With Great Joy, Comes Great Sorrow

September 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

 Clearing space for the shuttle

 By Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times

September 3, 2012, 5:12 p.m.

Space shuttle Endeavour’s final 12-mile journey through the streets of South Los Angeles already promises to be a meticulously planned spectacle: a two-day parade, an overnight slumber party in Inglewood and enough hoopla to create a giant traffic mess.

But for some residents in South L.A., the excitement of the shuttle rumbling through their neighborhoods quickly faded when they learned that 400 trees will be chopped down to make room for the behemoth.

The California Science Center — Endeavour’s final home — has agreed to replant twice as many trees along the route from the shuttle’s docking place at Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park

I am thrilled that we are getting a space shuttle here in LA but it is coming at a high price to our environment.  I wish the trees could be moved somewhere else instead of just being cut down.

Continued here: LA TIMES

For more information on the pending arrival of the Endeavour, visit California Science Center Space Shuttle Page

The Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

August 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

For those of you in the LA area

Check out the ALOUD site

Tue, Oct 23, 7:15 PM [ALOUD]
The Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

In conversation with author Charles Yu

(How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe)

One of the world’s most renowned authors of fantasy fiction, Le Guin is known for creating magical alternate worlds of moral complexity and psychological sophistication. This fall, we celebrate both a new volume of her poetry, Finding My Elegy, and the republication of her seminal Books of Earthsea trilogy.

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the world’s preeminent fantasy writers as well as an accomplished poet. She has received five Hugo Awards, six Nebula Awards, the National Book Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, the Kafka Award, a Pushcart Prize and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Charles Yu is the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, which was named one of the best books of the year by Time magazine. He received the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award for his story collection Third Class Superhero.  His work has been published in The New York Times, Playboy, and Slate, among other periodicals.

The Here and Now

August 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

Working sixteen hours a day every day for the last month, I’ve had very little time for watching, reading or talking about science fiction and I realize that it’s left a big void in my life. I really get a lot of pleasure discussing different ideas and new possibilities that science fiction always invokes. The best writers may give you hope for the future or show you a vision so bleak that it sparks you do better in the here and now. I look forward to returning to my normal work schedule and once again pursuing a better tomorrow through literature, television and movies.

So this is why there are so many UFO sightings in the desert…

August 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

…it looks like home

 

Is it the Mojave or Mars? New photos from the red planet may blur the line

 

By Ashley Bailey

 

 
 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

This is the first image taken by the Navigation cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. It shows the shadow of the rover’s now-upright mast in the center, and the arm’s shadow at left. The arm itself can be seen in the foreground.

 

Californians and other West Coast denizens may have a whole new drinking game on their hands, as even more pictures are released of the craggly, dune-y, suspiciously Mojave-looking “red planet.”

Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have spent the past week piecing together panoramas of black and white images that the Mars rover Curiosity has been steadily sending since Sunday.

“You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture,” said project scientist John Grotzinger, referencing one snapshot near the rim of Gale Crater. 

“The thing that’s amazing about this is [that] to a certain extent, the first impression you get is how earth-like this seems.”

Scientists said pictures of marks in the ground that rover engines made during landing reveal a first glimpse of bedrock below the planet’s pebbly surface.  

NASA plans to release more Mars photos over the next few days, including a color panorama.

To check out the slide go Mojave or Mars

Top Women of Sci Fi – part 5 – UPDATED

July 1, 2012 — Standard — Leave a comment

Olive, you were always the strongest – Nick Lane

Olivia Dunham
(Fringe)

I was hesitant to add Olivia Dunham to my list of Top 10 Women in Science Fiction because her story is incomplete with the addition of a final Season five but she is too compelling of a character to ignore.

When we first meet Dunham, she is an inter-agency liaison with the FBI investigating an horrific event that happened mid-air on a flight from Hamburg, Germany to the United States. During the course of the investigation her partner is gravely injured and she puts to get a team of eccentric people to save him and to aid the investigation: Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop and Agent Astrid Farnsworth aka Astro aka Aspirin.

The following exchanges with Peter in the pilot episode shows what a strong and resourceful person Agent Dunham can be.

Olivia: You heard of Flight 627
Peter: The Hamburg flight of course
Olivia: You may be able to help us with that
Peter: I think you got the wrong guy
Olivia: Your father is Walter Bishop
Peter: The last time someone asked me that it was an accusation
Olivia: He is the man who we are looking to speak with but do to his current status. You’re the only one that can provide us access
Peter: What possible help could that man be to you? And what exactly are you expecting me to do? Hop on a plane with you back to MA. I just here honey…
Olivia: …Your father maybe able to save someone who is dying. Someone I care about very much
Peter: Sweetheart, we all care about someone who is dying. I can’t help you. I’m sorry.
Olivia: I know why you are here. I have your file.
Peter: What file?
Olivia: The one the FBI would say doesn’t exist. And it has everything: where you’ve been; what you’re running from and what you need while your here. So, either you come with me or I let certain people know your whereabouts.
Peter: When do we leave?

