Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Just so there is no confusion...Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, created by the amazing Joss Whedon, is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hell, it's better than sliced bread.

Make sure to get there before July 20, because then they are taking them down and doing something with them. Like, put them on a DVD or something.

I'm gonna go watch it again...

My Music Video Holy Grail...

I love YouTube. I fell in love with it early, with the classics (All Your Base Are Belong To Us, Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa) But there has been one place where it has always let me down...that Holy Grail that just didn't seem to exist online. It was a barely remembered song with a kick-ass video that I remembered from my Sophomore year in college (my Mtv Year) Michael Penn's "Look What the Cat Drug In (Long Way Down)" I always thought the song was pretty good, but that VIDEO...

It's taken over 10 years, but tonight, for the first time, I found it on a random Google Video search. My holy grail. (Be warned, you will probably have to sit through a dumb commercial)



...crap. Not as cool as I remembered it. (Still pretty damn sweet, though!)

Any other holy grail videos out there? What can't you find?

MUTO - Graffiti Animation

Holy crap!

Muto is a project started by "Blu", who is apparently a graffiti artist from Italy, and who is one part Salvador Dali and one part tripping acid. Creepy, gorgeous stuff. The amount of work and imagination that went into this just stagger me.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Via GiantMonster

She Branded me with Science!

Ok, this was just too cool, and I had to post about it. It's a website, ok? Filled with tattoos....but not just ANY tattoos!? Oh nO! They are tattoo's that are all science themed.

For example, here you got yer basic tattoo of glycolipid A:



Which is followed by this caption:

A biochemist writes, "Here is a picture of my science tattoo, which is a stylized structure of glycolipid A, the preformed glycolipid membrane anchor precursor I discovered as a graduate student some 20 years ago. At that time, membrane proteins that were anchored via glycolipids, rather than transmembrane protein domains, had just been found and this was the first precursor to be reported. The structure is simplified but basically correct, although considerable artistic license has been taken with bond lengths and angles."

...I KNOW, right?! How freaking sweet is that?! Check this one out:



You know what that one is? It's a glottal stop. The symbol for the sound you make when "stop the airflow by pressing your vocal cords together, build up pressure from the lungs, and then release the vocal cords with an audible burst."

I mean, the site if FILLED with them!

To be honest, I've always wanted a tattoo, but never really felt strongly enough about anything that I wanted it to remain burnt into my skin for the duration of my life. But these people are freaking awesome. They've found their thing, they love it, and they have stained their skin with the weirdest crap ever. I wish I was one billionth as cool as this guy:



Do you know what that is? It's the atomic symbol for testosterone.

Rock on science freaks!

...Long Time Coming...

What up!? Ok, so it's been...well...a really long time.

(Isn't it amazing how many blog posts start like this? Not just on my blog. On all blogs...)

...but I digress. I'm on here tonight for a few reasons.

1) I actually drew something! Look at me! I drew:

Pinky and the Brain! But my own messed up version of them!

You see, I was in a meeting the other day at work, and someone in the meeting mentioned something about how they saw an episode of Pinky and the Brain the other day, and how they forgot how much they liked that show, which made me think, "Ha! Pinky and the Brain RULED!" So, of course, in my own, "Yes I'm listening to what you are saying, bosses, but I'm also drawing during a meeting" way, I doodled head shots of Pinky and the Brain. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I last saw a Pinky and the Brain cartoon, they looked a little messed up. Kinda twisted-like. And I thought, "I should push that a bit further...that would be fun!" Thus, wah-lah...Pinky and the Brain, a la Troy.

So, that's #1...

2) #2 is kind of bittersweet. You see, I've FINALLY installed wordpress over at my "real" website...http://www.popmatic.com. I'm thinking it's maybe time to move back to where I should be. However, I'll kind of miss Blogger...it's nice around here.

Of course, this probably won't happen until Barack is in the White House (and he WILL be in the White House!) but I'm working towards it. Now I just have to set up a pretty template to make it look nice. Which we all know will take well over a zillion years, so I should probably just stay comfortable where I am.

...and that's really it. Just thought I should pop on and say 'hey, stuff is going on'. I may even get my $h!+ together enough to throw up the fun pictures I took in Chicago this weekend.

Y'know...I DO feel better now!

I've spent tonight catching up on my Google Reader feeds, and the always entertaining GiantMonster has steered me right yet again. Point your browser of choice at The Fail Blog and feel better about your life.

