Oh, Canada

To our neighbors to the north, thanks Canada for hosting the winter Olympics.

On behalf of the USA (since I clearly speak for all of us), we give you Dwight Schrute, of the American sitcom (based on the British sitcom) The Office.

Lowbrow Alice

I recently saw Camille Rose Garcia's beautifully illustrated version of "Alice in Wonderland" and not only got one as a gift, but bought one for myself too (um, why yes, I am an only child). I wish I could be in LA for Garcia's show of original work from this book - I'm sure the images are stunning in person. But I hear she's moved to the Northwest, so I'm hoping to catch a future show or book signing soon. Powell's, I'm looking in your general direction.



(Image via BoingBoing)

A couple of other images of Camille Rose Garcia's non-Alice work:

Mighty Boosh Toys

In keeping with the recent theme of toys, I saw this post over on The Beat and had to share. My husband is a huge fan of the Mighty Boosh, so I know he'll be thrilled to see the existence of some MB toys. I think this is a good start, but I think there are quite a few other characters to add.


If you aren't yet familiar with the Mighty Boosh, and if you are a fan of British comedy, check it out.

Old Gregg is legend at this point:




"Have you ever drunk Bailey's from a shoe?" You know you want to hang out with these people.

The Boosh's songs are some of the most fun, such as this one (don't they look ready for Burning Man? minus the snow, of course):



I'm really looking forward to the toys from these two clips.

InfoGraphics are Cool

Maybe it's because in the "real world" (a phrase I'm hearing way too much lately, btw) my work is in research, but I love me some slick infographics. We are constantly looking for new ways to present information in an interesting, simplified, but graphically pleasing manner. It's hard not to take notice, even if you don't necessarily agree with/believe in the study method or data collected. I have a lot of appreciation for the fine people who are trying to improve our graphic representations; I think it's one of those things that looks easier than it actually is.

Via BoingBoing, there were two examples this week that I like. The first is from Informationisbeautiful.net :


This one is interactive and is designed to help understand the data on dietary supplements, including a way to cut it by illness/condition. Go to Information is Beautiful's site for the interactive version.

The second one, also via BoingBoing, comes from Royal Pingdom. They put together an infographic on Google, though it seems to be based on "Google’s SEC filings, news articles and the trusty old Wikipedia" so take it for what it is. Click for larger view.



It includes sections on timeline, search, value/money, people, and other products (YouTube, Blogger). Since I'm using Blogger for this endeavor, I thought it was interesting to see that there are 270,000 words written per minute on this site. Um, wow and/or yikes. They can't all be about cats, celebrities, and awkward photos, can they?

Batman Beats Superman

Finally! The question is answered: Batman does, in fact, kick Superman's ass! Well, at least for now.

Over a million dollars (why yes, we are still in a recession, thanks for asking) for Detective Comics #1, topping Monday's auction of Action Comics #1, the first to feature Superman. I bet the same dude bought both; I mean if you've got F-U money like that, why not ?

In case you ever wondered what a million-dollar comic book looks like, here you go:


Now, I don't have any comics as valuable as this one, but it does motivate me to get my comics out of a storage POD as soon as possible. I can hear them degrading and devaluing from here... Ugh

w00tstock tickets - PDX

It takes a lot for me to leave the house for anything other than work anymore. But I saw that w00tstock is coming to Portland in May and couldn't help myself! I'm doing it people -- I am leaving the house for a non-work related event.

If you haven't heard about w00tstock, it is described as the following:

For decades, geeks were ostracized, picked on, laughed at and punished by the sun’s harmful UV rays. But there is only so long that a people can be kept down before they rise up against their oppressors; and, indeed, the dawn of the 21st century has seen the ascendancy of geeks and geek culture.

We now celebrate that rise to power–and let’s face it, nerds pretty much run everything now–with w00tstock, a special event for geeks of every stripe. Television host/special-effects artist Adam Savage (“MythBusters”), actor/author/blogger Wil Wheaton (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “Stand By Me”) and music-comedy duo Paul and Storm (hey; that’s us!) present a night of songs, readings, comedy, demonstrations, short films, special guests, and other clever widgets born from and dedicated to the enthusiasms, obsessions, trials and joys of geek pride.

