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San Francisco, 12:28 AM
Fri Dec 11
26 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Rocketknight Rocketknight
    12/10/09

    In reply to Could Avatar's Technology Improve Medicine?
    Stereoscopic goggles so that I can feel like I'm looking straight into the womb? Excuse me while I hurl.

    Thinking about pregnancy immediately makes my mind snap to the idea of going into labor, which I've seen videos of. It's one of the most beautiful and yet absolutely disgusting things I've ever seen in my entire life.

    I'm sure somewhere along the line that comes off misogynistic (what with the process being associated exclusively with the female body), but I just have some sort of phobia when it comes to that. I couldn't even listen to my high school health teacher describe the process because I would picture the labor videos I had seen on late-night television in medical shows while I was in junior high school.

    And don't get me started on porn featuring pregnant women. That is just all kinds of fucked up. It makes me squeamish on so very many levels.

    Ignoring my pregnancy-phobic issues, this is interesting to think about. I've always been amazed to look at the way that people of the past viewed technology in the future and how it changed the way we approached it. We'll never have flying cars, but some of the smaller things I've seen in science fiction coming to life are interesting, like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy being a sort of cross between a PDA and an electronic encyclopedia.
     Reply
    Rocketknight was starred Rocketknight was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    I'm starting to feel like that "South Park" episode -- not the recent one making fun of this, but an old one.

    The one where the SP kids get lost in the jungle and they're all "screw you, hippies, nature is gross and things try to kill you" and there's a big cheer when they get found by the bulldozers.

    I'm all "screw the noble savage cat-smurfs, and the traitor to his race and planet. This place is full of vicious shit that kills everything, nuke it from orbit and ship the unobtanium back to Earth."

    I'm having a grumpy week, plus I'm beyond tired of the hype and the constant ads and product placement in TV shows. And Cameron is an egotistical jerk.

    I never saw Titanic. (The boat sank. Get over it.) I might see this eventually, but not till after New Year's.

    Bah humbug.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/10/09

    @Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Savage Catsmurf is their Official New Name. Your check is in the mail.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    12/10/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: Hee. Would that it were so!
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of capnrob capnrob
    12/10/09

    In reply to Could Avatar's Technology Improve Medicine?
    It goes the other way, too; several major effects sequences (the Assembly of Leeloo in _The Fifth Element_, among others, if memory serves) have used the Visible Human Project dataset.
     Reply
    capnrob was starred capnrob was unstarred
    Image of korybing korybing
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    Okay, my interest in this movie has shot up roughly 500 times knowing that Wayne Barlowe was one of the creature designers

    I...I have a bit of a problem with Barlowe. The problem is I love him.
     Reply
    korybing was starred korybing was unstarred
    Image of Bill-Lee Bill-Lee
    12/10/09

    @korybing: Me too. When I was 12, I saved up my allowance to buy Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. I was a few cents short but the cashier at our local bookstore let me buy it anyway. He rang it up as a sale item.
     Reply
    Bill-Lee was starred Bill-Lee was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    Word on the street is that we've seen all the CGI in the trailers. The rest is just claymation. But from everything my sources say this film will take claymation to heights Gumby never dreamed of.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero approved this comment NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of Panzer23 Panzer23
    12/10/09

    @NorwoodIsMyHero: Yea, inside sources (my brother dates his daughter) tell me the movies is actually a conglomeration of those trailers and Gumby playing the main role!
     Reply
    Panzer23 approved this comment Panzer23 was starred Panzer23 was unstarred
    Image of salthegeek salthegeek
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    The 5 five things that sold me on this: 1. James Cameron: even when it's not his best it's still interesting. 2. The 3D: I saw the Avatar day preview ( didn't get into the comic con one, damn you Twilight)and it's not a cheep gimmick, it works for the movie. 3. It takes 5 years to get to the planet, which is 4.4 lightyears away ( someone please do the math and find out how fast the ship can go.) 4. mechs. . Strong beautiful women I mean look at Susan Sarandon she's what 63 and still stunning.
     Reply
    salthegeek was starred salthegeek was unstarred
    Image of dethklokso dethklokso
    12/10/09

    @salthegeek: I had no idea Sarandon was in this. rock on :)
     Reply
    salthegeek promoted this comment dethklokso was starred dethklokso was unstarred
    Image of ninjagin ninjagin
    12/10/09

