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And lo, he sprang before me as the flash of a turquoise tornado. As if to dare me to attempt murder, he sang a song. Calling, beckoning. The menace of his voice was unnerving, but I remained unwavering. This was not to be a moment of hesitation: nay, but a moment of decisive victory. It would be the time of his ignominy.

My course of perquisition, having lasted past years three, had landed me on his trail fewer times than that a man has fingers on his hand. Yet I endeavored, persevering in hope that my avocation would prove fruitful. And indeed it had, as the elusive Green Hornet was thus before me.

Perched upon a branch of such beauty as to cause bemusement to even the most thoughtful of creatures, he stared, peering as it were into my soul. But many long moons of study and rumination had prepared me for this chicanery, and I withstood his piercing eyes.

As we gazed across the space, it was I, who, seizing the proper opportunity, sprang forward in such a perfect grace as to immediately receive recognition from the gods. Yea, the fiercest, most noble lioness fighting for the defense of her den of cubs could not have compared to the power and agility with which I bared down upon the Green Hornet.

And it was with the Strength and Promise of the Heavens that I struck him down with all my might, banishing him from this world and the next, never to haunt the souls of men again.

Thus was the end of the elusive Green Hornet, and this is the tale.

(Click to enlarge the image of the elusive Green Hornet.)

(UPDATE: The following image is a better shot, taken of a live Chlorion aerarium. Thanks to Mike Treat and Natalie Delgado for help in identification. Turns out he’s actually a wasp, which I knew, but “green hornet” sounded cooler.)

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Why is it that every Asian home I go into (in America) has several giant geodes placed decoratively around the house?

Am I making an over-generalization from too small a sample size (I think n = 3 or 4), or is this really as common as I believe it is? Asian friends, help me understand.

But I guess there is a market for everything.

Afrika is a safari and photography simulation game released last summer in Japan. I hadn’t heard of it until I stumbled onto its music. The soundtrack is really impressive. A segment of the score, along with the beautiful PS3-rendered graphics, can be experienced in the video below:

For those of you who remember, Coheed and Cambria’s song “Welcome Home” is on my ten rockingest songs list. Four street musicians just made it even more rockingest by playing it on some cellos and hand-drums. I got chills at the solo (just past 4 minutes). Wow.

(HT: Brian)

Currently there are three for this year; more may come out as the year progresses, but who knows?

They are Inglorious Basterds (that’s not a typo), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Watchmen. This post is about the last-mentioned movie.

Here’s what the movie is about:

A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, the film is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion – a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers – Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the Watchmen?

Now watch the trailer. Notice they use one of the ten rockingest songs. Awesome.

Trailer.

From Slashdot,

High school students in Maryland are using speed cameras to get back at their perceived enemies, and even teachers. The students duplicate the victim’s license plate on glossy paper using a laser printer, tape it over their own plate, then speed past a newly installed speed camera. The victim gets a $40 ticket in the mail days later, without any humans ever having been involved in the ticketing process. A blog dedicated to driving and politics adds that a similar, if darker, practice has taken hold in England, where bad guys cruise the streets looking for a car similar to their own. They then duplicate its plates in a more durable form, and thereafter drive around with little fear of trouble from the police.

I love it.

This year is quickly coming to an end, so I’ll be publishing my highly acclaimed Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2008 in the next couple weeks. But since I hadn’t published my previous years’ lists anywhere except on Ashley’s Facebook wall, I figured I’d put them up for you all to see.

Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2006:

5. Thank You for Smoking
4. The Departed
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
2. Blood Diamond
1. V For Vendetta

2006 was a fantastic movie year. And I don’t think it’s just because that was the year I got back from my mission and started watching movies again.

Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2007:

5. American Gangster
4. Transformers
3. Stardust
2. I Am Legend
1. Shooter

I might possibly replace American Gangster with No Country for Old Men; I watched them both only once and seemed to enjoy them both about the same. 2007 was a sad year for movies, I think.

Watch out for the 2008 List, to be released soon!

First of all, thanks to Brian for telling me about YouTube having converted to wide screen. Pretty crazy. I guess that means I can now watch full screen YouTube videos without my monitor freaking out on me.

For those of you who missed the sensation two and a half years ago, Charlie the Unicorn is a ridiculous cartoon created by some kids with too much time on their hands. Seriously. Of course, I loved it. And so did everyone else. Apparently, it’s the 28th most watched video on YouTube. So, chances are you saw it. If you didn’t, take 4 minutes to watch it. It’s bizarre.

Now, I just discovered that about six months ago, a sequel was released. I don’t like it quite as much as the first, but hey, it’s hard to follow up a stellar act.

The funny thing is that I totally had this idea years ago, but technology at the time wasn’t good enough to make the idea feasible. Oh well. I’m glad someone’s done it:

Two mobile applications, NMobile and Trapster, are providing drivers with up-to-date maps of speed-enforcement zones with live police traps, speed cameras or red-light cameras. Each application pulls up a map pinpointing the locations of speed traps within driving distance and an audio alert will sound as vehicles approach an area tagged as harboring a speed trap. Both applications rely on the wisdom of the crowds for their data with users reporting camera-rigged stop lights and areas heavily populated with radar-toting police officers via the iPhone or their web-based application, creating the ultimate speed trap repository available to you when you need it most — while you’re driving. To thwart false alarms and eliminate inaccuracies, Trapster enlists its community of nearly 200,000 members to rank speed traps on their accuracy. NMobile founder Shannon Atkinson declined to provide detailed data, though he did estimate that ‘well over 1,000′ users had downloaded the application since it became available last week. The company insists they’ve received only positive feedback from law enforcement officials and police officers regarding their products. ‘If the application gets people to slow down, I think it’s generally considered to be a good thing,’ said Atkinson.

(HT: Slashdot)

If you are a fan of video game music, you’ll really appreciate this. If you aren’t a fan, you still might think it sounds nice.

But regardless of who you are, you gotta think these people are nuts.

ps. Dad, have Mom check this out, as she should recognize the songs.