Archive for October, 2009

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

iPhone + NASA = Fabtastic Space Geek App

Mix:

• 2 cups of a top selling phone/gadget
• 1 cup of a great UI platform
• 1 cup of the best space images on the planet
• 1/2 cup of rockin space videos
• a heap of Twitter updates

Stir well until the design represents the consistency of a smooth batter. Let rise and then wrap in cellophane. Add a price tag of FREE.

Yup. That about sums up the new NASA iPhone application. Released on Friday, October 23, the app (NASA’s first official one on the platform) was developed by the New Media Team based at the Ames Research Center in California.

From the outset, the app is easy to use and intuitive.  My kids did not have a problem finding what they were looking for. After wresting control back from them, I spent a good 30 minutes exploring the vast amount of images and video available for myself.

My favorite parts of the app were the countdown / countup clocks on each mission page and the search page (you can search for images, videos, missions, or tweets).

My one suggestion to the team is to move the Schedule “mission” into it’s own main category and change this part of the app to a calendar. Other than that, as a free app, I’m going to recommend a download to all of my non-space-geek friends. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll show it to their kids and my secret plan to recruit the next generation of space scientists will be that much closer to completion.

P.S.

Other government agencies need take note. Here are some iPhone apps I’d like to see in the next year:

CIA app: real-time feeds of spy satellite lookdowns, with zoom capability

FBI app: most wanted lists, cool agent theme music

Treasury app: deficit clock, live camera feed of Fort Knox gold reserves

Capitol app: “what’s up for vote?” page, secret unlockable page to view contents of SBB13

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

An Easy Costume for Apple Fanboys

Scholastic’s Parent & Child magazine ran the obligatory article on easy-to-make Halloween costumes, featuring costumes from Where the Wild Things Are, Twilight, plus the Apple-tastic costume above, and more.

Each comes with pretty easy-to-follow instructions:

For the Apple logo on the back, enlarge the design by blowing up a paper copy on a Xerox machine, and cut this out in aluminum foil. For the face of the iPhone, you can either replicate the apps options by enlarging these with color Xeroxes at any Staples or Kinkos, or choose another screen you want—say, your photo—and enlarge that, cut it out, and glue it onto the foam core. You can do this with any app or function you choose.

The costumes were featured on the CBS Early Show this week, if you need to see them moving around.

To really prove your cred, though, you’ll need to go as a working iPhone.

My kid is hell-bent on going as a SWAT-type officer of some sort–share your costume ideas in comments!

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

Wonder Woman: Revisiting the Amazon with Gail Simone

Superman has “Up, up, and away!”and foiling the plans of Lex Luthor.

Batman has jumping around rooftops and fighting the Joker.

Wonder Woman has, um, well, a twirl.

Not that I’m dissing it. I loved the Lynda Carter to Wonder Woman twirl when I was a kid. But while Superman and Batman have undergone extensive revitalization since the 1970s, Wonder Woman hasn’t received a similar reworking of her image to the public at large. Most still remember the 70s TV version more than anything else.

That may be changing. DC has made an effort to get a new version of Wonder Woman into the public eye, beginning with hiring New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult to write a story arc in the latest comic relaunch and they invested in an animated movie this spring.

Unfortunately, both those efforts fell short. The animated movie has some interesting elements but to me, it missed the one essential component of Wonder Woman, which is her compassion.

And while Picoult’s run was a good effort,  it was marred by a badly done company-wide crossover. Even worse, the relaunch of the Wonder Woman title under Picoult and popular comic writer Allan Heinberg pushed a run by Greg Rucka, popular among comic readers, completely to the side.

Enter Gail Simone.

Simone started out as a hairdresser doing a humor column called “You’ll All be Sorry” on a popular comic website, graduated to writing the Simpsons for Bongo Comics, wrote for Marvel for a time, and then became well-known as the writer of DC’s Birds of Prey, which featured a team of female heroines.

Her Birds of Prey run is when I fell in love with Simone’s writing and started frequenting her comic forums, eventually ending up as a co-moderator. Her writing is sharp, her grasp of character excellent, and her dialogue is among the best I’ve read.

But I was never a big Wonder Woman fan. It’s not that I didn’t get her (the most common complaint heard from people about Wonder Woman), it’s just that her skill set didn’t appeal to me. Like Superman, she’s so powerful that it’s hard to write good stories around her.

But Simone wrote a guest appearance by Princess Diana in a Birds of Prey issue and it was one of the few times that the character seemed compelling to me. So when her new writing assignment was announced, I decided to give Wonder Woman a try for essentially the first time.

Simone’s first issue, #14 of the current series, kicked off with Wonder Woman punching gorillas off a waterfall. Heh.

It’s been just as entertaining  since, especially given that Simone takes plot elements familiar to many comic readers and twists them into different shapes. The above gorillas turned out to be genetically enhanced warriors who respected that Princess Diana beat them in combat and then swore fealty to her.

