Were you one of the 2000,000 who applied for the Mars One project? The Mars One Way video interviews five who did, and as I watched, I had to make sure that it wasn’t an SNL parody. If these are the people who will inhabit Mars, then Mars is going to be … just like Earth, only even more mediocre.
I remember when I was a kid going to RadioShack with my grandpa to get coax connectors, batteries, or some electronic device. It was my grandpa’s second favorite store. It troubles me to hear that RadioShack is closing even more stores. At this point, what can be done to save them?
It never ceases to amaze me what people will pay to own a piece of pop culture; case in point, the 1987 Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio used in the Oscar nominated “Wolf of Wall Street”. I own a 1986 Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio, and as much as I love my car, I’m shocked to see bidding for this one at $80,000+(!!).
Oscar weekend 2014! Movies are one of my biggest media passions. Film have taught me so much and the Oscars are always an exciting time for me. Gravity is my pick for picture this year and is wonderfully mimicked in the above photo from artist Michael Breach (@baristart). Look for the rest of his great works to release here on Oscar Sunday in honor of the awards ceremony! One film always seems to win in all their nominations (The Matrix, Usual Suspects, Ed Wood, and the record-holder The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). This year there will be two!… The Great…
The new Guardians of the Galaxy preview from Marvel Studios (August 1, 2014) shows a good peek of the characters Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Drax, and Peter Quill / Star Lord. I wanted more story details, but police seem to focus on Quill after he grabs a special orb near the beginning of the preview. What are your impressions?
Did you catch the bit where Jimmy Fallon and Will Smith were giving examples of the evolution of hip-hop dancing over the years? If not, then you should watch this video; it’s almost guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Obviously they couldn’t fit in every hip-hop move ever, but it’s still a fun trip down memory lane. =)
Civil rights and courage go hand in hand. It takes courage to stand up and say “I am a gay man and I play football” like Michael Sam did just last week. He’s taking a risk with his career, challenging the internalized homophobia of professional sports, and he’s getting help from an unlikely source: Dallas sports anchor Dale Hansen.
Insulting a celebrity is basically a victimless crime, right? Perhaps, but it’s hard to look at Jennifer Garner as she reads a particularly rude tweet without cringing and feeling some sympathy. A HuffPost about the sixth Jimmy Kimmel Show‘s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” (many are NSFW) reminded me that I’ve wanted to mention this series for a while.
There was controversy back in 2012 about the official sponsors of the Olympic games forcing athletes to not display logos of their sponsor brands. The Sochi Olympic games came with their own controversies, but the branding rules stand. For the athletes anyway, as the Russian President wore a fleece with several brands displayed, including Russian mobile network provider Yota.
A post over on TechCrunch includes an embedded bit by Louis CK that is hilarious. It also contains colorful language — you’ve been warned. The article goes on to unpack the psychological maneuvers the comedian employs to get his laughs and make his point. The video is a good laugh, and the post is a fascinating read. On the surface the bit appears to be Louis CK’s take on “On the one hand… On the other hand”. (Or, as he puts it, “Of course… But maybe.”) So, for example, on the one hand “Children who have nut allergies need to…
I’ll admit that I haven’t seen most of the films that are up for 2014 Oscars, but based on buzz, there are a few that I want to see and that I hope do well. Fill out the New York Times Oscar Ballot, then share your picks and ballot results in the comments below.
Carl Sagan holds a special place in my heart. He advocated science and mastered at taking complex ideas and breaking them down into accessible knowledge that everyone could understand. Sagan’s influence on many was, and is, still profound. Due to a donation by Seth MacFarlane, there is now a Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan collection at the Library of Congress.
Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies. I remember seeing it as a kid, and I was gleefully scared out of my mind in the first moments when the unseen raptor attacked the worker transferring her to a new cage. Really into Jurassic Park? Head to eBay, and you can own the very cage and raptor from the movie!
So … did you watch the Grammy Awards? My family watched most, and with expectations set suitably low it was not a bad time. Spirited performances by Kendrik Lamar and Imagine Dragons easily offset the awful Katy Perry vocals, bland Taylor Swift showing, and plainly lip-syncing Pink. But the real question is … how did Spotify do predicting winners?
Today, Apple’s homepage celebrates 30 years of the Mac. For those of us who have ‘been around’ – and even more so for those of us who bought and used an Apple ][ before the advent of the Mac, it is at once surprising that so much time has passed and unimaginable that we lived without the convenience of computers.
This weekend the Grammy Awards present the music side of insular industry self-celebration and back-patting. Trying to figure out who wins in the post-Esperanza Spalding years is as much about who the industry needs to ‘reward’ as anything else. But the folks at Spotify have used data gleaned from their streaming service over the last year to make predictions!
Dancing Stormtroopers? This needs a good caption. “Twerkus interruptuss?” “You know you are in trouble when Darth Vader has to step in.” “Moves like Chewie?” “Use some taste Luke…” “Where’s Princess Leah when you need her?” “I don’t think I will ever be able to look at a Stormtrooper the same way again.” Via Elite Daily
We were watching the glitz and glamor of the Golden Globes tonight (don’t judge us) when a commercial aired that stood in stark contrast to the superficiality of red carpets. It was Bing’s “Women of 2013” commercial, and it was a beautiful love letter to the strong women of 2013. Want to learn more about the women featured in the video? Microsoft has more details and resources on all of them on a special Bing site.
The Governor of New Jersey is in a bit of hot water and currently trying to do damage control. I won’t comment on him or his staff’s behavior but one thing became clear as he spoke. We warn young people that anything they post on social media “is forever” and, as the Governor and his staff have just learned, email is too. Yes, their callous emails about traffic jam payback were there for the taking and, once found by reporters, made public. It was, as the governor put it, “abject stupidity”. Even more stupid was outing their “abject stupidity” into…
Are you a Game of Thrones fan? I am! And if I lived in (or was passing through) Santa Fe, New Mexico any time soon, there is a good chance that I would be privy to something amazing — Season’s 1 – 3 of GoT on the big screen, with guest appearances from George R. R. Martin, himself!
I remember when Doom came out in late 1993, because I’d already gotten hooked into the first person genre with Castle Wolfenstein 3D the previous year. But no one was expecting what came next – during 1994 suddenly the game was everywhere being played by anyone with a powerful enough computer. This week the landmark game turns 20 years old.