E-Maxx Project: Part 2

My holiday E-Maxx project is moving along.  I have the body trimmed, painted, and mounted.  It is ready for it's first run...almost.  I still need to get the lights and presents on.  I have decided to dub this:

Project: Santa-Maxx

Here is the wonderful El Camino, painted red, and on a monster truck.  The one thing that keeps running through my brain is Brad Pitt from the movie The Mexican singing "My El Camino".  And the red shock springs was not done on purpose.  I only realized they were red as I was adjusting the body mounts.  I think I'll look around for some silver springs that hopefully won't be drastically different in the spring rates.

The E-Maxx is back to all original electronics.  Over the years I have had a Futaba 3 channel FM radio in it.  Now that I have a couple of 2.4GHz 3 channel radios, I'll need to pick up another receiver.  Again going with Futaba.

Now I just need to find a decent Santa action figure to drive this, and maybe a side kick reindeer.

Happy 12-12-12! Happy Christmas! Merry Holidays! Seasonal Greetings!

E-Maxx Project

Get some battery-powered Christmas lights, a new muslce car body, some red and silver paint, and some papercraft presents.  Give those to an R/C enthusiast with a fun monster truck, such as the Traxxas E-Maxx.  Put all that in a room or garage (and a well ventilated place for painting).  This is the start of a Christmas R/C project, version 1.

It all started when I was putting up some battery-powered Christmas lights up at work.  As I was unboxing one set, the idea hit me to add these to one of my R/C vehicles.  After some thought, I decided to use my E-Maxx.  It's been awhile since I've run or done anything with it.

The first part was getting another set of battery-powered lights.  Target.com stepped up with a decent set from Phillips.  An 18 bulb, LED, multi-color set with an on/off switch that runs on 4 AA batteries for $7. Ordered them online with a few other items, got them in, and tested.

The next part was color.  That was easy: red and silver.  I got plenty of silver, just need to grab some red from the local hobby shot.  I'm thinking a Candy Red or Metallic Red.

On to the shell.  What would make for a good monster truck turned Christmas?  I did some looking at the usual R/C body manufacturers: Proling Racing, Parma PSE, and HPI Racing.  I wasn't seeing anything at first.  I wanted something that I could put some little fake presents in, but wouldn't look too typical for a monster truck.  After going back and forth on the sites, I finally decided on the HPI Racing Chevy El Camino SS.  With a big block engine sticking outta the hood and a good sized package area, this turned out to be perfect.  HPI Racing does some wonderfully detailed R/C car and truck bodies.  They have some nice little molded in details, plus give you a great set of decals to add some extra scale features.  This particular body set also includes a separate front bumper, and a 2 piece blower, all attached with some screws.  There is even a option to remove the engine and have a cover in place for a normal look.  The only down side to the body is that it is designed for a nitro monster truck, and has a cut out in the bed for the engine to poke through.  However, I should be able to "hide" this with the packages.

But where are the presents?  Well, another R/C company decided to venture into a little papercrafting.  They released a model of their latest truck, and then released some accessories for their scale crawler kits here.  Axial Racing does it again.

My goal is to try to have this completed in time for Christmas day 2012 to take over to the in-laws and have fun with the nephews.  The really fun part is deciding how to do the bulbs on the body.  We'll see what happens.

If this project works out, there might be a version 2 for next year.

Merry Christmas!

December 2012

"Ha-ha-ha! Hello, boys! I'm back!"

It's the start of the Christmas season, 2012.  We got our tree up.  Bought some more lights, and I've started getting them out.  The cat has claimed the tree as her seasonal climbing pole.  I did put her Christmas sweater on, and she actually managed to get it off.  Not before I got some pictures and videos though.

We finally went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  That was an excellent show.  If you like rock, Christmas music, and lights, then go see them at least once in concert.  They are well worth the price.  And they did play one of my favorite songs from them: Wizards in Winter.  Their light show with this song is spectacular.  Oh, and there was FIRE!  We will definitely try to see them again.

