This article has inspired me to make all my future movies adhere to physical principles. Which will probably significantly drop the number of people who will want to watch them, but hey you gotta stick to principles...
Here's what I can't help but wonder: after all these years, the U.S. government is just now coming to find out about the HORRIBLE conditions in military hospitals?!
I was hearing bad stories about those places when I was like 5 years old, and have only heard more of the same over the years.
I agree with what expert witness Annette McLeod told the House panel today: if these men and women are going to sacrifice years of their time - and maybe even a lot more - in the service of this country, then they deserve better. Much better.
I'm sorry, I just can't comprehend how come this hasn't been addressed a long time ago already.
The Prestige is a movie that I really wanted to see when it came out but I was too wrapped up in my school board campaign to do so at the time. It's just come out on DVD and it arrived at our place via Netflix a few days ago. So tonight Lisa and I put it in and checked it out...Man, I can't remember when was the last time I saw a movie that I just had to watch again. I'll probably watch it at least two more times before it goes back into the mail.
The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan (from a script he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan based on a novel by Christopher Priest) is about the bitter rivalry between two magicians at the turn of the twentieth century. Alfred Borden (played by Christian Bale, who was also in Nolan's Batman Begins) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine from the X-Men movies among other things) start out as friends who work as "ringers" for a veteran magician. Then during one night's performance something goes horribly wrong with an act and Angier's wife is killed. Angier blames Borden for what happened. That's all I really want to say because The Prestige really is a movie that someone should go in fairly unawares on.
I really, really liked this movie. Period pieces are a big thing for me and in that regard alone, The Prestige shines. The fact that it throws in a few things from real-life history definitely doesn't hurt either. Speaking of which, David Bowie does an excellent job portraying Nikola Tesla, and there's plenty of touching-on the very real rivalry (which I thought mirrored the one between Borden and Angier) between Tesla and Thomas Edison at work in the movie. The Prestige also stars Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson... which is the very first time I've ever seen Johansson in a movie or anything else for that matter (does that show how out-of-touch I've become with a lot of pop-culture things or what?)
Very enthralling, oftentimes horrifying and thoroughly entertaining, The Prestige is recommended viewing not once, but twice. Maybe even three or four times. The only real question is: "Are you watching closely?"
Anyway, the News & Record, which is the big newspaper around here, ran a story about my entry Schrodinger's Bedroom in the Rockingham section of the paper. It's not up on their website so I transcribed it here:
- Chris Knight hopes his short film gets him chosen to be on a reality TV show.
BY GERALD WITT
Staff Writer
REIDSVILLE – Dead cats, quantum physics and newlyweds thread into a short film that was shot, written and directed here as a contest entry for a reality show.
Christopher Knight, of Reidsville, made it for Fox's "On The Lot," in which 16 directors work to win a $1 million development deal from DreamWorks studio.
Right now, Knight is among thousands of entrants for the show.
The 32-year old former technician at WGSR hopes people will visit its Web site and see his film and that he'll be among the finalists.
Knight's short, "Schrodinger's Bedroom," is a comedy based on an experiment by Erwin Schrodinger, a German physicist and colleague of Albert Einstein.
Called "Schrodinger's Cat," the experiment uses a cat to help explain the atoms often used in quantum physics theories.
In the experiment – which occurs in thinking, not reality – a cat in a closed box dies from poison if a radioactive atom in that box breaks down. The cat could be alive or dead, but there's no telling unless someone opens the box and sees the cat.
Anything could be happening in there, the experiment is supposed to prove, because two universes are happening in the box – one with a dead cat, one with a living cat – like atoms in an experiment.
No cats really die in the experiment, nor in Knight's movie, where he replaced that box with a bedroom and the cat with newlyweds.
As the movie says, anything could be happening in a closed bedroom with newlyweds.
He got the idea after moving into a new apartment with his wife in May. A friend helping them out joked that everyone who helped knew what was happening in the Knight bedroom.
Knight made the film in January after friends urged him to enter the contest.
"According to 'Schrodinger's Cat,' everything and nothing could be happening in there," Knight said.
Starting around 7 p.m. one day, Knight wrote the script on that idea.
