Click here to play this episode. Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 51 are:

Michael Pusateri: a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney who blogs at cruftbox.com

Blair Butler: Writer, comedian, and G4's geek goddess and resident comic book expert. She hosts the "Fresh Ink" comic book segment on the G4 TV program, Attack of the Show!

In this episode:

The upcoming SpaceX launch

Blair Butler's comic book, Heart.

Womanthology, a comics anthology completely funded by Kickstarter. Blair has a story in it.

Dial H for Heroes, a comic book written by China Mieville.

Blair: Why the new John Carter: The Gods of Mars comic is better than the movie.

Blair's comic picks: Fatale, Saga, Mind the Gap, Scott Snyder’s Batman, Greg Rucka’s Punisher.

National Geographic’s Angry Birds Space book is a lot better than Mark would have thought.

And lots more about movies, video games, apps, and gadgets!

Click here to play this episode. Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 50 are:

Maggie Koerth-Baker: Boing Boing’s science editor, journalist, and author of Before the Lights Go Out, a new book about electric infrastructure and the future of energy.

Dean Putney: Boing Boing’s software developer and an unapologetically snappy dresser.

Ruben Bolling: author of the weekly comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug, which premieres each week on Boing Boing. I signed up for his Inner Hive newsletter and if you like Gweek you will love this, too.

Mitch O’Connell: one of my all-time favorite artists and incredible ephemera collector.

In this episode:

Mitch's excellent artwork. Pre-order his book here!

Dean: Robot Film Festival

Dean: Lost Horizon Night Market in San Francisco

Ruben: Government Issue: Comics for the People

Maggie: Drop Dead Healthy. (This is the third time this book has been praised on Gweek. Everyone loves it. Here's my interview with the author, A.J. Jacobs.)

Mark: Leviathan, graphic novel of a gigantic cruise ship lost at sea for 20 years.

Ruben: Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour

Ruben: Paul F. Tompkins, Laboring Under Delusions

Dean: Being Elmo

Mark: The Cabin in the Woods

Ruben: Disney-produced World War II insignia and more here.

Maggie: Cool train car rental service - here, here, and here.

Dean: Animation Smears

Mark: Noisemusick

Mark: Stupid Fun Club Medallion - an encoded secret message (photo 1, photo 2)

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<p>Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for <a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/gweek/gweek_049.mp3">episode 49</a> are Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney who blogs at <a href="http://cruftbox.com">cruftbox.com</a>, and <a href="http://www.kevinmackart.com">Kevin Mack</a>, an artist and visual effects supervisor.</p>

<p><a href="http://gweek.libsyn.com/rss"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/subscribe-rss.jpg" height="100" width="99" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Subscribe-Rss" /></a><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gweek/id435622533"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/subscribe-itunes.jpg" height="100" width="125" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Subscribe-Itunes" /></a><a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/gweek/gweek_049.mp3"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/current-episode.jpg" height="100" width="114" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Current-Episode" /></a><a href="http://stitcher.com/listen.php?fid=19395" title="Gweek on Stitcher"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/stitcher-logo-1.jpg" height="99" width="76" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Stitcher-Logo-1" /></a></p>

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<p>In this episode:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.08/mack_pr.html"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281406.jpg" height="119" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281406" /></a>Mark's <a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.08/mack_pr.html">Wired profile of Kevin Mack</a>, written in 1999.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.kevinmackart.com/facts-and-trivia.html"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281419.jpg" height="204" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281419" /></a>Kevin Mack's <a href="http://www.kevinmackart.com/facts-and-trivia.html">mother posing as Tinkerbell</a>.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.kevinmackart.com/"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/good-dog-log.jpg" height="99" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Good-Dog-Log" />Kevin Mack's art site.</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/141659907X/boingboing"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281411-1.jpg" height="226" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281411-1" /></a>Michael's book pick: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/141659907X/boingboing">Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/04/17/gonzo-a-graphic-biography-of.html"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281415.jpg" height="211" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281415" /></a>Mark's book pick: <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/04/17/gonzo-a-graphic-biography-of.html">Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://www.imagecomics.com/comics/4621/The-Manhattan-Projects-1"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mp.jpg" height="228" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Mp" /></a> Michael's comic pick: <a href="http://www.imagecomics.com/comics/4621/The-Manhattan-Projects-1">The Manhattan Projects</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/19-669/Resident-Alien-0"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281421.jpg" height="230" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281421" /></a>Michael's comic pick: <a href="http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/19-669/Resident-Alien-0">Resident Alien</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/27/squa-tront-11-publis.html"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281424.jpg" height="216" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281424" /></a>Kevin discusses the origin of the phrase “<a href="http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question90155.html">Squa Tront! Spa Fon!</a>" "I believe it is from the story 'The Aliens' in <em>Weird Fantasy #17</em> January 1953. I have the original issue."</p>

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<p><a href="http://thesinatratest.bandcamp.com/album/do-be-do-10-songs-about-being-and-doing"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281426.jpg" height="150" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281426" /></a>

Mark's music pick: <em><a href="http://thesinatratest.bandcamp.com/album/do-be-do-10-songs-about-being-and-doing">Do Be Do - 10 Songs About Being and Doing</a></em>, by The Sinatra Test.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisuGP2lcPs"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lizzie-bennet.jpg" height="124" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Lizzie-Bennet" /></a>

Michael's video pick: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisuGP2lcPs">My Name is Lizzie Bennet</a>, a transmedia version of <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> done by videoblog.

