"A legend in his own mind."

I'm pleased to announce that the Storm Crow on Broadway has escaped the fate of the original Storm Crow Tavern on Commercial Drive, and is once again open for business.

Karli and I paid them a visit on Friday night as part of our cautious return to dining out - they've installed dividers with a bit of a steampunk feel between the booths to ensure social distance, but I'm not sure how they're managing the communal tables in the centre of the venue.  We were seated on the patio, where we were separated from other diners by a comfortable ten feet or so.

The dining options on the now-standard disposable menus were a bit reduced from the previous offerings.  I was a bit disappointed not to be able to order Old Ones Fish and Chips, but their burgers are quite good, so I wasn't too upset.

To order a burger, there was a checkbox setup on the back of the menu so that the customer could specify all the possible options for their burger experience:  patty type and quantity, condiments, upcharged items like bacon or mushrooms, and a selection of sides.  Because of the Storm Crow's connection to the gaming community, you also have the option of rolling dice to make your selection, which frankly strikes me as a terrible way to order a burger:  I do NOT want tomato, regardless of whether I roll an 8 or not. (They use the same system for cocktails, which is probably a better place to take that approach.)

I was a bit puzzled to see that the final option on the burger list was my selection of Alignment.  For those of you who have never played Dungeons & Dragons, players choose from nine different Alignments for their characters: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, (True) Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil.  Their choice dictates the character's moral compass throughout the game.  As such, it seemed like a lot of commitment to make for a burger, but I carefully pencilled an X in the Chaotic Good box and handed the form over to our waitress.

When our meals arrived, I was disproportionately pleased to receive a Chaotic Good Burger card with my meal.  Once again, congratulations to Storm Crow management for understanding the little things that will make a geek happy - and welcome back!

P.S.  The burger actually was pretty Good, without being particularly Chaotic.  The french fries were also Good, come to think of it.

- Sid

Life imitates art?

The service flag of the new American Space Force, featuring the arrowhead logo* which, 200 years from now, will eventually become the proud symbol of Starfleet.

- Sid

* To be fair, the actual first version of the arrowhead dates back to the 1980s, and the Air Force Space Command shield, although the resemblance to the Star Trek symbol isn't quite as egregious in that iteration.  Regardless, you have to wonder what they were thinking when they decided to go ahead with this particular design.

"They'll soon be back, and in greater numbers."

They say that time is a river that you cannot step into twice, which may be true, but sometimes you can at least wade upstream a bit. By way of proof, tonight I went back to 1977 by renting a movie theatre and watched Star Wars: A New Hope on the big screen.

Full points to the Dunbar Theatre for thinking outside the box during the lockdown. Obviously venues like movie theatres that involve large groups in close proximity were at the top of the list when shutdowns began, and as an independent theatre, the Dunbar might not have been in a great position to make it through until the restrictions were lifted.

However, the Dunbar has always had a reputation for good popcorn, and they decided to offer that along with other snack items as a takeout option for people watching movies at home. As to how they made the leap from that to private showings, I can only speculate that a customer may have joked about having the theatre all to themselves, and Ken Charko, who owns the Dunbar, realized that it didn't have to be a joke.

The result was weekday couples pricing of $100, and family/weekend pricing of $250. Weekday showings start at 1:30 and run until 9:30, and there are Saturday and Sunday matinees at 11:00.*

And, when you think about it, $50 each isn’t ridiculous for a night out at the movies. Yes, it’s more expensive than a normal movie ticket, but it’s not insane, and without the need to pay a distributor for the movie, four or five shows a day at either $250 or $100 would hopefully keep the lights on and give someone a job making popcorn and pressing PLAY on the movies - guests have the option of providing their own optical media or selecting from a range of streaming services.

And it’s such a unique opportunity! Think about it – how many movies have you never seen on a big screen, and how many movies will you never see on a big screen again? Let alone being able to watch it without other people at the theatre! And they throw in popcorn and drinks, which seems very fair of them.

My wonderful wife Karli, who initially suggested this as an option, was kind enough to let me take lead on our first booking - sadly, we missed the anniversary of the original release date by two days, but you can't have everything. So on Wednesday night Karli put on her silver X-Wing necklace, I donned my New Hope Star Wars t-shirt**, tucked my Blu-ray copy of the movie into my jacket pocket, and off we went to the Dunbar Theatre.

 

The setup at the theatre was well thought out in terms of safety, based on a rotating system for seat usage. There were a couple of rows of possible seating to choose from, and a number of seats were flagged with tape as not available due to recent occupancy.

Although A New Hope is available on Disney+, we were warned by Tia, the laconic staff member running the concession counter, that for some odd reason the opening crawl – and only the opening crawl – is in French. We decided to go with my blu-ray copy, handed it over, collected our complimentary popcorn, and went into the theatre to pick our seats.

(I suppose that strictly speaking, we might have been in violation of the threatening FBI notification at the start of most movies which announces the illegality of showing the following presentation for money, but if it came to litigation, I would contend that I had supplied the entertainment and that the exchange of funds was solely for the venue and refreshments.)

It wasn't completely perfect, but it was pretty close to it. I couldn't sit as close to the screen as my teenage self wanted to, and I've never approved of all the tweaking that George Lucas did to the movies over time, especially the scene with Jabba the Hut, but that's all just nitpicking. Ultimately, when the introductory scroll finished and Princess Leia’s ship blasted into the frame in a storm of laser fire, I laughed out loud in celebration, and watched for the next two hours in a state of complete enjoyment.

Interestingly, the big screen experience wasn’t the epic part - after all, sitting six feet from a big screen TV and 60 feet from a theatre screen gives you a somewhat similar viewing angle - but my god, the sound was incredible. Unless you are completely indifferent to your neighbours or live on a very large piece of property, you are not watching movies with the same kind of volume and quality that you get from a theatre sound system.

As British Columbia loosens the lockdown restrictions, movie theatres will get the nod to reopen, and it will be back to crowded seating and standing in line for popcorn, but until then, I completely recommend the Dunbar Theatre movie rental experience.  Oh, and one final word of warning: do not go with the layered popcorn unless you're prepared to deal with a butter hangover a few hours after you leave the theatre - trust me on this.

