Category: Geek Stuff

Star Wars Meets…Les Miserables?!?

Here’s an excellent video that mashes up Star Wars and Les Miserables. It features the confrontation between Valjean and Javert, but with lightsabers and Force powers. As a Star Wars nerd and a fan of Les Miserables (the musical, not the book…that I haven’t finished), I found the video utterly awesome. The actors sing well and the addition of lightsabers is hilarious! It makes you wonder though. How interesting would the Paris Uprising of 1832 have been if everyone had lightsabers?

As you know, most of the best fight scenes in cinema feature one of two things — music (see West Side Story) and lightsabers (Kenobi vs. Skywalker I). Combining the two is sheer genius. Check out the clip below and let me know what you think (please). What other musicals would benefit from lightsabers? How about Cats or A Chorus Line?

Taco Bell to Sell Waffle Taco (Why?!?)

Not content with selling you unhealthy foods for lunch and dinner, Taco Bell plans to annihilate breakfast with the Waffle Taco. The product was tested at five Taco Bell restaurants in California and apparently customers loved it. The Waffle Taco is now available at 100 Taco Bell locations, as of August 8, 2013. Here’s the description via Time:

The fast-food chain says the waffle taco, which includes scrambled eggs, sausage and a side of syrup.

While this sounds like typical fast-food breakfast dreck, at least it’s not as ridiculous as the KFC Double Down.

Are any of you intrigued by the Taco Bell Waffle Taco? Do you see it becoming a regular part of your diet?

Source

[Thanks to my pal Mike for the link!]

Elon Musk Posts 57 Pages of Hyperloop Magic (PDF)

Tesla Motors chairman, CEO, and product architect Elon Musk has posted a 57-page PDF detailing the company’s Hyperloop project. Touted as a groundbreaking form of public transportation, Hyperloop will (theoretically) be able to complete trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes. It (allegedly) offers safe and comfortable travel at speeds higher than 700 miles per hour, using a system that’s described as a combination of a rail gun and an air-hockey table.

Other bonuses touted on the Tesla Motors site include Continue reading “Elon Musk Posts 57 Pages of Hyperloop Magic (PDF)”

Coffee Talk #598: Your Favorite Internet Grammar & Usage Errors

The other day, RPadholic smartguy posted a comment about social media making the world dumber because it ignores poor spelling and punctuation. In this particular case, Texas Rangers pitcher and chief misogyny officer Matt Garza was guilty of a common Internet mistake — using “there” instead of “their.” Garza meant to menacingly tweet, “Some people can’t shut their woman up!” but instead wrote, “Some people can’t shut there woman up!”

All of us have misused there/their/they’re, its/it’s, and your/you’re. Smartguy is absolutely right though — the Internet is making it worse. Instead of lamenting the fact, let’s celebrate it! What are some of your favorite Internet grammar and usage errors? Here are some of mine…continued

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Alex Rodriguez selfishly refusing to donate $500,000 to RPad.TV, helping technophobes set up WordPress blogs, or the best cheese for grilled-cheese sandwiches, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The other day, RPadholic smartguy posted a comment about social media making the world dumber because it ignores poor spelling and punctuation. In this particular case, Texas Rangers pitcher and chief misogyny officer Matt Garza was guilty of a common Internet mistake — using “there” instead of “their.” Garza meant to menacingly tweet, “Some people can’t shut their woman up!” but instead wrote, “Some people can’t shut there woman up!”

All of us have misused there/their/they’re, its/it’s, and your/you’re. Smartguy is absolutely right though — the Internet is making it worse. Instead of lamenting the fact, let’s celebrate it! What are some of your favorite Internet grammar and usage errors? Here are some of mine.

