Google goes back to the stone age – Happy Birthday, Flintstones!

Yes Folks, the Flintstones are celebrating their 50th anniversary today, and to mark the occasion, Google has changed the logo on their home page with a Flintstones doodle. Happy birthday Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, and Dino!

The Flintstones is an animated American television sitcom that ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966 on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man’s life with his family and his next door neighbor and best friend. It has since been re-released on both DVD and VHS. [Source]

[Cake Picture Source]

Star Wars Going 3D, Starting With Episode I

Just when you thought Jar-Jar Binks couldn’t possibly be any more annoying: Lucasfilm has announced that the Star Wars films are going 3D. Yes, the latest Hollywood trend seems to have infected the folks over at Lucasfilm, and why not? Seems as if there’s been plenty of movies in the last two years that have gotten by simply on the 3D gimmick. (Wait, did I say gimmick? Yeah, I totally did.)

The official word from LucasFilm is that they’re doing everything in their power to make sure that the 3D rendering is top-notch. In fact, the official word at StarWars.com from John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, reads in a very calming, faith-affirming way:

It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results. For Star Wars we will take our time, applying everything we know both aesthetically and technically to bring audiences a fantastic new Star Wars experience.

And that sounds fine. Sure, we know, they’re good at special effects over there at ILM, and hopefully the post-release rendering won’t suck. But there was a lot of buzz about the mind-blowing special effects in the prequels and, well, there was a great deal of disappointment there, too. (Disappointment, okay maybe that’s a bit gentle: more like childhood-destroying, soul-smashing, hope-extinguishing disappointment. There. Better.)

And which film are they starting with? Why, The Phantom Menace, of course.

Yeah. So at this point we’re all well aware that LucasFilm is no longer interested in placating their original audience in any way. The 3D craze is not ours. Sure, it’s cool. But I’m willing to bet most die-hard Star Wars fans from the 70s and 80s are perfectly happy with the original Star Wars films and versions. Ever since the “new and improved now with 100% more Jabba the Hutt” fans have been, well, skeptic. And grumpy. And vocal. And with good reason!

Sure, Lucasfilm is a business. And there’s nothing wrong with a business wanting to make money. That’s what they do, folks. But when it comes to the point that business decisions alienate fans (no pun intended) it starts to feel a little sinister. Especially considering the whole Star Wars oeuvre is about good and evil and making the right choices.

Does this choice to go to 3D make Lucasfilm part of the dark side? Probably not. But it sure feels like a cheap way to just get even more cash out of the fan base and appeal to a generation that doesn’t know any better. And that is sincerely not cool.

Do I think that the Millennium Falcon will look badass in 3D? Yes. Am I going to spend the money to go see the original films in the theaters? Maybe. Do I hate myself a little for that admission even though I should totally know better? Absolutely.

How about you all? Will you be able to resist the siren song of a 3D Star Wars experience, or are you done with Lucas altogether?

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Metroid’s Samus Goes Burlesque

One of geekdom’s ultimate fantasy women, Metroid star Samus Aran, was recently seen in various stages of undress at a burlesque show in L.A. For those of you with sensitive eyes, don’t worry, you won’t see Samus (as performed by Courtney Cruz of The Devil’s Playground) completely naked in this post, just very lightly clad. Enjoy the pics! ;)

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Google Dismisses Lesbians in an Instant

Imagine a world without Pamela Anderson, yellow showers, or rusty trombones.

Well, I’m afraid to tell you such a world exists: it’s the world of Google Instant Search.

The website of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly (the number comes from a 2600 hertz tone that could be produced with a toy whistle to gain access to a phone system) has published a collection of words that are effectively blocked from Google Instant. That’s the recently launched system that shows results while you are still typing a phrase in the Google’s search field.

For example–and the precise words will vary depending on which regional version of Google you use–typing in “t” brings up a list of results beneath the search box headed “tesco” (a supermarket chain), adding “u” changes the lead result to “tube map” (as in the London subway system), and adding “b” keeps the tube map atop the list but refines the lower results to all be tube-related.

However, once you then add a “g”, the Instant Search results goes completely blank and you have to press enter or click on Search to get the full list of results for “tubg” or any phrase beginning with “tubg”. And if you can’t think of any internet phrase beginning “tubg” you are both sheltered and fortunate.

The reasons for this are easy to guess: Google doesn’t want people typing in one phrase to mistakenly see potentially offensive results related to another. That’s unlikely in the example I gave, but makes sense in others: a child looking for information on William Burrough’s Naked Lunch probably doesn’t want to see a YouTube clip about the unclothed broadcasters of Naked News. (Well, they probably do, but their parents likely have other ideas.)

Readers of 2600 have now put together a list of the words that trigger the filter. Mainly it’s the type of stuff you’d find written on a restroom wall in a seedy joint, though I’ll admit to having never come across the expression “blumpkin” before. And if you think you’re clever, forget it: Google has made sure that “one cup two girls” is on the list along with the better known phrase. There’s also a few mysteries: “rule 34” turns out to be a reference to a posting at 4chan.

The list also acts as something of a hall of fame for the adult industry: Bianca Beauchamp, Carol Queen (a sexologist), Jenna Jameson, Jesse Jane, John Holmes, Linda Lovelace, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Shanna Katz (another sexologist), Shaunna Grant and Traci Lords were the only named individuals in the first list 2600 put up.

The most controversial element of the list, however, is the approach to sexual orientation. While “homosexual” and “heterosexual” both seem fine to Google, “lesbian” and “bisexual” are on the banned list.

Awesome: AntWorks Illuminated Ant Farm

Now this is REALLY cool. The AntWorks ant farm lets you watch your ants as they dig their way through unexplored territories. The kit includes a removable LED Illuminator with power adaptor, nutrient gel, magnifying glass, extreme zoom lens, ant catching/tunnel starting tool, and an instruction booklet.

[Fascinations AntWorks Illuminated Blue – $24 on Amazon.com]