Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).
Today I have my first article up on Vice’s Motherboard site, about a new discovery in the total sum of matter in the whole entire universe. It’s the kind of mind-blowing physics stuff that’s always made me excited and which … also probably doesn’t mean that much to the average person who isn’t into crazy physics stuff. But I swear! It’s cool!
Don’t take my word for it, though; check it out on Vice.
This little robot is hitchhiking across Canada, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. It's an interesting sociological experiment, and though I personally find "facial expressions" to kind of awkward, I definitely get how it makes him come off as much less threatening than, say, this guy:
They make the point right around the 4:20 mark that an experiment this could only ever work in Canada, because Americans are definitely way too trigger-happy, paranoid, and generally crazy, and would probably destroy the poor little Hitchbot. Especially once he got started making small talk. Hell, I got annoyed just listening to the short clip of his Wikipedia rambling. I'm not even sure how long I'd last in the car with this Canadian C-3PO.
I do kind of wonder about what a robot experiment like this could do in studying the dangerous aspects of hitchhiking, especially if it's recording its interactions. I've never actually hitchhiked myself, but at least in America, we're told that you're expected to trade "ass, cash, or grass." Sexual assault in particular is a major threat for women. But Hitchbot, he's just a freeloader!
...or is he? Hrmmm...
You had me at "Robo-suit lets man lift 100kg" (and I don't even know how heavy that is because I'm an ignorant American!)
I mean, James Cameron is a gazillionaire, and he already did that whole ocean exploration thing just because he could, so wouldn't it stand to reason that he also secretly funded the invention of one of the coolest parts of his second-best film?
One man's "Body Extender" is another woman's "Kick The Crap Out Of The Queen Alien & Send Her Out The Airlock," as the saying goes.
Of course, if we consider his underwater adventures to be an extrapolation of his cinematic work on Titanic and The Abyss, the next logical progression from here would be for Cameron to sink his funds into the development of a time-travel robot assassin made of liquid metal. Which, considering how this whole drone thing has been going, is a frighteningly realistic possibility and maybe I act so flip about it and 'cause now maybe the liquid metal time traveling drones are going to come after me next in order to stop me from making this blog post and revealing their secret plans for world domina
Here's a little excerpt from a story I've been working on in a few different mediums (I've shared a few other snippets, too, if you'd like to piece them together and figure it out...). It's science-y and physics-y and all timey-wimey, but hopefully it's at least a little bit enjoyable on its own!
CAPTURED GHOSTS is a brand new documentary by filmmaker Patrick Meaney about Warren Ellis, the "Internet Jesus" himself and one of my personal favorite writers of all time. I'm putting together a preview screening of the film in Boston on January 7, featuring a Q+A with the director. Here's the official blurb:
The film features the most extensive interview Ellis has ever given, and spans his life, from his first memory watching the moon landing as a child, to his recent cross-media success with the film adaptation of Red. Along the way, Ellis's acerbic wit and core belief in humanity comes across like never before.Complimenting Ellis's own words are interviews with his artistic collaborators, friends and admirers from across all media, including actress Helen Mirren, Director Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), comedian Patton Oswalt, Adult Film Star Stoya, Musician Claudio Sanchez (of Coheed and Cambria), comics writers Matt Fraction and Antony Johnston, and futurist Jamais Cascio. Ellis's comics collaborators like Marvel Comics CCO Joe Quesada, artists Darick Robertson, Ben Templesmith and Phil Jimenez also provide insight into Ellis's mind and creative workings. The film features numerous ambient interludes that spotlight Ellis's prose and writing from both his online columns and his comics.
And the trailer:
It's a pretty impressive list of celebrity interviews, if I do say so myself. I saw Patrick's last documentary, Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods (which can be streamed in its entirety on Hulu), which was absolutely fantastic. If that's any indication, then this new Warren Ellis film should be particularly awesome.
If you're fan of science, comic books, the future, the creative process, or Helen Mirren, I'd encourage you to come check the screening! (and if you're hesitant and not at all familiar with Warren Ellis's body of work, here's a particular powerful scene from a book of his called Doktor Sleepless. That'll give you a taste of the kind of mind this man has)