And while her first arc, The Circle, featured plenty of action, including a battle with Captain Nazi, it was also about a small circle of renegade Amazons driven more than a little crazy by the fact that they could never have children. It’s an intrinsic part of Wonder Woman’s back story that she was the only child on Paradise Island but no other writers have really tackled the emotional ramifications of that on the other Amazons. The vast majority are happy to be loving aunts. But a few were not.

It added to the myth without invalidating the rest of it, a hard trick to do when writing someone with over twenty years of current continuity.

In the second arc, Ends of the Earth, other myths are brought into the story as Diana ventures into a literal hell to retrieve the soul of the man who has none. She literally has to battle for her soul at the side of two ancient mythical heroes, Beowulf and Claw the Unconquered, an original character created for DC. Once again, Simone blended action, lesser-known elements of DC history, and some dark humor in a story that ended with Diana reclaiming her soul.

The third arc, Rise of the Olympians, dealt with Genocide, a monster visiting horror and destruction on America, including a number of Diana’s friends and allies. But Genocide turns out to be part of a very complicated plot by her old enemy, the war god Ares, to do away not only with Wonder Woman, but also the Greek Gods of Mount Olympus, and any peace in the world.

It’s this third arc that has the potential to have the longest lasting impact on the character. The Greek Gods have been gone for a time and when they return, they want to do things differently, starting with direct control of the Amazons by virtue of a puppet king, a newly created Achilles.

Like Diana, Achilles is created directly by the gods and imbued with all of their powers. Unlike Diana, Achilles is blindly devoted to his ‘parents.’ It would be easy to make Achilles an one-dimension villain but instead the new warrior keeps trying to do the right thing as he sees it. Currently, he also has the Amazons on his side, because Diana is the only one of her people willing to break from her gods.

Despite all these weighty plots, it’s the very human scenes that I stick in my head. The first happened in issue #19 as Wonder Woman confronts a very angry Green Lantern. Rather than beat down another hero over a misunderstanding, Diana lets the Lantern pummel her, taking every blow, until she can get the Lantern to listen to reason.

The second happened in the most recent issues, #34-35, as Wonder Woman teamed up with Black Canary to track down a missing supervillain. The friendship between the two women, so unalike, is very rare to read in mainstream superhero comics.

I’m not the only one in my household enjoying Wonder Woman for the first time. The eldest daughter grabbed the issues when they were delivered before I could read them, and has kept up since then, even though she was never a fan before. I don’t think she’s ever seen the twirl. (Though, after looking up the TV show clip for this article, I realized that I should give it more credit. It’s as iconic a moment as Clark Kent tugging on his shirt to reveal the Superman beneath.)

There are some flaws with Simone’s work, as with any story. Sometimes the transition from one plot element to the other are a bit confusing, and the subplot romance between Wonder Woman and secret agent Tom Tresser doesn’t quite work. But these are minor flaws in what’s been an excellent overall run.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some wonderful work by the art team on the book, primarily artist Aaron Lopresti. My favorite panel is a full-page spread during Rise of the Olympian as Queen Hippolyta stands in front of a monster from the deep looming over her and simply orders one of the Amazons to fetch her sword.

I’m not sure how DC can take this series and somehow manage to get it to breakthough from comic readers to the consciousness of the public at large but they have consistently put out collected books of Simone’s run. Wonder Woman: The Circle and Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth are available and Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian is due out in November.

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

How to Make Halloween Card on Mac?

Summary: Make HalloWeen Card, Make Halloween Gift, HalloWeen Card on Mac

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Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

How to Convert AVI to DVD on Mac OS

Summary: New page: ”’Question:”’ Anyone knows some good video conversion software I can use for my Mac? I need something that will convert AVI files to DVD so I can watch them on my DVD player. Right now I…

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Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

Laura Croft Trendy Fashion Style

Laura Croft’s Trendy Fashion Style

American model Laura Croft recently attended an evening hosted by Holly Madison. The event was held at Studio 54 at MGM Hotel and Casino. Laura looked sassy and chic. Laura wore her makeup beautifully. She wore a dark pink lipstick, blush, and highlighted her eyes with a pale blue eyeshadow. She wore mascara and lined her eyes with black and silver; it was a beautiful combination with the dress she was wearing. She wore her shoulder length hair straight and curled outwards at the ends. Having her hair curled outwards was a great choice because it balanced out her hairstyle; her hair was very puffy on the top and looked too big for her but the curls helped. Without them, her hair would have looked a bit fake and even with the curls, she barely pulled off the style. Her bangs were cut just above the eyes and were a bit jagged, which was a cute look.
Good Looking Laura Croft

