This silent film remake of a scene from “The Empire Strikes Back” is great. I love the music.

One of my favorite songs from Man or Astro-man?’s “Destroy All Astromen” album. Enjoy!

Still listening to the Cars. Had this on 11 on the drive in to work this morning.

I love The Cars. Benjamin Orr’s vocals were always so good.

We finally went to the theater to see the new Studio Ghibli film, “Ponyo” and it was wonderful! It’s so fun to see a new release from Hayao Miyazaki because you are sure to see quality artwork and a great story, set to a terrific musical score. Ponyo has all of these elements, but the artwork was what truly stood out for me. You could see so much detail in even the most basic areas of the scene. For instance, the colored-pencil shading was made up of so many different colors as opposed to many other animated films or cartoons, you’d just see a flat grey. Near the beginning of the movie, Sosuke is running down the hill from his house to the water, and the grass alongside the path was amazing. I really can’t wait to get this movie on disc so I can pause different scenes just to check out the quality of the artwork.

The English voice-acting was pretty good, and it was cool that they used all the Japanese names for the characters. And it was pretty neat to see a Ghibli movie set in Japan again. I like the movies that are set in other places, but the Japanese ones seem the best to me. Totoro and Spirited Away are examples. I guess it’s because I think Japan is such a neat place, and it just seems natural for a Miyazaki movie. To me, it’s a little strange to hear Kiki or Porco Rosso speaking in Japanese while the setting is in a Western country. (Yes, I prefer to have Japanese audio/English subtitles) Ponyo has a lot of really Japanese elements to it, like the mother’s micro-car, the Kindergarten, and even the mother cracking open a big beer! (looked like a Sapporo to me).

Another thing I love about Ghibli movies is that you find yourself expected to take these fantastic and unexpected things as being normal. For instance, this strange fish with a human face and hair is seen as just a goldfish to everyone. And the towering waves that were chasing a car were so crazy, but the mother just remarked casually something like “what’s with the waves today?”. That kind of thing really opens up your mind and you think that anything is possible in that world.

I’m not sure how much longer Ponyo will be in theaters here in the U.S., but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should!

Open-wheel race cars sound so awesome. This commercial really makes me want to go see a race. The only one I have been to was the Long Beach Grand Prix back in the early 90’s, but it was so cool.

Found at Wired’s Autopia.

Problem: My Android phone’s screen dims after a set period of time. I am able to keep the phone from sleeping when it’s plugged into the charger, but still, after a set amount of time, the dimming happens. This is an annoyance when I have the GPS on in the car. If I want to undim the screen, I need to tap on the screen which will move the map (and disable the My Location centering). Or, I can tap on one of the zoom buttons, but then I have to click on the other zoom button.

Solution: KeepScreen Lite. What this app does is keep your screen from dimming when certain apps are running. It’s just what I needed!

After you install KeepScreen Lite, open it and select Applications.

Just click on the apps (max. of 2 at this time) that you want to link to KeepScreen Lite. I selected Google Maps and My Tracks (sometimes I like to see the live GPS stats like speed, distance, elevation, etc.). After saving the settings, click on Start/Stop Service. This toggle persists even if you turn off your phone.

When you are using an app that is linked to the KeepScreen Lite service, you will see a little desklamp icon in the status bar to show you that it is active. It works great. Highly recommended.

To get this app, just head to the Market on your Android phone and search for KeepScreen Lite or go to the app page at Androlib.com and point your camera at the QR code using Barcode Scanner.

Amazing video of… well the universe as captured by the Hubble telescope.

[via Chris]

We’ve been playing DDR Hottest Party 2 on the Wii for a few weeks now and loving it. There are some really cool songs in it, but this one is my favorite by far. It’s been going through my head since last night. (Hit the HQ button to listen in higher quality)

(Don’t stop till we leave the ground)

Now that we’ve come this far

We’ve got a place here where we can leave our fears behind

Far away

We’ve got a secret place where we can leave our fears behind