Ten 80s Movies that Will Remind You of Your Geek Roots

For those of you who grew up at least in part in the eighties, you know that it wasn’t all about Molly Ringwald and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Though not all cinematic masterpieces, there were a lot of really fun movies that glorified the geeks of the day.  Here are a few you could pick up for nostalgia’s sake – or especially if you missed the eighties, make sure you’ve seen these if you haven’t!

Weird Science (1985)
“That’s not a bad idea, making a girl.” Especially if she’s Kelly LeBrock. This movie is the geekiest of the John Hughes set, and shows us that all you need to create a hot girl in your bedroom is a hack into a government computer, a Barbie doll, and that ever-favorite plot device, a bolt of lightning.

Real Genius (1985)
Remember when Val Kilmer was one of the 10 greatest minds in the country? This movie was the best of both worlds – military conspiracy PLUS college life. And lasers.

Short Circuit (1986)
Ally Sheedy AND Steve Guttenberg? And a robot? Tick off the eighties check list! Plus this movie follows a great eighties tradition of Cold War related what ifs. In this case, what if a military robot gets hit by lightning and comes to life and is adorable? Way cuter than WALL-E.

Space Camp (1986)
Raise your hand if this movie made you want to go to space camp. (I didn’t actually go, but I wanted to.) Plus, more robot friends! Every kid in the eighties wanted a robot, except for those who wanted an alien after watching E.T. (Also did you know the kid in this movie is Joaquin Phoenix?)

The Last Starfighter (1984)
I actually don’t remember the exact plot of this movie except that it was about a teenage boy who was recruited by aliens to fight in a war in space – because he was good at a videogame. Which is even better than having a robot friend, really. Also the CGI was really cutting edge for the time.

WarGames (1983)
Because something we definitely learned from the eighties is that being good at videogames translates to, if not flying space ships, then controlling thermonuclear wars. Trivia: Wikipedia says this movie is credited for coining the term “firewall.”

The Wizard (1989)
The other thing you can do if you’re a kid who’s really good at videogames? Travel cross country, play in a championship, and debut Super Mario Bros. 3 to the world. Also remember how cool the Nintendo power glove looked in this movie? Imagine if we could have given that kid a Wiimote.

Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Yet another kid abducted by aliens and yet another awesome robot-ish friend. Actually this one kind of made me want to go to space camp too.

Tron (1982)

This one doesn’t really need much comment.  A cult classic, Tron showed us what a “computer genius” movie can really be.  And it’s a real shame that even after the recent release of the sequel, it’s really hard to get your hands on the original.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
I don’t really need to comment on this one either, do I? I mean, it’s Revenge of the Nerds. It’s Robert Carradine and Anthony Green in the most awesome fictional geekfrat ever. The sequels are pretty awful but this one is definitely a classic. Also I can’t seem to hear “We Are the Champions” without thinking of this movie.

So what was YOUR favorite geek movie of the eighties?



Gaming: Opening Doors to Other Worlds Since 1958

This short video, titled “The History of Gaming”, was created as a university project by a team of game design students from Munich. The goal of the project was to cover various eras of video game history in video format. Apparently, the whole thing was filmed in just a single shot, but it took a total of 45 takes to finish, meaning that the team had to restart filming everything each time they messed things up.

One Rat Short [Video]

Written and directed by Alex Weil from creative design studio CHRLX, One Rat Short is an amazing 3D animation featuring a common city rat which, because of his appetite, gets trapped in a high tech rat lab. The movie won multiple awards, including the Best of Show award at the SIGGRAPH 2006 Computer Animation Festival.

[Vimeo]



The Best Skin Care Cream of All Time [Pic]

There’s a new version of that cream out now, but I heard this one is still pretty good!

[Via]

Cloning Scientist Takes on Mammoth Task

Cloning sheep was scientifically impressive, but not that visually impressive. Cloning mice had research value, but created footage that was a little freaky at best. But using cloning to get an elephant to give birth to a woolly mammoth? Now that’s science you can see.

This isn’t the plot of another Jurassic Park sequel, but a project by a Japanese professor who believes he has a “reasonable chance” of success before the decade is out. Akira Iritani of Kyoto University plans to take tissue from a Russian university’s mammoth carcass, extract the nuclei from the cells, and use this to replace the nuclei in an elephant egg cell. The resulting embryo will be inserted into the uterus of an elephant.

