On my agenda of things to do that I haven't is to check out both the new Clone Wars web comic and the paper comic. What I have been doing, however, is watching the series.

Episode #3: Shadow of Malevolence was a lot more of the kind of thing I signed up for. It occurred to me, whilst watching it that, in retrospect, if this three parter had been a film then I probably wouldn't have been as harsh on episode ,#2 as I really enjoyed both the space combat and the interaction between members of Shadow Squadron during this episode. The real trouble with episode #2 was that, by itself, it went nowhere. When coupled with episode #3 however, that dynamic changes.

It was really nice to see the Y-Wings in use, especially with Imperial markings and I am, once again, pleased to see Yularen. The combination of the good admiral and clone veteran, Commander Wolffe make for good scenes, in my humble opinion and I really hope we get to see more of these two characters and, indeed, their interaction with Anakin. The fic part of my brain is already wondering what Yularen must have been thinking as, twenty odd years later, he sat down at the Death Star briefing room table watching Darth Vader almost throttle Motti. Does he equate Vader with Anakin? Is he as concerned about the presence of Obi-Wan as Vader is? Would Obi-Wan's actions have been different if he had known Yularen was onboard?

And so on.

Or am I taking this too far? My mind has sort of compartmentalised canon so that it overlaps but only in tiny ways. I find myself increasingly pairing The Phantom Menace with the few EU Episode I books and overlapping the Clone Wars era with A New Hope, including a significant grey area for the events I assume take place leading from the wars through ground covered by the third film and into the fourth film. But beyond that, I don't really make connections.

The writers obviously do however and every week one of my favourite games is to play spot the original trilogy dialogue homage.

Visually, despite the stylistic character designs, after TFU and the immense CGI of the prequel trilogy in general, it's hard to think of this as anything *but* Star Wars. In fact, I'm willing to say that this looks more like Star Wars than some of the additions made to EU canon over the years, in terms of computer games and comics.

Dooku comes across as a more aggressive and forceful character, especially with his application of military goals. I like this portrayal of him, as well as his showmanship and rivalry with former master, Yoda, much more than Karen Traviss' attempting back-story from the Clone Wars 'adaptation' novel.

When speaking to my wife's brother, I was somewhat surprised to find out how much he hated the opening episode. I've since begun to wonder if all the things I now quantify as being Star Wars are so different from what everyone else expected that I've either missing the big picture...or I'm beginning to think more and more like George Lucas.

In all honesty, I don't know which prospect scares me more.

Si estas en la fase de entrenamiento y aun no has obtenido el grado de Jedi y quisieras tener un lightsaber para entrenar, no esperas y construye tu sable laser. Cabe mencionar que este sable no es avalado por la federación inter galáctica de lightsabers y por lo tanto no puede destruir el acero ni otras cosas, pero puede servir como un buen aditamento para Halloween o una batalla en la oficina. Consigue el manual PDF aqui, y sigue el projecto desde aqui.

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construyendo desde Instructable

Once upon a time I loved ER.  I was late to the party-I started watching devotedly in 1999.  Before that, I watched a random episode here and there, but with a distracted semi-interest.  My brain was clouded with College and all the higher learning (or lack thereof).  However, in my first Summer back home from school, in that netherworld between post adolescence and full fledged adulthood, I became hooked. The culprit: TNT. Much like the pusherman standing on the corner, Ted Turner's network enticed me with their constant airing of episodes everyday.  I could get my fix twice a day-once in the morning, and then once in the evening.  When I could not watch one, I would tape it (using the VCR-remember those things? don't you love zany references to dated technology)

The great thing about jumping on a bandwagon late is that you can speedily get caught up on the past episodes while also anticipating the new episodes. And since I spent my summer vacation growing facial hair, watching tv, and doing little else, I was ready for the 6th season when it started airing. 

Even though I started watching late, I was smart enough to know that the first few seasons of the show set the bar pretty high.  Dr. Greene, Doug Ross, Carol Hathaway, John Carter, Dr. Benton...these were top notch characters and the action was enthralling.  Even the 1999-2002 seasons were great, with their sudden deaths, illnesses, and twists like the reappearance of former stars. 

  It was somewhere around 2003-2004 when the cracks started appearing (some would argue it was much earlier than that).  Such tried and true gimmicks like seeing a beloved doctor as the victim/patient had grown tired.  The attacks on the actual ER became crazier and more far fetched (a doctor being killed by a falling helicopter; a rocket launcher being used in the ambulance bay; Sasquatch storming through the waiting room and eating children while their parents look on in horror). Ok, I made up that second one, but you get the idea. 

