Saving Kennedy

What if?Pic courtesy of Hulu

TODAY
It’s April 9th – we just had a weekend of blustery, rainy weather with gray, gloomy skies. My heater was going full-blast this morning. I guess it’s fair considering the 8-week run we just had of unseasonable blue skies. There has to be balance.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Gods must not want me to blog today – my MacBook had 30 minutes of updates to install and then the Starbucks Wi-Fi died. Here at home, my Logitech keyboard just died. I’ll see if I can make do without all my toys.

11.22.63 (Warning – spoiler alert)

In the last 2 months, I watched the 8-part Hulu miniseries 11.22.63. It’s based on Stephen King’s novel and stars James Franco as Jake Epping, a liberal-minded English teacher who discovers a “rabbit hole” – a time-travel portal that takes him back to 1960. Many what-ifs and technical issues are scuttled aside for brevity and artistic license. He appears in 1960 as his 2016 person, an adult still carrying an iPhone.

The premise of the series is that he assumes a new identity, Jake Amberson, and assimilates into Dallas-Fort Worth as a high school English teacher. His hidden agenda is to find out more about Lee Harvey Oswald and prevent the Kennedy assassination. The production values of the series are tremendous; the cars, clothes and musical backdrop take you to the doo-wop era of ducktails and finned cars. Franco is excellent as the addled time traveler. I had several impressions which I’ll list in bullet style – they don’t necessarily fall into any broad categories.

- They have him move to a fictitious Dallas suburb, Jodie Texas. Why was this necessary? DFW has 35 suburbs that would’ve served the purpose and made it more believable.

- In the time travel, the past pushes back against any attempt to change events. This was interesting.. Waiters drop their trays, houses catch fire and cars run off the road as if some force was blocking interference to the past.

- In the course of events, Jake tells both a fellow traveler and a woman he’s courting that he’s a time traveler dispatched to save Kennedy. They believe him and help in his mission. In reality no one would believe that – it would be a one-way ticket to the booby hatch. Poetic license once more I guess.

- (Spoiler!) Jake succeeds in saving Kennedy. Won’t give the hows or whys in case the reader wants to watch this great series. He comes back to the present only to discover a nuclear winter – his home town is a ravaged ghost town being terrorized by post-apocalyptic thugs. He corners one man that he recognizes and using the ruse of amnesia asks him to recount the last 50 years. It seems Kennedy was elected to two terms that were very liberal. He so enraged the radical right that they elected George Wallace in 1968, bringing on a 3rd World War. Wow. This slightly made me think of the current 2016 election, where two Obama terms seem to have generated a lot of angst in the GOP arena. Let’s hope nothing as dire results from that..

CONCLUSION

This series had several twists, turns and plot devices that compelled me to think some “deep thoughts”. Is time travel possible? Can the past be changed and what are the likely outcomes if we play with ultimate destiny? I would recommend this miniseries to anyone who likes history, retro pop culture and science fiction forays into time travel.

© 2016 Snillor Productions

Metropolis Revisited

Robot temptress.. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

TODAY

Today is a crisp, chilly 44 degrees with a deceptively bright, blue sky. Kind of invigorating really as a crowded White Rock suggests. I’m now at Arboretum Starbucks, enjoying my Thanksgiving week off.

CLASSIC SCI-FI

I recently watched a classic sci-fi movie, and actually one considered to be the first feature length film of that genre. Directed by Fritz Lang, Metropolis was filmed in 1925 at Babelsberg Studio in Germany. Considering the year was 1925, some of the special effects are remarkable. The movie, which is silent with captions, even has a fusion of live action and animation that has characterized much later films.

Metropolis took so long to package and edit, it wasn’t released until 1927 at which point talkies had made their debut. The film had elaborate sets and was the most expensive production to that date. It was a commercial-critical dud partly because of its timing. Decades later, the movie was rediscovered for its huge contribution to the sci-fi concept.

The movie depicts a future society in a highly industrialized city (“Metropolis”). Peon factory workers are imprisoned in a subterranean factory setting while a rich elite lives in the ultramodern towers above. It appears (my interpretation) that the workers are cloned offspring of the elite, born to do their bidding. Freder, a scion of the elite falls in love with Maria, a factory wench. Maria also sidelines as an evangelist, urging the workers to seek independence.

Freder’s father has a mad scientist kidnap Maria and project her physical appearance onto a robot creation. Then, the robot is programmed to deceive Maria’s followers, leading them far astray into a life of mindless decadence. I won’t give away the rest of the plot, although it’s safe to say that good wins over evil in the end.

RECEPTION

Critics at the time panned the movie for being a simplistic morality tale (which let’s be honest – it was). Robot Maria’s plunge into decadence had her appearing as an erotic dancer in an adult cabaret. The dance numbers are stunning though some of the facial expressions are comically exaggerated probably owing to a lack of sound as a method of conveyance. The movie seemed to caution against madcap dancing and drinking – even while making it a prominent attraction in the film. The screenplay was written by Lang’s wife, Thea Von Harbou. Her gift of plot structure was not on a par with George Lucas by any means.

TECHIE COOL STUFF

The movie had ultra-modern cityscapes and cars streaming through tubular connected bridges. Freder’s father used video teleconference to reach underlings. The laboratory of the mad scientist had all manner of lightning bolts and energy streams zapping Maria’s visage over to a metallic robot. Some of this is pretty cool even now. I don’t think Star Wars or Total Recall have exceeded the total vision of Fritz Lang circa 1925.

I watched the movie wondering how it played to Weimar Germans of the day, who were still smarting from World War I and flirting with Nazism. The dystopian, monolithic themes must have registered in some way. The Nazi state buildings of the 1930’s almost seem to have the soaring majesty of a Fritz Lang set.

