When I was a wee lad still earning my space cadet merit badges, my hands-down favorite books were the then-rare Art of Star Wars series (one book for each of the three original movies).  The glossy books featured a ton of fantastic conceptual drawings, sketches and paintings by Ralph McQuarrie that shaped the look and feel of [...]

If you didn’t catch the release earlier this week, the groovy folks at Symphony of Science have released a new video.  This one features Carl Sagan, Robert Jastrow, Michio Kaku and some Richard Dawkinsy goodness. Now I know you want to get your galactic groove on to the rest of the videos. Man, the song [...]

Hidey ho neighbor!  I know, I know, long time no see with the blogity blog.  Well I’m here to bring you up to date with an entry that’s one part “What I Did on My Summer Vacation”, one part “Contact”, with a pinch “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” and a smudge of “Fear and Loathing in Las [...]

One of my favorite bands in recent years, Black Moth Super Rainbow (who just happen to be from Pittsburgh), is releasing their new album “Eating Us” on May 26.  Like the other BMSR songs, this album has awesometacular song titles like “Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise” (free mp3), “Iron Lemonade” and “Tooth [...]

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Hey all! All relativistic dynamics and no play makes Einstein something something, so I’m glad to be able to write!  Because Facebook makes it so very easy to post things, I’ve been posting things there just about every day.  It’s hard to imagine that my time is measured in mouse “clicks” where I have time [...]

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Check your local listings, don’t forget to subtract an hour for central and mountain time, check for trace amounts of peanuts and all that jazz, but do whatever you need to do to tune in to “Is There Life on Mars” Tuesday night on NOVA, 8pm ET/PT on PBS: After four decades of fly-by probes, [...]

Just watched a rerun of the 1995 movie Heat with DeNiro and Pacino. I really enjoy this movie, but as I watched it this time, I realized that it probably has the best soundtrack ever to accompany a mainstream film. Wow!

Gustav Holst, composer of the famous and influential orchestral suite The Planets, was born on this day in 1874 in Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, England.  His original name was Gustavus Theodore von Holst, but dropped the “von” after World War I started in 1914. The Planets (Op.32) Mars, the Bringer of War Venus, the Bringer of [...]

Yesterday was a beautiful summer day here in the Queen City, and J and I were astonished that we both had it off.  All of my summer classes have ended, and she has a very rare weekend off (but as it turned off had to go into the hospital anyway this morning).  I’ve been aching [...]

Bow down before the pure awesomeness of this video posted by “Lucasberg”  that he took from the Anza Borrego desert park in California. Anza Borrego Night lapse from Lucasberg on Vimeo. Lucasberg: Went out to try to get some Perseids shots and test ISO 3200 and my panning head at night. The 1st clip was [...]