Syfy's new 2014 TV line up has some good news... and some bad news onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Syfy's new 2014 TV line up has some good news... and some bad news

The good news: Syfy is finally releasing Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge. This channel is rapidly becoming the Food Channel of props and special effects, and that's a good thing when you get Henson's company involved. The bad news: Syfy's new show titled Carvers, which is about carving things.

The Syfy channel just announced their 2014 lineup and there's some good and and bad here. We've already crowed about our excitement over the Jim Henson Creature Shop series. As long as you're in that building, there's no way the show could be boring, right? Carvers sounds... interesting. I don't know. It's cool idea, but I don't know how much time I'm willing to allocate from my life to watching actual video of people carving stuff. Pictures are usually pretty fine for that. However I'm a sucker for any and all wedding shows, so more weddings of the geeky persuasion is A-OK by me.

More bad news includes the end of Warehouse 13, which just still hurts. But color us intrigued for Metal Hurlan. It has a pretty fun cast and I'm contractually obligated as a nerd who grew up in the 90s to watch anything James Marsters is in. Here's the full press release for your perusing pleasure:

Highlights of Syfy's 2014 Spring Programming Schedule (All Times ET/PT) MARCH

CARVERS (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)

Premieres Tuesday, March 4 at 10 PM – The special Carvers follows Ray Villafane and Andy Bergholtz, two uniquely talented and quirky craftsmen, who wield knives as their artistic utensil of choice. These best friends, along with their staff of eccentric carvers, create masterpieces out of wood, ice, pumpkins, chocolate, sand, meat and anything else their clients desire. From high-end corporate events to state fairs, this crew works feverishly to design and sculpt jaw-dropping works of larger-than-life art. Carvers is produced by Coolfire Originals. Executive producers are Jeff Keane and Steve Luebbert. Aaron Bowden is the showrunner.

MY BIG FAT GEEK WEDDING (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)

Premieres Tuesday, March 11 at 10 PM – In the original, one-hour special My Big Fat Geek Wedding, Syfy presents the wedding of Julian Roman and Mandie Bettencourt, geeks in love who met online while playing "Final Fantasy." After an eight-year courtship, Julian popped the question onstage at a renaissance fair. Now the couple is excited to create a medieval fantasy style wedding that is a true reflection of their relationship and shared passions, complete with a ring bearer hawk swooping down from the sky. The couple enlists a team of experts to help bring their fantastical ideas to life, led by wedding planner Kristin Banta. With ten years of wedding planning experience under her belt, Kristin has executed everything from a Victorian Tim Burton themed-wedding to a Pirate-themed affair. Anything Kristin executes is a jaw-dropping extravaganza. To make the wedding even more spectacular, Kristin has brought Brandon Hillock to the team. Brandon is a party planner, genre expert, Cosplayer and the founder of Character Masters, a theme-driven event planning company. Kristin and Brandon will take the couple on the ride of their lives as they scout possible castle venues, choose elaborate costumes, create wondrous props, plan a swordfight, and even execute a dragon surprise that promises to make this wedding the ultimate celebration of fandom and love. My Big Fat Geek Wedding is produced by T Group with Jenny Daly serving as executive producer.

FOXY & CO (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)

Premieres Tuesday, March 18 at 10PM – Popular former Face Off contestant Eric Fox (aka Foxy) is taking on Hollywood with his charmingly sinister personality and characteristic good humor in the original Syfy docu-special, Foxy & Co. Foxy appeared on season four of Face Off and became an immediate fan favorite thanks to his original style, wild imagination and mad-scientist-like creations. This all-new special follows Foxy as he opens up his very own creature effects shop with the help of fellow former Face Off contestants Nicole Chilelli, RJ Haddy and Roy Wooley. But this time, instead of competing against each other, the artists have come together as one unbelievably creative force. From creating dozens of zombies for the upcoming Brian Pulido film Zack the Zombie Exterminator to an inspirational breast cancer awareness campaign for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the team dives into each job with artistic passion and consistently hold themselves to only the highest of standards. Komen ambassador Kimberly Williams makes a guest appearance. Foxy & Co. is produced by Mission Control Media with Michael Agbabian, Dwight Smith and James Flint serving as executive producers.

JIM HENSON'S CREATURE SHOP CHALLENGE (SERIES PREMIERE)

Premieres Tuesday, March 25 at 10PM – Syfy introduces ten hopeful creature designers who have come to Los Angeles with an incredible shared dream: to land a job working in Jim Henson's Creature Shop™. The new eight episode reality competition series provides a fascinating window into the imaginative and wildly creative environment of world-class creature design, fabrication and mechanization. The series features host Gigi Edgley (Farscape) and lead judge Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company, who also oversees the groundbreaking work of Jim Henson's Creature Shop™. Henson is an award-winning writer, puppeteer, director and producer whose mentor was his father, the iconic genius Jim Henson. The competing creature designers are allowed unprecedented access to the world-renowned Creature Shop, gaining hands-on experience to learn every aspect of what it takes to become a master creature designer. Following a series of elaborate challenges, only one will be awarded a prize worth up to $100,000, including the opportunity for the job of a lifetime – a contract working at the world-renowned Jim Henson's Creature Shop™.

