Word broke today that George Lucas is planning another animated Star Wars television series — only this one will be targeted at kids kindergarten age and younger. Apparently there’s this line of toys for little tykes called Star Wars Galactic Heroes that features cutesy action figures that look like caricature cartoon versions of all the major Star Wars characters (it’s the same exact thing as Marvel’s Super Hero Squad), and ol’ George has decided to cash in on these toys by making a full-fledged TV show about them.

Dumbest. Idea. Ever. Star Wars is a story full of death and betrayal and violence on a grand scale… Do we really need to see it retold for the preschool set?

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised by this, though. Lucas doesn’t exactly have a sterling track record of late. First there were the prequel films, which disappointed pretty much everybody (and nobody’s ever forgiving him for that floppy-eared CGIdiot, Jar-Jar). The fourth Indiana Jones movie was one big yawn. The Clone Wars TV show started out as a silly mess, though I’ll admit it’s grown on me as its quality of storytelling slowly improved.

But all of these inferior projects make Lucas tons and tons of cash, because fans continue to hope that someday, somehow, he’ll create something good again. The original Star Wars trilogy was so earth-shattering, so game-changing, that it altered the landscape of pop culture forever. And no other intellectual property has come close to its level of cultural influence in the last century. Lucas clearly knew what cool was, once upon a time. But let’s face it: the only good Star Wars to come out since the 70s has been stuff from the extended universe — select books and games.

If George Lucas means for Star Wars to live forever, he should hand it over to someone who actually understands what fans love about it, and will treat it with the respect it deserves. But no, he won’t do that. He’ll just keep finding ways to betray all of us who once believed in the greatness of Star Wars by milking his cash cow until it bleeds.

Are there nothing but yes men working at Skywalker Ranch? Doesn’t anybody out there have the guts to speak up when George comes up with yet another monumentally stupid idea?

There’s been a long history of movies based on video games sucking pretty hard. Street Fighter was horrible (both versions), Mario Brothers was spectacularly bad, and even James Bond: Goldeneye wasn’t that great. Wait, that last one was a video game based on a movie? Who knew?

Regardless, they’re going to try again with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, out later this year. Now I have no idea if the movie is going to be worth a damn, and frankly, I don’t really care. But what I do care about is the new series of Legos based on the movie, and now they’re available at Toys R Us.

When I was a kid, my favorite Lego toys were the ones based on castles and dragons, and these sets evoke the same feelings for me. Yes, they’re in the Middle East, but they still have that same sense of style. Plus, there are some really cool swords in the kits and a camel. Who wouldn’t want a camel made of Lego? You? Well then you, sir and/or madam are no friend of mine.

I figure this one is the first on my purchase list, just because it’s got the most pieces and looks like the biggest challenge. And if this is a hit, then who knows what else is next.

Also coming up from Lego: Harry Potter sets. More on that as it comes.

I’m an iPhone guy, and have been since the release of the iPhone 3G a few years back. But recently, when I first heard about Windows Phone 7 and saw a demo, I got very excited. That was a cool looking piece of software right there, and maybe something worth switching over. Then I heard about the drawbacks, clutched my iPhone in my arms and said, “Don’t worry baby, I’ll never get rid of you.”

OK, I didn’t do that. We just spooned for a bit.

Anyways, looks like Microsoft is making another spectacular blunder. Gadgetsteria is reporting that Windows Phone 7 won’t come with copy and past anymore. Why? Well, let them answer that for me.

By now everyone and their mother has heard of Microsoft’s extremely Apple-esque stance with the upcoming Windows Phone 7. On several fronts, that’s a very, very good thing. On the other hand, comments such as “People don’t use copy/paste anymore” clearly show they [Microsoft] are F*cking stupid (with a capital F no less). Getting everything to be more simplistic and user friendly. Good. Great. Awesome. That’s exactly what they need to do. But overly water down a platform that has traditionally been a power users platform…?

He’s right. Windows Phone 7 has a lot of potential to take away market share from BlackBerry, Android and Apple, but it’s got to be spectacular out of the gate and at least have the same features as every other smartphone out there.

But here’s the kicker for me: When I got my iPhone 3G, all my Windows/BlackBerry buddies would tease me for lack of copy/paste, like it was some big deal. “Microsoft would never do anything that dumb,” they’d say. Turns out, they did. And not only did they, they’re backing it up with poor logic.

Oh well. Let’s hope they change things before it gets released.

Probably one of the biggest change that is going to happen when the Cataclysm expansion comes out is the implementation of the Mastery Stat System.

For those who have been stuck in-game and have not even browsed the internet about the upcoming expansion, Blizzard is bringing in the Mastery System, a set of new game mechanics that will allow players to make their chosen talent trees more unique.

Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree — meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear. – MMO-Champion

Pretty interesting, I must say. I believe it’s going to make gameplay a whole lot more interesting and fun. The Mastery Stat System will allow similar specced toons to become better in different things and to be played differently. It actually reminds me of the days of Vanilla WoW.

I remember the days when it took 2-3 different priests to buff the whole raid. Not because buffs then we’re given per party, but it was because some priests had better or more improved Power Word: Fortitude. Same with Divine Spirit. Back then, you really had to sacrifice whether you want to be a better healer, or contribute more to raid by giving better buffs. You really had to think about how you want to spend your talent points. Back then, you can really feel and see the difference between a Discipline priest and a Holy priest.
Nowadays, I feel like the classes are too “all-around”, if you know what I mean. If you gear similarly-skilled players with the same level or kind of gear, they will more or less perform the same during raids. For me, there’s no sense of uniqueness and that’s what I missed during the days of Vanilla WoW.

It’s like the game is getting too “formulated” and strategies for killing a boss are getting too linear.

I remember the days when not all rogues can sap mobs because a rogue may or may not have Improved Sap. It definitely made the game more fun to play since you had to think of different strats. The proposed Mastery Stat doesn’t exactly work that way but I think it’s definitely going to promote diversity when it comes to developing your toons and they way you play them.

Well, that’s my ‘initial’ rambling and understanding about the Mastery Stat System. There’s actually no definite explanation on how the Mastery System exactly works, so we can only muse and speculate the moment.

[ Image via MMO-Champion ]

Well the first check-in with Gowalla while having lunch at a cafe crashed the app. And truthfully I rather enjoy lunch that restarting the app and trying to check in again. So basically it was an immediately deal breaker for that app. On Monday I decided to try Foursquare, while waiting for the train I checked in at the train station. Then I checked in at the hospital where I was for my appointment. Back at the train station I wanted to check in at Starbucks and then I got tired of it.

I’m holding bags while unzipping my winter jacket to fish out my iPhone form the inner pocket. Opening app, waiting for spots to load and then check-in, etc. etc. And T-Mobile’s 3G is not what we call the fastest network around here. So the whole process takes 2 to 4 minutes and I still have to actually buy my coffee and make it on time to the platform to catch the train.

The next day while at another train station waiting for the tram I had some time so I decided to check-in with Foursquare and while waiting for T-mobile’s 3G to get going I looked around at a couple of weird men standing around and got a bit paranoid. While I haven’t filled out my profile nor added a profile picture I thought that the chance of some weirdo also being on Foursquare is quite possible.

Imagine I use Foursquare everywhere I go and publish my check-ins on Twitter, that does not sound like a good idea. For all pro technology that I am I have found my limit in applications like Gowalla and Foursquare, first because of the time consuming they are and secondly and most importantly, safety.