    @salthegeek: Susan Sarandon is NOT in the film. You're thinking of Sigourney Weaver, who's hair color and hairstyle was made Sarandon-esque.
     Reply
    ninjagin was starred ninjagin was unstarred
    Image of salthegeek salthegeek
    12/10/09

    @ninjagin: Ah shit, thanks. Sorry about that I'm kinda sick.
     Reply
    salthegeek was starred salthegeek was unstarred
    Image of Will Nickelson Will Nickelson
    12/10/09

    @salthegeek: Unless my math is off, the ship in question would be traveling roughly 0.88 the speed of light. Around 950 040 000 kph, better than 33 000 times faster than the shuttle on orbit.
     Reply
    salthegeek promoted this comment Will Nickelson was starred Will Nickelson was unstarred
    Image of salthegeek salthegeek
    12/10/09

    @Will Nickelson: Thanks! I'm curious what else can you calculate from that ?
     Reply
    salthegeek was starred salthegeek was unstarred
    Image of allium allium
    12/10/09

    @Will Nickelson: Well it would average 0.88c, but since Valkyrie uses a reaction drive (fusion plus antimatter "nitros"), there's going to be acceleration and decelartion periods (which incidentally influences the time dilation calculation).
     Reply
    allium was starred allium was unstarred
    Image of Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    And the herd slowly begins backpedaling...
     Reply
    Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was starred Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was unstarred
    Image of HelenofPeel HelenofPeel
    12/10/09

    @Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies: This just seems like a massive marketing effort by Fox paying people to post comments on sites like IO9 and the others.

    The movie is a huge letdown. Unless you like smurfs.
     Reply
    Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies promoted this comment HelenofPeel was starred HelenofPeel was unstarred
    Image of Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies
    12/10/09

    @HelenofPeel: What was your favorite part?
     Reply
    Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was starred Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was unstarred
    Image of HelenofPeel HelenofPeel
    12/10/09

    @Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies: The part where Kevin Costner joins the Native Americans to fight off the US Cavalry.
    ;)

    If it was such a great movie, how come they won't let the critics review it before it's released? ;P
     Reply
    HelenofPeel was starred HelenofPeel was unstarred
    Image of Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies
    12/10/09

    @HelenofPeel: That was truly a smooth save. :)

    My point still stands though -- reserve judgment.

    At the very least, we should be hedging our bets.
     Reply
    Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was starred Dr.Quatermass Sc.D: Purveyor of Truth, Disseminator of Lies was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/10/09

    @HelenofPeel: Space Gargamel fuckin' rules!
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Deckard Deckard
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    I bought tickets for the 7pm show on the 18th. Hopefully the acting and storyline don't suck. I'm excited.
     Reply
    Deckard was starred Deckard was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    Even if the movie sucks, it looks like it will be visually stunning.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/10/09

    @Nathan Obbards: I've always said that it's really the outside that counts anyways.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero approved this comment NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/10/09

    @NorwoodIsMyHero: Anyone care to comment on why I'm having to approve my own comments?
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero approved this comment NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    12/10/09

    @NorwoodIsMyHero: It went from being a Giz post to an io9 post. I had the same thing happen to me earlier on the Best of 2009 post and it confused the hell out of me.

    Don't be silly. We all know it's not the outside that counts, but the size of the bank account.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/10/09

    So, I finally succumbed to the temptation and watched the trailer for Avatar. Looks visually impressive, but the story reminds me of Ferngully.

    #observationdeck #avatar
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    The concepts of crossing F1 racers with cetacean lines that were "too wild" to make the final cut would be very interesting to see.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of Belabras Belabras
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    No idea if the movie will be good, but I love great concept art, and it's got it in spades.
     Reply
    Belabras was starred Belabras was unstarred
    Image of Jeb_Hoge Jeb_Hoge
    12/10/09

    @Belabras: That's just what I was thinking. I'm really fascinated by the human system designs...those helicopters even have vine/wire cutters on the front of the rotor housings, which is a common feature today but one that most people never even see.
     Reply
    Jeb_Hoge was starred Jeb_Hoge was unstarred
    Image of TemporalSword TemporalSword
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    I had a thought (scary, I know):

    I think Phantom Menace scarred us all. The level of hype for that movie was too much, and no movie could have lived up to it. Of course, the movie itself turned out even worse than that, and so now we're all afraid of the same thing here, thus the huge backlash on this movie. If we keep our expectations lowered, then if the movie sucks, we can say "told you so", and if the movie is good, we'll be pleasantly surprised.

