These are a few of my favourite things

Singer Jonathan Coulton now has a podcast on Popular Science.

Here is a picture of him interviewing a Stormtrooper. Two of my loves have come together in one place. Perhaps a Chocolate-Porno-Sandwich is next to be wrought upon the world.

The image is from Popular Science. Please don't sue.

Five Random Wikipedia Pages

I hit the Random article button on the English Wikipedia five times. These are the articles it returned. Read each in their entirety and learn something new.

• Freddie Prinze, Jr.


• Bison (comics)


• Powstanie Warszawskie (album)


• Brendan Eich


• October 27, 1997 mini-crash

As the Amish say, "You learn something new about Freddie Prinze, Jr. every day."

Towel Day 2006

May 25th is Towel Day, when all the hoopy froods carry and display a towel as a tribute to Douglas Adams.

A selection of uses for a towel, as suggested by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter Three:

you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal [...]; you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

Ok Go: Best Music Video Ever

The Set-up: The band "Ok Go" are dancing in the back yard
The Song: "A Million Ways"
The Pay off: Released in the fall of 2005, this ultra-low budget, one-take video became the most downloaded music video ever with over 3 million downloads.

And that is Awesome.

The Furry Paws of the Force

Based on Chicago's "Cows on Parade", Calgary's "Udderly Art," and most recently Victoria's "Orcas In The City," Vancouver has started "Spirit Bears in the City."

I think this Dark Bear of the Sith is one of the better ones. There is very good detail on the chest piece and the expression on his face is priceless.

Photo by Lindsay Kante
licenced under a Creative Commons deed.

Books on my nightstand

George Carlin,
originally uploaded by cafn8.

Currently I have three books residing on my nightstand. In no particular order they are:

• "Napalm and Silly Putty": George Carlin. Link
  
• "Calculating God": Robert J. Sawyer. Link
  
• "The Knowledge Web": James Burke. Link
  

I don't know what, if anything, this list says about me.

Fairy Doors in Ann Arbor

Fairy Door: Selo-Shevel Gallery,
originally uploaded by sooty.

Through "surfing" of the "interweb" I found the "Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor."

"Fairy doors" are miniature openings into imagined fairy homes built by Jonathon Wright . When his wife ran a preschool program in their home in 1993, Jonathon built a small closet door under the stairs with an additional child-size to access the remaining space. Just to the right of the junior door, down in the baseboard, the kids discovered yet another door about 6 inches high. When it was open, one could see an equally small staircase and railing leading up to a second door.

Jonathon began building these small unsponsored, unauthorized works of public art around town to capture the imagination of the city.

Star Wars Bunnies

Other shorts include "Jaws" in 30 seconds

originally uploaded by Sigorski.

Jennifer Shiman of "Angry Alien Productions" presents "Star Wars " in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. Link

Every Slashboing post won't be about Star Wars, I assure you.

Lego Star Wars II: Me Wantie

Fresh from the "Me Wantie" pile here is the trailer for Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. The first Lego Star Wars game was the killer game that led my wife to insist that we buy a Playstation II.

The new game lets you mix and match character parts, and if you have the first game you can import those characters for play. I think I want to play as Jango Fett during the Battle of Hoth. No? How about I create "Greedo Solo" and let him shoot "Haneedo" first. I really want to.

Jump in...with finger guns blazing

Here is an unaired Xbox commercial from YouTube that I found a while back, but could not describe effectively to my friends. Now see it in all its embedded glory. Or if the embedded link fails as it does with my Firefox, use the link.

A Standard Collection of Orcs

Here is "Team Evil," a standard collection of "Lord of the Rings" movie Orcs, and their handlers. All the major divisions of Orc are represented. There is a Warg rider, a scuttling Moria goblin, some battle hardened Mordor Orcs, and a fighting Uruk-hai of the White Hand.

How Awesome is that.

Top 5 Convention Names

It is a little disheartening when people you know and respect won't come to a party you are throwing because 5 years ago someone else threw a bad party with the same name.

Here are some suggestions for the name of next year's Science Fiction and Fantasy Society get-together.

• Awesome Con
• Ret-Con
• Gathering of the Fans
• Fandom United
• Shindig

Any suggestions?

It is all for you

In the aftermath of the fantastic Comic Expo this weekend, the Calgary fan community is weighing in on the state of conventions in the city. The general consensus is that since the Comic Expo was so great, why does Con-version even bother?

They are two different entities. The Comic Expo is a buffet, with everything laid out before you, and Con-version is a pot-luck. The only way to guarantee that you will see something specific at Con-version is to bring it yourself. And that's a good thing.

