This weekend the family dragged me to a scarecrow building contest. This is a contest intended to allow kids to be creative and show off their stuff as budding young artists. Of course, my wife decided it would be a great opportunity to kick some underaged-art-noob butt. Pictured here is her winning entry in the category “most likely to scare a crow.”

Nova is checking out the new wave neon streets in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Nova’s personal goal: don’t punch anyone and avoid the cops… and chase the roller skating guy in pink shorts.

Last night I attended the Chicago premiere of James Nguyen’s Birdemic: Shock and Terror and got to shake hands and chat with the director (pictured above… he’s the one with the menacing claws). Birdemic is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. It’s an ultra-no-budget “romantic thriller” filled with tons of cheap digital bird effects, brain piercing eagle screeches, scenes of driving, hilarious dialogue, more driving and lots of, how shall we say, “creative” film editing choices.

Okay, it’s a bad, bad movie. But, I can’t deny that it is incredibly fun to watch—especially with a rowdy midnight movie audience. Much of the film’s charm is the sincerity and enthusiasm of its director, James Nguyen. He seems to be loving the attention he is getting, and, despite the howls of unintentional laughter, Nguyen has the guts to stick to his guns regarding his seriousness his film and its mangled message. I highly encourage everyone to check this film out while it is still in theaters and bring as many friends as you can!

Success! The new 512MB camera card arrived today and, so far, is working out well. Check out Wika’s latest set of photos from Nova’s daycare birthday party.

However, the saga of NewEgg/UPS will not be over until I see the refunded card and ten dollar credit appear on my credit statement. It looks like NewEgg make have absolved itself–for now.