Thanks to Mike Russell I now know about Danger 5.  Nazis? Dinosaur people?  Japanese fighting robots?  World War II?  Golden Super Weapons made of gold?  Goofy, gorey action? This web series is like seven-layer dip– every time you take a bite, you find something else that is amazing! 

Check out the official site for this Australian web series here.  The first episode is available via the site, or you can find it on YouTube.  If you visit the site, don’t miss checking out the latest issue of “Danger Monthly.”  Dario Russo and David Ashby– my hat is off to your genius on this one!

Ready Player One

The year is 2044. The world has been devastated by financial ruin. The only source of sanity and self-esteem is the virtual world of OASIS. Created by a Steve Jobs-like fantasy techno-nerd, the OASIS is the ultimate in MMOs. But when this child of the 80s dies, he leaves a quest to his his riches that requires not only an intimate understanding of his childhood, but a complete understanding of the pop culture of his youth. And we are not talking baseball stats ala “Back to the Future”.

The quest means winning billions of dollars, but our hero, Wade (better known as his OASIS avatar, Parzival) is more interested in making sure the corporation IOI doesn’t finish the quest first.

In a simple summary Ready Player One doesn’t sound like any great shakes, but for a child of the 70s and 80s this was an almost disturbing rummaging through my bedroom closet set 40+ years in the future. The students of pop culture in 2044 regard Better Off Dead and Say Anything with the same regard I talk about Citizen Kane. It is disarming at first, but makes sense given the context of the world they live in: All media in history is available and accessible instantly. It just seems in the state of the world in 2044 there is little or no new media, or at least entertainment that isn’t beyond watching people do things in the OASIS.

What results is a very satisfying adventure from the perspective of a high-school student of 30+ years in the future using his encyclopedic knowledge and study of everything from Dungeons and Dragons, Atari 2600′s “Adventure”, Rush’s “2112″ album, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Tempest, Joust, Pac-Man, Voltron, Ferris Bueller, Ultraman, War Games, E.T. … the list is practically endless.

And that is what makes this such a fun read. The grounding in reality at the beginning gets hard to hold onto at the end of the story, but that’s OK. Ready Player One is a fun (if not slightly long) read especially for anyone who has ever rolled a 20-sided-die, flipped a New Order 12″, or fantasized about flying an X-Wing. As a victim of all three, I found this a weirdly satisfying romp into my treasure chest. I look forward to seeing what Cline has next.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is the first weekend of Atomic Arts “Trek in the Park” for 2011.  I drove by Woodlawn Park yesterday about an hour and a half before showtime… the place was almost filled!  Guess I’ll have to get there at least two hours early if I want premium blanket space?  Portland Mayor Sam Adams was on hand to read, I kid you not, a proclamation that July is Star Trek Month in Portland.

“Mirror, Mirror” runs at Woodlawn Park every Saturday and Sunday, 5pm, for the rest of July.  Get there early!

“Robopocalypse” is the natural place for Wilson to go based upon his previous writing.  You may recall the Sci-Guys talking about his work “How to Survive a Robot Uprising” in an earlier podcast.  Wilson takes those helpful hints and puts them to use in “Robopocalypse,” which chronicles the attempts of an AI named Archos to take over the world using robots and computer systems used by mankind every day.  The story is revealed to us by Cormac “Bright Boy” Wallace in a similar style as “World War Z.”  Each chapter is from the point of view of one of many “main” characters, based upon information Wallace finds in a storage device.

Wilson has a Ph.D. in robotics, so the explanations of how the robots and computers act in “Robopocalypse” are very realistic and compelling.  That said, Wilson does an amazing job of not muddying the story with overly complicated techno-speak in an effort to sound impressive.  There is no overly complicated effort to explain how Archos comes into being, because the “how” is not as important as the “what does it do now.”  The robots are described in casual terms used by the survivors of the robot uprising, and anybody using to much jargon is put there for comedic effect.  If I had to describe this book to somebody, I would tell them it is part “World War Z,” part “Terminator,” with a dash of “How to Survive a Robot Uprising.”  It was an entertaining read from start to finish.

My only criticism is that it is not longer.  I really think Wilson could have written two books here.  The first could have introduced the robotic threat and brought us to the dawn of the human resistance.  The second could have chronicled the war against the robots.  But this small criticism probably has more to do with me wanting MORE after finishing the book than any problems with the novel!

You can pick up a copy of this book at any bookstore or download it via any of the e-book vendors.  I got mine via Amazon.  Of course, you may want to pay cash and get a real hardback copy… do you really want to give a computer your bank information, in light of what Wilson is warning us about?