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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Entertainment
Two nice books on movie physics!
One of the nice Christmas gift surprises this past year was a pair of books from my girlfriend’s sister! (Thanks!) Both books deal with the physics of Hollywood movies, though from slightly different points of view: Don’t Try This At … Continue reading
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Happy birthday to Clancy Brown!
I’m a sucker for distinctive character actors who carve themselves a nice niche doing weird and dark roles. Today is the birthday of another such actor: Clancy Brown! If you haven’t seen Clancy (you have), you’ve certainly heard him: he’s … Continue reading
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It’s a mistake!
Over Christmas, I gave my mom and sister a special gift: My sister and I had recorded Friday Night Videos on several videotapes back in the 80’s, and I still had the tapes. I converted them to DVD and presented … Continue reading
Patrick Swayze Christmas, by MST3K
One more irreverent Christmas video: that of the MST3K bunch singing “A Patrick Swayze Christmas”: YouTube is great, isn’t it?
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My part in the War on XMas…
As my part in the War on Christmas, I thought I’d link to some irreverent Christmas music. For those fans of Jonathan Coulton, Mike Spiff of Spiffworld finally did a video of Chiron Beta Prime, one of my favorite Christmas … Continue reading
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A new Cloverfield video…
A new clip for the movie Cloverfield has come out, revealing a bit more of the party scene leading up to the beginning of the end of New York City. Cloverfield, for those who haven’t heard yet, is a movie … Continue reading
The crappiest horror movie endings I can think of… and some of the best!
My recent rant about the ending of The Mist made me start thinking of various horror films which have really atrocious endings. Horror films seem particularly susceptible to crappy endings, as many writers and directors think that all horror movies … Continue reading
Movie Review: The Mist (updated)
Frank Darabont should be slapped. He’s the writer/director of The Mist, the film adaptation of Steven King’s classic novella. I just got back from seeing it with my friend Mike a few minutes ago. We’ll come back to Darabont in … Continue reading
The Futurama is today! (updated)
There’s a nice article in Wired (h/t Pharyngula) about the return of Futurama to the entertainment world. Futurama was always given a bum rap by the networks, because it was unusual and more clever by far than the Simpsons episodes … Continue reading
