http://www.sillof.com/C-Steampunk-SW2.htm

I am really impressed by these steampunk Star Wars custom action figures.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first episode of Sesame Street, it was nice of Google to notice.

Sesame Street @ Wikipedia

We finally went and saw District 9 today and it was a totally kick-ass movie. I knew just the basic premise but intentionally ignored all the commercials for it to avoid spoilers. There was a lot more to the plot than I expected and lots more character development as well.

The marketing web site is really cool, lots of content and buttons for other mini-sites at the bottom as well.

D-9.com

I ran across this nifty looking “brass” steampunk Darth Vader helmet and chest piece today. I almost didn’t notice the chest piece since it’s in different pictures but I like the analog pressure dial.

Steampunk Vader helmet and chest piece by CREATUREFEATURE13 on Etsy.

While browsing at the Science Fiction Book Club I ran across the DVD of Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter. Being an old-school Watchmen fan my interest was piqued so I looked to our Google overlords for guidance and the first hit was IGN: Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter Review.

This did a good job of summarizing the DVD and I think I may end up buying it once I’ve seen the actual movie. Yes, I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t seen it yet. I must be getting old since I heard it was a bit long and I figured I may as well watch it on my home theater instead.

I really liked the summary at the end of the article:

Whatever your feelings about the theatrical adaptation, this DVD serves as a terrific supplement to the Watchmen franchise. Those fans who weren’t totally satisfied with it may just find some consolation here, while the newly converted will appreciate the deeper look at the world this offers.

Wow, this new show on the Discovery Channel looks really cool: Weaponizers. Short version: guys bolt weapons onto stuff and go crazy. I saw a quick teaser for it over the weekend and it starts tonight. A quick Google search turned up this Weaponizers story at Wired. I didn’t see the show on the Discovery Channel site yet

The Geek Dad article at Wired says:

Remember the re-make of Death Race? It’s like that, except good.

I have absolutely got to see this movie, I can’t believe I have to wait four more months.

Somebody at work forwarded a link to this picture of the new Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru Lars action figures from Star Wars Episode IV. I should have guessed what it would be from the names of the characters. This would be an easy one to make at home: scan an existing card, tweak the text & picture and add a couple of melted figures of your choice. The original image is from smugbaldy.com by the way.

I don’t have time for a full Comic-Con write-up just yet but I did see the tin box for the MST3K 20th Anniversary DVD boxed set (4 discs). They told us at the booth (where I bought one of the 400 special 20th anniversary t-shirts with the same logo) that we could pre-order cheaper at Amazon now and then it will ship in October when it’s released. Sure enough, list price is $70 but the pre-order is only $49 at Amazon. I’ve already ordered mine, what are you waiting for?

One downer was that I missed out on the 20 year reunion of the original cast at the Con. Turns out after the fact that they cut off the line three hours before the panel and I only went about an hour ahead. Oh well, I had fun doing other stuff during those hours.

Sadly Bo Diddley died today. I really love his music and it’s unfortunate that he really never got the recognition he deserved for his pioneering work.

Vancouver Sun article

I ran across this trailer (taped in a theater) for the upcoming X-Files 2 movie (I think it’s a July release).

There’s another “retrospective” trailer that has some spoilers at the X-Files News site but be careful, there are spoilers at the end. This second trailer looks like it was taped at a convention of some sort.

I’m not really a bit anime fan, although I loved Akira. I just discovered via Topless Robot that there’s an upcoming anime DVD of Batman: Gotham Knight. Here’s one image, check out the full story for more.

Topless Robot reported on the 2008 Toy Fair and showed this cool X-Wing kite (scroll down, it’s #5). I may have to look for it later this year since my wife likes to fly kites and I don’t have one. (#4 Remote Control Zombies looked fun, too.)

Yep, I’m plugging someone else’s product but I don’t care. I think that Iron Maiden‘s Live After Death could be the best live concert recording ever. They are re-releasing it on DVD in a couple of days and at US$15 for two discs it’s a steal. Below is the teaser video from their site. I just might even pre-order it from Amazon.

Better yet their 2008 tour is named “Somewhere Back in Time” and according to Blabbermouth.net it

revisits the band’s incredible history by focusing almost entirely on the ’80s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is based around the legendary Egyptian production of the 1984-85 Powerslave tour. This is arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and includes some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.

Well a quick visit to the MythTV site led me to Schedules Direct which might be my replacement when the ReplayTV guide eventually goes away (which I know it will, at least it was available long enough to make my $200 “lifetime” subscription pay for itself and then some). SD is only charging $20 per year which is great, I may join just on principle to keep the project alive.

One of my future project was to build a homebrew  DVR at some point instead of buying one. All you need to do is get a nice PC enclosure and build a Linux box to load MythTV or Sage onto it with a giant hard drive and one or more TV tuner cards. Now that I know about SD I may still be able to go that route once my budget allows for it. Thank goodness hard drive prices have fallen through the floor since I’ll probably build an HD-capable box which will take a ton of drive space.