Alien Jesus Collective

The Gamer Division of Alien Jesus gathered for the buying of Grand Theft Auto.

11:40pm, we put Colbert on pause and headed for the last round at Starbucks located right across the parking lot from Blockbuster. Thwarted! Bastards closed at 11pm.

We smoked furiously in the van and waited the 15 minutes before they Blockbuster would sell us the game.

11:50pm trucks, SUVs and other vans start pulling in. No cars. GTAers drive big vehicles.

11:55pm we go in with the other 20 or so people. Mostly men ranging from the 13 year old clutching a can of Red Bull to the overweight late 30s guy with a basement pallor.

We roamed like we were being controlled by a broken joystick. Blockbuster had made no preparation for people lining up for a game they had been heavily promoting. A loose line formed and at midnight promptly the sales began.

Gamers pay funny. A combination of cash and two or three credit cards. “If that doesn’t have enough on it, I have another one.” The cash must have come from returnable cans and bottles. Blood donations.

Nobody had pre-ordered and they didn’t know to hand out the framed art work or not to those who didn’t reserve. The line said “YES, hand out the framed art work to everybody.” They did.

Grabbed our copy and headed for coffee and cigarettes. On the way home we passed Game Crazy (the wretched game part of Hollywood video) with a huge line out front. They were handing out the GTA faceplate. I don’t care if they were actually giving the game away, AJ Gamer Division loathes and despises Game Crazy. Wait in line, you fools, we already have the shrink wrap off.

Home. Xbox on. Mission Accomplished. Review of GTA to follow.

Beltane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia“Beltane is a cross-quarter day, marking the midpoint in the Sun’s progress between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. Since the Celtic year was based on both lunar and solar cycles, it is possible that the holiday was celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. The astronomical date for this midpoint is closer to May 5 or May 7, but this can vary from year to year.”

True Beltane, Sun 15 degrees Taurus, is Sunday, May 4th.

Strange Lights in Valley Sky-ABC 15

“An official from Luke Air Force Base stated that they do not have any aircraft in the sky tonight and that the lights are not part of any Air Force activities.

The Deer Valley airport officials said that the lights were not from any aircraft at that airport.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said that air traffic controllers at Sky Harbor Airport also witnessed the lights, but they do not know the cause.”

This is Alien Jesus’ neck of the woods and this is the first time anybody is making a big deal about these lights. They’ve been around for years and nobody ever knows anything. Nobody ever much looks.

What I find the most interesting is last night so many people were looking up and decided this was strange.

Photo: Scott Cancelosi

Da Pope is in town. Cupcakes!

NASA - Space Shuttle

Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 7:05 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

Full Moon Easter Weekend.
Photo by Agent Ackme.

NASA TV Live

The Atlantis Shuttle is landing Wednesday Feb 20. Live coverage of the landing of space shuttle Atlantis to end the STS-122 mission will begin at 7:30 a.m. EST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

They have a landing blog in real time! NASA Landing Blog

The Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA, has kicked off
The New Nixon Blog
Various guest bloggers and a community forum. Let Nixon rise again!

Universe Today Eclipse Info
For viewer on Eastern Standard Time the eclipse will enter the partial phase on February 20 at 08:43 pm; for Central Standard Time, 07:43 pm; for Mountain Standard Time, 06:43 pm; and Pacific Standard Time at 05:43 pm - before sunset. For viewers in Europe and Africa, the action begins at the beginning of a new day - on February 21 at 01:43 am GMT. (Sorry, to the good folks down under and in the Far East… no eclipse will be visible.) Totality will begin at 10:01 pm EAST, 09:01 pm CST, 08:01 pm, MST, 07:01 pm PST, and 03:01 am GMT and end precisely 50 minutes later. Then, you have 1 hour and 18 minutes left as the Moon slowly slides out of the Earth’s shadow once again.

NOLA.com: Cams Central

Mardi Gras Real Time action. Parades will be going on until Tuesday. Check webpage for times.