A quick note to everyone having trouble getting to my main site: I've got a trouble ticket in with one of the tech support dudes and he's taking a look at what the trouble could be. Hopefully it'll clear up soon, if it hasn't already. Thanks for your patience!

V was rebooted on Tuesday. While a decent update with some cool moments, it had some odd decisions, mostly in the early going. Like having pointless action (Tyler riding his motorcycle, dodging heavy traffic) while interesting stuff is already going on (like a freakin' spaceship flying over the city). They also used water as one of the reasons the Visitors came to Earth. There's abundant water in the solar system that isn't in a gravity well. I'm also not sure what mineral would be available on Earth that couldn't be found in the asteroid belt (though I could easily be mistaken). And true, it's a ruse, but you'd want a ruse that wouldn't raise alarm bells among scientists. What I didn't like outright was the first scene of someone spraypainting a red "V" was on a YouTube video of some pro-Visitor youths tagging a wall in support of "the V's." And the show lacked a creep-tastic theme like the first mini, though sacrificing theme tunes for more commercial time is the trend these days. Also, that original tune didn't survive the transition to a series, and an appropriately 80's-esque version was composed.

Mostly, though, the structure of the first program seemed designed to "hurry up and get to the bit where the resistance starts," which is where it got really interesting. If the show gets more coherent and less scattered after this, I'll probably enjoy it more. We're going to get four episodes at least, and if the ratings work out, we'll get more "V" in March.

Oh, and a "location 4400" was mentioned, a nice hat-tip to previous work by scriptwriter Scott Peters... who is now no longer helming the show and has been replaced with a producer from "Chuck."

Now a video game item that even non-video gamers might find intriguing: apparently, a game was released in Japan for the Wii, and it had a dismal opening, garnering only 100 sales in its first week. I predict that will change soon, as it's a game so off the wall, I think it will be purchased out of morbid curiosity. From what I can gather, you're a cat trying to pass initiation into a company run by another cat. This is what the trailer looks like, and there are several videos of gameplay which border on mind-boggling. I think we might be seeing the beginning of a legendary title, though perhaps not in the way intended by the creators.

"North 40" continues to do well among critics, scoring an "unequivocally one of the best horror comics in years" from Comixtreme dot com, and the guys from Tales from the Parents Basement were kind enough to let me yammer about it and other things over the phone at them. On the topic of horror writing, it looks like Stephen King is continuing to spend his retirement from writing as a writer, putting out a book called "Under the Dome." It even has a teaser trailer. Is it me, or do you think he got the idea after seeing "The Simpsons Movie?

There are worse places to get inspiration, I suppose, like:

- An interesting experiment in childhood culture: Four children list what they think the names of various Lego pieces are (scroll down for the chart). I just called most of them "that darn piece I can't find."
- I didn't realize that Scientology celebrated the winter holidays or that they had a gift catalog. Someone found it put it online for our shopping needs. I'm not sure I can think of a book set of any sort I'd plunk down 2 grand for, goatskin covers or no...
- After recently posting about the world's largest rubber band ball, I felt I had to offer equal time to the world's largest meatball.
- What with "Ghost Hunters" and other paranormal offerings becoming more common, the webcomic Wondermark gives us the proper plurals for most supernatural entities.
- Here's a cute puzzle game where you explore via clicking and dragging to give a bunny what it desires: Full Moon. To get started, click repeatedly on the rabbit.
- This is either awesome or disgusting, depending on the ingredients: Leftover Halloween Candy Pie.
- Most of these, however, are just plain awesome: New design concepts for teapots. I think Captain Picard's ready room would look spiffy with several of these.
- Here's a clip from the upcoming Doctor Who animated special, Dreamland. I sure hope the writing is good, because the animation looks very low-quality. I think I prefer the previous technique to this "Shrek on the cheap" look. This anime version ain't too shabby, either.
- Weird Al has written a tribute to 'The Trashmen,' the group that gave us the 1964 hit, "Surfin' Bird."
- I don't think I've ever posted a flash-based pinball game before, so here's Power Pinball. It gains extra cred from me because you can use the flippers to "hold" the ball, just like in real pinball.

