August, 2008

  1. Gappa / Monster from a Prehistoric Planet

    Wow … Gappa (retitled as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet) is in the public domain and available at Archive.Org. One of the funniest movie watching experiences I’ve ever had was watching this with my wife. The movie is hilarious — both intentionally and unintentionally. Gappa is what might have happened if the Monty Python folks…

  2. Stephenie Meyer’s Purloined Novel

    In what frankly comes across as a publicity stunt, Stephenie Meyer has been complaining on her blog that somebody ended up with a draft copy of one of her forthcoming novels and posted it to the Internets. Oh noes. Right up there with those bands that issue press releases denouncing the leaking of one of…

  3. Zabazoo’s Stonees

    Zabazoo manufactures a building toy called Stonees — colorful rocks made from crushed stone. The rocks have flat surfaces so they can be easily stacked. A tub of 50 goes for about $20. And they’re great for any sort of diorama scene (involving, say, action figures) that also requires rocks.

  4. Zocchihedrons

    Was weeding out my collection of magazines the other day, and ran across an ad in an early 1980s issue of Dragon for the Zoccihedron — a 100-side die that’s really just a ball that randomly (or not) displays a number between 1 and 100. And, of course they’re still making the things. This is…

  5. Determinism, Free Will and Quantum Spin

    Science News has a fascinating — if brain splitting — look at research by Princeton mathematicians John Conway and Simon Kochen who are trying to defend free will in what looks like a completely deterministic universe, Conway and Kochen say this search [for variables that would determine the outcome of quantum-level events] is hopeless, and…

  6. It’s Not Easy Being Green . . . and Crucified

    The Catholic Church is apparently a bit unhappy over this sculpture currently being displayed in an Italian museum that depicts a green frog being crucified while it holds a beer mug in one hand and an egg in the other. The sculpture, Zuerst die Fuess is by the late German sculptor Martin Kippenberger. The Vatican…