It’s a mystery.
Jan 172020
Jan 172020
SpaceX is doing an abort test of their Dragon 2 capsule tomorrow. All goes according to schedule, the Falcon 9 will launch normally at 8 AM eastern time tomorrow and 84 seconds later the capsules abort motors will fire. The Falcon 9 first and second stages will be destroyed, but the capsule will – hopefully – be successfully recovered. With that success and a few more tests, SpaceX could be ready to send astronauts to the ISS in March.
Pending test outcomes, NASA says SpaceX could launch astronauts in early March
The US hasn’t launched a human into space since 2011. A good argument can be made that the US ceased to be a superpower at the point, since it was now dependent upon another nation for vital functions. Falcon and Dragon sending crews to the ISS would be a good *start* at returning the US to superpower status, though to really deserve that title the US will need to resume the project of advancement into space. And that means doing something better than simply going in circles.
Jan 172020
A local animal shelter will sell you an adult cat for five whole dollars. A lot of these critters are *really* hard to pass up. But I already have four, and that’s enough.
The feller below had a bit of an issue, with the result you can see if you look closely enough.
And this last one: I tried several times to get a good photo of it but it was pretty mobile. It looked a *lot* like Raedthinn reborn.
Jan 172020
Here’s how it’s done…
Jan 172020
In 1985, Rockwell International contemplated the idea of the Space Station turning a profit for the company. At this point the Space Station seemed a reasonably certain program, though it would take another decade, the fall of the USSR and several complete revamps before assembly would really begin .
Next: advanced manned military spacecraft.
Jan 162020
It’s a ridiculously tired trope now, trotted out by those shilling for badly-written movies like “Terminator: Dark Fate” and “Ghostbusters 2016” and “Charlies Angels” and Disney Star Wars, that those who don’t like those movies are man-babies who simply can’t stand Strong Women or Strong Female Characters. And yet, you don’t see too many of the people who dislike Mary Rey Sue dumping on the women of The Expanse, do ya…
Of course, the Expanse does not skimp on good characters and good acting. The most recent season ended with one of the most GLORIOUSLY PSYCHOTIC looks of utter bloodthirsty glee ever the grace the TV.
From the feller what brung us “I am that guy.”
Jan 162020
“Underwater” is a relatively small-budget sci-fi/horror movie currently making very little money at the box office. Which is a little sad, because it’s actually *reasonably* good. It’s not a really innovative story… there’s a drilling rig on the bottom of the ocean (in this case in the Mariana Trench, seven miles down), things start going wrong, sea monsters cause a ruckus, plucky survivors need to make their way to escape capsules, etc. It has been summarized as “Alien under the ocean,” and that’s kinda fair.
The main character is played by Kristin Stewart, who turns in a performance typical of her usual charisma-free persona. Also starring is T.J. Miller as comic relief, a casting choice I found remarkable since he has been “cancelled” by Hollywood for Me Too violations and a subsequent Smollett-level bit of bomb threat nuttiness. But it turns out that this movie has had a rather lengthy production, and it was shot before his career imploded.
It’s a serviceable monster movie, like a bajillion before it. That said, there’s one thing that the director threw in that wasn’t in the script that makes this movie a bigger deal for folks like me than it otherwise woulda been. It’s rather a big spoiler, so it’s after the break and in white text (if’n ya gotta read the spoiler, just highlight the blank area). But even sans spoiler, it was a good time at the theater and I recommend it if you like this sort of thing.
Jan 162020
YouTube threw a few random things at me that are… ummmm…
Devin Townsend Project’s “March of the Poozers.” So this is what happens when sci-fi meets metal:
“Guns Akimbo,” the most Aussie movie about Harry Potter with gun-hands you’ll see all week:
Jan 162020
… the dumbest movie review you’ll read all day.
“1917” has one major flaw – it’s irresponsibly nationalistic
The film has amazing acting and technical achievements, but its simplistic storytelling falls in line with Trumpism
I watched “1917” today. It was a fine war movie… perhaps even a great one. Technically it is an amazing achievement… the whole two hour run is made to look like one (well, two) continuous shot. Every frame is filled with beauty and/or horror. The acting and visuals are impeccable. The plot is simple and straightforward and, in its way, tells a small story: two soldiers have to go from A to B to deliver a message.
But that’s not enough for the scold who wrote the “review” for Salon linked above, who demands that every movie tell not just a story, but an ideological one. And, of course, that better ideology had damn well better be the *right* ideology. Woe betide the film that skimps on cramming Present Day into stories set a century ago.
I’m sure there are people who will defend “1917” by saying that it’s the story of individual soldiers in a greater conflict, not a political manifesto. There are three problems with that argument. First, as mentioned earlier, it is immoral to tell a story about a war without analyzing the reasons behind that war.
Cripes, it’s like saying that every Batman movie *has* to include a scene of Thomas and Martha Wayne getting plugged by a low-rent Single Source Socialist. Every movie about spaceflight has to include a discussion of whether Tsiolkovsky, Goddard or Oberth is the true founder of modern rocketry. Every Terminator movie has to have a discussion about the politics of yellowcake uranium trafficking.
So, do yourself a favor *and* cheese off some single-minded SJW fanatics and go see “1917.” It’s a good movie well told… and, to be honest, it could *easily* be re-written to make the nationalities whatever you like.
Jan 152020
It will be released in theaters on January 24, and then on home media only a month later. I’m guessing it won’t get a *wide* release here in nine days…