Hey guys, just wanted to throw down a quick supergear self-defense post. The nanobanshee screams for you when someone attacks you. Personally, I’m a fan of fighting back–since studies show rapists respond better to striking than to wrestling or other techniques–or better, running. Sometimes even if you’re screaming, passers-by won’t help you. That sucks.

But! When I taught martial arts, I used to teach something called the kiap. That’s when you release your energy in a loud yell, and it gives you some serious confidence, and intimidates your enemy a little bit. There’s a real advantage to loud, disorienting sounds. So you need to know that some people will attack you no matter what-but it’s a lot less fun to attack someone if there’s a RIDICULOUS LOUD SCREAMING ALARM going off!

So I thought I’d check out the nanobanshee, and it seems promising, but I found some really negative customer reviews. Apparently their customer service kind of sucks, and the alarms aren’t quite as loud as advertised. Are there better alarms out there? What do you think about using whistles and other alarms for self-defense? More pertinent to our superhero blog, how can loud sounds help you defend someone else? What do YOU use?

Let me know in the forums!

Hey guys, quick little #supergear post here–remember when I said books were supergear? Well, Rod T. Faulkner’s offering you guys a “pick your own price” e-book resource to help you find the 200 best scifi short films online.

Scifi’s uniquely fit for the short film medium because of its focus on concept–whether that’s a new concept for space travel, or a new concept of sociological changes in the future, it’s not scifi without some kind of sciencey speculation. If you haven’t already delved into the short film world, you’re missing out–the weirdness of the film “They’re Made Out of Meat” definitely marked me forever, I can tell you.

So yeah! I’m always looking for cool stuff to share with you guys here in the #supergear section, and this fit the bill! Give Rod some love! He’s widely regarded as one of the most important voices in scifi film critique right now, so if you haven’t heard of him already you’re in for a treat.

P.S. Don’t forget we still have our Indiegogo going on! Can we reach 50% today? We need to!