Star Trek Extended TV Spot

Even more footage:

I have been introducing Elena to the Star Trek universe the last couple months in preparation for the big date (no, not that big date), on May 8th. She agreed to watching two movies of my choice. I chose Wrath of Khan and First Contact. She didn't connect so much with the latter because the whole movie relies on references to the massive Next Generation backstory, and resultantly, doesn't do much character development. However, she thoroughly enjoyed Khan!

This multiplies my excitement for the movie knowing I will be able to share the experience with my bride to be. We will probably catch a couple of the original Star Trek episodes before May. Any recommendations? "Trouble with Tribbles" is definitely in there.

Link-O-Rama (3/30/09)

• Mind blowing wall-painted animation:
• 
  MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
• Everyones childhood classic is being translated to the big screen. Where the Wild Things Are. It looks like a lot of fun! I'm intrigued by how the universal themes of Hope, Fear, and Adventure are highlighted. Arcade Fire ("Wake Up") in the trailer is a really good fit too. I'm noticing more and more that the music track used in movie trailers is a big deal for me (For example, I mentioned it recently in regard to Slumdog and Terminator).
• NYT did an article on "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?". For similar reasons I have been embracing the oncoming economic woes (Peak Oil, before the global recession) for years. The Despair will challenge our world views and spark innovation.
• A perfect example of this innovation (which is so simple it seems like it should have been embraced at least a century ago) is the EcoDrain heat exchanger. In a nutshell: Hot water going down the drain pre-warms cold water going into the hot water heater. Seems like a no brainer huh?
• I never expected this song to be used in a mainstream advertisement:
• I'm a loyal Google evangelist, mainly because of the fact that they provide every major resource I utilize online free of charge (email, maps, collaborative documents, calendar, RSS aggregator etc). Consequently, when Googles lead designer resigns it catches my eye. He blames engineer driven data-centrism, which he believes paralyzes the company. Interesting...

What's Your Net Worth

Terminator Salvation

I was not anticipating Terminator Salvation - until today. Truth be known, the NIN track is what really did it for me. EPIC.

The Nine Inch Nails song is The Day the Whole World Went Away on the album Fragile (left).

Despair

If you enjoy that sinking pit of despair in your chest, when the weight of the world seems to bear down on your rib cage, when the pressure of events out of your control clench down on your lungs, when you feel so small and insignificant it feels as if the few gasps that you can produce won't be heard, when the complexity entangles you with such fear you don't know where to turn and you heart shrivels up and feels as if you can never feel life again... then look at these pictures.

Seriously, it's 35 pictures from around the world taken over the last two years titled "Scenes From the Recession".

I genuinely believe the emotions evoked from viewing the pictures are healthy. The reality of the empty hopes and false dreams that this world has to offer will challenge your world view, your aspirations, your faith.

Thoughts? What kind of emotions do these pictures evoke in you?

Link-O-Rama (3/18/09)

I just finished my last final. It's that time:

• Check out these statues in Moscow. I am captivated! It portrays two blind folded children surrounded by 11 pitfalls/sins of society. The idea is that the children cannot be raised in purity because everyone around them is flawed in some way. The whole scene conveys a mix of emotions that is eerie, honest, and heart-wrenching. I love it!
• Everything you need (yes, it's that amazing) to know about the iPhone 3.0 OS over Gizmodo. I am most excited about the ability to communicate with 3rd party hardware. This is seriously the ultimate multi-purpose device that can be tailored to interface with any function no matter what your context is. Ya, "Cut, Copy, Paste" is pretty sweet too.
• Elena's bro (David) introduced me to some sweet chill worship music. Ian Mcintosh:

• I love mass transit therefore I love the sound of $8 billion being invested in America's rail system.
• Google's Tip Jar. Already some good stuff on there. It should prove to be an awesome resource as the community continues to grow.
• How do you like the sounds of a 5K clunker voucher for exchanging your old car and buying a new domestic built car (4K if you buy a foreign made). The bill was introduced by Ohio congresswoman Betty Sutton.
• The Brush & Rinse toothbrush. Brilliant! I'm am seriously considering ordering one (only $1.18). Anyone want to piggyback on the order to save on shipping?

Ignatius

Moving on from political satire to religious satire:

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

This one is courtesy of the Internet Monk.

Brian Fellows: Safari Planet

I'll take a step back from the political satire to relish in the pure comic genius of one of my favorite SNL skits of all time:

Obama's Solution

In leu of my recent theme concerning the Credit Crisis and resulting Real Estate Downfall, I thought I would post an image symbolically portraying our presidents genius solution:

Hitler and the Real Estate "Downfall"

If your still foggy on the intricacies of the whole credit crisis, watch the video I posted yesterday. Now you are prepared to watch the best Downfall parody yet!

Months ago I linked to a parody about the Emergent Church (and included links to some of my other favorite mainstream Downfall parody's). I stumbled across the Real Estate parody on this "top 16" list.

Crisis Of Credit Visualized

Simply Brilliant and Brilliantly Simple:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

SoulPancake

SoulPancake is live!

I'm intrigued for a number of reasons.

First of all, Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) is the sites creator.

As if the first wasn't enough, the mission statement is quite intriguing in and of itself:

We want to make discussions about Spirituality, Creativity, and Philosophy cool again. Were they ever cool? I have no idea. But it seems like a good idea. We want to engage the user to “Chew on Life’s Big Questions”™. (I was kidding about the ™ symbol; you can use that phrase however you want. Even to sell frozen taquitos.) Where do you go on the Interwebs if you want an irreverent, fun, and profound take on God and Art and the Soul and Faith and Beauty? Fox.com? Maybe.

"A Dozen Sayings of Jesus That Will Change the World - If Christians Ever Believe Them"

Dan Edelen has a convicting post on A Dozen Sayings of Jesus That Will Change the World - If Christians Ever Believe Them. If you are daily committing your life to God as a follower of Jesus I encourage you to read them and take them to heart.

Micheal Spencer beat me on the draw posting a link, but added a few key words in light of the post that I think are so important I will quote them here.

These are Jesus’ Kingdom ethics. It’s his amplification of the law, and his picture of what it means to follow him as King.

What’s needed? The cross. The Good News that for all of us who fall short of all of these all the time, there is a place of forgiveness, and a way to live for Jesus even if we can’t follow him perfectly or even consistently.

It's Eurovision Time!

All of the countries have there representatives chosen and are headed to Moscow for Eurovision 2009.

A couple standouts after skimming through this years contestants with Elena.

Finland has a great song and awesome music video (embedding was disabled for the song, so you'll have to follow the link): Waldo's People - Lose Control

Ireland has a unique song with some classic Irish sounds thrown in towards the middle:

And Czech Republic goes all Euro crazy in this one:

My personal favorite from Portugal:

And just for kicks, a couple of my favorite Eurovision classics. Daz Sampson from 2006 and Todomundo from 2007.

4th Star Trek Trailer

It just hit yesterday:

This Trekkies (not to be confused with a Trekker; I'll explain the difference later) excitement is growing!

In other intergalactic news, NASA is launching a sweet new exploration satellite named Kepler. It's mission: to find another earth. You can poke around NASA's official Kepler website.