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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Epoch (2001)

This is an independently produced film which I assume was done on a low budget, but as with last week’s film, it’s a much better film then you’d expect. It was released around the time of the 9/11 attacks, so there wasn’t much room available to create a lot buzz for it. Even so, when it aired on the SciFi Channel (SYFY) in November 2001, it drew the largest audience of any film on the channel to that date.

The movie is about an artifact that suddenly appears in Agua Dulce.

(image: fair use low-res movie poster)

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Congratulations to Liz Truss on becoming the presumptive next Prime Minister of the UK.

(image Open Government License 3.0, gov.uk/government/people/eliza)

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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

American Warships (2012)

If you’re a fan of independent films, I highly recommend this one.

This ten-year-old film is what’s known in the business as a “mockbuster”, a lower budget film with a similar name or theme as a major studio film and released around the same time. The idea is that the major studio will spend a ton of money promoting the big film, and then the low-budget mockbuster film will “draft” off of all that promotion, with audiences wanting to see similar films or sometimes mistaking the low-budget film for the major studio film. In this case, the big film was Battleship (2012).

However, despite having a budget of less than 1% of that major motion picture, this mockbuster, American Warships, was a much better film. Battleship got sunk at the box office (and with critics), while American Warships made money for Asylum (the independent studio that produced American Warships).

As a low budget film, this one lacks the high-quality computer graphics of major studio films at that time, but it makes up for it with great casting, a well-written script, decent thespians, a unique plot, and an overall high-production value (except the CG).

Note: Don’t read any descriptions or watch trailers for this one, most of them contain major spoilers.

(image: fair use low-res movie poster)

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This is long CoVID...

If Biden had worn a respirator whenever he was around other people, he would not have gotten infected with the virus and he would not still be sick from it.

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Bowman: “Well HAL, I'm damned if I can find anything wrong with it.”

HAL: “I would recommend that we put the unit back in operation and let it fail.”

HAL: “We can certainly afford to be out of [commission] for the short time it will take to replace it.”

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Most people are aware that SpaceX launched a Tesla Roadster into space, but did you know that between 2008-2015 the European Space Agency put several ATVs into orbit?

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun) (public domain image per commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:All-terrain_vehicle_Quad._New_Brunswick_2008_7575.jpg)

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

When Worlds Collide (1951)

Although the story of approaching doom with people trying to avoid or escape disaster is a very old story (e.g. Noah’s Ark), I think this was the first to cover the specific case of a planet (or star) approaching Earth. The film is an adaptation of the novel, which was written in 1933. The story was very influential in science fiction, with many stories afterwards having the premise of an asteroid, star, planet or whatever heading toward Earth with our survival in the balance. It really has become a subgenre. Flash Gordon directly borrowed many aspects from the novel.

Its fairly well produced for the time it was released, with elaborate sets and decent actors. However, the graphical special effects set a new low. Today it’s done with computer graphics, but back then they were hand drawn. I actually laughed out loud when I saw them. And of course the film predates our having anything at all in space, so things like zero-G, etc., are off, but otherwise the film is very good for a 50’s scifi.

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The Inflationary Epoch is a supposed brief period occurring shortly after the beginning of the Big Bang during which the universe rapidly expanded. However, cosmetologists have absolutely no theories whatsoever to explain why it happened, how long it took, or where the theory originated. They also have no intention to attempt to measure the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation in order to provide observations to support the theory.

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

(public domain image from NASA)

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#2001

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The James Webb telescope has discovered a large spot on the surface of Jupiter that is larger than the Earth. It appears to be some kind of atmospheric disturbance.

No signs of any monoliths, though.
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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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Pat

Kamala Harris has held public office for many years and has been Vice President for nearly two years now, but some people still can’t pronounce her name properly. Here’s how to properly pronounce her name.

It’s pronounced: har – us, with the emphasis on the first syllable, soft “a”.

(Your welcome)

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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Electric Dreams (1984)

More of a ROMCOM or a fantasy than a scifi, this great film received mixed reviews when it was released, but it’s a perfect snapshot of the 1980s – technically, culturally, and artistically. Plot-wise it was kind of like Short Circuit, if you remember that one, except this one is much more upbeat and better produced. Basically, it’s about an out-of-position guy who buys a very special computer and meets a woman.