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<p><a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/03/16/the-art-of-video-games-from-p.html"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281429.jpg" height="150" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281429" /></a>Kevin: "<a href="http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/">Smithsonian Museum of American Art</a> has an exhibit on the art of video games.  I saw it when I was in DC last week."</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.hoteltonight.com/"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hotel-tonight.jpg" height="78" width="148" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="Hotel-Tonight" /></a>Mark's app picks: <a href="http://www.hoteltonight.com/">Hotel Tonight</a> and <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/04/18/apps-for-kids-018-got-cow.html">Got Cow?</a></p>

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<p><a href="http://theblu.com/home"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281432.jpg" height="68" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281432" /></a> Kevins' website picks: <a href="http://theblu.com/home">The Blu</a>, <a href="http://www.nowthatswhaticallbullshit.com/">now that's what I call bullshit</a>, <a href="http://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>.</p>

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<p><a href="http://blog.makezine.com/2012/03/05/news-from-the-future-transcranial-direct-current-stimulation-tdcs-kits/"><img src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/201204281436.jpg" height="163" width="150" border="0" align="left" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="201204281436" /></a>On Kevin's wish list: <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/226196/how-electrical-brain-stimulation-can-change-the-way-we-think">A transcranial direct current stimulation machine</a>, <a href="http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/index.php">brain wave entrainment</a>.</p>

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Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 48 are Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney who blogs at cruftbox.com, Rob Beschizza, Boing Boing’s managing editor, and Peter Bebergal, the author of Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood (Soft Skull Press) who writes frequently on the speculative and slightly fringe. He blogs at mysterytheater.blogspot.com.

In this episode:

We discuss Peter Bebergal's book, Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood.
Peter shares his story of a Johnson Smith catalog fail as a child.
Michael has good things to say about the comic book, Fanboys Vs. Zombies.
Peter recommends The White People and Other Weird Stories, by Arthur Machen.
Peter likes the new Daredevil comic book by Mark Waid.
Mark goes on and on about the upcoming Popeye comic book.
In music, Rob has several recommendations: The Belbury Tales, by Belbury Poly; Itsy Bits & Bubbles, by Twink; and Com Truise's stuff in general.
Peter recommends the EP Earth Has Doors by Wymond Miles; and A Young Persons Guide by Mark McGuire.
In movies, Michael recommends the 2006 movies The Fall.
Websites! Michael recommends the website Prismatic, Mark likes the Dark Gate Comic Slurper, and Peter likes the Grand Comics Database.
In apps, Rob likes 1-Bit Camera.
Peter recommends OSRIC, the Old School Reference & Index Compilation

Mark likes the Lumin app that turns his iPhone into a $400 magnifying glass.
In tools, Michael likes the True Utility Key Tool (not to be confused with the False Utility Key Tool)
Peter talks about the joy of Analog synth kits, especially kits from GetLoFi .
Mark feels happy wearing his Nobis Anorak.

Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

In this episode, I interviewed author A.J. Jacobs. In his 2005 book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, A.J. committed himself to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. In 2007 he wrote The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, he lived by the rules of the Bible, and ended up wearing a white robe and a very full beard.

In his new book, Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, A.J. followed a bunch of extreme self-improvement techniques, including a raw food diet, the paleo diet, libido boosting techniques, and unusual exercise regimens.

Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 46 are Dean Putney, Boing Boing’s software wrangler and the Johnny Appleseed of weird awesomeness, and Glenn Fleishman, a long-time tech reporter, a hacky perl programmer, and one of the writers of the Economist.com’s Babbage blog on technology and culture.

In this episode:

Dean was accidentally the first male guest on the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout podcast!

Glenn initiates a discussion about Kickstarter, and his plans to kickstart a book about Kickstarter. "Having brought in $84 million in cash for 12,000 projects in 2011 and just having had its first three million-dollar-plus projects in rapid succession, how is Kickstarter changing funding for artists, filmmakers, and industrial designers?"

Glenn has been reading Suicide Squad’s New 52 reboot. "I’m not a fan of the whole DC thing, and haven’t been a solid comic reader in years. But I love Suicide Squad and I’m afraid that says something terrible about my psyche."

Dean liked Craig Thompson's massive, award-winning graphic novel, Blankets. Mark told Dean to read Thompson's most recent graphic novel, Habibi

Mark recommends Ryan Rigney's book, Buttonless: Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them

Glenn says: "I’ve been watching (via UK feeds) BBC’s Dirk Gently, the three episode adaptation of Douglas Adam’s character. Remarkably good." How does Glenn get around the region-blocking technology that the BBC uses to lock out non UK viewers? Tunnelbear!

