Check out this super-cool TRON: Legacy music video!  The track is by a band named Daft Punk and the song is named “Derezzed”. Some hip tunes with some great clips from the movie!  I can’t wait for this film!  My thanks to Ed for pointing me in the direction of this video.

If  you can’t view the embedded video above, please click here.

Original music video for Doctorin’ the Tardis by The Timelords!

If you can’t view the embedded video above, please click here.

You’re probably asking yourself why this qualifies to be on a geek-centric blog.  Well, duh… this song was featured in the John Hughes classic, Weird Science!  Geez people, stop embarrassing yourself with your ignorance.

Fun fact, back in 1985 when I first heard this song in the Weird Science film I thought they were saying “Terminus” instead of “Tenderness”.  It confused the heck out of me.  Why would they be singing about a Doctor Who episode?!?!  True story.

Here is a fun comic-related song by the band Kirby Krackle.  Great name!  This song is called “Ring Capacity” and is Green Lantern-centric.  This isn’t an official video, the music is really what I’m pointing out.

If you can’t view the embedded video above, please click here.

(Lyrics)
I’m flying through the cold of space
Seems I’ve yet to find my place
Guarding Twenty Eight Fourteen
Don’t know why it’s chosen me

When from the corner of my eye
I catch a glimpse of evil light
The fear it tries to swallow me
Like I’m just some guy with an emerald…

Ring Capacity, Ninety Point One
Ring Capacity, Seventy Nine
Ring Capacity, Sixty Eight Five
Now I’m fighting for my life

Ring Capacity, Ninety Point One
Ring Capacity, Seventy Nine
Ring Capacity, Sixty Eight Five
Now the trick’s to stay alive

I see the man who’s made me bleed
The one who taught me everything
A purple man obsessed with me
Soul lost to the dark and it’s now extinct

From any good he once possessed
Pledge to the oath now laid to rest
No time for doubt, no quick eject
Don’t give in to fear, like my father said

Ring Capacity, Fifty Point Nine
Ring Capacity, Forty Six One
Ring Capacity, Thirty Eight Five
Now I’m fighting for my life

Ring Capacity, Fifty Point Nine
Ring Capacity, Forty Six One
Ring Capacity, Thirty Eight Five
Now the trick’s to stay alive

My hands burn, my skin stings
Running low on what I need
A blast of light, my last recourse
I find my way to the power source

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night
No Evil Shall Escape My Sight
Let those who worship evil’s might
Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light

Ring Capacity, Forty Six One
Ring Capacity, Fifty Eight Nine
Ring Capacity, Sixty Four Five
Now I’m charged and burning bright

Ring Capacity, Seventy Five
Ring Capacity, Eighty Three Two
Ring Capacity, Ninety Nine Nine
Now I’m back in to the fight

They’ve got other songs like: Great Lakes Avengers, On and On (Wolverine Song), Tony Stark, and many more!

If you can’t see the embedded video above, please click here.

Here are the lyrics in case you have trouble following along:

[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Yeah
No longer Anakin
Formerly a Skywalker
Son’s next rebel hero
But I’ll be Sith forever
I’m the newest Dark lord And since my training years
I can choke from anywhere
Yeah my force is everywhere Used to run with Obi Wan We were both best buds foreva
But after three movies Now I’ve got a blood vendetta Grew up on Tatooine
No vegetation Catch me rolling through the cosmos in a moon-like station to Leia’s home nation Death Star wrecks it Now princess knows, Vader ain’t one to mess with
Flying through the trenches
Blasting rebel noobies
What happened to the fat one
Think he died of heart disease All that’s left is this guy
Chasing him in my TIE I won’t deny That his force is pretty damn high
Damn i just got wiped out
Falcon shot the back of me
Spinning into outerspace
But I’ll be back definitely

[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS]
In Star Wars Empire is out to find Leia Death star plans in R2 Shoot the exhaust port Kenobi may now be see-through But the force is within Luke
Let’s hear it for new hope, new hope, new hope
[Vader: You're welcome Obi Wan... I made you a ghost!]

