The NPR show Radiolab is one of (if not the) best radio program on the air today. If you haven't listened to it before, you definitely should. No other program out there, be it on radio, TV or the Internet, manages to mix science and whimsy as well as Radiolab does.
In their most recent podcast episode, the fine folks who run the show decided to take a detailed look at a recent court case involving Marvel comics. The lawsuit centered on whether Marvel's famous mutants known as the X-Men qualified as humans or not. No, this isn't some form of viral marketing for an upcoming X-Men story. This was a real court case with major implications for Marvel's mutant toy lines.
It all comes down to taxes, and how imported toys are taxed by the US Government. Just why would Marvel be arguing over the possible inhumanity of the X-Men? What does such a legal argument say about the story of the X-Men as a whole? What does it say about us as the readers? All of these questions are addressed in this episode of Radiolab.
If you're a fan of the X-Men, or even just comics in general, you should definitely give the show a listen. You can stream the episode here.
I've been a fan of Neil DeGrasse Tyson for some time now. He's both super smart and cool as hell. Listening to him talk science is a joy. Now, thanks to this handy chart, I finally understand just how this man can possibly be as damned awesome as he is.
Just looking at these totally amazing wedding rings makes me all giddy inside. I want these so badly. Now if only I could find a woman who would love these rings as much as I do.
Deviant Art user OutlawInk has created what has to be the most epic Pirates vs. Ninjas fight scene that I've ever seen. It's so epic, in fact, that it includes a total of 80 different characters from various forms of popular culture. The pic above is far too small to view the full awesomeness of this piece of art. In order to view it properly, go HERE to see a high-res version of it.
OutlawInk was also kind enough to provide a key to their work. if you'd like to see just who is who in this epic battle, you can find the key here.
My thanks go to geek extraordinaire Mary Sturhann for pointing this out to me.
As part of the promotional material for this year's New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF), ad agency Wing New York created a series of rather musing charts and graphs which highlight a number of well known movie cliches such as six round revolvers never needing reloading and the inability of the villain to ever actually hit the hero when they are shooting at them.
You can see the whole series here, but the graph you see above was easily my favorite of the set (for what should be obvious reasons). Oh those crazy movie computer geeks. They can topple invading alien armadas with nothing more than a macbook, but they can never manage to see to get those darned office printers to work correctly.
You are walking through the streets of Los Angeles when you come to a road crossing. On that road crossing you see the above sign. Which option will you choose. Make sure to take your time, weigh your options and choose carefully. One false move could result in a very unpleasant death.
Knowing the streets of LA like I do, I would go with option #4 personally.
A few days ago, a trailer was released for a film called Red Tails which is based on the real life story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilot squadron back in WWII. Normally, such a film wouldn't really get covered by a geek blog such as this as WWII fighter films don't usually fall under the geek or nerd genres, but Red Tails is different. Why, you ask? It's quite simple. Red Tails is the first non Star Wars or Indiana Jones related film to be produced by George Lucas and Lucasfilm since the 1994 release of Radioland Murders.
In fact, George Lucas himself wrote the original story idea for this film, and he's been planning on making it since back in 1988. Now, I know that the words "written by George Lucas" are enough to leave most nerds cringing in disgust after the release of the Star Wars prequels, but I can't help but feel hopeful that this might be Lucasfilm's first good film since 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Let's be honest here, Radioland Murders was pretty crappy.
Why do I think it might be good? Well, first of all, George Lucas didn't write the script. He only wrote the story idea. The screenplay itself was written by a man named John Ridley, whose screen credits include films I've actually enjoyed such as Undercover Brother and Three Kings. However, he also wrote the screenplay for the film U Turn, which is one of the worst things that I've ever had to sit through. So, admittedly, the script could go either way. The fact that Lucas himself did not write the screenplay though gives me some hope for a decent story with a plot that makes some sort of actual sense.
Second, George Lucas didn't direct this film. He's only the producer on it. Red Tails is actually being directed by Anthony Hemingway, whose credits mainly center around television shows such as BSG, True Blood, Heroes and Community. That's not too shabby. True, he doesn't have a feature film under his belt yet, but the projects he has worked on are all of decent quality, so he must have some ability, right? At the very least, he has to be better than Lucas' style of only doing over-the-shoulder shots or walking shots to convey all of his dialog scenes.
