I am lonely wherever I go, sanctuary is all that I know

Digital painting is an art form all its own, if a more technical one than most. But there are aids for it, that can also work for painting in general. The artist behind the Ranarh account on deviantArt is trying to make digital portraiture a wee bit easier.

Tiny Tips: Keep an Eye Out
Tiny Tips: A Mouthful
Tiny Tips: Easy Braider
Tiny Tips: Blending In
Tiny Tips: The Five-Colour Trick
Tiny Tips: Wild Skin Colours
Tiny Tips: Skin Tutorial
Tiny Tips: Snuffles
Tiny Tips: It's a Material World
Tiny Tips: Keep It Low

She has others on painting backgrounds, waterfalls, rock formations--she's really a great one-stop resource for both budding and established digital artists.

Saint Lucas, anyone? Well, not so much, but some familiar faces from Star Wars drawn in religious icon form. Beautiful work.

Speaking of art, did I mention the Vochol Beetle? Commissioned by several art and museum groups, and crafted using over two million glass beads by Huichol artisans in Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico, it's a stunning tribute to both art cars and the arts in Mexico.

Moving to games, Metal Gear 5 is planning on a sooner-rather-than-later release, and to that end, has released nearly six minutes of 'real gameplay' footage. I'll warn you now--it's actually painful for me to watch. Not due to gore--there isn't any--or horrific things happening, per se--it's just I've had lower-body injuries and I've done the pulling-myself-across-the-floor thing. It's not fun. This video makes it seem as grueling as it actually is, so...yay for realism?

And now fun new toys! Or at least, new disturbing ones. Which brings is to Japan and Sanrio, who's decided this year's best nightmare-fuel offering is the reversible Hello Kitty. What does she reverse into? A turkey, of course.

If you think you really need one in your life, they go for $28 on Sanrio's main site--where you can find other cuddly wonders like the octopus sausage, Hello Kitty with a suntan, and Hello Kitty's severed head on a string. Enjoy?

Next up, science--the MindWalker's been launched, subject to review by the European Commission. It actually utilizes an EEG cap that measures electrical activity across the scalp to control the exoskeleton. This could be big.

Also, Dmitry Itskov wants everyone to live in virtual reality. No, really, that's his goal:

Mr. Itskov says he will invest at least part of his fortune in such ventures, but his primary goal with 2045 is not to become richer. In fact, the more you know about Mr. Itskov, the less he seems like a businessman and the more he seems like the world’s most ambitious utopian. He maintains that his avatars would not just end world hunger — because a machine needs maintenance but not food — but that they would also usher in a more peaceful and spiritual age, when people could stop worrying about the petty anxieties of day-to-day living.

"We need to show that we’re actually here to save lives," he said. "To help the disabled, to cure diseases, to create technology that will allow us in the future to answer some existential questions. Like what is the brain, what is life, what is consciousness and, finally, what is the universe?"

Grand dreams, indeed. By 2045, we'll see if they're dreams that can come true, too.

Speaking of robotic aids, someone else has an idea. And it was an idea gained through watching Chobits. Danny Choo is currently in the process of designing a Smart+Doll, based on his Mirai Suenaga mascot character, that he's hoping will be fully interactive.

Whatever that's going to end up meaning for Japan.

And finally, if anyone's been watching ABC's "Once Upon a Time" series, there's going to be a spin-off...sort of. Titled "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, it will tell the tale of Alice's journey down the rabbit-hole, but--as we might expect from the changes wrought on "Once Upon a Time", ever so slightly altered from the stories we know.

I'm still willing to give it a solid viewing, because I'm enjoying the first show so much. We'll see how it goes.