Douglas Trumbull, Effects Wizard Behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, Has Died
Gah.
Feb 082022
Feb 042022
“The Orville” had been slated to premiere on Hulu in March, but it has been pushed back to June. if this promo is anything to go by, the production team has used their time well. I’m more excited about this than I am with all the current and future crop of “official” Trek cumulatively.
Jan 312022
Fantastic Plastic has at last released for purchase the War Rocket model I CADded for them a few years ago:
Emperor’s War Rocket
Jan 242022
This thing looks like it’s out of a sci-fi flick. Specifically, a sci-fi flick where the VFX people were told to ignore the laws of physics.
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Jan 202022
World’s First Space-Based Entertainment Studio To Launch In 2024; S.E.E. Unveiled As Studio Behind Tom Cruise Space Film
Their plan is to launch a *studio* to the ISS in 2024, and then separate it from the ISS to become a free-flying platform in 2028.
How serious are they? Dunno. Will it come to pass? Dunno. Is it frivolous, compared to the likes of space telescopes, missions to the Moon, Mars colonization? Definitely. Is it a good idea? If it is carried out honestly, with a proper budget and engineering rigor… you damn betcha it’s a good idea. This sort of thing should help spur not only direct improvements in space technologies such as life support, launch and the understanding of how regular folk do in microgravity, it should also help spur general interest in space. If the “studio” mechanically works well, it could lead to practical space hotels and other space-based commercial enterprises.
Assuming, of course, it’s not a disaster. Videos of Tom Cruise turning various shades of green and spewing nonstop for weeks on end might not be so great. But say what you will about Cruise, man’s a consummate pro when it comes to acting; wouldn’t surprise me if he could act right through space sickness and make it look like he’s having a blast.
Jan 142022
Somewhat to my surprise, I found the first three episodes of HBO’s “Peacemaker” series to be a blast. This series is set in the DC cinematic universe, and is a direct spinoff of last years “The Suicide Squad,” featuring John Cena’s “Peacemaker” character. In short, the guy is an unstable violent moron, willing to kill any number of random innocent people in order to achieve peace. The show is incredibly violent and gory, profane and lowbrow… and it’s friggen’ hilarious. The best character is probably Eagly, Peacemakers sidekick: an eagle.
The opening credits are a sight to behold.
Note: yes, the same John Cena who shills for the Chinese Communist Party, in a show created and directed by James Gunn, the same guy who cranked out a suspiciously large number of tweets that made light of kiddy diddlin’. So if that sort of thing modifies your desire to watch a show… well, Hollywood seems to be full of these types, so your options are limited. But Gunn is really quite good at making this sort of entertainment (witness “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and Cena is just damned charismatic, and wholly committed to the bit.
Also: something a lot of comic book reviewers/critics have noticed is that if a black woman appears in a comic book, there’s at least a 50-50 shot that she’s a lesbian. In “Peacemaker,” there are *two* black women in the main cast… and they’re *both* lesbians. Really racking up the diversity points.
Also also: a .50 AE Desert Eagle with a barrel *that* extended seems incredibly unwieldy. Still: want.
Jan 122022
ST:TMP was a flawed movie, but it’s still quite good. It is often slower than dirt and some of the visual effects were pretty bad (a few of the matte paintings, especially closeups of the upper side of the saucer section near the end of the movie, were criminally incompetent). Fortunately, in 2001 the director was miraculously given the time and money to do a “Directors Special Edition” that recut things a bit and added all-new modern CG effects shots. The result was a movie that was quite a bit of an improvement over the theatrical cut. Over time, though, a serious problem arose: the special edition was shot only at DVD resolution.
Huzzah! They spent the money to create all those new scenes *again,* this time in 4K resolution, for release sometime in early 2022.
New images from the STAR TREK: MOTION PICTURE Director's Edition 4K remastering
Left: 2001 DVD
Right: 2022 4K Remaster(images via @startrek)#StarTrek pic.twitter.com/uGcKEM46Xm
— TrekCore 🖖 (@TrekCore) December 14, 2021
New images from the STAR TREK: MOTION PICTURE Director's Edition 4K remastering
Left: 2001 DVD
Right: 2022 4K Remaster(images via @StarTrek)#StarTrek pic.twitter.com/XxrQ3Gmwj4
— TrekCore 🖖 (@TrekCore) December 14, 2021
New images from the STAR TREK: MOTION PICTURE Director's Edition 4K remastering
Left: 2001 DVD
Right: 2022 4K Remaster(images via @StarTrek)#StarTrek pic.twitter.com/zSmjnU5mkB
— TrekCore 🖖 (@TrekCore) December 14, 2021
Jan 102022
First-ever heart transplant from gene-edited pig offers hope for thousands in need of organs
The pig was genegineered to have a heart that would not be rejected by a human immune system, so that human blood would not coagulate within it, and so that the pig would not grow too big (at one year old it was 240 pounds, when otherwise it would have been about 450 pounds).
