Random Junk

My heat was off for most of the afternoon due to repairs so I've been in the lab doing repeated measure analyses of variance by hand. It would take about 20 seconds to do on the computer but apparently adding up rows and columns is a good use of my time. I'm really not bitter, I understand having to learn the process, but at a certain point it becomes silly to do everything manually when you can get S.P.S.S. to do it for you in 1/1000th of the time.

Thanksgiving break being next week means exams were given out this week, hence the lack of blogging. The department is trying to save money on paper so I had to channel my inner Dürer and carve the exams into wood. Ok... so really I just had to make 300 copies, but its basically the same thing. At least Durer didn't have to contend with incredibly sensitive and discontent machines. You know, if the machines really do rise up to take over the world they'll probably do it through exasperating us all to death with copy feed loader errors and stapler jams instead of with terminator robots.

Little known fact, PhD actually stands for Doctor of PHotocopying. At least thats what my adviser keeps telling me.

Speaking of famous old guys who did art-related things, there is an interesting article in Nature about Christopher Wren's contribution to neuroanatomy. Apparently the same guy who designed St Paul's cathedral in London also helped to create images of the brain that shaped neuroscience for hundreds of years. The article should be available for free even without a university IP address. Check it out here.

Other ways the psychology department is trying to save money... getting rid of the water cooler in the lounge and raising the price of coffee to 50 cents. The department chair sent out an e-mail telling us these changes would go into effect on the 24th, which has already been termed "Black Monday." I'm not sure if thats a coffee related pun or not, but I'd like to think it is.

There is a new trailer for the new Star Trek movie and looks like it could actually be pretty good. The bridge looks like an apple store and I'm not sure why there are classic cars in the future, but Star Trek always was a little silly (I say this with the most reverence possible). At the very least, the movie has Simon Pegg as Scotty. Genius casting, that.

Finally, I don't recommend watching Eraserhead late at night alone in a cold room. I was trying to do a David Lynch double feature, but after Lost Highway I really didn't need to see crazy monster babies and mutant people singing inside radiators. I hear INLAND EMPIRE (not my caps) is even weirder and more nonsensical. For the craziest David Lynch movie ever, go see The Straight Story.

Obama Resigns! This Sunday!?

Just from the senate. Relax.

New Watchmen Trailer...

So there is apparently a new Watchmen trailer.



I hope I'm wrong but it looks like this is going to be really awful.

The comic.. ahem... graphic novel is so celebrated because while it tells a really good story about superheroes, it also quietly (and not so quietly) subverts every single trope of the superhero genre. The comic version of Watchmen is more about the characters and the world they live in than super cool fight scenes in slow motion. On a deeper level, it was written as a critique of superhero comics. Literally everything from the characterization of the heroes to the physical layout of the panels is some sort of meta-commentary. I really recommend the comic, its complex and requires a few readings to really absorb, but its well worth it.

The movie... well lets just say that whoever decided to make this an action story with slow motion fight scenes and cool costumes completely and utterly missed the point. As I said, I really hope I'm wrong about this, but it seems like the only good thing about the movie is that it'll cause more people to read the book.

Budget Cuts... continued

Apparently we don't have to print out homework or anything anymore... not sure where I'm going to print out exams though. Printing them at the library seems like a bad idea.

Great Job Stony Brook

State budget cuts to have begun trickling down to individual academic departments at Stony Brook. The psychology department is dealing with this by cutting travel funds, slashing copy machine quotas, and eliminating the printer in the graduate student computer lab. No word yet if we'll be asked not attend conferences, make less copies, or read less articles... but somehow I doubt it.