Funnier Star Wars Trailer

From the sublime (previous post) to the silly. Disney recently released the first trailer for the forthcoming Star Wars movie: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.

Saturday Night Live released their own version of the trailer (thanks to the Boston Globe for the link). See Chewie in the cone of shame:

You can also see it here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/723366

 

Go, Buckeye Band!

Back in my high school days in the Buckeye State, I played in my school's marching band—first on clarinet, then bass drum, then snare drum. I vividly remember how difficult it was to keep our marching lines straight, stepping eight to five*, even when the band was just marching down the field. (*Eight to five means eight measured strides to every five yards.) With that in mind, prepare to be impressed when you watch the Ohio State University Marching Band perform a routine they called the Hollywood Blockbuster Show—especially the T-Rex from Jurassic Park!

You can skip the first minute or so, which is the other band getting off the field. Watch in full screen!

  

Starships! — Best Music Video Since Large Hadron Rap*

I love this celebration of over 50 years of starships and their pilots, by bironic, to the tune of Starships Were Meant to Fly, by Nicki Minaj. For better viewing, pop it up to full screen and wear headphones. For best viewing, download it, copy to a USB thumb drive, and play it on a widescreen TV from your Blu-ray player. You'll be glad you did. It encapsulates a lifetime of vividly realized star travel, from Forbidden Planet all the way up to the Star Trek reboot. See how many scenes you can recognize. I got most of them, but a few were from shows that escaped me.


Starships! from bironic on Vimeo.

My daughter Julia put me onto this one. I'd never find this sort of thing on my own. Lucky thing I've got her to keep me current.

(Here's the rather different music video apparently created by the singer. I like the one above better.)

Starships rock!

*If you missed the Large Hadron Rap, check it out, too.

If You Enjoy Air Travel...Don't Do This

When Julia and I flew to the Carolinas, we took Spirit Airlines, about which the only good things I can say are, the tickets were cheap and the plane didn't crash. Did you know there's an airline that charges for carry-on bags—a lot, if you pay in advance, and more if you pay at the airport? (Hint: Spirit Airlines.) And an airline that charges for seat assignments if you want to pick a seat when you book? (Spirit Airlines.) And charges for a boarding pass if you don't go to the little kiosk to print one? (Yes. Spirit Airlines.)

The whole experience reminded of this song, "Cheap Flights":

This is also good:

More Star Trek Fun

With a new Star Trek movie about to open, why not sharpen our critical faculties with a look back at the last movie, in Everything Wrong With Star Trek (2009) In 5 Minutes Or Less:

Almost makes me feel like a character in Big Bang Theory.

Star Trek Fun

This came to my attention from SyFy's Blastr site.

A new car ad from Audi features dueling Spock actors. Zachary Quinto (new Spock) challenges Leonard Nimoy (old Spock) to a little competition in "The Challenge":

The Audi-o is a little low, so you might have to turn up the volume.

Captain Kirk and the Gorn, At It Again

In this promo for a Star Trek video game, William Shatner and his old friend the Gorn (from the Classic Trek episode "The Arena") mix it up in Shatner's living room. I've always had a soft spot for the Gorn. It's good to see him back.

To watch directly on YouTube, click here. 

R'ha — an SF Short Film

A young, German filmmaker named Kaleb Lechowski, 22, has released an all-CGI short film called R'ha that's pretty impressive, especially for an amateur effort. Okay, the story's nothing new, but the visual (and audio) representation are startlingly good. Reportedly, he spent seven months on the computer creating this film with a running time of 6:26. If you're not at work or in a house with people sleeping, turn up the sound a little.

R´ha [short movie] from Kaleb Lechowski on Vimeo.

Apparently the display of film-making talent is generating quite a lot of buzz. More on the story here and here.

A Book Trailer I Can Relate To

One of the hardest things for many writers—beyond, you know, actually writing—is trying to describe your book in just a few words. Here's a funny book trailer that tackles the question head on.The author in this trailer reminds me of my sister-in-law, Suzanne.

Discovered courtesy of The Passive Voice.

One Term More: a Musical Parody

With apologies to my Republican readers (if I have any left). It is a parody.

 

One Term More - With Subtitles from One Term More on Vimeo.

Or view at http://www.onetermmore.com/video_subtitles.html, where it says:

In remarking on the political divisiveness and social unrest of an historically polarizing election and in commenting culturally and metaphorically on Victor Hugo's fictional historic struggle at the barricades of freedom, "One Term More", with deep affection and utmost respect, parodies the inimitable "One Day More!" © Published by Alain Boublil Music Ltd. / ℗ 1985 EXALLSHOW LTD. Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg / Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer from the beloved, internationally acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh Presentation of "Les Misérables" By Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

Best Airline Safety Video Ever!

From Air New Zealand and WETA Workshop (makers of effects for The Hobbit movies).

Watch on youtube

The Sound of Cylons

This is too good not to post. Lovers of Simon and Garfunkel, and lovers of Battlestar Galactica unite!

The Majestic Soaring of Spaceship Two

Here's a lovely video of some flight tests of Virgin Galactic's and Scaled Composite's Spaceship Two. I meant to post this a while back, but I don't think I ever did. Anyway, it's worth watching twice!

Watch on Youtube

A Time-Lapse Video of the Southern Sky

Something to watch while you're waiting for Mars to grow to full size in the viewscreen. Set it to full-screen mode and turn up the sound.


Nocturnal - Scenes of the Southern Night, Western Australia and Chile. from Colin Legg on Vimeo.


Tip of the hat to Astronomy Picture of the Day for this one.

Watch Curiosity Land on Mars in Realie Vision!

NASA's latest wonder-probe to Mars, Curiosity, is scheduled to land on Mars at 10:31 p.m. EDT, on the night of August 5th. Be there, and don't even think about being square. NASA has worked out a way for folks online to experience the event using some kind of 3D software on their computers, and even on their Xbox game sets. Who says NASA doesn't have a sense of wonder? Go here to see all the different activities they've worked out for folks to do in connection with the Mars landing, or here to get set up with the Unity Web Player to experience the landing to full effect. They're encouraging people to start getting set up now, so everyone isn't crashing the servers getting set up on the night of the 5th. Go here if you want to learn more about the mission.

Just how exciting could this landing be? After all, we've landed on Mars before. But not like this. Take a look at this video to see just how difficult this feat really is. If this doesn't get you pumped, better check to see if you still have pulse. Pop it up to full screen if you can.



If you have trouble viewing it on this page, go to the source.

Venus Video Montage

Mars shouldn't get all the glory. I used to travel to both planets regularly in my head, via the great stories I read. One of my favorites, when I was about twelve, was the Tom Corbett Space Cadet book, Revolt on Venus.

Venus just made the last transit across the face of the sun that will be visible from Earth this century. Here's a lovely montage of video images in various wavelengths taken and edited together by NASA. Who says NASA has no poetry in its soul? You can make it full screen for best effect.

View on youtube

And just for fun, here's a time-lapse shot from the last transit, in 2004, showing the International Space Station and Venus making a transit across the face of the sun, almost as if in formation.

by Tomas Maruska