I have uploaded some more R/C videos, did some Micro-T driving, and came across a new paper craft body for my Micro Rock Crawler.  Need to do a little sizing and I should have a good picture.  Speaking of R/C, pop-in-law asked me if I have thought about trying R/C airplanes.  Well I have.  But I am a little scared to try it due to some sight issues.  I have been looking at the micro helicopters again, especially for the cold days inside.

Christmas Tree Start 12-2012.

Losi McRC with Micro-T body.

(possible 1./36 Micro sized super crawler?)

Micro-T with on-road and wheelie setup.

Micro-T back to off-road setup.

Now for the video links.  Hope you enjoy.  More coming soon.

Park Day 2008: Court & Grass Trailer

Park Day 2008 Part 2: Court & Grass Part 1:

Park Day 2008 Part 3: Court & Grass Part 2:

Until next time, Merry Christmas!  Have fun, be kind, and stay safe!

Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble

Vacation fun

I am taking vacation time around Thanksgiving this year, giving me 11 days off in a row! Woohoo!

So far:

I have gotten my little RC18MT back up and running.  I even did some video recording of it using not only my iPhone 4, but also a point-and-shoot camera that my wife got me some time ago.  This little truck is a blast still.  Got in some tumbles, lost (and found) a lower shock spring cup (not sure of the technical name for it), encountered steering issues, and had fun in the street and on the rocks.  The video for this will be my first attempt at putting together a film using 2 video sources.  We'll see how it turns out.

On Monday, I went to a local park with my SCX10 rock crawler.  I found a few spots with some good sized rocks and had lots of fun.  Next time I'll try out the Venom Creeper.  Yes, I got video and pictures and will post those up soon.  Again I used 2 video recorders.

I had a broken TV, 2 old computer monitors, a stereo receiver, and 2 speakers.  While looking online, I counldn't find a public dump close to home so I decided to look on Bestbuy.com.  It turns out they will take many electronics for recycling.  So I packed up the car and dropped them off.

Today I went to see Skyfall finally.  This is the best Daniel Craig James Bond movie.  It had plenty of action, a good James Bond feel, some references to the James Bond of old, and worth the price to see in theaters.  If you are a Bond fan and especially like the Daniel Craig Bond, go see this in the theaters.

I have also gotten some shoft films done of some older R/C videos shot on an actual video camera.  Here are the ones released so far:

Park Day 8-17-2007

Parking lot run 4-8-2008

Park Day 5-14-2008

Here is part 2 of my Axial Racing's EXO Terra Buggy's 1st run.  I tried something a little different, and used another iPhone app: ToonCamera.

More videos to come.

Crawler updates

I posted some updates for my R/C crawlers.  Check out Chuckwalla Crawler for more details.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome

While checking out some YouTube channels I follow, I came across another sci-fi web series from MachinimaPrime:

Trailer:

They just released episodes 1 and 2 this past Friday.  So far, I enjoy this and will keep following it.  Now I missed catching SyFy's Battlestar Galactica series so I can't compare the 2.  But I do enjoy space and robot Sci-Fi.  I do hope bigger Battlestar Galactica fans find this enjoyable so they can continue this project.

Vegas Snow

While blogging away and some other stuff, I noticed rain drops on the patio.  Then I looked up and saw white particles on the patio table.  When looking further, it turns out that it was snowing.  All I can say is "Woohoo!"  So like a tourist, I grabbed my iPhone and took pictures and told the wife.  We got more pictures.  My 2nd thought was "We're gonna have a white thanksgiving."  But alas the snow didn't last.  Apparently it's cold enough to snow but not stick.  But it's still awesome.  I don't go to a lot of places where it does snow, so any in Vegas is always a joy for me.

Let it snow playa! (disclaimer: may not be suitable for young viewers; this video is more appropriate for the Christmas season; blogger is not responsible for any actions that occur from watching this video)

Car Chase

R/C style.

Came across this video on FaceBook.  This is an awesome car chase done with R/C cars in reference to the latest Need for Speed video game.

I would love to have the gear and crew do attempt this type of video.  But alas, I am just one person doing the camera work with my solitair iPhone for the camera and the driving with a decent count of R/C vehicles.

And here is the behind the scenes video.  Also another good watch.

And if you like to watch a differnet style of videos, check out more by FreddieW on YouTube.