If you have time to kill, this movie is a good way to kill it. One note – the movie was highly censored, edited and even butchered by morality police of the era. Whole sections were cut, so the captions are sometimes paragraphs to explain weird transitions and gaps. Still, it sort of flows. And still, it's a fascinating piece of cinema.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

The Five Pods

The planet next door .. Poster courtesy of Wikipedia

FREAKY FRIDAY

After weeks of drought, we are being deluged with rain today. I’m surprised at how busy everything is. I had to fight for a parking place at Tom Thumb. We Dallasites rise to the challenge of inclement weather!

TO THE MOON

Today’s topic harks back to one of my first blog entries, Destination Moon. In that blog, a main suggestion was to use more robotic devices for a lot of the grunt work – remove the expense of manned shuttles. I still recommend that and have more to elaborate these 10 years later.

AND THE MOON FIRST

There are two Mars initiatives right now – a NASA manned mission for 2035 and a Dutch consortium aiming for a much more ambitious 2024 manned mission. Mars is an 8 month journey away.. Its thin air and arid surface are little more inviting than our moon. The moon is only 240,000 miles away from Earth – a hop and a skip. Were anything to go wrong with lunar supplies or setup, a correction could be on the way in a matter of hours. The moon is completely without air – its challenges are more extreme. All the better to have that be our exploratory playground. If we can conquer the moon, Mars should be a piece of cake with its CO2 atmosphere and water rivulets. Baby steps first – and the Moon is our perfect setting for that.

FIVE PODS

My idea for a lunar colony involves robotic delivery and assembly of piece parts before a human even arrives. The basic infrastructure of the colony is ready and waiting for humans to make it hum as an integral whole. Let me describe briefly the 5 basic “pods” that would need to be landed – these aren’t necessarily order of importance:

ENERGY POD – The energy pod would be either a solar or nuclear powered generator of electrical current to power and control just about everything else.

AIR POD – The air pod would contain copious breathable air in the same mixture as the Earth’s biosphere.

WATER POD – The water pod would contain fresh, drinkable water. The pod would be huge, like a water tower reservoir on Earth.

REQUISITIONS POD – This pod might be the most interesting.. It would contain food, clothes, medicine, building supplies, tools, and just about anything needed by the lunar inhabitants. Its contents would be air and temperature controlled to maintain earth-like quality.

RETURN FUEL POD – This pod, like the H2O pod, would be very large. It would contain thousands of gallons of rocket fuel (also temperature controlled), for return space journeys.

The pods would be robotically landed and assembled. Fuel and food would come last, when the receiving pods were tuned correctly. Obviously the colony would have many other things going on -- landing areas, transmission lines, dormitories etc. But these 5 initial pods would lay the groundwork for everything. The assembly could be done remotely from Texas or Florida. All systems would be “go” before any lives are at stake. Why would I have such elaborate fantasies about a space colony? Because I think we are at a juncture where it could really happen – such ventures might be undertaken for real. If a Mars Rover can take panoramic pictures and soil samples, a Lunar Robot could snap pre-fitted pods and pipes together. Let’s just do it in a logical order – Moon first, pods first. Humans, safely and comfortably, would come next.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Imagining Mars

Mars now - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog entry will delve into “near-term” science fiction.. I speak of the colonization of the planet Mars. I figure that the human race has a few million years to hang around; maybe in that expanse of time we’ll decide to quit killing each other over religion and money. Maybe we’ll decide that territorial dominance, self-aggrandizement and ego expression are less noble than collective, forward endeavors.

We’ve already landed men on the moon, and rovers on Mars. I figure that humans dedicated to the task could colonize and even terraform the red planet if we so desired. It would probably have to be a multinational, consortium project due to the expense. I’d like to divide my conjectures into 3 groupings to help explore the possibilities: Infrastructure, planetary observations, sociopolitical ramifications.

Infrastructure
o Mars would need mega nuclear and solar power plants to juice up the following projects..
o An artificial magnetosphere would be needed to block cosmic rays.
o Aero engineering would be needed to create an artificial nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere.
o Atmosphere would be engineered with extra greenhouse gases to thicken and hold the air.
o Aqua engineering would be needed to import, tap or make water, which would be scarce.
o An elaborate network of tanks, pipes and sprinkling systems would be needed planetwide to provide water for agriculture and human consumption -- all needed for a planet devoid of rivers and lakes.

The Planet Afterwards
o Mars would have a desert climate and water would be recycled obsessively.
o Weather would be mild and pleasant -- it would largely be artificial. Rainfall and atmospheric changes would be as programmable as a shopping mall thermostat.
o Because Mars has no continental drift, and little tectonic activity there would be no mars quakes or tsunamis. There also would be no hurricanes or tornados.
o Martian days have an extra 45 minutes and the year is twice an Earth year … Mars would have to observe a new clock and calendar. Travelers would have a huge jet lag between planets. Mars might be more relaxed, with its lengthened day.
o Because water features (lakes, oceans, rivers) would be nonexistent, Mars would not have a self-sustaining water cycle. It might happen over eons of aqua engineering and planetary sculpting.
o What took 3 billion years of molecular evolution to happen on Earth would happen almost instantly on Mars in a mere thousand years.

Sociopolitical Implications
o Human settlers would play God more than any doctor ever did in a delivery room. Humans would decide where savannas, pine forests, tundras, farms and human settlements would go.
o Like Noah with his ark, humans would select which species of plants and animals to bring over -- zoologists would be in demand.
o The mother of all quarantine situations would exist - bacteria, plants, animals and humans considered to be undesirable on Earth would be sent on an 8 month return trip back to Earth.
o Mars might very well have a peaceful, one-world federation, a world without war.
o Extremist (terrorist, fundamentalist) religions would be nearly absent not necessarily because they are denied but because such countries of origin (in Africa and the Middle East) lack the resources to colonize space.
o Mars, which was lifeless before will now have the most advanced humans, technology and genetically engineered life forms found anywhere.

