of nowhere and transforms into a dragon.

It’s from a Japanese movie. I soooo cannot wait for the Transformers movie in 2007!!!

Separated at Birth?

It’s true what they say, there are no truly original concept in the world:

Still… wow.

Carnival of Tomorrow 13.0

Just in time for my birthday, The Speculist presents the lucky 13th edition of the Carnival of Tomorrow. Yeah!

I'm Living Sci-Fi

The Manoi humanoid robot is a servo-powered robot chassis made by a R/C car company (in Japan, where else?).

The idea is that you buy one of those, customize the chassis and the covering, then enter wrestling competitions sponsored by the company.

How long until someone makes an Astro-Boy conversion?

(Via Gizmodo)

Better All the Time v24

There’s a new Better All The Time at the Speculist.

Check it out. Good news from the future, today!