Paul McCartney’s “My Valentine” Music Video with Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp Signing

Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:00 am

This beautifully balletic version of Paul MCartney’s new song, “My Valentine” features Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp performing in sign language. The song is featured in McCartney’s new standards collection, Kisses on the Bottom.

NOTE: Do not pay attention to some internet allegations of incorrect or crude unintended words in the signing. US and UK sign language is different and there are also regional and individual variations, just as with spoken speech.

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Barbie’s Bald Friend

Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:58 pm

Mattel has announced that they will make a bald fashion doll, a “friend of Barbie,” to give to children with cancer and illnesses that cause hair loss, following a Facebook campaign co-founded by the mother of a girl who became bald following cancer treatment. The doll will not be sold; Mattel will distribute the doll in children’s hospitals and other treatment centers. She will come with wigs, hats, and scarves “to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience.” This is a wonderful idea; I know girls will be comforted to have a doll who shares their experience.

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What Makes a Movie Line So Quotable?

Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:56 pm

The Huffington Post reports on a new computer analysis of the movies’ most quotable lines of dialog.

he study’s authors compiled scripts from 1,000 movies, and identified, using IMDb, Google and Bing, the lines from those movies that are quoted and remembered the most today. They paired each memorable line with other lines of similar length, voiced by the same character in the same scene, then ran each pair through a computer program to identify linguistic trends.

“Our goal is to understand what general features of language will tell you how memorable a quote will be,” fifth-year Ph.D. student Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, one of the study’s authors, told the Huffington Post.

The features that emerged were widespread applicability, straightforward syntax and distinctive diction.

If you think this brings us a step closer to computer-generated movie scripts, you’re on the same wavelength as Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil. Not that it could make them any more formulaic than much of what is currently produced in Hollywood.