I think Springtime Positivity has finally caught up with me now that the Springtime Pollen of Negativity has spent itself and released me from its Deadly Grip, because I feel like my mind has cleared and I am Excited about stuff for the first time in a long time since last time. Firstly, more than the new Star Trek movie or the Iron Man or Great Gatsby or Before Midnight or anything like that, moviewise, I am officially one million percent hyper-mega-ultra-jacked about the new Fast & Furious movie, with cars. Check out this picture I have included, which reveals part of the movie—not Spoilering anything, in my opinion—and I [...]
Buckle up, space nerds, and cue up the "Star Trek" theme song in your iPod. (Since that's currently leading NASA's contest to pick music for astronauts to listen to on the space shuttle's next flight. Much cooler, though: space stoners have pushed Steppenwolf into second place.) Because, amazingly, some of you will be able to buy a ticket for a flight into low-earth orbit as soon as 2015. That's very soon! (Although not as soon as the predicted discovery of Earth 2.)
"The burst was so bright when it first erupted that our data-analysis software shut down. So many photons were bombarding the detector each second that it just couldn't count them quickly enough. It was like trying to use a rain gauge and a bucket to measure the flow rate of a tsunami … When I first saw the strange data from this burst, I knew that I had discovered something extraordinary. It was an indescribable feeling when I realized, at that moment, that I was the only person in the whole universe who knew that this extraordinary event had occurred." -Phil Evans, a postdoctoral research assistant at the [...]
So you heard how the waves got big enough this week-averaging over 20 feet in height-at Oahu's famed Waimea Beach to hold the prestigious Eddie Aikau big wave surfing contest for the time in five years? San Clemente, California's Greg Long won the event by riding the "monster drop" of the day, a 40-foot wave that broke during the competition's final heat. Totally awesome, for sure. Also awesome is the above video, put together by the contest's sponsors that assembles footage of the biggest waves and craziest wipeouts from The Eddie over the years. The song that makes the soundtrack is good. It's called "Land of the Lost," [...]
It does not sound like anything I would have been interested in, and you may easily feel the same way. And yet, "The Art of the Samurai," just put up on view at The Met, is an exquisite, do-not-miss, unbelievable exhibition-even for those of us who know absolutely nothing about Japan, ancient or recent history, ferrous metallurgy and/or war. At heart, this exhibition is actually about super fabulous outfits! I mean, mind-blowing, 400-year-old, space-age, unbelievable, gorgeously-made rock star outfits, constructed from hay-smoked deer leather and steel and silk and gold.