    I just want a good sci-fi action flick, no more, no less, from a man who I have every confidence, based on past performances, that he knows how to provide that. I don't care if it "changes the way we view movies forever." So, I'm still looking forward to this and have my tickets already bought.
     Reply
    TemporalSword was starred TemporalSword was unstarred
    Image of Jonny_eh Jonny_eh
    12/10/09

    @TemporalSword: The budget combined with the director's pedigree and hiatus have all conspired to hype up the film. How can someone not be excited by a new freaking James Cameron sci-fi film?! It's hard to contain such hype.
     Reply
    salthegeek promoted this comment Jonny_eh was starred Jonny_eh was unstarred
    Image of NerD: Blattella NerD: Blattella
    12/10/09

    @TemporalSword: A lot of us were also scarred by Snakes on a Plane. and the second two Matrix films.

    One thing I've notice about comments on blogs is that for a good majority in order to be noticed, the comment has to be very inflammatory. Anyone who loves something loves it beyond all reason, and anyone who hates something thinks it will scar their childhood.

    Personally I wouldn't mind so much if the comments were original.

    It takes time to skim through the "Ferngully" "Dances with Smurfs" and other overused cliched posts to get to a good discussion.

    Unfortunately with this film, the visuals and the story are not on the same par. The acting will be fine, the dialogue might hurt a little.

    I'll be there opening weekend, in IMAX, to watch this. I don't care if the writing gives me ass cancer. It will be worth it.
     Reply
    NerD: Blattella was starred NerD: Blattella was unstarred
    Image of Wookie1972 Wookie1972
    12/10/09

    @Jonny_eh: I can. I've found he manages to be at the same time sappy and yet more interested in hardware than people - quite an accomplishment, IMHO. I thought the Abyss was one of the most boring things I've ever seen in my life. T2 was good, but people I think were overawed by the FX and ignored some of its shortcomings. And Titanic.... I wanted to like it, really, but the whole obviousness of the "class conflict" was excruciating. Gee, maybe Billy Zane could have been a decent guy instead of a Snidely Whiplash clone (and of, course, it's only the bad guys who thought the ship was unsinkable)? All the eye candy in the world couldn't hide that it was not much deeper than Twilight.
     Reply
    Wookie1972 was starred Wookie1972 was unstarred
    Image of Wookie1972 Wookie1972
    12/10/09

    @TemporalSword:

    Call me old-fashioned, but I also object to the whole idea of the director doing everything in cgi. So many great movies had stuff that came up due to happy accidents. I think we're losing something when we just have one guy's vision all the time.
     Reply
    Wookie1972 was starred Wookie1972 was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/10/09

    In reply to 5 Designers Reveal Secrets Of James Cameron's Avatar
    Though I have my doubts about the movie in total, I love the designs, especially the creature aspect. The mechs in this flick make the APU's of The Matrix Revolutions look like total trash heaps.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    12/10/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: "Trash heaps" is perfect. I had not even committed their name to memory.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of MagicalTrev MagicalTrev
    12/10/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: Great, now I have this whole fraggle rock/matrix mash-up playing out in my head.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment MagicalTrev was starred MagicalTrev was unstarred
    Image of lo0p lo0p
    12/10/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: I disagree, I think the Avatar mechs look like Matrix rip-offs. Not very original imo.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment lo0p was starred lo0p was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/10/09

    @lo0p: The APU's in the Matrix look a great deal like the cargo loader aboard the USS Sulaco in Aliens.
     Reply
    Edited by Kaiser-Machead at 12/10/09 12:02 PM Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of MagicalTrev MagicalTrev
    12/10/09

    @lo0p: It's a manned, walking robot. There's bound to be similarities with other robots of that description, but there is also room for originality as well. From a practical standpoint, these look better than the ones in the matrix films; having a closed cabin provides at least some protection to the pilot.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment MagicalTrev was starred MagicalTrev was unstarred
    Image of gilesmcwilliam gilesmcwilliam
    12/10/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: and who directed Aliens? the loop is looped :)
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead approved this comment gilesmcwilliam was starred gilesmcwilliam was unstarred
    Image of BullfightsOnAcid BullfightsOnAcid
    12/10/09

    Here's a funny mash up of the Team America trailer to the audio of the Avatar trailer: Team Avatar!

    #tips
    #avatar
     Reply
    BullfightsOnAcid was starred BullfightsOnAcid was unstarred
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