Testing for America readers.

I've just started reading Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, originally published in 1930.  Last and First Men is a unique entry in the library of science fiction, in that for the most part it's without characters or any sort of a plot, and as such it's not really a novel at all.

Then what is it?

Last and First Men is a history of humanity, told from the perspective of the incredibly evolved denizens 2,000,000,000 years in the future. As with actual history, it is episodic, full of tragedy and accomplishment, marked by great leaders, compassionate humanitarians, and brutal villains.  Unlike actual history, Stapledon's version is punctuated by alien invasions, evolutionary alterations, and the eventual entropic death of our species, altered almost beyond description by millennia of evolutionary change.

I'm currently reading the section dealing with the very near future, circa 2030, where Stapledon offers the following description of the United States a hundred years into his own future:

In the Far West, the United States of America openly claimed to be custodians of the whole planet. Universally feared and envied, universally respected for their enterprise, yet for their complacency very widely despised, the Americans were rapidly changing the whole character of man's existence. By this time every human being throughout the planet made use of American products, and there was no region where American capital did not support local labour. Moreover the American press, gramophone, radio, cinematograph and televisor ceaselessly drenched the planet with American thought.

Thus it was that America sank further and further into Americanism. Vast wealth and industry, and also brilliant invention, were concentrated upon puerile ends. In particular the whole of American life was organized around the cult of the powerful individual, that phantom ideal which Europe herself had only begun to outgrow in her last phase.

Those Americans who wholly failed to realize this ideal, who remained at the bottom of the social ladder, either consoled themselves with hopes for the future, or stole symbolical satisfaction by identifying themselves with some popular star, or gloated upon their American citizenship, and applauded the arrogant foreign policy of their government. Those who achieved power were satisfied so long as they could merely retain it, and advertise it uncritically in the conventionally self-assertive manners.

Is it just me, or is the Internet the only thing missing from that description?

 - Sid

Starships, supersoldiers and steampunk.

Neon in the window
Sirens far away
News on the radio, happy birthday
Happy birthday, happy birthday

Concrete Blonde, Happy Birthday

Friday afternoon, and it's more or less the middle of my birthday.  As usual, I've booked the day off - generally I take the entire week, but in this case it's next week instead, I'm off to Ontario to visit my friend Colin. It's grey and rainy here in Vancouver, but I've had a pleasantly relaxing day regardless - a much needed break, work this week was a bit manic, to say the least.

It's a generally accepted fact that I'm a tough crowd when it comes to birthday presents, due to the fact that first, if there's something that I want, I tend to buy it, and second, my interests are a bit off the beaten path.  When you combine these aspects of my life, it's challenging to pick something which is both of interest to me and which I don't already own.

That being said, in the past few years people have stepped up in an admirable fashion that fully recognizes my geek-oriented lifestyle.  As an example, completely out of the blue yesterday one of my coworkers, Glen the field training supervisor, surprised me with a model kit for the Enterprise NX-01*.  Not too surprisingly, it's a snap-together model (they generally avoid letting people like me use model airplane glue) but at least I fit into the age range for the skill level.

After some negotiation, the Evil Doctor Smith weighed in with Captain America:  The Winter Soldier on blu-ray, an excellent movie that's just recently hit the stores, and one that I'm looking forward to watching again in high definition.  Hmmm...you know, I'm not sure that the good Doctor has actually seen this film.  If not, we'll need to plan a movie night - the combination of drama, martial arts and athletic stunts (with a pinch of parkour) should work really well for her.

However, I have to give my artist friend Norah the prize for the Geek Gift of the Year (pending late-arriving presents, there are still some districts that haven't reported in, as they say on election night.)

Last night Norah treated me to an excellent dinner at Cloud Nine, a rotating restaurant located on the 43rd floor of a hotel on Robson Street.  While we were waiting for our appetizer to arrive, Norah somewhat nervously (see above re: the challenge of picking presents) presented me with a hardcover copy of the first British edition of The Difference Engine, a collaborative 1990 steampunk novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, poster boys of the cyberpunk genre. 

Oh, sorry, that's not quite correct.  She actually presented me with a SIGNED first edition of The Difference Engine in hardcover. Given that she was only able to describe William Gibson as "that Canadian science fiction author who lives in Point Grey", to the person who was helping her choose a book, it's an impressive accomplishment to have come up with such a fabulous gift.

Thanks again for a perfect evening, Norah, and for future reference, you may now consider yourself a fully-fledged geek gift guru.

