movies
oracknows | December 24, 2009If there's one thing that's irritated the crap out of me ever since I entered the medical field, it's celebrities with more fame than brains or sense touting various health remedies. Of late, three such celebrities have spread more misinformation and quackery than the rest of the second tier combined. Truly, together, they are the Unholy Trinity of Celebrity Quackery.
The first two of them, of course, are that not-so-dynamic duo of anti-vaccine morons, Jenny McCarthy and her much more famous and successful boyfriend Jim Carrey. Having apparently decided that selling "Indigo Child" woo was not…
razib | December 19, 2009I saw Avatar in 3D.
- The special effects were very good. I have seen special effects of similar quality, but never such quality in such quantity. The detail was striking enough that I assume I stopped thinking of it as "special effects" and more as simply a background canvas. I'm talking more about the landscape, the flora and fauna, than the humanoids, who occasionally slipped into uncanny valley territory.
- The plot was melodramatic and not particularly exceptional. The ideological ax didn't bother me because the plot was mostly extraneous to the film's experience anyhow.
- I think that…
razib | November 14, 2009Peter Suderman on 2012, the stupid new film based on the stupid 2012 phenomenon:
And with its never-ending parade of glorious, ludicrous, and utterly improbable catastrophes, it more or less succeeds. 2012 is the sort of movie so aggressively hyperbolic and devoutly over-the-top that it makes traditional descriptive labels obsolete and thus requires the invention of whole new words. My suggestions? How about catastrophaganza--the subgenre to which 2012 (and most of Emmerich's oeuvre) belongs--and retardiculous--a combo word to describe its barfy blend of low-quality yucks; treacly, social-…
pontiff | November 13, 2009This interview with Cormac McCarthy by the Wall Street Journal is well worth reading (Coincidentally(?) I just started rereading the Border Trilogy.)
This amused me
[CM:] Instead, I get up and have a cup of coffee and wander around and read a little bit, sit down and type a few words and look out the window.
simply because I can attest that yes, indeed, this is what he does! And, well, because my time at the Santa Fe Institute followed a similar pattern :)
On the other hand here is a more ominous reason why I enjoyed (my too brief) time at SFI:
WSJ: What kind of things make you worry?
CM: If…
oracknows | October 28, 2009
Unfortunately, Brent Spiner is not living up to Commander Data's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.
Say it ain't so, Data! Say it ain't so!Last night, I decided for the heck of it to check my Twitter account, something I only tend to do sporadically, although I do keep a constant stream of links to the latest Insolence flowing, to the gratitude and awe of my followers, when I saw this Tweet directed at me from someone with the 'nym Zombie President:
@BrentSpiner I prefer @oracknows over Dr jay gordon any day.
Huh? I wondered what was going on. One thing you should know before I continue is that…
grrlscientist | October 27, 2009tags: Food, Inc., food industry, factory farming, health, documentary, film, movie trailer, Eric Schlosser, streaming video
This is the official trailer for a 2008 documentary based on Eric Schlosser's research (Fast Food Nation DVD or book). It identifies, describes and details the problems of the food industry, its effects upon our health and provides us -- the consumer -- with strategies for changing the way the food industry operates so farmers can earn a living wage and all of us can enjoy improved health outcomes.
Learn more about this film or purchase the DVD.
laelaps | October 8, 2009
In the middle of the summer of 2008 the ScienceBlogs cat herders relayed some exciting news to my blogging colleagues and I. Randy Olson, creator of the documentary Flock of Dodos, had created a new movie called Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy and wanted to send us all screener copies for a coordinated review "party". It sounded like a fun opportunity at the time, but little did I know what a headache the movie release would become.