- Sid

* This was the original pricing schedule, I can't guarantee that it's still in effect.

** As opposed to my blue AT-AT blueprint t-shirt, my Black Spire Outpost t-shirt, or my Rise of the Resistance t-shirt. It's important to have some range in your wardrobe.

Día del Orgullo Friki.

Postcard by hugandkissdesigns.com

1. Be a geek, no matter what.

The first Right from The Geek Manifesto, 2006

May is a busy month for geek observances - if they were actually statutory holidays, it would be a slow work month for the geek community.

May 2nd is Harry Potter Day, I think we're all familiar with May the 4th, which is also the anniversary of Loki's invasion of New York*, followed immediately by the Revenge of the 5th.  May the 25th is of course Towel Day, in honour of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, and the release date for Star Wars in 1977.  (It's also the Glorious 25th of May in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, not one of the better known references.)

There are other geek days throughout the year, but in terms of widely accepted ones, May seems to be leading the pack - Captain Picard Day, Frodo's Birthday and Star Wars Life Day just haven't gotten the same traction (June 16th, September 22nd and November 17th, respectively).**

However, the 25th actually has some global support to be the official holiday for nerds, fans and gamers as Geek Pride Day.

Geek Pride Day originated in Spain in 2006, complete with its own manifesto.***  Since then, it's garnered support in a widespread but apparently random selection of locations: such as Halifax, Budapest, Tel Aviv, San Diego, Gothenberg and Timişoara, but without having serious penetration into the geek community when compared to the other geek holidays.

It's not a bad choice for an official Pride Day for geeks, although obviously we wouldn't want to have to all go outside and have a parade - as per the second Geek Right from the manifesto, we have the right not to leave our homes.

And then, once we all agree on one big day, we try to get on the calendars - as per the 16th Geek Right and the 11th Responsibility from the manifesto, the first step in trying to take over the world.

- Sid

* Not sure that anyone is actually celebrating that one, but still.

** Oops, sorry, left out Pi Day, March 14th.

*** I actually have some minor issues with the 2006 manifesto - one of the stipulations is that you need to specialize, you can't be a generalized geek, and I actually take quite a bit of pride (no pun intended) in the broad range of my geek interests.

“The province of all mankind.”

Words, I know words, I have the best words.

Donald J. Trump, campaign rally, December 20, 2015

You'd think that with fatalities from the coronavirus edging up to 100,000 in the United States, the US government would be concentrating on the pandemic. Wrong - apparently there's no time like the present to look to the future, and that's what the Trump administration is doing with the new Artemis Accords that are under development by NASA.

Named after the new Artemis moon program, the purpose of the Artemis Accords will be to formalize a number of co-operative aspects of space exploration as part of NASA's plans to return to the Moon by 2024. (Albeit for a given value of co-operative, as Terry Pratchett would say.)

Based on NASA's outline for the Accords, for the most part they're simply restating existing agreements and practices.  There's a lot of language like "reaffirms", "reinforces", and "consistent with", as in the Emergency Assistance section, which reaffirms NASA's commitment to the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, as well as committing to take "all reasonable steps”* to “render assistance to astronauts in distress".

Other sections will discuss practical issues. For example, the section on Interoperability will call for international standards for systems - which makes perfect sense, you really don't want to find out that a critical connector needs an adapter when you're in a hurry to provide an oxygen supply in an emergency.**

It all sounds very equitable:  Peaceful Purposes, Transparency and Release of Scientific Data, Protecting Heritage Sites - well, let's be honest here, this is a bit self-serving, it's mostly NASA who's been leaving tracks and flags on the Moon, but still a good idea.

And then we get into what feels like the real purpose of this whole exercise:  the sections on Space Resources and Deconfliction of Activities.  Up until now, I didn't even realize that deconflict was a word, but the internet seems to recognize it as both a noun and a verb, although my Concise Oxford Dictionary doesn't include it.

The Space Resources section “reinforces that space resource extraction and utilization can and will be conducted under the auspices of the Outer Space Treaty, with specific emphasis on Articles II, VI and XI.”  This strikes me as an obvious follow-up to last month’s Executive Order endorsing commercial exploitation of resources in outer space – making the Accords the next paving stone on the road to Hell, as it were, although in the case, I don’t think they qualify as good intentions.

Because, unfortunately, none of those three articles actually say anything about extraction and utilization – instead, they talk about celestial bodies (like the Moon) “not being subject to national appropriation…by means of use or occupation (Article II), or that all the signators to the Treaty are responsible for ensuring that “national activities in outer space…are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty” (Article VI) and last but not least, that any States conducting activities in outer space should let everyone know the “nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities.” (Article XI).

How about Article I?  “The exploration and use of outer space…shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries”?

Equally strangely, the Article from the Outer Space Treaty cited for Deconfliction of Activities doesn’t really match with NASA’s apparent intentions. This part of the Accords suggests that they’ll provide information regarding the location and “general nature” of operations which will inform the scale and scope of “Safety Zones”, zones which would be “respected” to “prevent harmful interference”.

"Safety zones" - I love a good euphemism.  Obviously this doesn't mean that the US would be claiming any territory, heavens no, they just want other astronauts to be SAFE, to avoid “harmful interference” with their activities – and who exactly is interfering with whom?  The initial phrasing makes it sound like respecting the safety zones will stop the other partners from interfering.  Sorry, but the shoe is on the other foot - Article IX stipulates that if any party to the Treaty is going to do anything that might cause harmful interference, they are obliged to consult with the other parties before proceeding with said activity, rather than calling on them to “respect” independently established zones. In fact, just referring to this as Deconfliction seems to be the wrong terminology – is this about safety or conflict?

It’s easy to see the hand - or perhaps pen - of the Trump government in action yet again, the same pen that has rolled back close to one hundred environmental rules in order to make life easier for industry: safety regulations for offshore drilling, controls on methane leaks, clean-water rules, reductions in coal-powered plants, and so on.

