Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00049

Otter Disaster #46: World Domination

Bitstrips Design Challenge: World Domination

Memories and Thoughts as the VHS Format Turns 33!

Today the VHS format turned 33! I was only four years old when VHS was introduced to the world in 1977. We wouldn't have one for about five more years, but I remember when we first got a VHS VCR in my house, we hooked it up and one of my sisters had rented an American Werewolf in London.

It must have been 1982,  I was only 9 at the time, but I remember watching that movie with my family, all the nudity, and violence intact from the theatrical release.  I was used to watching movies that had been cut to pieces, edited for content and length and appearing on network television.  We did not have cable so we had to drive 20 miles from Selden to Oberlin, Kansas to rent movies.  I don't remember too many of the films we rented, but I recall seeing Trading Places, one or two of the Friday the 13th films, and 16 Candles.  I specifically remember watching the George Romero/Stephen King comedy-horror masterpiece, Creepshow while a friend was over for a sleepover, and that we stayed up pretty much most of the night scared out of our young minds!

We didn't rent a whole lot in those days due to the distance involved in obtaining and returning videos, but mostly used the VCR for it's most revolutionary aspect, time shifting television, and allowing us to record one channel while watching another.  It's sometimes difficult to remember what a life-changing concept this was in the 1980s given the current age of DVRs and streaming web video.

As the youngest child of four it became very apparent that this was a tool designed for me.  I was often low man on the totem pole when it came to choosing viewing material, so the VCR guaranteed I'd never miss Automan, Misfits of Science, or Manimal, shows that my Knots Landing, Dallas loving sisters despised.

Once we moved to Oberlin in 1986 I had my first crack at Cable TV, and the VHS once again proved to be a world changer for me.  For whatever reason when we got cable we were not given a cable box for the channels beyond 13, but I quickly discovered the tuner in our VCR went up to 188, so all those upper tier channels became available.  I found the Discovery Channel (16) and Nickelodeon (33, I think).  Nickelodeon at the time featured the awesome, You Can't Do That on Television (check out the Pythonesque intro), Mr. Wizards World, and the surreal animated French adventure show Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. I wish they'd release that one in an English language DVD set, but alas, no.  Check out the awesome opening credits:

Check out some Spartakus episodes HERE!

I also remember using the VCR to record NBC's Friday Night Videos, and Night Flight on USA Network. We didn't have MTV in my home town (not even on the upper channels) so those two shows were my only real outlet to view music videos. Here's some Night Flight video about the movie Krull if you've forgotten this awesome 80s show:



Night Flight featured all kinds of video weirdness aside from music, and was my first exposure to the Church of the Subgenius.

I used the VCR to sample and save all kinds of shows and movies and I still have a collection of movies on tape, as well as three working VHS players (one is a DVD combo).  Somewhere in my stacks of old tapes I still have the pilot episode of Twin Peaks from the night it premiered, commercials and all.

VHS tape is truly a buyers market these days.  Thrift stores often have movies on videocassette for as little as $1 each, not just junk either, but major releases.  There is also a lot of stuff that was released on VHS that hasn't made the jump to DVD, so visit those thrift stores.  You can probably pick up a standard definition TV and VCR while you're there.

Last year the awesome website/podcast The Retroist did a great show on the VCR. You can listen to that show HERE.

Happy Birthday VHS, I'll never forget you!

Bitstrips: New Builder Features Fully Pose-able Characters

Early on April 1st the Bitstrips Comic Builder started bringing in characters with nothing but stick figures for bodies.  Upon further investigation it was revealed that these stick figures were pose-able limb by limb outside the standard Bitstrips poses usually available.  A long awaited feature was being unleashed!

