Month: July 2008

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Batman Is Back

Richard Corliss of the TIME Magazine has written an intriguing review of The Dark Knight that makes next Friday (release date 7/18/08) seem like forever and a half away. I won’t discuss any spoilers as I have carefully tried to avoid them myself but there has been quite the anticipation since the release of Batman Begins in 2005 for this film. Reportedly, Heath Ledger has played an Oscar Award worthy of an acting job reprising the role of The Joker and from what I have read and seen in trailers, I have a feeling his final acting performance is going to live up to those expectations.

“… And for reassurance, Nolan brings back old friends from Batman Begins: Michael Caine as Bruce’s butler Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Fox, who takes care of Bruce’s toys.

Actually, they’re just diversions from the epochal face-off of Bruce and the Joker. For a good part of the film, when the two embrace in a free fall of souls — one doomed, the other imperiled — you may think you’re in the grip of a mordant masterpiece. That feeling will pass, as the film spends too many of its final moments setting up the series’ third installment. The chill will linger, though. The Dark Knight is bound to haunt you long after you’ve told yourself, Aah, it’s only a comic-book movie”

To read the entire TIME Magazine review, here it is: Batman Is Back — The TIME Review. Anyone up for going to see this in IMAX?

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Google Health: A Data Collecting Tool?

Google, which offers services for everything from email to blogging, from maps to finance, recently released a service called Google Health. At first I thought this was yet another remarkable and innovative tool offered by Google to organize one’s life and consolidate everything into one place. I was ready to jump all over it and quickly hand them over all my personal health data and see what it offered. Then my brother stepped in and said one statement on it that has made me reluctant to touch this for the past two months.

“So Google will have every little detail about your life on you now”

I try not to be skeptic about things before trying them out but in today’s age when courts are forcing companies to hand over user data and anything else they may have logged about their activity, who is to say that some day in the not too distant future Google is made to hand over medicial data as well?

Fortunately, I have been quite healthy recently and have not require much medical assistance than some others I know but I am still not certain this is something I would recommend to them. Leaving aside the privacy issues, this could falsely power the patients into making decisions that they are not properly educated about or might make a decision based on misunderstanding some facts.

Look at some of the features that Google Health offers. With it, you can do the following:

image Build online health profiles
You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want. You can even create multiple profiles for family members or others you care for.
Import medical records from hospitals and pharmacies
Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile. This way, you can save an accurate history of your medical conditions, medications, and test results all in one place.
image Learn about health issues and find helpful resources
Review trusted information on diseases and conditions and learn about possible medication interactions and other topics to talk your doctors about.
image Search for doctors and hospitals
You can search for a doctor’s name or location, find a doctor’s website, get directions to a doctor’s office, and save a doctor’s information to your medical contacts list.
image Connect to online health services
Browse the online health services directory to find services that are integrated with Google Health that can help you better manage your health needs.

Continue reading “Google Health: A Data Collecting Tool?”

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Improv Everywhere: Human Mirror

Improv Everywhere just ran a Human Mirror where they filled a subway with identical twins and sat or stood them across from each other and mimicked the other twin’s move. It is pretty funny to watch the reactions of the regular passengers in NYC of all places keep their cool and be amused.