Last week the Mars Rover, whose latest album ‘The Bedlam in Goliath’ rules, found ice. That’s a really good sign of life, but not conclusive. Well this week it turns out that there is salt in the soil.  Whaaaaatttttt!?!!??

from the experts:

“On Earth, asparagus, green beans and turnips could be planted in such an environment, and chemical-loving bacteria would thrive there,” he said.

Is the US Government planning on creating a super colony of bacterially enhanced martian turnips? No. But with global warming and the continuous destruction of Earth, we may be looking for a new place to live, or somewhere to install a giant ice machine like they did in Futurama. Remember that episode?

Keep reading > >

Now, that is about as far as I go for reviewing a film; I’ll leave that to the experts (read: Jonathan).  Even so, I just got home from seeing this film and had to drop my two cents.  Now, if you head on over to Rotten Tomatoes, you’ll notice that WALL-E is getting some pretty big acclaim.  Also, if you take what Wikipedia.org says for fact (which, well, is about as close as we’ll get to it on the interwebs), then WALL-E has had one of the most massive budgets Disney has offered.  And, it was well worth it.

The charm of the film is overwhelming.  The visuals are stunning, undoubtedly the best CGI anyone has ever seen, and may actually be unsurpassable.  The script is perfect.  The only flaw of the film added to its charm: there was overt Apple-worship due to the Jobsian conquest of Disney.  In fact, WALL-E and my MacBook have actually made the exact same sound tonight.  Very weird.

The most interesting, and actually delightful, part of the film is that, even though it is aimed at children, it has hugely political undertones.  Picture the Captain Planet PSA’s from the credits but actually effective and penetrating.  And, hell, I was in a theater where the youngest viewer is a teenager.  If you get the chance, you need to see this film.  Or, at the very least, keep checking back on nerdpundit.com as we team up to tackle the sociopolitical underpinnings in the summer blockbusters, especially our cute robot friend, WALL-E!

Prior to seeing WANTED I knew nothing about the film or it’s director… obviously I knew going into it that this was Angelina Jolie’s return to kick-assery and James McAvoy’s first leading man role. I promise not to spoil the film for anyone, nothing about plot in this review. This is the Matrix on acid… the cinematography and graphics are insanely crisp and eye-boggling.. most of what occurs during the film’s action sequences are highly improbable, but that makes it 10x more interesting to watch. I kind of got a Matrix meets Fight Club vibe just on the camera angles and bloodshed alone. Be weary, this film is not for the faint of heart or those who cannot take speedy action sequences.

The story line was intriguing throughout, which led to some interesting twists and turns. Unfortunately, I felt that the ending didn’t do the movie justice. I won’t give too much away, but keep your eyes peeled at the end for some amazing action-packed, weapon welding and lunacy… I was literally slammed against the movie seat in complete awe at how everything flowed so well throughout the fight scenes. The movie also packed some decent comedic moments and moments that made you pump your fist in defense of the “every man”. Despite this, I was confused as to how these “assasins” could actually be given that title since they have more collateral damage than a New York City crane. Keep reading > >

At least for me, it has.  Sure, there’s the trivial stuff like work and sleep to keep me busy.  This week, however, I’ve had a handful of things to do in the way of leisure.

In the crimes of crazy purchases, constant additions to a gamers library, and working extremely hard to validate these actions with concrete reasons; I’m guilty on all charges.

Three new games and a new console in one week; I must be out of my mind, but I’m surely loving it.
Keep reading > >

It seems that the hype for this movie is increasing exponentially as we get closer to release date.  Typical marketing scheme, no doubt, but this movie is especially hype-filled given the success of the first film, the appearance of viral marketing so long ago, and the surprise/random ads popping up all over the place.  As a New York resident, I’ve been privvy to seeing random posters, billboards, commercials, you name it, plastered all over the city almost overnight over the last two days or so.

