We’ll meet aliens by 2031…according to a Russian scientist
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/alien-encounter-by-2031_n_886111.html
I really, really hope that Pixar is about to make me eat my words. I have long been annoyed w Pixar about its girl problem (lack of meaningful female characters in its movies, and yes, I include Eve because neither Wall-E nor Eve really had gender). When I heard that their first movie with a girl lead was on its way and that she was a princess I pitched a frakking fit. WHY, Pixar? In what way do we need another princess? Why not a regular everywomangirl? Why not a girl scientist or explorer or fat kid with divorced parents?
I stand by my desire for Pixar, as the best producer of full-length animated films in the world, to be more creative with their female characters and to actually have some who freaking matter, even as the sidekicks.
However, this trailer is brilliant. I can’t wait to see Brave.
What? They clearly had gender. Not sex (NIYKWIM) perhaps, but definitely gender.
The way that we interpreted their gender was entirely reliant on human cues that may not (in fact likely do not) mean the same thing for robots as they do to us.
The things about EVE that indicate woman-gender are
[ul]
[li]plant pouch in the womb region
[/li][li]voice
[/li][li]name
[/li][/ul]
Her actual behaviors, except when she and Wall-E were acting out the Hello Dolly scenes, did not have many gendered qualities, except those that we might read as male.
I agree that the audience was given those cues to guide them to interpret EVE as female-gendered and Wall-E as male-gendered but I don’t think that the movie requires it and it honestly felt unnecessary to me.
The Japanese strike again, with a virtual pop star-
It is not mentioned here but she was interviewed by an american news anchor, he got so freaked out by her he cut the interview short. I guess it must have been that whole ‘uncanny valley’ thing… 
Cool to me, but I’m used to the whole idea of virtual pop idols thanks to Macross Plus and other anime. I even think Skynet may have competition with a virtual idol with too much power one day… There’s an idea for a death match. d:
Define “freaked out” though? Got a link?
ummm… The Incredibles? Strong female characters. Even drawn realistically.
And in DIRE NEED OF A FRAKKIN SEQUEL!!! CARS 2? REALLLY???
ahem, back to my point. Incredibles. If you havent seen it, see it
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol…looks a little bad(sorrybarb)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LQnQSrC-g
Favreau interviews Harrison Ford…geekgasm in 3…2…1
http://www.slashfilm.com/jon-favreau-interviews-harrison-ford/#more-106598
I dug through the shownotes from the podcast where I had heard about it but there is nothing there:(, and I cannot remember the name of the guy who did the interview sigh. I believe it was MSNBC or CNN one of those cable news stations that nobody watchs anymore, it was supposed to be a cute and novel interview but it went south real quick because the interviewer grew more an more uncomfortable as it went on so the producers rushed to commercials to end it.
I assume it was a spot for the creators of the software to test how interactive they could make her, and I guess they did too well.
Anyways here is a link to the webpage where you can create your OWN virtual pop star-
http://www.icenomi.com/oshimen/index.html
It is in Japanese so you will need google translate, and be sure to make use of the music off button because as cute as the song is it will get annoying after awhile…
The first trailer for War Horse is out
The book reduced me to a quivering puddle of tears. Gah, I can’t wait for this!
Not sure if its been mentioned, but I just heard big news. apparently American gods is being made into a hbo series and its been signed on for 6 seasons. Which one is awesome, but that means we may see another novel cause well 6 seasons
http://screenrant.com/neil-gaiman-american-gods-hbo-6-seasons-mcrid-119432/
Mathematicians Want to Say Goodbye to Pi
http://news.yahoo.com/mathematicians-want-goodbye-pi-154001699.html
“I know it will be called blasphemy by some, but I believe that pi is wrong.”
That’s the opening line of a watershed essay written in 2001 by mathematician Bob Palais of the University of Utah. In “Pi is Wrong!” Palais argued that, for thousands of years, humans have been focusing their attention and adulation on the wrong mathematical constant.
Two times pi, not pi itself, is the truly sacred number of the circle, Palais contended. We should be celebrating and symbolizing the value that is equal to approximately 6.28 — the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius — and not to the 3.14’ish ratio of its circumference to its diameter (a largely irrelevant property in geometry).
As audra would say “PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII” !
There is no such thing as blasphemy in science, but there is such a thing as sensationalism.
What he should have said was, “I think 2pi is a more convenient number to use in most equations than pi. I wish 2pi was the standard and had its own Greek letter. It’d save so much typing”
Heh. Should this have it’s own thread? I didn’t realize what I’d be starting when I posted.
Spike Lee may be doing a remake of Oldboy
http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/07/breaking-spike-lee-in-talks-to-direct-oldboy-remake.php
Looks like Depp is about to sign on for Pirates 5
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/05/us-depp-idUSTRE7647C020110705
Comic Con is gonna have a LOT of TV stuff, methinks
http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/comic-con-tv-series-will-be-out-in-force/
Personally I think Spike Lee is a very overrated director, I find his work tends to be somewhere between barely competent to bad. The only good thing that could come out of this would be that more people would become aware of the original film, and may seek it out. I was quite blown away by it myself.