And remember: this was done with R/C cars.  DO NOT try this with real cars (unless your on in a movie or working with the Mythbusters).

Halo 4 live action

I was looking through twitter and one of the people I follow had a link for this:

This is a web/YouTube live action series based off of Halo 4.  Now I have only played the first Halo game and don't know much about the rest of the Halo franchise story, but this cast and crew needs to be signed on to do a full length feature film (and they have only 4 episodes done so far).  This is definitely one of the best video game based live action shows out there.  Another one, which was more of a one shot instead of a series, is Ghost Recon Alpha.

Crawler Updates

SCX10 Trail Honcho:
I did some updating on the Trail Honcho.  Added a gun rack and some side panels for the truck bed.  With the new light buckets added, I'll need to get another light kit added to make them work.

I also did up a movie poster based on the Utah evening crawl.  The app used was Strip Designer.

Venom Creeper:
I finally got the Creeper up and going, and even got some video of it.  It got a new body, a crawler specific Electronic Speed Control, and a light set.

Movie Poster:

Film:

Now with 3 R/C's having lights, I need to get some more night videos going.

Form 17

After watching another episode of FilmRiot, the host recommended a short film to check out.  Short description:

A bomb technician faces his most hazardous situation yet: Take Your Daughter To Work Day.
 

Exo Terra Buggy

I've been working on my Axial Exo Terra Buggy.  A 4WD R/C off-road buggy from the same manufacturer as the SCX10.  This is an awesome kit.  It has plenty of scale details, even details based of off and offically licensed from actual racing parts.  It even has an actual roll cage with body panels instead of just a full molded body shell.

The assembly process took a long time, but it was fun.  Getting the shocks together was my only snag (I'm not a fan or putting shocks together).  You can call me a geek for this, but I did take pictures during the process.  I might put them into a small video of sorts.  With this buggy, I ended up getting my first brushless motor setup.  It took me a little time to decide, researching on how brushless motors are rated, but I finally decided on the green of Castle Creations with a Mamba Max Pro ESC plus NeuCastle 4600KV motor combo.  I also picked up an extra Airtronics receiver for my MX-Sport 3ch 2.4GHz radio.  Didn't want to run my first brushless motor setup with the standard AM 75Hz radio band.  For the main body panels, I chose a metallic blue paint.  I did do one mod during the build: added 2 light buckets to the hood panel.  Unfortunately I did this after painting.  I don't really recommend doing that if you can help it.

After getting it together, electronics installed, and painted, I finally took it out for it's first run.

During my first run, the brushless setup was not bad.  I was actually expecting it to be a little to fast for me to handle.  But it wasn't.  I picked a lower KV motor to get the slower speed, and I don't have Lipo battery packs yet.  The battery I did put in is a Venom Group 5000mAh 7.2v NiMH pack.  And I'm using the stock gearing setup.  This actually seems like a good way to ease in to brushless, especially after reading up on how fast brushless motors can be.  I had fun driving.  Now I need to find some dirt to drive on.

Since the first drive, I have added a light kit.  That took a little bit of time to install.  I had to watch the wire routing and make a few holes bigger.  And this brings up the major downside of this buggy.  any kind of internal maintenance will be a lengthy process due to the roll cage.  To me this is definitely more designed to the basher/scaler over the full on race pro.  Mainly due to something breaking which give you some increased bench time.  I also added an Axial hub cover set.  It covers the screws and nuts that hold on the wheels, and I picked up a black set to match the wheels.

Over all, I recommend this kit if you like off road 4wd buggies, scale details, and assembling your R/C models.  But I do suggest having some R/C kit building experience first before tackling this R/C assembly kit.  If I get an opportunity to, I may pick up another one.

October so far...

Well I have started my October celebration.  Movie views so far:

1. Ghostbusters 1 and 2 (and i'll watch them again closer to Halloween)
2. War of the Worlds - 1953 (the movie itself is not really Halloween, but since I don't have Orson Welles' radio broadcast this will have to do).
3. Resident Evil: Degeneration (a CGI movie based on and a lot closer to the plots of the zombie outbreak video game series)

I have already bought 1 bag of candy, and the lovely wife has picked up 2 more.  We are on our way to another fun Halloween.  Now I just need to figure out what costume to where. Ninja?  Pirate?  Knight?  Maybe a ninja-pirate that uses a knight's sword and shield?

