Google ran some non-intuitive tests of its Google Chrome browser speeds versus real world events. Unless you have Ghod’s Own Internet Connection and a state of the art computer built next week, your mileage may vary. But still, this is more than a bit impressive. Also, be aware that Futurama is about to kick into its new season in a few weeks. I for one am thrilled the wait is almost over.
The best version of Star Wars yet… at least the best version that tells the original 3 movies in 2 and a quarter minutes using Lego’s. This one’s a hoot; thank you Science Fiction Geeks for the heads up on this one.
The video after that is a real commercial for the TomTom team, who now has an assortment of official voices from Star Wars to feed you your driving instructions. It just cracked me up, so I had to include it today. Thanks to SciFi/Fantasy author Lillith Saintcrow for that link!
Warning: Not work friendly, but a real fun video! Now to see if I can accurately type that many words as a URL with no typos…
This one is a bit unusual, in that it is purely a Costume Con, or in fact the 28th Costume-Con held in Milwaukee, WI. All flavors are welcome; Cosplayers, Furries, Historical Reenactors, Theater/Movie costuming professionals, and many other variations. The events appear to be arranged by temporal shift (past, present, future), and does appear to include a predominance of genre groups.
There are also a few 1 day Comic-Cons (basically just Collectible shows), including Hickory Con in Hickory, NC, JMV Comic Book Show in Fort Worth,TX, and the Clifton NJ Comic Book Expo.
There is some wonderful science fiction art being produced continuously, and a lot of the world class artists who produce it have put tutorials online so you can learn how to build your own. My favorite magazine on the topic is ImagineFX, which at $16 dollars a copy US seems a little pricey. Until, that is, you notice the DVD each issue comes with has all the workshops for that issue, including all the resources you need to follow along and make your own version. It also includes various free resources, like Fonts, Brushes, video instructions, 3D models, Textures, open source free apps, and so forth. A lot of their Workshops go online so you can access them there, usually around three months after the magazine hits the news stand. In addition, many of the contributing artists like Henning or Tom Nelson also post their contributions on their own web sites (again with the three month pause; no one wants to discourage you from buying the magazine and actively supporting the artists and publisher).
I have posted about this magazine before of course; what made me think of it now? I just found a nice article called Beyond Cylons and Warp Drive: Phenomenal Sci-Fi Concept Art that showcases 40 incredible works by almost as many artists. Each of the images links back to the source page so you can learn more about the creator and the project. Some of these are book covers, some are matte paintings for the backgrounds in movies or TV shows, some are paintings or page illustrations for magazines, but they are all amazing. And did I mention the site that published the article also is full of tutorials? Just in case you were thinking of building your own…
The 800 pound gorilla for this week is obvious: Iron Man 2. If it is half as good as the first one, it will be twice as good as everything else opening this week.