29 YEARS AGO TODAY, Columbia embarked on its very first flight into space...starting a 2-day test mission that heralded the dawn of the space shuttle era. Now, this storied program is only three flights away (this excludes Discovery’s current mission on orbit) from coming to an end...leaving the International Space Station (ISS) behind as its prime legacy and paving the way for commercial launch vehicles to send NASA astronauts into orbit (which may be a bad thing depending on whether or not you supported the soon-to-be-defunct Constellation moon program, like I did) within the next few years. The last flight, STS-133 (which will be flown on Discovery), is set to launch on September 16 of this year...though it may be delayed because of current issues with the payload of STS-134: the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS. (The STS-134 flight is scheduled to launch before STS-133 for logistics reasons, on July 29.) Below is a short Youtube video chronicling Columbia’s inaugural flight from launch to landing...



If that blue ribbon panel (known as the Augustine Committee) that was appointed by President Obama last summer was correct in its assessment, then the shuttle program will conclude early next year. But assuming the hardware issues with AMS are resolved sometime this month, we’ll see Discovery’s final trip to the ISS complete the shuttle program early this fall. Which I’m hoping on. If the Augustine Committee is proven wrong with its forecast on the end of the shuttle program, then one must wonder what else it was wrong about in terms of the information it fed Obama that led him to end NASA’s moon program two months ago. Would the Ares I rocket be ready for launch by 2014-’15, as NASA stated? Or 2017...as Norm Augustine’s panel predicted? Would American astronauts have returned to the lunar surface no earlier than 2028, as this panel foretold? Or would Congress have dished out the money and provide NASA the funding that would’ve allowed it to return astronauts to Earth's only natural satellite by 2020, as originally envisioned? I know I’m getting extremely off-topic here, but the end of the shuttle era begs these questions. It remains to be seen where America’s human spaceflight program is headed...after almost 30 years of triumph and tragedy that began with Columbia’s quick stint into space in the spring of ’81.



All images and video courtesy of NASA

YESTERDAY, I went to the Adultcon expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. If there’s one thing I learned while I was there, it was that the show’s no fun when you’re trying to save money...and half the um, stars there require you to dish out cash even if you only want to take a picture of them—not with them. Keep in mind I’ve been to this expo before (actually, it was Erotica LA...back in 2000, ’07 and ’08, respectively. But they're both pretty much the same). But my job is so G*ddamn slow right now that I tried to save up money by only meeting the gals who I really wanted to see. Due to all the geeky space and movie content that comprise this Blog though, they shall remain unnamed in this entry (since I don’t want these ladies to find my page through a Google/Bing.com search). Aw screw it— Sunny Leone (above... I originally met her at the 2004 Glamourcon in LA), Angelina Armani and Kristina Rose (below).


LINK: Photos I took at the 2010 Adultcon expo

CHINESE MOTORISTS in Southern California...can't drive for SH*T. Here's a nice little emoticon I found online that exemplifies the road rage that usually ensues when I'm around these people on side streets and/or the freeway...

IMAGES OF THE DAY... Here are some visual kickasseries for ya from Iron Man 2, which I just realized comes out in theaters less than a month from now. Time sure does fly...








Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount

CLASH OF THE TITANS... Yesterday, I saw the movie as promised in my previous journal entry, but unlike what I said in that entry, the film wasn’t so bad. Just your usual CGI-ridden but entertaining action-adventure flick. I didn’t watch Clash of the Titans in 3-D, so I don’t know how badly done the gimmick was for this movie. What I will say is, I imagine this is how the film version of God of War will be like. The difference is— God of War will most likely be a lot more violent (if it wants to stay true to Kratos' badassery in the Playstation video games). I never saw the original 1981 version of Titans, FYI.



Sam Worthington’s performance as Perseus was comparable to his role as Jake Sully in Avatar; Liam Neeson was good as Zeus; Ralph Fiennes was a’ight as Hades and Gemma Arterton was sexy as Io (ditto with Alexa Davalos as Andromeda). Gemma Arterton also stars in the upcoming Disney flick Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (with Donnie Darko’s Jake Gyllenhaal). Hopefully, Ms. Arterton won't be getting typecast as the love interest to royal heirs-turned-heroes-with-mystical-weapons in these kinds of films. Come to think of it— She was in the last James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace...which was actually a disappointment. Oh well.

