Earlier today, December 8th 2010, SpaceX successfully launched their Dragon space capsule into orbit. After two orbits, apparently without and flaws, they de-orbited the craft and brought it down for a soft landing in the pacific ocean.
I think this is the first time a private enterprise spacecraft has flown to orbit and back. SpaceX, and companies like SpaceX, (such as Xcor) are the pioneers of a bold new tomorrow.
I salute them and sheer their victory today!
Commander J.J. Adams has got problems. Firstly, he’s in command of 18 highly-competitive physically perfect specimens of manhood who have been cooped up inside a tiny spaceship for 370 days. Next, the twenty members of the Bellerophon expedition he has been sent to relieve are all, save one, dead. Slaughtered by a mysterious and unstoppable entity. The sole survivor the enigmatic Dr. Morbius refused to divulge the secrets of the ancient and dead world orbiting Altair. If all that wasn’t enough, Commander Adams finds himself competing with his own First Officer for the affection of Morbius’ beautiful and intelligent daughter, Altaira.
Forbidden Planet is truly one of the great films of Science-Fiction. I selected it as my Sunday Night Movie to honor the passing of it’s star, Leslie Nielson . (see action pose to the left, and thanks to Forbidden Planet’s The Daily Planet for the image.) If you are 30 or under it is likely that you know Leslie Nielson only as a talent comedic actor, but that was his second career as an actor. From the 50’s through the 70’s Leslie Nielson was primarily a dramatic actor. Forbidden Planet is one of his first leading man roles and he was selected to be a dashing, romantic lead. That said, he found moments in the script where is comic timing could come to the fore.
This is a movie about power, the corruption of power, and how that corruption can take place even with the best and noblest of intentions. It is a warning that the powers of a god does not make a god. A warning that all of us have a nasty dark and dangerous side that is best kept chained in the basement of our minds.
The script is dated and there is no mistaking that this was a story and characters populated in the 1950s. It might take place in the year 2500 or something, but the culture and the characters are pure Americana in the mid 1950s. That said it is still one of the handful of SF films that I would urge all serious fans of the genre see. The story is still compelling, the science is still spot-on and the vision still bold .
If you watch this movie you might feel flashbacks to the original series of Star Trek and that would be understandable. Gene Roddenberry’s show was clearly following in the footsteps on this film. This is one of the pivotal movies influscing film and Tv producers until today.
Every now and then someone tries to get this remade, and in my opinion that is a bad idea. Last I heard there were considering a three picture remake, ’cause hey that makes more mulla. If they make it, it won’t be as good. It will not be as bold and as original. This movie is not flawed and it is not forgotten, it should be left alone.
We got back last night from Loscon 37, the Los Angeles Area SF convention. This was a good Loscon and I had a great time. There were lots of interesting panels and presentations plus Saturday night I enjoyed the parties so much I stayed out past my knees’ endurance.
I would chat more about the convention, but I’ve been headachy today and am so now. This is going to be a brief post before bed.
It does, however, look like there is a road trip in the near future. The Mojave Air and Spaceport has an open house event every third Saturday they call Plane Crazy Saturdays, and on those Saturdays Xcor — a private enterprise rocket company — hosts open-houses. Xcor is a cool company staffed by cool people and if they stay on schedule they’ll be flying their sub-orbital spaceplane next year.
Not a dropship like Spaceship one and Two, but a craft that takes off like an airplane, scoots above the atmosphere into space — briefly — and then return to the spaceport to be readied for another flight.
In about an hour we’ll be leaving for LosCon. I shall endeavor to provide updates here.
see you next week.
h/t to tor.com
with updates.
Turns out my lost post was made too quickly as Saturday was not super.
Oh most of the day went fairly well and I had a fun time at the San Diego Vintage SF screening of Them! However I learned just how modern I have truly become. During them film one of the characters, a female scientist named Pat, is looking at information on a clipboard. It was the style of clipboard with a flip-top cover, and she held the cover up while she read the sheets underneath. The camera’s POV was from the far side so all the audience could see was the cover upright and vertical, I saw it and the first thing my mind registered was a scientist working at her laptop. It took a moment for me to realize that I was NOT looking at a laptop fifty years early. I swear I had to make myself look and realize it was just a clipboard.
Anyway I Got home from the screening and with a couple of friends proceeded to play on the Xbox. I started feeling poorly, headache and upset GI tract. I had to suspend the xbox gaming and call it a night.
The next morning I was feeling a little better and I went and saw Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 with my sweetie-wife. (Good film I really liked it.) We had lunch and soon after I was feeling worse. We made it home but by that time I was weak and feeling like someone had overinflated my abdomen.
This is was state until yesterday. I made it back and forth to work, but beyond that I end no energy or inclination for anything more strenuous than watching videos, and not much of that.
(My Sunday Night Movie was going to be The Omega Man, but I couldn’t watch the entire film. I bailed early and went to bed.)
Tomorrow we’ll scoot for LosCon and luckily I seem to be recovered. I took a walk this morning, about an hour across uneven ground and I tolerated it well.
So I picked up Call of Duty: Black Ops for my Xbox 306 and that has proved to be a very enjoyable game. I love a couple of the new feature, such as theaters where you can watch and clip your past games as movies and I love that you can now take a friend on-line as a guest. (Shame it doesn’t allow two friends.)
Tonight I’ll be heading out to San Diego Vintage SF for a screening of Them!, so tonight is looking good.
Thanks to the synergistic timing of Sarah Palin’s TLC Realty show and her daughter’s entry into the finalist rounds of Dancing with the Has-Beens, people are again freaking out over Sarah Palin and the thought she might run for president. Andrew Sullivan certainly in this pack and is always a twitter over the GOP being remade in Sarah;’s image.
Everyone should just take a deep breath and take a stress pill.
First off the idea that the GOP is being remade into Sarah’s image didn’t seem to pass the election test. The Candidates most like her in style and in substance, O’Donnell and Angel both lost. Angel very much avoided the main stream press and tried to get to the Senate without facing serious inquiry. Yes, she nearly won, against an incumbent who was hated in his own state, and on the wrong side of a wave election. That fact that she couldn’t beat Harry Reid is evidence just how weak of a candidate she truly was. Any sort of mainstream Republican candidate would have blow Harry out of the water in this election. The same goes for Delaware and Christine O’Donnell. So the Sarah Palin model — if there is such a thing — is a losing one.
Yes, Sarah Avoids the press and only get interviewed by friendly press. So what? She is not running for anything. She is not a politician, she is a celebrity.
I maintain that she is not an idiot, in fact I am counting on her not being on idiot. She is in her happy spot, she had found her niche in the modern entertainment/political ecosystem. she gets paid loads of money, get all the friendly press and attention she could want, and has zero real responsibilities. I do not believe she is going to throw that aside.
Nope.
She’s not going to run. She’ll tease her base with it, ’cause that brings in teh support and love and the dollars, but she’s not going to do it.
I am suffering from a headache anda clogged sinuses tonight so there will not be any real blogging.
On the plus side I had an idea occur to me for a fantasy short story. On honest-to-god sword and spell fantasy short story. Being me it is of course entirely from the bad guy’s point of view.
see you peeps later