I am a 28 years old woman and I definitely don’t want strangers to be able to track where I am at all times of day. Especially considering we as humans have routine and habits. So some crazy would be able to soon enough know my schedule and places I frequent a lot. So it would be like facilitating a potential stalker.

While off course having such an online presence like I have now is barely “undercover”, posting my whereabouts online with GPS is plain giving it all away. Nobody needs to know at which supermarket I go regularly or at which stores I shop my clothes and stuff like that. I guess if I hit the Apple store I might post that because who doesn’t like saying “Hey I’m at the Apple store!”.

But for now I’ll keep the sharing to Facebook, Twitter and my peronal weblog.

Until recently, the two major players in the handheld gaming wars have been Nintendo and PlayStation. The N has a strong history when it comes to handhelds, going back to the bestselling handheld gaming device of all time, the GameBoy. Sony has had significant success with the PlayStation Portable, an overall more powerful machine than any handheld device before it.

In the last few years, the race has heated up, as Nintendo has upgraded its wildly popular Nintendo DS in increments (DS Lite, DSi, and the forthcoming DSi XL), while Sony recently released the PSP Go, a new version of the PSP meant to do away with the unpopular UMD media format in favor of downloadable content. And then there’s Apple, which scored an unexpected and unforeseen slam dunk with the iPhone/iPod Touch, a convergence appliance that turned out to be an incredibly fun and versatile gaming platform. (To date, there are nearly 1,000 gaming apps available to download from iTunes.)

But now, things are about to get really interesting.

First up, Nintendo is hard at work on the successor to the DS, and thanks to one crafty journalist who gleaned everything he could about the DS2 from game developers at the recent Game Developer’s Conference, it looks like the next-gen DS is going to feature two higher-res screens that unfold with barely any seam in between, so that the two can be used separately, or as one big screen. This year’s E3 conference is speculated to be the DS2’s official unveiling, where Nintendo will boast that its new handheld has the same horsepower as the GameCube.

Apple is about to change the game again with the release of the iPad. Okay, so that might be a bit of hyperbole — I can already hear the critics crying foul, dubbing the iPad an oversized iPod Touch. It’s not an entirely unfair description, but consider this: the iPhone/iTouch is comparable in

size to the DS and PSP, with a screen size of 3.5″ and a resolution of 480×320 pixels. The iPad dwarfs this with a 9.7″ screen, displaying at 1024×768 resolution. Does size matter? I think it will when Apple has what is by far the biggest self-contained handheld gaming device on the market. Plus, of all of the new gaming devices, the iPad will be first out of the gate.

As for Sony, rumors have been circulating for years — with very little solid evidence — that a next-gen PSP is in the works, complete with a high-def touchscreen. Sony is playing its cards close to the vest on this topic, though.

But wait, there’s a newcomer to consider. Microsoft is getting ready to join the mobile gaming world thanks to the impending release of its new Windows Phone 7 mobile OS, which can work directly with an Xbox Live user’s profile. Full Xbox Live games will be playable on WinPhone7, with unlockable Achievements, user avatars, and more, all of which behave much as they do on the game console.

The war over mobile gaming is raging, and it’s about to get more interesting than ever. Where do your loyalties lie?

The Waking #1

I haven’t spoken a great deal about the Zenescope range of titles, but I really want to draw your attention to last weeks The Waking #1. At the end of the first issue I still don’t know just what the story is about, but I do know I want to know more. And if this series reaches the same high level of quality that the others of the line do, then I know I will be more than satisfied.

The Waking offers a traditional evil little girl, not that we actually see a great deal of her. Dead bodies rise out of the morgue, well, a dead body at least, not a whole zombiepocalypse. (We’ve must have seen enough of the zombiepocalypse by now surely?) Seasoned with a selection of hard-bitten cops that rapidly become three-dimensional characters, the issue leaves you with a whole sense of wanting more.

Now the standard that I will be holding the title to is the excellent Wonderland trilogy, Return To Wonderland, Beyond Wonderland, and the current Escape from Wonderland. Frequently emblazoned with covers that are attracting the T&A market, but, although I wouldn’t accuse the titles of phenomenal depth, the story rolls along with ease, and a not a few surprises. It delivers a warped vision of Wonderland (like the original was so ‘straight’ in comparison), with a voracious evil underlying the entire realm, a form of madness personified that corrupts everything that it touches. I’ve not seen the movie release yet, but I imagine this version is intensely more brutal. And it’s a far cry from the Wonderland Captain Carrot visited in the Eighties.

Now there’s an image. Captain Carrot alone in Calie’s Wonderland! ‘Cos that is one evil Cheshire Cat, and not even Roger Rodney Rabbit could keep his upbeat attitude after being chopped to pieces a time or two. I can see an inter-company crossover coming on.

Zenescope plan to bring the TV series Charmed to comics in the near future. I wonder if they will be able to find the readers in numbers similar to the Buffy series? It’s a brave effort, unless you look at their other offerings, and I hope they catch a mass market appeal with this.

Still, if you like your horror comics, then Zenescope is well worth a look. In my mind, they are the classics of today, a modern day EC. I’m just waiting for the Concerned Mothers Of America to attack them. After all, if they have been entertained by Glenn Beck, you just know they are lurking out there ready to attack comics again!

See that woman in the red up there? For those of you that don’t know, that’s the amazing Tricia Helfer, and me and her have a little history together. Alright, that may be exaggerating just a tad, but there is a story here, and it’s quick. Then we can get to the news. Cool?

I was the executive editor of a magazine back in 2009, and with that lustrious title came the ability to pick and choose who was featured in the book. As a result, I had a few of my favorites picked out: Adam from Man Vs Food, Wil Wheaton, and I was really pushing for Oliva Munn – but those were all on my “future issue” list. Then a PR person dropped me a line. “Would you be interested in talking with Tricia Helfer?” Umm, yes. Yes I would.

We scheduled an interview and eventually had a 45 minute phone conversation about BSG, Human Target, and not getting recognized on the street. It was really, really cool. I started transcribing it right away and locked it in for the October issue.

Except October never came. Instead, I discovered in late August that my magazine was being discontinued and the September issue was to be the last on the stands. I was also demoted back to my old job, and I decided to move on. In October I left the company to start my own business.

So indirectly, I suppose you could say that Tricia Helfer caused me to quit my job. Or not. Either way, I wish I could’ve printed that thing, but now it’s all irrelevant data and old news. Sigh.

Unless she comes back to BSG that is. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that SyFy is working on a spin-off of the latest BSG. At first, the article gives us a bunch of BS about another horrible SyFy show getting greenlit, but then we get the good stuff:

Syfy also is seeking to expand its popular “Battlestar” franchise.

When asked about the chances of its modestly performing spinoff “Caprica” getting a renewal, Stern was bullish. He pointed to the show recently hitting a series high in the adult demographic using Live+7 ratings, drawing 1.6 million viewers and 913,000 adults 18-49.

“We have a lot of hope for that show,” Stern said. “The (DVR data) has been very promising and growing week after week.”

The network also is looking to order another “Battlestar”-related project. Details were slim, but Stern said the title would mark a return to the franchise’s space-opera roots.

“We’re looking for other ways to spin off ‘Battlestar’ beyond ‘Caprica,’ ” he said. “That world is so rich. We’re sitting down with (executive producer) Ron Moore and his team. It would not necessarily be a traditional series.”