[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Catch me rockin boots and a cape like superman
Hell, I made wearing black more famous than that Jay-Z can
You should know I’d find you, hiding out at Echo
Now I got a Blizzard Force eliminate you quick yo
Welcome to the planet Hoth AT-ATs hit the spot Walking tanks are too legit
But they fall down a lot Check the front, check the back, cant find the Falcon yet
We need them all alive, so no disintegrations Boba Fett 8 million asteroids, where’d your little ship go?
Get me to Cloud City, I got Lando on my payroll
Me I gotta double check if carbonite’s ok If freezin’s safe for Han
Doing Luke the same way
New deal Lando
Ain’t no pardon
Kid blew up my boys
Rest in peace Moff Tarkin
Turns out we are family
Embrace your dark fate
Dad and son together, yo No way the emperor’s safe, cause…

[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS] In Star Wars
Now Han Solo’s a coffee table
There’s nothing Luke can do [Vader: Should've joined me, bro!]
He’s on Dagobah
With some dyslexic Jedi dude
Right hand still got sliced through Looks like they struck back, struck back, struck back

[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Lightsabers grinding
Palpatine’s smiling
Cause he knew it would come to this The light side is blind with casualties
Who do evil casually, then gradually become worse
Don’t fight your destiny
Wasn’t a great dad, true
Absent all the while
No happy times behind us, and plus, now I’m killin’ you
Keep fencing mister, ’cause now I sense a sister
You don’t go bad, maybe I’ll enlist her
Now Emperor wants you, only wants me rubbed out You controlled your anger, stayed light side devout Watch out kid, he’s got lightning bolts to immolate Uh-uh, hell no, daddy powers activate
End this prune with a badass murder suicide
Bald headed, mask off, heart melted kid you were right Burn all my gear so those Ewoks can’t wear it again
Do it, I’ll be watching you, a ghost, name of Anakin

[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS] In Star Wars
Destroy new Death Star’s generator
Ewoks to the rescue
Blast through to the core
This Regime’s gonna be brand new
Galactic Empire’s through
The Jedi have returned, returned, returned

The upcoming release of the Apple iPad on April 3 has generated a lot of debate amongst geeks and non-geeks.  I’ve found myself in conversations with both groups recently where the same questions have come up.  “Who is the target market?”  “Why would I want one?”  “Why is it such a big deal?”  Well, I’ll attempt to explain how I think the iPad is going to affect our lives and why you’re going to want one (or a similar product).

Where our world is heading

Whether we like it or not, our world is going digital.  Many of us old fogies are sticking our heads in the sand and clinging desperately to our paper and discs.  Meanwhile, the rest of the world is starting to go paperless and digital.  It’s a reality and it’s already happening.  If you work in an office setting, how many times have you heard someone talk about “going paperless?”  If not, then just think about the last time you visited the doctor.  More than likely, the doctor didn’t reference a paper chart, he used a computer.  Magazine and newspaper sales are at an all-time low because people are getting their information digitally nowadays.  Compact Disc sales are way down thanks to the popularity of MP3 players and digital download.  Video rental shops all over the country are closing down as digital and on-demand services (like Netflix) grow in popularity.  Digital book readers (like the Kindle) were the hottest-selling Christmas gift last year.  While us old fogies have a hard time imagining a paperless world, the next generation has no problem imagining it at all.  They’re anxious for it.

With all this varied digital media (books, photographs, music, TV shows, movies, maps, newspapers, and more), people are going to be looking for a convenient all-in-one player they can take on-the-go.  Sure there are laptops and Smart Phones that can accomplish all of this already.  However, when it comes to visual media (i.e. movies, pictures, books, web surfing) many people aren’t happy viewing them on the Smart Phone miniature screens (all of which are 3.7 inches or smaller).  Many laptops also have small screens.  For example, the netbook I’m typing on right now has a 9 inch screen, but if you measure just the height it’s only 4.5 inches tall.  That makes it somewhat challenging to comfortably read a document that is vertically-orientated.  Additionally, many people aren’t willing to carry their laptop around everywhere because it’s often bulky and time-consuming (i.e. you gotta boot up the machine, navigate with a touchpad or mouse, wait for programs to open, etc.).  People don’t carry laptops around just in case they want to show off pictures of their kids.

So the solution sounds like an easy-to-use, all-in-one device with a reasonably-sized screen to handle all your multimedia.  Hmmm…

So what does the iPad do?

According to Apple, the iPad is the best way to experience the web, e-mail, photos, and video.  Standard applications will let you surf the web, check your e-mail (including an expansive onscreen keyboard), manage and view your photos, watch videos in high-resolution, use it as a MP3 player, read digital books, use Google Maps, take notes, manage your calendar and contacts, play games, and purchase up to 150,000 other applications.

