James Cameron’s Hurt Locker
March 8th, 2010
Worldwide gross of The Hurt Locker: $18,100,000
Worldwide gross of Avatar: $2,600,607,444
The difference, also known as how much James Cameron doesn’t care that he lost because of politics, feminist pandering, and the underdog effect: $2,582,507,444.
Don’t get me wrong, The Hurt Locker was an excellent movie. But put any director in there and you get the same movie. The same action sequence repeated six or seven times with no character development, and almost no dialogue. Better sound mixing and editing than Avatar? The sounds consisted of bombs, gunfire, and…bombs. A better script than Tarantino’s masterpiece? Give me a break.
Note to film makers: make a movie that almost doesn’t get released, (Slumdog Millionaire anyone?) and when it does, nobody wants to go see it. You’ve got the Oscar in the bag.
Logorama
March 8th, 2010
If you haven’t watch Logorama, winner of the Oscar for best animated short, you can see it here.
Ceremonies
February 16th, 2010
So, the opening ceremonies happened. They were amazing. Naturally, the cynics are unimpressed.
Now, I may be cynical when it comes to other people, but that’s because other people prove themselves to be hopeless time and time again. But this is fairly ridiculous. Apparently the ceremonies didn’t represent the “average” Canadian. Let’s think about who the “average” Canadian is.
They aren’t native. They don’t speak French. They weren’t born in the prairies. They have a wife, and 2.1 children. They’re middle class. They wake up every morning and eat breakfast, then drive to work, where they sit in a cubicle at a computer from 9 until 5 fielding emails and phone calls. They drive home in rush hour. Rinse and repeat.
Apparently, that’s what we should have used BC Place Stadium and millions of dollars to show to the world. But no, that wouldn’t have made the cynics happy either. Nothing would have. VANOC could have resurrected Jesus riding a T-REX and they’d still be complaining. So it goes.
List of fictional elements, materials, isotopes and atomic particles
December 17th, 2009
Legos on Hoth
December 13th, 2009
This set by Avanaut is amazing work. Equally cool is how he did it.
Scientists Grow Meat in Laboratory
December 6th, 2009
Scientists Grow Meat in Laboratory. I’ve been waiting for/predicting this for years. They’d better get bacon right.
Digging Climate Change
December 1st, 2009
Conspiracy theorists can be hilarious. We mostly think of them as harmless, mentally unstable imbeciles who spend their time on the internet “doing their own research,” which amounts to reading the unfounded opinions of others like them. But they’re starting to get dangerous.
Digg.com usually represents a minority on the internet. The young, left of centre, scientifically minded people of above average intelligence. If you look closer though, there’s something foul lurking under that facade. View the comment thread for any climate change article, and you’ll find nothing but deniers. People who actually think that the hacked climate change emails disprove global warming. What’s worse is that these comments are dugg through the roof. Anyone who posts anything resembling reason is quickly buried into oblivion. This is positively fucking despicable.
I’d like to think that this is a coordinated and organised effort, run by the pants-on-head retarded people who plaster pictures of Ron Paul to their walls when not attending tea parties. And then I see comments like this:
“I can’t decide if the world is warming or not, if it’s our fault or not, or wtf.
Seems to change every day, and each side is SURE they are right”
And that’s when I know they’ve won. Because these people don’t have the science or credibility to back up their delusion. That isn’t their goal. All they want is to inject doubt and confusion and controversy where there is none. They’re succeeding beyond belief. The public needs to learn to protect themselves against this.
Science isn’t a democracy. I don’t care how many “scientists” they got to sign a petition denying global warming. It doesn’t mean shit. Just because an email is private and wasn’t meant to be released doesn’t make it incriminating. If you want facts, read peer-reviewed reputable scientific journals; Not anonymous websites and popular science articles.
Remove yourself from your computer and look outside. In Ontario, we’ve just officially had the first November in 70 years without snow. Seventy. Fucking. Years. Polar bears are resorting to cannibalism. Glaciers that have been around for thousands of years are almost gone. This shit is real, and we need to start fighting back.
The Future of Eating
November 15th, 2009
Scientists are continually improving artificial organs. From the very simple jellyfish-like bladder, to things as complex as the beating heart. Of course, we’re not there yet, but it’s starting to get close. And that got me thinking; What does that mean for the future of eating?
When an artificial organ becomes more efficient, more powerful, and more long-lasting than its biological counterpoint, it only makes sense to swap out your organs. The new ones wont break down and wont give up. Eventually all the organs in the body except for the brain will be replaced. I’m not sure that we’ll ever fully solve that one, but I’ll remain optimistic. Even bones will be replaced by unbreakable alloys.
As time goes on, a digestive system becomes more unnecessary. An energy source can be injected directly into the body, through some kind of port system. Maybe we’ll be run on solar power. Whatever the case, the only use for food will be to fulfill a culture driven by ingesting the stuff. And that makes me very happy.
Because it means that we’ll be able to separate digestion from absorption. When that happens, “you are what you eat” no longer holds true. You can eat thirty six chocolate cakes, followed by a spit roast apple-in-mouth hog. For breakfast. Praise science.
In the near future though, I’m hoping for something else. A complete separation of nutrient value and taste. Vegetarian food is healthy, but who are they trying to kid? It tastes like shit. All of it. Hopefully using food chemistry, we’ll be able to create something packed with vitamins and other goodies, but tasting like a hamburger with donuts for buns. Nom.
Fossil Reactors
November 4th, 2009
As a geology major, I find this intriguing. Also, I struggle to not link to everything from BLDGBLOG.
Fathers
November 2nd, 2009
If you’re not following @shitmydadsays on Twitter, you’re missing out. You could also follow me, if you’re so inclined (I don’t blame you if you aren’t).