Moon (2009)

Moon premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is the first film directed by Duncan Jones. I recently got an opportunity to watch the movie and was blown away by its top-notch visual effects and plot. Actor Sam Rockwell is phenomenal as the seemingly insane lone astronaut (Sam Bell) aboard a lunar energy-harvesting station of sorts. As Rockwell's character's three-year-contract aboard the Moon comes to an end, he begins to experience strange events and begins seeing things that are definitely out of place.

Moon is a fantastic movie with a sensational and haunting story. Rockwell resonates emotion and I was hooked by the art direction and amazing atmosphere. If you get the opportunity I highly encourage a watch; it will leave you breathless and shaking.

Director Duncan Jones is not yet finished with his newly created future universe; he plans on revisiting the same timeline in his upcoming movie Mute; in which a woman's disappearance is investigated by her husband, a mute bartender. Sam Bell apparently will make a reappearance.

Check out Moon on RottenTomatoes.com

Download on iTunes

Purchase the Blu-Ray on Amazon.com

Watch Trailer for Moon

Promotional Image for Mute

Abbreviations.com

Aside from being a great time waster, Abbreviation.com is an extremely helpful tool. The site is simple, well designed, and allows for quick searches or in-depth exploration into the wide world of acronyms.

Simply type in the acronym that you do not know the meaning of, and the site will take you to a list of all common abbreviations using those letters. Alternatively, you can also type in random letters and amuse yourself with the often bizarre results. Here are some of my recent favorites:

DADS - Department of Aging and Disability Services

POOP - Pure Object Oriented Programming

GOAT - Geographic Ozone Assessment Technology

HAIR - Hardcore Alternative Indie Rap

Visit the site here

Tetris Furniture

26 years later, the world is still being influenced by the mind-numbing simplicity and fun of Tetris. These stackable and rearrangeable shelves were the idea of Brazillian designer Diego Silvério. When you think about it, the concept of Tetris-block furniture is actually quite brilliant; much like in the game, you can utilize virtually any space to your advantage.

I have not been able to find anywhere to purchase the pieces, but they would make an excellent project in wood-shop.

Another picture

8-Bit Cities

Since I'm a fan of cities, and a fan of old-school video games, I was naturally drawn to M.I.T.-alum Brett Camper's new project. His vision is to make real-world maps of major metropolises that look like video games from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), that is, to make them essentially 8-Bit.

In order to accomplish that goal, Camper put his idea up on KickStarter, a website where projects are funded by everyday people in exchange for trinkets and portions of the completed package. In a mere 2 days, Camper not only reached his goal of $3000 to buy server costs, but exceeded it by several hundred dollars.

He has already done a fully draggable, zoomable, and explorable map of NYC, but is planning to do maps of

• San Fransisco
• Boston
• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• Washington D.C.
• Seattle
• London
• Paris
• An additional 7 cities selected by voters

Camper uses the program OpenStreetMap for his project. The site is a wiki-like map of the world. He plans on doing a total of 15 pixelated maps, so contribute to your city, and vote for it to be transformed into 8-Bit.

Visit Camper's KickStarter Page To Fund, Vote + Contact

Check Out The Completed Map of NYC!

Tron: Legacy

The original sci-fi epic, Tron, released in 1982 was one of the first films to ever make extensive use of computer graphics. Nowadays it looks primitive, but nonetheless the film still maintains a cult-following around the world. The original film starred Oscar award-winning actor Jeff Bridges.

Bridges is back for the sequel, Tron: Legacy, scheduled for a December 2010 release. The esteemed actor will play the same character as he did in 1982, a computer programmer named Kevin Flynn. Although this time around, Garrett Hedlund will be the lead role as Flynn's son. Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett, and John Hurt will also have prominent roles in the sequel.

The coolest thing about Tron: Legacy is that its soundtrack will be entirely composed by French House artists, Daft Punk. In 2009 it was announced that the techno-duo had already finished 24 songs for the movie. It was also reported that they will have a cameo appearance in the movie, sporting their trademark helmets.

Tron: Legacy trailer 1

Tron: Legacy trailer 2

?uestlove Design

This fantastic piece of art was done by an artist named William Pope a.ka. Popephoenix. He is a self-taught artist who is very focused on t-shirt design and illustration.

?uestlove is the drummer for the critically acclaimed hip hop group The Roots. Currently, you can see them live every weeknight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon while they work on their ninth studio album, How I Got Over, due out June 2010.

Please, please, please head over to Popephoenix's blog to check out more of his incredible designs.

Did You Know?

This is cool, creepy, and depressing at the same time. Very hard to believe.

Paul Pierce's Tattoo

Paul Pierce has a tattoo on his back that not many people know about. It's a depiction of a heart with wings and lettered below is, "Chosen One."

But isn't Lebron the Chosen One? Doesn't matter I suppose.