 - Sid

*  For non-fans, this is the Enterprise from Enterprise.**

** Ummm - did that help? 

"You are a broom."

I never know where the faces come from.

Doctor Who, Deep Breath

At long last, the new Doctor Who:  the new series, and the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

Unfortunately, they kicked off with another one of those episodes that just didn't seem to make any sense, and as such didn't give the new fellow a lot to work with.  It may be that there was a sort of quiet assumption that the novelty of a new face would make up for that, with the debut of Mr. Capaldi filling in for any shortcomings in the story itself.

The funny thing is that if you ignore the plot, it's actually quite a good episode.*  There's a lot of discussion about the process of regeneration, and what it would actually mean to repeatedly recreate yourself, century after century.  During the now well-established post-regeneration mania, the new Doctor finds himself looking at his new face and wondering as to its origins - and quite validly so.  The human face is very much the result of experience, and as such, the lined visage that he sees in the mirror puzzles him:  as he says, "Who frowned with this face?"

The alien robot/android/cyborg villain, who has apparently been repairing and rebuilding himself for millennia, is well used as a comparative foil for this question during the climax:

 Question:  you take a broom. You replace the handle. And then later you replace the brush.  And you do that over and over again.  Is it still the same broom? Answer: no, of course it isn’t.

You have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There’s not a trace of the original you left…you probably can’t even remember where you got that face from.

There is an evocative moment where the Doctor holds a polished silver plate in front of the cyborg to illustrate his point, a plate which also reflects his own face - and the same question.

The obvious subtext here would be that Steven Moffat, who wrote the episode, is laying the groundwork for the new Doctor being exactly that, a new man - not the same broom, in other words.  On the other hand, the episode ends with a poignant moment between the Doctor and Clara, where he desperately tries to convince her that he's the same person if only she would let herself see him as himself.

When you think about it, the same issues apply to Peter Capaldi. He's certainly going to give us a very different interpretation of the Doctor, and my initial impression is that it's going to be quite good, and, indeed, very different, I think he has enormous potential. 

But I also think he's going to need to establish himself in the role - Capaldi's Doctor is likely to be less flamboyant and outgoing than his predecessors, and perhaps a bit edgier.  As he says, "That's good, oooh...oooh... that's good... I'm Scottish... I'm Scottish...I am Scottish...I can complain about things, I can really complain about things now."

Finally, let's discuss the question of Missy, who appears at the end of the episode.  The first episode of each season of Doctor Who always sets up the final episode, and it's quite likely that we will see this enigmatic character again.  But who is she? I would dearly enjoy finding out that Missy is the new Master - if they're not going to give Helen Mirren a shot at the Doctor, it would at least be a step in the right direction to give the part of the Doctor's nemesis to a woman.

 - Sid

* It is a sad comment that there have been many, many, many episodes of the rebooted Doctor Who that fit into exactly that category:  quite good if you ignore the plot.

Awesome Mix Vol. 1.

I can't stop this feeling
Deep inside of me.
Girl, you just don't realize
What you do to me.
When you hold me
In your arms so tight,
You let me know,
Everything's alright, ah-ahah-ahah...

I'm hooked on a feeling,
I'm high on believing,
That you're in love with me.

The soundtrack for The Guardians of the Galaxy is made up entirely of pop hits from the 70s - the selection of music is based on the single cassette tape that the young Peter Quill has in his Walkman when he's abducted by the alien Ravagers, and it's not so much a soundtrack as a combination plot point and running gag.  The only down side is that after seeing the movie, I've had Blue Swede's Hooked on a Feeling stuck in my head for the last few days.  To be fair, it's actually not that unpleasant, and people tend not to sit beside you on the bus if you're muttering "ooogah chaka, ooogah ooogah" under your breath.

 - Sid

Hooked on a Feeling.

Originally I wasn't planning to see The Guardians of the Galaxy: I sort of felt that I'd filled my quota for comic book movies this summer, they're not the first gen Guardians that I'm familiar with, and even then, to a certain extent the Guardians were B-side heroes in the Marvel universe (no offense).

However, the movie hit with a box office bang, so I succumbed to curiousity, recruited a couple of willing co-workers, and headed off to the Scotiabank Theatre earlier this week to see it in 3-D with full Dolby 7.2 Surround Sound.

