from:"sincere1906"

(but it sure has some wierd anti-Obama analogies...)

Guess Who's Coming To Eat Us for Dinner
The classic '80s series V gets a post-9/11 update.

By Troy Patterson
Updated Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110304333.html?hpid=topnews

V (ABC, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET), a show about killer iguanas from outer space,
reworks the '80s science-fiction smash of the same name. In its first
incarnation, V was pulp with a seriousness of purpose. It quickly emerged that
the space lizards, handsome in their human disguises, wanted to take our water
and then use it to wash us tasty earthlings down. They were allegorical German
fascists and quite effective as such. Despite being the sort of entertainment
in which a fox swallows a guinea pig, the original V was a tale of resistance
more potent than two out of three Oscar-season Nazi films.

The new V, duller stuff, opens in New York City, in our recessionary America.
The pretty mouth of newscaster Chad Decker announces that foreclosures are on
the rise and housing prices continue to fall. The pretty head of single-mom FBI
agent Erica Evans rests blondly on her sunlit pillow, soon to fill with anguish
because her teenage son has been out all night. Rugged young Catholic priest
Jack Landry despairs that his pews are empty. Then the iguana spacecraftone of
29 descending on tourist locales across the globearrives with a rumble that is
literally iconoclastic, toppling a crucifix in Jack's church. The clergyman
begins sharpening his action-scene skills by rescuing a parishioner from a
swan-diving Jesus.

The lizard buggy entering the airspace above Manhattan looks like a blue-crab
version of a classic flying saucer. It hovers, and its underside transforms
into a video monitor. The screen fills with the ravishing face of Anna, the
iguana boss lady, who wears her hair in a Natalie Portman pixie cut and glows
like a Lancôme model. She's upfront about having come here in search of water,
her tone roughly that of a neighbor dropping in to borrow a half-cup of milk.
She wraps up her debut performance by saying, We are at peace, always.
Inanely, the people of New York applaud this statement like tourists begging a
second curtain call at The Lion King.

Anna makes for the U.N., a visit that cannot possibly disrupt Midtown traffic
more severely than an actual meeting of the General Assembly. Here, unctuous
Decker tosses her an ass-kissy question, earning a lust-tinged gaze and also an
exclusive interview. Just before their chat gets under way, she instructs him
to keep playing softball: Don't ask any questions that would portray us
negatively. He balks. She keeps up her seduction: This interview would
elevate your career, wouldn't it, Mr. Decker? Though we don't hear much of
what Anna has to sayI can see Alpha Centauri from my house?the Anna-Chad
relationship emerges as the most fertile thread of the story. It is one of the
few points at which V makes a necessary connection with the real world,
proposing that media bias is a matter less of ideology than of careerism.

Where Chad shelves his doubts about the dragon lady, the other lead earthlings
swiftly join an opposition movement, connecting with the scant few humans
unimpressed by the aliens' good looks and smooth talk. Erica, between generic
moments with her son, links the Visitors with terrestrial terrorists. Amid
insipid patter with his girlfriend about commitment, a businessman named Ryan
reluctantly pledges himself to fight the good fight. The skepticism of the
priest proves faintly more intriguing than these bland scenarios. I'm at a
loss to understand how God and aliens exist in the same world, says Father
Jack, soon seen busting the heads of false idols.

More than a few journalists and bloggers have remarked that it's possible to
read V as an allegory hostile to President Obama and sympathetic with the
birthers and other nutcases who believe him to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
The charismatic Visitors load up their bandwagon by spreading hope. In
using their sophisticated iguana technology to provide free medical services,
they promise universal health care. Indeed, if the show is to have the
symbolic import that we expect from a science-fiction story, this is the only
possible way to read V as a coherent text. The only problem with this analysis
lies in its generous presupposition that the text is, in fact, coherent.

Pressed about the politics of V at a press conference, executive producer Scott
Peters maintained, We are not looking to put any sort of agenda onto the
table, while also holding that the show would introduce themes that would
make sense in a post-9/11 world. But these aliens hardly work as stand-ins for
Islamofascist terrorists, a group not generally associated with friendly
overtures or broad public acclaim. That claim

[scifinoir2] V- New Series - Ranting Review... No Real Spoilers...Sort of.

My fan-based take on the new series? Eh. 

I sat and watched the original V this past weekend. Cheesey, wackest special 
effects, *HORRIBLE* acting, plots and scenes to make you laugh...can't believe 
as a kid I thought it was about the best series ever. I think in the post 
X-Files, DS9, LOST, etc. world, we expect much more from a tv series than we 
got in the early 80s. 

Yet, while this new series certainly beats the original in acting, special 
effects, and the like, it could have learned something about the art of 
storytelling from its predecessor. Aliens show up on Earth, and after a brief 
few minutes of shock its just normalized. Everyone is on board with it...some 
to the point of devotion and worship. Unlike the original, there aren't hosts 
of scientists openly questioning how that kind of parallel evolution can be 
possible. Not much in the way of scientists at all. Perhaps its because the 
star of this remake is an FBI agent, who amazingly keeps up her normal 
anti-terror routine with friggin ALIENS on the planet, rather than a journalist 
and a medical scientists in the original. There are protests erupting around 
the globe--but heck if the show bothers to tell you *why.* Some people become 
distrustful of the Visitors, but they don't give much of a reason either. In 
fact, they seemed openly hostile and distrustful from day one. It seems like 
the aliens arrived on Earth and within days they are entrenched in our 
society---alot of people like them, some don't. And before you know it, there's 
gonna be an opposition movement. How that happened and why, I'm not even 
certain. It's like I blinked and bam, there I was. 30 minutes into the new 
series, and I was wondering if I missed an episode already. The first V might 
have been cheesey as hell (and at times god-awful), but I at least had time to 
process the aliens arrival and get a realistic vision of how some peoples 
initial optimism turns to distrust after they begin to find numerous faults 
with the aliens. This remake seemed to decide to do my thinking for me.

I'll tune in next week...my DVR will make sure of that. But so far, I'm rather 
under-whelmed.

MHO, of course.

Sin aka BG

[scifinoir2] Re: V- New Series - Ranting Review... No Real Spoilers...Sort of.

Keith,

You said it perfectly--much more clear than I couuld. No suspense here. No 
mystery. No awe at watching humans slowly grapple with this new world of alien 
visitors. This should have all played out over several episodes. They did it 
all in 40 minutes. What the frack??? Perhaps they're dumbing it down to meet 
the short attention spans of today's viewing audience, but it causes their 
story to lack any sense of depth. I'll tune in next week, but only because my 
DVR is makin me...

Sin aka BG

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote:

 
 
 [ Minor spoilers] 
 
 
 
 Well said, I completely agree. I was curiously underwhelmed. I started out 
 wondering Why is this a series instead of a 'mini series'? I think this 
 being done as a multi-night miniseries would make it more interesting. Trying 
 to follow V as a series, means it'll probably fail just as the V original 
 series did. That's of course assuming it is a real series: did I read that 
 it's been shot as a self-contained arc that could have been aired as a 
 miniseries, but ABC is now airing it episodically? either way, not a good 
 move. 
 
 
 
 But to your points, I too was struck by how quickly this thing moved. In less 
 than an hour we have a full fledged Resistance, justified by the new angle 
 that the V's have already been here for years. That's a plausible 
 storyline, but I prefer the one where they just showed up out of nowhere and 
 started doing their thing. We find out about V spies amongst us, we already 
 know about V traitors who don't agree with their race's plans, and the 
 battle's joined. The FBI agent' son is already an indoctrinated brown shirt 
 for the Visitors. (And by the way, the kid irritated the hell out of me. When 
 he stated backtalking his mom--who stayed while her husband left--I wished 
 she'd slugged him one!)Â  i got whiplash, and I was sorely disappointed that 
 the writers chose to dumb down a script that should have built slowly. Were 
 they trying to go for the younger demographic that they feel is less patient 
 nowadays? An injustice for everyone if so. I remember the slow reveal of V, 
 and the shock of the famous scene when their repast revealed their true 
 nature. I remember the show where an old Holocaust survivor shows kids how to 
 tag V for Victory and make it mean something. Half the power of the 
 original was shot onto screen last night. 
 
 
 
 Your point about production values, acting, etc. being better is well taken. 
 But as I said the other day in discussing remakes, those are surface things. 
 If the remake doesn't improve upon/update some underlying messages and issues 
 in a compelling way, what's the point? This Vis prettier, but the rush to 
 get to the action and the reveal is spoiling it for me. I'm not sure the 
 writers understand the power of suspense. Now *maybe* this will build slowly 
 over the next few weeks as the human race learns to their horror what they've 
 embraced. Kenneth Johnson's name on the credits gives me hope. But i'm very 
 doubtful... 
 
 
 
 By the way, do you like the new leader? I love Morena Baccarin. Her 
 understated nature works for this subdued, seductive, smiling High Commander. 
 But for some reason i prefered the pretty-but-fierce Diana from the original. 
 She was always slightly impatient acting, always one moment away from being 
 pissed off or exploding. Perhaps Baccarin's beatific mien better fits as a 
 way to lull the populace into a false sense of security. And maybe it's my 
 background that makes me distrust someone who's too calm and happy all the 
 time. As Kor said in the OS ep Errand of Mercy, I don't trust people who 
 smile too much. 
 
 
 
 Diana would have made me cautious and suspicious, the new leader makes me 
 downright uncomfortable and apprehensive. And that comment about evolving 
 our minds to eliminate negative thoughts and emotions? My first damn thought 
 would have been, ah hell naw--they're gonna try to brainwash the whole damn 
 planet into mindless happy-faced drones! 
 
 
 
 I think the story of V needs to be told from the point of view of the Black 
 community! Like theÂ comics always say, we'd be all over this stuff in a hot 
 minute! 
 
 
 
 Â :) 
 
 
 - Original Message - 
 From: sincere1906 sincere1...@... 
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:13:18 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
 Subject: [scifinoir2] V- New Series - Ranting Review... No Real 
 Spoilers...Sort of. 
 
 Â  
 
 
 
 
 My fan-based take on the new series? Eh. 
 
 I sat and watched the original V this past weekend. Cheesey, wackest special 
 effects, *HORRIBLE* acting, plots and scenes to make you laugh...can't 
 believe as a kid I thought it was about the best series ever. I think in the 
 post X-Files, DS9, LOST, etc. world, we expect much more from a tv series 
 than we got in the early 80s. 
 
 Yet, while this new series certainly beats the original in acting

[scifinoir2] Film Clip - 2012 - California's Going Down

So this movie looks ridiculous...and i don't even want to know what warped 
science they'll be giving as to the reason for the apocalypse, but the disaster 
scenes sure give some hilarity.  Here's saying good-bye to California:

Film Clip:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810045661/video/15978850

[scifinoir2] Re: V- New Series - Ranting Review... No Real Spoilers...Sort of.

The Hudlin brothers' version of Derrick Bell's Space Traders in Cosmic Slop, 
the one-time pilot that (sadly) never made it to series. Classic stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8yFiam9260

A Michael Bay movie...lol... we did have one rather unneeded explosion...

Sin / BG

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@... wrote:

 There was an HBO movie a few years back that used the premise that aliens
 came to this planet and asked them for every person that was darker than the
 color of a paper bag. In return they got medicines and technology.  There
 was a vote on it and the aliens got the black folks.
 
 I concur with everyone. At the minimum they could have said that it was 4
 months later or something like that. Maybe a short montage showing that the
 V were learning the culture and language. At the minimum the V are using
 guerrilla marketing and whatnot which is ridiculous to have out of the blue.
 
 
 You know, this reminds me of a Michael Bay movie
 
 
 
 On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@...wrote:
 
 
 
  Yeah, all major reveals in less than sixty. I'm especially upset about the
  Underground already being revealed and being so active. Morris Chestnut's
  secrets coming out in the same show was disappointing too.  And there was no
  build up at all to let us feel the slow anxiety of young people putting on V
  brownshirt uniforms. Hell, even the Nazi's took longer than that to see
  their plans reach fruition! And like I said, the FBI agent's son just came
  across as a smarthmouthed punk kid with the hots for a blonde Visitor.
 
 
 
  I guess ABC is trying to hook us, and then will spend the ensuing weeks
  fleshing out the barebones story we got last night?  :(
 
 
 
  No joke, i really would like to see stories like this told from the point
  of view of black people, other people of color, and the very poor. For
  example, there have been conversations here about what if the Visitors were
  of Negroid appearance? Well, I'd like to see what the average black person
  would feel about another majority-white race coming in power and force. i
  think many of us would, given our history, be extremely suspicious. I for
  one would be extremely concerned that the Visitors don't get the idea from
  America and Europe that white people belong in power (the way the Japanese,
  when visiting America in the 19th Century, gained new respect for white
  America when they saw how it kept blacks as second class citizens). I'd be
  concerned that some humans would try to join with the Visitors to start up
  some kind of slavery thing again. I'd be concerned that the voice of this
  incredibly advanced race doesn't look like me, and what that means for their
  feelings about our race and how different ethnicities rate? I'd think
  Natives likewise would say, on seeing the ships sail in from the stellar
  ocean, Uh-oh, here we go again. Think we can send 'em back this time?.  i
  know older blacks from the country, like my late parents, would be
  suspicious of anyone bearing gifts with suposedly no strings attached. My
  dad never trusted a man who grinned too often and promised too much. My mom
  would say That Visitor leader is pretty, but I think she's a snake.
 
 
 
  What would people in the inner city say? Would they leave their senses and
  become V devotees for the promise of food and health? or would they remember
  Tuskegee and say I'll let someone else go first?I mean, i was mildy
  surprised at how many black people--many on this list--are vehemently
  distrustful of flu and other vaccines right now. I can't imagine all would
  rush out to take whatever the Visitors are dishing out. Alien medicines?
  Naw, bro', you go first!
 
 
 
 
 
 
  - Original Message -
  From: sincere1906 sincere1...@...
  To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:27:20 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
  Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: V- New Series - Ranting Review... No Real
  Spoilers...Sort of.
 
 
 
  Keith,
 
  You said it perfectly--much more clear than I couuld. No suspense here. No
  mystery. No awe at watching humans slowly grapple with this new world of
  alien visitors. This should have all played out over several episodes. They
  did it all in 40 minutes. What the frack??? Perhaps they're dumbing it down
  to meet the short attention spans of today's viewing audience, but it causes
  their story to lack any sense of depth. I'll tune in next week, but only
  because my DVR is makin me...
 
  Sin aka BG
 
  --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com, Keith
  Johnson KeithBJohnson@ wrote:
  
  
  
   [ Minor spoilers]
  
  
  
   Well said, I completely agree. I was curiously underwhelmed. I started
  out wondering Why is this a series instead of a 'mini series'? I think
  this being done as a multi-night miniseries would make it more interesting.
  Trying to follow V as a series, means it'll probably fail just

[scifinoir2] Re: Question: The importance of historical context?

2009-11-02 Thread sincere1906

I don't know if historical context is needed before viewing some good 
speculative fiction, but its often very necessary (especially for things that 
require you to think) to go back and dig up some historical, social, 
philosophical context later on. Otherwise you may miss the entire point (i.e., 
X-Men, Matrix, LOTR, etc). And besides, it's fun.

As an aside, an older gent once told me that back when POA first came out he 
and some Black Panther cohorts (or stylistic sympathizers) would stand up in 
the theater and cheer each time the apes struck or hit Charleton Heston---as 
they saw the apes representing the oppressed turning the tables on their one 
time oppressor. 

And here I thought the blond haired baboon ruling council as opposed to the 
jet-black militaristic gorillas was the only disturbing aspect of that classic 
flick...

Sin aka BG

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@... wrote:

 IFC is running a Planet of the Apes marathon this weekend. What I didn't
 know was that there were several short documentaries about the screenwriters
 of the movie, and how the movie was made.  Two of the writers of the
 screenplay were blacklisted during the McCarthy hearings. That and the civil
 rights struggles during the 1960s deeply influenced the Planet of the Apes.
 
 
 For many years I often suspected that there was a large amount of subtext in
 the film series but I wasn't sure of it. After learning more about the
 writers and their struggles, my ideas were confirmed.
 
 My question to you all is, do you think that historical context plays an
 importance in the creation of a good story?
 
 --

[scifinoir2] Rod Serling Conference- Ithaca, NY

2009-08-28 Thread sincere1906


Rod Serling Conference- Ithaca, NY

http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling/

Celebrating 50 Years of The Twilight Zone is an interdisciplinary academic 
conference dedicated to the works of Rod Serling. The conference is set for 
Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, 2009, at the Roy H. Park School of 
Communications at Ithaca College.

Ithaca College, where Serling taught from 1967 to 1975, is home to the Rod 
Serling Archives. The archives include an extensive collection of television 
scripts, film screenplays, stage play scripts, films, unpublished works, and 
other materials vital to scholarships associated with the author and television 
pioneer.

Why was Ithaca College chosen as the place to house the Rod Serling Archives? 
After Serling's death in 1975, longtime Ithaca College board member Carol 
Serling decided her husband's work needed a permanent home so that it could be 
preserved and shared. Ithaca was a natural choice, as it was where Serling 
shared his creative genius with students for many years. In addition, the 
College, which is just 50 miles north of Serling's hometown of Binghamton (New 
York), is very close to the family cottage on Cayuga Lake where, in an 
Airstream trailer behind the house, some of the most memorable Serling scripts 
in television history were crafted.

[scifinoir2] Science ponders 'zombie attack'

2009-08-20 Thread sincere1906

Science ponders 'zombie attack' 

By Pallab Ghosh 
Science correspondent, BBC News 

If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of 
civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively.

That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in 
Canada. 

They say only frequent counter-attacks with increasing force would eradicate 
the fictional creatures. 

The scientific paper is published in a book - Infectious Diseases Modelling 
Research Progress. 

In books, films, video games and folklore, zombies are undead creatures, able 
to turn the living into other zombies with a bite. 

But there is a serious side to the work. 

In some respects, a zombie plague resembles a lethal, rapidly spreading 
infection. The researchers say the exercise could help scientists model the 
spread of unfamiliar diseases through human populations. 

  My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a 
zombie then it's dead forever 

Professor Neil Ferguson 
In their study, the researchers from the University of Ottawa and Carleton 
University (also in Ottawa) posed a question: If there was to be a battle 
between zombies and the living, who would win? 

Professor Robert Smith? (the question mark is part of his surname and not a 
typographical mistake) and colleagues wrote: We model a zombie attack using 
biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. 

We introduce a basic model for zombie infection and illustrate the outcome 
with numerical solutions. 


 FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME 


More from Today programme  
To give the living a fighting chance, the researchers chose classic 
slow-moving zombies as our opponents rather than the nimble, intelligent 
creatures portrayed in some recent films. 

While we are trying to be as broad as possible in modelling zombies - 
especially as there are many variables - we have decided not to consider these 
individuals, the researchers said. 

Back for good?

Even so, their analysis revealed that a strategy of capturing or curing the 
zombies would only put off the inevitable. 

In their scientific paper, the authors conclude that humanity's only hope is to 
hit them [the undead] hard and hit them often. 

They added: It's imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly or else... we 
are all in a great deal of trouble. 

According to the researchers, the key difference between the zombies and the 
spread of real infections is that zombies can come back to life. 

Professor Neil Ferguson, who is one of the UK government's chief advisers on 
controlling the spread of swine flu, said the study did have parallels with 
some infectious diseases. 

None of them actually cause large-scale death or disease, but certainly there 
are some fungal infections which are difficult to eradicate, said Professor 
Ferguson, from Imperial College London. 

There are some viral infections - simple diseases like chicken pox have 
survived in very small communities. If you get it when you are very young, the 
virus stays with you and can re-occur as shingles, triggering a new chicken pox 
epidemic. 

Professor Smith? told BBC News: When you try to model an unfamiliar disease, 
you try to find out what's happening, try to approximate it. You then refine 
it, go back and try again. 

We refined the model again and again to say... here's how you would tackle an 
unfamiliar disease. 

Professor Ferguson went on to joke: The paper considers something that many of 
us have worried about - particularly in our younger days - of what would be a 
feasible way of tackling an outbreak of a rapidly spreading zombie infection. 

My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a 
zombie then it's dead forever. So perhaps they are being a little 
over-pessimistic when they conclude that zombies might take over a city in 
three or four days.

[scifinoir2] What Does District 9 Have To Say About Apartheid?

2009-08-20 Thread sincere1906

What Does District 9 Have To Say About Apartheid?

Posted Tuesday, August 18| By Jonah Weiner

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/08/18/what-does-district-9-have-to-say-about-apartheid.aspx

I caught a matinee of District 9 today with a friend who is a devoted sci-fi
buff, and who spent several years living in South Africa (in the post-apartheid
aughts). Afterward, we agreed we'd had a blastunlike Dan Engber, whose review
is hereand then got to the harder work of puzzling over the film's politics.
That District 9 grapples with apartheid is irrefutable, but what does it have
to say on the subject? (Spoilers hover above the next paragraph, their alien
turbines idling.)

My friend was troubled by the depiction of the stranded aliens as shiftless
intergalactic schlubs, as Dan puts it. There's something unsavory, he argued,
in director Neill Blomkamp portraying his allegorical shack dwellers as dumb,
hapless, and helpless members of a community so thoroughly rent by poverty and
oppression that the only hope for their betterment lies either in intervention
from the outside (Wikus van der Merwe) or the lone efforts of an anomalous,
intellectually advanced insider (the alien called Christopher Thompson). This
logic can take on an infantilizing, unempowering aspect, he said, that denies
oppressed parties agency, the ability to organize effectively from the ground
up.