With Lucas only sitting on as the producer, there exists the possibility that this could finally mark the return of good filmmaking to Lucasfilm Limited. I remember back far enough to know that Lucasfilm used to be capable of churning out good films, so long as George himself was only peripherally involved. Let us not forget that Lucasfilm is the company responsible for giving us gems like Willow, the original Land Before Time, Howard The Duck (which I consider to be a misunderstood masterpiece) and a little film starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly called Labyrinth.
Remember that one? Yeah, that was produced by George Lucas and Lucasfilm. See? They used to make good movies, and I'm still hopeful that they can do so again. The trailer for Red Tails genuinely looks exciting to me. They have a great ensemble cast, the story has real promise and the special effects and fighter combat scenes look phenomenal.
I'm crossing my fingers here and am eagerly awaiting this one. Let's hope it breaks the 22 year old Lucasfilm curse and is actually a fun, enjoyable film.
(Thanks go to Virginia Schwarz for sending me the tip about the trailer's release.)
As you know, I'm a huge Dr. Who Fan. And, as I'm sure I've mentioned here at least once or twice before, I'm also a huge fan of Tiki bars and Tiki culture in general. So, you can imagine my shock as I was wondering around the internet and I came across this amazing image on the Rum N Pineapple blog (a personal favorite Tiki blog of mine).
I never would have thought of combining Tiki decorations with a Dalek before, but now that I have seen this I can't ever imagine my life without it. The only real question that remains now is what does this Tiki Dalek yell as he walks into a bar?
Personally, I would have to agree with the comments to the post on the Rum N Pineapple blog. This Tiki Dalek would have to be yelling, "Inebriate!!! Inebriate!!!"
Well, this is it folks. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we only have a few days left to live.
According to the Terminator franchise, at 8:11pm tonight Skynet becomes self aware. In two days time, we will be experiencing Judgement Day. I hope you are all trained and packed and ready to go in your nuclear bunkers. The resistance will need as many of us as possible once the radiation levels are low enough again to allow us to go back to the surface.
And John Connor, if you're out there and you can hear me, this apocalypse better be a helluva lot cooler than Terminator: Salvation was. If not, I'm coming to find you so I can do something the machines never could, end your paradoxical existence.
Although, if you were to offer to send me back in time so I could bang a young Linda Hamilton, that would be OK with me.
I absolutely love this map that combines a ton of different fantasy worlds as if they were all part of the same world. Seeing things mapped out like this just makes me wonder about certain things too. If all of the fantasy lands were indeed laid out like this, how have the Orcs from Mordor not slaughtered the Who's from Whoville by now? And what about the Elves who "go west" in the Lord of the Rings books? Are they all going to hang out where the Wild Things are?
What about Hyrule? Does Ganon have evil plans to invade the Labyrinth of Jareth? There's just so many questions that this map poses.
As cool as the map is though, it's seriously missing some major fantasy lands. No Mushroom Kingdom? WTF? I demand to know where Princess Peach's kingdom falls amongst all of this. I would have sworn that it was next to Hyrule.
Mattel just announced a new career for Barbie: Computer Engineer. They’ve held an online vote for a couple of months and it is no surprise that the support for Computer Engineer Barbie was overwhelming. I myself voted five times in a row, and some real CEs out there most likely set up scripts to vote. Isn’t that just amazingly geeky?
I was stoked when I read this news from their website (actually I was just heading there to vote a couple more times). So stoked, in fact, that I browsed various news articles on the subject. I was surprised and dismayed by the overwhelming negativity on the subject. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the amount of the hate on the internet, but this struck home. I’m posting this article to address some of the nasty concerns made by mean spirited cynics who can’t seem to let us have any fun.
“I’m a [insert tech job title here] and I’ve never seen a woman engineer that looks anything like Barbie. They are all [insert insult about women who don’t look like Barbie here].”
This is by far the most common comment. While the last part of the statement is optional, it is often very rude. No wonder women feel intimidated entering male dominated careers. Way to show your true colors guys. Maybe there would be more women of all looks coming in if you guys weren’t such pigs. The first part is, well, true. Most women period don’t look like Barbie. Most women News Anchors don’t look like News Anchor Barbie either. That’s not the point. This is Barbie being a Computer Engineer, not some sort of realistic representation of what CEs are or should be.
“This is insulting.”
“Barbie already creates unrealistic expectations of what a girl should be.”
“I thought geek girls didn’t care about the superficiality of Barbie.”
