bleeep c’est l’heure d’un bon sandwich

Happy Holidays !

Chris

Is finally released today in theatres! So make sure you go see the sequel to Blue Harvest.

]]> http://elblogdepablin.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/r2d2-en-star-trek/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:12:51 +0000 Pablo Milián http://elblogdepablin.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/r2d2-en-star-trek/

Algo que la eterna rivalidad entre Trekkies y fans de Star Wars, nunca dejó imaginar, era que un día esos mundos se iban a  mezclar. De hecho sí lo hicieron una vez, cuando William Shatner (Capitán Kirk) le “cantó” a George Lucas en una entrega de premios (a lo que le voy a dedicar el próximo post).

En este caso, se trata de un cameo, una aparición fugaz, del viejo y conocido R2D2 (Arturito para los amigos), en la nueva película de Star Trek de J. J. Abrams. Si no la viste, pará de leer, cerrá la ventana del navegador y apagá la pc ya! Si la viste, es en la parte donde el Enterprise va a investigar una flota de Klingon destruida. Entre los escombros y pedazos de nave que vuelan por todas partes, se ve al pequeño robot vagando sin rumbo.

La captura de pantalla es mía, el video de más abajo lo encontré en Youtube.

• Picture Above: R2D2 unmasked and eating a sandwich. Or R2D2, jaw unhinged, and eating a small man eating a sandwich.
• Nordstrom takes on Christmas. Not really, but kind of.
• Kid calls 911 when his parents take his Xbox away. I mean, that sounds about right.
• Watch: Little boy finds real E.T. while on vacation with his family. Or at least the Onion News Network is reporting as such.
• Watch: New Vampire Weekend music video for “Cousins.” I am not going to lie, watching this made my day.
• Listen: New Animal Collective, “Graze.” So much music that is the best today! And this whole week for that matter! My mind is exploding!

Excuse the mess and the generic theme but for now I do not care.

Here is a video I made for you guys today.

Enjoy:

Notre bon J.J. Abrams, fan de Star Wars, s’amuse à glisser dans ses films un petit R2D2… Dans son dernier film Star Trek, sorti en DVD le 26 octobre dernier, le R2D2 a donné du fil à retordre à ceux qui souhaitaient le pointer du doigt. Le défi a été lancé, et voici la réponse en image !

Notre irremplaçable R2D2 se trouve parmi les débris de vaisseaux détruits lorsque l’USS Enterprise arrive sur le champ de bataille navale dans la première partie du film, voyez plutôt :

R2D2 dans "Star Trek"

Sale ahora a la luz, que en la por ahora última entrega de la longeva saga Star Trek, tenemos un cameo completamente inesperado. Se trata de R2D2, el famoso androide de Star Wars. Es curioso ya que, siempre se ha hablado de estas dos sagas como rivales. Pero al genio J.J. Abrams, parece no importarle y ahí está.

Os dejo una foto para que los más incrédulos lo comprobéis.

click sobre la imagen para verla mas grande

Abrams planteó la inclusión del pequeño androide como parte de un concurso; quien le encontrara se llevaría un premio relacionado con la saga Trekkie.

Sobre una continuación de esta última entrega, el creador de Lost ya se ha pronunciado. Asegura que le partiría el corazón que la dirigiera otro que no fuera él, pero que aún no hay guión y que es algo que decidirá en su momento.

Cinéphiles et joueurs, vous avez largement eu le temps de voir et revoir le Star Trek de J.J. Abrams suite à la sortie du DVD. Pour le moment, personne ne s’est risqué à un petit commentaires concernant le R2D2 caché dans le film… mais vous êtes nombreux à avoir été piqué de curiosité !

La réponse sera donc pour aujourd’hui minuit ! Prêts à basculer du côté obscure ?

I love star wars and I loved the most recent star trek movie. So I was chuffed to discover that R2D2 makes a brief appearance in star trek. Lets hope this is for real…

Unbelievable!

io9 has what it claims to be a confirmation from George Lucas’ ILM and a frame from the blu-ray version of Star Trek 2009

In real-time play, it’s not even a second long, but it’s clear that everyone’s favorite astromech was on Nero’s ship when the NCC-1701 blasted her to oblivion.

Here’s the thumbnail from io9:

A Ravage-shaped USB drive? Swoon!

Ars Technica posts a list of Mac and PC accessories for the geek in your life, including the upgraded Transformer seen here. (Originally he was a mini-cassette from the early ’80s.)

The R2D2 humidifier is also pretty geek-tastic.

The Brad Link of the Day is a link to a website sent to me by my friend Brad Beacom via Google’s Gmail chat. It may or may not actually occur on a daily basis. You may or may not have already received the link before. (In those instances, some classics are worth revisiting.) You may or may not find some enjoyment at the contents found at the linked-to website. I take no responsibility for anything.

