Apprenticeship Never Sounded So Good

Please take a look at this amazing clip!

After seeing this clip last night (courtesy of Jennifer), I am so pumped for this movie. Not only are the action scenes wonderfully imaginative (so far) but the special effects look wonderful! Last year I saw "Push," a wonderful movie about those among us who have the ability to manipulate objects and minds around them. The effects for that movie were subtle enough that they looked quasi-real, yet still fantastic enough that it retained its fantasy/sci-fi core. These effects emulate that same philosophy; make it look like it could happen but still make it badass.

Normally I'm not one for Nicolas Cage (save for "Moonstruck") but this looks absolutely amazing. I'm also fascinated by the use of "science" in the second clip (below). I myself love when sci-fi/fantasy authors use science to explain why things happen in their world. Of course most times the science is more of a pseudoscience at best, but it means so much to me that they try.

All in all this looks like it's going to be a fantastic film, and I cannot wait to see it. Hopefully it won't be as much as a flop as "Airbender" was. I shudder as I think about the epicness of that fail....

A Firebender's Paradise

It was 100 degrees yesterday.... 38 Celsius. So far its 94 today, and rising. It's simply too hot. There is rarely a breeze and coming out of the lab it literally feels like I'm walking into the oven where we heat our samples. I know I'm complaining about things that are out of my control and honestly aren't that bad.... but it's just too hot.

I recently saw the movie "The Last Airbender." I love the show but the movie was an atrocity. I know everyone is blaming Shyamalan for the disaster since he was a "triple fail" (writer, director, & producer). But I really only could blame him for the writing. His script was the worst piece of writing I have seen in a very long time. As far as directing.... sure there were a few minor things here and there, but I would argue that if the script had been written by ... say the original writers (which seems like the first obvious choice to write the script) then his direction would have been better, hopefully. Personally I think he's a fine producer and maybe should just stick to that from now on.

Anyways.... what pissed me off probably the most about this movie is that the firebenders are unable to "create" fire themselves. In the movie they must have an external source of fire around to bend. Ummm... what? The whole reason they are so powerful in the series is that they are not limited to the environment around them. Waterbenders must have water. Earthbenders must have stone or earth. Airbenders are kinda similar to firebenders in that they can basically bend no matter their surroundings, but that's just because there's air just about everywhere. But yeah this "twist" Shyamalan evidently thought of is just a slap in the face to the show. Fire is simply energy being released from chemical bonds in wood, gasoline or any other flammable substance. In a more philosophical approach, which I feel this show is centered on, fire can be thought of an extension of your own energy. Being able to generate internal energy from your breath an then expelling it as fire. To me, it just seems very logical why the creators of Avatar (not the freaking blue cat-people movie) made firebenders able to create their own fire. Uncle Iroh even says to Zuko,

"No! Power in firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body.The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire."

It just frustrates me when things are changed in movie adaptations when there is no reason whatsoever to change them. Sigh....

Now that that rant is over, I probably should get back to the happenings of my lab. Trying to pole some commercial ferroelectric polymers deposited on FTO coated glass. Not working so far. I really hope it does cool down outside soon, though.