Powers For Profit - The New Webcomic from David Chevalier

We’re a little late on this—we’re a little late on everything lately, but more on that later this week—but we are very excited to hype up our friend David Chevalier’s new Webcomic Powers for Profit. It debuted last Monday and the latest installment is up now. Built entirely with two free 3D graphics applications (see here for more on David’s process), it’s a great example of the technology I’ve thought of using now and again to produce my own Webcomics.

David, you may remember, was a participant in the very first All Things Out Loud event that John Herman and I produced last year. He’s a fantastic writer, and I encourage you to check the series out.

Geek Force FiveCast 297: The Dream

In which ECC geeks out about a very geeky dream he had.

Worth Your Consideration #029

• I’d like to begin today’s WYC column with a little bit of rubbing it in for my least-favorite football team in the world, the Indianapolis Colts. Here’s Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl-Clinching Interception Recreated On Tecmo Bowl (courtesy of Best Week Ever).
• And, speaking of must-watch videos, have you seen the third trailer for Toy Story 3? It doesn’t wow me as much as the first two did—I’m past the wow stage anyway, though, and onto the “When is it coming out?” stage—but it is pretty darned nifty, and it sets up even more of the story. I love that we get to meet Ken, and that Barbie compliments him on his ascot. [Via Ain’t It Cool News]
• Now, when it comes to must-see video that ain’t even out yet, there’s one story today that tops the rest (at least for me): Web video producer John Herman and Cinema Suicide head honcho Bryan White are teaming up to produce How To Survive The Strange, which Bryan describes as Bob Vila, Vampire Hunter. It debuts in May, and there’s an open casting call on March 15. Learn more here.
• In far less appetizing news, I present the Taco Bell Cheesy Double Beef Burrito Stuffed Sausage Log. Um, what is the opposite of “Yum”? Anyone know?
• Palate-Cleanser, Part One: Christopher Nolan will help reboot Superman, hopefully with the same (or similar) results as his Batman reboot.
• Palate-Cleanser, Part Two: There appears to be some recording going on at Nine Inch Nails HQ.
• Palate-Cleanser, Part Three: Disney Princesses Letting It All Hang Out.
• And, last but not least, let’s talk about our old pal Kevin Smith. The Internet is in an uproar over the mistreatment of the Clerks director by Southwest Airlines. Many are mad at Southwest, some are mad at Kevin, and a few are even mad at Heather Armstrong, who had “the nerve” to compare her washing machine experience with this latest debacle. Me, I don’t care. Companies in the service industries do wrong by their customers all the time, and there ain’t a one of them that is totally innocent, least of all a company as big as Southwest. Me, I’m much less excited to hear Kevin Smith tell Southwest to go fuck themselves on SModcast than I am to hear more about his bold ideas on how to create fan-financed films.

Generation Goat #9 – Flying Toasters Forever!

In this episode, Chris and Jon attempt to sell out while discussing TV obsessions, computer dating in middle schools, the Grammy Awards, the dangers of karaoke in the Philippines, Chris’ flying-toaster themed comic, the Superbowl, the death of radio, Valentine’s Day, and more! It’s a long one, but we’re far too lazy to edit. I mean, we’re all about working harder for you… That’s it. (And look! We got through the whole #9 thing without a single, bad Beatles reference…)

Have a listen!