That’s cool and all, but I imagine that the technique that will eventually win in the future will be hearts (and other organs) cloned from the patient themselves, with whatever genetic modifications to prevent whatever the problem was in the first place. At first that will probably mean organs grown in machines (perhaps even 3D printed), but someday I suspect that your new heart might well be grown in place. Exactly *how* that will happen, I don’t know: maybe the new heart grows next to the old one, starting small and gradually taking it’s place, so for a while you have two beating hearts. Or maybe the new cloned heart will grow *in* the old one… a few scattered new, modified cells seeded throughout the old damaged heart, consuming and replacing the old heart like The Thing, so that it looks like the heart is rapidly repairing itself when in fact it’s being repalced. In the end such a therapy will be of no greater drama than getting a shot of antibiotics today, but the years, perhaps decades, spent perfecting it will doubtless have some exciting failures and screwups.
Jan 082022
Some movies currently streaming for free (well, “free” once you get past paying for the streaming services):
“Real Genius” is now streaming on Hulu and Paramount Plus. For some reason this movie has not been released on Blu Ray, only DVD and VHS. If you haven’t seen it… why the frak not? if you have seen it, and especially if you are in the age group it was meant for (those roughly near college age in the mid 80’s), and especially if you are of a scientific mindset, it’s almost certainly got a special place in your heart. The attention to an attempt at scientific plausibility, the treatment of smart people as diverse, the production designs by Ron Cobb… Jordan. Jordan.
“Starflight One: the Plane That Couldn’t Land” was a *wholly* ridiculous 1983 TV film starring the Six Million Dollar Man as a jetliner pilot in what could have been the ultimate expression of the “Airport” series of aviation disaster movies, had it been branded as such. In short, the maiden flight of a US-to-Australia hypersonic transport goes wrong and the aircraft ends up in *orbit.* The math ain’t right, the ultimate solution is silly beyond belief, and the idea that NASA could turn around the Shuttle Columbia in a *day*? Snerk. Still, it’s a freakin’ *hoot.* The design of the HST, and the actual execution of the miniature, is far better than a movie-of-the-week would suggest. Currently on Paramount Plus.
“SST: Death Flight” is really rather awful. It’s a 1977 TV movie, with Americas first SST suddenly losing control Because Reasons. The SST appears to be a Lockheed L-2000 model, but with the L-2000’s nacelles cut off and 747 nacelles added on. This looks ridiculous; it seems to have been done so that a few external shots could be filmed at the passenger entrance of a 747 looking aft. You can make out the wings and clearly see the turbofans, but you can’t see the fuselage. So I *guess* you can assume that the real aircraft you’re seeing is the SST. Note: it’s a TV movie, so imagine my surprise when beeeewwwwbs suddenly make an appearance, a scene that was added for foreign showings. The production values are everything that “Starflight One” ain’t. It’s worth pointing and laughing at. Currently on Amazon Prime.
“Strategic Air Command” is on Amazon Prime. If you don’t know about this movie… holy frak, what are you doing here? Go get you some SAC and behold the *glorious* B-36 and B-47 footage.
“Blue Thunder” is currently on Amazon Prime. The LAPD gets themselves an Aerospatiale Gazelle that sexually identifies as an attack helicopter.
“Prophesy:” a 1979 eco-horror flick about a skinless bear on a rampage. I haven’t seen this since… well, 1979. So now that it’s on Hulu, I’m going to go take a look when I get a chance. I vaguely recall it as being an effective horror movie; but as I was just a kid at the time, I bet a modern viewing will not stand up well. But hey, why not.
What else we got?
Jan 032022
Is it any wonder that much of the fandom is PO’ed about the direction Star Wars has gone under Disney?
The High Republic Adventures: Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular
Torban “Buckets of Blood” Buck and Kantam Sy face off in a brutal, intense, ruthless… bake-off!
Lightsabers and Jedi robes are put aside in favor of whisks and aprons as the two competitors bake Master Yoda’s special pastry recipe. But the recipe requires one extra special ingredient: a story! “Buckets of Blood” and Kantam recount the tale of an epic battle as they whisk away, both hoping to win the prize of Padawan approval.
Daniel José Older and Vita Ayala team up in this heart-warming one-shot. Plus, bake Master Yoda’s pastries yourself, with the recipe included in the back!
In Shops: Jan 19, 2022
For ᚠᚪᛣᚳᛋ sake. Who is this *for*?????