My only hope is that it’s better than Caprica. A sci-fi show with no action isn’t any fun for me. I might as well be watching Oprah. Let’s hope this one takes it back to space where the series belongs. Maybe even redo the very first series.

I’m not a huge FPS guy. I’ve never really gotten into Halo, and although I loved Call of Duty 2, I’ve never played it on multiplayer. It’s just not my bag. But the series that I do love is Gears of War. The first time I played the single player campaign I stayed up all night trying to advance level after level until a few days later when I woke up from a Red Bull haze to see the final screen. When GOW2 came out, I was ecstatic, and I played that until the end game. It’s a fun series that has a decent storyline and good characters. It never hurts if it scares the bejeezus out of you too.

I was surprised when GOW3 didn’t show up this Christmas, but now I hear there’s hope on the horizon. From Edge Magazine comes word that GOW3 is coming out in 2011, and the teaser will be released on April 3rd.

Microsoft will launch Gears Of War 3 in early April 2011, a trusted US publishing source has told Edge.

The first teaser trailer for the third person shooter is expected to debut next month on April 8, exactly one year ahead of the game’s pencilled in release date. A full reveal is due at E3 in June.

And there’s more.

We understand that the game could be completed as early as this year, but that Microsoft is keen to release it during a different window to Halo: Reach – rumoured to be launching in September 2010 – and Natal, which is set to arrive this holiday.

“Microsoft’s keen to avoid a clash with Halo: Reach and wants Natal to own Christmas. That’s why we won’t be seeing Gears Of War 3 until next year, but expect a major marketing push ahead of its release,” said our source.

Looks like 2011 is going to be a good year for games. Now I just want that new Batman: Arkham Asylum to be released and I’ll be good to go.

Geek The Library Week is basically an awareness campaign that aims to promote the local library. While there are people who totally get how important libraries are in education and self development, not everyone really gets involved. Indeed, in this age of instant information (via various media), hardly anyone ever goes to the library on a regular basis. Local libraries are in serious need of funding and might even be in danger of “extinction.”

The driving force behind the campaign is the famous couple Bill and Melinda Gates. Their foundation has partnered up with the OCLC as well as Leo Burnett USA. The former is a non-profit consortium of libraries while the latter is a marketing agency. With these kinds of players in the game, I have high hopes for the campaign.

So how can you get involved in geeking the library? The campaign is basically an awareness program and a chance for YOU and ME to show our support to the library. Whatever you do, it doesn’t have to be a big thing. Visit their web site at Geek The Library to find out various ways by which you can participate. When you visit the site, start by answering the questions in the pop up box. It won’t take you a minute, and you just might make a difference!

Let’s get our geeks on and support local libraries!

Some offer more precision that others, and some are easier to read, but all are definitely not your average analog or digital watch.

1. Fraction Clock

Granted, this is a simple digital watch so it’s not hard to see what time it is.

However, what this watch will do is to chime once in each one hour period — not necessarily on the hour but based on the associated fraction for that hour.

The minutes and seconds are calculated from the rounded decimal equivalents of each fraction.

So, where hour one is 1/1 or simply 1am/1pm, the seventh hour is 1/7 or 07:14:29.

Interesting that the sixth hour becomes 06:17:07 because there would be no such time as 06:16:67.

2. Rainbow watch

The inner circle, divided into four sections, denotes the hour.

Colours red through indigo (no violet) denote hours 1-6, 7-12, 13-18 or (without indigo) 19-23, with the colour appearing in the appropriate section – top right is the first six hours, bottom right is the next six hours, and so on.

The outer circle, divided into ten sections, denotes the minutes.

The ‘tens of minutes’ are denoted by colours — red = 0, orange = 1, yellow = 2, green = 3, blue = 4, indigo = 5 — while the units are represented by the position – zero at top right and then incrementing clockwise.

Times from 00:00 to 00:59 have no colour displayed in the inner circle.

3. Periodic Table Watch

This is a very simple clock to read. The white illuminated element denotes the hour while the yellow illuminated element denotes the minute.

If the hour and minute are the same, the element is divided equally. If one or other colour is not present, it denotes a zero.

The following times are shown for 00:20, 11:23, 15:15 and 23:00:

4. Letter Watch

Letters replace digits on this watch.

For the hours, the letters ‘a’ through ‘x’ represent digits 0 through 23.

For the tens of minutes, the space is a hyphen for zero, and then one of the five vowels for 1-5 — i.e. a = 1, e = 2, i = 3, o = 4, u = 5.

The units of minutes are represented by the letters ‘a’ through ‘z’, and change approximately every 23 seconds (23 x 26 = 598 seconds).

The following is what would be displayed for times 05:24:25, 12:09:01 and 22:57:59.

5. Planet Watch

The eight planets of the solar system are used to show the time.

The top row denotes the hours, with planets from left to right (distance from sun) representing the digits 1-8. Each planet can have up to three red dots beneath, representing an hour multiplied by either one, two or three.

The bottom row denotes the minutes: a new planet will appear, from left to right, every 7.5 minutes.

The faces below represent 08:19, 15:32 and 21:56.

What do you think? Would you wear a watch that told you the time like this?

At my last job, one of the IT guys used to wear these jeans with rhinestones and patterns imprinted on them. We joked a lot about his “bedazzled” jeans and his preference to wear sandals with everything, so seeing the picture above made me think of him. That, and debate whether or not this is a marketable product.

The concept is simple: make a pair of jeans that works for the gadget friendly geek. Just like that, WTFJeans was born. For example, there’s a pocket built for the iPhone of iPod Touch, which makes it easy and simple to remove from your front pocket. That same pocket is lined with super soft microfiber, so there’s no worries of scratching that plastic lens. Then there’s a hidden pocket for a USB key, which I imagine will be handy until that first time you forget about it and throw the key in the jeans in the washing machine.

But let’s talk about some of the fitment issues that seem specific to these jeans. First off, there’s padding for your … junk. That’s right, extra padding in the delicate twig and berry area, just in case you want to go commando. Then there’s something which I applaud/hate all at the same time. The jeans are cut low in the front and high in the back, so you never lean over to grab something off the floor and turn into a plumber by accident. That’s excellent news for the guys jeans, but not so much for the girls. At least not in my opinion.

Here’s the catch though: there are only 500 more of these suckers going out onto the market, as they’re doing a limited run of 1000 pairs and 500 are already sold. Bummed out? Well you can still get in on it. And if you do, please let me know how they fit and feel. I can’t imagine why my boys would need extra padding, but I’d like to find out.

I do a lot of different things for work. I write, I blog, and I take lots and lots of pictures for magazines. As a result, I have tons of pictures stored in various places, and I’m triple backed up at all times. Right now, it’s a fairly simple setup, but it’s going to get a lot more complicated pretty soon. That’s because of two things:

1. I want to do a home theatre setup
2. I got a new camera.

In the past decade or so, I’ve taken a lot of pictures. But at the beginning, a lot of my work was in film, so I have to keep the original slides. Then when I did go digital, I had a basic 6 megapixel camera. Back then, each shot took up 2.5 mb. In fact, for as long as I’ve been shooting, I’ve only got 110 GB worth of images. Now, each image is 15 mb between the raw image and the jpeg file. I shot 22 GB of a single truck the other day, and that 350 GB drive isn’t going to last me much longer.

