Evolution of the Apes

What this special report from Channel 4: Gorillaz in our midst.

Cheese and rice! Did you see those holograms?

Now I've been a sci-fi fan my entire life. I have seen practically every episode of Star Trek and every other sci-fi show out there (Shut up, I'm geek and I'm proud) but that's better than most of the pseudo-holograms you see in films and TV!

Finally! The present is surpassing the future ... now about that jetpack.

Where's Wil?

If your looking for Wil Wheaton, and haven't it worked it out yet, WWdN is bust. You can find Wil hiding in exile here.

Strangely the move has perked his blogging up a bit. A change is as good as a rest I suppose. Plus, there's a much funnier profile pic.

WWW Extras

One of my favourite parts of DVDs are the extras. I love to watch the making-of freaturettes and the behind the scenes documentaries.

Now that the Web is being used more and more to promote new movies, a lot of these extras are appearing on the WWW first and for FREE.

Here are a couple of my faves:



Production video diaries by Bryan Singer during the making of the new Superman movie; Superman Returns.



A blog with video diaries for Kevin Smith's Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks.

Performance Pressure

Sofitel toilet, Queenstown, NZ

Err, I think I'll wait until I get home...

I [brain] Urban Dead

UD is a amazingly simple yet, incredibly playable online, multiplayer, turn-based zombie apocalypse game.

Me and my friends have been playing it for several weeks now and it's become a little adictive.

If you've not tried yet you should go play now!

Then you can follow the progres of our characters at our UD blog: UD Iron Reavers

And remember: Always have your shotgun loaded and a safe place to sleep.

HULK RIP!

Ultimate Hulk vs Ultimate Wolverine

WOW! It's scenes like this that remind me why I love comics.

You couldn't descibe this moment in a novel with the same impact and you wouldn't have enough time in a movie to absorb the relevance.

This mini-series is deffinately going on must get list.

Nerd Porn

How did they know? How? Have they been reading my mind?

Geek Fantasies

Hmmm ... magic misslie resisted ... [drool]

Seriously though, this sort of thing gives geeks a bad name. Now nerds, those freaks would probably love this sort of thing. Sickos!

Truth vs Non-Truth, init?

Ali G vs the NBA! Visit the site and view the video clips to find out what it's like to be MP3 of the Year, how many springs are in the average basketball and if they have to play in their underpants...

Century!

Yay! I've finally reached an eBay feedback score of 100!

We Now Return to Our Regular Scheduled Viewing ...

After a long brief absence for laziness personal reasons I'm back.

Let the celebrations begin ...

M

Red Head?

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy. You're a total smart aleck who's got the biggest personality around.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

I've always fancied red highlights, it's probably the little rebel in me, but past experiences with hair dye have left me wary though ...

Writing on the Wall 3

SAS moto

This was on the side of the SAS plane that I flew to the US in last year. A nice touch I think.

SUPER-natural!

I found Supernatural while clicking through Warner Bros last night.

I looks quite cool. There hasn't been a decent horror/mystery show since X-Files started going south around season six. I'll definitely keep an eye open for when this one crosses the pond.

- - -

BTW, if you want to know what happens in the 5th season of Smallville read the WB intro. It virtual tells you everything that's going to happen. They might as well uploaded the scripts...

Tod durch Chocolate

From this morning's Metro.
Apparently, this was one of the Nazi's secret plans during WWII - exploding chocolate bars!

Katrina Khaos

What's going on in New Orleans is mind boggling.

A natural disaster and such a chaotic aftermath is believable, and almost common place, in a so-called 3rd World country.

But in the heart of the civilised world?
In the middle of the World's only remaining Superpower?
Its almost unbelievable. Like a bad TV movie or a trashy airport paperback.

The similarities with Vertigo/DC Comics new mini-series DMZ is eerily prophetic.

Get Your Freak On

Take the Freakonomics Quiz and see swiched on or swiched off to the ways of the world.

The authors' even have a Freakonomics blog. This book is going on my wish list.

Mr Bronson Dies

The actor Michael Sheard dies aged 65.

Apart from starring in Grange Hill, he also played Hitler in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Admiral Ozzle in Empire Strikes Back.

I met him a couple of times at GenCon UK; a genuinely nice bloke, always free for a chat or a pint.

"Thank you my Very Dear Chums - See ya."
Michael Sheard (1940-2005)

Da da da da Bat-shirt

I did buy a t-shirt from More T Vicar.

VOTE - Auton!

