Transformers: Dark of the Moon was AWESOME!

So I was able to go see a preview showing of Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3D last night at 9pm.  It was made of AWESOME.  A few of my favorite parts (spoiler-free) were:

• Alan Tudyk being in the movie.  This was a very pleasant surprise to me, as I loved him as “Wash” in Firefly/Serenity.  And he’s just as funny/awesome in this movie as well.
• Optimus Prime’s trailer.  FINALLY Prime gets his trailer and all the associated goodies.
• Political potshots at both sides of the fence.  Definitely some funny stuff here.
• John Malkovich is pretty funny (as usual).
• Some new faces, both Autobot and Decepticon, that were cool.

Anyway, the movie is 2 hours and 37 minutes long, so go to the bathroom beforehand and try to pace yourself drinking your soda during the movie.  The 3D I felt was definitely worth it and very cool in several scenes.  This movie made a fitting conclusion to the series.  Go see it.

DARPA wants to go to a galaxy far, far away…

Well, maybe not another galaxy, but at least another star.

DARPA’s new frontier: Distant space travel

From the article:

This isn’t about going to a nearby planet, like Mars. And it’s not about using robotic probes, which doesn’t interest the Defense Department, Neyland said.

But even the nearest star beyond our sun is 25 trillion miles away. The fastest rocket man has built would take more than 4,000 years to get there. This isn’t just about thinking new rocket methods, Neyland said. It’s also about coping with extended life in space, raising issues of medicine, agriculture, ethics and self-reliance, he said.

Pretty cool stuff.  I recommend they read The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, starting with Red Mars.  Even though they were just headed to Mars, it had some pretty good stuff about surviving independently for long periods of time.  Excellent read, too.

And yes, I did just recommend reading a science-fiction book series to get some ideas for an actual space mission.  After all, I hear science-fiction is a precursor to science-fact…

Life on Mars?

So I don’t know why everyone is questioning what this thing is on Mars.  Haven’t they seen Transformers?  It’s clearly a Decepticon base of some sort.  I’m sure this is all Starscream’s fault somehow…

Seriously, though, I’m betting NASA tries to tell us it’s light reflecting off of sand or something.  Can you say “cover-up”?  I knew you could…

Keep your powder dry, people.  Whether it’s little grey men or giant robots, you may need it sooner than you think.

UPDATE:  Hey, I wasn’t far off.  Apparently the image is a linear streak artifact produced by a cosmic ray interfering with the camera.