October 2012

It's almost here.  That time for Oktoberfest, Ren-Fair, and the best candy day in the year, Halloween!  It also means time for a certain group of movies.  Those that are scary or have some sort of relation to Halloween. (Oh and I guess I can't forget about dressing up.)

I have an assortment of movies to watch, which includes Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Monster House, Ernest Scared Stupid, Monster Squad, and anything else involving aliens, ghosts, witches, monsters, werewolves, vampires (the standard, non-sparkly kind), and yes zombies.  Would any of the Incredible Hulk videos count?

I am trying to have a tradition of picking up at least 1 Halloween inspired movie each October.  This year I may try for the Universal Studios classic monster movies.  If I can't find them, then I guess it will be a surprise on what I pick up.  So if you do follow our movie reviews blog, I will try to post reviews as I watch movies.

I may also try to pick up 1 or 2 new decorations for the house.  And there happens to be a Halloween store not too far.

Yes I will be picking up candy.  Yes it will be to give out to trick-or-treaters.  But not all of it.

Oh, and if you were expecting a picture of Grave Digger, here you go!

Both normal versions of the pictures are available from their respective R/C company sites.

So, who ya gonna' call? Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!

Exterminate! With great taste.

I was looking through Face Book on iPhone and came across a Doctor Who posting about mini cake Daleks.  I am not a diehard Doctor Who fan, and have only seen a few episodes here and there, and have even read a Doctor Who book.  I am always up for aliens, cyborgs, and robots (which apparently the Daleks are a combination of all 3).

I took a look and these look delicious.  Not sure when, but I am going to put these on my cooking list.  Here is the link: Mini Chocolate Dalek Cakes.  And they even have the recipe as a downloadable PDF document.  Yes I saved a copy.  This may take me awhile to get going, as I am not the dessert baker I used to be.  So if anyone of my friends or family wants to get a head start, I wouldn't mind being a taste tester.

A Wicked Time

Last night, went out with wife to dinner an Chili's and then on to see the Broadway play Wicked. This is a great show to see.  Anyone that enjoys Wizard of Oz, plays, and some comedy should see this if you get the chance.  I am not much for musicals, as my wife will tell you.  But this was actually enjoyable, and I wouldn't mind going again some time (with better seats).

We sat in the Right Gallery in the Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center.  This is a very nice venue, though I haven't been to many.  We're already looking at what they have coming in the future to go again.

After that on our way home, we passed a DUI Check Point.  This was the first one I have ever been through.  No drinking for me while I was out, and so we passed through with no problems.

It was a very wonderful evening out with my wife, and I can't wait for the next one.

Post Birthday

Well my day for the year has come and gone.  The wife got me a new Boba Fett shirt, as the other one I have has too many holes.  I finished up getting the Godzilla new millennium movie series.  A great set of newer monster movies making good use of recent movie effects.  Finally got the Expendables on DVD, just in time for the sequel coming later.  Also got an AC/DC DVD.  A great show with a lot of great songs.  Angus Young is a show all on his own.

I finally have been making some progress on the Creeper.  Head over to Chuckwalla Crawler for more details.

This past weekend I finally made it outside for some gardening, and used the new hedge trimmer.  Works great, no cut cords, and all appendages are still attached.  Bushes are looking much better, but still now prize winner.  Now I just need to pick up a blower vac to help get all those little leaves and such.  Another trip to the Home Depot power tool isle.

And I finally got in all the guitar stuff.  The speaker cabinet was supposed to be delivered the Friday before I started vacation, but it ended up being damaged in transit.  Short story: carrier sent it back, I worked with Guitar Center customer service, and was able to finally get the replacement sent out.  It was a little bigger than I expected but it just barely squeezed into the back seat of my car.  After I got it inside, got it opened and tested it out.  Not at full volume, and didn't even dare go above 1/4 volume.  So I have a new amp head and 4x12 speaker cab.  Now I just need to practice and learn some real guitar playing (and look up the sound ordinance laws for our neighborhood).