Highlights of Syfy's 2014 Spring Programming Schedule (All Times ET/PT) APRIL

CONTINUUM (SEASON 3 PREMIERE)

Returns Friday, April 4 at 10PM – Season 3 of Continuum amplifies the mythology, technology and the stakes of time travel to an intense and personal level. At the end of Season 2, Alec Sadler made the Earth-shattering decision to hijack Kiera's (Rachel Nichols) chance to get home, in order to save Emily, the girl he loves, from certain death. This act of desperation not only jettisoned Alec into the near past, but it condemned Kiera to incarceration by the Freelancers, who are 'collecting' time travelers in order to protect history. Now, Kiera must face the consequences of Alec's betrayal and somehow escape the Freelancers. Even if she can, has Alec's decision to time travel already changed the future in ways Kiera couldn't even imagine? What will Kiera sacrifice to ultimately survive – and how will Liber8 factor into this challenge?

Continuum, which was the #1 cable program among Adults 25-54 in its Friday 10PM time period during Season 2, co-stars Victor Webster (Castle, Melrose Place) as detective Carlos Fonnegra and Erik Knudsen (Jericho, Scream 4), who plays teen tech genius Alec Sadler. Executive producers of Continuum are series creator Simon Barry (The Art of War), Pat Williams (Smallville), and Tom Rowe (Tin Man). Continuum is a Showcase original series and is produced by Reunion Pictures in association with Shaw Media.

WAREHOUSE 13 (SEASON 5 PREMIERE)

Returns Monday, April 14 at 9PM – Everything has been building to the fifth and final season. Claudia's (Allison Scagliotti) epic battle with Paracelsus (Anthony Head) will unleash an unexpected horror — and the Warehouse may never be the same. In the new season, the entire Warehouse team confronts old questions – and new revelations. From a painful realization that Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) must face, and Artie (Saul Rubinek) accompanying Claudia on a soul-searching journey about her sister, to Steve (Aaron Ashmore) colliding with his past, the final six episodes of Warehouse 13 takes viewers on an emotionally-charged roller coaster ride. Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel) is executive producer and showrunner.

METAL HURLAN CHRONICLES (SERIES PREMIERE)

Premieres Monday, April 14 at 10 & 10:30PM – Based on the popular comics anthology Metal Hurlan, each of the 12-episodes (comprising Seasons 1 & 2) take place on a different planet with a different cast, linked together by the presence of an asteroid, which plays a vital role in their lives – and the future of their civilization. The international cast includes James Marsters, Rutger Hauer, Michael Jai White and Joe Flanigan.

ZODIAC: SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE (ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERE)

Premieres April TBD – A curator of her university's collection of antiquities is thrilled when a new artifact arrives: a 2,000-year-old ivory carved astrology board. But little does she know that the fate of all humanity will soon be decided by this ivory board's deadly forces. Stars Joel Gretsch (V), Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Andrea Brooks (50/50) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future).

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 98 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)

Not sure what happened to the 1,000 other shows that were in development with this channel — but fingers crossed for a meatier science fiction series in the fall. Please.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Syfy's new 2014 TV line up has some good news... and some bad news

It's the nighmarish, giant isopod plushie you've always wanted onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com It's the nighmarish, giant isopod plushie you've always wanted

This "giant isopod realistic plush doll" from Japan can fulfill all your needs for adorable, tongue-eating creatures of the sea — without being too gross.

Sold on Amazon for $115.25, this doll has a very succinct description:

• Giant isopods (daiogusokumushi in Japanese) are passionately loved by some people now in Japan.


• This giant isopod doll has become less grotesque than real ones.


• The doll has cute round eyes and is very soft and comfortable to the touch.


• They found the creatures mysterious and cute. A giant isopod in Toba Aquarium has eaten no food for over 4 years.

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Don't you want to cuddle it right now? Because after 4 years of no food it won't be hungry for your tongue AT ALL. But what is perhaps most intriguing about this freakish offering from Amazon is that it's competing with other giant isopod plushies, from the same company, that cost far less money. These isopod plushie interlopers are not "realistic," however, and that I suppose makes all the difference.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com It's the nighmarish, giant isopod plushie you've always wanted

An enigmatic nun hunts real monsters for the Spanish Inqusition onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com An enigmatic nun hunts real monsters for the Spanish Inqusition

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While other members of the Spanish Inquisition busy themselves rooting out false witches, the mysterious Inquisitor Two investigates genuine monsters and demons at the behest of Queen Isabella. But this slice-'em-up nun may have more in common with the creatures she hunts than with the people she works for.

Run Freak Run is a fast and funny historical fantasy webcomic written by Silver Saaremaeel and drawn by Kaija Rudkiewicz. It's set during the early 17th century, a time when the Spanish Inquisition was intent on eradicating the people they believed to be witches from the country. But the beings Inquisitor Two encounters on her travels through Spain aren't false witches; they're a host of truly magical beings: demons, giants, god-like creatures, and even some witches—the beings who exist on the fringes of the world and who occasionally clash with human beings. Armed with an axe on a chain, Two often dispenses with her quarry in gleefully violent fashion.

But Two isn't merely a tool of the human institutions. She's something more than human and she has her own agenda, one that doesn't always fit with the whims of the church and crown. And while the comic initially seems episodic, it becomes clear that there is a longer, stranger story being told.

