This is Getting Ridiculous

GlobalFlyer

So, yet again, our fair state has worked its way into the news. Scaled Composites (SpaceShipOne won the Xprize, remember?) has designed a plane sponsored by Virgin Atlantic that hopes to set a record for the first nonstop solo flight around the world.
Holy shit. In case you missed it the first time, let me say that again. One(1) guy is trying to make it around the entire planet Earth in an airplane without stopping or refueling in any way, shape, or form. But what does that have to do with Kansas? Those crazy bastards have decided that because of its central location in the US and its two miles of primary runway, the Salina Municipal Airport is where this modern epic of circumnavigation will both begin and end. We rule! The GlobalFlyer took off at about 6:47 pm on Monday evening and, if all goes well, should touch back down sometime around 2 am on Friday morning.
Wait. That's only about 80 hours flight time. That's right... Around the World in 80 Hours! Take that H. G. Wells! Even though this won't be the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth (The Concorde has made it around the world in 31.5 hours), they stopped to refuel 6 times and had two pilots. Lousy Frogs.
As for Scaled Composites, itself, all I have to say is this; they are probably the most innovative aeronautics company in the world today. The GlobalFlyer is made entirely of a sandwich of graphite/epoxy and Aramid honeycomb skin stretched over a super stiff carbon-fiber frame. In other words, there is no metal at all in the plane's fuselage, and that is just really cool. But in aeronautics (as well as in everyday life) "really cool" isn't generally an indicator for success. But don't worry, the GlobalFlyer shares a portion of its sponsorship, design, and testing personel with the incredible SpaceShipOne; renowned adventurer Steve Fossett (check out www.stevefossett.com) is piloting the craft; and, damn it, we're about due. So in about 4 days, expect to see me going apeshit on this blog. Until then:

Ora et labora.

Falcon out

A Very Long Oscar Rant

Oscar night is upon us yet again, but something seems different this year. What could it be? Wait... I've got it! This is by far the most lackluster year at the Oscars in recent memory. The Best Picture nominees only sold 38 million tickets combined this year. Titanic sold 105 million by itself. Honestly now, that discrepancy is just obscene. And the hits don't stop coming... "Accidentally in Love" is up for an Oscar. That's right! The Counting Crows actually have a pretty decent chance of going home with one of the most prestigious awards in film making. What's even more pathetic is the fact that nothing else has been produced in this entire YEAR that is any better. Counting Crows will probably win the award, as their song is no worse than any of the others but, unlike the others, "Accidentally in Love" actually gets in your head and stays there for a brief, annoying instant. Dark times. Dark times.
You know the Oscars are going to be boring simply based on the amount of work that the Academy has put in trying to amp up the show this year. They have done everything from extending the stage into the audience to hiring Chris Rock to host in an effort to "VMA-ify" the show a bit. The only thing you can rested assured of is the fact that those pompous asses aren't going to make the show any shorter. The Academy is populated by the most self-indulgent, egomaniacal, blowhards in Hollywood. And most inhabitants of Hollywood are pretty bad to begin with. Gathering together the most conceited members of this gated community is like forming Top Gun but with Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon instead of Maverick and Goose. "Make the show shorter? Are you kidding? We are the goddamn Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Those godless plebeians will give us every last second of their aimless lives that we see fit to steal and like it." Lousy robber-barons...
I don't really have much in the way of predictions but I do have some idea of who I'd like to see win. Here's a neat little list for anyone who cares:

Pic: Ray
Actor: Jamie Foxx/Don Cheadle (Don Cheadle is one of the most underrated actors ever. He always goes above and beyond what his character should contribute in every single one of his movies. But he won't win; Foxx was perfect in Ray. I just wish they would give him "runner-up" or something.)
Actress: Kate Winslet
Animated: The Incredibles
Cinematography: House of Flying Daggers
Effects: Spiderman 2
Writing: Eternal Sunshine
Sound: The Incredibles

Well this post has turned into a monstrosity so I shall cut it off here. Until next time noble viewers:

Sum asinus asinorum in saecula saeculorum.

Falcon out

I am a Nerd

So normally I wouldn't make two posts in one day, but today is special. Microsoft has seen fit to allow Sumthing Else Music Works to publish the Fable soundtrack in the U.S. "Why should I care," you ask? Well for starters, it's probably the best video game soundtrack I have heard in a long time (the only real challenger recently is Katamari Damacy). If you need further evidence, consider this; Danny Elfman graced the title theme with his unique style and the London Symphony Orchestra produced the rest of the score. The result is a soundtrack that rivals most major motion pictures' scores. It is a beautiful thing. So until next time:

Vinum et musica laetificant cor.