Laura wore a white mini dress with black designs on it. The designs were a paisley print that some women would not be able to wear. The model looked great in her dress, which showed off all her curves. The tight dress also showed a lot of leg and cleavage, which would not draw any complaints about Laura. She accented her dress with a necklace of black beads and a sporty watch. Her incredible boots were the best part of her outfit. They were knee-high and leather and looked very sexy on Laura. She looked wonderful and she knew she looked sexy.
Photos/PR PHOTOS

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

Sarah Jessica Parker Stylish Fashion

Sarah Jessica Parker Stylish Fashion

The star of “Sex and the City,” Sarah Jessica Parker has been in New York City filming the sequel, “Sex and the City 2.” The star was looking as beautiful as ever when photographed with her co-stars on the set. Filming was held at the Bergdorf Goodman department store.
Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah wore a flattering white dress. The low v-neck dress had three-quarter length sleeves and a flared skirt that stopped just above her knees. The dress was gathered around her waist in a wide white belt. It gave great definition to her figure and was lovely on Sarah. She wore a beaded necklace that was many different colors, big sunglasses, and little diamond stud earrings. She wore gold high heels that tied her gold and white clutch purse perfectly to her outfit. The dress was flowing and romantic, perfect for a star or any woman who would like to dress comfortably yet fashionably for a trip out of the house.
Sarah’s medium length hair was left loose about her face and shoulders. She had some curl and bounce to her hair and it looked great left loose with such a flowing dress. Her hair was parted on the side, which is a great way to give a style like this some variety. Her hair had some highlights in it that framed her face and drew attention to her great bone structure. The style gave Sarah a carefree look that was glamorous. She wore a pale lipgloss, black eyeliner, and was wearing a pale blue eyeshadow that brought her eyes out.
Photos/PR PHOTOS

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by blogtheking

Kiyoshi Togashi

Kiyoshi Togashi is a photographer of whose work is mainly composed of still life and botanical photographs. I admire the simplicity of his work, which is something that I feel I lack in my own photography. Togashi was encouraged at a young age to take whatever path in life he wanted to choose and was greatly inspired by his fathers wet plate photography. This lead him to New York where he began a career in commercial photography. When asked about his approach to photos, he says that he, “constantly challenges himself to come up with unexpected visual approaches to make products look beautiful and unique.” I enjoy the use of light in his images. Though one might argue that this makes the images look plain, I think that it allows for a singular focus with no distraction. This is an aspect I will try to incorporate into my thought process when I shoot photographs, as my images tend to be overcomplicated and intricate.

Posted on October 23, 2009 - by blogtheking

Charlize Theron kissed a lady

Last night, one lady got to plant one on Charlize Theron — for $140,000.

Theron, 34, took part in a live auction during a gala for the charity OneXOne in San Francisco Thurs. Oct. 22.

And while she was initially selling a 2010 trip to South Africa that included World Cup tickets, a safari and a meet-and-greet with Nelson Mandela, she raised the stakes when bidding stalled at $37,000, far below the $280,000 Jeremy Piven had just raised.

“For f*** sake! You can do better,” she attendees. “There is no way I am leaving here with Jeremy Piven getting a higher bid. I’ve got t**** for God’s sake.”

To sweeten the pot, she offered up a 7-second kiss for $130,000 to a male bidder. “Swine flu is going around. This is high risk kissing!” she told him.

After one man bid $135,000, a woman upped the stakes to $140,000 — ascending the stage for a 20-second smooch as the audience counted down.

Theron is in a long-term relationship with actor Stuart Townsend, 36. “My boyfriend is not here tonight,” she joked during the auction.

Posted on October 22, 2009 - by blogtheking

Kristin Davis Hairstyle, Makeup, Fashion Styling

Kristin Davis Hairstyle, Makeup, Fashion Styling

Kristin Davis was looking blindingly pink and proper at the filming of “Sex and the City 2.” The filming is being done in everyone’s favorite city, New York, and Kristin looked great as always. Just too pink.
Kristin wore pink from head to toe. A different shade may have been better since this was bright pink and slightly painful to the eyes. She looks good in pink, it just would have been better if it had been a darker shade of pink. She wore a pink, knee length pencil skirt with a small slit in back, a pink shirt that buttoned up, and high heels that were pink and white. Her shirt had a crew neck collar, buttoned all the way up with round, pink buttons, and was fitted around the waist. From there it flared out into a ruffled skirt like hem. She carried a big purse in the same pink shade. She accented with a bracelet and diamond stud earrings.
Kristin Davis

Kristin wore her hair straight back and sleek. Her hair came to below her shoulders and looked to be extremely bouncy and healthy. She had her hair parted on the side and then styled to frame her face. It’s a beautiful look for any woman with any facial shape; her look is a great one to copy for women who want their faces to be thinner. She wore a pink lipstick that matched her dress and pink eyeshadow that matched her dress but helped to bring out her eyes. She also added a bit of color to her cheeks with pink blush.
Photos/PR PHOTOS