So when it was announced that this would be the 15th and final season of the show, I looked forward to it with weary anticipation. It was not exactly going out on top, but I have been a loyal fan for almost 10 years.  The closest comparison to the recent seasons is Star Wars and Episodes 1-3.  No way do they match up to the originals, but they are still good because they are ER/Star Wars.  The season premiere was solid, with a key cast member of recent years being killed off in tear jerking fashion.  Being the last year, I expected a death or two. So far, so good. 

So imagine my dismay when the second episode of the season introduced 4 new interns that looked like they walked off the set of The Hills/The OC.  Insert snappy dialogue! Insert pathetic ways to have them say their names and backgrounds so the viewers "know" them! Insert anything and everything that has NOT been included over the years to make it such a great show. It is like grilling up a lovely, medium steak on the grill, and then covering it with maple syrup.  

The worst part of all (perhaps a dollup of whipped cream on top of that steak?) was that one of the young interns started speaking to a teenage patient, who was anxious about going back to school.  And while this intern was trying to explain that all older cool people were nerds when they were younger, he sat on the bed in order to "relate" to this patient.  Automatically the "After School Special" alarm went off in my brain.  But I thought "surely this will take a left turn, so that there is some irony or a tweaking of this extremely cliche, played out scenario".  So I nearly projectile vomited when the doctor said of the young patient's future, without a trace of irony, "Your adventure is just beginning!"  

I hope the writers of ER are reading this.  I hope that you can scramble to edit any future episodes that contain drivel that a middle school drama club could write.  And I hope you will not ruin the last gasp of a show that really should have ended a few years ago.  Let the show die with dignity.  Let it slip away in the comfort of its own bed. Not in the middle of the road for cars to run over, elephants to trample, and birds to use as target practice.  Not a pretty image. But neither is smiling 20 somethings giving viewers a transparent, candy coated lesson to choke on.

All kidding aside, this November, please, go vote.  No vote, even for a third party, is a wasted vote.  The election process, flaws and all, is really the main way we have of changing the system.  Just because you think a candidate "doesn't stand a chance" doesn't mean you shouldn't vote for him/her anyway.  If everyone took the time to learn more about all the candidates, then perhaps "your guy" could very well win.

Remember too that the "abstain" vote is as old as the "Yea" and the "Nay" votes.  Sometimes silence speaks louder than shouting.  Just don't listen to what everyone else is doing.  Inform yourself.  We live in the information age and there is no reason you can't find out where all the candidates stand.  Vote your conscience.

Le premier qui m'offre ce gateau aura le droit à ma reconnaissance éternelle!

I'm going to go prepare for the arrival of Palpatine to the White House.

Foram simplesmente 3,96 milhões de espectadores que assistiram ao programa, o que o tornou o maior sucesso de estréia nos 16 anos de existência do canal de desenhos. Mas se engana quem pensa que os maiores espectadores foram os fanáticos de longa data pelo universo de Star Wars, pois a faixa de idade predominante foi de crianças e adolescentes.

No seu dia de estréia, a série teve dois episódios exibidos, chamados de 'Ambush' e 'Rising Malevolence', e como muitos já devem saber, a história se passa depois dos acontecimentos do filme que foi lançado nos cinemas este ano, que por sua vez acontece entre os episódios II e III da série original, e representam a guerra entre os clones da República e os dróides dos Separatistas.

A série será exibida no Brasil apenas no próximo ano, em fevereiro.
O sucesso em sua estréia mostra mais uma vez que o universo de Star Wars ainda é extremamente interessante e bem visto, assim como foi mostrado com o game Star Wars: Force Unleashed, que também representou um grande sucesso entre gamers.

Fonte: Omelete

- By Leandro

Repito, esta es una campaña para combatir las adicciones a las drogas, no un cartel de cine. Efectivamente, hemos de suponer que las personas que crearon esta campaña, no estaban precisamente bajo los efectos de ningún estupefaciente.

La imagen la tomé prestada de WTF Microsiervos.

