I saw the film Moon tonight with Sarah between bouts of studying and essay-writing, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was strange, funny, moving, thought-provoking, and at times disturbing. Sam Rockwell's performance was a pleasure to watch, and he did amazing things with a script that was at times conventional and suffered from a lack of restraint. All in all, awesome movie. I missed Worcester fest today to study, but luckily it's not a decision I'm regretting, as I got a lot done today. Before seeing Moon, Sarah and I went to a new Thai place I've been meaning to try, and it was pretty awesome. The restaurant was filled with blackboards that taught you how to say a million different versions of "I am happy" in Thai. So wonderful. I got the basil fried rice (as usual) with shrimp (not as usual) and was surprised and sort of interested to find that onion was the center of attention in the fried rice, even more than the shrimp. It was a really interesting take and I loved it. Mmmmm. Day of productive work, good food, nightcapped with a good movie = wins.
I added some new blogs to the "others" section that are worth checking out. Most of these are blogs about independent cinema and movies in general (House of Mirth and Movies, Twitch, Surface Noice, Worldweird Cinema), all of which are pleasures to look at and read, and all of which will make you feel that feeling of excitement and sadness that there are tons of interesting, fun, and worthwhile movies out there that you haven't seen, and probably won't have the time to finish watching. I've also added the aptly titled "A Blog About Beer," which speaks for itself. It's hilarious to read (thought not so much as Bacon Today) and should help you transition out of college life, where beers other than, ahem, Natty Ice, exist.
I'm going to Maine tomorrow. I decided that no matter what happens, as long as I consume lobster at some point tomorrow, my trip will be a success.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Hurt Locker, Throw Me The Statue
So, my main occupation in life right now is wishing that I was at Comic Con. Life is pretty exciting though, after a bout of insane sickness last week, I've turned things around and I'm looking forward to pushing through these last couple of weeks of summer school and going home. This weekend I'm going to Worcester Fest on Saturday to see some bands I've been wanting to see for a long time (Energy, Set Your Goals, Vanna, Transit) and then Sunday I'm going on a day trip to Maine with my Aunt and Uncle. So I'm quite excited.
Last night I saw The Hurt Locker with my Philosophy and Film class. It was intense, suspenseful, smart and exhausting. Really really good film. I recommend it. The lead character is the guy from S.W.A.T. who had a brief part in 28 Weeks Later. I don't remember his name but I'm pretty sure that if Keifer Sutherland and Daniel Craig had a man-child, it would be him. Jeremy Renner, that's it. His name, that is.
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PS, the wonderful folks over at Secretly Canadian records recently posted a track listing and artwork for the new Throw Me The Statue record, which is coming out on August 4th. This is such a fun wonderful band, introduced to me by special people and to be enjoyed with special people. It's great summertime music as well.
via Secretly Canadian:
Perhaps more sonically upbeat than its predecessor, Creaturesque's details are at times painted in both optimistic and sobering tones. Reitherman's scattershot poetics touch on an array of ideas; it's oppressive American machisimo and Suburbanite sexuality. It's soft drugs and convertible cars. It's the struggle for higher expectations within the mess of modern life, and when wrapped up in the structures of TMTS' sure-handed tunes it's an all too delicious combination.
Last night I saw The Hurt Locker with my Philosophy and Film class. It was intense, suspenseful, smart and exhausting. Really really good film. I recommend it. The lead character is the guy from S.W.A.T. who had a brief part in 28 Weeks Later. I don't remember his name but I'm pretty sure that if Keifer Sutherland and Daniel Craig had a man-child, it would be him. Jeremy Renner, that's it. His name, that is.
-------------------------------------------------
PS, the wonderful folks over at Secretly Canadian records recently posted a track listing and artwork for the new Throw Me The Statue record, which is coming out on August 4th. This is such a fun wonderful band, introduced to me by special people and to be enjoyed with special people. It's great summertime music as well.
via Secretly Canadian:
Perhaps more sonically upbeat than its predecessor, Creaturesque's details are at times painted in both optimistic and sobering tones. Reitherman's scattershot poetics touch on an array of ideas; it's oppressive American machisimo and Suburbanite sexuality. It's soft drugs and convertible cars. It's the struggle for higher expectations within the mess of modern life, and when wrapped up in the structures of TMTS' sure-handed tunes it's an all too delicious combination.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Social Security Code from God
I came across this video this morning, which is a clip from Steven Pinker's second visit to the set of the Colbert Report. Shockingly, Colbert lets him talk for most of it, and there's not quite as much silliness as usual, and in the process Pinker shares some incredibly useful and interesting points about genetics that should be made known, mostly pertaining to his sequencing of his own genome and subsequent online sharing of his results. The main points I'm referring to are:
A) Genes are not deterministic - Pinker references the fact that he has the gene for early balding, and he's probably one of the least bald human beings in existence.
B) Genetic knowledge, although exciting, is not remarkably advanced at the moment. As Pinker puts it, with the current genetic knowledge, "you can get much more information about a person's health by measuring their health directly than by looking at their genome".
A lot of these points were included in my paper on genomics, published earlier this year.
A) Genes are not deterministic - Pinker references the fact that he has the gene for early balding, and he's probably one of the least bald human beings in existence.
B) Genetic knowledge, although exciting, is not remarkably advanced at the moment. As Pinker puts it, with the current genetic knowledge, "you can get much more information about a person's health by measuring their health directly than by looking at their genome".
A lot of these points were included in my paper on genomics, published earlier this year.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Steven Pinker | ||||
| ||||
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Why Wired is losing its credibility
Popular science magazine/website Wired very recently published an article that updates the public on the recent technological advance that has enabled the use of event-related potentials (ERP, a common experimental technique in cognitive science) to allow people to steer wheelchairs, operate simple machinery, and even post tweets to twitter. Essentially, the technology is an internalized (literally) version of something like eye-tracking, allowing users to choose directions or choices from a list. That's rather aside the point, though...