We were both uncertain about Blomkamp's ultimate point about miscegenation, for
lack of a better word, as represented by Wikus's gooey transformation into a
prawn. Right through the film's final image, Wikus regards his othering from
himself as a horror he wants reversedhe fights the evil MNU not out of virtue
but out of self-interest and, in the process, becomes a microcosmic model for
any native body that fears foreign contamination. The
transforming/transformed Wikus isn't the embodiment of post-racial harmony.
Rather, the metamorphosis alienates him twice over, strands him between
categories that are themselves left intact: He's not a human and he's not a
prawn, either.

That's fineit makes him a more interesting character and District 9 a more
complicated film. But while it's clear Wikus isn't a radical, Blomkamp's own
position remains opaque. It occurs to me that we could easily imagine the South
African Lou Dobbs, say, sympathizing with and championing the prawnsafter all,
they don't peskily want jobs or equal rights as citizens; they just want to
wash our hands of themselves and fly on home.

[scifinoir2] Re: Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues

2009-06-25 Thread sincere1906

Mike,

And as you can guess, there is already uproar over the mere mention of racism 
or at the least racial insensitivity and stereotyping. The game usually works 
like this: black people (or other people who have faced oppression) point out 
they find something degrading in a film, tv show, etc. The maker of the film 
balks, asserting with righteous indignation that it's absolutely nonsense. With 
an air of white privilege he/she will assert they have no bias, and then turn 
the tables on those who are pointing out the perceived racial slight.

Most of  America, ever eager to dismiss black or other grievances, will 
usually chime in. Those complaining about racial insensitivity will be told to 
get over it. They'll be told it's all in their heads and that *they* are the 
racist ones being preoccupied with race. A few famous black apologists will be 
rolled out to say the black community should be worried about kids with low 
hanging pants (the scourge of the afrotocracy!) or the like instead of a mere 
movie. Some will even come forth and say, sure it's a stereotype--but it's 
also true, so that makes it alright! Oh and the Bill Cosby acolytes will 
naturally blame the rappers--who it seems invented a time machine, went back 
two centuries, and created all known black stereotypes--forcing unwilling white 
masses to adopt them.

So the powerful media mogul/company will be cast as the victim, and the usually 
oppressed grouping and the few vocal advocates will then be cast as the 
villains--trying to ruin everyone's fun. It's the old switcheroo--and its 
quite old. 

In 1906 when black new yorkers complained about the Bronx Zoo putting an 
African pygmy in a cage and displaying him as a type of ape, major NY papers 
dismissed them as overly sensitive complainers. When Birth of a Nation hit the 
screens and was decried by black advocates as racism, they were also told they 
were just overreacting. Woodrow Wilson said he didn't understand the uproar 
over the film, and that the only thing regretable about it was that it was all 
true. 

And this theme has rolled on and on and on--from Vaudeville minstrels right 
down to our present day jive-talking and gold-toothed autobots. Sometimes, 
as in the case of Don Imus or Michael Richards, the complainers get a minor or 
temporary victory--but they must also endure alot of scorn, being cast as 
troublemakers or not having a sense of humor, etc. 

There are two powerful forces at play here--both the usual white dismissal of 
black or other concerns as not really consequential but instead part of some 
emotional reaction; and secondly the persistent view of black culture/people as 
the entertaining figures in the white imagination. 

Of note, it's never always that cut-n-dry of course--as the first person who I 
heard call these two figures Amos n Andy offensive stereotypes, was a white 
movie reviewer. More power to him... 

Sin / Black Galactus


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Mike Street streetfor...@... wrote:

 I wasn't that jazzed up to see this cause I hated the first film. This
 makes me never want to see it cause when I saw Star Wars/Jar Jar Banks
 I was totally outraged. Until we control our own images these type of
 things will continue to happen.
 
 On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 11:36 PM, sincere1906sincere1...@... wrote:
 
 
  Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
  Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
 
  By SANDY COHEN
 
  LOS ANGELES  Harmless comic characters or racist robots? The buzz over the
  summer blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen only grew Wednesday
  as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.
 
  Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly
  brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge
  that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.
 
  As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide
  comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably
  seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from
  Star Wars: Episode I  The Phantom Menace, was criticized as a caricature.
 
  One fan called the Transformers twins Jar Jar Bots in a blog post online.
 
  Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters
  outrageous.
 
  It's one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes, he said, but the
  movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who's
  also a stereotype.
 
  They're like the fools, said 18-year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York
  City. The comic relief in a degrading way.
 
  Not all fans were offended. Twin brothers Jason and William Garcia, 18, who
  saw the movie in Miami, said they related to the characters  not their
  illiteracy, but their bickering.
 
  They were hilarious, Jason said. Every movie has their standout
  character, and I think they were the ones for this movie.
 
  In

[scifinoir2] Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues

2009-06-24 Thread sincere1906

Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues

By SANDY COHEN
 
LOS ANGELES  Harmless comic characters or racist robots? The buzz over the 
summer blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen only grew Wednesday as 
some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.

Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly 
brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge 
that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.

As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide 
comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably 
seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from Star 
Wars: Episode I  The Phantom Menace, was criticized as a caricature.

One fan called the Transformers twins Jar Jar Bots in a blog post online.

Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters 
outrageous.

It's one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes, he said, but the 
movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who's also a 
stereotype.

They're like the fools, said 18-year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York 
City. The comic relief in a degrading way.

Not all fans were offended. Twin brothers Jason and William Garcia, 18, who saw 
the movie in Miami, said they related to the characters  not their illiteracy, 
but their bickering.

They were hilarious, Jason said. Every movie has their standout character, 
and I think they were the ones for this movie.

In Atlanta, Rico Lawson said people were reading too much into the characters. 
It was actually funny, said Lawson, 25, who saw the movie with his girlfriend 
in Atlanta.

That was the aim, director Michael Bay said in an interview.

It's done in fun, he said. I don't know if it's stereotypes  they are 
robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction 
they were taking the characters and we went with it.

Bay said the twins' parts were kind of written but not really written, so the 
voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their 
characters.

Actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor 
behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids.

Wilson said Wednesday that he never imagined viewers might consider the twins 
to be racial caricatures. When he took the role, he was told that the alien 
robots learned about human culture through the Web and that the twins were 
wannabe gangster types.

It's an alien who uploaded information from the Internet and put together the 
conglomeration and formed this cadence, way of speaking and body language that 
was accumulated over X amount of years of information and that's what came 
out, the 40-year-old actor said. If he had uploaded country music, he would 
have come out like that.

It's not fair to assume the characters are black, he said.

It could easily be a Transformer that uploaded Kevin Federline data, Wilson 
said. They were just like posers to me. 

Kenny did not respond to an interview request Wednesday. 

I purely did it for kids, the director said. Young kids love these robots, 
because it makes it more accessible to them. 

Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead in 
creating the twins. Still, the characters aren't integral to the story, and 
when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, 
associate entertainment editor at The Onion. 

They don't really have any positive effect on the film, she said. They only 
exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each 
other is. 

Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black characters 
for comic relief, said Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the 
University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who has not seen 
the Transformers sequel. 

There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of African-Americans 
and African-American culture, Boyd said. These images are not completely 
divorced from history even though it's a new movie and even though they're 
robots and not humans. 

American cinema also has a tendency to deal with race indirectly, said Allyson 
Nadia Field, an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the 
University of California, Los Angeles. 

There's a persistent dehumanization of African-Americans throughout Hollywood 
that displaces issues of race onto non-human entities, said Field, who also 
hasn't seen the film. It's not about skin color or robot color. It's about how 
their actions and language are coded racially. 

If these characters weren't animated and instead played by real black actors, 
then you might have to admit that it's racist, Robinson said. But stick it 
into a robot's mouth, and it's just a robot, it's OK. 

But if they're alien robots, she continued, why do they

[scifinoir2] Why the Original Star Trek Still Matters

2009-05-14 Thread sincere1906


Why the original Star Trek still matters

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/05/13/star_trek_original/index.html

In perhaps the most famous Star Trek episode of them all, Capt. James T. Kirk 
(William Shatner) and Cmdr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) stand in their stretchy 
mock-turtle uniform shirts, lady-pleasin' tight pants and pointy-toed Beatle 
boots on one of those studio-lot sets designed to evoke a prewar American city. 
People shuffle past in shabby clothes, and a black automobile with large, 
curved fenders crawls down the street. I've seen photographs of this period, 
says Kirk. An economic upheaval had occurred.

It was called 'Depression,' says Spock, raising one painted eyebrow in 
archetypal distaste. Circa 1930. Quite barbaric.

As many of you will have spotted already, this is from City on the Edge of 
Forever, a time-paradox yarn written by science-fiction legend Harlan Ellison 
(who has feuded with the show's producers and their copyright heirs ever 
since). In it, Kirk falls in love with a kittenish Salvation Army type, played 
by Joan Collins, who envisions a future of space travel and peaceful global 
cooperation, and wants to rescue the world from the threat of impending war. 
Kirk comes from that future, of course. Not only can he not tell her that, he 
must also allow her to be run down by a bus to avoid a fatal disordering of the 
space-time continuum that would result in Hitler conquering the world and the 
Starship Enterprise never existing at all.

In its narrative ambition, its talky, theatrical density, its high-minded moral 
tone and its nerdy philosophizing, that episode captures a great deal about 
what made Star Trek such a potent cultural force. I guess that's why it's 
included, along with three other episodes, on The Best of Star Trek: The 
Original Series, a new DVD/Blu-ray release presumably meant to lure viewers of 
J.J. Abrams' hit film back to the source material. No Star Trek fan could 
possibly be happy with such a mini-collection -- where, I ask, is Mirror, 
Mirror? The Doomsday Machine? The Devil in the Dark? -- but I enjoyed 
watching this tremendously.

Watching Star Trek in 1970s syndication was such an important part of my 
childhood and adolescence -- I've seen every episode at least five or six 
times, and some many more than that -- that I'm not capable of assessing the 
show's uneven, low-budget craftsmanship with any degree of detachment. For me, 
Star Trek and the Rolling Stones, as much as they might appear to be polar 
opposites -- one supremely American and the other English, one Apollonian and 
optimistic, the other Dionysian and pessimistic -- were the cultural phenomena 
that made the pre-punk-rock early '70s tolerable. A person interested in those 
things was, prima facie, not interested in Donny Osmond or Happy Days, had 
conceivably read a book not required by teachers and furthermore could 
plausibly have access to decent weed.

Even if some of its flaws look more glaring 30-odd years later, I think the 
original Star Trek still has a passion and vitality that partly stem from its 
cheapness; the threadbare sets and effects created a coherent, suggestive 
atmosphere, and forced your attention onto the storytelling and the characters. 
It stands out, even after all this time, as something unique in television 
history. Of course Star Trek can never be the cultural lodestone it once was. 
Having spawned four official follow-up series, 11 feature films (and counting) 
and countless non-canonical works -- if you haven't heard about K/S porn or the 
immense and disputatious fanfic universe, I'm not helping you -- and inspired 
an entire genre of serial intergalactic futurism from Space: 1999 to Babylon 
5 to Battlestar Galactica, the novelty of Gene Roddenberry's creation has 
pretty well worn off.

In the middle of the Cold War, Roddenberry imagined a radical-progressive, 
Enlightenment-fueled vision of the human future, one in which the conflict 
between capitalism and communism had been long transcended, along with other 
earthbound forms of racial, ethnic or religious strife. Strikingly, there is no 
religious or mystical dimension to the Star Trek universe at all, at least 
until much later in its development. (Roddenberry regarded himself as an 
agnostic atheist, and banned any religious references from the show.) It was 
based around the chronic tension between reason and emotion, represented of 
course by the tension between Spock and Kirk and the actors who played them, 
the immeasurably gifted Nimoy and the hambone, cocksure Shatner (a second-rate 
Canadian Shakespearean, before his Star Trek celebrity).

Roddenberry's vision of what Star Trek could and should be, even if it was 
indifferently realized, was pretty close to Richard Wagner's conception of the 
Gesamtkunstwerk, a work of art that would incorporate drama, poetry, 
philosophy and music. He worked with the best writers he could get,

[scifinoir2] New Trek- My take SPOILERS

Okay it's 4am, I saw the new Trek movie about 8 hours ago and am just getting 
in after a night of debauchery. So I might be writing this on a Red Stripe 
buzz, but here goes...

S P O I L E R S ! ! ! 

I liked the movie. As a movie, it was good. The plot was decent. There was 
well-paced excitement, humor, etc. The cast was relatable. I thought everyone 
did a great job playing their roles--even down to Chekhov. So as a movie, good. 
I give it 3 stars out of four. 

The larger question, what I suppose matters the most on a group like this, is 
was it good Trek?

On this, I'm truly torn.

First off, I knew they said get ready to forget everything you know about Trek, 
but damn...I didn't know they were this serious! Thanks to that Romulan ship 
coming through a black hole and killing Kirk's father, the timeline that we 
know from that point on has been severed. The Butterfly effect has created a 
host of new phenomenon--right down to a love affar between Uhuru and 
Spock--which never seemed to exist before. This was a bold and daring move. The 
writers of this new Trek world have an entire alternate reality on their hands. 
They can do anything. And with Vulcans reduced to a virtual minor colony the 
entire course of the Federation could be altered, not to mention the balance of 
power in the Alpha Quadrant. They should call this Ultimate Star Trek! 
There's a sense of loss here knowing that the Trek reality that I've long 
called home no longer exists (or exists in some other timeline). For all we 
know future figures like Picard might never have been born. For the first time 
I can recall, we have a Trek spin off that cannot fit into the larger Trek 
universe. That will take some getting used to.

Second, where a part of me is concerned, is I'm trying to figure out where this 
new story fits into Roddenberry's vision. Even with all its faults, the 
original Trek world was one that took radical positions--a Russian main 
character, a black main character, etc. I don't see this Trek taking any such 
bold moves. I don't see a vision here, even as we stand in the midst of a time 
almost as socially and politically challenging as the 1960s. Nothing 
illustrated this more than seeing product placement ads for Nokia, Budweiser 
and Jack Daniels. Pardon me for using a cross-sci-fi swear word, but what the 
frack!?! Earth endures eugenics wars, a nuclear holocaust, a post-atomic court 
of horrors, new regional powers (the Northern Alliance, etc), and somehow Nokia 
emerges unscathed!?!? The Trek world I knew seemed to always posit that 
humanity had come to the verge of destroying itself, and upon First Contact, 
from the ashes of the old world they built a new one--eliminating poverty, war, 
hunger, disease and systems that move far beyond capitalism and socialism. In 
this new Trek reality, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirk had a credit card! Trek 
has often been faulted at being overly utopian in the past, which I agreed 
could obscure reality. But this Trek has characters so much like us, I don't 
understand how they can possibly be enlightened. Normally Trek folks look back 
on our era the way we would at someone stepped out of the 12th century. Can't 
see them however debating the philosophical merits of the prime directive.

My great fear is that this spawns a whole Trek series that won't have some 
universal appeal because they adhere to any dynamic set of principles, but a 
Trek universe where things get blow'd up real good and the movie crowd can clap 
on cue. Too early to make that judgment before the next film, so we'll just 
have to wait and see...

MHO

Sin/Black Galactus

[scifinoir2] Re: Admiral Tyler Perry

*groan* that was painful to watch...


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, brotherfromhoward brotherfromhow...@... 
wrote:

 Thoughts on Starfleet Academy's newest commander?

[scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

Okay. Getting real Trek geek here...

SPOILERS!

SPOILERS!

SPOILSRS!


Where are the Temporal Authorities? In a Deep Space 9 episode, we got to see 
guys from the future who monitor time. I figure they must be able to remain 
unaltered outside the timeline. Shouldn't some alarm (or however they're 
notified) have gone off somewhere as soon as that giant Romulan ship showed up 
and started rippling through the time line? 

Jes thinkin aloud...

Sin


-- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, sincere1906 sincere1...@... wrote:

 Okay it's 4am, I saw the new Trek movie about 8 hours ago and am just getting 
 in after a night of debauchery. So I might be writing this on a Red Stripe 
 buzz, but here goes...
 
 S P O I L E R S ! ! ! 
 
 I liked the movie. As a movie, it was good. The plot was decent. There was 
 well-paced excitement, humor, etc. The cast was relatable. I thought everyone 
 did a great job playing their roles--even down to Chekhov. So as a movie, 
 good. I give it 3 stars out of four. 
 
 The larger question, what I suppose matters the most on a group like this, is 
 was it good Trek?
 
 On this, I'm truly torn.
 
 First off, I knew they said get ready to forget everything you know about 
 Trek, but damn...I didn't know they were this serious! Thanks to that Romulan 
 ship coming through a black hole and killing Kirk's father, the timeline that 
 we know from that point on has been severed. The Butterfly effect has created 
 a host of new phenomenon--right down to a love affar between Uhuru and 
 Spock--which never seemed to exist before. This was a bold and daring move. 
 The writers of this new Trek world have an entire alternate reality on their 
 hands. They can do anything. And with Vulcans reduced to a virtual minor 
 colony the entire course of the Federation could be altered, not to mention 
 the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant. They should call this Ultimate 
 Star Trek! There's a sense of loss here knowing that the Trek reality that 
 I've long called home no longer exists (or exists in some other timeline). 
 For all we know future figures like Picard might never have been born. For 
 the first time I can recall, we have a Trek spin off that cannot fit into the 
 larger Trek universe. That will take some getting used to.
 
 Second, where a part of me is concerned, is I'm trying to figure out where 
 this new story fits into Roddenberry's vision. Even with all its faults, the 
 original Trek world was one that took radical positions--a Russian main 
 character, a black main character, etc. I don't see this Trek taking any such 
 bold moves. I don't see a vision here, even as we stand in the midst of a 
 time almost as socially and politically challenging as the 1960s. Nothing 
 illustrated this more than seeing product placement ads for Nokia, Budweiser 
 and Jack Daniels. Pardon me for using a cross-sci-fi swear word, but what 
 the frack!?! Earth endures eugenics wars, a nuclear holocaust, a post-atomic 
 court of horrors, new regional powers (the Northern Alliance, etc), and 
 somehow Nokia emerges unscathed!?!? The Trek world I knew seemed to always 
 posit that humanity had come to the verge of destroying itself, and upon 
 First Contact, from the ashes of the old world they built a new 
 one--eliminating poverty, war, hunger, disease and systems that move far 
 beyond capitalism and socialism. In this new Trek reality, I wouldn't be 
 surprised if Kirk had a credit card! Trek has often been faulted at being 
 overly utopian in the past, which I agreed could obscure reality. But this 
 Trek has characters so much like us, I don't understand how they can possibly 
 be enlightened. Normally Trek folks look back on our era the way we would at 
 someone stepped out of the 12th century. Can't see them however debating the 
 philosophical merits of the prime directive.
 
 My great fear is that this spawns a whole Trek series that won't have some 
 universal appeal because they adhere to any dynamic set of principles, but a 
 Trek universe where things get blow'd up real good and the movie crowd can 
 clap on cue. Too early to make that judgment before the next film, so we'll 
 just have to wait and see...
 
 MHO
 
 Sin/Black Galactus

[scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

GW,

The Galactica Syndrome... I like that! :)

I should state, I really *like* what was done with the new Galactica. That was 
a true rebooting that borrowed elements of the original and came up with 
something fresh and new. And I might argue that BSG's changes were appreciated 
by people like me who remember fondly the original, but also love this one.

Of course, the new BSG is a re-make---the way the X-Universe is remade every 
time there's a movie, cartoon, etc. It's easier to accept it, because no matter 
what happens in the X-men movies, the X-Universe of the comic book world 
continues to sail along. Unlike re-make movies however, Trek movies and shows 
and books tend to inter-connect. They don't exist side by side, the way an 
X-movie may exist alongside (but not within) the dominant X-Universe. 

This new Trek however isn't actually a re-make, but it doesn't interconnect 
either--at least with anything past the Enterprise era. It involves an 
alternate timeline/reality that deviates from the old Trek but not completely 
divorced from it. Trek has certainly flirted with alternate universes before 
(Mirror, Mirror), but this is the first one I know of based on an altering of 
the dominant universe we're used to. Usually when that happens, by the end of 
the episode everything rights itself (Yesterday's Enterprise). We now have two 
major Trek universes however. 

So will this new one spawn new series? Books? Will this universe ever overlap 
with the other one? Be interesting to watch...

Sin/Black Galactus

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, gwashin...@... wrote:

 
 In a message dated 5/10/09 4:24:35 AM, sincere1...@... writes:
  
  
  My great fear is that this spawns a whole Trek series that won't have some 
  universal appeal because they adhere to any dynamic set of principles, but 
  a Trek universe where things get blow'd up real good and the movie crowd 
  can clap on cue. Too early to make that judgment before the next film, so 
  we'll just have to wait and see...
  
  MHO
  
  Sin/Black Galactus
  
 
 I was about to stay silent on this but the paragraph above prompted me to 
 put my .02 cents in.   
 
 What Sin/Black Galactus stated is something I call The Galactica 
 Syndrome.   That is you got a show based on a earlier project that while 
 forming 
 it's own audiance base is shunned by most-if not all of the orignials show's 
 base.   Shows like this usually don't have that much of a long shelf-life 
 being period 'flashes in the pan.
 
