Mega Shark

One more reason to be afraid of flying: Mega Shark.

Just don’t fuck with Mercury

So, now there’s this info via AHN:

French researchers studying the solar system’s future using computer simulation saw a potential disruption of Mercury’s orbit that may lead to a collision between Earth and Venus billions of years from now.

The result of the study by Jacques Laskar and Mickael Gastineau of the Paris Observatory is published in the Thursday issue of the journal Nature.

The computer simulation involving 2,501 scenarios of planetary orbits led to a large disruption of Mercury’s orbit which in turn disrupted the orbits of the three other terrestrial planets, Venus, Earth and Mars.

At that point, the Earth probably won’t be habitable anyway which is sad too!

Maybe humanity will move underground. Would that even work? No. Maybe we’ll be in space. Yes, we’ll definitely have be in space! And very far away from Earth or else we’re going to get dropped like third period space French.

At least we know how it will all (maybe) end. Let’s hope for some fantastically schlocky sci-fi movies and video games based on this theory before it’s proven wrong.

Note: Above picture is a random image courtesy of this fine site and is meant as a dramatization by the author to depict the dire situation speculated above. I don’t actually think it would really play out like that.

The science party

I went to the party for the Connecticut Science Center last night. It was pretty fun until the live auction started, then it was just non-stop screaming and people running for their cars. Props to auctioneer Scott Haney who acknowledged his “gay for pay” status in Hartford, although no one got the porn reference except my friend Bubbles who thought it was hilarious.

Most of the exhibits are still under construction so I didn’t get to play around as much I as I would have liked. It was fun running around the building though. I was hoping more attendees would have dressed to the science-y theme (my shiny silver pants were fabulous), but everyone was uniformly wearing suburban blandness from Talbots and Ann Taylor. The food was pretty good and the free booze was great. The river views are spectacular and they should have another party on July 4 so we can all watch the fireworks from one of their outdoor terraces.

I didn’t take any photos, but got a quick video with Darth Vader. The Science Center folks were all wearing costumes and performers were stationed throughout the building.

Costumed Star Wars characters seem to be following me around these days.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Having learned my lesson with Sharks in Venice, I’m going to go ahead and temporarily call this “awesome.” Until it’s not.

Boba Fett in Columbus Circle

Spotted on the way home tonight in Columbus Circle. Great evening–spectacular weather made lovelier by musical accompaniment. I wanted to hang around to see if he’d break into a John Williams medley, but I had to move along.

I saw Star Trek

I’ve decided to go and see it again this week, so this is subject to change.

My thoughts…

Read the rest of this entry »

Silent Star Wars

I’m sure you’ll see this 18 times tomorrow, but whatever. It works.

Ba’al: the storm god

One of the best things on television is the made-for-TV “original” movies that the Sci-Fi channel shows a few times a month. They typically feature really low budget special effects, a completely overblown plot, C-List actors earning a paycheck and an ability to film in the cheapest locations and pass them off as someplace else (”Yes, I know this place may LOOK like the Northwest, just outside of Vancouver, but I swear we’re in Iran.”)

I don’t really mind any of that, I just like watching them.

The above animated gif is from last Saturday’s “Ba’al: The Storm God,” wherein Ba’al is so badass, he blows up Big Ben. And, it’s my first attempt at actually making an animated gif. I thought the scene was so powerful, it deserved it.

Basically, in Ba’al, a bunch of archeologists frantically run around the globe (in a small propeller plane) to locate four amulets, which when united at a Ba’al statue, bring Ba’al to life. Every time they find an amulet, a storm happens. When they find all four amulets, all the storms will converge and Ba’al will manifest. Why are they doing this? One of the archeologists is a crazy old man who thinks Ba’al will cure his cancer, the others try to stop him. That’s as good as it gets.

Another notable, but non-animated, aspects of Ba’al:

Jeremy London is the star. I actually thought he was in Dazed and Confused, but it turns out that was his twin brother Jason playing the part of stoner “Pink” Floyd.

Anyway, now he’s very bloated. And also seems stoned.

Ba’al in statue form. Bonus points for faux museum signage:

Ba’al from space:

Space Ba’als? Hmm… I really do think someone could make a slapstick comedy out of this.

This is the scariest that Ba’al gets:

No where near as scary as Taco Bell’s new Volcano Taco:

Sci Fi hottie Lexa Doig gets paid, which is good because she’s awesome:

Crazy old archeologist gets stabbed by Ba’al as he’s bringing him to life. Ouch. Never trust Ba’al.

I am really, really looking forward to watching this week’s movie, Riddle of the Sphinx, which aired last night.

The Mona Leia

From Jim Hance at Strangely Drawn via Neatorama. Check out the website to see other great pop culture-inspired paintings.

Godzilla Visits Hartford

I know Stiles would disagree with me, but I really am getting much better at Photoshop.

Compare Mecha Godzilla in Hartford two years ago:

With today’s masterpiece:

See what I mean?