Month: July 2013

“Pacific Rim” was marketed as the wrong kind of movie

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by Doctor Science

Pacific Rim hasn’t done as well in the US as had been hoped (for a nearly-$200-million movie), though it’s racking up enough bucks internationally that there will be a sequel. I think its comparative failure here was because the marketing was wrong.

The marketing, and the reviews, said that Pacific Rim is “by fanboys, for fanboys”. But let me tell you, I know a LOT of fangirls, and we have fallen for this movie hook, line and sinker.

At least in the US, the marketing tagline for Pacific Rim was “To Fight Monsters, We Created Monsters”. And this is what the trailers showed: giant invading alien monsters, battled by equally giant robots, controlled by square-jawed men. I was *deeply* unimpressed with the first trailer I saw, and wrote the movie off as “another take on Transformers, probably based on a comic or video game I’ve never heard of. Boring, loud, sausagefest, skipable.”

But this isn’t what the movie is about. It’s not about how “we created monsters” or “we made giant scary robots, powered by men.” The *point* of Pacific Rim, at least as far as the fangirls (and similar) are concerned, is we fight giant aliens with giant robots powered by our soulbonds. What’s driving the robots (“Jaegers”) isn’t “a man” or even “a human being”, it’s a relationship.

It's-about-compatibility

It’s about compatibility. I don’t know who made this .gif, but it’s all over tumblr.

OK-I-Think-The-Spider-Is-Dead

The trailers made the movie seem more like this. Image created by mcavoiding, using Pacific Rim’s Jaeger Designer app.

Cut for massive, total spoilers for the film.

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Eminent Domain done right

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by liberal japonicus The New York Times had the following The power of eminent domain has traditionally worked against homeowners, who can be forced to sell their property to make way for a new highway or shopping mall. But now the working class city of Richmond, Calif. hopes to use the same legal tool to … Read more

Metaphors for Asia: My three sons*

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by liberal japonicus

In a recent thread, the subject of East Asian relations in general and Japanese-Korean relations in particular came up and I suggested that the relationship problems have much deeper roots than is often imagined by Westerners. I may have suggested that I would write a post detailing the evidence for my assertions. As you can tell from the title, this post is probably not that one, but it will probably be as close as you get. I'm also ready to post this now that dr ngo is on the field, backing me up so as to stop those ground balls that go thru between my legs because I didn't get my glove down.

More below the fold if you want to ignore this and treat it like an open thread.

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The Season Three Problem

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by Doctor Science So far I have concealed my shame from Obsidian Wings, but since this my No Shame Week I shall confess: one of the things I am fannish about right now is Teen Wolf. I know, OK? However, the first two seasons turned out to be a lot better than I expected, only … Read more

Le Tour

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by dr ngo What's the sound of a powerful cycle crossing the mountains? Froome, Froome. Today the 100th Tour de France ended, and once again I was pleased to have watched most of it, despite all its heritage of drug scandals (So Long, Lance, it's been weird to know ya) and lack of real suspense … Read more

When Evangelism is really Tribalism

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by Doctor Science It’s the last day of San Diego ComicCon, the yearly extravaganza of pop and geek culture. Cory Doctorow posted a picture of some of the Christian (or “Christian”) protesters outside the venue, who show up every year. Wil Wheaton wondered why they do it and why they make their children do it, … Read more

The selfishness of suicide: What part of “mental illness” don’t you understand?

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by Doctor Science

Andrew Sullivan has been having a discussion about suicide. He quotes Clancy Martin:

“[E]very suicide’s an asshole,” wrote Mary Karr, in a poem about [David Foster] Wallace’s death. “There is a good reason I am not/ God, for I would cruelly smite the self-smitten.” Suicide, seen as among the most selfish of acts, pushes a button in us that even murder doesn’t.

I have repeatedly heard grieving people rage at the selfishness of a suicidal love one, how the person would never do that if they actually cared about their family and friends.

Speaking as someone who’s been depressed to the point of suicide (though fortunately never consciously attempted), this is bunk. When you’re that depressed, it feels as though everything you do or touch is horrible, and that your continued existence will be a burden to your family. You really, truly believe that they will be better off without you.

Now you may say, “but how could they believe that?!? They’d
have
to
be
crazy …
oh.”

Well, DUH. Depression doesn’t involve just a disorder of emotion, it involves disordered thoughts, as well. The most prominent of these thoughts is hopelessness, that there is no way out.

