Whoah! Cool story of the day.

It just doesn’t get much cooler than this.  Forget the Wii, I want one of these.

Here’s the story from the AP.

There will be bud!

This is only funny if you’ve seen the real movie but if you have, it’s brilliant.

Great…first zombies, now this!

You’ve got to be kidding me.  Oh yeah, I can hear it now.  “They’ll make our lives easier.  Let the robots do all the work.  Of course they’re totally safe.  What could go wrong?  Let’s try to mount a machine gun on one!”

Somebody better find Sarah Conner quick and get her to safety.

Elric lives!

I just finished listening to an audiobook version of Elric of Melnibone. I first read the book in my teens and was written just a couple of years after I was born (1972) and really enjoyed the whole series (there were six books when I read them). When I first hit play on my mp3 player to listen to the book however I was a bit hesitant. What I thought of as incredibly cool at 16 might not hold up particularly well after 23 years, I thought and I wasn’t sure I wanted my fond memories dashed upon finding out I had listened to some sort of tripe.

Well, I’m glad to say I apparently had great taste as a teenager. The book was done by Audio Realms which, in addition to a brilliant reading by Jeff West, they added a great soundtrack and prologue by the author Michael Moorcock (a name which I’m sure resulted in childhood taunting). I’ve listened to quite a few audiobooks over the years and this, more than any other, made me feel like I was experiencing an ‘audio movie’ experience.

I enjoyed the book so much I quickly ordered the second in the series. After not receiving a response within a couple of weeks I called the company and was surprised to get a call back from the guy who runs the place (it’s a small company) who apologized and told me that my order would ship out in a week or so.

I got to talk to the guy (I think his name was Fred…I don’t remember now) for a bit and had a really interesting conversation. My impression was that this was a guy who really loved his work and the books he’s getting into audio format.

I’ve also listened to some of the H.P. Lovecraft audio recordings they’ve done and they are, likewise, of extraordinary quality.

So, here’s a chance to do a couple of good things at one time. Enjoy some great stories and support a small business!

Where’s that damn cleric with the ressurection spell?

Gary Gygax died yesterday.  If you don’t know who he was you obviously had a intellectually barren childhood.  He was responsible generations of young people pushing their imaginations through his creation.  Who knows how many hours I spent pouring over those books, memorizing, planning and playing in a host of different worlds.

Quite honestly, all that time playing D&D did more to prepare me for ‘real’ life that those four years I wasted in high school.

Ya done good GG.

Last One Standing

Ok…I know, reality shows are destroying civilization and only brain dead people enjoy them.

Well…I can’t help it.  Sometimes I just get hooked.

My latest favorite is on the Discover Channel (you can get it On Demand if your cable has that feature) and it’s called Last One Standing.  It takes six British and American athletes of different disciplines (strongman, kickboxer, etc.) and takes them around the world to visit a number of tribal/indigenous groups and compete in their traditional sports.

Totally cool.

I have to admit, this reminds me of those conversations I’d have as a kid when we’d discuss which superhero or monster was stronger or would be better in a particular situation.  Will a rugby player or a BMX racer be better at African stick fighting?  Will the kickboxer or ‘fitness guru’ be better at Mongolian wrestling?

The good news is that they’re apparently working on a second season.  The bad news is that each season takes a year to shoot (12 locations around the world with at least a week in each place, travel, and hey…these guys have a life too) so you won’t get to see anything new until the end of 2008 but it’ll be worth it.

Check it out.

Finally…a day off!

My slacker nature was really pushed to the limit lately.  There should be some sort of law mandating a 14 hour work week for slackers but until then I’m the victim of this exploitive system.  Just like this guy…

But, all this work has allowed me to check out some podcasts on my way to and from work and here are two I give virtual thumbs up to.

Let’s face it, a lot of stuff generated by us on the web is crap.  In fact, for some ‘glass is half empty‘ types it makes them think that the whole experiment is leading to the downfall of Western civilization.  Well, I think that is crap (so there!).  Of course most of what is produced is crap, that makes us appreciate the really good stuff.   If we listened to this sort of nonsense we’d miss out on those gems that might not ever see the light of day if we had to rely on the dinosaurs of publishing and recording acquisition and distribution.  So, with no further ado I give you…

Hall of Mirrors - Tales of Horror and the Grotesque  - Mike Bennett writes and narrates this creepy tales in a Twilight Zone/Night Gallery style.  The stories (at least the ones I’ve read so far) aren’t the sort of horror in vogue today in the theaters (that torture porn garbage) but rather more subtle and much more interesting.  The podcast also benefits from the fact that Bennett has a superb voice and is simply brilliant in giving voices to his many characters.  These are definitely ones that will stay in my collection to be replayed every fall as Halloween approaches.

12 Byzantine Rulers - Lars Brownworth has put together an impressive and fascinating history of the Byzantine empire by profiling 12 of its most important rulers.  He’s got a brilliant, clear style and are so good I feel a bit guilty not paying for them.  Even if you aren’t a history buff, check these out (they’re in relatively small bits - less than 30 minutes each) and use the knowledge you gain to bluff your way into a tenured professorship at your local university.

busy, busy, busy

I just started working with the military this week for what looks like a six month assignment and I just started a new class for my MA titled Foundations of Peace:

This course is a history, development, and future outlook for the approaches to peace, with particular emphasis on peace through coercive power, peace through nonviolence, peace through world order, and peace through personal and community transformation. The course will study the phenomenon of peace through examples and cases from the international/strategic level down to the local/tactical/community levels.

This means I’m likely to get a bit behind in my postings. But I really wanted to give some brief reviews of stuff I’ve just discovered to tide you over until I get more time to write…

My MP3 player crapped out this week and while it was an adequate player (not outstanding but it did the job) I had enough problems getting it to work with Microsoft Vista that I took it as a sign that I should get a newer model. So, I picked up a Zune and I have to admit I’m pretty impressed so far. It’s got some minor drawbacks, mostly in terms of managing my collection either from my player or the software but it’s a very simple interface and quite frankly I don’t find that I need to manipulate my collection as much as I did with my own player.

I particularly like how the Zune handles podcasts and have taken advantage of that by subscribing to a few.  After I’ve give a them a chance I’ll review them.

In the meanwhile,  I humbly recommend ‘His Majesty’s Dragon‘.  It had been sitting in my book shelf for awhile and I picked it up because I needed a book to keep in my cargo pocket for down time and I quickly got hooked.  It’s a story of Napoleonic wars with the added twist of having dragons flying around as well.

Yet another reason to love YouTube

A good remix of a cool song from the 80s, chicks dancing in bikinis, kids playing hooky, in other words all the elements you need for a great music video. Some may call this sexist but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for channeling my inner 15 year old.

Happy New Year

I’m a few hours late but figured I’d share this New Year’s tradition.  Every year in many of the Germanic countries people watch a short movie that was filmed in 1963.  For some reason I haven’t been able to understand, even though the film is in English it’s found an incredible level of popularity in countries for which english isn’t the native tongue and is virtually unheard of in english speaking countries (I was first exposed to it in 1988 when I was stationed in Germany).

So…in the interest of spreading cultural awareness, here’s Dinner for One.  Enjoy!