Cpt. Hector Ramirez out

A Return to Kicking Ass

Phil Kline

So good ol' Kansas is in the news again. Surprisingly enough it's because of something negative. Imagine that. Apparently Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline is attempting to demand the names, medical records, and sexual history of over 90 women from two clinics in Kansas in order to "investigate possible child rape or illegal abortions." Coincidentally, Mr. Kline is also a staunch opponent of abortion. Investigating 90 cases at once, eh Phil? Sounds more like a witch hunt to me. This only furthers my theory that if you name your child Phil, you are consigning him to the lifelong pursuit of being an asshole... Sorry, that just really pissed me off and I needed to vent.
On to the topic at hand. In case you hadn't heard, outer space kicks ass. Doug Shane, the VP of Scaled Composites (the company who won the Xprize), came to speak at the Lied Center and Matt and I went to see him. If you have no idea what the Xprize is, then you missed out on one of the coolest competitions in the modern world. After he explained the whole operation, Shane showed the video of their second suborbital flight and I got all giddy like some little kid on Saturday morning after five bowls of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. I really hope someone *cough, Bush, cough* can stoke the sparks of interest in space exploration into some sort of unholy conflagration so that we can once again assert why America kicks everyone else's ass like it's our job when we actually get behind something. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be one of modern America's strong suits. All we can seem to do is bomb piss-ant countries and watch American Idol. We need a return to the scrappy, idealistic, balls-to-the-wall America of yesteryear. The eat a bucket of coal and shit out a diamond America. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Mars rover missions and the probe we sent to Titan, but I want the moon. More specifically, I want a moon colony. Led by a self-aware computer. And then I want it to revolt and hurl huge rocks at the Earth as its opening salvo in a bid for its independence. I mean, come on, is that too much to ask? I think not. So until next time remember:

Ad astra per aspera, bitches.

Hector Ramirez out

Trading a Puma for a Cougar

Zach & Ben

Back in 2003 the Apple people on campus hosted the first ever iMovie film festival. Over 40 groups participated in making movies that were under 10 minutes and edited entirely in iMovie. Three of my friends and I decided that we had a good idea for a short movie and so we made a flick called "The Backseat" for this contest. We ended up getting second place, but we were ultimately unsatisfied with the end product; we had to cut out a lot of stuff that we thought was really funny and/or helped the story along. This is to say nothing of the fact that we also had to edit it entirely in iMovie. While iMovie is not a bad program by any stretch of the imagination, we were trying to do things with it that were somewhat beyond what the designers had intended for this entry-level program. Why am I mentioning this, you ask? My roommate Matt (one of the before mentioned, illustrious three) has recently decided that he will no longer play Halo 2 during the week and instead focus his efforts on "getting shit done." Despite my reminding him that killing and demoralizing 12 year olds in Halo via the magic of the internet is technically a form of "getting shit done," he stuck by his guns and, consequently, our house has become a relatively Halo-free zone of late. The up side to all of this is that he has decided that, as soon as he finishes his current video project, we shall start work on giving The Backseat the treatment that we had envisioned for it three long years ago. We have the tools. We can rebuild it; make it better, stronger, faster than before. So while I shall miss all of those late night games of Capture the Flag, a Special Edition of The Backseat seems like a very acceptable trade-off. Plus (as much as I hate to admit it) we were playing Halo almost every day. We were turning into "those guys." *shudder* So I guess a little less Halo won't kill anyone. So until next time, remember:

Dosis facit venemon

Falcon out

Hold on to your butts...

First post... yeeeeeeeee haw! Already I can feel the power of this miraculous web-based publishing tool coursing through my veins. Yeah. Right. So here I sit, 2:30 in the morning, with the ominous feeling that most of my posts will occur around this godforsaken time of the morning. You see, I have a real problem with going to sleep and consequently I lie awake at night simply rehashing the events of the day over and over and over. Call it insomnia, or chalk it up to my being a "night person," or whatever; I simply prefer to think that I can NOT, for the life of me, turn my brain off when it's "bed time." I guess that's the real reason I started this blog... as an "idea dump." I hate the word "blog," by the way. I know it's a simple contraction, but seriously, couldn't they have called it something that didn't sound like onomatopoeia straight out of some sloppy, godawful swamp? But I digress. I don't generally expect that there will be anything too terribly intelligent written here, so if you were expecting some wonderful oasis of true blogging prowess, you are SOL. Sorry. I guess I don't really have anything else to say, so I guess on that note I will call it a night. Until next time remember:

Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit

Falcon out