Counterpoint: Oblivion, a generic looking movie without any good buzz made $90M domestic on the strength of Tom Cruise's name. World War Z did $200/540M (domestic/worldwide), and you'd have to give Brad Pitt the lion's share of the credit for that one. Without Bullock or Clooney there's no way Gravity breaks through…

I think this has been one of the best responses I've seen:

Ellie Goulding's voice makes everything sexier.

I'd even say the love story made the ending even more powerful since (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!) Tris chose doing the right thing, based on her personal values on those she received from her family growing up, over being there for the guy, who kept telling her he couldn't survive without her.

God I hope not. The third book was much better than the second, and the ending was amazing, it came like an absolute punch in the face.

That's not quite right. The arc of a ball (discounting rotation and wind) can be approximated as a parabola, which implies that the highest point is halfway from the QB's hand to the same elevation downfield (generally just about the quarterback's height, give or take the throwing motion). The highest point has…

Indeed. The conclusion should be "Vitamins won't prevent dementia or heart disease" not "VITAMINS SUCK HAHA NEVER TAKE THEM". I personally take multis on days when I feel I haven't eaten well or have stressed my body physically or mentally (or alcoholically) more than is usual.

The flip side of that coin is that if you're getting broadcast TV instead of cable you sometimes only get one game, since CTV/City will often mirror whichever game you can pick up from Buffalo, so you're stuck watching the Bills on two channels while better games go on elsewhere.

io9 does do a pretty good job, but the rest of Gawker media... not so much. Jezebel and Gawker especially often report on scientific news/studies in a misleading/misinformed manner, which is often contradicted by the article on the same issue here at io9.

Between this and her comments a little while ago about how she'd like to be in a time travel movie where she actually gets to time travel I'm starting to really like her opinion on things.

You're right that that concept and name-recognition (both character and actor) is key. The smaller movies idea could work great (k, maybe not at $20M like was speculated but at $50-60, or roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of what a big-budget tentpole costs these days) only if you have a character/story people want to see. Don't…

I've heard the argument made that to be a successful YA-to-film adaptation one of the key things is an easily-explainable premise to draw casual movie-goers who haven't read the books. On a small sample size it seems logical: Harry Potter was "Boy finds out he's a wizard and goes to wizard school", Hunger Games is…

it's not a big stretch to assume that the players on east coast teams weren't adjusting their cycles to be at peak performance

Hold on, let's not compare economics and science!

I was convinced by the midway point of Mockingjay that the book was setting up one getting killed off and Katniss choosing to leave the other one, and I was very OK with this. I think the reason that Gale is so appealing is that even off-page he is a proactive force while Peeta, as good of a person as he is, kind of…

I think you're right about having read the book recently. I haven't read them in a few years, and some of the things I'd half-forgotten (Cinna nooooooo!!!!) were some of the hardest blow.

I have never owned a pair, but I am firmly on the pro side, as I am on the Great Sweatpants Debate. Strangers don't owe you anything, they don't need to look "neat" or "presentable" or whatever other code for not attractive enough you want to use, unless its a professional situation or they want to out of their own…

I think your point about being aware of limitations and/or margins of error is very valid, but as someone who has studied climate I think that the modelling community has an easier job with climate because so much of it is so well understood compared to the human body. I mean, most of the important factors are macro…

Some of the other comments in this thread seem to imply that a drug company wouldn't change its recommendation because they're evil and out to get as much money as possible. While both of those things may be true, the FDA does regulate who a drug is to be prescribed to, and a company can't just go changing it without…