It's Monday. Monday's suck. Let's make this Monday a little less awful. IT'S TIKI TIME!

I... I don't have anything else to add to this. To my friend Jian, who is now the proud(?) owner of this incredible/awful tattoo... cheers? Your tattoo has made you internet-infamous!

As seen on Geekologie, The Daily What, and a ton of Tumblrs, including the guy who made this thing real.

There's a new Symphony of Science video! Now, admittedly, we prefer songs about the end of the world. But the beginning of the universe is pretty mind-blowing, too. Watch, enjoy, get your nerd on.

Does anyone want to know what is way freakier than old-school Soundgarden videos?



Didn't think that was possible, did you? WELL IT IS.

Read these seven not-so-lucky-words: ‘It could swallow our solar system whole’

Now who, you may ask, could possibly think a bunch of star stuff* is so appetizing that they would throw it in a blender and call it gravy for Thanksgiving dinner?

Hint: It's not this guy. Or this guy.

Wait for it... wait for it...

M87 bitches!  RAAAAAWWWWWRRRR


...and you thought supermassive black holes only existed in soundtracks for terrible fake-vampire movies (which you will never ever see linked to in this blog).

Let's get the facts on this mother-of-all-black-holes:

• It "lives relatively close by -- just 50 million light-years away."

• It "weighs in at 6.6 billion suns, making it the local universe's heavyweight champ." 

• "The black hole's event horizon—the edge from within nothing can escape, not even light—is four times as large as the orbit of Neptune, the outermost planet in our solar system." 

• It uses a JET PACK. Yes, I just said JET PACK.

And what makes this beast M87 even more gnarlier is the possibility that it was formed "as a result of hundreds of smaller black holes merging into one at some point in the past."

Bottom line: Because of M87's ginormous size, this discovery gives us hope that in the very near future, astronomers may be able to detect the edge of its event horizon, ultimately leading to our ability to "see" black holes.

M87: We know you're out there. And we know you don't stick to a very planet-friendly diet.

Busted.

Okay, kids. Chew on that for a while. Before you get chewed on by the rudest next door neighbor ever.


*not be confused with frog stuff. though they sound a shit-ton like each other.

According to a release from the Associated Press via Apple, South Korean director Park Chan-wook is going to release a new movie in his home country Jan. 27. The film, "Paranmanjang," breaks new ground in filmmaking -- it's filmed entirely using the iPhone. The plot seems sufficiently twisted, but I'm going to stick with the technical side of things. Click that AP/Apple link to read more about the plot.

As you can see in the behind-the-scenes promo video below, they didn't simply point and click to "film" this 30-minute thriller. There's a sophisticated lens attachment system and of course appropriate dolly and lighting equipment for a major cinematic release. Even with this, make-up, costumes and the other trappings of a film set, Park still managed to keep the film's budget around $133,000. (For comparison, the Troma classic B-movie "The Toxic Avenger" had a budget of about $475,000.)

This will definitely change how movies, especially shorts, are made. Knowing Park from his previous work (Oldboy, Thirst), it'll probably mess with your head in ways far beyond "how-in-the-hell-did-he-do-that-with-a-phone?"

*Please pardon the Engrish on the video title. I just realized it calls the movie a "firm." I blame Google for the bad translation.




WOW. I definitely want to make a music video with my phone now! Granted, it doesn't look easy, and I can't even imagine how complicated the capture/edit process could get, but I'm seriously impressed and can't wait to try my hand.

Anybody got a script or any ideas they want to throw my way for a potential Lenorable music video? Let's get weird on a budget.

Hi, friends!

This week, let's take a walk through the Den of Geek's wonderful world of sci-fi corridors!

I think my favorite is the skeletal corridor:

"...as we enter the bone-ridden and gruesome imagination of H.R. Giger, and the skeletal corridor leading to the space-jockey inside the alien derelict. Dank, dark and positively dripping, there's something quite Victorian about this section of set; with the cantilevered arches finishing off in boney protrusions, it's like being inside some dank and rotten musical instrument..."


Astronaut Woman: "Honey, do you think we could get this wallpaper in charteuse?"

My most favored sci-fi corridor was from Logan's run. Until I realized that if I was really there, I would have already been convinced to throw myself into a giant human-laser-popcorn machine like 5 months ago. That's uplifting.

On the bright side, there's always a chance to have a tinfoil dance party with BOX!


In other spacey news, I found the most amazing fake Jonathan Frakes Twitter account in the entire universe. How do I know it's a faux Frakes? Well, according to The Blog for Fandom Conventions, it was "called out by Wil Wheaton as a total fake."

Busted.

Lucky for us, fake Jonathan Frakes' profile is still active and available! What does fake Jonathan Frakes have to say on his fake Twitter account? Well, he ponders meaningless questions, like:

"Diet Coke with lemon - didn’t that used to be called Pledge?"

and...

"If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?"

and...

"Couldn't you guys ask about some better foods? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0pxUR6ZvM8"

Want to know where the real Jonathan Frakes is? Then don't go milling around Rikers Island bakery, a NYC prison bakery. That's where fake Jonathan Frakes hangs out -- or is at least linking to -- not the real one. Unfortunately, Rikers' bread (not to be confused with Rikers' beard) is only available to other prisons in the city, not the public. No worries! They've got you covered with their Rikers Island Carrot Cake Recipe (makes 25 loaves).

Fake Jonathan Frakes' humble Twitter beginnings commenced in December of 2009 - a little over a year ago. Unfortunately, the last Tweet from fake Jon Frakes was on Monday, November 9th, 2010 at 2:53:17am:

"I once knew a man who gave up beef, sweets and soft drinks. He was the picture of health right up to the day he killed himself!"

We are saddened by our beloved fake Commander's departure from this social networking platform. We wish him the best on his voyage through life, and may his sticks of butter prosper.

We leave this inspirational video in memoriam:




That's all, kids. Now go read up on dark energy, or something.