 Pre-new movie Star Trek   (OST, ST:NG, ST:DS9, ST:V) while set either/or 
 different time periods, situtations, characters, etc. could have went this 
 way.   Their was something about those shows (and the movies based on them) 
 that fans from other shows could like and this brought in many fans from 
 those 
 shows.   Which in turn made the great.   However the flipside of this is 
 that it produces 'lazy' exicution, that eventually results in bad products 
 which angers and drives of the fans of those shows.   Forcing efforts to 
 bring 
 new life into those shows.   Sometimes successful, sometimes not. It depends 
 on how much cannon they 'break' when doing it to make the show new/hip to 
 make it acceptable to both new/old fans.   
 
 This, IMO is why Enterprise was not well recieved by the pre-new movie Star 
 Trek community.   It broke too much cannon, and many of the stories weren't 
 that good.   Which is also why it didn't get that many new fans (IMO if it 
 wasn't for the ST name Enterprise would have been canciled in it's first 
 season).
 
 while the new Battlestar Galactica was a somewhat hit.   It was not so by 
 many fans of the old series who concider it broke too much cannon (and the 
 fact it's creators also had 'lazy exicution' sydrome judging from it's later 
 episodes) and this IMO the show will probally fade over time.   And in my 
 opinion I see the new Star Trek movie and it's alternate timeline will while 
 finding intial popular support will eventually go the way of new BG as it's 
 new fans will stick to this movie.   While fans of pre-new movie ST will 
 eventually ignore it and continue on, asking for more stuff in the pre-new 
 movie 
 ST background.   
 
 But hey it's only my opinon.
 
 
 -GTW
 
 
 **
 The Average US Credit Score is 692. See Yours in Just 2 
 Easy Steps! 
 (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222376999x1201454299/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072amp;hmpgID=62amp;
 bcd=May51009AvgfooterNO62)

[scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

Daryle,

Those are some great points! True indeed, how many times has the timeline been 
altered already with flagrant offenders like Kirk (old Kirk)? And, one more 
time, what about those Temporal Authorities that exist in the far future that 
attempt to assure the timeline remains generally intact? Somehow they have to 
exist outside of these temporal changes and must be aware. I'm wondering too 
how many changes Spock's presence will bring. Spock however came from a 
Federation that obeyed the Prime Directive...somewhat. How much does he 
interfere in this timeline with his knowledge of the possible future? Does 
Spock give away future scientific knowledge (like he did with trans-warp 
teleporting), or keep his mouth/brain shut. 

So if I get this straight, this timeline does not erase the old one we're 
used to right? That timeline--that I'm going to call the Trek Universe 
1.0--still exists, no? This new timeline is just another reality now, like 
Worf's bouncing around in Parallels. 

Sin/Black Galactus 
 
--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Daryle Lockhart dar...@... wrote:

 And the canonical differences are the things we were always arguing  
 about ANYWAY, which makes this reset brilliant.
 
 A lot of the things we accept as Trek law is stuff that  happened  
 under Berman and Braga. Let's not forget,  if we follow the actual  
 timeliine of events,  time had been changed by  the events of First  
 Contact  ANYWAY, so things were already different. I have an  
 analysis coming on things that changed that  we hadn't considered,   
 and some of it's good, like the idea that Voyager probably won't  
 happen in this timeline, and that no Klingons ever join the  
 Federation. Having a leading science officer from the future with  
 knowledge of their mining accident will DEFINITELY impact how the  
 Klingons get  down.  But more importantly,  it is quite possible that  
 either the Founders or The Borg WIN this time. The small advantages  
 the Federation had were due to the political climate in the galaxy.   
 Change those things (make the Romulans into allies, for example),   
 and everything changes.  I believe that this new Trek universe is  
 going to  be FANTASTIC for novels. All bets are off!
 
 FOR THIS REASON, it's crucial that J J Abrams not direct the next   
 Star Trek movie. He can produce all day, I'm not saying the man  
 shouldn't get paid, but JJ has a habit of derailing  something  in  
 the middle and having it never recover (or is there someone here who  
 understands what's happening on Lost?)
 
 
 On May 10, 2009, at 11:43 AM, Adrianne Brennan wrote:
 
 
 
  I dunno. I don't see what they're doing as being any different from  
  the reboot of Doctor Who, except with more major canonical  
  differences.
 
 
  ~ Where love and magic meet ~
  http://www.adriannebrennan.com
  Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon:  http:// 
  www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
  Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates: http:// 
  www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
  Dare to take The Oath in this fantasy series: http:// 
  www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
 
 
  On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 10:31 AM, gwashin...@... wrote:
 
 
 
  In a message dated 5/10/09 4:24:35 AM, sincere1...@... writes:
 
 
  My great fear is that this spawns a whole Trek series that won't  
  have some universal appeal because they adhere to any dynamic set  
  of principles, but a Trek universe where things get blow'd up real  
  good and the movie crowd can clap on cue. Too early to make that  
  judgment before the next film, so we'll just have to wait and see...
 
  MHO
 
  Sin/Black Galactus
 
 
  I was about to stay silent on this but the paragraph above prompted  
  me to put my .02 cents in.
 
  What Sin/Black Galactus stated is something I call The Galactica  
  Syndrome.  That is you got a show based on a earlier project that  
  while forming it's own audiance base is shunned by most-if not all  
  of the orignials show's base.  Shows like this usually don't have  
  that much of a long shelf-life being period 'flashes in the pan.
 
  Pre-new movie Star Trek  (OST, ST:NG, ST:DS9, ST:V) while set  
  either/or different time periods, situtations, characters, etc.  
  could have went this way.  Their was something about those shows  
  (and the movies based on them) that fans from other shows could  
  like and this brought in many fans from those shows.  Which in turn  
  made the great.  However the flipside of this is that it produces  
  'lazy' exicution, that eventually results in bad products which  
  angers and drives of the fans of those shows.  Forcing efforts to  
  bring new life into those shows.  Sometimes successful, sometimes  
  not. It depends on how much cannon they 'break' when doing it to  
  make the show new/hip to make it acceptable to both new/old fans.
 
  This, IMO is why Enterprise was not well recieved by the pre-new  
  movie Star Trek community.  It broke too much

[scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

ROTFL. Man just the image of Picard in that scene has me laughing. But recall 
that Picard's Ahab-like obstinance had to be tempered by Alfree Woodard... You 
broke your little ships. See the movie, please, if only so I can find a 
like-minded person who likes Trek's vision and principles to gripe and complain 
with... :)

Sin/Black Galactus

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@... wrote:

 Your right to believe and enjoy. Mine not to. Thank you for caring enough to 
 try to steer me your way, but I feel that I've got to make a stand here. To 
 quote Picard in First Contact, This far and no further!
 
 
 
 
 
-[ Received Mail Content ]--
 
 Subject : Re: [scifinoir2] New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
 
 Date : Sun, 10 May 2009 11:00:32 -0700 (PDT)
 
 From : Bosco Bosco ironpi...@...
 
 To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 
 
Dude
 
 This movie is GREAT. Miss it if you must but it's GREAT. Did I mention it's 
 frakin GREAT. I really think you're cheating yourself by taking a stand 
 against without having seen it. Seriously.
 
 God that movie was GREAT.
 
 Bosco
 
 --- On Sun, 5/10/09, Martin Baxter  wrote:
 
 From: Martin Baxter 
 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009, 12:45 PM
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  Adrianne, I've never thought of Doctor Who as a reboot, merely a restart. 
 The nature of the show itself allows for far more flexibility in 
 storytelling. The same can be said for Trek, but there are established events 
 that formed the show's collective mythos. IMO, those events are being 
 juggled, solely to make money. Yes, it's the Way of All Things. I don't have 
 to accept it. 
 
 I won't. I'll NEVER see this movie, not on cable, not on free TV, not even if 
 someone were to send it to me, wrapped in C-notes. I'd send it right back.
 
 
 
 
 
 -[ Received Mail Content ]--
 
  Subject : Re: [scifinoir2] New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
 
  Date : Sun, 10 May 2009 11:43:31 -0400
 
  From : Adrianne Brennan 
 
  To : scifino...@yahoogro ups.com
 
 
 
 I dunno. I don't see what they're doing as being any different from the
 
 reboot of Doctor Who, except with more major canonical differences.
 
 ~ Where love and magic meet ~
 
 http://www.adrianne brennan.com
 
 Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon:
 
 http://www.adrianne brennan.com/ botdm.html
 
 Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates:
 
 http://www.adrianne brennan.com/ bamc.html
 
 Dare to take The Oath in this fantasy series:
 
 http://www.adrianne brennan.com/ books.html# the_oath
 
 
 
 
 
 On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 10:31 AM, wrote:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  In a message dated 5/10/09 4:24:35 AM, sincere1906@ gmail.com writes:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  My great fear is that this spawns a whole Trek series that won't have some
 
  universal appeal because they adhere to any dynamic set of principles, but a
 
  Trek universe where things get blow'd up real good and the movie crowd can
 
  clap on cue. Too early to make that judgment before the next film, so we'll
 
  just have to wait and see...
 
 
 
  MHO
 
 
 
  Sin/Black Galactus
 
 
 
 
 
  I was about to stay silent on this but the paragraph above prompted me to
 
  put my .02 cents in.
 
 
 
  What Sin/Black Galactus stated is something I call The Galactica
 
  Syndrome. That is you got a show based on a earlier project that while
 
  forming it's own audiance base is shunned by most-if not all of the
 
  orignials show's base. Shows like this usually don't have that much of a
 
  long shelf-life being period 'flashes in the pan.
 
 
 
  Pre-new movie Star Trek (OST, ST:NG, ST:DS9, ST:V) while set either/or
 
  different time periods, situtations, characters, etc. could have went this
 
  way. Their was something about those shows (and the movies based on them)
 
  that fans from other shows could like and this brought in many fans from
 
  those shows. Which in turn made the great. However the flipside of this is
 
  that it produces 'lazy' exicution, that eventually results in bad products
 
  which angers and drives of the fans of those shows. Forcing efforts to
 
  bring new life into those shows. Sometimes successful, sometimes not. It
 
  depends on how much cannon they 'break' when doing it to make the show
 
  new/hip to make it acceptable to both new/old fans.
 
 
 
  This, IMO is why Enterprise was not well recieved by the pre-new movie Star
 
  Trek community. It broke too much cannon, and many of the stories weren't
 
  that good. Which is also why it didn't get that many new fans (IMO if it
 
  wasn't for the ST name Enterprise would have been canciled in it's first
 
  season).
 
 
 
  while the new Battlestar Galactica was a somewhat hit. It was not so by
 
  many fans of the old series who concider it broke too much cannon (and the
 
  fact it's creators also had 'lazy exicution' sydrome judging from it's later
 
  episodes) and this IMO

[RE][scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

But this is scifinoir...where we can get into convulted arguments about 
everything from individuality and consciousness in the Borg to whether Balrogs 
have wings. That's what makes this little reality Tracey created for us so 
special--cuz we can't do so in most other places. And fear not, I'm not asking 
anyone to be divided by loyalties nor am I stewing in prejudice (?) and/or 
nostalgia. lol Just having a lively discussion... :)

Sin/Black Galactus

 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Meta hett...@... wrote:

 I have seen the movie and I loved it. My feelings about this
 non-issue is the same as yours. I just will not be drawn into a
 convoluted argument about Trek loyalties.
 
 Meta
 
 
 --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Justin Mohareb justinmohareb@ wrote:
 
  Yeah, but a lot of people have decided that, sight unseen, they're not  
  going to like this film.
  
  I, personally, don't have the time or energy to debate or cajole or  
  even, at this point, care.
  
  Let them stew in prejudice and nostalgia.
  
  That leaves more seats for the rest of us.
  
  Justin
  
  On 10-May-09, at 10:15 AM, Adrianne Brennan  
  adrianne.brennan@ wrote:
  
  
  
   And yet, me and many others who ARE Trek fans--heck, been a Trekkie  
   all of my life--*loved* the movie!
  
  
   ~ Where love and magic meet ~
   http://www.adriannebrennan.com
   Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon:  
   http://www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
   Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates: 
   http://www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
   Dare to take The Oath in this fantasy series: 
   http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
  
  
   On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Martin Baxter truthseeker013@ 
wrote:
   That, sir, is a DAMN good point. But then, I return to Abrams' own  
   words.
  
   If you're a Star Trek fan, you won't like this movie.
  
  
  
  
  
   -[ Received Mail Content ]--
  
Subject : [scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
  
Date : Sun, 10 May 2009 08:36:17 -
  
From : sincere1906 sincere1906@
  
To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
  
  
   Okay. Getting real Trek geek here...
  
   SPOILERS!
  
   SPOILERS!
  
   SPOILSRS!
  
  
   Where are the Temporal Authorities? In a Deep Space 9 episode, we  
   got to see guys from the future who monitor time. I figure they must  
   be able to remain unaltered outside the timeline. Shouldn't some  
   alarm (or however they're notified) have gone off somewhere as soon  
   as that giant Romulan ship showed up and started rippling through  
   the time line?
  
   Jes thinkin aloud...
  
   Sin
  
  
   -- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, sincere1906  wrote:
   
Okay it's 4am, I saw the new Trek movie about 8 hours ago and am  
   just getting in after a night of debauchery. So I might be writing  
   this on a Red Stripe buzz, but here goes...
   
S P O I L E R S ! ! !
   
I liked the movie. As a movie, it was good. The plot was decent.  
   There was well-paced excitement, humor, etc. The cast was relatable.  
   I thought everyone did a great job playing their roles--even down to  
   Chekhov. So as a movie, good. I give it 3 stars out of four.
   
The larger question, what I suppose matters the most on a group  
   like this, is was it good Trek?
   
On this, I'm truly torn.
   
First off, I knew they said get ready to forget everything you  
   know about Trek, but damn...I didn't know they were this serious!  
   Thanks to that Romulan ship coming through a black hole and killing  
   Kirk's father, the timeline that we know from that point on has been  
   severed. The Butterfly effect has created a host of new phenomenon-- 
   right down to a love affar between Uhuru and Spock--which never  
   seemed to exist before. This was a bold and daring move. The writers  
   of this new Trek world have an entire alternate reality on their  
   hands. They can do anything. And with Vulcans reduced to a virtual  
   minor colony the entire course of the Federation could be altered,  
   not to mention the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant. They  
   should call this Ultimate Star Trek! There's a sense of loss here  
   knowing that the Trek reality that I've long called home no longer  
   exists (or exists in some other timeline). For all we know future  
   figures like Picard might never have been born. For the !
first time I can recall, we have a Trek spin off that cannot fit  
   into the larger Trek universe. That will take some getting used to.
   
Second, where a part of me is concerned, is I'm trying to figure  
   out where this new story fits into Roddenberry's vision. Even with  
   all its faults, the original Trek world was one that took radical  
   positions--a Russian main character, a black main character, etc. I  
   don't see this Trek taking any such bold moves. I don't see a vision  
   here, even as we stand in the midst of a time almost

[RE][scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

LOL You're right Tracey. Griping can be fun! When I become an old man, I plan 
on being a master griper. I'm practicing now! :)

One point of contention however, I don't know if this is about being a 
traditionalist or whether one can adapt--at least not for me. I liked the 
old Star Trek I watched in syndication as a kid. I was all open eyes for Next 
Gen, and followed it thru my teenage to early adult years. I signed up for Deep 
Space Nine and Voyager. I endured Enterprise. I saw every movie. Read some 
books. I adapted repeatedly. Did I gripe? Oh yeah. Usually I griped at what I 
thought were wack storylines or bad episodes. With Enterprise I just griped at 
what I considered bland storytelling, though they began to make up for that 
with aspects of the Xindi war. 

So change in the Trek Universe--I think I can adapt to that fine. I can even 
adapt I think to alternate timelines/realities (Mirror, Mirror/Yesterday's 
Enterprise/Parallels), which I usually find exciting. My issues with this 
good movie (because I'm saying off the bat, it's a good movie) are about the 
deeper principles that lie behind what Trek is, what tied all those previous 
incarnations (good and/or bad) together. From the product placements to Kirk's 
almost going through the motions in citing Federation compassion towards the 
enemy at the end, this just didn't feel like Trek, which I have accepted 
previously in all its adaptations. It looked like Trek, it had the characters, 
it had familiar names--but it felt like...something else.

Sin/Black Galactus


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella tdli...@... wrote:

 One more thing,  Do any of you remember when people torn down TNG during its
 premier.  How about Picard.  He is now among some more beloved than Kirk,
 yet many were prepared to start a rebellion when the series premiered.  I
 think some of the traditionalists will eventually adapt and learn to
 separate enjoy and gripe.  Griping can be fun   
 
  
 
 From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On
 Behalf Of Justin Mohareb
 Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:46 AM
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeah, but a lot of people have decided that, sight unseen, they're not going
 to like this film. 
 
  
 
 I, personally, don't have the time or energy to debate or cajole or even, at
 this point, care. 
 
  
 
 Let them stew in prejudice and nostalgia. 
 
  
 
 That leaves more seats for the rest of us. 
 
  
 
 Justin 
 
 On 10-May-09, at 10:15 AM, Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@...
 wrote:
 
 And yet, me and many others who ARE Trek fans--heck, been a Trekkie all of
 my life--*loved* the movie!
 
 
 ~ Where love and magic meet ~
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com
 Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon:
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
 Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates:
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
 Dare to take The Oath in this fantasy series:
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
 
 
 
 On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@...
 wrote:
 
 That, sir, is a DAMN good point. But then, I return to Abrams' own words.
 
 If you're a Star Trek fan, you won't like this movie.
 
 
 
 
 
 -[ Received Mail Content ]--
 
  Subject : [scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take *SPOILERS*
 
  Date : Sun, 10 May 2009 08:36:17 -
 
  From : sincere1906 sincere1...@...
 
  To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 
 
 
 Okay. Getting real Trek geek here...
 
 SPOILERS!
 
 SPOILERS!
 
 SPOILSRS!
 
 
 Where are the Temporal Authorities? In a Deep Space 9 episode, we got to see
 guys from the future who monitor time. I figure they must be able to remain
 unaltered outside the timeline. Shouldn't some alarm (or however they're
 notified) have gone off somewhere as soon as that giant Romulan ship showed
 up and started rippling through the time line?
 
 Jes thinkin aloud...
 
 Sin
 
 
 
 -- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, sincere1906  wrote:
 
  Okay it's 4am, I saw the new Trek movie about 8 hours ago and am just
 getting in after a night of debauchery. So I might be writing this on a Red
 Stripe buzz, but here goes...
 
  S P O I L E R S ! ! !
 
  I liked the movie. As a movie, it was good. The plot was decent. There was
 well-paced excitement, humor, etc. The cast was relatable. I thought
 everyone did a great job playing their roles--even down to Chekhov. So as a
 movie, good. I give it 3 stars out of four.
 
  The larger question, what I suppose matters the most on a group like this,
 is was it good Trek?
 
  On this, I'm truly torn.
 
  First off, I knew they said get ready to forget everything you know about
 Trek, but damn...I didn't know they were this serious! Thanks to that
 Romulan ship coming through a black hole and killing Kirk's father, the
 timeline that we know from that point on has been severed. The Butterfly
 effect has created

[scifinoir2] Re: Keith's Take - Star Trek

oops. guilty as charged. i ain't been back on here enuff to know that was yer 
thing Keith. apologies. :) good review tho!

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote:

 Someone took my My Take review opening, so I had to change my subject line! 
 :) 
 
 My quick take: The new Star Trek is a fun movie, full of jokes ( a few too 
 many perhaps), exciting action scenes, and great FX. The cast is good, the 
 updates to the ship not too bad, and the stage is set for future films that 
 should also be fun. JJ Abrams has been respectful to the spirit of 
 Roddenberry's vision, and the human core of the franchise is there, 
 especially for future efforts. Still, changes to Kirk and especially Spock 
 were puzzling and unnecessary, and the change to the Trek timeline is 
 puzzling and frankly needs to be reversed. Overall a fun movie that needs a 
 few tweaks in future efforts. 
 
 My Full Take: 
 
 
 
 âYou will always be a child of two worlds. The decision is yours to decide 
 which is right for youâ. 
 
 
 
 This is Sarekâs advice to his half-human, half-Vulcan son, Spock, trying to 
 help him deal with the conflicts of his heritage. Neither half is 
 intrinsically better than the other, Sarek explains, and his son can benefit 
 by taking the best of each. 
 
 
 This seems to be the philosophy taken by director J.J. Abrams in his update 
 of the sci-fi classic. Abrams has succeeded in making a fun film that is 
 great on the eyes, and respectful of the human drama at the core of âStar 
 Trekâ. But in bringing âTrekâ into a new world, Abrams has modified 
 some of the core elements of the old. Like Spock, he has endeavored to 
 combine the best of each; and like Spock, it is up for moviegoers to decide 
 if the result is right for them. 
 
 
 
 Things start off quickly enough, as the USS Kelvin is confronted by the sight 
 of a giant spaceship emerging from a literal hole in space. The commander, a 
 Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) is bent on revenge for a past hurt. Before 
 long, the captain is dead, Kirkâs father is in command, and ultimately 
 sacrifices his life to save his crew--including his pregnant wife. 
 
 
 
 Twenty-five years later, Kirkâs son Jim (Chris Pine) is a young neâer do 
 well who spends his time flirting and getting into bar fights. That is, until 
 Kirk is approached by Captain Christopher Pike of the newly commissioned 
 starship Enterprise. Pike encourages the young man to make something of 
 himself by joining Starfleet. 
 
 
 
 âI dare you to do betterâ (than your father), he challenges Kirk. 
 âEnlist in Starfleetâ. 
 
 
 
 Kirk takes up the challenge, and thus sets on the path that will lead him to 
 meet Spock and the rest of his future crewmates. 
 
