Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Craig Venter: "DNA is the Software of Life." We Are Offically in the Age of Synthetic/Artificial Life




X-Men: Days of Future Past wasn’t totally science fiction. 

Did you know that in 2010 (in real life) world renowned microbiologist J. Craig Venter invented and created the world’s first synthetic life?  With a team of scientists, Venter created a synthetic bacteria designed on a computer with man-made DNA.   

In plain English, we can now create new forms of life in a laboratory. Check out 60 Minute’s interview with genius Craig Venter HERE.


Did you miss my X-Men: Days of Future Past movie review? Read it here.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Monica's Movie Review: X-Men Days of Future Past: Thrilling, Action Filled, Emotional, Drama Packed, Fabulous Effects

By  Monica Peters

For those of you who are X-Men fans or newbies to the series, the latest release X-Men: Days of Future Past won’t disappoint. It’s not only a great action film--but a great film period topped with superior performances.  It is storytelling at its best and director Bryan Singer did a phenomenal job at executing a very complex storyline flawlessly that’s easily understandable to the movie goer.  You will definitely be gripped by some of the X-Men character’s personal backgrounds as the film will dig deep into their past lives including drug addiction issues. The film easily rivals X-Men 2 which is hailed as a popular favorite amongst hardcore fans of the series.

Quick synopsis:  Kitty (Ellen Page) sends Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), via his conscious, back in time to the 70’s with a mission of altering past historic world events to change what we know as the present day world with a mutant twist.  Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is a critical component for the mission to be accomplished successfully. While time traveling in the past Wolverine recruits Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), the hilarious scene stealing QuickSilver (Evan Peters), Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) to convince Raven aka Mystique to alter her past actions to change world history.  The recruiting process hits a few snags as Wolverine has to reacquaint his fellow XMen  with him and convince them that he was sent from the future.

Days of Future Past satisfies many unanswered questions from the previous series where the storylines lacked continuity. You'll get a kick out of James Brown quotes and a Sanford & Son snippet.  You will also be emotionally conflicted as to what your perception of a villain and a hero are as the lines become blurred.

 I'll stop before this review turns into a serious movie spoiler. If you haven't seen any of the prior films in the series, no worries you can follow along with no problem as the movies ties up many loose ends.

Everything you think this movie is, it isn’t.  Get ready for one heck of a ride.  This may be one of the best action films of 2014.

PG-13, 113 minutes.

 ....Monica Peters

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Work Dem Oodles & Noodles: Top Ramen Cuisine

Yeah, we all know about Top Ramen/Oodles n Noodles. It got us through the lean times in college. Why heck, we all still gotta budget from time to time right? :)

.....Ladies and gentleman, my own spin:

Ramen noodles with shrimp and fresh spinach.  Seasoned with Berbere (an Ethiopian spice mixture) and a little bit of the noodles' included season packet.



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tech & Travel Break: Documentary "BB King: The Life of Riley" Opens in Theaters Nationwide May 21

.... Narrated by Morgan Freeman featuring Bono, Santana, Eric Clapton and more. 


Trailer (l) & 80's footage of BB and Bono rockin'out. (r)
*I do not own or claim copyright to any of this footage.


Saturday, May 17, 2014

Google Cake Pops!




Ladies and gentleman, 
Google cakes on a stick 
(Google Pops):

Key lime, lemon, carrot cake, chocolate and red velvet.

One of the tasty treats at the Google Media Summit at Newseum in Washington DC.


 Click pic for closeup