May The (G) Force Be With You

So, Disney is promoting the hell out of G-Force, which if you ever open your eyes when you venture outdoors-especially in L.A.-you know.

Gadgets. Gizmos. Guinea Pigs. In 3-D.

A collage of some of the ads I've snapped photos of around L.A.

I just had to ask myself a few questions.

Will it be stupid? Probably.

Will Tracy Morgan annoy the bejeezus out of me: Most likely.

Am I afraid kids will do really stupid, dangerous things with their guinea pigs after seeing it? Unfortunately, yes.

Will I bother seeing it? HELLS YEAH!

They had me at Guinea Pigs. 3-D is a nice, nice bonus.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Update 06/29/09, 6:45am: Even though the results are somewhat tied below, I concede that listening to someone read a book to me is not the same thing as me reading that book. Sort of. I'm having trouble accepting the fact that I have to make two lists now: "Books I've Read This Year" and "Books Someone Else Read To Me This Year." Seems awkward.

Will I Ever Ketchup*?

When I have a lot going on that serves as actual blog fodder, I don't seem to have time to write about any of it. Various topics in the queue include a proper wrap-up of Maker Faire, a quick trip to the adorable City of Orange, the drive-in series that ended last week, the Hot Dog Death March*, an update on the beasties, the L.A. Film Festival, Comic-Con, which is approaching ever so quickly (!), and who knows what else.

In lieu of an actual post, I leave you with a photo that I took in Orange. Feel free to share your thoughts and/or title or caption suggestions.

So Say We All

Check out the video that my buddy Erik shot at the free downtown L.A. Grand Performances "Music of Battlestar Galactica" show this past weekend. Yep, that's the back of Katee Sackhoff you see on the opening piano bit with composer Bear McCreary.

There's another cool one he posted of the first ever live performance of "Prelude to War" from the episode "Pegasus." Good stuff.

Join Us If You Dare!

I've played my role in this farce - a dying leader will guide the people to blah, blah, blah... frakking blah blah! I've been there, done that...

Mary McDonnell aka Battlestar Galactica's Laura Roslin
PaleyFest, March 2006

I met her last night. She is warm and kind and beautiful and all of the things you'd hope and think she might be in person. She held my hand and had genuine appreciation in her eyes as I tried to articulate how much her amazing performance of the character Laura Roslin meant to me. I couldn't quite get the words out through the tears, but she said she felt and knew what I was trying to say and didn't make me feel silly or stupid at all.

"...think about new & creative ways to engage young people in science & engineering, like science festivals, robotics competitions, & fairs..."

I know I bitched a lot about Maker Faire on twitter. I spite of that, I did actually have a good time. I mainly complained because it was a non-violent outlet for those moments when I really felt the need to stab people. Most of the folks I met were polite, intelligent, and eager to learn about our array of 3D displays. Then there were the a-holes. We had a lot of electronics at our table, such as projectors, LCD shutter glasses, paired still DSLR cameras, several video cameras. I was amazed that in the first half-hour an ADULT threw a pair of the expensive glasses across the table. I said "Dude!" and he mumbled "Oh, sorry" and walked off. Jerk. I grew weary of telling kids to stop pushing our tables. Most of their parents were present and watched as the kids continued to push the tables 4-5 times. Next year, we will put up a barrier. Oh, and SO many pairs of the plastic glasses we borrowed from the L.A. 3D Club were broken. We've been using them at the club meetings for years without such breakage.

While Comic-Con is a haven for geeks, Maker Faire is all about the nerds. Hardcore nerds. One of my favorite things at the event is the t-shirts. And they're nerdy, not ironic. Since I had my own hectic craft exhibit last year and worked at E's even busier booth this year, I only have a photo (above) from 2007. I made a mental note though of a few of my favorites over the course of this past weekend. I really wish I'd taken snapshots of them.

The cutest was one that luckily E pointed out to me. I would have missed it. The shirt had a schematic of a turbine engine, which contained a hamster wheel. Next to it was a little hamster dressed like an aviator. Unfortunately, it was a Shirt.Woot exclusive.

Seen on a shirt somewhere in San Mateo:

SCIENCE. It works, bitches.

When I was your age, Pluto was a planet.

Every time you call tech support, God kills a kitten.

There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to catch up on life after the blur of the weekend and get moving on the next things, on which I'm already behind. Sometime in the near future, I'll try to post a couple of the five or so 3D photos I took at the faire. I know at least a couple turned out fairly decent and I still have a few to download. In the meantime, grab your red/cyan glasses and check out E's blog where he posted a 3D video of Eepybird's Diet Coke & Mentos fountain.