For all Rudkiewicz's stylized artwork, Run Freak Run has, at times, a rather silly sense of humor. The comic likes to play with quasi-poetic fairytale text, but juxtaposes that text with moments of absurdity. Those can be fun diversions from the main plot, but Run Freak Run is at its best when it focuses on Two's often unpredictable attempts to resolve her missions without betraying her personal code. This comics' creatures may be expecting the Spanish Inquisition, but they rarely expect what Two will do next.

[Run Freak Run]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com An enigmatic nun hunts real monsters for the Spanish Inqusition

This two-hour fan-made RoboCop remake is the RoboCop remake we deserve onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This two-hour fan-made RoboCop remake is the RoboCop remake we deserve

While we're waiting to see if José Padilha's RoboCop remake is a worthy successor to the original, the folks behind Our RoboCop Remake have beaten Padilha to the punch by releasing their entire feature-length, crowdsourced remake that lovingly spoofs each scene in Paul Verhoeven's film.

More than 50 individual and groups of filmmakers contributed scenes to Our RoboCop Remake, using animation, puppets, live-action, and whatever special effects they could pull together. Although they've managed to retell the film in its entirety, many of the filmmakers took liberty with their portions of the script, playfully mocking the original film, the upcoming remake, and the very idea of remaking scenes from RoboCop on an amateur's budget. The result is often bonkers funny—in particular, be sure to look out for the "Cease and Desist" segment early on in the film.

The film is NSFW for cartoon nudity, language, and, of course, loads of violence.

[Our RoboCop Remake]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This two-hour fan-made RoboCop remake is the RoboCop remake we deserve

"Darwin Day" is being officially considered by Congress! onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com "Darwin Day" is being officially considered by Congress!

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Resolution HR467 has been reintroduced into the US House of Representatives. If passed, it would officially designate February 12, 2014 as "Darwin Day," recognizing "the importance of science in the betterment of humanity."

The resolution (PDF here) reads:

Expressing support for designation of February 12, 2013, as Darwin Day and recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.

Whereas Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by the mechanism of natural selection, together with the monumental amount of scientific evidence he compiled to support it, provides humanity with a logical and intellectually compelling explanation for the diversity of life on Earth;

Whereas the validity of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is further strongly supported by the modern understanding of the science of genetics;

Whereas it has been the human curiosity and ingenuity exemplified by Darwin that has promoted new scientific discoveries that have helped humanity solve many problems and improve living conditions;

Whereas the advancement of science must be protected from those unconcerned with the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change;

Whereas the teaching of creationism in some public schools compromises the scientific and academic integrity of the United States education systems;

Whereas Charles Darwin is a worthy symbol of scientific advancement on which to focus and around which to build a global celebration of science and humanity intended to promote a common bond among all of Earth's peoples; and

Whereas February 12, 2013, is the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin in 1809 and would be an appropriate date to designate as Darwin Day: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) supports the designation of Darwin Day; and

(2) recognizes Charles Darwin as a worthy symbol on which to celebrate the achievements of reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge.

That all sounds pretty great to us. Whether Congress delivers is, of course, another story. Let's make this happen, Washington. (And maybe see to a few other scientific holidays, while you're at it.)

[H. Res. 467]

ht Carolyn Porco

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com "Darwin Day" is being officially considered by Congress!

First official look at the movie adaptation of The Giver onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com First official look at the movie adaptation of The Giver

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Ready for some Junior High nostalgia? Here's the very first look at The Giver movie adaptation: Jonas and The Giver himself inside the Library of Memory!

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly we now have the first real look at director Phillip Noyce's film. For those of you who just skimmed this mandatory English 101 reading, the book (by Lois Lowry) is set in a utopian future. In this future people are assigned jobs and given clothes etc., and you can see where this is going. Main character Jonas is assigned the very special job as the "Receiver of Memory." IN this job he meets with The Giver, who bestows upon Jonas feelings and tastes and knowledge that the rest of the world has been deprived of. Feelings like elation and pain. Obviously the more Jonas "receives," the more he realizes that this utopia is actually a dystopia. The towns Chief Elder is played by Meryl Streep, and Jeff Bridges (who is also a producer on this film) will play The Giver.

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onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com First official look at the movie adaptation of The Giver

Amy Pond and Kara Thrace have major mirror problems in Oculus onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Amy Pond and Kara Thrace have major mirror problems in Oculus

Karen Gillen and Katee Sackhoff are set to — well, I was going to say "star in Oculus, a new horror movie from the Paranormal Activity people", but does it really matter? I bet I could have written "Karen Gillen and Katee Sackhoff play a game of Battleship", and I'm pretty most of you would still watch this video.

Hell, some of you guys might be more excited to watch the two beloved genre actresses play board games together, but oh well. Anyways, apparently Gillen's trying to clear her brother from a murder charge by proving her evil bleeding mirror did it, or something. I have no idea what Sackhoff's doing.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Amy Pond and Kara Thrace have major mirror problems in Oculus

This new clip of Robocop fighting ED-209s raises so many questions onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This new clip of Robocop fighting ED-209s raises so many questions

Questions like: What? Why did Robocop shoot that presumably innocent security guard? Is that Robocop's voice? Why doesn't he sound at all robotic? How the hell did his motorcycle do that? Why does this fight look like the lobby scene from The Matrix as directed by the Three Stooges? Also: What?!

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This new clip of Robocop fighting ED-209s raises so many questions

​The Ghostbusters become their own X-File in IDW's Conspiracy onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com ​The Ghostbusters become their own X-File in IDW's Conspiracy

When The X-Files' Lone Gunmen receives a mysterious file warning them about supernatural phenomena that haven't happened yet, they been investigating — and their first stop is a certain firehouse in New York City in IDW's new crossover Conspiracy. Plus, new Elfquest, the end of The Unwritten, and the worst high school bullies ever, all in this week's comics!

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New Issues

Dark Horse:

• Elfquest: Final Quest #1: After generations of peace, a new human warlord arrives to threaten the elves — and with their skills atrophied, they're at greater risk than ever before.

• Other releases: Captain Midnight #7, Conan the Barbarian #24, Dark Horse Presents #32, Mass Effect: Foundation #7, The Massive #19, Mind MGMT #18, Star Wars: Legacy II #11.

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DC:

• The Unwritten: Apocalypse #1: The final story in the saga begins as Tom Taylor tries to make his way from the world of stories back to reality.

• Animal Man #27: It's the ultimate battle for the Red in this final issue, as Animal Man faces off against Brother Blood.

• Scribblenauts Unmasked: Crisis of Imagination #1: Super-adorable DC heroes galore stop by this comic based on the hit videogame.

• Other releases: Batman #27, Batman '66 #7, Batman and Two-Face #27, Batman Beyond Universe #6, Batwoman #27, Birds of Prey #27, Green Lantern: New Guardians #27, Harley Quinn #2, Justice League #27, Red Hood and the Outlaws #27, Supergirl #27, Trinity of Sin: Pandora #7, Wonder Woman #27.

IDW:

• The X-Files: Conspiracy – Ghostbusters: The Lone Gunmen head to New York to discover if the Ghostbusters are frauds, and what they may have to do with the encroaching plague.

• TMNT: Ultrom Empire #1: Krang, Baxter Stockman and Fugitoid clash on board the Technodrome

• Judge Dredd: Mega City Two #1: Dredd heads to California to visit MC1's sister city, but discovers East coast and West coast judges have very different styles.

• Other releases: Jinnrise #9, Judge Dredd #15, Magic the Gathering: Theros #4, Mr. Peabody & Sherman #3, My Little Pony: Friends Forever #1, Samurai Jack #4, Transformers: Robots in Disguise #25.

Image:

• Deadly Class #1: Marcus Lopez is a regular high school kid with regular high school problems: no money, no girlfriend, harassed by jocks… who just so happen to be the children of Josef Stalin's best assassin.

• Aphrodite IX: Hidden Files #1: The secret historical adventures of the cyborg assassin are revealed.

• Other releases: Bad Dog #6, Bedlam #11, Carbon Grey #2, Chew #39, Dead Body Road #2, Krampus #2, Pretty Deadly #4, Sex #10, Umbral #3, The Walking Dead #120, Zero #5.

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Marvel:

• All New Invaders #1: Captain America, Namor, the Winter Soldier and the original Human Torch square off against the Kree Empire and their army of Norse gods.

• Origin II #2: Victor Creed hears the tale of a feral, clawed boy living in the wild, and his hunt begins.

• George Romero's Empire of the Dead: Act One #1: The Zombie Godfather teams up with the Zombie King in Romero's new chapter in his "of the Dead" saga.

• Other releases: All New X-Factor #2, All New X-Men #22, Avengers #25, Avengers World #2, Black Widow #2, Cable and X-Force #19, Captain America #15, Cataclysm: Ultimate X-Men #3, FF #16, Hawkeye #16, Indestructible Hulk #18, Iron Man #20, Marvel Knights: X-Men #3, Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man #22, The Mighty Avengers #5, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #9, Wolverine and the X-Men #40, X-Men #9.

Other:

• Hacktivist #1: The two creators of the world's biggest social media website channel their resources into secretly improving the world.

• Bad Ass #1: Imagine if Deadpool used his powers, wit and general insanity for evil — that's Bad Ass.

• Jack Hammer #1: Private detective Jake McGrisken investigates a trail of corruption in a Boston full of people with superpowers.

• Other releases: 12 Reasons to Die #6, Atomic Robo: Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur #5, Battlestar Galactica #7, Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck #3, Bo the Plushy Gangsta #1, Bravest Warriors #16, Bubblegun #4, Crossed Badlands #45, Deceivers #2, Doc Savage #2, Eternal Warriors #5, Fracture #2, Grimm Fairy Tales: Quest #3, Grimm Fairy Tales: Wonderland: Asylum #1, Ghost Cop #2, Gold Digger #206, Henry and Glenn Forever and Ever #3, Legends of Red Sonja #3, Lil' Bionic Kids #1, The Midas Flesh #2, The Mocking Dead #5, Peanuts #15, Penny for Your Soul Death #5 Princeless: Encore Edition #3, Red Sonja #5, Skyward #5, The Lone Ranger #21, Vampirella Annual 2013, Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris #34, X-O Manowar #21.

