B-Movie Cast 100 is out! - Special 100th Show! Dr. X 1932 Return of Dr. X 1939

A new episode of the B-Movie cast is available at http://bmoviecast.com/.
Check the website to listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast!
Due to job meetings and trips I couldn't post this before but I won't let this week pass without mentioning that another B-Movie Cast episode is out and it's number 100!!!
So congratulations guy, it's an important achievement you reached!

From the episode synopsis:
On today’s: It’s our Special 100th show and Nic, special guest Juan from the creepy swamps of south Florida and I will be talking about Dr. X and the Return of Dr. X. Plus we have a ton of feedback from our great listeners.
Toll Free Number 888-350-2570

The Treat of the Week #015

Zombies exist!
The Saint against the zombie is a proof!

This is from the book Theatrum Mortis by Janez Vaijkard Valvasor aka Johann Weichard 

That's a Python_ic irony!

While discussing a thread called "Should I study Python" in the Python section of the software development forum in DaniWeb, Ene Uran said:

Python? That is for children. A Klingon Warrior uses only machine code, keyed in on the front panel switches in raw binary.


That's a blazing irony I'd like to read!

Original Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland manuscripts rock!

If you're a nerd like me you can't but love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass for what that matters.
Maybe you worshipped the books, enjoyed some old films, gone mad with American McGee's Alice and despised the latest Disney movie. All of this don't stand a change with the original manuscript currently conserved in the collection of the British Library.
Thanks to the wonders of technology and the good deeds of the Library you can find the virtual copy of the book here. From the cover you can immerse into the manuscript and its awesome genuine illustrations. You can enlarge the single pages and even listen to the audio version of the text.
Imagine reading Carroll's masterwork for the first time with your tablet device (no I won't say the name of Sauron :D). What an experience could be to read directly the Author's handwriting and enjoy his own illustrations!

The version currently presented by the British Library doesn't use any fancy java or flash based tricks so your computer won't risk to take off because of the fans rotation. Linux user will be also able to enjoy the book without messing with any driver. Kudos to the British Library for this clean implementation.

All the images are Copyright © The British Library Board

Protect your privacy online: Setup of VPN Ipredator service in Ubuntu

These days our privacy online is compromised at best. Every possible piece of information concerning our behavior on the web is collected by the various services we use like Google related services, Facebook, Twitter and so on. These are the information we gladly give to these and other web companies. Other than those there are many more information about ourselves that we're barely or even not aware of giving to third parties of various nature. The most obscure and alarming problem is to be aware of which data government agencies and the various police branches are collecting, how they're doing this and what they plan to do with the collected information. Some say that if you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about. However this concept is illocical other than a moral aberration. Is it not a human denigration to live under the constant and pervasive vigilance of an obscure entity? Again, who knows what the collectors are doing, or will do, with the collected data? To whom will they hand the data over? To quote Alan Moore "Who watch the watchmen?".
The concept of privacy itself is a nonsense online. However there are certain "rules" or choices, some more general some others more technical, that if followed can ensure if not a complete privacy protection at least an higher degree of safety online. One of this rule could be chosing a Linux distribution as operating system in order to achieve the best protection (read virtual immunity) against malware. One could also choice open source software against proprietary as the first is generally safer because the code is under the constant vigilance of the community. And so on...
One more technical rule which is the object of this post is connecting to the internet via a VPN server. Wikipedia defines the VPN as A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network that is layered on top of an underlying computer network. The private nature of a VPN means that the data travelling over the VPN is not generally visible to, or is encapsulated from, the underlying network traffic. Similarly, the traffic within the VPN appears to the underlying network as just another traffic stream to be passed. A VPN connection can be envisioned as a "pipe within a pipe", with the outer pipe being the underlying network connection.


Recently I decided to give a try to Ipredator, the Sweden based VPN service created by the guys behind the famous tracker indexing site The Pirate Bay. So far I'm quite satisfied by the service. The speed is quite good for my usage. It collapsed just three or four times so far. The only drawback is that if you're an American user Ipredator will prevent you to watch videos on sites like Hulu because you'll basically surf with a swedish IP number.

Anyway, the VPN website doesn't offer any instruction to connect your Linux operating system to their server but I assure you it works and the procedure to setup the connection is very simple.
First of all you need to obtain a username and a password by buying the 3 months term of service for the price of 5€/month.
Now the technical part. Note that I've done this in Ubuntu 9.10. I suppose the instructions are valid with minor modifications for a lot of distros.

Step 1:
First right click on the Applet NetworkManager and choose "modify connections". Then select the VPN tab and click Add.
Choose Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

Note: if you can't select the VPN tab or you have some other issue here you need to install the PPTP plugin for the network manager.
Open a terminal and type sudo apt-get update
Now type sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp


Step 2:
fill in the gateway, your Ipredator username and password as you see in the picture below

Step 3:

Now click Advanced and select the options shown in the picture below. Mostly it's use Point-to-Point encryption (MPPE) and 128-bit security.