Mars is an excellent “training” planet in that it’s relatively close and Earth-like. As humans start to excel in Terraform Science we’ll tackle Venus, Europa and other more challenging locales. To be sure, humans will not be creating life -- we’ll merely be extending the intelligent life processes that are already at work here. With forethought and planning, we can create a garden planet where human and animal rights are respected. Biodiversity and environment will also be respected -- Mars’ near-term survival will require it.

Is this all a pipe dream? Of course it is, but I think we might rebuild the technical momentum we had in years before. Humans are in a holding pattern right now -- with materialism and cultural turf wars. If even one group can break free away from the myopic nastiness of “self” we can venture boldly forth into the final frontier.

© 2013 blogSpotter

Mind Odyssey

Exploring the moon and the ultimate meaning of life - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Stanley Kubrick

Before reviewing 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’d like to briefly mention the director, Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick was a cinematic mastermind who left a small, but outstanding legacy of movies in markedly different categories – Lolita, Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining. The son of a Jewish doctor in Brooklyn NY, Kubrick was a modest, unpretentious young man and is said to have been a mediocre student grade-wise. In a bio passage similar to other super-accomplished people (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs), Kubrick was restless in school – he quit NY City College after less than one year. He became a well-known photographer and from there he phased into making films. He was known as a stern perfectionist in his later directing career. He would require sometimes 50 takes of one scene – he incurred the ire of many actors due to that. He’s generally considered one of the greatest film directors of all time and many of his movies rank in top indexes for various film institutions and critics. He’s considered one of the lucky, “unfettered” directors who held almost total artistic control of his projects while getting the financial backing of major producing studios. He was also a workaholic who is described by peers as working himself to death at age 70, on Eyes Wide Shut.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I watched 2001 on Apple TV last night. The last time before that was in 1969 at the Air Force Academy Theater when I was 11. I have to admire the fact that I could grasp some of what was happening at age 11 – an adult RTF / Philosophy major might have trouble deciphering the final scenes of the movie.

Act I

The movie was delivered in a quiet tone with little dialog and stunning classical music as a backdrop in several scenes. It basically plays out in 3 “Acts”. In Act One, prehistoric ape men stumble upon an alien monolith – a black rectangular box planted by a superior civilization. They touch it and suddenly acquire the knowledge to make tools, and also war. The first act just covers this one phenomenon but it sets the stage for subsequent appearances of monoliths.

Act II

Act Two is really the main body of the movie and is truly enthralling. What I like is the “near-term” sci-fi it conveys. There aren’t yet any Death Stars or Starship Enterprises. It shows humans making regular space plane flights to a permanent lunar city, Clavius. It shows lunar buses, space meals, interplanetary phone calls and mundane activities as they might really play out in a few decades. The writers ambitiously thought we might have reached this technology point by 2001 – a scant 3 decades from when the movie was made. Humans are way too selfish, self-involved and disorganized to do anything so grand, so soon. We do have iPhone 4 which gives us Facetime – that’s about the closest contrivance we have. Else, 2011 looks depressingly similar to 1968 when the movie was made. In fact, our NASA program is being gutted as we speak. Let’s hope that Richard Branson gets his Virgin Air “space port” up and running some day soon.

But I digress – back to our synopsis. In Act Two it’s revealed that a monolith (identical to what we saw in Act One) has been found on the moon, near Clavius. It’s clearly been planted by an alien intelligence and is sending a strong radio signal to Jupiter. Two young astronauts are sent on a mission to Jupiter to see what’s at the other end of the signal. They’re on an advanced ship which is piloted and monitored by the amazing HAL 9000 supercomputer (called “Hal”). The writers imbued HAL with human motives and emotions – something we are nowhere near at the moment. HAL becomes suspicious that the astronauts intend to unplug him. This is justifiable – they are. They think that HAL is making some wrong calls, technically. HAL preemptively (and vindictively) removes life support for the 3 hibernating astronauts on board. He cuts off oxygen to Astronaut Frank who’s on a space walk. This leaves Astronaut Dave as the sole human survivor, in an outside space pod. Dave outmaneuvers HAL and slips back into an open portal. He summarily disconnects HAL's circuits causing HAL to sound drugged and dying as he sings “Daisy” – a test tune he was initially programmed with. Dave assumes command and successfully guides the ship to Jupiter.

Act III

Act Three is so bizarre, I can synopsize it a little but not a lot. Even Kubrick said that the 3rd act might mean one of several things to the viewer. The space ship encounters another monolith orbiting Jupiter. The monolith directs the spaceship into a “Star gate” or “Worm hole” depending on who does the telling. You see the ship race though a strange series of brightly colored, shifting landscapes. Dave loses consciousness and upon awakening his pod has landed in an elegant, surreal luxury hotel room. Here I’ll recount what I thought I saw … He sees an old version of himself eating at a table, dropping a wineglass on the floor. He appears to merge into this older self, who is aging in a matter of seconds. He’s next lying on a death bed, looking at a monolith that’s appeared before him in the bedroom. A beam connects Dave to the monolith and suddenly Dave is transformed into the “Star Child” – a giant embryo floating in space next to the Earth.