Guardians is a lot of fun - it's got a quirky, entertaining script, Chris Pratt is a great casting choice for alien abductee turned outlaw Peter Quill (who desperately wants people to refer to him as Starlord but doesn't have much luck with it), Drax the Destroyer was surprisingly funny, Groot and Rocket were better than I expected, and overall, I felt that it almost lived up to the hype.

However, it's not perfect. The plot is more than a bit dodgy, the romantic relationship between Quill and Gamora, the female assassin played by Zoe Saldana, seemed to come from nowhere, and both Saldana and Karen Gillan, who plays Gamora's sister Nebula, are hugely underutilized, both as actresses and characters.

All that aside, the movie made me feel like a genius:  it appears that in some ways, I accurately predicted the next five years of Marvel Comics movies a full two years ago, when Thanos the mad Titan made his post-credit appearance in The Avengers. 

After the movie, I tried to explain the significance of Guardians to my two co-workers Glen and Terry over a pint, but ran into a minor problem.

I think that it's fairly clearly established at this point that I'm a geek.* As such, for me, Guardians of the Galaxy was filled with hints, references, foreshadowing and Easter Eggs.  To my educated eye, it's not so much a movie as a huge teaser for Avengers 3 - and yes, I realize that the second Avengers movie isn't even out yet.

Glen and Terry, although admirable people in their own right, completely lack the background for any of that. (Apparently they spent their childhoods enjoying fresh air and sports, that sort of thing.) Because of that, I actually felt a bit cautious in asking what they'd thought about the movie, I wasn't sure how much sense it would have made without some kind of back story. They both cheerfully announced that they'd really enjoyed the movie, but I couldn't help but be aware of how much they were missing.

As an analogy, imagine going to see a movie about D-Day with two people who had never heard of World War II.  D-Day certainly stands on its own as a significant event, filled with drama, excitement, sacrifice, and so forth, and as such would probably be accessible to people who skipped History class in high school.

But think of all of the depth that they'd be missing  - they wouldn't know anything about Hitler, the National Socialist movement, the Holocaust, Neville Chamberlain, Dunkirk, the Battle of the Bulge, Pearl Harbor, or Hiroshima, just for starters. (Not to mention the Cold War and the Iron Curtain.)

Taking that as a comparison, Glen and Terry don't know about the Kree, what the Nova Corps should really look like, Supremor, Captain Mar-vell, Jack Kirby's Celestials, Thanos' romance with Death, the possibility of the Skrull Empire showing up (or the Shi'ar, for that matter), the history of the Infinity Gauntlet (seen briefly in the first Thor movie), the other Infinity Stones (seen all over the place if you know where to look), the sad semi-suicidal life (and death - or not) of Adam Warlock, the Watcher, Eros/Starfox, Moondragon, the Magus, Pip the Troll, Gamora's death (or not), and how Spider-Man saves the galaxy.

Not to mention the identity of Peter Quill's father.

I did my best to explain some of this to Glen, and then asked him if he thought that he would retain any of the information until the third Avengers movie comes out.

"Sid," he replied, "I don't think that I'll ever forget this conversation, but I know that I'm gonna try really, really hard."

 - Sid

*Anyone who is reading this who hasn't figured that out, maybe you should go to the first posting and start reading, I'll wait. 

How long have you had your ticket to China?

"It's about time..."

Idris, The Doctor's Wife.

Patience does not come easily to me. In spite of that, I'm very used to waiting for things - I learned how to wait in the hard schools of hitch-hiking and film processing, where impatience gets you nothing but high blood pressure - but there's no philosophic background to it, I wait because I have to wait.

That being said, let's talk about the manner in which the BBC has been trying my hard-earned patience for a year and a half.

The new season of Doctor Who will start next Saturday, on August 23rd, 2014.  The final episode of the seventh reboot season of Doctor Who aired on May 18th of 2013, followed on November 23rd by the 50th Anniversary episode - yes, six months later.  The Christmas episode was shown on, you guessed it, December 25th, 2013, and introduced the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi*, in a brief post-regeneration sequence.

In other words, over a 16 month time span, they only managed to broadcast TWO episodes, an average of one every eight months.

I realize that these things take time to put together, but I have to think that there must have been some way to better allocate the available time.  Surely it cannot have been a surprise to discover that you were expected to continue producing episodes? Regardless, we're here now.  I sincerely hope that the new season, with the new Doctor - and apparently a new approach to the show - will have been worth the wait.

And, who knows, perhaps it will even be shown on a regular schedule.

 - Sid

* Mr. Capaldi's eyes also made a brief appearance in the 50th Anniversary special.

