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The Bad Review Revue

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel: “This is perfect entertainment for those who find ‘Teletubbies’ and ‘Dora the Explorer’ to be a little too highbrow.” — Thomas Leupp, Hollywood.com

It’s Complicated: “This film about divorce and late blooming romance was so painful that it made my own divorce seem fun.” — Beth Accomando, KPBS.org

Did You Hear About the Morgans?: “Grant’s familiar, pained and rueful expressions start to look like an actor’s commentary on the film, not a character’s response to events within it.” — Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail [UK]

Nine: “The movie musical can still be a splendid bit of escapism. With Nine, the only thing you’ll want to flee is the movie theater itself.” —Bill Gibron, PopMatters

The Twilight Saga: New Moon: “The number one killer is that it’s two hours and 10 minutes long and the plot recycles itself over and over again.” — Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com

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Year in Review 2009

With another year coming to a close, I decided to take a look back and recall some of my highlights for the year.

Happy New Year!

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Dancing Frog Legs

Just add salt and the magic begins!

Frog Legs Dancing with a Little Salt | YouTube

I understand this happens because salt contains sodium ions which, when in contact with the cells, change the electrical potential within each cell. This change is the ‘signal’ for the muscles to contract. Energy is stored in the muscles in the form of ATP (Adenosine-5′-triphosphate) and the twitching stops when the ATP runs out.

Apparently this is more likely to happen with cold blooded animals (like frogs) because they do not take on rigor mortis as quickly as warm-blooded animals (chicken, for example).

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Number of the Beast Compressed 666 Times

Cory Arcangel took the mp3 version of Iron’s Maiden’s The Number of the Beast and compressed it 666 times.

If you have ever wondered what Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” would sound like compressed over and over as an mp3 666 times…here’s your chance..and if u r wondering, YES it does lose quality each time it is compressed.

Personally, I couldn’t get all the way through it.

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Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter Home

As a private with the 106th Infantry Division, Kurt Vonnegut, along with five other battalion scouts, wandered behind enemy lines for several days during the Rhineland Campaign and became cut off from their battalion. They were captured by Wehrmacht troops on December 14, 1944 and imprisoned in Dresden, Germany.

While a prisoner, he witnessed the controversial fire bombing of Dresden in February 1945 which destroyed most of the city. The Germans held Vonnegut in an an ad hoc detention facility that had originally been an underground slaughterhouse meat locker. This experience was the inspiration for his famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five.

A month later he wrote his family from a repatriation camp informing them of his capture and survival:

Kurt Vonnegut Letter home

See the rest of the letter at Letters of Note – Slaughterhouse Five.