tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82637960340587357692024-03-14T02:16:43.520-07:00MONOLOGUESAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.comBlogger260125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-86070886597772338072012-07-10T08:43:00.001-07:002012-07-10T08:43:49.965-07:00MONOLOGUE 33W<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=ac67ae159e&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the<em>Titanic</em>?</a></h1>
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By Alasdair Wilkins</div>
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Exactly one hundred years ago today, an ocean liner struck a block of ice and sank in the North Atlantic. The story of the ocean liner has been told hundreds of times. This story is about the block of ice.</div>
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The photos you see up top and down on the left are quite possibly the only known photographic evidence of the actual iceberg that struck the <em>Titanic</em>. Understandably, nobody had bothered to snap any photographs while the ship was actually sinking, so it's impossible to make an absolutely confirmed positive identification. But both photographs feature the telltale sign of a collision with a ship, and likely a recent one at that: a streak of red paint.</div>
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The photo up top was taken by the chief steward of the German ocean liner <em>SS Prinz Adalbert</em>, which on April 15 was sailing through the North Atlantic mere miles away from where the <em>Titanic</em> had sank the night before. At the time, the chief steward hadn't yet learned of the <em>Titanic</em>'s fate, so he wasn't even on the lookout for icebergs. He simply spotted a streak of red paint along the iceberg's base, which most likely meant a ship had collided with it in the last twelve hours.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=1e879940f3&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the Titanic?" class="ecximage_1 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17joxzwc8w22sjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the Titanic?" width="300" /></a></div>
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This next photo was taken by a Captain De Carteret of the<em>Minia</em>, one of a few cable ships - vessels ordinarily used to lay deep sea cables, such as those for telecommunications - sent to the site of the shipwreck to recover corpses and debris. The captain claimed this was the only iceberg in the area, and the red paint was again a clear sign that a ship had recently struck it. There's some disagreement over whether this was the <em>only</em> iceberg in the area, but it certainly seems likely that <em>something</em> had hit it, and the odds are good that that something was the <em>Titanic</em>.</div>
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If you were to trace the story of the <em>Titanic</em> to its earliest human origins, you couldn't really go much further back than 1907, when the White Star Lines first drew up plans to build the three largest ocean liners the world had even seen:<em>Olympic</em>, <em>Titanic</em>, and <em>Gigantic</em>, which was later renamed <em>Britannic</em> and sank in the Mediterranean during World War I. From conception to sinking, the <em>Titanic</em> really only lasted about five years, although obviously its memory has endured far longer.</div>
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But by comparison, the iceberg began its slow journey to the North Atlantic <em>over three thousand years ago</em>. Again, we can only guess at the exact details, but the story likely began with snowfall on the western coast of Greenland somewhere around 1,000 BCE. After a few months, this snow has been turned into a more compacted form called firn, which then over subsequent decades is compressed into dense ice by the weight of newer snow on top of it.</div>
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The frozen water in these glaciers is slowly forced further westward towards the sea. When they finally reach the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the lapping tides break off chunks of the ice, and icebergs are calved from the glacier, some thirty centuries after their source water was first deposited. The iceberg that sank the<em>Titanic</em> began its journey as a rough contemporary of King Tutankhamun, entire civilizations rising and falling while it made its slow march to infamy.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=698de995dd&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the Titanic?" class="ecximage_2 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17jp1nnmo93lzjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the Titanic?" width="300" /></a></div>
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But once all that's done, the iceberg's life was a short one. We know that because the<em>Titanic</em> sank in the North Atlantic, rather than the Arctic, which means the currents must have taken it far south of where it was calved. Starting on the Greenland coast, it would have moved from Baffin Bay to the Davis Strait and then onto the Labrador Sea and, at last, the Atlantic.</div>
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The <em>Titanic</em> iceberg was one of the lucky ones, so to speak, as the vast, <em>vast</em>majority of icebergs melt long before they reach that far south. Of the 15,000 to 30,000 icebergs calved each years by the Greenland glaciers, probably only about 1% of them ever make it all the way to the Atlantic. On April 15, 1912, the iceberg was some 5,000 miles south of the Arctic Circle.</div>
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The water temperature on the night of the <em>Titanic</em> sinking was thought to be about 28 degrees Fahrenheit, just below freezing. Such a temperature was of course lethally cold for all those passengers who had been forced to take to the open water to escape the sinking ship.</div>
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But such temperatures are far too warm to sustain icebergs for very long. The average life expectancy of an iceberg in the North Atlantic is only about two to three years from calving to melting. That means it likely broke off from Greenland in 1910 or 1911, and was gone forever by the end of 1912 or sometime in 1913. In all likelihood, the iceberg that sank the <em>Titanic</em> didn't even endure to the outbreak of World War I, a lost splash of freshwater mixed in imperceptibly with the rest of the North Atlantic.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-6486834793163231152012-07-06T03:21:00.004-07:002012-07-06T03:21:47.792-07:00MONOLOGUE 7/6<br />
<h1 style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;">
<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=a383828e33&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">5 Scientific Explanations for <em>Game of Thrones</em>' Messed-Up Seasons</a></h1>
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By George Dvorsky</div>
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We real-world Earthlings take for granted that the seasons will change on schedule. Our planet's clockwork-like seasonality allows us to predict the passage of time with complete precision, and we can always be sure that spring is right around the corner. The same cannot be said, however, for the unlucky inhabitants of George R. R. Martin's Westeros.</div>
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Why is this? And what are the possible scientific explanations for Westeros' long, unpredictable seasons?</div>
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A unique feature of Martin's <em>Song of Ice and Fire</em> world is its extreme seasonal variability. Summers and winters have an indeterminate length, leaving its citizens wondering how long the current season will last — and how long they may have to endure the next one. At the opening of <em>Game of Thrones</em> Season Two, the good folk of the Seven Kingdoms learn that the summer, which has lasted seven years, is coming to a close, and with it, the onset of what could be a very long and bitter winter.</div>
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This makes for some pretty great fantasy, but is this actually possible? And is there any chance that variable-length seasons as portrayed in <em>Game of Thrones</em>could eventually happen on Earth?</div>
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The answer is yes. And in fact, there are at least five scientific explanations that can help explain what's going on in the Seven Kingdoms.</div>
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<strong>1. A wobbly planetary tilt</strong></div>
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Earth's seasons are caused by the tilt of its <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=769566dda5&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">axis of rotation</a> - a 23.4° offset of the axis to be exact. The direction of the Earth's rotational axis stays nearly fixed in space despite the fact that we're also revolving around the Sun. As a result, depending on the Earth's location during its orbit, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, causing us to experience summer. Half a year later, when the Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, resulting in — yes, you guessed it — winter. The seasons are, of course, reversed for the southern hemisphere.</div>
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The seasons themselves are the result of shifting daylight exposures. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface. The less sunlight, the colder it is. Makes sense.</div>
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It's important to note that the Earth's axis of rotation is extremely stable. If it wasn't, the Earth's tilt would be very wobbly, resulting in inconsistent and unpredictable seasonal lengths like the ones portrayed in <em>Game of Thrones</em>.</div>
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But thankfully we have the Moon. Or more specifically, we have a very large moon. The Earth's moon is disproportionately large compared to other planetary satellites in the solar system. And without it, there might not be any seasons, or the seasons could be very different than what we're used to. The Moon has the effect of stabilizing the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis. Without it, Earth would be a wobbly mess.</div>
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Now, back to <em>Game of Thrones</em> — in the episode "The Kingsroad," we learn that Westeros has at least one moon. It's very possible, therefore, that they have a very small or distant moon, that is causing a variable tilt in their planet's rotational axis.</div>
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It's interesting to note that, according to legend, Westeros used to have two moons, but "one wandered too close to the sun and it cracked from the heat" pouring out a thousand thousand dragons. Well, dragons aside, it's conceivable that some kind of cataclysmic celestial event could have wiped out their second moon, which would have thrown their planet's rotational axis out of whack.</div>
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As for our situation here on Earth, we're not completely immune from this problem. If our moon got knocked out of its current orbit, say by a massive object or a <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6a92493ca1&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">nuclear explosion</a>, we would be in quite a bit of trouble.</div>
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<strong>2. An extremely elongated orbit</strong></div>
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It's a commonly held myth that the Earth's seasons are caused by its changing proximity to the Sun. This makes sense from an intuitive perspective; the <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=9ea79de3b3&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Earth is in an elliptical orbit</a> around the Sun, which would indicate that the further it is away from the sun, the colder it would be. Hence, Earth's location at the aphelion point (the farthest point from the Sun) would indicate winter.</div>
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But this is not the case. Earth may be in an elliptical orbit, but it's practically a circle. Our distance from the Sun at the aphelion point has virtually no impact on the Earth's climate, though some experts believe that it may account for the southern hemisphere's moderate winters.</div>
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Now, that said, not all planets have a near-circular orbit like the Earth's. Mercury, for example, has the largest <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=f940d15764&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">orbital eccentricity</a> of any planet in the solar system at 0.2056 (compared to the Earth's 0.0167). The closer to zero the orbit is, the closer it is to being circular.</div>
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In <em>Game of Thrones</em>, it's very possible that Westeros has a very eccentric or elongated orbit. Unlike the Earth, their world could be extremely far from its sun at the aphelion point, which would explain the long and severe winters. Conversely, during perihelion, the planet would have a prolonged summer. Our very own Mars experiences this kind of thing; it undergoes wide temperature variations and violent dust storms every year, when it reaches perihelion.</div>
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The problem with this theory, however, is it doesn't explain the unpredictability of the seasons. The citizens of the Seven Kingdoms would still experience consistent yearly cycles and fixed length seasons, even if they would be longer than what we're used to here on Earth. So this theory, at least on its own, is not a very good explanation.</div>
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<strong>3. A complex Milankovitch cycle</strong></div>
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The Earth is subject to some significantly longer orbital and axial trends. Variations in orbital eccentricity, axial tilt, and <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=0662a7f858&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">precession</a> of the Earth's orbit can determine climactic patterns that can take tens of thousands of years to play out. It takes about 26,000 years for Earth's axis to complete one full cycle of precession (the change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body), while at the same time the Earth is orbiting at a variable speed. The combined effect of these two phenomena creates a 21,000-year astronomical season. This is what is referred to as a "<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=b01c60c304&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Milankovitch cycle</a>."</div>
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This extreme long-term seasonality slowly changes the climate on Earth, typically resulting in colder winters in the Northern Hemisphere. It's thought that Milankovitch cycles are what's to blame for Earth's past ice ages. And anthropogenic global warming notwithstanding, current models suggest that the current warm climate may last another 50,000 years.</div>
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All planets have their own Milankovitch cycle which affect the weather and seasons in unique ways. Mars's polar caps vary in size on account of orbital instability related to a latent Milankovitch cycle. And Saturn's moon Titan has a 60,000 year cycle that changes the location of its methane lakes.</div>
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Looking at the situation in <em>Game of Thrones</em>, it's possible that Westeros's Milankovitch cycle is quick and complex. If this is the case, their seasons would be subject to variations in both length and severity — exactly the sort of thing that is seen in the series. Such long-term trends could be predicted when analyzing the physics of it, but it's nothing the planet's medieval-stage observers could measure or anticipate.</div>
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<strong>4. Oceans, currents, and winds</strong></div>
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Any given region's climate is profoundly influenced by such factors as its latitude and proximity to large bodies of water. Take the South Pole, for example. It is in the middle of Antarctica, and a considerable distance from the moderating influence of the southern oceans. The North Pole, on the other hand, is in the Arctic Ocean, and its temperature extremes are buffered by the water. The result is that the South Pole is consistently colder during the Southern winter compared to the North Pole during the Northern winter.</div>
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Ocean currents and prevailing winds can also have an impact on climate, and they themselves are subject to cyclical variations. Currents like <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=fc9961a9ab&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">El Niño</a> and <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=9bb7f2e268&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">La Niña</a> impact on regional climates across timescales as long as five or more years. The power of Canada's warm <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=dd0f953484&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Chinook winds</a> are largely unpredictable, but their impact on the Prairies is significant.</div>
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The Seven Kingdoms may be subject to these sorts of long-term weather trends. The geography of their world may be considerably different than Earth's. Westeros may contain larger oceans, bigger mountains, stronger currents and more powerful prevailing winds — all of which would combine to create fairly unpredictable and long-term weather trends.</div>
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It's worth noting that global warming and rising ocean levels on Earth are stunting the ocean currents. Some experts believe that this could indeed <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4b66c683e6&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">result in a new ice age</a>.</div>
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<strong>5. A combination of all factors</strong></div>
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It's also possible, of course, that it's through a combination of some or all of these factors that <em>Game of Thrones</em>' seasonal variability can be explained. As shown, seasonality and climate are clearly the result of many factors.</div>
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Regardless, it's time to bundle up. Winter might be coming.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-25409768830728347232012-07-02T20:57:00.000-07:002012-07-02T20:57:22.718-07:00CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN<br />
<center style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="verdana20"><b>Crimes Against Children</b><i>Why do some people want to hurt children?</i></span></center><span class="verdana12" style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: -webkit-left;"><center>By Dan Eden for viewzone.com</center></span><div style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: -webkit-left;">
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<center style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><b>WARNING</b><br />This article deals with child predators and pornography. Although the examples shown in this article are legal, they may be offensive to some viewers. We show them only to make a point of the type of content currently allowed on the internet. Thanks for understanding our motives.</center><div style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: -webkit-left;">
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<span class="verdana12" style="background-color: #f5ebf1; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: -webkit-left;">In late March of 2009 a beautiful little 8 year old girl was missing from her home in Tracy, California. Reports stated that she left her home to play at a friends home, then was returning home -- but never arrived. Surveillance cameras at the trailer park where she lived showed the petite child skipping happily in front of her home just hours before she apparently vanished.<img align="right" class="AutoImageWidthTopic" hspace="10" src="http://viewzone.com/cantu_sandra.jpg" vspace="10" />In the age of television, little Sandra Cantu was featured nightly on Headline News (CNN) with an assortment of family photos and videos. America watched as her distraught mother begged for her return as speculation mounted that she had likely been abducted.<br />
Interviews with police and FBI agents revealed that, if an abducted child is not found within the first several hours after being reported missing, the child is almost always found dead.<br />
True to the profiles of abduction, little Sandra's body was found in a suitcase, thrown in to a nearby farm aquaduct, on April 6th. Autopsy reports indicated that she had been "raped" with a foreign object. Eventually, to everyone's surprise, the alleged perpetrator was not a man but a 28 year old woman -- a Sunday school teacher -- who lived just doors away from Sandra's home. The murder was a shock to everyone but it reminded me that we need to know more about the kind of person or persons that can commit such an act of pure evil.<br />
<b>Who could do this?</b><br />
Criminal profilers tell us that the people who harm and kill children are suffering from what psychologists call pedophilia. The primary motive of these attackers is sexual and the subsequent murder usually results from fear of being "revealed" by the victim. One might think that the attacker would know that molesting or raping a child will result in severe criminal penalties before they commit the crime, but often the attackers claim that murder was an "after-thought" which they did not initially intend to do. Psychologists explain that the sexual urges of pedophiles are so strong that the consequences of their actions are not thought out until their urges are gratified -- when it is unfortunately too late. So this brings us to ask, what is a pedophile?<br />
According to wikipedia:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
The term pedophilia or paedophilia has a range of definitions as found in psychology, law enforcement, and the vernacular. As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), pedophilia is specified as a form of paraphilia in which a person either has acted on intense sexual urges towards children, or experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about children that cause distress or interpersonal difficulty. The disorder is frequently a feature of persons who commit child sexual abuse; however, some offenders do not meet the clinical diagnosis standards for pedophilia. In strictly behavioral contexts, the word "pedophilia" has been used to refer to child sexual abuse itself, also called "pedophilic behavior".</blockquote>
<b>What makes a person a pedophile?</b><br />
Most human adults have a psychological preference for the opposite sex of child-bearing age. This would appear to be "hard wired" in the brain for the continuation of the species. Any deviation from this norm is viewed as "unnatural," since sexual intercourse between a man and pre-pubescent child results in no offspring.<br />
Most psychologists had, until the last decade, traditionally grouped homosexuality with pedophilia as a form of pathology. Both are still considered "evil" by many church goers and moralist and who believe these sexual orientations to be matters of "choice." Why anyone would choose to become a homosexual, with all of the social condemnation, has always been a mystery and this concept has recently been seriously challenged.<br />
With regards to homosexuality, it has been proven that brains have gender. As many scientists suspected, homosexuals appear to have aquired specific parts of their brain -- specifically the hypothalamus -- with traits of the opposite sex. In simple terms, male homosexuals can have a male body, but the part of their brains responsible for sexual preference is female. The opposite appears true for lesbians.<br />
In the case of homosexuality, the abnormality seems linked to maternal stress during the first trimester of pregnancy. Stress produces androstendione in the shared placental blood of the mother and child. Androstendione strongly resembles testosterone and interferes with the early development of the hypothalamus and causes this part of the brain to develop characteristics of the opposite sex responsible for sexual preference.<br />
So it's not a choice.<br />
<center><img class="AutoImageWidthTopic" src="http://viewzone.com/homo.same.jpg" /></center>I wrote about this a <a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=FgrOtPAkS$vDcxqHcjEmwb9MxLoZW9QfYFPVPnL5J$Y=">few years ago</a> and I was tempted to describe this as a "birth defect." I received hundreds of e-mails from homosexual men and women who resented this lable. I understand this and so I have been resigned call it "natural." But what can one say about pedophilia?<br />
<b>What causes pedophilia?</b><br />
In a Dutch book about treatment, written by Bernard ten Hag, a psychologist, he argues that pedophilia is a matter of choice:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
"Pedophilia: A word that better may replaced by pedosexuality, because what offenders do with children is contrary to what most people understand as love. Pedophilia is not on the same level as homophilia or heterophilia, because pedophilia is not a preference but a choice." (Hag 2004)</blockquote>
