BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

As much as I love my American Sci-Fi TV shows, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Smallville, Eureka, and Warehouse 13, the panel that I geeked out the most at was the R2 Units panel in the Robotics Track. On Friday, I saw a guy controlling an R2D2. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen an R2 Unit at Dragon*Con. But what made me stop was the fact that he actually had the Princess Leia "Help me Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope." projection being displayed on the wall from the R2 Unit. That piqued my interest. Then I saw that on Sunday there was going to be a panel about R2 Units. I decided to go because I thought it would be cool.

The panel had 5 guys who were part of the R2 Builders Group. Three of them brought their R2 Units. I was impressed. They talked about the process of building your own unit from scratch. I didn’t realize that there was so much involved. It isn’t like you can call a company up and say, "Hey, I want to order a working remote control R2D2." You actually have to build it yourself. Of course they talked about how the community of R2 Builders help each other buy providing plans, parts, advise, and there own experiences with putting one of these things together. You can make one out of aluminum, wood, resin, plastic or any combination of the above. It can be just a room piece, or one that’s fully operational with actual R2 sounds and blinking lights. I took one look at those things and thought I could do that, but at the end of the panel I was not so sure.

These guys put a lot of time and effort into building their R2 Units. As a matter of fact, one question asked during the Q & A was what was the hardest thing to get or acquire to make the droids. The response went something like this: Getting my wife to support this hobby. Seriously, it sounded like it could cost anywhere from $500 to $40,000 to build one of these things. These guys are the geekiest of geeks.

Who wouldn’t want one of these things. I couldn’t think of anything cooler to have, especially when going to a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention like Dragon*Con.

If you’re interested you can find more information at www.astromech.net or click here for the Astromech Yahoo! group

Posted under Conventions, Dragon*Con, Technology

Amazon released it announced its new Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7  yesterday. Basically its just a Kindle with a larger screen and more storage.   The new device is trying to target college students, newspaper and magazine readers.    I suspect they also had comic book readers in mind but they still need to come out with a color version before they get that group.    I would think that some of the indie publishers at the ECBACC would love to have a cheaper (no printing costs) and easier way to distribute their books.
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The price is $489 which is still expensive for most people with one exception, college students .    The cost of text books are close a $1000 a year.   A device like a Kindle DX seems like a bargain if it gives you the ability to download text books for half the price of the book.   

Amazon introduced the third edition of its Kindle this morning, a version that, in addition to offering trade books, will now display textbooks, computer books and cookbooks on a 9.7 inch electronic display screen that includes 16 shades of grade—the same gray-scale as the Kindle 2. Magazines and newspapers, already available on the Kindle, will increase their presence on the new device. Price for Kindle DX is $489 and Amazon will start shipping the device in the summer.

 

Posted under Comics, Technology

I highlighted my picks,  I have a few gripes, the awards are  given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror for the genre.   Do you remember the sketch  on Sesame Street, where they made you pick the thing of item that didn’t belong with the rest.   I feel like somebody at the academy needed to watch more Sesame Street as a child, because Gran Torino, The Closer, and Breaking Bad aren’t genre shows.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 35th ANNUAL SATURN AWARDS

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Posted under Movies, Technology

We have just elected the first African-American as President of the United States.  And this is my blog, so I can talk about it if I want to.  What is amazing to me as a geek is the fact that President-elect Obama took advantage of what we on the net call new media to not only raise an incredible amount of money and to increase the excite and participation of more young people in the electoral process.  Obama was not the first candidate to take advantage of new media.  Gov. Howard Dean saw the future of the role of the internet and that almost got him the nomination.  Ron Paul’s entire candidacy was driven by the web.  But President-elect Obama was the first candidate to not only use Myspace as a tool to reach people, but he also was all over Facebook.  He has the most twitter followers, a total of 112,000.  That’s more than the number 2 and 3 person combined. 

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Posted under Articles, Technology

My hope is that this will be Marvels answer to Justice League/Unlimited cartoon. Marvel nails live action films, but they have a real crappy record when it comes to animated television shows. I think they are trending upward recently with the direct to DVD films (Ultimates, Ultimates 2, Iron Man, etc.) and the Sensational Spiderman cartoon, but they have a long way to go before they can match the DCAU.

Posted under Animation, Technology, Uncategorized