Ricardo Montalban passed away this week. I’ll never forget his portrayal as Khan Noonien Singh in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” or as The Joker in the 1960’s “Batman” series starring Adam West. No… wait, that was Cesar Romero.
If there is an afterlife, I hope it’s governing body has a sense of humor and allows Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize to greet all new comers with a hearty, “Welcome… to Fantasy Island.“
Godspeed, you rich Corinthian leather bastard.
That actually was my name in KOTOR. Call me a heretic but I didn’t enjoy it. Turn based combat just doesn’t make any sense to me. The story was enthralling (certainly better than the prequels) but the game play fell flat for me.
Two toys debuted at CES ’09 that let you get all levitatey with your brain powers. Despite actually carrying the Jedi seal of approval, the Force Trainer seems the weaker of the two. My money is on the Mattel Mind Flex. Instead of just using your brain waves to float a ping pong ball to different heights, you have to navigate it through a series of obstacles.
I’m sure any kid (or adult) that gets one of these will be bored with it after a week. At that point the kids will start trying to levitate other things with it, like hamsters, bullets, poison or medical waste. Adults will (if they haven’t already) find a way to have sex with it. You just can’t say “ping pong balls” and “plastic tube” without conjuring images of deviant acts. You can? Well I can’t. I’m terrible.
UPDATE:
For any new readers that don’t know, Josh is gay. If I use the word “gay” in a comic, I actually mean “homosexual.” I know it’s hard to believe that a COMIC on the INTERNET could actually say “gay” without meaning “lame” or “LOL!!111FAGZ,” but that is indeed the case with HE.
I should also probably mention that Eli is a Mexican.
“It’s really more of a sexual fantasy, Doc.”
Benjamin Heckendorn is a nerd after my own heart. He sees things that are well, and he can’t leave well enough alone. He sees the hidden potential in devices to be smaller, better, faster, stronger (our work is never over). You might say his latest project, Modding an Xbox 360 controller into an Atari joystick, is pointless or that he had no reason for doing it. But why do we do anything? Why do we climb a mountain? Because it’s there. Why do we go to the moon? Because it’s there. Why do we put a 24″ LCD screen into a coffee table? Because they were Josh’s and not mine, so I didn’t care if they got broken.The journey of discovery is it’s own reward.
If you arent familiar with BenHeck‘s work, I urge you to browse his greatest hits, his forum (where users post their own hacks and mods) and check out his podcast. He’s like Michelangelo with a soldering iron. He’s also completed several projects to help enable disabled gamers including a one handed controller and a one arm Guitar Hero solution using a foot pedal to strum.
Before I had a child, my living room, office or garage were typically full of such BenHeck-type projects. With most of them, I just enjoyed the breaking and rebuilding (and rebreaking) parts. Once they were operational I generally lost interest. I’d like to post pictures of them for you guys to check out. Josh has a few on his Flickr. I’ll go ahead and list the rest and update this post if pics get posted.
Post your own case mods and hardware hacking projects (or the best ones you’ve seen online) in the comments. Then get a Dremmel tool and ruin/improve those old computers and consoles just lying in your closet. Can we coin the term “ruinprove?”
Sorry for the late comic. I was preparing for, then participating in an actual job interview for an actual job. The Experiment isn’t over, just evolving. More on that as things develop.
Re: The background of this comic – I asked Twitter what my background color scheme should be and Josh suggested (rather CHALLENGED) “dopefish3d @hijinksensue no no no, houndstooth, alternating between mauve and periwinkle.” Far be it form me to back down once the gauntlet has been thrown, so there you go. I don’t really like it, but I still win.
I’ve really been relying on the “I would totally buy form iTunes if not for all the DRM sadness” crutch for years. Now I have nothing to justify my thevery.
The iTunes Music Store is a brilliant piece of technology. I know people who aren’t normally susceptible to traditional ads and upsales that MARVEL at how ITMS gets them to fall for “you just bought this song… your playlist would be twice as awesome if you added these other 3 songs… i bet some hot chick would totally do you if you played those 4 songs for her and burned some incense and got all suave talkin’ with lotions and oils and shit… click here to buy some incense…” But is it really “getting you to fall for it” if it is actually helpful and you enjoy the shopping experience? Their marketing genius can’t be denied, but you are welcome to debate the true nature of their intent. Is Apple the next RIAA or are they the harbingers of fair and just digital distribution?
I don’t have these questions about Bit Torrent. It’s like paying cash for RAM in China Town. It’s cheaper than retail, comes in a paper sandwich bag that said “RAMS” in Sharpie marker, and I know before I buy that if anything goes wrong the people that provided the goods would sooner drug me and steal my organs than help me out.
For more DRM comics, click up on THIS!
Links:
I feel so much pressure from the geek community to partake in the misadventures of The Good Doctor, but as of yet I haven’t partook… partaked… partaken. I think I’m saving it for one of those rainy days when I crave British accents and time travel (usually a Wednesday).
Seeing as how I don’t have a proper frame of reference, I can’t comment on Matt Smith being cast as the eleventh Doctor Who. If you are blessed with an opinion on this matter, feel free to share it in the comments.
Re: “Who’s On First” – I know it’s a lame joke and I’m sure someone else has already used to to poke fun at Doctor Who, but it made me smile. Having never seen an episoded of Doctor Who, I can’t very well make a subtle reference to some obscure faneurysm like I would normally do.
If you know the classic “Who’s On First” routine, might I suggest “Who’s On Stage“?
Also, if you enjoyed THE TASTEY ADVENTURES OF BACON MAN or currently enjoy pining for your favorite cancelled show, you’ll be happy to know that HE-Friend-Comic “Save Hiatus” is back.