Day After Tomorrow

[gemfyre]

Human beings are funny little creatures.  There's definitely something about us that sets us apart.  Emotions that make us do stupid, irrational things, for good or bad.

I liked this movie.  It was surprisingly accurate with its info and the special effects were fantastic... except for the wolves, they looked terribly fake and I really want to know what those birds were.

And I liked the implication that Australia is obviously the new superpower - being the only "first world" country in the southern hemisphere (and I'm including NZ in Australia).

Comments

[kungfupony.livejournal.com]

I want to see that movie, too!

[nachtlicht.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm not trying to be snarky. But this movie was laughably NOT accurate. IMO, it was a bunch of propoganda furthered by yes, some spectacular special effects. Here's an article you should read:

http://www.wunderground.com/education/thedayafter.asp

Excerpts:

The formation and evolution of the superstorm as described in The Day After Tomorrow and The Coming Global Superstorm is a meteorological impossibility. Let's summarize just a few of the scientific impossibilities in the movie:


The superstorm sucks vast quantities of frigid upper atmospheric air down to the surface, flash freezing any living thing caught outside. However, any graduate of a high school physics course could tell you that the air would warm on its descent in response to the requirements of the Ideal Gas Law, and would never be able to flash freeze anything. One scientist in the movie does remember his high school physics and asks, "But wouldn't the air warm as it descends?" But the senior scientist replies, "No, it's moving too fast!" Sorry, guy, but the Ideal Gas Law applies no matter how fast the air is moving. If you were on my thesis committee, I'd kick you off.


Clusters of thunderstorms cannot merge together to form a continent-scale blizzard with a calm eye over land. Huge storms with calm eyes can only happen over the oceans. These storms are called hurricanes, and require that the core of the storm be over warm ocean waters in order to utilize the powerful latent heat energy that water vapor gives up when it condenses into rain. And the laws of physics do not allow these type of storms to create blizzard conditions, only heavy rain.


A 300-foot high storm surge whipped up by the intense winds of the superstorm smashes through Manhattan. There's a little problem here--the winds needed to create a storm surge of this magnitude are probably at least twice the speed of sound (1200 mph), yet there is little apparent wind on the ocean's surface as the wave smashes ashore.


The superstorm is shown in many scenes rotating clockwise, and in other scenes counter-clockwise. Oops, all large-scale storm systems in the Northern Hemisphere must rotate counter-clockwise, thanks to one of the laws of physics on a rotating planet called the Coriolis force.


So, enjoy the special effects. Discuss how you wished they'd spent more money showing more special effects instead of showing so much drippy melodrama. Ponder the precautionary nature of the tale as you drive home in your fossil-fuel guzzling vehicle, and take the opportunity to learn more about the science of abrupt climate change-- but don't take the movie seriously. It's science Fiction.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Make sure you see it on the big screen.
Very speccy. :)

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The director deliberatery made events occur much faster than is likely to happen (It possibly COULD occur) but the likelihood is extremely rare. Even before I saw the movie I figured he did this because humans are "now" animals. If it's gonna happen in 100 years most people don't seem to care, but what if it's going to happen tomorrow? Then will you pay attention? ("you" referring to people in general).

I don't know enough about over land supercells to comment on them. However I have been doing a bit of research already because this stuff fascinates me. Things need time to warm, if they are moving fast it still takes a little time for that warmth to penetrate.

I didn't actually notice the differing storm directions in the movie but I have read about it since and it's an obvious blooper. It's an urban myth that Corolis effect works in your toilet, but on that scale it certainly does.

And then of course, that mammoth IS real. It was discovered with buttercups in it's stomach and some people actually ate some of it because it was so well preserved (apparently the meat was a bit dry, but edible). How do buttercups grow one minute (or considering the digestive speed of a mammoth it could be an hour or so, but still). How are they growing there then all of a sudden it's cold enough to flash freeze a mammoth? Nobody knows, we can only theorise.

And even though there are thousands of people who refuse to believe it, global warming (whether caused by Earth's natural cycles and/or human effects) WILL cause weather patterns we have never seen before and kill a lot of creatures, human and otherwise.

Another great book, which for some reason links in to me because it discusses why humans act like they do is a book called "The Spirit In The Gene - Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature" by Reg Morrison - look it up and have a read, interesting (if somewhat depressing) book.

[morninglord.livejournal.com]

he lost me on the wolves....why didnt they freeze instantly solid again? i mean...just why? wolves are super creatures. they're good at surviving in cold, but not the temperatures suggested in the film.

If he's going by that principles then everybody should move to australia. For some reason we are always the last ones left.

[morninglord.livejournal.com]

"Wolves "aren't" super creatures." Not that it makes the sentence sound any more intelligent. ^^

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

It never showed the wolves after the freezing air came down so they probably did snap freeze.

Mmm, new Birdseye snap frozen wolf...