Bitstrippers the site over build dozens and dozens of stick figure strips with characters in all sorts of fantastic poses.  I myself created this simple Cowboy vs. Clown strip:

It was done in anticipation of the ability to create decent fight scenes, something that was very tough to do in the then current builder.  Later that day characters started appearing fully fleshed out, and still pose-able!:

As I pondered the possibilities of this fantastic development I began thinking about the importance of body language in communication, and how it is a powerful tool in comics.  Body language can convey a lot of information wordlessly.  I built this simple strip to show some of the possibilities:

I was also lucky enough to have it placed on the Editor's Pick page which hasn't happened to one of my strips in quite some time. I can't wait to exploit this new tool, and give my characters more 'character'.

Understanding (Online Services that Let You Build) Comics

Yesterday at comics guru Scott McCloud's website he posted a link to this video at Pixton.com, and asked creators their opinion.  A pretty interesting debate ensued in the comments thread, from haters, lovers, and the indifferent alike.  Bitstrips developer BA (you'll notice in the link to his profile that he is user 3!) jumped in to defend Pixton and Bitstrips as simply another tool with which to enjoy comics.  I threw in a few opinions as well as Bitstrips super-user and all-around nice guy BoomMike.

One commenter left this response to BA and mentions lo-fi web sensation XKCD:

BA: “accessible to everyone, rather than an elite few with the rare combination of talent and patience”

Yes, the elite world of webcomics, where there are absolutely no barriers of entry. Give me a break. Have you ever heard of XKCD? It has stick figures and gets like 40 million hits a month. That’s because he is a funny writer and knows his audience. I’m sure you know that, but the whole “access” angle is part of the sales pitch for your website.

If Pixton 2.0 allows people to scan in their own drawings and work with those, that might be something worth noting. This is just lame.

Here is my response:

Jesse, isn’t XKCD exactly the point? That it doesn’t necessarily matter what tools you use if the ideas, writing, and execution are solid, and you communicate effectively?

Bitstrips and Pixton are as capable of conveying a message in comics form as XKCD. It’s the user of the tools and the message created with them, not the tools themselves. If there were 10,000 stick figure strips out there (and there may be) would that diminish XKCD? I could also mention Get Your War On and Dinosaur Comics as strips with a simplified artistic approach that communicate really well.

As BA mentioned there is a high signal to noise ration on these sites, but that is largely because they serve as a clearing house offering both a creative platform and storage/hosting for the strips. Maybe not everyone wants to get a blog or develop their own site and deal with hosting/coding/etc. These sites/services do lower that particular barrier to entry.

There are are probably more bad webcomics out there than good ones created using ‘traditional’ methods, but that is no reason to question the tools used to make them.

I’ve read some really good stuff at Bitstrips (among a lot of bad stuff), and there are some extremely creative and clever creators there. I’ve watched people start simply, and become more sophisticated in their approach to their strips in both the writing and the art. I hope I’ve made some enjoyable stuff there myself., and as I mentioned I’ve learned a lot about comics from making them that I wouldn’t have learned simply by reading them.

I’ve also seen a large sector of the user base push the tools in directions I’m not sure they were initially intended and I’ve witnessed the developers respond to the needs and desires of those users. Bitstrips continues to improve, and I hope there will come a day when I can use my own custom art as part of the experience.

I work to make my characters and scenes as distinct as possible to put my own stamp on them (a constant challenge for me). And believe it or not, there are certain creators who have a ’style’ and I can often pick them out of the crowd, even with the homogenized ‘house style’ that Bitstrips currently offers. BoomMike, who commented above is one of them. These sites are really in their infancy at this point, but they will increasingly become customizable and eventually you will be able to personalize the art to the point of making it uniquely your own.

Could Apple's iTablet bring me back to monthly comics?

There is much anticipation of Apple's big announcement this Wednesday, with pretty much everyone expecting them to reveal some kind of slate or tablet style computer. As someone who gave up on reading monthly 'floppy' comics in 2006 because of ever-increasing prices, the notion of a digital comics reader is somewhat intriguing.

I'm sure the comics industry will have some sort of app/reader for comics available for the device when it finally ships (if they are smart).