He finished writing at 4:30 the next morning.
He shot footage around Reidsville, in a downtown restaurant and at the YMCA. He paid the cast nothing but had them sign a contract.
"If I end up winning a million-dollar contract," he said, "I'm going to pay everyone at least $1,000."
He heard this week that calls for finalists have already gone out, but he said he doesn't expect one from among thousands of entries.
"On The Lot" should begin airing in May.
"There's always other projects to move on," he said.
Hey, at least the film might have a good second life.
"If some physics teachers want a copy of this," Knight said, "I'll get a DVD to them."
Contact Gerald Witt at 627-4881, Ext. 120, or gwitt@news-record.com
In case you haven't heard, in Civil War #7 the whole thing about superhero registration - which Tony Stark aka Iron Man has led the charge for and which Captain America has led a resistance movement against - comes to a violent crescendo. And... Captain America surrenders! The Superhero Registration Act is now fully enforced. Cap is taken away in shackles and Stark is now the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. (if you know Marvel comics you know how big a deal this is). What's more, each of the fifty states is set to get its own team of superheroes as part of "the Initiative".
Whoa...
If Marvel doesn't "pansy out" and opts to play for keeps with this, it might be the most invigorating thing they have done to their comics line since... well, in a gosh-awful long time that's for sure! What I mean by that is, Iron Man better not decide that superhero registration was a bad thing after all and have Doctor Strange mystically mind-wipe the whole Earth from remembering it ever happened.
If Marvel decides to abide by what they've inflicted on their universe and not to play it safe, then I might forgive them for resurrecting Mar-Vell. I might even forgive them for the legendarily horrible "Clone Saga", too.
Next week: word is that we get introduced to another DHARMA installation (possibly The Flame) and will finally get to see Eyepatch Man up close. The promo for it at the tail end of tonight's looked pretty good. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy watching this episode a few more times.
It's enough to give me hope for a few others now...
They can't even figure out who's the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, so how exactly did Cameron pull this off, exactly?
Read the weird story of the Israeli coffins here. My prediction: we will barely remember this a year from now. I mean, almost a year ago it was the "Gospel of Judas" thing and how many people really took that seriously?
It's not just a song: some of God's greatest gifts really are unanswered prayers.
Be thankful that it really is Him, and not us, who is in charge of our circumstances. I don't even want to wonder what it would be like if we were the ones running things.
First of all, who the hell decided that these guys are supposed to be "Christian leaders"? Secondly, their "leadership" sure hasn't helped America much in the past several years, has it?
And third, why are they shying away from public knowledge of their activities? If what they are doing is really honorable before the sight of God, then they should have nothing to hide from other people.
Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, and the rest of these charlatans... they want you to give your vote to the Republicans a lot more than they want you to give your heart to Jesus. And some people wonder why as a Christian I'm so fed-up with how so many of my faith have turned into such cheap whores.
I still can't believe that I almost went to work for Mr. "Hey fathers you should show your penises to your little boys" Dobson.
Well, just in case an astronaut or cosmonaut up there goes bonkers, it turns out that NASA is prepared for the contingency. Here's the story...
Duct-Tape, Tranquilizers Part Of NASA's Plan For Mentally Unstable Astronauts In SpacePOSTED: 2:06 pm EST February 23, 2007There's much more at the above link. Definitely something that might keep you awake at night from pondering the possibilities...CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- What would happen if an astronaut came unglued in space and, say, destroyed the ship's oxygen system or tried to open the hatch and kill everyone aboard?
That was the question on some minds after the apparent breakdown of Lisa Nowak, arrested in Orlando this month on charges she tried to kidnap and kill a woman she regarded as her rival for another astronaut's affections.
It turns out NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. The documents, obtained this week by The Associated Press, say the astronaut's crewmates should bind his wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary.
"Talk with the patient while you are restraining him," the instructions say. "Explain what you are doing, and that you are using a restraint to ensure that he is safe."
The instructions do not spell out what happens after that. But NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the space agency, a flight surgeon on the ground and the commander in space would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to abort the flight, in the case of the shuttle, or send the unhinged astronaut home, if the episode took place on the international space station.
