Entertainment
pharyngula | June 6, 2010Is it possible to take out a hit on a channel? Last night I skipped through a few television channels and was briefly intrigued to see A Princess of Mars on SyFy! I had to watch a few minutes to discover that it was a heretical abomination which must be burned and its television creators hunted down and punished. I saw enough to notice that:
The green Martians were made up with some cheesy lumpy appliance over their heads; their tusks wobbled like rubber every time they talked.
The green Martians had only two arms. Two! They were also runts, far short of 12 feet tall. I tuned out before I…
pharyngula | June 6, 2010
At the youtube page for this video, it's recommended that you buy his DVD. I agree! I want it! But, unfortunately, I only found one Minchin DVD at Amazon, and it won't play in the US. Any suggestions? Anyone? When I see Tim Minchin in London in the fall, do I have to beat him up, steal his computer, bootleg everything he has encoded on it, and get rich selling the stolen data on the internet? No, that wouldn't be nice at all, especially since he'd probably beat me up and then write a satirical song about me that would mean I could never leave my house ever again.
Where's the Minchin HBO…
pharyngula | June 6, 2010I was catching up on Narbonic this morning, and she linked to an animated Little Nemo cartoon by Winsor McCay — from 1911. I was impressed. We all need a little hundred-year-old psychedelia to start the morning.
McCay was a pioneer of animation — you might also enjoy the famous Gertie the Dinosaur, or even the rather jingoistic Sinking of the Lusitania. They're all a bit quaint and slow-moving by modern standards, but then again, you have to appreciate that each frame was hand drawn and hand colored by McCay himself — it took him a year to make a 5-minute cartoon.
pharyngula | June 4, 2010People were apparently rather peeved about Morgan Freeman's appearance on the Daily Show on Wednesday night (that link is to the whole episode; Freeman appears at about 15 minutes in). He's narrating a new science show that, in the clip shown, seems to be mainly about physics and cosmology. After talking a bit about the show, they get down to the problematic bit: Stewart asks if scientists know what happened at the beginning of the universe, and Freeman basically says they don't; that there are different scientists with different ideas, some contentiousness, and some outright ignorance about…
pharyngula | June 4, 2010
These do seem to be a bit polarizing, with a strong I-hate-autotuning camp…I rather like most of them, although this particular example is a bit weak — autotuning doesn't help much with long passages of tech talk, and this one has it.
It doesn't help that I'm not that keen on sending manned missions to Mars.
grrlscientist | June 1, 2010tags: Why Twilight is Popular, epipheo studios, social commentary, entertainment, books, Twilight series, successful book formula, streaming video
This amusing animated video describes why Twilight books are so popular. For those who don't know, the Twilight series is the story of a "regular girl" who is dating a vampire -- the typical "girl meets boy and falls in love" story.
This video was created by epipheo studios, which has a video-filled site that you will find interesting.
The author's discussion of her Twilight book series, how she came up with the idea and other details (including…
pharyngula | May 18, 2010I am reminded that today is also the 30th anniversary of Ian Curtis's death…so I think we need a little Joy Division.
pharyngula | April 27, 2010It looks like there is a theme going around the science blogosphere, triggered by a few remarks from Stephen Hawking.
Stephen Hawking says we should avoid any aliens—they'll destroy us.
Sean Carroll agrees, but think it's highly unlikely.
Phil Plait disagrees that aliens will destroy us, also thinks it is unlikely anyway, but also thinks it more likely we'd be demolished by von Neumann replicators without seeing the aliens at all.
Ethan Siegel is optimistic and wants to run out waving his arms for attention. He scares me the most.
As the token biologist, I'll differ from all of them. If I…
pharyngula | April 24, 2010One of the most annoying features of South Park is the creators' hypocrisy. They're so infatuated with tearing down that they never bother to build up. Trey Parker has an odd comment in an interview:
"All the religions are super funny to me," Parker said. "The story of Jesus makes no sense to me. God sent his only son. Why could God only have one son and why would he have to die? It's just bad writing, really. And it's really terrible in about the second act."
But Parker says atheism is more ludicrous to him than anything else.
"Out of all the ridiculous religion stories -- which are…
pharyngula | April 21, 2010Are you ready for civilization to end? I guess the television show South Park is going to show a cartoon rendition of Mohammed tonight. I think the show has been steadily declining in quality, but I'll tune it in one more time just to support the public desecration of the sacred.
Have they ever done a show where they lampoon juvenile libertarianism? I'd also tune in for that, but that probably hits a little too close to home for the creators.
pharyngula | April 13, 2010There may be a few metal fans here and there…and this song is for you. If you don't enjoy music with lots of hoarse shouting and banging instruments into rocks, DO NOT PLAY THIS VIDEO. You will cry. I've got two sons, so I've been inured to this stuff — and at least this band, The Ocean, has intelligent lyrics.
Oh, you say, you couldn't hear the lyrics? Neither could I, because my ears were bleeding (but that's one of the desired effects of this genre, don't let it bother you). I had to look them up on the internet.
The Origin of Species
Yes, it's quite hard to believe
That we all come from…
grrlscientist | February 27, 2010tags: comedy, humor, funny, fucking hilarious, birds, streaming video
This particular exhibit is a living art piece made up of 40 zebra finches jamming on electric guitars and cymbals at the Barbican, in London. The artist, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.
This video is cute, because it shows a female zebra finch, building a nest on the…
grrlscientist | January 13, 2010tags: art, wildlife art, stop-motion painting, Lanjak Dawn, Crowned Flying Lizard, Orang-utan, entertainment, Carel Brest van Kempen, streaming video
This is yet another fascinating stop-motion video of the creation of artist Carel Brest van Kempen's painting, Lanjak Dawn. This is his first major painting to receive the time-lapse treatment. In this piece, a male Crowned Flying Lizard displays to a prospective mate in a Bornean forest while a big male Orang-utan calls from his sleeping nest. Featuring music; I Formed the World with my Tongue, I Cleared the Bar with my Diaphragm and Haloumi,…
grrlscientist | January 12, 2010tags: art, wildlife art, stop-motion painting, Painting the Golden Pheasant, Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus, birds, entertainment, Carel Brest van Kempen, streaming video
This is yet another fascinating stop-motion video of the creation of artist Carel Brest van Kempen's painting, Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus. Contrary to popular belief, Golden Pheasants do not naturally occur in pens and aviaries, but in rugged mountain woodlands in western China.
Carel Brest van Kempen published a stunning book, Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding [my review] and writes the art blog that goes by the…
grrlscientist | January 11, 2010tags: King Bird of Paradise, Cicinnurus regius, Red-Capped Manakin, Yellow-Thighed Manakin, Pipra mentalis, courtship displays, behaviors, birds, ornithology, Kim Bostwick, streaming video
I recently showed you the oddly shaped iridescent tail plume from a King Bird of Paradise as the daily mystery bird, now watch this video to see how the birds use these plumes in courtship displays.
grrlscientist | January 11, 2010tags: art, wildlife art, stop-motion painting, Brown Anole Portrait, Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei, entertainment, Carel Brest van Kempen, streaming video
This is a fascinating stop-motion video documenting the creation of artist Carel Brest van Kempen's painting, Brown Anole Portrait. Probably Florida's most common reptile, the Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei, was introduced from Cuba.
Carel Brest van Kempen published a stunning book, Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding [my review] and writes the art blog that goes by the same name, that might be of interest to you.