When [It] Strikes Me

Sawyer's band of plotters defect from FLocke, but do they find an ally in Widmore? Photo c/o TVOverMind.com.

This is going to be a relatively quick Quick Hits, as I’m swamped with work and it’s late, but I wanted to get some of my thoughts down on paper… err… keyboard and pixels.  Anyways, this was the type of episode that I gather a bunch of the action starved folk were hoping for.  A lot happened and there wasn’t really a whole lot of tangential bits; provided, however, there was a distinct focus on bringing Claire back into the fold.

As I’ve noted in the past, I’m not a big fan of the rejuvenated, Rousseauian Claire.  Emilie de Raven may be one heck of a looker, but she’s no Charlize Theron and she can’t pull off acting while not being attractive.  It didn’t help that her character has been in limbo more than Michael, et al.  They at least gave her something to work with in this episode, putting a concerted focus on her relationship with Jack.  Both in the sideways universe and on Island, we see Jack and Claire meeting for the first time as knowing-brother and sister.

This character rehabilitation did some good, making her slightly more useful than Zombie Sayid; however, they’re still stretching and trying to make the Kate-Claire tension work.  Unless they end up wrestling in baby-oil, it’s just not going to be all that great a television.  In fact, the best part of the Kate-Claire interaction was Sawyer emphatically insisting that Claire be left behind and explaining that she isn’t the same woman they left on the Island.  Again, this was a bit of the producers speaking the minds of the audience, but it also served an important part of the plot line… at least I hope.  I do hold out some belief that the producers have good reason to keep Claire and Sayid in tow.

More Quick Hits, after the jump. Read more…

The movie is in German with English subtitles.

Not every movie is made to be great.  In fact, I’d say it’s not hard to argue that most zombie genre movies are not meant for greatness.  Dead Snow, or Død Snø if you want to be German about it, is just that type of movie.

It’s weird to see this kind of flick come to America from the foreign ranks.  Although you do see camp show up occasionally — think the awesome Shaolin Soccer or last year’s Bollywood kung fu comedy Chandni Chowk to China — it’s rare to really see a campy horror in subtitles.

The plot here is surprisingly easy to follow and having to watch the subtitles wasn’t actually that tough, even for a horror movie.  Basically, you have seven medical student friends who arrive in a remote, Norwegian (or at least I think it’s Norway) locale, where they expect to meet one’s girlfriend, who owns a cabin in the mountains.  They hike nearly an hour from the road to reach the rustic cabin.

When the girlfriend doesn’t arrive, they start to worry; tension is added by the visit of a local camper who warns of evil in the mountains which is descended from a Nazi crew that raped the land and eventually froze in the mountain cold.  When the boyfriend heads off to find his girl, the zombie fun kicks off in full.

Click on through to read some more. Read more…

I’ve found that it’s easy to get a new feature on the site working and going when it involves just linking a couple of lectures from TED that I find worthwhile and commenting on them.  After a one week turn to entertainment, I return to the bread and butter of my interest in TED, science.  I kicked off and was inspired to start this feature by a few pieces on Science, Free-thinking and Religion.  This week I turn the post over to one repeat TED lecturer: David Deutsch.

Professor Deutsch is a mainstay in the physics department of Oxford University and at Clarendon Laboratories.  His book The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes and Its Implications just got added to my Kindle wish list for rocking (potentially). Anyone who’s read my blog knows I’m a fan of the multiverse theory and a person fascinated by things I don’t understand.  Nothing is more so than quantum mechanics, which is a key portion of the Theory of Everything that scientists like Deutsch seek out.

Anyway, at TEDGlobal2009, Deutsch went into how and why scientific discovery revolutionized and continues to revolutionize explanation and transforms the world.  His discussion of what truly is knowledge and scientific understanding is actually quite graspable, even for the layman.

There is something about those that arise from Oxford and their ability to reach out to the public.  Here is Deutsch doing just that.  July 2009, Oxford, England.

Another Deutsch lecture, after the jump. Read more…

Primer is a complex and, at times, very confusing film that earns a hearty recommendation from me.

The best way to watch a movie is almost always when you have no idea what to expect.  Going in with little more than a two line plot mini-summary leaves you open to surprise and, occasionally, that surprise is pleasant.

It was so with Primer, a 2004 independent film that was a darling of the Indie Film Circuit.  It won the Grand Jury Prize and Alfred P. Sloan Prize at Sundance, the Best Writer/Director at Nantucket and the Best Feature at the London/Sci Fi.  It was also nominated in all the major categories for which it was eligible at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards.  For a film made on a budget of about $7,000… well, let’s just say that newcomer writer, director, producer and lead actor Shane Carruth has got some game.

I do feel that going into the movie with very little background was important in my enjoyment, so I’m certainly not going to play too much of a spoiler herein.  I’ll keep this review pretty high level and light on detail.  And with a film that was as dense on the scientific jargon, keeping it high level is sometimes a necessity and not simply a luxury.

Primer is a mix between a sci fi feature and a thinking-man’s thriller.  As a bit of a science nerd, I think the thing I appreciated the most was Carruth’s dedication to maintaining at least a modicum of scientific integrity in his draftsmanship.  The film definitely has a gritty and perhaps even realistic feel.

Read more, after the jump. Read more…

It would be a little more understandable for someone who grew up without a public education system and the interwebs to be as ignorant as the ICP is.