The crew members might have to rely in large part on brute strength to subdue an out-of-control astronaut, since there are no weapons on the space station or the shuttle. A gun would be out of the question; a bullet could pierce a spaceship and could kill everyone. There are no stun guns on hand either.
"NASA has determined that there is no need for weapons at the space station," Hartsfield said.
NASA and its Russian counterpart drew up the checklist for the space station in 2001. Hartsfield said NASA has a nearly identical set of procedures for the shuttle, but he would not provide a copy Friday, saying its release had not yet been cleared by the space agency's lawyers.
The space-station checklist is part of a 1,051-page document that contains instructions for dealing with every possible medical situation in space, including removing a tooth. Handling behavioral emergencies takes up five pages.
The military has a similar protocol for restraining or confining violent, mentally unstable crew members who pose a threat to themselves or others in nuclear submarines or other dangerous settings.
Although Nowak performed her duties with aplomb during a short visit to the space station via the shuttle last July, and was not scheduled to fly again, her arrest has led NASA to review its psychological screening process.
A mentally unstable astronaut could cause all kinds of havoc that could endanger the three crew members aboard the space station or the six or seven who typically fly aboard the shuttle.
Space station medical kits contain tranquilizers and anti-depression, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications. Shuttle medical kits have anti-psychotic medication but not antidepressants, since they take several weeks to be effective and shuttle flights last less than two weeks.
The checklist says say astronauts who crack up can be restrained and then offered oral Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat agitation and mania, and Valium. If the astronaut won't cooperate, the drugs can be forcibly given with a shot to the arm. Crew members are instructed to stay with the tied-up astronaut to monitor vital signs.
Space station astronauts talk weekly via long-distance hook-up to a flight surgeon and every two weeks to a psychologist, so any psychiatric disorder would probably be detected before it became so serious that the astronaut had to be brought home, Hartsfield said.
No NASA astronaut at the space station has been treated in orbit with anti-psychotic or antidepressant medications, and no NASA shuttle crew member has required anti-psychotic medications, Hartsfield said...
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., denounced President Bush for his refusal to intervene in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny the bond requests of imprisoned former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, pending their appeal.Y'know, sometimes I wonder how in the years following World War II, what kind of guilt was felt by those who willingly elected Hitler.Rohrabacher, in a statement, spared no words in laying the blame on the White House for not freeing Ramos and Compean on bond:
"Acquiescing to the insistence of the White House, the court has decided to treat Ramos and Compean worse than they would common criminals, which is consistent with the way the Bush administration has handled these two border agents from the beginning," Rohrabacher said. "To suggest that this underscores President Bush's mean-spirited and vindictive nature is an understatement."
Rohrabacher said the "lives of Ramos and Compean are obviously at risk, and the president not only doesn't care about securing our southern border, he doesn't give a damn about those who protect it."
And then I wonder what kind of guilt, if any, is going to be felt by those who willingly elected George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 in the years to come, when we finally see what this vile and evil man has done to this country.
Speaking of Jenna Olwin: yes, that is her in the photo that Gary is holding at the end of Schrodinger's Bedroom. Jenna wrote a little about her cinematic debut a few days ago, too. It's something of a pattern with me: this is my second movie with dialogue, and both of them have multiple references to people that I know from real life. From the moment I started writing the script, I knew that I had to work Jenna in somehow... and that pic of her holding the dog from her Myspace page was begging to be used somehow.
Anyhoo, congrats on making it a whole year with blogging, Jenna :-)
..."Weird" Ed, Johnny Yow (see Johnny, I mentioned you again on my blog!) and myself had dinner at Blue Ribbon Diner in Burlington (I had a hamburger and a whole pile of those delicious Blue Ribbon french fries). Then we went to the West End Cinema and saw The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition, which had just come out that day.This may have been my favorite of the Special Editions. But then again, The Empire Strikes Back is probably my favorite chapter of the entire Star Wars saga. It's been playing on HBO a lot in the past several days (along with A New Hope). Everything about it makes this the perfect Star Wars movie in my mind.