Conclusion

2001 was based on a short story, The Sentinel, by renowned sci-fi writer Arthur C Clark. Clark was a pantheist who thought that what we see as God might in fact be a superior civilization that started out like us and achieved a bodily form of “pure energy” over millions of eons. Kubrick was on a similar page with Clark and favored sci-fi allegories over conventional religious stories. I, the blog author, don’t really understand what is meant by terms such as star child or pure energy. I can’t officially join a bandwagon which bandies what to me is nonsensical jargon. I’m open to new ideas and interpretations – maybe at some future point I’ll become enlightened about Clark’s ideas but maybe not.

2001: A Space Odyssey is considered the absolute best sci-fi movie ever made by many enthusiasts. Acts One and Three will possibly elude you – they may even bore you at points. But Act Two is stunning for the incredibly elaborate, realistic technology props. Some of these were actually custom-created by a British aircraft company. I have to count myself as an avid fan of such a dramatic, thought-provoking movie.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Beyond the Planet of the Apes

Now entering the Forbidden Zone - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
This past week I watched a movie which can only be described as a guilty pleasure – Beneath the Planet of the Apes. It’s the 1970 sequel to 1968’s seminal, highly acclaimed Planet of the Apes, based on Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel. The original movie was well-structured and conveyed some important messages about human arrogance and technology run amok. You might think it should be left alone, intact with its Academy award for ape costumes and all its thought provoking monkey business.

In fact, Apes spawned a business, media empire – 4 sequels, a comic book, a TV show and (very recently) a prequel “reboot” called Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This is a healthy franchise that will live forever; it rivals Star Wars in its staying power. Who knew that such a role reversal would have such a hold on us? There have been various spins placed on Apes … some liken the simian masters to the primal essence of humans (maybe a devolving of humans back into apehood?). In some ways this would hark back to King Kong of the 1930’s, where Kong was symbolic of a masculine, human id. Others have perceived a racist bent in Apes – maybe apes were used as a substitute for a race or nationality. I never really saw that angle myself.

Whatever the case may be, the first sequel, Beneath, is laughable. It involves the discovery of a race of subterranean, mutant humans. They inhabit the ancient Queensboro subway station and worship an undetonated nuclear warhead as God. I won’t give away what happens (does it matter?) but the chief impression I carry away is that the movie’s budget had to be in the thousands, not millions. The special effects are comically crude – fire that looks like orange cellophane and lightening that looks like something a kid might scrawl with a white crayon. Aspects of the movie remind me of Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space. The mutants look like current day Teletubbies and the actors are robbed of all dignity – how many careers must this movie have squelched?

I think that if you must go from the sublime to the ridiculous, you could do better than this. Much in the tradition of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, we should have Beyond the Planet of the Apes. In this sequel, a 3rd space ship lands in the Forbidden Zone. Astronaut Scott Smith strays into ape territory; he’s captured and brought in for observation by Zira the zoologist chimp. But Scott sees something in Zira’s eyes – a soul connection that transcends species. Zira feels the same. Scott and Zira escape (and elope) but not without enraging PETA and the Ape equivalent of Moral Majority. Because of their bestial love, they must run to the Forbidden Zone (double entendre is unavoidable). They stumble into the old subway station at Rockefeller Center. Here they discover a race of ape-humans who are very accepting of alternative lifestyles and who embrace the performing arts. At this point … the author is momentarily out of ideas – he needs a Starbucks refill.

The reader may email me with ideas of how to finish it, or give me guidance in the comment section of this blog. I feel that my Beyond version has as much validity as Beneath. Furthermore, the special effects would be minimal. It could be done for pennies and maybe be up for some musical awards. Will wrap this up by saying I have utmost respect for the original novel and its premise. I’m all the more thankful that we have these fertile imaginations – to take cinematic gold and turn it into unintended comedy gold.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Forbidden Planet Revisited

C57-D Landing on Altair IV - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
At the late night, double feature, picture show
Science Fiction Double Feature, RHPS

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148-158

Science Fiction is a hugely popular movie genre here in America… Star Trek and Star Wars are probably the two franchises that people really savor. Every sequel and prequel is endlessly dissected by fans worldwide. As good as they are, my personal favorite sci-fi movie is 1956’s mesmerizing Forbidden Planet. This movie pioneered several things and is considered by many enthusiasts to be the progenitor of those that came after.

Forbidden Planet is about the mystery-shrouded planet Altair IV, 16 light years from Earth. An American space crew aboard starship C57-D are dispatched to find out what happened to a crew that disappeared on Altair 20 years prior. The planet is compatible to Earth life and resembles Arizona with a violet sky. It’s inhabited by Dr. Morbius the lone survivor of the prior mission, his robot Robby and his beautiful daughter Altaira.

It seems that Dr. Morbius discovered and befriended an advanced Altairian civilization, the Krell, and he even mastered much of their advanced technology. The Krell were destroyed by their own inventions and more secrets unfold about Morbius’ own complicity in the events that transpired. The Krell invention is called a “plastic educator” and it can actually transform thoughts (fantasies) into realities. It’s the ultimate King Midas touch with equally amazing albeit disastrous consequences.

Forbidden Planet is said to be a sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Tempest was one of Shakespeare’s last plays and arguably one of the best. The Tempest features a remote island instead of a planet and sorcery in place of advanced technology. Shakespeare probably lifted The Tempest from a Greek play thus giving credence to the late John Lennon’s famous quip, “All songs are plagiarized”.

Forbidden Planet was the first sci-fi movie entirely removed from Earth, featuring a starship. It’s also the first sci-fi movie to have an advanced, electronic musical score. Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame says he was directly influenced by Forbidden Planet and even used it as the basis for a couple of episodes. Robby the Robot cost a then unheard-of $125,000 to build. Both Robby and the spectacular sets were reused in other productions such as Invisible Boy and Twilight Zone. Walt Disney loaned out one its best animators to create the subterranean Krell city which even by 21st century standards is spectacular.