Fight Mannequinism - really a site to promote voting among youth of America, but it reminds me of one of those old Doctor Who episodes so much.

The 50 Greatest Independent Films?

Empire Online are doing a list of The 50 Greatest Independent Films. They've listed 50-21 up to now...

Take a look? Agree/disagree? Let me know in the comments.

- - -
Prediction: Knowing Empire's style, Kevin Smith's Clerks will be number one.

Animated Blogging

I found these two sites for comic creators:

Dork Tidings - the blog of John Kovalic creator of Dork Tower, Dr Blink and illustrator of the Apples to Apples game.


Family Guy Freakin' Blog (via Blogger Buzz) - a blog by the writers, directors and staff behind the super-cool cartoon series.

Great cartoons but what about the blogs? Let me know what you think in the comments...

Out of this World Blog!

...mumblings... - now available in all major solar systems!

LotR LoL

What if The Lord of the Rings was based on a roleplaying game campaign rather than a novel?

Find out at Flying Koala Games.

BE WARNED: it's far too believable! I now don't believe the books exist...

Now Here's a Scary Thought!

All Good Things...

I watched the last episode of Enterprise, and possibly the last episode of Star Trek ever, the other day - These Are The Voyages...

Am I the only one who thought it was a cop-out?

The set-up was Riker and Troy on the holodeck running a program about the original Enterprise's last mission to help him solve his moral dilemma during the ST:TNG The Pegasus episode. A nice gimmick but it didn't work, it just felt like a Next Gen episode featuring the Enterprise cast rather than the other way around.

Plus, the death of [Enterprise crew member name censored] was OTT, unbelievable and unnecessary.

At the very end they seemed to rely on the popularity of Next Gen for the final curtain call; disappointing and a bit insulting for the Enterprise cast.

Buy Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 1 (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Super Bonus Fun Redux

Here are a couple of animation themed time-passers I found while clicking through Savage Chickens:

Flipbook - create an online Flash animation flipbook. Here's one I made earlier...

Angry Alien - Flash animations of your favourite movie blockbusters featuring rabbits ... no seriously.

Money Talks

Take the Which? Moneytalk Quiz and brush up on your financial know-how.

My score? 8/10 - I'm a Wise Owl apparently.

Rock On!

I just watched School of Rock. Man, I realy wanna be in a band! Now all I have to do is learn to play an instrument or sing or something ...

Buy School of Rock (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Finger Spell

I've always thought it would be cool to learn sign language. You know, so you can have secret conversations with your mates and take the piss out of people behind their back ... the important stuff.

And today's word is ...

DtRT: Ecover

I can't remember were I first heard of Ecover, but they produce a range of environmentally friendly cleaning and washing products.

Why bother? Just think of all those chemicals you wash down the sink and into rivers, lakes and seas. Much better to use a product made only from natural ingredients.

I've tried the washing-up liquid (which smells really nice) and the fabric softener so far. They are available in most supermarkets and cost about the same as the big brand names.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made!

I've always suspected those "Greatest" and "Wonderful" quotes they pepper movie posters with were embellished, but this is 'one giant step' beyond that:

Fans win $1.5m over fake critic
BBC News

I mean, it's one thing to lie about the review, but to lie about the reviewer???

Old vs New

Some helpful advice for all you fellow eBay addicts out there:

10 things you should never buy used

&

10 things you shouldn't buy new

Free Beer!

The only catch is you have to make it yourself. Damn!

BBC News reported that some Dutch students have published the worlds first open source beer recipe. Based on the same principal as open source software, they have published the recipe for anyone to use.

And here it is - Vores Øl.

Being a fan of real beer, I've always been tempted to have a go at brewing my own. Now I have a recipe to work from, I'm one step closer to my booze filled dreams...

DtRT: Do the Right Thing

This is my 100th blog post!

To mark the occasion, I thought I use the post to do something worthwhile...

As I mentioned in my I'm with the band post I've been trying to improve the way I interact with the world; trying to do my little part to make the world a better place.

The feeling that I needed to change/do something started as my 30th birthday loomed last year. The idea that I was going to be older, and therefore presumably more mature, evolved into me realising I should take more responsibility for the impact I have on the this world and for the legacy that I would leave behind.

So I started to change my attitudes and involvements with things like recycling, charity and the environment. Just little things at first, but like they say - "Every little helps".

Feel the same way?
Want to make a difference?

Here's where you can start:

First read The Rough Guide to a Better World; a very informative but easily read book. It's a good place to start and will teach you everything you need to known about world poverty, charities, fair trade and advocacy.