Tin Man – Wizard of Oz

Hajime Sorayam’s sexy robots

Reality

Bender – Futurama

Transformers

R2D2 & C-3PO – Starwars

Daft Punk’s Guy-Man – Working with Sebastien Tellier

Goldorak

Aibo – Sony

Astro

Nono – Ulysse 31

Here is a diorama I did using the Lego Star Wars 6212 set together with some other pieces. It is inspired by the X-Wing diorama set produced by Kotobukiya.

The one by Kotobukiya

Lego style diorama

Wedge Antilles

Luke Skywalker with R2D2

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of the Uncanny Valley, which (if you didn’t know) basically states that as anything (robot, stuffed animal, cartoon) appears more human, our natural response is to have a greater amount of empathy towards it, EXCEPT right before it looks completely human, it actually CREEPS US THE HELL OUT.  Here’s a graph to explain the concept:

The X axis represents the degree to which something appears human, and the Y axis represents empathy.  The dip where Lady Gaga, Zombies, and all of Tom Hanks’ characters in Polar Express exist, is the lonely place known as the Uncanny Valley.  It’s why we’d run from the  Terminator but act chummy with R2D2 and C3PO.

What I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around recently is that it’s possible that this formula can be used to explain various other cultural phenomena as well.  Perhaps it’s why immature retorts (“Your Mom”, “Your Face“, “That’s What She Said”) are increasingly funny up to a certain number of repeated uses, then become extremely annoying, then become funny again…

Another possible use of the formula can be applied to the relationship between one’s enjoyment of a film vs. it’s quality.   Specifically, as a film’s quality becomes progressively worse, one expects to enjoy it less and less UNTIL it becomes so bad that it’s laughably terrible (e.g., Night of the Lepus).  Of course, if you increase the terrible factor a little more you will lose even that sense of ironic enjoyment and return to hating the film. 

I’ve demonstrated this inverted Uncanny Valley (Uncanny Mountain?) formula using Nicolas Cage movies to simplify the argument:

In this example, the red line signifies enjoyment.  Notice how right before it reaches the supremely terrible degree of a film like Con-Air it reaches a place where the enjoyment factor spikes again.  This is where a movie like The Wicker Man resides.

Me and Emma took Ethan to the annual National Air and Space Museum’s Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center “Air & Scare” celebration. We’ve never been, but I heard good things and there were rumors of Star Wars characters taking over the place. That ended up being a bit of an understatement – they were everywhere!

Having the cast on was a bummer, but Ethan had a great time mingling with the Star Wars characters and collecting candy along the way. Some pics from the event. Full set on Flickr.

Ethan went as a ninja this year. A ninja with a broken arm!

Ethan posing with his new stormtrooper friend. Gattling gun actually spun - very cool.

Was beginning to think Ethan joined the dark side ...

The gang is all here.

Ethan with R2D2. Yes, people build these as a hobby.

Ethan with the Jedi knight gang.

Halloween isn't complete without some pumpkin carving.

Windows Blue Screen of Death Belt.

XKCD, explained. Delicious irony.

Ledakan di Bone, Indonesia beberapa waktu lalu adalah sebuah asteroid.

Hoenersburg, kastil yang dibangun dari Lego.

Ditemukan: fosil dinosaurus terkecil di Amerika Utara. Cute. Selain itu ditemukan juga: monster laut raksasa yang gigitannya bisa membelah dua sebuah mobil tanpa susah payah.

R2-D2 Hoodie.

Sekarang kita bisa memberitahukan kepada Facebook bahwa teman kita telah meninggal.

25+ Experimental Typography Showcases. Oh so pretty.

Flickr Pool: The Cool Data Visualization.

Orang-orang minta tolong hal-hal teknis lewat internet tetapi tidak bisa menjelaskan bagaimana spesifikasi di komputer mereka? Suruh saja buka Support Details. Informasi sistem dan browser yang kita pakai: bisa diekspor ke CSV dan PDF, juga e-mail.

Typographic nerdery at its best. A visual study of the lowercase ‘g’. Lowercase ‘g’ (dan ampersand ‘&’) itu biasanya memang yang paling menarik dari sebuah font.

Masih soal tipografi, ini ada blog baru: Letters from the Hellbox.

Animasi skala sebuah sel, perbandingan sebuah biji kopi dan atom karbon. Very boring sentence, very cool content.

Artikel baru di BoingBoing, seminggu sekali menjawab pertanyaan “ilmiah” dari balita. Pertanyaan pertama: Apakah kura-kura punya alis?

Tujuh pertanyaan yang paling mengganggu para fisikawan.

Sage adalah alternatif open-source untuk software matematika semisal Maple atau Matlab. Bedakan dengan TheSage, yang adalah software English Dictionary dan Thesaurus yang nggak kalah bergunanya.