The size is 9.5 inches by 7.5 inches, a thickness of 0.5 inches, and a weight of about 1.5 pounds.  The viewable screen is 9.7 inches (diagonal), it’s touch screen operated, and screen orientation rotates depending upon how you are holding it.  The battery life is up to 10 hours.  It’s sort of like a giant iTouch (essentially an iPhone without the telephone part).  Click here to read all the features of the iPad on the Apple website.

Check out the 30 second commercial below to see some of the capabilities.

Wow.  I’m not a Mac guy, but I gotta say that’s a sexy looking machine!

The iPad isn’t the only option out there

It’s important to point out that the iPad isn’t the only product like this coming out in the near future.  In fact, some estimate there will be as many as 50 iPad-like devices making their way to market this year.

There is no good term yet to generically describe all the devices similar to the iPad.  Do we call them Pads, Tablets, or something else?  Going forward, I’m going to refer to these devices generically as “PADDs”.  For the Trekkers reading, you’ll recognize that as the term for the Star Trek datapads.  They were ahead of their time, dude.  I think Apple owes Roddenberry’s estate some money for the idea.

Another reason I’m going to use the term PADD going forward is so that I stop sounding like an iPad commercial.  Geez.

Why will the PADD format be successful?

I believe the PADD’s success will be based around: (1) the portability, (2) the viewable area and rotating orientation, and (3) the touch interface.

Above I established why people will be looking for an easy-to-use, all-in-one device with a reasonably-sized screen to handle all their multimedia.  The PADD format fits that need perfectly.  The viewable area and rotating orientation will be a huge driver of sales.  As we continue to go more and more paperless, people are going to need something to read their digital documents on.  People don’t want to read on tiny little screens.  We’re creatures of habit.  We’re used to reading books, magazines, and letters. PADD screens are somewhere between the size of a paperback and a hardback book.  That’s a decent size that’s comfortable to read.

Personally I don’t think the PADD will impact the MP3 market.  Even though the iPad will play music, I think the even-more-portable MP3 players will survive just fine.  Taking a PADD jogging so you can listen to music just doesn’t make sense given its size.  I think the PADD will establish it’s niche in visual-based media (i.e. books, photographs, TV shows, movies, maps, newspapers, etc), with music as an added bonus.

Adoption

The iPad is going to sell very well initially.  Hundreds of thousands have already been pre-ordered.  It’s quite possible that Apple will sell more iPads in the first three months than it sold original iPhones in the same period.  Just like the iPhone did well in the war of the Smart Phones, it’s likely the iPad will do well in the war of the PADDs.  It’s possible a competing PADD will eventually outsell the iPad (especially with some of the reported iPad issues already, such as Flash), but it’s impossible to tell right now.

The current price of the iPad for the lowest-tier version is $499; the most expensive version is $829.  Those are some scary prices, but they won’t stay that high.  The iPhone started at $599, but you can get one today for $99.  It’s just a matter of time until the price of the iPad drops to a more reasonable level.

Some people argue that the PADD format won’t do well in the long run based upon the history of Tablet PC sales.  Tablet PCs have been around for a long time, but they never really took off.  The iPad is more user-friendly than a Tablet PC and Apple has the marketing to make the iPad desirable to potential buyers.  The success of the iPad will open the door to allow competing PADDs to be successful as well.

I’ve heard lots of people argue, “Why would someone buy an iPad when a laptop does more and is about the same price?”  The fact is that most people want their devices simple.  Look at the success of the Netbook.  It’s a laptop, but with some reduced capability.  Sales show that people don’t mind buying a device with less capability if it does everything they want it to do.  The PADD isn’t intended to replace your personal computer.  It’s intended to be your all-in-one multimedia device.  While the PADD will eventually have many standard computer applications (like word processing and spreadsheets), I think most people will still use it primarily for multimedia and web surfing.  It will do everything people want it to do, so they’ll will be willing to pay for it.

Will the iPad change the world?

Yes and no.  Reading digital documents will eventually become the norm.  It’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s going to happen sooner or later.  It seems likely that the PADD format will help the digital revolution happen faster.  The iPad may not be the most successful PADD in the long run, but it’s going to kick off the PADD popularity.

