Collecting ponds of Something in the desert near the proto-suburban geoglyphs of California City.

Dave Bowman’s meal on board the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And there’s no way I’m going to miss the Obscura Day 2010 event at California City. See you there on March 20 (and if not, check out the other events that day worldwide)

I’ve seen Double Indemnity probably a dozen or more times over the years and until now I had no idea that was Raymond Chandler sitting there in the hallway while Fred MacMurray walks intently past him. I wonder what he’s reading?

He certainly seems to be annoyed at the interruption. Though taking into account Chandler’s memo to the studio, he’s probably just annoyed in general.

I ran into a similar effect with recent viewings of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater (thanks dad!) and I can confidently say that I’ve seen it thirty to forty times over the years. However it wasn’t until a couple months ago at a recent Arclight viewing that I noticed that the monolith and the moon formed a pyramid.

More fodder for the “what does it all mean?” pile I suppose, but interesting nonetheless. I suspect a crash course in Zoroastrianism is in my future.

Speaking of hidden items in 2001… Did anyone back in 1968 seriously expect Aeroflot to still be around in the real 2001? Or to put it another way:

It’s 1968. Which brand will be the only one remaining in 2001?

1. Pan Am
2. Bell System
3. Aeroflot

The new logo for William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

Icons for every currently shipping app from Adobe

Couldn’t someone in the design department come up with a better corporate logo than that? Did anyone really try or were the negotiations were so frought that this was the only design everyone could agree on? The subscriped “E₂” grates on me. Since it’s standing for “EE” shouldn’t it be superscripted to E²? As it is it looks like a chemical formula.

It’s regrettable that some element of WMA’s old logo couldn’t have been adopted. It’s a great design. At least I still have it on my old WMA coffee mug.

Spotted just off I-70 in Vail, Colorado:

The steampunk backlash (and backlash to the backlash) might be going full-bore right now, but that’s not stopping this guy from building this amazing copper-roofed mansion with built-in observatory. I can only hope that static accumulation on the roof powers some sort of Tesla superweapon that can pick off nearby golfers.

Asteroid, comet, black hole, anti-matter, UFO crash, or Tesla experiment gone awry, the Tunguska Event is 100 years old today. May you continue to inspire crackpot astronomers and conspiracy theorists for one hundred more.

Did you remember to hug an octopus today? I did!

I suppose this was inevitable. Of course this forces me to contribute…

Blame Jonson for pointing that site out to me. The “O R’LYEH?” is freaking brilliant.

Last week we said hello to Knut the polar bear, now say hi to Xenoglaux…

A tiny bird so rare and unusual that its scientific name means “strange owl” has been spotted for the first time in the wild, scientists announced yesterday.

Conservationists working in Peru got their first natural glimpse of the long-whiskered owlet last month while working in a private mountain reserve.

The species wasn’t even known to exist until 1976, and since then the only known living specimens have been those caught in nets at night.
…

As few as 250 of the owlets are thought to exist, scientists said, and the birds are as distinctive as they are rare.

With their diminutive size, bright orange eyes, and wild, wispy facial feathers, the dainty birds belong to their own genus, dubbed Xenoglaux, or “strange owl.”

Countdown to the first South American speedmetal band to change their name to Xenoglaux in 5… 4… 3…

Pileup of semiotics in the Termini train station in Rome.

I have mentally set a goal for myself to learn enough Italian to be able to read one of these in the original language.