Wired is now claiming that computer hackers can actually "take over your brain" because this technology allows a direct link to the brain.
The way this technology works does not allow a program direct access to the brain; rather, it allows a program direct access to brain readings that subsequently allow a unique user to operate the program using only their thoughts. Saying that this allows for literal hacking into one's brain is like saying that if you edit a photocopy of a paper, you actually edit the original paper! It's absolutely incorrect, and absurd.
Wired is no stranger to sensationalism and taking things out of context (see this article earlier this year where they made out a simple update in slander and speech laws to sound like you could get thrown in prison for using any abusive speech at all). However, this hits rather close to him because of my own experience with similar technology, and I just find it ridiculous. My work and research so far has focused intensely on the fact that the media in general needs to change the way that it talks about science - a change at this level will exact a far-reaching change in scientific literacy for the lay-public and for humanity in general.
See these first few comments on the article:
"OO oo its going to be like Ghost in the Shell! Pleezzz don’t hack my brain and upload the program that makes me like Fox News…"
"NUTELLA! PICK THE NUTELLA YOU FOOL!"
These readers are obviously being sarcastic, but the way that they perceived the article is clear: obviously, computer hackers now will have the ability to control your thoughts. Since neuroscience has entered the realm of popular science in full force in the last few years, it's important that people are educated on how things like this actually work, in order for us to avoid sensationalism tarnishing some of the most important new advances in science.
Wired is now claiming that computer hackers can actually "take over your brain" because this technology allows a direct link to the brain.
The way this technology works does not allow a program direct access to the brain; rather, it allows a program direct access to brain readings that subsequently allow a unique user to operate the program using only their thoughts. Saying that this allows for literal hacking into one's brain is like saying that if you edit a photocopy of a paper, you actually edit the original paper! It's absolutely incorrect, and absurd.
Wired is no stranger to sensationalism and taking things out of context (see this article earlier this year where they made out a simple update in slander and speech laws to sound like you could get thrown in prison for using any abusive speech at all). However, this hits rather close to him because of my own experience with similar technology, and I just find it ridiculous. My work and research so far has focused intensely on the fact that the media in general needs to change the way that it talks about science - a change at this level will exact a far-reaching change in scientific literacy for the lay-public and for humanity in general.
See these first few comments on the article:
"OO oo its going to be like Ghost in the Shell! Pleezzz don’t hack my brain and upload the program that makes me like Fox News…"
"NUTELLA! PICK THE NUTELLA YOU FOOL!"
These readers are obviously being sarcastic, but the way that they perceived the article is clear: obviously, computer hackers now will have the ability to control your thoughts. Since neuroscience has entered the realm of popular science in full force in the last few years, it's important that people are educated on how things like this actually work, in order for us to avoid sensationalism tarnishing some of the most important new advances in science.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Breaking Point
I was lying when I said I was looking north, I was too scared to show what I am. Bear with me this is all I have left, and this might be more than a simple conversation. It's been dancing around in my head for quite some time, just the thought of cleaning up myself...
I stare at the wall
Watching my time float away
It's all been a blur
And nothing will change
I was lying
This is defeat
I stare at the wall
Watching my time float away
It's all been a blur
And nothing will change
I was lying
This is defeat
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bacon
Like anyone with a little extra cash kicking around after their birthday, I decided that I'd splurge on something that normally I wouldn't think about buying, namely, an 8-dollar chocolate bar.
The Vosges Bacon Chocolate bar is the Cadillac of all Bacon-candy infusing endeavors. It's nearly perfect. I've been lusting over this particular piece of 66% cacao 100% delicious goodness since the first time I came across it on the internet 6 or so months ago. Having smelled someone cooking bacon for breakfast this morning, and just being in general good spirits, I thought myself in the perfect mood to treat myself to some bacony chocolate goodness, perhaps to have it delivered to my home while I'm there this weekend, or perhaps to have it waiting on my doorstep when I return to Boston on Sunday. After I placed my order though, I was greeted with this page:
Unfortunately, despite my reverence to bacon, I wasn't willing to pay this sum. That was a bad start to what turned into a sort of bad day, but that's a different story. More importantly, my day yesterday was quite awesome. I had class and work, but then Sarah and I went to Harvard and ate at Bertucci's and bought cupcakes, and as a nice nightcap I did a bunch of homework. Nice! I also found out that I don't have computer science on Thursday, so I'll be going home a day early, which I'm quite excited for.
The Vosges Bacon Chocolate bar is the Cadillac of all Bacon-candy infusing endeavors. It's nearly perfect. I've been lusting over this particular piece of 66% cacao 100% delicious goodness since the first time I came across it on the internet 6 or so months ago. Having smelled someone cooking bacon for breakfast this morning, and just being in general good spirits, I thought myself in the perfect mood to treat myself to some bacony chocolate goodness, perhaps to have it delivered to my home while I'm there this weekend, or perhaps to have it waiting on my doorstep when I return to Boston on Sunday. After I placed my order though, I was greeted with this page:
Unfortunately, despite my reverence to bacon, I wasn't willing to pay this sum. That was a bad start to what turned into a sort of bad day, but that's a different story. More importantly, my day yesterday was quite awesome. I had class and work, but then Sarah and I went to Harvard and ate at Bertucci's and bought cupcakes, and as a nice nightcap I did a bunch of homework. Nice! I also found out that I don't have computer science on Thursday, so I'll be going home a day early, which I'm quite excited for.
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