Even though I enjoyed Flock of Dodos, there was one aspect of it that didn't sit right with me. Part of Randy's thesis was that scientists fail at helping the…
oracknows | October 3, 2009...from PZ Myers at the AAI Convention:
The good news for all the critics of this choice is that Dawkins pulled no punches. In his introduction, he praised Religulous and thanked Maher for his contributions to freethought, but he also very clearly and unambiguously stated that some of his beliefs about medicine were simply crazy. He did a good job of walking a difficult tightrope; he made it clear that the award was granted for some specific worthy matters, his humorous approach to religion, while carefully dissociating the AAI from any endorsement of crackpot medicine. It won't be enough, I…
pontiff | October 2, 2009This morning Mrs. Pontiff read me a review out of the New York Times for the film "A Serious Man." The opening paragraph of the review gives you an idea why she thought it might be relevant to me:
Did you hear the one about the guy who lived in the land of Uz, who was perfect and upright and feared God? His name was Job. In the new movie version, "A Serious Man," some details have been changed. He's called Larry Gopnik and he lives in Minnesota, where he teaches physics at a university. When we first meet Larry, in the spring of 1967, his tenure case is pending, his son's bar mitzvah is…
oracknows | September 20, 2009Three Imperial stormtroopers discuss the destruction of the Death Star on the first anniversary of its exploding:
Of course Palpatine must have known! The logic is inescapable. Why else would Darth Vader have been in his Tie fighter and not in the Death Star when Luke Skywalker blew it to kingdom come? Personally, I always thought it was because he was needed as the villain for the next couple of movies and so he had to escape, but that's just me.
laelaps | September 16, 2009Yesterday I questioned the path by which Simon Conway Morris and James Valentine, two evolutionary biologists, came to appear in the new creationist film Darwin's Dilemma. Created by Illustra Media, a film company that has worked closely with the Discovery Institute, the film claims that the "Cambrian Explosion" provides evidence for intelligent design. I now have more information.
Simon Conway Morris was interviewed for the film. In an e-mail by Lad Allen, the producer of Darwin's Dilemma, the filmmaker provided evidence that he had interviewed Conway Morris on November 14, 2006. The…
oracknows | September 14, 2009
I just learned that earlier today Patrick Swayze finally died of his pancreatic cancer after having survived far longer (20 months) than the average patient diagnosed with stage IV disease (less than 6 months). All I can say is: Rest in peace, Patrick. Not only did Swayze deal with his terminal illness with courage, humor, and panache, but he was awesome when he slapped down the quacks offering bogus cancer cures:
If anybody had that cure out there, like so many people swear they do, you'd be two things. You'd be very rich, and you'd be very famous. Otherwise, shut up.
The recent…
oracknows | September 10, 2009...Hitler is most displeased with President Obama and what he did earlier this week:
grrlscientist | July 18, 2009tags: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Movie Premiere in NYC, interview, celebrity gossip, funny, streaming video
This is a streaming video of the new Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and its premier in NYC. All commercials are removed, so you can sit down and watch this with your coffee uninterrupted. I recommend that you see this film, if you haven't done so already. This film is so good that I am already planning to watch it again on the big screen [32:24]
laelaps | July 17, 2009I have been feeling a little down this afternoon, so rather than blog something new I thought that I would share something that has cheered me up a little bit: the trailer for the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Enjoy.
grrlscientist | July 16, 2009tags: Finland, Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, HP6, film, trailer, streaming video, photographs
[0300 Helsinki time, after the film ended] The entrance to the theatre showing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HP6) in Helsinki, Finland at 6 minutes after midnight. [Harry Potter ja Puoliverinen Prinssi]. There are three theatres at Finnkino showing the film this night.
The doors open and we get ready to enter the theatre!
Yeowza! The movie screen is the largest I've ever seen -- 184.8 square metres (8.8 x 21 m -- or 29 x 69 ft) -- and this particular…
grrlscientist | July 16, 2009tags: The Magic Behind Harry Potter 6, interview, celebrity gossip, funny, streaming video
This is a streaming video of the new Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This special contains cast interviews and exclusive footage of the new movie. [Part 5/5] [5:49]
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
grrlscientist | July 15, 2009tags: The Magic Behind Harry Potter 6, interview, celebrity gossip, funny, streaming video
This is a streaming video of the new Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This Special contains cast interviews and exclusive footage of the new movie. [Part 4/5] [10:13]
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
grrlscientist | July 15, 2009tags: The Magic Behind Harry Potter 6, interview, celebrity gossip, funny, streaming video
This is a streaming video of the new Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This special contains cast interviews and exclusive footage of the new movie. [Part 3/5] [10:15]
Part 1
Part 2
grrlscientist | July 15, 2009tags: The Magic Behind Harry Potter 6, interview, celebrity gossip, funny, streaming video
This is a streaming video of the new Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This Special contains cast interviews and exclusive footage of the new movie. [Part 2/5] [10:15]
Part 1