 
 
 Abrams keeps things zipping in âStar Trekâ from the first moment. The 
 explosions, phaser battles, and fightsâand there are a lot of them--come at 
 warp speed. Indeed, many times the action is a bit too frenetic: space 
 battles move by too quickly to be taken in fully, and Abrams loves to put the 
 camera right in the faces of people during fights. One wishes the camera 
 would pull back every now and then, and that the action scenes were more 
 drawn out rather than a series of quick-cuts. Still, itâs not boring. 
 
 
 
 No expense has been spared in the look of the film: the Enterprise has been 
 updated outside with a sleek new look thatâs less angles and more smooth 
 curves. Inside itâs all white and plexiglass surfaces, floating holograms, 
 vivid computer displays, and surprisingly cavernous sections where crewmen do 
 their stuff. One could cynically note a strong âStar Warsâ feeling here, 
 but give Abrams credit: he does pay great homage to the old as well. The 
 uniforms (women in skirts! red-shirted security guards!), phasers, and 
 communicators all hail back to the look of the series. Throw in sweeping 
 vistas of Vulcan, beautiful shots of Starfleet Command in San Francisco, and 
 you can see Abrams was really serious about making this movie look 
 âauthenticâ. Even some of the soundsâthe transporter, alerts, some 
 computer noisesâare very familiar indeed. Overall, the changes are nothing 
 to complain too much about. 
 
 
 
 Itâs a great looking film, but as any fan will tell you, the true center of 
 Star Trek has always been the relationships between its characters. Does 
 Abrams manner to capture that feeling? Well, yes---mostly. 
 
 
 
 At the center of this movie are the struggles Kirk and Spock are undertaking 
 to find their way. Each man has in a way been running from his pain, with 
 Kirk seeking escape in emotional excess. Though in the Academy, Kirk is still 
 hiding behind the character of the irreverent, devil-may-care rogue. Heâs 
 still a womanizer, still thumbing his nose at authority. 
 
 
 
 Spock has mostly avoided the issue of just how much of an emotional creature 
 he canâand shouldâbe, by trying to

[scifinoir2] Re: New Trek- My take SPOILERS

Damn. You just made some red matter suck my brain into a black hole... those 
are alot of conundrums unleashed by this timeline/alternate reality change. I 
hadn't thought of any of those, and now there must be hundreds of others. Alot 
of Trek geeks are out of a job, and we've entered an ultimate world of 
fanfiction.

Sin/Black Galactus

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Daryle Lockhart dar...@... wrote:

 Yeah see, once Spock  spilled the trans-warp  equation,  I knew he  
 was going to be a problem. He proved to BE said problem by having a  
 conversation with himself.
 
 To be specific, everything we know in Star Trek, as of now, did not  
 happen. Because Nero went  back in time and destroyed the Kelvin,  
 thus killing George Kirk,  James Kirk never served on any other ship  
 but the Enterprise,  which means The Cage never happened.  As I  
 theorized earlier,  if Spock makes the case to the Klingons, then  
 even IF Kirk and Carol Marcus have a son,  his Genesis discovery will  
 go off without a hitch, the target  moon will become a test  ground,   
 life will form on it,  and David Marcus wil live a long and happy  
 life. So  will  Spock,  by the way,  which  would leave everyone on  
 Earth  when the probe comes looking for the whales. Which  means  
 Transparent aluminum won't be invented in the 20th Century. If all  
 the Vulcans are gone, then Sybok went  with 'em.  Same goes for  
 Saavik and Tuvok's clan. If David Marcus lives long,  Dr. Soong will  
 look like a parlor magician with  his robotic theories, never be  
 taken seriously,  and no Data/Lor. (by the way,  Romulan/Federation  
 Alliance means no more oppressing the Remans, so Nemesis never  
 happens)
 
 
 On May 10, 2009, at 4:32 PM, sincere1906 wrote:
 
 
 
  Daryle,
 
  Those are some great points! True indeed, how many times has the  
  timeline been altered already with flagrant offenders like Kirk  
  (old Kirk)? And, one more time, what about those Temporal  
  Authorities that exist in the far future that attempt to assure the  
  timeline remains generally intact? Somehow they have to exist  
  outside of these temporal changes and must be aware. I'm wondering  
  too how many changes Spock's presence will bring. Spock however  
  came from a Federation that obeyed the Prime Directive...somewhat.  
  How much does he interfere in this timeline with his knowledge of  
  the possible future? Does Spock give away future scientific  
  knowledge (like he did with trans-warp teleporting), or keep his  
  mouth/brain shut.
 
  So if I get this straight, this timeline does not erase the old  
  one we're used to right? That timeline--that I'm going to call the  
  Trek Universe 1.0--still exists, no? This new timeline is just  
  another reality now, like Worf's bouncing around in Parallels.
 
  Sin/Black Galactus
 
  --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Daryle Lockhart daryle@ wrote:
  
   And the canonical differences are the things we were always arguing
   about ANYWAY, which makes this reset brilliant.
  
   A lot of the things we accept as Trek law is stuff that happened
   under Berman and Braga. Let's not forget, if we follow the actual
   timeliine of events, time had been changed by the events of First
   Contact ANYWAY, so things were already different. I have an
   analysis coming on things that changed that we hadn't considered,
   and some of it's good, like the idea that Voyager probably won't
   happen in this timeline, and that no Klingons ever join the
   Federation. Having a leading science officer from the future with
   knowledge of their mining accident will DEFINITELY impact how the
   Klingons get down. But more importantly, it is quite possible that
   either the Founders or The Borg WIN this time. The small advantages
   the Federation had were due to the political climate in the galaxy.
   Change those things (make the Romulans into allies, for example),
   and everything changes. I believe that this new Trek universe is
   going to be FANTASTIC for novels. All bets are off!
  
   FOR THIS REASON, it's crucial that J J Abrams not direct the next
   Star Trek movie. He can produce all day, I'm not saying the man
   shouldn't get paid, but JJ has a habit of derailing something in
   the middle and having it never recover (or is there someone here who
   understands what's happening on Lost?)
  
  
   On May 10, 2009, at 11:43 AM, Adrianne Brennan wrote:
  
   
   
I dunno. I don't see what they're doing as being any different  
  from
the reboot of Doctor Who, except with more major canonical
differences.
   
   
~ Where love and magic meet ~
http://www.adriannebrennan.com
Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon: http://
www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates: http://
www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
Dare to take The Oath in this fantasy series: http://
www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath

[scifinoir2] The First European

2009-05-05 Thread sincere1906

The first European: Created from fragments of fossil, the face of our forbears 
35,000 years ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1177123/The-European-Created-fragments-fossil-face-forbears-35-000-years-ago.html

This story works best with the photos, so click the link. You'll dig it...

Sin

[scifinoir2] Cincinnati Superhero Shadowhare Patrols Streets Fighting Crime

my first thought was, wow...real life Watchmen.
my second thought was, this geek's going to get himself shot...
he's got a cape...has he learned nothing?!?
and there are groups of these people?
my third thought was, so this is some kind of wierd artistic stunt...right? 

A photo: 

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tmz.com/media/2009/04/0428_shadowhare_myspace.jpg

News video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1ADqPplQ4

Story below

Sin

---

Cincinnati Superhero Patrols Streets Fighting Crime

'Shadowhare' Among Nationwide Group Of Superheroes 
Eric Flack Reporter

April 27, 2009


CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati police have a new ally in their fight against crime, 
whether they want it or not.

He calls himself Shadowhare, and he wears a mask and a cape to conceal his true 
identity. He's Cincinnati's own version of a superhero fighting crime and 
injustice where he finds it.

We help enforce the law by doing what we can in legal standards, so we carry 
handcuffs, pepper spray  all the legal weapons, said Shadowhare. We will do 
citizen's arrests. We will intervene on crimes if there is one happening in 
front of us.

The man behind Shadowhare's mask is 21 years old and from Milford. Those are 
the only clues to his true identity that he will reveal. Shadowhare said he was 
abused as a child and grew up in foster homes, perhaps leading him to a life 
helping others.

My message to Cincinnati is that there is still hope and all we have to do is 
stand together, he said.

Shadowhare is not alone in his quest to fight crime. He heads up a group of men 
-- and one woman -- called the Allegiance of Heroes. The members communicate 
with each other in online forums. Among the members are Aclyptico in 
Pennsylvania, Wall Creeper in Colorado and Master Legend in Florida.

I've even teamed up with Mr. Extreme in California -- San Diego -- and we were 
trying to track down a rapist, said Shadowhare.

The crime fighters will often pair up to patrol the streets. Even so, fighting 
crime comes with its share of hardship.

Shadowhare said he suffered a dislocated shoulder two years ago while trying to 
help a woman who was being attacked.

And the authorities don't always take him seriously. In one encounter with a 
Hamilton County corrections officer, Shadowhare was greeted with a chuckle and 
a look of disbelief.

But Shadowhare said he and his team are not deterred by the criticism. He 
remains focused on trying to make Cincinnati a better place, whether it's 
fighting crime or feeding the homeless.

For now, the law is on Shadowhare's side.

It is legal in Ohio and Kentucky to make a citizens arrest, however, the 
arrester does face possible civil litigation if the person arrested turns out 
to be innocent.

[scifinoir2] Re: Here We Go Again: Carny on SciFi Tonight

Deadliest Warrior.

SCI FI original movies is where small time sci fi actors (and some has-beens) 
go to end their legitimate careers...

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote:

 Dare I sink another two hours into a SciFi Originals movie? Or should I just 
 watch the three-hour block of The Deadliest Warrior on SpikeTV instead? 
 
  
 http://stargate-sg1-solutions.com/blog/2009/04/lou-diamond-phillips-in-carny-on-sci-fi/
  
 
 
 
 Posted in Press Watch , Universe at 2:02 am by DeeKayP 
 
 Carny - Sci Fi
 Lou Diamond Phillips stars in Carny (image from Sci Fi) 
 
 Stargate Universe star Lou Diamond Phillips can be seen in the new Sci Fi 
 Channel movie Carny this Saturday, April 25, at 9 PM (Eastern). 
 
 The movie was produced by Muse Entertainment and Brava Pictures for the Sci 
 Fi Channel in the US and Super Channel in Canada (airing time for Super 
 Channel currently not known). The Muse Entertainment website points to the 
 official press release and an interview done by Phillips with The Ottawa 
 Citizen during the time the film was shooting in Ottawa, Canada (to stand in 
 the place of a small town in Nebraska, USA). The interview is available in 
 both PDF and on-line formats. 
 
 Phillips plays the town sheriff, Atlas, who is the hero of the story: âWhen 
 a blood thirsty creature known as the Jersey Devil escapes from a travelling 
 carnival and begins to inflict terrible revenge on the citizens of a small 
 town, itâs up to the Sheriff to track and kill the beast before itâs too 
 late.â 
 
 What attracted Phillips to the role? âItâs a horror film, itâs a lot of 
 fun and my kids are going to love this. They loved one of my earlier films, 
 Bats â a 1999 film about killer bats â and I find this a bit reminiscent 
 of that. Iâve beaten sharks, a Jersey Devil, bats â daddy is 
 indestructible.â 
 
 Phillips is the father of four children. The youngest, Indigo, is probably a 
 bit too young to watch the movie âliveâ just yet, though, because, 
 according to the movieâs producer, Irene Litinsky ( Human Trafficking , The 
 Last Templar ), â Carny will transport the audience to a time of nostalgic 
 carnivals â the ones we all remember as young children. Our film will not 
 just thrill them - but hopefully scare them witless.â 
 
 Phillips is currently filming episodes of Universe in Vancouver, which is due 
 to premiere on the Syfy Channel (same as the Sci Fi Channel, just a new name) 
 in October.

[scifinoir2] Re: Here We Go Again: Carny on SciFi Tonight

Did anyone watch Battles BC last year?
They had a good one on Hannibal:

http://au.truveo.com/Battles-BC-Hannibal-The-Annihilator-Part-1/id/216172827972997360

History Channel these days has better effects, not to mention rather 
embellished storylines and speculative realities (warriors from different time 
periods and regions meeting in battle belongs in the fantastic), than 
Sci-Fi/Syfy does. They should hire those writers...

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter truthseeker...@... wrote:

 CRAP! Knew I was missing something good last night. Turned my TV off twenty 
 minutes into Carny. Hope The Deadliest Warrior re-airs tonight.
 
 
 
 
 
-[ Received Mail Content ]--
 
 Subject : Re: [scifinoir2] Here We Go Again: Carny on SciFi Tonight
 
 Date : Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:36:42 + (UTC)
 
 From : Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@...
 
 To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 
 
Ha-ha! You got me Tracey! The truth of the matter is I haven't been feeling all 
that well the last couple of weeks (will tell you why later, it sucks) and I've 
been home Saturday nights, unable to sleep, a little out of sorts. So these 
movies are often perfect because I didn't want to focus on something too 
complex. But they're waaay less than complex, so I keep getting disappointed. 
 For the record, by the way, I watched The Deadliest Warrior instead. That 
 show has really captivated me. Got to watch the battles of an Apache vs. a 
 Gladiator, a Samurai against a Viking ,and a Ninja pitted against a Spartan 
 soldier. 
 
 
 - Original Message - 
 From: Tracey de Morsella  
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 8:25:19 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
 Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Here We Go Again: Carny on SciFi Tonight 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 OK Keith: 
 
 I have held back for way too long. Someone must speak truth to lunacy. Face 
 it. You are into these Most dangerous nights on TV âmoviesâ You are 
 critiquing them every week. I think you love to hate them. 
 
 
 
 Not to worry, I still love ya. After all, you are family 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On 
 Behalf Of Keith Johnson 
 Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 4:18 PM 
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
 Subject: [scifinoir2] Here We Go Again: Carny on SciFi Tonight 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dare I sink another two hours into a SciFi Originals movie? Or should I just 
 watch the three-hour block of The Deadliest Warrior on SpikeTV instead? 
 
  
 http://stargate-sg1-solutions.com/blog/2009/04/lou-diamond-phillips-in-carny-on-sci-fi/
  
 
 Posted in Press Watch , Universe at 2:02 am by DeeKayP 
 
 Carny - Sci Fi
 Lou Diamond Phillips stars in Carny (image from Sci Fi) 
 
 Stargate Universe star Lou Diamond Phillips can be seen in the new Sci Fi 
 Channel movie Carny this Saturday, April 25, at 9 PM (Eastern). 
 
 The movie was produced by Muse Entertainment and Brava Pictures for the Sci 
 Fi Channel in the US and Super Channel in Canada (airing time for Super 
 Channel currently not known). The Muse Entertainment website points to the 
 official press release and an interview done by Phillips with The Ottawa 
 Citizen during the time the film was shooting in Ottawa, Canada (to stand in 
 the place of a small town in Nebraska, USA). The interview is available in 
 both PDF and on-line formats. 
 
 Phillips plays the town sheriff, Atlas, who is the hero of the story: âWhen 
 a blood thirsty creature known as the Jersey Devil escapes from a travelling 
 carnival and begins to inflict terrible revenge on the citizens of a small 
 town, itâs up to the Sheriff to track and kill the beast before itâs too 
 late.â 
 
 What attracted Phillips to the role? âItâs a horror film, itâs a lot of 
 fun and my kids are going to love this. They loved one of my earlier films, 
 Bats â a 1999 film about killer bats â and I find this a bit reminiscent 
 of that. Iâve beaten sharks, a Jersey Devil, bats â daddy is 
 indestructible.â 
 
 Phillips is the father of four children. The youngest, Indigo, is probably a 
 bit too young to watch the movie âliveâ just yet, though, because, 
 according to the movieâs producer, Irene Litinsky ( Human Trafficking , The 
 Last Templar ), â Carny will transport the audience to a time of nostalgic 
 carnivals â the ones we all remember as young children. Our film will not 
 just thrill them - but hopefully scare them witless.â 
 
 Phillips is currently filming episodes of Universe in Vancouver, which is due 
 to premiere on the Syfy Channel (same as the Sci Fi Channel, just a new name) 
 in October. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds

Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Weekend Report: Moviegoers Fixate on Obsessed

But from all previews, it looks positively *god-awful.* I have nothing against 
Beyonce (I can watch that Single Ladies video on mute!) or Idris Elba. I even 
could tolerate a good Fatal Attraction type flick, even putting aside all the 
inherent sexism involved. But everything about this movie seems over-the-top. 
I'm just judging by snippets of course, but beyond the tired premise, the whole 
thing looked like an excuse to have a gratitous femme smack down with all the 
titilations of sex and race intertwined. Now if Ari Larter had gone all Nikki 
Sanders and started rippin' folks apart like she did on HEROES, this could 
spark my interest.

All joking aside, and I don't want to get into the whole Tyler Perry debate (I 
know several academics who are coming out with works that describe, without 
malice, his creations as a form of neo-minstrelsy...that reception should be 
interesting), I don't know if this is a harbinger of progress. Because black 
film has done better and we've seen numerous other movies outside this type in 
the past few years (Akila and the Bee; ATL; etc.) I don't want to censor the 
movie--I think people have the right to punish their brain cells any way they 
wish. But I don't think it represents progress--or for that matter something 
negative--in black cinema. It's just one genre. And of course it'll do 
well--it's sex and violence, the equivalent to rubbernecking over a car wreck. 
In our gladiator culture, people will come. I just hope black moviegoers are 
allowed to be treated to other, diverse genres...which is usually the problem.

Crossin my fingers for the success of Will Smith's sword and sandal movie about 
the Nubian pharaoh Taharka! That will definitely shake things up a bit...

Sin 


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, ravenadal ravena...@... wrote:

 Actually, IMHO, this marks progress and is a harbinger of hope for black 
 cinema.  In effect, this is just a rehash of the Michael Douglas/Glen Close 
 thriller Fatal Attraction but two of the three main leads are 
 African-American.  I see this as fruit of the bitter Tyler Perry tree.  As 
 the old saw goes, it is an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody some good.  By 
 the by, the marketing of this movie was text book.  It reached the core movie 
 going audience (16-24) by creating palpable buzz.
 
 ~rave!
 
 --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter truthseeker013@ wrote:
 
  (walking away, shaking head...)
  
  
  
  
  
 -[ Received Mail Content ]--
  
  Subject : [scifinoir2] Weekend_Report:_Moviegoers_Fixate_on_Â`ObsessedÂ'
  
  Date : Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:38:40 -
  
  From : ravenadal ravenadal@
  
  To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
  
  
 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2581amp;p=.htm
  
  Weekend Report: Moviegoers Fixate on `Obsessed'
  by Brandon Gray
  
  Idris Elba and Ali Larter in Obsessed
   
   
   
  April 27, 2009
  
  bsessed clawed its way to the top of the weekend box office with a fierce 
  $28.6 million, or nearly as much as the debuts of Fighting, The Soloist and 
  Earth combined. Overall, the weekend was among the most attended ever for 
  the end of April, and business surged 25 percent over the same timeframe 
  last year.
  
  Unleashed on approximately 3,000 screens at 2,514 sites, Obsessed boasted 
  the highest-grossing opening on record for a psycho stalker, erotic or 
  blank from hell thriller. That's because the sub-genres' heyday of the 
  late '80s/early '90s, which included Fatal Attraction and The Hand That 
  Rocks the Cradle, was a period when movies played at fewer theaters and had 
  less opening weekend emphasis than they do today. Obsessed, though, outdrew 
  any recent comparable title by a vast margin, such as Lakeview Terrace, 
  Perfect Stranger, SwimFan and Enough.
  
  Brandishing the tagline All is fair when love is war, Obsessed was 
  marketed as an over-the-top Fatal Attracton redux, inviting audiences to 
  proclaim Oh, no, she didn't! and root for Beyonce to take out the psycho 
  (Ali Larter) who's after her man. As rote as the picture may be, this type 
  of storyline is enduring and relatable, and the trailer clearly spelled out 
  the entire movie. Distributor Sony Pictures' exit polling suggested that 58 
  percent of the audience was female and 51 percent was over 25 years old.
  
  The other nationwide debuts weren't nearly as impressive as Obsessed, but 
  they rated at least passable by the standards of their sub-genres. Fighting 
  grabbed $11 million on around 2,400 screens at 2,309 sites, which was 
  superior to Never Back Down and Annapolis among other fight movies. The 
  picture was pushed as an urban underdog drama in which Channing Tatum slugs 
  it out to get ahead. Distributor Universal Pictures' exit polling suggest 
  that 58 percent of the audience was male, 66 percent was under 25, and 
  Hispanics were the most represented ethnicity (39 percent).
  
  The Soloist drew $9.7 million on close to 2,200 screens

[scifinoir2] Re: Shatner Sad Not To Be Included In Star Trek

Keith,

while I agree with you, I think the reason Kirk is not going to be ressurrected 
by any Nexus is because everyone is trying to FORGET that whole Nexus 
movie...*blech!* or maybe I'm just speaking for myself. :)

this new flick betta be good or i swear i'm joining the Breen...