Way to be a feminist killjoy. Do you not let your daughters play with dolls? At least this lets young girls know that it’s okay to be a scientist/engineer/geek. It’s a step in the right direction. Sure this Barbie will undoubtedly spend more time with Ken than writing software but that’s okay. Taking the “high road” and opting out of anything pop culture because its “superficial” just means that less women will grow up thinking its okay to be a geek.
“I would never wear that.”
“That’s unprofessional.”
Umm . . . . her outfit is actually really cute. Not realistic, but cute. I don’t know about Computer Engineers, but a lot of software jobs tend to have casual dress most of the time unless it's time to meet a client. News anchor Barbie’s outfit isn’t exactly what a news anchor would wear either. I could see a less Barbie-tastic version of that outfit being worn by someone. Welcome to the 21ist century. Also, why does it need to be spot on?It is called “make believe” and that is something you do with dolls. The people in The Sims don’t exactly dress like normal people but no one would spend the breath to say “that’s unrealistic."
No little girl actually believes Barbie is a pure expression of reality. She's just a doll you can dress up and make believe things with. And if by some miracle some little girl wants CE Barbie because they like her outfit or that she comes with a labtop well then . . . . that sounds like a good thing to me. Good for geeks, good for those of us who find the gender gap in the computing sciences disturbing, and good for girls who get to grow up and be as smart as and make as much money as the boys.
This past weekend I had the luck and the joy of getting to see Paul Reubens perform the Pee Wee Herman Show on Stage at the Club Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Well, I should say I had the joy of getting to see him, there really wasn't a lot of luck involved. In fact, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to make sure I had tickets to see this show. You see, originally the show was set to take place back in November at a smaller theater, but due to the overwhelming demand for tickets to see Pee Wee, as well as the need for a bigger stage that could do more complicated things, the show was moved to a bigger venue. Those of us who had already purchased tickets had to call in and try to get tickets again to one of the shows at the new venue. I'll be honest, that whole experience pretty much sucked, but I was willing to go through it because I wanted to see this show so badly.
I've been a big Pee Wee Herman fan since I was a little kid. While I can't exactly recall my first introduction to the character of Pee Wee, I vividly remember watching new episodes of "The Playhouse" (as I called it back in the day) every saturday morning as I ate at least three or four bowls of Crunch Berries or Lucky Charms and began what was sure to be a day long sugar rush. Yeah, I also watched a good couple of hours of cartoons too, but more often than not those were half ignored as I played with my toys. Pee Wee's Playhouse, on the other hand, was something that I gave my full attention to. While it was on, I didn't give anything else my time. There was just something so hypnotic about it. I don't know if it was the wild colors and amazing art design of the set, the crazy puppets and talking furniture, or the ball of pure (almost psycho) energy that was Pee Wee Herman himself, but something about that show hooked me as a kid. I had almost all of the toys. I had as many as I could get my dirty little hands on at least. I had The Playhouse playset, I had the talking pull-string Pee Wee doll, and I was even getting good at working on my impressions of him.
Just don't ask me about the Conkey The Robot toy. That was the one toy I wanted the most, but never had. Some wounds run too deep to talk about.
As I got older, I'll admit my interest in Pee Wee wained a little. It's not entirely my fault. After his show got taken off the air in 1990, it was hard to stay a Pee Wee fan when his beloved image had been pulled from every possible outlet available to a young kid. His toys disappeared, his show disappeared, it was like he never existed at all. I was forced to move on to other things, but that's not to say that Pee Wee was ever forgotten. Far from it in fact. As I got older, I was able to appreciate some of the earlier gems of Pee Wee's History even more. When I learned in High School that Pee Wee's Big Adventure marked the directorial debut of Tim Burton and was the first film ever scored by Danny Elfman, my mind was officially blown. In college I got to see the HBO special of the original Pee Wee Herman Show stage performance for the first time, and I was finally mature enough to start realizing just how brilliant the character of Pee Wee really is. Somehow, Paul Reubens had created this amazing adult themed parody of a children's show, took it to the stage, became incredibly popular, and then managed to make an actual kids show out of what was originally a very dirty adult show. The only other comparison I can think of that is similar would be when Johnen Vasquez (the guy who created Johnny The Homicidal Maniac) was asked by Nickelodeon to create a children's animated show, and in return we were given Invader Zim.
