Tumbling Down The Rabbit Hole

Do you remember me saying that I love my mechanic? Well, he is awesome!

It was just last week that I mentioned my car slammed into a huge chunk of ice. When my rear-tire ran over it, the strut pierced through the freakin chassis, and into the back seat of my car (read about it here)! I just wish I’d taken some pictures of what I was certain was a write-off.

Well, my awesome mechanic surprised the hell outta me: he managed to fix it for $258 - and that *includes* the oil change I was overdue for! Yeah! That’s what I said!

Now, I know zero about cars, and this is what he told me was involved in my mechanic paraphrasing speak:

“I had to point-weld the strut mount back into place, and I had to replace the rubber seat the strut sits in.”
                    - Karn’s Awesome Mechanic

Whatever that means. To be honest, I likely got it all wrong because the only part I was waiting to hear, and that I understood, was the $258 part. My brain blocked out all other words, really.

Schweeeeet! My Mazda Protegé may just hit the 400,000km milestone yet!

So - while I’ve been driving my old beater around town, showing it off to the naysayer locals, I also found a bunch of fantastico links to share with you all. I tell yah, it’s like freakin’ Xmas here baby!

• Eliza Dushku interview - Late Night with Conan O’Brien
• The People vs. George Lucas
• Absolutely Amazing Video Game Remake Wallpapers
• Escape From City 17 - Part One
• Alex Broeckel’s Concept Art and Illustration
• Buffy vs. Faith by Katie Cook

Eliza Dushku interview - Late Night with Conan O’Brien

This was from last Thursday night’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Eliza showed up to talk Dollhouse and was so enthusiastic, I thought she’d forgotten the question Conan asked at one point. She was just bursting with “I wanna talk Dollhouse!”, it was fun to watch.

And… a tomboy? Haha! So damned funny. Conan was so right, she needs to buy a mirror.

And I hope you all tuned in to watch Dollhouse too. I really did think it was a good series opener (I posted about it earlier this week), and I intend to watch it again this Friday. The show has my attention, I am just waiting for it to become fantastic now.

The People vs. George Lucas

I thought this was genius. I’m not sure exactly how this movie will go down, in some ways it seems to portray the people that think of George as a god, and then others are claiming he raped their childhood.

I just thought the idea was so perfect, because I feel the same way(s) at times… I live on both sides of that fence.

As a child? Yeah, George was a god to me. Well, as I grew older, I grew to know George made the 3 movies I loved so much.

As an adult? Yeah, he royally screwed things up. Likely because I am now an adult, and he’s making movies for a whole new genera… wait, wait, wait! Enough with the excuses! He raped my childhood! LOL!

But there’s the part of me that still loves the Star Wars universe, a part of me that thinks the 501st Legion is damned cool. I just don’t know where I stand, even today.

Damn you George! This Love-Hate relationship is killing me!

Absolutely Amazing Video Game Remake Wallpapers

Pffffft! There’s nothing to be said here that the original post on lifehacker didn’t say; so here’s a point form summary:

1. Awesome
2. Zelda
3. Metroid
4. OMG
5. Sonic
6. Mario
7. Drooool
8. Street Fighter
9. Mega Man
10. Castlevania
11. Download Now!!

Escape From City 17 - Part One

Wow - this is a short flick, but thankfully it is only part 1. I was really impressed at what $500 and a whole ton of talent could make. These guys at The Purchase Brothers have some serious talent, and this movie short showcases their talents in a very well known popular world - Half-Life 2’s City 17.

There’s not much I can say without giving away what goes on in the video… heck, the title alone pretty much describes what happens, but check it out. I’m hoping they continue on with the series, because they’ve seriously got my attention.

And while you are at it, check out the Coke Babies and iPhone Everything commercials they’ve made - they are pretty awesome as well.

Alex Broeckel’s Concept Art and Illustration

Now here’s a man that’s got talent.

He’s worked on some pretty big movies (Harry Potter and Oliver Twist), but now he is working on his concept art portfolio. I have to say that this guy already has quite the set of paintings to show off - everything from his portrayal of a deserted early 1900’s New York, to his Battlestar Vipers landing on Earth - they are all awesome. I just wish there were some higher resolution images to download so I could slap them onto my desktop.

This guy is not going to be looking for work for very long - I’d imagine with talent like his that work is the sort of thing that finds him - wow.

And you’ve gotta love it when an artist can whip up something like this, and claim it’s just a concept version of something he intends to actually paint at some later date.

Buffy vs. Faith by Katie Cook

WoooooT!

With me celebrating the new life my car has, I’m finishing off the week with something Buffy! Check out this hawt sketch of Faith duking it out with Buffy.

Who is the artist? I’ll admit it - I was not sure who Katie Cook was, at first. The artwork was definitely ringing a bell though, but I was not sure why.

Well, I recently started watching The Clone Wars cartoons. I’d found out soon after that there were associated The Clone Wars comics on StarWars.com - Well, Katie Cook’s done some of the artwork for a few of the comics in the series (check out the comics too, they’re really good). I recognized her artwork style before I recognized the name mind you, but once I saw this Buffy sketch of hers there was no mistaking that I’d come across her work before.

She’s really got her geek on too, folks. She’s got quite the array of sketches displayed on her website; Comics? yeap! Star Wars? most def! Dr. Horrible? yup! Indiana Jones? hellz yah! Lord of the Rings? naturally! I could go on, but you have to go and check it out for yourself!

She even sets up sketch booths at Cons she can make it to - and when she’s got the time she also does commissioned work (her queue is full at the moment though, damn!). I’ll definitely be following her excellent blog’s feed as well. This woman’s got some serious talent, it’ll be fun to see what she’ll come up with next.