Is pedophilia a choice?<br />
There is remarkably little that is known about this condition. Most of what psychologists know is based on statistics and family histories obtained during therapy of criminal offenders. While this is helpful, it really only profiles those who act on their impulses and does not describe covert pedophiles who harbor these feelings but never allow them to be expressed -- except in fantasies.<br />
Here's what we know:<br />
<b>Having a powerful or controlling mother</b> has been shown to be a dominant factor. In theory, the male pedophile develops an aversion to adult women and their percieved power and focuses on younger, more passive females as the object of sexual preference. Some regard pedophilia as the result of a distorted need to dominate a sexual partner. Since children are smaller and usually weaker than adults, they may be regarded as nonthreatening potential partners. This drive for domination is sometimes thought to explain why most pedophiles are males. In one blog, a convicted child sex offender wrote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
"From my experience of being mothered - I hate mothers. Even now typing the word on my keypad makes me feel like wretching. But I know that my experience is not the same as everyone else, I cannot generalise form my particular experience."</blockquote>
<b>Next up is a history of sexual abuse as a child.</b> Statistically, one third of pedophiles say that they were abused growing up (Cloud, April 2002). Some researchers attribute pedophilia to arrested emotional development from the trauma of abuse; that is, the pedophile is attracted to children because he or she has never matured psychologically.<br />
The most frequently assessed neuropsychological characteristic has been general intelligence or IQ. Some investigators have compared sex offenders against children with noncriminal community control groups, finding the sex offenders to score lower in intelligence (Langevin et al., 1985). Other investigators have compared sex offenders against children with men convicted of nonsexual crimes, thus controlling for their status in the legal system and any antisociality. The offenders against children again scored lower (Hambridge, 1994)<br />
Most experts regard pedophilia as resulting from psychosocial factors rather than biological characteristics. But this assumption has some flaws.<br />
Pedophilia is one of the more common sexual pathologies; the large worldwide market for child pornography suggests that it is more frequent in the general population than prison statistics would indicate. Together with voyeurism and exhibitionism, pedophilia is one of the three pathologies most commonly leading to arrest by the police.<br />
The onset of pedophilia usually occurs during adolescence. Occasional pedophiles begin their activities during middle age but this late onset is uncommon. In the United States, about 50% of men arrested for pedophilia are married.<br />
The frequency of behavior associated with pedophilia varies with psychosocial stress. As the pedophile's stress levels increase, the frequency of his or her acting out generally rises also.<br />
Pedophilia is more common among males than among females (about 10%). In addition, the rate of recidivism for persons with a pedophilic preference for males is approximately twice that of pedophiles who prefer females.<br />
Little is known about the incidence of pedophilia in different racial or ethnic groups.<br />
<b>A biological cause?</b><br />
Despite all the efforts to treat pedophilia, the brain mechanisms that cause this disorder still remains a mystery. A new study published in<i>Biological Psychiatry</i> demonstrated how pedophilic patients responded to functional brain imaging.<br />
<img align="right" class="AutoImageWidthTopic" height="450" hspace="10" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo-brain.jpg" vspace="10" /><br />
<blockquote>
During the test, the screening showed that brain area hypothalamus responsible for regulating of sexual arousal and hormone release was reduced in pedophilic patients. The activation of this brain region in individuals who are not pedophilic would normally be heightened when they look at sexually arousing pictures of adults.It means that pedophilic patients have little response in pleasure areas of the brain when they view sexually arousing pictures of adults, thus it may predispose them to change their sexual interest. John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry says that understanding the neurobiological peculiarities of this disorder should be taken into account to find a treatment.</blockquote>
Canadian researchers discovered that men with a primary sexual attraction to children have a much higher likelihood of being <b>left handed</b> than the general population. This research suggests that there is a neurological component to pedophilia, since left-handedness appears to be biologic. Some scientists speculate that it might be a case of right-hemisphere dominance more than a particular region, such as the hypothalamus, that provides a predisposition to pedophilia.<br />
Right-hemisphere dominance might also be the result of faulty connections in the brain. If the brain can not integrate input from both hemispheres, as a normal brain does, perhaps this problem with connectivity allows one hemisphere to dominate control of the mind. According to new research released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a study utilizing MRIs and a sophisticated computer analysis technique compared a group of pedophiles with a group of non-sexual criminals. The pedophiles had significantly less of a substance called "white matter" which is responsible for wiring the different parts of the brain together.<br />
In my previous article of <a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=FgrOtPAkS$vJNtc28fu3uAhPK0dCqipW">left-right brain activity</a> I showed the unique characteristics of each human brain's left and right hemisphere. I will list these again here.<br />
<br />
<center><img class="AutoImageWidthTopic" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo-leftright.jpg" /></center>One interesting theory suggests that right-brained individuals are more child-like and so tend to be adolescent or even pre-adolescent in their thinking. While these traits are considered positive in creative writing, the arts and tasks involving fantasy, they might also lead one to have an affinity for children who utilize these same traits. It has also been suggested that being left-handed creates stress and trauma at an early age -- living in a world of right-handed people -- and that this can also contribute to the previously described "arrested emotional development."<br />
<b>How common is pedophilia?</b><br />
Pedophilia is running rampant, not only in the US but all over the world. Children are being sexually exploited by a pedophile at the rate of 1 out of 6 boys before the age of 16 and 1 out of 3 girls before the age of 18 (1 out of 4 before the age of 14). As a result, some psychologists are attempting to describe pedophilia as a valid sexual orientation.<br />
Dr. Fred S. Berlin asserts that, "It is likely that no one would choose voluntarily to develop a pedophilic sexual orientation. Those with such an orientation have no more decided to have it than have any of us decided as children to be either heterosexual or homosexual." Berlin also defends the classification of pedophilia as a mental disorder, stating, "In our society, to have a pedophilic sexual orientation can create both psychological burdens and impairments."<br />
Richard Green was involved in the removal of homosexuality from the DSM list of mental disorders and is now actively trying to have pedophilia removed as well (Gieles, 2002). Green believes that pedophilic feelings are normal.<br />
One quarter of "normal" people are said to feel attracted towards children and more than twenty five percent react with penile erection to pedophilic stimuli. Green also states that one can not reasonably argue that one quarter of the population is mentally ill (Gieles, 2002). Considering these statistics it seems sensical to conclude that pedophilia is not a mental disorder. However, the one quarter of the population that react to pedophilic stimuli do not necessarily act on their urges.<br />
<b>Child pornography</b><br />
The huge amount of child pornography on the internet speaks volumes about the popularity and frequency of pedophilia. Although so-called hard core pronography is aggressively combatted by the governments and police of most countries, a suprisingly large amount of "soft pronography" (non-nude) remains accessible to the public and claims to be protected under the articles of free speech.<br />
While I am not stupid enough to download any "hard core" pornography depicting children, I did use a simple google search (try "preteen" and "models") to locate sites such as the one pictured below.<br />
<center><img class="AutoImageWidthTopic" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo-site.jpg" width="300" /><img class="AutoImageWidthTopic" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo-site2.jpg" width="300" /></center>This site, depicting girls as young as 5 or 6 in their underpants, in supposedly erotic poses, was just one of hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of web sites in which parents apparently sell images of their scantily clad children to anyone with a MasterCard or PayPal account.<br />
A button named "links" brought me the page below. Once again a reminder, this material is declared "legal"! The site contains the following "legal notice":<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Site contains works of Art that demonstrate admiration and appreciation of beauty and style. All content submitted on this site was prepared and belongs to Model Agency. Given material - images of outstanding models dressed in fashionable and exclusive clothing - was produced in compliance with norms of Law and Morality.</b></blockquote>
<br />
<center><img class="AutoImageWidthTopic" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo-links.jpg" width="500" /></center>If you come across any web sites like this I suggest that you write down the URL -- the web site address (beginning with "www...") and use one of the following links to report this. Remember, these people believe this is "legal" and claim these are "modeling" web sites. By complaining you will help to shut them down and stop feeding these desires:<br />
<a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=HT9hthPLU5vOp4QmIynbStdZHOjtCyCISzul3buM/ibZe7znb/xgSeMe9DBchW07">www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/childporn.html</a><br /><a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=Mw9WgVSON3fxlrWGHQnb6g5U0mPxEBer">www.antichildporn.org</a><br />
Elsewhere, I noticed an article in alternet.org recently which described the "<a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=l8TcizIoe7aGBTKPVBlQB6CAme2ONhtLsCQErM6mILWuoE2kqwnnv8lyoHXEoj9Y">in vogue</a>" phenomenon where adult women are now pandering to the desires of men by having their pubic hair removed (the so-called "Brazillian" look) and their vaginal labia <a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=yU2pYq91Y3GgFjixRFWV/4OnLcmZLuMmsznph7VrRsZgU9U$cvkn5g==">surgically reduced</a> to resemble pre-pubescent girls. Apparently the whole world is harboring pedophilic fantasies!<br />
<b>So why do some pedophiles hurt children?</b><br />
After all, this is the reason for writing this article. But the answer is still illusive for me. I can only be reminded of something I read years ago when studying the great philosopher, Plotinus. Though he was not describing pedophilia, he made an observation of evil that seems to make sense.<img align="right" class="AutoImageWidthTopic" hspace="10" src="http://viewzone.com/pedo.bratz.jpg" vspace="10" /><br />
<blockquote>
The soul forgets its value and learns to dispise itself. The one consists in showing her the low value of all the things she [the soul] at present esteems. The other consists in instructing and reminding her of her nature and worth. The second argument preceeds the first and once it has been made clear will support the first." -- Enneads VI -- Chain of Realities, Book 2 Plotinus.</blockquote>
In other words, the pedophile has to repress the strong desire to fantasize about children as a valid sexual object. This desire can never be socially accepted and so continues to cause psychological (and perhaps even spiritual) conflicts that are resolved by diminishing the value of the desired object -- in this case the child -- allowing the opposite feelings to be expressed. Love turns to hate. Gentle affection turns to violence. The internal war of morality and ideology becomes expressed as action.<br />
Indeed, as was the case of Sandra's murderer, subsequent acts often allow the perpetrator to be caught, as if they wanted to finally rid themselves of the guilt.<br />
The more our culture sexualizes children with things like Barbie and Bratz dolls, inappropriate "lolita" web sites, fashions hyping sexuality, and allows such things as "sexting" (sending pornographic images of teens and pre-teens over cell phones) the more we feed this apparently innate sexual fantasy of children in a large chunk of the human population. We set a double standard. While the fantasy of children as sexual objects is being encouraged and the expression of the resulting desires is simultaneously being repressed we may unfortunately expect to see more cases such as little Sandra Cantu in the news.<br />
What do <u>you</u> think about this?<br />
*See <i>Biol Psychiatry</i>. 2007 Sep 15;62(6):698-701. Epub 2007 Apr 2.<u>Pedophilia is linked to reduced activation in hypothalamus and lateral prefrontal cortex during visual erotic stimulation.</u><br />
<b>Orthodox Jewish Community Struggles With Abuse Allegations<br />Alleged Victims and Advocates Say Sex Abuse Common, Rarely Discussed</b><br />
By SCOTT MICHELS<br />
May 5, 2009<br />
SHARE When Joel Engelman was 8 years old, he says, he was called from his Hebrew class to the principal's office at his Brooklyn yeshiva, a Jewish religious school. His parents had recently told Rabbi Avrohom Reichman that their son had been abused by an older boy at the school, he says.<br />
<img align="right" class="AutoImageWidthTopic" hspace="10" src="http://viewzone.com/pedocrime.jew.jpg" vspace="10" />Joel Engelman, pictured as a child, and Tamir Weissberg said they were victims of sexual abuse by members of the Orthodox Jewish community. They said they were told not to discuss the alleged abuse. (Courtesy Joel Engelman and Tamir Weissberg)But he says the rabbi was not offering to help that day.<br />
When Engelman arrived at the principal's office, he says, Reichman told him to close the door. He told the boy to sit on his lap and began swiveling his chair back and forth, Engelman says. Reichman then touched him, moving from his shoulders down, Engelman claims.<br />
The same kind of abuse went on twice a week for several months before he left the school, Engelman claims in a civil lawsuit filed against the yeshiva, the United Talmudical Academy.<br />
For more than 10 years, Engelman, now 23, kept what he says happened to himself. He left the orthodox community and found new friends. It wasn't until about two years ago, when he says he heard that other boys allegedly had been abused by Reichman, that he tried to do something about it.<br />
But Engelman says the response from religious leaders has been just as disturbing as the alleged abuse. He claims the school's religious leaders told him not to go to the police, and promised to remove Reichman from the school, which they did for a few months.<br />
"They kept telling me, 'Don't go to the police, don't do anything. We've dealt with this before,'" with other teachers, he said. "It really shocked me."<br />
A few days after the statute of limitations for Engelman to file a civil or criminal case against Reichman for abuse passed, the school reinstated the rabbi, the lawsuit claims.<br />
<br />
Engelman's is among a handful of publicized cases of alleged abuse within the insular Orthodox Jewish community. But alleged victims and their advocates say it is far from an isolated instance.<br />
The Brooklyn district attorney's office, which last month announced a hotline for alleged Orthodox sex abuse victims, says it has 19 active cases of alleged sex abuse in the borough's Orthodox Jewish community. And advocates say the problem extends beyond Brooklyn.<br />
"If you're a pedophile, just go to one of the orthodox communities. You're probably safest there," said New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, himself an Orthodox Jew. "It's sad for me to say that, but it's true."<br />
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<center><a href="http://magnarama.aimoo.com/url.cfm?link=FgrOtPAkS$tU2zCy0S9A09VVEEQRqzwvhXH$6$1Wy24=">Viewzone</a> || <a href="mailto:myristicin@hotmail.com?subject=pedocrime">Comments?</a></center><hr />
<b>Comments:</b><br />
Great article. As a social worker I once asked about the treatment for pedophilia and was told there was none. Criminal offenders are often chemically castrated with drugs like depoprivera or are given shock therapy but even these dramatic programs do not change or kill the desire -- only the ability to act on the desire. I always thought that this indicated it was a, as you called it, "hard wired" problem in the brain. We certainly need more research on this.<br />
Kevin G, Houston<br />
<hr />
It's no wonder our culture has so many deranged people hurting children. We have pre-teen beauty contests and manufacture childrens underwear with sexy saying on them, make-up for children and then, after teasing people with this sexuality we come down hard if anyone even looks at a child. We need to get smart and sto projecting our own needs and desires on our kids before its too late.<br />
S.G.<br />
<hr />
I note that in Islam it is OK to marry and have sex with a child. Even the Torah condones this kind of thing. Is it possible that our modern culture has made a taboo out of something that is quite natural?<br />
For example, I once lived in France where you can look at a woman's breast and its perfectly natural. People don't go buying magazines or staring at naked women because they show their breasts. But here in America that is considered a taboo and so it has made American males go insane over a woman showing her breasts. See what I mean? By making something a "sin" or "taboo" you actually create the desire to do it.<br />
A girl can get pregnant as early as 10 or 11. I have read that by age 9 it has happened. If this is the time of biological fertility then why does society arbitrarily set the age of consent and adulthood to 18 or 21? This seems un-natural to me. Anyway...<br />
Katrina F.<br />
<hr />
To Katrina... I understand what you are saying and I agree with you mostly. Back a few decades ago the life expectancy was just 40 years old so a female had to have children as soon as she was fertile. But today we have made sex an act that is hidden and, as you say, a taboo. Regardless, that being the case, we as people must adjust to the new morality lest our children be harmed psychologically. Also, rape is not the same as sex. I'm sorry but it just isn't. If a child feels no pleasure from the act then it is just being used and it is an act of violence.<br />
Beth from St. Louis<br />
<hr />
Beth, I agree with you about rape. But often children play at sex so it is not always a matter of not having pleasure. It's hard to generalize but what I am hearing you say is that we should prohibit sex and make pedophilia a taboo because most of society feels it is bad. For the sake of the children we should err on the side of the modern morality. But if you look at the advertising and stuff you see there is a double standard. It's so F****d up!<br />
Katrina F.<br />
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Dan Eden - I am a happily married man with children of my own but I must be honest in saying that these images had an effect on me. I've never seen this type of material before and hope I never do again. It's a dark part of the human psyche that is best kept far away from the public. But it did make me think about what I considered "normal." How can we eliminate thism if it is indeed "legal"?<br />
Neil G.<br />
<hr />
Thank you for telling the story of pedophilia. I suffer from this affliction although I have never acted out onmy fantasies. I guess I am a closet pedophile. Nevertheless it has caused me lots of problems in my life. I am middle-aged and not married. I have absolutely no sexual desire towards adult women and so I will face the rest of my life alone. I am afraid of getting close to children, even my friends kids, because I feel these urges and struggle to control them. It took years for me to forgive myself for being this way and, like the article, I realized it was not my choice. But although I accept myself for having this problem I feel isolated from other people and even more alone. I wish there was a cure but it's much too late for me. Thanks for the information though. I hope people will do some research in the future.<br />
anonymous<br />
<hr />
So women are supposed to have fake implanted breasts which exaggerate adult femininity from the waist up, but pre-teen genitals from the waist down! It's our own damned fault! We women should never let men control our bodies and lives.<br />
Ruth B.<br />
<hr />
Good article with some information I have not found anywhere else. I also found the porn on google very easily and am shocked that this is not outlawed. If you read the texts on the sites you posted it is even more obvious that this is not art or fashion as they say. The parents of these kids should be brought to justice.<br />
G.H.<br />
<hr />
We live in California just a town over from Tracy where little Sandra was killed. We have all tried to understand why someone would kill a beautiful and loving child like that. Thanks for explaining why this can happen. I hope people wake up and stop this because it is happening so much everywhere now. What kind of people are we becoming? I pray Jesus will save us from ourselves soon.<br />
V.G.<br />
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There is enough child pornography and non-subtle forms of porn out there. It's not necessary to give someone drugs to experience the high to tell them that it's wrong to do drugs. Offering a glimpse of child porn on your site, is not necessary to tell viewers the horrors of it.<br />
Maybe someone should do a tally of how many people have become MORE interested in viewing child pornography as result of innocently coming to this site to find out about the planets or something else? Don't expect an honest answer. If you are going to have this on your site, have the decency to cover the exposed vaginas. Although I'm not shocked at the lack of good judgement in the name of "education", I am appalled that you took no time to decently cover the body parts that innocent people who want to know about pedophilia have to view because they wanted to read the article. It's not offensive, it's downright stupid on your part to offer this as a form of "education".<br />
littlekiddie@xxxx<br />
<hr />
For "littlekiddie":<br />
I understand your point and it was much debated by the editorial staff. I can assure you that no vaginas are showing, although it may arouse such fantasies in some viewers. We decided that the issue was serious enough to shock people so that the laws permitting this kind of material would be challenged.<br />
It was a difficult article to write and some of the staff still feel uncomfortable about it.<br />
One of the staff is curious about your email address? You can see how easy it is to be paranoid about this whole issue. Thanks for your constructive comments.<br />
editor / viewzone</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-54609658040730003072012-07-02T05:33:00.003-07:002012-07-02T05:34:34.365-07:00CONFESSIONS OF AN INNOCENT MAN<iframe src="http://www.nfb.ca/film/confessions_of_innocent_man/embed/player" width="530" height="345" ></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-70364776314852185672012-06-27T16:25:00.003-07:002012-06-27T16:25:21.191-07:00MONOLOGUE 27<br />
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They're rebooting Spider-Man. They're remaking <em>Total Recall</em>. Sometimes, when you're in the middle of summer movie craziness, it can seem like every movie is based on an already-existing movie. But that's not really true — there are actually tons of genre movies in development that are new concepts, at least as far as the movies go. Some of them have already finished filming, while others will never get made.</div>
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Is any of them the next <em>Inception</em> or <em>District 9</em>? We'll find out when you do. But here's our round-up of 50-odd science fiction and fantasy movies in the pipeline that aren't sequels, reboots, remakes or prequels of existing films. Thanks to reader Adam J. O'Donnell, who <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=9af00df4f8&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">asked us on Twitter for a list of this sort</a>.</div>
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<em>Top image: Cloud Atlas.</em></div>
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There's no way this list can be exhaustive, especially for projects that are still in development hell — so please share with us in the comments anything we've forgotten!</div>