So I’ve been debating my options, but I’d like to ask for some suggestions from you, the readers. Here’s what I’ve got:

• 20-inch iMac with 250 GB drive, hosting my iTunes library
• 15-inch MacBook Pro with 500 GB drive, with all of my business data
• 500 GB Time Capsule
• AppleTV

I’m an Apple guy. Go figure.

Right off the bat, I know that the AppleTV isn’t the best solution for my media needs. I’ve been considering buying a Mac Mini to do the home theatre part of things, but either way, I need a place to put my iTunes library. I’m in the process of converting over my DVDs, and at the moment I’ve filled up a 250 GB drive and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I figure I need at least a terabyte to take care of that.

On the photography side, I’m thinking I need to get proactive and get at least a terabyte of storage. I try to do a shoot per week, and each one is at least 10 GB worth of data. By getting a terabyte now, I’m going to have more than enough to cover my needs in the short term, and I’ll be OK when it comes time to upgrade later.

Now the big issue: Backup. My 500 GB Time Capsule isn’t going to be able to support this new setup in any way. Even if I upgraded to the 2 TB Time Capsule, I’d really only have one machine covered. So my thought is to double up on my storage. When I buy a 1 TB drive for the photography, I buy a second (or step up to a 1.5 TB model) to handle backing up both the MacBook Pro and the library. When I get the 1.5 TB for the iMac, I do the same thing with a 1.5 or 2 TB unit for backup. On the downside, my Time Capsule would pretty much turn into a router.

So there’s my current strategy. I’ve considered a Drobo, and I’ve considered just getting a Mac Mini server to handle the duty, but I think that might be overkill. Anyone have any suggestions?

Proving once again the versatility of the world’s greatest toy, a German artist named Jan Vormann is traveling around the world, “repairing” old buildings and decaying structures with LEGO bricks. This “guerilla art,” which he’s dubbed Dispatchwork, has already taken him to major global cities like Tel Aviv, Berlin, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Zuerich, and most recently, a two-week stint in New York City.

In each location, Vormann gathers an army of assistants — made up of children and adults alike — and wanders the streets in search of missing bricks, tiles, stones, and other construction materials in need of replacing. There’s no method to the placement of the plastic bricks, resulting in a mosaic of bricks of different sizes and colors. And quite often while conducting their unique repair work, Vormann and his helpers attract quite a lot of attention from passersby, many of whom are only too happy to join in.

The artist doesn’t usually ask permission to do LEGO patchwork on the buildings or landmarks he selects; he just does it. Which doesn’t seem to matter all that much, since his LEGO patches tend to fall apart fairly quickly. I think part of his reasons for doing what he does is to illicit reactions from locals — the Dispatchwork website describes a full spectrum of reactions from amusement and enthusiasm to disgruntled irritation that he’s meddling with private property.

Vormann, who regularly creates art installations of all kinds in public places, considers himself a serious artist, though he reportedly thinks of Dispatchwork as more of a fun activity than any kind of work. The LEGO Group, for its part, hasn’t given Vormann’s work an official endorsement, but the company is believed to be closet fans of what he’s doing.

Vormann already has Dispatchwork trips planned for Barcelona, Toulouse, and Lausanne.

Kinda makes me want to go try it for myself.

My wife and I are pretty avid video game fans. We own every Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft console produced in the past 20 years, with a few handhelds and a Genesis in there for good measure. Up until recently though, we didn’t own a PS3, and there was a pretty big reason for that.

The first reason was the price. I wasn’t down with paying half a grand for a console, no matter how awesome or cutting edge the technology was. I resisted purchasing almost out of principle, because it just wasn’t worth the extra cash. The second reason was the games. I love platformers, and the Ratchet & Clank series seemed like a pretty cool group of games for the PS3 – but not enough to justify the price tag. There really wasn’t any other PS3 game that made me really want the system. Little Big Planet was close, and I considered Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Joker download, but there was still nothing that made me pull the trigger. Besides, I could get almost any PS3 game for my 360, so why spend the money? When the price dropped to $299 though, I was all over it. I was just about to pull the trigger when I received a PS3 Slim as a gift, as well as a copy of Little Big Planet and Ratchet and Clank. Times were good.

So after the Blu-Ray haze had worn off and the games were played, I put the PS3 controller down for a little bit to focus on some family stuff. This weekend I decided to treat myself to a game, but now I had a choice: PS3 or XBox 360?

I was looking at 2 games: MLB2K10 (pictured) and MLB10 The Show. I had played demos of both in the store, and MLB2K10 was looking like the stronger game. As I stood there, holding a PS3 and 360 version of the game in each hand, my wife said to me, “Well, if the PS3 has the better graphics, go with the PS3 version.” So I did.

I get home and I’m playing the game. Almost instantly I’m having controller issues, where the PS3 isn’t responding to my frantic button jabs. Then the cursor starts freaking out when I’m trying to place a pitch, then I have problems stealing second. 30 minutes later I’m cursing my decision. Four hours later I give it another shot, and I find that everything is working great and now it’s all good. No problems at all, like it never happened. So what was it? Hell if I know.

This experience shook my faith in the console. I’ve got an old NES that fires up every time I need it, and never complains. Although I understand that newer consoles are substantially more complex that the NES, that doesn’t mean that they should suffer from problems. Consoles should be reliable electronics, not requiring random updates and constant syncing. That goes for my 360 too, because even though it’s working fine now, I have had two units red ring out on me.

So now, when I go to the store and try to decide what to buy, I think my decision may be a bit easier. If it’s exclusive, I’ll go with that console. Otherwise, I’m getting it for the 360.

Angel Beats

Set in the afterlife in a school dedicated to helping the dead pass on to heaven, Angel Beats is about a group of students that attempt to rebel against God and his angels. One of the characters, Yurippe, has some similarities to Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but you can be assured that the plot will not be the same. The story for Angel Beats was written by Jun Maeda, who also worked on the stories for Kanon, AIR, Clannad, and Little Busters, all of which were very successful visual novels/anime. If you’ve seen/read/played any of those titles, then you will know how hard it’d be not to get emotional over it. Angel Beats is expected to have a story that’s just as good as any of those titles and is probably the most anticipated anime of the season.

Black Rock Shooter

With a character design that seems to be based off of the virtual idol Miku Hatsune, Black Rock Shooter (BRS) will finally be getting its first anime episode this season. The anime is about a girl that tries to stop her sister from destroying the world, but the main selling point isn’t the plot. What many people are looking forward to in BRS are the action scenes as there are sure to be many, and the unique character designs by the artist Huke. You can see a sample of the animation on youtube.

K-ON Season 2

Yes, the second season of K-ON will begin airing this spring. The second season will be a continuation of the first, with the light music club carrying on with their usual antics. I don’t think there’s a need to explain the anime since everyone knows what it is. There are rumors that there will be a new character, but as of now no one has confirmed or denied this.

Problem was, the tablet itself sucked. The touchscreen was wonky and unpredictable, it required a stylus for most reports – which could easily be lost – and it wasn’t cheap, either. My father ended up going another way with the project.

That was 10 years ago, and touchscreen technology has come a long way. Multi-touch operating systems and thinking outside of the box has created a group of users that aren’t afraid to touch the screen and manipulate things with their hands. The question is, do people really care?