Sin


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@... wrote:

 I disagree with those who say big deal, because Spock is more important than 
 Shatner. Trek at its core is about humans: about how we can be better and 
 rise to the challenges of life despite ourselves. And that was originally 
 told through the center of Kirk, a passionate, sometimes illogical man who 
 would still rise to be the best humans can be when needed. The trifecta of 
 Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was the great thing, but failing that, I wish both 
 Spock and Kirk could be in the movie. And despite those who say that 
 Shatner's such a prima donna that this is good for him, I don't see the 
 connection: lots of actors may be egocentric offscreen, but still do their 
 job onscreen. I wish this time travel angle could have had both Kirk and 
 Spock together, reminiscing (or whatever the plot is) about the old days. 
 The problem, though, is Kirk having been killed off in official canon, and no 
 one having resurrected him in official canon. (I believe Shatner himself 
 either did so, or put forth a plot device to do so). Killing Kirk in that 
 movie was a mistake, especially because how he died was a bit silly. It was 
 grand and epic enough. Kirk should have gone out in a massive battle, perhaps 
 piloting the Enterprise solo in a suicide attack that destroys an alien 
 invasion. Either way, he shouldn't have been killed. If I criticize Shatner 
 for anything, it's for that one time of giving in to the studio: he should 
 have refused to do the movie if his character was going to die. Obviously 
 Shat didn't think about the future and the potential elimination of Kirk 
 --and his acting chances--from future works. 
 Given the nature of that anomaly, the Nexus, I always felt they could and 
 should have brought Kirk back quickly. After all, the Nexus spanned time and 
 space, allowed Kirk to exist for decades in a realistic fantasy world, even 
 created a sentient echo of Guinan. How difficult would it be to simply say 
 the Nexus completely cloned Kirk somehow, creating a perfect duplicate that 
 could later return to be Kirk? Or maybe they could say something such as, 
 Kirk, having been in the Nexus for decades, was imbued with Nexus energy, 
 and didn't really die, but went into suspended animation, reviving, healed 
 and healthy, a few weeks after Picard buried him? Hey: it's Star Trek, death 
 is *never* final. 
 Oh well, I'm probably one of the lone voices who'd like to see Shatner's Kirk 
 as much as Nimoy's Spock! 
 
 - Original Message - 
 From: Tracey de Morsella tdli...@... 
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 2:39:54 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
 Subject: [scifinoir2] Shatner Sad Not To Be Included In Star Trek 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shatner Sad Not To Be Included In Star Trek 
 
 
 27 April 2009 2:34 AM, PDT 
 
 William Shatner claims that the producers of the upcoming Star Trek movie are 
 so determined to keep the plot under wraps that even his friend Leonard Nimoy 
 , who, unlike Shatner, has a cameo role in the movie, won't tell him what 
 it's about. In an interview with the syndicated The Insider TV gossip show, 
 Shatner said, [He] is maybe my dearest friend, so I'm so happy for him -- 
 but he wouldn't tell me what the plot was. About not being asked to 
 participate in the film, the former Captain James T. Kirk said, It's 
 peculiar, and I'm sad about it, but that's the way they did it. 
 Nevertheless, Shatner indicated that he is anxious to see whether the movie 
 can achieve success given its reported $150-160-million budget. He noted that 
 the earlier Star Trek movies peaked out at anywhere between $80-100 million 
 in box office grosses. ... so they've got to make four times that to become 
 profitable, he said.

[scifinoir2] Pirates as Supervillains

2009-04-23 Thread sincere1906

An interesting article. Might be a bit off-topic, but I'm thinking pirates and 
comic book analogies might qualify? Just an excerpt posted here; follow link 
for the rest. If fantastic pirate-terrorist-islamists are the supervillains, I 
guess that would make us the Justice *Lords*...

Sin/BG




Monsters vs. Aliens

By John Feffer 

http://tomdispatch.com/post/175062/john_feffer_the_piracy_problem

In the comic books, bad guys often team up to fight the forces of good. The 
Masters of Evil battle the Avengers superhero team. The Joker and Scarecrow 
ally against Batman. Lex Luthor and Brainiac take on Superman. 

And the Somali pirates, who have dominated recent headlines with their 
hijacking and hostage-taking, join hands with al-Qaeda to form a dynamic evil 
duo against the United States and our allies. We're the friendly monsters -- a 
big, hulking superpower with a heart of gold -- and they're the aliens from 
Planet Amok. 

In the comic-book imagination of some of our leading pundits, the two headline 
threats against U.S. power are indeed on the verge of teaming up. The 
intelligence world is abuzz with news that radical Islamists in Somalia are 
financing the pirates and taking a cut of their booty. Given this bigger 
picture, Fred Iklé urges us simply to kill the pirates. Robert Kaplan waxes 
more hypothetical. The big danger in our day is that piracy can potentially 
serve as a platform for terrorists, he writes. Using pirate techniques, 
vessels can be hijacked and blown up in the middle of a crowded strait, or a 
cruise ship seized and the passengers of certain nationalities thrown 
overboard. 

Chaotic conditions in Somalia and other countries, anti-state fervor, the 
mediating influence of Islam, the lure of big bucks: these factors are 
allegedly pushing the two groups of evildoers into each other's arms. Both 
crimes involve bands of brigands that divorce themselves from their 
nation-states and form extraterritorial enclaves; both aim at civilians; both 
involve acts of homicide and destruction, as the United Nations Convention on 
the High Seas stipulates, 'for private ends,' writes Douglas Burgess in a New 
York Times op-ed urging a prosecutorial coupling of terrorism and piracy. 

We've been here before. Since 2001, in an effort to provide a distinguished 
pedigree for the Global War on Terror and prove the superiority of war over 
diplomacy, conservative pundits and historians have regularly tried to compare 
al-Qaeda to the Barbary pirates of the 1800s. They were wrong then. And with 
the current conflating of terrorism and piracy, it's déjà vu all over again. 

Full article here:

http://tomdispatch.com/post/175062/john_feffer_the_piracy_problem

[scifinoir2] Re: Whoopi Goldberg will host UN panel on 'Battlestar Galactica'

2009-03-18 Thread sincere1906

So I managed to score an invite to this last night, and it was pretty good. 
Besides having the ECOSOC Chamber decked out like a quorum (I took home my own 
Gemenon panel), got to hear Whoopi Goldberg, Mary McDonnel (President Roslyn), 
Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama) and the writer/creators (Ronald Moore and 
David Eick) really delve into the political topics exhibited in the show, and 
how they were lifted from our contemporary reality. 

It lasted well over two hours, and each segment had a different UN official sit 
on the panel with the BSG crew. They talked/debated human rights, torture, 
child slavery, terrorism, nuclear war, religious conflict, artificial 
intelligence, slavery, racism, ethnocentrism, labor exploitation, class/wealth 
inequality, etc. through the night--all done alongside specially made 
clips/excerpts from the series. There was even talk of using BSG as a teaching 
tool in addressing global issues. 

All in all, educational and entertaining. Plus it was good to see smart sci 
fi get its just deserved props...finally.

Sin/BG


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella tdli...@... wrote:

 
 Colonials, Cylons Poised To Capture United Nations 
 
 
 Whoopi Goldberg will host panel on 'Battlestar Galactica' 
 
 
 By MICHAEL HINMAN mailto:mhin...@...  
 Mar-12-2009 
 Source: Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com 
 
 While one might think the United Nations has more pressing issues to
 discuss, it's still hard to not think how cool it is that the world's
 government has such a collective interest in one little SciFi Channel show
 called Battlestar Galactica.
 
 On March 17, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will join
 stars Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell to talk about human rights,
 children and armed conflict, terrorism and more at U.N. headquarters in New
 York. The panel, by the way, will have another science-fiction face: Whoopi
 Goldberg, who played Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and in the
 film Star Trek Generations.
 
 The invitation is a tremendous honor for the people behind Battlestar
 Galactica, which has addressed a number of major issues that's close to the
 heart of the U.N. And the governing body is sharing some celebrities of
 their own (that is, if you're familiar with the U.N.).
 
 Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the Secretary-General for
 Children and Armed Conflict will be there, according to The Chicago
 Tribune's Maureen Ryan, as well as Craig Mokhiber, deputy director of the
 New York office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
 
 Also stopping by is Robert Orr, the assistant secretary-general for policy
 planning, who works out of the executive office of the Secretary-General
 himself.
 
 Fans hoping to fly to New York to be a part of the panel just days before
 Battlestar Galactica ends it four-season run will be disappointed. The
 panel is invitation only. However, SciFi Channel tells Ryan that the network
 is going to record the session and make a transcript, and once that becomes
 available, they will let the fans know.
 
 Battlestar Galactica airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel, and ends
 its run with a two-hour special beginning at 9 p.m. ET March 20.
 
 http://www.airlockalpha.com/news426152.html

[scifinoir2] Re: What's With The Energy Talk In The Watchmen?

2009-03-11 Thread sincere1906

SPOILERS!


SPOILERS!


SPOILERS!


TURN BACK NOW ALL YE TIMID! 


SPOILERS!



Whether it was shameful exploitation of our current energy crisis or an honest 
shot of political activism, I thought it was well woven into the larger 
Watchmen storyline. If I recall correctly, wasn't energy no longer a concern in 
the original novel? Wasn't everyone using airships and electric cars--part of 
the new revolutionary technology developed by Dr. Manhattan? In this modern 
rendition, the energy crisis provides a perfect ruse for Ozymandias to carry 
out his eventual greatest trick maniacal plan. 

And I thought it worked out very well. Having the destruction caused by Dr. 
Manhattan (or blamed on him) and a search for alternative energy, rather than 
on a giant extra-dimensional ginormous cephlapod helped tie the larger 
storyline together in a way that made the many moving parts in this flick 
(which were considerably less than the novel- thank goodness) fit together. 
Many people who had no idea what the novel was about left the movie confused or 
were highly critical. Expecting a superhero movie, they came in thinking Dark 
Knight was as dark as a comic could get--even brought their kids and 
shuddered at the graphic violence (including an attempted rape) and sex scene. 
I don't know that several metric tons of dead giant squid slaughtering millions 
of bloodied New Yorkers in a big psychic shock feedback would have done the 
flick any good. 

The shout out to the whole extra spatial dimensional alien bit with the 
classic Outer Limits TV show snippet was still nice--even if cut. In the end, 
this was still a movie that stuck incredibly close to the original story (down 
to the dialogue at times)--squid or no squid, alternative energy angle and all.

Sin




--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella tdli...@... wrote:

 Now That I'm blogging about the green economy, I could not resist posting
 this.
 
  
 
 I hardly dare to write this post, to even edge my pinky toe toward the
 waters of  http://www.fanboy.com/tag/watchmen Watchmen analysis, but I
 will say this: as a newcomer to the story, I was intrigued by the emphasis
 on energy. At one point, a major character blasts a bunch of smarmy oil
 execs, telling them humanity deserves better than what you've given them.
 (I committed the entire line to memory at the time, but the movie was so
 damn long good that I forgot it.)
 
 I brought this up in our news meeting today, only to be met with the
 response of two staffers far more Watchmen-ucated than I, who pointed out
 that the energy chatter in the movie does not stem from the original book.
 That makes sense, considering the, er, altered denouement
 http://www.zimbio.com/The+Watchmen+Squid . Which is interesting itself,
 since the film was otherwise slavishly loyal to the book.
 
 Alternative energy in The Watchmen: a nod to the current national dialogue,
 or a convenient replacement for a giant squid? I shall leave it to others to
 discuss the finer points.

[scifinoir2] Re: Watchmen's First Day... Disappoints

2009-03-11 Thread sincere1906

Yes. Personally I'm tired of all this silliness where a movie is judged 
primarily by the money it rakes in. The amount they're talking about is 
staggering in itself, but if it doesn't top last years ridiculous over-priced 
sales, then it tanked. I understand that's the industry, but let us at least 
recognize the difference between art and money. Reminds me of wack rappers who 
brag about their gold and platinum billboard making records, but whose lyrical 
artistic shelf life can't compare to others who don't make their profits. 

And I personally found 300 to be 300 ways to be godawful. Death by an 
overrealiance on CGI... 

Sin


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, ravenadal ravena...@... wrote:

 It often pains me to live in an innumerate world where journalists can't do 
 simple math.  Watchmen may well tank but while the action friendly 300 
 clocked in at just under two hours, Watchmen is almost three hours long 
 which means - for those of you counting at home, that you lose one to two 
 showings per day.  A three hour running length is a tremendous burden for any 
 movie to shoulder and I'd be hard pressed to name many blockbusters that have 
 have similar running lengths.
 
 ~rave!
 
 --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella tdlists@ wrote:
 
  
  Watchmen's First http://io9.com/5166061/watchmens-first-day-disappoints
  Day... Disappoints
  
  
  By Graeme McMillan http://io9.com/people/GraemeMcMillan/posts/ , 9:00 AM
  http://io9.com/5166061/watchmens-first-day-disappoints  on Sat Mar 7 2009,
  15,320 views 
  
  Well, this wasn't what we expected. According to initial estimations,
  Watchmen http://io9.com/tag/watchmen/  made less money in its first day
  than Zack Snyder's 300, despite playing in more theaters. Has the backlash
  happened early?
  
  According to Exhibitor Relations, Watchmen http://io9.com/tag/watchmen/
  made $25.1 million yesterday, including the $4.6
  http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118000912.html?categoryid=13cs=1
  million from the Thursday night screenings, from 3,611 theaters; 300's first
  day gross was $28.1 million from 3,103 theaters. The box office tracking
  site now projects an opening weekend gross for Snyder's latest movie of
  around $60 million, which is below 300's $70.8 million... as well as,
  worryingly for Warners, Ice Age 2, the movie to hold the March opening
  weekend record prior to the swords and Spartans flick. Deadline Hollywood's
  Nikki Finke agrees
  http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/wkd-prediction-watchmen-could-do-70m/
   , saying that [i]t's now certain that $70M, even if Thursday's 1,600
  midnight shows are included in the total, is impossible, and quoting an
  unnamed marketing guru warning that things could get worse:
  
  They will get a lot of initial interest because it's an event movie in March
  - and then the bottom falls out. Whether Warner Bros can broaden the
  campaign to sustain interest in Watchmen is what movie analysts will be
  watching after this Sunday.
  
  While there's no doubting that Watchmen's opening weekend will be huge - at
  $60 million, it'll still be the third largest March opening ever - it's far
  below what now look, in hindsight, like unrealistic expectations; even
  yesterday, after all, we were being told that advance tickets were
  http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_16458.html  outselling 300 and that
  that
  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088sid=aiiSmRwjr8lQrefer=muse
a $70 million weekend was the target (although /Film
  http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/03/04/box-office-tracking-alan-moores-curse-w
  ont-keep-watchmen-from-topping-60m/  pretty much hit the target with their
  estimate of $63 million in the first weekend). Now, because of such
  excitement - and because 300 was being set up as the movie to compare this
  to, Watchmen's big weekend looks somewhat less impressive. But who knows?
  Maybe word of mouth will boost the movie's Saturday and Sunday.
  
   
  http://www.ercboxoffice.com/index.php?page=newsnews_id=121PHPSESSID=f9bb3
  fea78af4c9d99ede9046ff4a9a8 Watchmen Scores $25.1 Mil Friday [Exhibitor
  Relations]

[scifinoir2] Ricardo Montalban dies at 88

2009-01-14 Thread sincere1906

He tasks me! He tasks me! And I shall have him. I'll chase him round 
the moons of Nibia and round the Antares malestrom and round 
perdition's flames before I give him up! --Khan

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press 

Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in 
splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in 
TV's Fantasy Island, died Wednesday morning at his home, a city 
councilman said. He was 88.

Montalban's death was announced at a meeting of the city council by 
president Eric Garcetti, who represents the district where the actor 
lived. Garcetti did not give a cause of death.

The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in my Council District -- where the 
next generations of performers participate in plays, musicals, and 
concerts -- stands as a fitting tribute to this consummate 
performer, Garcetti said later in a written statement.

Montalban had been a star in Mexican movies when MGM brought him to 
Hollywood in 1946. He was cast in the leading role opposite Esther 
Williams in Fiesta. He also starred with the swimming beauty in On 
an Island with You and Neptune's Daughter.

A later generation knew Montalban as the faintly mysterious, white-
suited Mr. Roarke, who presided over an island resort where visitors 
were able to fulfill their lifelong dreams. Fantasy Island received 
high ratings for most of its 1978-1984 span on ABC television and 
still appears in reruns.

In a 1978 interview, he analyzed the series' success:

What is appealing is the idea of attaining the unattainable and 
learning from it. Once you obtain a fantasy it becomes a reality, and 
that reality is not as exciting as your fantasy. Through the 
fantasies you learn to appreciate your own realities.

[scifinoir2] Will Smith as Nubian Pharaoh Taharka

2009-01-07 Thread sincere1906

[This has been a particularly busy year for Smith. Since the 1995 
film Bad Boys, he has consistently released one live-action film each 
year. In 2008, he had two, this one and the July release, Hancock. He 
is planning to take some time off after this. But he does plan to 
keep busy on the big screen, and hopes to do a sequel to Hancock in 
the near future.

The rumor mill stays active with lists of projects supposedly 
attached to Smith. Some are bogus (No Captain America, he 
said, that's all rumor.) but he does have some dream projects. One 
is the story of Taharqa, the last Nubian pharaoh of Egypt, who ruled 
from 690 to 664 B.C.

And I've been trying to get Denzel (Washington) to commit to he and 
I remaking Uptown Saturday Night, Smith said. I think that would be 
fantastic.]

Article excerpt, dated Dec. 18 2008: 

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/dec/18/171440/1/entertainment-
movies/

Earlier Variety article, dated Sept. 7 08:

Will Smith puts on 'Pharaoh' hat
Randall Wallace to write Columbia drama

Will Smith may next morph into a god.

Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace will write The Last Pharaoh, a 
Columbia drama crafted as a vehicle for Smith to play Taharqa, the 
pharaoh who battled Assyrian invaders in ancient Egypt.

Smith, James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz will produce for Overbrook 
Entertainment.

Smith, who has long wanted to play the pharaoh, brought Wallace the 
Taharqa story.

The film will focus on his battles with Assyrian leader Esarhaddon 
starting in 677 B.C.

Smith next stars for Columbia in Seven Pounds, a reteam 
with Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino that Overbrook 
produced with Escape Artists.

Wallace will next direct a Mike Rich-scripted Disney film about 
Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat and its owner, Penny 
Chenery. He also just signed on to a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced 
Disney adaptation of the WWII battle saga Killing Rommel, which 
Wallace will write with author Steven Pressfield.

[scifinoir2] Re: First Black Doctor Who - Its Official

2008-12-03 Thread sincere1906

Righteous! Will he get a curly fro' like the 1970s Dr. Who?
And does this mean Martha makes a comeback???

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, tdemorsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 OK now that it is official, what do you guys think?
 
 Paterson Joseph to be the first black Doctor Who
 
 The actor Paterson Joseph is to be the first black Doctor Who. 
Sources
 close to the BBC have reportedly confirmed that he has been asked to
 be the new Doctor and that he accepted a couple of days ago. You can
 currently see him in the science fiction TV series Survivors, as 
Greg
 Preston, one of the lucky - well, perhaps - 5 per cent to survive a
 global meta-plague.
 
 London-born, as well as Survivors, Paterson Joseph's fantasy and
 science fiction resume includes the Marquis de Carabas in 
Neverwhere,
 a bit part in the Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf, as Giroux alongside
 Charlize Theron in Paramount's Aeon Flux movie; as Space Marshall
 Clarke in the BBC SF sitcom Hyperdrive, and he played Benjamin in 
the
 BBC's fantasy horror series Jekyll. 
 
 First Obama, now Doctor Who, what can we say at SFcrowsnest.com 
apart
 from wow! He's a great actor and he'll be a fab Doctor.
 http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/news/arc/2008/nz13329.php

[scifinoir2] Re: 'True Blood' amps up the enjoyable vamp antics as its finale approaches

2008-11-24 Thread sincere1906

egads! 
Torchwood.
I so wanted to like that show...
But the characters were so friggin annoying... and the man-kissin-man 
scenes were so obviously gratituous, I just usually rolled my eyes. I 
thought the writing on there was just bad; and more people needed to 
die off.

Sin


--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Adrianne Brennan 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I love the show, and I think what is hurting it isn't the actors 
but the
 uneven writing--which is pretty much what happened to Torchwood 
during its
 first season.
 I am hoping that they'll clean that part up and have a FANTASTIC 
second
 season.  The show has a lot of potential, and I'm frankly hooked.
 
 ~ Where love and magic meet ~
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com
 Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates:
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
 Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon on 12/2:
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
 
 
 On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 3:19 PM, brent wodehouse 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 
  
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/11/true-
blood-hbo.html
 
  'True Blood' amps up the enjoyable vamp antics as its finale 
approaches
 
 
  OK, fine, True Blood fans. I give up. You win.
 
  I like this show.
 
  And yet. Those of you who've been e-mailing me telling me 
that True
  Blood, which airs its season finale 8 p.m. Sunday, is your 
favorite show
  -- I can't say I agree.
 
  But the friends and readers who've been saying the HBO show has 
finally
  become the escapist vamp potboiler that was lurking inside the 
somewhat
  pretentious show we first saw back in September -- yes, I agree 
with that
  assessment. Though it's not perfect, True Blood has improved a 
lot. Dare
  I say it no longer needs a transfusion?
 
  There are so many things about True Blood I can still pick 
apart, and I
  mentioned many of them in my initial review.
 
  As Sookie Stackhouse, a woman in love with a courtly vampire, the 
miscast
  Anna Paquin is often the least interesting part of this show. The 
show's
  melodrama veers into laughable Southern Gothic at times (Demon 
exorcisms?
  Really?). There are plenty of plot holes that you could drive a 
hearse
  through. The show's vampire mythology is contradictory, if not 
downright
  chaotic.
 
  And don't start me on the variable accents on this show: In the 
Watcher
  household, a favorite pastime is imitating all the weird ways 
various
  characters on the show pronounce the name Sookie.
 
  On the other hand, lately, True Blood has been doing a lot of 
things
  right; in the last three or four episodes, in particular, it has 
gotten
  markedly better.
 