When this film was made, most people didn’t own a computer or even understand what a personal computer really was, but the technology was rapidly expanding and creating a lot of buzz. There were no websites or social media. Because of this ignorance, the film was able to stretch the limits of credibility, so today you will need a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief to watch it.

The score, cinematography, editing, and art direction are excellent. The acting is pretty good but the main character plays it in a very stilled style in contrast to the rest of the cast which is probably why it got mixed reviews.

The title is derived from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, the 1968 novel by Philip K. Dick, and there’s a clever little easter egg nod to the novel in this film.

This video clip gives a sample of some of the quality of the fantastic cinematography, art direction and score.
(fair use)

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Pat

In case you're wondering which US president did the best job in Afghanistan, here’s the most important metric for the loved ones of the soldiers who fought over there…

(The objective of the war was to eliminate Al-Qaeda. Bush started the war, Biden won it.)

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Pat

Question about using qoto...

There is a toot and I want to see the list of users who have favorited the toot. It indicates that it has "4" favorites, but when I go to the page that displays the list of users, it only shows two names.

Here is the page that shows who favorited it:
qoto.org/web/statuses/10882614

Here's an image of how the page displays the accounts:

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Congress has passed legislation that will fund the hiring of more than 80,000 new IRS personnel. Some of them will be armed.

Here’s a video clip of the Assistant Vice Deputy Under-Secretary of Accountant Armaments describing the weapons that will be provided to the new IRS agents…

(pubic domain video as published by CSPAN)
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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

Jetpacks have been featured in science fiction since the 1920s. Perhaps most recently in Tomorrowland (2015). The character in this film wears a metal helmet that makes him look kind of like Iron Man, and that 1960s comic book character was likely based on the character from this film. The Iron Man comics character has seen a recent revival on the big screen with Marvel’s film franchise.

This film (Radar Men from the Moon) is full of contemporary references from the 50s -- definitely worth watching if you enjoy studying history through film. It was originally a movie serial, later released as a feature film.

(GIF clip from the film, no audio, fair use.)

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Here's another image from the film that shows that this really is a scifi, but it's still mostly just a typical medium-quality, 80s/90s Hollywood movie. (Fair use)

Show thread
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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Timebomb (1991)

Three decades after The Manchurian Candidate, ten years after The Bourne Identity novel, ten years before The Bourne Identity film. Not much scifi in this one, just a typical low budget film of that era. TV movie quality.

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How to set your hot water heater to the most efficient temperature...

First, turn it down a little bit.

Then wait a few a days to see if anyone complains.

If nobody complains, turn it down a bit more.

Repeat until somebody complains.

That’s the perfect setting.

(Did you know that in the summer, depending on several factors, you may not even need to turn on your hot water heater at all!)

See also:
qoto.org/@Pat/1079487997212634

(Image public domain per upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia)

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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Brainstorm (1983)

Another “mind” scifi, this came out during the Human-Potential Movement which derived from the Psychedelic Movement of the 1960s. Think of this one as the HPM answer to The Manchurian Candidate (1962) which was about brainwashing techniques used by governments. Each of those movements were likely used as covers by clandestine entities for conducting mind control experiments “in the wild”.

This film came out during the period between the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of the USSR. Prior to Vietnam, the military was well-regarded by people in the US due to our victory in WWII. After Vietnam the national mood was “Spit on the baby killers.” During the 1990s without the Soviets around to sustain the anti-military mood in the US, the reputation of the military was repaired as everybody began chanting, “Support the troops”. So you will see an anti-government / anti-military bias in this film (and many films made during that time).

This film is probably most noted for what happened off camera during production. One of the lead actors, Natalie Wood, died in a boating incident under suspicious circumstances and they almost scrapped the film. They had to rework the film and shoot additional scenes using a look-alike for some shots. You may be able to identify those in the film if you look closely.

Also, as with many films from Hollywood, this one has racial bias. Can you identify the bias in this film?

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