Analysis On Being A "Red Shirt"

If you've got a few minutes to kill and want to read something funny, I suggest you take a look at this analyis of the "Red-Shirt Phenomenom".


It's an interesting subject, given that a lot of people (not just Trekkies... or Trekkers) are familiar with the phrase "Red Shirt".

For example:
The basic stats:
The Enterprise has a crew of 430 (startrek.com) in its five-year mission. (Now, I know that the show was only on the air for 3 years, but bear with me. 80 episodes were produced, which gives us the data to build from.) 59 crewmembers were killed during the mission, which comes out to 13.7% of the crew. So, that will be our overall conversion rate, 13.7%.
Data Segmentation:
However, we need to segment the overall mortality (conversion) rate in order to gain the specific information that we need:

• Yellow-shirt crewperson deaths: 6 (10%)
• Blue-Shirt crewperson deaths: 5 (8 %)
• Engineering smock crewperson deaths: 4
• Red-Shirt crewperson deaths: 43 (73%)

He goes on from there breaking it down into nice little statistics, but that ought to give you enough to want to read further.

In the meantime, please enjoy this...




(Red-Shirt analysis found via the Presurfer)

Room With A View

Who wouldn't love to look out and see Batman standing guard over Gotham City?

Well, probably not criminals.

But I'm sure the regular law-abiding citizens wouldn't have a problem with him keeping an eye on them and keeping things safe for everyone.

You know... if he were real.

But you can almost have the next best thing by plastering a wall in one of your rooms with an image of the Dark Knight keeping vigil 24/7.

A company called Room Mates is selling quite a few wall murals with comic-related themes for uber-geeks to choose from.

You could have Superman flying over Metropolis. Spider-man webswinging.

Maybe you can't decide on any particular hero and would want to decorate your wall with a myriad of classic comic book covers. Well now you can do that too.

Or maybe, just maybe you want to go all out and proclaim your geektitude to the world (or whoever happens to visit your home).

You could decorate the walls with the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise:

But don't stop there.

You'll want an official replica of Capt. Kirk's chair to go with it.

And while you're at it, pick up a wall mural of the Carina Nebula to really set the mood and make the "experience" complete.

If all that is a little too much for your wallet, you could just change a few switchplates in your house for a more "subtle" nerd effect.

Happy decorating!

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

On Wired.com there's a funny article about which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars.

I won't repeat the whole article, but the writer is a fan of both and makes a good case for either franchise, eventually giving one of them the edge overall.

I feel the same way, but not sure I can really pick a "winner" in this case.
Afterall, one the one hand you do have green alien chicks in Star Trek. But in Star Wars, you have slave Leia.
*SIGH* It's a tough call for sure.

Maybe this will help:


... or maybe not.

Robot Guardian

I'm not much of an anime fan, but this caught my attention:
Gundam! Mecha Monument Towers Over Tokyo


Check that bad boy out!

Standing over 50 feet tall, it was erected to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam franchise.

It's only expected to be on display for a few months and then afterwords it's unknown what'll become of it.
So if you want to it in person, you'd best head on over to Japan right away.
In fact, in August they will be hosting a comic book convention and Gundam festival not too far from where the statue is located.

Whether or not you're a fan, it's certainly a sight to behold.

Mike Oeming & Kirby Krackle!

We have a double-header all lined up for you this time! Mike Avon Oeming has re-scheduled his appearance at the Comic Stop Lynnwood, followed by the debut of the world's first real Comic Rock Band, Kirby Krackle!

The store signing with Mike Avon Oeming (Powers, Bulletproof Monk, Hammer of The Gods, etc) will take place from 1pm to 4pm at the Lynnwood location, on Saturday, January 31st. besides showing off his awesome new book, Mice Templar, Mike is also celebrating his birthday with us, so make sure to say "Happy Birthday!"

Mike Oeming is best known for his artwork on Powers with co-creator Brian Michael Bendis, but he is also an accomplished writer whose work includes Omega Flight, Stormbreaker: The Sage of Beta Ray Bill, Ares, Thor: Blood Oath, and many more.

Immediately after the signing, Kirby Krackle shall hit the stage, debuting their self-titled debut CD.

Kirby Krackle is the brainchild of Comic Guru Jim Demonakos and Uber Musician Kyle Stevens, who have put together a unique sound of music with lyrics based off of the best that pop culture has to offer. Their style of music can be called Geek Rock, Nerd Core, Comic Rock, whatever you want to call it. To miss this show is to turn in your license to be a Geek.

Kirby Krackle will play from 4pm to 5pm. Afterwards, there will be an after-party with food and drinks. This will be good times, people. Be there.