The wife thinks I should start a band with all that I have.  Just need a drum set, maybe a keyboard, and a few more members that can play, and it's all good.

Heatwave!

"Holy heatwave Batman!  It's hotter than the surface of the Sun in here.  You could fry an egg right on the floor"
"You're right Robin.  We must not waste time.  Quickly...engage the...Bat-fan!"

If only Home Depot sold this when we were buying ceiling fans for our house.

Happy birthday to me!

Yes it's that time again.  And it's why I have had the past week off.  Normally I don't take time off for my birthday, but I felt why not.  I have seen a couple of movies so far: The Amazing Spider-Man and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Both great movies.  The Venom Creeper has been worked on, but still not running yet.  I haven't gotten to any guitar playing as I am waiting for an item to come in.  Apparently it got damaged during shipment and the carrier actually contacted the sender and sent it back.  And no power tool try outs either.  But I have been relaxing.

This has been a good week.

"I'm on vacation!"

A birthday vacation that is.  This year I decided to use 1 of my vacation weeks during the week of my birthday.  No big plans, just staying home.  Going to work on my Venom Creeper to get it up and going and get some actual video of it.  Might try to catch the new Spider-Man movie.  I'll even do some guitar playing/practicing (don't expect any videos).  Heck, I might even try out the new hedge trimmer.  Mmmmmm...power tools.  All in all, just a relaxing week away from work.

July 4th Fun

Well July 4th off was fun.  We had the eldest nephew spend the night on July 3rd.  Up at 06:30 and watched him and the wife play Lego Star Wars.  He was a blast to listen to as he played, really getting into the game.  While they continued, I decided to work on my Venom Creeper truck, trying to get the remote diff locking feature working.  Didn't happen.  The truck is still in the "garage".

At some point in the morning, the middle nephew came over to join in the Lego Star Wars.  After awhile, we decided to go see movies.  We all didn't want to watch the same one.  So wife and oldest nephew went to see Brave while middle nephew and me went to see Madagascar 3.  Madagascar 3 is a great movie continuing the NY zoo animal's quest to return back to NY City.  The penguins are awesome as always.

After the movies, we went over to the in-laws for dinner and fireworks.  We had a fun time with the family.  Pop in-law grilled up the typical burgers and dogs.  Yummy as always.  There were some salads, chips, and watermelon balls.  For dessert, younger sis in-law made up some home made Oreo cookies ice cream.  Yummy yummy.

Then it was time for the lights and noise in celebration of our great nation.  I was the designated igniter, or I guess the proper term would be the amateur weekend Pyrotechnician (not a professional of course, not yet anyways).  The nephews selected the fireworks to light, and as each was done they used their squirt guns to water them down.  The event photographers got some great pictures, especially of the nephews with the sparklers.

All in all, a great day to celebrate our Independence Day.

H a p p y 4 t h o f J u l y ! E n j o y g r e a t f o o d , f i r e w o r k s , a n d b e s a f e ! Ø<ÝúØ<Ýø

Justice League...Assemble!

I was just going through some YouTube channels I watch every so often, and came across a trailer for the new Justice League movie:

Had you going there a little, huh?  Well this is a parody by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy on YouTube.  He does a lot of Marvel/DC parodies, the best of which are the "I'm a Mac...I'm a PC" commercial parodies.  I prefer his parodies, but he does do some story lines.

Sunday update

A little slow on updating Sunday's cooking.  The meat turned out good.  We're all still alive and not in a hospital.  And it's good to know that at least my smoking won't be the cause of a zombi outbreak.  We had leftovers Monday night, and I enjoyed it.  Popped it in the nuker for a few, and yummy warm meat.  I prefer eating meat with some heat.

When I do another smoke session (and I know that it's coming), I want to do some bacon.  Not sure how to work that and smoke another meat too, so I'll ask and search ye old world wide web.  Or internets as those young hipsters say now a days.

Peace out!  Errr...smoke out?  Out-out?  Oh heck...laters y'all!

New crawler videos

Here are some recent crawler videos.