Worth Your Consideration #028

• Speaking of red band trailers, here’s the international red band trailer for Kick Ass, a film that seems poised to imprint its boot heel upon the tuchus of every geek in the world come this April.
• The heroes of Kick Ass seem hell-bent on proving that you can be a superhero in real life if you try hard enough. Meanwhile, in the two-dimensional unreality of the Marvel Universe, there is word that a rather classic-looking team of Avengers will be debuting in the aftermath of that company’s ongoing Siege event. This is all part of the “Heroic Age” direction that the company is taking its characters, a promotion that is so interesting to this writing that I’m even salivating over a teaser featuring Gorilla Man. And I don’t even know who that is!
• I’d be salivating even more if Marvel—my favorite comics publisher—would get with the program and announce some sort of service for the upcoming iPad from Apple. According to Gizmodo, “comic books will look incredible on the iPad”.
• But anyway, in the interest of keeping things upbeat, how about the news from Ain’t It Cool that Red Skull will be the villain in the upcoming Captain America flick, and that the Invaders will feature heavily in the second half of the film? I’m personally thinking that we won’t get an Invaders team quite like the one highlighted over at AICN, but I think it’ll still be cool. What I think will happen is that the Invaders will be one hero from each of the allied powers, with Cap as their leaders. So, we’ll probably get Union Jack or Captain Britain. But, beyond that, I have no idea.
• Speaking of things from my childhood—did I ever mention that I first became acquainted with Captain America through a hardbound introductory book they had at the Chelmsford Children’s Library?—Sonic the Hedgehog is back! You know me: I’m a sucker for old school games. And, since I never owned a Genesis myself, I’m psyched to learn that I’ll be able to pick up a copy of this for my Wii and finally get a Sonic fix whenever I feel like it.
• While we’re talking childhood, how about this iPhone app that allows you to create your own Sesame Street monster? I’m buying that for my daughter as soon as I get home.
• A lollipop flavor you’d probably never catch Elmo eating: bacon maple, which now, coincidentally, comes laced with caffeine!
• My favorite Super Bowl ad: It’s a tie between the Leno and Letterman ad (which I didn’t see live), the Bette White Snickers commercial (which I did see live), and the LeBron vs. Dwight Howard dunk contest that we got courtesy of McDonalds, complete with a Larry Bird cameo (which took me too long to find online).
• Last, but not least: Kottke is talking up a new service called Chatroulette, which you can find at chatroulette.com (apparently it’s very NSFW). I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but have you? Is it as awful (and awfully good) as Kottke describes?

Worth Your Consideration #027

I’m collecting links like mad lately, so it’s time for another edition of Worth Your Consideration.

• Let’s start off by linking up the Star Wars burlesque story that Jon mentioned during this week’s episode of Generation Goat. And, if the still image above and other images in that first link aren’t enough to sate you, here’s video of the debauchery courtesy of Geekologie. And, if that still isn’t enough for you, be sure to check out this video of Princess Peach shaking it for Bowser and all the other toads in the audience.
• You know that we love amazingly disgusting (yet somehow mouth-watering) burger photos. Well, here’s another one: Krispy Kreme Donut Bacon Cheeseburgers.
• You know that we also love Nine Inch Nails. Here’s a video of former NIN drummer Josh Freese kicking ass and taking names on a live version of “Wish.”
• Also on the video front, here’s an oldie but goodie: a circa 1984 dealer training video for the then brand-new Macintosh computer.
• Speaking of Apple, didja know that they confirmed they’ll be announcing their “latest creation” on January 27? Rumors indicate that we’ll hear about the fabled iTablet, iPhone OS 4.0, and iLife 2010 (the WSJ seems pretty sure about the tablet’s arrival, and is suggesting that families will share the device). There are also whispers that we’ll soon be hearing about our iTunes media collections living in the cloud.
• One more Apple link: Every Get A Mac Ad in One Place.
• Moving on! It looks like Spider-Man 4 has a director, and it’s Marc Webb, whose (500) Days of Summer is still on my to-watch list.
• Marc Webb once directed a Green Day video ("21 Guns"), and Green Day is going to be the center of the next Rock Band video game. Dude! How’d you like that transition?
• And, oh, if Green Day ever needs a drummer to replace the maniacally, indecently awesome Tre Cool, then they should check out this kid, whose chops, according to Mashable, “will melt your face off.”
• I’ve become kind of obsessed with videos of talented kids lately. Something else I’ve been obsessing over: stats for things that don’t need stats. And here’s a prime example: Charlie Brown’s lifetime baseball stats.
• Moving on! How long until someone runs over a real prostitute in their real car while too busy running over a digital prostitute in the new iPhone version of Grand Theft Auto to pay attention to the road?
• Something that keeps me from tearing my eyes away from the iPhone or the computer, wherever it is I happen to bump into these things: promos for season six of Lost and jokes about how the sixth season is going to make fans like me even more obnoxious than ever.
• Something I wish I could experience for real, and not just through the hype machine: Marvel Comics. I am really digging the poster for Siege that Joe Quesada did, but the pricing for comics is out of control and I ain’t coming back until they get real and bring cover prices down (which will probably never happen).
• Well, never say never, I guess. I mean, if Marvel’s new overlords at Disney keep making decent money on films like the rumored Tim Burton version of the Sleeping Beauty tale, called Maleficent, then maybe they’ll find some way to bring prices down.
• And, not that the House of Mouse needs any suggestions from me on how to make some dough, but here’s one: Disney princesses dressed up as the villains from their movies.