The Accords are currently in draft and haven't been officially discussed with any of NASA's partners in space exploration.  There will be no United Nations involvement, because the US administration sees no need to involve non-spacefaring countries in the discussion and wishes to expedite the process by bypassing the UN.  Sigh. the first lines of Article I again, in their complete form:

The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.

Press coverage of the new Accords includes any number of references to the fact that up until now, NASA has been all about science, technology and discovery, rather than a tool of diplomacy.  How sad to see that come to an end.

- Sid

* "Reasonable steps" being measured on a scale from 1 to Matt Damon.

** That being said, I would think that there must already be agreed upon standards in place to ensure that different manufacturers in different countries are building connectors and hatches to the same set of specifications to permit docking with the International Space Station.

The Star Wars.

Until the recent GREAT REBELLION, the JEDI BENDU were the most feared warriors in the universe. For one hundred thousand years, generations of JEDI perfected their art as the personal bodyguards of the emperor. They were the chief architects of the invincible IMPERIAL SPACE FORCE which expanded the EMPIRE across the galaxy, from the celestial equator to the farthest reaches of the GREAT RIFT.

Now these legendary warriors are all but extinct. One by one they have been hunted down and destroyed as enemies of the NEW EMPIRE by a ferocious and sinister rival warrior sect, THE KNIGHTS OF SITH.

Scrolling introduction to The Star Wars, 1974

To celebrate this year’s May the Fourth and Revenge of the Fifth, I took a look at the original script for The Star Wars, an early 1974 draft by George Lucas for what would eventually turn into A New Hope.  This is also the script that concept artist Ralph McQuarrie read before creating the classic paintings that helped Lucas sell the movie to Twentieth Century Fox.

The Star Wars has the same broad canvas as A New Hope: a struggle against an evil Galactic Empire whose gigantic space fortress provides them with overwhelming tactical power. A rebel princess, an aged warrior-mystic and a young apprentice save the day with the help of two comic-relief robots and someone named Han. But it’s not as similar as it sounds…

In the 1974 script, Kane Starkiller, a Jedi-Bendu master who is more machine than man, is father to “ruggedly handsome” 18-year old Annikin and his 10-year old brother Deak.  After raiding Sith Knights kill Deak in a savage attack, Kane and Annikin leave their home on the fourth moon of Utapau, which fans will recognize as the name of the rocky planet where Obi-Wan duels General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith, and travel to the independent Aquilae system, ruled by King Kayos and Queen Breha.  They have three children: two sons, 7-year old Biggs and 5-year old Windom, and a daughter – Leia, the eldest at 14 (which finally explains why she’s a princess in A New Hope – her father was originally a king.)

Once on Aquilae, Kane and Annikin meet with another Jedi-Bendu, the elderly but powerful General Luke Skywalker, who leads the Aquilaean Starforce.  Kane reveals that he is dying and leaves his remaining son to become a Padawan Learner to Skywalker - we don't hear the term padawan in the movies until the first prequel.

Meanwhile, the New Empire plans its final assault on Aquilae, under the control of the grim General Darth Vader and spearheaded by the Empire’s masked Sith Knights, led by Valorum, the First Knight of the Sith.

Aquilae receives advanced warning of the imminent attack from Clieg Whitsun, their agent on Alderaan, the capital of the New Empire, which allows Aquilaean Starfighters to launch an attack on the space fortress.  During the chaos of the battle, a pair of panicked Imperial construction robots, See Threepio and Artwo Detwo, abandon ship in a lifepod and crashland in the planet's desert wastelands, only to be picked up by Annikin as he returns to the capital after forcefully collecting Princess Leia from her classes at the Academy.

King Kayos is killed in the assault, and his senate surrenders to the New Empire. General Skywalker kills the craven council member responsible for the surrender, and Queen Breha abdicates in favour of Leia – Lucas later revives the idea of a 14 year old planetary leader with Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace.  

Luke, Annikin and Clieg smuggle the new queen and her brothers off the planet with the assistance of rebel agent Han Solo, an Ureallian who is described as “a huge green skinned monster with no nose and gills”. 

Kane Starkiller sacrifices himself by taking the power source from his cybernetic body to power one of the stasis packs used to conceal the two boys, and after a brief tribute to the old Jedi Bendu, they board a Baltarian freighter headed off-planet.

Unfortunately, the freighter is a trap.  The fugitives are split up and captured by Valorum, who threatens to use gas to subdue the Jedi, a strategy reused by the Trade Federation against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the beginning of The Phantom Menace.  Skywalker and Solo escape from their guards, free their companions, and make their escape with the assistance of the two robots.

They steal an Imperial ship and flee the spaceport, pursued by hunter-destroyer spaceships. As they prepare to fight off the Imperial fighters from twin lazer cannon turrets, Annikin confesses to Whitsun that he has fallen in love with Leia, who loves him in return. (A wise move by Lucas to change this up - it's cute when a 9-year-old Anakin falls in love with 14-year-old Padme in The Phantom Menace, it's a bit creepy when he's 18.)

Overmatched by the hunter-destroyers, Skywalker takes the ship into an asteroid belt* in a desperate attempt to lose their pursuers. The Imperial ships turn back, but the asteroids destroy the hijacked vessel, and its passengers board the lifepods as the badly damaged ship goes into orbit around nearby Yavin, one of the Forbidden Planets - forbidden by whom or why never seems to come up.  Clieg and Leia's pod refuses to eject, so Clieg bravely remains on the ship and manually jettisons the pod, only to die in the explosion that follows.

The three escape pods land safely on the jungle-covered surface, but Leia is captured by deformed aliens who are hunting and trapping the primitive Wookees** who inhabit the planet.

Annikin attempts to rescue the princess, but after killing most of the trappers he's knocked unconscious by explosive lazer fire as the survivors flee.  Chewbacca, one of the native Wookees who has been accidentally set lose by Annikin during the fight, frees his companions, one of whom picks up Annikin, and they vanish into the jungle. 

Annikin recovers at the Wookee villages, and after proving himself to the Wookees in ritual combat, he heads off into the jungle with R2, followed by Chewbacca.

Meanwhile, Skywalker, Solo and the two boys have found a scientific outpost occupied by a pair of helpful anthropologists, Owen Lars and his wife Beru, who reappear as Luke's adoptive uncle and aunt in the films.