Helios - Mission: Patrol

SCX10 - Night Run Trailer

Helios - Mission 2: Survival

For more info on these, check out my Chuckwalla Crawler blog.

1st June Sunday

And what a day.  Decided to finally try some smoke cooking.  Got the firebox attached to our grill last night.  That was fun with the screw holes not wanting to line up.  Typical late night assembly challenge.  Luckily I had my lovely assistant to...assist.  She was extremely helpful.  Without her, the neighbors might have been calling the police about a very loud and unpleasant noise.  But we finally got it together.

Got up early to get the remaining items: Charcoal, meat thermometer, and vegetable oil spray.  Again I called upon my wonderful assistant to assist again.  I manned the grill, getting it preheated for first time use (we have only used the propane side thus far).  Lovely Assistant (in case you have not yet guessed, this would be my lovely wife) prepared the beef.

I finally got the grill setup for smoking and got the meat on.  Oh what fun it is to monitor a Charcoal grill to keep the temperature up for smoking.  Can't get involved in City of Heroes as I need to make sure I am available to add more Charcoal and chips to keep the heat up.  We are trying Apple wood chips.  I have put a few on dry and some soaked in water.  This is my first time so hopefully it turns out at least eatable.  The in-laws might want to have some pizza money ready just in case.  And I also have a water hose on stand-by.

Well back to watching the temp.

More Crawling

Here is my latest crawling trailer:

Ghost Recon Alpha

I was watching the Monday Film Riot, and the host suggested this for his short of the week.  Now I haven't been one for checking out the shorts suggested, but when he mentioned the name I had to this week.  Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is a series of military video games.  I haven't played any yet, but after watching this short film I may just have to.

I don't know much about the Ghost Recon story line, but something tells me that this is how a video game based live action movie should be.  Too bad only the good quality video game movies are short films by the game developers and fans.

I do enjoy the big budget production ones too: Tomb Raider, Doom, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and several others.  Yes, I enjoy watching Jean Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter movie.  But it's the short films like this that make me look back at those big productions and shake my head.

Avengers assemble!

I went and saw The Avengers movie with my wife Friday morning.  It was GREAT!  We both loved this movie.  If you like any of the previous movies leading up to The Avengers, go see this movie.

The Good:

• Plenty of action.
• No "this is slow, wake we when it's over" scenes.
• Great interaction between the heroes, and with the villain. (The Hulk has a couple of great scenes.)
• Can't wait for Blu-ray!

The Bad:

•  The only bad that I can come up with is that the comic fans for The Avengers will find stuff to complain about. (I have my opinions about this but I'm not going to get into that.)

For me, this is by far the best Marvel superhero movie yet (even better than any of the X-Men movies).  Part of what makes this great is the way Marvel leads up to it.  They did it the right way: giving the main heroes their own movies, and bringing them together using Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.  If you know something about the individual heroes and The Avengers, you could probably skip all the previous movies (Iron Man 1 and 2, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America) and still enjoy and follow along with this movie.  I do hope they make a trilogy of this.

With this movie, I also hope that DC Comics is taking some notes.  This is what they need to do to get a decent Justice League movie.  But with they way all of their recent non-Batman movies have been going, we might have a long wait.

* Please note that the picture used was cropped from one of the wallpaper images downloaded from http://marvel.com/avengers_movie/.  All rights belong to Marvel.

Avengers assemble!

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife!

iPhone and Film Riot

I sat down to catch the latest on Film Riot, and todays episode is on shooting with the iPhone.  Their short turned out great.  They also gave a few tips to help with shooting, which they have used for a lot of their other episodes.

The biggest of which is using a rig to help with steadiness.  The rig they used is the Owle Bubo for iPhone 4.  It seems to be a very nice rig for the hand-held look, but at around $148 on Amazon I will pass on this.  Instead, I am going to try to get the SnapMount Tripod Mount for the iPhone.  This is much cheaper.  It won't help with hand-held steadiness.  I'm looking for a way to mount my iPhone on a tripod for a low price.

There was also a quick blurb on a camera app: FiLMiC Pro.  They recommend this over the regular camera recording app included on the iPhone.  From what they showed, it definitely has improvements over the built-in app.  Looks like I'll be picking up another iTunes card.

