BRING ON CHRISTMAS! As you probably know by now, the NBA lockout is pretty much kaput, with a 66-game 2011-‘12 regular season set to begin on December 25. Five games will be played on Jeebus’ birthday...with match-ups between:

- the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Orlando Magic

- the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors

- the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks

- the defending champion Dallas Mavericks (bastards) and the Miami Heat (even bigger bastards)

and of course,

- the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls
Kobe takes on 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose at STAPLES Center in L.A...at 2:15 PM, Pacific Time on ABC.

Speaking of the Lake Show, I owe Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson...of the NFL’s New England Patriots) an apology. I didn’t think someone else could change their last (or should I say, full) name to something a lot worse than 'Ochocinco'. Boy, was I wrong. Metta World Peace... Really, Ron Artest? If the Lakers don’t waive you for financial reasons, it would be for that wacky moniker you gave yourself over this summer. Whatever. Basketball is back!

Chronicle Books

HAPPY CYBER MONDAY, EVERYONE! Just thought I’d share these two cool Star Wars-related images with y’all. The illustration above is from the cover for The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic...which is a totally awesome publication that I stumbled upon at the local Barnes & Noble bookstore last Saturday. I’ll avoid making a comment about how there are much better characters (specifically Sith Lords) in the so-called Expanded Universe than there are in the Star Wars prequels themselves. In terms of Sith Lords, expect me to post artwork of such villains as Darth Malgus, Darth Malak and the really cool-looking Darth Revan in the near future.

The image below is a screenshot from a Star Wars video game whose title I don’t remember. (I found this pic online.) Ironically, the screenshot brings back memories of an enjoyable Star Wars video game I played back in um, the mid-1990s: X-Wing CD-ROM. I posted a Blog back in January of 2007 about how I wished that LucasArts would re-release this game for Windows XP. No dice. Oh well.

NASA / Bill White

ONWARD TO MARS (AGAIN)! At 7:02 AM, Pacific Standard Time today, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft departed from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on an 8-plus month journey to the Red Planet. MSL will arrive at Mars around August 6, 2012...deploying the Curiosity rover onto the Martian surface at Gale Crater and begin a minimum of 2 years studying its surroundings and seeing if the environment is or was ever hospitable to microorganisms. In other words, Curiosity will check to see if Mars is the second world in this solar system (guess what the first planet is) that is or was ever friendly to life.



Other than the fact it’s always exciting whenever we launch a spacecraft to another world, there’s another reason why I’m glad Curiosity is finally out in deep space. Onboard the rover are two microchips that (combined) bear the names of 1.25 million people...including Yours Truly. Most of the names were submitted via the Internet between March of 2009 and June of this year, while 20,000 handwritten signatures were digitized after being collected via guestbooks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Pasadena, California (where Curiosity was built). Other than submitting my name on the Web, I had the opportunity to provide my own signature when I attended the JPL Open House last May. I also had the privilege of taking a picture with the rover, so-to-speak, at the Spacecraft Assembly Facility during the JPL Tweetup a month later (shown above). Totally awesome. The autographs of President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and several high-ranking NASA officials such as administrator Charles Bolden are also onboard Curiosity.



Below are images of MSL prior to it separating from the Centaur upper stage about an hour after launch this morning. I’m definitely glad that NASA made the effort to provide visual proof that this ambitious mission is well on its way to Mars. Now all that needs to be done is wait for visual proof after Curiosity safely touches down on the Red Planet next summer. Carry on.


NASA TV


NASA TV


NASA TV

Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance

ONE DAY TILL LAUNCH... Earlier this morning, the Atlas V rocket carrying the Curiosity rover was rolled out to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Less than 24 hours remain before the Atlas V roars to life and sends Curiosity on its way to Gale Crater on Mars. Don’t know about you guys but my excitement for this mission is quickly building up (moreso, that is)... Can’t wait for tomorrow!


Florida Today


NASA / Tony Gray


NASA / Frankie Martin

NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

TWO DAYS TILL LAUNCH... Expect at least the next two journal entries to be about the Curiosity rover and its impending departure for Mars. The Atlas V rocket carrying the Red Planet-bound spacecraft will be rolled out to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida tomorrow, while the Big Event itself will take place at 7:02 AM, Pacific Standard Time on Saturday...weather permitting and all. Godspeed, Curiosity!

Oh—and Happy Turkey Day, everyone! (To all of my fellow Yanks, that is.)


NASA / JPL - Caltech

PROPS TO THE LOS ANGELES GALAXY for winning the Major League Soccer (MLS) title against the Houston Dynamo at The Home Depot Center last night. The final score was 1-0, with David Beckham helping Robbie Keane and MLS Cup MVP Landon Donovan bring a third Galaxy championship to Los Angeles since 2002 (L.A. also won in 2005). This is the first MLS title that Beckham, Keane and Donovan won together. Congrats, fellas. This makes up for the Los Angeles Lakers not winning a third straight NBA trophy this year, and of course, the still-ongoing NBA lockout.

...

Okay, it doesn’t. It really doesn’t. I want basketball back.


Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, the Curiosity Mars rover launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on an 8-month journey to the Red Planet. The actual liftoff time for November 26 is 7:02 AM, Pacific Standard Time...in case you were wondering when the countdown clock to the right of this page reaches zero. Carry on.