Dean's mind-blowing website of the week is Stratocam.

Dean explains the appeal of the iOS app, Draw Something.

Glenn talks about Pokemon: "My older son is learning the game, and I have some reflections on getting sucked into his madness."

Mark was impressed by The Fourth Dimension, an app that helps you visualize the fourth dimension.

Mark likes Snapheal, a simple OS X app that lets you easily remove unwanted objects from your photos.

Dean raves about Luma Labs's Cinch camera strap.

Mark describes why he likes Rickshaw bags so much.

Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 45 are Ruben Bolling, the celebrated cartoonist whose comic, Tom the Dancing Bug premieres weekly on Boing Boing; Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney; and Matt Haughey, author, web designer and founder of MetaFilter.

In this episode:

Gweek is giving away a PlugBug! Listen to the podcast to learn how to enter.

Matt Haughey's presentation at Webstock on New Zealand.

Ruben and others filled in for Richard Thompson's comic strip Cul de Sac while Thompson was getting treatment for Parkinson's disease.

Aziz Ansari's $5 online special.

Mike Daisey's talk in Georgetown, his first public speaking gig after This American Life. (Daisey's blog post on Sunday is pretty close to an apology.)

Ruben reviews an extraordinary young adult novel called Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

Mark reviews the newMoleskine Lego Notebook.

John Carter has lost $200 million, but the Gweeksters like the movie. Matt likes the movie, Boy and Mark likes A Separation.

Michael mentions his self published edition of A Princess of Mars.

Matt recommends two albums: Miike Snow's Happy To You and fun's Some Nights.

Mike talks about the funny website, Out of Context Science.

Michael has been enjoying the alternate reality game for runners called Zombies, Run!. Matt's pick is a recipe app called Appetites, and Mark has been playing Match Panic.

Matt got a Nike+ Fuelband before they sold out. They are beautiful.

Also mentioned:

Rick Steves' Iran, Miike Snow video, Rdio blog for finding new music, MattBites mentioned in the cooking app segment

.

In Gweek episode 044, I interviewed Sarah Vowell about her book Unfamiliar Fishes. It's a history of Hawaii between the time of the arrival of the first Christian missionaries and its annexation to the United States in the late 1890s.

Gweek is a weekly podcast where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

My co-hosts on episode 043 are Dean Putney, Boing Boing’s coding and development wizard, Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney, and Veronica Belmont, the co-host of three great shows: Tekzilla, Sword and Laser, and Game On!

Below are the show notes for Episode 043.

Dean recommends so cool indie games he checked out at the Game Development Conference (Proteus, Uprok, Joust, and Chicken Bandit)
Veronica and her friends, Bonnie Burton, Felicia Day, and Kiala Kazebee, have a new monthly book club podcast about the latest in paranormal romance called Vaginal Fantasy Hangout
Veronica says her Kindle has been committing acts of violence lately
Veronica says that Mass Effect 3 is the first game to tear her away from Skyrim.
Mike's made his first batch of moonshine!
Mark shares Myshkin Ingawale's amazing TED Fellow presentation at TED2012.
Dean went to the Image Comics Expo in Oakland and said his two favorite discoveries were Reed Gunther and Street Comics.
Mike reports that the creators of the comic Atomic Robo (which was John Hodgman's pick when he was on Gweek a while ago) have a Kickstarter to produce a video short.
Mark's Audible pick this week is the literary thriller, The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber.
Veronica recommends the dramatic science fiction story, Another Earth.
Mark and Veronica talk a bit about Reamde (Veronica liked it, Mark liked it except for the end) and 1Q84 (Veronica said she "slogged through it" and Mark is probably not going to read it now)
Mark enjoyed the science fiction movie Chronicle, about three teenagers who gain the power of telekineses. It's like a A Simple Plan for high schoolers.
Dean invites you to click on omfgdogs.com at your peril, but if you don't visit cashcats.biz, you will miss out on something amazing.
Mark shares one on his longtime favorite music sites, Bedazzled.
Veronica likes an iPhone apps called CatPaint, which lets you add all kinds of cats to your photos.
Mike shares a useful and free shopper's price comparison and unit conversion calculator called Apples2Oranges
Dean says Superfeet insoles are his "secret weapon."
We have a discussion about the new iPad. Verdict: we all want one.
Mike likes the functional bike stem caps at Stem Captain. I'm disappointed they didn't call it Stem Cap'n, though.
Mark explains why the Clevercat Litter Boxis a gopodsend.

If you enjoy Gweek, please rate it in the iTunes Store -- thanks!

]Gweek is a weekly podcast where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

I was at the TED2012 conference in Long Beach last week, so I didn’t have time to record a regular episode of Gweek with the other Boing Boing folks. So this week, I’m running an interview I recently did with Dave Asprey, a very interesting guy who has spent the last 15 years experimenting with ways to "hack his own biology." Dave experiments with supplements, sleep techniques, medical devices, fasting and dieting, and other things to improve his physical and mental health. You can find out more about him at bulletproofexec.com.

If you enjoy Gweek, please rate it in the iTunes Store -- thanks!