Paper won’t go away completely.  Printed books will become more of a luxury, as opposed to the primary way to read.  I do expect that the continued move to paperless, combined with the success of the PADD format, will be the final coffin nail for the newspaper and magazine industries.  They may find someway to survive, but I seriously doubt they’ll exist as they do today.

Just to get a bit more geek, this is going to change the comic book industry forever.  Seriously.  Regular printed comic books will be a thing of the past.  You’ll still find kids comics and trade paperbacks, but the slew of monthly titles from Marvel and DC will be available digitally rather than in print.

It’ll be a while before the PADD format becomes commonplace.  They’ll need to work out all the bugs and drop the price to a more reasonable amount.  It’ll take time, but it will happen.

Will the iPad change the way I eat breakfast?  No, but it’ll change how I read while I eat breakfast.

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My thanks to THE UNIQUE GEEK listserv for all the fantastic debate about the iPad and PADD format.

Don’t ask any questions, just watch the video below.  In fact, you don’t even need to watch the video, just listen because the music is the important part.  Once you start playing, you’re going to think, “I know this song.  I don’t need to listen to it.”  Yes, you do need to listen to it.  Just be patient and the awesomeness will be revealed.  Give it at least two minutes of your life, and I promise you won’t be sorry. If you can’t see the embedded video below, please click here.

My thanks to SGhoul for introducing me to this brilliant band!  Believe it or not, the lead singer was the voice of Wacko on Animaniacs! Crazy! Just to give you an idea of their genius, check out “The Story” from their website …

80’S METAL BAND “ROCK SUGAR” RESCUED AFTER 20 YEARS ON DESERTED ISLAND.  BRAINWASHED AND CONFUSED, ROCKERS RETURN TO HOLLYWOOD WITH A SHOCKING NEW MUSICAL STYLE.

1989 should have been the best year ever for Rock Sugar, the big haired heavy metal band that had just broken the top 41 on the rock radio charts with their solid brass debut album “Bang You Like A Drum”. But instead of headlining concerts, Rock Sugar made the headlines when they were presumed lost forever after playing an extremely ill advised gig celebrating the bat mitzvah of 13-year-old Lisa Rosenberg.

The show was performed miles out to sea aboard the private luxury yacht of Lisa’s father, schnapps millionaire Schlomo Rosenberg. Assuming that Rock Sugar was some innocent boy band, Schlomo had no idea who they actually were or what they actually sounded like. He only knew from his extremely spoiled daughter that they were “really cute” and he figured that must mean she would love their music. She didn’t, and judging from the stunned expressions on their faces, neither did her prepubescent little friends.

Shortly after the chorus of Rock Sugar’s second song “Nail You Like A Hammer”, a drunken and violent brawl broke out involving the band, the rabbi, a clown, the captain, a guy in an Smurf costume, Schlomo and well over a hundred infuriated and now thoroughly sexually confused children. In the midst of the fight, as Jesse, the lead singer, was pummeling the Smurf and no one was steering the damned ship anymore, it struck an undersea stone wall. As the boat was sinking, the extremely unhappy and now yacht less Schlomo refused to let Rock Sugar climb aboard the life rafts to safety.

Having been denied rescue, the band credit their miraculous ability to make it to the shore alive only because of their firmly held belief that “sharks don’t eat metal”. Left to their own extremely questionable survival skills, Rock Sugar managed to salvage several items from the sunken yacht. In addition to their instruments, they retrieved a hot pink battery powered boom box covered with stickers of Hello Kitty, a crate of batteries, 158 cases of schnapps and numerous articles of teenage girls clothing, most of which the band admit to trying on and several pieces of which apparently fit and looked “pretty frickin’ awesome”. But things got worse when the horrified rockers discovered that the only music available for them to listen to was little Lisa Rosenberg’s very pop, very 13 year-old girl’s, very ‘80’s CD collection.

And so, the hardcore degenerate heavy metal members of Rock Sugar spent the last two decades stuck on an island with nothing to do but drink schnapps, catch hard to digest wildlife, befriend monkeys and dream of their long lost groupies while listening only to, and being slowly and systematically brainwashed by, every favorite pop song of a 1980’s preteen girl. Bored, full of schnapps and wasting away on a tropical oasis, they built a stage out of driftwood, bamboo shoots and tree sap and got to work. Against the odds, Rock Sugar was alive… and they were practicing.