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Trade Paperbacks and Hardcovers

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Dark Horse:

• Amala's Blade: Spirits of Naamaron: The fate of two kingdoms lie on the shoulders of the young royal assassin… while a ghost monkey resides on her back. Collecting the hit miniseries and an all-new story.

• Other releases: Blade of the Immortal Vol. 28: Raining Chaos, BPRD: Hell on Earth Vol. 7: A Cold Day in Hell, Conan Vol. 15: Nightmare of the Shallows, Eerie Archives Vol. 15, Empowered Vol. 5.

DC:

• Planetary Omnibus: All 27 issues of Warren Ellis' acclaimed series about inter-dimensional peacekeepers who investigate supernatural mysteries.

• Other releases: Animal Man Vol. 5: The Meaning of Flesh, Batwing Vol. 3: Enemy of the State, Preacher Book 3.

IDW:

• Jacky's Diary, Outland: The Complete Collection.

Image:

• Savage Dragon: The End: Jailed for the crimes he committed as Emperor Durr, the Dragon is sentenced to death in this series finale.

Marvel:

• X-Factor by Peter David Vol. 1: With Guido, Wolfsbane, Siryn, M and Rictor,Multiple Man must deal with Civil War, House of M, a traitor and his own clones.

• Young Avengers Vol. 2: Alternative Culture: The team takes a road trip across the universe.

• Other releases: The Indestructible Hulk Vol. 1: Agent of SHIELD, The Indestructible Hulk Vol. 3: Smash Time, Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man Digest Vol. 5, Wolverine by Hama and Silvestri Vol. 2, X-Men Vol. 1: Road to Onslaught.

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Other:

• Basil & Victoria, London Guttersnipes: Two impoverished children meet historical and literary figures as they travel across England in the 1880s.

• Foligatto: A town holds a sinister carnival whose star is the opera singer and eunuch Foligatto in this eerie work by artist Nicolas de Crécy.

• Other releases: 10th Muse Vol. 3, Archie's Valentine Rock n' Roll Romance, Arisa Vol. 12, Attack on Titan Vol. 7, Benny Breakiron Vol. 3: Twelve Trials, Blake & Mortimer Vol. 17, Cemetery Girl Book One: Pretenders, Classic Phantom Lady Vol. 1, Crossed: Wish You Were Here Vol. 3, Crusade Vol. 4: Fire Breaks, Dinosaurs Vol. 1: Beginning, Eternal Warrior Vol. 1: Sword of the Wild, Fairy Tail Vol. 43, Flowers of Evil Vol. 8, From the New World Vol. 2, I Don't Get It, Lady S Vol. 3: Game of Fools, Largo Winch Vol. 12: Way and Virtue, Lucky Luke Vols. 42-43, Missions of Love Vol. 6, Ooku: Inner Chambers Vol. 9, Orbital Vol. 5: Justice, Qu33r, Screwed, Sherlock Bones Vol. 3, Shonen Jump Pack 2014 #1, Sorako, Spooks Vol. 3: El Santero, Steampunk OriginalsVol. 1, Stuff of Legend Omnibus Vol. 2, Vinland Saga Vol. 2, Wayward Sons Vol. 2. The Weirdo Years 1981-1993, Wolfsmund Vol. 3.

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As usual, here's the list of everything being released to comic stores tomorrow, and you can find your nearest comic retailer here.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com ​The Ghostbusters become their own X-File in IDW's Conspiracy

Fascinating Chart: Top 20 Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.A., 1790-2010 onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Fascinating Chart: Top 20 Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.A., 1790-2010

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This amazing chart follows the rise and fall — and in some cases, rise and fall and rise — of American cities. Peak Bagger has charted the rank of 20 metropolitan areas every decade from 1790 to 2010. Poor Detroit.

Most interestingly — New York City took the number one spot over 200 years ago, and has held onto it ever since. But Los Angeles and San Francisco have come from behind to take the number two and number four spots, respectively. Washington, D.C. has had a wild ride. Note that this chart only looks at rank, not absolute size or growth rate.

What's especially interesting is the chart of peak years — the years when particular cities had their highest ranking. For a lot of Eastern cities, it's the 18th century or early 19th century, including 1740 for Boston, and 1800 for Providence, Philadelphia and Norfolk. But Detroit peaked in 1930 and Chicago peaked in 1950. Huh. [via Laughing Squid and Washington Post]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Fascinating Chart: Top 20 Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.A., 1790-2010

Hacked fridge sends out malicious emails in unprecedented cyber attack onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Hacked fridge sends out malicious emails in unprecedented cyber attack

You know how virtually everything these days is connected to the internet? And how tech companies don't give a crap about security? Well, as a recent Internet of Things cyber attack has shown, our appliances are being made to turn against us.

According to the security firm Proofpoint, a number of so-called smart appliances were compromised — what they're calling one of the first orchestrated Internet of Things cyber attacks. Appliances included in the attack included smart TVs, wireless speaker systems, connected multi-media centers, home-networking routers — and at least one refrigerator.

The hackers used these appliances to send out malicious emails to other smart-appliances to grow the size of their botnet, which is an army of infected devices. During the attack, in which appliances are converted into "thingbots," more than 750,000 Phishing and SPAM emails were launched from more than 100,000 everyday consumer gadgets. Botnets are used by hackers to perform large-scale attacks, like denial-of-service attacks, against specific websites by inundating them with traffic. The attacks happened between December 23, 2013 and January 6, 2014.

