It’s A Trap!

I love Robot Chicken. It’s official.

I knew Robot Chicken was made by the people that do Family Guy, and I knew that it was stop motion but for some reason I had never watched any of it until my holiday when I put two seasons of it on my iPod.

I think it is definitely on par with Family Guy, maybe even edged it a bit becuase it was new and unexpected. I laughed so very hard at the Star Wars special they did, not about the actual Star Wars storylines, more about the storylines around the outer edge of Star Wars, things that could be infurred as true from the films.

Below is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. I love Star Wars and I love comedy, you have to have seen Star Wars a few times to understand the comedy in this. So I hope you have.

Wall-E Review

Simply put, it is the best animated film I have seen in a long time.

To say this film was a long time coming is an understatement. I was dubious about the storyline when I first saw the trailer over a year ago but as usual I was side-tracked by the beautiful animation and comedy that Pixar put into their films.

Last night I watched Wall-E and was amazed that a film lasting 90 mins could have held my attention with virtually no speech throughout. All the emotion that you feel when watching the film is a result of gesures and ‘facial’ expressions. With The story being about robots it was astounding how Pixar managed to translate human expressions, inflections and movements onto various robot counterparts.

An overview of the story (without spoiling it) is that humanity left earth as it was too contaminated by waste and while they are gone they leave Wall-E robots to clear up the mess. The story picks up 700 years on and follows the only functioning Wall-E’s journey. Being left alone for so long he has developed a personality and curiosity which often gets him in trouble.

I was surprised at how serious the themes were in the film, tackling such issues as climate change, recycling, social boundaries, technological complacency and corporate monopolies as well as friendship, love and self-discovery.

There are many funny moments in the film and the storyline is entertaining. The best part about the film for me was the myriad of different robots and how they all seem to have their own personalities and character traits, good and bad, and how they react to Wall-E.

I will be buying this when it comes out. Well done Pixar, you’ve done it again.

5/5

Bludlerp, Bludelerp, BELUDELERP!

I love comedy. I love wit. I love being a geek. So what happens when you combine all these? You get the competition from cracked.com to Photoshop the best powerup into real a real-life situation.

Some people (I hope) didn’t spend much time on the Photoshopping but some didn’t need much.

The favourite of mine is below.

To see all 30 entries and the winner click here

Oh and the title of this post is the sound that Mario makes when he gets a powerup in case you didn’t quite get the strangely spelt, obscure reference.

Smart Bracelets or Electronic Tags?

Reading an article on Slashgear about a new creation from Continuum Studio I couldn’t help but wonder what similarities their new ‘Smart Bracelet’ has to a criminal electronic tag.

The principle is exactly the same. You put a bracelet on your child and you wear the master which alerts you when they have moved outside a certain radius that you set. It then shows you exactly how far away they are and in which direction. Now I am all for children’s safety and this sounds like a brilliant invention that I’m sure will do well with concerned parents who want to let their children play but also want to know where they are but I just can’t shake this image of a child in a prison outfit running around with a bleeping tag on their leg.

What happens when the child learns that they can just put the bracelet on their dog ’spot’ and let him run around outside the perimeter fence driving their parents mad thinking they’ve lost their child. “They should be right in front of me!” … leading to

“Oh my god the dog has eaten the children!”. It also reminds me of when you lose your phone and have to press the page button on your base station at home so the handset beeps allowing you to find it. Could this work with the prison children? I can just imagine concerned parents pressing a button and a loud noise goes off in the distance with their child trying to cover it up because if anyone hears it they are sure to get teased for being so cool (Sarcasm implied).

The trouble is, where do you draw the line? At what age to you stop wearing it? As everybody knows, parents never stop worrying about where they’re children are and if they’re safe. Should I be wearing one? Should everyone? What about when my parents get too old to look after themselves, does the system come full circle and I start to tag my parents in case they wander off unaccompanied?

Its all very ‘Logan’s Run’…

Microsoft Surface… “Its a Big Ass Table”

I was browsing around YouTube to find some videos about Microsoft surface to post about the actual point of it all as I was discussing today that the only thing you can do with most touch screens is look at photos, resize them and have a really cluttered desktop. Anyway, I came across the promotional video here which I recommend you watch but then I came across the video below which is a parody of the ad.

…and so you don’t think I just hate Macs, I also hate Microsoft… I am doomed.

Mac Hate

This is a great video that I recently re-found after being forced to work on a Mac and talking about various problems with a friend who owns a Mac. This video perfectly sums up my feelings towards Mac. Its a love / hate thing.

It’s the Simple Things…

One day you’re walking around in the hum-drum that is your life, trudging through the mundane and ordinary. Then something happens that makes you think that life is good, there are people out there who get me. This is an example of the latter, one of the cleverest design ideas I’ve seen in a long time. I wonder if they’re a Mac or Linux version available? It paves the way for an entire range.

Stupid Birdie

I have just got back to my parent’s house and found a bird had made a nest… in a parasol on the patio. Couldn’t resist in taking a few photos. I did scare the bird away, and it hasn’t come back yet… ooops.

Click the image to view the full set in Flickr.

Weeble & Bob!

I suddenly had the urge to watch a ‘Weeble and Bob’ cartoon and on their site they have some parodies of films with the help of Cadbury’s Creme Egg. Funny as hell!

Here is Goo-Lien.

Here is Raiders of The Lost Goo

Here is Pulp Goo

Here is nothing to do with Cadbury’s Creme Eggs but for all you Portal lovers out there!!

I recommend you watch them all!!

Crazy Crazy Yo Yo…

This is the single best use of anyone’s time… becoming the worlds best YoYo…er(?)

All credit to the guy, he is bloody good. He goes really fast at some point and his hands are just a blur, I imagine if Superman YoYo…ed(?) then this is what it would be like.

The sad thing is… I really want to go out and buy a YoYo now!