Stray Hawkeye

I was out at the bar over the weekend with some of my geekier friends.  In conversation it came up that one of them has a motorcycle, which he has named “Frogger”.  (See, I told you they were on the geekier side.)  One of my other friends recently got an air brush kit, and is planning to help paint said motorcycle with, as they put it, “bad ass frogs”.  So, being geeks, we not only had our laptops with us, but were at a bar with wifi – so we busted out the internet and went to work finding bad ass frogs to use as models for said motorcycle air brush mural.  Some of the highlights were:

• Kinda scary looking frog with teeth
• Ninja frog on a rope
• Real life hypno-toad
• Ready frog
• A variety of mini-fig frogs with weapons
• Mr Burns frog (about half way down the page in the comments)
• And finally, a little too fittingly, a frog on a motorcycle

But eventually, we came to thinking, why not use the actual Frogger frog?  So, we found an image of the original cover, and realized how lame and entirely not bad ass the original Frogger frog was:

A tie? A watch? A vest? A freaking brief case?!? Maybe there was a reason all those cars had it in for him.

Pretty wimpy, but we have computers, and GIMP – we can fix this.

So, over the next hour or two, I drunkenly photoshoped (okay, so I don’t actually have the program, but “GIMP’ed” just sounds wrong) up our video game hero to toughen him up a bit, while carrying on a few other conversations.  There were plenty of inputs from my other drunken, laptop toting, geek companions (“give him some tattoos”, ” put some blood on his mouth”, “make his butt less pointy”, “he should have a sword, no, an anime sword”, “give him angry eyelids, no, not like that, angle them, no, this way”) to help with the process.  Until we eventually came up with:

Not bad for a few beers in (though looking at it sober, it does have some rough edges here and there).

And then, of course, we realized he must vanquish the lesser version of himself, who has apparently been sweating in fear for decades now (click for bigger):

There can be only one.

It’s my desktop background image now.

When Skynet comes, I hope it looks like this:

(Via Swiss Miss, Kottke, Boing Boing, and basically the entire rest of the internet)

That may be my favorite way for the world to end.  Though I would have been content if it just took out New York and went away.

Bonus fun fact – if you look up Skynet on Wikipedia while making a blog post to check if it’s one word or two, and if the N is capitalized if it’s one word, you may notice that the page has location coordinates for Skynet: 37.921, -122.532.  If you were to find this location in Google Maps (perhaps the start of Skynet itself), it would show you this.

Skynet will apparently be born in the pool of some fancy house in the suburbs of San Francisco.  Now, with the glory of Google Maps, we not only know where Skynet will start, but, low and behold, the place (503 Corte Madera Ave, Corte Madera CA 94925) is up for leasing!  That’s right, for a mere $6995 a month, you could live in this 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 5,300 square foot future home of mankind’s downfall!

From the listing, it sounds like our future mechanical overloads really know how to live, … or compute, … or process, or whatever it is they do (emphasis mine):

Listed for lease in Marin County at $6,995, and truly a unique find, this custom-built  5,300 +/- sq ft home* offers gracious style with an expansive layout that makes sense for today’s living.

Built in 1988 and situated in the hills of Corte Madera, the house is close enough to town that you’re just a couple moments from shopping, dining, local farmer’s markets, etc, yet far enough away that you achieve the rare Marin combo of privacy and property.

5bd/4.5ba + office + workout room

Formal entry paved in marble.  Formal living room boasts hardwood floors, fireplace and elevated sitting area perfect for piano or other large scale furniture.  Formal dining room offers big corner bay views and butler’s entry to kitchen.

The cheerful country kitchen faces east overlooking the bay, offering fresh morning sun.  Kitchen includes newer appliances, an open layout, and a wonderful breakfast nook.  Kitchen opens to large family room with additional fireplace, and french doors leading to enclosed lawn, gardens and pool.

Four bedrooms all on one level upstairs.  Master suite includes spacious walk-in closet and elevated sitting area w/fireplace.  Additional 5th bedroom is downstairs – perfect for au-pair or extended stay guests w/separate entrance and mini kitchenette.

Bonuses include:
-formal office or library with built-in bookshelves
-small bonus room overlooking pool – perfect for workout room w/steam shower
-elaborate centralized computer system controls almost everything in home from the den: security, lights, temperature and more

Life in Corte Madera includes access to highly-ranked local schools (see www.greatschools.org) and an excellent San Francisco commute.  Great central Marin weather will allow you to take full advantage of the pool and yard.  Cut over the hill to Mill Valley for great dining, or hop on your bike and be on Marin’s great biking trails right away.

Available this month for 1 year lease.  Looking for non-smoking tenants who will care for this custom-designed home in the family since it was built!  Owners will include pool and garden maintenance – tenant to cover all utilities including renter’s insurance.

Contact Executive Rental Agent Darcy Alkus Barrow to schedule your private tour: (415) 637-8917

Cheers!

*Sq ft quoted per tax records. Agent has not verified.

Not really my cup of tea, but then again, I suppose I do have a soul and all…