As an adult, it's been the subversive nature of Pee Wee and his Playhouse that I have really loved. Yes, The Playhouse was very much a kid's show and wasn't really all that dirty, but it was created in such an intelligent way and was written so well that it became one of those rare shows that both kids and adults can love. Those shows are just as relevant and entertaining today as they were then, and even after 20 years with no new Material, I've maintained my steadfast loyalty to Pee Wee and his Playhouse.
You can imagine my shock and delighted suprise then when I first read that Pee Wee was coming back, he was going to be performing a new version of his original stage play, and it was happening within driving distance of my house. I'll be honest here, I may have let slip a shout of joy that my coworkers probably mistook for the sounds of an overexcited six year old girl. I couldn't contain myself. I was determined to see this show, come hell or high water. Yes, the tickets were a pain to get, but it all became worth it last Saturday as I say down in my seat in front of this.
What wonders waited for me behind that curtain? Was it the playhouse that I knew and loved so well? Was it an all new playhouse? Was it more akin to the original stage show's set? I had no idea, but the anticipation was killing me. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long. The lights dimmed, the filler music that had been playing an excellent mix of 80's new wave faded out to nothingness, and the audience got quiet as we all waited for the show to begin.
Almost demurely, Pee Wee Herman walks onto the stage from the right hand side, the curtains are still down on the stage. It's just him and a spotlight. The audience goes wild, Pee Wee looks immensely excited. Once the crowd dies down, he very politely asks us to join him in reciting the pledge of allegiance. Suddenly, as if I was suddenly back in grade school, I'm on my feet, my right hand is over my heart, I'm looking at an American flag which has been wheeled on stage, and I'm saying the pledge of allegiance for the first time in at least 20 years. I'm actually suprised that I remembered it. I'm also suprised that the rest of the audience rememberd it too. It was a very surreal way to start the show, but it was a brilliant move. Even before the show officially begins, I'm already feeling like a little kid again. After the Pledge, Pee Wee thanks us, tells us he hopes we enjoy the show, and then runs back stage. A few seconds later, the curtains come up up and the stage's lights turn on.
My jaw dropped and I felt myself take in a deep breath of shock as the lights came on. There, not 30 feet away from me, glowing brightly and sparkling in multi-colored radiance is Pee Wee's Playhouse. It's almost a perfect replica of the TV show's set, only it's better because it's real and if I wanted to I could reach out and touch it. Everything is there. The funky shaped red door, Chairy, Clockey, Mr. Window, the flowers, the fish, the tin can telephones, Conky sitting deactivated in the corner, magic screen, Globey, Jombi's box. It's almost too much to take in at once. I'm suddenly flooded with childhood memories. It's so beautiful it almost makes me cry. I'm eight years old again, and I'm watching my favorite show, and it hasn't changed a bit.
Then Pee Wee comes in through the door and he sings the opening song from the original stage show. We're not even five seconds into the show, and I've already gotten my money's worth for the $80 I spent on my ticket. From there the show goes very much as if it was just an episode of The Playhouse from back in the day. Pee Wee starts off by showing us some cool stuff, and then people start showing up to say hi. Mailman Mike stops by, so does Miss Yvonne, The King of Cartoons and my personal favorite . . . Cowboy Curtis. Sadly, Laurence Fishburne didn't reprise his role as Cowboy Curtis, but the amazingly talented Phil LaMarr did an incredible job playing the character. All of the other characters were played by the original actors though, even Jombi. There were also two new characters added to the show. Sergio the handyman, a half naked Fireman and a giant mute Bear who spent most of the show annoying Pee Wee to no end.
A word of note, Bear is awesome.
I know it's a stage play, and chances are there won't be a release of the show on DVD or anything, but I still don't want to ruin the story or the jokes for you, even though the odds are that you won't ever see it. It was just too magical, too amazing and too funny to allow me to ruin it for you even though it's almost impossible that I will. I'm sorry, but I will not speak of the story. Suffice it to say though that Pee Wee hasn't lost a single bit of what made him great back in the day. His humor, style and delivery are still dead on. Paul Reubens may look a little older in the Pee Wee outfit (only very slightly), but he's still Pee Wee through and through. Overall, the show is much more of The Playhouse than it was the original stage show. There were some really good adult jokes here and there, but for the most part the show was very kid friendly. This Pee Wee Herman Show wasn't anywhere near as racy as the original stage play. While I would have liked to have seen a bit more adult humor thrown in, I can't really fault Reubens for not having written more in. Pee Wee has changed a lot since his beginnings on the Groundlings improv Stage back in 1981. To go fully back to his original ways would be to do a disservice to his Playhouse days, which really is the reason all of us are there anyways, right?