The iPad will sell millions, there’s very little doubt about that. Right now, I expect that mostly the Apple fanboys and elitists are scooping them up like crazy, but I’m not as positive about the common man. The person who thinks that the iPad should do all the things their laptop does but with multi-touch, or the teenager who drops everything they touch. It is an inexpensive device by Apple standards, but it’s not cheap enough that it’s an impulse buy. I’m positive I’ll see lots of these in the hands of consumers over the next few months, but I’m not sure whether the product will become the next iPod or the next AppleTV.

Regardless, the imitators and wanna-bes are coming out of the woodwork, all with their own version of the same thing they put out 10 years ago. Admittedly, the Dell Mini 5 might grow some legs, as it’s a legitimately cool product, but HP’s tablet won’t succeed just because it has Flash and the iPad doesn’t. For any tablet to succeed, iPad included, consumers worldwide need to embrace the concept. Embrace it enough that it doesn’t become a fashion faux pas or tool for douchebags.

Prime example: Bluetooth headsets. Technically, the newer models tend to work fairly well. It’s a great way to communicate without using your hands, plus it’s light enough to wear at all times, just like a modern Lieutenant Uhura. But that’s where the problem lies. wearing a Bluetooth headset nowadays anywhere else but the driver’s seat of your car is considered a joke. Douchebags, suits and, well, geeks are the main users, and even then, mostly in private. It’s good technology, but it’s now “uncool” to wear them.

That’s what the iPad and every other tablet out there has to overcome. It has to be acceptable to pull out your tablet at a business meeting, over lunch, or even in the library, just like it is with a phone or a laptop. If it’s not, then eventually, the concept will die out again.

The iPad, and its upcoming competition, have a lot of hurdles to overcome. Next month we’ll see lots of hype over the big release day, but the big issue is going to be whether or not at this time next year we have another winner from Apple on our hands or another flop.

For the record, I’m betting on winner for iPad and Dell, not so much for HP and others.

I had wanted to post this sooner, but I delayed a bit after contacting a dealer and making a reservation. I expect these things to go like hotcakes. MWEHEHE. In fact, they’re already selling out.

As a diver, I’m always looking for really great underwater casing solutions for video and photo capture. Usually I just borrow marine casing from the local reps at SONY and they lend me anything from a W or T series camera with a marine pack housing that can go down up to 140 feet in depth, a little beyond the maximum limit for recreational diving. Other marine solutions such as the FLIP camera have el-cheapo USD $15.00 they sell in Amazon, but these only get you to 30 feet and from they way the casings look, they might flood!

IKELITE and JVC have a promo for an underwater case . The contents of the casing is a JVC Picsio GC-FM1, an HD enabled video recorder that can also take photos. Yeah as far as I know this is the only underwater case for a compact video camera (there’s nothing for the SONY Bloggie). The cost: USD $430

What makes the package a great deal is that the casing can go up to 200 feet — well beyond the 130 ft depth for recreational diving, plus the fact that the case comes with a red filter — a must have for underwater photography or video without a strobe. The casing also has a slot at the bottom for attaching a video light.

Still not convinced? Here’s a sample video!

Olympic games always inspire architectural feats that capture the imagination, but the 2012 London Olympics are getting a monument like nothing the world has ever seen. It’s called the Cloud, and it’s envisioned as a symbol of the digital age.

The Cloud tower is made up of inflatable, light-emitting spheres floating above lightweight, slender columns, which together create a three-dimensional display you can go inside, that feeds real-time information to London’s skies. Citizens and visitors all over London will be able to see the information displayed by LEDs embedded into the spheres that make up the top of the structure.

Though it’s only one of several proposed monuments that may be selected to grace the 2012 Olympic Park, the worldwide consortium of designers behind the project — who are contributing to its design and funding in a very grassroots way — are committed to building the tower somewhere in London, even if doesn’t get selected for Olympic Park. The size and dimensions of the Cloud are not set in stone, for example, and can be easily altered based on the amount of money raised to build it. Efforts to “raise the Cloud” have gone social, with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube already put to use to spread the word about it, and hopefully, find the needed sponsors to make it a reality.

The Cloud will also be one of the greenest structures ever built, since it will create all of its own electricity. Visitors will ascend the tower either on foot or on bicycle using a spiral ramp, but descending is to be handled via elevators that use “regenerative breaking,” which collect the power used by the elevators and recycle it. Solar panels will also be heavily utilized.

So what will it be like to step inside the Cloud? Imagine being a 360 degree digital display that’s constantly showing things like Olympic stats, news updates, Internet traffic reports, mobile phone activity, decibel levels, and much more.

Architecturally or scientifically speaking, I have absolutely no idea how something like this would work. And I don’t care. All I know is that it looks absolutely amazing.

The official web site for this holiday can be found at Pi Day. Just to refresh your memory, here is a little something from the official web site:

Pi, Greek letter ( ), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535…

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.

Through the web site, you can actually send a greeting to your geeky friends who would love to celebrate Pi Day with you. The options via an eCard, via Twitter, or via Facebook. Whichever venue you choose, you will be sure to impress those who care.

Here’s another piece of trivia – today is Albert Einstein’s birthday as well! Now how’s that for coincidence? Check out your local geek hangouts; there’s probably free pie going around. No pun intended.

You know the drill: most of the United States advances its clocks forward by one hour tonight (and much of the rest of the world joins in as well, such as Europe, which changes its clocks in a few weeks), meaning we all lose an hour of sleep in exchange for daylight lasting longer into the afternoon and evening. Then in October, we get the hour back in exchange for a nighttime that starts at the obscenely early hour of about 5 o’clock.

Now if there’s anything that we geeks have learned anything from every scifi movie ever made, it’s that you should never meddle with time. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that DST causes more problems than it solves. Supposedly, it’s good for retail businesses and sporting events, and its believed to reduce car accidents. But on the flip side, it disrupts sleeping patterns, messes with electronic equipment, and doesn’t do anything to reduce power usage. Not to mention the ordeal it creates for parents of small children…

So whose messed-up idea was this, anyway? Apparently, it was cooked up in 1895 by an entomologist named George Vernon Hudson, who hailed from New Zealand. (Hey Georgie, parents all over the world would like to thank you for screwing with our kids’ morning and nighttime routines, and unnecessarily adding to our stress!)

I’ve had enough. I’m hereby declaring that DST has outlived its usefulness. Why should we still observe this archaic tradition that began over a hundred years ago?

Maybe there’s hope yet that Daylight Savings Time could go extinct once and for all. The map you see above (which I found on Wikipedia) displays the parts of the world that observe Daylight Savings Time (in blue), the areas that have never observed DST (in red), and the areas that once observed DST but over time have shown uncommonly common sense in deciding to stop (in orange).

That orange area represents a not-small portion of the map, so I say we make it grow. I say we start a movement to end DST once and for all! Who’s with me?

If you want DST to end, Tweet this post (below) and add the hashtag #nomoreDST.

1) The Ultimate Case

iPad cases are already a dime a dozen, but Happy Owl Studio has come up with some of the best I’ve seen. The Wallet Deluxe ranks so high because it succeeds in making the iPad the center of your life, adding an accordion portfolio with room for folders and just about anything else you want to carry. It also happens to be a very attractive product, available in blue and red (known as the “Clutch” model) for ladies, or brown and black for men. No pricing is available yet for this one.