Dagen börjar, med en viss soliditet, med en krönika om jordens undergång för en finlandsvensk dagstidning. Det får mig att må ganska bra. Jag kanske har en vettvilling i hälarna med, hey, här är jag helt trygg och kan göra goda gärningar för världen. Som att… *telefonen ringer*

Jämföra Jörg Heider och Emperor Palpatine i Hilton i P1? Öh… okej. *inboxen uppdateras* Kommentera tv-serien V för en svensk dagstidning? Så gärna! *kollar todolistan* Skriva ett förstautkast till en akademisk artikel om mitt gamla rollspelsfansin? Kolla några filmer för en essä jag kobbar på? Läsa lite bloggar och skriva rent lite anteckningar om könsroller i Kung Fu Panda?

Alltså… jag är ganska säker på att världen inte just denna höst kommer att kollapsa i rena Mad Max-anarkin, men jag tror det ändå är dags att försöka skaffa lite mad skills nu. Om revolutionen, eller katastrofen, kommer är jag ju fan både hjälplös och en ren börda för samhället. Vår granne skulle förstås säga att jag redan är en börda för samhället. Men han har rätt. Skit också.

Annat intressant.

Attended a live recording of diggnation on Friday night, something I had thus far lived my life blissfully unaware of. It's a live webcast presented by noughties web equivalents of Beavis and Butthead, based on the most popular stories on digg.com. Star Wars fans and Silicon Valley-types love it. Lots of fun, but very perplexing.

This is the sound of 1,700 overexcited geeks:

Rock'n'roll.

Because we didn't *fully* understand all the techie jokes, we mostly passed the time by counting things:

• No. of obscure Star Wars references: 6
• No. of times Beavis and Butthead presenters used the word 'dude' in a 10-minute period: 22
• No. of audience members needing treatment for excitement-induced nosebleeds: undisclosed
• No. of devastated 10-year-old boys standing outside desperate to get a glimpse of their diggnation heroes: far more than there should have been

Apologies and thanks to Dan and Tim, the very sweet boys who bought us drinks at the afterparty. We're sorry we had to run to catch the last train. We'll return the favour next time...

My Godfather Pete crashed that motorbike. Pete was and, still is a very cool Godfather, mostly because he was a biker. I remember him turning up at my Primary school when I was about six or seven on a motorbike and he had a denim jacket on with a teddy bear on the back. In a small (my class had about six other kids in) rural village that was about as rock and roll as it gets. That appearance made me cool by association until about the age of eleven.

I had a black moped for a while and I used to ride it around the farm jumping it off things while humming the theme from Star wars; I'm not sure why. I think because it was black I had decided it was a Darth Vader motorbike. There was a line of thick fur trees on the edge of the gardens and since one of the trees was smaller than the others you could jump a bike through that gap. This was an amazing stunt as it seemed impossible and yet you could burst through the 'solid' trees to the other side with no side effects other than a pine fresh aroma. I had managed this lots of times, although admittedly I practiced on my bicycle before I tried it on a motorcycle, and was fine.

Pete had a go at the jump and hit a tree. The bike was a write-off and Pete did something awful to his ankle and couldn't ride for a few days. He had to hobble around using a broom handle just like a pirate which made him seem even cooler. I think there is a lesson in that we could all learn.

Source: Gorilla Artfare

Price: $14

Source: Amazon

• Not only is NBC's Heroes a show for nerds (and I say that having never missed an episode, even at the depths of last season), it also stars nerds as well. If you need proof, consider this: Milo Ventimigila ("Peter Petrelli") made a Star Wars lightsaber duel as a goof with some friends, and it was shown at San Diego Comic Con just before the Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge awards ceremony.

• Newsday, one of the biggest newspapers in America, did a short write-up about Homemade Hollywood, the book I wrote about fan films that comes out THIS WEEK!

• Fanfilmers.com is yet another new site about fan films. While it plans to offer tutorials and whatnot in the future, for now, it's based around forums.

• The Ithacan Online, a college paper based in, duh, Ithica, NY, recently did a feature, "The Wizard of Rock," profiling Ithaca College sophomore Lena Weinstein, who is providing music to the upcoming Harry Potter fan film, James Potter and the Hall of Elders Crossing, based on the fanfic novel of the same name.

• There's a behind-the-scenes retrospective on a Megaman fan film being made by Eddie LeBron at this site.

Image via Wikipedia

The Star Wars saga will be featured on TV

http://cn3.cartoonnetwork.com.mx/8470047

That's cool...

Yup, I just watched the first episode of Clone Wars.  It was awesome!  My only real complaint is that the battle droids were gayer than Clay Akin with a rainbow sweater-vest.  Aside from that, the episode was awesome and I can't wait for more.  I hope this sereis stays good.