UPDATE: The co-creator of Mice Templar, Bryan Glass, will be making an appearance at the Mike Oeming store signing, which gives everyone the perfect chance to get their new Mice Templar HC signed by both creators!

The New A-Team

Oh, what some people come up with when they have too much time on their hands....

Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip.

Zero Punctuation's review of "Lego: Indiana Jones"...stick around after for his review of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Wait For It...

There was a special reunion at this year's MTV Movie Awards:

Grace Park vs Paul Sheer!

Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) and Paul Scheer Compete in a Dance off to Show a Clip From Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica.

Frakking Funny

Advance Reactions

Perusing the June 2008 DC Solicitations, I say "Hell, Yeah!" to one of the 2 (2!) Batman: Black & White statues being offered, based on the cover to Detective #443 by Legen - wait for it - DARY Batman artist Jim Aparo. It's about time Aparo was represented in this series.


On the flip side, I say "WHUH?!?" to the latest in a long line of TV to comics licensing with the premiere issue of the "Chuck" miniseries from Wildstorm. Seriously? I can sort of see the reasoning...sci-fi element, the Nerd Herd, Adam Baldwin...and I am a huge fan of the show. I just don't see this as a comic. Unless it went to Vertigo, and then I could at least get an artistic representation of a naked Yvonne Strahovski.

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

You Too Can Wear Paul Pope!

In a sign of the increasing penetration of comics into all forms of popular culture, DKNY Jeans has announced a new line of apparel co-designed by comic artist Paul Pope (Batman Year 100, THB, Heavy Liquid). The new 15-piece line, called 2089, will feature Pope images on tees, jackets, hoodies, and pants. The name of the line comes from the setting for the images, New York City ca. 2089, 100 years after the founding of DKNY.

Pope said of the line, "I see this line as a way of stealing pop back from Warhol. We've seen comics endlessly pillaged in the high art world and adapted to film.... Comics has a cultural currency all its own. But this is maybe the first time an actual cartoonist has been given the chance to launch his own brand, to build it from concept on up, to do it within the bounds of an established label such as DKNY jeans."

The new clothing line will launch in September.

"Family Guy" Spin-off?

According to The Hollywood Reporter Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is writing a new animated series based on the character of Cleveland Brown, who in spite of being especially prone to bathtub accidents, is the most "normal" of Peter Griffin's buddies on the popular Sunday night ABC cartoon series. MacFarlane is collaborating with Mike Henry, who voices Cleveland on the Family Guy and will function as a writer/producer on the new show, and with Simpsons alumni Rich Appel, who is also helping write the spin-off series.

If it gets picked up, the new series, which has been named Cleveland, would be the first primetime network cartoon series with an eponymous African-American hero. Fox TV, which is looking for more cartoon fodder for its Sunday night lineup, has at least three other cartoon series in development including Relative Insanity, which is being produced by Jack Black, Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser's Mothballs, and The Pitts from Mike Scully (The Simpsons).

Pugliese Pop Culture Auction

If you've got plenty of cash to spare, you could own Micheal Keaton's Batman suit, Christopher Reeve's Superman suit from Superman I and II or even Indiana Jones' whip used in all his movies. Anthony Pugliese is putting his entire collection of memorabilia up for auction on March 15th and 16th. Other items from his collection include Dean Cain's Superman suit, lots of full costumes (including The Riddler's) and props from the Batman TV series and even the Beatle's outfits.

If you find yourself with a lot of spare cash and see nothing you want, you could go ahead and get the Wicked Witch of the West's hat for me. Feel free--I'd even buy lunch.

To check out all the stuff that's going up for sale, just hit their website: The Pugliese Pop Culture Auction

'Justice League' Movie is Back on Track

Variety is reporting that now that the writers' strike is over, Warner Bros. has put its Justice League project on the fast track in order to add another "tentpole" film to the studio's slim 2009 schedule. Justice League helmer George Miller is currently doing preparation work in Australia and the film's cast, which includes Adam Brody (Flash), the Rapper Common (Green Lantern), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman, see attached pic!), and Arnie Hammer, Jr. (Batman) has been told to keep up their training for the physically-demanding roles. The screenwriters are polishing the script, which is due back at the studio shortly. No date for the start of principal photography has been set yet.

The Justice League project was on the fast track until the studio scuttled the project in mid-January citing script problems and uncertainty about being able to fix them caused by the writers' strike. But with just Zack Snyder's Watchmen (March 6th), McG's Terminator Salvation (May 22nd), and Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are (October 16th) scheduled for 2009, there is obviously a major gap in mid-summer that Warner Bros. would love to fill with Justice League, so don't bet that the studio won't be able to overcome the considerable difficulty of mounting a major special effects-laden superhero film in time for a summer 2009 release.