Perl 6 is the next generation of our favorite language. I have been an active participant in the public redesign of Perl. I am very happy with the directions Perl is going and amazed at some of the amazing new features and concepts. Read the apocalypses, exegeses, and synopses to learn more about this breakthrough in programming languages. It is taking a long time to design Perl 6 but the results will be worth the wait.
Parrot is the new engine that will be running Perl 6 and other interpreted languages. It has a different (and I think better) architecture then most of the other interpreters out there and it has shown blazing speed so far. I keep tabs on it and occassionally stick my nose in where it doesn't belong.