Oh! And on a completely random note, I downloaded the album "The Great Unwanted" by Lucky Soul from eMusic this weekend, and it's my current can't-stop-listening-to-it album of the week! You can listen to the whole album on their website...check it out!

Orgy of Covers from YANP and Of Montreal!!!

I know that I've discussed the godsend that is the "You Ain't No Picasso" music blog before, but MAN, that site has just outdone itself!

Not one...not TWO...(or three or four or...) but FIFTY SEVEN covers, all performed by one of my new favorite bands, Of Montreal.

It's because of YANP that I discovered Of Montreal in the first place. They posted a link to their cover of Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" (don't worry, it's in the collection above) that just blew me away. I couldn't stop listening to it. So now, I've got about four albums worth of other songs to explore.

Do yourself a favor and get over there before they're taken down.

Post-It Note Project: Accomplished!

Hooray! February 1st is here! I can't explain it, but I've really been looking forward to doing this project. I've just needed an excuse to do something frivolous and fun.

Unfortunately, this has been an insanely busy week. My poor wife had some minor surgery (don't worry, she's fine...though I think she's starting to go a bit stir crazy!) and I've had to take care of the poor girl. Luckily, I was able to get three post-its doodled upon before the end of the day. So, after dinner, I head down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some brownies, and to leave what I hope are seen as happy little surprises throughout the store. (Don't ask me why I was fixated on leaving these things at a Wal-Mart...it just seeemed like the perfect place to do this)

There was no question where my monkey was going to go, of course. I wish the photo was clearer, but I like to think that he's happy, surrounded by his favorite fruit.

My spaceman has confused "The Rock" terribly. Poor Dwayne just can't understand why this spaceman would want to cover his tu-tu'd dog's face. Sorry Rock, spacemen can sometimes just be like that.

Talk about Rock! He was my favorite, and I figured all the hippy ice cream would enjoy some kick-ass rockin' for a while. Stand back, Willie!

Man, that was fun. I may just have to make this an annual event. Or monthly. Or when I get bored. We'll have to see....

Thanks again to Fiona for proposing this really fun project!

Post-It Notes Project, Feb 1st

This Friday, February 1, there is a really cool project going on, started by blogger Fiona Harding, called the "Post-It Notes Project". The idea is really simple, and it sounds like a ton of fun. The object is to simply doodle on a stack of Post-It Notes, and then leave your drawings in random locations around the globe, documenting it all in pictures. Then, send the pictures to Fiona, and she'll post them all on her blog!

I'll probably be posting my post-its here too. I'm thinking a trip to Wal-Mart is in order. I'm not sure why, but the thought of leaving a little post-it of a martian in the bread aisle over there makes me smile. =)

Cloverfield - So Good It'll Make You Sick!

OK, so I'm just back from Cloverfield. *Whoo!* My head is spinning.

****** SPOILERS AHEAD...I'LL TRY TO KEEP THEM MINOR ******

First the good:

1. The movie was totally intense. The decision to watch the whole thing through the lens of a video camera (a la Blair Witch) really put you in the middle of everything. I was genuinely frightened a few times. (I'll tell you one thing, I'm never going in a subway again!)

2. There were a few good moments of humor These were totally necessary to break the tension, but they never took you completely out of the moment.

3. The acting was good. No one will be getting any awards for their performance, but you totally bought that these people knew each other, were friends, and were scared out of their minds.

Now the bad:

1. HOLD THE FREAKING CAMERA STEADY! My eyes were going cross-eyed during the running, jumping, action parts. I understand the theory of why that should work. You never get a good look at what's going on (adds to the tension). The sense of things coming at you really puts you in the moment. But I have two problems with this cinematic device. First, if all that movement doesn't give you motion sickness, it will at least give you a headache. Also, I can't help but think throughout the entire movie "PUT THE F*CKING CAMERA DOWN! THERE'S A HUGE FREAKING MONSTER CHASING YOU!" I mean, seriously, does history really need a record of the giant monster wrecking New York that badly? Surely someone would notice something like that...it's not going to slip under everyone's radar.

2. The characters are totally forgettable. I honestly think this was done on purpose, though. From the few snippets I've read on Cloverfield before we went tonight, it seems like it was really important to the filmmakers to put "everymen" (and "everywomen") into the story so that it would be easier to empathize. Which, I think worked quite well. Still, you would think they would make the characters a LITTLE more appealing? As I said, the acting was good, I believed in these characters...I just didn't fall in love with them.

