Ebert Fest

So i went to the Ebert Film Festival last weekend and saw 2 movies, The Hulk and Romance and Cigarettes. It was a pretty good weekend. John and I got on the News-Gazette website under the photos section. I believe we are the 3rd photo. The best part was hearing Ang Lee speak after The Hulk.



The Hulk I thought was better than I was expecting. It probably would have done better if he had not been a comic book character. The movie was more character driven and not a struggle between a villain and hero, although his father is the villain it isn't exactly clear that this is the case throughout the movie. With superhero movies you probably want to have a clearly laid out villain and hero throughout the movie. Also the visual effects were a bit off. That being said, I liked how the character was developed and I liked the split screen throughout the film. The split screen gave it a comic book feel, while allow you to see different angles. I especially like the split screen shots of different faces which allow you to see how the different actors react at the same moment.



Ang Lee spoke after the film about his U of I experience and film making. He said he came to U of I because he wanted to act, but couldn't do it because he did speak English. He also said that his relationship with his dad fueled much of The Hulk's emphasis on father-child relationships. Surprisingly enough, Ang Lee also was the Hulk. He put on the motion capture suit to make many of the Hulk movements on screen. Another interesting moment was when Joe Pantoliano, who was in town for Canvas, asked him a question about how he deals with actors. He said that when actors believe they are giving a good performance, they are often overacting. So he says he picks them apart or confuses them when necessary to get a good performance. He said he is the 3rd eye in the sky for them. One of the more interesting things he said was that he was burnt out after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk so he wanted to do a small movie that no one paid any attention to and only showed in art house movie theaters. After all he said in his own words, "Who would want to see a gay cowboy movie?" Of course, that movie was Brokeback Mountain.



Romance & Cigarettes is actually a musical starring James Gandolfini. Other big names include: Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise-Parker, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi, and Aida Turturro. It's loosely based on the family life of John Turturro. who has been in movies like Rounders, Do the Right Thing, Quiz Show, and Transformers. It wasn't a traditional musical because while the actors were singing, they were singing with the original tracks from the original artists over the actors. In fact, it wasn't a very traditional movie at all. Best line I heard from the discussion afterwards, "Christopher Walken does a great Christopher Walken". It has some odd age arrangements. Aida Turturro plays James Gandolfini's adopted daughter, whereas in the Sopranos they play brother and sister. Mandy Moore and Mary Louise-Parker play sisters, but in Saved! Mandy Moore plays Mary Louise-Parker's daughter's friend/nemesis. Overall the movie was pretty funny and I really liked the ending too.

Subway

So Subway is good at catching slogans at least for me. Like if I hear Subway, I have to say "Eat Fresh". Now, I can't get the $5 footlong song out of my head and I check on their website and there is like a dance club remix of the song. Check it out.

LT pic of Cap

Obama op-ed from 1990

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_barack_o_080202_why_organize_3f.htm

Venezuelan TV Channel takes off the Simpsons in favor of Baywatch

'The Simpsons' yanked from Venezuelan TV

• A Venezuelan TV channel has yanked "The Simpsons" off the air because it may be inappropriate for children. Taking its place: "Baywatch Hawaii."
• Televen TV station spokeswoman Elba Guillen said Monday that the decision to hand over the daily 11 a.m. time slot came after the National Telecommunications Commission received complaints from viewers.
• It had to be taken off," Guillen said. "They consider it to be a series that isn't appropriate for that time because it isn't appropriate for children."

Articles

So here are some articles I've been saving mostly about biological things. Scroll to the bottom to hear an old guy rant about noisy Rock 'n Roll.

Feeling No Pain: New Form of Rare Gene Disorder Decoded

• Across the world about a few hundred people suffer from one of a variety of diseases that make them completely unable to feel pain from the time they're born.
• Surprisingly, the families were unrelated, but all of the afflicted members had mutations to the same gene

Naked Mole Rats Unable to Feel Burning Pain

• the hairless, finger-size rats are numb to the burning sensation that almost every other mammal feels when exposed to acids and hot peppers
• The researchers also found that nerve connections in the naked mole rat's spinal column are different than those of any other animal.
• The findings may lead to new treatments for human sufferers of dull, steady post-surgery pain

Profs study use of sensors in combat helmets

• The sensors, which are smaller than a pinhead, would continuously monitor brain activity and detect any change due to explosions, physical contact or other trauma. The sensors would record changes in the brain, such as blood oxygen levels and heart rates, and wireless technology would transmit the data to an off-site computer.

Tea instead of Toothbrush to Banish Bad Breath

• It’s impossible to get rid of these bacteria using only a toothbrush. But there is one thing that kills these bacteria – tea. Part of nature, people with get old and generations will not understand each other. It makes this guy seem really old.

Imitating Nature by Self healing materials

• Materials’ properties degrade over time due to cracks on a microscopic scale that ultimately lead to failure of the material. In the biological world there are built-in mechanisms that continuously sense damage and repair it. In the field of materials science researchers are now trying to engineer this type of behaviour into man-made materials, hence called self healing materials. There are already a few such materials but new research and development has focussed on materials that repair within minutes of damage.
• one in the US and one in the UK — have independently tried to create composite materials that mend themselves if damaged. In a manner akin to the self healing process of an animal’s broken bone
• The American initiative by Jeff Moore and his colleagues at the University of Illinois focusses on the problem by adding extra components to composites. Like most such materials, these composites comprise fibers, carbon fibers in this case, embedded in a plastic matrix (an epoxy resin).

No appreciation for noisy rock ’n’ roll

• To me, rock is something like a wrestling match, or a riot, with it's banging, pounding, crashing, shrieking, yelling, howling.
• The shrill was so ear-splitting that it was impossible to undertake a conversation or hear the lyrics, if there were any. Screaming, I surmised, was meant to get the crowd to gyrate along with the thumping and pounding of the musicians. Some rockers act like they're having a seizure and should be hauled away to the emergency room.
• the screwy names rock performers use...Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, Sister Hazel, Better Than Ezra. Led Zeppelin and, of course, Grateful Dead.
• Well, rock is bad enough, but there's a new song invention that has generated millions of dollars for its performers, if you can call them that. It's rap, one of the biggest con games ever created. If anyone really believes that reciting paragraphs instead of singing is music, I have a special deal for you. I own 100 original copies of the U.S. Constitution, each written in longhand. I'll sell them for $100 each, two for the bargain of $200.