Geek Force FiveCast 018 (Video)

This week’s Geek Force FiveCast features an impromptu jam/singalong, straight from the halls of PodCamp Boston 3. Watch as Chris Brogan leads the crowd (including me, ChrisClark) in a rousing version of the Counting Crows classic “Mr. Jones.”

If you’d like to subscribe to the podcast version of the FiveCast, please subscribe via Mevio.com.

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Friday Flashback: Lindsay Lohan vs. Allison Stokke

Editor’s Note: This entry originally appeared on June 4, 2007 on ChrisClark’s now-defunct Weblog, A Few Choice Words.

On the one hand, we’ve got a certifiable glory-whore who produces more headlines with her late-night antics than she ever has with her creative output. And, on the other hand, we’ve got a talented student athlete, who just happens to be a beautiful girl, and who would prefer to be left completely alone by the media. It sort of boggles my mind that the girl who actually deserves some news coverage (for her skill in pole vaulting, and not her good looks) would rather be ignored, while the girl who hasn’t done anything worth talking about since she stopped filming Disney remakes* seeks out the press in any way she can.

*I like her first record, but that was more of an achievement in record production than in vocal performance.

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Worth Your Consideration 012 - A GF5 Linkdump

• I really, really, really hope that Marco Zaldivar wins his lawsuit against T-Mobile over “mandatory” text-message fees. I think it’s ridiculous that the company told Zaldivar that turning off text-messaging was “impossible,” especially when, according to Red Tape Chronicle writer Bob Sullivan, “Verizon, AT&T and Sprint allow consumers to shut down delivery of unwanted text messages.” Me, while I’ve sent and received a few text messages in my time, I wish I had known I could turn them off altogether. I think they’re relatively useless when free alternatives such as e-mail, instant messaging, and Twitter exist. But maybe that just means I’m old.
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine star Hugh Jackman made an unannounced appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, and he brought footage from the forthcoming film with him, footage which apparently included a fan-favorite from the comic books who has thusfar not appeared in the X-Men film-franchise: Gambit. I’ve never been as nuts about Gambit as some of my contemporaries, but Newsarama’s description of the trailer as a whole does have me excited. I really dig the X-Men film-franchise (including the oft-hated-upon third installment), and I can’t wait for this one.
• The Unofficial Apple Weblog thinks apps for the AppleTV are a good idea and I wholeheartedly agree. I probably wouldn’t turn on regular cable TV at all if my AppleTV could tell me the weather and get me some other basic information like that. And I would be giddy like a schoolgirl if I could watch Viddler videos on my TV (a suggestion that TUAW makes). Apple, are you listening?
• ...apparently not. Apple continues to face major problems with the rollout of its new MobileMe service. While MacWorld gives MobileMe a relatively good review, known Apple enthusiast David Pogue (New York Times) has some serious concerns about the way that Apple is handling a crisis that’s affecting some 20,000 MobileMe users: “This is an airplane that’s stuck on the runway for hours with no food or working bathroom. And the pilot doesn’t come on the P.A. system to tell the customers what the problem is, what’s being done to fix it, how much longer they might be stuck, and how he empathizes with their plight. Instead, he comes on once every three hours to repeat the same thing: ‘We apologize for the inconvenience.’” I intend to give the new service a spin over the weekend, despite the bad reviews, but I’d been hoping that Apple would bowl me over with this service, and I’m not so sure that’s going to happen now.

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Greatest American Hero on the Silver Screen?!?

Newsarama is reporting that a film version of The Greatest American Hero may be forthcoming. The short-lived 80s television program, about a guy who finds a super-suit and then promptly loses the instruction manual, is a big favorite amongst my extended family, and while I can barely remember any of it, except for the theme song ("Believe It or Not” by Joey Scarbury, which is a five-star song in my iTunes library), I am incredibly psyched to hear this news. I think the property could gain a whole new following if a movie came out. And I think it deserves a much larger following than it has now.

Stephen J. Cannell, the creator of the series, speaks about how a film version might work:

“It’s Ralph Hinckley and Pam Davidson and Bill Maxwell,” Cannell said, indicating that the original three characters from the TV show would still be the focus of the movie. “We rehung it slightly in the screenplay. And with most action movies, you’d try to get an MPAA rating on it of PG-13. But this movie script we’ve got is a PG. I want it to be something that kids can go and see. So it has a lot of humor in it; it’s got a lot of effects. But basically, it’s still Ralph with the suit destroying his life, and Maxwell’s the Fed he can’t control, and all those elements that were in the last story were rehung slightly. You don’t want to do just a cookie-cutter reproduction of the pilot. You want to bring it to life for a new audience and a new generation.”

I like that the creator is involved, that he still has a certain reverence for the source material, and that he wants to keep it (relatively) kid-friendly. Good for him.

In the meantime, while we wait for this piece of cinematic awesomeness to arrive, we can check out comic books and an animated series based on the misadventures of our favorite superhero named Ralph. More on that in the Newsarama piece.

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Geek Force Five Social Network

PHOTO: PodCamp Boston 3: Chris Clark by Steve Garfield, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA

Shortly after fellow PodCamp Boston 3 attendee Steve Garfield shot the picture I’ve included above, he, along with John Herman, Leslie Poston, and a couple of others, convinced me that I needed to build a social network for Geek Force Five right away. They suggested Ning.com, which John and Leslie promised me would take literally two minutes to set up. And, since this whole site began with a social discussion on who each member of the community would include in their own personal Geek Force Five, I figured, “Why not?”

Thus, Geek Force Five on Ning was born.

If I’ve read correctly, a Facebook application may be possible using Ning, as well. And this is just the quick and dirty beginning. I have great plans for how to get the community more involved here at Geek Force Five, and I hope you’ll all stick around to see how those plans develop. Here’s a hint of what’s to come: Picture MTV Celebrity Deathmatch-style confrontations between each community member’s teams, maybe even in a March Madness-style bracket. Cool, right? I think so.

In the meantime, please consider signing up for the Ning site and answering (or re-answering) the question, “Who’s in your Geek Force Five?”

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