2) The Artist’s Best Friend

Sketchers and painters already love the Pogo Sketch from Ten One Design, and the company is touting it now for iPad users, too. It’s easy to see why this stylus is so popular: it glides smoothly across any capacitive touchscreen, offering multiple levels of pressure. The Pogo Sketch turns your iPad into a sweet pen tablet, and it’s the best one on the market. Price: $14.95.

3)  The Eco-Friendly Frame

If you have a pretentious house right out of Architectural Digest, Vers’ hand-crafted wooden iPad frame gives you just the right way to turn your tablet into a stylish coffee table accessory. The back also doubles as a TV dinner tray. (Not really.) Price: $79.99.

4) The Ball Speaker

Behold: the GrooveBassball, or as I like to think of it, the world’s best way to annoy every other passenger on an airplane. This little bauble, which looks not entirely unlike a yo-yo, hooks into your iPad to output dynamic sound and, as the name implies, bass. It recharges via USB and will play continuously for three hours. Assuming your flight lasts that long. Price: $29.99.

5) The Aquatic Assistant

You know how it is… You work in an aquarium, but you need easy access to your iPad without you know, drowning it. Enter the WaterGuard waterproof case. It’s a plastic bag that guards your iPad, that you can still use your device through. Plus, for a guaranteed appointment with the office bully, wear it around your neck using the adjustable strap. It’s like a pocket protector for the 21st Century. Price: $19.99.

6) The Bouncing Balls

If there are far too many women asking you out on a regular basis, just attach these four rubber iBallz to the corners of your iPad, and your very essence will scream, “I am a genetic dead end! Do not bear children with me!” Price: $14.99.

7) The Grandma Sweater

Remember the iSock? This knitted beauty is the same basic idea, just a larger size. Bonus points for cleverly resembling an iPad, both front and back. Price: $50.00.

Google started small and grew fast, always keeping to their mantra “Don’t Be Evil” which helped a great deal with their image. When they started with Gmail beta and invites I was in it early and never looked back to Hotmail. I loved and still love Gmail. Then came Google Calendar and Documents with the later one taking me quite some time to get into it.

But in my opinion Google’s “greed” or “need” to be on top on all fields is starting to cost them on the quality of their products and their reputation. When they took the same Gmail invites strategy with Wave they got everyone’s expectation high but till today Wave never really took off and people still ask themselves what is Wave exactly?

In their drive to overtake Twitter and Facebook they launched Google Buzz in what seemed a very short period from idea to production. On launch everyone’s most emailed contact was exposed, people on your contact list where added to auto-follow. In other words a huge privacy blunder that was only corrected after great protest from users. This blunder hit close to everyone really showing that they don’t keep up to their “Don’t be evil” mantra anymore.

Google wants to be a big player in all fields:

• Web browser
• OS
• Mobile phone
• Mobile OS
• Internet provider

Nothing wrong with wanting to expand but the more fields they start playing on the more it costs their other products quality wise it seems. The 2005 Google wouldn’t have made such a big privacy mistake with Buzz.

I wonder if Google will be able to keep up with launching new products one after another or will they collapse under their own success. One thing they have proven is that in business where money is all that matters you can hardly keep a mantra such as “Don’t be evil”.

What do you think? Should Google stick with what they do best, search engine and web apps? Split up the company into divisions or keep going the way they are?

Google infographic by Royal Pingdom

Dark X-Men #5

Spoiler alert for Dark X-Men #5. You may want to read the issue before reading this column.

This week saw the end of the Dark X-Men series, and I must admit this has been one of my favourite Dark Reign spin-offs. I was overjoyed to see the return of the X-Man, and I hope this isn’t the last we see of him, but his short term prospects do not appear great. In the future, I would love to see him teamed with Noh-Varr, they now have a lot in common, both screwed over by Osbourne, and both tasked with the defence of humanity on a global scale.

Still, even Nathan Summers was not the highlight of the series for me. Each of this characters (barring maybe Weapon Omega, although he shows promise) have been favourite characters of mine, and each of them have received an abject lesson in this story.

Mystique learns how she has quite clearly backed the wrong horse. Again. You would think she would have learnt by now, but her time as one of Xavier’s operatives and her many encounters with the X-Men seem to have taught her nothing. She leaves the series as owned by Osbourne as when she began.

The Mimic was given glimpses of the potential he could reach. If you happened to read Exiles, then we know what Calvin could be here in the real world, erm, I mean mainstream world (I must remember they are different. They are!). He needs to be put in a team where he can finally, well, grow a pair. Maybe Marvel should have him fall in love and either have a child or lose his partner in an Uncle Ben situation. After all, he could be up there with Nate Grey and Noh-Varr. But not while he remains the poster boy for depression.

Then again, more attention could be paid to his depression, he has been clinically diagnosed if I remember correctly, and that is story worthy in and of itself, but only in a team book. I don’t want Calvin to miraculously recover, it has to be believable else it denigrates the topic, but he needs to walk the path of the hero sometime. After all, we’ve only been waiting since the Sixties.

So Weapon Omega, Michael Pointer, is potentially the most important mutant on the face of the planet according to Nate? Now there’s a tidbit! However, what’s the chances that throwaway comment will disappear into the mists of obscurity?

I’ve not got a great deal to say about the Dark Beast, except how can you not love this character. He is the perfect corruption of everything Henry McCoy is, and long may he reign. He is a perfect sleeping threat, much like Mr Sinister under the shadow of Apocalypse was for so many years.

However, the very best insight has to be how, within the confines of Norman’s fractured mind, both Norman and the Goblin have made peace, and both support each other. We have seen this implied with his many conversations with his reflection over the years, but here we see something new. The Goblin acts in Norman’s interest, rather than simply his own. Has Norman finally found approval from his daddy issues?

Whatever the fate of Osbourne, this team needs to continue. After all they have the explosive chips inside of them in a true Suicide Squad tradition, so who would be the best person to take the reins? Valerie Cooper? Henry Peter Gyrich? Doom? Or maybe some new mover and shaker, taking up the mantle of the late Senator Kelly?

I sincerely hope this is not the last we have seen of this team.  They need a few more members, but they must not fade away, they have too much potential.  Are you listening Marvel?

A few days ago, I brought you the glory that is the Marvel HD television lineup. That was exciting, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want a television with their favorite character printed on it? Oh wait, you wouldn’t? Well then sir or madam, I do not want to be your friend.

But now there’s more. Urban Collector has just introduced Marvel and Star Trek keyboards and mice for the masses. That’s right, now you can get your very own keyboard and/or mouse with Wolverine, Iron Man or the U.S.S. Enterprise printed right across the face. Excited yet? No? Seriously, you’re being kind of a jerk.

Admittedly, these are a little bit busy, and the Star Trek model looks like it would give me a tumor if I looked at it too often.But, they are full wired USB keyboards with a numeric keypad, low profile keys, a USB port and function keys, so what else do you want? Oh, a price? I get it, now you’re being nice to me. I see how it is. Well, the keyboards go for $45.99, but if you want a matching mouse (and let’s just admit it, you do.) get ready to shell out another $26.99 for the wireless wonder. That’s right, the mice are wireless and have a scroll wheel. What? You want a matching mouse pad? Sorry, I can’t help you with that one. Maybe if you were a little bit nicer I might’ve Googled it or something, but now I’m just bitter.