Updates.

Every now and then I go back and read old entries here. Sometimes it's to find a reference that I want to e-mail to someone, and sometimes when I'm doing cardio at the gym I re-read some postings just for fun, to see what I was thinking about four years ago or what have you.

As a result, I decided that there were some old and not-so-old postings that needed following up in one way or another, so this somewhat lengthy posting is dedicated to updates, finishing touches, and I told you so's.


I hate to say I told you so, but: Part 1.

On which note, to get the ball rolling:  Amazing Spider-Man 2, Gwen Stacy.  Yeah, well...again, not a surprise that Gwen won't be around for the third movie, and I'm pleased that they decided to stick with canon on this one, especially given all the weird changes they're playing with Peter Parker's parents.
 
I hate to say I told you so, but: Part 2.
Almost Human, one season, cancelled.  Now, as with Firefly, the fact that the network confused things by showing episodes out of sequence didn't help, but still, perhaps just a bad idea from the word go.  Better luck next time, J.J.
 
Admittedly, a lucky bastard, though.
Speaking of luck and J.J. Abrams, I am sorry to announce that I did not win the coveted opportunity to appear in the next Star Wars movie.  The winner of the prize was one D.C. Barns, of Denver, Colorado.  Bastard.

However, the OMAZE Star Wars Force for Change campaign appears to have been a complete success, raising over $4.26 million dollars for UNICEF, with Walt Disney kicking in an additional million.  And I did receive the t-shirt that I was promised as an incentive for my contribution, although I have the feeling that there's still a poster print out there that hasn't shown up yet.

Of particular note is the label on the t-shirt, which along with size, washing instructions and so forth, suggests that there may be other advantages to owning the shirt.

On a personal note.

I continue to crush on Amanda Palmer, even if she does apparently draw her eyebrows freehand.  I strongly recommend her TED talk, which, in a way, is about the future.


It would make me curious, too.
Regarding the whole "time-machine-kill-Hitler" thing, imagine how it would look from the other side of the table:

By Winston Rowntree, Virus Comix

Not to mention sex, violence, and zombies - sort of.
To my complete surprise, the Expanse series, by composite author James S. A. Corey, is being adapted as a series by the Syfy network.  The series, now on its fourth volume, will get its star power (no pun intended) from actor Thomas Jane.

I gather that they're hoping to get the same sort of success that The Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have enjoyed, but to be honest, Syfy does not have a great record for adaptations, and to be equally honest, as much as I've enjoyed the books, I'm not sure that The Expanse has an equivalent weight of narrative when compared to the other two series.

My advice?  Peter Hamilton's The Reality Dysfunction:  six books, which occupy seven inches of shelf space as paperbacks, presenting a rich, complex and nuanced future environment, filled with interesting characters, mysterious aliens, exotic locations - and, unlike The Game of Thrones, the damn thing is complete, so you don't have to worry about the author dying in an untimely manner before he finishes the last book.
 
Better safe than sorry, but still.

With each flight test, we are progressively closer to our target of starting commercial service in 2014.

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides

Virgin Galactic has been predicting the commencement of its commercial space service since 2009.  I realize that they want it to be safe, but if I'd given them a $200,000 advance payment for my flight, I'd probably be ready to ask for my money back by this point.
 
Obvious foreshadowing?
The Ebola pandemic continues to grow in Africa, a passenger on an airplane was discovered to be suffering from the disease half-way through a flight to North America (and could easily have infected the entire flight crew that had to clean up after him), and infected patients have been flown to the continental United States for treatment, where, of course, they will be completely quarantined with absolutely no chance of passing on the disease.

Seriously, if this was the start of a movie, you'd be sucking air through your teeth, shaking your head, and saying, "Oooo, this is NOT going to end well...."
 
I wouldn't have said no to Beyoncé, either.

The contentious role of Wonder Woman in the new Batman-Superman movie has been awarded to Israeli actress/model Gal Gadot. I haven't seen Ms. Gadot in any of her previous screen appearances and can't comment either way regarding her dramatic abilities, but I'm a little disappointed, simply because I was hoping for a more innovative casting decision - especially given the amount of discussion that the question has generated in the comics community.

You know who I would have liked to see as the new Wonder Woman?  MMA fighter Gina Carano.  Yes, I realize that she hasn't had a lot of acting experience to date, but I think it would be an interesting idea to give the role of the Amazon warrior to someone with a proven ability to seriously kick butt in the real world.
 
While we're on the topic.
WHY IS HER COSTUME NOT IN COLOUR, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!  Seriously, is that how it's going to look in the movie?
 
Speaking of warrior women...

And, to finish things off, a shot of my co-worker Christi, AKA Her Ladyship Anika Styfe, at the SCA Tournament of Armies.  I was hoping for an archery shot (so to speak) but it's the thought that counts.

- Sid
 

Gnomic Statements X.

NIGRI IS COMING...

- Sid

Update:  in response to requests for context:  original video.  This file will take a minute to load, be patient. 

 

Cry "Havoc"!

It's a long weekend here in Vancouver, and as tends to be the case when there's an extra day off, many of the people in my social circle have made plans: trips to Whistler, barbecues, watching the fireworks - and then there's my co-worker Christi.  What is Christi doing with her long weekend, you ask?

Christi is going to war.

Christi is a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, a group dedicated to "researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe."  The SCA dates back to 1966 - the first SCA event was hosted by fantasy writer Diana L. Paxson, who became one of the founding directors of the organization.  Not too surprisingly, the membership has often included science fiction and fantasy authors, including luminaries such as Poul Anderson, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robert Asprin, Jerry Pournelle and Katherine Kurtz.

In order to fulfill their mandate, the SCA hosts a variety of historically oriented activities: crafts fairs, costumed events, classes in heraldry, and of course, the official pasttime of medieval Europe, warfare.  Christi, or Her Ladyship Anika Styfe, Order of the Grey Goose Shaft*, as she is known to her fellow SCA members, is participating in a three-day Tournament of Armies being held in Aldergrove, a suburb of Vancouver.

Even as I type this, the armies of the Barony of Lion’s Gate are massing for battle, which is a carefully monitored process so as to avoid injury to the participants.  A certain number of bumps and bruises are inevitable, but the SCA makes every effort to ensure that there isn't any sort of serious damage by setting strict standards for weapons, armour, and the actual combat itself.  Weapons are either padded or made from lightweight materials such as rattan, and armour must meet the rigorous requirements for protection as set out in the Marshal's Handbook**, which also lists the rules for safe combat.

As it turns out, Her Ladyship's warband is currently not affiliated with a particular warlord, so they will very likely be available as mercenaries, eager to fight for the highest bidder.  So, if you have good red gold and honest silver in your purse, and are looking for a doughty band of skilled archers, just let me know and I’ll be happy to put you in touch with Lady Anika.  Does it need to be said that some kind of commission will be in order…?

- Sid

* A biographical note from Her Ladyship:  "I add the last bit of my title as when building an army for a Tournament of Armies. A Goose is worth two archers, but an outsider won’t know what a Goose is. A Goose in archery is similar to a Knight for Heavy fighters and a Don or Dona for Rapier Fighters."

**  Did I say "rigorous"?  An example from the Marshal's Handbook:

Helms shall be constructed from steel which has a thickness of no less than .0625 (that is, 1/16) inch (1.6 mm), or of equivalent material. Alternative materials, such as stainless steel, brass, bronze, or like materials, are permissible as long as the material is structurally equivalent to 0.0625-inch-thick steel. The mass of the helm is an important part of the protection. As such, no titanium, fiberglass, aluminum, or other ultra-light materials may be used unless they meet the equivalent mass, strength, and weight of steel which has a thickness of no less than .0625 (that is, 1/16) inch (1.6mm). Proof of construction technique, materials, and equivalency must be provided to the kingdom earl marshal (KEM) for an approval for in-kingdom use. If a spun-metal top is to be used in the construction of the helm, it shall be a minimum of 0.075 inch (14-gauge or 1.905 mm) steel. The process of spinning the top thins the metal, thereby requiring a heavier gauge.

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Channel 46:  Fritz Lang's classic 1927 German science fiction film Metropolis -  a silent masterpiece in black and white, the first feature length science fiction film, a groundbreaking expressionistic social metaphor which has influenced generations of filmmakers.

Channel 45:  Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark....

- Sid

Going viral.

Generally I don't worry a lot about the end of the world.  We're well past 2012, as far as I know we're not in immediate danger of being hit by a giant meteor, and I just can't bring myself to view the zombie apocalypse as something that I need to actively concern myself with.

However, there is one end-of-the-world scenario which has an awful plausibility for me:  the global pandemic.  As such, I've been watching the events surrounding the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa with a certain degree of trepidation.