BlackDog-KatrinaMiller

Winston Churchill wrote of his depression as the Black Dog.[PDF link] This picture is by Katrina Miller of Tasmania, from Painting and naming the black dog.

Discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation under the cut

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Sir Isaac Newton Take the Wheel

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by Doctor Science Over the weekend, many fanpeople went to see Pacific Rim. Consensus review: AWESOME — I’ll try to write about it at some other time. One of the trailers frequently played before “Pacific Rim” was for Gravity, an Alfonso Cuarón movie about a space shuttle accident, starring Sandra Bullock. Here’s the trailer, but … Read more

farm bill no food stamps

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by russell ok, so the house passed the farm bill, and finessed the food stamp funding issue by leaving it out.  which is to say, the food stamp program ceases to exist in the house bill. here is why that is, imo, asinine. no food stamps means that it will be glaringly obvious that there … Read more

the verdict

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by russell hey, what the hell, i'll go there. i'm not, remotely, surprised by the verdict.  i'm also not particularly sure it should have gone any other way.  murder, of whatever degree, is a heavy charge, and really deserves ironclad proof.   when the evidence is one person's word against another's, and the other guy … Read more

Why Is Measles a First World Problem?

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by Doctor Science In my previous post, I said that I’d been surprised to find that vaccine-controllable diseases are one of the few areas where the US health system does a better job than other “First World” countries — because we have stricter and more intrusive government regulations. I already knew that measles had become … Read more

Your shotcrete Saturday open thread

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by liberal japonicus Perhaps you, like me, weren't expecting discourse about the construction considerations of underground tunnels at Talking Points Memo, but there was this: Specifically, they are covered in what’s known as “shotcrete”. Shotcrete is nothing more than concrete mixed at a standard 3000 to 4000 psi, but with a very high slump so … Read more

Stop Jenny McCarthy Before She Kills Again

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by Doctor Science Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy reported that Jenny McCarthy is negotiating to be a co-host on the ABC talk show The View. As Plait says: McCarthy is the most famous face of the anti-vax movement. More than perhaps anyone else she has mainstreamed the incredibly dangerous claims of the anti-vaxxers, saying vaccines … Read more

Apocalypse R&D

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Charlie Pierce noticed an article by Andy Walker at the BBC about 1913: When Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud and Stalin all lived in the same place — that place being, of course, Vienna. I was surprised that Walker didn’t use the quintessential quote about Vienna of this period: “the research laboratory for the end of … Read more

Creepers: How To Spot One, How To Be One

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by Doctor Science

Currently there’s a huge discussion going around science fiction & fantasy circles about (sexual) harassment at cons. Ground zero is Reporting Harassment at a Convention: A First-Person How-To by Elise Matthesen, which has been posted at John Scalzi’s blog, Jim Hines’ blog, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, among others.

In brief: Mattheson was harrassed[1] at WisCon by a fairly prominent professional editor, reported it to his employer and to the con, and they listened. Her article is a discussion of the procedures she and the people she dealt with followed, with advice for other people who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Mattheson did not say so, but the harasser was Jim Frenkel. Apparently, he is known for inappropriate behavior of the sort colloquially known as “creeping”, but while there have been informal complaints before this no-one has been willing to make a formal record.

What kind of thing is covered by “creeping”?

Pamela

Illustration by Joseph Highmore of a scene from Richardson’s Pamela:

Pamela and Mr. B in the Summerhouse … Unfortunately, one day while Pamela was sewing in the summer-house Mr. B approached and told her he wanted her to stay, then began to try to seduce/rape her. She is pictured here resisting his advances.

But it was OK! because he married her in the end.

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Do monosexuals exist?

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by Doctor Science

Andrew Sullivan has been doing one of his mostly-reader-email series, this one on What Is a Bisexual, Anyway?. In honor of Pride Day and Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist who was one of the main organizers of the first Gay Pride parades, I’ll chime in with my opinion as a scientist and a bisexual.

I’m using this headline because I have often seen people ask, “Do bisexuals really exist?”, to which my reaction is: I’m standing right here, what part of my existence is difficult to believe in? It’s much more difficult for me, personally, to believe that monosexuals[1] really, truly exist.

I’m not *actually* saying that there’s no such thing as monosexuals, I’m just saying that the evidence doesn’t point in the direction of monosexuality being the default for humans. You accept my existence — and the validity of my experience — I’ll accept yours.

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