Thursday, September 28, 2006

 

Weird Al Cartoons

I haven't gotten my copy of Straight Outta Lynwood yet, but apparently it has additional videos, including one by Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. [from boing boing]

What a way to be White and Nerdy.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

 

the muppet matrix

Whoa. This is a great combination of muppets, CGI, and the Matrix. Very enjoyable.

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Monday, September 25, 2006

 

Heroes

I watched the first episode of Heroes on NBC tonight. As a life long superhero comic fan, it was almost obligatory. And the first episode was enough to have me hooked. Of course, with its shout out (and obvious creative debt) to Claremont/Byrne X-Men and Star Trek it had more geek bait than having an internet stripper in the first five minutes.

If you haven't had a chance to see it, you can catch it online on NBC's site, or it'll be repeated several times over the next couple of days, including on Friday before Doctor Who on Sci Fi.

And perhaps more than the various attempts at Lost like series in the last season, this is clearly a show that proves that the future of television is Lost. There's a clear Lost influence -- and not just because J.J. Abrams regular Greg Grunberg will be showing up in later episodes. All of the characters appear to have linked pasts, there are some underlying mysteries, and a few multinational characters that speak in subtitles.

It's not perfect -- and there are a few flaws that if they continue, this show could fail. The time lines didn't seem to always make sense -- and this wouldn't have bothered me much if it wasn't for the Solar Eclipse. And one of the mysteries for me is why a bunch of people would all of a sudden (to use an old Tommorrow People term) "Break Out" on the same day -- and I worry that they aren't going to have any specific explanation for that.

I'll definitely keep watching for a couple of more weeks. It's not quite as good of a pilot as Lost's was -- but the potential is certainly there, and while this isn't an unusual type of story for comic books, it's a little more unusual for network television.

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Friday, September 22, 2006

 

White & Nerdy

It is perhaps really obvious to have a Wierd Al song pointed to here, but I'm really impressed how well he's adapted to the 21st century youtube internet space.

Also, one of the things that I realized when I saw him live a couple of years ago is how solid a bunch of musicians he needs to have around him -- he's able to imitate or pastiche every musical style of the last forty or fifty years successfully.

His new album is coming out next week...

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

 

Physics of Superheroes

Several videos of Dr Jim Kakalios giving his CONvergence talk about the Physics of Superheroes have shown up on YouTube.
  1. The Death of Gwen Stacy
  2. Electro
  3. Superhero Physics Bloopers
  4. The Atom

(of course, it already got a Boing Boing plug by ubergeek Cory Doctorow -- so you should already know about it..)

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

 

Vote for Worst Road in Minnesota

I haven't, as yet, followed all of the ins and outs of the Transportation Constitutional Amendment in question, but here is an interesting poll for the Worst Road in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has more information about the amendment as well. So that may be a good place to get some more information so you can make up your mind about the amendment over the next two months.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

 

Death and Taxes

This is a really fascinating -- and definitely frustrating -- graph of where your tax money goes. It's the perspective it gives you that is really the thought provoking piece -- even the smallest piece of this is far more money than one can imagine, but the perspective is the big piece, as well as seeing what items are gaining in importance and what ones aren't.

This is perhaps especially worth looking at during a political season.

(from boing boing)

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

 

Election Results

StarTribune.com has election results.

Biggest news is certainly that Keith Ellison gets the House of Representatives nomination.

Now on to November...

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Sunday, September 10, 2006

 

Ballot Box

One of the things that is especially nice before an election is to check out all of the races that will be on the ballot -- and the Star Tribune Politics page does a good job of listing them all.

I've already seen the candidates in my DFL primary, and while I'm still undecided on the fifth congressional district I've worked out the others.

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Friday, September 08, 2006

 

More Retro Trek

Wil Wheaton is now reviewing Next Generation episodes on TV Squad starting with The Naked Now

If I was ever to write a biography for Wil Wheaton, it would be this: When Star Trek: The Next Generation aired, we all hated Wesley Crusher because he was clearly One Of Us. Two decades later, we all like Wil Wheaton because he is clearly One of Us.

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What A Long Trek

Happy 40th Anniversary of Star Trek.

It's especially interesting that now that we're at the 40th Anniversary there is definitely more of a recognition of how unique the original series really was going on out there than I've seen in quite a while. The "special edition" versions of the original series promise to bring the original series back onto broadcast television in as big of a fashion as I can remember since my childhood.

My memories of the original series was as a regular part of weekend afternoon television, timed perfectly to watch during lunch.

The influence of Star Trek is seen as part of our daily life -- today's mobile phone is certainly not that far off of Star Trek's communicator, after all.

Star Trek returns in its remastered format in Minneapolis, Minnesota on KSTC 45 on September 16th at 6:00 PM.

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

 

More fifth congressional district primary thoughts

I'm reading City Pages article on Keith Ellison. I'm still undecided on this race -- and I may well not decide until I vote -- so I'm reading through all of the information I have.

It does do a good job about getting to some of the facts concerning some of the less-pleasant attacks against Ellison. I'm sure he'll be a popular Republican target state wide if he wins, but that isn't necessarily a negative. So was Wellstone, after all...

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Sunday, September 03, 2006

 

Political Season

It's almost primary time here in Minnesota. I'm generally a Democratic voter, and actually, there are a few races where the primary is probably more important than the general election, so that'll be the primary that I vote in.

I thought it might be convienient to put together some links together for it, especially as I think about who I'm likely going to vote for. I'm not including everyone -- just the ones that I'm considering...

Minnesota House 44A: Steve Simon

Minnesota Senate 44: Ron Latz is running. I don't see a website for him yet -- perhaps because this was a bit more sudden with Steve Kelley running for Attorney General. There's a page for at the house for his current position as State Representative in 44B.

Hennepin County Sheriff: This is one that I'm not yet decided on. A couple with websites: Tom Fitzhenry, Juan Lopez, Rich Stanek. Based on endorsements alone, it counts against Rich Stanek, as he's got a lot of Republicans, including ones that I really don't like.

US House District 5: My impression is that there are three top candidates for the race. Keith Ellison, Mike Erlandson, and Ember Reichgott Junge. This is one that I haven't come to any real conclusion on; it might be one that I make when I walk in the voting booth door. Right now it is likely between Ellison or Erlandson for me. This is the big race, and why it is important to vote in the primary here. It's one to take seriously.

State Auditor: Rebecca Otto

Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie

Attorney General: Steve Kelley has been our state senator for several years. He's been good there. I'm sure either Bill Luther or Lori Swanson would be ok, but I think the home town plus endorsements all count in Kelley's favor.

Governor & Lt Governor: Mike Hatch & Judi Dutcher are the endorsed candidates. Mike Hatch is the current Attorney General. Dutcher was a Republican, but she's they type of Republican that doesn't exist much anymore, as they stop being a party of fiscal responsibility and move to the extremes -- and why I don't consider them very often as candidates. Becky Lourey is a bit of an outside choice.

Senate: Amy Klobuchar.

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