illtema

By Oleg Naumov

Howdy! As you don’t know I’m a fan of “Futurama” — a great cartoon sci-fi situation comedy show. It was created by Matt Groening, the very same guy who created “The Simpsons”.
As you might know, “McFarlane” is a great company, became famous for their high quality action figures. But unfortunately they don’t think that “Futurama” is as good as “The Simpsons”, that’s why they don’t bother creating “Futurama” figures. What a shame I gotta say!
Of course there’s a lot of other manufactures, but… wait let’s compare! Here are the main characters from both of the shows, as portrayed by Matt himself:

Bender and Homer as they appear in the show
And what we got in the market today? Check this figures, first created by Toynami and second created by McFarlane:

Bender and Homer action figures.
I bet you can see the difference in quality without even enlarging the picture! Damn, there isn’t a slight doubt that McFarlane’s figure is so much better. I boldly can mark Bender’s figure as “Made in China”, while Homer’s figure is definitely was “Made in USA” (though it was made in China too).
I googled with hope to find something that looks more like Bender, but they all suck even harder!
“Fine, I’m gonna make my own disco club! With blackjack…and hookers…!” — Bender Rodriguez.

I decided to create a 3D model of Bender, making it look “McFarlane style“. Now peep it!
At first, I came up with this:

As you can see, it’s just a model, with default poor lightning. As a character, Bender has some things that are always associated with him: Cuban cigar and a bottle of beer. As a bonus I decided to create large “Futurama” logo attached to the base.

But still, the render looks ugly. Let’s add some texture and materials to our figure!

Now is the sweet part. Let’s turn on a global illumination and put our figure in a 3d studio with advanced lightning.

The render looks much better now, but the figure is “low poly” — we need to smooth our objects. I played with lightning a bit more, trying to make our image look as McFarlane’s.
By the way the texture on the bottle is the same as in the show. Which one are you gonna buy?

3D Bender and Bender action figures.

3D Bender and Homer action figures.
I hope someday McFarlane will release “Futurama” figures, and I wish to other manufactures will create more detailed and accurate figures.

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See the images from this post in higher resolution:

Design, Peep It, Toys

I recently got the new Google phone from T Mobile and I am completely satisfied with my purchase. Huge upgrade from the wack ass Razr I was stuck with for months (haha). It is much like a mature version of the Sidekick.
The Look
The sidekick era is over with the new release of the G1. It has a slide up touchscreen which reveals a full keyboard. The size of the screen is 2.1 inches x 4.6 inches. It comes equipped with a 3-megapixel camera on the back. There are buttons to start and end phone calls and a small swivel ball, like the Sidekick 3.
Features
It has tons of features already on the phone and you can download more applications from the Market all for free. For example barcode scanner which allows you to scan the barcode of an item and it will tell you where else they sell it and for what price. So you can possibly save money. Good news with this horrible economy! It also has a music player already with the phone. So you can put all your own music on it from your computer. Then you can download Ringdroid and make your own ringtones instead of paying for them. Comes with a Gmail account when you first activate your phone. You can also use the email feature to add another email account. You can change the homescreen to whatever fits your style. Click and drag shortcuts to any application you want. Change the background picture. Or even add a small picture frame on the side. All of the applications however cannot be held on your homescreen. But there is a slide open drawer that holds all the other applications. Also has 3G service so you get internet all the time.

I am obsessed with this phone and I almost never put it down. Which leads me to the not-so-great part of the phone. The battery dies kinda fast if you use it a lot. So I always have my charger with me. Another thing is that it has a little lag sometimes. When you push up the screen it takes a while for the screen to light up. Other than that I love my G1! I would recommend getting this phone. If you have it, you already know the B.I. :)

Toys

$299

$399

The days of the clunky Blackberry phones are far behind us with the arrival of two new models, the Storm for Verizon and the Bold for AT&T. These phones are going head to head in a battle that is merely an issue of preference.

Today there’s two camps of smartphone users out there: those who prefer a touch screen and those who prefer actual keys. The Storm has a touch-screen with both the Pearl’s key format known as SureType, and a standard QWERTY, depending on if you’re holding it vertically or horizontally. The Bold has a physical keyboard with bigger keys for better typing.

Both phones essentially do the same things, with one incredible feature that the Curves and Pearls couldn’t do–which is browse the web, send messages and use the camera all while being on the phone. The Storm however, is a truly global phone (it comes with a sim card) being able to switch between CDMA and GSM networks.

RIM is making Blackberry devices nowadays that aren’t anywhere as complex as they were in years past, but it ultimately comes down to what you need.

If you’re overly concerned with network speed, go with Verizon. If you could care less, choose AT&T. When it comes to taking pictures the advantage goes to the Storm. The Bold has a 2-megapixel camera and the Storm has a 3.2-megapixel camera. One last thing needs to be considered: fun–because this debate comes down to fun versus productivity.

The Storm clearly has the upperhand in the “fun department” with a huge screen that’s great for watching movies, recording videos and playing games. It also comes preloaded with software for instant messenger and social networking clients but some people don’t care for these perks. The Bold is made for people who care about getting things done–it has the best Blackberry operating system and keyboard to date, and can easily connect to WiFi networks. Long-story short, we’ve gone from comparing Blackberries to a conversation about apples and oranges.

Toys

Headphones make all the difference. Throw out your corny earbuds and open your wallet so that you can take these home.

Bose In-Ear Headphones $99

You can always trust Bose no matter what it is they make. I’d buy a Bose car if they made one.

V Moda Vibe Duo $99

The Vibe Duos are stylish and offer pretty good sound. Not quite worth $99, but close.

Shure SE530 $450

Shure reigns supreme in the headphone department and this is another shining example of their superiority. Worth every penny.

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio $160

These headphone pack more punch than I guessed, but I dont think they’re better than the Bose In-Ears. You might disagree however.

Klipsch Image Headphones $350

Here are some headphones that you can’t wear in public, they isolate so well I’d recommend you wearing them only when you dont have to pay attention to anything or anyone.

Toys

If someone gave this to me I’d ask them if they were joking, and inquire as to where my real present was. In the case that they didn’t have one, I’d be cool, because Christmas is about Jesus, remember? Plus I like action figures, but I’d say about 90% of the population wouldn’t be thrilled to unwrap this.

Buy a Jesus Action Figure

Toys