What's a steam-punk? I've never heard of that phrase before.

Xeni and Aaron sittin' in a tree....

Maybe we could start a conversation about the "Singularity" (rhymes with "hilarity") for a change.

#6 - Who has time to look at pictures on the internets unless they're of the Workstations of the Rich and Famous?

Your bad song-fu is no match for Charlene's "Never been to Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vx4GcjASE&feature=related

So an iMac constitutes a "workstation"?

When did "workstation" stop meaning 'a high-powered machine for doing specialized & computationally intensive tasks' to 'anywhere I set my computer'?

What #1 said. Terrible promo video.

So, the way to "beat Hollywood at its own game" is to get a bunch of corporate donations so you can make some shoe-gazing clap-trap of a movie, then claim it's a new paradigm for movie making, funding and distribution? Pul-eeeze!

All in code:

#9 - QFA
#10 - LOL

25 years ago our company UPS guy got busted for selling drugs on his route - and he just got a suspension. Fired for stealing a single game? Glad to know UPS has their priorities straight (not kidding).

UPS probably wanted to can these clowns for just being stupid. Seriously, UPS drivers who don't realize this stuff is tracked down to the millimeter? They finally just got caught doing something they could be justifiably fired for.

I could really go for some Louisiana Backbay Bayou Bunny Bordelais, a la Antoine.

Obligatory "future Darwin Award recipient" comment...

#3 - Yes, another beautiful cover by Stephan Martiniere:

http://www.martiniere.com/home.htm

I've been a huge fan of his work for years and it's always great to see his ultra-high quality artwork adorning another book cover.

Actually there was a "monitor" like this at Siggraph a few years ago, though it wasn't really very "Steam-punky" (Sorry, Corey). It was about 7 feet square, with 1" cubes of wood as "pixels". Each side of the cubes were stained with a different darkness value, and were individually mounted on motor-controlled spindles.

Beneath each cube (in the very small gap between cubes) was a light sensor that would gauge the amount of light reflected by an object that passed in front of it. The effect of walking in front of this display was sort of a physical, low-res mirror. The wood blocks would spin to the appropriate value (with a little lag), but it was very fluid and cool and sounded awesome as all the "pixels" spun around in near real time.

I'm old enough to remember when watching people die in videos was akin to torturing small animals or raping your sister. Now it's a "fetishistic science project". We've come a long way.

#14 - My first reaction to seeing this was "I didn't know John Berkey did concepts for Disney". I guess he didn't. I, too, much prefer Berkey's work over this. He's one of my top 3 favorite artists.

#61 - Bravo!

"Singularity within 50 years? If we've still got the power on in 50 years, I'll consider ourselves ahead of the game."

Well said. I put predictions like the Singularity into the same group as those Victorian era rubes who thought we'd shoot people to the moon in giant iron bullets shot out of cannons. Sure, the _idea_ of going to the moon may not have been so far-fetched, but any practical understanding of how it would ultimately be done was blind conjecture or outright fantasy.

#53 - Well, immortality in the (remotely possible) technological sense - at least for people like Kurzweil who know just enough about technology (but not enough about reality, apparently) for such high concepts to seem plausible. That sort of belief just seems very American to me in its unfounded optimism and blind willingness to rely on technology to solve all our problems and make all our dreams come true.

I realize it's been a dream of humans through the ages, but in our generally enlightened times (well, sort of) I don't think there are too many people these days who think they are going to live forever by drinking out of a magic fountain or getting hit by lightning or something.

#45 - You're just skimming the surface of a huge number of issues that would be raised. As usual, there's an inexorable need to accomplish everything we _can_ accomplish scientifically, regardless of the implications or consequences.

I'm wondering if this whole quest for immortality is a predominantly American thing. It seems to follow from our bloated sense of self-importance, refusal to live within our financial means, and to keep ourselves plugged into expensive machines for years at the end of our lives, even when there is next to no hope for recovery or any real improvement in the quality of life. Much like Hillary, we just need to learn to let go when it's over.

Hmmm, interesting points #29. The fact that our internal (conscious) chemistry is always changing, though, I'd fear the "version" of Kurzweil that might ever get "uploaded" is going to be the vitamin-popping, crackpot version and not the bright young inventor version - that one is already gone.

Also, the point of waiting for the silly fantasy known as the "Singularity" (or "Geek's Apocalypse") is that it's when machines supposedly become sentient. Kurzweil's uploaded consciousness would take on a new "life" of its own, in machine form. Even if such a transfer process were ever possible (and it may one day be possible to upload all our physical and chemical attributes - I don't deny that), to assume that such a machine would magically become self-aware, productive, contented or "happy", self-reproducing, or even interesting or useful in any way is preposterous. It will probably just spend eternity updating its MySpace page.

There's no grand design that says machines will ever want or need these traits, which is what makes the whole concept so silly. My guess is that the machines will have to invent a religion to attain those things and they'll be right back in the same mess we're in.

