We were directed via @jmittell to Japanese writer Makiko Itoh‘s blog, where he has graciously translated filmmakerSatoshi Kon‘s parting words, composed not long before died, and later posted onto his blog by his family members.

As Itoh notes, the document is “rather long and rambling,” but it’s a moving portrait of a wonderfully talented and hardworking artist coming to terms with a death that came sooner than he had imagined.

Some choice excerpts after the break:

Tampa-based musician Nick Pittsinger (aka Shamantis) has made an earth-shattering discovery: The purpose of Justin Bieber‘s music has been to soothe the sufferings of humankind; we just didn’t know it yet. Pittsinger slowed down Bieber’s recent track “U Smile” by 800 per cent, running it through the “time-stretching” program PaulStretch. The result? An epic 35-minute, ambient song reminiscent of ocean documentaries and Sigur Rós.

Hear the heavens whisper after the break.

One of President Obama's favorite pieces of rhetoric is reminding the American people that they're entangled in "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." And just as the movie industry offered a holiday from reality in those trying times, today video games have taken on a similar role, buoying our economy more than we'd ever give it credit for. The Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2010 Report, just released by the Entertainment Software Association, verifies as much: Positive trends of employment suggest that video games have solidly contributed to the U.S. economy.

In a time when Pharrell names his company after Star Trek, Soulja Boy equates having "swagger" with watching anime (we weep), and one of Hollywood's primary cash cows is the comic industry, we can safely say that geek culture permeates our everyday media. Contrary to what Gil Scott-Heron believed, the revolution just may in fact be televised (not to mention blogged, Tweeted, and open sourced).

Only in such an era can we enjoy rap music from Eugene Ahn, a.k.a. Adam WarRock: comic geek, longtime gamer, ex-attorney, and now, emcee. His music name-drops everything from Inception to #donaldglover4spiderman, from the final Scott Pilgrim comic to Chicago Public Radio's This American Life. Geekosystem recently chatted with Ahn about his career, the concept of being a "geek," and rap music.

No, actually, this is it: Weezer's upcoming album Hurley opted for the obvious -- and also ridiculous -- choice cover. After the Green Album and Red Album, this is clearly the natural progression. The record, due in stores September 14 on Epitaph, will employ the above image of Lost actor Jorge Garcia, who is grinning to have succeeded Jacob as the New Man in Charge.