I really should be posting something, but i don't really have anything, so i guess this will be one of those rambling, pointless posts that so many of y'all sometimes post (ohhh - just kidding).

Saw Star Wars Ep. III yesterday. I'm not really a big Star Wars fan, but everyone (well, except NYPinTA) seemed to really like it. I was surprised how much i enjoyed it, and gratified that i'd been filled in on Anakin's "I shouldn't have killed an unarmed man" line by Trina - i think i would have missed it. Having not seen I or II, I couldn't quite get why Obi Wan and Natalie Portman's character (hey, its not like she had an easy-to-remember name like Molly) saw so much in Anakin, who came across to me like a complete dickhead, even before he crossed over. And can someone answer this? If Obi Wan had finished off the job, instead of leaving him to be rebuilt as Vader, would Harrison Ford have been offered the role of Indiana Jones?
Since I have one of those Blockbuster All You Can Watch, Two At A Time deals for a month while its cheap, we followed light SciFi with light RomCom (I don't know if that's an accepted abb. and it turned out to be not as light as i thought it'd be) with Garden State. The second half of the movie and Natalie Portman's great performance as Sam (See? Now that's easy to remember) won me over, despite some pretty lame scenes in the first half. The one thing that kept holding me back from really liking it though, was the soundtrack which sucked except for Zero 7's wonderful "In The Waiting Line" and the Thievery Corp song. If you're gonna make a soundtrack so prominent (and it was), pick some good songs, not songs from artists you think will be seen as cool. There again, I'm not the target audience - oh well.

Whenever y'all get the chance, go check out the Complimenting Commenter, its a very cool idea. Leave him a compliment and maybe he'll visit you and leave one for you. And talking of blogs, I started another one the other day (different screen name). As it is I barely manage to maintain this one, the science one and the stupid list one that i think only one person reads. How stupid am I?

Okay, I've fulfilled my posting duties on this blog, now off to the science blog edit page. Hey, I did warn you I didn't have anything, didn't I? What do you want - a refund?

This post brought to you by Tanqueray.

Steve: "Dude, the babbling brook that was your comments box has dried up into a trickle since last weekend."

Cali: "Yeah, I thought I saw a comment on your blog the other day, it turned out to be a mirage. Looking back at previous comment boxes its easy to see why. Lets just hope NYP doesn't decide to go off-line too."

Steve: "How about asking Brad Pitt to do another guest post appearance to pick up the flow?"

Cali: "Uh, uh, last time he was here he was all Angelina this, Angelina that, and if you mention anything about her exes he goes all Tyler Durden on you. Nope, not Brad. Besides, this isn't a popularity contest for me - its really no big deal."

Steve: "Yeah, I feel the same way - strange how we always seem to do that, huh? But maybe I should spice up the science blog - maybe the science behind the female orgasm, that's in the news these days, y'know, coming attractions."

Cali: "Dude, stay true to the science, after all what's our logo?"

Steve: "Yeah, point taken. Can you believe some bloggers actually get sponsorship for their blogs?"

Cali: "No way! Besides, who'd I ever get to sponsor a post here?"

Stem cell rant.

An opinionated comment on this.

Although it's difficult to get reliable numbers, it seems likely there are between one half and one million in vitro fertilized embryos frozen in clinics in the US alone. Its estimated that of these, tens, probably hundreds of thousands are unclaimed. It seems inevitable that the fate of these forgotten embryos will be to remain in frozen homostasis or to be thawed out and destroyed. Of the claimed hundreds of thousands of embryos in frozen storage, a significant percentage would not survive the freeze/thaw cycle prior to implantation, were that even to be attempted. Each time a couple enters a clinic upwards of twenty embryos are produced in vitro. Of these a few are used to attempt implantation. The majority are immediately destroyed.
The religious/political right apparently has no problem with any of this. Yet they have a serious problem with using a small number of embryos, only 4 to 8 cells large, for the generation of embryonic stem cell lines that may one day be used to alleviate people of the ravages of degenerative disease; perhaps to cure them.
Tell me again just how this fits in with their "Culture of Life"?

Question time

Now who can answer these questions?
1) The molecule you see above (under "Calismanic"), what would you call it?
2) If it were to indulge in an electrophilic substitution, at which carbon atom would the substitution take place? No, really, I want to know....
3) If you were to try and enhance the effects of said neurochemical with a legal substitute, where would you go?
4) Would you be wise in doing so?
5) Is this neurochemical important to us, I mean in terms of physiology and personality?
6) Do you find the simplicity of its structure somehow comforting, given the complexity of its effects?
7) What's your favorite color?

"You want me to hit you? What, like in the face?" "Surprise me!"

Steve: "Why don't you write one of those 'Things about me that might surprise you' lists that other bloggers sometimes do?"
Cali: "Nah. Been done."
Steve: "Well how about 'Things about me that might surprise myself'?
Cali: "Wow, that'd be pretty tough - gimme an example."
Steve: "Well, lets think ...... Okay, how about this; 'I've never seen the movie Fight Club'. How's that?"
Cali: "Get the fuck outta here dude! You've never seen Fight Club?"
Steve: "Right, we've never seen Fight Club. Surprising, huh?"
Cali: "Damn right it is! Didn't you know you'd love that movie? Didn't you read Chuck Palahniuk's 'Lullaby' just recently and loved it?"
Steve; "Yep, he's my kind of writer, like an american Irvine Welsh."
Cali: "And aren't you a big fan of Norton and Pitt? And, hey, doesn't Brad think he looks like you?"
Steve: "Both true. And yes, Fight Club may be one of the most cited movie in blogger profiles - whatever THAT means."
Cali: "So you haven't seen it why?"
Steve: "Because everyone else has? I've always been kind of like that - unless I'm one of the first there, its tainted somehow. Stupid really."
Cali: "So, are you gonna see it?"
Steve: "Some day, some day."

Well, that's a conversation that may have taken place a few days ago. On the last day of my All You Can Watch For Free DVD month I rented out Fight Club and watched it for the first time. It actually surpassed expectations - simply brilliant. Rarely does a movie resonate so strongly with me, Trainspotting comes to mind, to extend the analogy. Pitt and Norton were outstanding and Helena Bonham Carter was a revelation as Marla. Moreover, the central theme of the movie strikes a chord truer now than when Palahniuk wrote it and Fincher filmed it. Besides, i don't remember ever watching a movie again the next night and enjoying it in a whole different light (knowing the ending).
So now how do I surprise myself?

Cali: "So shall i add Fight Club to my blogger profile?"
Steve: "Ummm, actually you don't have a profile."
Cali: "Well shouldn't I be the one to have the profile and you the one to have the resume?"
Steve: "Hmmm, maybe so, maybe so."
Brad: "Hey, you do look like me! And, by the way, you just broke the first and second rules."

Note: The conversation between S and C was a literary device. I'm not actually schizophrenic. At least not as far as we're aware.