Cool Site: ThePennyFloor.com

Every so often there's a story that makes you do a double-take. I saw an article on MSN about a couple who glued about 60,000 pennies to their bedroom floor. I thought that was an awesome idea until I saw the result. Now I think it's a super awesome idea. The couple, Ryan and Emily, own the home and did the work together. Once done the sanded them down and put a clear coat on top to seal them in.

I imagine there are a lot of couples out there bonding on house projects together and this isn't any different. I used to enjoy getting together with the men in the family and building a fence or deck. I think that doing a project with someone I'm in a relationship with would be richly rewarding. The two of them not only covered the floor in pennies but they blog about it on ThePennyfloor.com. They've even come up with a dictionary of terms related to their penny-gluing adventures.

For example:

Hot Damn Mess - the term used to describe when a section of freshly laid pennies are not lining up with previously glued pennies.

I know there are other people who have done this (a quick google search even has an entry on ehow.com) but go and visit their blog. Maybe it'll inspire a little out of the box thinking and, even if it doesn't, it's still inspiring on its own.

Casting JJ Abrams's “Star Wars 7”

Ever since JJ Abrams was announced as the director of Star Wars 7, the internet has been on fire. It's burning higher and hotter than the wave of excitement that existed when Episode 1 was announced. I understand the excitement. JJ Abrams is an amazing writer and director and has a great sense of what makes a great story. He is surrounded by talented writers and producers who he frequently collaborates. I hear Michael Arndt is writing the story which is great because it will be a different flavor from the stories written by his team on Star Trek.

Back in October, before the official cast for SHIELD was introduced, I submitted my choices for the actors who should portray the available parts. The roles went to Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Ming-Na, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Iain De Caestecker.

With the actors I chose still being awesome and all, I thought I would give them a second chance and cast the new Star Wars film with them. Of course I have no idea what the characters names are, the time period it's happening in, or...anything else. I'm just going to create the characters and say who should play that character. I'll leave it up to smarter (much, much smarter) people like JJ Abrams to come up with the particulars.

If JJ Abrams is reading this: Thank you for coming to Comic Con and signing my Alias photo - you rock! Oh...and you're welcome for the inspiration.

Hantii (pronounced HAN-tee): Genevieve Padalecki plays Hantii, a young girl running from a network of organized crime. Her nascent ability to use the Force - to know if someone is lying - is perceived as invaluable to an organization that deals with the scum of the universe every day. Hantii just wants to lead a moral life away from the influence of cruel men and strikes a deal with Nitrun, a bounty hunter, to smuggle her off-world. The bad guys figure out what has happened and put a contract out on both of them. Fortunately Nitrun knows a Jedi elder who loves a good challenge.

Clen (pronounced kl-EHN): Michael Kenneth Williams plays Clen, a Jedi elder sent out into the universe to recruit others strong in the force. A happy, gentle man, Clen has a way of seeing everything in a positive light. He doesn't believe in failure - he believes every hardships is an opportunity. When he meets Hantii, Clen realizes that he has an opportunity to protect her, teach her, and end the constant threat of reprisal from those she escaped from. And Hantii is strong with the Force. Clen will teach Hantii survival, combat skills, and, most importantly, how to build and use a lightsaber.

Nitrun (pronounced NITE-run): Paula Garces plays Nitrun, a fearsome bounty hunter. Because she uses her beauty to get in closer to her subjects (behind her Maldalorian armor, no one knows what she looks like) to capture or kill them. Despite what she does, she doesn't take contracts on people she feels have integrity. When she runs across our heroes, she's rough around the edges but willing to help...for a price. A wealthy woman, Nitrun doesn't do the job for money but to mete out her own form of justice after the death of her parents at the hands of a corrupt politician's security forces.

Amun (pronounced A-moon): Gina Carano plays Amun, a bar owner who also trains the small city's elite guards in combat. A survivor of many battles including the one that wrested her city away from the same corrupt politicians who engineered the deaths of Nitrun's parents, she's ready to fight at any moment. And, while she employs bouncers, Amun doesn't mind throwing the odd customer out personally. One of Clen's dearest friends, she allows him access to the city's training facilities when he needs them for training and allows him, Hantii, and Nitrun to hide in the bar's basement.

Lance Skywalker: Craig Horner plays Lance Skywalker, a descendent of (yup, you guessed it) Anakin Skywalker (you thought I was going to say Luke, didn't you?). As a Skywalker, he's inherited three things, R2-D2 & C-3PO and the Force. While hunting down the source of illegal slave trading in another system, he's contacted by Clen to let him know he has a source, Hantii, who can give Lance the ins and outs of the entire operation because she was a slave. While, Clen, Nitrun, and Amun keep Hantii safe, Lance works to dismantle the operation - lightsaber battles ensue!