Talk about a potentially huge problem — especially considering that more and more tech companies are developing smart appliances, everything from smart thermostats to smoke detectors. Relatedly, hackers have also shown that cars can have their computers compromised, resulting in bogus read-out displays, and even be driven by Nintendo controllers.

It's time for developers to wake up to this problem and start thinking about security from the ground-up.

"Bot-nets are already a major security concern and the emergence of thingbots may make the situation much worse" noted David Knight, General Manager of Proofpoint's Information Security division, in a statement. "Many of these devices are poorly protected at best and consumers have virtually no way to detect or fix infections when they do occur. Enterprises may find distributed attacks increasing as more and more of these devices come on-line and attackers find additional ways to exploit them."

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Hacked fridge sends out malicious emails in unprecedented cyber attack

This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it

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What happens when a cat sneaks over and pees all over the precious manuscript that you've spent months of your life inscribing? If you're this 15th century monk, you leave a note cursing the cat and move on with your writing.

The blog medievalfragments explains that this manuscript was inscribed by a Deventer scribe around 1420. Cats were common around medieval libraries because they hunted the vermin that saw the pages as a tasty treat. Unfortunately, where there are cats, there is also cat urine, as one scribe learned the hard way. He responded in a rather amusing fashion, drawing hands pointing toward the stain and writing:

Hic non defectus est, sed cattus minxit desuper nocte quadam. Confundatur pessimus cattus qui minxit super librum istum in nocte Daventrie, et consimiliter omnes alii propter illum. Et cavendum valde ne permittantur libri aperti per noctem ubi cattie venire possunt.

Which translates as:

Here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night in Deventer and because of it many others [other cats] too. And beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come.

The scribe turned the page and kept on writing, but I wonder if, as he smelled that lingering odor of cat pee in the days ahead, he felt compelled to write more curses upon the head of that kitty.

Image credit: Cologne, Historisches Archiv, G.B. quarto, 249, fol. 68r.

Paws, Pee and Mice: Cats among Medieval Manuscripts [medievalfragments via Geekosystem]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it

Fox's Gotham TV series is going to be Batman: The High School Years onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Fox's Gotham TV series is going to be Batman: The High School Years

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Were you hoping that Fox's Batman prequel TV series Gotham would be a tough crime procedural set on the mean streets of Gotham City? Or were you hoping it would be about teenaged Batman, The Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and the Penguin all hanging out together? Because it's the latter.

Sorry, I threw up in my mouth a little there. Fox chairman Kevin Reilly crushed the dreams of many a Bat-fan at Fox's panel during the network's Television Critics Association press tour earlier today. "This is all of the classic Batman characters," Reilly continued. "It follows the arc of how they all became what they were. I've read the script its really good. It's going to be this operatic soap that has a slightly larger-than-life quality."

Apparently, the plan is exactly like Smallville, in that the show will show how each character, good and bad, become the hero or villain we all know today, and Reilly says the show will end when Batman puts on the cape for the first time.

A few thoughts.

• The art above is from the Gotham High "concept" art by Jeff and Celeste. Which looks like a much, much more fun way to do the concept of teenage Bat-characters.

• I'm having a hard time articulating why I have such a problem with a show that imagines all of the Batman characters together as teens, when I really didn't have a problem with Smallville. But I do.

• Fox didn't say all the characters will belong to the same high school, but I can feel it in my bones. I don't know how all the teens are going to be running into each other all the time unless they have a central location in common.

• Why do all these network execs have hard-ons for superheroes outside of their costumes? It's so annoying.

[Via EW]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Fox's Gotham TV series is going to be Batman: The High School Years

The Daily Planet Files is a Superman comic that needs to happen onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Daily Planet Files is a Superman comic that needs to happen

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In her spare time, freelance artist Brittney Williams has been working on a fan comic and fanart project, The Daily Planet Files, focusing on life at Clark Kent's day job. If the art she's released for it is any indication, that comic's going to be utterly charming.

Williams describes The Daily Planet Files as a "manga-esque" comic about the staff of the Daily Planet, and it appears to have evolved into a larger fanart project as well. You can see more artwork and sample pages on her Tumblr. After tinkering with these characters since May, she says she's finally happy with the designs and the direction of the project and hints that we may be seeing something more from this Daily Planet crew in the coming year. Hopefully, she'll share a full comic story.

The Daily Planet Files [Brittney Williams via Faith Erin Hicks]

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onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Daily Planet Files is a Superman comic that needs to happen

This webcomic captures the day-to-day horrors of living with depression onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This webcomic captures the day-to-day horrors of living with depression

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Depression can be a difficult illness to understand if you've never experienced it, and depressive episodes can be incredibly isolating experiences. But the webcomic Depression Comix offers a peek into the depressed mind while helping a lot of depressed folks feel less alone.

Trigger warning: Folks who are triggered by depictions of self-injury and suicidal thoughts should steer clear of this one.

Clay's Depression Comix certainly isn't the first or only webcomic to explore depression from the point of view of a depressed person. Allie Brosh rightly received acclaim for her honest portrayal of her own experiences with depression in Hyperbole and a Half. But Depression Comix is a bit different in its repeated glimpses into life with depression.