10 fakta unik tentang SpongeBob SquarePants. Dibahas lebih lanjut lagi di MetaFilter.

Hey Jude flowchart.

Making Magic: blog Mark Rosewater, desainer kartu-kartu Magic the Gathering. Permainan kartu macam MTG selalu punya mekanisme detail yang mendalam di dalamnya. But, are you nerdy enough to read all this?

Threadless: The Ultimate Combo.

Doctor Who’s return to television screens a while back was exciting, and the stories – despite not breaking new ground, were well told for the most part. It didn’t cannibalize from itself as much as other shows which have returned to the small screen (such as Knight Rider’s stupidity remaining intact from the original series) and the pairing of Eccleston and Pyper was eccentric enough to feel new. That should make my following grumble a little less provocative to fans of the series – The Sarah Jane Adventures is not worth watching if the writers can’t come up with something even remotely original.

A wedding, a time anomaly and a mysterious ‘otherworldly presense’ messing with time… Gee, that kinda sounds a lot like the first season episode Father’s Day. Which it should, because the parallels are obvious. There is even a disappearance at the wedding (riffing off Donna Noble’s introduction), The Doctor saying “I’m very, very sorry” to someone who is about to die, and the ending of the episode had too much sap. The way that The Doctor says goodbye is probably the bluntest example of lampshading I have seen in the last couple of months, and is just as obvious as the hokey “You’re song is coming to an end” dialogue from a while back.

I get the tongue-in-cheek referencing, really I do, but so many people seem content to cut and paste scenes together to fill time. I’m beginning to have some concerns about the reboot / revamp of the series unless the new production team can fully exorcise the ghost of R2D2 from their methods of storytelling. The final episodes of Doctor Who had better be fucking amazing or I’m gonna be really disappointed…

####

In a related vein, I’ve finally succumbed to pressure from friends to read 52 (which is a dumb name for a comic), and I’m noticing call-backs to previous cross-overs such as Eclipso, the aftermath of Doomsday and a bunch of other old DC epics. When I finally get around to reading all of it I’ll give my final verdict, but after the first couple of issues I’m feeling a sense of déjà vu… It’ll probably be after November when I get around to reading all of it though, as NaNo is gonna be taking up quite a bit of my spare time.

Ralph Dibny takes the news that DC is having a crossover event rather badly…

80 pulgadas LCoS powered Projection System

·            Proyecta en techos y paredes para una area de visión de hasta 80 pulgadas

·           DVD Player

·           iPod Docking Station

·            Memory card slot & USB 2.0 connector

·           Sistema de bocinas stereo de 20 watts

·           Contro remoto inalámbrico con forma del Halcón Milenario

·           Los más populares sonidos de R2-D2

·           FM Wireless Audio (channel 1 through channel 7)

·           Image Sensor: LCoS

·            Resolución: 800 x 600

·           Brillo: 1800lm ANSI lumens

·            Contrast ratio: 1800:1

·            Dimensiones: 13.5″ x 13″ x 20.5″

·           Peso: 8kg

·           Aspect Ratio: 4:3

·           Tamaño de la imagen: 24 a 80″

·            Distancia de proyección: 4.9′ to 16.4′

·            Terminal:

·            Entrada:

·           1 RCA (composite)

·           1 Mini Din (S-Video)

·           2 RCA (audio L/R)

·           1 VGA (analog RGB / component video) D Sub 15 pin

·           Salida:

·           1 headphone stereo jack

·           1 optical audio out

·           1RCA (composite)

·           2RCA (audio L/R)

·           Señal:

·           Video Signal: S-Video signal, Composite signal (NTSC/NTSC4.43/PAL/M-PAL/N-PAL/PAL60)

·           Built-in DVD: 525i(480i), 525p(480p) Región 4

·           DVD Unit:

·           Media and format: DVD video, Video CD, SVCD, Audio CD, MP3, WMA, JPEG, MP4

·           Audio: DTS2.0+Digital Out, Dolby Digital

·            Memory Slot:

·           USB Connector: USB flash memory

·            Memory Card: SD memory, MMC, Memory Stick, Smart Media

·           iPod Dock: iPod 3G, 4G, 5G, mini photo

·           Control Remoto: 5 function infra-red

·            Bocinas: 10W x 2

·           FM Wireless Audio: Channel 1 to Channel 7

·           Fuente de Poder: AC Adapter / 7.2V NiCD battery

·            Consumo de Energía (Operación / standby): 5 – 35 grados

Su precio:  3.300 dolares.. o 49.000 pesitos.

