Summer is the opposite of winter in my mind. In winter, I watch quite a bit of TV. This week I’ve only watched four episodes of Sliders and two of So You Think You Can Dance.

After reading those selections, I don’t know why any of you trust my opinion on quality television.

I really can’t believe that that’s all the TV I’ve watched. But then I realize I have been writing sunup to sundown (as in masters degree capstone sunup to sundown). Yesterday I started the drawing stage, immersing myself in Photoshop’s gravity well.

Spending so much time on the computer working, when I take a quick break of course it’s going to be on the computer.

When you’re not following Sarah Palin or The Author of The Shack (not The Shaq), you should check out We Choose the Moon.

It’s what Apollo 11 might have looked like if we had all of the tech to do status updates to give instant updates.

As of my writing Apollo 11 is at Stage 6, half-way between Earth and the moon. If everything stays according to plan, we should see a landing around, oh, I don’t know, July 20-ish.

At the site it not only has the countdown and the visualization, but it’s also streaming all of the dialogue between Capcom (Mission Control, not Street Fighter) and the astronauts. (Click on those links to follow them on Twitter. I set it up for text updates – so that I feel like I’m someone so important the astronauts feel the need to text me.)

Listening to the streaming audio makes me feel like when Tom and I removed two of the legs from our dorm room beds and slept like astronauts while the NASA channel gave us updates on John Glenn’s return to space.

In the bottom right of the site is what puts it all into context. Scrolling are fun facts about 1969, like how gas was 35 cents a gallon or how Slaughterhouse 5 was on the New York Times bestsellers list.

You definitely have to check out the video and photo galleries. After 40 years there is still media that I haven’t seen before. It’s all sponsored by the JFK presidential library. I think it’s really cool and for that I give you JFK’s moonshot speech:

Either that or Jean Claude Van Damme’s Double Impact mixed with Karate Kid II (or if Chuck Norris’ Top Dog is more your thing).

Semi-related posts:

1. Moon Shoes, Angry Reggie, and THE Movie Font
2. Choose your own Adventure! The official brand is back!
3. Choose your own assignment
4. Encyclopedia of Life
5. Improv Everywhere – Brooklyn Bridge