A Couple of Videos from the 2018 Bay Area Maker Faire

Every time I go to the Bay Area Maker Faire, it seems like there's at least a few different times where someone sticks a camera and a microphone in front of me and asks what I'm doing there. This year was no exception. Here's a couple of videos that I've found so far.

For starters, Caleb Kraft from Make: was livestreaming a walking tour of the Faire. You can see it cued up to start with my segment here:
 


Then Norm and the guys from Tested.com stopped by to take a look at the newly-finished Fallout power armor:   

I'm sure there will be more as time goes by.  Not everyone gets their posts online in a timely manner like I do. 

Famous Again

The other day Wired.com sent a video team out to the workshop to interview me and see my mess.  Here's the result:


Sadly, we ran out of time before we could get footage of the rest of the huge stack of costumes we had lined up and ready to go.

Looks Like the Clock is Still Ticking on My Fifteen Minutes of Fame...

For those of you who didn't see Nightline last night:


I thought I had a backlog of orders to fill before.  I think it's about to get worse...

Allow Me to Waste a Bit of Your Time...

I haven't made a lot of progress on any projects I'm allowed to talk about lately, so here's a couple of entertaining videos I've come across this morning.  

First up is an Omnicorp promotional video: This is the first viral video promoting the upcoming Robocop reboot. It's got me really thinking I need to get to work on a lifesize replica of the original ED-209. 

Next, ever wonder why you never saw any Biker Scouts on Tatooine? They were elsewhere:  

The same group of guys also put together a video showing an X-wing pilot on a snowboard being chased downhill by snowtroopers on skis:  

Now I'm just waiting for them to post Darth Vader Skydiving and Princess Leia surfing in her metal bikini. It's only a matter of time...

Video from the Maker Faire

I did an interview about some of my build processes at the Maker Faire back in May. The video finally posted to Youtube the other day.  They've got me explaining the steps that went into building the weapons, but what's really great is the opening sequence.  Enjoy.

Everybody in costume really looked great, but I can't help thinking I kinda sound like an idiot. Nice to finally see the video.

The Nerdiest Thing You'll See All Day

You've got to love this:

Pepakura Model Building

Yesterday afternoon, Matt and I sat down and did a quick build of one of the arms for our ongoing Space Marine armor project. I decided it would be a good idea to set up a camera and catch the magic in time-lapse. Check it out:



This is a small part of one of four major builds I've got going right now. Stay tuned...


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Predator: the Musical

From the same group that brought us Terminator 2: the Opera and Conan: the Musical. Apparently this will be their last Schwarzenegger musical, so enjoy it for all it's worth.

Holiday Tips for the Zombie Apocalypse

How to Talk to Your Kids About Star Wars

Helpful thoughts for parents struggling with some difficult questions.

It's a Duck

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I've been procrastinating instead of editing video:

Watch the video before scrolling down.















After shooting the video, I headed over to my father's office to take a picture of his duck recharging:


Dad picked this thing up at a swap meet a while ago and has been having too much fun with it down at the marina ever since.  It has a voicebox that quacks when you turn the rudder all the way to the left.   That's all well and good, but I'm trying to goad him into installing a water pump for squirtgun attacks and an air horn for shock value.  Then it needs is a microphone and speaker system so you can make it talk.  Then a smoke screen, and dive planes, and machine guns, and...

I Am No Longer Excited About the Ultramarines Movie

It was all going so well.  A top-notch animation studio.  Cutting-edge motion capture gear.  John Hurt narrating.  A rich universe of characters, races, and technologies to choose from.  Gorgeous set design concept art.  The Ultramarines movie was going to be just what I've been waiting to see since I was twelve years old.


Then the other day they posted this crap:



So now it looks like this movie will have some smoke, some marines shooting at...  something, I guess, and some really crappy rendering.


I'll still see it.  But I'm no longer on the edge of my seat waiting for updates.


Instead, I have to just go on hoping that they'll one day make a live-action HALO movie:

This I Have to Try!

Not Sure Why I Haven't Seen This Sooner

What's painful is that I have an iPhone.  Mine has the bigger GBs.

Darth Schwarzenegger

Brilliantly executed!  Now I'm going to have to make a video with Boba "the Body" Ventura and Han Reagan. 

Water Balloons Break So Much Better in Slow Motion

At least that's the way it seems at www.ultraslo.com.

Time-Lapse Experiment #1: A Day at the Boat Ramp

The other day I picked up an intervalometer for my digital camera. Eager to try it out, I mounted the camera in the forward cabin of the boat. Then I set it up to take a photo of the boat ramp dock across from my berth every thirty seconds until the camera's battery died.

At the end of the day I sat down and strung all of those pictures together into a video clip:


The main mistakes are pretty obvious. The Heart of Gold, while a very stiff sailboat, is not a perfectly stable platform for time lapse videography. Also, it's possible that the interval that I was shooting wasn't ideal for nice, smooth video.

Either way, it was a successful proof of concept and I'll be playing around with more of this in the future.

Before I Leave Brush My Teeth With a Bottle of Synthahol

Yesterday I stumbled across this music video for Kesha's "Tik Tok":

It's been a while since I've watched any of the original Star Trek, but I'm amazed I don't remember all of the drinking that was apparently involved. I enjoyed the show as a kid, but I must have missed all of the non-stop disco action that was always going on.

Of course, if you're willing to spend the time looking around, you can find video clips of the Enterprise crew doing just about anything. Especially if you're willing to explore Leonard Nimoy's musical career:

Still, when it comes to musical Trek it's hard to find anything more ridiculous and compelling as William Shatner's interpretation of "Rocket Man:"

If Only I Had It To Do All Over Again...

A friend of mine just pointed out this youtube video:



For a moment I was thinking the Japanese Navy (correction: "Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force") looked like a lot more fun. Then I remembered this other video featuring the US Navy that may even have been the inspiration for the Japanese recruiting video.

Movie Premakes

Youtube user "whoiseyevan" has done some clever editing work to make movie trailers for various films as though they were made 30 to 50 years earlier. Check them out here:







He's also put together a "Gone With the Wind With Vampires" that was a bit of a disappointment, but I liked the idea.