Bill Nye 2: Money Money Money.

Bill Nye: "I bet I'm the only person here who carries a Canadian five dollar bill around with them."

Me: (reaching thoughtfully for my wallet)  "Actually, Bill...."

I feel humbled by having to visit Florida to learn from an American that the Canadian contribution to the international space program is featured on the back of our five dollar bill.

Hang on - does anybody know what's on the ten?

- Sid

Bill Nye 1: "Stand back, I'm going to try science!"

Last month I attended an e-learning conference in Florida, where to my mild surprise Bill Nye was featured as the keynote speaker on the first day of the event. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what the Science Guy was going to bring to the table, so I was pleasantly surprised by his intense one-hour presentation on learning, exploration and, of course, science and the importance of scientific thinking and investigation.

Live whiteboard illustration by Kelly Kingman

If asked, I would have said that Bill Nye was an unexpected candidate to be the voice of scientific rationalism in the 21st century. It's as if Mister Rogers had decided to launch a crusade to return America to its religious roots, based on his popularity as a children's program host. (Not as strange an example as you might think - Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister.)

However, Nye's passion for science is undeniable, and his television stint from 1993 to 1998 as Bill Nye The Science Guy makes him as recognizable an icon to the current generation as Fred Rogers was during his own era, giving Nye a visibility factor that instantly raises the profile for his advocacy regarding scientific theory.

He's strategically maintained and developed his pop-culture profile with a pair of best-selling books* on evolution and science, and innumerable TV appearances as an advocate for scientific thought. A prime example is his famous two hour and 45 minute 2014 debate with creationist Ken Ham, which had an audience of over one million broadcast viewers and which has received over 6 million views on YouTube. He's also the current president of The Planetary Society, an international non-profit organization created to allow the general public to contribute toward the advancement of space exploration.

The comparison to a religious crusade is not entirely appropriate, given that Nye's crusade is in some ways against religion - or, to be more accurate, the fundamentalist view of the world around us, I don't think the Science Guy objects to religion per se.

Similarly, I have nothing against people who have chosen to have faith in a higher being, or to take a spiritual view of life, but I have to agree with Bill Nye: the insurmountable problem with creationism is that it doesn't advance our understanding of how the universe works. Ignoring or denying all the scientific evidence regarding the origins of the universe does not move us forward in our desire to explore that universe.

It's obvious that Bill Nye has successfully transcended his origins as a children's show host, and made himself into a passionate, dedicated spokesperson for science and scientific thought. If you ask me, science could do a lot worse.

- Sid

* 2014's Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation and his 2015 follow-up Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.

Also available in grape and watermelon.

 

As per my previous posting, I met up with my friend Chris yesterday for a beer and a bite at the new Storm Crow location near us. My previous visit with Karli had been for brunch, so this offered a convenient opportunity to check out the evening action. I wore my Doctor Who "Angels have the phone box" t-shirt - after all, peeps got to represent.

Once again, it was extremely busy, which pleased me. It's good to see that a gamer/geek bar can have such a strong appeal.  And the gamer crowd was out in full force, to the point where I almost want to suggest that they should have made the tables a bit bigger - experience tells me that it's a bit challenging to fit a game and a couple of drinks onto a table for two.

They've modified the decor a bit:  they've moved the carbonized Han Solo over to the east wall, made the washroom doors look like the entrance to the TARDIS, and added a large Millennium Falcon model to the ceiling.*

The bar's commitment to geek theme is complete. The dinner menu includes items such as Deep One Salmon Burgers, the BLT-9000, Boba Fettucini (no, really) and the Cenobite Sundae**, along with an obscure Persis Khambatta joke from 1982.  As with their cocktail menu, the adventurous diner can request a 20-sided die from the wait staff and roll for the contents of their burger.

As the final touch for the departing guest, the Storm Crow considerately provides a little extra something - just in case the world outside has changed for the worse since dinner started.

- Sid

* Perhaps some large Star Trek items are in order as well, the place is a bit Star Wars heavy right now.  Just sayin'.

** Which appears on the menu as follows:

Cenobite Sundae:  no tears please, it’s a waste of good suffering. This sensorium-blasting ice cream delight will hook you with sprinkles, caramel, chocolate sauce and whipped cream... before it tears your soul apart.

Quite affordable at five dollars, but seriously, does that description necessarily make you want to order one of these things?

On location.

On my way to meet my friend Chris at the Storm Crow this afternoon, I passed by the following piece of location filming setup at the corner of Arbutus and 6th.  (My apologies for the composition in this hurried photo, I wasn't sure if the burly security guard just around the corner was going to have a problem with photographers.)

 

On one hand, this could easily be a bit of futuristic set dressing.  On the other hand, it's a phone booth - and let's face it, phone booths are becoming increasingly rare other than at airports and similar locations where large numbers of people are trying to avoid roaming charges while travelling, which makes them an unlikely candidate as a prop in a science fiction film script.*  However, that being said, it makes it an equally unlikely prop in a contemporary film - could it be for some kind of 60s setting?

So, here's my request to the motley crew of friends, relatives, casual browsers and Russian spambots** which comprises my readership.  If you should happen to be watching a series or a movie sometime in the next year or so (post-production times will vary) and spot someone sobbing into the mouthpiece of this phone-in-a-dome, please leave me a comment - just so I know whether or not this picture actually belongs on a science fiction blog.

- Sid

* William Gibson has commented that the first thing his more youthful fans will notice about his seminal 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer is the complete lack of cell phones - "which I’m sure young readers assume must be a key plot-point.”

** They rarely comment, but when they do it's quite insightful.

Not with a bang.

Our dried voices, when 

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

or rats' feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

So on Monday, my girlfriend and I were out with another friend for drinks, and the waitress ruefully informed us that the restaurant was out of dry ribs and nachos.  Then on Tuesday, we decided to have hot dogs at Costco, and they were out of relish. Our local grocery store has been out of stock on our favourite brand of farmer's sausage for a week, and I'm still waiting for Staples to deliver four whole boxes of paper that were ordered last Friday.

Is it just me or is this the first chapter of a novel about the Apocaplypse? Personally, this is how I always thought it would start, with little cracks in the structure of things: little cracks that would get bigger and bigger and bigger...

Recommended reading on this topic would have to be John Brunner's 1972 novel The Sheep Look Up, with Philip Wylie's posthumous The End of the Dream from 1973 running a close second.* Both books detail the end of the world as the result of a thousand little synergies between environmental damage, viral mutation, lowered immunity, lack of resources, collapse of services, civil unrest, and so on that eventually domino into complete catastrophe.  The Sheep Look Up is particularly grim, and paints a far too plausible picture of a disaster which takes place so gradually that most people don't even realize it's happening.

Somebody hold me - I'm scared....

  - Sid

* Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang takes the bronze - an excellent book, but the apocalypse is secondary to the theme of individuality.

"CAPTAIN Deadpool..."

Continuing this month's unintentional Canadian theme, a quick shout-out to Number 5 Orange, one of Vancouver's few remaining strip clubs, which appears as itself in the Deadpool movie.

  - Sid

You'd need an awfully large cake for 134 candles.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Logan,

Happy birthday to you!

  - Sid

"I'm Canadian".

April 1st having come and gone, I have to say that my favourite April Fool's posting comes from the unexpected source of the Government of Canada's Library and Archives web site.  (Although Bruce Campbell's announcement of his starring role in the American version of Doctor Who comes a close second.)

The Library and Archives site was pleased to announce that they had acquired the military records of noted Canadian mutant supersoldier James "Logan" Howlett - better known to the rest of the world as the adamantium-enhanced X-Man Wolverine.

 

Included with Logan's declassified records was his original Canadian Overseas Expeditionary attestation paperwork from 1914, listing his place of residence as Cold Lake, Alberta and his trade as woodsman.

This form also shows his date of birth as April 5th, 1882, which suggests that there should be some kind of celebration on Tuesday to commemorate the 134th birthday of this unsung (and well-preserved) Canadian war veteran - probably followed by a little chat about whether or not it's okay to cut off Canada Pension Plan payouts during periods of extended non-residency.

  - Sid

pReview: Batman Versus Superman (plus Wonder Woman and maybe Aquaman).

Boys! Mm, Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent. Ah, I love it! I love bringing people together! How are we?  

Lex Luthor, Batman Versus Superman

I haven't seen Batman Versus Superman yet, but I'm quite curious as to how good or bad it actually is.  Reviews have not been kind, but the box office results are more positive - so far BVS has pulled in close to $500 million dollars globally after only four days in theatres.

Personally, I wasn't surprised by the negative reviews I saw in advance of the film's actual release. The trailers I'd seen had left me cold, and let's face it, if a superhero movie doesn't provide the editor with 90 seconds worth of excitement for a trailer, there's something very wrong.

The reviews seemed to match that opinion, and yet there's that impressive box office total.  It's difficult to think of another movie which has been panned to this extent by critics, but has still managed to attract so many viewers.

From the perspective of the long-term comic book fan, Batman Versus Superman appears to be an odd mashup of three or four different comic book storylines.  The base concept comes from The Dark Knight Returns, a brilliant and innovative four-issue 1986 miniseries by Frank Miller.  The story is set many years in a future where the government has outlawed superheroes. Batman has retired, Wonder Woman has returned to her people, Green Lantern has left Earth for the stars, and Superman leads a shadowy existence as a tool of the government, accepting anonymity in exchange for permission to continue saving lives and averting disasters.

An aging Bruce Wayne sees a world in chaos, and can no longer resist the lure of the cape and the cowl in spite of the prohibition against vigilante crimefighting.  In the final issue, the government dispatches Superman to put the Batman out of business, but with the help of a one-armed Green Arrow, a female Robin, and some synthetic Kryptonite, the Batman shows his old friend who’s really in charge.

The second source is the equally classic Death of Superman sequence from 1992, wherein an ancient Kryptonian monster named Doomsday goes head-to-head with the Man of Steel, resulting in the death of both combatants. As is often the case in the wonderful world of comics, both eventually get better.

And then there's the whole Wonder Woman thing...not to mention the Justice League of America tie-in as per the Dawn of Justice subtitle for the film.

On top of all these disconnected storylines, there's the question of how Batman and Superman originally met in the comics.  For that story, we have to go back to Issue 76 of Superman (Volume 1) from 1952, in which Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are forced to share a stateroom - and a bed - on an overbooked cruise ship.*

 

When a fire breaks out, the two crimefighters catch each other changing into their costumes - marking the start of an ambiguous friendship that would last throughout their careers (not to mention several reboots and a LOT of retconning).

From what I've been able to tell from trailers and online hints, the plot of the movie combines a lot of elements from the source material - okay, probably not the cruise ship thing. Some of it looks interesting, and I'm hoping that there may have been some clever combining of comic book storylines and the events of Man of Steel.  However, I've also seen some things that don't appear to have been well written or well executed.  Oh, well...I guess I'm going to have to see the film in order to find out what the real story is.  Wish me luck...but really, half a billion dollars worth of ticket purchases would seem to indicate that it can't be that bad.

- Sid

* This is actually the most improbable story idea in this entire posting - why in the world would a rich playboy have to share a room with a penniless newspaper reporter?