This is really cool. Says Dan:

I have been searching everywhere for a decent image of the little glass birdhouse type knick-knack that Joel looks up at after opening his eyes in the first scene of Eternal Sunshine.

I am trying to get a tattoo of it but am having a really difficult time finding something to bring to my tattoo artist to show him what I want.

I know this is a weird one but anything you could possibly do to help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm gonna do some Googlin'. Meanwhile, if any of you folks can help, that'd be cool.

Kate Winslet was given an honorary Cesar Award in France at their equivalent of the Oscars. Michel Gondry was on hand to help pay tribute and give her the statue. Check out the video below:

As always, I have no idea what Michel is saying. (Plus I was a little bit distracted.) BCK's official translator picked up these phrases: "kitty cat", "career printers", "buttocks" and "boobs." So there we have it. (And when Kate says stuff that I actually can understand, a French translator drowns her out.) Our translator also give the heads up that, in another video, Gondry lets slip that Kate and Carrey did not get along while shooting Eternal Sunshine. Faux pas! Apparently this is an open secret.

Story Charts is a website that sets about "visualizing the structure of a story," using all kinds of nifty charts, graphs, tables and whatnot. Eternal Sunshine is on there (subheaded "Love as Fate and Willing Acceptance"), and it's a doozy. Here's a little sample:

There's a PDF you can download, too.

Thanks to Johnny!

Bit of Eternal Sunshine-esque sciencey news, via the Guardian:

Scientists have picked up fragments of people's thoughts by decoding the brain activity caused by words that they hear.

The remarkable feat has given researchers fresh insight into how the brain processes language, and raises the tantalising prospect of devices that can return speech to the speechless.

Though in its infancy, the work paves the way for brain implants that could monitor a person's thoughts and speak words and sentences as they imagine them. (Source)

More info here.

It's similar to an earlier experiment in which scientists were sort of able to translate images inside a person's mind, and broadcast them on a monitor.

How about a poll, eh? It's not affiliated with BCK, and you won't win anything, but it's Charlie-related (kinda) so that makes me happy, and you shouldn't really need any other reason for doing anything except for "it makes Mick happy."

Focus Features are celebrating their 10th birthday, so on Facebook they're asking people to vote for your 10 favourite Focus Films. Eternal Sunshine is on the list, along with a lot of other cool flicks.

As I type this, Eternal is leading the pack with 10.54% of the votes, followed by Lost in Translation (6.13) and Brokeback Mountain (5.53). HUZZAH!

Thanks to Johnny!

The A.V. Club asked their own staff to name some of their favourite "falling-in-love" movies, and Eternal Sunshine got a mention. If BCK's In box is any indication, it's by far Charlie's most popular film.

Ryan McGee
I'll go for one that is about two people falling back in love at the precise moment that they try and remove any and all feelings for each other. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind has a science-fiction conceit atop a living, breathing, beating heart at the center of its near-future tale. It's nominally about a device that purges painful memories from a patient's mind, but seemingly cannot remove them from the patient's heart. It's told in typically loopy, non-linear fashion through Charlie Kaufman's script and Michel Gondry's direction: We see the estranged couple at the end of their relationship, then work backward to rediscover what they once found so appealing in each other. The movie gives the pair an opportunity to start again, but crucially, doesn't guarantee them a happy ending on their second attempt. And yet the couple gladly takes the unknown journey again together, knowing full well how terribly it ended the first time. There's something thrillingly optimistic about that choice, and in the idea that love isn't something you find once, it's something you can potentially rediscover again and again. (Source)

Thanks to Sarah!

Researchers at Leicester University have been dipping a toe in the increasingly-popular field of Eternal Sunshine-like druggery. Here's the skinny:

University of Leicester researchers identified a protein called lipocalin-2 that the brain produces in response to stress. Lipocalin-2 reduces junctions that brain cells use called "mushroom spines," which help us remember things we once learned. By artificially bumping up the level of the protein, the scientists say they can reduce future anxiety associated with painful memories.

Researcher Dr Robert Pawlak (CORR) said: "Mushroom spines help us remember things we once learned - but it is not always good.

"˜Some very stressful events would better be forgotten quickly or they may result in anxiety disorders. There is a constant battle of forces in our brain to help maintain the right balance of thin and mushroom spines "“ or how much to remember and what better to forget.

"˜We have identified a protein that the brain produces in response to stress in order to reduce the number of mushroom spines and therefore reduce future anxiety associated with stressful events.' (Source)

The folks doing all tis research should have some kind of conference at Montauk, eh? Eh?

That link comes via this Jezebel article, which came via Julie.

This was in the news earlier in the week, so maybe you've already seen it, but if not:

Researchers at UC Berkeley used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and some seriously complex computational models to figure out what images our minds create when presented with movie and TV clips. So far, the process is only able to reconstruct the neural equivalents of things people have already seen, but eventually it might be possible to construct the images people see in dreams and memories. (Source)

On the left, you'll see some everyday clips; on the right, how those clips are seen inside our brains.

THAT'S NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

However! A while ago, scientists hooked a dead fish up to an fMRI (as one does) and managed to detect brain activity while it looked at pictures. So. You know.

Either a) the video above is a little bit awesome and Eternal Sunshiney and also creepy, or b) dead fish can think and are therefore a little bit awesome and also creepy and you might want to re-think your next seafood meal.

This interesting clip from the World Science Festival gives us two stories that show how lousy the human memory really is, and how easily it can be tricked. The first anecdote is about a guy who held onto the memory of an incident that occurred at a birthday party, only to learn that the incident never happened at all; the second story is about a woman who unintentionally confused a TV program with reality and almost sent an innocent guy to jail for rape. (And I think it's bad when I have trouble remembering where I put the remote...)

Meanwhile, in this piece for Scientific American, Greg Boustead points out that your memories aren't reliable, even when they concern dramatic/traumatic events you think are seared into your skull.