A young Leslie Nielson plays the role of Captain John Adams, quite serious and deadpan as a leading man. (No hint of the Naked Gun to come). Anne Francis is beautiful and Walter Pidgeon is unequaled as the complex Dr. Morbius. Forbidden Planet mixes action, adventure, romance and mystery into a potent, sci-fi cocktail. There’s a parable quality to it all, and we have to wince as Altair IV implodes upon itself in the end. We all will likely say the same thing -- we’re potentially the Krell. Do we risk imploding ourselves with technology miracles that become untethered from ethical standards? Do we unleash forces with no forward vision about the human nature that underlies it?

If looking for your next sci-fi thrill, get a copy of this movie. You’ll be enchanted by the purple sky, Morbius’ ultra-modern 50’s Altaira space abode, the Krell super city, the beautiful movie cast, and most of all -- the overriding message that we probably need to conquer ourselves in the process of conquering any new frontier.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Socially Relevant Sci-fi

Wikus bullies the "prawns" -- Picture courtesy of Key Creatives

by blogSpotter
District 9 has been done to death in a recent rash of movie magazine reviews. I can toss in my own layperson views, although I don't know that I can approach the insights of Time or Entertainment Weekly. I went to see D9 last weekend at the urging of various geek friends. Geek by the way has expanded in meaning -- it really includes anyone who likes high tech gadgets or sci-fi pop culture. Doesn’t have to be an unfashionable nerd by necessity anymore.

I digress from this interesting sci-fi, socio-commentary that was directed and written by 29 year-old newcomer Neill Blomkamp. D9 is set in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa. In this story, it seems that an alien space ship has been stalled over the city for some 25 years. The crustacean-like aliens (derisively called “prawns” by humans) have become ill from space toxins and waylaid helplessly. They’re rounded up and held in a detention camp called District 9. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is a human field operative charged with evicting the prawns to a more secure environment called District 10.

Wikus is a likable, blustery, over self-confident man unaware of the dangers involved -- he’s in way over his head. In one home raid, he handles a cylinder full of alien “fluid” and becomes infected. This begins a bizarre process whereby he starts to mutate from human to alien. When his fellow humans see what’s happened, they see him as no longer human -- they want to harvest his organs and use him for ghastly experiments.

At this point, the hunter becomes the hunted and Wikus forms a necessary bond with one of the more in-the-know prawns. It turns out that this prawn was the ship engineer and knows how to restore Wikus to human form -- if Wikus will help him recover the fluid cylinder and reconnect with the hovering mother ship. I will leave the synopsis here to avoid spoiling the ending. The movie is fascinating in the way it turns the mirror on ourselves. The prawns look surprisingly decent and moral; the humans look greedy, manipulative and blood-thirsty by comparison. In some ways, the treatment of the aliens calls to mind the Nazi experiments of Dr. Mengeles.

I hyperbolically told a friend it’s “the best sci-fi movie ever”. Upon reflection, there is probably a roster of movies that could contend for that title. But District 9 is certainly in the running. Note -- for a “low-budget” 30 million dollar movie, there are spectacular special effects. And this low-budget sleeper already surprised the honchos of the entertainment industry by bringing in $37,000,000 its first weekend. Not bad for a first foray by the extremely young director, Mr. Blomkamp.

© 2009 blogSpotter

WALL*E Tells Us About Ourselves

Rogue Robots -- Picture courtesy of Pixar

by blogSpotter
This weekend I was under the weather so stayed in and watched a lot of movies. One that I watched is Pixar’s WALL*E about a lone (and lonely) sanitation engineering robot. The movie is set far in the future – where Earth has been horribly polluted and trashed up by an over-consuming society. The humans have fled to a giant mothership (called Axiom) while waiting for robots to clean and de-pollute the Earth for rehabitation.

WALL*E has Pixar’s stunning detail and beauty – it’s what we’ve come to expect from Pixar. But it has an allegory built in that many adults could stand to see and appreciate. The humans have been living on the Axiom for 700 years. The Axiom is a giant citadel spaceship with fabulous food and amenities for its inhabitants. It looks like a giant futuristic resort hotel inside a humongous space ship. The humans have been ship-bound and weightless for so long, they’ve become inactive and dependent on robot servants. Their bones have atrophied, their bodies have become large and doughy and most of them can’t even walk anymore, they ride around on air scooters.

A certain perniciousness becomes apparent – the humans all have floating hi-def TV screens in front of their faces. They’ve lost touch with each other. They’re barraged with junk food ads and most are chowing down on shakes or fries while they succumb to the pleasant blandness of TV commercials. It turns out that the robot pilots have slowly fattened and seduced the humans into complacency, with no intention of ever returning to Earth.

I won’t say what all happens (you could safely guess a happy ending and the good guys win). What amazed me about the Axiom society was how much it resembles Dallas in 2008 – all they did was push it to an extreme. Axiom featured a megalomaniacal corporation called “Buy and Large” playing a major role in the polluting of Earth, necessitating the cleanup. I challenge people to watch this movie and NOT see a family member among the humans depicted.

Of course the robots are highly humanized and adorable. Walle and Eve (Eve is the bio resurgence detection robot) make a cute couple at the movie’s finale. Pixar even did the impossible and they made a cockroach (Walle’s pet) extremely cute. For any number of reasons – sci-fi gadgetry, fattened space humans and cute cockroaches, WALL*E is an allegory well worth seeing for people of all ages.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Blade Runner Redux

Ultimate cliff-hanger -- Picture courtesy of Warner Bros.

by blogSpotter
Once in a while a movie comes along that becomes a cultural touchstone and a benchmark. Such movies will be endlessly dissected and offered for comparison. If you’re a movie buff like me, and have failed to see one of these movies, you feel left out of the conversation. The movie of which I now speak is Blade Runner, a 1982 sci-fi thriller that broke the ground in several respects.