Step 4:

Now you're basically set up. To connect to the VPN server just click without releasing on the connection manager icon (top right in Ubuntu) and when the menu appears just choose VPN Conncetions and then Ipredator (provided that you named it like that during the setup). If all goes well a lock icon should appear on top of the connection icon. 

Step 5:

Now that the connection is established you can check that you're really running with a Swedish IP address. You can either note that the commercials in Facebook turned in Swedish or you can cheek the IP on an IP locator site like ip-address.com

Surf smart and safe folks.

B-Movie Cast 99 is out! - Shock Waves 1976

A new episode of the B-Movie cast is available at http://bmoviecast.com/.
Check the website to listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast!

Here's the synopsys of the show:

Beneath The Living, Beyond The Dead, From The Depths of Hell’s Ocean!
What’s the link between Monk, Flipper and Underwater Nazi Zombies you ask?
Well you’ll find out on today’s show as Nic and I will be taking a trip to Florida to talk about the film “Shock Waves” from 1976 starring Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams, Luke Halpin and John Carradine.

The Treat of the Week #014

A funny way to tell the user that the page can't be found.

Miami Medical

I watched the first episodes of Miami Medical, the brand new CBS television series which premiered on April 2, 2010.
I’m not really a fan of medical dramas ‘cause I don’t like to see people get hurt, at least not in a context that resembles what can happen to you anytime. However I do love House MD and so I gave this one a change, much for the sake of the commentary.
I must admit though that even if I had a look only to a few episodes Miami Medical is quite fun to watch.
At a certain point one doctor tells a patient something like this: “among the doctors, trauma doctors are the rockstars. And among trauma doctors, the alpha team are the Rolling Stones”. This cheered the patient up a bit about the chance of his pregnant wife and soon to be delivered baby to get saved. This sounds somehow to me also like the motto of the series.
Miami Medical is fast, glossy and fresh. Watching the episode was like a ride on a roller coaster until the final chill out scene. The character are gorgeous as the photography is with vivid and warm colors and a cool usage of light.
And last it seems that, unlike for what is with House MD, the setting of Miami Medical plays a bit of a role by giving the series the particular appeal linked to the seaside city and environment.
See here below the promo of the series.

The Linux Game Box #6: ASCIIPORTAL

This week we're gonna talking about a game that is totally and unmistakable AWESOME. Asciiportal is a portal game developed by Joe Larson and inspired by Portile, Super Serif Bros and Portal by Valve. 

Title: ASCIIPORTAL
Genre: Puzzle (portal game)
License: MIT
Website: http://cymonsgames.com/asciiportal/

Installation requirements --> 9

There's no need for installation. You just download the Linux version and double click the bin. That's very straightforward and a always nice when you see something so simple with a Linux game.


Gameplay fun --> 10

Asciiportal is a portal game and that mean that's all fun. You're basically stuck in rooms and must evade by casting portals and walking through them to proceed on your way. Portals are like space wormholes but limited in range by the two way-points that the player places in two location of the map. Once placed, the two portals creates a tunnel as if the reality itself is bent, and the player can travel through it. There are several elements like barriers, spikes, ladders and so on that force you to be cunning in order to clear the levels.


Graphical appeal --> 7

As the name suggests, Asciiportal is completely text based thus every graphical element is in ascii. But don't fool yourself, this doesn't mean asciiportal isn't graphically cute, on the contrary the graphics made the game look stilish and enforce the sensation of being trapped inside some computer guts.

Sound delight --> 9

I'm so glad that this time I can say without a doubt that the sound snd music of the game are great. Music is composed by Steve Fenton. I've played a dozen of levels and I've listen only to two tracks: one for the menu and one for the levels. The music does really a great job in making this game even more enjoyable. The track for the levels is especially nice and creates a sci-fi atmosphere. By the way it reminds me a lot of the kind of music used in the game X2 The Threat. The sound is also noticeable, especially the voice effect that accompanies the instructions / advises of the guiding computer at the beginning of every level.

Story enchantment --> 3

As far as I've understood the story has no practical use in asciiportal. Maybe it is revealed further into the game but as far as I played there was scarce glimpse of it. It seem that whoever your character is, you must escape and to do so there's only one way: reach the exit of each level figuring the way out, overcome all sorts of hazards and of course use portals.

Bonus point --> 8

The game is totally open source and this means you're not just permitted but also encouraged to take a peek of the code and exploit it. Joe personally wrote me that "ASCIIpOrtal is released MIT open source. It's the closest to a "do whatever you want" license i could find. I'm of the opinion that the world is a better place when everybody shares. ;)".
If you're willing to hack but you're not capable or not comfortable with messing with the code, then there's a map editor, provided by Mads Lund, you can download here and use to create your own level. The editor is a MS Windows .exe but it works flawlessly (or so it seems to me) under wine.

