Danny ChaiNo one called me on the things that didn’t make sense in my last entry. The biggest one to me is with the death penalty. It’s not really a fair thing to talk about because Gore is pro death penalty in extreme cases. But anyway, the point wasn’t that, it’s just that everything should be thought about intelligently.
The weird thing about me is that I write more the busier I am. When I have nothing to do, my writing output also drops. It’s very strange.
I saw two movies this weekend. The first was Frequency, which I liked a good deal. It was admittedly illogical, but to me, that’s not enough to disqualify a movie. That’s just me. If it works within itself, that’s good enough for me. Like Back to the Future makes about zero sense, but to me, it works, and I like the movie. A lot.
SN. I’m changing my views about what is and is not a logical time travel movie. The Frequency DVD included this feature about the science behind Frequency. Anyway, it included interviews with two professors, one from Cal Tech (who looked very much like you would expect a professor from Cal Tech to look like) and one from Columbia, I think his name was Brian Green, but I forget.
Anyway, their field is superstring theory. This is a theory that attempts to improve upon relativity theory as that theory doesn’t take into account quantum mechanics. Anyway, not to get into gory details, but string theory suggests that there are 10 or 11, or perhaps more dimensions. More interestingly, it suggests that there might be more than one time dimension.
SN to my SN. I’ve always had a passing interest in modern physics. Anyway, Stephen Hawking, in the intro to that famous book of his, asks questions about the nature of time, for exampel, why we can remember what happened in the past, but not what happened in the future. It sounds idiotic, but, it makes you think about what time is, the nature of time, and the consequences of what time is like if you subscribe to some theories of modern physics.
Anyway, these string theorists say if there are multiple dimensions of time, it may be that time is not a single linear path, but it’s more like at any point, it’s like being on a tributary and it can spawn off into possible realities, and there might be notions of parallel universes, and more interestingly, that these paths of time might possibly intersect.
SN. I took a Modern Physics class in Korea, of all places, and the professor also talked about this, but not regarding time. He talked about what would happen if higher-dimensioned universes collided with our own. So, it’s not just some random wackos – it’s apparently a widespread idea in modern physics.
I’ve always maintained that time travel as it’s presented in movies can only possibly make sense if there’s a notion of alternate realities, like in the Marvel Comics. So, it’s fascinating to me to see that theories in modern physics allow for this type of possibility. They seemed to be saying that time travel is possible – in the context of parallel/alternate realities.
Anyway, it’s still not fully logical, but apparently they put a lot of science into the movie, with a lot of research and academic clout behind the ideas. That’s rare, and I appreciated that.
So any time some punk says how they hate Back to the Future because it’s illogical just say something pretentious like, “Ah. I see you subscribe to a single time-dimensioned theory of reality. Useful, but weak, don’t you think? I believe string theory is much more elegant, since it takes into account quantum effects. And, in light of the theoretical consequences of string theory, which suggest a multi-dimensional view of time where there are parallel realities that can theoretically coincide, I personally don’t find Back to the Future illogical at all. It is at least a theoretical possibility. Of course, this is only if you subscribe to string theory. How do you feel about string theory?”
Just kidding. I’m still not saying these time-travel movies are fully logical. I’m just saying that knowing that there’s science that allows for the possibility of parallel universes helps me suspend my disbelief with these types of movies.
Another thing I liked about the Frequency DVD was that it included this trivia track. If you turn it on, as the movie plays, it lists a bunch of trivia related to what’s going on in the scene.
As you may or may not know, I’m into trivia. Not intentionally. I’m just more into information. Especially random information.
So this track was like a dream come true. I was being overloaded with information. It was great. Like, here’s some stuff I learned.
American children play an average of 2.2 hours of video games a day. 80% of cohabitating couples break up. 40% break up before ever getting married. 40% break up within the first 10 years of marriage. The onscreen wife of actor Noah Emmerich in the movie is his real life wife. The onscreen wife of actor Jim Caviezel in the movie is the real life wife of Pat McEnroe, Stanford grad and brother of tennis great John McEnroe.
Dalmatians (the dog) were probably bred in Dalmatia, an area of Yugoslavia (I think now Croatia). The region was established in part by Emperor Tiberius. There was actually a Romance language called Dalmatian that became extinct in 1898.
Anyway, random stuff like that. So, it was a good DVD.
I also saw the Patriot again. It was an OK movie. I’d say a good movie. It’s just, there was stuff about it that annoyed me that held it back.
I’m very sensitive to music in a movie. Like, the music in A Perfect Storm just annoyed me because it was too emotionally meddling. I remember thinking when I saw it how it sounded a lot like the music from Titanic. As it turns out, the same guy did the music for both movies.
Anyway, John Williams did the music for the Patriot, and it was for the most part, good. I don’t blame him, I blame the director. It’s just, there were too many parts with the emotional musical swells, and they sometimes came too close together. You have to pace yourselves with these kinds of moments, spread them out, and not have too many of them to make them pay off. But, that’s just me.
Jieun liked it a lot, though. She cried like 10 times. And if Jieun likes it, I like it a little bit more.
I’m pretty proud of myself, though. I was able to watch a movie in which Henry was shaking his head in disapproval at parts, and was still able to enjoy it. I don’t know if I’m ready for his cynical comments. Or for Dave “This last part better be good” Hong. But, I’m proud.