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The second episode of The Animatrix is out; you can view it here. If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, check out my previous post.

Adult Origami is probably NSFW, but it sure is fun.

According to Ananova, “A life-size statue of Lenin with the head of Mickey Mouse is to go on display in Moscow,” courtesy of “controversial Russian artist Alexander Kosolapov.” Now this I’ve got to see! If anyone finds a picture of this, please let me know…

Just when you thought Michael Jackson couldn’t sound any crazier, somebody finds something else to surprise you. CNN reports on an upcoming Vanity Fair article that reveals some pretty weird stuff, even for him:

Jackson bleaches his skin white because he does not like being black… [and] refers to black people as “spabooks”…

[Jackson] wears a page-boy wig and a prosthesis that serves as the tip of his nose…[W]ithout the device Jackson resembles a mummy with two nostril holes…

[I]n 2000 Jackson attended a voodoo ritual in Switzerland where a witch doctor promised that Spielberg, music mogul David Geffen and 23 other people on the entertainer’s list of enemies would die. Jackson, who underwent a “blood bath” as part of the ritual, then ordered his former business adviser Myung-Ho Lee to wire $150,000 to a bank in Mali for a voodoo chief named Baba, who sacrificed 42 cows for the ceremony.

I was starting to feel some sympathy for him after that ABC TV special did a chop job on him, but if even some of the things said about him are true then he’s gone off the deep end some time ago. I’d like to think that some of these stories are exaggerations, but with Michael, nothing surprises me anymore…

The Science Fiction Book Club has posted its list of “The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002”. I didn’t consider myself that much of a science fiction or fantasy afficionado, having read only eight of the listed titles. However, I would list most of those eight among my favorite books, so I obviously enjoy the genres more than I thought. I’ll have to check out some of the other titles, as there are at least a couple that I’ve been meaning to read for some time now.

Oh wait, that was a Tom Petty album. Anyway, the Farmers’ Almanac has a list of the various full moons during the year along with explanations and lore behind each one. We are just past the Full Snow Moon, which is particularly apt this year…

The Washington Times reports that “Terrorists linked to al Qaeda have targeted U.S. military facilities in Pearl Harbor, including nuclear-powered submarines and ships,” and are “planning an attack on Pearl Harbor because of its symbolic value and because its military facilities are open from the air.” I suppose nothing should surprise me these days, but this is just despicable.

A related story that is at least as disturbing is the discovery of tapes surveilling the World Trade Center and other landmarks as long ago as 1997, allegedly in preparation for attacks. I’ve refrained from posting paranoid, speculative stories on terrorism, but these two were especially poignant and just plain scary.

The new season premiere of Six Feet Under aired Sunday on HBO. Although I missed most of the first season and didn’t see the second season until it ran in reruns, I was quickly hooked. The show, along with The Sopranos, is worth the price of HBO alone, as it never fails to captivate and entertain. HBO’s web page is full of interesting tidbits and extras, but if you haven’t seen the show yet, it’s definitely worth watching.

CNN reports that “Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. is just weeks away from conducting its first test flights of a civilian tilt-rotor aircraft, called the BA 609. For those of you who haven’t heard about tilt-rotors, "A tilt-rotor has engines that pivot 90 degrees so the aircraft can take off vertically like a helicopter then fly horizontally like a plane.” The military has been testing the V-22 tilt-rotor for some time now, although the test program has been plagued with several fatal accidents. I’ve been touting the technology of the tilt-rotor for some time, even writing a really bad point paper on it back in 1987 or so for a high school assignment. 😉 Because a tilt-rotor can transition between vertical and horizontal flight like a helicopter and airplane, respectively, a tilt-rotor does not need a runway to take off or land but has the speed and range of a conventional aircraft. Such flexibility could revolutionize military and civilian aviation alike, but unfortunately the spectre of the accidents has cast a dark shadow on the V-22 program and tilt-rotors in general. I really hope that they can prove the technology reliable and safe, because it would be a shame to see such an innovative aircraft never realize its full potential.

Sports Illustrated reports that “Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov has admitted that he and tennis player Anna Kournikova were married but are now divorced and no longer talk.” At the risk of sounding crass and sexist Sorry, there’s no way to say it without sounding crass and sexist. I just hope he got some! 🙂

Update: ESPN’s Page2 weighs in on this revelation in its typically hilarious fashion.