May 27, 2004
HALF EMPTY:
'Tomorrow's' forecast: bad science on the big screen: Natural-disaster film risks trivializing a real problem as far-out science fiction. (Peter N. Spotts, 5/28/04, CS Monitor)
[E]ven if the movie gets passing marks for entertainment and is stirring the political caldron, it flunks Climate 101. And in the process, it runs the risk of trivializing as mere entertainment a problem that many researchers say is quite serious.Global warming "is a real problem and people need to be educated about it," says Peter Stone, a professor of atmospheric dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who attended an advanced screening of the film in Boston. But the film's errors and exaggerations "make it an easy target to shoot at," he adds, and could leave an impression that the issue as a whole is an exaggeration.
What a remarkable contrast to the Times, eh? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2004 8:10 PM
All I know is the flick has been plugged heavily on Art Bell: Coast to Coast for about the past month. Apparently Bell had something to do with writing a book the movie was based on.
Posted by: Ken at May 27, 2004 8:13 PMAs I said a few days ago, 'The Day After Tomorrow' is exactly as "scientific" as 'Shrek'.
Ken:
Art Bell co-authored 'The Coming Global Superstorm', which will no doubt prove to be as prescient as James Dale Davidson's 'The Great Reckoning: Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression' was:
Davidson's tome was released in paperback in Jan. of '94, and so far, 11 years later, no Second Great Depression.
But Bell also promotes chitosan weight loss products, despite the fact that they don't work, so I reckon he figures that people who tune in to hear about aliens and time travel aren't the most discerning of consumers.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 27, 2004 10:59 PMArt Bell is still around??I thought he finally quit,I mean permantly quit.
The man's had more comebacks than Barbra Striesand.
I recommend Art Bell to writer friends (especially those who do horror and weird stuff) as a source of ideas.
And I remember The Coming Great Depression -- and similar books with similar titles all the way back to the Sixties. Basically Hal "Late Great Planet Earth" Lindsay for those who have Evolved Beyond Such Primitive Superstitions.
Posted by: Ken at May 28, 2004 12:43 PMEnviro-scare mongers have a lot in common with
"Adventists" and "Millenialists." Always waiting
for the big one.
More than that -- waiting for The Big One to hit just the way they predicted so they can go "SEE! I WAS RIGHT! SEE! YOU'RE ALL WRONG! NYAAAH! NYAAAH! NYAAAAAAH!"
Posted by: Ken at May 28, 2004 8:17 PM