- Hanks and Gary Goetzman will act as executive producers, and Hanks hopes the adaptation will air in 2013. He believes the public has been snookered into believing that Lee Harvey Oswald was framed. “We’re going to do the American public a service,” Hanks says. “A lot of conspiracy types are going to be upset. If we do it right, it’ll be perhaps one of the most controversial things that has ever been on TV.”
What can we expect? If he is already out to show alternative researchers they are wrong, then how can he do anything other than tow the company line? Hanks will probably pretend to be objective on the Warren Commission report’s findings to show he is a ‘tough investigator’, but there will be nothing ultimately that will make entrenched power structures/brokers look bad.
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(CNN) — James Cameron’s completely immersive spectacle “Avatar” may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.
- On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.
- A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site “Naviblue” that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.
- “Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mike posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.’ “
(Makes me think of the William Shatner SNL skit at a Star Trek Convention. He addresses the throngs and says “I know many of you have come out miles just to be here and I want to say..GET A LIFE. Will you people? For crying out loud, it’s just a TV show.”)
Grant Morrison Gets a Biopic
- Now that the comics industry has overtaken film, its outstanding writers are starting to step up to the biopic bar. Subversive brainiac Grant Morrison is up next, with a dedicated documentary due in time for next year’s Comic-Con International.
- “He has an uncanny ability to tell stories that are both accessible and progressively avant-garde,” explained indie director Patrick Meaney, whose untitled Grant Morrison documentary, previewed in the exclusive clips above and below, will analyze the writer’s storied run for Marvel and DC Comics on standout titles like The Invisibles, X-Men and Final Crisis as well as more esoteric series like The Filth and Flex Mentallo.
- There’s a lot of ground to cover. Morrison has lived a very full life, from playing in rock bands to experimenting as a transvestite to becoming, like Alan Moore, a chaos magician. There’s a lot of fertile ground in his personality alone, to say nothing of his sometimes autobiographical comics. In the process, Morrison has become a counterculture icon primed for mainstream crossover.
(AWESOME. Can’t wait to hear Morrison spin some more crazy yarns on his life and work as he is a nutcase! Huge fan. Check out his great speech at the NY Disinfo Con on his alien abduction, chaos magic, life and what it’s about.)
The Parallax View - The Amazing Montage. If you never seen this clip (or the swanky 70s movie) imagine yourself in that chair. It is a great weirdo moment in movie history!
Interestingly enough, AP has reported that the US Military is experimenting with nearly the same method above to see if they can early detect PTSD-prone soldiers.
- TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.
- Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing from a corpse. Movie star Cameron Diaz posing sideways in a midriff top. Troops cowering for safety during an ambush.
- A doctor tracked his stress levels and counted the number of times he blinked. Electrode wires dangled from his left eye and right pinky finger.
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Sheets is part of a military experiment to try to predict who’s most at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. Understanding underlying triggers might help reduce the burden of those who return psychologically wounded — if they can get early help.
- New PTSD studies are using technology to try to get at the answer. Select Marine and Army units are undergoing a battery of physical and mental tests before deployment including genetic testing, brain imaging and stress exams. They are followed in war zones and upon return.
Make an animated sasquatch do whatever you want. (via)