So I was talking to my friend Dave this afternoon and he told me he saw yesterday’s rant about how NASA is getting gutted.  His point was that they are a bunch of babies and have not pushed hard enough and I have to admit, he’s got a point.  Given the amount of money we have spent on that program we should be living on Mars by now.  We were on the moon 41 year ago and not done much since.

On the other hand, it’s really all we have so I guess we need to keep supporting it.  Please write your senators, congressman, and the President and tell them to find some of this stimulus money for something that could help all of humanity.

He then told me he got on the Beta test for Lego Universe, the new Lego MMORP.  As a screaming Lego fan and massive MMORP addict it sounds both perfect and horrible to me.  I have actually backed off on playing WOW in favor of working on my site, and don’t know if I can afford to get hooked on another one.  He says the game is pretty cool, and usually has a good opinion.  On the other hand, he liked the Star Trek MMORP and I found it kind of boring, to be honest.

Speaking of Lego and outer space, I recently found this Lego Star Wars t shirt and put it up in my Star Wars T shirt section.  I played the hell out of that game and got it to 98.7% done.   I gave up once I got to the timed runs.  Too frustrating to keep playing.  Great time up until then, and I still bust it out when I get bored.

While numerous science fiction and fantasy films leave a cult following in their wake, the ride is soon over when the films deteriorate or stop being produced.  However, unlike most other media cults, Star Wars persevered for almost three decades before the series saw a revamp on the big screen.  However, the first two new films were met with contempt from hardcore fans of the series.  While characters like Jar Jar Binks appealed to children, adults who loved the original Star Wars movies found him pointless and darn near irritating.

When the second movie was released it was clear that director/producer George Lucas had lost some of his skill.  The third movie, Revenge of the Sith, served as a suitable end to the series, but it still failed to instill the same magic that the originals had.  Despite mediocre reviews, the movies grossed significant revenue.  The most successful part of Star Wars however comes from the merchandising—from Star Wars t shirts to books and video games inspired by Lucas’ vision.  Every year the revenue generated from movie-inspired merchandise keeps Lucas cranking out more.