Friday, April 25, 2014

80's Cartoon Quiz

(This site has new content coming out here now instead: Reality-Zero ( (nerd stuff galore including sci-fi and fake news too))

 Which of each option is a real 80’s cartoon? Seriously, it's surprising how weird they get. Don't forget to write down your choice for each. Answers at the bottom.
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1)
a)- Mr. Ka-ching-
An anthropomorphic pig who uses a bag of money as a weapon.
b- El Kabong
An anthromorphic horse that uses a guitar as a weapon.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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2)
a)Singing  Jellyfish that floats through the air and helps motivate his other band members by stinging them.
b) Talking shark that plays drums in a band and walks on land somehow using flippers.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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3)
a) A giant purple ape named “Grape Ape”
b) A giant purple bandit named “Watermelon Felon”
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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4)
a) Bears living in a medieval society that drink special juice that allows them to bounce on their asses high into the air.
b) A society of time travelling gophers from the future have gained the ability to talk to machines.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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5)
a) A hamster is a “werewolf” and his greatest wish is to become president of the United States.
b) A vampire duck is actually a vegetarian and tries to become famous.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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6)
a) Cats with magic swords that fight against an ancient evil mummy.
b) A mouse with an eye patch that works as a spy with a mole assistant.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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7)
a)Undersea creatures with air bubbles for heads called “Bulbheads”
b)Undersea creatures with snorkel like contraptions coming out of their heads, called “The Snorks.”
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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8)
 a) Penguins that make space ships made out of ice explore the galaxy.
 b) Mole scientists create a machine called “The Moles Claw” which burrows deep into the earth where they discover a society of lost humans.
c) They’re both real.
d) They’re both fake.
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9)
a)Stuffed bears with tattoos on their stomach that use them to shoot enforced happiness and other emotions onto their enemies.
b) Stuffed dogs are on a mission from aliens to save lost children.
c) They're both real.
d) They're both fake.

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Answers






1)

a)-El Kabong

Technically this is from the show “Quick Draw McGraw,” with El Kabong being Quick Draw’s masked secret identity. Apparently he’s supposed to be a spoof on the show “Zorro” (which just means “fox” in Spanish). Horses and foxes and weaponized acoustic guitars. You really can’t make this stuff up.
I still say my “Mr. Ka-Ching” would make a great show though.
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2)

b)Drummer shark (Jabberjaw)


 Jabberjaw is a truly bizarre concept with the most annoying mannerisms in the world. He had the whole “Nyuk nyuk!” laugh from the three stooges, and used mannerisms from another truly annoying comedian named Rodney Dangerfield. Somehow he’s a 15 foot great white shark from the year 2076 who can breathe air and has to constantly avoid being thrown out of undersea domes by “shark ejecting robots.”

Yeah, I know.
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3)
a) Grape Ape



This is also important since it’s enormously fun to say. I still maintain that “Watermelon Felon” would make a great brand for soda or something.
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4)

a) Ass bouncing it is.


The show was called the “Gummy Bears” and it was based on a line of candy. Everyone knows that always goes well. It was actually strangely good, is the amazing thing. Every once in a while you had to take a step back and remember that the show’s concept boils down to ass bouncing though.
I was quite proud of the time traveling gophers though.
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5)
b) Count Duckula.

I never saw this one myself, but man does it look weird on paper.
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6)
c) These are actually both real.





 Thundercats and Dangermouse respectively.  Both good shows, though Thundercats was pretty over the top. Dangermouse didn’t take itself seriously at all, it was more of a spoof of like James Bond type movies. Dangermouse seemed oddly fond of exploding black bombs.
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7)

b) The Snorks



You wouldn’t think this concept would ever work, but it was strangely endearing, especially the trumpeting sounds that came out of those things. Strangely funny/cool.

8)
d) Both Fake


I made them both up. It was actually strangely hard to find the right mix of bizarre and plausible.

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9)
a) Care Bears



This was a pretty weird cartoon and strangely creepy to boot.
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This whole process has mostly taught me that no matter what kind of weird stuff you can come up with on the fly, someone has made a cartoon even weirder and made children love it.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Cool Indiegogo Projects

Phone to Tablet Converter

This is absurdly awesome-a gadget for $100 that lets you turn a Samsung S3 or S4 phone into a 10 inch tablet, or even a laptop if you want. I love portability and flexibility more than is strictly a good idea, so this is right up my alley.
Really I’d prefer it if you could use any phone, but you can’t have everything. And if you could have everything, really I’d have to go with some kind of magic free energy granting fairie for everyone on the planet rather than, you know, a tablet converter thingy, no matter how cool it is.
But it is really cool.
And maybe they actually will add more phones so I can get one.
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Go to Freaking Mars


The Mars One campaign on Indiegogo is definitely one of the most innovative approaches to the Mars problem I’ve seen.  They want to turn the trip to Mars into a reality show. Seriously.
I always knew that reality tv would eventually be in serious danger of letting people watch someone die live on television. Now, finally, we have the opportunity to watch a few insane explorers asphyxiate/run out of water/succumb to exposure/run out of food/ get murdered by angry Martians from the comfort of our own homes!
Or at least we will if this takes off in the next decade or two. This particular project is to fund the initial probe they want to send to test for future projects that will involve adding habitats.
This would be pretty amazing if it takes off.
The show will probably lose to Dancing with the Stars anyway though, ironically.
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Fin: Gesture Tech That Might Actually Work

This Fin thing looks pretty amazing if it makes it. You can connect it to your smartphone over Bluetooth and then use it to control any device you want by just tapping your fingers together.  Make phone calls, skip through songs, and so on.
I love my new Moto X, but it’s still a bit limited when it comes to voice control. I do wonder whether gesture will be better.
It’s like a magic ring that lets you control everything like a techno wizard. But is gesture cooler than voice? Which will win?
Dunno.

It’ll be fun to find out though.