One key here for me is pricing.  If the price of the iSlate/iTablet/iDunno is reasonable out of the gate, or falls to a reasonable price in the next few years I'll consider getting one.  I'll probably be in the market for a laptop in a few years anyway, and all the apps that will be available will just mean added value. If Marvel/DC (or any other publisher) wants to recapture lost readers (and entice newer ones) they will have to price their digital comics reasonably.  They will have an opportunity here to win big, or shoot themselves in the foot.

The print version of Fantastic Four #575 will be in stores on the same day as Apple's announcement and is cover priced at $2.99, which is now pretty typical, with some titles hitting the $3.99 mark.  I stopped when most titles hit $2.25-$2.50 an issue.  I was reading anywhere from 10-15 titles a month at that point and spending about $35 a month on my comics habit.  My choice was to cut back on titles, which I did for a while, or spend more money, which I couldn't afford to do.  Ultimately I decided to pick up the odd trade paperback, OGN, or collection, and get a complete story for my comics dollar.  This of course took me out of the shops regularly and my comics consumption has dropped accordingly due to the price of the books.

If an iTunes style, digital comics service could deliver a title for $.99 per issue (or less), I'd seriously consider reading them monthly again.  At that price, I could afford 10 regular titles a month and the ability to sample newer releases or limited series without breaking the bank.  Additionally if I find a series or story arc worth hanging on to, then I can always purchase a collected print version when it becomes available.

Another obvious key factor will be how these comics read on the device, and if the portability can help with the loss of that tactile experience of the printed page.

I always suspected this was how it worked: Tetris God

Having wasted many otherwise productive hours playing Tetris, I was pleased to find this video explaining how the 'random' pieces are chosen:


via videosift.com

Hands on my Missle!

Missle Command is one of my all-time favorite video games, so this is the coolest thing I've seen today:



I wish I had one of these in my living room.

Miscellaneous Debris: Part 7

What if a virus or plague wiped out all of humanity and left the world free of humans?
The World Without Us is a new book by Alan Weisman that explores that idea. The website for the book describes how infrastructure would gradually collapse and how the human void would be filled with plants, animals, and fungi. A really cool multimedia page has videos and slide shows with speculative art and animation about this concept.

Here is a spot-on Simpsons open using the Star Wars characters. It was made by the guy who gave us Star Dudes and it's sequels.

NASA is testing methane powered rocket engines. Methane can be found on planets other than ours, so it is a good fuel for extra planetary trips, such as to Mars. It's nice that once you get where you are going, you can fill up and come home as well. . .

And Just for fun is is the minimalist, stylish, and simply beautiful intro to the original Ultraman:

Hat Tip to the always cool Main Title Heaven blog. Ultraman Tiga(with a totally awesome theme song), and Ultraman Towards the Future, can also be seen.

Virtual Me: Technological Singularity and Life in a Simulation

Some people believe that a Technological Singularity will arrive in this century. The singularity is described as:

the hypothesized creation, usually via AI or brain-computer interfaces, of smarter-than-human entities who rapidly accelerate technological progress beyond the capability of human beings to participate meaningfully in said progress. Futurists have varying opinions regarding the time, consequences, and plausibility of such an event.

Basically Artificial Intelligences advance beyond human intelligence to the point where those AIs can design ever more intelligent AIs or continually make themselves more intelligent. These intelligences could solve all of humanity's problems such as energy, pollution, overpopulation, hunger, etc.

Humanity would be reduced to a sideline observer (Unless this intelligence explosion is coupled with some sort of human/computer marriage). People might be able to download into machines achieving a sort of immortality, allowing for interstellar exploration, and possibly the colonization of other planets. We could use the Singularity technologies to create cloned or engineered bodies (or just live as cyborgs or robots) to explore, settle and live on these new worlds.

Of course this is all dependent of the AI's allowing humans to survive at all.