After the show was over though, as amazing as it was, something even more amazing happened. Since myself and many other people had to deal with the hassle of getting tickets a second time, and since a lot of out of state people had to reschedule hotels and plane flights, there had been a lot of negative fan reaction to the shows being moved at all. In one of the classiest moves I have ever seen, Paul Reubens announced that he wished to apologize to his fans in person after every performance. Those of us who had gone through the process of getting tickets to both shows were invited to stay in the theater after the performance for a meet and greet with Mr. Reubens so he could apologize to us for what had happened. As far as I can recall, no other actor or performer has ever done such a thing on such a large scale before. He could have simply said, "tough luck, deal with it" and we wouldn't have had much choice, but to make sure his fans had no hard feelings he wanted to give them something extra for having gone through so much to see him.
After a short wait during which most of the audience left the theater, we found ourselves down to about maybe a hundred or so people left in the building. Soon enough, Pee Wee once again takes to the stage with a microphone in hand and says hello. Only it's not Pee Wee, it's Paul Reubens the actor. He's still in his Pee Wee Costume, but this is the man himself coming out to connect one on one with his audience. The very first thing he does is say he's sorry, but before he talks to us adults he wants to meet all of the kids in the audience. He then takes his time, finds each and every kid in the audience and takes a couple of minutes to speak to them. He asks them their names, where they live, what parts of the show they loved the most and generally spends a minute or two getting to know them. Seriously, he did this for every single child in the audience. It was amazing to see someone showing that much dedication to their work and to making kids happy.
Once he had met all of the kids, he then started taking questions from the audience. During all of this he switched back and forth between Pee Wee and Paul Reubens. He would tell a story from his days as a struggling actor and then immediately follow it up with a Pee Wee joke or comment. He talked about his hopes for making another Pee Wee movie, he told us where the original bike from Pee Wee's Big Adventure is, he even told us of his love for all of the cartoons on Adult Swim. It was a rare glimpse into the man who makes Pee Wee who he is, and it really was something special. He didn't need to do this, but he wanted to. That difference is what made this matter. This was easily the single most sincere bit of fan service I have ever seen a performer give.
Paul Reubens is 100% pure class all the way. Let no one ever tell you different.
At the very end of the meet and greet, right as he was about to say his goodbyes so he could get ready for his second show of the night (we were there for the matinee), I finally worked up the courage to take a little bit of video with my phone to document this great occasion. Unfortunately, the quality of the video isn't all that great, but the audio is clear enough. This was Pee Wee's goodbye and thank you to us. A more heartfelt goodbye I have never heard.
Thank you Mr. Reubens for an amazing show. You gave me an evening with amazing memories that I will always treasure.
Not to be outdone by The Shredder and his awesome hoodie, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have responded with their very own TMNT Snuggie. You can buy that Snuggie if you want to (dear god, why would you want to) by going here.
Personally, I think Shredder is totally winning the fashion war he is waging against the Turtles. Let me explain it to you in mathematical terms.
It's been announced that Patrick Stewart will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II early next year. Yes, our very own Captain Jean Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier will be a royal knight of the British empire. You may refer to him as Sir Patrick Stewart.
On a completely unrelated note, while looking for a picture of Mr. Stewart to post with this article, I did a google image search for his name, and I came across this picture. It was too cool, so I had to share it with you all.
Wow, Patrick Stewart was ripped back in the day. Who knew?
I'm sorry, but this Shredder hoodie is so awesome I can't help but do much other than stare at it in wonder. I WANT! I WANT!! I WANT!!!
As an avid snowboarder, all I can imagine is how cool it would be to go down the mountain wearing this thing. That face mask thing would be so nice to have. Sure, the thing isn't waterproof, but it would be totally worth it for a run or two to go down the mountain wearing this thing and screaming, "I am Oroku Saki!"
Team Edward James Olmos that is. The only real team worth joining. What? Did you think I was talking about some lame-ass wannabe sparkly vampire douchebag? Please, give me some credit here people.
Team EJO is the shit. If there was ever an Edward worthy of my faithful devotion, it would be EJO. This Edward isn't some wussy pretty-boy with crappy hair who has a thing for underage girls. No, this Edward has hunted down Blade Runners and has led humanity to safety from the armies of the Cylons. He's a tough-as-nails badass and he has more than earned my respect.