  Perhaps because of the obvious lack of charisma between Sookie 
and her
  vampire lover, Bill (the fine Stephen Moyer), the show has been 
adding
  terrific guest actors left and right. And it's focused on the one
  through-line that unites the show's disparate elements: The 
mystery of
  who's been murdering women in Bon Temps, La.
 
  A few weeks ago, the wonderful Stephen Root showed up as a gay 
vampire
  accountant (and that's the first time I have ever written those 
three
  words in a row). His character didn't resemble the mostly 
predictable
  vamps on this show, which have tended to favor eyeliner, leather 
pants and
  wanton murder. He was a lonely, soft-spoken guy who thought 
becoming a
  bloodsucker would spice up his life -- but it didn't, at least 
not the way
  he thought it would.
 
  Sookie's dim brother, the eternally shirtless Jason (Ryan 
Kwanten), used
  to be one of my least favorite characters. But recent developments
  involving Jason, Root's character and Amy, the hippie-dippie 
psycho played
  by the excellent Lizzy Caplan, did a lot to amp up Jason's story 
line, and
  it even gave Kwanten the chance to prove he can do more than take 
off his
  shirt.
 
  As if that weren't enough, in recent weeks the show featured two
  Homicide veterans I would watch read from the telephone book: 
Michelle
  Forbes, of HBO's In Treatment, and Zeljko Ivanek, who won an 
Emmy for
  his work on FX's Damages. They're two of the best character 
actors
  working now, and Ivanek in particular was terrific as the 
Magister, the
  final adjudicator of vampire disputes. If anyone could make 
sitting in a
  chair in the back of a truck transfixing, Ivanek could.
 
  Forbes' role is less clear -- her mysterious character just took 
in
  Sookie's troubled friend, Tara (Rutina Wesley) -- but I dearly 
hope that
  if there is a second season of True Blood, Forbes is in it. 
Ditto for
  Alexander Skarsgard (Iceman in Generation Kill), who plays 
Eric, the
  quietly intimidating sheriff to Southern vampires.
 
  In addition to loading up the show with a terrific array of guest 
actors,
  True Blood features one of the best supporting casts around. As 
Tara,
  Wesley has given what could have been a grating character a lot of
  anguished depth, and I once again have to single out Nelsan 
Ellis, whose

[scifinoir2] New Star Trek Trailer (Thoughts?)

2008-11-23 Thread sincere1906

Okay. I'm confused. Where is the chatter and talk about this trailer?

True enough, I'm not on this site enough (2 or 3 times a month or so), 
which is why I usually do a search thru the archives to get in on any 
good convo. About the only thing I could find on the new Trek trailer 
released since the 17th was the rebooting of the X-Men franchise (which 
I won't comment on in this post). 

So I must have missed the thread where everybody talked bout the new 
Trek trailer, what they thought, whether they think this approach will 
work, what the purists think, if the rebooting Trek for a new 
generation can happen, any secrets they might now about the script, if 
Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes) as Spock works or just spooks you 
out, etc. 

I know I have to be late on the jump here, but here goes anyway:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmJO3ppLBsk

[scifinoir2] Re: 'True Blood' amps up the enjoyable vamp antics as its finale approaches

2008-11-23 Thread sincere1906

Okay, I hear you... but I have to disagree somewhat. True Blood is 
alot more than the buxom star in love with a vampire cliche. They've 
thrown in alot more to go along with the common genre themes.

The buxom star herself is a mystery, as it turns out Sukky (sp) is an 
empath. They've thrown in hoodoo and possible demon possession, 
there's a shape-shifter angle, a new coming werewolf angle, there's 
the whole V thing in which vamps are vulnerable to addicts who want 
to trip off their blood thing... and... while the sistas' fake 
southern accent gets on my nerves... there is something about the 
bayou setting (even if not fully authentic--lived in 2nd louisiana 
much of my life: houston/easern tx) that makes this flick a bit 
different. I think some of the early sex-scenes were a bit much, and 
they're finally getting into the varied aspects of this world, but 
the show definitely (IMHO) takes the Americana vampire genre (and I'm 
actually glad its not another Euro-vamp-comes-to-america story) to 
*different* level.

So far I'm diggin True Blood. For a tv series on vamps, its about as 
unique as I've seen in quite a long time. Never read the books it was 
based on by Charlain Harris, but so far seems like a good job. I like 
that they don't mind reinventing vampires. Out with the religious--
crucifixes don't harm them. All of them aren't too-cool-to exist. 
There's the whole link of vampire rights to civil rights and 
especially the gay rights cause. And Monroe--the gay brotha who 
reprises the true meaning of a southern homo thug--is probably one 
of my fave characters.

It's worth a look see. 

For those who don't have HBO, might I suggest Surf the Channel. 

http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/56042.html

Use at your own risk...


Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, marian_changling 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I watch it, but it annoys me more and more.  Perhaps it the 
 Louisiana locale.  I live here and know how ridiculous the 
 background assumptions are.  Even K'ville was more true to life.
 
 Yarbro would never allow it, but I am hungry for a show from the 
 vampire's POV like her St. Germain character.  I am really tired of 
 shows from the point of view of the buxom star in love with a 
 vampire.  
 
 --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, brent wodehouse 
 brent_wodehouse@ wrote:
 
  
 
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/11/true
 -blood-hbo.html
  
  'True Blood' amps up the enjoyable vamp antics as its finale 
 approaches
  
  
  OK, fine, True Blood fans. I give up. You win.
  
  I like this show.
  
  And yet. Those of you who've been e-mailing me telling me 
 that True
  Blood, which airs its season finale 8 p.m. Sunday, is your 
 favorite show
  -- I can't say I agree.

[scifinoir2] 5 Lessons We Hope Obama Learned from Spider-Man

2008-11-13 Thread sincere1906

That's what I'm mfkn' talkin bout...
Obama's a hip N.E.R.D. like Pharrell or Rza.
Cool intellect n creativity...and no pocket protectors. 

Sin

-

5 Lessons We Hope Obama Learned from Spider-Man
Matt Brady

Newsarama.com Matt Brady

newsarama.com 
Thu Nov 13, 4:52 pm ET
 
Not only has America elected its first African-American President, 
it's looking more and more like we've elected our first Geek-in-
Chief. He's read Harry Potter, he's addicted to his BlackBerry, and 
his Mac laptop has a Pac Man sticker on it. Do we need any more 
evidence he's one of the nerd generation? 

Most recently, the President Elect has acknowledged that he collected 
both Conan the Barbarian and Spider-Man comic books growing up 
(although he identifies with Batman as well as Spidey).

But let's look closely at Spider-Man for a minute. 

Over the Marvel Comics icon's 45-plus year crime-fighting career, the 
Amazing Spider-Man learned many hard lessons about what it takes to 
be a true hero, something the United States sorely needs right now. 
Here are the Top 5 Lessons we hope the President-Elect has learned 
from the Wall-Crawler. 


5. In Order to Get Things Done, Sometimes You Have to Reach Across 
the (Super Hero) Aisle. 

Where Spider-Man Learned It: Virtually every issue of Marvel Team-Up 
and Marvel crossover events. 

The Lesson: Marvel's recent Civil War miniseries brought the point to 
a head -superheroes don't always get along. Just like politicians 
they often bring very different approaches and ideologies to the 
table. In Marvel comic books Iron Man has recently become something 
of a big government fascist, and the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange has 
extreme libertarian leanings, but Spidey's managed to serve as 
teammates on the Avengers with both. 

Spider-Man also works closely with minority groups (the X-Men), and 
isn't threatened by gender differences (Spider-Woman). Sometimes in 
order to do good, you have to look past your differences. 


4.The Press Isn't Your Friend

Where Spider-Man Learned It: From the first time J. Jonah Jameson 
wrote his first anti-Spider-Man editorial, shortly after he debuted. 
No matter what he does, Spider-Man can never catch a break with JJJ.

The Lesson: Jameson is convinced Spider-Man is a menace to society, 
rather than a hero trying to save it. But Spidey doesn't let it get 
him down or make his second guess what he knows is right. Sure, 
seeing anti-Spidey screed blasting down from billboards and on 
newsstands can grate, but he keeps rolling on. And yes, even Jameson 
has jumped on the Spider-Man bandwagon once or twice, but has jumped 
right off it again and gotten back to his normal ways. 


3. Bad Things Are Going to Happen. The Important Thing Is How You 
Respond

Where Spider-Man Learned It: Practically every issue, including being 
trapped under tons of machinery in Amazing Spider-Man #33, 1966 and 
the death of his first love Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121, 
1973. 

The Lesson: As Joe's Biden and Lieberman both predicted, new 
presidents are usually tested early, and no one can predict exactly 
how. As Spider-Man has showed time and again, it's how you react to 
adversity that defines you. Spider-Man's probably had to deal with 
more tough hands over the years than any superhero alive, and while 
he's always flirted with throwing in the towel during the dark times, 
he always comes back with renewed purpose and shows himself to be the 
hero we know him to be. 


2. Never Lose Your Sense of Humor 


Where Spider-Man Learned It: From the early days of his career, up 
through the latest issues on the stands. 

The Lesson: Putting Spider-Man's mask on freed the once nerdy and shy 
Peter Parker to let his constant - and sardonic - inner monologue 
out, and be the superhero who reacts to adversity with quick wit and 
even a little charm. 

Over the years, Spider-Man's snappy one-liners have helped him keep 
his spirits up in difficult times, as well as the heroes around him. 
American isn't looking for a Comedian-in-Chief, but as all our 401k's 
shrink in size like Spidey's buddy the Astonishing Ant-Man, we could 
use a little levity from our leaders. 

Obama ought to allow himself to occasionally relax that famous 
disciplined approach of his let the country see that even our leader 
can laugh in the face of adversity. 


1. With Great Power There Must Also Come -- Great Responsibility 

Where Spider-Man Learned It: His very first appearance in 1962's 
Amazing Fantasy #15, and as seen 2002's Spider-Man feature film. 

The Lesson: Probably the most famous line in comic book history, this 
nugget, originally penned by Spidey's co-creator Stan Lee, has 
informed Spider-Man almost since he was first bit by that radioactive 
Spider, along with countless superheroes that followed. 

Sure, Obama has the Supreme Court and Congress checking him, just 
like Spider-Man has the Fantastic Four and Captain America, but

[scifinoir2] Re: Jesse Jackson was Bawlin Like a Baby - Looked like a proud father

2008-11-05 Thread sincere1906

It was great to see. I think Jesse tends to put his foot in his mouth 
on more than one occassion, and is too addicted the limelight, but I 
think overall people tend to malign him unfairly--throwing out the baby 
with the bathwater. I think that shot was worth a million, as the man 
who once stood over the body of a slain MLK could now look at this 
historic event. His issues with Obama, I've always thought, had to do 
with the fact that Jesse is an activist and Obama is a politician. But, 
all odd nut cuttin comments aside, the two have a long-if-not-always-
close relationship (his daughter is one of Obama's children's 
godmother), so there are certainly paternal allusions to be made. 

Can't front on dem tears. 

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:

 Did anyone see Jesse Jackson crying right before the speech.  He 
looked like
 a proud father.  It was a long way from I want to crush his ball
 
  
 
 I loved it

[scifinoir2] Re: 'Heroes' Weak on TV, Super Online

2008-09-29 Thread sincere1906

Because I live under the brutal dictatorship of Time-Warner and my 
cable has been out for FOUR FRACKIN WEEKS, I too was forced into the 
online underground to view Heroes. Its interesting, because with 
online shows and DVRs (when the cable works) I rarely see 
television on-time any longer. Curious how all of this affects 
ratings/viewership.

Oh yes... though Heroes still shamelessly rips off every popular sci-
fi story of the past few decades (everything from the X-Men to Jeff 
Goldblum's role as Brundle-Fly) and I'm not certain what purpose 
black-oil-crying-girl serves other than being the hot Latin chick, 
still rather enjoyed the season debut.  

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:

 
 'Heroes' Weak on TV, Super Online
 
 
 25 September 2008 10:34 AM, PDT
 
 http://ia.media-
imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTkxNTI1NTI3NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjA2MD
 U1MQ@@._V1._SY90_.jpg
 
 Although the season debut of NBC's Heroes
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813715/  was a disappointing bust 
Monday
 night with ratings plummeting 23 percent from last year's season 
starter,
 the episode turned out to be an enormous hit among those who watch 
pirated
 copies of TV shows online. According to the website TorrentFreak, on
 Tuesday, the day following the broadcast, Heroes
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813715/  was downloaded well over a 
million
 times by BitTorrent users all over the world. The website observed 
that the
 downloads represented the busiest day ever on many torrent sites. 
Heroes
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813715/  executive producer Jesse
 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0018504/  Alexander told the website 
that he
 believes the illegal downloads actually helps the show, particularly
 overseas, building a fan base before it arrives on the air. People 
watching
 shows such as Lost http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411008/  and 
Heroes
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813715/  on BitTorrent is the 
present world
 reality, he said. TV networks have to recognize this, give their 
viewers
 more ways to interact with the shows, and find ways to generate 
revenue from
 every member of the global audience,
 
 http://www.imdb.com/news/ns003/#ni0572937

[scifinoir2] Re: New Network Of Supercomputers To Revolutionize Internet Speed

2008-09-29 Thread sincere1906

-Greetings, Professor Falken. 
-Hello, Joshua..

Sin

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:

 New era dawns at home of the internet
 
 A network of supercomputers called the Grid will allow information 
to be downloaded quicker than ever. Tasks that took hours will now 
take seconds
 
 A network of supercomputers called the Grid will allow information 
to be downloaded quicker than ever. Tasks that took hours will now 
take seconds
 
 Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter 
 
 The dawn of a new internet age has begun. A network of 
supercomputers, known as the Grid, is to revolutionise the speed at 
which information is downloaded to personal computers. 
 
 The power of the Grid is such that downloading films should take 
only seconds, not hours, and processing music albums just a single 
second. Video-phone calls should also cost no more than a local call. 
More importantly, it should help to narrow the search for cures for 
diseases. 
 
 The Grid, a network of 100,000 computers, is to be connected to the 
worldâs largest machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is 
designed for projects, such as large research and engineering jobs, 
which need to crunch huge quantities of data, but scientists believe 
it will eventually be used on home computers. 
 
 The Grid allows scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for 
Nuclear Research, to get access to the unemployed processing power of 
thousands of computers in 33 countries to deal with the data created 
by the LHC. 
 
 Scientists at CERN, where the world wide web was invented, created 
the â¬500 million Grid because they realised that a single computer 
would not be able to cope with the amount of data the LHC is expected 
to produce each year â 15 petabytes, or 15 million gigabytes, which 
would fill 20 million CDs. 
 
 They said that it was an extra facility laid on top of the 
internet, which originally linked computers around the world in the 
Seventies. 
 
 Dr Bob Jones, a CERN scientist, said: âThe [world wide] web 
allows you to access information on other computers. What the Grid 
allows you to do is not only access the information, but make use of 
their computing resources and power.â 
 
 He likened it to the National Grid. Users would be able to tap into 
massive amounts of processing power, but the source of the power 
would change, depending on availability. 
 
 Processing tasks will be distributed between 11 gateway computer 
centres in ten countries, including Britain, which will share them 
out between more than 140 sites. 
 
 One of the first jobs the Grid will tackle is handling the raw data 
for CERNâs experiments into finding proof of the Higgs boson, the 
so-called God particle. 
 
 Its uses, however, extend well beyond particle physics and it has 
already been used on a smaller scale in research into diseases such 
as malaria and bird flu. âThe Grid cannot find a cure for cancer, 
but what it can do is make it quicker,â said Dr Jones, explaining 
that what might have taken a decade could now be done in weeks. 
 
 David Britton, Professor of Physics at Glasgow University and a 
leading figure in the Grid project, said: âThe old traditional way 
to find cures for diseases is that you would go to the lab and try 
mixing various drugs and see how they work.â 
 
 With the Grid, he said, scientists could run hundreds of thousands 
of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs that are most 
likely to offer the potential for a cure. Researchers can then get to 
work testing the drugs singled out as promising. 
 
 The Grid has also already been used to save lives in the immediate 
aftermath of earthquakes. Using the seismic data, scientists can use 
the Grid for simulations that pinpoint which areas are most affected, 
allowing rescue teams to direct their efforts where they are most 
needed. 
 
 Many believe the world wide web and the internet are the same 
thing, but the internet is actually a massive network of networks, 
which connects millions of computers together globally, and the web 
is an information-sharing model built on top of the internet, which 
allows information to be accessed over the medium of the internet. 
 
 
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/arti
cle4842964.ece

[scifinoir2] McCain Suspends Campaign To Assist in Fight Against Voldemort

2008-09-26 Thread sincere1906

McCain Suspends Campaign To Assist in Fight Against Voldemort 

dkos.com

Fri Sep 26, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters/Satire) - Just moments after un-suspending his 
Presidential campaign and agreeing to participate in Friday night's 
debate with Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain (R - AZ) has re-suspended 
the campaign and cancelled his debate appearance in order to cross 
the Atlantic to assist with the ongoing war against He Who Must Not 
Be Named.

We need to stop that son of a bitch cold, McCain said, standing 
against a backdrop of American flags with a suspicious bulge in one 
pocket his campaign aides later insisted was a wand. I invite 
Senator Obama to join me and am directing my people to cancel all of 
the debates and other campaign activities on both sides until he 
agrees, by force, if necessary. I am fully prepared to put this 
election off until January or February of next year, maybe even 
later, if this crisis is not resolved before that time.

McCain also added he had cancelled yet another appearance on the Late 
Show with host David Letterman, to which Letterman responded, Fuck 
him sideways with a rusty pipe. Seriously. I'm sick of this shit.

It's time for both parties to come together to solve this problem, 
the Arizona senator insisted. We must meet as Americans, not as 
muggles or wizards, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.

Harry Potter, on the ground and in the thick of things at the Battle 
of Hogwarts, seemed surprised when he heard about McCain's 
decision. What good does he think he can do here? Potter said. We 
don't need him. If he insists on showing up, just tell him to stay 
out of the fucking way this time, that's all I'm saying.

The stupid old git, added Potter's first lieutenant, Ronald Weasley.

When asked why she could not go to Hogwarts in his place to deal with 
the situation, McCain's running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin 
said, I don't know anything about the situation over there. I can't 
see Scotland from my house.

[scifinoir2] Re: This ain't no jive, particle physics rap is a hit

2008-09-03 Thread sincere1906

this is funny.
actually though, there were some students at Howard U doing this some 
years back:

Fun Equals Physics Times Hip-Hop Beat:
Show Strives to Spur Love of Science

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092800827.html

perhaps she'd also like to take her physics rap over to Wu Tang's Rza 
or Gza, who delight in lacing their rhymes with talk about quasars, 
electrons, dark matter, etc.--between the everyday struggle/hustle of 
the hood, of course.

sin

Extreme complex physics, high technical 
The truth is usually seen and rarely heard--Gza 



--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, brent wodehouse 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHdzr5Lg8vYnBMsPd7jYVzzAJk6QD92U3FA
00
 
 This ain't no jive, particle physics rap is a hit
 
 
 EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Who says science doesn't turn people on? 
Kate
 McAlpine is a rising star on YouTube for her rap performance - about
 high-energy particle physics.
 
 Her performance has drawn a half-million views so far on YouTube.
 
 The 23-year-old Michigan State University graduate and science 
writer raps
 about the Large Hadron Collider, the groundbreaking particle 
accelerator
 that has been built in a 17-mile circular tunnel at the CERN 
laboratory
 near Geneva, Switzerland.
 
 McAlpine raps that when the collider goes into operation on Sept. 
10, the
 things that it discovers will rock you in the head.
 
 The $3.8 billion machine will collide two beams of protons moving 
at close
 to the speed of light so scientists can see what particles appear 
in the
 resulting debris.
 
 Rap and physics are culturally miles apart, McAlpine, a science 
writer
 at CERN, wrote to the Lansing State Journal in an e-mail last 
week, and I
 find it amusing to try and throw them together.
 
 Others, including physicists, also find it amusing.
 
 We love the rap, and the science is spot on, said CERN spokesman 
James
 Gillies.
 
 McAlpine received permission to film herself and friends dancing in 
the
 caverns and tunnels where the experiments will take place.
 
 I have to confess that I was skeptical when Katie said she wanted 
to do
 this, but when I saw her previous science rapping and the lyrics, I 
was
 convinced, Gillies said. I think you'll find pretty close to 
unanimity
 among physicists that it's great.
 
 McAlpine honed her physics rapping skills at Michigan State's 
National
 Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, where she was part of a 
student
 research program two years ago.
 
 Information from: Lansing State Journal, 
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com

[scifinoir2] The Curse Word 'Battlestar Galactica' Created

2008-09-02 Thread sincere1906

Frakin' awesome!

Sin/Black Galactus

---

The curse word 'Battlestar Galactica' Created 

 
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lee Goldberg thinks Glen A. Larson is a genius, and 
not because the prolific television writer and producer gave 
us Knight Rider and B.J. and the Bear.

Jamie Bamber gets plenty of chances to say frak in Battlestar 
Galactica.

It was Larson who first used the faux curse word frak in the 
original Battlestar Galactica. The word was mostly overlooked back 
in the '70s series but is working its way into popular vocabulary as 
SciFi's modern update winds down production.

All joking aside, say what you will about what you might call the 
lowbrow nature of many of his shows, he did something truly amazing 
and subversive, up there with what Steven Bochco gets credit for, 
with 'frak,'  Goldberg said.

