Yee haw, my netbook finally crashed, done in by the onslaught of Microsoft updates that were too big for it. Spent hours hunting down a repair shop that thinks they can fix it. Until then emailing and blogging and such will be reduced. This post is being done via phone, which limits posting to just text. So if you order something… there will be a bit of a delay.
As memory serves last night I compiled a post and scheduled it for tonight, so be on the lookout for excitement.
Anybody else watching “The Terror” on AMC? You should. It is a 10-part series produced by Ridley Scott, based on the novel of the same name written by Dan Simmons. I have not read the book, but I have read the spoilery Wikipedia page. And having seen the first two episodes… without getting into the spoilers, I’ll say that if you are hankering for some low-key cosmic horror, “The Terror” is worth watching.
The short form: it’s the 1840’s, and two Royal Navel vessels, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, are stuck in the ice north of Canada looking for the northwest passage. This really happened; the Franklin Expedition with these two vessels and 129 men was lost, the expedition was a disaster, everybody died. Why? Because they didn’t really understand just how much nature just doesn’t give a damn about human survival. (Note: the next time someone hits you with the “fine tuning” argument, claiming that the universe is clearly made for Man, ask ’em to spend some time in sub-zero arctic conditions and see just how “made for man” that crap really is)
The Franklin Expedition is a tale of hypothermia, starvation, cannibalism, disease and lead poisoning in a truly terrible and terrifying place, hell and gone away from civilization. That alone would have made a worthy series for AMC, but Simmons’ novel adds an element of the supernatural to it that ramps up the horror aspects. It’s not *quite* Lovecraftian, but it seems like it’ll be close.
Produced by Ridley Scott and AMC, it’s no surprise that the production values are fantastic. As are the cast… the two ships captains are played by Ciaran Hinds and Jared Harris, who you will doubtless recognize. “The Terror” uses the arctic much like “The Thing” and “At The Mountains of Madness” used the antarctic… this is a place where unprepared humans just shouldn’t venture.
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As a Lovecraftian tangential, the tale of the loss of the Franklin expedition served as the inspiration for the painting “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” by Landseer. Painted in 1864, it depicted the aftermath of the expedition, with polar bears gnawing on human bones and a Royal Navy ensign. Oddly enough, this was thought of as being in somewhat poor taste at the time. Since the 1970’s urban legend has it that if you sit next to it it will drive you mad. So…. the Necronomicon in visual form, I suppose.
The Franklin Expedition was a bit of a blow to the self image of the Victorian British Empire. British Exceptionalism – which, face it, was well-earned – took a hit when a well-funded and well-provisioned professional expedition failed and killed everybody involved. But… that’s how progress works, folks. We lost people trying to get to the Moon. We’ll lose people going to Mars. We’ll lose people trying to cure cancer and AIDS and Socialism. This universe was not made for Man and it does not care for or about us; if we live or die makes no difference whatsoever to nature or its forces, so it’s up to us to make it work. You either accept that there will be failures and loss, or you accept stagnation, decline and death.
Of course, it’s also a good idea to go into a project clear-eyed and adequately prepared.
Apparently the Chinese space agency was aiming at R’lyeh in the south Pacific.
An invasion force of central American “migrants” is moving through Mexico heading to the US border, encountering no resistance from the Mexican government. Border patrol stations in southern Mexico were simply abandoned to allow the force through. The photos look a *lot* like the photos of the invasion of “migrants” that has hit Europe, including looking to be made up overwhelmingly of military age males. It will be instructive to see what happens when they get to the US border. Will they be stopped? Will the be allowed through, thus ending the era when the US even pretended to have borders? Will they be loaded onto container ships and sent to Syria? We shall see.
This dates from before “The Force Awakens” even had a title. But seeing what a mess “The Last Jedi” was, and what a disaster “Solo” seems to be shaping up to be… I think Disney should have done THIS:
Would it have been “good?” No, probably not. Would I have watched the crap out of it? You damn betcha.
Bonus points: Star Lord puts in an appearance.
I freakin’ *despise* April Fools Day. Basically I think it comes down to a general distaste I have for hoaxing and frauds. So I don’t do April Fools Day pranks or jokes, even though I have been asked to do so a few times over the years. It would be easy to do so… post some Amazing Breaking News about how the US actually built an Orion or a Pluto or some such. Bah. No thank you.
So… instead of that, here’s Leonard Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
From the YouTube description:
Sometimes, a body gets a hankering that only Leonard Nimoy singing about hobbits while surrounded by 60’s pixie chicks can sate. Fortunately, we live in a world where those hankerings need not go unfulfilled!
And because why not… the Muppets sing “In the Navy” as Vikings.
