Zoë Keating is Phenomenal

I stole that title directly from Wheaton’s site.  No apologies.  You’ll understand after you watch.

Quoth the Wheaton:

See that MacBook next to her? She uses that to sample herself several times to build a rhythm, and then she plays over it, like a one-woman string quartet. Or quintet. Or awesometet. I didn’t realize this the first time I heard her; I just thought her music was haunting and beautiful, but once I knew what she was doing, I was awestruck. In fact, knowing how she does it, I defy you to listen to it again and keep your jaw off the floor.

So you don’t have to watch her for the whole 7 min.  Just watch her for a bit and then let it play in the background.  Or better yet, don’t take your eyes off her once!

Wonder if I can get her permission to sample some of her music for the astronomy podcast this October.

Routine

So it’s been a while since I’ve written.  I’ve had so many things going on that the blog had to move to the back of the must-do line.  Well, I’ve been caught up for several days now but I still haven’t been able to get back into any routine.

I had a fantastic time on the trip and I’m pleased with all the people who went.  I will post a full report soon.

In the meantime, there are so many things happening astronomically right now that I feel WAY behind in that area.  I’m probably going to take care of catching up with some of those things first.  I’m sure as soon as I start writing again I’ll bombard you with stuff.

The Wild Green Yonder

Oooooooooo!   You know what this post is about, don’t you?!?!?

The final Futurama DVD is being released on February 24, and from the reviews I’ve read from the pre-release screening at the NY Comic-Con, it could be the best of the series.  There’s a very good write-up about it over at io9.com. Here’s a snipet:

And as always, since the Futurama writing team is stocked with more Harvard math majors than Texas Instruments, there’s a couple of science references clearly meant for about .01% of the audience. Personal favorite: a space-zamboni buffs the rings of Saturn, while a sign in the background reads “Mind The Keeler Gap.” That being the 42-kilometer wide gap in Saturn’s A-ring, not a nod to Futurama/Simpsons scribe Ken Keeler. Hey guess what, Keeler majored in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University!

When a beloved series ends it leaves a gaping hole in the hearts of its fans.  Occasionally this prompts the creators to step out on a limb and produce some extra content that runs in the theaters.  There are many examples — Star Trek, X-Files, Twin Peaks, Powerpuff Girls, Star Trek again, Cowboy Bebop.  Would Scooby-Doo fit on that list?  How about Batman?

Anyway, the masterminds behind Futurama chose to instead produce movies that went direct-to-DVD, probably a good move since they had several full-length scripts in the works.  If they were going to do a one-shot, like the Simpsons movie, then the theaters would have definitely been the way to go.  But I don’t think movie-goers would have supported more than a couple of trips to the theater, especially considering how forgetful Bender’s Game was.  So rather than start one in the theater and then looking like it had been a failure by releasing the others to DVD, the folks in charge did the right thing by putting each of these gems straight into the DVD market where they can stand on their own and can become underground classics — which in many cases makes them even more popular in the future than traditional money-makers.

So awesome!  I really hope this one lives up to the hype and gives us a lot of quality lines to quote to our geeky friends that’ll confuse all the ‘normal’ folks who really should just give up and go back to their Biggest Loser obsessions and Friends reruns.  Go geeks!

I’m going to see Ben Stein

So I know he’s famously controversial with his scientific opinions, but c’mon!  Who can deny that they don’t find his voice soothingly hypnotizing!  And he’s coming to a college campus near me.  So if you’d like to join me, here’s the info:

Ben Stein
February 10, 2009, 7:30 p.m.,

Harding University, Searcy AR

He’ll be talking in the Benson Auditorium — and there’s no admission fee.  Here’s a map.  (It’s located in the middle of the academic buildings.)

So with all the heat he’s gotten from the scientific blogging community, why would I go?  Because I want to hear what he has to say.  Ben Stein is a brilliant man who has served Presidents and written many highly acclaimed books.  I’ve been wanting to meet him for a very long time.  Long before he upset so many folks.

But at this point I’m not going to give any sort of opinion of my own toward anything he may have said.  I want to listen to him myself and review his motives and his actual words to my own satisfaction.  Hopefully, I’ll even get to ask him a question or two at the end of his talk.

Hmmmmm.  Listening to a man before passing  judgment…  Would you ask anything less of me?

If you’d like to go listen with me, I’d love to have you.  Seriously!  Let me know ahead of time and we’ll meet up someplace.  Should be an interesting evening one way or the other.  Oh, and I’ll be sure to take good notes and report back what happens to my blog.  Promise!

Just for you, Dave!

This hawsome pic is of Mt. Rainier near Seattle.

See those tornado-like puffy things?  They’re lenticular clouds.  I gleaned this pic from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, though it’s not really about astronomy.  (Aaaah, they do that sometimes.)  Anyway, go over there for tons more information!

And Dave, should you see something like this you really should take a picture for us.  ‘k?