Tuesday, July 30, 2013

One more detail.

(Contributed by Laurie Smith)

Several postings on time travel have graced the pages of The Infinite Revolution, including frequent references to Doctor Who’s TARDIS.  Sid travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to find a similar looking telephone box, which alas did not have the capacity for temporal transportation. For those visiting Vancouver – look no further than Stanley Park.


Positioned incongruously beside a children’s waterpark and some public washrooms, this rather ordinary looking structure invites those who dare to step inside, with a warning of the consequences.
 

If I was designing this device I would add one more detail to lend authenticity and some humour:  a clock without hands above the posted warning. To the question “What time is it?” the obvious answer would be “Whatever time you want it to be”.

Next time you have a chance to stroll (or run) around the Stanley Park Seawall, duck into the yellow box and see what happens.  

- Laurie 

P.S.  The Infinite Revolution thanks you for another excellent guest posting, Dr. Smith.  Wow - time travel causing cancer, what an interesting idea for a science fiction story, either as a plot twist or a known peril.  That being said, I think it's very decent of the owner of the Stanley Park Time Machine (or perhaps the Surgeon General) to post a warning on the outside of the box.
- Sid

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Kneel!



Having seen the latest motion picture attempt to get the Superman franchise off the ground, so to speak, I have to say that I was impressed. There are some issues – there are always issues – but overall, I enjoyed the movie.

It’s an unexpectedly small film at times – there are close-up shots of everyday objects like rainspouts, clothespins in a pail, or abandoned toys in the grass, which I found to be an interesting attempt to thematically establish a sort of intimacy for the story, although it creates an odd contrast to the scenes of massive destruction from the climax of the film. The manner in which they portrayed the uneasy balance between Clark Kent and Kal-El was well done, and, no offense to Christopher Reeves, but Henry Cavill perfectly nails both the characters of the farm boy and his invulnerable alter ego.

All that aside, Man of Steel reminds us of something that tends to be lost in all the traditional "faster than a speeding bullet" verbiage.

Superman can destroy a city.

He can flatten mountains.

If he so chose, Superman could lay waste to the entire planet and there would not be one thing that we could do. We would be helpless against him.

I for one would welcome our new Kryptonian overlord – because really, what choice would we have?
- Sid