Thoughts and Reflections

Clearly, I’m a liar.

nightfallj — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:31:54 +0000

So obviously, I did not come through on my “promise” (does swearing count as a promise?) to have more science on this blog. All the craziness in my life the last couple years has gone undocumented with the exception of Facebook and AIM statuses. I can’t even remember all of the bad things that have happened. At some point I’ll have to check my status history to remind myself of all of it. In the meantime, I will have to start documenting the fun that is this year. Then I can decide which year I hate the most! Off in an attempt to be productive.

I swear, there will be some science here soon…

nightfallj — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:05:13 +0000

I’ve been sick for a week so I haven’t been able to do many of the things that I wanted to, including getting some real science on this blog. One of the main purposes of this blog was to discuss science in the news and such but I haven’t had a chance to include any yet.

I’ll get around to some soon… (I hope)

In Bruges – Not since Pleasantville has a light-hearted comedic movie preview left me completely unprepared for such a heavy dark comedy (No Spoiler)

nightfallj — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:01:11 +0000

I have to say that the more I think about In Bruges, the more I like it.
The first part of the movie I spent thinking “Wow, that clip looked so much better in the preview”. Most of the humorous scenes in the preview stand better alone with sharp cuts rather than in the context of a whole scene.
The comic premise of the preview, a hitman taking a miserable vacation in Belgium, was covered in the first half hour. As the main plot unfolds, the ‘odd couple’ characters turn the from caricatures to be laughed at to victims of fate that you become genuinely concerned for. Even though all of the characters are “bad guys”, you can find good/respectable traits in all of them. The characters are so likable (I’d say that lovable is a bit of a stretch considering all the murdering and all) that I was torn trying to figure out who to rout for. Each person’s life story is more complicated than the next which elicits feelings of sympathy and guilty relief when you consider how simple your own life is in comparison.
The movie also addresses some fairly risque material but manages to pull it off in the way that only an independent movie can. I always appreciate a well-crafted satire.
Overall, I’d give it a B+.

Lunar Eclipse 2008

nightfallj — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:32:39 +0000

Many Cornellians braved the freezing weather for their last chance (for most of them) to see a lunar eclipse at the Fuertes Observatory. I was surprised to find dozens of students waiting on line late on a school night while my fingers were turning blue.

The room was nearly pitch black save for a couple red lamps. It took quite a few tries for me to be able to hold my dinky digital camera still long enough to get a picture this clear using night-vision. Not an easy task when you’re shivering. The complex machinery crowded the small room atop the old observatory. The soft red glow gave you the subtle feeling that you were sneaking around the lab of a mad scientist (All scientist are mad. If you had to fight as hard for funding, you’d be mad too). The illusion was quickly shattered as the room filled up with chatty student in flip-flops (flip-flops in the winter I will never understand) discussing the finer points of college life that I will not bother mentioning.

During my first turn at the telescope, I found the view through the finder scope a lot better. Although it was not my intent to get the eyepiece in this shot, I think it looks kewl.

The only annoyance is the cross-hairs.

Later in the night, the telescope was focused better and I managed to get a couple pictures without the cross hairs from the main scope. These were the best shots I could get in the limited time I had at the scope. By this time the room was completely full and I decided to give up trying to take pictures. It was almost 11pm and I was loosing all sensation in my fingers, even with gloves on. I watched the eclipse through my moonroof (while carefully driving of course) on my way home. As soon as I got home, I regretted leaving but it would have been difficult to get more pictures anyway. At least that ‘s what I keep telling myself to feel better about chickening out.

The last shot was very dark. I used PhotoShop to lighten it up a little but I’m not an PS expert.

Mixed feelings about Vantage Point SPOILER ALERT

nightfallj — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:44:06 +0000

I want to like Vantage Point but there are a couple sticking points for me.

First, on the positive side, the concept of the same event from different points of view is appetizing. And I love when the tough past-his-prime guy/unlikely hero saves the day (that goes for Dennis Quaid and Forest Whitaker [side thought: can’t wait for the new Indiana Jones movie!]). That being said, there were so many parts of the story that were not set up properly or were poorly developed that I left feeling frustrated that I didn’t know half the story. It looks like they were trying to combine genres and came out with a decent action movie without thought provoking character/plot development. That wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t throw out intriguing premises that left my curiosity unsatisfied. In this case, less would have been more.

On top of that, the end of the story line with the little girl was annoying. I just wanted to yell at the screen when the little girl ran into the middle of a highway. She didn’t look so disoriented that she didn’t know what she was doing. Instead it looked like a child unable to wait to get something she wants which reduces the sympathy factor a lot. I got angry (in a parental type way) because it looks like a childish lack of discipline (or inability to postpone rewards for you psychology people) rather than trauma or disorientation that drove the girl to put so many people’s lives at risk. I know the concept was important for the story but the scene would have worked better with an actrette™ (little actress) that plays scared well like Dakota Fanning or the like.

On top of that, the resolution scene afterwards was also disappointing. When the mother got her daughter back from Whitaker, her response was just “thank you” and she turned away. I mean, her daughter caused a massive pile up on a freeway including an ambulance turning over, Whitaker ran all the way from an overpass to rescue her daughter from becoming a human pinball and her gratitude was about 5 seconds long. How rude! BTW, where was her awareness/heroism? She was much closer than Whitaker. How about shouting “Wait, I’ll be right there!” (I know it was necessary for the story. I’m just annoyed at her for the ingratitude.)

Finally, what about the human profile seen in the window when Whitaker was filming the speech? The terrorists used a fan and a machine to assassinate the president’s double but you could clearly see a person in the room. If we were to assume that the person was imagined and not real, they did not do a good job of making that clear.

Overall, I’d give it a B- but I’ve always been a generous grader.

Gadje!

nightfallj — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:54:22 +0000

June finally threw another one of her “monthly” dance parties at her studio (Moonlight Dancer – Studio of Middle Eastern Dance). This one feature a live band, Gadje. They are always fun to listen to and their music is great to dance to. Can’t wait for their performance at the ABC Cafe this Saturday (March 1st) at 10pm. Everyone should come!