In today's episode of Boing Boing tv, Xeni visits with John Gaeta, the Academy Award-winning Visual Effects supervisor of the Matrix trilogy, to learn more about his digital craft in the new film Speed Racer. This latest Wachowski brothers project reinterprets the classic 1960s Japanese anime series of the same name, and opens in theaters nationwide on May 9.

Gaeta explains how he used VR "bubbles" and a mysterious team known as the "world unit" to create the film's "poptimistic photo-anime" feel. The live action Speed Racer is saturated in a candy-colored palette so rich, audiences may just leave the theater with a contact sugar high.

View interactive samples of the digital building blocks behind the movie in a related online feature in VRMAG, "Speed Racer Uncovered."

And Gaeta adds a special message for Boing Boing tv viewers, who are already well accustomed to all things digital -- "For optimal viewing experience, see Speed Racer at a digital cinema or IMAX theater." He's not kidding, with a feature like this, analog projection just doesn't do the work justice.

(Special thanks: John Gaeta; Andy and Larry Wachowski; and David Pescovitz)

Boing Boing tv visits New York Comic Con, the largest comics convention on the Eastern seaboard, and we find games, geeks, and graphic novels galore. Our guide through the event's board game realms is Dr. Gregory Wilson, author and fantasy fiction professor at St. John's University of New York, who teaches us little-known tools for game quality evaluation. "You can tell this one is awesome because of the weight of the box -- it's probably about 15 pounds," he says as we pass one title. "This one takes two hours just to set up! Clear evidence that it, too, is awesome."

Part two of today's episode is a little alternate reality game of our own design -- we like to call it "Count the Cosplayer."

BONUS AWESOMENESS: In related news, Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City blog says: "I set up a small online quiz asking people to label unidentified visitors as either art fair or comic-con attendees. There are a few surprises in there, which keeps it interesting."

Continuing in this week's "Best of BBtv" retrospective, after a whopping 6 months of existence, we revisit a popular episode in which...

Mark checks out a 15-times-larger-than-life Atari joystick replica by Jason Torchinsky, on display at Felt Club XL. Then, 8-bit help for those suffering from projectile dysfunction disorder.

If you're in LA this Thursday, Machine Project is hosting an event where you can check out this cool creation for yourself!

This week marks 6 months since Boing Boing tv was inserted into earth's atmosphere by alien insurgents. To celebrate, we're looking back at the "best of BBtv" as chosen by you, our viewers. Today we revisit a pre-dotcom-crash edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, through the eyes of the one human on earth capable of matching E3's hyperkinetic chaos with ample frenzy of his own.

In this BBtv episode, "comedy terrorist" Tim E. Woodsman high-kicks, dry-humps and generally freaks the hell out all over the LA Convention Center. Press access rules changed forever after this incident. E3 isn't huge and awesome anymore, either, so there's not much left to bum rush anyway.

This episode was cut from rediscovered footage produced for a CrapTV internet-boom-era TV pilot. Danny Diamond provided us with access to his footage vault (we pulled Bad Fairies from the same source), and BBtv's editors reassembled this short spazzfest for your nostalgic pleasure.

The crew of video guerrillas who made this happen this back in the day say: "We dedicate this to the memory of Tim E Woodsman, 1972 - 2007. We miss you. -- Jason, Jolon, Glasgow, Martha, Brody, Danny, Push, Tony, and everyone who made CRAPtv possible."

(Special thanks, Jolon Bankey, and happy birthday!!! Music: includes a clip from Klubbheads).