The general and Solo go to scout the nearby Imperial base, leaving 3P0 to watch over the two princes.  They encounter Annikin at the site of the struggle with the trappers, and follow their trail to the base, which is under siege by the Wookees, who have been unable to overcome the Empire's more advanced technology.

While they plan their strategy, an Imperial squad discovers the two children and 3P0 at the outpost and takes them into custody.

Led by Skywalker and Solo, the Wookees successfully defeat the Imperials using a variety of primitive boobytraps and deadfalls (as repeated by Ewoks in The Return of the Jedi).  Once inside the base, they learn that Leia has been taken back to Aquilae.

Skywalker and Starkiller study plans of the Empire's space fortress from R2's construction database - the first and only time it's referred to as the "death star" in the script - and Annikin disguises himself as an Imperial pilot and leaves with R2 in a daring attempt to rescue the princess, as the general and Solo begin training the Wookees to fly the Imperial starfighters.

The Imperial squad returns to the base with Biggs, Windy and 3P0, where they are ambushed by the Wookees and the captives freed.

As Annikin lands on the space fortress, Vader is torturing Leia before placing her in detention. R2 locates her cell in the Imperial database, but the two are separated and Annikin is captured.  Valorum, the Prince of the Sith, who has somehow been demoted to a regular stormtrooper (perhaps due to the earlier escape?), turns his back on the Empire and helps Annikin to escape. They rescue Leia from her guards, and the trio is forced to escape through a garbage chute.  Vader attempts to crush them using the trash compactor, but they escape after the power is cut off by damage from the attacking Wookee pilots. They reunite with R2 and once again take to the escape pods.

The Wookee space fighter assault is successful, and General Vader dies in the cataclysmic destruction of the space fortress as Annikin and Leia kiss in their lifepod.

 
In the final scene, Queen Leia, "in all of her grandeur" and in front of a crowded throne room, gives Chewbacca a medal, upgrades the robots - no, really -  and declares Annikin the Lord Protector of Aquilae as Skywalker, Solo and Valorum look on approvingly from the sidelines.

Credits roll.

The good news is that Lucas was able to step back and take a second look at the story, resulting in a much tighter script for A New Hope: more dramatic, fewer main characters, a simplified plot revolving around the Death Star plans, and a lot fewer escape pods.

It's interesting to look at how the characters go back into the blender in order to return as the principals of the final version.  General Luke Skywalker is reborn as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his name goes to the adopted farm boy who replaces Annikin Starkiller as the hero of the story.

Lazerswords, used by soldiers on both sides in The Star Wars, become light sabers, a more evocative name for a more elegant weapon that's used solely by the Jedi and the Sith, and the force of others, a meaningless bit of dialogue in the script, becomes the Force, the energy that holds the universe together.

Leia wisely becomes a more mature princess with serious attitude, Darth Vader gains a mask and membership in the Sith, and Jedi-hunter Prince Valorum of the Sith One Hundred vanishes, only to have his name reused for the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic in the prequel trilogy.  Han Solo goes from being green and gilled to human and hot, thereby creating the potential for a new romantic storyline, and Chewbacca retains his status as pilot - well, copilot, but still.

The Imperial City of the New Empire, located on the gaseous planet Alderaan and perched on a long spire that descends into the clouds, reappears as Cloud City, the tibanna gas mining city administrated by Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.  The "death star" space fortress gets some capital letters to officially become the Death Star, and the Starkiller family is commemorated by Starkiller Base, the First Order planetkiller from The Force Awakens.

Speaking of the First Order, there's even a casual reference to a First Order trooper in The Star Wars, without any explanation of what the First Order might be.

I couldn't find any evidence as to whether or not the writers of the final trilogy derived the name of the Empire's successor from that one line. It's not impossible - Lucas was a creative consultant on the final trilogy, and apparently shared his rough scripts for the three movies. Based on the number of things that were recycled from The Star Wars, he may have suggested the name of the First Order, but my god, if that’s where it came from, what a small thread from which to weave such a large tapestry!

The bad news is that even after such an epic rewrite, the dialogue is still a problem. One of the key elements in science fiction story telling is the creation of a distinctive vocabulary and nomenclature that helps to establish the world in the story takes place, and although you can see what Lucas is trying to do, it just never quite rings true.

In the words of Jedi Bendu General Skywalker, may the force of others be with you.

- Sid

* The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are not discussed first.

** That's not a typo, Chewbacca was a Wookee before he was a Wookiee.

The Stand.

 

My apologies, this is a little dark, but recent news out of the United States suggests that several states are going to jump the gun and prematurely remove the greater part of the social restrictions that they've been using to control the spread of the coronavirus, as President Trump loudly proclaims his own genius while pointing fingers and deferring responsibility for a slow start on the government's response to the crisis.

This is all happening based on the confident assumption that things will be back to normal in the relatively near future, and all that will be left to do is to punish the innocent, and provide praise and congratulations to the non-participants, as per the list of project phases that I used to have posted over my desk at work many years ago.

Oh you fools.

COVID-19 is a warning, a microbial shot across the world's collective bow that should be taken as a declaration of hostilities.  It only illustrates our fragility as a species and our blindness as a civilization.

The current situation is nothing - welcome to Apocalypse Lite. In saying that, in no way do I wish to minimize the toll that the pandemic has taken.  It is tragic that, as I type this, almost 200,000 people have died due to the coronavirus, and more than a little frightening in that it reflects 7% of the total global cases, rather than the 3-5% originally predicted.  And that number is still rising.

Philip K. Dick once commented* that "the SF writer sees not just possibilities but wild possibilities. Its not just 'What if --' It's 'My God; what if--' In frenzy and hysteria."

So then, my God; what if? In frenzy and hysteria.

What if the mortality rate for COVID-19 was 50%?  I've read that eventually it will work its way through the entire population, like the common cold - what if it was killing every second person in the world while that was happening?

If COVID-19 had a 50% fatality rate, the people currently protesting the stay-at-home order in some US states would be hiding in their basements with the doors nailed shut, begging to be left alone - or more likely using the assault rifles that they had on display at the rallies to shoot anyone who attempted to get within a hundred feet of those doors.

