I thought the cell membrane came first, followed by DNA as a later development which set plant and animal cells apart from bacteria. Yeah, I know, "duh!". So imagine the effect on my silly mind when I learned all about RNA this week.

Before cell membranes there were just polymer chains. complicated molecular robots assembled from the earths ingredients. The process of natural selection began before the cell membrane. These polymer chains replicate themselves by attracting an equivalent opposite chain which is then unzipped by enzymes and acts as a mould. This is the stage which links organic life to the alien mysteries of physics.

The cell membrane is just an advantageous habitat for RNA. Our bodies have DNA, which lounges around in the nucleus and tells the RNA what to do. Before the cell membrane, however, there was just primordial soup. An ecosystem of molecules. Brilliant.

I watched Dead Ringers on telly last night. It's really really good. I'm talking about the David Cronenberg film and not the tepid BBC impressions show. Fans of Crash also have this problem.

The plot is initially confusing until you dig the fact that the twins are interchangeable. Rather than casting actual twins, Cronenberg shoots Jeremy Irons twice. This is often distracting, because little care is taken to mask the fact that one of the on-screen Jeremy Ironses is a stand-in with a wig. However, you can watch the film entirely as if both twins are indeed one person, which is a wish expressed by at least one of them at various points in the film.

Rather than go for the simple twist, where one twin reveals himself to be in fact the other twin at a shocking moment, the film bubbles along ambiguously. The viewer is NEVER sure which Jeremy is which. So it's a film about a divided personality, as well as a shared one.

Cronenberg has this knack of making it seem easy. Just like Peter Greenaway of whose film Z00 this is a remake. Both films are self indulgent. Both are immensely satisfying for it. Z00 is unashamedly arthouse, whereas Cronenburg gives timid viewers the option of reading it as just a slightly pretentious thriller. I think all Cronenberg films are like this. They are accessible enough on their own. But (much like a Cronenbergian monster) they morph together to form a super-destructive arthouse shitstorm.