I personally came across Depression Comix when I was in the slow process of climbing out of a major depressive episode. As grim as the comics can be, I found something comforting in seeing another person express dark thoughts and experiences that were similar to my own. If you've ever read Clay's previous (and decidedly NSFW) comic Sexy Losers/The Thin H Line, you might recognize his macabre four-panel style. But instead of cartooning about necrophilia and tentacle porn, he's writing about the cruel voices that can plague the minds of people suffering from depression and their tendency to simultaneously shun human contact and crave it.

Not every installment of Depression Comix is universal to every person who suffers from depression (for example, not every depressed person engages in physical self-harm), nor do I get the sense that it's meant to condemn people who don't understand how debilitating the illness can be. Rather, it exposes the inner turmoil that come with depression—the intrusive thoughts, the exhaustion, the feelings of intense isolation, the inability to imagine life getting any better. He deals with the frustration that comes from interacting with folks who don't understand the effects of depression, but at the same time shows how people suffering from depression mask their pain and push others away. And as dark as the comic can get, it does occasionally offer moments of tenderness.

You can follow Depression Comix on Tumblr, but if you'd rather see just the comics and not Clay's interactions with his readers, head on over to the Depression Comix website.

[Depression Comix]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com This webcomic captures the day-to-day horrors of living with depression

Did the Nazis really have a school for talking dogs? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Did the Nazis really have a school for talking dogs?

Just when you think you've gotten to the end of the bizarre by-products of World War II, you learn about talking Nazi dogs. The question is: How official were they? We'll look into the school — or possibly the con game — of talking dogs.

Here's what we know. In 1930, Margarethe Schmidt lived with her mother in a relatively large house, and kept Asra, a Great Dane. Asra gave birth to five puppies, and the Schmidts took in a terrier. Somewhere along the line, all the dogs began learning to talk. And at some later point along the line, reports went out that these talking, spelling, and "reasoning," dogs, would go out into the battlefields and the villages and start working for the Nazis.

The idea that dogs could talk was not unprecedented in Germany. In the 1920s, a dog named Don, that would bark his name, tell people he was hungry, and ask for "kuche," became a celebrity and brought his owner a great deal of wealth. The Nazis harbored a sentimentality for animals, and a belief in the deep connection between humans and nature. Great Danes speaking German and helping their human comrades didn't seem that crazy. This might be why German newspapers published plans for educated dogs taking over low-level command posts and helping out on the battlefields. One dog, Rolf, reportedly learned to spell with his paw. He spelled out his thoughts on religion - in between hitting on women and asking them if he could wag their tails. Margarethe Schmidt was referred to as an "animal psychologist," in these pieces. Possible uses for the new educated dogs that she churned out were bandied about in the German power structure.

On the other hand, people who actually saw the educated wonder dogs generally agreed that they saw little more than the Clever Hans effect. Clever Hans was a horse who was said to talk and to do math problems by tapping his hoof, but was shown to be responding to clues in the body language of his trainer and the people around him. When the crowd relaxed back (after the proper number of taps that had been achieved), Hans stopped tapping. Animal behaviorists have, ever since, had to take pains not to let their expressions or body language show when they are gauging animal reaction.

The "speaking" dogs didn't speak. One guest was told they all had colds. They seemed to respond to trainers and to rehearsed commands. After the war - and after posing for a lot of pictures with her educated dogs - Margarethe Schmidt agreed with this assessment, saying that she received no money from the Nazi government and had no real plans with them. She was only running a sort of circus.

So the question remains a mystery. Did Germany actually try to train an army of talking Nazi dogs?

Image: Ildar Sagdejev

[Via Time, Psychology Today, The Telegraph.]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Did the Nazis really have a school for talking dogs?

The Objects in Space That We Really, Really Can't Explain onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Objects in Space That We Really, Really Can't Explain

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Forget UFOs — there are a lot of objects and events in space that are identified, but still completely incomprehensible. From planets in our solar system, to inexplicable energy bursts from across the universe, here are some of the enduring mysteries of the space and time we call home.

Image via NASA

The Color of Jupiter's Red Storm

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Image via NASA

You've probably seen amazing pictures of this massive, red hurricane that's been whirling across Jupiter's southern hemisphere for at least 400 years. We know it's a hurricane-like phenomenon, that you could fit 3 Earths inside it, and that it's cooler and higher than nearby clouds. Over centuries of observation, we've also discovered that it changes color, moving between a pale pink and a bright red. It's also shrinking. But why has it lasted for so long? Why does it change color? There are a lot of good theories, but we simply don't know the answers yet.

The Incredible Iciness of Saturn's Rings

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Image via NASA

The ultra-thin, icy rings of Saturn are another familiar part of our solar system are just as mysterious as Jupiter's red spot. We know what they're made of, and we understand some of the tidal forces that cause them to change shape. We're also pretty sure they formed 4.4 billion years ago, right around the time when most planets in the solar system were coalescing. But we still aren't sure how they formed, why they're made up almost entirely of ice, and why they are able to maintain such a perfectly flat shape as they whirl around the planet with its many moons. Are they the result of several destroyed moons? Leftovers from early solar system formation? We just aren't sure.

