Film & Television
emjohnson | July 1, 2010As I highlighted in my previous post, evolution works on zombies just like any other organism, the main difference is that they reproduce like cells rather than like animals. Darwin's discovery that zombies pass on hereditary material in their bites, and that this has resulted in natural selection, helps to explain the diversity of zombies now before us. Below are a few of the main strategies that an evolutionary understanding can bring to counter the marauding hordes of decomposing evil that now threaten to overwhelm us.
#1 - Don't get bitten. Okay, this is a no-brainer (pun intended).…
emjohnson | July 1, 2010
Credit: Revenant Magazine
The origin of zombies (Genus: Zumbi) is well understood today, but this wasn't the case when they were first discovered in the early 1800s. Charles Darwin was the first to recognize that zombie "reproduction" results in a process of descent with modification in a way analogous to that of non-undead species. Darwin's insight was that, even though zombie's don't reproduce sexually, random mutations in hereditary material can be passed along after a zombie bite. Each "daughter zombie" then inherits the traits of their parent and pass those traits along to their…
emjohnson | March 5, 2010In light of the Oscars this Sunday I thought those of you who missed it would enjoy my review of District 9 (which is up for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay).
Inexplicably, a UFO appears over one of Earth's remote cities. Hovering a few hundred meters above the terrified citizens, a government mission to board the craft is executed only to find the strange beings living in disease and desperation. A decision is made to save their lives and relocate the aliens to the city's outskirts. In that moment, what seemed to be a compassionate action develops…
emjohnson | February 2, 2010My favorite novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, once complained about the treatment of science fiction by critics in his book Wampa, Foma and Granfalloons:
I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ever since [publishing Player Piano], and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal.
Science fiction films have often received the same treatment. However, two of the surprise nominees for Best Picture this year are none other than James Cameron's Avatar and the South African alien apartheid action film District 9…
emjohnson | January 29, 2010
Many of us self-styled journalists and bloggers lack formal training in what news reporting is really all about. Fortunately Charlie Brooker at BBC4 has this helpful report that can make even the novice journalist a professional reporter in no time. While this is primarily intended for TV journalists, I think there are some effective strategies that can still be gleaned from knowing just what professionalism is really all about.
H/T David Wescott
emjohnson | December 8, 2009
(updated below)
Media Matters is reporting that on December 4th Fox News manipulated the evidence from a poll to suggest that 94% of the US population thinks that scientists falsified evidence to support their beliefs about climate change. As can be seen, however, their numbers added up to 120%.
What happened? Well, here's the Rasmussen poll Fox & Friends cited. They asked respondents: "In order to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming, how likely is it that some scientists have falsified research data?" According to the poll, 35 percent thought it very likely,…
emjohnson | December 8, 2009
Maana (Now), Directed by Félix Pharand D.
As part of the United Nations COP15 Climate Change Conference is the Indigenous Voices on Climate Change Film Festival. Included in the festival is this humorous story of one Inuk teenager who is disturbed by how the climate crisis is affecting his community and sets out to do something about it.
emjohnson | November 9, 2009
After posting my piece on the Anthropology of Organ Transplants I couldn't resist posting Monty Python's humorous take on the concept from their film The Meaning of Life.
To see what happens next click here.
emjohnson | October 29, 2009Last night Jon Stewart hosted the Israel/Palestine peace activists Anna Baltzer and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. The angry response from the Pro-Israel crowd resulted in a backlash against the show for even having the discussion (including the show's first heckler in eleven years).
Baltzer, an American-Jewish author, has put out a public letter asking that people contact The Daily Show thanking them for hosting the discussion as a way to counter the angry response they've received so far.
Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.
The show was…
emjohnson | October 12, 2009
This, of course, refers to the famous remarks (almost four days old now) in which Richard Dawkins' suggestion that there be a separation of church and state in public schools was shouted down by O'Reilly's claim that he was imposing fascism.
Poor Winston Smith. When Orwell wrote his novel there was only a three minute hate. Now FOXNews runs 24 hours a day.
Watch the full "interview" here.
emjohnson | September 30, 2009Over the years anthropologists have had a good deal to say about notions of power and inequality. For example, the late CUNY anthropologist Eric R. Wolf took his early experiences working with peasants in Puerto Rico to explore these larger questions in the global system. In the opening to his book Envisioning Power he wrote:
We stand at the end of a century marked by colonial expansion, world wars, revolutions, and conflicts over religion that have occasioned great social suffering and cost millions of lives. These upheavals have entailed massive plays and displays of power, but ideas…
emjohnson | September 22, 2009Fair and balanced ain't what it used to. The Huffington Post has published video of FOXNews producer Heidi Noonan encouraging protesters at the 9/12 event to be loud and boisterous while Griff Jenkins "reported" on their outrage. Noonan is seen motioning to the crowd periodically while speaking to an unknown individual on her cell phone. At one point she attempts to hide from the camera that has her in the shot.
Here is the video released at HuffPo:
Now here is the "objective" reporting that viewers at home saw (via Media Matters):
Notice how Jenkins and Beck both claim that this…
emjohnson | September 20, 2009In fitting in with the recent sightings of conspiracy minded Stormtroopers here at ScienceBlogs I thought I would add my own contribution to the remix. Here Derrick Jensen tells the story of the little known early version of the film before it was optioned to an unknown director named George Lucas (starts off slow, but give it 30 seconds).
To read more by Jensen see his piece in Orion Magazine.
emjohnson | September 3, 2009
Inexplicably, a UFO appears over one of Earth's remote cities. Hovering a few hundred meters above the terrified citizens, a government mission to board the craft is executed only to find the strange beings living in disease and desperation. A decision is made to save their lives and relocate the aliens to the city's outskirts. In that moment, what seemed to be a compassionate action develops into an outdoor prison reminiscent of the worst crimes of colonialism. Imprisoned, literally in the shanty town that is created for them and figuratively within a society that shuns them, the…