June 17th, 2011 by Weber
We at Der Weber Haus have, for many years, been fans of The Ugly Dolls. I saw my first one, Ice Bat, at Chicago Comics back around 2002 or so. And when I got word that Kidzilla was on the way, I went ahead on put an order in for Babo. Babo is cool — kinda shy but plays well with Chauncey the monkey, Morris the rabbit, Lucky Dog, Sally Cat, and our resident twin elephants, Didi & Gogo.
Now comes word that the Uglies will be jumping to the Big Screen:
Illumination Entertainment, the company behind “Despicable Me”, is planning to turn the Uglydoll collection of toys and books into an animated feature film reports The Wrap.
David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim created the characters in 2001 and their company has sold a wide range of branded products, including dolls, books, calendars, clothing and coffee mugs.
“Little Fockers” scribe Larry Stuckey will write the screenplay while Christopher Meledandril will produce. The company is based at Universal which will distribute and hopes to turn into a major franchise.
The excitement of seeing the Dolls brought to life is cooled by the fact the first run at the script will be done by someone who penned the latest (and hopefully last) Focker film. Let’s hope Illumination Entertainment decides to steer clear of 3D CGI.
Posted in Gadgets and Toys, Movies | No Comments »
November 7th, 2010 by Weber
No, not me. This guy.
A couple of months ago, I posted the various versions of the Tinwerks 2009 holiday card. Little did I know Joe and Dave had installed Tinny as their FaceBook icon.
Better check it quick, though. They ordered a complete redesign — the final for which I delivered at the end of October. sThere are some fun plans for Tinny and his new look. Friend Tinwerks on Facebook and you’ll probably find out about the launch before I do.
After Tinny 2.0 goes live, I’ll be free to do some show-n-tell with the prototypes.
Posted in Art, Comics, Work For Hire | No Comments »
October 6th, 2010 by Weber
Found this beauty while researching USMC bolo machetes for a little project that’s in the works.
You’re looking at the Condor CT-5 — a 22-inch machete cut from 1095 spring steel. (The good stuff, or so I read.) Figure in the full tang and overall length is 27.5 inches. Just the kind of quality instrument one best have when dealing with the undead. Or heavy jungle. Or Whatever.
My 6-year old was next to me while I was looking these over so, naturally, I had to explain what a machete was, how it was different from a sword, and why I wanted one.
The wife tells me, “You don’t need a machete.”
The kid tells her, “Sure he does!”
That’s my girl . . .
Also found something called a bush cutlass, which looks like a cavalry saber for ninjas. The knuckle guard is nice . . . so is the point. Good for getting at the brain through the eye socket. But will the narrow blade hold up against zombie skulls?
Guess there’s only one way to find out.
Look for more edged weapons and other survival gear here:
Just click the image and you’ll zip right over.
Posted in Gadgets and Toys, Zombies | No Comments »
October 5th, 2010 by Weber
Meet Lauren Richer — photographer, graphic designer, writer.
Talented? Oh, yeah.
Home base = San Diego.
The Scrabble ads are especially well done.
YOU GO NOW!
Posted in Art, Work For Hire | No Comments »
October 4th, 2010 by Weber
Tried posting this seemingly simple question over on Yahoo!’s “Group Of The Living Dead,” a few weeks ago but it’s never appeared. So what, right? Their loss. Anyway, here it is:
If a mime became a zombie, would it moan at the living?
Discuss.
Posted in Weridness, Zombies | 2 Comments »
September 7th, 2010 by Weber
“I’m dead, Jim.”
Today’s the 7th, so I can officially unleash my review. Read on. Contest details at the bottom.
Night of the Living Trekkies is a fluffy book, like popcorn or cotton candy, or a tribble, I suppose. There are no real surprises here. It is good, old-fashioned comfort reading.
The story has the rhythm of any modern zombie film, keeps all the necessary beats. But instead of a rag-tag group of strangers desperate to save their individual skins, this is a rag-tag group of sci-fi geeks applying the Star Trek philosophy of “a better world though friendly cooperation” to their survival. And it works, for the most part. There are also a handful of the usual narrative standards: Reluctant Hero Rises to his Destiny, Saves His Friends, Defeats the Enemy and Gets The Girl. We know they’re going to get out of this; it’s just a matter of how.
The guys who wrote Night of the Living Trekkies certainly did their homework. Trek references and inside jokes abound, especially in the first seventy-or-so pages of set-up. And keeping with Star Trek’s overall target audience, NotLT seems to have been penned for a PG-13 crowd. The zombie action is light and, keeping with the property’s sci-fi trappings, the weapons of choice tend toward Tasers and blades. Guns are used, though sparingly.
While the story skates to the beat and rhythm of a zombie movie, the overall story traces a parabola consistent with any of the Star Trek shows and/or films and nearly all the right people are alive by the end. The chapters are short, the action is fast, the writing is serviceable — all work to keep the pages flipping. (I finished it in about five hours and I’m a slow reader.) The characters are generally likable, even the Jerk who eventually devolves into The Bad Guy. But even so, he is not despicable. There is a wide line between being an ass and being evil, and in this book, that line never gets crossed.
