email me: chris@chris-karath.com
<--Previous Month | Next Month -->
This page is closed,
for new content... go to my blog home page and click "Current Blogging"
Draw Something
After seeing numerous Twitter people tweeting in my feed over the last week or two about Draw Something Jenn and I finally gave the game a try. And we both ended up liking it.
One part Win Lose or Draw and another part Hangman pretty much sums up the game. You are presented with 3 words of easy, medium or hard difficulty to draw. You pick one, you draw it and submit the drawing. Your friend then gets to watch you draw and tries to figure out the word based on the picture and the scrabble like tiles and hangman-like blank letter count they are presented with.
Like Words for Friends the fun iPad/iPhone scrabble game, Draw Something is asynchronous, you go then I go turn taking at your leisure.
It's a fun game that I'm sure I'll be playing more of in the coming weeks/years.
Hunger Games
Went to AMC Star Theater Sunday morning and saw Hunger Games. Sunday morning Star Theater viewings are starting to become a regular thing with Jennifer and I. Shows are $4.50 before Noon, and in this streaming, DVD, Redbox world that makes alot more sense to me than the $6.75 matinees or the $9.75 evening shows.
In anycase, I was suprised that I very much enjoyed Hunger Games. I was expecting something on par with Twilight, but the movie way over delivers on that expectation. I haven't read the Hunger Game books, but I did enjoy the subtle world building and the fresh take on a post apocalyptic American future that seemed a little more realistic to me than the ususal Road Warrior style stuff.
Most of the main characters were young, but in the context of the movie their youth made sense. Plus you really can't go wrong with Woody Harelson and Donald Sutherland in supporting roles. Those two and the lead actress who plays Katniss really do an excellent job.
While not a deep movie, there were actually a couple points in the movie that made me think, which is always an admirable quality of good SF.
And while this isn't a visual spectacular on the scale of the much more miserable John Carter (which I saw a couple weeks ago but was so unimpressed with I didn't see the need to comment about in more than 140 characters, there are a handful of nicely done visual effects in Hunger Games that work very well. I was especially impressed with all the work that went into the design of the Capitol and it's residents.
I'd reccomend seeing Hunger Games in the theater, while to some extent it's being way overhyped in the media right now, ie: it's not as good as some are saying it is or that it's box office sales would currently imply, it is good in an indy SF kindof way and I enjoyed it.

We picked up an Apple TV yesterday. So far I'm very impressed with it.
As you can see in the promotional image at right, it's a very tiny device. More hockey puck than electronic in appearance. There isn't even a power brick, just a small slender cord that plugs right into the wall.
In anycase. Netflix streaming over wifi seems to to work well. And I'm very impressed with video podcast feeds on the device. Quality on the video podcasts varys but the ones in HD are stellar. You can also stream a bazillion internet radio stations which is pretty cool. And the photo screensaver has many options and can stream from your Flickr feed or iCloud Photostream.
If you subscribe to Youtube channels, this device is killer for playing those back too.
You can also mirror your iPad 2 screen to the Apple TV, which is great for putting all sorts of things onto your TV. And the "Remote" app for iPhone/iPad let's you use your iOS device keyboard to type in searches quickly as well.
I was a little skeptical of the device at first, but after one day I'm pretty much sold. Killer little device on it's own, and an Awesome little accessory for your iPad 2 or 3. I reccomend it.
Let's Go Surfing
source: Bleeding Cool
This doesn't seem like something you could do justice to with a movie. Seems like you would need to do this just like Walking Dead. Episodic, long and drawn out. Of course since Walking Dead is already doing the post apocalyptic thing, a TV Y The Last Man would probably end up covering alot of the same ground, so maybe the ship has sailed on this for awhile.
source: freewaregenius.com

source: Bleeding Cool
The writeups I've read sound terribly soap opera-ish so far, but the costume design is nice enough.

source: DVICE
Kindof cool. Cross set connectors that let you tie multiple types of building toys together.
source: Gizmodo
I haven't tried this yet, but this seems like a potentially interesting way to distribute files in a controlled way.

source: Boing Boing
Here's how you make Homemade Lucky Charm Marbits.
Apparently you have to make homemade Corn Syrup first. The poster says store bought won't work.
After you have the corn syrup, you can get to making the bits.
I really want to do this someday and I agree with the Boing Boing quote below:
If you can make homemade corn syrup, you can make homemade marshmallows. If you can make homemade marshmallows, you can make homemade Lucky Charms marshmallows. If you can do that, you are become death, destroyer of worlds.
source: Bleeding Cool
So say we all.




