Day: October 29, 2009

MasterChugs Theater: ‘Cursed’

Even a man who is pure at heart
And says his prayers by night
Can become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright…

…or you can take the unique approach of not having that man (or teenage kid in this case) become an actual wolf, only gain its supernatural powers. This is just one of the many strange and disappointing ways Cursed handles werewolves in its approach to the genre.

For all intents and purposes, Cursed is a camp film straight out of the late 1970s. It captures the unique look and sense of a movie from that era, from its cinematography, to the feel of its script, even down to the patter of how dialog is delivered.

That’s where the compliments end. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘Cursed’

Tribute missing something …

What? What were you expecting?The USA Today wrote a very nice tribute to the dogs and cats that help cancer patients recover. The article claims that pets’ very companionship is a medical boon, though they didn’t seem to prevent the cancer at all. (Coincidence?)

Dogs were also credited with learning to diagnose cancer, but how difficult is that to figure out? It’s a person in a hospital that showed up because of a lump. Wow.

You know what real meaningful contribution that dogs and cats make to the War on Cancer that the article didn’t even bother to mention? Research.

Way to drop the ball and not bring it back when we asked, mainstream media.

What is this, where will Apple insert it?

ANSWER: It's a Turn-of-the-Century Handy Tobacco Churn.

CNET blogger Donald Bell raises an interesting/ALARMING question about Apple’s latest patent application: is this “the missing link” to the eventual iPod brain implant?

Sure, the drawing may look like an old-timey patent circa the cotton gin or filtered cigarettes. But if you look closer (go on), it’s actually a headset MP3 player.

But that’s not all! It’s a Bluetooth headset that stores your media files, plays them like a Shuffle (same four songs, infinitum) and records voice notes and can still connect to your phone, etc.

So, it plays the same song stuck over and over in your brain, records your thoughts, operates your phone and probably undresses people you see on the street.

Sounds like our brains, only with memory.

Bad driving is genetic, comedians can still use this angle

Fear not humorists of the world-you might still be able to use ethnic stereotypes as bad drivers!

A new study suggests that a genetic variant may, in fact, be responsible for poor driving skills — and it’s a variant nearly one third of Americans possess.

A study at the University of California at Irvine studied the affect of a certain variant of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene on driving. The gene supports communication in the brain cells and is associated with keeping memory strong. For people with a certain variant of the BDNF gene, this process works less than optimally, and those people are less likely to recover from a stroke. Roughly 30 percent of Americans possess that less optimal variant.

But even if this genetic variant does make you a worse driver, it has certain advantages. Some studies have found that people with the variant retain greater mental sharpness when faced with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and multiple sclerosis. So, you know, you’ve got that going for you.

The wrong trousers

What’s with women and their trouser wearing? I mean, who do they think they are? When I see a woman wearing tight trousers, I get embarassed. Am I right, gentlemen?

That’s more or less how things are in Indonesia now. They’re cracking down on women wearing “tight trousers.” If a woman is caught, her trousers will be cut up as punishment. You know what totally embarasses you less? Cutting up a woman’s trousers.

In other news, here in the U.S. we call them “pants,” but that word in other parts of the world means “underwear.”