5.31.2012

5.28.2012

More win than fail: BBC News' unintentional Halo reference

During a report on the United Nations Security Council's condemnation of a recent massacre in Syria, they used the right emblem for the wrong UNSC.

Via Eurogamer. h/t Halo Universe.

Happy Memorial Day

Lest we forget the noble service and sacrifice of the always humble men and women of the United Nations Space Command Defense Forces, whose bravery in the face of the technologically superior Covenant and ravenous Flood is legendary.

5.24.2012

New Doctor Who mini-episode!

I don't care if it was written by school kids for the Olympics, it's an episode of Doctor Who and that's all that matters.

5.10.2012

Oh, John Scalzi, why do you write such good books!?

If anybody needs me, I'll be in over here in the corner,
trying to inject this book into my veins.
Picked this and it's sequel, The Last Colony up today at a thrift store of all places. Someone donated three of the four books in the Old Man's War series, apparently without having read any of them. Their loss. My gain. I actually can't recommend Old Man's War highly enough, it's one of the finest pieces of military science fiction (and scifi in general) in recent years. The opening to it says it all:
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.
Now, if that doesn't peak your interest, I don't know what will. The Old Man's War series takes place in a future where humanity has reached the stars and colonized many worlds. However, real estate is limited and contested by multiple alien races and so, human colonies are protected and new ones secured by the Colonial Defense Force. The oddity is that the CDF only accepts the elderly - you have to be at least seventy-five in order to enlist. Now, you're probably wondering "how the frell do geriatrics protect colonies and fight alien soldiers?" Well, you'll just have to read the first book to find out. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. The series has a good mix of action, humor, and introspection, so it has something for everybody.

The Ghost Brigades is a sequel to Old Man's War and focuses on the epoymnous special forces that are cloned from DNA collected from the dead. That bit of info isn't spoilery since it's mentioned in the blurb. The story itself concerns the discovery that several alien races have allied in secret to oppose humanity and its expansionism and the revelation that they're being aided by a human traitor. I'm already over thirty pages into it and I expect to hit a hundred before I go to bed tonight.

Picture via saltmanz.com.

5.05.2012

Musical interlude: The Sword - Hammer of Heaven

Because according to my stats, someone ended up on here by googling for them. Here you go.



Enjoyable song, actually.

5.04.2012

Eve Online: The Burning of Jita

Absolutely amazing. Eve Online, for those who don't know, is a space-based MMO (massively multiplayer online game) where you control one of a variety of ships and either trade, gather resources, or make war on other players. Apparently Jita is an important star system in the game, the primary trading hub of the Eve economy. You see, Eve Online is unique in that it has a more or less functioning economy where items in the game (including currency) have actual value in the real world.

The burning of Jita was an event organized by a group of players and involved thousands of players launching a surprise attack and pretty much destroying every ship there. Here's a helpful picture to illustrate just what happened.

Today is a very special day in geekdom

Apparently it's for some obscure movie franchise, but I like this better.

(via Steve Holt vs. The Universe)

5.01.2012

Benedict Cumberbatch's role in the new Star Trek movie revealed, sort of.

I don't really consider it a spoiler, since it's just the name of his character and hasn't been officially confirmed by J.J. Abrams or any of the others, but for the sake of anyone who doesn't want to know, I'll put it behind a jump.
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