You know what was one of the more fun things about seeing the Special Edition of Empire? A week or so earlier I went with some friends at Elon to see A New Hope Special Edition (again). There was this girl that I'd never met before and she went with us and she had never seen a Star Wars movie before, ever. As we were leaving the theater that night somebody said something about "the relationship" between Luke and Leia and this girl is like "what do you mean?" She didn't know. And "that thing" about Luke and Vader? This girl had absolutely never heard about that before! Well this same girl was going in to see The Empire Strikes Back that night and I made a mental note of where she was sitting. And when "that moment" - you know what I'm talking about - came, she literally gasped out loud "WHAT?!?"
That's the moment where the whole thing gets completely overturned and the cards go flying and the game you think you've been watching... ain't that game at all. Oh sure, The Empire Strikes Back is dark from the beginning, but there's always still this sense of wide-eyed innocent wonder that you first get when you saw the first Star Wars movie. And then Han and crew get captured and you're like "okay, they're gonna get out of this I just know it". And then Han gets frozen in carbonite. And then Darth Vader and Luke have their fight and Luke loses his hand. Right up to that moment there's still a little ember of hope burning that this is still going to wind up okay...
...and then with five little words, Vader totally destroys everything you have come to know and love and expect out of Star Wars. This little fantasy world so much like Oz crumbles and turns to ash and you're left sitting there wondering: "Okay, what just happened here?"
From that point on, the Star Wars saga was definitely something darker and more malevolent. Which I think it had to be, to make the point of ultimate redemption that we see in Return of the Jedi that much more powerful. But still... it packed a wallop when I saw The Empire Strikes Back as a six-year old in 1980 and it was just as overwhelming to see it as a 22-year old in 1997.
The final 30 minutes or so of The Empire Strikes Back may be the most wonderfully orchestrated bit of cinematic storytelling in movie history. That whole last bit is like opera or even silent movies: John Williams' score practically tells that entire length of story. The last little bit of Empire also includes my most very favorite Star Wars moment of them all: those harrowing seconds as Artoo is trying to open the door to let Leia and Lando and Chewie escape to the Falcon, then how Artoo stays behind to turn on the smoke so that the Stormtroopers will be disoriented... and then how you see Artoo going as fast as those little wheels of his can take him to the Falcon. That scene along with the music to it... just awesome.
Well, there's more that I could probably say, but I'd be here all night if I attempted it. Happy 10th Birthday to The Empire Strikes Back Special Edition: it helped re-ignite a light that hasn't gone down yet.
Here's an example of the original script:
CUT TO:Click here for the complete text of the second draft for Schrodinger's Bedroom.
QUANTUM MECHANICS LABORATORY – DAY
DELIA
Of course not. Humane society would be all over our butts if we endangered any animals. So we use people.
TYLER
All set for this afternoon’s run Delia.
DELIA
Thanks Tyler. Gary, where you are standing is the first ever attempt to prove Schroedinger’s Cat. But instead of atomic particle decay we use something much more unpredictable: human psychology. When we first started eighteen months ago we got negligible results from a subject locked in a walk-in closet. Then we got grant money and were able to afford a bathroom. That yielded some surprising finds: we are almost finally ready to say that ANYTHING could be going on inside the bathroom when someone is using it. And then, we decided to get REALLY bold… Gary, meet Ned and Maria.
NED and MARIA enter scene
MARIA
Hi!
NED
Glad to meet you.
DELIA
Ned and Maria are newlyweds: only been married three months. They’ve graciously volunteered to be the subjects in this afternoon’s experiment.
CUT TO:
QUANTUM PHYSICS BEDROOM
Gary unconsciously takes off his jacket
GARY
It’s warm in here.
DELIA
Yeah, it needs to be. We do everything we can to excite everything, quantum or otherwise. This bedroom is completely enclosed. Ned and Maria will go inside and they close the door. Our instruments will then begin to detect any quantum fluctuations that emanate from the room.
GARY
So the moment these two lovebirds go to the bedroom… anything and everything happens behind the door at the same time?
DELIA
You got it.
GARY
No, not yet… my brain is still trying to wrap itself around it.
DELIA
Well, we’d better go. Want to watch… or rather, NOT watch?
GARY
Sure, why not.
Gary doesn’t realize that he’s left his jacket lying on the bed
