Enjoy, and feel free to add your own...

YouTube - Star Wars Music Video

ht to http://www.sheldoncomics.com/

I love, love, love the Geekdad Blog. They consistantly have stuff that makes me wish I were geekier than I am. Here some software I wish I had written:

Here's the website where you can download it.

I love an interesting/good musical duet. That's especially true when you get artists together that don't usually go. Crossroads on CMT usually does a good job at creating this situation. That's where I first saw James Taylor and The Dixie Chicks sing together and that YouTube video inspired this post. What are some duets that pop out at you or that you'd like to see?

The Forbidden Kingdom is coming out April 18th. Jet Li + Jackie Chan = Greatness?

From wikipedia,

"Filming was completed on August 24, 2007 and it went into post-production on September 29. As of April 2007 the film is officially titled The Forbidden Kingdom, before it had been often referred to as The J & J Project (Because it's the first joint project between Jackie Chan and Jet Li). Director Rob Minkoff (who previously helmed such films as The Lion King and the Stuart Little films) will be behind the camera while Yuen Woo Ping will handle the fight choreography. Film studios Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company, will share distributing duties."

Thanks to Danny of Nothing Important I've learned about a new instrument (new to me anyway), the hang. It's like a steel drum siamese twin.

Tomorrow would have been Mr. Fred Rogers' 80th birthday. As such it has been designated Won't You Wear A Sweater? Day.

YouTube - Mister Rogers: "Won't You Wear a Sweater?" Day

I didn't really watch Mr. Rogers much as a kid, I was more of an Electric Company fan. Still I'd be a cynical old fart if I didn't acknowledge what that man did and encouraged. Imagination is a HUUUUUGE part of my life and it was key to his life and ministry. Yes I'm almost positive that he viewed what he did as God's work. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister and elected (heh) to work in TV rather than preach.

So, it may be hot where you are, it may not, but consider putting on that sweater, taking a picture of you in it, and thinking of the power of imagination and what it was like to be an innocent kid building worlds with your toys, books, and just maybe a nice man in a cardigan.

Pat sent me this vid. Watch it and let's talk.

I touched on the idea of alien life and whether or not it exists very briefly thanks to Janet and Sid also had a few thoughts. This video, though it of course proves nothing, does set things into perspective.

My love for Guillermo is a deep and possibly unholy thing.

AMC - Blogs - SciFi Scanner - SciFi Dept: Sequels You'll Never See

Early John Carter on Mars test from the thirties.

For those of you that don't get it (which may be more of you than I think), I present Podcasting in Plain English by Common Craft.

Enjoy.

Coolest. RC Toy. Ever.

Geekdad - Wired Blogs

I loved the first Hulk movie. I loved that it was artsy. I loved that the monster was this great big CGI cartoon and not Lou Ferrigno (or HHH or whoever) in green body paint. I loved that it was about Banner's Daddy issues.

Looking at this trailer though I think I'm gonna love this too. Just for a few different reasons.

The Incredible Hulk Trailer 2

Okay so first things first. Some of you may remember us getting Brownie the dog who fell in da pit. Well he and Tempe (our Pyrenes mix) love to play tag. The size ratio is 10:1.

Second of all if you'll look over on my flickr sidebar you'll see that I did indeed get my beer in the bottles. Once I'm sure they're reasonably stable and am able to taste one I may be sending some out to the universe. Rhodester, Pat, and Ben I'm looking at you guys. Send me your addresses if you want one. Quantities are limited. Operators are standing by.

Thirdly.you should try Festina Peche by Dogfish Head. It's about as tart as any beer has a right to be. This is not a fru-fru fruity beer. It's incredibly refreshing. It won't be my go to summer beer since it ain't cheap, but it's well worth checking out. What is my go to summer beer? Well in years past it's pretty much been Sam Adam's Summer Ale, but I tried Shock Top by A-B (I know I know) and it is indeed worthy and inexpensive.

UPDATE - And like that, he's dead. George Carlin passed away yesterday from complications due to a heart attack from what I hear. He will be missed.

George Carlin is set to be the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. I didn't know there was such a thing. Apparently it's only been around for eleven years. The comedians that have won it to date are:

1998 - Richard Pryor
1999 - Jonathan Winters
2000 - Carl Reiner
2001 - Whoopi Goldberg
2002 - Bob Newhart
2003 - Lily Tomlin
2004 - Lorne Michaels
2005 - Steve Martin
2006 - Neil Simon
2007 - Billy Crystal
2008 - George Carlin

PBS will be broadcasting the awards in Novemeber. That's a pretty good list right there. Granted there are a whole bunch of funny folk that could be there. Carlin is certainly one of the funniest folks I know that are still drawing breath. He informed the sense of snark I have, thankfully balanced by a love of The Cos and Jerry Clower. I listened to every comic album I could lay my hands on by all three of these guys.

So before I bless you with some youtubery of the greatness that is Carlin, who has yet to be on the list that should be? Who will be on there in twenty-five years? Is there anyone that shouldn't be?

My answers and some vids after the jump.

I love this "sport". Parkour's a cool man vs. environment puzzle. It aims to figure out the most efficient way to travel from point A to point B. Maybe it is, maybe not. It also looks like excellent training if you want to be Spiderman (who doesn't?) or a second story man. This is one guy's solo training exercises. I'm glad he left the ambient sounds intact.

Parkour - Simple Truths from Danny Pack on Vimeo.

Parkour - Simple Truths - Parkour on Vimeo

This is an excellent talk by J.J. Abrams about his love for mystery boxes and what that means. This and Harry's gushing over meeting with Abrams and getting to see Star Trek footage give me hope for the franchise reboot.

J.J. Abrams' mystery box | Video on TED.com

I am SOOO ready for this movie. The fact that GDT is doing The Hobbit (unconfirmed rumor)and that Ron Perlman will no doubt play some part in that, hopefully voicing Smaug at the very least(/unconfirmed rumor) cranks my geek up to twelve.

Ganked from Hollywood Born: Booyah!

Oh and then there's this piece of loveliness:

but you'll get better if you KEEP WORKING!

This seems blatantly obvious, but it's good to hear it from someone I respect and enjoy like Ira. Here he shows us a little of how bad he has been and I like the message that, you do what you do because you want to improve the medium in which you work. That's exactly why I write.

I love to read and I see so much dross in Christian fiction and I want to get some good stuff out there. He says that so many people quit because they realize that they're bad. The solution? Keep working. Work more, work harder. Do not quit. You will improve.

This echoes things that I've heard from Mur Lafferty and the NaNoWriMo folks. Give yourself permission to be bad for a while, only so it will push you harder to improve. I am striving to be a better writer, not just of fiction, but in general and the only way I'll do that is to keep at it and try and learn from folks that are further up the skill ladder.

That's why I try and remain open to rejection and hard criticism. You can't let that shake your confidence. You have to turn it around into creative energy, drive, motivation. If you think my work sucks, tell me. I will try and make it better.

HT to Lifehacker