dragons & ROBOTS

And this one. Also an Amy. I need some dragon coffee for this...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:10:03 -0500

And this one. Also an Amy. I need some dragon coffee for this endless law day.

Though it was never intended. I’ve been away from the...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:38:34 -0500

Though it was never intended. I’ve been away from the blogging due to Finals, Holiday, Work, etc. But this morning my beautiful girlfriend sent me this picture while I was sitting in class and the drive to blog is renewed! Thank you AMY!!!!

ATOMIC ROBOT MAN

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:12:09 -0500

ATOMIC ROBOT MAN

PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON. Part 1. I’ll post Part 2 and 3...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:10:00 -0500

PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON. Part 1.

I’ll post Part 2 and 3 over the next two days. I used to love this when I was a little lad. Highlight of Part 1 is the “Lets Build a Boat” song around 6 minutes 24 seconds in.

REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTS - CHANGING THE WAY ROBOTS ROBOTOCIZE 2....

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:18:00 -0500

REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTS - CHANGING THE WAY ROBOTS ROBOTOCIZE

2. LEONARDO’S ROBOT

If Robonaut is the future of robotics, than Leonardo’s Robot (otherwise known as The Mechanical Knight) may have been the first robot. Leonardo Da Vinci invented this robot in 1464, when he was only 12 years old (that guy was really something), but it wasn’t until 1495 that Da Vinci displayed the creature in public. The Mechanical Knight was part of an exhibition during a celebration organized by the Duke of Milan. The Knight operated on a series of pulleys and levers and could make several human-like motions. It could stand, sit, move its arms, turn its neck, and even open its own visor. The blueprints were found in sketchbooks of Da Vinci’s in the 1950s and was part of Da Vinci’s work on anatomy, formally known as the Canon of Proportions. The image is a model displayed in Berlin, with the inner workings displayed next to it. It was reconstructed according to Da Vinci’s own blueprints, so we know it worked when he displayed it! What couldn’t this guy do?

Martin incorrectly surmised that the other boys would stop...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:57:41 -0500

Martin incorrectly surmised that the other boys would stop making fun of him
once they saw him on his new dragon broom…

CAT ROBOT, again, for good measure…

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:39:40 -0500

CAT ROBOT, again, for good measure…

My cat, whose name is DRAGON!

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:38:29 -0500

My cat, whose name is DRAGON!

FOR SYMMETRY’S SAKE

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:08:56 -0500

FOR SYMMETRY’S SAKE

Photo

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:08:00 -0500

VESSEL OF DEBATABLE GOOD TELEVISION So we’ve come to the...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:17:00 -0500

VESSEL OF DEBATABLE GOOD TELEVISION

So we’ve come to the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead and… I just don’t know anymore. I was one of those geeks getting high off the fact that I read the comics and staying up at night just thinking about how incredible it was going to be to see this masterpiece of a story recreated on the small screen. The comic series is disturbingly moving, even when it moves you to nausea. It will leave you feeling itchy and uncomfortable by everything and everyone around you. It is grossly affecting. In many ways it induces a sense of dread and hopelessness into the reader that I think most would want to avoid, but if the point of a story is to make you feel something, then The Walking Dead comic series succeeds in ways few other stories have come even close to. I thought with Robert Kirkman (the writer of the comics) and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), the series would be in good hands, I mean, it would never even have to leave the hands of its creator. There is always going to be some disappointment when a work crosses over from it original medium to one more accessible, so I figured I would just have to wait and see, but my expectations were high.

When season 1 started I was hooked. The opening was practically frame for frame faithful to the comic. It seemed like they had created something really special. I was even able to look past the poorly executed CGI blood projectiles from when a zombie was shot or smashed in the face. I really enjoyed the first season, I even quickly accepted the new characters and the drastic change to the end of the season, where the characters end up at the CDC. There were great themes: the mass hysteria, the fatal reliance on fossil fuels, is it better to just embrace a quick death? Honestly, really good stuff. I was hooked, but when I look back now, I think I was just caught up in the hype.