Let's Go Surfing
source: Boing Boing
If true, this is very cool.
source: Daring Fireball
The thing is, and the flaw in the above argument is: the internet isn't a finite resource and mobile internet is very poorly constructed at the moment. What needs to be switched on is ubiquitous wi-fi +3G + LTE and a mesh type connection, but powers that be don't really want to do that. Your device needs to be tied to a single IP address, Anonymous mesh surfing is a no no for IP surveillance. If we stopped caring about that though... there are all sorts of things like mesh networks etc. that would make bandwidth very very plentiful. It's certainly not a finite resource. Every device on the net could be adding to, not subtracting from what is available.
source: io9
Good Stuff. Multiple videos at the link.
source: MakeUseOf.com
It's very interesting that people are continuing to develop these. With Phones, Netbooks and tablets being what they now are, it feels like there must be a very small subset of users actually using things like this though.
source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!
OMG, you mean they made a 6" Batman action figure? Really, how exciting ;)

source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!
Cool.

source: Furniture, Gadgets, Inspiration and More for a Better House
Nice Layout.

source: Furniture, Gadgets, Inspiration and More for a Better House
Neat.
source: Lifehacker
Cool.
source: MakeUseOf.com
Very cool. Click and hit issues. Works great on iPad.
source: Boing Boing
Homemade Shamrock Shake
makes one serving
- 1 cup vanilla ice cream
- 1/3 cup milk
- 4 drops of peppermint extract
- 3 drops of green food dye

source: Super Punch
A live action Battle of the Planets would be pretty cool.

source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment
DC, you're doing it wrong.
Let's Go Surfing

source: Super Punch
A bunch of custom action figures at the link. This Robin Memorial is pretty cool.
source: Bleeding Cool
This won't work either. Some day DC will have to realize, Captain Marvel just doesn't work in a world with Superman. Just put him back on Earth-S. There's nothing wrong with Captain Marvel that just giving him his own universe seperate from the Justice League can't solve.
source: Bleeding Cool




source: Mashable!




Fncking great.
and here is the song from the end of the above video. Karate by Kennedy.




source: Gizmodo
I'm sure the new iPad will look awesome in person. I certainly use my iPad2 enough to justify an upgrade, but I think I'll hold off a little bit. I can't imagine anything cooler coming down the road in the next year though. Iterative, but nice.

source: Gizmodo
It will be interesting to see if they pull off this more colorful interpretation.
source: Seth\'s Blog
Bleaker for Godin than normal.
source: Tablet News
Too little too late, but will probably have some niche uses if they can get the things into the mass market channels.
source: Likecool




Very cool. Realtime 3D on a Playstation 3. Imagine this merged with Siri?
source: MakeUseOf.com
I just downloaded My Wonderful Days it seems fpretty good so far.

Peppy got sick yesterday and we spent the evening at the Animal Emergency Room. This morning we took her to another vet. It was not a good prognosis, but we brought her home to see if she'd pull though. During the day she got worse.
She was a good ferret. We'll missing having her with us.
Jennifer has a very nice post about Peppy on her blog.
Those that can not get dignity and respect from above, will likely seek it or try to take it from below. People who are disrespected and without dignity, and defined as below, will generally try to recover some of that dignity and respect, by at the very least defining themselves as above some other group. Being at the bottom is typically too much to bear for most.
Let's Go Surfing
source: Daring Fireball
They're a floor wax and a dessert topping.
source: Gizmodo




Wow, technology actually makes it possible to play with fish. Cool.
source: Bleeding Cool
Weird video. Odd seeing comics treated like movies. Now bad overproduced comics can get the same TV news treatment as bad overproduced movies? Hooray for ABC-Disney-Marvel corporate synergy?

source: Office Snapshots
A bunch of interesting Google Office Shots. There are also some interesting work pods that look like the teleporter pods from the Fly.
source: Neatorama
Video at the link.
"When the system conflicts with reality, the system starts to fail."
A nice bit on "Loss Aversion" too.
Copyrights
An Act for the encouragment of learning.
Patents
An act to promote the progress of useful arts.

source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia




source: io9
Very Very Cool.
A Show With Ze Frank
source: Daring Fireball
Looks like Ze Frank is coming back (Click here, watch the video.). Very cool. Same Same, but different.

It's March already, although I'd have to say that despite the mild winter, January and February seem like they have hung on forever.
According to weather.com at the right. We should be done with Snow more or less during the day now. And that's a good thing at least.
I wouldn't mind if we got a chance to take a run near some of those record highs a couple days maybe too.