Night of the Living Trekkies has plenty of enemies in it, but no real Villain, which may be this tale’s missing ingredient. The zombies have no motive other than to consume and infect. They are simply the Enemy. The Jerk who turns into the Bad Guy does so mainly because he is infected and taken over by the thing creating the zombies. The one guy who might serve as a Villain is explained too late for him to have been effective and a lot of air is let out of his balloon when it’s realized he’s not in control of his own actions, anyway.
The story wraps up nice & tidy, all loose ends cut or cauterized, with the Hero and his pals facing a Bright Though Uncertain Future. They are us and we are them. The same could be said for the zombies. But this is, after all, a Star Trek story.
So — time to apply my patented evaluation device, ““The Three Best Things Anybody Can Ever Say About Any Book”:
Was it worthy of the time I spent reading it? — Oddly, yes. Like I said, the pages turned quickly and I was entertained for pretty much the entire story.
Would I pay full cover price, including applicable sales taxes? — For myself, no. If I was buying it as a gift, sure.
Would I give this book as a gift? — Yes.
CONTEST! WIN A FREE BOOK AND POSTER! TWO LUCKY WINNERS!
Books are books and should be given freely. Share a book and share yourself.
Or something like that.
So, rather than make my faithful readers do anything untoward, I figure to just give the book/poster combos to the first two who comment on this post.
Don’t put your address in the comments! I’ll get back to you via email and work out how to get you the goods.
Good luck and thanks for reading.
Posted in Book Reviews, Zombies | 3 Comments »
September 7th, 2010 by Weber
As reportedly said by playwright Tom Stopppard:
“I have a spasm of envy for the person that was killed by a falling bookcase, as long as it doesn’t happen prematurely. [It] would be a good way to go. You went when you were in a good frame of mind and you were doing something pleasant and interesting. A lot of people would say, ‘I would rather have a heart attack at the height of sexual passion.’ On the whole, I would prefer to be killed by a bookcase.”
Presumably, the case is full of books. Death By Empty Bookcase would seem to be pointless.
Can’t help but wonder what books Mr. Stoppard wouldprefer fill the homicidal shelves prior to their collapse?
Posted in General, Weridness | No Comments »
September 3rd, 2010 by Weber
Yep, it’s here and that’s the cover. I’ve already finished the book but can’t say anything about it until September 7th.
What I can tell you is that I have two FREE copies of the book and two FREE posters of the cover for lucky JuniorMadScientist.com readers. One of the books is brand-new-never-been-read and the other has my eye prints all over it. I have to figure out some kind of contest because I can’t just give these things away. That’s too much like crazy. Winners will each get a book and a poster.
(Don’t get me wrong — anyone reading this site is already a winner. Good for you! It’s just that some people will be more winning-er than others.)
Meanwhile, slip on over to the official Night of the Living Trekkies Facebook page. Rumor has it that you can chat with the authors and get updates, etc. Everyone who joins the Night of the Living Trekkies Facebook page will automatically be entered in a contest to win a Quirk Books prize package:
Grand prize:
Human-loving Tribbles, unofficial Trekkies T-Shirt, and a signed copy of the book
Two runners-up:
Unofficial Trekkies T-Shirt
(I’d sure like one of those t-shirts . . . .)
Stay tuned for the review!
Posted in Book Reviews, Zombies | 6 Comments »
July 9th, 2010 by Weber
click here for full size image
Tinwerks is a Chicago-based company that does ground-up design and manufacture of metal boxes. Chances are that if your special edition DVD boxed set, candy, gum, food, toys, or cigars came in an uber-cool tin, these guys did it.
Now that I think about it, this is actually the fourth card design I sent them in 2009. The first one was this . . .
(click image for detail)
. . . but they weren’t feeling it, for some reason. So I sent them this . . .
(click image for detail)
. . . which they said was still a bit too corporate. They were looking for something that jumped off the page, something that would show they were a breed apart. Discussion still revolved around robots and snowmen and this and that . . . and then I came up with a giant snowman attacking Tokyo.
Instant love. Do it.
But before getting too far into this version, I sent the Big Bosses the following:
(click image for detail)
The idea being that the runners would be redrawn as a fleeing mob, include some 1950s jets flying around and a pair of insets with shocked citizens and scientist in the bottom corners. Go for a total movie poster look.
And they loved it! They said it was the best Iron Maiden Christmas card they’d ever seen, which I took as a high compliment. But the image was not quite, er, corporate enough — didn’t send the right message or something. So, back to the drawing tablet.
Some more ideas, more back-and-forth and I sent them this one:
It’s got the same basic elements as the final product but the chest design on this guy was a bit much. The final robot design has a nice Power Rangers feel to it that the big-wigs really dug. Actually, they went nuts over it. So much so that there was talk of having “Tinny” (as this guy’s now known throughout the company) at trade shows and printed on t-shirts, but it either never happened or I never got a shirt — which is a drag, because I would be wearing it with pride.
click here for full size image
More fine examples of my holiday handiwork coming soon.
Posted in Art, Work For Hire | 1 Comment »
June 18th, 2010 by Weber
click to download (638kb)
In just under the wire! Print, color and have a Happy Father’s Day. I know I will. Peace.
(special thanks to Bruce Lee , a.k.a., Loston Wallace, over at the PencilJack forum for the Kirby Krackle tutorial. YOU GO NOW. DO IT.)
Posted in Art, Coloring Books, Kid's Menus, Kid's Stuff | No Comments »
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