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For decades I have had 1 pet peeve you might not have thought about. While I love sci-fi movies, I just get annoyed sometimes. Inevitably, in almost every movie, the humans wind up doing something miraculous and beat down the aliens that are almost all complete idiots.
It’s a pattern that you see in science as well as movies. If you watch Discovery Channel or some of the Science networks you’ve watched as scientists go on and on about the search for life. Yet all the lifeforms they discuss are microbes or maybe herds similar to cows. Never intelligent life. Never anything smarter than humans.
Between the reality and the fantasy the concept that we might not be the smartest things in the universe is lost. It’s fine in a movie, though sometimes it’s just over the top. Seriously, Jeff Goldblum figured out an alien language and computer system in a day on his laptop?
If an alien race can travel through space, individually or en masse, do you really think they are less intelligent than people who can’t figure out how to balance their checkbook or maintain world peace for 30 days? Obviously there is one scientist that agrees with me. Stephen Hawking.
Stephen Hawking presented his new show – Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking on the Discovery Channel – a discussion of aliens. More than speculation that mere microbes might exist somewhere in the vast universe, Hawking discusses how different life might be out there and plentiful. He also considered the thought that aliens might just be like us, with perhaps thousands if not millions of years of advanced knowledge.
It’s a chilling thought. One that makes it clear that E.T. isn’t cuddly and that supercomputers won’t be enough.
“Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach. – Stephen Hawking”
I love Star Trek, Farscape, and Independence Day as much as anyone. I’m a huge sci-fi nut in fact. But it’s just a peeve to hear scientists ramble on as if we are the best the universe can muster up. I’m glad to hear at least 1 mega-egghead mention the more probable reality.
That said, I’m watching my video tapes of Farscape again. John Crichton rules! Frell Scorpius.
While much of the nation will be talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball, and the 4th worst loss ever (20 – 0, the worst game for the team in 124 years), there are other things to celebrate in sports.
Given I’m not a big baseball fan. Still I did notice the score. And the stats are horrendous.
But I’m lucky. When I do pay attention to baseball I am a Yankees fan. Who grows up in the Bronx and isn’t?
So for the fans of the Pirates, those that love world records, and fans of soccer (futbol) that are waiting for the World Cup, I present the first – and likely only ever – tandem bicycle kick goal.
Pele may be the immortal image of a bicycle kick goal, but this is something you just have to watch more than once. I can’t even imagine the odds of this. Forget about seeing it happen again.
This is why Argentina is feared in the World Cup. They were the first team to play in the final World Cup round (with Uraguay, who won in 1930). They are the 4th most likely to win the World Cup based on the odds. They stand ranked 8th in the world right now. They have placed in the quarter-finals or better 7 times in the World Cup.
So am I surprised that Argentian scored this once in a century goal? Not really. The real question is if this kind of amazing will to win is what will be on display in South Africa in the 2010 World Cup. I can’t wait to find out.
It’s been 2 days since the Lane Bryant commercial aired on television. The question is will we see more ads like this, and if they will be treated like other commercials of the same nature.
If you don’t know what commercial is being referred to here it is.
Now I realize that ABC found this to be hot stuff. So hot that they would not air it on their channel at 8pm. Kids might be shocked to see a woman that looks more like their mom than a pencil in a commercial.
In polls across the net, like the one at People Magazine (94% approval), the overwhelming majority of Americans realize that this commercial is tame. The women look good, but are hardly going to send kids in to a sex crazed hysteria as you might think considering the ban that was placed on the commercial.
Honestly, we all realize that ads from PETA, and regular television programming – hell even many cartoons, are far more suggestive. Some are even outright more revealing. Case in point, the various ads and television specials of Victoria Secrets. Why ABC, and FOX, don’t get it makes no sense.
But back to the question. Will there be more television ads with real women?
I can only hope so. Sticks are fun for dogs, but women shouldn’t be a stick. In fact, virtually every woman in the world looks more like the women in the Lane Bryant commercial than the ones in the Victoria Secrets commercials. Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page, Anna Nicole Smith, and a huge selection of all-time famous celebrities all were/are what is now called plus-sized.
