The Aniston Effect: a Tale of Two Halves of a Career

Today, the Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston flick Wanderlust premiers in theaters. This film marks Aniston's 13^th feature film in the post-Friends era. Believe it or not, Aniston's cinematic career spans all the way back to Leprechaun (1993).

Personally I think most of Aniston's films range from average to pretty terrible, with more films fitting in the latter category. However, this is just my own impression of her work. I have no data to back this up. What's more, in order to make an assertion about the quality of her work I would need a baseline to compare it to (e.g., average quality of all movies released, average quality of films released by former Friends cast members) and depending on the yardstick, Aniston could come out better or worse, so it's not really a question worth asking.

On the other hand, I can evaluate the quality of her body of work over time using data from critic and fan sites to determine if there are any interesting patterns in the data (e.g., trends in quality and box office revenue). That is what I aim to do with this post.

On building a lego scale model of the Death Star

Some might say why? Some might say who cares? I say it's an empirical question.

(Source: Wired)

Live Bill Maher #crazystupidpolitics tonight on Yahoo! screen

Love him or hate him Bill Maher has opinions and is not afraid to use them. Tonight he's also doing something very interesting -- live streaming his stand-up special "Crazy Stupid Politics: Bill Maher Live from Silicon Valley" tonight at 7:30pm PST/10:30pm CST at Yahoo! screen.

This special marks the launch of Yahoo! screen's comedy channel, which will feature short videos ala "Funny or Die." I'm going to try to tune in. If you are also watching hit me up on twitter @edomaniac.

Sorry internet, you didn't invent the funny cat video

You've probably seen this by now, but just in case you haven't I've posted it here. Apparently funny cat videos pre-dated the internet by at least 75 years and youtube by roughly 111 years. This video was filmed by Thomas Edison's Black Maria movie Studio (yeah, he had one). Apparently Edison was a feline pugilist enthusiast (try saying that five times fast).



Does anyone else feel better knowing that Edison also screwed around at work?
(Sources: The Atlantic and just about all of my co-workers)

TED Tuesday: Healthy Living can be Killer

This video illustrates that you can have too much of a good thing. A. J. Jacobs has read the Encyclopedia Britannica cover to cover, lived biblically for a year, and most recently, tried to be the healthiest person he could for an entire year (which required wearing a "walking helmet"). Unfortunately, his last quest almost had the opposite of its intended effect. It's an entertaining, if not enlightening talk, and relatively brief.

A New Way to Increase Organ Donation?

I have a confession to make. Despite my love of science and my atheism I wasn't an organ donor until a couple of years ago when my girlfriend figuratively slapped me in the face with my hypocrisy.

Ten Year Old Girl Discovers New Molecule

I love this. Further proof that age, gender, and education are not limiting factors to making significant contributions to science:

When Kenneth Boehr instructed his fifth grade class at Border Star Montessori School in Kansas City, Mo. to build molecules with modeling kits, he didn’t expect one of his students to make a scientific discovery.  But that’s what happened when Clara Lazen, 10, randomly arranged a unique combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms. The result was a molecule that Boehr had never seen before

According to a Chemistry professor the molecule has the potential to store energy and has the same combinations of atoms as nitroglycerin. Therefore, it may have the potential to lead to a new form of energy storage or to be incredibly destructive.

You may wonder, as I did, if Clara's paper gets published, would that make her the youngest published scientist? Sadly (or happily) the answer is no. That distinction belongs to Emily Rosa who thought up and conducted her own research study on touch therapy and had it published in the Journal of the American Medical Association at the ripe old age of nine.

Top 10 little-known and under-appreciated movies of 2011

As a movie lover I look forward to February. The Oscars, as silly as they are, give me an opportunity to re-visit my movie going experience from the previous year.

With a few notable exceptions, many of the films that I liked did not get nominated by the academy. That's okay. I know that my tastes aren't as mainstream as most, but just to give these films a little more exposure I made my own top 10 list.

The films represented here weren't necessarily my favorites, but they were among my favorites. Many people haven't seen them (as evidenced by their small box office numbers).

To make it easier on the reader I have also given preference to movies that are already available on DVD and (most) are available on Netflix Streaming for immediate viewing^*.

Assuming you didn't just skip all of this and go right to the list, you can do so now.

Study Finds Piracy Effect on International but not Domestic Box Office Sales

A recent study (yay for free downloads of scientific papers!) finds that piracy has a larger effect on box office revenues for Hollywood movies shown internationally than for those same movies shown domestically.