Sometimes music videos can, in fact, be too good.  A few weeks ago, the Insane Clown Posse, a ridiculous duo from inner city Detroit trailer parks who dress up like clowns while screaming their horrorcore raps [ed. note: I may have to close down this site after realizing I just typed those words], released a touching, pondering video that grasps at one’s heart as you try to fathom just how bad our education system is.

The duo strayed from their normal talks about violence to pen a fitting song about just how little they know about the world.  They even have a line warning scientists and their empirical explanations to stay away because the ICP thinks scientists lie (the ICP also are apparently against climate change scientists).  They actually name a variety of natural phenomena a no things that could even remotely be classified as “miracles.”  It’s almost as ironic as Alanis Morrisette writing a song called “Isn’t it ironic” about a series of coincidences.

The song has taken on minor viral status with features throughout the interwebs, on Attack of the Show and now on Saturday Night Live.  After the jump, I’ve linked the video for those who have been uninitiated.  Also linked are the hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch and a series of my favorite animated GIFs from the interwebs.

Warning, the video includes some bad language (mostly F-bombs) and the page load time will be pretty hearty as the animated gifs are in excess of 10 MB.  Enjoy! Read more…

Before I get started, I’ll note that I’m under the weather so I’m going to keep this Quick Hits particularly short.  I just finished watching and against Darleton delivered.  We had a solid episode that returned two blasts from the past, as was hinted by Carlton Cuse on his Twitter account.  We received a concise, acceptable answer to one of the Island mysteries.  The candidates merged to move the final storyline towards its terminus.  The Constant moved to fulfill his destiny and, in a final act, we were left utterly slack jawed.

"Everybody Loves Hugo" featured a sideways universe Hurley who had success in life and did well in everything but love.

This episode, as indicated by its title, had a tangential relationship with Season 2′s “Everybody Hates Hugo.”  In that episode, we saw Hugo’s unfortunate and, well, star crossed life.  Even with his winning the lottery, wealth brought great misfortune.  In the alternate, sideways universe, Hurley is the opposite in all but one respect.  He is ambitious, dynamic, successful in his ventures and loved by all.  His one exception is in love.  He remains seemingly self-conscious in that regard.

When set up on a blind date that stands him up, Hugo runs into his only prior love on the Island, the DUI-terminated Libby.  Following her introduction along with the other Tailies, Libby had become a quite popular character; however, her and Ana Lucia met a bitter end at the hand of Michael at the end of Season 2 in “Two for the Road.”  Libby and Hugo were to have their first date on that day and Hugo has yearned for her, and we, as viewers, have pitied him his loss.

Much as Desmond’s experience in meeting Penny Milton drove Desmond toward his eventual destiny in reconnecting from the sideways universe to the Island consciousness, Hugo’s interaction with Libby (prodded on by a later chance — or was it — meeting with Desmond) led him to fulfill their initial beach date, despite several apprehensions.  When Libby kissed Hugo — as when Penny shook Desmond’s hand and when Charlie and Desmond had their near death experiences — everything came rushing back and Hugo began to remember.

For the person that every audience member wishes the best for, seeing Hugo possibly find happiness was a fantastic moment; however, there is some foreboding, knowing that there may be some sacrifice made by the candidates in both the sideways and the Island universe.  One has to wonder how long Hugo’s tide will stay strong.

Some Quick Hits, after the jump. Read more…

A new feature I’m going to hopefully get going on the site is linking a couple of lectures from TED that I find worthwhile watching.  Last week, I featured a few pieces on Science, Free-thinking and Religion.  This week is significantly more light-hearted.

We lead it off with a brilliant nine-minute romp by poet John G. Rives, of Def Poetry Jam fame.  His TED2007 lecture, named 4 a.m., is a genius, witty and play-along journey through references to and the interconnectedness of that early morning hour.  March 2007, Monterey, CA.

More entertaining talks, after the jump. Read more…

I’ve popped The Editors to the top of my iPod playlists again this past week after burying them for a while.  Their sound is, not surprisingly, UK indie rock.  The below songs, and the album as a whole (The Back Room, from which Munich and All Sparks come), are awesome.  Give a listen.

Munich

More tunes, after the jump. Read more…

Go Dores.

You can follow the brash band of Commodores using my Twitter list of the Dores’ feeds or by simply picking out the ones you’d care to follow.  If you’re a fan of VU baseball, Twitter is an interesting way to get in the mind of the players.  Most of the guys don’t update that much, but a few folks like Sonny Gray (@SonnyGray2) and Drew Fann (@DrewFann) are Twitter champions.

There aren’t necessarily any particular tweets that make you point to these kids and say “that’s why I follow them.”  It’s the course of the season, the year and the journey that leads guys like Anthony GoGo Gomez (@AnthonyG13) to being a future star like David Price (@DavidPrice14).

After the jump, the batting order of Vanderbilt Baseball Tweeps. Read more…

OK, I admit I’m like a nerd without the credentials (American Studies BA instead of a Physics or Chem BS), but I must say I was especially pleased with a certain clever re-Tweet I earned myself today.  As many of you may know, Russian scientists (in concert with some Americans) have collided particles together in a successful effort to recreate a new, super heavy element numbered 117 and temporarily called Ununseptium.

Well, as the team prepares to give it a final name, Wired Science’s Twitter has been helping out by polling followers on what they think the name should be.  I contributed my thought, which got a solid re-Tweet from my all-time favorite magazine.

Click through for images and Epic Victory! Read more…