Music

>>> My favorite newer band. They just blow me away.

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Visualz

I just realized that having something G-Pal-related as my last post is really depressing (once upon a time, that wouldn't have been the case). So to bump to something cooler...

by daRoz on deviantART

Imperial Walkers!

...and early morning in the futuristic high desert, courtesy of KuldarLeement, one of my favorite artists:

"Highways"

...and some Luke Skywalker, because Mark Hamill is on the move, and we're soon in for literally the return of the Jedi:

source

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Gwyneth Paltrow on the Emotional Affectability of Water

This article on the AV Club, playing off of a post on Gwyneth Paltrow's goop.com website, is a lot of fun:

Suggesting that merely the act of toweling off after a bath qualifies as a conscious uncoupling, unprocessed thinker Gwyneth Paltrow has shared her belief that water has feelings—and like that of a highly paid actress who regularly expresses her advice on how to attain her lifestyle, these feelings can be so easily hurt. Paltrow quietly sounded the warning bell about water in her semi-regular GOOP newsletter, secure in the knowledge that—as far she is aware—water doesn’t read the Internet, and so it wouldn’t learn that Gwyneth Paltrow thinks it’s emotionally fragile. But everyone else now understands the importance of remaining upbeat around their Fiji bottles and sinks, lest their sour moods affect the one thing still acceptable to consume on a GOOP diet.

“I am fascinated by the growing science behind the energy of consciousness and its effects on matter,” Paltrow says of the rapidly expanding branch of science known as “pseudo-science,” which is embodied by the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto. As she explains to a fascinated Gwyneth Paltrow, the possibly cartoon Dr. Emoto is best known for The Hidden Messages Of Water, in which he documented experiments with writing words such as “I hate you” and “Fear” on vials filled with water that, he claimed, became “gray, misshapen clumps” when frozen. Conversely, writing “I love you” and “peace” on polluted water supposedly yielded “gleaming, hexagonal crystals,” of the sort you would be happy to serve at your next dinner party. All of this was documented in that most renowned of scientific journals, the coffee table book.

“I have long had Dr. Emoto’s coffee table book on how negativity changes the structure of water, how the molecules behave differently depending on the words or music being expressed around it,” Paltrow writes, possibly by way of explaining her recent separation from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, whose music was only making her water sad. After all, Gwyneth Paltrow certainly did not have her assistant harvest macrobiotic water—which originated in rain created by non-fat clouds, was filtered through the blades of tree leaves that personally know Sting, and mixed with the piss of aphids doing yoga—just to have Chris Martin turn it to poison with his warbling.

Implausible as it seems, Gwyneth Paltrow’s theory of mood affecting liquids hasbeen corroborated with extensive research by scientists of equal standing. 

 Cue Ghostbusters YouTube clip.

So in conclusion, it is probably best to only say positive things around water. And also around Gwyneth Paltrow—who is, after all, 80 percent water.

Thank you, Internet, for something to laugh at.

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neuro Bliss

I really like the White Raspberry version of this drink, and not just because of how the bottle is awesome and looks like a lava lamp. It tastes great, is refreshing, and anything that even might help reduce stress is welcome.

No thoughts beyond that. Just something that crossed my mind and felt worth mentioning. It makes me happy just thinking about...

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Having Watched A Film...

I went to see Belle today. It's very good, with some terrific performances, especially by the lead actress. Between that, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla--an odd trio of films to group together though they may be--I've had good luck at the theater over the past month or so.

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Space and Time

I just watched An Adventure in Space and Time, the dramatic recreation of the birth of the Doctor Who television program in the 60's. I'd been meaning to check it out for awhile, and it was just as good as I'd heard. A very lovely, moving and inspiring trip back in time...

More broadly, this is an exciting time for a science fiction fan. Besides the obvious pick of the upcoming next Doctor Who series with Peter Capaldi, there are also the actor-connections of Karen Gillian in Guardians of the Galaxy and Matt Smith in the on-the-horizon Terminator: Genesis.

Beyond Doctor Who, there is of course Star Wars: Episode VII, which has begun filming and about which there was a new casting announcement today, that Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie have both been brought on board to join the growing ensemble of actors both new and old. I almost cannot believe that this film is really happening, and while it's impossible to not be a bit afraid, there is plenty of reason to be both optimistic and excited.

In particular with regard to the latest news, it's great to have more significant female characters in Star Wars. Many of the books and The Clone Wars show have featured as much, but the films have of course been a bit...lacking, thus far.

Also, there are upcoming 2014 films such as Edge of Tomorrow (looks like a good bet), Jupiter Ascending (looks sketchy, to be honest, but I'm hoping for the best) and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Ridley Scott is another director with some sci-fi allegedly in the works, in the form of rumored sequels to Blade Runner and Prometheus, as well as an adaption of the literary classic The Forever War--which I've never read, but which sounds interesting.

But that's not all. James Cameron has three sequels to Avatar on the way, new Battlestar Galactica film content is possibly under development and Roland Emmerich is working on two sequels to Independence Day and future Stargate films. I really love the original Stargate, so that last bit has me very excited.

Finally, I would probably be remiss if I didn't say something about the Star Trek franchise. I'll admit that I'm unusually pessimistic about the forthcoming third film in the rebooted big-screen series. I was very disappointed with Star Trek Into Darkness, and the fact that Roberto Orci, one of that film's writers, has been selected as the director...not what I was hoping for, to say the least.

But anyway, there's a lot to feel good about, out there. I really hope that Star Trek makes it back to the small screen at some point in the near future. Like Doctor Who, television is where Trek truly belongs.

Here's a parting quote, from a 'doctor' somebody, a long time ago:

"Our lives are different from anybody else’s. That’s the exciting thing. Nobody in the universe can do what we’re doing."

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