3. "I totally saw that coming!" While much of this movie feels incredibly fresh and innovative, who didn't know what was going to happen when Rob said, "The camera has night vision. Here, let me turn it on!"

I suppose I could go on, but it's not really necessary. The movie is worth the hype. It's a wonderfully fun, scary, roller coaster ride of a movie. The viral marketing was genius, and totally adds to the fun of the whole thing. Fried Geek does a great job of rounding up the links and easter eggs hidden across the Internet.

So GO! Enjoy! Be scared! You will have a great time getting wrapped up in Cloverfield. Just remember to take your motion sickness pills.

Draw Stephanie Brown! - Completed!

Whoo! I finally finished one! The idea was to keep the basic Robin concept, but work in all the cool little touches that I've been loving in everyone else's drawings. The hip-hugger pants, and I love the short, folded over gloves I've seen recently in some superhero designs. Originally, I was going for something that would be more practical (what superhero would really have long hair?) but as I got more into the design, a lot of that thought process went out the window.

It's not the best in the group by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pretty damned proud of it. Hell, I'm just proud that I finally saw something through to completion! Yay me!

Click the image to get a better view.

A Stephanie Brown / Female Robin / Spoiler Meme!

I love, love, love these things...the amazing Dean Trippe has started another superhero meme over at his livejournal account. For those of you unfamiliar with a drawing meme, it's simply artists all throwing together versions of a particular subject, and the results being collected and shared for the whole world to see. This time it's for Stephanie Brown, aka the Spoiler, aka Robin, aka throwaway character who seems to have had a lot of potential that got wasted because DC Comics killed her off. I've never read any books with Spoiler in them, but I love the designs coming out of this meme, and think that the Robin costume design would be really fun to redesign, especially when worn by a girl!

These things always really get me excited, and I desperately try and get something together in time to participate. Of course, as is my way, I always put it off too long, and fail to get anything done in time. Maybe this time, since I'm actually posting about it and putting it out there for the world to see, I'll get something finished?

Maybe?

(er...PS, just so no one thinks I'm trying to rip the man off...the pic posted above is Dean Trippe's kick-ass version of Spoiler. You'll know mine by the comparatively sucky execution.)

What does it MEAN!?!!?

So, I just took an online test from the Prosopagnosia Research Center at Harvard University and University College London. In it, they check your ability to recognize faces, objects and how well you do with verbal recognition.

I won't give away the tests, in case you want to try them. I figure that would skew the results. However, I found my results extremely interesting.

For facial recognition, I got a near perfect...96%. That puts me in the top 88% of everyone who has taken the test so far. I didn't do quite as well for the object recognition. Apparently, I'm totally average at that...I'm in the 50 percentile.

But, for the verbal recognition portion of the test, I only scored a 33%...less than 1% of everyone who took that test did worse than I did!!! So...WTF? Do I have some kind of mental problem where words don't register with me? I've always noticed that names go in one ear and out the other, but I never figured I was in the bottom 1% of the world!

I'm kind of freaking out about this!

Someone else take the test! Tell me what you think!

DC Joins the Online Comics Community!

Comic Book Resources just posted an article about a new online comics community being created by DC Comics called Zuda. It sounds like they are going to try for a very interactive community, where users will vote for their favorite strips (which are the ones that will actually appear on that Zuda "ongoing series" pages). The submission process is open to anyone and everyone, and it sounds like it would be a great place to break into the comics business for anyone with an inkling and the talent to do so!

I can't wait to see what they have planned!

OMGFreeMovies.com

I'm hesitant to even mention this site. I fear that spreading the word that this site exists will just hasten it being taken down, but after having finally watched the movie 300...a movie that I just couldn't force myself to shell out the money to watch otherwise, I can see it's worth, and wanted to be sure and spread the word.

OMGFreeMovies.com is exactly that. Free movies, online. I'm surprised by how well it works. I'm not one to usually do the pirated content thing. I get all my music from eMusic.com (and the occasional iTunes purchase when there is just no other way to get it) and the majority of my movies are seen through my netflix account. However, yesterday, I had a craving to finally give 300 a chance. It's a beautiful comic, and I enjoyed the art immensely when it came out. However, I have remained unconvinced, despite all my friends telling me that I would enjoy it, that it could successfully be translated into a film. Thus, when Giantmonster linked to omgfreemovies.com, and I saw 300 listed there, I figured it would be a good chance to finally find out. (I was plesantly surprised, by the way...much better than I could have imagined it!)