None of the arguments above matter at all though, if the Singularity has already occurred and we are living in a computer simulation, as this site suggests as a possibility.
The position of this theory(posited by Dr.Nick Bostrom), is summed up nicely in this New York Times piece by John Tierney which suggests that a sufficiently advanced civilization will start to run computer simulations on computers with more computing power than the brains of all the people on earth. We could just be virtual people living in a simulated virtual universe. Not only that, but the advanced civilization would likely run more than one of these simulations to factor in numerous variables, and increase the likelihood that we already live in one of these simulations.

Tierney follows up with an article on the probability and ethics of running such simulations. HERE Reader comments present argument for and against.

A second followup rebuts arguments suggesting the impossibility of the necessary computing power here.

Of course any simulation could contain internally consistent physics that may or may not reflect the physics of the 'real world'. It could be that the physics within the simulation are simpler than the higher order physics of the 'real world' and we couldn't know. Think about the simpler physics we simulate in video games and 3D animation. The physics in those situations are only as complex as they need to be for the simulated world appear realistic.

We needn't worry that nothing is real, though, because everything and everyone within the simulation is real to everything and everyone else(in the simulation). If I throw my coffee cup against the wall, even if it is only a simulation, it still breaks, I can still cut my hand on a shard of broken glass, feel the pain in my simulated brain, and ultimately it is all real to the virtual me.

Think about it too long and it gives you a headache, but it also presents some interesting possibilities. One could conceivably travel to parallel worlds via a network connection, or we could figure out how to 'hack' reality and do some really weird stuff (if the simulation would allow it). Perhaps these things have also already occurred and explain lots of paranormal things like ghosts, flying saucers, alien abductions etc.

Airships Are Cool

Airships sort of fell out of prominence after this:

but they seem to be making a comeback of late. They can carry massive cargo loads or lots of people and can use less fuel than trucks or planes with slower travel times being the trade-off.

Several companies are researching and designing modern airships for all kinds of potential uses.

Next month Aeros will be introducing the AEROSCRAFT ML866, which is essentially a flying sky yacht with a 5000 square foot living/business/cargo area.

The folks at Dynalifter see modern airships as an emerging economical competitor to trucking with the benefit of much larger payloads and the ability to land in areas where trucks can't. Two of their Dynalifter Freighters can carry as much cargo as 100 semi-trucks.

JP Aerospace believes that specially designed airships can serve as a platform into orbit.

There are lots of interesting airship designs like a vertical tower, giant spheres, or a flying disk.

Most of these seem to be in the R&D phase right now, but you might be able to get started soon with your own Personal Blimp once it gets FAA Approval.

For lots of great Airship news and comments, visit the very cool Airshipworld Blog.

You Could Become a Super Hero in the Real World

Neatorama inspired me to look into Real Life Super Heroes (RLSH) with this post, linking to this article. As an on-again/off-again comic book collector, I was fascinated, so I decided to find out more.

Let's suppose you decide to don the mask and tights to fight crime, injustice, or super aggressive men in bars.

First, you'll need a name.
What's your Superhero Name?
Lee's (Useless)Superhero Generator
And for a little more customization try Seventh Sanctum's Super Hero/Villain Name Generator

Once you've got a cool name you might want to register at The World Super Hero Registry. Once there you can find someone to meet, misunderstand, fight with, then team up with to fight the real threat.
Maybe you could even join their superteam.

You'll also need to buy some cool gadgets and gear. Or like Iron Man, Spider-Man or the Eye, you could build your own.
Modernsuperhero.com, is a blog that keeps you up to date on all types of Super Hero quality gadgets and gear.
Gizmodo has some more cool hero gadgets. Personally, I'd like to take a spin in the Tesla Coil Car.

Check out this documentary, titled Real Life Superhero! for more real life heroics. The film's YouTube Page has some cool clips to show you how it's done.

Get yourself an origin, put your undies on the out side and go fight crime!

iPhone Nano?

I work with an Apple nut. He left work on the day of the iPhone's release to pick up his much coveted, much talked about phone. I joked with another co-worker that I was waiting for the iPhone Nano, now it turns out my joke might be closer to reality than I thought.

Or maybe I'll just get one of these.