Thread: p1558 Post by Jennifer
2012-07-25 13:22:36
e-butlers will solve this problem: http://peterfhamilton.wikia.com/wiki/E-Butler
Thread: p1490 Post by De
2012-06-03 11:17:41
I\'ve been keeping up with you and Jenn\'s hijinks through Google Reader. It\'s just easier to have everything in one place.
You\'re still loved :-)
Thread: tw1336950039 Post by Air Conditioner
2012-05-14 10:39:39
I wonder if more retail outlets will start implementing this type of thing.
Thread: p1453 Post by Chuck
2012-04-02 14:47:25
What, you have time to blog???!!??
More painting and box moving and furniture moving, please!
LOL
It looks like you guys are making real progress...
Thread: p689 Post by Frank
2012-02-03 21:34:11
You can also use http://vid2mp3.org to convert youtube videos to mp3. The tool is fast and free:)
Thread: tw1322147616 Post by Chuck
2011-11-24 10:34:01
cute
Thread: p1303 Post by p2wy
2011-11-13 16:03:15
I just noticed this today as well (normally use Twitterrific and not the site. First thing i noticed is the activity stream is a garbled mess of mostly uninteresting things. Secondly It brings to the surface some things that were previously semi-private such as when you\'re added to lists. I use lists extensively and I\'m not really keen on that being out there.
That being said, the tab isn\'t very interesting to look at and I\'m pretty sure folks won\'t use it that much. It\'s essentially a ripoff of Facebook\'s new secondary activity feed (which I also don\'t find useful). At least it\'s not on the main page.
Thread: p1303 Post by Chris
2011-11-13 12:06:02
Apparently Twitter launched this back in August, and it\'s only recently hit alot of people in their main top tab nav. Sigh.
Thread: p1265 Post by Dan
2011-09-09 18:32:31
I know I\'m about a week late on reading this, but, good god man that is spot on. I wonder how long it will take for that idea to catch on? Or if it even does?
Thread: fl1314635996 Post by Dan
2011-08-30 00:13:59
That tree at work is dead/dying. I think it will be completely dead in another year or 2 and they will pull it out. Mark my words!!!!! :)
Thread: p1230 Post by Jennifer
2011-07-03 17:17:49
Learn2Swipe! Then show me...cause I don\'t really have a reason to play w/ it since I have a physical keyboard....
Thread: p1222 Post by Dan
2011-06-07 20:25:00
Nice. So when does \"Chris\'s Illustrated Big Book of Modern Fairy Tales\" come out? :)

Marvel Legends Black Bolt added as a favorite.
Comment about Smallville Clark Kent, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Cyborg, Impulse
Alien added as a favorite.
Marvel Legend and Marvel Select Spider Woman added as a favorite.
You are MyLifeInPlastic.com's newest contact!
DC Direct Robins added as a favorite.
Comment about DC Direct Robins
DC Direct Robins added as a favorite.
Comment about Ptw Vivitar portable movie projector
Ptw Ate lunch at Bagger Dave's today. Very tasty. Still full. added as a favorite.
Gleek! added as a favorite.
Ptw Indigo Lantern added as a favorite.
Ptw Superfriends at Target added as a favorite.
Ptw Owlman added as a favorite.
Sea Monkey's and Creature added as a favorite.

+ Jenn's Blog
- +1247/365 - Tardis
- +1246/365 - Tyrian Lore
- +1245/365 - Hungry Sparrow
- +1244/365 - Napping in Bed
- +1243/365 - Construction Season
- +1242/365 - More Baking
- +1241/365 - Mower, Mursaat, and Munchies
- +1240/365 - Electric Mower
- +1239/365 - Rainy Day
- +1238/365 - All Your Surfaces Belong To Me
+ Adam and Comfort
The Adventures and Illustrations of a Husband and Wife Comic Artist Duo.
- +Rainbow: Issue #8 and Harvey Awards!
- +Con Report: Anime Expo
- +Read Gutters #328 - cuz we did the artwork!
- +Convention Report: Heroes Con 2012
- +Uniques: New posters and OTAKON!
- +Convention Report: Motor City Con 2012
- +Rainbow: Issue #7 Now Available from our NEW WEBSITE!
- +Rainbow: Issue 7 Release Announcement & the Harvey Awards!
- +On our way to Anime Expo!
- +Rainbow: 20 days of HELL - day 26!


December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2010 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2009 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2008 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2007 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2006 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2005 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2004 Archives
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
Support my good friends Adam and Comfort's Indy Superhero Book: The Uniques!