I got home from an out of town trip all psyched up for the release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I had participated in the beta, having bought into the Limited Edition version. I come home, fire up Steam and was greeted with the hassles of an endless “Updating Steam” notification which I left on overnight. The next day, it was still stuck. Having followed troubleshooting tips to delete a few files and eventually uninstall the damn thing, it finally worked on the 3rd try, 48 hours later. Finally, I was able to download Bad Company 2. I left the computer overnight, woke up and was ready to play. I ran BC2 and logged into my EA Account (a requirement for this game). This is where speed bump number two surfaced: Failed to connect to EA Online.

It’s been two days since I successfully installed BC2 and I was only able to successfully play two multiplayer games. Search the Internet for “Failed to connect to EA Online” and you’ll be greeted with a lot of disgruntled gamers and EA apologizing and “fixing” the problem. Fixing is fine, but there’s a reason why I paid for the Limited Edition.

It’s not just with Steam. The same thing happened with PSN encountering connectivity errors across the board. Ugh and what more with the new DRM checking for Assassin’s Creed II. Big debate here. It’s DRM that’s killing the legitimate guys and rewarding the pirates.

When I look back at my “gaming corner” with boxes of limited edition stuff and regular retail boxes, I’ve noticed how the items have diminished for collections since 2009 as I started buying games through disc-less distribution methods like Steam. There was a time early this year when I got hacked by a trojan and my Steam credentials were stolen and changed. It took me the better part of 2 days to get help from Valve. The good? Well, less clutter on my desk for boxes. And the environment gets saved. Whee.

We’re running our games fine 90% of the time. It’s seamless and overall, a great experience. But there are just times when I want to kick these servers in their digital arses when they fail. It isn’t about faulty technology. It’s about how it feels like such a big downgrade when we can’t play single player when a server is down.

When I was a kid, my parents used to buy me Underoos underwear. Remember those? Back then I had one for Batman, Spider-Man, and my favorite at the time was Superman. I wore those things all the time, pretending to fly around the house like a superhero.

One day, my mother was walking to the kitchen and saw me standing on the edge of our second story patio, wearing nothing but my Superman Underoos and a red towel around my neck like a cape. She ran out, scooped me up and asked me, “What were you doing?” I responded, “Mommy, I just wanted to fly.” Apparently, I needed a head start.

True story.

Turns out, I’m not the only one who has dreams of flying. Check out the bad boy pictured above. That’s the Martin Jetpack, a personal flying device made of carbon fiber and kevlar composites. The thing is pretty amazing looking, It functions similar to a helicopter, but doesn’t have any tail rotor to balance it out. Instead, the rotors turn on their own, controlling forward flight. They say it’s got some pretty basic controls, so it’s not that bad to learn.

Of course, the big question is the price, and Martin Aircraft isn’t talking. What they do say is this:

Martin Aircraft has built several prototypes so we have a good idea how much they cost to manufacture. Depending on production volume,  the initial cost will be about the same as a high-end motorcycle or car. As volume increases this will drop to be similar to a mid-range motorcycle or car.

Or, if you need to ask, it’s probably too much.

So after the 7th probe comes out, I should have just enough minerals to warp in a Pylon. Then two more probes to get the Gateway and … finally Zealots. Or wait .. did the first Pylon come after the 5th probe? OMG.

That was me a couple of days ago. Twelve years ago, circa 1998 I knew Starcraft build orders like the insides of a bag of Lay’s. I wasn’t the best, but I was pretty adept in micromanagement, countering zergling rushes and reaver spamming with both finesse and results. Twelve years ago, at 17 years old, Starcraft was pretty much the axis of my social skills. It was actually the only other reason why I bought a 28.8 kbps modem to do an IPX connection with my cousin over the phone. To ensure gaming bliss without interruption, I’d disconnect the other two extension lines at the house in case someone would pick up the phone and sever our connection.

A couple of days ago I downloaded, installed and played through a couple of maps for Starcraft II’s beta. The first few play-throughs had me building and upgrading everything and doing a Noah by creating two of every unit available just to see what the sequel had to offer.

Then I tried doing a little bit more competitive play, remembering the build orders, trying to be “fast” and not stock up on minerals or gas. That’s when it hit me — my mineral and gas count were in the thousands — which obviously meant I wasn’t maximizing my builds. It was then I also realized that I hadn’t expanded my base yet. Oh crap. And thus, the epiphany: I’m getting old for Starcraft II.

I live in an area with a very sizable Korean community. A lot of local kids earn extra cash by teaching the Korean kids how to speak English and I found out later on that most of the time spent in “lessons” is a 2 vs 2 game of Starcraft: Broodwar with English being taught as a way to communicate between teams. “Attack the expansion.” “Do a Reaver drop here.” “Siege tanks. Counter with Guardians.” That’s what kids do these days apparently, and for me, at 29 I’ve come to the realization that gaming has been moved from a priority hobby to a quick fix — hence my reference for 20 minute “get in, kill stuff, get out” games like Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. Occasionally I’ll bite into the great adventure titles like Mass Effect, Fallout and Dragon Age … but those are rare.

I’m really looking forward to Starcraft II. Not to play competitively on Battle.net but to get in a few laughs with gamer friends who, like me, have aged, slowed, and can look back and laugh at how we all now suck.

At one point, you’re really bound to run out of vespene gas.

Yes, you read that right.

It’s not the handheld variety, either. This Blackberry is over five feet tall, and incorporates a flatscreen TV, because the client who commissioned the giant Blackberry wanted it to have a working screen. It’s so huge that it requires its own stand for mounting. (Can you imagine how hard it would be to safely mount a flatscreen TV inside thousands of LEGO bricks?)

You may not recognize the name Nathan Sawaya, but you’ve probably seen his work. Sawaya is a former lawyer who now works as a professional LEGO artist (and yes there is such a thing you doubter, you), building artistic sculptures entirely out of the iconic plastic bricks. Most of his pieces are done by commission, allowing him to make his living by crafting these incredible works of art.

Sawaya takes on projects of all shapes and sizes, and is perhaps best recognized for his life-size LEGO expressionist sculptures of the human body. Take a look around his website to see his mind-boggling portfolio — he’s done an amazing assortment of projects, including everything from a life-size “Han Solo frozen in Carbonite” to a giant Monopoly game to a working cello.

Sawaya has even been featured on Mythbusters.

If there’s something you’ve always wanted to see built out of LEGO bricks, Sawaya is available for hire for any project, large or small. Don’t expect it to be cheap — after all, LEGO bricks aren’t cheap, either.

Back in December, we told you about a new line of Adidas gear designed for the Star Wars enthusiasts. Like some kind of wacky hot tub time machine, here we are in the future – 2010 – and some of the shoes are out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any sign of the dope Stormtrooper or Darth Vader models listed back then, but what I do have is all new stuff.

Pictured above is the X-Wing shoe, with a multi-toned gray suede finish, and fancy orange accents to really top it off. It’s currently sold out, but at $100, it’s money.

Next up is the Stan Smith 80s Millenium Falcon shoe set, running at $110. They’re not quite as nice as the X-wings in my opinion, but these ones are available today, so pick your battles.

Want to join the dark side? Of course you do, who wouldn’t. You get the cool choke power, cool uniforms and cloaks, and even red lightsabers. Who wants blue ones anyways, those are for sissies. Show your Sith side with the Superstar Vin Death Star shoes. Once again, these puppies are temporarily sold out, but at $120, they’re not too shabby. These are probably my favorite pair, with the traditional shell-toe look up front. Good times.

