On this day…
…and oh yeah, it’s my birthday. I’m 34 today.
I’m nerdy, no two ways about it: while thinking about the kind of things I would want for Christmas this year, I got to wondering about fictional gadgets and technology that I wouldn’t at all mind having. So, as a perfectly goofy/nerdy/idle/self-amusing blog post, I put together a wish list of sci-fi/fantasy gadgets I’d like to get for Christmas (or my birthday).
(Incidentally, I do have an Amazon.com wish list here. It doesn’t necessarily match the list I made for my family this year, but I’m just sayin’.)
Forget laser guns, a lightsaber is the perfect all-in-one weapon. The blade is indestructible, cuts through anything, deflects energy blasts, and acts as a flashlight. Plus, when you’re done slicing up Sith Lords, it has a ton of household uses.
The ultimate all-purpose scanning device and handheld computer. As the various Star Trek series show, there’s really nothing your tricorder can’t tell you—from general weather and environmental conditions to the movements and stats of hidden people to the spin orientation of quarks.
Doctor Who’s miracle tool. There was almost nothing he couldn’t do with that thing… repairing any machine… unlocking any door… cooking meals… getting cash from ATMs…
Time-traveling DeLorean… or TARDIS
Gotta have a time machine.
For vehicular transport, I can’t decide between these two. If I went with the DeLorean, I’d have to go with the fusion-powered flying version, but then I’d run into various hijinks related to the existence of magical automobiles in the wrong era. And, of course, the hassle of being able to get the car up to (arbitrarily) 88 miles per hour just to get anywhen. Plus, it doesn’t travel spatially—you travel to the same corresponding point in space in the different time period. Could be a problem if there’s a building there in the future or something.
But, the thing looks cool.
On the other hand, Doctor Who’s TARDIS travels both temporally and spatially, and is bigger on the inside than the outside. Drawbacks? Doesn’t seem like you actually have much control over where and when you travel. Plus, it always seems to look like a goofy blue police box. Or, at least the Doctor’s did. Perhaps I could get one of my own, an updated, working model.
Yeah, this isn’t a gadget per se, but man, being able to understand and communicate in any language without having to fiddle around with something as cumbersome as a Universal Translator…
That’s all I can come up with right now. Though I’m sure somebody will point out that since I chose a Babel fish from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, that I should choose, well, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” as a must-have gadget. Nah. I figure I’ll just load Wikipedia onto my tricorder.
Based on what I’ve been writing (ranting) about “Lost” recently, I was contacted via email by a woman doing a feature story about the subject who wanted to interview me (also via email).
The twist? It’s a Brazilian television Lost fan site entirely in Portuguese.
Globalization, ya gotta love it. It’s cool seeing my name and site in print, even if I don’t know what the article is saying. It’s here: “LOST” JÁ ERA? TEMPORADA DESANIMA FÃS E PERDE AUDIÊNCIA NOS EUA.
Guess it’s time to fire up the Google translator…
A little cross-pollination: over on Hack Bend I’m going to be posting a Holiday Shopping Guide, and I want to make it collaborative as well as listing my own opinions on where to shop for the holidays.
So if you live in Central Oregon and have any recommendations or want a piece of the action, let me know, or comment on my Hack Bend post.
Cheers!
SouthFlorida.com is running a photo gallery of kids scared of Santa Claus, which is gut-busting funny. (Really! I laughed out loud at a lot of these.) But some of these Santas are so messed up that I had to re-run them here. (But go check out the rest.)
Like this one…
Or this one:
More…
And while those are fun, what the hell is with these fake Santas?
And finally, I think we have what qualifies as Worst Santa Ever:
Via Boing Boing.
Yes, I’m aware I haven’t posted much here on chuggnutt.com lately. I’ve been focusing most of my writing energy on The Brew Site and Hack Bend recently, since I keep thinking of topical things for those blogs and I really don’t want to become a caricature of myself with “Lost” rants.
Aside from that, here’s a loosely-presented list of things that have been happening:
Thanksgiving was very nice, and low-key. We did the expected big dinner at my parents’ house, though we weren’t a big crowd. We made some excellent pumpkin pies with a gingerbread graham cracker crust. (Gingerbread graham crackers. Seriously. Rachael Ray is on the box.)
I hung outdoor Christmas lights on the house the day after Thanksgiving. The cold air gave me a bit of a cold.
The day after that consisted of generously picking up weary travelers Shannon and Brian from the Redmond Airport; Shannon confessed a creepy desire to pummel saguaro cacti. Whack job. :)
The two recent books I’ve read/are reading are Stephen Baxter’s Manifold: Time and Manifold: Space. I think Time is the better written of the two, where he actually builds characterizations (mostly; he’s not as strong here as some writers) for his cast, whereas in Space they feel more like mouthpieces or conveniences. Maybe he just got lazy, since he’s sort of continuing the main character’s story, and didn’t feel necessary to rehash… or not. I don’t know. They’re full of interesting concepts, nonetheless.
When I get a chance (which isn’t often), I’ve been thoroughly enjoying “Secret Weapons Over Normandy” for the PlayStation 2. That game completely rocks. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do; I think a big part of that is the relatively simple controls used.
(Yes, that’s me: I need simple video game controls. I’m retro that way.)
Anything else? Um… working. Nothing interesting to report there.
I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving is a good one. We’re baking pumpkin pies today (made with a gingerbread graham cracker crust) and heading out to my folks’ house for dinner and family. Enjoy the long weekend!
Something I don’t really get about those people (mostly young?) waiting—no, camping—in line for days outside of stores like Best Buy for the PlayStation 3… Do they not have jobs, that they can take the time to spend a week camping out at a store? And if they don’t have jobs, how can they afford to buy something as expensive as the PS3 (at $600)?
Of course, I don’t get why people would camp out for movie premieres, either. YMMV.
I’m starting to think I’m becoming a parody of myself with these “Lost” posts. I’m also thinking about coining a new phrase: “to pull a Lost.” It should be self-evident what I mean by that, but: to start out strong, have everything going your way… and then blow it. Which seems to be what they’re doing.
Actually, last night’s episode was better than it has been this season… mostly. I’ll get into that below after the obligatory spoiler warning…
Here there be spoilers!
