I review it: The Avengers

ZOMGBBQPWNIESoirg;oijadfvj kqrego[iU YIHWEAJ KNSDKNMkjl.  AOPig;jkIUJKN!! ASJLVwvu;qjkln and then jkviouqh.  ;FJKIJOQER 089[Q3 4AJKL.  DKMN;OJoihejkr.  Gwyneth is in it, but other than that, [iohWJNKEBW OIUP. erhiouewJKGBEQfpouhWE BJKNF!!!

Joss Whedon is a god.

INFINITY STARS!!  ALL OF TEH STARS!! out of 5.

Check it out.  Stay until the end.  Sneak back in and see it again.

It's British Friday! It's British Friday!

It's no secret that we love us some Jason Statham here at wax|wendy.  Naturally I was delighted last night when @tortiegirl advised me that he has a new movie coming out.  My first thought though when I read Killer Elite: Statham Vs. Owen was, "Owen Wilson? What? Why?"

Then I clickied on the linkie.

Not Owen Wilson.

Clive Owen.  *GASP!*


Shit just got real.

The Stathe is an action god, and Clive Owen has some surprising chops.  If you've seen Shoot 'em Up (and why haven't you?) you know what I'm talking about.

Also, two words: pleasuring Monica Bellucci while fighting ninjas at the same time.

From what I can gather from the trailer, the movie is basically The Stathe and Clive Owen beating holy hell out of each other for two hours. Robert De Niro and Mr. Eko from LOST are there too. Yes please!

As the BuzzFeed so eloquently put it, we all win!

It's British Friday! It's British Friday!

Inspired by a very silly comment I received that seemed to imply that Brit Pop star Robbie Williams is, in fact, a robot.

POW! POW! Take that robots!

via Reddit

Come on scientists! Are you trying to accelerate the singularity?   I don't think I would stand much of a chance with Watson, but based on these results, I can hold my own when rock-paper-scissors becomes the coin of the robot-realm.

Computers mimic human reasoning by building on simple rules and statistical averages. Test your strategy against the computer in this rock-paper-scissors game illustrating basic artificial intelligence. Choose from two different modes: novice, where the computer learns to play from scratch, and veteran, where the computer pits over 200,000 rounds of previous experience against you.

I opened with scissors, on general principle.



Although I do think in addition to novice and veteran there should be a Sheldon level of game play.



Rock-Paper-Scissors: You vs. the Computer - NYTimes.com via Laughing Squid

These are not the books you're looking for

Libreaction's Andy Priestner has managed to ping two of my nerd sweet spots with his thoughtful review of the Jedi Archives.  He takes issue in particular with their access policy, which could be the greatest comprehensive exam question ever written.

"Create an access policy for an archive containing all of the known information in the galaxy, held in a variety of print and digital formats, and serving a diverse user population.  Special attention should be paid to the competing needs to provide critical information while guarding against data corruption at the hands of the Dark Side.  Cite the professional literature and provide specific examples."

And while I won't go so far as to call head librarian Jocasta Nu the worst librarian in the galaxy, I will say that if your client is having trouble finding something, the answer is not, "If an item doesn't appear in our records, it doesn't exist".





Jedi Librarian: Libreaction via Neatorama

Monday morning moment of nerditry

"Kara Remembers / All Along the Watchtower" performed on an Eigenharp by my new boyfriend.



via Topless Robot - BSG's Cylon Theme on an Autoharp

Geek girls represent!

EMBED-Geek and Gamer Girls Song - Watch more free videos

via Neatorama

British Friday Observed - Slingers edition

This started making the rounds of the intertubes several weeks ago. The fabulous @mixiemoxie sent me the link, and my reaction was "What is this?? Want moar, moar, MOAR!!!"

Warren Ellis put it best - it's Ocean's Eleven in space with Sean Pertwee grandly standing in for Frank Sinatra.

With any luck, I'll get my wish. According to creator/writer Mike Sizemore, they hope to start shooting the pilot in 2010. Hurry. All my other shows are leaving me. Help me, Sizemore. You're my only hope.

via @sizemore and io9

#musicmonday: Bent "Cylons in Love"

By you command ..

Your Monday morning moment of welcoming your new robot overlords

IT BURNS! OH GOD, IT BURNS!!!!!

I'm a deeply indebted to @bobbyhank for alerting me to some exciting news - today is the 31st anniversary of the airing of one of the greatest achievements in teevee history. I can't believe I almost missed it!

To mark the day I'm reposting this entry from the 12/26/08 wax|wendy archives. Don't say I never gave you anything ...