Director Ridley Scott says the film is his greatest achievement, and he has to be right. I watched it for the first time this weekend on my Apple TV. I saw the 1992 director’s cut that’s been digitally remastered. With only minor anachronisms (an Atari ad, low-res digital prints), the movie could’ve been made yesterday.

Blade Runner is set in Los Angeles of 2019, and deals with a small uprising of human-looking extraplanetary slave robots (replicants) who’ve returned to Earth. They hope to be reprogrammed to experience full human emotions and extend their lifespans beyond 4 years; they also want to take over the humans who made them. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckerd, a special detective (“blade runner”) hired to “retire” (i.e. kill) the uprising replicants. I won’t elaborate much further in case a reader wants to see this movie.

What makes this movie a ground-breaker? The film is considered the first in the “neo-noire” category which blends the eerie, sepia-toned ambience of 1940’s film noire with a grim, industrial future. Much of the film is cast in tones of brown, black and blue – steam comes from building vents while rain falls lightly on the pavement. There are garish flashes of color when the camera pans over a futuristic Chinatown, where bubble cars float past fish markets and all-you-can-eat buffets. There are odd overlays of future and past (a 1959 Chrysler Imperial drives by) which adds to all the weirdness.

There are at least 3 movies (or movie franchises) that owe a huge debt to Blade Runner for both style and content:

o The Matrix – this movie deals with machine uprisings in a quasi-apocalyptic future
o The entire Batman series starting with the 1989 movie – the Gotham city envisioned by Burton has to have been influenced by Blade Runner.
o Blue Velvet – I thought that David Lynch’s vision of a superhuman (or inhuman), psycho killer lurching through an abandoned apartment building was novel in 1986; it was done to perfection by Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner. You say, “other movies before that had psycho chase scenes”. Well, not quite like this.

In watching this movie, I was spell-bound by everything, not the least of which is the eerie background music. Also this movie has a highly charged erotic moment where Deckerd tells Rachael, a replicant, to say “kiss me”. She says, “I’m not programmed to say that”. He insists, and the replicant finally does as commanded. Apparently something overcomes her replicant status (overpowering love? New circuitry?). It was pointed out earlier that Rachael was a “newer model” that featured realistic memories and emotions – apparently so.

In sum, Blade Runner is an outstanding movie. The American Film Institute named it the 97th greatest movie of all time. Rent the 2007 remastered edition and find out why.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Deep Space with William Shatner

Resistance is futile -- Picture courtesy of Thomas Dunne Books

by blogSpotter
I just finished listening to William Shatner's autobiography, Up Till Now. I'm interested in Shatner as an actor in general, and not just as the commander of the Enterprise. But -- I do have some Trek trivia below. Shatner grew up in a religiously observant Jewish family, in Montreal, Quebec. His father was a clothing manufacturer and his mother was a homemaker. Shatner received a business degree from McGill University in '52, and broke his dad's heart by saying he wanted to be an actor. Dad assumed that Billy would follow him in the clothing trade.

Shatner started out selling tickets and managing a dinner theater; from there he managed to transition into some acting roles. He joined the Montreal Shakespeare company after a bit and landed a role in Henry V. He says that in one show he actually forgot his lines and had to have them whispered from the stage hand. His delivery this night was halting and full of pauses – the critics loved it and thought it was deliberate. Later in Star Trek, the same halting style emerged as he struggled to remember lines – again interpreted by audiences as deliberate drama. It very nearly became his signature style.

Kirk did any acting role he could get. He was on Playhouse 90, Twilight Zone and many other 60’s shows. He played cowboys, psychos, villains and many other roles. He had no particular interest in science fiction or space when he was tapped to play Captain Kirk in Star Trek at age 35. The role was first offered to Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord but they demanded too much money. Shatner thought the role was too serious, so they decided to lighten up the role for contrast with Spock. Nimoy and Shatner had a tepid relationship at first but grew to be friends later on. Both were Jewish men who could relate to their characters’ treatment as outsiders.

In the 90’s, various cast members wrote bios where they’d say how they “hated Shatner”. Shatner apologizes in his own book for being an egomaniac control freak – didn’t mean to be. In later years, Shatner had much fun reliving his role and interacting with Trekkies. He even wrote a sci-fi series, Tek Wars, that garnered a lot of publicity. To publicize Tek Wars, Shatner did a stint of professional wrestling. Don’t ask how these relate, they really don’t. Shatner’s other career highlights have been TJ Hooker, the Giant Head on 3rd Rock, priceline.com spokesman, and an Emmy-winning role as Denny Crane on Boston Legal.

Shatner has been married 3 times, including a very troubled 2nd marriage to an alcoholic woman who drowned in their backyard pool. He says it was the greatest personal devastation he ever had to deal with. Overall, Shatner is a delight to listen to – he is witty, irreverent and completely spontaneous. He’s abundantly willing to look silly or have fun at his own expense. One must note – his music albums Transformed Man and Has-Been are serious efforts, no laughing allowed. Also, he will not disclose whether he’s wearing a toupee; it’s for the reader to find out.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Fermi Revisited

Enrico Fermi, a man of many thoughts -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I haven't written a blog that was really "out there" for a while, so I thought I'd broach a science topic. This one is a little past mixed with future.

Enrico Fermi was a Nobel Prize winning Italian physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He was a brilliant quantum theorist; he immigrated to New York in the late 1930's due to the rise of Mussolini and threats against academic freedom. Also his wife was Jewish and they feared for the whole family's safety. In America, he made many great contributions -- Time magazine ranked him as one of the 20 greatest scientists in the 20th century. Tragically, Fermi died at 53 from stomach cancer contracted in experiments with radio active material. One of Fermi's most celebrated contributions is more in the domain of pop culture than hard science. In 1950, Fermi originated "Fermi's Paradox" -- a speculation about other intelligent life in the universe.