Then visit the we are what we do website and check out their list of the little things you can do everyday to change the world.

I'll post more suggestions and more on this subject in the future (look for DtRT in the post title), but remember doing the right thing doesn't stop you having fun.

Inter-networking

Yay! A couple of photos I've taken have been published on two of my favourite blogs:

Savage Chickens has a spookily apt picture of a theatre poster I spotted on the Paris Metro.

&

The Moxie Blog has a picture of me and my Moxie t-shirt in Paris as part of it's Moxie Shirt Adventures. I'm picture 18, near the bottom.

See, sharing is fun.

Universally Translated

I've signed up to Blog in Space - it's a website that beams blog feeds into deep space.

Why? Why not? Who knows, there might be something out there to read them.

And if I do have any interstellar readers, don't forget to say 'Hi' in the comments.

I'm with the band

Charity bands have become popular over the past year. While I'm not a jewelry person generally, I too have subscribed to this new fashion and currently wear two bands:

The first is a white band for Make Poverty History (which I bought from Actionaid). As part of my attempt to make the world a better place I became involved with the campaign. While I didn't go to any of the protests, I did join in the online/postal advocacy campaign and wear the band to show my support.

The second is a black band from LIVEWRONG. Their philosophy is basically; do what you like. This speaks to the rebel in me and I like the way both the philosophies and the colours contrast each other.

However, I was criticised for wearing them on different wrists the other day. Apparently, this is a sign of racism - separating the colours. Now that's taking things too far...

Silent Bob says what?

Look what I found - My Boring-Ass Life. It's a blog for writter/director Kevin Smith, he of Clerks and Silent Bob fame.

Just as raw and honest as most of his writing.

Buy An Evening with Kevin Smith (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

The Doctor's New Clothes

from BBC News

This is how the new Doctor will look - geek chic. I like it.

It's good to see him back in a suit, the leather jacket of the last Doctor never seemed right.

I watched the majority of the last season - 3/5. They had some genuinely interesting concepts and scary moments but these were washed over by a bizarre comedy streak that ran through the series. I think they found it hard to balance the adult/dark side of the stories (the X Files/Twilight Zone elements) with the family viewing image/time-slot.

Buy the Doctor Who Series 1 Boxset (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Recommended by God?

You can make your own signs at churchsigngenerator.com, they also have a collection of humorous real-life church signs.

Go, and may your God go with you.

Buy Dave Allen - The Best of (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Shirt Ninja

Ever wondered what to do with those old black t-shirts that you are too embarrassed to wear anymore?

Ever had to perform a last minute stealth mission but left your black-out gear at home?

Never fear, Enter the Ninja has the answer. Click over to their site and discover how to solve both problems at once.

Shocking Pink?

These posters are part of the new advertising campaign to promote my home city:



It has been criticised in the press for being crass and putting Salford in a negative light. I quite like it. It's a clever play on words that uses the sometimes negative image of a city suburb to highlights it's hidden features.

But pink? Why?

The Vicar's T-shirt Sale

Yay! Now I MUST buy something...

Scotty Dies at 85

Star Trek's Scotty dies aged 85
BBC News

I'm not sure why, but I always though Scotty/James Doohan was the nice one from the ST:OS crew/cast.

He's one of the reasons I became and engineer and also one of the reasons I stopped. Working in a factory doesn't have the same buzz as fixing a warp core...

Dead Funny

I found these faux graves in Boot Hill, Frontierland, Disneyland Paris.
Who said death can't be funny...

AFB

AFB - Away From Blog

I'll be in Paris for the next few days so no posts here. Instead surf over to my holiday blog - My 2 Grand Adventure - to follow my travels.

Threadless No More

I finally got my first t-shirt order from Threadless.com, I should have received it weeks ago but its been stuck at the post office. I am very happy with the quality, although they're not 100% cotton the weave is soft and they have a good shape, and the t-shirt name in the back is a nice touch.

I'll deffinately be ordering from them in the future.

My orders:



- - -

I forgot to mention more T vicar when I did my last t-shirt post. They have a large range, lots of designers and some realy nice Ts. I've not ordered anything yet but my resistance is failing...

Must ... not ... buy Batman t-shirt ... need money ... for ... food.

London Eye mate, do not pass go.

Now here is a cool idea:

Monopoly Live

Equip 18 taxis in London with GPS, link them to an online Monoply London board and you have an interactive game with a reality twist. Choose your cab, spend your £15 million on property, place a couple of hotels and apartments and away you go.

