MUNGO MAN

An aboriginal supervillain with elastic powers and an agent of WOE (the World Organization of Evil). Mungo Man used to track the world's most dangerous animals, but after a tussle with a particularly nasty croc, the aborigine discovered his uncanny elasticity. Animals became far less challenging prey, and he took up the hunting of superheroes. For the right price, any dastardly mastermind can hire Mungo Man to take care of their do-gooding rivals.

I haven't done a Chades Challenge in a while, but if anyone else wants to design an agent of WOE, let me know, and I'll post a link to your blog. After all, there's a lot of heroes out there, and someone's gotta take 'em down.

Well, you can't win 'em all.

81st Annual Academy Awards

The polls have closed on your Oscar picks, and you guys have predicted some major wins for Slumdog Millionaire (as if winning a million dollars wasn't enough, sheesh!). Here are your choices; I hope you're right, because I'm putting a lot of money on these predictions.

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Original Screenplay
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter (WALL-E)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Actress
Meryl Streep (Doubt)

Best Actor
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Best Score
Thomas Newman (WALL-E)

Frazetta was right

According to nature.com, scientists have just uncovered a prehistoric snake called the Titanoboa that dwarfs the largest living anaconda by over seven meters. Science News quotes vertebrate paleontologist Jonathan Bloch, who states:
"[The snake] would have had trouble fitting though the door into your office."
Below: a comparison of the vertebra of the modern-day anaconda to the Titanoboa. Bottom: that's no rock under that boa constrictor, it's the fossilized vertebra of the king of snakes.
As a follow-up to my last entry about the resurrected ibex, I think we can all agree that this is one animal that does not need to be brought back from extinction. If any of you are building a time machine, I'd suggest installing snake-away spray.

Life with find a way...or we will find one for it.

For the first time in history, an extinct animal has been resurrected by science. Granted, the animal had only been extinct for eight years, and skin samples were available, but this still marks a great stride forward. According to the Telegraph, DNA from the Pyrenean ibex, which had recently been hunted to extinction, was inserted into the eggs of domestic goats. The article states:

"Sadly, the newborn ibex kid died shortly after birth due to physical defects in its lungs. Other cloned animals, including sheep, have been born with similar lung defects.

But the breakthrough has raised hopes that it will be possible to save endangered and newly extinct species by resurrecting them from frozen tissue."

Last year, scientists mapped the woolly mammoth's genome, and I say we get Weta to design us some awesome saddles so we can get straight to riding these suckers. They can be the new hummer!

"Hot as a pistol!"

We finally have an answer to that age-old question of "Why did the chicken cross the road?" That answer is (drum roll, please)....42! Haha, count on the readers of the AustinTranslation to vote that one in. I'm guessing we have some Douglas Adams fans out there. There's one Adams quote that I can personally relate to, "I love deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make when they fly by."

Thanks for your votes on this week's Oscar polls. Be sure to vote on all seven Oscar categories, if you please. Everyone knows that behind every Oscar-nominated film is a good story, but the video below proves that the movie theater isn't the only place to find an amazing drama. Some of the most inspiring tales come from the faith, courage, and down-right blessings in the world around us. Enjoy!

Word to the wise: if you attack an ice dwarf, try to kill it with the first blow.

Keith Olbermann: Mordant Meets the Eyes

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side? A likely story. Vote on this month's poll so we can finally get to the bottom of this mystery!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from the Austin Translation!

2008 has definitely been a year of ups and downs. I had the privilege of working alongside some of the most innovative and brilliant artistic minds on the planet and being a part of one of my favorite films of the year, Wall-E. I also lost one of my best friends, Justin Wright, to whom the film was dedicated. Justin would definitely be stoked to see how many people loved his story work on both Wall-E and Presto, and to see that justice had finally been done to one of his favorite superheroes, Ironman. So this year, as I join friends and family to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I'm particularly mindful of all amazing people God's brought into my life, including all of you who check this blog for the most recent dinosaur news or Chades Challenges. Whatever holiday you celebrate this season, I wish you a ridiculous amount of joy and merry-making, and more pie and chocolate than you can shake a stick at! Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, see you in '09!

"There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries."
~W.J. Cameron

Coming Soon: Sly Orange: The O-dyssey

My apocryphal rock band, Sly Orange, went on tour through Portland and Seattle last Independence Day. Our hotel-thrashing drummer, Vi, started compiling the video that we shot for our bass-player, Ben, who unfortunately couldn't make the tour. Most of the conversations are out of context, and make little sense. You'll hear me talking about 'future surgeries' which is me talking to the camera as if it is my future-self watching the video like a time capsule. I'm not sure if that makes more or less sense. Anyway, Vi did a great job editing this little teaser, and it features my fantastic singing voice, so I thought I'd share it. Make sure to look for The O-dyssey in record stores and on iTunes this Christmas!




In other music news, President-Elect Obama has officially tapped John Williams to compose/conduct a piece of music for his inauguration. Talk about getting started on the right foot, I can't think of a better person to set the stage for a historical moment. I think there's only one piece suitable for such an occasion. It certainly wouldn't be the first Star Wars/Obama mash-up.



Everyone loves John Williams, but a much more polarizing figure appearing at the inauguration is Pastor Rick Warren. I've read his book, A Purpose Driven Life, twice, once with my late buddy, Justin Wright. Justin and I hardly agreed with each other on every issue, and we certainly didn't agree with everything Pastor Warren had to say in his book, but it definitely challenged us both to think about what it means to live a life of purpose. Before anyone gets angry about Pastor Warren giving the invocation at Obama's inauguration, I'd challenge them to watch his talk at the TED conference. You may not agree with everything the man has to say (if you don't, you may find Dan Dennett's TED talk more to your liking), but Pastor Warren's certainly not a "fear mongerer," and I'm personally not interested in hearing an invocation from anyone who agrees with everybody, anyway.

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."
--Rick Warren