In an article on CBC.ca about the African outbreak, Ebola is described as "a hemorrhagic fever that can cause its victims to bleed from the ears and nose", which, strictly speaking, is correct.  However, it's a bit like describing leprosy as "a minor skin condition".  Ebola Zaire, the most virulent strain of the disease, has a 90 percent fatality rate. That means that out of the approximately 529 million people in North America, 476 million would die. To give you a better idea of what that would mean, it would be the equivalent of killing everyone in North America except the populations of New York State and Canada.*

This is a bit deceptive in that, although the fatality rate is 90 percent, the infection rate is much lower. Ebola is passed along through the transfer of infected bodily fluids.  In order to increase the possibility of infection, Ebola basically liquifies the body:  in the final stages of the disease, victims "crash and bleed out", vomiting extreme amounts of infected blood mixed with stomach tissue, and bleeding from all of the other orifices.

In some odd way, Ebola is too efficient a disease: the debilitating nature of the symptoms means that infectious victims quickly lose the capability to move around and transmit the virus to others.  (Sadly, the most likely to be infected are doctors and nurses who are attempting to treat the victims.) We're also fortunate in that there isn't an airborne version of Ebola, which could easily give it the same rate of infection as the common cold, thereby allowing one victim to infect an entire planeload of passengers, one planeload of passengers an entire airport, and so on, and so on.

So far we've been lucky in that the outbreak has been restricted to a rural environment.  In saying that, I mean no disrespect to the victims in Africa who have died during the outbreak: the sole positive aspect of the recent epidemic has been that the relatively low population density involved has limited the number of fatalities - there just aren't enough vectors for a full-fledged pandemic burn. The death toll would be staggering if Ebola got a really good foothold in a major urban centre like New York or Beijing.

If you'd like an opportunity to be really frightened by a non-fictional account of Ebola, I strongly recommend Richard Preston's The Hot Zone.  It paints a terrifying picture of the realities of Ebola, and graphically describes the effects of the disease - really graphically, this is not a book that you want to be reading over dinner, or perhaps at all if you have a weak stomach.

One of the symptoms that Preston talks about is the point in the disease when the higher brain functions begin to vanish  - when "the who has already died while the what continues to live."  As clots begin to cut off the flow of blood and portions of the brain begin to liquify, the brain is reduced to the basic functions of the brain stem, the primitive "lizard brain".

All it would take is a small mutation in the virus so that rather than passively suffering, these mindless late-stage victims would become manic and angry, assaulting the people around them, perhaps even infecting them by biting. Almost like, well, zombies...

- Sid

* I don't mean to suggest that Canada would dodge the bullet at the expense of almost all of the United States, it just made the math simple.

"It's all about the boobs, man!"

The second question is: why does the (attractive) female lead always end up wearing an inadequate little outfit and a disproportionate amount of content involve close ups of cleavage?

- Laurie Smith

Following the Evil Dr. Smith's comments regarding The Dinosaur Experiment, I took the liberty of reworking the DVD artwork in the interests of gender equality.  Sadly, I don't think mine looks all that much more fake than the original. Seriously, though, could they not at least have given the poor woman a belt?

- Sid

 

Win some, lose some.

(Contributed by Laurie Smith)

Recently I had the mixed pleasure of watching two dinosaur horror flicks:  Poseidon Rex and The Dinosaur Experiment.  The first one was watchable albeit a bit slim on plot, and unintentionally humorous in the moments of carnage and gore.  The latter was abysmal.  No plot and no intelligence in sight other than from the raptors, to the point where each casualty made me feel like cheering ("Hooray!  One less stupid human!").  Both movies ended ambiguously, opening the door to a sequel.  I know which sequel I'd watch and which one I'd avoid.

Two questions: does the presence of a deep underwater sink hole ("from which no diver has ever returned") or posted signs blatantly warning "Raptor Farm – Keep Out!" and "This door MUST be kept locked at all times" not register with these hapless morons who insist on exploring the deep blue sea (BTW, snorkelers would be long dead from the water pressure before they reached the 400 foot depth, just a FYI to the film maker) or opening the sturdy multiple bolted doors from behind which menacing roars are emanating?

The second question is:  why does the (attractive) female lead always end up wearing an inadequate little outfit and a disproportionate amount of content involve close ups of cleavage?  Perhaps to quote one of the expendable supporting actors in The Dinosaur Experiment, "It's all about the boobs, man!"

- Laurie