The Art Of Ralph McQuarrie

Cloud CityRalph McQuarrie is perhaps best known for his art related to the Star Wars trilogy. However, until I visited his online gallery, The Art of Ralph McQuarrie, I didn’t realize how prolific he was. The website “presents another side of Ralph McQuarrie, including his original artwork created for various venues including Movie Poster Art, Book Cover Art, Theme Park Rides, and Film Conceptual Designs.” Pretty cool…

Cheney Needs A Timeout

I’m sure that everyone heard about Dick Cheney telling Senator Leahy to “Fuck off” on the Senate floor. I was sorely tempted to post about it, but it seemed like old news by the time I got around to it.

Anyway, Cheney’s slip was cast back into the spotlight when 12-year old Ilena Wexler, who “won a speaking role for launching a Web site called kidsforkerry.org,” addressed the Democratic Convention last night. According to ClickOnDetroit,

Wexler told delegates that she’d heard about Cheney’s heated exchange with Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor – during which Cheney used what the 12-year-old calls “a really bad word.” She said if she used that word herself, she’d get a “timeout” – and she thinks that’s what should happen to Cheney.

I think he deserves a timeout for some other things as well, but that’s another story. This is obviously a publicity stunt, but I still think it’s funny…

Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith

George Lucas officially announced that the title of the next Star Wars movie is Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. I kind of figured that earlier rumors that the title would be Birth Of The Empire would prove to be false, and this kind of falls in line with the early title of Return Of The Jedi, which was renamed from Revenge Of The Jedi. Revenge Of The Sith is still set to open May 19, 2005; I hope that Lucas doesn’t ruin this one too, but we’ll have to wait and see…

Audi Illusions

The Presurfer summarized this entrancing Audi A6 commercial (links directly to QuickTime video) so well that I’ll just go ahead and quote the post verbatim:

Illusions, a new advertisement for the Audi A6, is worth a second glance. Or two. Indeed, the more times you see Illusions, the more the sophisticated visual trickery concealed beneath its serene surface becomes apparent.

The spot features an Audi A6 traversing a cityscape that seems at first to be quite normal. But gradually the eye tunes in to the strangeness.

Warps and transformations of the streets and buildings that create impossible paths and spaces, optical puzzles that challenge the eye and the mind, all based around M.C. Escher’s famously baffling art.

Definitely watch this one more than once…

Tall Buildings

The Museum of Modern Art has an awesome online exhibit entitled Tall Buildings that interactively explores 25 tall buildings around the world. The exhibit requires Flash and offers tons of stuff to explore; I’ve only scratched the surface and I’m hooked…

Rock ‘N’ Roll Holiday Escape

“Spend a week cruising the Caribbean, featuring 3 of Rock’s biggest artists, Journey, REO Speedwagon & Styx” aboard the Rock ‘N’ Roll Holiday Escape. Before I comment, let’s take a moment to pause and reflect at WWJD.

OK, enough of that. This idea sounds absolutely craptacular! Even if Steve Perry were still in Journey, I don’t know that you could pay me enough to go on this cruise. I’ll admit to liking these bands in small doses, but REO alone would get old after a couple of songs, much less an entire cruise…