Finally, for the two women who read this site, there’s the women’s Game Mid Princess Leia shoes, at $80. I get the point – it’s supposed to hark back to the sexy slave Leia suit we all love and adore – but it’s also ugly as sin. Frankly, if any girl I knew wore these, I probably would stay away. Of course, these are available for purchase today, probably because no one wants them.

[photo via reddit]

In 2005, I was dating this chick who I was just kinda into. She was alright, but she lived pretty far away and she smoked, so it wasn’t a good match. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was out on a blind date with this small whale when I decided to fake an illness – I think it was anthrax poisoning – and bail out. Since I was all the way over on that side of town, I gave the first girl a call.

“What’re you doing?”

“Playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo64.”

“…”

A few years later we were married, and we just had our first child. We also have every Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft console ever built, plus a Sega Genesis for fun.

Back in high school though, I didn’t own a console. Instead, every day after school I’d head over to my buddy Shann’s house and play games. The hot tickets at the time were NHL 95 and Street Fighter II, so we switched between the two depending on the day.

I never got the hang of the hadouken move. No matter how hard I tried, I always seemed to pull it off when I didn’t need it, but when I needed it most, I ended up doing nothing. Pissed me off to no end.

Which is why I really enjoy this picture. Sure, it’s Photoshopped and all that, but it reminds me of my insane frustrations with trying to roll my left thumb just right. Damn that controller.

At the Game Developer’s Conference today, Sony held a press conference where the name of its long-discussed motion controlling wand device was unveiled: PlayStation Move. The device has some obvious similarities to the Wii Remote, but it takes the same basic technology to sophisticated new heights, thanks to the PS3’s tremendous horsepower.

The PSMove is made up of three integral devices: the PlayStation Eye camera, which has been around for a while now, and is used by the Move to track positioning; the primary PSMove controller, a wireless device that looks like a more ergonomic, black Wiimote with a color-changing ball on the end; and the PSMove sub-controller, a secondary controller that’s essentially a wireless nunchuck.

Sony’s pulling out all the stops in promoting the new controller, hyping it like a full-out console launch. At least twenty games are planned for release this year that are made specifically to support the Move, and other popular titles like the PS3 juggernaut LittleBigPlanet will also be made compatible with the PSMove.

The PlayStation Move’s specs and design are powerful and appealing, but fundamentally, it’s the same basic idea as the Wii — two controllers, one in each hand, swung around in conjunction with button and trigger mashing. For Nintendo’s part, the Wii continues to sell well among casual gamers, but the hardcore set has largely grown bored with its low-res graphics and gimmick-filled library of titles (can you say “mini-games”?). Microsoft’s Project Natal, by contrast, represents something altogether more intuitive and potentially paradigm-shifting, dropping all handheld devices and transforming your entire body into the controller.

One thing the PlayStation Move has going for it is that when Sony releases the Move this fall, it’s planning a sub-$100 price point for a package that will include the PS Eye, both Move controllers, and a TBA game. That’s a sweet little pricetag in the midst of this dreadful recession.

Still, will the PlayStation Move turn out to be anything more than Wii: the Next Generation? I have my doubts.

Age Of Heroes #1

It looks like Marvel have been listening to me, and my love of the 8-page story format, as once the Dark Reign draws to a close in the Siege of Asgard, we launch into the Heroic Age. To celebrate this, Marvel will be launching an anthology title named Age Of Heroes in June, planned in the style of Nation X.

Woohoo! They listen! (I’ll totally ignore the fact that they have obviously been listening to my words precognitively, that would just burst my bubble, and I’m not sure I could stand up to that!)

So this is a tool to assist in the recalibration of the Marvel Universe into a brighter, happier, more positive place. About time one might say, having the deck stacked against the heroes makes for a good story, but it can’t last forever. As fans, we want a break as well, not just for the characters we know and love, but also for ourselves. After all, isn’t that the purpose of escapism?

Still, I worry for the titles future. It’s been a while since an anthology title had any longevity. The relaunch of Marvel Comics Presents didn’t last long, and the previous title, although a very healthy run, rather shot itself in the foot, with stories that were not of the highest quality, and failed to be character driven IMHO.

Mind you, with a team of writers like Kurt Busiek, Rick Remender, Paul Cornell, and Dan Slott and artists like Marko Djurdjevic, Chris Samnee and Leonard Kirk, this is something to really look forward to.

Right, what am I looking forward to this week? When I am starting with Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers Unleashed #1, I’m not sure the word recommendations can be taken seriously. But nonetheless, have you read the previous series? It’s great!

Otherwise – SWORD #5, The Mystic Hands Of Dr Strange #1, Twelve Spearhead #1, R.E.B.E.L.S #14 and Superman Last Stand Of Krypton #1, which shows the end of the New Krypton storyline is in sight.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever spoken to Tricia Helfer, Six from Battlestar Galactica, for more than 10 minutes. Anybody? Oh, I guess it’s just me then. Back in September, I interviewed her for a magazine I was working for at the time. 30 minutes later, I had the best interview I ever did on MP3, and I couldn’t wait to write it. Then the magazine shut down, and I had no outlet for it. I even had exclusive pics, too. Bummer.

Six was just one of the great things about that show. The interaction between humans and cylons, the constant drama and action – it was all worth every minute. Well, except for the half-assed ending, anyways. If only there were some kind of way for me to play as a BSG character …

Oh wait, there is. NBC Universal and Bigpoint has just announced an MMO based on BSG. From the official fancy press release:

Players will be able to choose to play as cylons or humans in a constant struggle to control the universe or just survive its perils. A blend of tactical space combat, exploration, and mission-based gameplay will provide a diverse experience. The dramatic missions will define the game’s overall storyline, enabling the player to delve into mysteries of the Battlestar universe. Battlestar Galactica Online will create a new standard for web games, with beautiful 3d graphics and innovative game mechanics bringing a new level of game play to browser based MMOG. Assets from the television production will be integrated into the game to deliver an even more authentic experience.

There’s not much to their teaser site yet, but feel free to check it out and sign up for updates as they come. No word yet on a release date, but as soon as we know, we’ll let you know.

Apparently, I’m on trailer duty this week. First Iron Man 2, now the sequel to the cult classic Tron, Tron Legacy. The newest trailer is out now, and it’s definitely worth the 2:20 run time, because this movie brings me back.

My first experience with Tron wasn’t in the theaters, it was at the local arcade, just off of Route 9 in my hometown of Framingham, Massachusetts. Once a week, my father and I would head down there to plunk down $5-10 playing games. I’d be playing the arcades, while he’s play pinball, as per his pinball wizard dreams. I remember very specifically when the Tron game first came to our arcade, because there was a line to play it and it took me a while to finally break through the ranks to get in to play the game. When I finally got a chance at the stick, you couldn’t break me off of the game to save my life. I recall quite a few moments with my irritated father looking over my shoulder, tapping his foot because he was hungry and wanted to go to Papa Gino’s next door. Ah, memories.

Tron is one of those movies that I saw when I was a kid, but I never really “got it” the way my folks did. I was probably too young at the time to get it, which is why I’m going to get the DVD prior to the release of Tron Legacy so I can catch up. Regardless, if the movie looks as good as the trailer, I’m in.