Monday, May 24, 2010

Heard at the Water Cooler: May 24

Things are busy around here, so you'll pardon my brevity in posting and slowness to respond to comments. I'm not in front of the computer much lately (alas, the writing suffers).

Few things for you today. My last HatWC post was mucho grande, and so I'm going to space these out. If you're busy like me, you don't have an hour to read a single post, sua?

In the "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction" category, this creature was found in Canada, eh.



That's totally a werebear, or a werepig! More information over at Scifiwire.

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Lost! Everyone is talking about it. Never watched it. I won't watch it. Everything I see about it is ridiculous, and confirms my beliefs. Apparently, the final episode is near. Thank goodness.



Oh, Letterman's looking a little rough. Alas.

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A new Daenerys for HBO's A Game of Thrones.



Emilia Clarke. She has some nice features. I hope she can act. Farewell, Tamzin, I felt like we barely got to know each other. *sniff*

The story was exclusive to Maureen Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, but I'm linking you to
Winter Is Coming, because I love that blog.

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Promoting Literacy in Argentina.



Plenty of terrible news in the world. I like the feelgood stuff. Enjoy.

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Speaking of the bad news, apparently someone has created life (Craig Venter). LIFE! CREATED IT. This has gotten a bit of buzz, because essentially, these peoples have either validated or repudiated about a bazillion works of science fiction.

That's not what troubles me. What troubles me is that they created bacteria.

This is undoubtedly the beginning of a horror movie, as noted in the comments at the (easier to digest) story at BoingBoing (Bacteria. Digestion. Get it?!)

3 comments:

  1. I'm with you on Lost, I think I saw one episode and wa snot impressed. As for the werepigs? Uh wtf?!!!!

    Weird.

    V. Weird.

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  2. Lost is a show that has a lot of hype behind it. Most of it I would say is a result of effective marketing by ABC, but I do feel that the script writers and J.J. Abrams deserve kudos for producing a show that is so laser focused on its stories, mysteries, and own unique mythos. I have only seen three seasons of it so far, but the ensemble cast for the show is impressive with some of my personal favorite performances coming from Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, and Henry Ian Cusick. Even Elizabeth Mitchell (who you may better know as the FBI counterterrorism expert in V) joins the cast in Season Three! The show has received numerous award nominations (and some wins) for acting and writing as well.

    But with such immense popularity, it is not above having some fun poked at its often labyrinthine storyline.

    http://www.theonion.com/video/final-season-of-lost-promises-to-make-fans-more-an,14394/

    The were-pig is interesting. If I can believe in the existence of the chupacabra, I'm sure there's room for me to believe in the existence of that too. The only question is whether Homer Simpson will try to walk it upside down across the ceiling while cooing "Spider-Pig" at it.

    As for the creation of artificial life, I'm cautiously optimistic. From reading the opinions and observations of both biotech scientists and ethicists on the subject, it seems like it could be the beginning of something beneficial to everyone. Biofuels. Things like that. Of course, there could be potential pitfalls given that this is a burgeoning field still being explored, but I'm a firm believer that human ingenuity can overcome any and all obstacles. ^^

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  3. I saw a commentary on the WEREPIG that basically stated that decay and decomposition made such things appear so, yada yada, and that the public was always trying to engage urban myths, yada yada. Then he tried to say it was a MINK.

    Pah on that! Did you see the teeth on that thing?! Homer Simpson and the WEREMINK. Maybe I should send a note over to the producers.

    Biofuels - In that direction, I see the potential. Creating life from a petri dish is unnerving to me on many levels. Probably because one of the few horror films I have seen was the one with Milla Jovovich in it, and a deadly engineered virus was the story's catalyst.

    Thing about LOST... I get why it's popular. I just don't watch things that view like reality television. But most people do.

    I watch shows for characters-in-interesting-circumstances depicted honestly and seamlessly (House, for instance), and LOST always seemed to me to be a bunch of people in a decidedly unrealistic situation who were hamming it up based on arbitrary rules and circumstances.

    Shows like Firefly, X-Files (first few seasons), Heroes (1st season) - even if they dealt with the fantastic, the characters were strong and believable - which made their responses to situations worth watching.

    Skylifted food? Blue team v Red team (or something)? Couldn't get past the suspension of disbelief in those circumstances.

    ReplyDelete

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