  • Could Care Less: This is one I used to mess up frequently, until RPadholic N8R schooled me in the comments section of a G4tv story. People use this phrase when they’re trying to say that they don’t give a dman. What they should say is couldn’t care less.
  • All Intensive Purposes: This is one of my favorites. I see this one a lot on ESPN.com and various boxing forums. I rarely see it on comics, gaming, and tech blogs. My theory is that nerds that like sports are smarter people than sports fans that don’t like geeky things. Anyway, it should be all intents and purposes. A Doghouseboxing reader completely butchered the phrase and wrote, “All in tents and porpoises.” That gave me a three-day headache.
  • Mute Point: What’s that? I can’t hear you. You must be making a mute point. Bwahahahahaha!!! No, imbecile, (Don Keefer™) it’s a moot point.
  • Nip it in the Butt: I don’t understand why people get this one wrong. It’s nip it in the bud. If you equate a problem with a flower, then you nip it in the bud before it can bloom into something larger. Saying that you want to nip it in the butt is another way of saying you like to bite ass, which only makes sense if you’re Marv Albert.

Anyway, those are my favorite Internet grammar and usage errors. Kindly leave some of yours in the comments section!

Texas Rangers Matt Garza Attacks Opponent’s Wife…on Twitter

Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Garza is known for his fiery competitiveness. Against the Oakland A’s last Saturday, he was…displeased when opposing pitcher Eric Sogard laid down a squeeze bunt on him in the 7th. It was Sogard’s second successful bunt of the game and one of several made by Oakland. Garza pretty much sucks at fielding bunts and was frustrated. After the game, he took to Twitter to lay into Sogard and his wife, Kaycee Sogard. Check out some of his rant in the image above.

Yesterday, he issued an apologetic statement that wasn’t much of an apology. Here’s a snippet via ESPN:

I let my competitive spirit cross outside the lines, and that shouldn’t happen. I let my passion, my fire carry over, and that’s not how this game should be played. And for that I apologize to the Sogards for anything that was said through my Twitter.

Misogynistic tweets aside, there are several things that are funny/sad about this. First, it’s amusing that Garza believes that competitive spirit, passion, and fire are reasons to act like an immature dick. Second, it’s hilarious that he feels so macho about blasting an opponent’s wife on social media. I’m sure all of you have encountered Internet tough guys over the years, but a professional athlete that’s an Internet tough guy picking on a woman?!? That’s just lame.

Source

Behind the Scenes Feature on Jobs (Ashton Kutcher)

The latest behind-the-scenes feature on the upcoming Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher has me wary of the film. Be sure to check out the clip — featuring Kutcher (Steve Jobs) and Josh Gad (Steve Wozniak) — embedded below. On the plus side, Kutcher has Jobs’ awkward strut down (it’s almost like the nerd version of WWE Vince McMahon’s silly duck walk). He looks great as young Steve and looks decent as NeXT-era Steve. As for iPod-era Steve…ouchie. To me, he looked less like Steve Jobs and more like Will Ferrell playing James Lipton on Saturday Night Live. That’s not good.

Speaking of not good, I’m not digging Kutcher’s voice. While it’s true that a limited actor can only do so much to change the sound of his or her voice, cadence is something that can be mimicked. After watching several clips of the feature, it sounds like Kutcher wasn’t even trying. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from the guy from That ’70s Show, but considering his heavy involvement in the tech world and his obvious adoration for Jobs, I thought he would have tried harder.

Let’s be real though. There are many people that find Apple so fascinating that they’re going to see Jobs no matter what. (And yes, I’m one of those people.) How about you? How does the short feature on Jobs make you feel about the movie? Excited, scared, or ready to embrace Android/Windows?