The basic concept isn’t new: a project in the 1990s aimed to revive the extinct mammoth in the same way, but experienced problems in extracting suitable tissue from the frozen carcass. Iritani will now use a technique developed by Teruhiki Wakayama, who in 2008 cloned a mouse from cells frozen 16 years earlier, to identify healthy cells from the tissue before it is thawed.

Even if all goes to plan, it will be a lengthy process. Once the extraction is taken care of, it will take an estimated two years to prepare the embryo. Once the elephant becomes pregnant, the gestation period means the resulting animal won’t be born for another 22 months.

If the project does succeed, the main purpose will be to study the resulting mammoth in the hope of discovering more about how it became extinct. Iritani says there’ll need to be discussion about whether the mammoth should be further bred, and whether a public display (of the mammoth, not of the breeding) is appropriate.

The technique won’t, however, be of any use for bringing back dinosaurs. Having died out “only” around 5,000 years ago, there are still suitably preserved mammoths from which to work, an option that isn’t available for dinosaurs.

New Game Of Thrones Trailer: Let the Game Begin! [Video]

HBO has just released an awesome new Game Of Thrones trailer featuring a few shots of the series’ famous Iron Throne. Check it out:

[Via Topless Robot]

For Girl Geeks: Make Yourself Over, Wonder Woman Style

MAC makeup is launching a new line of Wonder Woman inspired products next month. Says the press release: “Dashing and dazzling, the iconic super heroine reminds us that inside every woman is a Mighty Aphrodite full of courage, confidence and charisma.” Sure, why not! Like most “inspirations” I doubt the makeup itself is very different than any other you might find, but it’s kind of neat to have “Army of Amazons” mascara, “Obey Me” nail polish, and “Lady Justice” eye shadow. Plus the cases look really cool and you can get “utility” brush sets.

The line launches on February 10. If any of you try it out, let us know if you feel dashing and dazzling.

[Source + Extra pictures]

34,000-Year-Old Organism Found Still Alive! Abe Vigoda Detained for Questioning

By Derek Clark
Contributing Writer [GAS]

Imagine you’re a young go-getter scientist trying to finish your Ph.D. in geology when you find yourself alone in the lab on a Friday night. After you’ve posted all your Mohs hardness penis jokes on Twitter and checked your ‘Geologists Are Sexy’ blog for comments, you get bored and start poking around the lab.

Eventually, curiosity gets the better of you and you finally open that closet your creepy-ass advisor warned you not to. Tucked in the dark recesses of a shelf, you find a small, mysterious package. The plastic container is heavier than you expect and marked ‘Climate Research: Death Valley. 34,000-Year-Old Salt Crystals. DO NOT OPEN.’ The excitement of just holding it makes you pee your pants a little.

Just as your conscience kicks in and you reach to put the package back on the shelf, the jagged crystals beneath the clear plastic sparkle and catch your eye. You feel yourself hypnotized and being drawn in like an overweight teenage girl at a Twilight movie. Out of nowhere, ominous music starts playing. Flying in the face of all logic taught to you by every science fiction and horror movie you’ve ever seen, you open the package.

A strange greenish glow emanates from the crystalline sample. You think you see something. Yes, you definitely saw something… move. It’s alive!

This is usually the part where either your face melts off or you drop to the floor comatose while the alien organism incubates inside you. Of course, all this would soon be followed by you assuming your role as the zombie Anti-Christ of a global apocalypse.

Fortunately, the real Ph.D. student, Brian Schubert, who made the discovery of ancient bacteria living within tiny, fluid-filled chambers inside some really old salt crystals, tells a slightly different story. He assures us that the sodium-loving bacteria were shrunken, small and suspended in a kind of hibernation.

“They’re alive, but they’re not using any energy to swim around, they’re not reproducing,” Schubert said. “They’re not doing anything at all except maintaining themselves.” Hmm, sounds exactly like something an alien organism that has taken over the body of a young, handsome scientist would say to distract us from the real danger. But please, go on.

Schubert then added the ‘but’ heard round the geek world. ‘But’ apparently once the microbes came out of their hibernation, they started to reproduce. “It’s 34,000 years old and it has a kid!” he exclaimed. Cue the flashing red phone on President Morgan Freeman’s desk.

“It worked out very well,” Schubert said. Do you guys hear helicopters?

I’m sure geologist everywhere are proud of this historic moment, unaware of the Pandora’s Box they probably just opened. But not me. While Ridley Scott and John Carpenter start a bidding war on the movie rights, I’ll be cleaning out my local supermarket of toilet paper, batteries and Cocoa Puffs cereal.