I could have been "Bottle of Diet Coke Man," if the arrow was pointing to the left.
Since the recent "what's closest to you" things were such a hit, here's one more (and for the record, I didn't create it; I saw this one and decided it needed some editing). As with the last one, I think there need to be some "opt out if X is there," since unless you're using a mobile device, you're likely sitting at your computer, and most of us would be "Right Channel Speaker Man," or "Router Woman," "Mousepad Boy," or even "CPU Case Girl." Hence, the alterations I've made to the image. Even then, things might not look so great for me, as, depending on which object I look at first, I'd be "Fan Man," "Surge Suppressor Man," or "Sketchbook Man." Looking at the list, Fan Man doesn't have the greatest backstory, Surge Suppressor Man wouldn't be let out of the Justice League server room, and Sketchbook Man would probably wind up as a police sketch artist. A good one, but not somebody you'd expect to save you from a mugging (though the wanted posters would be really accurate). I hope everyone else out there has better luck. :)
Turning to more established superheroes, between Disney's "Mighty Avengers" (even with their theme song) and the upcoming Young Justice (which just released this trailer), we could be seeing another great time for animated superhero cartoons. The animation on 'Justice looks pretty good, and they seem to be going after stories that have appeared in the comics. I also like that they kept Mr. Freeze closer to his grim Dini/Timm portrayal (though wouldn't people flash-frozen like that technically have rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible?). So when is the Vertigo line getting it's own animated show? I really hope that happens next.
The movie "Cowboys and Aliens" put out its first trailer. I sure hope this moves Harrison Ford into the Clint Eastwood camp of actors instead of attempts to make him a romantic lead (at least, one opposite someone under the age of 30) or an action hero. Plus, I find the title intriguing because it uses the word "and" instead of the abbreviation for "versus." I think that means there may be more going on here than an eventual showdown between the Wild West and the Final Frontier.
"Fringe" brought in some chills by having children be the targeted victims of a youth-seeking criminal. Though a decent episode, I could see the case involving Olivia's alternate-universe boss setting up a future event where Alternate-Boss would allow her to escape or make it back to our universe, or something. It's almost a plot-based point-buy system.
Now I have to go bid farewell to two old friends: My couches. Years ago (I think over a decade), Cristi and I bought a pair of loveseats to adorn our living room. They weren't the greatest, and neither of us thought that we'd want to sleep on them someday (since everyone knows that radiation from TV helps cure colds and flu). A near-new actual couch has been offered to us at a rather large discount, a relative has the use of a van, and my condemned seat-receptacles will soon be at a thrift store near me. I'm sure most of my weekend will be spent translocating this new bit of furniture, with someone who shall remain nameless saying, "let's try it over there, next." I'm glad I'll have someplace to sit down, afterwords. And it's a nice, grown-up brown color, too. Cristi's just glad that it's not made out of the same miracle-fiber that my very first inherited couch was composed of: Herculon.
While everyone who knows what that stuff was chases images of wide ties and polyester formal wear out of their heads, the rest of you can dive into:
- I think the problem with today's geek fashion is it tries to blend in with actual cool-looking clothes. Back in the day, your nerd flag flew high and proud. And they had LED shirts back then? Why didn't I have one?!
- WILL. IT. BLEND??? THAT. IS. THE QUESTION!
- Valve has a sense of humor about a two-month delay in the release of Portal 2, calling it their shortest delay ever.
- Though similar to other demolition-puzzler games, I can't pass up a game called Blow Things Up.
- More for the hardware and hackin' crowd (but still pretty interesting) is this page showing some of the projects that have been done with Microsoft's Kinect. We may be flailing about in front of our computers at work if they keep at it...
- An image that shows FedEx can accomplish in days what millions of years couldn't.
- I think I'd be a lost cause for any branch of the military, but if I had to sign up, I think I'd want to be in on whatever this naval unit is up to.
- While on the topic of antique flying machines, I can't believe I missed this half-hour animated Steampunk-y animated film: The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello. The art is gorgeous, and I dig the blending of flat imagery and CGI.
- Author and funny dude John Scalzi has created a list of accurate but misleading movie synopses.
- If there are any starship engineers in the house with a little free time on their hands, the Star Trek Online game is holding a contest to design the next iteration of the U.S.S. Enterprise. And I don't think they'll accept a version that has been created in Minecraft, but you never know.
- These are literally the most literal t-shirts I've ever seen.
- Yes, they can be taught: The Doctor Who Christmas Special will air in the UK and the US on the same day. They've been "airing" at the same time, roughly, thanks to the internet, but this is all official-like.
- And speaking of Doctor Who, Craig Ferguson's site has a big ol' graphic link for the DW-themed show, but as of this posting it's bringing up a 404. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
- Continuing a topic from a previous post, here are seven all-American characters portrayed by non-Americans who seem to do a better job than actual Americans.
- A charming (if occasionally unhelpful with familial relations) point-n-click game: Johnny, Why Are You Late. It has a link to a handy walkthrough if you (like me) get stuck.