The researchers looked at data prior to and post the 2003 of BitTorrent, a popular method for pirating films and other media. They found that the longer the time period between the point where the film becomes available somewhere in the world and the point where it becomes available in the potential-pirate's backyard, the more likely it is to be pirated and lose money. Believe it or not, this is also true for television shows like Britain's Downton Abbey (first released in Britain and then some time later in the U.S.).

Long story short, people get excited about the product (movie or TV show) and will resort to less-than-legal means to get it if the studios take too long to bring it to them legally. Obviously there are still people out there who pirate films even when they are playing in their local cinema, but this study's results suggest that those people probably weren't ponying up the dough prior to BitTorrent anyway.

(via /Flim)

Water Bug Breaks Record with Musical Penis

I guess it's old news, but I'm not exactly up on my entomology research, so I thought I would re-post this re-post from Not Exactly Rocket Science. A highlight:

If you walk by a European river on a summer’s day, you might get to hear the animal kingdom’s champion vocalist. His song sounds like a train of chirps, and from a metre away, it’s as loud as whirring power tools. The din is all the more incredible because it is produced by an insect just two millimetres in length – the lesser water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi...How does such a tiny insect make such a loud noise? It’s not clear. It seems to do so by rubbing its ribbed penis against ridges on its belly, playing its genitals like a miniature fiddler. But the “bow” here is just 50 micrometres long, and there are no obvious body parts to amplify the noise.

From the description here, I think calling this species the "lesser" water boatman is unwarranted. I'm impressed, I mean, talk about a skin flute^*

---

^*Sorry for that, I saw a chance and I took it.

The Underlying Logic Behind Adele's Effectiveness

Curious as to why Adele's "Someone Like You" feels like an emotional rollercoaster and also possibly why she swept her Grammy nominations Sunday night? Science!

An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. "This generates tension in the listener," said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. "When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good."

Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.

"Someone Like You," which Adele wrote with Dan Wilson, is sprinkled with ornamental notes similar to appoggiaturas. In addition, during the chorus, Adele slightly modulates her pitch at the end of long notes right before the accompaniment goes to a new harmony, creating mini-roller coasters of tension and resolution, said Dr. Guhn.

I love it when scientists reveal the meaning behind these seemingly "unanswerable" questions. Now if only they would get the ball rolling a little faster over at CERN...

TED Tuesday: The Case for Same Sex Marriage

If you will permit me, I will stand on my soapbox a bit. On this day, it is hard to be happy and excited about my own personal relationship when I know that for a large portion of the population a day like today is bittersweet. As a heterosexual American I can marry the person I love legally and be afforded certain rights that are denied to millions of Americans who no doubt love their partners just as much as I do. That is wrong. Today's talk, although not a typical TED talk, is no less important (though, if it matters, I did find it through the TED website). It is an impassioned speech on the importance of this issue from New York state senator Diane J. Savino just prior to a vote that ultimately defeated a same sex equality bill in December of 2009. The words are as true now as they were then.




For further viewing, I also recommend watching this reaction from the mayor of Newark NJ, Cory Booker,  on a public referendum on same sex marriage and why civil rights issues should not ever be put to a popular vote.

Happy Valentine's Day

Didn't feel like going through a ton of trouble for V-day. So here are a few worthwhile (sometimes related) links:

• 7 worst role models for women in romantic comedies
• 10 anti-Valentine's day movies
• Community-themed Valentine's day cards
• Dirty love letters written by famous authors
• Montage of hollywood's most romantic scenes
• A primer on love letters from Ronald Reagan?
• The most beautiful valentine ever made
• Game of Thrones Valentine's cards

Please feel free to share your own in the comments.

Examining Hollywood with Data

I love this very thorough quantitative analysis of Hollywood brought to us by a couple of gentleman at the blog Asymco. They address some very interesting Hollywood-related questions including 1.) drama / comedy vs. adventure / fantasy, 2.) the role of summer in movie releases, 3.) what happens to Hollywood startups, and 4.) the peculiar power of theaters in an age of television.

Their results are somewhat surprising. For instance, despite for making up about half of all films made, drama and comedy fall behind other genres when you examine box office results. Specifically, fantasy, action, and adventure account for more "blockbusters." You can see their graph below, and you can see much, much more if you check out the main article.

This amendment SHALL NOT PASS!

