A knit Hellboy, made by Kat as a Christmas present for me.A wind sound effect machine, made by me for the Leisure Time radio play series.

I was expecting it to be interesting, but I wasn't expecting it to be so awesomely interesting.

Being inside a sub is like being in the guts of some huge machine. Everything is exposed, and everything is mechanical. Sure, there's electric lights and motors, but no electronics as we are used to today. Even the computer used to compute the torpedo launch trajectories is mechanical.

The entire space is not just cramped--room for humans is almost an afterthought. Comfort couldn't be a priority when they were building this thing. And yet, 80 men or more would spend weeks inside.

You can go for the craftsmanship and the ingenuity that went into building this machine, or you can go to say thanks for the men who could live, work, and fight in such cramped, dangerous quarters. But go, and see the one of the final expressions of a lost era in technology.

The startling true story of the Hamlet production that defied sanity—staged entirely in StarCraft®: Brood War®, a decade-old computer game.
GASP at how I gleefully embraced the wrong tool for the job—and made it the right tool!
MARVEL at how I cast my own computer as the actor—for every single role!
THRILL at the missteps and hazards I encountered—including a berserk Hamlet going murderously off-script!
In a world where machinima productions are becoming more and more sophisticated, one man dared to turn back the clock—and discovered a cheap way to do it!

I switched topics the week beforehand as part the obligatory pre-event panic.

But it got me to thinking about the action-packed, thrill-a-minute world of Starcraft-based machinima development. So here's the 10-minute original machinima (Act V, scene ii of Hamlet, preceded by a comedy short):

Or you can view just the 1-minute comedy short if you're strapped for time:

Someday I hope to polish my original Ignite presentation draft and post it. Untl then, here's a brief overview for those who wish a tantalizing glimpse of the development process.

Mark my words...

Cool Thing 2: rented The Burrowers via XBox Live. Had some points left over after getting The Dishwasher: Undead Samurai on their Arcade marketplace, so tried out the video rental service. Pretty painless, although I would like a little more than 24 hours as a rental period, and I miss the DVD extras. Although maybe The Burrowers just didn't have any.

So The Burrowers goes up with Splinter as another fun monster movie that deserves more eyes*. Assuming your tolerance for gore is fairly robust.

*"More eyes?" Boy, that doesn't sound right in a discussion of monster movies...

(Photo (CC) Randy Stewart, blog.stewtopia.com. Thanks, Randy!)

I described how I became 0.0002% cyborg (by weight) -- I had a heart attack, and had two polymer-coated stainless steel stents installed in my right cardiac artery. My presentation was a whirlwind 5-minute romp through the merry mixups of myocardial infarction.

The other presentations were fantastic. Nothing like being in a room full of smart, creative people. I highly recommend you keep an eye out for the next one.

a geek event that combines on-site geekery, sharing, and innovation (and drinking)

The highlight is 18 short presentations on various tech/geek/cool topics. Presenters get just 20 slides that autoadvance every 15 seconds for a total of 5 minutes. I've been practicing, and it goes by real fast.

I'll use my presentation to explain why and how I am now 0.0002% Cyborg (by weight). I am both eager and terrified. If you are interested in seeing some great presentations--and me, talking really fast--come on by to the King Cat Theatre in Seattle tomorrow night. Details are here.

DeathSpank Fight Teaser.

I'm not saying all the articles arrive laden with the funny, but at least daily I am treated to articles such as Australia holds 'pigeon smuggler'.

The best quote from the article:

I now have to start a band, just to name it "Undeclared Aubergine"...