Okay, so th’ Doc may have always been a kids show, and in many ways it still is, but after enjoying the slightly more mature (no, not mature… adult is a better word) Torchwood, the news that one of the final appearances David Tennant will make as The Doctor is gonna be in a for-sure kids show is… disappointing. No way will I miss it, it’s just a bit of a let-down after some really fun episodes. The biggest disappointment during R2D2’s reign as the mastermind behind the show (and it’s spin-offs) has been the lack of grit.

I’m going to put this in context, for those of you who believe there have been ‘dark’ moments in the shows so far. Nothing in the world of The Doctor is gritty. Not even Torchwood’s faux ‘mature viewers’ angle. Gritty is more than sex and violence, and extends beyond cinematography. Go watch Se7en or take a look through a few dozen episodes of The Wire for the kind of ‘mature’ I was looking for. Characters return from the dead, the world is saved, a new Doctor takes over from the last. Ho-hum.

I want the Time Wars examined at some point. There’s a whole bunch of potential there which has been solidly ignored. Why the hell hasn’t any of the massive interior of the TARDIS been examined either? There’s a swimming pool in there somewhere (which had a thing living in it at one point), as well as a whole array of other interesting locations. That’s a budget issue, ain’t it? C’mon Mr. Davies, I know you’re penny-pinching for Auntie, but take us out of Tennant’s tenure with a fucking bang. Make it must-see television. Pleeease.

I’m getting rather worried that my lasting impression of his portrayal is one cameo in a kid’s show, and that would be a horrible dénouement to the series proper. The possibility that the new kid (whatsisname) might suck is still unresolved despite a lot of support in magazines and newspapers, and he’s starting to feel like Peter Davidson being foisted on kids who liked Tom Baker. Fuck it, Tom Baker IS The Doctor for some people. I had a hard enough time getting to like Chris Ecclestone in the role.

The Sarah Jane Adventures appeared while I wasn’t looking, and I missed a whole bunch of episodes, but from what I’ve seen it isn’t the kind of show I would normally go nuts over. And it has kids in it. For SF this is always a bad sign. I hated the Crusher kid in ST:TNG, thought that the rugrat in War Of The Worlds was gonna pierce my eardrums with her screeching, and absolutely detested Invasion (or whatever the hell the aliens-under-the-sea show was called). There are so few grown up shows around that I’m actually missing The X-Files.

I’m reminded of a spiel I used to deliver to Star Trek: Voyager fans when it was running:

How bad a captain is Janeway? Hmm? First she gets her crew lost thousands of light years from their home – in what must be the definitive example of women drivers, right? Then she takes a guy on board who she’s met for, what, five minutes?

“Want to stay?”
“Sure.”
“Do you have any talents?”

Psst. Cap, you might not want to hit on the lice-ridden stranger you just picked up in a strange part of space, and – for all you know – might think that stealing all your shiny new technology would make good black-market ware. Think with your head, not your crotch.

“I can cook.”
“Welcome aboard.”

Goddamn. The guy is not only allowed to remain on the ship, he’s preparing their food. Great job, Janeway. It’ll serve you right if he poisons you. But wait, this isn’t the best part. Oh no. Janeway is waaay more stupid than she looks, and that is just the appetizer for her moment of utter brain-free decision-making. Cue the drumroll…

She lets his underage lover aboard, and makes no attempt to question the situation. Kes is five years old for fuck sake. FIVE YEARS OLD. I know that randy old bastard Kirk would have re-written the Starfleet regulations regarding sexual conduct aboard a spaceship, but Janeway doesn’t even blink an eyelash.

She doesn’t even consider the moral implications of the alien with a mohawn shacking down with a five year old.

Sorry. It’s been a while since I delivered that particular speech, and it’ll probably be a while before I get to perform it again for the benefit of a Star Trek crowd. Always a fun experience. Not always a safe experience, but always a fun one.

Here’s hoping that Davies has a solid plan for the end of the current Doctor’s reign, or I might have to take the piss out of Doctor Who the next time I get to a convention. Consider this a warning, R2D2.

(There’s about half an hour’s worth of the Voyager jokes, that’s the best bit)

Internautes cinéphiles, je vous lance un petit défi en ce frileux automne. Le DVD de Star Trek réalisé par J.J. Abrams sort à la vente ce mardi 27 octobre et un détail insolite s’y est glissé…

Lors du tournage, ce grand fan de Star Wars qu’est J.J. Abrams a demandé aux techniciens des effets visuels de Industrial Light & Magic d’inclure à l’image un droïde du type R2D2 (tout comme dans Transformers). Saurez-vous le retrouver ?

Si le petit robot se cache trop bien, voici un indice :

Le petit droïde se cache parmi les débris de vaisseaux détruits lorsque l’USS Enterprise arrive sur le champ de bataille navale… Ouvrez bien bien l’oeil…

Réponse dans une semaine !

Note : pour ceux qui ont participé au concours Paramount : motus !

H.B.