Fast forward twenty years when a tuna boat with a screwed up compass discovered a group of long haired castaways on a deserted island far out in the middle of the Pacific. Finally rescued and now violently thrown back into the real life of present day Los Angeles, and with absolutely no clue whatsoever of anything that’s happened, developed or changed in the world since 1989, Rock Sugar is back and ready to electrify audiences with their brand new, razor sharp, psychotically original sound.

The first twenty years of their lives spent listening to heavy metal followed by a twenty year forced diet of little girl pop, their own influences have permanently collided with the unknowingly very influential 13-year-old Lisa Rosenberg. And now Rock Sugar is performing “re-imaginings” of the world’s favorite songs in ways that the world has never even dreamed of. Twenty years of what started with a shipwreck and turned into history’s longest reluctant rehearsal has paid off and the band, as well as the wild originality of what they have created, are beyond belief or explanation.

But while you may be able to at last take the metal band off the deserted island, apparently you can’t take 20 years of exposure to 80’s pop out of the metal band.  Prepare to have the line between pop and metal blown to smithereens and pour yourself a shot of Rock Sugar.

Because Pop Rocks.

Okay, if you’re still reading you totally rock! Click here for an interview with the band where they explain everything. Also, you deserve one more song from this amazing group…

Viva Geeks!  It wasn’t too long ago that being a dork meant you weren’t cool. Oh how times have changed. A new generation of geeky entrepreneurs are setting the standards for business and the world we live in — they are the trendsetters. Being a geek is considered sexy nowadays (as the underwear above demonstrates).

In the spirit of trendy geeks, enjoy this geek-centric parody of Jay-Z’s “Empire State Of Mind.” Thanks to my old friend Butz for directing me to this.

If you can’t view the embedded video above, please click here.

“Dear Batman: We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in Bat-detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is an archer, and a speedster, and a swimmer, a princess, and an acrobat. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Teen Titans.”

That is pure genius!  I think it’s especially funny that Aqualad is the whiny Anthony Michael Hall character!  You can find a few more superhero/80s album art mash-ups from Cliff Chiang on Comics Alliance.  My thanks to Ed for directing me to these images.

Here is a song called “Super Powers”.  Below is a fan-made video, but I’m just providing that so you can hear the music.  Beneath the video you’ll find the lyrics.  Enjoy!

Super Powers

I got bitten by a radioactive bug
I tried an experimental drug
I went out for a stroll on a gamma testing range
I found an enchanted Uru cane
I made a serum that made me small
I modified the serum so it would make me tall
I got radioactive isotope in my eye
A dying alien helped me accessorize
I gained the proportionate strength of a spider
Now I’m invincible and I can fly
I lost my sight and my other senses were heightened
I’m gonna put on my pajamas and go fight crime
CHORUS:
Now I’m a super hero (now I am a)
I’m a super hero now (super hero)
Now I’m a super hero (I’m a super)
I got my super powers (hero now)
My best friend and my girlfriend (and her brother)
went into space
Who’da thought we’d get bombarded by cosmic rays
It turns out I’m the last of a powerful alien race
My mother formed me from a lump of magic clay
I’m given super powers by a yellow sun
I studied under the Ancient One
I got an adamantium skeleton
Some grizzled old wizard taught me a magic acronym
Now I got the wisdom of Solomon
And the Strength of Hercules
I have memorized what “AZAM” was
But I still fight evil in my red pajamas
CHORUS
I gotta get me a helicopter
And you can get a jet plane
We’ll take out their surveillance tower
We can make up code names
And when you get home at the end of your day
I’ll pack your parachute and put away
Your utility belt and gas grenades
You were never meant to see
I showed you my secret identity
I suppose that I could always hypnotize you
If I wanted to
But I propse another thing
You can wear my decoder ring
We can have matching hovercraft
We can go undercover
After all we might just fall like stars from the sky
You know too but I know you
you won’t be happy til you try
Super hero team-up
Cowboy secret space detective true love
Super villain two-in-one
The bad guys have taken over Washington
Don’t be scared cause I’m prepared
There’s an emergency but I’m ready
Cause fortunately I’m a super hero too
I got super powers just like you
Now I’m a super hero
Now I’m a super hero
Now I’m a super hero
I got my

Seriously, you gotta listen to these guys.  In addition to clever geek-related lyrics, their music is also enjoyable.  You can check out their website by clicking here.