Peter: What are you asking me to do? No, Guardian? No forgot it.
Olivia: He’ll do it
Peter: No I’ll will not.
Olivia: One phone call that’s it takes. Coz I got my phone in my pocket.
Olivia: Now it’s out of my pocket
Peter: You wanted my father – now you got my father which falls in the category be careful what you wish for. Sweetheart.

Peter: Tell what else tom the file say about yours truly? How bad was it.
Olivia: I’m not at liberty to discuss it.
Peter: why don’t you go ahead and liberate yourself because I’m here now and I kind of feel like I deserve the truth. Don’t you?
{long pause}
Peter: There is no file
Olivia: I needed you back here
Peter: That was what- you were bluffing
Olivia: I was desperate
Peter: I’m usually good and reading people that’s sorta what I do.
Olivia: I could see you were in trouble anyone could see that
Peter: I could have stay, I could have stayed in Iraq…

While these exchanges are simple in nature, the direct and passionate way in which Olivia delivers them gets her whatever she needs from information to personnel. Olivia has been shaped by her past experiences (her relationship with her family and being experiment on as a child, specifically) and it has prepare her to lead the Fringe team.

Over the course of four seasons, the team learns a lot about themselves and each other while they investigate unusual events. Standout episodes include: Inner Child, August, Northwest Passage, Peter, Worlds Apart,

With story arcs that span and entire season that dealt with patterns, human experiments, trying to understand the motivations of the Observers and dealing with mad geniuses, Fringe has been one of the best shows on TV. While the show has moved to a weak storyline that has Peter and Olivia destined to be together romantically, the ultimate plot is Olivia journey to find out who is she.

Fauxlivia gets an honorable mention. With the introduction of the alternate universe in season three, we get to meet Fauxlivia. Her load in life has been an easier one, quick with a smile and love for her job and colleagues, Ann Torv has create the polar opposite of Olivia.

To learn more about Fringe secrets

 

 

 

 

 

With the conclusion of Fringe, I felt the need to revisit one of my favorite characters.  The final season did a disservice to the once powerful women of the show.  Olivia, Astrid and Nina were all reduced to standing in the shadow and acting only to propel the relationship between Walter and Peter.   From being an active and intelligent FBI agent fighting to solve unusual cases and saving the world, Olivia was reduce to moping first over the death of her daughter and then over Peter’s quest to avenge her death.

The overarching theme of the show seemed to be should there be limits to the pursue of science.  In addition to Walter’s struggle to come to terms with the consequences of his research and actions, Olivia’s journey also seemed equally important to this theme. From being experimented on as a child by Walter and William Bell, to being kidnapped by Walternate and having her personality altered by drugs, Olivia has been the face of the ethically struggle of science. This season, she has been strangely passive.   We don’t get to see the original bad-ass Olivia until the penultimate episode.  The season suffered from her mis-use.

Boo on you show runners!

Quick Movie Review – Prometheus

June 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

Ridley Scott returns to the science fiction genre in fine form with Prometheus. After a dazzling opening sequence in which we see a mysterious humanoid ingest an acidic liquid and crumble into a river, we meet a team of scientist on archaeological dig.  They are searching for the answer to our origins.  Set a few years before Alien, Prometheus seeks to answer questions, that plagued humans for centuries regarding our origins, faith and science.  In 2089, 17 scientists, explorers and engineers unite to undertake a 2-year odyssey in search of our creators, who are referred to as the “engineers.” After reaching their destination, the team encounters obstacles that they never imagined.  With different motivations for being onboard, who can be counted on when the extraterrestrial hits the fan is part of the suspense.  Following in the steps of its fore bearers, Prometheus includes one of the best horror scenes that I seen in a long time.

The ensemble cast of Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron and Idia Elba hits most of the rights notes. Noomi as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw continues the tradition of kick ass resilient women that we have encountered in the various Alien incarnations. With this role, Michael Fassbender creates the standard for playing an artificial life form. This talented crew almost overcomes the weak writing in the third act.  While the film doesn’t quite answer all of its larger questions, it is gorgeous to look at. Ridley Scott and Dariusz Wolski create a breathtaking visual feast. The stunning planet and the quiet beauty of the spacecraft and the voyage to the unnamed planet, Prometheus is a showcase for a crew at the top of their game.  The special effects highlighted by a pitch perfect use of 3D raises the bar for science fiction films.  

I can’t wait for the story to continue.

For what the movie its right and wrong about science see: Blastr

For a peck at Michael Fassbender as David:

http://youtu.be/tvXKN5Fz_OE