I’m a pretty big TV snob. I watch a lot of shows. I watch a lot of bad shows and a lot of great shows. When I think about it, The Walking Dead is really just an ok show. I mean, really I can’t complain, its not like I can tune in to some other tv series about zombies. That may be the problem though. This is the first show ever to take on the zombie motif, and I think its creators are playing it safe. The only time the show really works for me is when they use the source material, and this just can’t work if you are going to play it safe. The comics are out there. They are violent and upsetting and disgusting and dismal and hopeless. The comic focuses on how in the worst situation everyone is ultimately going to be out for themselves, that the best person can become the worst person, that good people go quickly (save maybe for Rick himself). People are dying the whole time, entire limbs and other body parts are missing. Good guys become the villians. The show doesn’t seem to want to go here. It seems too stuck on the triumph of humanity. That in the end we can persevere. That (blech) the human spirit will prevail. Whatever… You can’t save the show with a bloated zombie in a well. I mean, yea, that’s awesome, but it only goes so far.

By the point the show is at now as far as the comics go, Shane is dead, Andrea is awesome, Daryl never existed, and Sophia never ran away in the first place. On the show Shane is alive and hateable, Andrea is suicidal and mopey, Daryl is the best character, and ”where is Sophia?” is leading up to the inevitable climax of the mid-season (ugh, mid-season). Tyreese never makes his way into the show nor his daughter or her boyfriend (is T-Dog his replacement? What happens to Tyreese’s daughter and her boyfriend later on culminates into one of the most twisted scenes and realizations in the comic and we are left to wonder if it will ever happen in the show without them). Alan and Donna and their twins never make an appearance as well. If Michonne is ultimately left out, well than I think Frank Darabont is stuck in a string of poor decisions. Hershal is done quite well but to old, Rick is dull….I just don’t know. I do like that Shane was so hateable in the comics, but died in the 4th issue, and to tackle this, the show keeps him alive and makes him an interesting character ultimately just to make you hate him even more than you did before… that is a bold choice. But everything else falls short of the mark.

I do still have high hopes for Andrea. She is definitely my favorite from the comics and with Laurie Holden playing her (I loved her as Mary Travis on X-Files), she is kind of a Sci-Fi favorite that will hopefully live up to her reputation and get as amazing as she is in the comics. We got a glimpse of this possiblity in episode six of this season… so we’ll see…

The Mid-Season finale (really? mid-season? not helping me like the show better) was pretty good all and all, but it just doesn’t have what made me fall in love with the comics at its core. And the “shocker” ending was pretty much pounding you on the head with predictablility whether you read the comics or not (it doesn’t happen the same way in the comics at all, by the way). I don’t think people are ready for a more literal translation, and sure, changing up the show does make it more surprising for those of us that have read the comics, but when it comes down to it, The Walking Dead is an “okay” show, though I have full intentions to watch when it starts up again February 12. I’m curious to see, if there is a season 3, what they are going to do about the whole hand situation…

BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:55:25 -0500

BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED

Kitty Pride (Shadow Cat) with Lockheed from Excalibur My...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:50:00 -0500

Kitty Pride (Shadow Cat) with Lockheed from Excalibur

My girlfriend (yea believe it or not I have one, and she’s awesome) and I were discussing Polaris from X Factor today, and I was thinking about spin off X Men teams after that. It made me think of Lockheed, who has long been a favorite of mine. He is an alien to be precise, but an alien dragon nonetheless. Thank you Amy, for the inspiration!

REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTS - CHANGING THE WAY ROBOTS ROBOTOCIZE 1....

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:59:00 -0500

REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTS - CHANGING THE WAY ROBOTS ROBOTOCIZE

1. ROBONAUT

Robonaut is more of a project than the actual robot itself. But Robonaut is one of the hardest working robots around today. It was designed by NASA to assist astronauts with tasks while in outerspace. It is different from other NASA robots in that its greatest asset is its dexterity. Robonaut can actually use “space tools and perform tasks that a human can given its enhanced dexterity and arms that function like a human’s. GM now works with NASA in developing R2, the latest model of Robonaut and soon these robots will be pivotal in where our space program goes in the future. Way to go Robonaut!

How To Make a Paper Mache Dragon…

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:44:19 -0500

How To Make a Paper Mache Dragon…

ROBOT MONSTER

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:48:05 -0500

ROBOT MONSTER

Real Charmander

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:44:50 -0500

Real Charmander

HACKED ROOMBA

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:50:05 -0500

HACKED ROOMBA

DethKlok - Black Fire Upon Us From Dethalbum II So good! Wait...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:15:54 -0500

DethKlok - Black Fire Upon Us

From Dethalbum II

So good! Wait for the Dragon vs Laser Hawk fight scene!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:28:58 -0500

Happy Thanksgiving