Movies and othe crap

Watched a couple of movies last night. One was “I now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” Based on the previews, my expectations were kind of low for this movie, but it turned out to be pretty good. It was a typical Sandler movie: over-the-top laughs with a good-hearted storyline backed by an awesome soundtrack. A couple of the jokes got stretched a little too long and/or often, but overall it was pretty funny. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. The other movie I watched was “The Invisible.” Its basic plot is the main character is hovering between life and death. Essentially, he is having a prolonged out-of-body experience where he’s trying to lead people to his body in order to save his life. While the “I’m dead (or almost dead), but able to interact with people around me” isn’t an original concept, it’s still a good one. Unfortunately, “The Invisible” really drops the ball and doesn’t deliver. There are no twists or unexpected occurrences and the movie ends up being as boring, as it is predictable. I give it a 4 out of 10. 

 

And now, a short rant. Why do people feel the need to bring other people down? Today was the first real cold dead we’ve had this fall. I bought a new coat about a month ago and decided to wear it. A girl at the office asked if it was a new coat and I told her it was. She then proceeded to tell me how she has a coat made of similar material and that it will pick up lint and dirt, warning me how hard it will be to keep clean. I was thinking she was going to complement my coat, but instead she basically criticized my purchasing decision. Why do some people have to be that way?

 

 

Cool article from National Geographic:

We could have alien origins, say scientists who sent fossilized microscopic life forms into space and back inside an artificial meteorite. The researchers attached the baseball-size rock to the outside of the European Space Agency's Foton M3 spacecraft to test whether biological material could survive the round-trip journey. Sculpted from stone from the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland, the rock contained fossilized microbes and the molecular signatures of microbes. The unmanned spacecraft was launched by rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying 43 experiments. The craft landed in Kazakhstan on September 26 after orbiting the planet for 12 days. "In the bit of rock we got back, some biological compounds have survived," said project leader John Parnell from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Preliminary findings suggest that its possible simple organisms could arrive via meteorites, he said.

The research also suggests that living microbes would likely have survived in a slightly bigger rock, he added. "This study of organic material is completely new," he said. Previous artificial meteorite experiments have examined only the degree to which rocks melt upon entering the atmosphere.