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Book/Graphic Novel Adaptations</h3>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=99b2d4f3ae&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=e17f9497e5&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_1 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwb7ms4dpaqjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Cloud Atlas</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> An adaptation of David Mitchell's genre-blending novel featuring six different storylines, taking place in the past, the present, the future, and the far future. Starring Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, and tons of others.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out in October.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It sounds as though they've at least tried hard to do justice to the incredibly challenging source material.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=dd427db998&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_2 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwbgy7d511cjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Life of Pi</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Ang Lee adapts Yann Martel's magical realist novel about a boy in a lifeboat, with a handful of animals. And they visit a strange island.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in November.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Ang Lee has almost never let us down before.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=dcb88f2c4c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_3 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwc4kljxcfcjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>World War Z</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Max Brooks' novel about the zombie apocalypse becomes a big splashy action movie starring Brad Pitt, directed by <em>Quantum of Solace</em>'s Mark Forster.<br /><em>Status:</em> Postponed until next year because of what are reportedly huge problems with the third act. Damon Lindelof has been brought in for massive rewrites.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The best we can hope for is probably a fun generic zombie movie, since it apparently has little to do with the book.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4c0cbae0a4&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_4 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwcexief04fjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Dinosaurs & Aliens</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A Grant Morrison graphic novel (in the works) about dinosaurs fighting aliens, being adapted into a movie by <em>Men in Black</em>'s Barry Sonnenfeld.<br /><em>Status:</em> There was a sneak peek as part of Free Comic Book Day last month. Sonnenfeld <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=51f9e2eaa6&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">told us</a> they're about to try and sell the project in Hollywood.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Grant Morrison creating a whole alien culture sounds like reason enough to be interested.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=22f20f9cfb&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=8cd597265e&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_5 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwcr7hdbtdejpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>The Host</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Andrew Niccol (<em>Gattaca</em>) adapts Stephenie Meyer's non-<em>Twilight</em> project, about alien parasites who rule the Earth after a successful invasion.<br /><em>Status:</em> Already done, coming out March 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> We actually kind of <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=0774ae02da&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">liked the book</a>, despite some major problems — and this dystopian fake-happy world is right up Niccol's alley.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=87b7bda5f3&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_6 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwd1y7m16vpjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>R.I.P.D.</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Another adaptation of a comic book you probably haven't heard of. Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges are dead cops, fighting zombies.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out June 2013<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It sounds <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=c6629e450d&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">pretty fun, if gimmicky —</a> sort of like <em>Men in Black</em> and<em>Ghostbusters</em> mashed together.</div>
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<strong>The Seventh Son</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> An adaptation of Joseph Delaney's <em>The Spook's Apprentice</em>. Also featuring Jeff Bridges in a mentor role, the titular Spook.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming October 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Sounds sort of like the Nic Cage <em>Sorcerer's Apprentice</em>, but having Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory is a huge, huge boost.</div>
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<strong>Ender's Game</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The movie adaptation of Orson Scott Card's famous novel about a boy genius who goes to a very special school during a war against alien "Buggers."<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out in March 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The makers of the film <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6e2c2d7353&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">seem to be going to crazy lengths</a> to be true to the novel, while also making something that looks cool. So fingers crossed!</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=b2fffa4b92&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_7 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwm9lbiuz5zjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Jack the Giant-Killer</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Bryan Singer's long-delayed film about a boy (Nicholas Hoult) who unwittingly opens a portal and unleashes a race of giants, who want to reclaim the Earth. Loosely an adaptation of the fairy tale.<br /><em>Status:</em> It was supposed to come out this summer, but was delayed until Spring 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> A movie being delayed — especially from the summer to the spring — is never a terribly good sign.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=d8cd954576&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_8 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwm91lca473jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Hansel and Gretl: Witch Hunters</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton are the stars of the classic fairy tale, now grown up and killing witches.<br /><em>Status:</em> Like <em>Jack the Giant Killer</em>, it was delayed until next year, in this case January.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's Jeremy Renner in black leather. Sorry, were you asking something about the potential quality or lack thereof of this film?</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=d1deff7c26&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_9 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwo08jrrxrkjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Warm Bodies</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> An adaptation of Isaac Marion's novel about a zombie (Hoult, again) who falls in love with the girlfriend of one of his victims.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming February 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Directed by <em>50/50</em>director Jonathan Levine, so at least it should be pretty stylin.</div>
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<span class="ecxcustomObject ecxframed" style="background-color: #f0f0f0; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); display: block; float: left; height: 75px; text-align: center; width: 150px;"><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=639f09dfb9&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding-top: 40px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to view</a></span><strong></strong></div>
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<strong>John Dies at the End</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The gonzo novel by Cracked.com's David Wong about a weird dug called "soy sauce" gets a movie adaptation starring Paul Giamatti. Thanks to everyone who reminded me of this one in comments!<br /><em>Status:</em> It's done the festival circuit, no release date yet.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The buzz from Sundance and other festivals was really strong.<br />
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<strong>Robopocalypse</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Steven Spielberg adapts Daniel H. Wilson's novel about a robot uprising, complete with lavish battle scenes.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in 2014, but filming hasn't happened yet — so anything could happen.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> If it actually happens, the robot carnage should at least look amazingly sweet.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=3d5912e2ba&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_10 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwmn8m9ut5ujpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Noah</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Darren Aronofsky (<em>Black Swan, The Fountain</em>) adapts the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, with Russell Crowe and a cast that might include Emma Watson and Jennifer Connelly. Aronofsky also co-wrote a<em>Noah</em> graphic novel (at left.)<br /><em>Status:</em> Currently in the casting stage, with lots of announcements coming fast and furious.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Aronofsky reportedly wants this film to portray Noah as "the first environmentalist." At the very least, the scenes of global flooding could be fascinating.</div>
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<strong>Odd Thomas</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Anton Yelchin stars in the adaptation of Dean Koontz's book series about a guy who can talk to the dead, and who has an instinct for trouble.<br /><em>Status:</em> Totally done, although there's no release date yet.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=7b5509877d&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">We talked to Koontz recently</a>, and he said it was the first time he'd been happy with the movie version of one of his books.</div>
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<strong>Neuromancer</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> <em>Splice</em> director Vincenzo Natali was officially attached to adapt William Gibson's ground-breaking novel about the sprawl, artificial intelligence, hackers and intrigue.<br /><em>Status:</em> There hasn't been much news lately and Natali is busy directing the horror film <em>Haunter</em> (see below.) But sometimes it just takes a while to get a script everyone is happy with.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> If it actually gets made, it would probably be a fantastic ride. Fingers crossed.</div>
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<strong>Snow Crash</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Joe Cornish (<em>Attack the Block</em>) will adapt Neal Stephenson's novel set in a corporate-dominated near future, in which Hiro Protagonist investigates a potent new drug that infects users with a computer virus.<br /><em>Status:</em> Cornish's signing was just announced, so it's way too early to tell yet.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> After <em>Attack the Block</em>, we're excited to see Cornish do something more ambitious.</div>
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<strong>Ready Player One</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Warner Bros. won an auction to adapt Ernie Cline's novel about a video game nerd who goes on a quest through a 1980s-themed virtual world in the future.<br /><em>Status:</em> There's lots of speculation about director and casting, but no real news yet. The film might come out in 2014.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Cline has <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=9773a1f326&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">talked a lot</a> about wanting the movie version to embrace some of the wild visuals of the virtual world, sort of like <em>Inception</em>.</div>
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<strong>We Mortals Are</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The movie version of the acclaimed Japanese novel <em>All You Need is Kill</em>, about a soldier fighting aliens who keeps getting brought back from the dead over and over. Starring Tom Cruise.<br /><em>Status:</em> It's cast and everything, but filming doesn't seem to have started yet.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Director Doug Liman had a decent track record with the Bourne movies, before <em>Jumper</em>. And more alien-fighting is never a bad thing.</div>
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<strong>Mortal Instruments</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Lily Collins (<em>Mirror Mirror</em>) stars in the movie adaptation of Cassandra Clare's novel about Clary Fray, a teenager who discovers she's the descendant of a demon-hunting clan. Jamie Campbell Bower <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=e0d065427b&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">plays Jace Wayland, a half-man, half-angel.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Filming hasn't started yet, but it's already scheduled to come out in August 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It was <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=98a15bf355&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">originally going to be helmed</a> by Scott Stewart, director of<em>Legion</em> and <em>Priest</em>, but then Stewart <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=7add3373a9&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">dropped out</a> and was replaced by <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=ab1ece24a7&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Harald Zwart</a> (<em>Agent Cody Banks, The Karate Kid</em>). So it's probably gone from brooding action to something a bit more zippy. It also sounds like they're rushing to meet a release date that was set ages ago.</div>
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Short Films Turned Full-Length</h3>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=58847ff6bd&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_11 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qan8a5zr5kxjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Frankenweenie</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Tim Burton makes a full-length version of his early short, about a boy who brings his dog back to life, with hilariously spooky consequences. <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=361b15d5a4&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Watch the trailer here.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Coming October 2012.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's a labor of love, and Burton returning to his roots. So, you know, could be great.</div>
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<strong>The Gift</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Carl Rinsch's film about a robotic servant who flees the police caused a huge firestorm when it came out online a few years ago.<br /><em>Status:</em> The film launched a small bidding war in 2010, with studios vying to turn it into a full-length movie. Or, according to some accounts, it was over a full-length movie called <em>Small</em>, for which <em>The Gift</em> is a prequel. But there hasn't been any news in a long time.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The short is amazing — look for yourself.<br />
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<strong>Pixels</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Another short that caused a stir online, this film is about 1980s video game characters (8-bit graphics and all) invading New York.<br /><em>Status:</em> Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison picked this film up to develop it into a full-length movie, and it's coming in May 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Donkey Kong trashing New York! Again, there is the Sandler Factor. But it looks cute, in any case.<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=041e5bdf04&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_12 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qwphu816jdljpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Tomo</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> This Sundance-winning short film is about a man trapped on an ice planet with an emergency helper robot called Tomo, or friend.<br /><em>Status:</em> It was <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=e73fcd1884&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reported back in 2008</a> that this film was being turned into a full-length movie, but there hasn't been much news since then. So we're not sure if it's still happening, but we hope so.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The original short film still looks hella cool.</div>
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<strong>The Gate</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The redundant genes in your body get activated, and mutant freaks roam the streets, thanks to pharmaceutical companies, in this weird and alarming short movie.<br /><em>Status:</em> As we <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=cb984cdc20&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reported recently</a>, Wayfare Entertainment picked this film up for a full theatrical version, with the same director on board.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Just watch the original short for yourself. It's pretty nuts.<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=395bf35ca6&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_13 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1t2w545ipljpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>End of the World</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg adapt their short <em>Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse</em>. A bunch of celebrities, playing themselves, are at James Franco's house when the apocalypse happens.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in June 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Decide for yourself whether "James Franco, Seth Rogen and Rihanna play themselves in an apocalyptic comedy" sounds like a good thing.</div>
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Animated Films</h3>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6645a21ad7&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_14 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1l5u56cytkjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>ParaNorman</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A comedy about a boy who can speak to the dead, taking on zombies, ghosts and other supernatural menaces.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming August 2012.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's from the same studio as <em>Coraline</em>, and co-written/directed by <em>Coraline</em>'s script supervisor.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4a8491b335&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=9f226c9be8&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_15 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1l5s65xmq0jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Hotel Transylvania</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Adam Sandler stars in this animated film about a resort where Dracula and other movie monsters can hang out — until a random human backpacker shows up.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in September.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (<em>Samurai Jack</em>), which may be enough to make up for the Sandler factor. Maybe. Probably not. But maybe.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=609877dedd&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_16 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1l79fyms6kjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Wreck-It Ralph</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The villain of a 1980s arcade video game gets sick of always being a bad guy and goes on the run, visiting other games and trying to prove he can be a hero. <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=f14f8e3024&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Trailer is here.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in November.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> We weren't that jazzed about the gimmicky concept, until we saw the fun trailer. John C. Reilly is in full effect, and the cast is generally pretty great. (Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman, etc.)</div>
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<strong>Rise of the Guardians</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Another "random supernatural people hang out together" movie — this time, it's about Santa Claus teaming up with the Easter Bunny, the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy to stop the Boogeyman. Oh, and Jack Frost (Chris Pine) also joins the heroes. Based on a children's book, <em>The Guardians of Childhood</em> by William Joyce — so this could have been under book adaptations. (And Joyce is co-directing.)<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in November.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's another holiday-themed animated film for kids. It looks perfectly serviceable, but nothing too exciting — check out the first trailer above.<br />
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<strong>Escape from Planet Earth</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Brendan Fraser is Scorch Supernova, a heroic astronaut from the planet Baab, who explores with the help of his nerdy brother Gary (Rob Corddry). When Scorch gets trapped in Area 51 by his nemesis Shanker (James Gandolfini), it's up to Gary to save the day.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming February 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It sounds cute enough, but probably pretty forgettable. Check out a trailer above.<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=d7fc51087b&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=fed4871efa&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_17 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1osxr2c73qjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Epic</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A magical film about the battle between good and evil, starring Beyonce Knowles and Colin Farrell. We <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=54baaa87e5&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">just posted the first trailer yesterday.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> It comes out May 24, 2013<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Fairies ride on hummingbirds, and hang out with cute mice. And Beyonce is a fairy queen. We're in.</div>
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<strong>Untitled Henry Sellick Film</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> We're guessing this will get a new title at some point? The director of <em>Coraline</em> and <em>Nightmare Before Christmas</em> is hard at work on a new film, about which nothing is known.<br /><em>Status:</em> Already has a <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4699761a83&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">release date</a> set: October 4, 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Without knowing anything but "Untitled Henry Sellick Film," we're already pretty stoked.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=d25a08a281&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=5ad9fa93ad&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_18 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1orualj27ajpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Frozen</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A new Disney movie, formerly called <em>The Snow Queen</em>. It's an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable, so this is another one that could have gone under book adaptations. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel head up the voice cast.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in November, 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The early artwork (at left) looks neat. Way too soon to tell, really.</div>
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<strong>The Good Dinosaur</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Pixar film about which relatively little is known, but it will <em>show you what it's like to be a dinosaur.</em><br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out in May 2014<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Is anybody <u>not</u> stoked for Pixar and dinosaurs?</div>
