Do Parallel Universes Exist?

I was just looking through YouTube when I lucked onto a video from Beyond Science and narrated by Michael Chen.  Why was I so lucky?  Well first and foremost it's primary focus is that of  Universes.  Yep, multiple.  One of my Faves, the concept that every actions spins off a new universe. 

Though one must ponder the implications of this concept.   I feel much less disconcerted with the idea of pocket universes

They make a good case for instances like De-Ja-Vu (the weird feeling that you have been or done something  weirdly similar to present events.  Or even stranger, you are sure that you did or said or read something  that is subtly different.  The video shows some incredibly strange examples.

Check the video below or go to the YouTube site HERE

Putty of Rare Earth Magnets, Makes for a Very Weird Film

This has got to be one of the weirdest videos I have see to date.  Submitted online at YouTube by Scott Lawson.

Lawson describes the film as:

• Magnetic putty time lapse as it absorbs a rare-earth magnet. Taken over 1.5 hours at 3fps, played back at 24fps. The magnetic putty will eventually arrange itself so that the outer surface is as evenly distributed around the magnet as possible.

The grey putty like material appears almost alive as it absorbs the solid block.  

Vsauce Asks, Is Earth Actually Flat?

I subscribe to Vsauce on Youtube because their science is always provocative and fun.

Here is one that recently was entered asking what seems to be a fairly straightforward question but from there, things get decidedly weird......Is the Earth flat?

Interesting Video by Built by Titan - Collide

You could almost dismiss this song and glitzy over-driven nonsense but then I decided to catch the associated video on Youtube and was more than mildly surprised.  I won't spoil it for you, but will say that something a bit off center is happening. 

Check it out!

John Anealio's Steam Pun Girl Video

John writes that "Joshua Westbury made a fantastic animated video for my Steampunk Girl song. You can click HERE to watch it on YouTube".

FTL Here is a Very Astute Explaination Of Why FTL Is Not Possible

YouTube pundit Veritasium gives a incredibly understandable short talk on why faster than light is not possible. His argument is elegant and his final conclusion is so stunningly simple that you can't help but have a DUH moment. The short video is fun and informative.

castAR Will Blow Your Mind!

Hey catch this video from the Kickstarter program for this new VR rig that is also an AR system.  It is called castAR, don't forget that name because I am willing to bet that this just could be a big changer in how game, computers, movies you name it....this looks like the real deal.

Check out the video.

Human History is but a Thin Slice of Time

Our narrow slice of time is just that!  A mere fraction of thin line at the very end of modern man's time.

Here to put it into perspective is Vsause who's video everything into perspective is so very short of time.

Pay attention, you will be surprised at just how little influence we have in the overall scene of things.....

Review: The Secret of Kells

Animated feature - running time 75 minutes

Story and directed by Tomm Moore

Kells is set during the dark eras of early Christianity during the eighth century. 

The main character, Brendan, is growing up in a remote abbey in Ireland. 

What we are treated to is a fictionalized version of the creation of the Book of Kells, which is a real book, depicting an illuminated manuscript of the bible which has since become an Irish national treasure.  

Brendan has heard of a great book, the Book of Iona.  Brought to the abbey by Aiden of Iona who is a legendary illuminator.

Brendan desperately wants to be an illuminator but finds working on the Book of Iona completely unsettling.  He finds that he must face his inner fears and the fear of the forest outside the wall.

Saying much more would really ruin some of the really well written and acted parts.   The animation is very stylized however you get so involved with the story that if it does bother, it won't for long.

I was totally overtaken by the story as much as the way it was being served to me.  At times simplistic and others, wildly adventurous and mysterious.  It seems like the  stylized animation itself was used as a tool.  If it was, it was damn effective. Plus I like a story that doesn't feel like it should tie up each and every loose end.  The ending I think you will find is very fulfilling.

The film is an easy 9 or 9.5  it is not perfect, but I would be pressed hard to describe an imperfection. I found the film on Hulu.com and I amd sure there are other  outlets.  It is WELL worth watching.

Wiki information on The Secret of Kells

Review: Doug Turnbull Reviews Heinlein's "Juvenile" Books

For those of you that are familiar with Doug Turnbull's stories on the podcast, you may be interested to note that he also hosts a video review on Youtube, where he reviews many titles in the science fiction realm.

I plan on carrying these excellent video reviews on a bi-weekly schedule as I don't want to use up this resource too quickly.

Please leave a comment if you have any other suggestions.

Here then is Mr. Turnbull's review of the "Juvenile" early works of Robert A. Heinlein.

