RIP hitchBOT

August 3, 2015 / / 2 Comments
hitchBOT

hitchBOT

Last evening, as I sat down to work on the post I had intended to write for today, the Mysterious Mr. C delivered some terrible news: hitchBOT, the adorable hitchhiking robot from Canada that I featured in Saturday’s “Nerd Alert” had been damaged beyond repair by some guy in Philadelphia. (In fact, now that video of the attack has surfaced, it appears that the poor little guy met his demise before I even posted about him. [And no, I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it.])  Read More

BattleBots

June 25, 2015 / / No Comments
ABC

ABC

The Mysterious Mr. C and I have been pretty good at going through all of the season finales that we had saved on our DVR (though we still have to watch the final two episodes of iZombie), and as such, I was starting to wonder what would be on our schedule this summer! To be sure, we could probably stand to watch a little less television (couldn’t we all?!), but it’s still nice to have some go-to shows that you look forward to seeing each week.

Last night, as I perused our upcoming recordings, I realized that I didn’t need to be that worried! Read More

Robogenesis

June 18, 2015 / / No Comments
Will Staehle/Maksim Toome

Will Staehle/Maksim Toome

I was a huge fan of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse, so when I saw that his sequel, Robogenesis, was available in paperback, I immediately snatched it off the shelf at Barnes&Noble (I like my series to match, both in cover design and type – I know, nerd!). And while I quickly worked my way through the first part of the book, I slowed down dramatically after that. Indeed, it took a fair bit of mental coaxing to get myself through the last 100 pages.

Set in the months after the defeat of Archos R-14, an artificial intelligence that launched a global robot uprising, Robogenesis tells the story of a new menace that is determined to annihilate the human race: Archos R-8, the older “brother.” Read More

Ex Machina

April 21, 2015 / / No Comments
DNA Studios/Film 4

DNA Studios/Film 4

Warning: There are some spoilers in this, so proceed at your own risk!

This past weekend, the Mysterious Mr. C and I joined our friends M and P for a good old-fashioned double date – dinner and a movie. The meal was dim sum, and the film was Alex Garland’s Ex Machina.

Though the sci-fi thriller was on my “To See” list, I had completely forgotten about it until M suggested it as a movie option that the guys might like too. I vaguely remembered that the film involved robots, but that was about it. And you know what, it was actually a lot of fun to go into the theater with just a vague idea of what I was in for! Read More

CHAPPiE

March 9, 2015 / / No Comments
Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am often struck by the fact that paid movie reviewers typically love the movies that I can’t quite get into, and revile the movies that I adore. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions, but this has more or less been true my entire life. In fact, I often use the reviews in a reverse fashion – high praise makes me think twice before heading to the theater, while criticism has me looking for movie times!

Neill Blomkamp’s latest film CHAPPiE is the most recent example of this fundamental disagreement. As far as I can tell, the reviews of the film so far have been lackluster. Read More