SciFifty

I sat in a booth at a diner today waiting to be served, thinking a cup of coffee, juice and an omelet might well save my life which was slipping away rapidly. No help was on the horizon because the wait help were in private conversation, So, I did the only thing a woman of a certain age can do to get attention.... I took out my pen and note pad and pretended to take notes. Within one minute I had a waiter at my elbow, admiring the holographic frog and leaf and lone figure on my notebook from Comic-Con. Okay, so I cheated – the second best way to get a teenage boys attention is to whip out some sci-fi hokum.
 
This led to a dissection of the first episode of Fringe, we agreed that the father-son dynamic was good but could be pushed into sulky mode very easily, that the show was reminiscent of X-Files before that died and wasn't given a decent burial, and we both looked forward to more interaction with the dead boyfriend/agent.
 
A love of sci-fi levels the field of communication for people who have nothing else in common except the willingness to expose their inner geek.

 

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“Well my friends are gone and my hair is gray. I ache in the places where I used to play.” -- Leonard Cohen

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Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!

These are famous sci-fi words you probably won’t hear in the 2008 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still.  But, some sacrifices must be made. This is not your mother’s memory of Klaatu, and I should know: the original movie is one of my all-time favorites.

The other night I watched a rerun of the first episode of Fringe, not because it looks very promising, or because I needed to reexamine the spooky stuff, but because I knew I was going to see a trailer for the 2008 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

When Harry Bates wrote his original short story, if he even thought of a movie, he probably could well have envisioned Michael Rennie as Klaatu and a hulking silver robot as Gort. Rennie was a perfectly groomed English actor who calmed everyone down in the middle of the Red Scare, even though he told Professor Barnhardt if the Earth didn’t shape up, Gort would ship it out. Who cared when there was a Russian spy under every bed?

The new trailer shows mass destruction, a mysterious silvery sphere, and Keanu. Did I mention Keanu?

Remaking movies just because you can – Psycho for example – can be a giant and unexpectedly hilarious mistake. However, tackling a classic because you now have the full gamut of CGI and other special effects at your disposal could be fantastic.

I am almost positive the first words spoke in this version won’t be “Holy mackerel! Call Headquarters… get the lieutenant!”

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"I have great faith in fools -- my friends call it self-confidence."
-- Edgar Allan Poe

 

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On this September 11, I offer my support to, and prayers for, the safety of all our service men and women and first responders, both at home and around the world.

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“Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.”
-- Dave Mustaine

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I'm sitting here in Florida, watching the weather channel and wondering if I can take care of all my business before one of the weather systems hits.  I came dowm to pack up my house and put it on the market as it is time to move on.
 
Since my husband quit this mortal coil last November, I have spent most of my time with my daughter in Virginia. They say don't make rash decisions after a crisis and I don't think I have.
 
example of a reason never to believe everything you are told...over twenty-five years ago when Des was thirty-six, he had a massive coronary and was told a) they lost him three times in the ambulance, b) he would never leave the hospital, and c) he  was living on borrowed time.
 
The last statement at least was true, however he took that borrowed time invested it, managed it, and watched it pay great interest and dividends. He became very involved in local politics and education, and he and I became time travelers.
 
You don't need to walk into a time tunnel or fly at supersonic speed around the earth backwards or even have a magic potion, all you need are time and a love of history. We spent many vacations and long weekends exploring battlefields, grave yards, national parks, prison camps and memorials.
 
We started with the American Revolutionary War traveling to various sites from Canada to Virginia, and when we had satisfied our jones for Red coats and barefoot heroes, we moved on to the Civil War, or as I am writing this below the Mason-Dixon Line, we moved on to the War of Northern Aggression..
 
My husband had more than a touch of "the sight" and I would watch him hear gunshots and feel the terror of dying soldiers. Nothing can be more overwhelming than standing in a cemetery with the silent rows of crosses, which is only the tip of the iceberg of actual deaths.
 
Granted our time travel was all into the past, but what a rich and very inspiring past. And now as I pack up the past, I am prepared to travel into the future... Let's make some history.

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"What we have to do... is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities."
-- Hillary Clinton

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