Coffee Talk #596: Your Favorite Comic-Con 2013 Happenings

Comic-Con 2013 — or as it’s known in some circles, Nerd Heaven — is over! There were tons and tons of geeky announcements, trailers, and news bits. Some of the highlights include:

  •  Man of Steel 2 being a Superman/Batman movie
  • The Avengers 2 being an Age of Ultron movie
  • A lengthy and awesome Kick-Ass 2 trailer
  •  Lots of information on X-Men: Days of Future Past

    • …more

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, A-Rod’s unfortunate (not really) quadriceps injury, your favorite summer fruit, or slogging your way through mediocre coffee beans, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Comic-Con 2013 — or as it’s known in some circles, Nerd Heaven — is over! There were tons and tons of geeky announcements, trailers, and news bits. Some of the highlights include:

  •  Man of Steel 2 being a Superman/Batman movie
  • The Avengers 2 being an Age of Ultron movie
  • A lengthy and awesome Kick-Ass 2 trailer
  •  Lots of information on X-Men: Days of Future Past
  •  Sweet details on The Amazing Spider-Man 2
  •  More footage from Thor 2
  •  More footage from Captain America 2
  •  The first glimpse of WWE Batista as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie
  •  The trailer for Cosmos, a new version of the excellent Carl Sagan show hosted by Neil de Grasse Tyson
  •  Updates on A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones season 4

What got your inner nerd fired up at Comic-Con 2013? What got you worried?

As for me, I was totally jazzed by the return of Cosmos and I loved the Kick-Ass 2 clip. I really didn’t like Joss Whedon strongly hinting that Hank Pym will not be part of Ultron’s origin in The Avengers 2. Yeah, there are ways to write around that like altering Ultron’s origin so that it’s an accidental creation by Tony Stark or S.H.I.E.L.D., but as a longtime comic-book nerd, I can’t buy that. The identities of Ultron and Hank Pym are tied together. Yes, I understand that it frees up The Avengers 2 and the upcoming Ant-Man movie, but it just…feels wrong.

Now it’s your turn! Fire away with your Comic-Con 2013 thoughts in the comments section (please!).

When Kobe Unfollowed Dwight on Twitter

There are many things that I love about social media. It’s awesome how it connects people. It’s great that it gives fans a way to interact with celebrities. It’s also amusing to see it used when friendships go sour. In the San Francisco Bay Area tech community, it was common for squabbling people to unfollow each other on Twitter or defriend each other on Facebook. It’s brilliant that professional athletes are doing the same thing.

As many of you know, Dwight Howard left the Los Angeles Lakers for the Houston Rockets. Shortly after the news broke, Laker legend Kobe Bryant unfollowed Howard on Twitter. That’s frickin’ awesome! It’s such a nerdy way to make a statement. I love it!!! There are many ways to read into the situation. Some are dismissing it as pettiness on Bryant’s part. Others believe that it’s a way for one of the most insanely competitive players in the NBA to tell another player that he doesn’t matter anymore.

What’s your take on Kobe Bryant unfollowing Dwight Howard on Twitter?

What’s Your News Reader of Choice?

Google Reader is slated for a July 1, 2013 death. iGoogle will be dying on November 1, 2013. Unfortunately, I use and rely on both products and have been lax about finding alternatives. That’s where you come in! What RSS readers and/or personalized home page services do you like and use? I’ve been loosely experimenting with Feedly, but haven’t given it enough time to tell whether or not it will work for me. Ideally, I can find one product that will gather up all my favorite news sources and let me view them on a full web browser, Android device, or iOS device. Perhaps that’s asking for too much. Perhaps it’s not. I’m mostly ignorant as to what’s out there, so I don’t know.

So yeah, I’d love to hear about what readers and services you guys and gals use. Any of you digging Netvibes or igHome? Educate me in the comments section (please!).

Jobs Trailer (Ashton Kutcher, Apple)

Here’s a two-minute Jobs trailer, starring Ashton Kutcher. It has some moments that make my inner Apple fanboy go giddy, but it also has some moments that scare me. Also, it’s kind of funny that Matthew Modine went from playing a high school wrestler to playing John Sculley. Check out the trailer when you have a chance and let me know what you think (please!). Continue reading “Jobs Trailer (Ashton Kutcher, Apple)”