I recently saw a photo of unclaimed coronavirus fatalities being inhumed in a mass grave on New York's Hart Island** - now imagine 800,000 corpses, half the population of Manhattan, truckload after truckload of bodies being desperately dumped into Central Park until avalanches of rotting corpses spilled out onto 5th Avenue and Central Park West.  Imagine every rat and carrion bird in New York State seeking out this unexpected bounty.

Imagine the smell.

Now take that picture across the entire planet.  If half the population of China was dead right now, would the remaining half even be able to bury all the bodies?  50% might take us across the invisible line that allows us to function as a society, breaking too many of the links that keep our world functioning.

Donald Trump has declared this to be a war, and he's not wrong in saying that.  The mistake is to think that the current crisis is that war in its entirety.  Wrong - this is just a skirmish, an affray, a brief crossing of lances before the real battle commences.

SARS killed 774 people in 2003, the 2014 Ebola outbreak killed 11,323, and the current list of fatalities is still growing - what happens next?  To paraphrase Winston Churchill, a much greater war leader than Trump could ever hope to be, this is not the end, or even the beginning of the end - only the end of the beginning.

And as such, we should be preparing for the real war, for the virus with 100% mortality that will eventually crawl out of some South American cavern or Tibetan crevasse or Alaskan sinkhole and sweep across the world like a black rain.

Trump wants to defund the World Health Organization - you idiot, you should take the four billion dollars you stole from the Pentagon for the Mexican border wall and spend every cent on building an army to fight the war that may lie in our future:  the WHO, the CDC, hospitals, researchers, medical schools, protective clothing, respirators, masks, disinfectants - and yes, body bags, because wars have casualties, and there will be no innocents in the viral war, only victims.

As per the Stephen King novel, we should be preparing to make our stand, and hoping against hope that it won't be futile, as so many last stands are.

- Sid

* From the introduction to The Golden Man, a collection of short stories published in 1980.  The introduction provides a wide window into Dick's personal life, and is perhaps better than some of the stories.

** Karli was tragically accurate last year when she expressed her concerns about being in Manhattan during an apocalyptic event.

Maskerade.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my post.  Apparently Toastmasters recommends that you start with a joke, so here goes.

These two Russians, Yuri and Lev, are sitting in a bar during the height of the Soviet Union.

Yuri leans over and softly says to Lev, “My friend, I’ve known you my entire life, we have been friends since birth.  Tell me something.  What do you really think about Communism?”

Lev quickly looks around in horror and hoarsely whispers, “No, not here!  Quiet now, come with me!”

They quickly finish their vodkas and leave the bar, silently skulking through icy, deserted Moscow alleys until they reach a small hut in a deserted lot on the very edge of the city. 

Lev produces a set of keys, unlocks six locks on the door, one after another, and then opens the door and they go inside, where there is only a rickety table and two chairs.

Lev carefully relocks the six locks, then lights a candle and sets it in the middle of the table, where its flickering light illuminates the shack’s frigid wooden walls. 

He looks around carefully, leans forward, and whispers, “I kind of like it.”

The moral of the story?  I'm really enjoying the lockdown.

I don't think that makes me unusual, but it certainly drives home the degree to which I really am an introvert.  Like a lot of geeks, nerds, otaku and other societal outcasts, a lot of my happiest time has been spent on my own, and as such I'm not suffering from cabin fever in the least.

In a lot of ways, this is very much like my childhood.  I'm the youngest of five, and at an early age became very familiar with making my own fun when older siblings weren't interested in more childish games.  Because we were in an extremely rural environment, where the blackflies were a constant menace in the summer, and winters could get as cold as -40,  I spent a lot of time inside - that's where my love of books started, reading in my bedroom while avoiding the outside world.

Having computer games, the internet, and cable TV would have been a great addition, but they're really not necessary, if you took them away right now I would start happily working my way through my bookshelves and be content for years.

Karli, bless her, has been a perfect stay-at-home partner, and just today she thanked me for being a good person to be locked up with, so we're doing well there.  She's not quite as acclimated to sheltering in place as I am, she misses her family, but she's done Zoom parties with them and phones people regularly, so she's doing all right, although she certainly looks forward to seeing them in person again. People in my family often go for decades without seeing each other, so no issues there for me.

One of my co-workers expressed their disbelief when I mentioned being an introvert, and commented that as far as they were concerned, I was anything but.  In reality, like people who suffer from depression, a lot of introverts create a public face that lets them function in the outside world - I'm actually pleased by how good my version of that person has become over time.  It's such a good mask that I'm almost surprised at what a relief it is not to have to wear it right now - ironically, just when more and more people are starting to wear masks in public.

In the end, we'll all go back to work.  Apparently British Columbia is doing an acceptable job of flattening the curve, and as such the next month will probably see relaxed restrictions and reopened retail, along with a return to the regular nine to five day at the office - well, 7:30 to 4:00 in my case, but you know what I mean.  I haven't decided if I'm going to wear a mask for that, under the circumstances it almost seems redundant.

- Sid

Casualties.

Today at 8:55 am, the Storm Crow Tavern posted the following to its Facebook page:

There’s no easy way to do this, so we’ll just say it plainly: the Storm Crow Tavern will not be re-opening, regardless of the short-term resolution of the Covid-19 crisis. 

It’s been estimated that up to 75% of all the independent restaurants that closed in the wake of the virus will never re-open. Restaurants run on narrow margins at the best of times. The Tavern already had many challenges, such as an expiring lease, and the coronavirus, for us and many other small restaurants, is a fatal blow while we’re already down. 

That said... the Alehouse on Broadway (and the Manor in Toronto) are potentially different stories, and we are going to fight like hell to re-open those Storm Crows as soon as we can. 

It’s a sad day for us, for our employees, and for our regular guests. For over seven years, the Storm Crow Tavern has been a special place in all our lives: more than just a “nerd bar,” it was a neighbourhood haven for the misfits, the geeks, the oddballs and bohemians of Commercial Drive and Vancouver in general. 