So, there is my recommendation...get your movies legally, but for those films that you just don't think would be worth plunking down the $9 to catch in the theater...there is this site.

I can live with that.

A Bigfoot Meme!?

Is it just me, or is Bigfoot hot right now. It seems that in the past week, I've run into three or four versions of Bigfoot in artist portfolios across the web.

So, I thought I would post something I did during a meeting at work last week. (After all, I always seem to come in on the tail end of these things! I want in towards the front for once!)

Not sure what the story is here yet...I kind of had a vague idea of the Geiko cavemen when I drew this, but it came out looking cuter than the cavemen. It looks like it would be at home in a kid's story book.

XKCD.com

I've been really enjoying this web comic I found called "XKCD". It's just crudely drawn stick figures with some of the most clever gags I've ever read.

Today's was a great example.

Wikipedian Protester

The strip also does something you don't see a lot of in any form of comics...it gets very romantic. Not necessarily hearts and roses, but romantic in the sense of expressing huge emotions. Take this for example:

It's such a simple, sweet sentiment. Not something I'm used to finding in a web comic (let alone the Internet as a whole!)

Many of the jokes revolve around the web, or science of some kind. I think I would love to sit down and have a beer with the guy that does this site. I just love the way his mind works.

Enjoy!

Grand Central - The birth of the HellaPhone

It's an idea so simple, you can't believe that no one has already created it. One number to reach all your phones. That's the genius of GrandCentral.com.


Who among us doesn't have at least two telephone numbers? Home phones, cell phones, work phones...how many friends do you have that require not one phone call to try and reach them, but sometimes as many as 3? ("Hmm...he's not answering his cell...I'll try his home phone...") Grand Central is the cure for all of that. The idea is to pick a new telephone number through the site (a free service, as of this writing), and then tie your various phones to that number. Now, hand out this new number to all your friends. The next time they call your new number, not only will they reach your cell phone, but they'll reach every number you have tied to your Grand Central number.

But that's just the start. They have online voicemail. They have "Spam" filters, that protect you from phone solicitors. They have a tool that allows you to record your phone calls. You can switch phones in the middle of a call, whether they use the same phone number or not.

I've only started to look through everything this site claims they can do, but I'm more than curious enough to give it a shot. I can foresee issues (who wants to get a work call at 9:45 at night?) but it looks like the pros far outweigh the cons. I'll be sure to post again when I get used to the service!

15 (Painfully) Unforgettable Cartoon Theme Songs

I shouldn't be posting. I really shouldn't. It's late, and I've got TONS to do this weekend.

Instead, I made the mistake of checking Drawn!, and found this gem...15 (Painfully) Unforgettable Cartoon Theme Songs.

It was obviously created by someone a bit younger than me, who has fond memories of cartoons like "Mighty Max" and "Pro Stars" (what the heck?) But after having listened to every entry on the list, I'm now humming the "Animaniacs" theme to myself, and desperately wanting to watch an episode of "Batman the Animated Series". (And where is my "Pinky and the Brain" entry!?..."They're Pinky and the Brain! Pinky and the Brain! One is a genius, the other insane. They're labrotory mice. Their genes have been spliced! They're Pinky, Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Braaaaaaaaain!" - Pure Genius!)

Google Calendar on your Phone!

So, my two years is up on my piece of crap flip phone at last. May 31, I can throw this thing with all my might across some vacant parking lot and watch it explode into teeny-tiny little pieces, as I've dreamed of doing for, oh, 1 year, 11 months and 364 days now...

(Flip phones. Why the fascination, Verizon? Why?)

So, for months, I've been dreaming of the normal, candy-bar, no frills, no web access, no mp3 player, no nothin' fancy phone I was going to buy. A phone that takes phone calls. That's all.

And then my work blocked Google Calendar.

I had no idea how much I relied on Google Calendar until the day I pulled up the site and was met with the message "Computing/Internet;Interactive Web Applications" content is forbidden.... At first, I cursed my employer (again), shrugged, and went about my business. But it slowly dawned on me that this was not a shrugging situation. This was a sit on the floor and weep situation. People kept asking me if I could join them for things that weekend (I don't KNOW!) if I had remembered the concert that took place last night (no! I wasn't on the computer at home, and I can't check my calendar from work to remind myself of ANYTHING!)

So now, I need web access. Access that can get around work firewalls, while I'm at work. And Google just made their calendar accessible to cell phones.

Helllloooo smartphone!