Brace yourselves.  I’ve got quite a bit to say, and most of it is rambling and smacks of “back in my day, we didn’t have feelings!”  Also: end-notes.  When you see this symbol (*), scroll to the bottom for some addendum that is neither funny nor pertinent.

So it’s been a hot minute.  And I only have myself to blame for not following my own advice that I dole out every morning to my students.  Write it out.  No matter how you feel, what time of day it is, nor what reasons you have to avoid it, write it out.  “I’m their teacher, though.  I don’t have to follow my own advice!” he exclaimed, snickering at the hot pokers in the fire while casually denying that his wife looks a little too much like mommy.  Rip.  Bleed.  Hubris.  Bottling up your perspectives on and reactions to life’s interminable downward spiral is irresponsible and damaging, no matter what level of emotional human you claim to be.

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Ever thought to yourself, “Man, I wish there were a movie in which Magnum PI fights that guy from KISS and the Evil Robots?” Well you’re in luck!

Because that’s what we give you this week: the 1984 “masterpiece” Runaway. A little forgotten film in which Tom Selleck is a cop who runs a police division with the sole purpose to stop malfunctioning robots. Throw in a kid, a hot Kirstie Alley, acid laced robo-spiders, Gene’s tongue, and a stern female robot named Lois and you have a great night planned. Join us this week and as Spooky asks Leland,” What the hell man?”

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Google announced Project Glass, its new augmented reality project, today on the Google+ social network.

Though details are scarce at this point, Google included a promotional video with the announcement demonstrating some of the potential uses for Project Glass. Like many other such projects, the goal of Project Glass is to integrate social media and sharing functions into everyday life with needing to pull out your smartphone, supported by a wide variety of scanning, media, bulletin and other application functions. The potential device in design photos is a nifty little headset reminiscent of nothing so much as Garrus’ visor eyepiece from the Mass Effect series.

Augmented reality is always an ambitious undertaking – so if you ever wanted to live like a video game character with your very own HUD, this would be your best shot. (No word yet on money counters or extra lives, though.)

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Is the world too dependent on technology?

This week on Comic Issues, the crew gets a little technical to answer that very question. Then it’s onward to discussing a possible robot uprising. Who will be the major contenders? Will Asimov laws be in place?

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If you can’t recall this movie is a reboot of the beloved Arnold movie. (Yeah, you know the one; where he can’t breath and his eyeballs shoot out his skull?)

This time around, it seems a lot has changed, from magnetic cars to, well, no Arnold. That said, the trailer looks pretty awesome. Between this and Prometheus, there’ll be lots of reasons to be at the theaters.

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Like Flower before it, thatgamecompany’s latest opus Journey features only elemental game design – yet that’s enough.  Also like Flower, it’s interactive in all the ways that matter. It’s no surprise it’s currently the fastest-selling PSN title of all time.

The setup is simple: a robed figure rises silently from the shifting sands of a trackless desert and walks forward into the headstone-strewn dunes. They are silent; they have no apparent origin or even discernible facial features beyond a pair of glowing eyes. We guess their mission from the cloven, gleaming mountain summit on the horizon. Between the sands and the summit are vast stretches of largely empty wilderness and long-abandoned ruins.

No reason for the pilgrimage is given, no concrete background for the pilgrim or their world is offered but that gleaned over time from reliefs and imagery. Journey is entirely wordless. Its emotional landscape is entirely dependent upon the player’s response to these mythic overtones – and the emergent narrative that evolves as they randomly encounter other players.

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Hey there everybody! It’s that time again where Leland and Spooky travel back in time to the world of the 1980s: a place where neon ruled, computers were the size of small cars, and everybody knew how to walk like an Egyptian.

This week, we watched the Whoopi Goldberg comedy “classic” Jumpin’ Jack Flash, the story of one woman’s struggle to help a spy get out of eastern Europe by any means necessary.

You read that correctly. So join us as we walk down the 1980s lane and remember the hardcore Whoopi…you know, before she became a nun.

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While SDCC 2011 was jam packed full of many amazing things, one of the highlights was stopping past the Namco Bandai booth where I got my first hands on with Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. I was particularly amazed by the size of the playable cast (though the grin on my face was just for my favorite Zabuza’s return).

Well luckily for me, Namco sent me a review unit and I’ve been tearing through the game like nobody’s business. I even got the chance to sit with Hiroshi Matsuyama, President of CyberConnect2, and talked about the game. So how does this Naruto game compare to others in the Ninja Storm franchise?

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The Internet is known as a breeding ground for any and all rumors, and in this case, they’re focused on the next Sony console.

Not to be outdone by the Xbox 720 talk, recent “information” has surfaced about the next console release from Sony, suggesting it could be called the Orbis. The name may or may not be a codename, as the rumors also suggest that Sony is wanting to get away from the Playstation name, much as they left behind the PSP brand with the Vita’s development.

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