The Tavern had an amazing run. And while it may be gone, other Storm Crows will rise, like those less-awesome phoenix-y birds, up from the ashes when this conflagration has ended. 

Stay safe. Stay sane. We’ll see you all again one day.

A sad day indeed. Although I switched my allegiance over to their Broadway location when it opened, solely due to its adjacency to home, the original branch always held a special place in my affections.  The original Storm Crow introduced a kind of pub that I'd always wanted, and on behalf of "misfits, geeks and oddballs" everywhere, thanks for proving that not every bar has to have a hockey game playing.

- Sid

"It's okay, I have a permit."

This week, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order endorsing the right of United States citizens "to engage in commercial exploration, recovery and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law.  Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons."

Now, from the perspective of global politics and outer space, this isn't a great moment.  There's a existing international agreement from 1979, the Moon Agreement, that stipulates that non-scientific use of extra-terrestrial resources be controlled by international oversight, but the United States has never been a signator - in fact, in 2015 Congress passed a law that basically said that any US citizen involved in the commercial recovery of "space resources" is entitled to them.

The new Executive Order specifically states that "...the United States does not consider the Moon Agreement to be an effective or necessary instrument to guide nation states regarding the promotion of commercial participation in the long-term exploration, scientific discovery and use of the Moon, Mars or other celestial bodies."

The key word there is "commercial" - the 1967 Outer Space Treaty states that nations cannot claim space or any celestial bodies, but the United States is saying that corporate exploitation by US citizens is completely permitted, rather like drilling for oil in international waters, and that they can keep whatever they find.  The new order does say that this should be consistent with applicable law, but then immediately announces that the existing agreements aren't applicable.

In other words, to quote Ron Swanson's permit from Parks & Recreation,  "I can do what I want."

From the perspective of a science fiction fan, this is a fascinating development, given that one of the common tropes of near-future science fiction is the exploitation of mineral resources as the driving force for expansion into the further reaches of our solar system - and eventually, other planetary systems.  This kind of development provides a logical purpose for space exploration, combined with an obvious return on investment.

However, the potential for disaster is epic, which is why there need to be controls in place.  As with undersea oil drilling , if something goes wrong, it's unlikely that its effects will be restricted to the area where the accident took place.  True, there's no equivalent to aquatic life that can be harmed, but the real analogy is that eventually the oil reaches a coastline - and in this case, we're talking about the entire planet, rather than a few miles of beach.

We're decades away from any kind of practical industrial exploitation of space, but if something goes wrong that results in asteroid mining debris or radioactive waste hitting Earth, it's going to take a lot more than a few drums of Dawn dish detergent to deal with the consequences.

- Sid

“There is good in him. I've felt it.”

 

Although I've never been a serious autograph hunter, over the years my modest science fiction collection has come to include a few personalized items:  my recent William Gibson autograph for Agency, the autographed copy of The Difference Machine that my friend Norah gave me as a birthday gift a few years back, and my mirror reversed Ursula K. Le Guin signature.*  Now, thanks to Karli's sister Lisa, I have an autographed set of the Epic Yarns Star Wars adaptations created by Holman Wang and his brother Jack- well, I should say we rather than I, given that both our names appear.

After meeting Holman Wang at an event in January (and buying us the first book in the Epic Yarns series as a gift), Lisa invited him to be a keynote speaker at one of the learning conferences that she produces for teachers in British Columbia, and asked us if we would like to have him autograph his books for us.

We somewhat cautiously agreed - we're fairly typical Canadians, which makes us reluctant to bother people - and Karli handed over the books the next time she saw her sister.

Mr. Wang was happy to provide his signature on all three copies, and although the return of the autographed books was delayed by the current social distancing environment, they're now back in our possession.  Our sincere thanks to both Lisa and Holman!

- Sid

* I also have a set of autographed comics that were written and drawn by my friend Wendy's partner Steven, but that somehow doesn't seem the same. I certainly value those comics, but given that I see Steve on a somewhat regular basis, it's not the same challenge, I could probably get him to sign something every time - although that might get a bit strange after a while.

Pandemic: The Game.

 

The situation is grim, and it looks like the end.  There's been a spike in the spread of infection which seems to have overwhelmed all of the available resources.  No combination of science, medicine, contingency planning or research seems to be able to hold the epidemic in check, and the clock is running out on finding a cure.

Not to worry - it's not the current global state of affairs, but rather the award-winning board game version of it:  Pandemic, created by board game designer Matt Leacock and released in 2008 by Z-Man Games, and followed by several expansion packs and upgrades since then.  (There's a computer version as well, but as the ongoing popularity of board games has shown, there's a kind of social appeal to sitting around a table with people - albeit not at this exact moment in time.)

It's an interesting game to play - my friend Chris introduced me to it over dinner and drinks at the Storm Crow in October of last year, which in retrospect feels a bit prescient.*

Pandemic is played co-operatively - as with our current global situation, it's you and your friends versus a viral enemy, except in the case of the game, there are four colour-coded infectious challenges threatening the planet.

Each player chooses a character role from seven options, each of which has a different set of abilities to contribute to the fight - Scientists need a lower number of cards to Discover a Cure, Medics can eliminate a full stack of virus cubes when Treating Disease, and so on.  The players combine these abilities with City and Event cards from the Player Deck to share knowledge, travel the world, create research stations, stamp out the centers of infection and to seek a cure for each disease.

However, as Epidemic cards are turned over from the Infection deck and the Infection Rate counter goes up, the spread of disease worsens, and as soon as the entire Player deck is used up, it's literally and figuratively Game Over. Players can also lose by using up all of the Disease cubes for a specific colour, or if more than seven Outbreaks take place.

Pandemic has an obvious applicability to our current situation, but if I were Mr. Leacock, I might well make some minor changes to the game's structure - I don't remember using Lockdowns as a control method, and it would be an unexpected wild card to have the United States withdraw funding at the global level.

Oh, and the good news?  Chris and I cured all four viruses and stopped the pandemic on the very last turn.   Let's hope we don't take it that close to the final round in the real world response - after all, we don’t get to play again if we lose.

- Sid

* I had intended to do a blog posting at the time, but somehow I didn't manage to get to it, which seems even more like it was being saved until now.

