Witness The Evolution of Tech Companies Logos:
Many of the logo evolutions tell interesting stories. Canon, for instance, was originally named Kwanon, after the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy. What’s not mentioned is that Canon is “spelled” Kyanon, not Kanon, in Japanese.
Producers reveal the title of the new James Bond film — and it’s Quantum of Solace?
Producer Michael G. Wilson said the title, chosen only a few days ago, was taken from a story by Bond creator Ian Fleming that appears in the collection For Your Eyes Only.Craig said Fleming defined a quantum of solace — it means, roughly, a measure of comfort — as “that spark of niceness in a relationship that if you don’t have, you might as well give up.”
Incidentally, “Quantum of Solace” doesn’t appear to be a James Bond story really, but a story told to Bond.
The Last Centurion is a post-apocalyptic novel — the apocalypse is by unexpected global cooling combined with a flu pandemic — by John Ringo, who writes from the first-person point of view of his politically and socially conservative soldier protagonist. That means lots of salty language and lots of jabs at socialized medicine and the thinly veiled President Hillary Clinton, which would not work at all with a supposedly omniscient third-person narrator — and which works less and less as the narrator becomes apparently omniscient and the voice of the author.
Anyway, Ringo has posted the first eight chapters online, but it really gets going in chapter three.
Incidentally, there is a PandemicFlu.gov site, if you’re interested in what’s really being done about the threat — which is mainly things like producing sample chain letters to distribute:
The threat of a flu pandemic is real. It is not a question of IF it will occur, but of WHEN it will occur. You need to be ready to take care of yourself and your family during a flu pandemic.Preparing now will make it easier for you and your family during a pandemic. Here are a few quick tips:
- Stock up on food, medicines, and supplies. You should have enough for 2 weeks!
- Improve your health habits. Sneeze and cough into a tissue or your sleeve and wash your hands with soap and water frequently.
- Have a plan. Know what you plan to do if schools are dismissed, if you can’t go to work, or if a member of your family becomes sick and needs care.
Now that you’re preparing, do you know if your friends and family are?
Help spread the word about flu pandemic preparation! Send this message to your friends and family.
For more information on how to get prepared, visit
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/individual/checklist.html.
I just came across this early draft of the I Am Legend screenplay. It seems to diverge more from the Richard Matheson novel than the final film does. In fact, it starts with no sign of any “zombie” vampires; the first vampire we meet has placed a mannequin in one of Neville’s snares as a trap, and he’s lying in wait with a hunting rifle. At least Neville is a legend for killing their kind.
Afterworld describes itself as an immersive, multi-platform, sci-fi series:
Sometime between 5 and 6 AM EST, the world as we knew it suddenly, inexplicably, changed. After traveling to New York City on a business trip Russell Shoemaker wakes to find all electronic technology dead and more than 99% of the human race missing. Driven by a need to discover the truth and determined to return to his family, he embarks on a journey to his home in Seattle.AFTERWORLD is the harrowing story of Russell’s 3000 mile trek across a post-apocalyptic America as encounters the strange new societies rebuilding themselves. Along the way, he is forced to confront his greatest fears while unraveling the mystery of what caused this global event.
The site is darkly beautiful, and the “video” content reminds me of how effective a narrated slide show can be — and how “uncanny” CGI humans look.
Last season, I made sure to catch the Pros vs. Joes segments where Randy Couture submitted the Joes and where Roy Jones pummeled them. As much fun as the football and basketball segments might be, it’s the combat segments that feature the most fear and drama.
This season Kurt Angle talked an intimidating game, but he didn’t punish the Joes with high-amplitude throws. Arturo Gatti, on the other hand, went ahead and knocked out a couple Joes:
Years ago — decades ago, really — I had a French teacher — a Turkish fellow — who told a funny story about traveling by train in France and sitting beside a young French fellow wearing a UCLA sweatshirt. “Do you know what that is?” he asked the young man.
“Ookla?” he replied.