Happy Birthday (last weekend) to my lovely wife, Cristi, who once again turns 29 for the first time. What you're seeing to the left is my gift to her (click to embiggen): A bookshelf made from a disassembled (and non-functional, in case there are any musicians in the house) antique pump organ. I'd been tinkering with this project for months, and finally got around to finishing it up when we embarked upon the "great basement purging of 2009," so I didn't methodically take pictures of the process. I found the organ at a garage sale, looking similar to this one, but in much better shape. After removing nearly every screw, I used the tallest bits for the lower parts of the shelf uprights. The upper half is made from several pieces of wood that originally adorned the front of the organ, cut in half and affixed to the lower part with wooden pegs. Those columns used to support the keyboard and stop knob console. The only parts that aren't original to the organ are the shelves (except for the one made from the keys) and the plywood back. I still want to try fitting an old gooseneck lamp to the top, putting the neck through the central hole as a bit of an accent to the piece. Cristi said she loves it, and now I have to figure out what I'm going to do to top it next year...

Some movie stuff, the first item going pretty far into the "crazy yet possibly awesome" range on the ol' "so bad it's good" movie meter: Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. To be fair, this is from a studio whose entire catalog consists of rip-offs of other films (like the now-"Sci-Fi Original" movie, Alien Vs. Hunter). This one seems to be possibly inspired by "Cloverfield" by way of the Discovery Channel. It's got cheesy CGI, a giant shark jumping out of the water to bite a commercial airliner, and Debbie Gibson. Yes, that Debbie Gibson. She's definitely no slouch, doing a lot of theater work as she relates in this interview, along with answering questions about the "Mega Shark" movie (fast-forward to 3:00 to skip a replay of the trailer). I also noticed the movie's font was "Vulgar Display of Power," a freeware font I've found useful in the past. :)

There's also a new "Sherlock Holmes" movie afoot, and the trailer has Robert Downey Jr. playing what appears to be Holmes by way of James Bond (given the massive lockpick collection, the sleeve-gun, and what appears to be a tazer/cattle prod). Not much to say on this one, except that I'll always think of Holmes as Basil Rathbone or Tom Baker.

On television, "Terminator" is gone, "Dollhouse" got a second season, and "Chuck" will return, albeit with a unprecedented level of product placement to ensure its survival. I'm curious to know what terms were negotiated with the writers insofar as potential mockery of the product and/or screen time is concerned. "Subway" is a pretty innocuous food vendor, lacking the links to french fries and teenaged minimum-wage "I'll have to ask my manager" types, so they could be an unobtrusive presence. I do kind of wonder what it would have been like if they'd partnered with Burger King.

I also have a book recommendation, though I'm only halfway through it, called "Bloodsucking Fiends." It's a kind of "hip" vampire novel with some decent humor and a good set of "rules" for the undead themselves. It's a tad dated, being pre-economic meltdown, though I give it points for having a character called "The Emperor of San Francisco" referring to the people working in the financial sector as "lost souls" who cling to what they were told would make them happy, and believe it so long as they all agree to believe it. If you enjoy it, a sequel called "You Suck: A Love Story" was published only two years ago.

Lastly, back to TV: "V" is coming back. There have already been a few clips released to the public that give us an updated version of the aliens' first contact with our world (flaunting their superior big screen TV technology right off the bat). The actress on the belly of the ship should be familiar to fans of "Firefly" as Inarra, played by Morena Baccarin. Details are still sparse, though gathering water still seems to be in the cards. They make reference to a "mineral" in the water, which I hope explains why they wouldn't just go harvest ice from Saturn's rings or some other place where you aren't fighting gravity. I've also heard questions as to whether the new "V" will involve creating a tyrannical occupation like the previous series, or if they're going for something more subtle. In any case, I can't imagine how they could top the miniseries theme music which still gives me chills.

To help put images of Diana eating a guinea pig out of your mind, here's some fun:

- In spite of its title, the clip called Whack-A-Kitty contains no cruelty and 1000% of your daily requirement of cute. May cause cavities.
- Here's a neat project if you're a garage sale hound like m'self and happen upon a lot of old camera and radio equipment: How to build a raygun from disused technology.
- A mini-game time waster with a bit of a dark theme: When the Bomb Goes Off. Each mini-game has a task to accomplish 5 seconds before a nuclear bomb lays waste to civilization. A red mushroom cloud means you failed, a green one means you succeeded... kind of.
- I have finally found a USB drive that I'm willing to be gouged for. Now if only it would fit inside of the Soundwave MP3 player, I'd be set.
- Cosmic Cannon is another simple time-killer game, where the object is to keep one of your numbered balls in the air as long as possible by hitting it with other cannonballs.
- Some of us are officially old. Many of our fondest toys and tools have already fossilized.
- It says it's a "study ball," but I think I'd like to try it as a keep the artist from raiding the fridge for at least an hour ball.
- One more game: Bloony Wheel, where you control what appears to be a unicycle affixed to a helium balloon. Learn to use the strengths of each part to get through the puzzling levels.
- A language warning on this final link: A list of the best comments found in computer source code. What I know about programming could probably fit on the back of a cereal box, but I understand the humorous nature of written frustration just fine. :)

Ever since I discovered "Q.I." and the joys thereof, I've been a huge fan of Stephen Fry. He's funny as well as insightful, plus he's got that unique British ability to say the most ribald things and make it sound like it came from a seminar at Oxford. Anyway, this week I drew a cartoon hightlighting his doing some voicework for the upcoming game, "LittleBigPlanet" on the PS3. I also found out his voice will be heard as a character in the upcoming release, "Fable 2." Further, while looking for amusing clips for posting about him, I discovered he's got a travelogue DvD about America coming out soon. He's almost immune from Google bombing, such is the volume of his knowledge and work. When debating whether or not I should inflict the image accompanying this post on an unsuspecting public, a quick search brought up this archived podcast from BBC4 where Stephen gives us an in-depth look at the groaniest form of humor and why it's so very British.

I almost think someone needs to make a second version of the venerable "Steve-O-Meter" with Mr. Fry in mind. :)

Touching on things semi-British, the remake of "Eleventh Hour" aired this week, and I have to say I miss Patrick Stewart, who starred in the original. The US version has Marley Shelton playing Dr. Hood's FBI bodyguard. Her delivery was wooden enough to make me think her screen test must have had "she's pretty" written in the comments section. I'm going to give this one a few more episodes (or, at least, some that aren't retellings of the original 4-episode run on ITV) to decide whether or not it gets TiVo'ed. It also, according to i09.com, does several disservices to science, which most TV shows do, to be frank.

I'm hoping that, much as "Battlestar Galactica" got a decent upgrade, the new version of "V: The Miniseries" will get some similar treatment on ABC. All I ask is that they ditch the "mall hair" of the original but keep the creepy opening theme instead of the synthesizery one that came later. I also wouldn't mind if they brought someone like J. Michael Straczynski on board. If you've never read the opening pages to his script treatment for a "V" sequel called "Rebirth," it's a pretty good setup for a new story.

And now I make my websurfing tax deductable:

- I might have to make my wife drive on our next road trip if I can get a hold of this gaming prototype that uses the passing scenery as part of the game. I wonder if some Optical Character Recognition software could let you play "Highway Alphabet" against the computer?
- Here's a Cthulhu Specimen Case, created by artist Alex CF. I might have to break out the ol' soldering iron and art supplies someday m'self and create a few oddities...
- Air combat from the age of steam & cannon is the subject of Air Battle. Pop your opponent's balloons, collect coins, and avoid plummeting to your doom!
- Though the new "Knight Rider" show is... what it is... "Mythbusters" took a look at if a car could go up a ramp into a semi while moving at highway speeds. I had a high school science teacher who was convinced they filmed the shots in reverse, as KITT would surely have smashed into the front of the trailer. This also means the "Spy Hunter" video game was accurate, right?
- (A small language warning on this one) Batman must have made inappropriate remarks to Lois Lane or something. He can console himself that Supes doesn't realize he installed his prank backwards, but the point was made.
- The zombies will one day rise up, so our nation would be well advised to teach our children about it via Lego.
- Speaking of monsters, if you're stuck for a pumkin design to frighten the monsters laying seige to your home until they pillage your candy, here's a page of some pretty clever Jack-O-Lanters. Mouse over the small photos to change the three large ones at the top.
- Back to Britain for a look at a giant mechanical spider that attacked Liverpool recently (thanks to alert reader Daniel). I now know what I'm buying the second I win the lottery! :)
- And from the comments of last Wednesday's entry, Weird Al has a parody out of Whatever You Like by T.I. Al's version, seen & heard here is a bit more reflective of our economic times.