What not to read right now.*

And don't watch Outbreak, either.  Or 28 Days Later.

- Sid

* In the spirit of previous reading advice.

P.S.  A couple of quick comments.  First, World War Z may seem like a strange choice because it's about zombies, but think about it: would Donald Trump have taken more immediate action if the first person diagnosed with the coronavirus in the United States had started biting people?  Second, busted - I have not read Journals of the Plague Years, and only parts of The Last Man.

A Dance With Dragons.

The last time I attended a Langara-sponsored digital FX seminar, I was in the middle of a crowded lecture hall at the Vancouver Film School.

Thanks to the coronavirus, these are different times - I'm currently sitting in my spare bedroom in my bare feet with a cup of tea at hand, waiting for a Zoom webinar on Game of Thrones digital dragon effects to begin.

Although most of the 155 attendees are from North America (based on a quick pre-event survey) guests are attending from around the world.  A second poll reveals that we're fairly evenly split betwen VFX pros, students, would-be students, and Game of Thrones fans - sadly, there was no option for genre fans, so I put myself in with the GOT crowd.

We're running a bit late, but we start at five minutes after the hour.  Resolution is average, but there's a lot of that going around right now, even YouTube™ has been limiting bandwidth to deal with the increased stay-at-home demand.

 

The hosts for the evening* are Tyler Weiss, Visual Effects producer and currently Vice President in charge of Strategic Initiatives at the Langara Centre for Entertainment Arts, and Visual Effects Supervisor Thomas Schelesny, both of whom worked on Seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones for Image Engine Design, a digital effects company that specializes in animal and creature animation. Ironically, the two first met after Weiss lost an Emmy award for special effects to Schelesny's work on Season Four of Game of Thrones.

Their presentation begins with a very fundamental question regarding the extensive and complicated Season 8 animation work:  how did they get this job done, given the combination of high standards and tight deadlines involved?

Both presenters emphasize the cooperative aspect of the production process behind their success, with a team of 120 people working on Game of Thrones FX.  Image Engine worked primarily on the dragons for the last two seasons of the show, producing 99% of the dragon animation work.

 

The key to the process was efficiency, given that the final season of the program required that the same crew produce three times as many effects, leading the the fundamental question of "What do we spend time doing that doesn't result in dragons on screen?"  This resulted in several basic procedural changes in order to optimize the production process.

As with the previous session on Thanos from the Avengers movies, the two presenters don't go into the technical details of the production process, but they provide some fascinating insights into the creation of believable fantasy animation.

As an example, the primary references for dragon flight came from passenger jets, given their roughly equivalents sizes - Drogon, the largest of the three dragons, is approximately the size of a 747.

As Schelesny explains, the audience knows how airplanes move, and using them as references connects to their mental image of large objects in flight,  "Grabbing onto that part of your mind."

Each dragon had a different type of flight model, based on their sizes.  After Viserion's rebirth under the control of the Night King, a different treatment was required to convincingly reflect the slower, more deliberate flight of a magical dead creature.

 

The flight cycle for the dragon wings utilized actual animal references, with the upward flap coming from eagles in flight, and the downward flap from bats, whose hunting flight patterns also provided the reference for dragons picking up objects from the ground.

As part of the process for focusing on "getting dragons on screen", the animation rig that controlled dragon motion was simplified so that it had fewer controls that were better, making it easier for animators to animate the movements, and providing smooth preview playback without rendering the figures.  The dragon "face rig" was rebuilt as well, making it easier to control every small nuance of the dragon's facial expressions.

Standardized flight cycles provided a signature performance for each dragon in terms of speed, how fast their wings flapped and how high and low they went during both flight and hovering, thereby helping the varied group of animators to stay consistent.

 

The presenters then demonstrated how a variety of techniques came together to create a sequence from the first episode of Season 8, where Jon Snow first rides Rhaegal.

The workflow for the sequence began with paintings from the art department that provided the animation department with the visual intent of the scene.  A simple cartoon version was created based on the painting to establish the editorial needs of the sequence, and a basic pre-animation was then done in order to establish the correct speed and motion for each shot in the sequence.

The shots themselves relied upon a combination of live action featuring the actors, and digital versions of the dragons in flight.  The actors were filmed on a motion base - commonly referred to as a "buck plate" - which was programmed to match the dragon flight from the pre-animation. In cases where the buck plate was unable to match the dragon, camera movements completed the effect.

The initial dragon animation was then refined to match the 3D buck plate shots, the two elements were combined, and the effects were completed by lighting the dragon and fine-tuning the movement of individual dragon parts such as the tail.

For many of the sequences, the production team realized that it was easier to use green-screened practical shots instead of animation, such as the movement of Jon Snow's cape during the dragon ride, which created by fans blowing on the buck plate rather than adding another animation element to the scene.

Similarly, all the dragon fire was created using real flames that were then composited with the dragons.  When necessary, multiple flames were combined to created a larger, more solid flame.

 

In some cases, the production team initially struggled to achieve the look that they wanted.  In the case of the wight attack on Drogon and Daenerys in Episode 3 of the final season, the animators initially used actual stunt performers with greenscreen elements and buck plates in the same manner that they'd produced the dragon riding sequence from Episode 1, but the results didn't sync with the dragon movements.

The group needed some kind of simple idea to simplify the wight attack and allow the hundreds of wights to match the dragon movement while holding onto the dragon and each other.

The clever solution was based on a single live action crawl performance by Animation Supervisor Jason Snyman, a performance that was motion tracked to create an animation cycle that was then given to the animators.  This allowed for the creation of hundreds of digital wights that could directly interact with each other and Drogon.

 

Surprisingly, the animators were also able to use the same cycle to make running wights, through the simple technique of "making their feet heavier than their heads".  The resulting combination of effects "created the sense of chaos and interactivity that you see in the final shot."

In addition to dragon and combat animations, the Image Engine team created cloud effects as well.  Once again, they relied on airplane and fighter jet references to establish how objects in flight interact with clouds:  breaking up the cloud formations, creating turbulence, and wingtip contrails and similar vapour effects that helped to create direction, which Schelesny described as "subtle but necessary to sell the effect."   The clouds were initially created as high definition polygon based static elements kilometers in relative length, and then motion was added to each individual cloud, regardless of whether or not a dragon was in contact with the cloud formation.

