Gravity Lens Weblog

Archive January 25 - February 15 2005

Tuesday, February 15

Rejoice, my brothers and sisters! The new 2005 edition of Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt's The Animation Show is hitting the road.

There can be only one...tsunami relief effort!

Monday, February 14

The latest Modern Drunkard discusses The Subtle Art of Beer Snobbery, and introduces us to the Beer Brewing Monkeys of Borneo.

Newsarama has a story about the upcoming book Superheroes and Philosophy, as well as a preview of Mark Waid's chapter on Superman. On a related note, Rick Stoeckel of McSweeney's gives us the real origin of the Fortress of Solitude.

If you're still unsure what to do for Valentine's Day, go check out The Horror Channel's website for some Ghoulish Guidance. While we're at it, Star Trek.com gets down with the unnatural interspecies love and present the franchise's Greatest Couples.

Go watch the live action Gigantor trailer. Silly, yet strangely compelling...

Sunday, February 13

The Cartoonist links to The Art of Captain Scarlet.

Friday, February 11

As the cold New England weather continues I am contemplating getting a new scarf. Nothing as hefty as the Fourth Doctor's, mind you. I've always liked aviator scarves. What my inner geek really wants is either a DNA pattern scarf or the Moebius Scarf.

Remember, always know where your towel is. You'll need it for the upcoming Towel Day.

Now you can eliminate all your debt and bad credit ratings for the simple cost of your SOUL.

Here's a couple guides on selling your soul, and the tale of man trying to sell his on eBay.

Thursday, February 10

Reality Carnival links to this cautionary tale of greed and bad writing called Revenge of the Science Fiction Writers. More here.

Future Visions: Futurismic informs us that the tabletop hologram projector is here.

TexasBestGrok links to this story on the communist version of Star Trek. (yes it's a hoax)

Comic Book Resources talks to Howard Chaykin about his upcoming City of Tommorow.

Wednesday, February 9

Ronald Bailey of Reason looks at recent rumblings over "intelligent design."

Assorted Items: It has to be said, Superman is a Dick.

Here's a funny Warren Ellis piece about organic food activists.

Incoming Signals links to the degrees-of-seperation site Band To Band, as well as this site where you can compare your height to that of famous people.

Tuesday, February 8

George Dvorsky of Sentient Developments has an interesting post about one man's crusade against SETI sending out radio signals on the basis that it is "imperiling humanity" as we don't know who, or what, is listening. Such alarmism smacks of pulp SF xenophobia. Then again we're now hearing science news stories about planets made of diamond and the existence of "dark galaxies."

Space is getting very strange.

Because nothing says love like atomic breath, American Greetings is releasing a line of greeting cards featuring Godzilla.

Although I don't intend on seeing the Constantine film, I like UGO's way of celebrating it's release by putting up this nifty Guide to Hell.

Wil McCarthy at SciFi Weekly suggests altering the male-female ratio of the population for the sake of good science. That reminds me: Here's a transcript of SNL's classic Planet of the Men vs. Planet of the Women.

Monday, February 7

"They're here already! You're next!"

Here is your annual story about people being killed at a kite festival. On a related note, don't forget that Darwin Day is fast approaching.

The glorious Weekly World News tells us about TV pilots that never aired.

Sunday, February 6

Nothing can ruin your day like a planet killer. You know things are not good if you find your world visited by a Doomsday Machine, the Death Star, a Vorlon or Shadow Planet Killer, a Vogon Constructor Fleet, or Galactus.

This past week's return of Grim Jack returned us to the interdimensional city of Cynosure, and got me thinking about how much I love fictional cities like New Crobuzan and Mega City One. I often find the cities more interesting than the stories that take place in them. Here's lists of fictional cities and imaginary places.

Friday, February 4

A moment of silence, please, for actor John Vernon. And Ozzie Davis.

Boing Boing links to James Lileks' hysterical review of classic Big Little Books.

Assorted items: UGO Comics celebrates Black History Month with an overview of black characters in comics, film, TV, and video games.

The Map Room links to C. Etzel Pearcy's plan to re-divide the country into 38 states.

Comic Book Continuum previews the Marvel heroes Visa Super Bowl commercial.

Thursday, February 3

Freeman Dyson explains why evolution has ended at Technology Review.

In The Future: You'll be able to print yourself some new skin, your mirror will show you your future self, and your robot will want to have sex with you.