DEAL OR NO DEAL... Yesterday, I watched the Star Wars-themed episode of Deal or No Deal on the Game Show Network (GSN) channel. This episode originally aired on NBC in April of 2008, with Darth Vader as The Banker, and The Models (or at least some of ‘em) dressed as Stormtroopers in the first episode of this two-parter. This episode was amusing... The reason for it being Star Wars-themed was because the main contestant, Elyse McCrillis, was a huge fan of the movie after watching it when she was young. McCrillis fled from Vietnam when she was a little child, and became a fan of Princess Leia after seeing Episode IV: A New Hope. (Speaking of Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher made a guest appearance on this episode). On one hand, McCrillis sounded awkwardly geeky during earlier parts of this episode (mostly when she did Star Wars quotes just as she was about to choose ‘no deal’). And on the other hand, she’s an attractive Asian girl who happens to love Star Wars. That’s a total plus there. But she’s married. That’s a total negative there. I’m pretty sure I’ll never meet her in person, so I’ll change the subject now.



What made this episode bearable to watch was the fact The Models never said a word...‘cause they were clad in white Imperial armor (so they were never in position to say something ditsy that would jinx the contestant right before a briefcase was opened). Stormtroopers don’t talk. They’re silent but deadly (unless, of course, they were trying to shoot at Han Solo, Luke Skywalker or any other Star Wars main character). Today, the second episode of this two-parter will be aired on GSN (at 2 PM, PDT). Chewbacca and R2D2 will make an appearance, and The Models will be dressed as sexy Slave Girl Leia from Return of the Jedi. Hmm...

...

I was planning to catch a matinee showing of Clash of the Titans this noon (despite hearing that the 3-D for this film sucks), but I might stay home and watch Deal or No Deal instead. And before you ask, work at my job is extremely slow right now. Hence the free time watching game show reruns and/or bad movies.

ON TONIGHT'S EPISODES... That silent clock was well-deserved. So much for peace...

6.9 EARTHQUAKE... Or was it a 7.2? Anyways, a strong tremor whose epicenter originated near Baja California in Mexico struck SoCal about an hour ago. The quake was felt in San Diego first (obviously) before it hit here in Los Angeles.

The quake shook for so long that I had time to update my Facebook status ("Earthquake!!! And it's still going...") before it ended. The quake had a rolling motion...which brought that one Limp Bizkit song up to mind—

"Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin'. Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin'. Now I know ya'll be lovin' this s**t right here..."

...unless, of course, it was finally the 'Big One'.


Courtesy of the United States Geological Survey

3 MORE YEARS... That’s how long Kobe Bryant will stay with the Los Angeles Lakers once his current contract expires in 2011. KB24 signed a new agreement with the defending champions yesterday that will allow him to earn $90 million through the 2013-14 NBA season. All that needs to be done now is to extend coach Phil Jackson’s contract, make sure Pau Gasol stays healthy (ditto with Jackson), and...possibly get rid of Andrew Bynum (and Sasha Vujacic. Definitely Vujacic). That dude just keeps getting injured. Chris Bosh, where you at?

Oh, and one more task for the Lakers: Become a much better road team, G*ddamnit! (Starting with the upcoming playoffs, obviously) The Lakers were total crap when they were away from STAPLES Center this season. Get your s**t together, guys... LeBron James is gonna return to the NBA Finals sooner or later...


Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

HELLO FROM EARTH Update... As of 7 PM California time tonight (12 PM Sydney time on Friday, April 2), it will be 31 weeks since a radio signal containing 25,878 goodwill text messages—including one by me—was transmitted to the exoplanet Gliese 581d from a giant NASA antenna in Australia. The signal will be 3.5 trillion miles (5.6 trillion kilometers) from Earth. By August 27, the radio beam will officially be 1 light-year distant from our world. Awesome. The Sent Forever signal that was transmitted from the United Kingdom at 8:07 PM (California time) on October 5 last year is now 2.8 trillion miles (4.6 trillion kilometers) from Earth as of this typing. I’ll probably submit another message by late Spring.