The evening concluded with an acknowledgement of the partnerships behind the success of the final Game of Throne effects as they appeared on screen.  The final shot compositions were completed by the award-winning WETA Digital Studios, located in New Zealand, where all of the additional elements such as water, people and wights were added to the scenes, and the building renders for the destruction of King's Landing were provided by Scanline VFX.

Overall, it was an extremely interesting event, and I have to give the organizers full credit for adapting to the current situation.  In fact, as with some of the other changes that COVID-19 has caused, I'd fully support this format for future seminars - all other issues aside, it's certainly nice to have a comfortable seat and lots of elbow room.

 - Sid

* It's a bit ironic that two people who do award-winning movie-quality special effects are relying on the standard Zoom background feature. It's like being invited to have lunch at McDonald's with Gordon Ramsay.

"Remember — you’ll get through this."

And now, some medical advice - well, advice from a Doctor, anyway:

Incoming message... #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/lTXziuzWVQ

— Doctor Who on BBC America (@DoctorWho_BBCA) March 25, 2020

And don't forget, be kind, even kinder than you were yesterday - and look out for each other. Because in the end, we're all family.

- Sid

"Happy birthday to you....one more time!"

And, really, aren't we already just sick and tired of singing Happy Birthday twice?

- Sid

P.S.  Just for the record, you should be humming the Next Generation theme with this version of the Star Trek intro, regardless of the presence of Spock in the background.

Fans will know why.

And Seventy Cents: Hunting for Books, Fit the Third.

I spent $234 on books at Pulp Fiction today, and I feel a little drunk.

Or perhaps giddy is the word I'm looking for.  Because, really, when does anyone spend two hundred bucks on books?  On USED books?  Okay, mostly used, Pulp Fiction leavens its used books with new ones, and a couple of my selections were new rather than used, but still, two hundred and thirty four dollars worth of books?  How did this happen?  How did we get here?

(Needle scratch.)

On paper, this was supposed to be a bit of a vacation weekend for both Karli and I.  She was headed over to Vancouver Island with her sister Stefanie to visit her mother and stepfather, and I had booked the Friday off with the intention of having a bit of an old school long weekend:  sleep in, watch episodes of Doctor Who and Picard, play computer games, do a little book shopping, eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and otherwise have a bit of a geek holiday.*

However, life had other plans, as it so often does. I was apologetically called back into work on the Friday to help with COVID-19 related handouts and signage, which resulted in a couple of hours of overtime, and was then informed that I'd be back in on Saturday as soon as the executive group had finalized additional content.

I still had hopes of salvaging at least a bit of my weekend plan, so on Saturday morning I decided to take the current replacement list from my New Year's Resolution book logging project, head over to Pulp Fiction's Main Street location (fortuitously located somewhat close to my workplace) and hopefully find some of the books on my list before I was called in.  We had recently received our annual bonus payments at work, most of which had gone into our moving fund, but Karli and I had both taken a small dividend from the bonus, so I had some money to spend. 

Pulp Fiction proved to be a target-rich environment, and, unhampered by too much concern about cost (or baggage fees) I enthusiastically worked away at my shopping list until I had pulled out a good stack of replacements.

Deciding that I had reached a reasonable point in the process to stop (based on weight rather than price, given that I would be carrying my purchases around with me), I carried my first stack over to the till, and said, "One minute, I'll be right back," and returned to the shelves for my second and third piles of books, for a grand total of 29 new and used paperbacks.

The salesperson working the till looked at my purchases, and thoughtfully said,  "Well, I have good news for you, we have a volume discount plan on used books, so please be patient while I figure that out."   

As I waited, I noticed a familiar cover on a lower shelf behind the till - a copy of Lone Sloane: Delirius, a spectacular graphic novel by French fantasy artist Phillipe Druillet that was published in 1973 by Dragon's Dream**.  I've had a copy for years, but it was already well used when I purchased it, and sadly, over time the binding has begun to come apart.  Druillet is one of the incredible ground-breaking French fantasy artists that I discovered in the pages of Heavy Metal, the American publication of the French fantasy art magazine Métal Hurlant which was started by Druillet and fellow artist Jean Giraud (better known as Moebius) in 1974.

I interrupted the discount calculations to ask if I could take a look at the book.

Not realizing that he was preaching to the choir, the salesperson commented, "Please be careful with that, we keep it behind the counter because the binding is a bit fragile."

Fragility aside, the copy was in excellent condition, even the binding.  I checked the interior for pricing (the better class of used bookstores pencils the price on the inside flyleaf - yes, I'm looking at YOU, Re:Read in Toronto) but didn't see anything - which kind of made sense, given that the pages were all full bleed 4-colour artwork.  I asked as to the price, and was told it was $75 - a lot to pay for a used book, but I had some fun money to spend, so I decided to add it to my purchases, thereby bringing my total up to a surprising $234.

As it turned out, my timing was good. Not long after I left the store, I started to receive e-mails from work, and spent the rest of the day seated at my desk, with an expectation of going back in on Sunday as well.

Meanwhile, mixed messages from BC Ferries regarding service were making Karli and her sister nervous about getting back to the mainland, so they cut their trip short and returned to Vancouver on the Saturday rather than Sunday.

And so ended the vacation part of the weekend for both of us, but at least I managed to make some good progress on updating my library - or perhaps improving is a better word, it seems odd to say that you're updating things when one of your purchases is 47 years old.

 - Sid

* For those of you for whom this would involve going to a car show, playing golf, getting drunk and watching hockey (not necessarily in that order), hey, live your truth.


** Probably best known for their publication of Views, a collection of artwork by Roger Dean.

Hopefully it's not going to get THAT bad - is it?

 

“Competence means keeping your head in a crisis, sticking with a task even when it seems hopeless, and improvising good solutions to tough problems when every second counts. It encompasses ingenuity, determination and being prepared for anything.”

- Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

"Being prepared for anything" - like, perhaps a possible global pandemic of some sort?

- Sid