American Madness

Okay, besides Legos, and Indiana Jones (and what would seem like the ultimate linking of the two) you can add Star Wars to the list of nostalgia I like to write about.

I came across this article written by a toy designer who was contacted in 1998 to produce a line of toys for the Pepsi to use in coordination with the release of Episode 1.

The article gives a brief back-story about getting the contract and all that jazz, but also has concept art for a lot of Star Wars toys that never were. Some of the concepts are kind of bad, others sound like they would have been a Star Wars geeks wet dream. My persona favorite is the Han in Carbonite fridge. Other ideas seem to be stuck in the 80s (although I like the concept, does anyone still use sun shades in their cars anymore and when was the last time some one broke out a slide projector?).

If you are a Star Wars fan, it is just a little fun post to check out.

Every now-and-then I come across a project that simply blows me away. Makes me wish I had the skills to create something of a similar nature. Unfortunately, most of these projects involve an advanced knowledge of wood working or a basic knowledge of electronics.

This one falls into the knowledge of electronics category. Maybe one day I will actually read up on and teach myself some of the basics of electronics if just to learn how to create something like this:

Much respect to Angela Yuan (though she might want to work on her website a bit)

I was going to write about an article from the Roanoke Times (shout out to our homie at the Roanoke Times) about the history of toy guns and the new outcry being raised around the Nintendo Wii Zapper.

I even had a witty little intro about mistaking the Wii Zapper (pictured right) for a real gun during a home invasion. But I am just not up to it. I am feeling lousy, my writing (’cause I actually wrote it) was sub-par and not interesting enough to let anyone else read.

Instead, I am just going to post a link to the article here and let you decide for yourself about it. Just to give you an idea of my opinion, I think the quote, “Why don’t they enclose an application to the NRA in every box as well?…The marketing person who came up with this brainchild of an idea should be fired” is one of the more ridiculous I have read in a while. Go figure. It was said by some crazy grandmother from New Jersey.

Rather then get into a debate about whether toy guns are evil and lead to evil things, I’ll let you all make the call.

Though, while growing up, I had the original Nintendo Zapper, a plethora of toy water guns (before the days that required they be outrageous colors), and a bunch of Super-Soakers, I have yet to join the NRA, the Army, or go off on a massive shooting spree. But I must admit, I do enjoy a good water gun fight every now and again.

The human-controlled robot dances and interacts.

From http://beatbots.org:

Human social behavior shares much in common with dance. Our speech, as well as the movement of our body, head, and hands, is periodic and rhythmic. The goal of the BeatBots project is to develop robots that can interact with people by synchronizing with these social rhythms. We believe that rhythmic synchrony is as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.

Now, you never need to stop playing with yourself. You can do it at work, on the train, in the yard. Any where you want!

And that’s not all, you can give yourself to your friends and let them play with you!

Yes, now’s your chance to become a real action figure for only $425 you can have an action figure made that resembles you, each additional figure only costs $40, making it a great gift to give to family, friends and co-workers. The outfits for the figure can be customized and you can add tattoos and such. You can even get a talking one for the same price (though additional figures then cost $50).

Personally, I think these “action figures” are a bit more like Barbie dolls (or the original GI Joe) with customized faces and a couple of extra-joints. I’ll keep waiting for the GI Joe style figure with the Kung-Fu grip that I remember from when I was a kid.