Geek Force FiveCast 286: Kitty Pryde

In which ECC geeks out about the return of Kitty Pryde to the pages of Uncanny X-Men.

Geek Force FiveCast 285: No More Spider-Man 4

In which ECC expalins why the Spider-Man movie reboot may not be such a bad thing after all.

Thanks to Jon, Buj, and everyone else who e-mailed, DMed, or Tweeted about this story.

Geek Force FiveCast 281: Watchmen

In which ECC geeks out about finally seeing Watchmen (specifically The Ultimate Cut version).

Worth Your Consideration #026

In no particular order, here are a slew of awesome links I’ve collected over the past week.

• Speaking of “awesome,” my favorite discovery from this month’s NH Media Makers meet-up was Dennis Lees‘ site Awesome Alternatives, which provides… well, it’s kinda self-explanatory, isn’t it?
• iJustine found this fantastic viral video that was made to raise awareness of breast cancer, and, while not particularly geeky, I definitely feel like it needs to be shared. I particularly liked how little awkwardness and embarrassment I saw. Everyone in this video just seemed to be having fun.
• Mel Gibson is set to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie about vikings? That’s what AICN says is happening. And I, for one, agree with their assessment that this film “oughta be...something.”
• Nicholas Cage never got to play Superman (and here is why that’s a very good thing), but he is going to appear on-screen as the superhero Big Daddy in the upcoming film Kick-Ass, and AICN has a poster of Cage in costume and an amazing sequence of Cage training his daughter in the film to become Hit Girl. Neat, says I!
• Less neat: Tobey Maguire as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming film version of The Hobbit. I mean, I love Tobey, but he ain’t right for that role at all. Right?
• Kinda neat: the trailer for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. I still love the Kevin Costner version—yes, go ahead and write me out of your will now—but I’m okay with seeing what they do with this.
• An uneven kind of neat: the trailer for the Clash of the Titans remake. Really, I’m not sure about this one. This trailer goes back and forth from awesome to suck about five or six times in the span of two or three minutes. But I do like this trailer better than the first, so that’s saying something.
• Neat? I’ll let you decide on this one: Rene Russo will play Thor’s mama in Thor.
• This one too: the new trailer for Alice in Wonderland, the Johnny Depp version.
• Definitely neat: Bryan Singer will return to the X-Men film franchise as director of the next movie in the series, X-Men: First Class.
• And now we need a neatalternatives.com, too.
• Moving on… Long-time Fivers will remember our posts on the McGangBang and the McNuggetini, but I think that even those of you who witnessed those monstrosities will be unprepared for the McDonald’s Big McSausage Egg Surf & Turf Mac.
• Now, to wash the taste of that out of your mouth—as if that would even be possible if you ate that thing—here’s an article about Tara Reid posing for Playboy.
• Hehe… did I just make you throw up in your mouth twice in a row? You’re welcome.
• If you’re crying now from what I’m doing to you, perhaps this will make you feel better: Woman Cries After Seeing Return of the Jedi. Seriously? I thought it was a rule that we only cry after watching The Phantom Menace.
• And, speaking of Return of the Jedi, did you know that Lucas wanted David Lynch to direct it? Do you think the girl above still would have cried if we’d gotten that version?
• Kottke calls Guitar Hero with 21,268 Christmas lights, “possibly the most American thing [he’s] ever seen,” and you know what? I can’t disagree.
• Slightly related (because there’s the music connection, you see): Mario Theme With One Hand Only.
• Also slightly related: Found footage: 6 iPhones almost make a full keyboard.
• Totally unrelated to that: Jorge Garcia just discovered the Hurley “dude” video. I love Jorge Garcia, and I love that he blogs. And, most of all, I love that we are getting closer and closer to the sixth season premiere of the show that made me love Jorge in the first place: Lost.
• I’m sure I’ve talked about Springfield Punx before—probably because the dude who runs it is doing a series of Simpsonsified characters from the aforementioned Lost—but I gotta mention it again, now that he’s posted Simpsons versions of Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain.
• And, last but not least (or, well, if you’re not an Apple fan, I guess it might be least): Adweek Media’s Campaign of the Decade is Apple’s Get a Mac ads.