Begin the Great Adventure! Okay, so I'm a sucker for space stuff and science nonfiction. And the most important day in that history is coming up Monday, July 20th. We'll be seeing all the tributes, all the videos of Kennedy, and all the videos of Armstrong, but we can't forget what led to the moment. The ambition to press "LAUNCH." And this website, We Choose the Moon, lets us follow that process! In real time!

We've still got nearly 22 hours as of this writing, though I'll bet anything this won't be delayed like a modern shuttle! (Craftsmanship was so much better 40 years ago.)

P.S. you can even follow the Eagle on Twitter! And I'm going to @ it to give me a shout out or two.

Labels: General Nerdiness, History, Science/Technology

If only I could make the midnight showing, but alas: I'll see this thing by tomorrow.

Labels: Entertainment, General Nerdiness

Today's economics hit the fortresses of our childhood memories hard. Yes, developer of Mortal Kombat and a whole lot of other arcade games I fed my quarters has been FINISHED (A FATALITY!!!), to use my own, completely original joke. But thankfully, they are not gone and dead. They did manage to hit CONTINUE, shall we say, by which I mean, Chapter 11 rather than Chapter 7.

I leave you with a Twitter from their offices.

Labels: Economics, General Nerdiness

This guide to LOLing, ROFLing, and haha-ing is pretty accurate.

(Spotted at Emo Snal's LJ.)

Labels: General Nerdiness, Language, Science/Technology

Also, for my birthday, Andy's taking me with friends tonight to see THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, as heard in this video:



Plucky Duck is an early hero of mine.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Music

Why is this so fun? Writers, bloggers, and humorists are not usually engineers!

Labels: General Nerdiness

I get it. "Renegade." "Renaissance." They're leading a revolution and rebirth in reality and regulation, really, America. Obamamania with an "R," baby!

But I would just like to ask: did Gerald Ford have his nickname when he was VP or just made President when he got the suspiciously appropriate name "Passkey"? Maybe the Watergate files should be reopened for new questions. Alongside his pardoned pal "Searchlight," Ford might not be so innocent, even if he wasn't a running mate at the time of the scandal, had absolutely no national recognition, and kept a pet rock.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Language, Politics

You remember all that stuff about discipline in scientific gains? All that stuff about ethics and morality? The part about God making dinosaurs, killing dinosaurs, making Man, Man making dinosaurs, dinosaurs eating man? Remember all that stuff? Well, it forgot the part about Man making political candidates, and political candidates blowing up Man.

(Also, if you remember the whole conversation with Ellie Sattler, Woman takes over the Earth.)

Labels: General Nerdiness, Politics

Election season brings out the weirdos, but you knew that.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Politics

While the Collider has made its first revolution or so, I was just informed that nothing will be smashed into anything until a month from now. About the time the Cubs could be winning a World Series. Actually, with this ominous of a sign, I'd bet on them winning.

For now, I will continue to drink heavily and hope someone steps up to save the free Men of the world.

(Link from Kotaku.)

Labels: General Nerdiness, Science/Technology, Sports

The cult hits of the 1990s, The X-Files, Millennium, that Jessica Alba show, and Buffy specifically, and The X-Files even more specifically, led the way for nerdy television viewership. It led me to see the shadow around every turn, the monster under every bed, and the conspiracy in every cereal box.

Now, a new show in a long line of recent one-word-one-title shows, Fringe, has come to occupy the hyped world of Nerd HD. Avoiding the heated discussions of the producer's shaky camerawork in an earlier work, Andy and I caught the first episode, a roaring hour and 35 minutes (with commercial breaks punctuated by x-ray shots proclaiming how many seconds each break would be, which was useful while also trying to watch a tied-up Cubs game--if they keep this feature, scratch any criticisms of this show, ever. I mean, I can TIME my bathroom breaks... INC! POTTY!).