FERMI'S PARADOX

Basically it says, "Why aren't they here". Fermi postulates that if intelligent life was a natural, random occurrence anywhere in the universe there surely would've been other planets that preceded us in establishing advanced civilization. These advanced civilizations would surely have developed interstellar space flight; even with current speed/technology limitations it seems we would've seen their spaceships cavorting around us. But we haven't. Why not? Various naysayers have challenged Fermi's assumptions. Maybe they exist in a different "fold" of space-time, maybe they don't look like anything familiar, etc. In spite of others' objections I think Fermi had a point, and I could embellish it with my own speculation.

BLOGSPOTTER'S PARADOX

An advanced civilization (let's say, 1 million years advanced beyond us) would probably not limit itself to interstellar flight. It would probably engage in planetary engineering whereby whole solar systems could be manipulated, even manufactured for the service of intelligent life. We would not only see their space ships flying by, we'd see their artificial, macro-planetary structures through telescopes. Much as putative Martians could infer earth intelligence based on buildings, highways and power lines, we could infer a distant intelligence based on symmetrically aligned planets, non-spheroid objects and other evidence of intelligent tinkering. But ... we don't see any of that. At best, we've seen a couple of planets circling distant stars in what might be a "life belt". But we have no real evidence, no stirrings of life in any of these places.

THEY'RE ALREADY HERE

BlogSpotter will put forth another speculation and this one is really out there. It's more to kick around and abuse than really take as a concrete idea:

The Earth itself is a portal for intelligence (all intelligence) within the universe. Somehow, any creature which achieves a certain level of organization and self-awareness finds itself here. Thus you have creatures that look alien right here among us -- insects in particular. Viruses, bacteria any manner of biotic entities -- end up in Earth's bionosphere. The idea is that planet Earth is somehow a collection point, maybe a sought-after destination for sentient beings. The obstacles of space and time might be overcome by a sci-fi contrivance, maybe a worm hole. I have not a shred of proof for any of this, but it would be the making of a good sci-fi story.

In all seriousness, it looks like Earth is the only planet where life is happening. Maybe it is a gateway, a portal of sorts and we have yet to figure out why. I do think there are other possibilities. Some Fermi critics said, "Maybe you're not looking for the right sign -- your criteria is too limited". There is some merit to that. I can close by saying "Something's afoot" but I have the humility to say I don't know what, how or why. I'm not going to make up a story or concoct a religion to explain any of it, unless there are royalties involved. :-)

© 2008 blogSpotter

The Iron Man Cometh

The Iron Man shines a light ... -- Picture courtesy of Marvel Studios

by blogSpotter
This weekend, I had the occasion to see Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. in the title role. Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, a multimillionaire playboy who heads up a high tech weapons company, Stark Industries. I won’t go into the whole synopsis, but suffice it to say that Stark gets caught up in fighting Middle East terrorists as well as corporate intrigue at home. He sustains a serious injury in one foray, with shrapnel to his heart; he’s also taken captive by the Afghan terrorists. The terrorists provide Stark a high tech lab in hopes of getting his Jericho missile secrets. A fellow captive named Yinsen is a medical and technical genius who fashions a super battery-powered magnet that holds Stark’s heart together. Together they also figure out how to hook the heart to a metal suit that gives Stark his Iron Man super powers. I won’t rehash the rest, Iron Man enthusiasts probably know what all to expect. I do have some observations about the genre which I find amusing.

The AMC Theater was filled to capacity for an 8PM showing; a greater percentage of the audience was male. In fact, this movie is the ultimate guy movie and seems to garner more interest than Spiderman, Batman and the Incredible Hulk combined. Where women fantasize about becoming princesses (Pretty Woman, My Fair Lady), men seem to fantasize about transforming into super tough fighting machines. I think what gives Tony Stark extra appeal is that he’s presented as an ordinary man. His powers could be exhibited by anyone who dons his rocket powered gold-titanium suit. (“Hey dude, it could really happen!”). Stark is loosely based on Howard Hughes, the legendary “Spruce Goose” millionaire. Stark is also shown as all too human in his suitless state – a womanizing alcoholic. He does have a faithful, leggy assistant named Pepper, played to perfection by Gwyneth Paltrow. They have a sexual tension all throughout, which finally is somewhat acknowledged.

TEETERING HIGH HEELS

Iron Man plays by the action movie rules, and admirably so. In a couple of scenes, Pepper is in a frantic hurry. In one scene, she’s running from the demonic Obadiah (played by Jeff Bridges). In another scene she’s rushing about the lab hoping to forestall a disaster. In all scenes, she is wearing six inch high heels that would almost be challenging for lesser girls to wear for a casual stroll. She’s a faithful blonde Girl Friday who stands by her genius man but doesn’t try to fathom his deep ideas.

DELL versus APPLE

Apparently Satan uses a Dell. In a couple of scenes, it’s made apparent that Stark uses Apple iMacs for his genius work. When Pepper sneaks into Obadiah’s office to investigate something, it’s made apparent that Obadiah, the evil villain uses a late model Dell with a Dell brand flat screen. All of this confirms what I already suspected from the Apple commercials – that the cool and the virtuous use Apple hardware. I do think it’s funny that in so many movies and TV shows, Apple computers are prominently displayed. Not complaining mind you – I the virtuous blog author am typing this on an iMac Mini.