I watched it online at starwars.com  Not only do the have full episodes, but they have the episodes with commentary.  (which I need to watch eventually)

You can watch online eps of Clone Wars (along with other promotional videos) here.

I hope you enjoy them!

Olá! Se você acompanha sempre o Blog dos Battle Nerds, deve estar pensando neste momento onde está a coluna de ciências que aparece por aqui todo domingo. Pois bem. Infelizmente, os cientistas dos Battle Nerds estão ocupadíssimos e precisam de um tempinho para organizarem todos os seus projetos. Sabe como é. Com aquela quantidade de potes, tubos de ensaio, cálculos matemáticos... Eles precisam de um tempo só deles para se isolarem e conseguirem fazer sabonetes a partir de gordura. Enquanto isso, vocês terão essa humilde coluna semanal que vai comentar os principais fatos da... hm... semana. Enfim, continuando. Para os que ficaram tristes com essa notícia, não precisam se preocupar, a coluna de ciências não morreu, só vai sair da grade por algum tempo. Se tudo ajudar (e eu espero que sim), devemos ver vários artigos de ciência pipocando por aqui. Mas chega de blá blá blá e vamos ao que interessa.

Se você não mora na lua e tiver mais de 14 anos, deve estar sabendo da "pequena" crise que o mundo está passando. Pois é,  o mundo financeiro está em polvorosa pela crise que os EU da A estão enfrentando, já que isso está ecoando pelos bolsos da maioria das pessoas ao redor do mundo. Mas, antes de falar da crise, é preciso entendê-la, não é verdade? Para você, amiguinho que não sabe nada sobre mercado financeiro, eu vou explicar de uma forma simples o que aconteceu.

Jabba, o Hutt, tem lá sua rede de comércio. Para aumentar seus lucros com os caçadores de recompensa, ele resolve patrocinar alguns clones e vender fiado os equipamentos para eles para que eles paguem mais caro nas armas com base no crédito que conseguem. Um cara em um banco em Tattoine, que gerencia as contas do Jabba por baixo dos panos, percebe que essas dívidas que o Jabba tem são um ativo recebível e passa a emprestar dinheiro a ele com essa dívida como garantia. Mais pra frente, outros executivos do banco usam a tal dívida para criar diversos fundos de investimento cheios de letras e siglas que ninguém sabe exatamente o que significam. Esses fundos alavancam o mercado de capitais e iniciam operações estruturadas na bolsa de Coruscant, que desconhece de onde vem o lastro inicial (os clones do Jabba). Durante anos, esses derivados são negociados como se fossem títulos sérios e com garantias reais nos mercados financeiros de umas 30 galáxias, até que alguém descobre que os clones não vão pagar nada, o Jabba matar todo mundo e toda aquela rede de crédito ir para o saco.

No nosso caso, os devedores são os moradores americanos que colocavam suas casas hipotecadas nos bancos imobiliários, que estão sofrendo horrores agora que o pessoal não paga mais nada. Com isso, os fundos de investimentos da maioria dos outros bancos perderam dinheiro e, quando algum peixe grande deixa de ganhar dinheiro, alguém tem que pagar a conta. É ai que entram os fundos de investimento das pessoas comuns, os juros do cartão de crédito e do cheque especial e por assim em diante. Para evitarem uma perda muito grande, eles precisam tirar de outros lugares para taparem seus respectivos rombos de orçamento.

Hoje o mercado vive um momento de crise intensa, apesar das tentativas dos governos mundiais para aliviarem, o mercado não deu nenhum sinal de melhora. A injeção de dinheiro do governo americano para salvar os bancos e as ações conjuntas de vários países para baixar o juros são medidas que ajudam, mas que não conseguem ser realmente eficazes para conter a crise, criando momentos de pequena melhora, mas que não se propagam por mais de um dia. E como já dizia Murphy, nada está tão ruim que não possa piorar.

A questão mais atual é "até quando iremos ficar em crise?", e essa pergunta, infelizmente, niguém sabe a resposta. Muita gente comenta que essa crise já superou a Grande Depressão, que aconteceu em 1929, com a quebra da Bolsa de Valores americana, mas será que iremos tão fundo como daquela vez? Ninguém sabe exatamente o que vai acontecer, então resta apenas torcer para alguma idéia milagrosa aparecer. A grande depressão só acabou 10 ano depois, com o início da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Será que algum engraçadinho vai propor a mesma idéia? Aposto que as novas empresárias de Amstertã torcem contra isso.

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