The game lasts for 24-hours and updates every 15 mins. For every £1m you've made at the end you get one entry into a prize draw.

Plus, it's FREE to play.

Buy Monopoly Here & Now Limited Edition (board game)@Amazon.co.uk

Terror Attack on London

London rocked by terror attacks
BBC News

A terrorist attack on London the day after it is awarded the 2012 Olympics and while the G8 conference is being held.

Coincidence? I don't think so

Evil? Without a doubt.

I'm wearing boots of escaping...

Magic Missile movie

D&D meets Cops ... pure geek-funny. Go. Watch. Giggle.

Chick, chick, chicken...

Now Savage Chickens is a perfect example of a simple idea, done well to create a v.cool, funny webpage. Damn, I wish I had ideas like this.

Now for a chicken joke:

Q: Why did the serial-killer chicken cross the road?

A: To get to the other homicide.

Buy Chicken Run (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

OOOOO

London beats Paris to 2012 Games
BBC Sport

Well done! I mean it's not 'Manchester gets the Olympics' but it's better than it going to Paris.

A regular festival sofa goer

I spent most of this Saturday/Sunday morning watching Live 8 on BBC from the comfort of my sofa.

I also, spent most of the previous Saturday/Sunday morning watching Glastonbury 2005 on BBC from the comfort of my sofa.

I becoming a bit of a agoraphobic, festival sofa goer.

I've never been a big music person. I enjoy listening to music but don't follow bands or subscribe to any particular genre. I only went to my first concert a couple of years ago. Because of this, and my dislike of camping, I've never been too taken with the festival thing and this is probably the closest I'll come to attending one.

I was a little bored with the Glastonbury coverage. They focused on the main Pyramid stage for the majority of the time and the bands that played there all had a similar feel (Keane, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs).

Live 8 was much more interesting. Not only did you have a wider range of styles (although mainly white, western pop for which they were criticised) but you were constantly entertained by Jonathan Ross screwing up his links. Highlights included:

JR linking to Brian Wilson saying "Now we go over to Brian Wilson in Philadelphia, although having met him he probably doesn't know were he is". Then going to BW who was playing in Berlin.

JR referring to the live feed from the Big Screen in Manchester as Birmingham at least twice.

Class! Thanks Jonathan for putting the live in Live 8.

Buy Live Aid [1985] (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Happy Independence Day!

Happy holidays to all the crazy Americans I met, including: the mad woman on the train from Niagara to NY, the other crazy woman in the NY bar, the two crazy and young girls from Kingston Mines ... can you spot a pattern?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go and read my holiday blog about my trip to the US - My 2 Grand Adventure

I'm also going to use this other blog for my trip to Paris (and any further travels) next week. I guess that means I'll have to write-up my last day in the US and finish uploading my 700+ pictures ... DAMN.

Buy Independence Day (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Virtual G8

Virtual G8 

This is me at the virtual G8 rally. Go. Join up. Do the right thing.

Ectoplasmic Freeze Cannons

I found this while sorting through my stuff for eBay:



It was tucked in an old Real Ghostbusters annual. I was a big fan of Ghostbusters, both the film and the cartoon, and I must have designed this back in my creative youth.

Look at the detail! You could almost start construction.

Buy Ghostbusters (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Post-It Elvis

from Mental Hygiene

Isn't this AMAZING! A wall mosaic made from 2,500+ post-it notes. Head over to Mental Hygiene to find out how to make your own.

Now if I can just find someone at work to sign that requisition form...

Buy Elv1s: 30 #1 Hits (CD)@Amazon.co.uk

Chocolate Sunday Morning

How to Make:

1 part Brandy
1 part Baileys
1 part Tia Maria
Cola to fill.

How to make:

Add the spirits to a tall mixer glass, then add the cola.

It should react with the Baileys and foam up. The whole thing will look like brown foam with sludge at the bottom. It looks like someone's thrown up in the glass but tastes like chocolate; hence the name.

It might look horrible but it tastes really nice ... Honest.

I invented this cocktail by accident a couple of years ago. It costs about 8-quid in a bar. I used to buy it for peoples birthday drink, the girls would rarely drink it though ... sissies!

Final Countdown

Channel 4 Countdown presenter Richard 'Twice Nightly' Whiteley died on Sun. Student life will never be the same...

BBC News Obituary

Clearout!

I'm doing a bit of a life laundry to raise some money and make some room.