There's no question what the word stands for and it's used gleefully, 
as many as 20 times in some episodes.

And he was saying it 30 years ago in the original goofy, god-
awful 'Battlestar Galactica,'  said Goldberg, a television writer 
and novelist whose credits include Monk and Diagnosis Murder.

The word is showing up everywhere -- on T-shirts, in sit-coms, best-
selling novels and regular conversation.

I have to start by saying that I'm drinking coffee out of a mug that 
says 'frak off' on the side of it, so much has it seeped into my 
life, Galactica star Jamie Bamber said.

The word is insinuating its way into popular vocabulary for a simple 
reason.

You can't get in trouble. It's a made-up word.

It may have been the great George Carlin who talked about these 
things so cleverly, Larson said. He'd say, 'Mother would say shoot, 
but she meant ... when she reached in and burned her fingers on the 
crocker.' And the child says, 'I know what you meant, Mom.' 

The word has slipped the bonds that tethered other pretenders like 
Mork's shazbot in Mork  Mindy or Col. Sherman T. Potter's horse 
hockey in M*A*S*H. Its usage has moved from the small but fervent 
group of Galactica fans into everyday language. It's shown up in 
very mainstream shows like The Office, Gossip Girl and Scrubs. 
One YouTube posting has 2 minutes of sound bites that cover the gamut.

I'm in my own little cocoon of science fictiondom, but it is 
certainly used around here and amongst the people I know, said Irene 
Gallo, art director at the sci-fi imprint Tor Books, where employees 
held a frak party to watch the season premiere. It's sort of a way 
to be able to use a four-letter word without really getting into any 
kind of HR trouble or with people you're really not quite comfortable 
being yourself with.

The word has even appeared in the funny pages where Dilbert muttered 
a disconsolate frack -- the original spelling before producers of 
the current show changed it to a four-letter word -- after a 
particularly dumb order from his evil twit of a boss.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams calls the word pure genius.

At first I thought 'frak' was too contrived and it bothered me to 
hear it, Adams said. Over time it merged in my mind with its 
coarser cousin and totally worked. The creators ingeniously found a 
way to make viewers curse in their own heads -- you tend to translate 
the word -- and yet the show is not profane.

Best-selling novelist Robert Crais slips the word into the prologue 
of his latest Elvis Cole mystery, Chasing Darkness. He did it 
because Galactica is his favorite show, like calling out in the 
wilderness to his fellow fans. But he sees the word popping up 
everywhere, even among those who have never watched the show.

It's viral, it spreads like a virus, Crais said. That first wave 
of people who use it are all fans. They use it because they're 
tickled by it and like me they're paying an homage to the show. When 
they're using it, they're probably doing it with a sly wink. But as 
it gets heard and people use it, it spreads.

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica tells the story of the human 
survivors of a war with a robotic race known as the Cylons. Fewer 
than 40,000 humans remain in a ragtag fleet being pursued across 
space by the Cylons, who wiped out the 12 colonies in a surprise 
nuclear holocaust.

Their destination is the mythical planet Earth, a legend passed down 
in religious texts. Shooting wrapped in July and the final 10 
episodes will appear beginning in January.

Larson, one of television's most prolific and successful writers, 
doesn't much care for the new series. He used frack and its 
cousin feldergarb as alternates for curse words because the 
original Battlestar was family friendly and appeared on Sunday 
nights. The words fit in with his philosophy that while the show was 
about humans, it shouldn't have an Earthly feel.

In what he said was his first interview about the series, Larson says 
there were no red fire extinguishers on his Battlestar Galactica and 
characters wore original costumes, not suits and ties.

Our point was to

[scifinoir2] Traveling Faster Than the Speed of Light Possible ?

2008-08-12 Thread sincere1906

Traveling Faster Than the Speed of Light: Two Baylor Physicists Have 
a New Idea That Could Make It Happen

Aug. 11, 2008 
by Matt Pene 

http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=storystory=52090

Two Baylor University scientists have come up with a new method to 
cause a spaceship to effectively travel faster than the speed of 
light, without breaking the laws of physics. 

Dr. Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and 
Richard Obousy, a Baylor graduate student, theorize that by 
manipulating the extra spatial dimensions of string theory around a 
spaceship with an extremely large amount of energy, it would create 
a bubble that could cause the ship to travel faster than the speed 
of light. To create this bubble, the Baylor physicists believe 
manipulating the 10th spatial dimension would alter the dark energy 
in three large spatial dimensions: height, width and length. Cleaver 
said positive dark energy is currently responsible for speeding up 
the expansion rate of our universe as time moves on, just like it did 
after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded much faster than the 
speed of light for a very brief time. 

Think of it like a surfer riding a wave, said Cleaver, who co-
authored the paper with Obousy about the new method. The ship would 
be pushed by the spatial bubble and the bubble would be traveling 
faster than the speed of light. 

The method is based on the Alcubierre drive, which proposes expanding 
the fabric of space behind a ship and shrinking space-time in front 
of the ship. The ship would not actually move, rather the ship would 
sit in a bubble between the expanding and shrinking space-time 
dimensions. Since space would move around the ship, the theory does 
not violate Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which states that it 
would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate a massive 
object to the speed of light. 

String theory suggests the universe is made up of multiple 
dimensions. Height, width and length are three dimensions, and time 
is the fourth dimension. String theorists use to believe that there 
were a total of 10 dimensions, with six other dimensions that we can 
not yet identify because of their incredibly small size. A new 
theory, called M-theory, takes string theory one step farther and 
states that the strings that all things are made of actually 
vibrate in an additional spatial dimensional, which is called the 
10th dimension. It is by changing the size of this 10th spatial 
dimension that Baylor researchers believe could alter the strength of 
the dark energy in such a manner to propel a ship faster than the 
speed of light. 

The Baylor physicists estimate that the amount of energy needed to 
influence the extra dimension is equivalent to the entire mass of 
Jupiter being converted into pure energy for a ship measuring roughly 
10 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters. 

That is an enormous amount of energy, Cleaver said. We are still a 
very long ways off before we could create something to harness that 
type of energy. 

The paper appears in the Journal of the British Interplanetary 
Society. 

The full paper can be viewed here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1251197/Warp-Drive-A-New-Approach

[scifinoir2] Dark Knight Gripe- Bale's Voice

2008-08-04 Thread sincere1906

i may be speakin blasphemy here but...

i saw dark knight when it premiered. came away thinking it wasn't the 
greatest movie ever made (despite all the hype my friends and peers 
have heaped upon it). it wasn't bad either. it was a good flick i'd 
agree. okay...admittedly better than good. i couldn't think of any 
ways to improve it. overall i had no complaints. acting was good. sfx 
were good. plot got kinda convuluted, but was still good. at the same 
time, can't say i was moved to have a need to see it again 
either...as say when i first saw The Matrix of LOTR. i ain't even 
been really moved to discuss it. i didn't leave the movie feeling 
overly inspired and awed, though many people around me were; i think 
i was more excited about *going to see* dark knight than having 
actually *seen* it. i viewed it, walked out the theater, said job 
well done, and went home to catch up on Dr. Who on the DVR. 

but anyway, i found the following of interest.

Sin



Monday Movie Buzz: Bale's Batman voice too much?

Sunday August 3 

Though The Dark Knight has been a bona fide cultural event, 
boasting rave reviews and boffo box office, it hasn't been immune to 
criticism. Some have quibbled with its political undercurrents, and 
others have criticized a muddled theme. 

But here's the critique most widely held: Why does Batman talk like 
the offspring of Clint Eastwood and a grizzly bear? 

Donning the costume for the second time, Christian Bale has delved 
deeper into the lower registers. As Bruce Wayne, his voice is as 
smooth as his finely pressed suits. But once he puts the cape on, the 
transformation of his vocal chords is just as dramatic as his costume 
change. 

Particularly when his rage boils over, Bale's Batman growls in an 
almost beastly fashion, reflecting how close he teeters between do-
gooder and vengeance-crazed crusader. 

The Dark Knight hauled in $43.8 million to rank as Hollywood's top 
movie for the third straight weekend, fending off The Mummy: Tomb of 
the Dragon Emperor which opened a close second with $42.5 million. 
It has earned $394.9 million in just 17 days, according to studio 
estimates Sunday. 

Though much of the voice effect is Bale's own doing, under the 
guidance of director Christopher Nolan and supervising sound editor 
Richard King, the frequency of his Batman voice was modulated to 
exaggerate the effect. 

Critics and fans have noticed. 

His Batman rasps his lines in a voice that's deeper and hammier than 
ever, said NPR's David Edelstein. 

The New Yorker's David Denby praised the urgency of Bale's Batman, 
but lamented that he delivers his lines in a hoarse voice with an 
unvarying inflection. 

Reviewing the film for MSNBC, Alonso Duralde wrote that Bale's Batman 
in Batman Begins sounded absurdly deep, like a 10-year-old putting 
on an `adult' voice to make prank phone calls. This time, Bale 
affects an eerie rasp, somewhat akin to Brenda Vaccaro doing a Miles 
Davis impression. 

Before the similes run too far afield, it's worth considering where 
the concept of a throaty Batman comes from. 

In his portrayal on the `60s Batman TV series, Adam West didn't 
alter his voice between Bruce Wayne and Batman. Decades later when 
Tim Burton brought Batman to the big screen in a much darker 
incarnation, Michael Keaton's inflection was notably but not 
considerably different from one to the other. 

But it was a lesser-known actor who, a few years after Burton's film, 
made perhaps the most distinct imprint on Batman's voice. Kevin 
Conroy, as the voice of the animated Batman in various projects from 
1992's Batman: The Animated Series right up until this 
year's Batman: Gotham Knight, brought a darker, raspier 
vocalization to Batman. 

Conroy has inhabit the role longer than anyone else and though 
animated voice-over work doesn't have the same cachet as feature film 
acting, there are quarters where Conroy is viewed as the best Batman 
of them all certainly superior to Val Kilmer or George Clooney. 

The animated series are notable because they drew on the DC Comics of 
Batman as envisioned by Frank Miller, whose work heavily 
informs Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. (Bale and Nolan were 
unavailable to comment for this story.) 

As Batman has gotten darker, his voice has gotten deeper. As some 
critics suggest, Bale and The Dark Knight may have reached a 
threshold, at least audibly.

[scifinoir2] Re: FW: [SciFiNoir Lit] Steve Barnes on Hancock- Wow.

2008-08-04 Thread sincere1906

okay... i get that. as i bought up with the asexual Guinan and the 
virgin life of Geordi LaForge, i even concur. Spike Lee opened up his 
flick Jungle Fever with a very vocal sex scene. he once said he did 
this only because he wanted to scare white folks by showing them 
their secret fear/desire--black people having sex. 

but again, why did Hancock set off this controversey?

i know the hollywood greenlighters didn't go there for the simple 
reason it wouldn't capture the coveted white male audience; but why 
did hancock make that such an issue? of all things i'm jes dying to 
see in a black super hero flick, it ain't sex with charlize theron 
(not that she's hard on the eyes mind u).

if anything, what many of these films display is a lack of black 
women to play opposite many of these black male leads. if producers 
are reluctant to play up white women with black male actors, then 
let's see more black actresses. but then we run into the hollywood 
problem of more than two black leads in a film makes it a black 
movie, and whole blocs of the white viewing public avoid it. plus 
according to Hollywood the only viable black actress is Halle Berry, 
who is now a box office draw when paired with a whitle male. 

i think perhaps those are the larger dynamics Barnes is sorta 
touching on; but I don't know if that translates to the anger being 
directed at Will Smith or Denzel Washington.

this is bigger than Nino Brown 

mho

Sin 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, B. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I don't think it's about about Hancock in particular. It's about the
 continuing practice of not allowing black male characters to be
 normal, sexual beings. Hancock was just one of the latest targets.
 
 One of his posts about a conversation with Samuel L. Jackson on how
 Shaft went from the sex machine to being practically chaste is 
pretty
 funny. 
 
 --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, sincere1906 sincere1906@ 
wrote:
 
  So I finally sat down and read *all* of Steven Barnes criticisms 
of 
  Hancock. And all I can say is...wow. Dude, tell me how you really 
  feel!
  
  I never been one to shy away for looking at themes of racism or 
  sexism, etc in books or movies. From Tolkien's slant eyed orcs 
and 
  evil Southrons to even the very progressive Matrix's use of 
Morpheus 
  as second fiddle/wise sage to the Ameri-asian but perceived as 
  white Keanu Reeves, I've waded into that side of the pool more 
than 
  once. Give me a soapbox, and I'll drone on about everything from 
  swarthy noble savage Klingons to Storm's ridiculous blue eyes. In 
  fact, I've personally ranted about just that:
  
  http://www.playahata.com/pages/morpheus/xmen.htm
  
  And Frank Miller's 300, set to film, I gleefully ripped to shreds:
  
  http://morpheusrevolutions.blogspot.com/2007/04/300-spartans-1-
  million-persians.html
  
  But I must be getting soft in my 30-somethingness, cuz I'm jes 
not as 
  up in arms about Hancock as some are. No one beat me, but I 
  actually...umm...enjoyed it. Racial undertones in there? Sure, I 
  guess. One could see that--or not. Some of the points made by 
Barnes, 
  and many others, are interesting and I think deserve discussion. 
  Others kind of venture into as much over-reach as Martin 
Lawrence's 
  Boomerang character talking about the fear of black balls. I 
jes 
  keep reminding myself that the comic book world--especially 
beyond 
  marvel and dc--are filled with shady characters, even anti-
heroes. I 
  saw Will Smith's role as just that...and kinda liked he wasn't a 
  boyscout like Supes, or the typical rich playboy like Wayne or 
  Starks. 
  
  Was the jail scene questionable? Sure. Did I slightly roll my 
eyes as 
  he sacrificed himself for the blonde chick? Yep. Did I find it 
  suspect that they only inferred racism with the attack Hancock 
  suffered in Florida's past, rather than addressed it fully? Sure. 
But 
  those offenses, imho, are almost minor...and hardly so cut and 
dry 
  for me to become overly adamant about. I don't even know how to 
  approach the bit about why can't Will have sex--especially with 
his 
  white female co-stars. Not sure where exactly that's supposed to 
be 
  going... I'm still waitin for Geordi Laforge and the sexless 
mammy 
  figure of Guinan to get some! 
  
  Not saying that the comic book world doesn't have its share of 
  playing to common stereotypes. For too many if they're not from 
some 
  slum or the other (X-Men's Bishop even comes from a future slum), 
  they're either stuck protecting it (i.e., Spawn), or will 
eventually 
  be forced to sully their hands in it (Storm with a mohawk in the 
  Morlock tunnels) at some point. Either that or they're quickly 
driven 
  to rage by racism or turned into angry killing machines (Martha 
  Washington, Deathlok, etc). And Hollywood, well...they're just 
the 
  gift that keeps on giving as Barnes points out.  
  
  But that of all films--Hancock--would create all this backlash, I

[scifinoir2] Miracle at St Anna- Trailer

2008-08-01 Thread sincere1906

So I suppose everyone has seen the trailer for this film.
I finally got to view it on the big screen during the X-Files flick.
But here it is again anyway, for those who may not have.
Excited about this film...
Hope its good, because I'm a WW II buff, and this is the kind
of cinematic diversity I'd like to see more of.

Sin / Black Galactus



HD Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNImXbbZb2Ufeature=related

Movie site:

http://miracleatstanna.movies.go.com/

Miracle at St. Anna is an upcoming 2008 war film directed by Spike 
Lee and written by James McBride. The film is set to be released 
September 26, 2008 set in World War II. The film is set during World 
War II, in fall of 1944 in Tuscany and in contemporary New York City 
and Rome.

Miracle at St. Anna follows four African-American Buffalo Soldiers of 
the all-black 92nd Infantry Division who get trapped near a small 
Tuscan village on the Gothic Line during the Italian Campaign of 
World War II after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy.

The story is inspired by the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre 
perpetrated by the Waffen-SS in retaliation to Italian partisan 
activity. There is also a reference to a sculpted head from Ponte 
Santa Trinita in Florence that acts as a plot device.

1217444821

2008-07-30 Thread sincere1906

I saw the X-Files film over the weekendand it was exactly what i 
expected

the movie ran like a long tv episode. i went to see it cuz i was a 
fan of the series, and it appealed to my 90s nostalgia. i didnt' go 
in expecting a fascinating thriller...i was jes interested to see 
what they created. the theatre wasn't packed, but modestly 
full...though i figured everyone in there was a fan.

i'd warn of spoilers, but not sure i give any. read at your own risk.

the flick itself was not bad. but it was not great either. jes so 
happens, as an old X-Files fan, i've seen better episodes. if this 
had been the first of its kind, without all the classics from memory, 
it might have been really good. but as it was, it was like a so-so 
episode. 

there were no aliens. there was no conspiracy. and i kinda thought 
that was good, because who wanted to open up that can of worms again? 
the conspiracy at times was interesting, at times overly convulted 
and drawn out. there were some hints however to it--allusions to 
Mulder's sister...to the lost baby, etc.

the plot trended more towards silence of the lambs with some 
incidental supernatural happenings n some freak science like i said, 
i seen betta episodes. 

mostly the story dealt with mulder and scully's alienation from the 
FBI (they're like retired superheroes with very mundane day jobs) and 
dealt heavily on those introspective issues that have plagued them 
forever (i.e., the supernatural x-files as metaphor for scully's 
inner turmoil over her scientific training vs her catholic faith). 
lots of philosophical wranglings. if its action someone expects from 
this film, they'll be disappointed. no buildings get blown up. no 
great chase scenes or shoot-outs. mulder and scully aren't even in 
the FBI--they're jes called in as old-heads to help out. 

dialogue is alright, though some it seemed contrived. there are bits 
of humor. there's a minor cameo appearance of an old character--but 
nothing to make you gasp. the film doesn't hint at there being any 
follow-ups. it seems to stand alone, outside of the x-files series 
but yet alongside it. 

there's no sense that the creators of this movie had any intent to 
gain a new fan base or to jumpstart the franchise. its like they made 
it just to say, remember these guys? well here's what they're up to 
now in case you were wondering. tho' they keep callin it a sequel, 
when it was done i felt more like i had just finished watching an 
epilogue. 

i can't be sure, but i think this is it for the x-files. and i'm not 
saying that because it didn't make all the required money (the 
whole who-made-more-than-who numbers racket at the box office irks 
me as much as judging good rappers at who goes platinum). the movie 
itself simply read like a farewell, intended for old fans who will 
either come away satisfied or not. 

mho of course.

Sin




--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:

 I was a die hart fan, but I'm barely interested enough to rent it 
when it
 comes out on DVD now.  I think they teased us with the plot so 
much, that
 most of us long ago realized that the truth was NOT out there, just 
audience
 manipulation.  There was no truth, just twists and turns to string 
us along.
 Add all that to that fact that they simply waiting too long and you 
have
 lost the fan base.   I know you think it is the overcrowded 
blockbuster
 schedule that is the problem.  But I remember when they announced 
they were
 going to do the movie, many people I know (some former loyal fans)
and a few
 here asked WHY??  If the fans are asking why instead of when, you 
know you
 have a problem. 
 
 They might have overcome that by kicking out a kick ass script like 
the one
 of the episodes you mentioned.  I saw some of the marathon you 
mentioned.
 They were great.  Word of mouth with the good story would have 
brought many
 of the former disillusioned fans out to the theatre, or at least 
looking
 forward to the DVD.   A great preview like with Batman or Ironman 
would have
 also helped.  The previews make it look like one of the not so good
 episodes.  Even some bad movies have well-crafted previews.  Not 
the case
 with the X-files.  
 
 I will probably rent the DVD, but I can think of a whole lot of 
other movies
 that will be higher in my rent que
 
 -Original Message-
 From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
 Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 7:12 PM
 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: X-Files Past its Prime?
 
 Why aren't you interested in the movie? Too much time gone by? Not
 interested in an extended ep on screen that doesn't really solve 
any of the
 mysteries?
 
 -- Original message -- 
 From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
 I am a diehard X-files fan but I haven't seen the first X-files 
 movie and I had no desire to see the latest one. In fact, instead 
of 
 going to see the

1217445092

2008-07-30 Thread sincere1906

because i see morrison's modern rendition of a slave Medea in 
Beloved as a form of speculative fiction, i thought this was 
appropriate for the forum.

Sin



Bench of Memory at Slavery's Gateway 

By FELICIA R. LEE
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/arts/design/28benc.html
 
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C.  Toni Morrison has said that her acclaimed 
novel Beloved, which features the ghost of a baby killed by her 
enslaved black mother, came out of the need for  literature to 
commemorate slaves and their history. There is no suitable memorial, 
or plaque, or wreath or wall, or park or skyscraper lobby, Ms. 
Morrison said in a 1989 magazine interview. There's no 300-foot 
tower, there's no small bench by the road.

This weekend, on Sullivan's Island, off the South Carolina coast, Ms. 
Morrison, the Nobel laureate, and some 300 people held a memorial 
ceremony to dedicate her long-awaited bench by the road. The crowd 
included members of the Toni Morrison Society, National Park Service 
rangers, Ms. Morrison's friends and family, and people from 
Charleston and nearby areas. They gathered Saturday afternoon under a 
blazing sun, accompanied by the rhythms of African drums, for a 
service that included the pouring of libations and a daisy wreath 
cast into the water to remember their ancestors.

It's never too late to honor the dead, said Ms. Morrison, 77, the 
author of eight novels, as she sat down on the 6-foot-long, 26-inch-
deep black steel bench facing the Intracoastal Waterway. It's never 
too late to applaud the living who do them honor, she said. This is 
extremely moving to me.