The premise is highly new millennium: terror is alive in this world, and Homeland Security is working to save us all from telekinesis. Anna Torv plays a wonderful new character who is certainly NOT Scully. She is adorable and the protagonist. Denethor (John Noble) makes his debut as a madcap scientist, Dr. Bishop. The man has got old, mad, and estranged from a son right. Pacey from Capeside--AKA a Creek named after another guy, a guy named Dawson--AKA Joshua Jackson--plays the estranged son. He is in Iraq when we first meet him and seems dumb as a rock until he starts spouting various scientific things two-thirds of the way through. The head of ever-*cough*mysterious Homeland Security makes an appearance and gave me Assistant Director Kersh vibes. As the episode went on though, it became obvious he was just been stolen from another, more recent show. And we can't forget Agent Whatshisname who may or may not be a plot point. Did I mention this had spoilers?

The show invites former X-Philes (Ex-Philes), nay, it challenges them to get in the seat and compare and contrast. It's a middle school essay contest, only with less ESP and more writing on arms.

Compare: A disease that reminds us all of the first movie, gelatinous skin and everything? And also "The Pine Bluff Variant," if you happen to REALLY need the nerdy and gory details of the atmosphere. Former M-S shippers already are lining up with their bookies. Oh, and the text announcing each location!

Actually this text invites a contrast. The text is added into the scene. I repeat: it is added into the scene. I really don't know how to explain that any more. It is a 3-D, metallic text that looks diegetic (in the scene, damn it!), but it is not actually there. People walk through, planes fly through, and squirrels bury nuts in the Os without ever noticing. It seems like a desperate cry out to contrast with The X-Files, CSI, and all other investigation shows.

All in all though, this feels like The X-Files, only with a heavier heart from years of the War on Terror, and with less chemistry from its main actors. However, it plays on one nice twist to The Great X-Files Two-Agent Conspiracy-Hunting Formula: they USE the ESP, teleportation, reincarnation, and other paranormal phenomena. And that might keep my interest until 9/8c next Tuesday.

But for now: Byers!

Labels: General Nerdiness, Review

...we finally have the right weapons to do it with.

(It is a geek-kinda day.)

Labels: General Nerdiness

That's it! Next year, I'm going.

Labels: General Nerdiness

Please don't suck me back in. I cannot afford to lose my soul in the ice again.

Labels: Gaming, General Nerdiness

I pined over her in Buffy and in Dr. Horrible, and fell for her in her partly self-produced and all self-written The Guild... so now I am full-fledged crushing on Felicia Day. And it's not just a "bone-her-brains-out" crush: it's a "I-will-marry-you-just-wait-'til-the-check-for-the-ring-clears" crush.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Sin

A while ago, the economy went to hell, and along with it, a whole lot of petrodollars. The job market's shot, and inflation is, well, inflation. But why?

I think I have the answer. And it is fixable. What happened a year ago when the Dow-Jones really began falling and all of us began losing our jobs (except me, Eaglie... never had a job, never will)?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Seventh and Last Book. The End to End all Endy Ends. We illustrate the aftermath:


(Graph from Dow-Jones Indexes. Really.)

What could the world do after that? Let the dollar RISE?! Ha! The decay of the job market, stocks, and a black man getting past the presidential primaries... it ALL happened at once. The world might never be the same.

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. We have the answer to allay our imminent demise, and we have J.K. Rowling to thank next December with her newest book in the series.

Then the whole cyclical thing starts over again.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Politics

Someday, I promise I'll go to Comic-Con and cover it and find the woman (on the right) of my dreams.

Maybe next year.

Labels: General Nerdiness

Somehow, I'm hoping these ones DON'T get made into summer blockbusters. Origin stories always suck.

Labels: General Nerdiness, Politics

I WANT TO BELIEVE...

...the universe's greatest mysteries can be solved.
...that the world is not as full of idiots and jerks as I think it is.
...in the Chicago Cubs.
...oh, Hell, discount the last two.
...compressed air really does help my laptop.
...in yellow sticky tabs.
...I will make a difference.
...I can live in space someday.
...I can live in a non-rent-controlled house someday, maybe even with Internet. In space.
...this coffee addiction will pass.
...paperbacks read just as well as hard copies.
...that my childhood's carnival-won goldfish did not die in vain.
...that X-Files, Seasons 8 and 9 are of the above's similar fate.

Fight the Future, dudes and dudettes! X-Files movie, ho!

Labels: General Nerdiness