Althouse: "Avatar"...

January 19, 2010

"Avatar"...

... it might kill you.

46 comments:

rhhardin said...: Adjusting the spacing of the L and R images can zonk you out; it used to be (and maybe today too) that you flipped a quarter-wave plate over the projector to change horizontal and vertical polarization to left circular and right circular, which the projectionist alone could see in stereo with lc and rc glasses, and he alone would get woozy when adjustments were needed; then the quarter wave plate is flipped off so everybody else can see it in stereo again.

1960s technology.; 1/19/10, 9:23 AM
themightypuck said...: You have to die sometime.; 1/19/10, 9:32 AM
campy said...: "Man Died After Watching Avatar" is not news.

"Man Watched Avatar After Dying" — that's news.

(Man Voted For Coakley After Dying should be a headline tomorrow.); 1/19/10, 9:40 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: A flickering computer monitor can trigger migraines. The flickering lights from driving down a wooded higway in certain circumstances can hypnotize you and cause an auto accident.

If he had has a stroke and died due to the excitement of sex. Will that deter the rest of us? I think I would still take my chances.....on sex....Avatar...not so much.; 1/19/10, 10:00 AM
john said...: Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office Reports Three Snow Shoveling Deaths.

Which is why I live in Arizona,

Police: Man Shot To Death Shoveling Snow.

instead of Colorado Springs.

Haven't seen Avatar yet, but my flight reflex is telling me not to.; 1/19/10, 10:02 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: If he had has a stroke and died due to the excitement of sex. Will that deter the rest of us?

I'll take my chances ;-); 1/19/10, 10:08 AM
Salamandyr said...: I was gonna go with "the predictability of the plot bored him to death".; 1/19/10, 10:13 AM
Henry said...: DBQ, you kind of anticipated my thinking.

But this poor bastard died from watching Avatar instead of having sex.; 1/19/10, 10:15 AM
JAL said...: Wonder how many people didn't feel well watching American Idol, were taken to the hospital, and died.

Mmmm?; 1/19/10, 10:16 AM
Robert Cook said...: "But this poor bastard died from watching Avatar instead of having sex."

Didn't you know? Watching AVATAR is better than having sex!; 1/19/10, 10:21 AM
rhhardin said...: I think there's something called the alpha rate for flickering, which is fairly slow, that can make you pass out.

Pilots were warned about it, landing into the sun when the propeller might happen to trigger it. Use some other power setting if you begin to sense it.

A similar thing happens driving through woods when the sun is low, though the flicker rate is likely to be variable enough to avoid passing out.; 1/19/10, 10:44 AM
Tibore said...: The 3D glasses definitely gave me a headache, whereas watching just the 2D version didn't physically affect me at all. Those damn glasses are a pain.

But dying?

"Mr Kuo, who suffered from hypertension, was unconscious when he arrived at the Nan Men General Hospital and a scan showed that his brain was haemorrhaging, emergency room doctor Peng Chin-chih said today.

"It's likely that the over-excitement from watching the movie triggered his symptoms,'' the doctor said."

Most likely, his hypertension induced a condition where any excitement or stress above the norm for him would've done him in. And he just happened to be watching Avatar at the time.

Then again, maybe he hated the plot just that much... ;); 1/19/10, 10:55 AM
john said...: If these estimates are anywhere near right:

- 500,000 = number of heart attack deaths per year in US, = 0.15% of population;

- 45,900,000 have seen Avatar ($0.505 billion at $11 a pop), in 2 months;

- 14,490 fatal heart attacks in US population equal to movie attendance;

- Fraction of movie time (2 hours) to total time in last 2 months = 0.14%;

By this, at least 20 fatal heart attacks have occurred during the movie Avatar, and the number is rising. Not included, but certainly important, are the numbers of people that died of heart attacks in the hours following the movie.

