"It is the struggle itself that is most important. We must strive to be more than we are. It does not matter that we will not reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own reward."
- Gene Roddenberry

-Jon
posted by Jon at 5:01 PM  I   I  0 comments

Tom Eckert is a professor of art at Arizona State University. He likes to carve incredibly realistic sculptures of everyday objects. He carves books, and china plates, and cloth napkins. They look like real books and china plates and napkins, but they are, in fact.... made of wood.

Here's Tom Eckert's website. You can view photos of his work here, as well as watch a interview with him. He has fantastic talent! His sculptures are amazing! Go take a look.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 11:43 PM  I   I  0 comments

Seth Godin offers a great reminder for all of us who have an audience:

"At a party the other day, I saw a dead TV monitor. On the screen it said something like, "No signal... check power, cable and source selection..."

posted by Jon at 1:21 AM  I   I  0 comments

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
- Steve Jobs

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:29 PM  I   I  0 comments

To celebrate the release of the movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness", the art blog Blurppy invited fans to create their own movie posters. And they did; with great creativity and style! Take a moment and check out the entire collection of fan-made Star Trek movie posters. It's a whole lot of awesome!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 8:49 PM  I   I  0 comments

I'm watching an early-morning re-broadcast of a History Channel documentary called "Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe". It's about the science behind this weekend's USA premiere of the movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness" [spoilers!]. This documentary features behind-the-scenes on-set filming clips, scientist interviews, the real-life physics of Star Trek, clips from the movie, and more.

It's a fascinating look at both the movie, as well as humanity's passion for the stars, astronomy, and the exploration of that vast frontier that surrounds our planet.

If you want to know why I adore Star Trek so much, it can be summed up in one word: "curiosity".

If Star Trek could inspire thousands of today's scientists, physicists, astronomers, writers, actors, directors.... (the list goes on), then count me among those intellectual dreamers. Space is our final frontier. Star Trek is a manifestation of our curiosity about that vast undiscovered frontier.

I am, therefore, proud to consider myself a dreamer among the stars, a life-long Trekkie, and someone who's passion for the unknown is shared by some of the greatest minds known to mankind. Feed my curiosity, J.J. -- I'm ready!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 2:11 AM  I   I  0 comments

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert Einstein

-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:48 AM  I   I  0 comments

Earlier this week, International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield handed over command to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. Before he returned to Earth, though, Chris said farewll to the ISS with a revised version of David Bowie's 1969 song Space Oddity. The guitar and vocals in this video were recorded in space.

I consider this one of the coolest music videos I've ever seen. What are your thoughts?

-Jon
posted by Jon at 12:29 AM  I   I  0 comments

About 472 billion LEGO bricks have been made in the last 55 years (starting in 1958). And that number is increasing by 36 billion per year. With that many bricks you could build the 74 full-size Empire State Buildings, or 200 Buckingham Palaces.

Take a peek at what else you could built with every single LEGO Brick in the world.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 11:21 PM  I   I  0 comments

 

I love my country; I am, without a doubt, United States Proud! But one thing that always annoyed me is how so many of our celebrities destroy our national anthem while trying to give it their own unique vocal flavor. "The Star Spangled Banner" is a piece of American history. It's inspirational. It's bigger than self. Sing it with pride and respect.

That being said, here is one of the best modern renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner" that I have ever heard. It is sung with respect and chill-inducing power by a modern rock band called "Madison Rising"; the lead singer is a military veteran.

Give this a watch/listen, and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: 
I love this comment by "W.J. Boyd" on the Youtube comments for this video:

"In my mind, and in my heart, I will keep two versions of The Star Spangled Banner: One, as traditionally and loving played and sang, for it is the one that will play at my funeral when my time on Earth has ended. Then there's this one that I will totally enjoy while I'm alive, because the passion behind this new version was the same kind of passion Francis Scott Key intended for it when he wrote it."

I couldn't agree more.

-Jon 


posted by Jon at 11:22 PM  I   I  0 comments