- Once again, the predictive powers of science fiction prove to be faulty. Well color me unsurprised. That’s not what science fiction is for. [via]
- Scott Westerfeld shares this interesting (if not necessarily recent) article on toxoplasma, a terrifying yet often fascinating parasite. While tens of millions of Americans carry the parasite — own a cat? Your chances of being one of them just went up — most will never know it. It’s only pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems who are at any genuine serious risk from disease. But it’s the parasite’s ability to actually alter behavior in its hosts — rats and possibly humans — that makes it interesting. The parasite needs to end up in a cat’s stomach to reproduce, so it encourages behavior that will lead to the host being eaten by cats. The real question, as Westerfeld wonders, is what happens when the cats stop playing along?
- And as if toxoplasmosis wasn’t enough to worry about, there’s also the threat of radioactive jewlery on eBay. [via]
- Infomerical: The Series? Well that’s one way of ensuring viewers watch the advertisements. Still, I don’t know about you, but I could do with a little less Billy Mays on television. [via]
- And speaking of television, I’m very dubious about AMC’s remake of The Prisoner, but at least it gives me an excuse to finally watch the original series.
Day: January 11, 2009
That’s one way of putting it
Michael Caine once said the best way to have a relationship in a movie is to just bring the breath spray.
A couple of movies
Last night, I watched The Station Agent, which is really quite sweet and features a nice performance from Peter Dinklage. And then this afternoon, I watched The Lady in the Water, which is sort of stunning in its lousiness. I’ve genuinely enjoyed all of Shyamalan’s previous films — including the oft-maligned Signs and The Village — but I found almost nothing to like about this film. Thinly drawn caricatures, unconvincing and convoluted mythology, ponderous direction, giant leaps in logic and believability, terrible dialogue that drowns itself in heavy exposition, out-of-place comic relief, mediocre special effects — and all of it weighed down by Shyamalan’s ego and evident disdain for critics. If nothing else, the film is proof that a great actor can sometimes redeem even lousy material, but also that lousy material can undo even the greatest of actors. There are some bad performances here, mostly among the supporting players, and nobody comes out looking particularly good. But the blame rests squarely with its writer and director.
I’ve heard some very bad things about The Happening, his most recent follow-up. Do I dare tempt fate and watch that too?