Richard Linklater's new gabfest is based on the paranoid novel by Philip K. Dick. Although the trailer isn't officially up and running, click on the unavailable/coming soon button in the iTunes movie trailer section and you bring up an impressive-looking (presumably Rotoshopped) animated clip.

Even if the war in Iraq goes poorly for the next decade or so, by 2015 or so, the eight-year-olds now scheduled to strap on their kevlar vests and patrol the souk for freaky Iraqi insurgents will be able to sleep nights knowing they'll be protected against guerrilla mortar rounds by this http://www.spacedaily.com/news/laser-04r.html SDI-like gizmo. Me, I want one for the next amateur rocket convention.

Almost as entertaining as a typical amateur rocket launch (if there is such a thing) is the current good-cause effort to produce and broadcast a few cable commercials to raise the profiles of NAR, Tripoli etc. You can contribute funds or participate in a somewhat esoteric $100-a-ticket raffle for your own launch equipment. The organizers plan to air their video during a series of Discovery Channel documentaries on rocketry next month. Hobbyists are facing issues with the Homeland Security Act, specifically pertaining to the future of homebuilt spacecraft. https://secure.consumersinterest.com/saverocketrynow/raffle.asp