Why don't you take a look at my eBay site and see it there's anything you are interested in:

Mark's Great eBay Clearout

I'm listening dreaming.

I had a dream the other night that they had made another season of Frasier. However, Kelsey Grammer didn't want to appear so they replaced him with Lionel Blair!

And I didn't even have cheese before bed...

Buy a Fraiser (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Old iron, old iron ...

BBC News

Isn't this cool.

The a statue is built from the average WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) a person discards in their lifetime. WEEE Man is touring the country highlighting this waste problem. Find out more here.

It reminds me of the Iron Giant; one of my favorite books as a kid. I still haven't got round to watching the film.

Buy Iron Giant (DVD)@Amazon.co.uk

Good game, good game.

Learn how to cheat play better at some classic games in this BBC News article.

If you don't believe me, go ask the folks at Christie's...

Supertrooper

I just found a link to the Star Wars fan film Troops.

A brilliant SW spoof featuring Tatooine Stormtroopers in 'Cops' style documentary. I haven't seen this in years. An A+ short film, I just can't believe it's eight-years old.

If you've never seen it or, like me, haven't seen it in a while, go and view it now.

<wave of hand> This is the short film you're looking for.

Mange tout Rodney, mange tout.

I'm going to Paris.

This will be the first trip since I went to the US for my birthday last year. I must admit I developed an itch for traveling then and I've finally saved up enough money and courage for another adventure.

It's only a short trip; four-days in Paris. I arrive on Bastille Day and will be staying in another hostel. Apart from the sights and sounds of the city, I plan to spend a day at Disneyland Paris.

I guess I'd better start practicing my Del Boy language skills ...

Buy a Only Fools and Horses DVD@Amazon.co.uk

One Happy Bat Geek

I saw Batman Begins last night and I nearly cried when it ended ...

4/5 - the best Batman film by far. Harsh, believable and scary. Batman (rather than just Bruce or the villains) works for the first time; he finally becomes the star and is both believable and effective. With a good balance of action, drama and wit it's as good as Spiderman (with which it shares a similar structure) only darker.

If you don't believe me, that's OK I'm not offended, check out the Empire review.

If you have no idea what I'm going on about, shame on you, go immediately to BBC News and read their history of the Batman films. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not collect £200.

Then go to DC Comics and discover the source ...

Circle of Cup Life

Save a Cup

There's something very Buddhist about vending machine cups being recycled into vending machine cup holders.

---

Aside: Thinking about this I looked up the definition for reincarnation. According to traditional beliefs there are five classes of living being: god - human - animal - hungry ghost - denizen of hell. Hungry and a ghost! Man, that's just mean.

Grave News 3

In addition to my previous posts, here are a couple more celebrity epitaphs courtesy of an article in today's Daily Express:

Billy Wilder 1906-2002: I'm a writer but then nobody's perfect

Jack Lemmon 1925-2001: Jack Lemon in

As this is almost a regular feature now, I though I'd explain my interest...

Despite the creativity and wit of well chosen 'final words', I have a particular fondness for cemeteries. As a young lad, my Grandad and me would take his dog Bluey for a walk in his local cemetery; the only green space nearby. These fond memories and a sense of reverence found my like of cemeteries and mean that I think the 'people' who defile them are scum.

Of course this doesn't mean I'm not scared in cemeteries at night ... O-o-o-h! S-p-o-o-o-k-y!

See my vest ...

From BBC News Magazine

All together now ...
See my vest, see my vest, made from real gorilla chest.

Buy a Simpsons DVD@Amazon.co.uk

Star Wars Redux

So, I've seen Revenge of the Sith.

It's over. Well, if you don't count the TV plans.

So, final verdict? It was enjoyable; 3 out of 5.

I think the reason why I like the original trilogy so much as a kid it because I was a kid. They were genre-setting and evolutionary in film making/special effects term and they will always have a special place in my heart. The new films not so. I'm sure the kids who see them with feel the same way I did 20+ years ago. Which is fine, after all it's this new generation who the films were aimed at.

If you going SW cold-turkey is too much to handle, here are a couple of quick-fixes to tide you over:

• Keltech Strikes Back: see and listen to Darth mix the Imperial March like a master.
  
  
• Revenge of the Brick: EpIII Lego style. Don't forget to visit the screening room for the previous
  
  
• M&Ms Chocolate Mpire: see the true power of the Dark Chocolate side; product placement.

Or you could buy the original trilogy on DVD and re-live that childhood awe all-over again...