Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Okay, so while this week’s Powet Alphabet isn’t STRICTLY for geeks, it is just as relevant to geekdom as Transformers, Sailor Moon, X-men, or Street Fighter.  The Wire was an HBO series that ran from 2002 until 2008.  It was created by writers Dave Simon and Ed Burns.  Simon’s previous works, the tv series Homicide: Life on the Street (based on the novel of the same name) and the HBO miniseries The Corner (which he collaborated with Burns on) served as testing grounds for many of the concepts explored on the Wire.  Although it never got the viewership it deserved, it was critically acclaimed amongst fans from nearly every walk of life, and was even declared to be ‘The best show on television”.  The Wire is one of those works of fiction which has something to offer everyone.  Geeks will appreciate the intricate multi-layered plot, the cool kids will appreciate the hardcore gang members, many of which closely resemble or are inspired by real-life celebrities, parents will appreciate the underlying messages that the show conveys, political heads, both liberal and conservative will appreciate the show’s political commentary, and even the gay and lesbian communities will love the prominent roles that homosexual characters have on the show.  Click below to read more.  Just a fair warning, this article contains some spoilers, although I’ve tried to keep them to a minimum.

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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Media is great in the many different streams and tributaries its developed over the past decades. First came movies and television, then the music industry started taking hold. Computers came much later, and when those started becoming more common, video games started making the scene. So the entertainment industry saw all of this, and thought “Why haven’t we combined any of these media aspects together? The result has to be twice as good as either of the original parts!” Surely, musicals combined the ancient medium of theater, and later movies, and combined them with the constant melody of music. The music industry got a huge boost when it realized it could combine songs with mini-movies, and thus music videos were born and thrived. (at least until reality TV came about and usurped it) After the video game industry started making its big push into the mainstream in the early 90’s, the film industry took notice and asked itself the previous question: “A mix of the two can only lead to great things!”

(ye be warned…..)
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Regarded by many as the first successful business game, Trevor Chen’s Capitalism puts players in the shoes of a CEO. Your goal is to amass profit while keeping your company from going bankrupt or being bought out by another CEO. You can pursue your entrepreneurial path in several industries, including retail, factories, research and development, farming, and mining. You make decisions involving everything from what cities to build in, what products to sell, what crops to grow, and how much marketing you spend on your product. You have to take into consideration climate, supply and demand, location, and land value for each of your firms. You’;; be competing against other firms in the region too, and just like in the real world, the market is fierce.

You can either start from scratch with a brand new business, or play through one of the game’s 17 scenarios. If you’re a novice, then it pays to explore the game’s many tutorials, and even then there is a steep learning curve. The first few times I played, I found myself constantly issuing shares of my own stock just to keep from going broke. Once you do get the hang of things however, the game becomes fun, educational, and addictive. A sequel was released in 2001, and both games are available on GOG.com.

OK, so I hated Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. I promised myself I couldn’t get excited for a third in the series unless some major changes were made.

Director Michael Bay and his producers and writers seem to be on the right path. In recent weeks, respectable actors John Malkovich and Frances Mcdormand have been cast, and cult favorites Alan Tudyk and Ken Jeong will also appear. Bay said the the annoying Twins would not be back, though we have seen cars that might be them on set. Shia Labeouf then publicly apologized for Revenge of the Fallen being terrible. Things seem like they’re on the right track.

Now came word that Michael Bay has axed the shimmering orange piece of ass Megan Fox from Transformers 3. They’re looking for a replacement love interest now, and they’ll no doubt replace Fox with another shimmering orange piece of ass. I mean, look at Transformers 2 when they introduced a new love interest: Not exactly high class.

Still, I can hope and dream I that I can be a Transformers fan again without the most prominent feature being an embarrassment.

It’s sweeps month! So many cancellations already announced: FlashForward, Law & Order, Scrubs, HEROES. But many shows also picked up! V, The Cape, and Conan O’Brien’s new TBS show! Plus, Iron Man 2 and Halo: Reach “Pre-Season 1” in Cool Beans

Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 33: No More Heroes

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(Were you still watching Heroes? WHY? Will you miss it? What about the majority of ABC’s 2009 lineup getting canned? Leave your thoughts below!)

Show notes after the jump!

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Hmm, the kids seem to be into these tower defense games, and everyone loves zombies. Why not put the two together? Popcap, the king of casual gaming, has done just that with Plants vs Zombies. You play as a homeowner, and hordes of the undead are invading your lawn. All that stands between you and the undead holocaust is your garden and several lawnmowers.. These aren’t any ordinary plants however, these are sentient plants with combat abilities to fight off the zombie horde. You stockpile sunlight so you can have enough money to place your seeds. Each level you gain access to new plants, so you’re learning how to play the game as you move along. Your neighbor Crazy Dave helps you out by selling you seeds at his store, and you can take part in bonus games such as wall-nut zombie bowling. There are several unlockable modes, some of which parody Popcap’s other games such as Bejeweled.
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

The whole world is 3D, so maybe I should be more specific. This article is to discuss the optical effect of making something appear 3D to a human viewer. This effect can be done a number of ways, but in pretty much all instances this is achieved by having each eye see a different image to create the illusion of depth.

Close one eye at a time and you’ll see that each eye sees something slightly different. This is the real trick to 3D called paralax. The left eye needs to see an image as it would appear from a few inches to the left than the right eye and your brain is smart enough to use this to extrapolate depth. An easy way of showing this to be the real source of the effect is to try closing one eye while using pretty much any kind of 3D technology, and you will see the effect disappear.

Iconic blue and red 3D glasses

Since Iron Man returns to theaters this week, this week’s $20 GOTW will take a look back at one of old shellhead’s finest moments. A mysterious orb threatens all life on both the Marvel and Capcom universes, so Ruby Heart unites heroes from the two universes in order to help save it. However, fights keep breaking out, and now that teams are made up of three, things are more chaotic than ever. Marvel Vs Capcom 2 would be the last game Capcom did utilizing the Marvel license, and they decided to go out with a bang. MVC 2 features Iron Man, his buddy War Machine, and several of his fellow Avengers as part of the 50+ fighters on hand.
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