Sullivan's Island, home to Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, was a point 
of entry into North America for about 40 percent of the millions of 
Africans who were enslaved in this country. Carlin Timmons, a park 
ranger, said that all the estimates were rough, but that historians 
believe 12 million to 15 million Africans came to the Americas and 
the Caribbean. Of those 4 to 10 percent were brought to North 
America. 

The bench was secured by the National Park Service, which laid the 
foundation that included a bronze plaque explaining its significance. 
It was the first entry in the Bench by the Road project, created by 
the Toni Morrison Society, a nonprofit group of scholars and readers 
dedicated to examining Ms. Morrison's work. The society, which was 
also holding a conference in nearby Charleston, plans in the next 
five years to call on individuals, corporations and community groups 
to help them place benches at 10 sites.

The spots under consideration have significance in Ms. Morrison's 
novels and in black history. They include Fifth Avenue in Harlem, 
where the Silent Parade protesting the East St. Louis, Ill., riots 
was held in 1917 (featured in the novel Jazz) and the site of 
Emmett Till's 1955 murder in Mississippi, which helped galvanize the 
civil rights movement.

We have come back to the place we started from, Carolyn C. Denard, 
a founder and the board chairwoman of the Toni Morrison Society, told 
the audience sitting under a big white tent, some furiously fanning 
themselves. Dr. Denard, a dean at Brown University, said groups like 
the Carolina Committee on Remembrance helped with the project. 

At its founding in 1993 the society adopted as its motto a bench by 
the road, based on Ms. Morrison's comments in the 1989 article in 
World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association. On 
Saturday part of that interview was read, along with a passage 
from Beloved, which calls on black people to love one another in 
the face of oppression and brutality. 

When I wrote those words that they read, I was just reminiscing 
about the necessity for literature, the necessity for African-
Americans to make their own art in their own words, Ms. Morrison 
said in an interview after the ceremony. 

One of her favorite sites for a bench would be in Oberlin, Ohio, a 
stop on the Underground Railroad near her hometown of Lorain, she 
said. While a number of museums dedicated to black history have 
sprung up around the country since 1989, as well as much new 
scholarship about black history Ms. Morrison said she liked the idea 
of an unpretentious bench for its simplicity and accessibility. 

Well, the bench is welcoming, open, she said. You can be 
illiterate and sit on the bench, you can be a wanderer or you can be 
on a search.

And that search is for anyone, not just black people, she added. If 
anything, with all the talk about race in this year of Senator Barack 
Obama's historic candidacy, Ms. Morrison said, she would like to see 
white people hold a conversation among themselves about the legacy of 
slavery. 

African-Americans don't own slavery, Ms. Morrison said. It's not a 
brand because there were slave masters and there were abolitionists 
and there were other people who died to see to it that justice was 
done.

But before there is reconciliation or

1217343217

2008-07-29 Thread sincere1906

i actually got to lecture a few times on black images in the comic 
book world, as part of a larger course on media imagery...it was 
always very well received...by the students anyway.
 
Sin
 
-
 
POW! ZOWIE! Scholars discover the comic book. 
By Randy Dotinga

Tue Jul 29, 4:00 AM ET 

Amid the spectacle of the world's largest comics convention, tens of 
thousands of attendees had Batman on the brain. 

But only graduate student Kate McClancy came armed with an analysis 
of how an asylum in the Caped Crusader's world reflects the American 
debate over treatment of the mentally ill.

It's an obscure topic, to be sure. But Ms. McClancy's treatise was 
right at home at Comic-Con International, which was held here this 
past weekend.

Dozens of other scholars were tackling arcane subjects from the geek 
as melodramatic hero to the problem of vigilante justice in the 
famed graphic novel Watchmen.

Just 15 years ago, many professors would have scoffed at the in-depth 
study of comics. 

Now, comics are coming into their own in classrooms of all kinds, 
gaining an unprecedented level of respect and spawning serious debate 
over their greater meaning.

Comics have changed. They're not the comics that we grew up with, 
says Peter Coogan, an organizer of the academic-oriented panels at 
Comic-Con. 

They can stand up to literary and critical analysis, he says.

Across the country, hundreds of professors and college students spend 
their days analyzing comics, and the University of Florida even 
allows postgraduate English students to specialize in comics studies. 

Meanwhile, teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools are 
embracing comics as tools to help students learn to read and enjoy 
words.

It's a far cry from the old days. 

In the 1940s and 1950s, many schools accepted the view that explicit 
and violent comics caused juvenile delinquency.

Teachers have long confiscated the comic books of students who prefer 
the adventures of Spider-Man and Alfred E. Neuman to those of Macbeth 
and Jay Gatsby.

Comics were a marginal literature for marginal audiences, says Mr. 
Coogan.

Then in the mid-1980s came the golden age of graphic novels  comics 
in book form  with complex, dark plots. Art Spiegelman's Maus: A 
Survivor's Tale, for instance, won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for its 
vivid depiction of the Holocaust.

This year, Comic-Con offered almost 24 hours of academic workshops 
and panel discussions; hundreds of people attended. In 1992, when the 
discussions began, 20 people showed up.

In colleges and universities, comics scholars are moving up in terms 
of institutional power and authority, says Coogan, whose newly 
formed Institute for Comics Studies think tank plans to hold 
conferences about comics.

The growing academic interest in comics comes as Hollywood continues 
to embrace the form. 

Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, is poised to become one of the 
highest-grossing films of all time, if not No. 1. 

Last weekend, Comic-Con sold out before the event began for the first 
time. 

An estimated 125,000 people showed up for the four-day festival, 
which has largely become a celebration of movies and television. 

As for comic books, a leading comics distributor reports that sales 
of all types of comics to shops in the first six months of 2008 are 
just 1 percent below the same period in 2007. 

Comic Buyer's Guide estimates the annual US comic market at $660 
million-to $700 million in 2007, excluding the popular Japanese 
comics known as manga. 

In a sharp contrast to days past, many school libraries now put comic 
books and graphic novels on their shelves. 

At an elementary school in the San Diego suburb of Cardiff, fourth-
grade teacher Trish Dentremont encourages her students to read comic 
strips in newspapers. Among those she suggests: Calvin  
Hobbes, Zits, and Luann in book form. 

The comics work on two levels, she says, allowing those with smaller 
vocabularies to learn words from context while providing complex 
double meanings for more sophisticated students. 

They love them, says Ms. Dentremont, who attended Comic-Con to 
learn more about using comics in the classroom. 

Comics aren't universally respected. In Maryland, some educators 
scoffed a few years ago when the state school superintendent approved 
the distribution of credible comic books and graphic novels in 
elementary schools, says high school teacher Jeff Sharp, whose comics-
based work with art students helped inspire the program. 

But state officials deemed the program to be a success, and 200 third-
grade classrooms are slated to work with comic books this year. 

In academia, the study of comics remains questionable in some minds. 

Postgraduate students worry they'll never get college teaching jobs 
if they write dissertations about comics, Coogan says. 

Older professors more skepticalMcClancy, the graduate student, says 
older professors are more

1217344312

2008-07-29 Thread sincere1906

okay. so i know this is a sci fi/speculative fiction forum. 
but i saw this trailer yesterday and it certainly seems surreal 
enough to me. submit it here for anyone who may have decided the last 
8 yrs were an alternate reality...

Sin

http://www.moviefone.com/movie/w/32645/trailer?trailerId=2180364

--

Trailer: Oliver Stone's W.

http://cinemablend.com/new/Trailer-W-While-It-Lasts-9660.html

Earlier today we posted a leaked, YouTube version of the first 
trailer for W. Now, thanks to Moviefone, we've posted the real thing 
below.

Oliver Stone's W. has seemed incredibly weird ever since pages from 
the script leaked earlier this year, and it became apparent that 
Stone was aiming for a weird kind of comedy. Would his movie be a 
serious-minded take-down of our 43rd President, or That's My Bush!-
style comedy treating the President as a buffoon?

Now, with the first trailer leaked online, it seems the answer might 
be both. There's a sardonic quality to the minimal dialogue you 
hear, mostly from George H. Bush (James Cromwell), and the choice of 
music and editing (What a Wonderful World over shots of the entire 
Bush cabinet). But even Josh Brolin, in the lead role, seems to be 
going through the whole thing with a smirk on his facearguably 
accurate to the man himself, but maybe indicative that we've got much 
more a satire here than we might have expected.

It's still too soon to tell whether this movie will turn out a mess 
or a piece of genius, but the trailer is definitely worth a look 
regardless of your preconceived notions about the movie or the 
President himself.

[scifinoir2] Danny Glover's Touissant Biopic Lacked white heroes, Producers Said

2008-07-25 Thread sincere1906

this would make a great excerpt in How Whiteness Works, for Dummies.

Sin



Danny Glover's Touissant Biopic Lacked white heroes, Producers Said 

by Rebecca Frasquet
Fri Jul 25, 2:15 AM ET 

US actor Danny Glover, who plans an epic next year on Haitian 
independence hero Toussaint-Louverture, said he slaved to raise funds 
for the movie because financiers complained there were no white 
heroes.

Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are 
the white heroes?' he told AFP during a stay in Paris this month for 
a seminar on film.

I couldn't get the money here, I couldn't get the money in Britain. 
I went to everybody. You wouldn't believe the number of producers 
based in Europe, and in the States, that I went to, he said.

The first question you get, is 'Is it a black film?' All of them 
agree, it's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good 
in Japan.

Somebody has to prove that to be a lie!, he said. Maybe I'll have 
the chance to prove it.

Toussaint, Glover's first project as film director, is about 
Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803), a former slave 
and one of the fathers of Haiti's independence from France in 1804, 
making it the first black nation to throw off imperial rule and 
become a republic.

The uprising he led was bloodily put down in 1802 by 20,000 soldiers 
dispatched to the Caribbean by Napoleon Bonaparte, who then re-
established slavery after its ban by the leaders of the French 
Revolution.

Due to be shot in Venezuela early next year, the film will star Don 
Cheadle, Mos Def, Wesley Snipes and Angela Bassett.

I wasn't the first one who had this idea, he said. Sergey 
Eisenstein had the same idea, Anthony Quinn had this idea, Harry 
Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and this goes on.

The Lethal Weapon co-star, just turned 62, finally raised 18 of the 
30 million dollars needed from a Venezuelan cultural body set up in 
2006 by his friend President Hugo Chavez to counter what he 
termed the Hollywood film dictatorship.

Venezuelan filmmakers last year slammed the investment.

It is Mr Glover who should be bringing dollars to Venezuela, the 
National Association of Film Makers and the Venezuelan Chamber of 
Film Producers said in an open letter.

Glover, a longtime activist, has supported Chavez's political 
revolution since he was first elected in 1998.

After making his debut with a bit role in 1979 movie starring Clint 
Eastwood, Escape From Alcatraz, Glover played in films such 
as Silverado and Witness but grabbed wide attention after Steven 
Spielberg's 1985 movie The Color Purple.

He is probably most widely known as Lethal Weapon co-star with Mel 
Gibson.

Born in San Francisco, he enrolled at the Black Actors Workshop there 
and is known for his stand against discrimination as well as for his 
activism against the Iraqi war and anti-personnel mines.

An admirer of the Senegalese writer-filmmaker known as the father of 
African cinema, Ousmane Sembene, Glover has helped produce African 
films, including the recently-acclaimed arthouse movie Bamako by 
Abderrahmane Sissako.

The first African films that I saw were films that portrayed 
Africans as savages, ignorant and uncivilized, and I wanted to know 
something else, he said. I was very fortunate, I had the chance to 
read writers like Mariama Ba, Aime Cesaire ... and Leopold Sedar 
Senghor. I read him when I was 20. 

When I saw Sidney Poitier on screen, I was probably 10 or 11, he 
added. That was a different image, an image I had never seen before, 
on screen. 

The African-Americans I saw, they danced, they were buffoons, that 
was the image. So Sidney brought another image. 

History, Glover said, had enabled him to play a wide range of roles 
because of the changes taking place in society. 

I think cinema has played a great role in our re-imagining 
ourselves, he said.

[scifinoir2] RB Artist Debuts Sci Fi Themed Album- Metropolis

Janelle Monae has modest sci-fi style 

POSTED July 23, 12:40 PM 

photo: http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/jmonae(1).jpg

From hip-hop to Broadway to sci-fi, RB artist Janelle Monae's 
current project, Metropolis is being released in four separate 
suites. Each album will have four or five songs and gives you a taste 
of what this ingenious artist is all about.

Her albums focus on a character named Cindi Mayweather, an Alpha 
Platinum 9000. According to Monae, she's like the Elvis and James 
Brown of her day. She's programmed not to love and not to have any 
feelings, but also to free the other androids who don't know that 
they're slaves. Monae and Mayweather have a pact in that Monae has to 
tell her world about Mayweather's struggling life and vice versa.

It sounds a sci-fi B-movie doesn't it? Well, no matter how 
outlandish, Monae, along with her Wondaland Arts Society create music 
that tells a story using experimental elements of audio theatrics.

full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-508-SF-Fashion-
Examiner~y2008m7d23-Janelle-Monae-has-modest-scifi-style

[scifinoir2] Ebert Reviews New X-Files Film

I'm glad to see Ebert giving the new X-Files flick 3 1/2 stars. 
That's pretty decent for a retro flick. What I want to know is, how 
did rapper Xzibit get a key role playing an FBI agent on here!? Good 
for him! 

Sin

---

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (PG-13)

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) 
reprise their special agent roles in The X-Files: I Want to 
Believe. 

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20080723/REVIEWS/1651704/1001

By Roger Ebert

The X-Files: I Want to Believe arrives billed as a stand-alone 
film that requires no familiarity with the famous television series. 
So it is, leaving us to piece together the plot on our own. And when 
I say piece together, trust me, that's exactly what I mean. In an 
early scene, a human arm turns up, missing its body, and other spare 
parts are later discovered.

The arm is found in a virtuoso scene showing dozens of FBI agents 
lined up and marching across a field of frozen snow. They are led by 
a white-haired, entranced old man who suddenly drops to his knees and 
cries out that this is the place! And it is.

Now allow me to jump ahead and drag in the former agents Mulder and 
Scully. Mulder (David Duchovny) has left the FBI under a cloud 
because of his belief in the paranormal. Scully (Gillian Armstrong) 
is a top-level surgeon, recruited to bring Mulder in from the cold, 
all his sins forgiven, to help on an urgent case. An agent is 
missing, and the white-haired man, we learn, is Father Joe (Billy 
Connolly), a convicted pedophile, who is said to be a psychic.

Scully brings in Mulder, but detests the old priest's crimes and 
thinks he is a fraud. Mulder, of course, wants to believe Father Joe 
could help on the case. But hold on one second. Even assuming that 
Father Joe planted the severed arm himself, you'll have to admit it's 
astonishing that he can lead agents to its exact resting place in a 
snow-covered terrain the size of several football fields, with no 
landmarks. Even before he started weeping blood instead of tears, I 
believed him. Scully keeps right on insulting him right to his face. 
She wants not to believe.

Scully is emotionally involved in the case of a young boy who will 
certainly die if he doesn't have a risky experimental bone marrow 
treatment. This case, interesting in itself, is irrelevant to the 
rest of the plot except that it inspires a Google search that offers 
a fateful clue. Apart from that, what we're faced with is a series of 
victims, including Agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) and eventually 
Mulder himself, who are run off the road by a weirdo with a snowplow.

Who is doing this? And why does Father Joe keep getting psychic 
signals of barking dogs? And is the missing agent still alive, as he 
thinks she is? And won't anyone listen to Mulder, who eventually 
finds himself all alone in the middle of a blizzard, being run off 
the road, and then approaching a suspicious building complex after 
losing his cell phone? And how does he deal with a barking dog?

I make it sound a little silly. Well, it is a little silly, but it's 
also a skillful thriller, giving us just enough cutaways to a 
sinister laboratory to keep us fascinated. What happens in this 
laboratory you will have to find out for yourself, but the solution 
may be more complex than you think if you only watch casually. Hint: 
Pay close attention to the hands.

What I appreciated about The X-Files: I Want to Believe was that it 
involved actual questions of morality, just as The Dark Knight 
does. It's not simply about good and evil but about choices. Come to 
think of it, Scully's dying child may be connected to the plot in 
another way, since it poses the question: Are any means justified to 
keep a dying person alive?

The movie lacks a single explosion. It has firearms, but nobody is 
shot. The special effects would have been possible in the era 
of Frankenstein. Lots of stunt people were used. I had the 
sensation of looking at real people in real spaces, not motion-
capture in CGI spaces. There was a tangible quality to the film that 
made the suspense more effective because it involved the physical 
world.

Of course, it involves a psychic world, too. And the veteran Scottish 
actor Billy Connolly creates a quiet, understated performance as a 
man who hates himself for his sins, makes no great claims, does not 
understand his psychic powers, is only trying to help. He wants to 
believe he can be forgiven. As for Duchovny and Anderson, these roles 
are their own. It's like they're in repertory. They still love each 
other, and still believe they would never work as a couple.

Or should I say they want to believe?

The movie is insidious. It involves evil on not one level but two. 
The evildoers, it must be said, are singularly inept; they receive 
bills for medical supplies under their own names, and surely there 
must be more efficient

[scifinoir2] Top 10...11...Scientifically Inaccurate Movies

Another of those silly Top 10 lists that Yahoo puts out...
I know I shouldn't click on them but I can't help myself.
I think a few of these require a rebuttal...

Sin



Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies

07/23/08

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/903/top-10-
scientific-inaccurate-movies#photo1

If movies were completely scientifically accurate, they'd probably be 
as interesting as a Physics 101 lecture. In real life, there are no 
explosions in space, gas usually doesn't explode from a lit 
cigarette, and Bruce Willis/Jackie Chan/Will Smith would most likely 
be in a coma after getting kicked in the head. Some movies, though, 
put science front and center in the story and more often than not the 
science proves to be head-slappingly bad. Here are some of the worst 
offenders.


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones has survived a lot of improbable adventures, be it 
fleeing ancient spherical boulders or fighting off cult members while 
dangling off a rope bridge. But few scrapes have tested the bounds of 
believability more than Indy's escape from a nuclear bomb blast 
thanks to a lead-lined fridge. The problem is that, even if he didn't 
get flattened, horribly burned or suffocated (kids, don't hide in 
refrigerators), Indy almost certainly would have gotten a lethal dose 
of radiation from the fallout. And that's a lot scarier than snakes.

Outbreak
A monkey threatens a small town with a virus that kills everybody in 
less time than your average DMV visit, and only Dustin Hoffman can 
stop it. The trouble with a disease that virulent is it kills the 
host too fast to spread. Otherwise, we would be dead from the Ebola 
virus. Also, it generally takes longer to make a cure from monkey 
serum than it does to make a latte. Dustin Hoffman does look great in 
a hazmat suit, though.

Total Recall
The red planet's gravitational pull is roughly 1/3rd that of the 
Earth's. So if, for example, an Austrian bodybuilder were to visit 
Mars, he would be bounding across the room like Michael Jordan. 
Another problem: when exposed to the thin atmosphere of Mars, like 
bad guy Cohaagen at the end of the movie, you would likely suffer 
from a raging case of the bends and you would asphyxiate -- both of 
which are plenty lethal -- but your head wouldn't bulge out and 
explode like an overused stress toy.

Jurassic Park
Having a wildlife park full of dinosaurs would be a really cool idea 
if it weren't for a few problems. No, not imperfect security or the 
possibility of spontaneous lizard sex changes. The problem is that it 
would be almost impossible to clone the dinosaurs based on DNA pulled 
from the guts of a 25 million-year-old mosquito. The dinosaur DNA's 
double helix most certainly would have been broken down into 
individual chunks, mixing together with whatever else the mosquitoes 
might have eaten along with some of the insect's own genetic 
material. Any creature constructed from that mess might be the stuff 
of nightmares, but probably wouldn't look like a T. Rex.

The Matrix
Much in the way of physics in the Matrix -- like dodging bullets and 
running up walls -- gets a pass because it's all within a massive 
virtual world. But in reality, our supposed robot overlords are a bit 
dim. Humans are a remarkably inefficient energy source. Instead of 
turning the human race into Duracells, the machines would probably 
get more energy just setting those goopy people pods on fire.

The Core
In the movie, the Earth's inner core -- a nickel-iron mass about 1500 
miles in diameter -- stops rotating, causing the planet's magnetic 
field to collapse and microwave radiation from space to blast through 
the atmosphere. But microwaves aren't affected by magnetism, and the 
radiation that comes from space is too weak to damage anything here. 
What's more, if the core did stop rotating for whatever reason, we'd 
have more to worry about than that. The energy stored in the core 
would have to go somewhere, and the effect on the planet would be 
equivalent to five trillion nuclear bombs going off at once.

The Day After Tomorrow
Roland Emmerich brought his trademark academic rigor to the realm of 
climatology and the result proved to be so silly that NASA refused to 
help with the filming of the movie. For one thing, it would require 
most of Antarctica to melt in order to submerge New York City to the 
level it is in the movie. If all the rays of the sun were directed at 
the South Pole, its ice would melt in about two and half years. This 
ridiculousness drove Duke University paleoclimatologist William Hyde 
to publicly state, This movie is to climate science as Frankenstein 
is to heart transplant surgery.

Starship Troopers
Could a band of cave-dwelling, preverbal giant insects really have 
the sophisticated mathematics and technology to hurl a rock millions 
of miles through space to crash into Earth? Plus, 70% of the

[scifinoir2] Summer of the Superhero