This is one dangerous movie, folks. I, for one, am staying away from it.; 1/19/10, 11:01 AM
john said...: On the good side, you can double your chances of survival by only seeing movies of one hour (or by walking out of Avatar half way through).; 1/19/10, 11:05 AM
john said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/19/10, 11:50 AM
john said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/19/10, 11:54 AM
john said...: While we in the first world obsess over the statistically insignificant number of heart attacks that occur while we are sitting on our statistically significant asses watching a movie, a very statistically meaningful tragedy is occuring south of us:

- Population of Haiti = 10,000,000;

- Number of earthquake deaths so far = 200,000, or 2% of its population;

Statistical equivalence: think of 6.6 million Americans dead in a natural disaster or terrorist attack.; 1/19/10, 11:58 AM
Joe said...: Ah, but he could have seen American Beauty years ago and this is just a long delayed reaction. Or he saw Titanic, almost died, and upon realizing it was the same directory had a relapse.; 1/19/10, 12:16 PM
David said...: Not if I don't go to see it.; 1/19/10, 12:19 PM
Sigivald said...: I predict that everyone that watches Avatar will die - sometimes decades after doing so!

Will no-one think of the children?; 1/19/10, 1:07 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Movie as a suicide method.. What will they think of next?

Its a killer app ;); 1/19/10, 1:21 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Would you like to see a stereogram I made of animals?

I promise it's not stroke-inducing and it's not a Magic Eyes.; 1/19/10, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: So "Avatar" is actually "Snow Crash." Interesting.; 1/19/10, 1:56 PM
Henry said...: It's too long to be a blipvert.; 1/19/10, 1:58 PM
rhhardin said...: Would you like to see a stereogram I made of animals?

Easy to view if you're nearsighted: take off glasses, put nose near screen as close as you can get with objects easily in focus, and relax eyes.

As far as I can see, though, the animals themselves are not stereo, just their placement.

Making a loop of great-circle looks inwards at at object gives you stereo pairs cleap, by the way.; 1/19/10, 2:01 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: While we in the first world obsess over the statistically insignificant number of heart attacks that occur while we are sitting on our statistically significant asses watching a movie, a very statistically meaningful tragedy is occuring south of us:

John is a killbuzz.

Seriously.

What do you want us to do? Wear hair shirts and flay our backs because there was a natural disaster in Haiti? We (speaking for myself) give to charities that are helping, raise money at Church events, donate to agencies that are collecting supplies, we go to church and pray for the injured and that things will improve for the Haitians. I can't hop on a plane and physically go to Haiti. Even if I were so inclined, which I'm not, I would be of no help or would be in the way.

So because there is a natural disaster WE are supposed to lose our senses of humor, quit living ourselves, suck our collective thumbs and sit in a corner.

What do you want from us? Sorry, your guilt trip isn't working. I'm not buying it.; 1/19/10, 2:05 PM
Synova said...: Instapundit linked to someone or other (okay, I didn't click through) complaining of cruise ships still making port in Haiti (just not at the capital where the worst damage is).

It's unseemly or something.

Much more sensitive to leave those who depend on the tourist trade out of work during the crisis.

As for one report of a man in Taiwan dying from the movie... I'd be surprised if there are not a number of people who drop dead in movies on a regular basis, and a number of women who go into labor during a show.; 1/19/10, 2:33 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: "Man dies after watching lifeless movie" is more like it.; 1/19/10, 2:35 PM
hombre said...: La Señora has been troubled by headaches, reputedly from 3D, since Avatar. The fatalities, however, are more likely death by cliché.; 1/19/10, 2:37 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Instapundit linked to someone or other (okay, I didn't click through) complaining of cruise ships still making port in Haiti (just not at the capital where the worst damage is).

I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to work and the cruise ship company indicated that not only are they stopping for just the day so people can still do business with them....the ships are off loading supplies that they are carrying to the Haitian people. Food, water, shelter supplies if they have been given those. Many of the supplies that they are donating are directly from their own cruise ship stocks.; 1/19/10, 2:50 PM
Steven said...: You know, it's too bad we don't have Chiang Kai-shek around anymore.

When you make him dictator of a poor tropical island nation in an earthquake zone, sixty years later it's a First World democracy where the big news is a single individual dying after being overexcited by a movie.; 1/19/10, 3:30 PM
john said...: DBQ - I don't want to kill your buzz, and I don't want to spoil your fun. I got a big kick over the Avatar dustup, and I hope you laughed too.