I Am Team Edward.So Say We All!!!
If you too are Team Edward and would like to proudly declare your status to the world, this amazing shirt can be bought here for only $20. The shirt itself is actually based on a web comic, which is rather amusing too. If you'd like to see the web comic, go here.
Sometimes, things just need to be put into a venn diagram for one to see what should otherwise be blatantly obvious information.
I'd never really thought about Jesus like this before, but now that it's been pointed out to me I can't help but accept how true it is. He really does have a lot in common with Zombies, Dracula and Frankenstein. How is Jesus not considered a classic Universal Monster by now? He has all the same traits they do.
Behold the single creepiest food item I think I've ever seen. The Meat Hand. Yes, it's completely edible. It's made out of meatloaf. The fingernails are onion slices, so is the wrist bone. The skin is browned cheese and there's some ketchup thrown in there as well to give the meat that bloody redish tone.
If you're throwing a Halloween party this weekend and are looking for the ultimate creepy food to serve your guests, the Meat Hand has to be at the top of your list.
While I was randomly wandering the internet the other day, I ran across this amazing piece done by Newsweek about the origins of the Star Trek Convention. It's not so much an article as it is a photo slide show with narration, but it's an amazing bit of uncovered nerd history that I really wish I got to see more of.
The news piece focuses on one of the very first ever Star Trek Conventions that was held back in 1975. The narration is provided by costume Designer Angelique Trouvere, a self described "Trekkie from way back", who reflects back on the great times Trek fans had back at these early conventions. This was back when the stars could still mingle with the fans and when William Shatner was rocking a leisure suit that featured multiple shades of peach. No, seriously, a peach leisure suit. It has to be seen to be believed.
What really impressed me the most though was how the piece took the time to point out that most of these early conventions were mainly female affairs. They were organized by women, run by women, and the majority of the attendees of the conventions were women. As someone who is always rallying against the stereotype that geeks are only ever men, it is so incredibly awesome to see something like this that blows that stereotype to little tiny bits.
Star Trek conventions, those things that the majority of the world consider to only ever be attended by overweight and socially deficient males, were in fact originally created by and for women. Very nerdy women. Very nerdy and very beautiful women who showed up in costumes that would put modern COSplayers to shame with their awesomeness. You go ladies! All of us Trek nerds who have come after you owe you an incredibly massive debt. If it wasn't for you, we may never have gotten more Trek in the form of movies and then new shows like TNG and DS9. Your valiant efforts have helped to make the world as nerdy as it is today.
Thank you!
I have to say this though. If I ever get access to a time machine, I'm totally going back to 1975 to attend these conventions. They look so incredible. They must have been an absolute blast to attend.
Sigh, I wish I had been born sooner so I could have gone to cool stuff like this. Con's nowadays are all about overcrowding, minimum star/fan interaction, overpriced tickets and food, long ass lines and never getting to see the stuff you really wanted to see. I do remember going to Star Trek Conventions in the early to mid 90's and I clearly remember them being awesome. Young nerds today don't know what they're missing. Old school cons were the best.
Forensic reconstruction is a technique that's been used by police for a long time now. It's a process in which a trained police sketch artist will try to reconstruct what someone looked like in life based on the shape and contours of their skull. The process has been rather successful when trying to identify bodies of victims that are found which are far to decomposed to identify otherwise. Many of the sketches turn out to be strikingly similiar to the actual victim once their identity is discovered and photos of the victim are compared with the sketch.
Logic would then dictate that such a process could be used to discover the appearance of fictional skeletons as well, wouldn't it? People like Skeletor and Jack Skellington couldn't have been born looking like that, right? They must have had skin on their heads at some point in the past. If so, then forensic reconstruction should be able to at least give us a fairly accurate depiction of what they looked like.
Running with this idea, the folks who run the blog Ironic Sans decided to try this theory out. Above you can see the results for what He-Man's greatest nemesis probably looked like before he started going with the bleached bones look. And before you can say anything, yes, I know that Mattell actually released toys of what Skeletor looked like before he lost his skin, but I didn't really like those toys and disbelieve the image of the smarmy prince that they tried to give us. I totally believe this version to be more realistic given the shape of Skeletor's head.
And here's what Jack Skellington looked like.
And just for good measure, here's Manuel Calavera from the game Grim Fandango. I think he's my favorite of the three. You just know he must have had that mustache and goatee during his life. It's too perfect.