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Horror Movies</h3>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=cfd5d27636&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_19 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1p4c5nbfvbjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>The Possession</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Formerly titled <em>Dybbuk Box</em>, this is an example of that rare breed: the Jewish horror film. A couple buys a box at a yard sale, not realizing it contains something... horrifying. Jeffrey Dean Morgan stars.<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6a06c1d3d7&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Watch the trailer here.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in August.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The release date for this one has kept getting pushed back, and it's ended up in August. On the other hand, the trailer looked actually scary.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=23b59dc87d&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_20 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1pca8yqzbyjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>7500</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Ryan Kwanten is on an airplane that gets haunted by an evil spirit. The latest film from the director of the <em>Grudge</em>movies, Takashi Shimizu.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out in 2013, on an unspecified date.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Release date was pushed back from August 2012, pretty much at the last minute. But ghosts on a plane are always a recipe for good times. <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=538260ab9c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Watch the trailer</a> and decide for yourself.</div>
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<strong>Haunter</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> <em>Splice</em> director Vincenzo Natali directs a ghost movie, in which Abigail Breslin is a ghost who died in 1986 and is trapped in a house, trying to help save a living girl from suffering the same fate. Also co-starring David Hewlett, aka Rodney McKay!<br /><em>Status:</em> Filming started back in April. It comes out sometime in 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Natali said the script by Brian King "constructs a Borgian Labyrinth out of the most mundane settings and shows us how even in our everyday lives, we are spirits living in the material world."</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=2a3eda277c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_21 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1q7yp28ow4jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>The Bay</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Barry "<em>The Sphere</em>" Levinson directs a low-budget horror movie about horrifying parasites — check out <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=947da1e384&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">some concept art we posted yesterday.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Filming ended quite some time ago, and it's probably coming in 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's reportedly in the same low-budget wheelhouse as <em>Insidious</em> and <em>Paranormal Activity</em>, but with parasites that can eat your tongue.</div>
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Medium-to-Big-Budget Films</h3>
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<strong>The Watch</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Formerly known as <em>Neighborhood Watch</em>, this is the film about surburban dads who form a neighborhood watch and then confront an alien invasion. The cast includes Richard Ayoade from <em>The IT Crowd</em>.<br /><em>Status:</em> It comes out July 27, 2012, when it will no doubt knock <em>The Dark Knight Rises</em> right off the box office charts.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Probably depends on whether "Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill" sounds like a dream come true to you.<br />
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<strong>The Odd Life of Timothy Green</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> From an idea by Frank Zappa's son Ahmet. A couple who can't have a child of their own bury a box in the back yard, with all their wishes for a child. And then a 10-year-old appears and claims to be their son — but he's even more unusual than they realize. Trailer at left.<br /><em>Status:</em> Comes out August 15.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Dirt baby! You should probably have some sort of drinking game, involving shots every time the kid lifts his arms to the skies or Jennifer Garner does that frowny-smiley face that she used to do when the plot twists on <em>Alias</em>made no sense.<br />
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<strong>Looper</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Director Rian Johnson reunites with his <em>Brick</em> star Joseph Gordon-Levitt for a movie about hitmen and time-travel. Bruce Willis plays Gordon-Levitt's older self from the future.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out September 28.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> If this can live up to <em>Brick</em>, it should be one of our favorite movies this year.<br />
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<strong>Gravity</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Alfonso Cuaron set a new high-water mark in dystopias with Children of Men, and now he's making a space movie, in which Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut who's lost in space.<br /><em>Status:</em> Delayed from this November to some time in 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The first test screening <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4d4bca39bd&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">yielded mixed reports.</a> Some people say it's gorgeous but not that thrilling — but others say Bullock gives the performance of her career.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=b01fffce12&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_22 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1s98pbarhwjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Elysium</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> <em>District 9</em>director Neill Blomkamp returns with another super-political movie, in which the rich live on a space station, ruled by Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster). Matt Damon is a cyborg who's backed into a tough corner.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in March 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It sounds very much like another film in the same super-political mold as <em>District 9</em>.</div>
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<strong>Oblivion</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Joseph Kosinski (<em>Tron Legacy</em>) gets to direct an original project. Tom Cruise plays a soldier who's one of the few humans patrolling a desolate planet (which may be Earth), and he's fighting off warlike aliens.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming sometime in 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Between this and <em>We Mortals Are</em>, Tom Cruise is going to be our alien-killing mastermind next year. What little we know sounds sort of great, but it's too early to say much.</div>
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<strong>After Earth</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> M. Night Shyamalan directs a post-post-apocalyptic film starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. It's been 1,000 years since humans abandoned Earth, but a father and his son crashland here, and the father is injured — leaving the son to fend for himself.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming June 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It sounds like it's mostly a vehicle for Jaden Smith, with Will Smith getting injured and thus sidelined. The screenplay is by<em>The Book of Eli</em>'s Gary Whitta and Shyamalan himself, although Stephen Gaghan (<em>Traffic</em>) <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=7a4f62e4be&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">polished it</a>. It really depends on whether you want to give Shyamalan one more chance.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=dbe3559a5f&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" class="ecximage_25 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17r1th54yavy4jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Pacific Rim</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Guillermo del Toro makes a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters, with Idris Elba. (What accent do you think Elba will have this time?)<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming in July 2013.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Last year at Comic Con, del Toro <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=21c2418bb0&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">was very effusive</a> about saying this would have the finest fucking monsters and the <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=84bff2e8d8&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">greatest fucking robots ever.</a></div>
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<strong>Singularity</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> Roland Emmerich (<em>2012</em>) changes gears a bit, from disaster movies to something that's arguably the opposite of a disaster: The Singularity. A nanotech pioneer saves his injured son by transferring the son's consciousness into a swarm of nanobots — but then an evil corporation wants to do evil things with them.<br /><em>Status:</em> Bumped from May 2013 <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=80e1d9dddf&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">to November, 2013</a>, at least in part because of<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=04227c06c8&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">script problems.</a><br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Ray Kurzweil, author of <em>The Singularity is Near</em>, has been consulting on the script. So this should be interesting, in any case.</div>
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<strong>Jupiter Rising</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> The Wachowskis direct their first original project since <em>The Matrix</em>. According to a <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=19d159c033&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">plot synopsis</a>, Mila Kunis is an immigrant who's scrubbing toilets but doesn't realize she shares the same DNA as the Queen of the Universe. A super-evolved bounty hunter is sent to get rid of her, but they fall in love.<br /><em>Status:</em> Hasn't started filming yet, possibly coming in 2014.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Let's just hope that plot synopsis was garbled in translation.</div>
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Smaller/Indie Projects</h3>
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<strong>Ruby Sparks</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A famous young writer who's struggling with writers' block starts imagining his ideal woman — and when he writes about her, she becomes real. But can he have a meaningful relationship with his own fictional creation?<br /><em>Status:</em> Comes out July 25.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's sort of like <em>Weird Science</em> crossed with <em>Stranger Than Fiction</em>.<br />
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<strong>Robot and Frank</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A retired jewel thief gets given a robot companion, and uses its help to court a local librarian and also resume his criminal career.<br /><em>Status:</em> Comes out August 24.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> We really, really <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=8659a79d5e&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">loved this one at Sundance.</a> Jordan Hoffman wrote, "<em>Robot and Frank</em> not only nails all the heartwarming family scenes expected of a Sundance dramedy, but also has great insight into the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and the fractured lucidity of memory."<br />
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<strong>Branded</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A dystopian movie about a world where advertising is really controlling our minds, for real. Starring Ed Stoppard, Jeffrey Tambor, Max von Sydow, Leelee Sobieski and others.<br /><em>Status:</em> Coming out September 7.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> We've barely heard anything about this film, but it could be a sleeper hit. The trailer looks a bit, umm, on the nose with the "evil corporations are evil" stuff, but maybe it'll be our new <em>They Live</em>.<br />
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<strong>Storage 24</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> <em>Doctor Who</em>'s Noel Clarke <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=295ad4029a&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">plays Charlie</a>, a guy who gets trapped inside a storage warehouse with a huge carnivorous alien.<br /><em>Status:</em> Comes out this week in the U.K. — no clue when the U.S. release date is.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> It's Mickey vs. aliens, in an enclosed space! The trailer looks pleasingly claustrophobic, and the soundtrack is great.<br />
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<strong>Knights of Badassdom</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A group of LARPing nerds, including Danny Pudi, Summer Glau and Peter Dinklage, accidentally unleash a deadly supernatural force — so it's up to them to stop it. Thanks to everyone who reminded me of this in comments!<br /><em>Status:</em> It's in the can, and it got a lot of hype at Comic Con a year ago, but apparently there are no plans to release it any time soon.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> The trailer is amazing, but nobody's seen the whole movie yet.<br />
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<strong>The Prototype</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A humanoid robot escapes from a containment facility and goes on the run, while defending itself by killing lots of government stooges. And along the way, the movie looks like it'll explore questions of humanity, personhood and the Singularity. Confusingly, there's also another science fiction movie called <em>The Prototype</em> <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6ad5f29f2b&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">listed as coming out next year.</a><br /><em>Status:</em> Coming sometime in 2013 — the <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=2f110bd8b2&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">first trailer just came out the other day</a>.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> When we posted the trailer the other day, comments ranged from "this looks horrible" to "impressive robot design."<br />
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<strong>The Girl From Mars</strong><br /><em>What it's about:</em> A lonely geek's life is transformed when he meets a girl who claims to be from Mars. Featuring Max Brooks in a supporting role!<br /><em>Status:</em> Supposedly coming out in November 2013, according to IMDB.<br /><em>Prognosis:</em> Way too soon to tell much about it, at this point. It sounds quirky.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-18913210709153175842012-06-25T08:20:00.004-07:002012-06-25T08:20:31.636-07:00TRADING DEMOCRACY FOR CORPORATE RULE<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lBBCeWoPi74" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-90997015756356860072012-06-24T09:50:00.003-07:002012-06-24T09:50:57.888-07:00THEY CHOSE CHINA<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WdVn6MBdLD0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-27842540683672045982012-06-23T07:09:00.000-07:002012-06-23T07:09:23.240-07:00A NEW FAIRY TALE FROM SCRATCH<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=58137eb31a&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_0 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj7g8b02jmsjpg/xlarge.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left; width: 472px;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a></div>
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Pop culture is obsessed with fairy tales right now. But it's all retreads of the same few stories from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen — and not even <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=303cd0b687&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the original</a>, dark-as-hell <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=2d37f0bf2c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">stories</a>, but rather the warmed-over Disneyfied versions. Where are the people creating brand new fairy tales from scratch? And why don't these endless retellings of old fairy tales keep the emotional and moral core of these stories intact?</div>
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If you want to see how to create a new fairy tale, with all the psychological and emotional intensity of an Andersen classic — and the lesson, too — then you should check out Pixar's <em>Brave</em>.</div>
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I'm going to try hard to keep any plot spoilers super vague — but if you're the sort of person who wants to avoid even the merest hint about a story, including stuff that's in the trailer, then here's your spoiler warning.</div>
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First off: <em>Brave</em> is by no means as mind-blowing as the <em>Toy Story</em> films, or <em>The Incredibles</em>, or <em>Monsters, Inc.</em> But if this film had come out from Dreamworks or Vanilla Disney, or some other studio, you would be left completely perplexed as to how they managed to pull off something this great.</div>
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For one thing, <em>Brave</em> feels like a simpler, smaller film than some of Pixar's all-time classics. It's not that <em>Brave</em> is simpler than those other films — at their core, every single one of those stories is a small story about a handful of characters. But rather, Brave doesn't quite muster the same level of sensory overload. There's nothing like the "huge factory full of moving doors" from <em>Monsters Inc.</em>, or the frenetic junkyard squence that ends <em>Toy Story 3</em>. If Pixar was about making formulaic movies that all had the same climax, then this movie would be a bad example of the formula. Luckily, that's not the only way to look at it.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=7244b375ca&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=c02bfdc4f4&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_1 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj840mdro2hjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a></div>
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And like I said, <em>Brave</em> feels like a classic fairy tale that you've just somehow never heard of before. It works on all the levels that you'd want a fairy tale to work on — the basic level of spectacle and wonder, the gut-punching emotional level of confronting something really terrible, and the deeper level of looking at our capacity to screw everything up.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=6d68a66b5a&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=68c9d7a6b3&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_2 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj82x5s484bjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a></div>
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And <em>Brave</em>'s simplicity is its huge strength — there's pretty much nothing in this film that doesn't wind up feeding into the main storyline, either directly or thematically. There are no wasted lines or purely random bits in the film — it's all feeding into the main story, and it all comes together neatly at the end. Without seeming at all pat.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=f9159ee77a&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=f79881e1de&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_3 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj884lpmguejpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a></div>
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And now, a brief synopsis, without any major spoilers:<em>Brave</em> follows the Princess Merida, the red-haired rebellious daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson!) She's basically Arya Stark, without all the terrible things that happen to Arya. Merida doesn't want to be a lady, she wants to ride her horse and shoot her bow and arrow, and be bad-ass, and her dad indulges her just like Ned Stark indulges Arya. Until, suddenly, it's time for Merida to become betrothed to the son of one of the other chieftains, and become a Proper Lady. Merida doesn't want to give up her freedom, or marry one of these losers, and thus she goes full-on rebellious. But what if there was a way Merida could have everything she wants?</div>
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So here are the ingredients of a great made-from-scratch fairy tale, judging from<em>Brave</em>:</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=7c2010779e&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=e40e9569a2&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_4 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj8a1nqdzkojpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Build a sense of place and history</strong><br />This is something <em>Brave</em> does pretty well — you get a sense of exactly how King Fergus got to be a King, and what the stakes are, with the chieftains whose sons are vying to wed Merida. And the movie does a really nice job of making it feel like a world where magic exists, and people are sort of aware of it, but it's not a magical kingdom where fantasy shit is happening every other day. There's one monster out there, but people aren't sure if it's magical or just a really bitchin animal.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=570274a4f9&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=8102b30de8&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_5 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj83qreb98ijpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Focus on the relationships</strong><br />This being a Pixar movie, the relationships are really well drawn — and there's really one central relationship that dominates the film: the troubled bond between Merida and her ultra-controlling mother. If the audience doesn't buy into that relationship, then nothing else will matter, and the characters will feel just like plastic action figures. Luckily, Brave really makes the mother-daughter bond work, in a way few kids' movies have before.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=62902568dd&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=0ad9d5e36d&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_6 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj829hcp9b6jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Give the hero a selfish desire, that we can relate to.</strong><br />The best fairy tales aren't about purely virtuous protagonists — the hero always does something stupid, even when she probably knows it's the wrong thing to do. Most classic fairy tales actually feature someone being told "whatever you do, don't do _____," and then you know that's what the hero will wind up doing. And a lot of classic fairy tales are sort of conservative, deep down — the protagonist brings doom on everybody by rocking the boat and choosing to reject his/her assigned role. (Think <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=31b20411ff&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the fable of the sausage, the mouse and the bird</a>.) <em>Brave</em> walks a really tough line — as feminists, we want Merida to be free to be herself and we admire her wild-child spirit, but the film also shows how her desire to do her own thing instead of fulfilling her responsibilities is a bit selfish. And the way she goes about trying to get her freedom is definitely a bit of a mistake. Which brings us to...</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=b085995c48&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=b892a26ae4&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_7 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj87qsfy416jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>The darkness the hero confronts is at least partly inner darkness</strong><br />Yes, the Luke Skywalker lesson. A feckless adventurer facing terrible stuff is compelling — but watching someone confront their own inner horridness is always more interesting. Merida faces the absolute worst thing you can imagine, and the absolute worst thing about it is the light it casts on her and the choice she's made.</div>
