Film Review: Dark Star

2009-11-17T11:43:00+00:00

As part of our wandering approach exploring film rental the latest instalment to drop on the door mat was John Carpenter's Dark Star. It's a weird black comedy about a bunch of bored stoners, some sentient bombs and strange beach ball aliens aboard a deep space planetary destroyer. As it was Carpenter's first film, and being made in 1974, the special effects are fairly rudimentary. However watching it will immediately remind you of a number of Sci-Fi classics which it predates. For example the opening sequence of the ship is eerily reminiscent of the first scene in Star Wars IV: A New Hope where the Imperial Destroyer tracks across the screen. Reading up on the film afterwards it's probably not surprising as Dan O'Bannon was picked up to work on Star Wars when Lucas saw the "groundbreaking special effects" in Dark Star.

There are many other things in the film that seem to have influenced what came after it. The control panels and corridors portrayed have evolved from earlier Sci-Fi but certainly defined an aesthetic that has been built on several times since. Although the main computer interaction seems incredibly dated now I'm sure I've seen the diagnostic screen used in a number of films since.

Overall it's an odd film but worth watching if your a student of the history Sci-Fi or Carpenter.

Bad Science

2009-11-03T14:42:00+00:00

I finally finished Bad Science last night, written by the excellent Guardian science reporter Ben Goldacre. It's a tour-de-force of rage against the combined forces of exploitative quacks, big pharma and of course the media. Throughout the book he lays down the basics of the scientific method and how it related to epidemiological research while debunking the many quack claims that get dredged up by the alternative medicine brigade. Topics covered include homoeopathy, chiropractors, faux nutritionists as well as the failings of real scientists that should have known better. It's all written in a calm measured style that doesn't come across nearly as hectoring as someone like Dawkins can do. While a lot of the basic science concepts were already familiar to me the additional details on things like selection bias and other biases less prevalent in the pure physical science experiments was concisely explained. I feel his suggestion of representing all risks in the media as natural frequencies (i.e. 1 person dies for every 100,000 horse rides*) is worthy of a campaign.

All in all I can highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in the way medical science is reported in the media. I look forward to what he has to say in The Atheist's Guide to Christmas :-)

* I have no idea what the actual risk is, it just seemed a pertinent example given recent events

Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - reviews

Film Review: Dark Star

Bad Science