Canadian artist Yue Wang has an incredible talent for portraits, as a glance through her gallery will quickly reveal. Many of these are superb interpretations of fantasy characters, such as Princess Mononoke, Aragorn and a bunch of videogame protagonists.
Her version of Jessica Rabbit is utterly stunning.
Testing Treatments is a book I heard about (if my memory serves me correctly) by way of Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science blog. He described it as the “best pop science book on Evidence Based Medicine ever,” and I was sufficiently interested to add it to my Amazon wish list. I don’t know how many pop science books on Evidence Based Medicine have been written, but this one is very good indeed.
To quote the blurb:
How do we know whether a particular treatment really works? How reliable is the evidence? And how do we ensure that research into medical treatments best meets the needs of patients? These are just a few of the questions addressed in a lively and informative way in Testing Treatments. Brimming with vivid examples, Testing Treatments will inspire both patients and professionals.
Building on the success of the first edition, Testing Treatments has now been extensively revised and updated. The second edition includes a thought-provoking chapter on screening, explaining why early diagnosis is not always better. Other new chapters explore how over-regulation of research can work against the best interests of patients, and how robust evidence from research can be drawn together to shape the practice of healthcare in ways that allow treatment decisions to be reached jointly by patients and clinicians.
Testing Treatments urges everyone to get involved in improving current research and future treatment, and outlines practical steps that patients and doctors can take together.
What the book does is lay out – very clearly – how new treatments should be evaluated, and how they often are evaluated. The disconnect is surprising and the book strongly advocates patients becoming better informed and asking the questions that should be asked if we are to ensure that research isn’t wasteful or harmful, and that treatments actually meet the needs of those receiving them.
The book, which is available from Amazon or as a free PDF, concludes with an action plan of things you can do to ensure that the treatments you receive are the ones that are right for you. I was tempted to paste that plan into this post, but I do think you need the context of the book to fully appreciate it. So instead, I shall just urge you to treat yourself to a copy. It’s well worth it.
I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.
- Alan Moore on the news that DC has announced a series of Watchmen prequels, blatantly to cash in on that god-awful Zach Snyder film.
I find it difficult to bring myself to care about this. Watchmen is a high watermark of comic storytelling and I don’t see how these cash-ins will be anything other than forgettable and derivative. That said, am would be mildly interested if someone can tell me how on Earth they are going to justify that splotch of blood on Comedian’s mask.
Horror/mystery, The Big Bad is a nightmarishly surreal reworking of Little Red Riding Hood and one that packs a lot into its script. I liked it and can see myself pulling out the DVD again in the future.
If you want more, you can read my full thoughts over on Pulpmovies.
My new favourite fan-art mashup comes from James Hance by way of Boing Boing and puts Tank Girl in the Star Wars universe. I liked it so much I bought the T-Shirt.
Another Pulpmovies update, this time for Shed which is an eight minute horror film. The film sails dangerously close to being torture porn, but saves itself by providing a backstory that pushes you to re-evaluate the characters, and your own assumptions.
Shed is quite painful to watch on occasion but it is also a very powerful film that seeks (successfully) to be a thought provoking, tense short film with horrific ethical and moral overtones.
You can read the full review of the film over here.
According to The Pin-Up Files, Florida based photographer and artist, Al Abbazia, creates pin-ups with a unique twist.
I have always been in love with art. I traded in my charcoal and brushes for a camera and computer five years ago and haven’t looked back.
Here’s looking forward to the summer.
In terms of genre, The Dark Clan are all over the place. Personally, I think this is great but it does make it a little difficult to sum them up, so I shall leave that to Last.fm:
The Dark Clan is a heartbreakingly sincere, over-the-top, genre-bending good time. The music of The Dark Clan is filled with big pop hooks, big fat beats, big vocal harmonies, big guitar solos, and big serious fun.
I first heard about them by way of the Rathole Radio podcast and, on checking their Bandcamp page, discovered that they have a free sampler available. I downloaded it, have been listening to it for most of the week, and am liking it so much that I expect to be splashing out on one of their other albums in the very near future.
(Man With a) Clockwork Heart is still, for me, the high point of their musical output so far but I can’t help feeling that I should go back and listen to Goals again every time I start a new job, or embark on a new (work-related) project.
I watched Chris Witherspoon’s Rage at the weekend and a review for this horror/thriller is now up at Pulpmovies. To say I liked this film would be an understatement – it really is utterly superb.
Rage is tense, disturbing, frightening and surprisingly thoughtful. And you can read my full thoughts on this film here.
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