Wow, taking all that crap with the goal of surviving for a fairy tale event that some sci-fi writer concocted. Sad to see this kind of dementia in [i]anyone[/i].

Pointless and stupid design hybrids make the baby Jesus cry.

I made it abour 5 minutes in. It is not watchable - like the video equivalent of an Alec Empire song.

I can haz seizures?

Wake me up when they invent a garbage disposal/food processor combo.

That blog post was beyond weak. With, say, 10 more (any?) minutes of research, Newitz could have discovered that much of the Imperial Walker design (particulary the legs and feet) was lifted from a (uncredited) 1968 Syd Mead painting. Quote from Syd Mead interview:

"And yes, my original 'snow walker' was done in 1968 for United States Steel. It was definitely 'copied' as an articulation model for the Imperial Snow Walker machines."

Also (puts geek hat on), Boba Fett's ship is an exact dupe of the streetlights found outside the old ILM buildings. Jeez, that's even on wikipedia!

You don't need a license to have a baby or a blog, and it shows.

Don't you mean "for"?

At least they finally stopped using my (nearly 10 year old) illustration on their website without my permission.

http://www.artbot.com/illustration/illustration.html

To be fair, they did offer to sell me one of these at wholesale cost, though shipping was something like $2000. I declined.

I'm a big Waits fan, but had never seen the Fernwood bit. Hilarious. Especially the laugh track over the song.

While it's commendable that Waits never devolved into a commercial pitch-man (*cough* Orson Welles *cough*), it's not so hard to understand why he did it at the time. He was broke and at the crossroads of his career. National spots like this paid a lot of money back in the day (I had a childhood friend-of-a-friend who was in a Chuck Wagon dog food commercial and it went national for years and set him up for life.)

Anyway, I love listening to Waits read the ingredients list of meats.

Don't all PC makers do this? Maybe you should add HP and Dell to this ridiculous corporate hate-list. Or just wipe and re-install the OS (or a better one) upon purchase. Or simply don't buy their products.

Were the set of 2 penis straws really $1.69? (snickers...)

Idiots! Consumer Reports clearly says that Makita or Milwaukee drills are far better for brain surgery than the Bosch. When will doctors learn!

"I ripped it and it's gone straight into my playlist."

Too bad that didn't read, "I performed a micro-transaction and paid this artist directly for their wonderful work."

Maybe I'm missing a proper definition of the word "ripped".

Ha! In 1977 I won an airbrushed car mural from a radio station contest. I sold it to my friend for $75 and he had a Darth Vader and a TIE Fighter painted on the hood of his dad's Mustang. It actually looked pretty cool. Wonder whatever happened to that car.

Brings new meaning to the phrase "pants tent".

And #4 - HAR!

#22 - If I wanted an iPhone I'd buy one. I have no use for one, especially with a design as broken as that (sorry, the UI doesn't redeem it for me). I have a "book" that I keep all my contacts in. The batteries never die and it doesn't break if I drop it. I have a "camera" for taking pictures. When I'm not at the computer for my job for 12 hours a day, I really have no need or use for anything other than a minimalist phone, which I only have because I have a 2 year old and need to stay in touch with mom.

Some tech actually helps us live our lives better, or more accurately, more conveniently, but most doesn't. But people are attracted to shiny new objects, so this ridiculous product cycling is unlikely to abate any time soon, if ever.

You can practically smell Joel's excitement at buying an iPhone all over again. It's just a PHONE!!!!

I'm waiting for the first death-by-wrecking-ball because a worker couldn't hear a shouted warning over Rush Limbaugh's shouted warnings.

This should have a bracket that hangs it right on the urinal for direct deposit.

Great post HutchFX! As a one-time miniature modeler (Robocop 2 for Tippett) and huge fan of motion picture miniatures, I'm pleased that so many filmmakers are returning to more miniature work wherever it's practical/cost effective.

I worked at Lucasarts in the days when it was next door to ILM and I loved seeing the insanely talented modelers' work when I could wander over for a look. Some of those multi-million dollar spaceship models were breathtaking! Fortunately my job at the time required a few visits to the LFL archives and I photographed the hell out of just about every old SW model there was. It was a mindblowing thrill for a model geek like me!

Jurassic Park was the death knell and the model business died a slow death over the decade of the 90s. Luckily, digital compositing and matchmoving techniques advanced quickly and are letting a new generation of craftsmen carry on a great film fx tradition, even if in a reduced capacity.

We have vastly different definitions of the word "lovely".

Soooo, he didn't like it?

The price was my first (horrified) reaction, too. I could make something similar for $30 or less. More work, sure, but A HUNDRED AND SIXTY FREAKIN' DOLLARS?!

I like the anchor pillow, too.

How do you know the toast depressed? Does the toaster evaluate its emotional state as well as toast it?