  

review: Robot & Frank

Robot & Frank

Staring

Frank Langella as Frank

Susan Sarandon as Jennifer

Peter Sarsgaard as Robot (voice)

Rachael Ma as Robot (body)

James Marsden as Hunter

Liv Tyler as Madison

Jeremy Strong as Jake

Jeremy Sisto as Sheriff Rowlings

''Directed by:

Jake Schreier

Frank played brilliantly by Frank Langella is an aging jewel thief that he spent time in prison for.  Now he is alone in an old house and his health and memory are both fading.  Franks son, with whom Frank has a tenuous relationship with at best, gives his father a choice, accept a robot caretaker or go to a managed care facility.  

Frank very reluctantly accepts the robot.  Finding weak points in the robot's program, Frank waylays the robot into helping him with a couple nefarious project  that turn into one of the oddest buddy movies you are likely to see.  

The plot moves along very well and manages to get it's point across without being heavy handed.  The ending is telegraphed but done so sweetly that you find yourself buying right into Franks conflict.  

The plot is subtly  broken in an undefined way.  Maybe it was the speed Frank accepted the device or maybe for the near future, the secondary characters seemed much further removed...but it IS subtle.  In the end it may be that the characters just are not all that well defined, leading to a one trick pony show. But again it is no where near bad enough to warrant a pass.  The movie is cute and whimsy in a kittenish kind of way.  And in any event you are ill used if you don't watch the film.   

For an Indie film, I am very impressed.  I would give it a solid 8 for acting and plot development.  

You can find it of all places on Youtube here

Flexable Film Speakers

This is probably old news, but this is the most flexible film medium speaker I have ever seen demonstrated!  With this type of speaker and the flexible displays that are right around the corner, you can well imagine that rolled up flexible communicator that has been getting air time on almost all new sf movies and shows.  This device is so much more flexible than anything that I have seen up to this point!  Check the vid out!

Why is the Night Sky Dark?

Sounds like a pretty simple kids question, does it not? And of course, as adults with faaaaaaah greataaaaaaaaah knowledge know this answer. Well I got my mind blown with this video. Yes the simplistic answer is that the sky is bright in the day because the Sun's radiated energy is absorbed and retransmitted and defused by the atmosphere. But you know what? That is only partially right. I am not going to ruin it for you by giving a spoiler talk. Play the video and then, see if you are not properly struck dumb!

25fps MSL Curiosity Land Video! Wow!

Wow, this is great work! I saw this on Boing Boing and decided to go take a look at the original YouTube site. Here user hahahaspam takes the original 4fps Curiosity landing video and interpolated it to 25fps with stunning results! Now you can clearly see the heat-shield fall away to impact the surface and the rocky / impacted landing site as it looms into view!

YouTuber hahahaspam writes (that): "This took me 4 days straight to put together"

Landing Video From Curiosity Rover

Yep, I know, I am a bit fixated with the Curiosity Rover, but in truth, this amazing material keeps coming out and it is just amazing!

The rover it seems had video recorders going during the landing. Here we have a live video from Curiosity as it descended to the Martian surface. It is a short video, but then this all happened VERY fast. So, check it out!

Super Hero Voice Over Artist Support Groups?

Here we have a recent episode of Ben Shelton's web series The Daly Show we are witness to the effects that doing super hero voice over work does to the likes of Tim Daly, Nathan Fillion and an absolutely hilarious walk on by Michael Rosenbaum all of whom have done super hero voice over work. This is just plain silly fun and I applaud the gentlemen who participated!

Thanks to Topless Robot

Symphony of Science - The Greatest Show on Earth

Here is the newest in the series of Symphony of Science music video. In this edition: A musical celebration of the wonders of biology, including evolution, natural selection, DNA, and more. Featuring David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Bill Nye. "The Greatest Show on Earth" is the 13th video in the Symphony of Science music videos series.

Frozen Lightsaber Battle

Here is a neat little shot of a flash mob gathering in Time Square 12/20/11 consisting of Sith Lords and Jedi in a freeze frame Light Saber battle that, to the surprise of bystanders, average people on the sidelines also took place in. It seems this was a promotional stunt for the game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Looked like fun!

Video: Plains Milky Way by Randy Halverson

I found this stunning time lapse video, on Vimeo, of the Milky Way shot by Randy Halverson.

Randy writes: For the month of May I shot Milky Way timelapse in central South Dakota.....I used a Stage Zero Dolly on the dolly shots and a "Milapse" mount on the panning ones.

Canon 60D and T2i
Tokina 11-16
Sigma 20mm F1.8
Tamron 17-50


Shot in RAW format, the Milky Way shots were 30 seconds exposure F2.8 or F1.8 with 2 second interval between shots, for 3-4 hours run time.

Ten seconds of the video is about 2 hours 20 minutes in real time.

And here is his results!

Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

Video: George Lucas Strikes Back!

Not all men are created prequel.
Thanks to Trek Movie Report blog for posting it first! This is funny stuff!