Darth Vader conducts the Icelandic Philharmonic Orchestra as they play “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.” Why he didn’t conduct with a light saber is what I want to know.  Also?  This event is tailor made for puns.

“I find you lack of rhythm disturbing”

“You don’t know the power of the brass side”

“I sense something, a melody I’ve not felt since…….”

“I’ve been waiting for you, Obi-wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the conductor.”

And so on and so forth. [via]

John Lennon as a young man.  I’m glad they didn’t just go with bland, look-a-like actors, but it’s a bit strange that Paul McCarthy looks nothing like he did as a young man.  Also?  How come John is the only Beatle that gets any love when it comes to feature films?  C’mon Hollywood give me a George Harrison biopic.  Pretty puh-lease.

Yesterday, the President announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”

Now he just has to work on that don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

Cartoonist Jim Benton imagines what sort of children’s book Ted Geisel might write if he were alive today. [via]

This costume wins, unless you could somehow dress up as Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

See also: The origins of Keyboard Cat and break’em off Keyboard Cat.

Oh my god, so adorbz!  “Greatest cartoon ever? Greatest cartoon ever. I’m not kidding, if this was on TV, I would watch it every day until I began to gibber insanely… at its cuteness, of course.”

See also: io9 took the time to put together an introductory primer to H.P. Lovecraft — the man responsible for the tentacled Cthulhu creation.  He is considered, perhaps, the master of sci-fi-horror literature.

Science rocks.  If I were a school superintendent I would put tables like this all over every school in my district.

Update: In 2003, Wake Forest University students Nazila Alimohammadi and Anna Clark built this picnic table.

The two women students created the sculpture as part of a public art course taught in the fall by David Finn, associate professor of art. Students in the class were paired up and assigned to work with campus organizations in creating works for public display. “We wanted our project to be fun and functional without a lot of emotional or political content,” Clark says. An aspiring dentist, Alimohammadi had taken several chemistry classes and suggested working with that department. They devised their “Periodic Table” concept — a pun of the familiar Periodic Table of Elements configuration — and the department responded enthusiastically. Alimohammadi did the structural steel work and Clark hand-painted the surface tiles. The piece, which was dedicated in an informal picnic ceremony on April 15, is accurate in every detail, right down to the auxiliary lanthanides and actinides tables that constitute the table’s bench.

[via & via]

If only this report were available when I was a child. *Sigh*

We took notice when Google first announced they were going to add a music search function.  If you haven’t seen the music search feature yet in your searches, you will; they are rolling it out slowly.  However, you can test it out here.

I’m not terribly sold on this, but it’s a step in the right direction.  What I’d want is something that searches for Mp3s like the Hype Machine, as well as torrents.  But I understand the legality involved with both of those practices and how that functionality isn’t in Google’s best interests.

Fantastic song from their new album Intuit. The video, directed by Stefan Nadelman, is even better.

Ramona Falls is the solo work of Brent Knopf, one third of Menomena; Nadelman previously worked with Knopf on the similarly dark and fantastic video for ‘Evil Bee’ (from Menomena’s Friend or Foe album) which you can see here.

Mp3: Ramona Falls – “I Say Fever”

[via]

Usually, I’m not too into the extra webisodes from The Office or any television show for that matter, but this one is pretty good.  Also, the new secretary Erin is beginning to grow on me, so it’s nice to see her get to stretch her comedic chops. 

Subtle Sexuality is a girl group made up of “the beautiful and mysterious” Kelly Kapoor and “the pretty” Erin Hannon, two employees of a certain paper company in Scranton, Penn.

Their first song/video is the Auto-Tune–heavy dance jam “Male Prima Donna,” featuring guest appearances by ‘Nard Dog and Mr. Understood. MORE »

In anticipation of ABC’s V remake, the SyFy Channel has decided to reair the original miniseries this weekend, which is helpful in determing whether or not the new show compares to the old show.  I was too young to catch the sci-fi miniseries when it first aired in 1983, and I haven’t bothered to add it to Netflix.

The marathon starts on Saturday Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

I am fascinated by the rising cost of secondary education, how it seems to be spiraling out of control, how students can no longer afford to take out students loans, and how nobody in a position to care seems to do so.  Student indebtedness is hindering our economy and the notion that certain companies are making huge amounts of money on student loan interest is a shame. 

Now I understand the racket so much more.

As long as government is willing to “help out” with student loans, universities and colleges will keep raising prices, and the total cost of an education will keep soaring until one day it blows sky high, just as happened with mortgages.

Note that the loans are guaranteed by the government. Also note that student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy. Those two facts are all you need to understand why the financial industry as a whole consistently champions the promise of postsecondary education and its value to American society. No one really gives a damn about the students. Worse yet, were funding cut off, there would be student outrage over it when stopping funding is exactly what is needed to bring costs down.