Buck Rogers and the World of Tomorrow

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Buck Rogers and the World of Tomorrow

Haha, watch this delicious retro-pastiche on both Buck Rogers (how he originally appeared in the early Twentieth Century, down to authentic costume and gun) and Kerry Conran's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". The miniature toy robot toy in the end is also cute, see more here.

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Today's pictures & links:

The Squashed Car

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the (truly) WTF Cadillac car - the World Thorium Fuel concept car. It is also a car that apparently got stepped upon by a Decepticon somewhere.

Nuclear fuel in a car should make motorists really excited, too. Follow this link for more info and images - via.

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The Tormented Spaceman

... is enchanted by her green eyes. Seen at the great "Old Comics and illustration" set
Photo from "Adam and Eve on Mars" by Walker Graham, published in "Sir" Magazine, November 1954

(image via)

Witness more damsels in distress in space and with robots.

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New "Skating" Thing from Italy

...consists of two wheels and a single bar between them. Very simple, and yet when Francesco Sommacal came up with it, it won him a Personal Design Volvo Award.

Get more info at Zerofra site (warning: loud music)

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Not every cat is a LOL cat

Some can even help to turn the pages:

and some have friends in high places:

(original unknown)

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The Brass Lion Steampunk Trike

Wilhelm Von Steuben writes to us: "The Brass Lion burns a hole through mundane reality" - Yes, we agree, reality shrivels and crawls away when a fine gentlemen rides this noble trike through the beautiful English countryside.

It also looks pretty cool when parked for the night (with a "fossil amber" Down Low Glow light) -

(images credit: Wilhelm Von Steuben)

See more images in this set.

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Nuclear-powered Russian Polar Lighthouses - [fascinating]
Diamonds Are Forever? Devious Marketing Plan - [thought-provoking]
Great Roundup of Urban Art and Graffiti - [urban]
Science Fiction Writers Who Blog - [bookmark it]
Top 10 Vehicles for 2010 - [auto]
Nostalgia: Drinks Your Father Drank - [food & drink]
Offbeat Jobs from the 1930s, Best Job Ever - [interesting]
Star Wars, retold by someone who hasn't seen it - [fun video]
Bad Luck Blackie - [hilarious 1940s animation!]

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What WETA Designers draw when they're bored

Two concept artists Weta Workshop (Wellington, New Zealand) - Greg Broadmore and Christian Pearce - who worked on "King Kong", "Narnia", "Avatar" etc., reveal new art that they created on the Nintendo DS at the 99DS exhibition (opening February 1).

Yes, you heard right - on a humble Nintendo DS handheld game console (via Colors, a freeware app enabled by the R4 cartridge). Apparently "less is more" and minimalist style is in vogue again. "DS" means Dodgy Slips and Deadly Sleds. While the first one is slightly nsfw (nude women falling over - admittedly the most fun subject to draw), the latter part consists of cute little hot rods. The concept is simple - pick a subject, draw it 99 times wherever and whenever:

Click to enlarge to see the whole poster - slightly nsfw

To get a taste of what WETA designers routinely conceive at work, head over to The Battery site, which features art by Greg Broadmore and Warren Mahy:

(art by Greg Broadmore, click to enlarge)

Don't miss tongue-in-cheek violent Perilous Parkour page by Christian Pearce - warning: graphic content, although you gotta have pretty rich imagination to get bothered by something like this.

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Sofia in the stratosphere (with a telescope)

... Better than Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy - Sofia - a 2.5 meter diameter, 20 (metric) ton IR-telescope, designed for infrared astronomy observations in the stratosphere and housed inside a modified Boeing 747SP - is on hold for lack of funds (originally a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center).

(images by NASA and DSI)

See featured images from this project here and NASA updates here.

The future of this project is in doubt: "In February 2006, following delays, and costs which increased from US$185 million to $330 million, NASA placed the project "under review" and suspended funding."

UPDATE: NASA's recent response is that the program is funded and expects to capture the first science images this summer (more info).

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Sign of the Times

(image via)

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Harry Eng, the Master Bottle Filler

Seemingly impossible items: bottles filled with every object imaginable, without any clue how it was achieved - the Puzzle Museum gallery will make you scratch your head:

(images credit: PuzzleMuseum)

Even though many pieces feature engraved word "THINK" to encourage visitors to figure out the secrets for thelmelves, the master provides some clue how the bottle (see above image, far right) was made:

"Find a piece of wood from the High Chaparral (Manginita wood). Drill Deck. Put case in bottle. Put cards in case. Put rope through deck. Tie knot. Put nut, bolt, and lock parts into bottle. Hold bolt with a magnet - screw nut on with dental floss. Assemble and lock padlock. Finally sign the pack of cards"

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Jeff VanderMeer took on the challenge to read 60 monumentally important books in 60 days
Will Disaster Ensue? How Long Will It Take Him to Go Insane?

Popular writer Jeff VanderMeer has decided to read 60 classic books of great thought (books that have provoked discussion, fomented revolution and changed the world) in just 60 days - and not just read them, but also review them at www.JeffVanderMeer.com.

VanderMeer found Seneca's advice on using one's time wisely and avoiding life's many distractions in our increasingly connected world. By the way, Cory Doctorow also wrote recently on the same tricky subject, read his great article "Writing in the Age of Distraction".

Among others, VanderMeer has reviewed and responded to works by Confucius, Marcus Aurelius, Frederick Nietzsche and Jonathan Swift (all part of Penguin's "Great Ideas" book series). Check out his progress so far at Series so far page, or his summary of the first 20 books here

(image via)

What's our take on this project? I think that Umberto Eco in his "Name of the Rose" said it best: we all know that books speak to readers but often do not realize that books speak to each other. Well, this is one sure way to eavesdrop on their conversation - to read wildly different masterpieces from mankind's history back-to-back.

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Messing up with your mind