When you think of Brad Pitt, what comes to mind? Academy Awards? Fight Club? “Brangelina”? Two things that might not come to mind, but should: fruit flies and cowlicks.
The celebrity has more in common with a fruit fly than you may think (which, granted, is a low bar to clear.) A new study out of Michigan State University, featured in Scientific Reports, shows that both Pitt and flies have “polarized” hair patterns controlled by a cancer protein.
“Researchers have discovered that these polarity genes, which do more than create cowlicks, are regulated by a tumor suppressor protein. On the macro scale, their presence can be seen in feather and fish scale patterns. On the cellular level, they are directly regulated by a cancer protein, the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein.”
This research has further-reaching implications than simply crowning fruit flies People’s Sexiest Bug Alive.In fact, it could shed light on certain potential cancer treatment research. Sandhya Payankaulam, lead author and MSU research assistant professor, explains that “until now, people neglected the regulation of polarity genes, thinking them to be regulated in a rather humdrum manner similar to ‘housekeeping’ genes that are devoted to basic cellular functions. Our work challenges this view and raises an important question relevant to development of new cancer diagnosis and therapies.”
Jeffrey Goines : You are a total nutcase, completely deranged, delusional, paranoid. Your thought process is all fucked up. Your information train is jammed, man!
My Once Upon a Time in Hollywood poster illustration! I did this as part of Poster Posse tribute to Quentin Tarantinos 9th film Can’t wait to see this!
As hard as it is for me to believe, this is my last solo review for our year long project. As crazy as it sounds after doing approximately 125 movie reviews in the last year, but there are still so many films that we haven’t reviewed that I had hoped to get to. For my last review I’m going to look at a movie that’s just outside my top 5 and the masterpiece from visionary director Terry Gilliam, 12 Monkeys.
The film is set in an apocalyptic future where over 5 billion people have died from an extremely deadly virus that spread globally in just a matter of weeks. (12 Monkeys did dystopian future long before it was cool.) Those that survived have been forced to live underground. Scientists have been using prisoners as “volunteers” to explore the surface in hopes of finding a cure for the virus. One of those volunteers is James Cole (Bruce Willis) the center of the movie.
What follows is a strange and amazing story of time travel, love, and a whole host of messages about animal abuse, population growth, consumerism, and technology told in the completely unique and wonderful style of director Terry Gilliam. Gilliam came to fame as a part of the legendary comedy troupe Monty Python and was responsible for all of their unusual animated sequences, so it’s no surprise that Gilliam became a director with a flair for the unusual.
The story deals with many themes, but the most prominent is time. James is asked to travel back in time (albeit in a very inexact manner) to try to gather information on the mysterious Army of the 12 Monkeys who are believed to be responsible for releasing the virus. As the story progresses, James jumps back and forth between his present in 2035 and several past dates including 1990, during World War I, and finally to his intended destination in 1996 when the virus spread. The continual jumping through time is disorienting to James who has trouble differentiating between what is the past and what is the present.
In his travels James meets Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) a clearly insane man who also happens to be the son of a Nobel Prize winning virologist and the man who founded the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Jeffrey loves to ramble on about animal cruelty and the rampant consumerism in our culture. It’s no surprise that James and Jeffrey meet while they are both in a mental hospital under the care of Dr. Katheryn Railly (Madeline Stowe). As James travels back and forth, Katheryn becomes first his prisoner and then his accomplice.
I’ve heard this movie described as a sci-fi thriller, but I’m not sure that thriller is the right description. In some ways, it’s a screwball comedy more than a thriller. While there are some tense scenes, it’s not the kind of film that keeps your heart racing the entire time. It seems to be more designed to keep the viewers off balance and unsure of what’s going to happen next.
The acting in this film is brilliant, especially from Brad Pitt who earned a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for his work. I’ve had to defend Brad Pitt’s acting talent on many occasions. There are many that believe he is just a pretty boy without much skill as an actor who just got famous by taking his shirt off. But Pitt is a very talented actor and his early roles like this one in 12 Monkeys show that he is an actor who was, and still should be, recognized for his immense talent.
12 Monkeys is a strange and quirky film, but to me that is its charm. My wife is my barometer to judge how the average movie fan would react to a particular film, and she is not a fan of 12 Monkeys. It’s not a film for everyone with it’s unconventional story and litany of messages, but it is a surprisingly brilliant film in almost all aspects.
I would kick myself if I neglected to mention one of my most favorite aspects of the film, the score. The score was composted by English musician Paul Buckmaster and it heavily features an accordion driven tango that adds a whole level of creepy throughout the film.
12 Monkeys is not a film for everyone, but if you like movies that buck convention in favor of doing new and bold things, then you might just love it as much as I do. With a clever, but twisted, story and outstanding acting it is, at least in my view, a modern classic.
brad pitt is already suing angelina jolie for defamation for calling him abusive so now seems like a good time to say:
angelina has maintained this entire time that all she cares about is the safety of her children
their oldest child maddox literally refuses to speak to brad
angelina has also said that she was deeply uncomfortable with brad because he chose to continue working with harvey weinstein after weinstein assaulted angelina. brad knew this but still worked with him anyway
when they divorced, the court ruled that angelina was allowed to sell her share of the vineyard she and brad co-own, and she offered to sell her share TO BRAD but he declined, so she sold to a company called stoli. stoli is now suing brad for mismanaging funds, so he’s suing angelina as a big distraction and because he thinks this will get her shares back to him, if he can prove she “lied” to destroy his reputation
brad is also lying and saying stoli is pro-russia, but the owner is a huge putin critic and has been for over 20 years. the owner is even banned from entering russia because of all their criticism of putin, but brad is lying to destroy this person’s reputation too
ps: brad’s also specifically asking for a trial by jury. wonder who he learned that from?
