It’s cool guys, they have American Spirits in Japan. I love the huge banner above the vending machine. You can just barely see the Native American’s elbow and the ring but there’s the unmistakeable Spirit Blue.

I really need to visit Japan.

Awesome.

I was watching Comedy Central’s InDecision 2008 and out of the blue pops up a picture of Barack Obama. President Elect. I felt like I had gone over a big hill on a roller coaster. I was stunned, it took me a moment to realize that it was not a joke and Obama was president elect.

For the first time since I’ve become a thinking adult I can say “AMERICA (FUCK YEAH!)” without meaning it in a sarcastic way.

Via Reddit

This sort of thing is exactly why I am still worried about this election. It’s not the hick vote, it’s not democrats being lazy on the fourth, it’s mass disenfranchisement perpetrated on behalf of the GOP.

I’m very happy to see that Barack Obama is putting up the fight. We need more fighters on the progressive side.

These sort of things prove just how valuable PBS and other public institutions can be. It’s amazing what you can investigate when you’re not beholden to advertisers.

Oh and by the way, that’s two trailers in the past few weeks that have made great use of the Talking Heads.

An arbitrarily numbered list of things you should check out.

Calling a web developer or designer a web development “ninja” or “samurai” or whatever.

In regards to the first, you know some marketing douchebag realized that lists were wicked easy to write and then made an ebook (probably just a bunch of lists as a pdf) on how to make money through your blog. The idea then spread like wildfire. By the way, I’m not saying the content of the article is necessarily bad. Lists are just annoying.

In regards to the second, there’s not much else to say. It just needs to stop. It’s annoying and lame.

For an example, in this article, under number five, “a CSS and XHTML ninja can always find work”. That article, by the way, is two for two in terms of annoying the hell out of me.

I wonder: just how much one would be able to learn from these files? Other than the typical UFO sighting stuff, I don’t think much. It’s a nice gesture of Open Government but probably not much more than that.

Even still, I think its interesting to read these about these sort of things. Especially in their raw, handwritten form. Complete with big black boxes covering redacted info!

I’ve stolen these images from various sites on the internet. You can read Entertainment Weekly’s (terribly written) cover story on the new film here. I’m not really a person to immediately dismiss any adaptation or remake of a cherished franchise so I go into these things with a very open mind. I’m always willing to give it a shot. With that said, I think Abrams is, so far, doing a bang up job. You can see the image gallery here.

In the EW article I linked to above, Abrams is quoted as saying, “It was important to me that optimism be cool again”. Growing up as a kid, thats what I loved about Star Trek. At it’s heart it’s a very progressive show and the ideals Roddenberry embedded into Star Trek are just as important as Klingons or Romulans or the Federation. I’m glad to see that Abrams gets that part.

Another thing I don’t really care to do is nitpick every last detail. When the teaser trailer (embedded below) was shown in front of Cloverfield, people were up in arms! How could they show the Enterprise being constructed on EARTH! Everyone knows that ships are constructed in a space dock. People on the Ain’t it Cool News forums were going NUTS! Nitpicking to that degree is pointless. Especially, as it turns out, the Enterprise was built on Earth but assembled in space dock. Sometimes people just need to shut up, quit bitching and just deal with your TV show’s fake history being rewritten slightly.

Annnyways, lets talk about these photos. Overall, I think they look pretty awesome. These actors seem to get their characters. Maybe not so much as emulating the original actors but taking the mannerisms that have become much more than just Shatner or Doohan doing their thing and really embracing it. I know its hard to get a good feel from a few photos but when I look at them, I don’t see new characters with the same Trek names, I see new actors playing old characters. That’s very good.

So characters and the uniform designs are pretty damn good. What I don’t like is that bridge. It’s way too bright and is way too Apple Store-ish. That’s a criticism that’s floating about the internet (and one Abrams addresses in the EW article) but I think it’s a valid one.

Overall, I think this looks pretty good but being such a huge fan of Star Trek I’ll see it even if it blows, this just makes it worth it. Can’t wait for the trailer before the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. I’ll see that fucking movie (which actually looks ill) just to see the trailer.

YA JUSS GET IT!!
For chrissakes this woman is out of her mind.