OVERALL SCORE --> 9.4

Maybe my opinion is biased by the fact that I'm a total nerd but asciiportal and its creators are way cool.
Just try this game and drop me a line about what you think.
Below you can see asciiportal in action.

B-Movie Cast 98 is out! - The Psychotronic Man 1980

A new episode of the B-Movie cast is available at http://bmoviecast.com/.

Check the website to listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast!

Which OS runs on Olivia's laptop (from Fringe 1x09)

I'm not sure enough to say for sure what's running on agent Olivia Dunham's laptop as seen during season 1 episode 09?

I've my own idea but as said I'm not really sure. What's your guess?

The Treat of the Week #15

Love when the woman begins to laugh.. :D

D&D and Psychology

I caught a post on Gaming Brouhaha that linked to a very interesting article by Nancy Darling on Psychology Today that reports the psychologist experience with her kids approaching at Dungeons & Dragons.

The original Dungeons & Dragons set

The article is especially interesting for us geeks because it shows the educated point of view of an attentive parent who wasn't confident with the game and, by consequence, not completely at her ease, at the beginning, with her kids playing at it.
Nancy tells mostly of the interleaving relationships of the members of the group with themselves, the dungeon master and the game.
The picture that comes by once you reach the end of the piece is something that validates somehow what I -as a person proud of his twenty something years of gaming-  always suspected. As the author observation suggests, Role Playing Games stimulate cognitive skills, especially concerning the manipulation of abstract ideas. More of that RPGs fit into the kids development because they give them the chance to experience discussing and arguing on abstract ideas (i.e. which door to open in a dungeon, who must speak to the village mayor and take the protection ring, and so on).
Today I'm in my thirties and I continue playing at D&D -even if not so often as I would- and I can't wait the day when my kid will be old enough that I can give him his first D&D player's manual.

The Wicker Man: of pagans and lust

Last night I was up to watch a movie I wanted to check since long.

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British movie based on David Pinner's 1967 novel The Ritual.

The story begins with a deeply Christian police officer that is driven to investigate in the disapperance of 12 years old Rowan Morrison on the fictional island of Summerisle off the cost of Scotland.

Soon after his arrival and having met some peculiar characters like Mrs. Morrison who seem uninterested by the daughter disapperance, and the arrogant landlord and his uninhibited daughter Willow, the officer begins to suspect that there's something strange about the island and its people.

As the investigation proceed the detective gets totally aware that the Summerisle people worship pagan deities. Itìs the ruler of the island, Lord Summerisle, that gives word to his suspects by declaring that the island has abandoned God since long. The stiff bigot sergeant is in complete shock but determined to put a stop to the unholy paganism and solve the case of the disappeared child. 

However from this point on the events begin to turn grim and the officer inexorably falls into the spider web that will lead him to find the missing girl and meet the Wicker Man.

The Wicker Man shows great images of a frigid forgotten land and a very impressive music. The scene with Willow dancing and singing naked in an attempt to corrupt the God fearing policeman, is just unforgettable.

IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes classify this movie under horror even if The Wicker Man doesn't show any of the typical situations of horror movies. Yet the film is disturbing and chilling in a way that is difficoult to explain. Summerisle seems a paradise with all its treehuggers and lustful babes but this paradise its currupt by madness and a naive cruelty.

Did I mention that this film is great? No? Well, it is.

If you are looking for more in depth information about the movie then check the wikipedia article here.

Here below the theatrical trailer of the movie.

B-Movie cast 97 is out! - Outer Limits Part 2

A new episode of the B-Movie cast is available at http://bmoviecast.com/.

Check the website to listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast!

Google Maps Street View in 3D

Today I spot something really cool on Google Maps and good of that I had the blu and red googles somewhere on the desk.  On April 1 2010 Google gave us another milestone improvement of their map service. Many thought it was  an April joke but the implementation was far to profound to be just that. Right now if you surf the street of any city with the Street View enabled you'll see the the yellow guy with a pair of blue and red googles resting up on his forehead. You click on the dude, he'll wear the googles and then the images will go stereoscopic. You can now wear your own googles and, with a little of practice, travel the streets of your favourite destination in 3D!

Just try it yourself!

The force of Open Source: Hand written translation of Ubuntu manual into Tamil

I recently read that guys from KanchiLug, a LUG from the Indian city of Kanchipuram, just finished to translate the Ubuntu documentation into their native Tamil language.

They've been evangelizing about the operating system through colleges since long, but they realized that it was a hard job for Tamil people to familiarize with the system through the English guides.
When they heard of the Ubuntu handbook produced by the Ubuntu-Manual Project, they team up themselves to translate it in Tamil.
And so they got the work done!

I think this is another of the countless story that shows the force of the open source community which is capable to spur the best from people to convey it into projects that, for several aspects attain excellence.

You can download the Tamil-English Ubuntu manual here.

Pictures of the translation event can be found here.