This is the dawning of the Age of Geekdom–and its voices will ring true at w00tstock.

This event will help fill my geek-event quota nicely. To find out more, or get tickets of your own (you know you want to!), go here.

Screw it, since I'm on "Actors of Star Trek" kick this evening, let me round out with this gem, also meant to be posted on Friday.

Are you watching The Big Bang Theory? I hope so. It's TV especially made for geeks, and relishes appearances from geek guest stars. One of my favorites from this season (at least so far) was the appearance of Wil Wheaton, young Ensign Crusher from STNG.

Here's a series of great clips from the episode guest starring Evil Wil Wheaton:



On Friday,Wil posted word on his blog that Evil Wil Wheaton will be returning to BBT and it seems for an episode that will still air this season. I'm thrilled! I love seeing Wil back on TV, between this and the Guild (and wasn't he in an episode of CSI in the last few years?), I've got a lot to look forward to this year.

ShAt My Dad Says

Meant to post about this on Friday, but as previously reported, the week didn't end on a high note. So here we are.

I started seeing news late last week that the Twitter-famous "Shit My Dad Says" is getting a TV show, starring....wait for it.... William Shatner!! The Shat is going to be the Dad! If anyone could portray a sharp, but foul-mouthed older man, I'm pretty convinced William Shatner won't be stretching himself too far.

But I have some concerns about the premise of this as a TV show. On network TV. Let's start with the name: Shit My Dad Says will have to be cleaned up. I wonder if they can even use Sh*t My Dad Says? Probably not.

Then, there's the content. Forget that I'm not really clear what this show is supposed to be about other than hilarious scenes of Shatner making nasty comments. But even those nasty comments have to be totally cleaned up. I think one of the most hilarious things about the tweets is imagining a 70+ year-old man swearing like a sailor.

So, I'm going to adopt a "wait and see" position on this one. They might consult with comic Jim Breuer, who I know has some great dad stories. Now, that could be fun.

The Picard Video

(big h/t to Artem)

I couldn't get motivated to sit down and write anything this weekend. I didn't think I'd even get there tonight, but this is too good not to share.

Check out this Jean Luc Picard fan-made YouTube video. Best. Video. Ever. If I could tattoo a video on my person, this would certainly be a contender. Is someone working on that yet? If not, could you?



Have I mentioned my love/adoration of Jean Luc on this site yet? Le sigh. This video encapsulates so many great Picard moments, it's dizzying. I especially love the little dances (see around 1:00). I also like the transition to the New Order-like synth music with the Borg clips (around 3:00 mark). I had no idea how well New Order and the Borg go together. Like chocolate and peanut butter. Resistance is futile. They even work in a few animated clips. And the tune is super catchy. I'll probably end up with "Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise" stuck in my head for days.

I'd like to figure out a way to create an MP3 version of this so my husband can work it into one of his DJ sets. There must be a way, right? It's so uber-fantastic that I think it needs to be shared with many, many others.

Engage.

And More Posters - Alice in Wonderland

It's been quite a week for posters/art prints! I didn't plan to do a series, but I think it worked out nicely. Hooray for me.

There is also a lot of Alice in Wonderland product coming out what with the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version of the movie set to release in a couple weeks. Alice is a classic story that lends itself to some very cool, psychedelic, absurdist, and otherwise mind-bending artistic interpretation. There will be more on Alice-related stuff in the weeks to come, so let's all look forward to that.

So here's a happy marriage of 1) cool poster prints and 2) Alice in Wonderland (again, via BoingBoing and Super Punch). Thank you, Mr. Bluebird!


PS. The Alice poster is part of gorgeous series Mr. Bluebird created of travel posters to imaginary lands. Check out his link to see the rest, but I also really like Neverland.