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<strong>The moral lesson isn't simple or spelled out</strong><br />You can spend a fair bit of time debating the ending of the movie, and just what the film is saying about Merida and Elinor — and I have a feeling there are going to be some pretty interesting conversations pulling apart just what happens in the final act. Oh, and you should expect to get majorly choked up at the movie's tear-jerking climax.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=575ca0dc55&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=a8d8b79fe4&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" class="ecximage_8 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qj83gw8uu00jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Brave shows how to create a brand new fairy tale from scratch" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>The fairy tale is at least partly a coming of age story</strong><br />Everybody's changed at the end of this movie, and Merida winds up taking a huge step towards adulthood, with everything that goes with it. To some extent, Merida's rebellion against her betrothal is always a rejection of having to grow up, and by the end of the film she's done that "journeying into darkness and embracing adult concerns" thing — although it's not in any way as angsty as a YA novel, or anything. This is one of those films that kids, teens, and adults will probably all view in very different ways. Because the best fairy tales speak to everyone in a different way.</div>
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So to sum up — <em>Brave</em> is a lovely film, which stays focused on one central relationship instead of exploring multiple axes the way some other Pixar films have. And even though it's often funny as hell, it never gets that "million tops spinning" feeling that some other Pixar films have gotten. But it's a really well-told story that keeps a strong focus on character — and in an era where we're getting endless retellings of the same old fairy tales in slightly different flavors ("Dark Snow White!" "Campy Snow White!" "Snow White Riding on a Dolphin!") it's immensely refreshing to see someone creating a brand new fairy tale that manages to feel like a new classic of the genre.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-84803373609317150262012-06-22T23:21:00.002-07:002012-06-22T23:21:40.161-07:00FALSIFYING PHYLOGENY<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/91UAzMNUDLU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-90290036301989135042012-06-18T16:59:00.005-07:002012-06-18T16:59:51.363-07:00ORCHID<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=61d981a2a9&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" class="ecximage_0 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17pkrxux0zicrjpg/xlarge.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left; width: 472px;" title="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" width="300" /></a></div>
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Tom Morello has famously lent his axe-slinging skills to such acts as Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and his one-man band The Nightwatchman.</div>
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But for his Dark Horse Comics series <em>Orchid</em>, Morello has traded pyrotechnics on a Fender Bassman for a simple pen. The guitarist told io9 his plans for this post-apocalyptic <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=d37034f34b&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">rebellion tale</a>, which sees a prostitute-warrior named Orchid rising up against the mutants and dictatorial rule of the warlord Tomo Wolfe.</div>
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<strong>Where do readers find Orchid in the upcoming issues?</strong></div>
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The story from the first issue builds small. The idea was to take it to a very humble place, that is a common teenage prostitute scrambling for a living. She begins to discovers the limits of the society has imposed upon her.</div>
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The tattoo on her collarbone says "Property" and the brand on her arm says "Know Your Role." You might mistake these for being the same thing, but they end up being very, very different. She discovers that her role is one far greater than the one she was born into.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=c1404e54bb&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" class="ecximage_1 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17pkp9eapbfx6jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" width="300" /></a></div>
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As far as where we are in issue #9, there's a major development in issue #8 that sets the tone for the story. Tomo Wolfe's forces have decided to exterminate the Bridge People. The mysterious masked man has eluded his possession and that throws him into a paranoid rage. This haunts his reign, so he believes it's going to be a cakewalk to eliminate them.</div>
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<strong>How are you finding the monthly schedule of penning comics?</strong></div>
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My esteemed editor Sierra Hahn is constantly cracking the whip for [series artist] Scott Hepburn and I to make deadlines. I love writing <em>Orchid</em> — it's a passion project of mine, and it provides an intellectual outlet as well. For me, it's about exploring a completely different art form. In my rock life, stuff gets done when it gets done. I like the work ethic that <em>Orchid</em> imposes on me. And when we're done talking, I'll march up to my studio to polish the ninth and tenth issues! I immersed myself in comics as a teenager, and it's a welcome return. The fans have been great.</div>
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<strong>What sort of real-world events and political movements inspired the story of <em>Orchid</em>?</strong></div>
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My favorite fictional characters have their grounding in some historical or fictional precedent. In <em>Orchid</em>, it's the naming of places — the town of Gath is named after the birthplace of Goliath. Fortress Panuel is named after the Biblical spot where Jacob wrestled the angel.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=3e73325ba1&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" class="ecximage_2 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17pkrxsy75hw6jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello gives us the scoop on Orchid, his dystopian science fiction comic" width="300" /></a></div>
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The character Orchid is a composite of some of the drug addicts and prostitutes I met when I first moved to Los Angeles. I felt a lot of personal and professional rejection from the Sunset Strip heavy metal scene. It was only when I became friends with fans off the beaten track that I met this fascinating group of people. I shared my stigma with them and was surprised by their intellect, caring, and kindess. These women were both damaged and beautiful, so there's a lot of personal history there.</div>
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As for a character like Tomo Wolfe, he's a composite of Nietzsche, Goebbels, and George W. Bush. [<em>Laughs</em>] With regards to the politics, the four revolutionary characters — Orchid, Simon, Opal, and Anzio — have their roots in real history.</div>
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Anzio represents the liberation theologist, someone who has a strong faith and belief in helping the poor and oppressed, but is willing to pick up a sword to do it. Opal is the prototypical idealist freedom fighter. Simon is weak in military background but provides the ideological underpinnings. He's like a Lenin or Trotsky meets C-3PO. Orchid — the Spartacus of Whores — has the drive and bent that you might refer to more as a terrorist than a freedom fighter. It'll be interesting to see how her anger fuels her desire to fight back.</div>
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<strong>You've been recording a soundtrack to accompany the comic. What sort of musical cues are informing these songs?</strong></div>
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I wanted to be able to create a beautiful, desolate soundscape for this. Two of the inspirations were Peter Gabriel's <em>Passion</em> from <em>The Last Temptation of Christ</em> and<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=8e3b3a65d3&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ashes and Snow</a>, a beautiful art show I attended several years ago that combined music and photography. That got me thinking that mediums other than film could have a soundtrack.</div>
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<em>Orchid #8 hits stands June 27; Orchid #9 hits stores September 12. The first volume of the collected Orchid hits stands July 11; Tom will be on deck that evening at the San Diego Comic-Con for a Q&A and signing. Interior artwork in this article by Scott Hepburn; covers by Massimo Carnevale.</em></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-2059718264761040032012-06-16T22:37:00.003-07:002012-06-16T22:37:31.395-07:00THE SECOND ASSASSINATION OF JFK<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uqQ3lgrDCHY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-27438646998150125562012-06-10T09:37:00.003-07:002012-06-10T09:37:46.575-07:00MONOLOGUE 43<br />
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<br /><img alt="Pacific Rim" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-159894" height="360" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/mnad-pacificrim.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Pacific Rim" width="640" /></div>
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<strong>What is Movie News After Dark?</strong> It’s a collection of all the things you’ll be talking about tomorrow with your friends. Assuming you have friends. We hope you do. If not, we’ll be your friend.</div>
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We begin this evening with the <a href="http://www.moviehole.net/201254510quick-news-greene-in-cbgb-pics-from-magic-mike-after-earth-walking-dead-guiness-movie-007-blog-jackass-4" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">first image from Guillermo Del Toro’s <em>Pacific Rim</em></a>, featuring Idris Elba looking badass in a suit that, if our guess is right, allows him to control giant robots or something. Everything about this film makes it a giant, sloppy, wet orgy for nerds. We cannot wait.<span id="ecxmore-159893"></span></div>
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“We certainly don’t feel that a third movie is a foregone conclusion. Hopefully the second movie turns out well and we are really happy about everything so far. So three movies, again not to do everything that Christopher Nolan does, but if you do it right it’s a good model. But that idea, whether you want to call it a trilogy or not, although I reserve the right to when we are talking four years from now to say “this is the third movie in our trilogy,” but it does feel that three movies is the right responsibility for us to have the baton for before we then pass it off to the people who are take Trek to wherever they want to take it.” That’s <a href="http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911651&site=io9.com&xs=1&url=http://trekmovie.com/2012/06/06/exclusive-lindelof-on-star-trek-sequels-character-focus-3d-process-team-already-talking-3rd-movie/&xguid=65b27323aaa97061082d56afdb0d5e7a&xcreo=0&sref=http://io9.com/5916959/plans-for-the-third-and-final-star-trek-movie-are-already-underway" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Damon Lindelof talking about a <em>Star Trek 3</em></a>. Yes, we got that number right.</div>
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Over at The Pixar Touch, a compilation has been made of <a href="http://www.pixartouchbook.com/blog/2011/5/15/pixar-story-rules-one-version.html" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling</a>, according to story artist Emma Coats’ Twitter account. They seem reasonable enough.</div>
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JoBlo has debuted <a href="http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/exclusive-first-poster-for-the-new-comic-adaptation-dredd-with-karl-urban-arrives" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">the first poster for <em>Dredd</em></a>, the Karl Urban-led readaptation of the Judge Dredd comics. It looks relatively badass, when compared to the plastic silliness once worn by Sly Stallone.</div>
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<img alt="Dredd Poster" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-medium ecxwp-image-159895" height="948" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/Dredd_poster_big-640x948.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Dredd Poster" width="640" /></div>
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The HitFix staff has published <a href="http://www.hitfix.com//news/15-questions-we-have-about-a-justice-league-movie" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">15 questions we have about a <em>Justice League</em> movie</a>. Sadly, none of the questions include, “Is Joss Whedon available?” I’m just saying… It’s about directing talent.</div>
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Over at Pajiba, the ever-talented Joanna Robinson presents <a href="http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/16-reasons-why-youre-looking-forward-to-ridley-scotts-prometheus.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">16 Spoiler-Free Reasons Why You’re Looking Forward to Ridley Scott’s <em>Prometheus</em></a>, focusing on Scott’s ability to inject some girl power into his films. Even though I wasn’t high on the film, I did enjoy Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian in <em>Robin Hood</em>.</div>
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TV.com has a list of <a href="http://www.tv.com/news/our-10-most-anticipated-new-shows-for-summer-2012-28786/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">10 Most Anticipated New Shows of Summer 2012</a>. Only one of which — Aaron Sorkin’s <em>The Newsroom</em> – actually seems worthy of being called “most” anything.</div>
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Those of you who went out and boarded <em>Prometheus</em> at midnight last night now know the film’s big secret: it’s got a lot of unanswered questions. In an essay at Movieline, Jen Yamato tries to find <a href="http://movieline.com/2012/06/08/unanswered-question-ridley-scott-prometheus-spoilers/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><em>Prometheus</em>‘ biggest unanswered question</a>. And I’d say she’s pretty close.</div>
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Over at Movies.com, Scott Weinberg takes <a href="http://www.movies.com/movie-news/ray-bradbury-movies/8264?wssac=164&wssaffid=news" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">A Look Back at the Movies of Ray Bradbury</a>. RIP.</div>
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And since we’re doing all kinds of lists on this rather slim Friday evening, Pajiba’s Josh Kurp gives us the <a href="http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/10-least-walter-whitelike-roles-in-bryan-cranstons-career.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">10 Least Walter White-Like Roles in Bryan Cranston’s Career</a>. For the record, his performance in <em>From the Earth to the Moon</em> as Buzz Aldrin is an all-time favorite in my space nerd heart of hearts.</div>
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We close tonight with <a href="http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2012/06/an-animated-filmography-of-tim-burton/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">an animated filmography of Tim Burton</a>. Proof that Tim Burton has, in fact, made good films. Back in the day.</div>
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<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:yIl2AUoC8zA" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:1fBwEmBM5Bk" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?i=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:1fBwEmBM5Bk" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?i=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?i=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:DUWcskeyX7o" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?d=DUWcskeyX7o" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:clraHZBW0_I" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?d=clraHZBW0_I" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?d=qj6IDK7rITs" style="border: none;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?a=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:-BTjWOF_DHI" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/FilmSchoolRejects?i=3EIZ65a9GxQ:T4KUxbHmjLQ:-BTjWOF_DHI" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FilmSchoolRejects/~4/3EIZ65a9GxQ?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" style="border: none; line-height: 17px;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FilmSchoolRejects/~3/QMpXET6DGug/world-war-z-reshoots-damon-lindelof-rewrites-kerbl.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="2" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-size: 18px; line-height: 23px;" target="_blank">Troubled ‘World War Z’ Now Saddled with Weeks of Reshoots and Damon Lindelof-Penned Rewrite</a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;">Posted:</span> 08 Jun 2012 07:00 PM PDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/world-war-z-reshoots-damon-lindelof-rewrites-kerbl.php/attachment/wwzh" rel="attachment wp-att-159878" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-159878" height="324" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/WWZh.jpg" style="border: none;" title="World War Z" width="640" /></a></div>
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Late last week, the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2152926/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Spice-Girls-reunite-musical.html" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a> reported that <strong>Marc Forster</strong>‘s <em><strong>World War Z</strong></em> was set to undergo some massive reshoots in Budapest this fall, with the venerable Baz Bamigboye reporting that the production, wrapped for almost a year, was set to film for a boggling seven additional weeks. And now it looks like things are getting even worse for the <strong>Brad Pitt</strong>-starring adaptation, because those reshoots will apparently come care of screenwriter <strong>Damon Lindelof</strong>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/damon-lindelof-world-war-z-prometheus-brad-pitt-335241" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">The Hollywood Reporter</a> has word that Lindelof has been tapped “to save” the production. He will reportedly focus on the film’s third act – which is deeply hilarious if one considers his apparent inability to really take things past the finish line (yes, I am talking about <em>Prometheus</em>, a film I was fully invested in until its third act, and even <em>LOST</em> and <em>Cowboys & Aliens </em>to varying degrees).</div>
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The film has already been plagued by potential problems, including <a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/still-waiting-promised-world-war-z-script-on-the-way.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">the delayed delivery</a> of its <em>first </em>rejiggered script from <strong>Matthew Michael Carnahan</strong>, who was working off of some drafts by <strong>J. Michael Straczynski</strong> and the hard fact that <em>World War Z </em>the <a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/world-war-z-no-longer-sounds-like-world-war-z.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">movie just didn’t sound like</a>“World War Z” the beloved novel by <strong>Max Brooks.</strong> The main issue – how do you turn a book that’s about a post-zombie outbreak world into a movie about a world in the throes <em>of </em>a zombie outbreak? Oh, and also, how exactly do you focus the action all on one man, even if it is Brad Pitt?<span id="ecxmore-159877"></span></div>
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Other details on the reshoots are still not very clear and it’s unknown if Pitt’s other co-stars (such as <strong>Matthew Fox, James Badge Dale, Anthony Mackie</strong>, and <strong>Mireille Enos</strong>) would be coming back for the fresh filming, but with so much time and apparently so much new material, it seems inevitable that they would. At the very least, the film does have a solid cast and some great source material, so perhaps it can be saved – even with outsized remakes and a potentially fatal script doctoring.</div>
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</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-15665250555229135352012-06-10T09:28:00.003-07:002012-06-10T09:34:36.659-07:00PLANET FURY - PROMETHEUS<br />
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlanetFury/~3/GXoZPJE_xSo/prometheus-2012?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="1" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 23px;" target="_blank">Prometheus (2012)</a></div>
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<img align="left" alt="" hspace="5" src="http://www.planetfury.com/images/articles/2012/Q2/prometheus_1.jpg" style="border: none;" vspace="5" />Directed by: Ridley Scott<br />
Written by: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof<br />
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron</div>
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It is an old, old dream of mankind to eventually meet its maker, learn the answers that lurk behind its existence, and then be granted the boon of everlasting life.</div>
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Archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have managed a startling discovery; they have found multiple carvings around the globe, separated by culture, great distance, and millennia, which show the exact same pattern of heavenly bodies in the sky. This very same pattern is matched to a distant yet attainable system, which appears to have a planetary system much like our own. The existence of these many carvings are interpreted by the archeologists to being a sort of galactic invitation to human beings to visit this far off system, once the technology is available to do so.</div>
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<img align="right" alt="" hspace="5" src="http://www.planetfury.com/images/articles/2012/Q2/prometheus_2.jpg" style="border: none;" vspace="5" />The year is 2089, and the technology is, in fact, available to do so. The archeologists team up with the Weyland Corporation in order to investigate this invitation. The ship Prometheus is funded to take a crew of scientists to the far off planet in the hopes of finding answers to some of the most fundamental questions of our existence.</div>
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As might be expected, the planet has a few surprises for the team. They do successfully complete their journey, and manage to find a partially buried and seemingly abandoned alien complex on the harsh surface. This is far from the teeming society of welcoming benevolent alien beings that the group hoped to discover. While investigating the dusty and dark tunnels, they find a vast chamber holding countless canisters of goopy "stuff". This goop turns out to have an organic quality to it which, after interacting with various members of the crew, causes things to go terribly, terribly wrong.</div>
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The core theme of <i>Prometheus</i> is the burning desire to meet our maker. Some members of the scientific team, such as scientist Elizabeth Shaw, exhibit religious awe at the very idea. Others, such as the cold and driven representative of the Weyland Corporation, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), are far more pragmatic and see the possibility of meeting the aliens as more of a business opportunity. Yet a third group, such as ship captain Janek (Idris Elba), don't even really care, and are just there for the pay.</div>
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While these three groups generally cover the human aspect of the crew, there is yet a fourth; that being the android David (Michael Fassbender). Much of the crew treats David with casual disdain, referring to the being as having no soul or any other qualities of "feeling". While never openly disagreeing, it becomes very obvious, very quickly, that David strongly disagrees. What David is to the crew, and to the entire film of <i>Prometheus</i>, is a marvelous foil representing mankind's hope to meet its own creator and the potential bitterness of which such a hope may lead.</div>
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<img align="left" alt="" hspace="5" src="http://www.planetfury.com/images/articles/2012/Q2/prometheus_3.jpg" style="border: none;" vspace="5" />The foil is one of contrast; David, to his bitter disappointment, has already met his maker, that being mankind. David has long faced that his creation was not one of divine providence, was not a thing motivated by nobility, virtue, or fate, but instead was simply done <i>because we can</i>. David was brought into being by an uncaring intellect, and not a loving parent who was there to carefully guide his existence towards an idealistic plan or goal. David <i>hates</i> this with an intensity that burns as well as it is hidden, and it is hidden just as well as the included clip of Peter O'Toole in <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> hiding his pain while putting out a match with his bare fingers. The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.</div>
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While heady questions regarding mankind's origins are the forefront subtext of <i>Prometheus</i>, it is also rippling with strong tension and tentacled monstrosities. The abandoned structure discovered by the space scientists is not empty of all life. In this, <i>Prometheus</i> begins to echo some of the science fiction horror of its related films in the <i>Alien</i> series. Even more than that, the origins of the original 1979 <i>Alien</i> even becomes obvious, as the nature and motives of the gigantic humanoid engineers is made more clear. While <i>Prometheus</i> does not provide all answers, it does seem to suggest that these giants are a little more like us than we'd hope.</div>