The goal of Con-version is to bring together the different fans and groups in town for three days of fellowship and community. It is not a show to watch, but something to participate in. Now that's not for everyone, but insisting that one thing be like the other is off the mark.

I too have been disappointed by Con-version. So I volunteered and they put me in charge of programming. I get to set all the panels and schedule some events. How cool is that? As part of that, I'm working with the Calgary Star Wars FanForce and the 501st to bring in Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett in the Original Trilogy).

To hear that it is not enough, and that we should do more is a little insulting. Especially when those who complain are not going to contribute their time and talent, or even show up.

"It is impossible to put on a decent pot-luck when no one wants to cook."

I know you can't please all of the people all of the time, but if you can't get Sci-fi fans to come to, and participate in, a Sci-fi convention in their own town, the question remains: Why do I bother?

Sith Girls are Easy

Available now, are the famous "Sith Girl" shirts that I made for the ladies of the FanForce/501st.

The front reads "Sith Girl" while the back lists of the Dark Side's best qualities: "Quicker, Easier, More Seductive."

These shirts are available through Spreadshirt here:
https://www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=12709

They come in a variety of colours and cuts, just like the Sith!

Battle of Yavin Medal

Battle of Yavin Medal,
originally uploaded by Drhaggis.

I have always been disconcerted by the end of Star Wars IV. Quite simply, I never understood why Chewbacca did not receive a medal along with Luke and Han. Why did he walk down the hall with the others, if he wasn't going to get an award? It felt like a slight against the Wookie. With every new special edition that came out, I looked for that medal. It never came.

Peter Mayhew comments in interviews that he was always happy that Chewie he got in the last word, but I felt that with his appearance at the Comic Expo, we should do something special. We created a replica of the Battle of Yavin medal based on the Master Replica prop, framed it with a nice dedication and presented it to Mr. Mayhew on May 7th 2006.

Mr. Mayhew and his wife Angie are two of the nicest people you could meet. Affable and approachable, Peter towers over others in both stature and esteem.

After the show, the 501st invited the Mayhews and the FanForce out for dinner and drinks, where Peter and Angie regaled us with stories from the set and life. He answered all our fanboy questions with the humour and grace of a true professional.

May the force be with Peter and Angie.

To give something power

"From antiquity, people have recognized the connection between naming and power." -Casey Miller and Kate Swift

The name of my blog comes from the pixelated robot romance webcomic Diesel Sweeties. In comic #1469 the character "Uncle Grandpa" dismisses all modern web culture as "..Farkspaces, slashboings, Drudgefilters & diggw00ts." Did I mention "Uncle Grandpa" is an Apple Macintosh circa 1984?

Diesel Sweeties has a great assortment of t-shirts based on the characters, sayings and icons from the strip. I have a "Power Droid Has A Posse" shirt on order. Diggw00t indeed!

"Geeky, yes but I like it too."

Hooray Hooray it's the First of May

As my Grandfather used to say "Hooray, Hooray, its the first of May, outdoor F*cking starts today."

That’s my family for you. But it looks like I'm not the only one to be raised with such an appreciation for spring.

Hear Mr. Coulton's song on the same topic that he released last year at this time:

Download "First of May" for free

Enjoy!

Current Fixations

Wookies

Peter Mayhew will be at the Calgary Comic and Toy Expo on May 7^th. The local chapter of the Star Wars FanForce will be there along with the 501st Badlands Garrison .

We have some special presentations for everyone’s favourite wookie. I will post pics after said event.

Jonathan Coulton

I really can't get enough of Jonathan Coulton. He writes beautiful geek folk rock songs about zombies, Ikea, and those sad fools who write code all day (ahem cough).

I currently am Demanding that he come to Calgary, via the far-less-self-important-sounding site eventful.com

Captain Proton

The monochromatic space hero from Star Trek: Voyager has captivated my interest enough to attempt to create a replica costume to wear as a hall costume at the various Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions I'm planning on attending over the next few months.

The costume is simple enough so I wanted to get as many details as I could right. During my research discovered Commando Cody, one of the sources for inspiration for Captain Proton. The jacket, control box, belt and jet pack worn by Tom Paris/Robert Duncan McNeill as Proton are replica Commando Cody props made by a fan and prop builder for Star Trek. I contacted him and he furnished me with his graphics that he used to make his replica. I am very grateful for all his help. Pictures of my finished costume will follow.

Slashboing launches.

This blog will be a to-do list, soap box, and current list of fixations from a Jedi techno-geek.

Back n' da day, we would make mixtapes of remixes and talk about them on our website. Now we make playlists of mashups and post about them on our blog. What an age to live in.