********

When I was a kid, there were a few occasions when gifts would magically appear a few days after Christmas. One year, my mom forgot about a pair of earrings she'd gotten me. Another year, my brother really, really, really wanted a Colossal Fossil Fight. Mom couldn't find the game anywhere, and finally happened upon one, on sale, post-Christmas.

So she put it under my brother's bed, and told him she thought maybe Santa had come back with an extra present for him. Oh, the joy in our house that day! Oh, the hours of fun and entertainment we had!

The present I leave under your bed today? Yeah, it's nothing like that at all.

Behold! I give you ... The Star Wars Holiday Special ...



Under no circumstances should you try and watch this 2 hour abomination in one go. I barely made it through the list of guest stars, and that's only the first 2 1/2 minutes. Bea Arthur! Diahann Carroll! Art Carney! Harvey Korman! It's like an episode of the Love Boat up in here.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween : FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!

Well sure. Spare time + basic engineering skills = CANON!!

The cannon is mostly used on weekends to attract people to Gill’s Farm Market on Route 209 in Hurley, but sometimes the guys get together at the 1,500-acre farm and blast it when nobody’s around. Just for fun.

They’ve shot pumpkins, scuba tanks and a basketball filled with corn and foam insulation. They once scattered some geese by accidentally shooting into the flock. Then there’s the time they shot a bowling ball more than a mile.

“The first time we shot a bowling ball, that’s was probably the worst thing we ever did,” Arold says. “It kept going and going and going.” -- via Neatorama

How did I not know that the World Championship Punkin Chunkin is right in my back yard? I am so going to Delaware next weekend ... Wait! What am I saying? I'm going to Hawaii next weekend! Good thing I remembered.

Happy Halloween ... ASTRONAUT!!

credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/ / CC BY 2.0

The best holiday on the calendar is fast at hand. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a veritable cornucopia of projects to keep you busy this weekend, and make sure you're well prepared for the coming candypocalypse. They've got it all - costumes, pumpkin hacks, decor, and food.

If your tastes run more to the lo-tech side, Pink Raygun has you covered with their pop culture jack o'lantern templates. I'm totes making a Metallicar this year. If you really want to make the children cry, check out their Pan's Labyrinth "Monster with Eyes in his Hands". *shudder*.

Yeah! The rock music plays!

Sam and Dean

Okay, seriously, what is going on here? Dean looks like himself, but why is the mom from Home Improvement riding shotgun? You Samgirls might be happier with the solo Sam template.

Sam Winchester (solo)

Hurley Pumpkins, dude. Pumpkins.

10 and the Tardis

Halloween Projects from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Templates - Pink Raygun.com

101 Days of Robots

File this under "what you'll be wearing the rest of the year when you run out of clean Star Wars tees."

Hide Your Arms via io9

Previously on wax|wendy

Robots in Disguise

I would hang it over the fireplace in the library ... if I had either

The real thing would have set you back 10 grand, but thanks to Think Geek, the Old Man's painting of the First Cylon War can be yours for $14.99. At that price, you can get one for every room in the house.

The war was bloody and brutal. One only has to look at this beautiful lithograph of an original oil painting, commissioned by Universal Studios and hung on the wall in Admiral Adama's office, to see the truth of it. Hundreds of Colonial soldiers, in stunning detail, battle their fearsome metal automatons in a fierce ground war.

This painting was painstakingly scanned in archival resolution, and reproduced on 22" by 17" 100-pound art-quality paper. Any Battlestar Galactica fan, new and old, can appreciate this fine piece of sci-fi artwork!

So say we all!

Get Your Own Grisly Memorial Of The First Cylon War - io9

Future Fashion- Oh, Swish!

It's difficult to know what the future holds, and many predictions are just wildly off base. I'm still waiting for the flying car I was promised by Blade Runner. But the prognosticators behind this newsreel actually got quite a few things right.



Dresses made of transparent net? Big crazy hair? Check and check. Okay, maybe it's just JLo.

Cantilever heeled shoes. Why not?  Marc Jacobs agrees.

Electric belt adapting the body to climatic changes. Sort of.



Candy for cuties? Yes. You're wearing it.



YouTube - 1930s Futuristic Fashion Predictions

It's not funny because it's true

Joel Watson's Hijinks Ensue via io9

Ponypocalypse!

And of course, the making of

via io9

British Friday - Bow down bitches edition

New York, May 6. Image via Getty

I'm only happy when it rains

Shirley Manson is awesome and should be on Craig Ferguson every night for 5 minutes.   It wouldn't even matter what they talked about.  We could all just bask in their accents for those few sweet minutes.

Jezebel - Great Scot! Paul McCartney Looks Like Angela Lansbury - shirley manson