NASA / JPL - Caltech

Shisanu Tonchim / Alamy / Connie Ricca

IMAGES OF THE DAY... Bing Travel posted this interesting article about seven new wonders of nature recently determined in a global campaign by Switzerland’s New Open World Corp. Among the places chosen are Jeju Island in South Korea (above) and Halong Bay in Vietnam (below). Not surprisingly, Asia is obviously one of the best regions to go to if you want to visit these awesome, exotic locales. Other Asian destinations I mentioned in the past are the Andaman Sea and the Dokdo islands. Check out those links to read more on what I typed about these locations.


OJO Images Ltd / Alamy / Connie Ricca

NASA / JPL / Malin Space Sciences System / RichTPar

FOBOS-GRUNT... That’s the name of the latest robotic Mars mission by Russia to be on the verge of ending in failure. What I find mind-boggling is the fact The Planetary Society—a well-known non-profit space advocacy group based in Pasadena, California—would continue to rely on Russia to send its many exciting projects towards space throughout the years, only to fail after launch during the process. The first disappointment came in 1996, when the Mars ’96 spacecraft, carrying The Planetary Society’s first Vision of Mars CD-ROM, ended up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after the Proton rocket carrying the probe suffered a mechanical problem after liftoff. [Another Vision of Mars DVD (shown below) has since found its way onto the surface of Mars...courtesy of NASA’s now-defunct but very-successful Phoenix lander.] The second disappointment came in 2005, when a Volna rocket—carrying the Society’s Cosmos 1 solar sail—malfunctioned after launch, preventing Cosmos 1 from reaching its intended orbit. And now stranded in low-Earth orbit (LEO) with Fobos-Grunt is the Society’s Phobos LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment) project...which consists of a canister (a.k.a. 'biomodule') that contains millions of microorganisms that were intended to test the "Transpermia Hypothesis": Which theorizes that microbes could survive trips between planets onboard rocks blasted into deep space by impacts. A Shuttle LIFE canister, which is similar to the one placed on Fobos-Grunt, successfully flew into LEO onboard the orbiter Endeavour during flight STS-134 last May.


The Planetary Society

The Planetary Society has another project coming up...the Lightsail-1 solar sail that is currently scheduled to fly into space no earlier than mid-2012. No launch vehicle has yet been selected to send Lightsail-1 into Earth orbit. Not to sound like an arrogant Yankee space geek or something, but I really do hope the Society considers American rockets and American rockets only (and maybe a Japanese H-IIA vehicle) when it comes to choosing a means of transport once Lightsail-1 is ready to soar into the sky. Of course, since Lightsail-1 will be a secondary payload, it’s up to the organization that is responsible for the primary payload to decide which rocket will be used for the mission. But I’ll take a Delta II, an Atlas V or a Falcon 9 vehicle (a Delta IV rocket, currently the largest in the U.S. expendable launch vehicle inventory, might be bit of an overkill) over a converted Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile (which is what Cosmos 1 flew on) any day. Though I hope the Society doesn’t consider a Taurus XL rocket when/if that one becomes operational again. I’m still peeved over the Glory spacecraft’s launch failure last March.


The Planetary Society

A SUNNY DAY IN SOCAL... Just thought I’d post these random pics that I took at The Grove in Los Angeles earlier today. Maria Menounos, a correspondent for Extra, was filming a segment for the entertainment news TV show there. Actress Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapoor on NBC’s The Office, was also gonna be at The Grove. She was making an appearance at the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. I would’ve stayed to at least take photos of her, but Kaling wasn’t scheduled to show up till 7 PM—and I was at The Grove around 2:30 PM. Maybe if it was Jenna Fischer or Ellie Kemper (who plays the lovely receptionist Erin Hannon on The Office) doing a book signing, then I’d wait. Not that I have anything against Indian girls... Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire and the gal who plays Priya on CBS' The Big Bang Theory are hawt. End of semi-juvenile entry.

A RAINY DAY IN SOCAL... Just thought I’d share random pics that I took in Orange County yesterday, when I helped my friend Sarina (who's a wedding photographer) on an engagement photo shoot she worked on in Newport Beach and Irvine. That is all.

NASA / Kim Shiflett

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... As of this morning, the Curiosity Mars rover is now poised for launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Curiosity's date with the Red Planet begins about three weeks from now, on November 25.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett

IN LIVING COLOR... I recently read online that FOX is bringing back the iconic sketch comedy TV show...which will have been off the air for 18 years when two half-hour specials of In Living Color airs in spring of 2012. All I can say to this is, "Two snaps up!" Keenen Ivory Wayans will return as host, though now-megastars such as Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez have not said anything publicly about whether or not they’ll at least make cameos in any of the two episodes. Should the hour-long special be a hit next year, then FOX just might bring In Living Color back as a regular series. Word.



In Living Color's new cast will be comprised of young, up-and-coming comedians, though it will kick major arse (if the show gets re-launched into a series) if Jim Carrey shows up as Fire Marshall Bill somewhere down the line, Damon Wayans returns as the disgruntled Homey D. Clown, and J. Lo makes up for getting with Puff Daddy (or was he already P. Diddy at that time? I dunno) and deciding to become a music artist by shaking her booty once more as a Fly Girl. Maybe J. Lo might even appear frequently on In Living Color if she ever decides to ditch her job as a judge on American Idol. She’ll still be on a FOX show either way. Hmm... To quote a famous line from In Living Color: "I don’t think so. Homey don’t play dat."

As if you didn’t see that one coming.