Hot Jupiter Messes

"Hot Jupiters," or massive gas giants in tight orbit around their stars, are one of the first types of exoplanets that astronomers began discovering in large numbers in our galaxy. What's puzzling about these broiling behemoths is how close they are to their suns. The substances you usually find in a Jupiter-like planet are found in the outer reaches of a solar system, so how did these Hot Jupiters even form at all? At first, scientists believed that they migrated slowly toward their present positions from further away, spiraling towards their suns as their solar systems formed.

Artistic impression via Hubble

But, as American Museum of Natural History astronomer Mordecai-Mark Mac Low told io9, that "has now been pretty conclusively disproven by showing that they have orbital planes almost randomly oriented with respect to the rotational axes of their parent stars." In fact, many Hot Jupiters actually orbit in the opposite directions of their suns, which is incredibly weird. Mac Low adds, "This suggests that interactions with other, now expelled, giant planets or passing stars must be required to knock them into such tight orbits." These smash-ups might also explain their weird rotational axes.

Cataclysmic Variables, or the Eater Eaten

We've seen many kinds of stars in our galaxy, from red dwarfs to red giants, but some stars are particularly strange. Especially when they come in pairs. Such is the case with a class of binary star called a cataclysmic variable. These are white dwarfs that are in an extremely close orbit around their companions — so close, in fact, that they are stripping the other star of all its gas. "The particularly odd thing about these objects is that white dwarfs are the cores of red giants, and the companion stars orbit so close that they must have once been deep inside the red giant!" Mac Low told io9. "It appears that if a red giant swallows a binary companion as it grows, the companion can sometimes strip its outer layers off, leaving a prematurely naked white dwarf behind."

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Illustration by David Hardy

Let's just unpack that a little, shall we? A cataclysmic variable may be the remnants of an event where one star in a binary went red giant, and ate its companion. Once inside the red giant, the star ate the red giant's gas, leaving behind that "prematurely naked white dwarf." And now, the red giant is so small that it orbits the star that was once inside of it, and eats its gas. WHAT? Is this some kind of allegory about human relationships or is it an astronomical object? How did all this even happen? I'll let the astrophysics community decide.

Gamma Ray Bursts — WTF?

Gamma ray bursts are often called the brightest electro-magnetic events in the universe. They release more energy in a few seconds than a typical star will during its entire lifetime, and we've only ever seen them in distant galaxies. At most, they last for a few minutes. UC Berkeley astrophysicist Martin Sirk said via e-mail, "They have been known for 40 years, but their cause is still unknown. Some have been correlated with very distant galaxies, but most correlate with nothing!" Are they exploding black holes or something far weirder? We don't know, but we certainly won't survive to find out if one goes off in our direction from nearby.

The Shape of Dark Matter

Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that appears to exert a gravitational pull on visible matter — but which doesn't interact with other kinds of matter in any other observable way. It's so mysterious that we might as well call it "X Matter," but I think that phrase may be trademarked by Marvel Comics. We know dark matter exists because the behavior of visible matter in galaxies makes no sense unless there is a lot more matter out there pushing things around and creating gravitational lenses. We've even got some pretty good ideas about the structure of dark matter — based on HUBBLE telescope discoveries, we now believe it's likely that dark matter has a webby, filamentous structure, and that galaxies tend to cluster around its strands and nodes.

Still, we have absolutely no idea what dark matter is made of, or even if it's one kind of substance or a whole class of different kinds of substances. Our guess at its structure is based on what we've seen of the shape of the visible universe, where galaxies tend to cluster together in ways that suggest they're being attracted to these long, interconnected webs of invisible, untouchable, undetectable . . . stuff. Scientists are currently trying to detect dark matter particles with projects like SuperCDMS.

The Entire Structure of the Universe Itself

And while we're on the large-scale objects we don't understand, let's talk about the entire universe, shall we? Nothing beats the mystery of how our universe formed, why it has the shape it does, and why the heck it's getting bigger at a rapid clip.

Let's start by talking about dark energy, which isn't really related to dark matter. It's just that astronomers call things "dark" when they don't know what the heck they are. Dark energy is speculated to be the force that is making the universe expand. Maybe it's something like gravity, a force that affects all matter. We just don't know. But many measurements and experiments do confirm that the universe is inflating all the time, and it's actually inflating faster and faster.

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Which leads to another mystery: When did all this inflation start? The Planck telescope has helped astronomers detect the cosmic microwave background, or light from the earliest moments of the universe. Maps of that light have recently revealed something truly incomprehensible: every point in the early universe seems to be pretty much the same temperature, despite each point being causally disconnected from the other. Sure, some parts of the universe were a little warmer, and some a little colder, but so far we have no explanation for how the universe managed to inflate while at the same time remaining relatively uniform.

Remarks Mac Low, "Dark energy is of course the biggest conundrum — and we don't even know for sure if it's entirely separate from inflation, although that's the current best guess. The problem is, of course, if you have two unknown things, you can't actually demonstrate that they aren't different aspects of the same thing, though it is likely." Look out for Planck experiments in the next few months that might help us start to understand inflation in the early universe — which could eventually shed some (dark) light on why we keep inflating and can't seem to stop.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Objects in Space That We Really, Really Can't Explain