Elysium fracasó.

After seeing Elysium, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by Neill Blomkamp's sophomore outing. The film's greatest failing is quite simple: the casting of Matt Damon.

I don't mean to suggest that Mr. Damon doesn't do a good job - well, actually, it may not be his best work - but that's not the problem.  It would have been a far more pointed statement to have made the protagonist another one of the legion of disadvantaged Hispanic inhabitants of the future Los Angeles.  As it is, Damon stands out like a sore thumb.  (There's also some kind of unfortunate synergy in having a white guy act as the saviour of the world.) 

There's absolutely no reason that Damon's part couldn't have been played by Javier Bardem, Eduardo Noriega, or even a complete unknown from the Hispanic acting community, and a lot of good reasons why it should have been.  Come on, Neill, did you really not realize what your film was actually about?

- Sid

Booyah, baby!

I was very pleased (and a little relieved) to find out that there is an international group of fourteen space agencies, including the Canadian Space Agency, that has spent the last six years working on a long term cooperative strategy for space exploration which they have recently made public. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group, or ISECG (not a brilliant acronym, but life goes on) has developed a practical 25-year plan for putting astronauts - including Canadians - on Mars and the Moon.

(Well, mostly practical - I'm still not sure about the part where NASA wants to redirect an asteroid into a near-Earth orbit.)

Part of the plan includes the construction of a space station in orbit around the Moon, intended as a staging point for lunar exploration. Ha - I refer you to my post of November 4, 2007 on the crucial role that space stations could play in interplanetary exploration.  Gosh, guys, all you had to do was ask...

- Sid

Or Crispy Crunch, I LOVE Crispy Crunch.

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"

"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.

C. S. Lewis,  The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

One of my co-workers recently returned from a two-week Eastern Mediterranean cruise.  The first morning he was back, he went around the office offering selections from a souvenir box of Turkish Delight, "Straight from the bazaar!", as he cheerfully announced.   Meh.  No ill will, Edmund, but I'll stick with Mars Bars.

- Sid