Category: Mediaphilism
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Review: Sunshine
Scene from Sunshine Aside from the original Night of the Living Dead, I full on loathe zombie films. The plots are always the same, a virus (or magic) turns people into perpetual-motion flesh eating things. Big whoop. That was until the independent film 28 Days Later came out and reinvented zombies. Only these weren’t walking-dead,…
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Review: Bladerunner, The Final Cut
Blade Runner The Final Cut I watched Blade Runner, The Director’s Cut for the upteenth time Monday, appreciating the film’s flaws, and speculating on which ones Ridley Scott would clean up with the final, digitally-remastered version. Of course, all the silliness that made the original theatrical release of Blade Runner a total flop would stay…
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Science Gift Ideas: Worldchanging, A User’s Guide to the 21st Century
Worldchanging A User’s Guide to the 21st Century “Happiness demands giving up all hope of a better past.” – Buddha I dilly-dallied about checking out this book when it came out last year. Then one day, I happened to pick up an opened copy at the bookstore and immediately fell into profound ionian enchantment with…
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Science Gift Ideas: George’s Secret Key to the Universe
George’s Secret Keyto the Universe George is a restless child. His parents are well-meaning, but oppressively strict environmentalists. They are so anti-technology, that they won’t even let George have a computer. One day George’s pet pig gets out, leading him to meet his strange next door neighbor Annie. Annie’s father, Eric, is a scientist, who…
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Science Gift Ideas: Howtoons, The Possibilities are Endless
howtoons.com Cloud of Legends I was all about Do It Yourself (DIY) as a kid. I built a crossbow out of tree branches that shot bamboo arrows, a boat out of an innertube and piece of plywood, and was forever tricking my dirt bike out. Inventors Dr. Saul Griffith and Dr. Joost Bonsen and comic…
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Futurama Fans Rejoice!
All Hail Hypnotoad! I finally got to pick up a copy of the First Carbon Neutral DVD from FOX, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, this weekend, and I’m very much enjoying my geek-humor fix. Some big brains go into making Futurama. Executive Producer David X. Cohen has a master’s degree in computer science from UC Berkeley.…
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Review of Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”
LOLQuack Michael Crichton So I found a copy of Crichton’s book, State of Fear, in a box labeled “Free Books!” at the Coast Guard base, and figured I should go ahead and read it. I’ve read most of his other fiction, which is equally disposable, but usually a fun and brainless way to burn some…
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Review of “In the Shadow of the Moon”
Got to check out this inspiring documentary last week, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Sputnik 1. The film wisely skips the Cold War dimensions of the Space Race, an historical context today’s generation can’t really relate to, and probably shouldn’t bother to considering the U.S.S.R. turned out to be a paper tiger.…
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BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs, The Live Experience
Tyrannosaurus Rex would have eaten Noah When I was in high school I went to a monster truck rally on a lark, and was so blown away with excitement that I actually bought a Grave Digger hat, and have been a secret fan of monster trucks ever since. This despite the fact that they usually…
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Robert Jordan Dead at 58
Wheel of Time Book I Eye of the World …and millions of fanboys around the world scream, in their best impression of Darth Vadar realizing Padmé Amidala has died by his hand, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” I am so glad I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series at book six. Robert Jordan’s WoT series was hands-down the…
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Marsday Book Review: Sacred Geometry
The Negatives Sacred Geometry Deciphering the Code Pursuant to my interest in the beauty of mathematical ideas, I decided to pick up a copy of Stephen Skinner’s book, Sacred Geometry, which surveys the beauty and synchronicities of whole numbers and geometric concepts. This is a beautify, however somewhat flawed book, and I’ve decided to break…
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Mandatory Reading: Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation”
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin in “Foundation” Isaac Asimov’s Foundation A scientist, Hari Seldon, is on trial for treason. His crime: Mathematically proving the Empire will collapse within five centuries. Nothing can avert this disaster, but the Seldon warns there can be either 30,000 years of anarchy…