CONCLUSION

This movie was thoroughly enjoyable, although with more of a wink and a smile from my particular perspective. I don’t see the Iron Man suit being perfected by military intelligence any time soon, and I don’t have any fantasies about increasing my powers with rocket legs and bazooka arms. If you had that suit available right now, I would not put it on – on my first test flight I’d probably smack into a wall at 400 mph. But for guys who like the aforementioned movie ingredients, Iron Man is a must see. There might even be some girls that come along for the ride, if only to get footwear ideas from Pepper, the sexy assistant.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Tomorrow Started?

Has it happened before? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

I’m sitting in the North Park Starbucks on a Friday day off. Am amazed at the number of working age people (no students, no retirees) who are here. How do you join that elite group outside of being self-employed or unemployed? Earlier, an entire middle school class was herded into the AMC Theaters for some kind of Earth Day movie. My teachers never took me to a fun shopping mall for a field trip. I got to see an electricity plant and a computer parts factory – they suffer in the comparison to North Park which offers Abercrombie and Mrs. Fields Cookies.

None of this has to do with today’s title, “Tomorrow Started” -- a 1980’s new wave song title by the group Talk Talk that has always intrigued me. The album featuring that song, It’s My Life, has cover art that shows puzzle pieces with various animals falling out of the sky. What to make of all that? Maybe it does nothing other than provoke the thoughts of an over-caffeinated blog writer. 

Has tomorrow already started? Or does time flow relentlessly from past to future? There are some interesting aspects to the question. Some physicists claim that if you were incredibly small and could enter a black hole, you could go back in time. At 200 earth pounds, I’m too big for this earth scale much less that scale. According to Einsteinian physics, space and time are on some kind of continuum – perhaps manageable by some technological genius. 

A favorite argument against time travel is that we’d be seeing visitors from the future gallivanting around earth as tourists visiting the early 21st century. While here, you think they might also impart the cure to cancer, or an effective design for a nuclear –powered automobile. But nay, we only see our humdrum present with its humdrum possibilities. There is one loose thread here … the visitor might satisfy the above-mentioned criterion – small enough to enter a black hole. Thus it’s here, but so incredibly tiny that we fail to see it. For that matter it might need some incredible telescopic powers to see us.

Does intelligent complexity necessitate a particular size, scale or dimension? As anthro-centric humans, we fairly assume that an intelligent being would be made of organic molecules, be our scale of size and have a DNA blueprint. We are certainly an example where that’s the case, but are we proof that it’s always the case? I’ve never followed Star Trek episodes, but I know they must’ve covered this. 

I’m skipping the refill here at Starbucks. I’m too shaken up by the possibilities. There’s a chance, however small and beyond bizarre that Talk Talk is on to something…. Tomorrow Started. It might also mean that yesterday is approaching. Let’s try not to think about that too much, unless we can choose which yesterdays to relive.

© 2008 blogSpotter

Aliens Among Us

Aliens on the approach? -- Picture courtesy of Columbia Pictures and EMI

by blogSpotter
I just watched a movie, Steven Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi opus Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Close Encounters is probably one of the most important, seminal movies with regard to the cinematic depiction of aliens and UFO’s. Notably, Encounters shows aliens as benign curious creatures where earlier movies showed portrayed them as warlike invaders.

Previous filmmakers didn’t have problems with the illogic of matching the war-making abilities of 20th humans against that of aliens capable of bending space-time to get here from somewhere else. Another logical nit that seems to be irrelevant even in most sci-fi movies is that this superior intelligence would need to be so furtive – it does fly-bys in remote locations, seldom ever landing or presenting itself. The closest solar system to ours is light years away; it’s unlikely that our cosmic interlopers wouldn’t land for a rest stop. If these aliens could conquer the fabric of space-time, they probably wouldn’t be coy about showing themselves to early 21st century humans who still haven’t cured cancer, achieved world peace or progressed beyond fossil fuel-powered vehicles. Close Encounters advances admirably beyond this sci-fi impasse -- these aliens put on a light show, play an intergalactic concerto and step out of the mother ship to engage in sign language diplomacy. I have to mention though, that even in this movie the landing is shrouded in secrecy at a remote site in front of mostly military personnel.

It's not just the filmmakers that pique my curiosity. I'm taken by the the passion of sci-fi fans (now or then) desperately wanting to socialize with aliens -- not contemplating whether the encounter would be a friendly one. In human history, when one culture meets another, the technologically superior side will just about always conquer and subsume the less advanced culture.

I had a friend a few years back that followed sci-fi and loved alien stories. I asked him, given the mountain of logical evidence against it, why so many people gravitate towards the idea of alien visits. He suggested that it’s another form of seeking God or afterlife, a striving to make sense of life and find something bigger than us. All of that makes sense and yet I want my “story” to make sense too. Dr. J Allen Hynek, the UFO expert who advised Spielberg in 1977, said that “alien” is probably not the right word. The creatures he conjured are almost omnipresent and deeply familiar with us, their subjects. If Hynek wants to postulate that there is more dimensionality, more than meets the eye with Earth life I’m on board. But this intelligence didn’t get here in a flying saucer, nor does it have almond-shaped eyes – my admitted prejudice. I’ll stop there and let the reader take it where he or she will.

Back to Close Encounters… I saw this movie when it first came out, when I was 19. I completely forgot that Dreyfuss’ character flirts with another woman (outside of his crumbling marriage) who shares his alien obsessions. I also forgot about the pilgrimage to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming or the partial government cover-up. How many other movies and TV shows (e.g., X Files) owe a debt to this movie? It basically got the alien ball rolling, as we know it today. Even if you don’t buy the sci-fi premise, the acting and special effects are superb. Check out a copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind today and find out why the U.S. National Film Registry has preserved this film as one of extreme cultural significance.

© 2008 blogSpotter