What I didn’t realize was that Thundarr‘s Wookiee-like companion got his name the same way:
The show itself was actually the creation of Steve Gerber, creator of Marvel Comics’ Howard the Duck. The name Ookla actually comes from UCLA. Gerber and friend Martin Pasko were having dinner in the Westwood area one night during the time Gerber was writing the bible for the series. Gerber commented to Pasko that he hadn’t yet decided upon a name for the Wookiee-like character the network insisted be added to the series, over Gerber’s objections. As the two walked past the gate to the UCLA campus, Pasko quipped, “Why don’t you call him ‘Ucla’?”
The National Geographic Channel — “Nat Geo” to its friends — has been very good to me lately, first with Fight Club: No Limits and now with two new episodes of Fight Science.
The MMA episode was great, despite the laughable narration, written by someone who clearly does not “get” the sport. Two things really stood out to me. First, Bas Rutten really does punch twice as hard — well, almost twice as hard — as Randy Couture, a UFC champion — and kicks much harder than the Muay Thai “expert” they tested in a previous episode. Second, Couture’s ground and pound strikes were four times as hard as his standing punches.
The Special Ops episode focused on environmental extremes. A Navy SEAL sat in an ice bath for an hour before he started showing negative effects from exposure. He was able to “compartmentalize” his blood flow to keep his internal organs and brain functioning — in fact, his core temperature went up when they put him in the ice water. When they put him through a tactical drill after that, he performed roughly as well as when he was fresh. Then they put an Israeli commando on a treadmill, in a plastic suit, with a fifty-pound vest on, under heat lamps. After they brought his core temperature up to 103-point-something, they put him through his own tactical drill, and he vastly outperformed his fresh run.
The next episode, Fighting Back, looks at self-defense techniques — which might explain the Krav Maga ad during the show.
Del Toro doubles up to direct big-screen "Hobbit":
Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which is being co-financed by New Line and MGM.
[...]
Del Toro has built that goodwill through such films as the Oscar-nominated “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy,” “Blade 2″ (which was made by New Line) and “The Devil’s Backbone.”
[...]
The December resolution of the Jackson suit, facilitated by MGM CEO Harry Sloan, paved the way for “Hobbit” to get back on the road to the screen. However, because of other commitments that included “The Lovely Bones” and “Tintin,” Jackson could not take on writing and directing roles, opting instead to become an executive producer with approval over creative elements of the pair of films.
Years ago — wow, maybe a dozen years ago now — I went to one of the Dog Brothers‘ Gatherings of the Pack, back when it was an informal meeting in a park near one of the Dog’s homes. I simply had to see live stickfighting, especially since it was “no holds barred” — in the sense that grappling was allowed, and minimal pads were involved. It was an experience.
You’ll note that I didn’t jump in that day, and I didn’t ramp up my Filipino Martial Arts training in order to jump in next time either. Once you’ve seen a guy get hit hard enough that his fencing mask gets stuck on, you have to take the whole thing seriously.
The other night, National Geographic had an excellent documentary on the Dog Brothers, Fight Club: No Limits, which largely — with the exception of an interviewed professor or two — seemed to “get” the ethos of the event:
The “elders” of the pack run the event by these magic words: No judges, no referees, no trophies. One rule only: Be friends at the end of the day. Our goal is that everyone leaves with the IQ with which they came. No suing no one for no reason for nothing no how no way!
One element has changed over the years: the knife fights now use a Shocknife to keep things “real” — and it does hurt, from what I’ve heard. Too bad it’s $500…
After following a series of links from Wikipedia’s cold reading page, I ended up at Professor Richard Wiseman’s Quirkology YouTube Channel, which includes some fun illusions, like his Corkology demonstration:
Did he really do that in one continuous shot, with no editing and no CGI? Yes:
After the fact, it’s obvious how he does the psychological card trick, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun the first time through:
I also enjoyed the colour changing card trick:
Swing by his Quirkology site to learn more.
I haven’t seen the new Rambo, but this Rambo Death Chart is priceless:
Understanding art for geeks is a lot of fun — at least if you’re both net-savvy and art-savvy.
(Hat tip to Drawn!)
Edit: The owner made the photo set private! Argh!
Matt from Drawn! lauds the “unbelievably lush cartooning and edible character designs from Tracy J Butler in her webcomic, Lackadaisy Cats” — and I think he’s on to something.
Somehow I haven’t managed to watch 24 yet, but I got a kick out of 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot.
(Hat tip to Bryan Caplan.)