Via PZ, a blog on biology and science fiction is griping that biology gets no respect, and links to a Jack Cohen article complaining that authors and filmmakers don’t take biology seriously I was particularly struck by this bit: Authors, film producers and directors, special-effects teams go to physicists, especially astrophysicists, to check that their… Continue reading You Gripe About What You Know
Category: Movies
Top Science Fiction Movies
Via Jeff “jefitoblog” Giles, who wrote the Editor’s Notes, the collaborative review site Rotten Tomatoes has generated a list of the top 100 science fiction films, based on their user ratings. It’s split over 100 individual pages, and tarted up with lots of slow-to-load graphics, so here are their top twenty films: 20) Mad Max… Continue reading Top Science Fiction Movies
BitterCon: Three Strikes and You’re Out
I’m not particularly pining for WisCon, but for those who are, let me throw out a movie topic for discussion: Three Strikes and You’re Out: Why Do Third Movies Suck So Much? It’s a well-known phenomenon in genre film: in a series of movies, the third movie is almost always where the series goes off… Continue reading BitterCon: Three Strikes and You’re Out
Hot Fuzz
For the last several years, Schenectady has been trying to get a movie theater in the downtown area, as part of an ongoing urban renewal project. This week, it finally opened, and one of the first movies on the bill is Hot Fuzz, from the people who did Shaun of the Dead, which I wanted… Continue reading Hot Fuzz
Guess the Movie Keywords: Mellencamp Edition
I’m sick and tired. Not metaphorically, literally. I had two labs today, and the cold I thought I had shaken back when classes started has come back with a vengeance, so I’m all congested and coughing. So here’s something silly to pass the time, via Kate among others: The following are “plot keywords” from IMDB… Continue reading Guess the Movie Keywords: Mellencamp Edition
When Grad Students Snap
There’s a story in the New York Times today about a new movie on the infamous Iowa grad school shootings: On Nov. 1, 1991, outraged that his doctoral thesis had been passed over for an academic prize, a young physicist at the University of Iowa named Gang Lu opened fire at a physics department meeting.… Continue reading When Grad Students Snap
Yo, Adrian!
Dave and Jim Munger are doing their annual male-bonding fest this weekend: Over the course of the next four days, Jim and I are going to watch, and review, every Rocky and Rambo movie. […]Here’s our tentative viewing schedule: Today: Rocky I and II Tomorrow: Rocky III Friday: Rocky IV and V Saturday afternoon: First… Continue reading Yo, Adrian!
Scorsese Is Doomed
A few days ago, Inside Higher Ed did an Oscar preview, and asked five academics who study film to predict the Best Picture winner. Three of the five picked The Departed to win, and one of the other two preferred it to his predicted winner (Babel). Clearly, Scorsese is doomed to lose yet again. Scalzi’s… Continue reading Scorsese Is Doomed
Hugo Recommendations
As Kate and I are planning to attend the Worldcon this year, we’re eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards, which are sort of SF’s version of the Oscars, or maybe the Golden Globes (the Nebula Awards being the other). This is only the third time I’ve had this opportunity, and it’s always kind of… Continue reading Hugo Recommendations
Product Placement
Another idle thought inspired by the Bond movie (I may or may not post comments about the movie as a whole, but you can check out Kate’s spoiler-laden comments. I liked it a little more than she did, but I’m more familiar with the genre, and willing to cut them more slack…): From what I… Continue reading Product Placement