Ran across this curious story from overlawyered. It seems that in 1995 the New Mexico state senate unanimously passed and then quickly removed an amendment requiring psychiatrists and psychologists to get their Gandalf on in court:

When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies during a defendant’s competency hearing, the psychologist or psychiatrist shall wear a cone-shaped hat that is not less than two feet tall. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. Additionally, a psychologist or psychiatrist shall be required to don a white beard that is not less than 18 inches in length, and shall punctuate crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing the air with a wand. Whenever a psychologist or psychiatrist provides expert testimony regarding a defendant’s competency, the bailiff shall contemporaneously dim the courtroom lights and administer two strikes to a Chinese gong…

Let the Harry Potter/LOTR/Fantasia comments commence!

An Answer to the Research Works Act

On the most recent podcast, we talked at length about "open science" and the Research Works Act. Now, a representative in congress has proposed its antithesis The Federal Research Public Access Act. Here are the details from Wired:

The Federal Research Public Access Act would:

• Require federal departments and agencies with an annual extramural research budget of $100 million or more, whether funded totally or partially by a government department or agency, to submit an electronic copy of the final manuscript that has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

• Ensure that the manuscript is preserved in a stable digital repository maintained by that agency or in another suitable repository that permits free public access, interoperability, and long-term preservation.

• Require that each taxpayer-funded manuscript be made available to the public online and without cost, no later than six months after the article has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I'm not saying that our podcast had anything to do with the introduction of this bill, but you can't help but notice how closely the two events coincided...

Google maps finds the closest Starbucks and Meth Labs

Researchers are now using google maps in concert with a technique called "Geospatial Predictive Analysis" to predict and police illegal activities ranging from meth labs to burglaries:

Max Lu, a professor at Kansas State University, developed a novel method of finding meth labs through geospatial predictive analytics. In the 2009 book Geography and Drug Addiction, Lu and partner Jessica Burnum applied spatial data analysis tools to compiled information on the informal meth industry in Colorado Springs and rural Kansas. Burnum and Lu examined data collected from 2002 to 2005 on seized meth lab equipment and where rogue chemists dumped the toxic by-products of methamphetamine manufacture. Using the data, the pair were able to successfully prove meth manufacture was creeping slowly through more and more middle-class neighborhoods in Colorado Springs. Map data analyzed over time successfully demonstrated the spread of meth labs throughout a metropolitan area--and even predicted where they would pop up next.

The key word here is "predicted." It's impressive to have a model that matches your data after the fact. It's an entirely different thing to use a model that can predict and possibly intercept crime. That is just awesome. With any luck they may even find Heisenberg.

TED Tuesday: The Happy Secret to Better Work

For a couple of decades now, a small group of psychologists has been urging the field to study the "positive" side of things. The leaders of this movement believe that psychologists spend too much time focusing on the negative and that we should try to understand how people can become "Self-actualized," that is, reach their full potential. They have given their movement the unoriginal title "Positive Psychology." I must admit that I've always been skeptical -- no one has yet convinced me that health is anything but the absence of mental illness -- but in recent years my stance has softened a bit. In other words, I think Monty Python was on to something. This funny and rather informative talk details the ideas behind the movement as well as some recent research that you may be able to apply to your own life.

Top 10 Not Well Known Documentaries

TopTenz has a list of 10 unknown documentaries that is worth a look. As it happens I had added their #1 documentary, F is for Fake, to my Netflix queue just one day prior to finding this list. Here's their description of the film:

Orson Welles is, of course, one of the most talented filmmakers to ever pick up a camera. Not to mention he’s a consummate liar. So when a self-admitted liar makes a documentary about a dissembling art forger, who himself is being profiled by a man who would later be revealed to be a hoaxster…you have a documentary less about the subject and more about the fakery behind talking about a subject. And it’s every bit as fascinating as you might think.

A guide to the superbowl for people who don't like sports

Just in case you are forced to watch the Super Bowl against your will and you have no interest in sports or either of the teams playing. I think I found something to root for:

There’s five-foot-seven Danny Woodhead of the Patriots, a player considered too small even for Division I college football, who went to the only place that wanted him, a little school in Nebraska called Chadron State, where he worked his ass off, and by the time he graduated, he was college football’s all-time leading rusher. He’s still so anonymous that he worked at a sporting goods store on a day off last year and pretty much no one recognized him. Now he’s a running back for a team in the goddamned Super Bowl.

On top of all that he has a last name that makes the 17 year old boy in me chuckle...