In order to perpetuate the hype, a new international trailer was put out by Warner.  Note that this may both increase your knowledge of the plot inasmuch your hype to see this film.  Personally, I can’t wait for this puppy to come out…and for Ledger’s posthumous Oscar win.  Come on, Academy of Motion Pictures, get with the times and give an award to one of these superhero actions films that are changing the industry.  Come on!

It’s obvious that the state of the music industry is in a perilous deep-dive. What once was a profit making industry full of behind-the-back payoffs (Payola Scandals) to get musicians on the air, to high CD prices, and to the inevitable destruction of the Major Record Label… it’s apparent that the model that was working is no longer successful. So why is that these major labels can’t figure out how to make a profit and keep the industry afloat in a market where free music is easier to find than a hooker on a Vegas street corner.

The answer is fear of change and.. greed?! Since the birth of Napster, the music industry has shunned free downloading of music.. that was mistake numero uno! The overall belief by most record label honchos was that this trend would fade.. that consumers would not want to waste time downloading music… soon after, technological advances (faster internet and the epiphany that is iTunes) negated this assumption by the industry. After all this time the industry still can’t grab a hold of itself and change. There have been some successful endeavors, most notably, the iPod and iTunes. Apple was able to lead the charge towards resurrecting the music industry, but that’s still not enough!!!! Things need to be better and labels have to change.. immediately! One thing for sure is that music will never die… the question is…. what about the quality?! Keep reading > >

A man named John Kanzius has designed a way to kill cancer cells using nanotechnology.  By binding gold nanoparticles to cancer cells in a petri dish and passing radio waves through them, scientists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston were able to successfully kill cancer cells–while not harming surrounding healthy cells.

Recently, according to Science Daily, researchers have had similar success using carbon nanotubes–by passing near infrared light through them.

Keep reading > >

After Hurricane Katrina and that start of all of these wars, Americans saw a huge surge in oil prices.  Yet, no one made a stink about it.  Over the course of the evening, from the time the markets closed yesterday until before they opened today, the price of crude oil jumped about another $2.25, which is on top of the over-$5 increase we saw yesterday.  What is going on? There is no doubt that speculation is playing a part, but Americans are doing the right things, making the right moves, and reducing their consumption of this stuff.  The changes in oil prices defy conventional macroeconomic theories.  Something needs to be done about these changes as it is spilling over and causing huge market and consumer problems.  Groceries are at a high, inflation is a problem, and stocks are faltering; most notably, GM’s stock is at a 30-year low as of this morning, and CNN is even talking about the possibilty of a Fod-GM merger, combining two faltering companies that at one time ran the politic sphere of the U.S.  Times are changing and new automotive technology is necessary.

President Bush announced yesterday morning that the terror-state status of North Korea would be lifted.  This announcement follows the news that the communist nation has shared its nuclear plans with China and, subsequently, with the other members of the six-nation coalition looking to reduce the potential of another nuclear threat in the world.

Though this is certainly good news, there is also some speculation that the original demands of the United States were not met; rather, the stringency of the demands were lowered from those originally placed by the U.S. in order for North Korea to come to compliance.  Nevertheless, the international community should rejoice that another hostile nation is reducing its nuclear armament.  So, where do we go from here?

Update: The reactor was detroyed this morning.  Also, North Korea promises to expedite the removal of fuel cell rods as well.  The important question: what about all the weapons they possible have? Keep reading > >

engadget is marking today “Bill Gates Day” in honor of the big man stepping down from the top spot at arguably the biggest, baddest company in the world. Love him or hate him, Gates revolutionized the world. His company, his philosophy, and his business scheme have been successful, idolized, and mimicked by many.

I remain hopeful that he will be equally successful in his philanthropic work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So far, they have been better than even the U.S. in monetary aid for underprivileged countries. Maybe Mr. Ballmer & Co. over at MSFT could do equally as good and hand over some of those massive, massive assets the company holds from, well, being a monopoly.

Congrats, Mr. Gates, you deserve it!