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<i>Prometheus</i> is an excellent film, if not quite a perfect one. There are some inconsistencies and flaws. It's never made clear just <i>why</i> there were glyphs showing the pattern of the alien solar system scattered around Earth, and, by film's end, it doesn't even really make sense that they were ever made. Other events come out as a bit too convenient and scripted. Ultimately however, these flaws are pretty easy to ignore given the rest of the film's quality. The internal struggle of the android David with the bitter realization of the mundane nature of his creation, and how this struggle echoes our very own, is worth several interesting conversations all by itself.</div>
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<img align="right" alt="" hspace="5" src="http://www.planetfury.com/images/articles/2012/Q2/prometheus_4.jpg" style="border: none;" vspace="5" />Even with the flaws described, <i>Prometheus</i> is a near perfect science fiction film. It is intelligent and raises smart questions about how we view ourselves in the universe and how we idealistically perceive our own creation, yet it accomplishes this intelligence with a visceral adventure through a harsh alien landscape filled with awful, slimey monsters that want to melt your face. Go see this movie.</div>
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<img alt="Charlize Theron and Idris Elba in 'Prometheus'" class="size-full wp-image-175800" height="302" original="http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Charlize-Theron-Idris-Elba-Prometheus-Movie.jpg" src="http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Charlize-Theron-Idris-Elba-Prometheus-Movie.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="Charlize Theron and Idris Elba in 'Prometheus'" width="500" /></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-83192831926581272622012-06-06T20:40:00.003-07:002012-06-06T20:40:33.529-07:00THE OXYCONTIN EXPRESS<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/28313614?color=f7fbfc" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-55406045623072891922012-06-06T20:31:00.001-07:002012-06-06T20:31:04.187-07:00VECTRO AVE 33<br />
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/VectroAve/~3/eNf_rRKCVXs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="1" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 23px;" target="_blank">Floyd Grey Fashion Illustrations |</a></div>
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<a href="http://grey90.deviantart.com/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><strong>Illustrator: Floyd Grey</strong></a><br />Location: Malaysia</div>
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<a href="http://grey90.deviantart.com/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; line-height: 27px;" target="_blank"><em><strong>Floyd Grey Fashion Illustrations</strong></em></a></h1>
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<a href="http://vectroave.com/2012/06/floyd-grey-fashion-illustrations/floyd-grey-fashion-illustrations-5/" rel="attachment wp-att-38888" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="Floyd Grey Fashion Illustrations (9)" class="ecxalignnone ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-38888" height="840" src="http://duckflash.vectroave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Floyd-Grey-Fashion-Illustrations-5.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Floyd Grey Fashion Illustrations (9)" width="600" /></a></div>
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</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-69423522940817696112012-06-06T20:28:00.000-07:002012-06-06T20:28:00.823-07:00THE ALBUM WITH THAT HIT RECORD - PART TWO<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
Music and design go together so well, not only because they are both creative fields, but because they combine two of the most dominant senses (visuals and sound). Many top designers have a specific style of music that inspire them the most while working on design, and there is no shortage of design work for the music industry as well.</div>
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One of the great things about combining music with design is the ability to use common concepts from music in original ways for design.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
Here’s 30 awesome music-themed poster designs that illustrate how music and design can come together for poster printing.</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/music29.png" style="border: none;" width="500" /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-85458592044773811692012-06-03T22:02:00.000-07:002012-06-03T22:02:13.867-07:00SILICON DREAMS 14<br />
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<a href="http://smashingpicture.com/transfixed-dreams-in-surreal-photography-by-marwane-pallas/marwane-pallas-fantasy-photography01/" rel="attachment wp-att-25373" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="Marwane Pallas Fantasy Photography 1" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-25373" height="602" src="http://smashingpicture.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography01.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography01" width="600" /></a></div>
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Surreal and fantasy photography are always welcome around here, which is why we are gladly featuring the work of young French photography <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerry-and-me/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Marwane Pallas</a>. Marwane is only twenty years old, but he creates surreal portraits with the skill, eye and hand at photo-manipulation of a seasoned pro. According to the artist himself, “I like to create fantasy using the real world, assembling things that actually exist in an unusual way. People sometimes say ‘dreamlike’ but my dreams don’t look like this at all. Maybe daydreams. There’s a bit of surrealism. More than a bit, actually, since most of my pictures are totally improvised. My photos always emerge like a sudden gush, I never over think them, never really plan them.” This spontaneous act of creation is apparent, from time to time, in the images he creates: photos of transfixed young men and women, very Narcissus-like, which seem to invite you to run away and turn your dreams into reality.</div>
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<a href="http://smashingpicture.com/transfixed-dreams-in-surreal-photography-by-marwane-pallas/marwane-pallas-fantasy-photography06/" rel="attachment wp-att-25378" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="Marwane Pallas Fantasy Photography 6" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-25378" height="409" src="http://smashingpicture.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography06.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography06" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://smashingpicture.com/transfixed-dreams-in-surreal-photography-by-marwane-pallas/marwane-pallas-fantasy-photography07/" rel="attachment wp-att-25379" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="Marwane Pallas Fantasy Photography 7" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-25379" height="801" src="http://smashingpicture.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography07.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography07" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://smashingpicture.com/transfixed-dreams-in-surreal-photography-by-marwane-pallas/marwane-pallas-fantasy-photography08/" rel="attachment wp-att-25380" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="Marwane Pallas Fantasy Photography 8" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-25380" height="878" src="http://smashingpicture.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography08.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Marwane-Pallas-Fantasy-Photography08" width="600" /></a></div>
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Source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerry-and-me/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Flickr.com</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-53661949964954258642012-06-01T17:12:00.002-07:002012-06-01T17:12:41.212-07:00A VIRUS THAT CREATES ELECTRICITY<br />
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A virus called simply M13 has the power (literally) to change the world. A team of scientists at the Berkeley Lab have genetically engineered M13 viruses to emit enough electricity to power a small LED screen. M13 poses no threat to humans — it can only infect bacteria — but it could one day serve humanity by powering your laptop, or even your city.</div>
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The secret of M13 lies in something called the "piezoelectric effect," which happens when certain materials like crystals (or viruses) emit a small amount of power when squeezed. M13 exhibits this effect, and also has the handy ability to organize itself into tidy, invisible sheets of film. Imagine painting a layer of this film onto the casing for your laptop. Every time you tap the keyboard, these viruses convert the pressure from your fingers into electricity that constantly powers up your battery. Any kind of motion can power up M13, so you could conceivably power your house by jumping up and down on a virus-coated floor, or power your iPod by jiggling it in your pocket.</div>
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M13 is a natural power source, but researchers enhanced its output by genetically engineering the virus, adding some negatively-charged amino acids to one end of its tough outer shell. Basically, the GMO version of M13 became a better voltage generator, because it had a negatively charged end and a positively charged end, thus aiding the flow of electricity. Then, they tested it.<br />
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According to <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=0f1501618c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a release from Berkeley Lab</a>:</div>
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They created the conditions for genetically engineered viruses to spontaneously organize into a multilayered film that measures about one square centimeter. This film was then sandwiched between two gold-plated electrodes, which were connected by wires to a liquid-crystal display.</div>
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When pressure is applied to the generator, it produces up to six nanoamperes of current and 400 millivolts of potential. That's enough current to flash the number "1" on the display, and about a quarter the voltage of a triple A battery.</div>
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Obviously this is a beta version of what's to come. Berkeley bioscientist Seung-Wuk Lee, who worked on the project, is hopeful that it can pave the way for more research into virus-powered electronics. I think we're all looking forward the day when we can power our monitors just from slamming our heads onto (M13-covered) desks while streaming<em>Transformers 2</em>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-41687946397082203972012-05-31T21:48:00.001-07:002012-05-31T21:48:52.312-07:00ME AND THE MOSQUE<iframe src="http://www.nfb.ca/film/me_and_mosque/embed/player" width="530" height="345" ></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-14358549049170547972012-05-31T21:33:00.002-07:002012-05-31T21:38:45.213-07:00COULD SPACE X LAND THE FIRST HUMANS ON MARS ?<br />
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=3fec9d4990&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_0 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocwx2nzmgkdjpg/xlarge.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left; width: 472px;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a>Today, SpaceX recovered its Dragon spacecraft after a successful journey to the International Space Station — thus proving that a private company can transport supplies, or maybe even crew, to the ISS. Everybody's saying this is the real beginning of the era of private space travel.</div>
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But how much further could private companies like SpaceX take us? In particular, could they take us all the way to Mars? With NASA's budget constantly under fire, is there some way that a private corporation could fulfill our common dream of putting human beings on another planet? We decided to ask some experts and find out.</div>
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<em>Top image: Painting by Ren Wicks for NASA.</em></div>
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Partnership with NASA</h4>
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"If it wasn't for his interest in Mars, I don't think Elon Musk would do this," says Thomas Zurbuchen, Professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at Michigan University. Zurbuchen asked the SpaceX founder why he wanted to launch his own space company, and Musk responded, "I want to go to Mars," without blinking. That goal informs all of the design choices behind the Dragon, including using a much bigger launch vehicle than you'd need just to get cargo to the I.S.S.</div>
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That said, when people say that SpaceX proves that NASA's work is done and private companies can take it from here, they're exaggerating somewhat, says Linda Billings, a space policy analyst George Washington University. NASA still paid for the SpaceX launch, and we don't actually know how much it really cost:</div>
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While SpaceX is working for NASA under a different sort of contractual agreement than the previous crop of launch companies, it remains to be seen whether NASA, and thus the taxpayers, will be saving any money on space flight. It is difficult to find out from NASA exactly how much money it has spent on the new crop of so-called commercial launch companies, including straight-out subsidies.</div>
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She also points out that private companies have built every NASA vehicle since the Saturn V rocket, so the notion of NASA collaborating with private companies is not exactly new.</div>
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"I have to say, I'm a skeptic as to how far private space operations can take us right now, in terms of commercializing space," says Andy Turnage, executive director of the Association of Space Explorers. Of course, the industrial capacity of the United States wasn't built overnight either, and there's no telling how commercial space operations will develop over time. Even Musk probably wouldn't say that a trip to Mars makes sense from a strict business standpoint right now, adds Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, Inc.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=fd15bf9d84&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_1 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocsu6t93mhmjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a></div>
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The only way to do things like a trip to Mars is a private-public partnership, insists Zurbuchen. "I believe that the entrepreneurial spirit of big companies and enterprises is crucial to big ventures." On its own, government-funded science tends not to have a goal beyond pure exploration, and "all you want to do is learn, learn, learn." Meanwhile, a private company that's just out to make a quick profit won't do a big thing like going to another planet. "Whenever you reach far, it's tough to make a business case." <em>Image from Mission to Mars.</em></div>
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But when you combine the drive for exploration with an entrepreneurial spirit, "this is what drives the world forward," says Zurbuchen. It would be a better world if these two strands were combined more often.</div>
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What's most likely to happen is that companies like SpaceX will "take the burden" of getting people into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) off of NASA — freeing up NASA to spend its time and resources on new missions such as getting people to Mars, says<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=af2067f97d&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse</a>, executive director of the National Space Society. We've been putting people into LEO for 50 years now, and there's no reason for NASA to keep doing it.</div>
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If private enterprise can deal with the problem of getting people into LEO, then "government can tackle the things that private industry cannot do itself or does not want to do itself," says Damphousse. "Government will help to buy down the risk and prove the technology so that at some point in the future private enterprise can step in and take over just as they're going to do with Low Earth Orbit."</div>
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But what if NASA never manages to get the funding to send people to Mars? Could a private enterprise be the one to get us there in the next couple decades instead? It may depend on finding a business rationale, and making it cheap enough.</div>
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How a Trip to Mars Could Pay</h4>
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When Zurbuchen says "it's tough to make a business case" for going to Mars, he's kind of understating things. How could a private entrepreneur possibly justify such a fabulously expensive venture as a canny investment?</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=2a4b184888&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_2 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocwq61z52pajpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a></div>
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But there are many different ways you could possibly justify a trip to Mars from a pure business standpoint, if you're willing to make a huge outlay for a big return down the line. Here are some of the things people suggested to us as possible ways to get a return on your investment:</div>
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<strong>Bragging Rights:</strong> "How much money would you be willing to spend to have your name go down in history as the first person to step on Mars?" asks Turnage. This is a kind of immortality whose value could be incalculable. And, at least for now, Turnage believes it's the only way to justify spending money to go to Mars from a strict financial standpoint. <em>Image by Pat Rawling/NASA.</em></div>
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<strong>Tourism:</strong> Mars could be the ultimate "high-end destination," says Zurbuchen. Rich people might pay tons of money to have a vacation there. "It could be that that makes sense in the future."</div>
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<strong>Mining:</strong> It's possible that Mars will turn out to have valuable minerals or radioactive elements, that are worth going there to mine, says Zurbuchen. On the other hand, Turnage points out that to make this a return on someone's investment, you have to spend the money to ship that stuff back to Earth, "to do something with it here." We don't know enough about the resources available on Mars yet, to know whether there's anything worth shipping back to Earth, but if it's valuable enough, then someone will find a way.</div>
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The real question is, could you find any resources on Mars that you couldn't also find on an asteroid?, says futurist Jamais Cascio with <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=df9038504c&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Open the Future</a>. There are probably enough gold and other rare minerals on one big "iron" asteroid to crash global markets forever — but what can you find on Mars that you can't find on asteroids, which don't have their own gravity wells? At least for now, Mars isn't known to have anything particularly useful — or unique.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=aa107e3264&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_3 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocwpy5xkm4fjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a><strong><br /></strong></div>
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<strong>Drug discovery:</strong> If Mars turns out to have life on it, then all bets are off, says Cascio. "There's good reason to suspect that Martian life will actually resemble Earth life (in short, pretty good likelihood that early Earth life got blasted off-world by a big asteroid strike, with some of it potentially getting to Mars — or, even better, Mars getting developing life first (smaller planet=cools faster), and having Martian life blasted off to hit Earth, kick-starting life here!), or could at least be similar enough to prompt new lines of bio research. Being able to patent the genes of a non-Earth species would be worth some big money."</div>
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<strong>Reality TV:</strong> Given how long a trip to and from Mars would be likely to take, and the immense potential for personal drama, you might be able to get people back on Earth to watch a TV show about the first humans going to Mars. Although eventually, viewer interest might drop off — leading to cancellation, which could leave these first Martian visitors stranded forever.</div>
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How to Make it Cheap Enough</h4>
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Proponents of privately funded space exploration say that ventures like SpaceX are going to bring down the costs of space travel through innovation, and that in turn will lead to huge advances in space travel without any need for government involvement. But when it comes to a trip to Mars, the costs are still likely to be enormous.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=faebc3cad5&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_4 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocwqdy1uslujpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a></div>
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According to Carberry with Explore Mars, estimates of the costs of a NASA trip to Mars have ranged from $150 billion to $1 trillion. X-Prize founder Robert Zubrin has estimated a private venture to go to Mars might only cost $4 to $6 billion. And Elon Musk himself told Carberry that he thinks it can be done for just $2 billion, although Carberry says that estimate is probably not built on any detailed numbers.<em>Image via Mars Society.</em></div>
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There are two huge reasons a trip to Mars is so expensive, says Damphousse: escaping Earth's gravity, and then keeping people alive on the long trip to Mars. How do you go about making both of those things cheaper, and how could private companies make a difference in those areas?</div>
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<strong>Getting into space:</strong></div>
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There's no getting away from it, just getting off our planet is a huge, massive expense. Carberry says the launch vehicles for NASA's Space Shuttles cost $10,000 per pound of cargo. But the good news is, SpaceX's first launch to the I.S.S. already "cost a fraction of what it would have cost through the traditional NASA process," says Carberry. If SpaceX can make getting into LEO both cheap and reliable, and increase the frequency of flights into LEO, then we'll have helped to solve one big piece of the "getting to Mars" problem, says Damphousse.</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=13286d1a0c&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=512f306363&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_5 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocsusikim67jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a></div>
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Carberry says there are two big questions: whether SpaceX can get its Dragon capsule rated for human crews, while still keeping costs low. And whether SpaceX can grow without its currently low overhead ballooning.</div>
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But bear in mind that getting into LEO, as SpaceX did, is not the same thing as getting out of Earth's gravity well entirely, Cascio points out:</div>
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Getting out of Earth's gravity well entirely (to go to the Moon or Mars) would take considerably more launch power. It's said that we no longer have the capacity to build a Saturn V (the only rocket ever built able to get a human out of the Earth's gravity well), and while that's really just a matter of tooling up the right kinds of factories, it still suggests that the costs of building a comparable vehicle now would be ridiculously high, especially compared to the relatively cheap low-Earth orbit launch vehicles.</div>
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Any private company that is serious about going to Mars is probably going to want to invest in creating a space elevator first, says Cascio. That way, you can use the space elevator to launch satellites and other things into orbit, thus helping to pay off the costs. And you've already massively reduced the costs of launching your Mars vehicle.</div>
