ORIGINALLY AIRED: 4/25/2005
Xeni Jardin, Adult Swim, Area 51
Episode #5067
Hot Product: Nokia 7280 If you want to be the coolest kid in the club, then just dish out $600 for this fashionable Nokia cell phone with built-in camera. It’s really nifty looking but, uh, doesn’t actually come with a number pad. Read Lab Rat Hahn Choi’s . More ‘80s TV Resurrected: The Greatest American Hero makes it to DVD. Don’t remember it? The official description says it all: “An earnest high school teacher is presented with an unusual red flying suit from extraterrestrials and in spite of the fact that he promptly manages to lose the suit's operations manual, he's pressed into service as a crime fighter by an overly enthusiastic FBI agent with sometimes embarrassing results.” Another Piece of the Xbox Puzzle? Here’s another Xbox 360/Next/2 photo for your consideration, plus rumor-mongering that Halo 2.5 will be a launch title. |
| Let the world know: We love Adult Swim. The Cartoon Network’s nightly block of mature programming has some of the coolest ‘toons on cable: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Spaceghost Coast to Coast, and more. We wanted to know who concocts such weirdness, so we sent Kevin P. to Adult Swim HQ in Atlanta. He discovered a crew of oddballs just as unusual as their shows. Plus, he stole a lot of swag, which he’ll be giving away. Tomorrow, Kevin will file his up close and personal report on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Sealab 2021.
Learn more about Adult Swim at, yep, AdultSwim.com. |
| Wired Magazine technology reporter and BoingBoing.net co-editor Xeni Jardin visited to talk about two of her latest stories: the rise of digital theaters, and the deadly art robots of Survival Research Laboratories.
Digital projectors are slowly invading movie theaters in large markets. Powered by DLP chips by Texas Instruments that contain 6 million miniature mirrors, digital projectors promise to rid the moviegoing experience of degraded or imperfect celluloid copies. The cost of the machines is slowing down the spread of digital projection, but Mark Cuban, owner of the Landmark Theaters chain, is spending the money to speed adoption of the technology. Read Xeni’s story in Wired to get the full scoop. Want to know if you’ve got a digital theater near your home? Check out this database put together by TheForce.net. Meanwhile, Xeni also filed a story on the creations of Survival Research Laboratories—giant robots that wreak havoc in the name of art. They’re not really robot combatants; it’s more like “giant lethal machines that do choreographed moves,” Xeni said. “Sometimes the sound is so intense, it makes you ill. The diehard fans know to bring eye and ear protection.” Listen to Xeni's NPR Coverage of SRL here, or visit Survival Research Laboratories. |
| Who’s the man with the Dark Deals plan? Kevin Rose! Uh-huh.
PSP Accessories Mother's Day Flowers 5GB USB Drive JiNX T-shirts & automatically enter the Sony PSP giveaway |
| Tiger On the Loose: Apple’s latest iteration of OS X gets released early by some jumpy resellers. Apple would like them back, please.
64 Bit Action: Microsoft launches 64 bit versions of Windows. Now all you’ll have to do to see the huge performance jump is to get 4 GB of RAM. Why, That’s Illegal! Two NYPD officers are under investigation for allegedly receiving payments from the MPAA for busting street vendors of pirated DVDs. DRM, Non! A French court of appeals ruled that DVDs should not be copy protected. |
| Midway game producer Zach Wood gave us a tour of the mystery shrouded government installation known as Area 51. Although it takes the name of the arcade game, this Xbox/PS2/PC title is much more story oriented. You play a hazmat specialist called to Area 51 to investigate a possible contamination. You find out a virus has been unleashed, and it starts mutating everyone on the base—including you. Although the mechanics of the game may be familiar to FPS players, Zach said the designers spent a lot of time creating unique aliens, weapons, and special powers.
Delve deeper into the mysteries of Area 51 at Area51-game.com. |
| Sarah searches high and low for these web diversions, just for you: |
| Today we witnessed a fellow who didn’t mind sticking a garbage can over his head and running into a wall. We found the informative clip at Big-boys.com. |
| Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has legions of hardcore fans. Consequently, many of them are highly leery of the film version of their sacred text, and some advance fanboy reviews have not been kind. Sarah talked with the cast and crew of the film—and saw the actual movie—and found that although changes were made, it’s still very entertaining and fits within Adams’ vision.
Header over to the movie's official website to see more. |
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RELATED LINKS
> Xeni Jardin's personal website
> The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie site
> The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim