Avatar 3D Imax! The Sequel! The Plot!

As far as the Avatar plot, ... well you are probably not going to see this movie just for the plot.

Actually, it wasn't bad (Pincus complement)... it just was so familiar.

According to the web - In 1994, director James Cameron wrote a 114-page script for Avatar. Cameron said his inspiration was "every single science fiction book I read as a kid".

It certainly contained elements of every science fiction story I have ever read, as a kid, and more recently, as a much older kid.

I may have a spoiler here so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you may not want to continue reading.

So which books / short stories might Mr. Cameron have borrowed some plot lines from?

Off the top of my head, the credits could have included:

Desertion by Clifford D. Simak - "Colonizing" Jupiter, human minds in native alien life form bodies. Written in 1944 (!), read by me later than that, earlier than 1994.

Various John Varley short stories - bio-engineering for inhospitable atmospheres

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card - neural network of trees.

Various stuff by Anne McCaffry - sentient planets, riding dragons.

Raising the Stones by Sheri S. Tepper - sentient planets, environmentalism.

Caretaker Series by David Klass - Greedy Big Business/Evil Corporations that pollute the environment!

Etc… Etc… Etc…

At least the plot doesn’t include time travel or parallel universes ie Schrödinger’s Cat references.

Avatar 3D Imax! Special Effects! Side Effects!

We saw Avatar 3D Imax over the weekend. (Motz shabbos as part of the Vacation At Home program).


The movie was fantastic. The computer graphics live up to the hype. Another level of movie spectacle has definitely been reached.

What I had forgotten about, however, is the nausea inducing properties of Imax.

Imax 3D is definitely the way to see this movie, but they should give out Dramamine along with the 3D glasses. Maybe it would have been better if we sat further back?

I got so caught up in the movie that at times I almost forgot how sick I felt, and I managed not to throw up on the people in front of me, but going out for pizza after the movie was certainly not an option.

Lumpy had to leave the theatre for a few minutes at one point, and I shut my eyes during the credits, which we stayed for in their entirely (as per the family custom), or I would have lost it.

As far as my review of the plot... Stay tuned for Avatar 3D Imax! The Sequel! coming to a blog post near you, later this week!

Vasovagal Syncope is the new Cute Bunny

Quite a while ago, I got a tip from the brothers. Based on their experience, a blog post about Cute Baby Bunnies would generate tons of blog hits.

So out of curiosity, I experimented with several Cute Baby Bunnies posts, none of which generated more than the usual number of blog hits. In other words, few if any. I was told I actually needed to post pictures of Cute Baby Bunnies, as if that should matter.

However, a post back in September, on vasovagal-syncope, has proven to be the Cute Baby Bunnies post equivalent for this blog. By several orders of magnitude, that post has been the most popular page on this blog, ever.

What conclusions can be drawn from this? I have no idea.

By the way, there were no pictures of vasovagal-syncope in that post, either.

To see the original post:
vasovagal-syncope

Definition of lottery

Definition of lottery: a tax on people who are bad at math.

Obama Asks Moms to Return to School

You've all seen it.

Variations on a very annoying animated ad that runs in an infinite loop on random web pages. "Obama Asks Moms to Return to School."

I've seen it a lot on Yahoo I think.

Not only is it incredibly annoying, but I also find it very insulting. More insulting than the "cheap way to turn teeth white invented by a Mom" ads. (Maybe just because the white teeth ads are not animated.)

Not sure what the "Obama Asks Moms to Return to School" ad is selling or if it just connects to a trojan, because I have never clicked on it.

However, this version came up today, and as opposed to the others, managed to be entertaining, not annoying.

And you thought the Mommy Moot was wierd.

Maybe the lump has a new career to look forward to.