With other recent events weighing heavily on my mind, I decided to start branching out a bit into some online communities. One of the beauties of the web is that anyone can be a part of anything, boundaries are a thing of the past. Of course, it’s all up to each individual’s level of interest whether or not they actually participate, but the opportunity is there all the same.

So two opportunities arose, and I jumped at the chance. Part of it is me wanting to be in on something bigger than myself, part of it is me wanting to share experiences with others with similar interests. The interests in question? Art and design and video games, and every intersection therein.

After years of lurking around deviantART, I finally created a profile and started sharing some of my work. Then, after my recent booming interest in podcasting, I made all friendly with the Podtacular crew and they’ve brought me in on their big, new project.

Starting a few weeks ago, I began taking my chances at the iTunes/Pepsi free music promotion. I bought a few drinks last year when they tried this, and didn't win a thing, but the chances are supposedly greater this time around. One in three is a winner, they say. So I said why not and started buying Pepsi when I had a chance.

Unfortunately, Texas isn't what I'd consider a strong Pepsi state, at least not around Houston. Other than in KFC, Taco Bell and Subway (which all serve Pepsi from fountains), it's actually a task to find a store that carries cold bottles of Pepsi. Granted, that doesn't include convenience stores, but who goes in those places anymore? Pay at the pump, I say.

So far I've bought four bottles. How many would you guess were winners? One? Two? Try three. Three out of four! Not bad. I have to admit that I cheated on the last one, I couldn't help it.

One of the funniest moments in television history: Ed Ames' hatchet throw on "The Tonight Show" (April 29, 1965). Johnny Carson at first humbly struggles to keep his composure, then proceeds to lose it.

Ahh, the doldrums of excess.

That's about the only way to sum up what horrid memories the sight of any and all glam-rock, hair-metal bands bring to me. And perhaps that's exactly why IFC decided to run Decline of Western Civilization part II: The Metal Years and proceed to totally mesmerize me last night. I had heard the title before somewhere, but had never seen any of the three documentaries.

Aside from the awe-inspiring hairstyles and flashy outfits, it was the true ignorance and flat out lack of common sense that so many of those talking heads attempted to articulate from behind their oh-so-glorious locks that amused me to no end. It must've been over ten years since I'd seen a drummer actually look into the camera with a gigantic open-mouthed grin and simultaneously spin a drumstick between his fingers.

It’s not so important that this BBC article is about just how much of Blade Runner has popped up in our world, although that is something different from all of the 2001 comparisons. No, not at all.

What is important is the last photo and how it’s used in the article. The inference is that this Stormtrooper is out of place because he’s not human.

Huh? Did I miss something?

Were the Stormtroopers androids? For the last twenty years, I was always of the notion that they were just a whole gang of Imperial lackeys in wicked lookin’, ultra-light body armor. And if they were just robots, how did Obi-Wan do that Jedi mind shit on ‘em in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back?

This from the BBC, mind you…

UPDATE After seeing Episode II: Attack of the Clones, we should all know by now that the Stormtroopers were in fact all the same person, cloned from the DNA of Jango Fett. So my theory still holds true in a way. Jeez, I’m such a geek.