Tie-Dyed Brain Rays

Where No Me Has Gone Before

Captain's log: Stardate 0608.11 we are in orbit around the planet Fedcon, our mission-- to make contact with the inhabitants and observe their strange social rituals. This away mission promises to be unlike anything I've encountered before.

This weekend Victoria Rose and I will be beaming  into Fedcon USA 2008, my first trip (believe it or not) to a Sc-Fi convention. Needless to say, I'm stoked. The best part is that as a member of the media I get the Federation ambassador treatment complete with face time with all my favorite science fiction stars. I'm especially looking forward to chatting with James Cawley of Star Trek Phase II, formerly Star Trek New Voyages. I want to ask him what it feels like to make Chris Pine the third actor to play Captain Kirk, and to hear first hand how he once out-Kirked Shatner at a Star Trek convention.

I'm also looking forward to schmoozing with Conner Trinneer, Trip from Star Trek Enterprise. He is in part the inspiration for Van Dyke Brown, one of the characters in my as yet unwritten fantasy opus. I haven't decided whether I'll mention that or not-- perhaps it is best to leave the fan-boy gushing back in the hotel room and maintain my high journalist standards and professional demeanor. (Hard to do when you are wearing a pair of ill-fitting Spock ears and a plastic phaser.)

I'll be sure to capture as much video as I can, snap lots of pictures and interview as many Klingons, Cylons and Super Heroes as I can corner on the way to the buffet. I may even do a bit of live blogging. I'll keep you posted-- Hah! I just made a funny.

To get in the proper head-space for my impending close encounters, I've been listening to audio books of "Up Till Now," Bill Shatner's autobiography and his earlier "Star Trek Memories," Both read by the Shat-man himself. I guess you could think of them as William Shatner's Guide to William Shatner. Victoria Rose just obtained "Star Trek Movie Memories," also read by Shatner. I don't know if you can overdose on Star Trek lore, but I'm willing to take the chance.

Victoria Rose is being a great sport about the whole thing. She enjoys science fiction, although she doesn't have quiet the same enthusiasm as I do (Pretty much that of a twelve-year-old.) I'm not sure if she finds my eagerness endearing or just a sign of immaturity. I've resolved at the very least not to jump up and down at the vendor's room begging her to buy me action figures.

Cactus Cuties Rockin' The Anthem

This one is for Toby and Bear and everybody else fighting the good fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just in case anybody needs a reminder of what they're fighting for, how about college basketball and little girls belting out the National Anthem? If this doesn't make you stand up and salute nothing will. The video was posted by the littlest girl's granddaddy.  We had the pleasure of talking to the Cactus Cuties and their mentor Cami on our show today. Listen to the interview in the post continuation.

Dax Flame 1984

Maker Faire Austin Video

A sampling of the wondrous creations at Austin's Maker Faire with interviews of Mark Frauenfelder, Mitch Altman, Bre Pettis and John P. Funk.

I interviewed some of the other makers too, but either the sound was too bad to use (I was recording with the camera's on-board mic and it picked up all the ambient noise.) or I had to cut them for time. Keeping the video within YouTube's 10 minute constraint was a challenge. I would have like the music montage at the end to be longer, for example.

Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

We had animals in the studio the other day.

Outback Jack smacks me in the head near the end. It wasn't hard, but the message was clear, "Pony up the kangaroo chow, Buddy!"

I love the critters. That was just about the most fun I've ever had in studio.

Here's a little additional video-- nothing Earth-shaking, just a few minutes of footage after the interview with a slo-mo replay of the kangaroo smack at the end.

Meet Your Maker

The device on my forehead is a lucid dreaming mask from the pages of Make Magazine. I blogged about it on VOX.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing founder, editor in chief for Make Magazine, author, journalist, and illustrator. I hate to get all fan-boy, but Mark has his hand in so many of my favorite things that I couldn't wait to talk to him. The conversation we had ranks right up there with other interviews I've done with some of my favorite geek-heroes like Apollo XI astronaut Buzz Aldrin, original rocketbelt pilot Hal Graham, and Ky Michaelson, the inventor of the rocket powered toilet*.

You can hear the entire interview here.

One thing Mark didn't mention was the new feature Boing Boing just rolled out, Boing Boing TV. I love the feature and I hope they open it up for user contributions, because I have a couple of things that might mesh well with the style and format.

My Pal Hal

This is a guy I'm proud to say I know. You don't meet many characters like Hal Graham these days. The real deal with the right stuff, Hal is the original rocketeer. As the first pilot of the Bell Aerospace rocketbelt Hal demonstrated his mad rocketbelt skillz for the top brass at the Pentagon and flew for J.F.K. I caught up with Hal as he prepared to attend the Rocketbelt Convention this weekend in New York. He graciously agreed to an interview on our radio show this morning.

Download Hal Graham Interview 08-09-07

You may remember that I interviewed Hal after last year's Rocketbelt Convention. You can find that entry here. Check it out. There is a bit of background on Hal in addition to a little video of him in action.

Steampunk Internet

What if the Internet had existed a hundred years ago? Step in the WayBack Machine, Sherman, and see all your Internet favs-- Dax Flame, ghost riders, Star Wars Kid, the Numa Numa Guy, geniuses who can't keep fireworks out of their butt cracks, and even the Swift Boat Vets-- Steampunk'D for your enjoyment!

Dax Flame in Assburger Syndrome

An epic hours in the making!

"The One Where Dax Throws The Burgers"

A tribute to that great patriot Dax Flame, this video shows why you should never invite Dax to a cookout. It is also the only place you can see Dax Flame and Osama Bin Laden in the same video.

(I was eating cheese when I made this. Isn't that ironic?)

Resmart

The hottest thing on YouTube these days is Dax Flame, a.k.a. Bernice Juach III, a.k.a. Dax Patrello. As of this post he's YouTube's #1 subscribed contributor this month, 43rd most subscribed of all time, with 13952 subscribers (of which, sadly, I am one) and 750,985 channel views. This kid will probably be president someday.

It is the beginning of the end of Western Civilization.