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<strong>Getting to Mars:</strong></div>
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The good news is, once you've gotten out of Earth's gravity well, the costs of travel drop considerably, says Cascio:</div>
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You retain all of your momentum, can use gravity-assist "slingshots," and only need rockets for maneuvering. That's why getting to the asteroids will be much easier than getting to the Martian surface, at least if you plan to return from Mars — the asteroids are essentially a zero-G environment. And that, incidentally, is why some of the realistic plans for a Mars mission describe it as a one-way trip, sending a group of astronauts there to become colonists.</div>
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Another piece of good news is, your hypothetical Martian exploration vessel might not need to carry supplies for the crew to survive on Mars, or for the return trip, says Carberry. We may be able to make oxygen and methane fuel using the water on Mars, or else by converting Mars' CO2 atmosphere using our own hydrogen. "One of the key ways to keep costs down is to keep the mass of the mission down," says Carberry. "If you can manufacture your supplies on the surface of the planet, you can cut down the mass of the mission."</div>
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Adds Cascio, "many of the more realistic plans for Mars exploration, such as [Robert] Zubrin's, involve sending automated vehicles there first to gather materials to produce fuel <em>in situ</em> for the return flight."</div>
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<a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=f1be25da75&e=ab0832dac9" rel="lytebox" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4d3bb20783&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" class="ecximage_6 ecxv10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17ocsugod8qnajpg/medium.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; float: left;" title="Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?" width="300" /></a></div>
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One piece of bad news, though: the biggest expense of going to Mars could be just finding ways to keep "monkeys alive in aluminum cans, while in a high-radiation environment," says Cascio. Compared to just three days each way for a Moon trip, the weeks or months required to go to Mars mean massively more radiation shielding — which means more weight, which means more cost. <em>Image: Paul Hudson for NASA</em></div>
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Both NASA and several private companies are working on "in-space technologies" that could make the flight to Mars cheaper and easier, says Damphousse: "Things like advanced robotics, cryogenic propellant storage and transfer, and solar electric propulsion are just a few examples of very low cost things that we could do, that enable what I call mission multiplers, that allow us to do things better in space."</div>
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Also, people are working on advanced propulsion systems that could get people to Mars much faster, thus reducing the amount of fuel you need to use — and also cutting down on radiation exposure and bone loss. Companies like Franklin Chang-Díaz's <a href="http://io9.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=251e609e1dba3888b86c21cc8&id=4590cc70a6&e=ab0832dac9" style="color: #791265; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ad Astra Rocket Company</a> are trying to develop much faster propulsion systems, says Carberry, but it's not clear if these will ever be useable for human exploration.</div>
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If we actually manage to get people to Mars and they survive the trip, that means we'll have solved "a heck of a lot of problems" that could make the world a better place in general, says Zurbuchen. We'll have figured out the answers to a lot of major questions, and probably increased the living standards of people on Earth in the process.</div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-8469049696398526082012-05-29T11:49:00.002-07:002012-05-29T11:49:43.669-07:00AFTER DARK 42A<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/movie-news-after-dark-a-master-moonrise-maniac-prowls-the-dark-streets.php/attachment/negatives-e1337237413444" rel="attachment wp-att-156502" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-156502" height="337" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/Negatives-e13372374134441.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Negatives-e1337237413444" width="640" /></a></div>
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<strong>What is Movie News After Dark?</strong> Well, it ain’t like dusting crops, boy.</div>
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Our fearless leader, Neil Miller is taking the night off and has left you in my very incapable hands. And thus we spring forth to the internet to see what new bounty of cinematic gifts that unfaithful mistress doth offer up to we lowly cinephiles. Or something like that. We begin, boys and girls, with <strong>Paul Thomas Anderson</strong>.</div>
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For my money, he’s easily one of it not the very finest directors working today with apologies to Christopher Nolan. <em>There Will Be Blood</em> was quite frankly a masterpiece and my expectations are high for his next film, <strong><em>The Master</em></strong>. The folks over at <strong><a href="http://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/2012/05/exclusive-65mm-filmstrip-reveals-first.html" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">Cigarettes and Red Vines got a nice exclusive</a></strong> today from the man himself, revealing a few behind the scenes photos of old fashioned negative cutting going on. Not only is this new PT Anderson film shooting on glorious celluloid but this particular negative was of the much higher quality 65mm variety. Word has it that the film will be comprised of both 35mm and 65mm elements, though the question remaining is will the distributor be willing to strike a 70mm print. Exhibition options for 70mm are scarce, but <strong>Oscilloscope Labs</strong> appears to be striking a 70mm print for <em>Baraka</em> follow-up <em>Samsara</em>. It appears the Weinstein’s are in charge of theatrical distro for <em>The Master</em>, hopefully they’ll have the courage to pony up for a 70mm print<span id="ecxmore-156422"></span></div>
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We stop quickly at <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/katyperry/status/202556334074363904" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">a brief tweet from Katy Perry</a></strong>. I have no opinion on the lady herself, but I have to admit her tweet to the official film Twitter account for The Dictator was pretty damn funny. I won’t spoil it, but check back after you’ve seen The Dictator. Or just Google it, I’m sure someone is willing to spoil it for those of you who hate going to see funny movies.</div>
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Moving on, our good friend Scott Weinberg at Movies.com alerts us to the presence of a <strong><a href="http://www.movies.com/movie-news/maniac-remake-teaser/7970" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">Cannes teaser trailer for the upcoming remake of Maniac</a></strong>. <strong>Elijah Wood</strong> steps into the Joe Spinell role and the film is told entirely from his point of view. The teaser promises a dark, gritty film and I sincerely hope that’s what Wood and company deliver.</div>
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Speaking of Movies.com, another one of our favorite editors over there recently did a spectacular interview with Alamo head honcho Tim League.<strong><a href="http://www.movies.com/movie-news/tim-league-summer-of-82-interview/7927" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">Head over there now to read up on the tough questions posed by Peter Hall</a></strong> and what Tim had to say about the current Summer of ’82 and how he responds to concerns on over-expansion possibly diluting the brand.</div>
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While I adore my beloved Alamo Drafthouse with all my heart and more, were I ever to find myself in LA, I would have to make time to visit the New Beverly Cinema. In many ways a kindred spirit of the Drafthouse, the New Bev makes its name with cheap double features, special guests and special events and fantastic programming. One of its many intrepid employees, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1101489177/out-of-print-a-documentary-about-the-new-beverly-c" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><strong>Julia Marchese, has taken it upon herself to create a documentary</strong> </a>about the New Bev and the transition from 35mm to digital. It’s an ambitious project and as such Julia has set up a Kickstarter to crowd source some funds. She’s a little over a third of the way there with only 7 days to go, so head over to Kickstarter and back a kick ass project that could use your help.</div>
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Apparently some new <strong><a href="http://us.battle.net/d3/en/?-" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">PC video game came out</a></strong>? Something about the devil cubed, I don’t know, best of luck to you if you’ve fallen down that rabbit hole.</div>
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Our own <strong><a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/wes-anderson-euro-movie-nadam.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">Nathan Adams talks about what might be next for Wes Anderson</a></strong>, whose latest film <em><strong>Moonrise Kingdom</strong></em> debuted to Cannes audiences and US film critics alike today. Garnering mostly positive reviews, it does, however, seem like his signature style is fully on display. I missed the screening today, but you can bet I’ll be there ticket in hand on opening day.</div>
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If you’re wondering where you favorite film critic is this week…well…we gave Landon Palmer they week off. But if you’re looking for most of the rest of them, they’re probably getting all sweaty and sunburned in Cannes</div>
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Sadly it’s a bit of a slow night and so I’ll close with this: if you haven’t bought tickets for the Alamo Drafthouse’s epic Rolling Roadshow screening of The Road Warrior this Friday then let me ask you…what the hell are you doing with your life?! Co-sponsored by your good friends here at FSR, this Friday’s screeninng will include such shenanigans as a THERMONUCLEAR FLAMING DEATH RACE, music by a post-apocalyptic punk band and more beer than you can shake a stick at (I’m supposing). <strong><a href="http://drafthouse.com/movies/the_road_warrior_1982" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank">Tickets are still available here</a></strong> for $15 apiece so what are you waiting for? The Lord Humungous wills it so!</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-53141967244319266152012-05-29T11:47:00.000-07:002012-05-29T11:47:04.543-07:00THE CORONER'S REPORT 40<br />
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FilmSchoolRejects/~3/eekxPoGJ4dw/the-human-centipede-2-is-full-of-excrement-devoid-of-interest-rfure.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="3" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-size: 18px; line-height: 23px;" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />‘The Human Centipede 2′ is Full of Excrement, Devoid of Interest</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/coroners-report-rare-exports-rfure.php/attachment/coroners" rel="attachment wp-att-137629" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coroner's Report - Large" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-137629" height="260" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/coroners.jpg" style="border: none;" title="The Coroner's Report - Large" width="640" /></a></div>
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It’s fairly rare that a film can come along and generate a lot of attention just based on the premise. <strong><em>The Human Centipede</em></strong> was one such film. It claimed to be “100% Medically Accurate,” was viewed at Fantastic Fest, and took the world by storm by asking the question “What would it be like to sew a bunch of people ass to mouth?”</div>
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At the time, I was hard on the claim that the flick was medically accurate, despite writer/director <strong>Tom Six</strong>‘s insistence. I’ve since changed my mind: sure, it’s entirely possible to sew a bunch of people together like that as long as you expect them to choke on feces and die relatively quickly. There is no shared digestion, but hey, he never said it was 100% a good idea!</div>
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Unfortunately, that flick wasn’t 100% good. For me, I found it to be 52% good, which, as it turns out, is at least 30% better than the follow-up. Hey hey hey hey, listen to me. Spoilers ahead.</div>
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<span id="ecxmore-156437"></span><strong><a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/the-human-centipede-2-is-full-of-excrement-devoid-of-interest-rfure.php/attachment/humancentipede2" rel="attachment wp-att-156446" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="ecx ecxwp-image-156446 ecxalignright" height="300" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/HumanCentipede2.jpg" style="border: none;" title="HumanCentipede2" width="225" /></a>Kills</strong></div>
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If there’s one thing this film does, it’s squander a lot of potential. There are a couple of other things the film does better than killing as well, but I was pleasantly surprised that the body count was massively upped from the first installment. At least 17 people die in this movie.</div>
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<strong>Ills</strong></div>
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The vast majority of the ills revolve around our pudgy protagonist (wait – if the film follows a bad guy is he still the protagonist?) shooting someone non-fatally and then delicately swinging a crow-bar in their direction. Through the magic of film we’re supposed to believe that he’s hitting them rather hard, but many of the shots look tepid. There are a few good gore gags, namely when a woman has her head crushed in by said crow-bar, and later when the centipede gets going. There’s plenty of poo-poo, gun shots, stabbings, barbed wire raping, and the anal insertion of insects. If that all sounds awesome, temper yourself – most of it is reserved the finale and what leads up to it is boring as shit.</div>
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<strong>Lust</strong></div>
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It turns out that <em>The Human Centipede</em> was a movie, and we see a clip of it that involves some breasts. Later we see some of the victims stripped nude, so there are plenty of butts, some dirty boobs, and a slightly smaller than average prosthetic penis. There’s also a blow-job scene and some masturbation. Oh and the barbed wire rape. Hey, depends what you’re into.</div>
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<strong>Learning</strong></div>
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If you’re going to make a fucked up film, make a 100% fucked up film. Don’t make an 80% boring film followed by a fucked up sequence. Go hard, get hard, go home.</div>
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<strong>Review</strong></div>
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You’re a smart kid, you’ve probably picked up by now that I didn’t really enjoy the film. Most of it feels like a student film. There is piss-poor CGI rain that I am 97% certain is just the “rain” filter on iMovie. It looks bad.</div>
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I previously mentioned how effeminate the crow-bar attacks are – scratch that, that’s offensive to women. It’s beyond effeminate. Martin (<strong>Laurence R. Harvey</strong>) is such a little nancy, one should feel shame most of all if you died at his stubby little hands.</div>
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For as sick and twisted as this film is supposed to be, it’s mostly tame until the last fifteen or so minutes. There’s one good gore gag in the middle, but there is wasted opportunity everywhere. Martin is a fucked up dude, it wouldn’t be a stretch for him to kill a crying baby, but the film backs off and he doesn’t. Instead Martin just weakly taps a few people with the crow bar again and fires off a few gun shots.</div>
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Luckily this film advertises itself as “100% Medically INAccurate,” otherwise I’d have to point out that you don’t inject a laxative into someone’s butt cheeks to get them to shit into another person’s mouth. Although, beyond that, the film is potentially more accurate than the first, since the centipede is held together with duct tape and staples.</div>
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During the majority of the film, I was beyond bored. I was angry and upset. Where was the fucking movie that was supposed to disturb me? Even when it comes time for the gore, a lot of the effect is lost because the movie is just poorly made. The climactic shitting diarrhea scene is full of<em>Harold and Kumar</em> level fart noises. It’s like <em>Blazing Saddles</em> is playing in the background. Which is sad, because the climax is actually pretty messed up and violent. There are a few bits that are stupid, but man, some of it is spot on awesomely messed up. But there’s no way to ignore the preceding 80 minutes of shit.</div>
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Now, at the very end of the movie, we see our boy Martin sitting in his booth watching the film. It appears that this entire movie may have been a dream. If that’s the case, I’m very disappointed that the majority of it was boring. It could have gone so far above and beyond depraved. This could have been the sick film I was promised. Instead, it’s a boring, poorly made, and uninteresting journey that has a sickly entertaining but ultimately flawed centipede sequence.</div>
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There was a great, fucked up movie somewhere in the last ten minutes, if only Tom Six had remembered the importance of the other 80% of the film.</div>
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</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-62164993551446525892012-05-29T11:45:00.003-07:002012-05-29T11:45:42.797-07:00COMMENTARY 17<br />
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It’s a wild career <strong>Peter Berg</strong> has created for himself. The kid from <em>Shocker</em> and <em>Aspen Extreme</em> grew up to have an eclectic mix of directorial offerings. Everything from wicked, black comedies like <em>Very Bad Things</em> and damn solid action flicks like <em>The Rundown</em>. He’s even dabbled in the Summer blockbuster like <em>Hancock</em> and this Friday’s <strong><em>Battleship</em></strong>. I think that movie <a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/battleship-review-an-asylum-movie-with-200-million-dollars-worth-of-gloss.php" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">made Cole angry</a>. Berg’s most important work of art came in the form of <em>Friday Night Lights</em>, arguably the best show in the past decade. You be the judge which side of that fence I fall on. Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t Lose.</div>
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But we can’t exactly run a Commentary Commentary on the full series run of that show. That would take too long, and there’s not enough Monster in the world to keep the writing juices flowing. So we’ll do one on <strong><em>The Kingdom</em></strong>, Berg’s 2007 film about an FBI investigation of a suicide bombing in Riyadh. That’s in Saudi Arabia, something you’d know if you’ve seen this film’s opening credits. Or watched The Daily Show more often.</div>
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Enough about TV. On with the Commentary Commentary for <em>The Kingdom</em>.</div>
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<em style="line-height: 27px;">The Kingdom</em> (2007)</h2>
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commentators: Peter Berg (director)</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg spent 10 days in Saudi Arabia a year before filming began on <em>The Kingdom</em>. He toured the compounds where American civilians live there, and this, along with his discovery of just how little was known about them, is what spurred the design of the film’s opening credits.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg points out <strong>Minka Kelly</strong>, who played Lyla Garrity on <em>Friday Night Lights</em>. He also notes <strong>Kyle Chandler</strong>, who played Coach Eric Taylor on the show. Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose. I promise no more <em>FNL</em> references.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The director took great care in cutting between two events that were taking place thousands of miles away from each other. The show-and-tell scene with <strong>Jamie Foxx</strong> being intercut with the violent act that’s taking place in the Western housing compound in Saudi Arabia is Berg’s way of using our comforts against us. Thanks, man. That really helps.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">As intense as the opening action sequence is in <em>The Kingdom</em>, Berg mentions an even more visceral cut of the scene. He mentions the suicide bomber in this opening scene is the first filmed depiction of a suicide bomber, at least that he or his crew could find. <em>Four Lions</em> missed it by that much.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">“FBI agents aren’t soldiers. They’re not military-trained, although they are trained in weapons,” says Berg, noting his clear admiration for agents of the bureau. “They’re basically college-educated scientists who like to collect evidence and like to go after bad guys.” Berg wanted to use the FBI as a way into the story, to cut the act of terror in the opening scene away from religious or political ties. He also mentions the first thing they were looking for when casting the leads was “intelligence.”</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg asked Brad Pitt – We can assume they’re friends. Everyone in Hollywood is friends with everyone, right? – if he would do a cameo for the film. Pitt reluctantly agreed, and he appears as one of the FBI agent extras in the debriefing scene. He’s not easy to spot. Berg points out, “There he is,” on a shot that is just Berg and a large, bald, black man. Pitt must have been the large, bald, black man. Nice makeup.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The “shaky cam issue” is raised, as Berg mentions people who comment on his shooting style. “I can never really explain why I like it so much, other than it feels more like what the human eye sees,” he explains. “I do try to stabilize it as I can.”</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg mentions he met <strong>Jennifer Garner</strong> when he did a short stint on <em>Alias</em>. He brags that he “thinks” he was the first actor to ever get to kiss Garner on the show.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The director also points out <em>The Kingdom</em> was the first American film to shoot in Abu Dhabi. Now we know what Abu Dhabi, suicide bombers, and kissing Jennifer Garner have in common.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">“It’s interesting. I have no idea whether people understand what Jamie Foxx is doing in this chunk of the film,” Berg says a mere 20 minutes into the film when Foxx is trying to get his team into Saudi Arabia. The director brings up accusations of charity donations by Saudis to fund terrorism in recent years. The FBI is who investigates these illegal transactions. I think I learned this on <em>Homeland</em>.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The scene of the flight to Riyadh was almost entirely unscripted. The game of Scrabble was improvised on set, as well, and the dialogue they needed to fit in was worked around the game. Berg does point out that “whelp” is a word. They checked.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg is quick to note <strong>Ashraf Barhom</strong>‘s character is not insulting Garner’s character when he offers to move her into the bathroom to sleep there. In Saudi culture, women don’t sleep near men unless they are married to them. Barhom’s character is trying to do her a favor. “They’re a very foreign culture,” says the director. More things we learned on this week’s episode of “Peter Berg’s Culture Shock.” Fridays on Discovery.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The blast site the team investigates was modeled after an attack in the early 1990s at the <strong>Khobar Towers</strong> in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg notes a moment after a scene with an old woman and a cat. A few minutes after filming a take, the cat attacked the woman, clawing at her arms. Berg says the woman “toughened up” and they were able to finish shooting, but that sounds like a prime set-up for <em>Very Bad Things 2</em>.