Wednesday, February 2

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Ayn Rand.

Tuesday, February 1

It is February. The God of the Month is Ardhanarishvara and the Molecule of the Month is Galactosylceramide.

Nice piece by Amit Asaravala at Wired on the role of space art at NASA.

The always-excellent Tales of Future Past has a great feature on Tomorrow's Skyline.

Some iconic World's Fair Structures: the Crystal Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Trilon and Perisphere, the Globe, the Space Needle, the Sunsphere, and my favorite, the Atomium.

Monday, January 31

The Mondolithic Image of the Week is the rather frightening Ragnarok.

Katharine Dunn of the Boston Globe reports on the inevitable proliferation of computerized fabrication at home. As with all such articles, it contains the line "this may sound like science fiction" and mentions "replicators." Sigh.

Sunday, January 30

Just in time for tax season, your older version of Quicken will no longer be supported.

Along a similar vein, here's a couple funny pieces from 21st Century on how relationships are like software upgrades.

Recommended Science Readin': Nancy Atkinson of Universe Today pitches the benefits of building a spinning liquid mirror telescope on the moon.

Michael Stroh of Popular Science looks at creating artificial lifeforms that evolve.

And for those who didn't read it in Discover, Prospect has posted Michio Kaku's discussion of the steps needed for advanced civilizations to escape the end of the universe. No, it does not mention the origin of Galactus or the existence of Milliways.

Here's Time's 2001 cover story on how the universe will end.

Saturday, January 29

Today we went to the Timexpo museum here in Connecticut. Among the neat things on display was a presentation of the Timex 2154: The Future of Time competition, which projects what personal timepieces might be like 150 years from now. These are some of my favorites. And I want baking mixes to start coming with these things included.

Friday, January 28

Scary Future Thing: Plants that bear messages when they sprout. I foresee novels written into entire meadows, and salads with Olive Garden logos on every leaf...

Thursday, January 27

I must not be reading this right: Locus reports that The Quills, a "celebration of the written word," will be presented as an NBC television special in October.

Warren Ellis has posted a photo of a disturbing Batman squirtgun...

In keeping with fake activism campaigns like Wisk's America Needs Dirt, Universal Studios Theme Parks are now hosting a Vacation Advocacy page.

If you're planning a vacation, you might consider the Modern Drunkard Convention, or perhaps the upcoming International Swizzle Stick Collectors Convention.

Wednesday, January 26

Recommended Readin': Leonard David of Space.com reports on some very high-tech spacesuits (thanks Doug).

Maggie McKee of New Scientist tells us that dark matter clouds may float through Earth.

Simon Smith of Better Humans has something to say In Praise of Plastic Surgery.

Talkin' 'Bout Comics: Tony Whitt of Cinescape looks at some disturbing trends.

Steven Grant at Comic Book Resources recaps the recent slew of cancellations.

At Comicon, Warren Ellis talks about the covers of his comics.

The headline of the story is "Ringo Starr: Superhero."

That reminds me, going back to yesterday's post, that Ringo also played a Caveman. And JP writes in to remind me of Richard Kiel in Eegah.

Tuesday, January 25

Bored with the same old game? Check out the Chess Variant Pages.

In light of the recent Spongebob Squarepants shrieking, Robot Johnny reminds us all that Bugs Bunny "flirts, kisses, and cross-dresses his way out of trouble more than 60% of the time." (Scroll down for the evidence.)

The latest Geico commercials about cavemen got me thinking about our prehistoric ancestors. We all remember the various protohumans from the famous evolution poster, and possibly the Jack Chick version. Phil Hartman's Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer travelled to the present via the ice, as did Charlie from Iceman and, most unfortunately, Encino Man. Other famous cavemen include Korg (from 70,000 BC), the tribe from Quest for Fire (featuring one of the first of many make-up gigs for Ron Perlman), the Teenage Caveman, the dino-fightin' guys & gals of One Million Years BC, and the residents of Pellucidar. The mockumentary Walking WIth Cavemen featured a few tribes. There's also the immortal Fred Flintstone, Alley Oop, Captain Caveman, Mighty Mightor, and Gorak's clan from Valley of the Dinosaurs. We cannot forget Moonwatcher from 2001 and Moonboy from Devil Dinosaur.

For the record, I'm not including Pakuni (who are from another dimension) or Turok (who's a more recent native american).