"The resulting short film, Half-Life: Escape From City-17, juxtaposes epic sci-fi wasteland shots with live-action sequences captured in Toronto using a handheld camera.

The brothers launched Escape From City-17 in February, hoping to attract lucrative TV commercial work by showcasing their visual effects talents. Instead, the short found instant traction among videogame fanboys, paving the way for a feature film project and two more installments of a projected Half-Life trilogy.

Like Neill Blomkamp’s gritty District 9, which similarly started out as a short film before expanding into a big-screen blockbuster, City-17 is a shining example of grass-roots moviemaking conjured by filmmakers with distinctive vision and no shortage of DIY drive."

"The engine is mounted longitudinally amidships, with the transmission ahead and beneath the center tunnel, meaning 58 percent of the weight sits on the rear axle. Luckily (for your insurance carrier), there’s a viscous-traction, permanent all-wheel-drive that puts all 662 ponies to the ground through all four wheels. Yes, the torque split is variable and automatic, meaning you can more or less point the car, mash the pedal and hang on. Just make sure you aim carefully."

"On Wednesday, October 28th, NASA launched its Ares I-X prototype vehicle, the first launch from Kennedy's pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program's Saturn rockets were retired. NASA's Constellation Program's 327-foot-tall rocket produced 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and reached a speed of 100 mph in eight seconds. The two-minute sub-orbital test flight encountered a few problems along the way, as the launch pad was slightly damaged, a planned stage separation did not go quite according to plan, and a possible parachute failure led to a hard splashdown for its first stage. The Constellation program is under pressure as a recent committee report depicted it as overly expensive. The Obama administration is set to make a decision in the next several months about the near-term direction of U.S. Space Policy. (28 photos total)"

In what looks like a big win for online poker The Australian Productivity Commission, the Australian Federal Government's independent advisory body for microeconomic reform today released a draft report supporting the managed liberalization of online gambling in Australia.

The Productivity Commission's draft states: "The Australian Government should repeal the Interactive Gambling Act, and in consultation with state and territory governments, should initiate a process for the managed liberalisation of online gaming".

An excellent collection of wicked photos.