On to the episode:

I know that there are lots of posts and videos about shooting with an iPhone, along with just about anything else.  That's the novelty of the internet for you.  What I like is that these guys are covering it.  They show you great stuff and have fun doing it.  They have good info, good tips, good shorts, and plenty of humor.  If you like anything about making your own videos and film, please check out more of their episodes.  (I do recommend parental guidance as some things may not be appropriate for young viewers.)

That's a wrap!

The Golf War

If this can be implemented into real golf, I will start playing.

Zombies in the Spring...or anytime.

Just came across an interesting web series.  It's called "Bite Me - The Gamer's Zombie Apocalypse".  This is hosted by Machinima.com.  Machinima as defined by dictionary.com: 

1. the process of making real-time animated films by utilizing the 3-D graphics technology of computer games.

 In the case of "Bite Me", it's a live action series that references zombie video games.  So this might not be for everyone.  Season 1 Episode one starts here:  

 

This is not mine, I have nothing to do with making this or providing it on the web.  All rights belong to Machinma.com.

So if you like web series, zombies, and video games, then check this out.

If you like video games and movies/shorts, check out more on Machinima.com.

Colonel Mustard said it best while shaking the wrench "There is safety in numbers, my dear."

MinionBots: la deuxieme partie

The MinionBot army is slow going.  I completed the February model and have started the March model.  The Feb model is some sort of touchy-feely love bot, while the Mar model has guns.  Finally one that can shoot stuff.  I can send in the Feb bot as a decoy.

Yes, that's Boba Fett (registered Trade Mark and/or copyrighted by Lucasfilm Ltd).  He's overseeing the assembly process and is in charge of the programming.

Just had lunch from Sausagefest food truck. Got the Chicago Polish w/fries lunch special $5. Very good.

Update time...

...to misquote Obadiah Stane from Iron Man.  May can't get here quick enough.  For my wife's birthday of course.  Which the celebration will include going to see The Avengers (unless the release date changes).  Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk.  I'm sure the new actor will do a good Bruce Banner, but what will the Hulk smash?

In other movie info, what would Abraham Lincoln do if he came across Vampires?  He would eliminate them.  "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a new movie out this year.  The trailer looks good and I can't wait to see the movie.  Go Team Lincoln!

Speaking of movies, I just uploaded a new crawler video.  This one of my Losi Micro Rock Crawler.  Head over to here to check it out (yes I'm cross-plugging my blogs).  It is another iPhone video project, but this time I used a different app: Splice.  It's not bad.  It is a little easier to clip the video clips added into the time-line.  You can also actually add title clips in.  With iMovie, I actually created pictures for my titles and brought those in.  Splice seems to actually import the video clips into the project, where iMovie just makes a reference to the clips.  For me, Splice is the better app on this point as I tend to organize my videos, but iMovie will let you search for the missing clips.  Splice has some downsides for me.  There are a limited number of transitions, no themes, and you have to make in-app purchases for additional assets.  I'll be jumping between the 2 as I do further projects as they both are good for what you get.

Happy Superbowl XLVI Sunday! Go Vikings!

It has begun!

No, not the final tournament for the realm of Earth.  But my army of minion robots.  Er...paper robots that is.  I have completed my first robot from a "fold your own robot" calendar, given to me as a gift from my wife.  Little did she know it would lead to arming me with an army of robot minions!  

 MUWAHAHAHA!

Here is my first completed minion:

And for my minion-bot's first mission, to make sure the right team wins in the super bowl.

Well it's a new month with a new robot to assemble.

Sci-Fi goodness

Well actually Syfy goodness.  I came across a web series on Syfy.com some time ago.  It is "The Mercury Men".  This is a good 10-episode series.  To me, it has a feel of classic sci-fi with better Special FX.  The basic story is about alien invaders from Mercury.

http://www.syfy.com/videos#/The%20Mercury%20Men/Full%20Episodes

Hope you sci-fi fans enjoy.  And remember, as bad as you may feel about Syfy.com/channel, they do occasionally have something good pop-up.  But I do enjoy bad movies...most of the time.

Happy New Year!