Here’s your obligatory episode about “Amazing Spider-Man #700.”

FYI, video footage of the Game OverThinker/MovieBob Q&A is now up on Blip and The Other Blog.

Today, my friend and colleague Jim Sterling is a hero:

NOTE: Graphic imagery from 1:20 – 1:49

Let’s just get this over with…

“Intermission” tackles the “Zero Dark Thirty” controversy.

Hat-tip to io9

There are, fundamentally, two kinds of people in the world: Thinkers and Believers.

When I say that, I expect it to get your attention. That’s why it’s presented in such blunt, quasi-absolutist terms. I know the first thing that jumps into anyone’s head when they see the world belief presented as an opposing-force to thought is that the presenter (me) is “attacking” or otherwise denigrating religious belief, which is one of the all-time great attention-getters (just ask Ricky Gervais.)

Of course, those who bother to read past the slogan will typically discover that I didn’t specifiy religious belief (or scientific thought, for that matter) because I’m talking about human behavior in a much more broad sense – it’s wholly possible (and, in my mind, just as ill-advised) to apply religion-esque blind, uniformed fealty to any worldview. Case in point: The long-held, anti-science hysteria against Genetically Modified Organisms (“GMOs”) particularly in agriculture. I’ve been on about this before.

One of the biggest anti-GMO activists – partially responsible from the mid-90s onward – for both spreading “Frankenfood” hysteria and coupling it (to cancerous effect) to the mainstream environmentalist movement was a fellow named Mark Lynas. Well, guess what? A few days ago, in a lecture to the Oxford Farming Conference, Lynas recanted and denounced more or less the entirety of the anti-GMO movement and his participation therein, effectively joining ranks with the Norm Borlaug wing of planet-management.

In the world of eco-science, this is pretty huge. But what I like more than the result is Lynas reasoning for it: In order to better argue his other great intellectual passion, climate change, he had to develop a greater understanding of science. In doing so, he realized that his stance on GMOs was simply not supported by real science, and that he’d been clinging to beliefs (his words) to justify it.

Confronted with hard scientific evidence that what he had assumed was, in fact, incorrect; Lynas’ actions were that of a Thinker: He accepted the truth, and now looks to undo what damage he did by spreading a lie in the name of erroneous belief. He’s now setting out to actively campaign for the EU and other organizations/governments to ease their crippling restrictions against GMO crops.

Money quotes, from the lecture:

“So I guess you’ll be wondering – what happened between 1995 and now that made me not only change my mind but come here and admit it? Well, the answer is fairly simple: I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist.”

“This was also explicitly an anti-science movement. We employed a lot of imagery about scientists in their labs cackling demonically as they tinkered with the very building blocks of life. Hence the Frankenstein food tag – this absolutely was about deep-seated fears of scientific powers being used secretly for unnatural ends. What we didn’t realise at the time was that the real Frankenstein’s monster was not GM technology, but our reaction against it.”

“So I did some reading. And I discovered that one by one my cherished beliefs about GM turned out to be little more than green urban myths.”

“It is not enough to sit back and hope that technological innovation will solve our problems. We have to be much more activist and strategic than that. We have to ensure that technological innovation moves much more rapidly, and in the right direction for those who most need it.”

“If you look at the situation without prejudice, much of the debate, both in terms of anti-biotech and organic, is simply based on the naturalistic fallacy – the belief that natural is good, and artificial is bad. This is a fallacy because there are plenty of entirely natural poisons and ways to die, as the relatives of those who died from E.-coli poisoning would tell you.”

“So my message to the anti-GM lobby, from the ranks of the British aristocrats and celebrity chefs to the US foodies to the peasant groups of India is this. You are entitled to your views. But you must know by now that they are not supported by science. We are coming to a crunch point, and for the sake of both people and the planet, now is the time for you to get out of the way and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably.”

Wow.

“You are entitled to your views. But you must know by now that they are not supported by science. We are coming to a crunch point, and for the sake of both people and the planet, now is the time for you to get out of the way and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably.” Remove the issue-specific “feeding the world sustainably” part and you’ve basically got a template for my entire day-to-day worldview.

Lynas, of course, has much more pennance to make than just a grand speech to atone for the harm he helped bring about, but this is a hell of a start and he sounds committed. I hope this speech goes viral (it’s likely being passed around like Gangnam Style by the biotech community already) and gets out there. For good or ill, the environmentalist movement lives and dies by publicity. It’s time it dropped this crap and got the side of science and (more importantly) reason and reality.

My good friend and fellow BOFCA member Dan Kimmel has written his first fiction novel, a scifi/comedy called “Shh! It’s a Secret,” due to be released this month. It’s now available for pre-orders, if anyone would like to take a look…

Dan’s a good guy, old-school scifi fan and more-than-generous helper to the newbie set in the Boston area movie-journalism game. Some of you might be familiar with his previous book, “Jar-Jar Binks Must Die.”

UPDATED: Had originally linked to the first trailer, fixed.

The “Evil Dead” remake is probably going to be awesome, and we need to start accepting that:

(re-posted from The Other Blog, hat-tip: POLYGON.)

This is how it begins…

I “get” that grief is a powerful emotion that can override common sense and reason, even in the best of us. I understand that, therefore, we are expected to be deferential and sympathetic to even the most awkward, outlandish or uncomfortable expressions of grief: “Oh, it’s alright. They’re just upset. Let them vent.” I get that… but there’s a limit to everything. So, I have ZERO problem saying that the folks in Southington, Connecticut who’ve more-or-less decided to hold a mass-burning of “violent” video games (music and movies, too) as some kind of reaction to the tragedy in nearby Newtown are, whateve their intent, essentially painting themselves as a pack of ignorant, knuckle-dragging, reactionary cretins; and that they deserve to be called-out and shamed for what is – regardless of scale, circumstance or intent – a crime against art, culture and an affront to civilized modernity.

Southington SOS, which purports to be a charitable organization comprised of local business and community leaders set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre (which, just to reiterate, took place in a different community in CT) are the force behind this gesture. They put out a press release announcing it, which includes contact information for a local YMCA chairman who is apparently a spokesman for the group (I’ve contacted him for some clarification, awaiting response.)

Said press-release claims that it isn’t trying to suggest that games are “to blame” for the shooting and that it’s more interested in getting parents and their kids to “have the conversation;” though it goes to claim that “ample evidence” exists for violent media contributing to aggression, “desensitization” and the usual malarkey… without, of course, providing a source of said “ample evidence” (spoiler: that’s because there isn’t any.) They’ll be rewarding “donations” with $25 dollar giftcards, which seems a little rotten to me since I’m more than certain the victimized town they’re supposedly supporting could probably use that money… That the “returned” offending materials will be destroyed and “likely” incinerated was revealed by the Southington School Superintendent, Joe Erardi.

Like I said, these are the sorts of things that happen when people’s emotions – especially grief and the impotent rage that comes with it – override common sense, and it only gets worse when it grips a community and becomes a kind of mass-pathology (see: Salem, 1692-1693). Often, the only “cure” for such circumstances is for non (or, at least, less) irrational people to hold up the mirror and point out the absurdity and wrongness of what said community is doing – sunlight, as ever, is the ultimate disinfectant. Which is why I think it’s proper to publicize this event and respond (civily!) to Southington SOS; if only to let them know how much damage they’re doing, image-wise, to themselves and their purported cause by engaging in such vile and wrongheaded behavior.

Note: If and when the representative I mentioned responds to my call, I will post any details/clarifications he wishes to make at my earliest ability.

Hey look, you get a new episode even though it’s New Year’s Day and I just became lucid around 5:00 PM!