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The music in <em>The Kingdom</em> was written and composed by <strong>Danny Elfman</strong>, though some claim it sounds too similar to the band Explosions in the Sky. Berg admits he used an Explosions in the Sky piece as a temp track for the film, and, when it came time for Elfman to write the music, the director pushed him in the direction to make it sound closer to the band.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">In <strong>Matthew Michael Carnahan</strong>‘s original screenplay, Haytham, played by <strong>Ali Suliman</strong>, was written more as a character torn between two sides. His father was extremely religious, and his brother was killed by American soldiers in Iraq. Carnahan originally had him written as someone split between helping and fighting the Americans. Berg mentions Carnahan’s original ending was “much tougher.” In that ending, everyone died. Yeah, that’s quite a bit tougher.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The Abu Dhabi government allowed the production the use of one of the helicopters for a scene. The caravan scene with the helicopter was shot with the military vehicle flying just thirty feet overhead. Berg points out how supportive Abu Dhabi was in the making of <em>The Kingdom</em>. He also points out how open they were to closing down neighborhoods so the production could shoot chase sequences.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Barhom had never played golf before signing on to be in <em>The Kingdom</em>. Berg took him on his first golf outing – add that to suicide bombers and kissing Jennifer Garner – and the director asked him why he wanted to be an actor. The “green beast” conversation Al Ghazi has with Foxx’s character was taken from Barhom’s response.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg’s first experience in Saudi Arabia was going to an Internet cafe at 4 AM. He remembers seeing dozens of teenagers wearing Eminem t-shirts, smoking, and playing video games. “As soon as I saw that, I realized certainly the country has come a long way and is really on the verge of a complete, cultural revolution,” he recollects.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">“This is another thing we got from the FBI, that it’s very common for bomb makers to be missing fingers,” Berg says, “and other things.” He just drops that last bit in like it means nothing. Come on, Berg. We love you and all, but name names. Or body parts. Or whatever.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg brings up Ashraf Barhom on several, different occasions, and for good reason. The guy is an extremely talented actor. Berg goes so far as to compare him to a young Robert De Niro, particularly his performance in <em>Raging Bull</em>. Not <em>Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle</em>.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg mentions <strong>Nick Papac</strong>, a prop master who died while filming the large chase sequence on the freeway. The director dedicates the film to him and his family.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">“I think Jen Garner says ‘Fucking’ real cool,” the director of this fine film.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg gets a lot of criticism about none of the good guys getting shot in the film’s climactic shoot-out sequence. He mentions he screened the film for a group of Navy SEALS, and afterwards he asked them about the fact that no Americans are killed. The SEALS responded that it’s completely accurate. The bad guys they’re fighting are the “worst shots” they’ve ever seen. They have no training, and they’re firing old, Russian guns. The basic strategy they take in a gunfight is throw as many bullets in one direction as possible. Kind of like Halo multi-player. “If it’s okay for the SEALS, it’s okay for me,” says Berg. Us, too.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">The shot in the final shoot-out where a grenade blows the wall out behind Jennifer Garner was an improvised stunt Berg came up with on the day of shooting. He credits his amazing stunt coordinating team and special effects crew for pulling the stunt off on such short notice.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg remembers screening the film for the first time in Sacramento, California. At the moment Garner’s character appears to shoot all the bad guys in the head – There might have been some body shots – the audience erupted in cheers. Berg was concerned it was a form of blood-lust, that the audience was only reacting with joy to the sight of Americans killing Arabs. They screened the film in London a month later where the audience was roughly 25% Arab, and the moment received the exact, same eruption of cheers. “It made me feel as though it was not a political or religious reaction,” Berg says. “It’s frustration with religious extremism, and people united in their desire to see it dealt with.” Well said, sir.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Late in the commentary, Berg mentions one of the main reasons he wanted to make <em>The Kingdom</em>, and he feels he speaks for many of the people who worked on it, was so that it would show audiences generations from now the cultural complexities we faced in our time, particularly in how we handled violence. “We understand why it’s there, but I think we also understand that it certainly is not helping solve the problem,” he says.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;">Berg brings up the original ending again, going into more detail about how Haytham was conflicted in what side he stood on. When the lead characters are boarding the plane, Jamie Foxx’s character hugs him. In the original draft he realizes too late Haytham has a bomb strapped to him. The bomb detonates, and everyone dies. It was changed because, well obviously.</li>
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Best in Commentary</h2>
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“I think that everyone would like to believe that somewhere in Middle Eastern countries exists moderates, people who are proud Muslims but are not interested in extremism and killing in the name of any religion, and that was certainly a core theme of this film.”</div>
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Final Thoughts</h2>
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Peter Berg provides all-in-all a decent commentary for <em>The Kingdom</em>. It’s become all too evident in recent editions of this that a single director speaking alone about his film is prime time for dead air. Berg, like a number of directors before him, leave long pauses on this commentary, some more than a minute long. It helps bounce back and forth between two or three people, but Berg does the best that’s expected from someone flying solo.</div>
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While providing anecdotes from set, theories about the film, and reasons for why he wanted to do it, he’s also very good at pointing out what’s happening in the film. It’s not in a play-by-play manner, as many directors do on theirs, but more of a catch-up every 20 minutes or so. It doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the commentary, and it ends up helping the casual listener.</div>
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There is a lot of pointing out what shots were done in Arizona and what was shot in Abu Dhabi. We can’t tell the difference, man. We get it. It’s understandable that Berg doesn’t go through the ending action scene on a more detailed level, as the DVD/Blu has a feature on the making of some of those action pieces. Overall a fine commentary that goes with a fine package for a solid action film. Recommends all around for <em>The Kingdom</em>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-26480066840172462222012-05-29T11:41:00.001-07:002012-05-29T11:41:31.764-07:00REEL SEX 32<br />
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<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FilmSchoolRejects/~3/kMQAUKVIbPY/reel-sex-girls.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="16" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-size: 18px; line-height: 23px;" target="_blank">Is It the Sex or the Hate That Keeps Us Watching ‘Girls’?</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/reel-sex-brave-eroticism-and-female-gaze-in-australian-import-x-greye.php/attachment/reel-sex-3" rel="attachment wp-att-138220" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="Reel Sex" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-138220" height="240" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/reel-sex2.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Reel Sex - Large" width="640" /></a></div>
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If you’re like me and have slumped into a mind-numbing semi-sleep for the past five Sundays thanks entirely to the comings and goings of Westeros, then you have probably woken up with a jolt halfway through your Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) dreams to discover yourself staring down the barrel of a gun. And that gun is HBO’s freshman series <strong><em>Girls</em></strong>, a show so fraught with first world problems and entitlement it’s nearly impossible not to experience <a href="http://whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com/post/23047092920/watching-hbo-s-girls-and-trying-to-figure-out-how" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">polarizing feelings</a>.</div>
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On the one hand, <em>Girls</em> is an engaging slice of life dramedy revolving around the personal and (maybe) professional lives of three recent college graduate lady friends (and one still-in-school cousin). Setting <em>Girls</em> apart from most shows currently broadcasting is creator and head writer <strong>Lena Dunham’</strong>s dedication to exposing the warts and imperfections of her four post-<em>Sex and the City</em> women while they each navigate the troubling landscape of sex, love, feelings, and career in New York. It’s just that her women, like their HBO godmothers, are living in a New York that doesn’t exist for most city dwellers.<span id="ecxmore-156507"></span></div>
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In fact, these “real” women are still living in a fantasy world despite Dunham’s promise of financial struggle and hardship. What’s interesting is that after the first episode where money (or lack thereof) is discussed at length, the topic has yet to come up again with such fervor. Rather, the focus has turned to relationships and sex, which is fine with me. Who doesn’t like watching pretty young things make like rabbits?</div>
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On the other hand, <em>Girls</em> is both uncomfortably relatable and completely far-fetched. In a way it is <em>The Office</em> for Millennials, something we laugh at because it’s truthful, but also because it hits close to home.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
Let’s start with Hannah (Dunham), whose parents have demanded she finally get her shit together, and have financially cut her off as their way of kicking her out of the nest. She’s twenty-four, unsure of what it takes to be a writer when she grows up, and easily susceptible to the influence of her best friends Marnie (<strong>Allison Williams</strong>) and Jessa (<strong>Jemima Kirke</strong>). She is also spending her time refusing to grow up by bedding an actor-carpenter named Adam (<strong>Adam Sackler</strong>) who has very little interest in her emotional well-being. It’s incredibly brave for Dunham to not only expose herself on screen in such heart wrenching, troubling, and intimate sex scenes, but to also write these moments for Hannah.</div>
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After five weeks I’m still constantly puzzled by how much heartbreak Hannah will put up with, but I’ve also started to realize Dunham is not interested in giving her protagonist any leeway when it comes to her poor decisions. As a writer, Hannah wants to learn and experience “stories,” and in a sick and masochistic way, Dunham holds up a mirror to all the Hannahs of the world through each pitfall. For example, it’s unclear if Hannah is aware of Adam’s manipulation, or if she likes to play the victim so that she has something to whine about later. She seems more interested in hurting than anything else, and I think many viewers have felt or still feel that way themselves. I’ve been a Hannah, and maybe that’s why I feel physically ill when she doesn’t stop Adam in bed the moment she feels uncomfortable. Or when she feels confused after she tries to break up with him and then he kisses her. Despite how caricatured Hannah is, she represents the sensitive soul of a lazy creative who distracts herself with sex, but doesn’t want to realize that someone who is sexing you may not love you.</div>
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Dunham is not concerned with having perfect characters, rather she seems to relish in providing her audience with what she views as accurate depictions of women just trying to make it through the day. Through the character Marnie, Dunham is able to expose someone who looks like she’s got everything together but under the surface is completely floundering. Unlike Hannah’s disheveled outward appearance, Marnie is straight up Duchess of Catherine put-together. She never has a hair out of place, an unmade face, or wrinkle in her best party dress. She works the job any art-loving New Yorker would die for and an adorable boyfriend who worships the ground she walks on. All these things make Marnie a perfect role model for the Connecticut set, except she is internally spiraling just as badly as her best friend.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/girls-producers-judd-apatow-and-lena-dunham-explain-the-vomit-pass.php/attachment/lena-dunham-girls" rel="attachment wp-att-151640" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="ecxaligncenter ecxsize-full ecxwp-image-151640" height="305" src="http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/Lena-Dunham-Girls-e1334241606420.jpg" style="border: none;" title="Lena Dunham Girls" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
I could sit her all day talking about how dissatisfied she is with her relationship, or how self-centered she is to think Charlie (<strong>Christopher Abbott</strong>) would never be a “real man,” but it just pisses me off. Marnie pisses me off. For someone who wants to talk so damn much, she has very little to say to anyone. And when she does, it’s all just negative chatter about how no one can live up to her standards. Marnie could die in a fire, and I’m not sure anyone would miss her. Well, the stick up her butt might.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
However, my animosity aside, Marnie’s recent break-up with Charlie was both the most selfish and selfless move she’s made all season. It was the first time all season we saw Marnie both vulnerable and determined to change something about herself. Yes, maybe when you have a man in between your legs isn’t the best moment to rip off the Bandaid, but it’s a clean break. She needed something different (like maybe an Adam), and Charlie needed to run away from the crazy. Now she’s free to stumble her way through a multitude of one night stands that I’m sure will span the rest of the season.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
Our last two ladies, Jessa and Shoshanna (<strong>Zosia Mamet</strong>) couldn’t be more sexually divergent; however their mutual potential for character growth is fascinating. One is a proud promiscuous lady and the other is a virgin, but they both learn something from the other. Jessa likes to use sex as her only weapon against men, yet she envies Shoshanna’s desire to be loved. She doesn’t want to admit that she has a heart and Dunham writes her in such a revealing way that after five weeks we’re routing for her to find self-assuredness through something other than sex. Jessa is intriguing and captivating, and her tougher outer shell will hurt like hell when she finally lets someone break it. She may think she can’t be “smotted” but if the series is really trying to be “real” then she is dead wrong.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
Each week I promise myself I’m not going to aid my rising blood-pressure by watching <em>Girls</em> but then each week I get sucked back in. These four women infuriate me just as much as they enslave me, yet I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quit them. I’m hooked in for now, but to turn one of Hannah’s phrases: I think I’m at the point where I’m just hate-watching them. Or it could be I’m worried I’ll miss out on another one of Adam’s sexual kinks. Let’s be honest, those are fun to watch.</div>
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<a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/category/reel-sex" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; line-height: 19px;" target="_blank">Continue Reading Reel Sex</a></h4>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263796034058735769.post-90864423401095339112012-05-29T04:37:00.002-07:002012-05-29T04:37:52.232-07:00DEMENTED BOOKS 101<br />
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<h1 class="headline title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Liberation Serif', serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 3px 0px 0.4em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The best scenes from the most demented German children’s book ever published</h1>
<div class="post-body" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Liberation Serif', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1qi60k9siejpg/original.jpg" rel="lytebox" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></a>If you possess any sort of fluency in the German language, there's a good chance you've encountered children's author Heinrich Hoffman's 1845 bedtime classic<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Struwwelpeter</em>. In this collection of morality tales, children are — with gleeful abandon — immolated, humiliated, and mutilated by men with giant scissors. Pleasant dreams, everyone!</div>
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Unlike, say, Aesop's Fables, in which chatty animals steer the reader toward the path of moral rectitude, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Struwwelpeter</em> is more interested in teaching children that A.) there are a litany of ways to die painfully; and B.) that their own stupidity and lack of 19th century Teutonic manners are almost always the cause.</div>
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As <a href="http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/328" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">George Mason University explains</a>, the origins of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Struwwelpeter</em> echo the origins of Festivus, as delineated <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS7-jcsB_WQ" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">by George Constanza's father on <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Seinfeld</em></a>:</div>
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Hoffman, a Frankfurt physician and father, wrote the book after realizing that there were none he wanted to buy for his 3-year-old son for Christmas [...] While many German parents today find the tales disturbing, those who raised their children during the early decades of the 20th century found them useful for childrearing. Parents' mention of a specific character in <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Der Struwwelpeter</em> kids knew well served as short-hand criticism of objectionable behavior.</div>
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Indeed, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Struwwelpeter</em> opens with a promise that good children on Christmas will receive this tome of terror as a present, whereas bad kids will receive bupkis. (Hoffman clearly didn't think out this incentive structure.)</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_1 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1sjjz5xfjrjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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The first tale, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shock-headed Peter</em>, warns <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">die kinder</em> that poor hygiene will transform you into the lovechild of David Lee Roth and Lady Deathstrike from <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">X-Men 2</em>:</div>
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Just look at him! there he stands,<br />
With his nasty hair and hands.<br />
See! his nails are never cut;<br />
They are grimed as black as soot;<br />
And the sloven, I declare,<br />
Never once has combed his hair;<br />
Anything to me is sweeter<br />
Than to see Shock-headed Peter.</div>
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Strange stuff, but nothing fatal. Let's jump ahead to the end of "The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches," which really should be adapted into a Smokey the Bear campaign:</div>
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So [Harriet] was burnt, with all her clothes,<br />
And arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose;<br />
Till she had nothing more to lose<br />
Except her little scarlet shoes;<br />
And nothing else but these was found<br />
Among her ashes on the ground.</div>
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And when the good cats sat beside<br />
The smoking ashes, how they cried!<br />
"Me-ow, me-oo, me-ow, me-oo,<br />
What will Mamma and Nursey do?"<br />
Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast,<br />
They made a little pond at last.</div>
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"The Story Of The Man That Went Out Shooting" teaches us the paramount lesson of firearm safety. Namely, that sentient rabbits will steal your guns if you're negligent...</div>
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<a href="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1uz2zji51njpg/original.jpg" rel="lytebox" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_4 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1uz2zji51njpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></a></div>
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...whereas "The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb" informs tots that A.) a vengeful tailor will lop off your appendages with hedge trimmers; and B.) your parents will shrug nonchalantly when it happens.</div>
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<a href="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1uqt1veqfgjpg/original.jpg" rel="lytebox" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_5 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1uqt1veqfgjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></a></div>
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And finally there's "The Story of Augustus, Who Would Not Have Any Soup." This story imparts the subtle lesson, "If you don't eat, you will die immediately."</div>
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<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12116/12116-h/12116-h.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You can read the entirety of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Struwwelpeter</em>here.</a> Hoffman's nightmare tales were also adapted for Walter Hayn's 1911 American children's book <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slovenly Betsy</em> (<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19915/19915-h/19915-h.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #791265; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">full text here</a>). Behold some complex-inducing illustrations from that.</div>
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Proud Phoebe, whose perpetual nose in the air mutated her vertebrae.</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_7 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1wetknilrgjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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The little girl who "cried her eyes out."</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_8 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1wetkk7lytjpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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Romping Polly, who made the mistake of rough-housing with little boys and broke her leg.</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_9 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1wevjlq4q9jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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See how her brother bursts in tears,<br />
When told the dreadful story;<br />
And see how carefully he bears<br />
The limb all wet and gory.</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_10 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1wexiqdqn5jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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Romping Polly dies, of course.</div>
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<img alt="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" class="image_11 v10_medium" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17o1wexim29s1jpg/medium.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 5px 40px 20px 0px; max-width: 300px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px !important;" title="The best scenes from the most demented German children's book ever published" width="300" /></div>
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And finally, "The Little Glutton" who tried to eat honey straight from the beehive.</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08769188400016961867noreply@blogger.com0