I thought the difference between 1 death in a theater and the carnage in Haiti was too big to ignore. I wasn't trying to scold.; 1/19/10, 3:49 PM
john said...: The real killbuzz will be the lawyer who works up a class action suit against the producer, director, movie theater, and probably the popcorn supplier for all these untimely heart attacks. Too bad Dickie Scruggs is unavailable.; 1/19/10, 4:14 PM
Joe said...: Speaking of news. Just before the Haiti thing, the lead story one night on our local NPR news was that a kid fell of a chair lift at a ski resort and had minor injuries.

I say we live in good times if that's the only thing they could come up with.; 1/19/10, 4:27 PM
vbspurs said...: (Man Voted For Coakley After Dying should be a headline tomorrow.)

Is it too churlish of me to state that Campy is the funniest commenter on here?; 1/19/10, 5:11 PM
vbspurs said...: It's unseemly or something.

I had read a story on CNN about this a few days ago. The cruiseship passengers were desperately of two minds about it.

Like I would have, they felt enormous guilt to be having fun, having Margaritas in sun-drenched hammocks, just a few miles where over 200,000 corpses might be littering the streets.

But Labadee (the Royal Caribbean stop -- I've been there) brings much needed cash to Haiti. Also, as DBQ later mentioned, they bring supplies with them.

I guess if pushed I would say this practise of docking there is really unseemly -- but if we can wangle it so that it does good, well, okay.; 1/19/10, 5:16 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Night of the Living Dead Voter.

There's hundreds of thousands of dead people on the voter registration rolls in MA.

Locally--I have a friend who cannot for the life of her get her long-dead husband off the voter registration rolls. She's even had her attorney send a certified letter to the Secretary of State (of the Commonwealth of Kentucky).

I urge her to vote late, close to polls closing, so she can see if Ray voted. I usually vote after work, close to polls closing, and his name is near mine on the register, and I've seen a signature there before.

Praise be Jesus!

It's a miracle!; 1/19/10, 5:26 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Seriously, though, I'd love to see a zombie movie where they take a break from their attacks to go vote. LOL; 1/19/10, 5:28 PM
Joe said...: Does that cruise also stop in Somalia, Venezuela and North Korea? Granted, that's a long trip, but priceless.; 1/19/10, 5:36 PM
campy said...: The real killbuzz will be the lawyer who works up a class action suit [...] Too bad Dickie Scruggs is unavailable.

John Edwards, paging Mr. John Edwards ...; 1/19/10, 5:41 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: they felt enormous guilt to be having fun, having Margaritas in sun-drenched hammocks, just a few miles where over 200,000 corpses might be littering the streets.

I know. I would feel the same. How can I be so blessed when just over the hill is Hell on Earth.

The mitigating factor is that they and the ship are bringing supplies.

Sorry....I didn't mean to be a kill buzz either (lol @ john) and bring up Haiti on a perfectly good Avatar bashing thread.; 1/19/10, 5:45 PM
john said...: I don't know about you all, but today was wasted at work, pacing, drinking too much coffee, trying to crack jokes, making light of tragedy, etc etc. All this time I have been waiting for the polls to close in MA and for the live blogging of the results to start.

It's Time! Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!; 1/19/10, 6:02 PM
john said...: I always hated Dickie Scruggs. But boy, his brother Flatn could sure pick an awesome banjo.; 1/19/10, 6:05 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: It's Time! Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

YEP..Going home from work in a bit. Gonna open a bottle of Glenmorangie and bounce back and forth between Barrett Jackson and the Election.

The market did well today and people I've been talking to seem more hopeful than in months and months. Hope we aren't being delusional.; 1/19/10, 6:17 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Kentucky Liz,

"Seriously, though, I'd love to see a zombie movie where they take a break from their attacks to go vote. LOL"

It's been done - broken into two parts:

http://themachoresponse.blogspot.com/

2008/02/zombies-part-ii.html; 1/19/10, 7:28 PM
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