Look at almost all the ancient paintings, descriptions in literature, excetera. Real women have been the top of the list, except for about the last 40 years. It says something that the more modern and technological we have become the less real images of women have become.
Call it a personal opinion, but I prefer women that are real. The sticks that are models may have great personalities but none of my friends would ever bother to find out if they were next to a woman with decent curves.
So yes, I think there should be more commercials like this. But I’m a guy and this is my opinion. What do you think?
If you haven’t seen this you really should. 2 men – William Shatner and Lin Yu Chun, singing a song – Total Eclipse of the Heart – made famous by Bonnie Taylor in the 1980′s. It just boggles the mind.
When Bonnie Taylor first made Total Eclipse of the Heart a hit, it was 1983. The song was originally made for Meatloaf, but his record company refused to pay for the song. So Bonnie Taylor got it. If any man might have made it a hit, Meatloaf was the guy.
That said, William Shatner is not unknown for his musical efforts. His Transformed Man albulm from 1968 is an underground classic. It’s spoken word format is truly something that must be heard to be explained. But it’s hardly the only performance that Shatner has done.
He has performed with Elton John, Ben Folds, Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, and others. Many were on his second album, Has Been – released in 2004.
As for Lin Yu Chun, well he is a phenom. Though I have not heard him sing a male performers song his ability to sing is unquestioned. The fact they are songs not in his native tougne is astonishing. He like many other entertainers found on foreign versions of American Idol makes the American counterparts look as talented as they really are.
So combining these disparate parts seems daunting. Almost chilling. Yet they came together in a unique way.
As has been said before, Lin Yu Chun is going to have a meteoric career. Success in America and the international scene is almost assured. But this is no one trick pony.
Still it would not be suggested to sing with Captain Kirk anymore.
I recall back in 1985 and 86 reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It was part of an English class I had at City College in New York. The purpose was to see some of the great writing from people of color that the standard public school education never even hinted existed.
Things Fall Apart is the story of an African man, back during the early colonial days of the English invading Africa, and how he copes with the forced introduction of European democracy and Chrisitianity. It is quite a book. While I personally did not enjoy it, much to the surprise of my Professor, I did feel the power and statement of the book. If you have never heard of it, I do recommend it.
So you can imagine my surprise that a film called Things Fall Apart is in production now. Hollywood making a film starring and featuring a Black cast, with a less than positive view of Europe, colonization of Africa, and the purposive destruction of tradition and lives of people rich in culture and tradition. I’d have bet money that it would NEVER happen.
And I would win that bet.
Things Fall Apart, the film, is not a take on Chinua Achebe’s acclaimed 1958 book. The closest the film gets to any aspect of the book is the fact that African Americans are in the movie. Once you find out who is in the movie and what it’s about, you might cry since it shares the name of such a great work.
The film is about “a star football running back, played by Jackson, who faces a personal tragedy as well as his own mortality while in his senior year in college.” The Jackson mentioned is Curtis Jackson, best known as the grammatically challenging name 50 Cent.
Talk about a let down. This is another quickie low-budget film, featuring a minor D-list actor (really a glorified rapper, which is the same thing) in a role likely to do nothing but glorify violence and reinforce the misguided idea that the only chance of success for African Americans lies in sports or entertainment.
The film originally was titled Love Me, Love Me Not. I think they should have stayed with that title rather than piggy-backing on the title of a far superior work of art.
Of course I could be wrong. Curtis Jackson might have taken MANY needed acting lessons. The film could be a breakout role, showing Jackson displaying depth and pathos. And Hollywood might actually adapt Chinua Achebe’s book. In fact Iran might give up on creating nukes and the Health Care Reform might not cost us extra money. It’s all mathematically probable, which is another way of saying realistically impossible.
Look at it like this. The movie will cost around $20 to see when you add in all the costs. The DVD will likely be the same. You could buy the hardcover edition of Chinua Achebe’s book for $11. You will save $9 and have a far better time for your money. Plus if you are into the “we have to support Blacks in entertainment even if it’s crap” mindset, Achebe is African, so you are still supporting – just quality in the case of the book.
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