Movies Sci Fi

Archive for December, 2009

I found this short animated video on You Tube and it has an Isaac Asimov feeling to it if you combine his stories on Robots with various robots in shows and movies such as C-3PO from Star Wars and Data from Star Trek:TNG.
The video is interesting and very well done, kudos to the animator.

I read an article that the Irish National Bank will no longer handle cash but will instead handle debit cards and are dubbing this new style of banking “cashless banking.” So one has to ask himself, are we going to see this trend spread to other banks ? The Irish Bank is using a Danish bank as its model. In the Star Trek universe, they live in a cashless world on planet Earth. The difference is that people are not homeless, there is plenty of food, and people work, produce food, and study, all for the betterment of the human race. Well, I think we have quite a while to reach that stage in human development, the maturity it would require to have a work ethic, produce not only for yourself, and not expect monetary compensation . The other alternative is the George Orwell 1984 version in which humans become controlled by the government, need RFID chips in order to conduct any type of transaction, work and live in deplorable conditions, and are unable to think for themselves and instead are brainwashed by the government and watched by Big brother. Since more people are homeless than reported in the mainstream media, my feeling is we are heading into a bleaker way of life for a while. I have hope that people will wake up and see that they need to think for themselves, become less materialistic, and truly work for the betterment of themselves and others, not just for greed. As I said, this may take time. Max Keiser is an economist who usually tells it as it is with a sense of humor. I included one of his videos and his views in general on the current economic situation. Enjoy.

There has been a lot of talk about returning to the moon or finding life on Mars ( all of which is important) but the Messenger was launched in 2004 to map and study Mercury. From the article:

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on August 3, 2004. It returned to Earth for a gravity boost on August 2, 2005, and flew past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. The spacecraft uses the tug of Venus’ gravity to resize and rotate its trajectory closer to Mercury’s orbit.

Three Mercury flybys, each followed about two months later by a course correction maneuver, will put MESSENGER in position to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. During the January 2008, October 2008, and September 2009 flybys, MESSENGER mapped nearly the entire planet and imaged most of the areas unseen by Mariner 10.

It is amazing to me that the Messenger has been on and off its mission for so many years and will continue to work into the next few years.

In combining MDIS (Mercury Dual Imaging System) images collected from these three MESSENGER flyby’s with those from Mariner 10 data from the 1970s, we now have a global mosaic of Mercury covering ~97.72% of the planet’s surface.

If you click on the link there is an interactive map of Mercury if you are into that kind of thing.

On television or in the movies, everything in space happens so quickly, in an episode of Star Trek, the crew of the Enterprise can fix the geologic problems of a planet they have just encountered! I know it is fiction and enjoy the interpersonal aspects of the show, I also realize that any work in space takes time. The Space Shuttle has to spend time on the International Space Station installing new parts.

I wish the news would cover more stories about spacecraft that has been dispatched to study different aspects of our solar system, but I guess that would be too boring for people.

Anyway, here is the link the the article and map.

This is a truly cool invention, it could really help physically disabled people suffering from hip, knee, or foot problems to name just a very few. From the article:
HAL, which weighs 23kg, is comprised of robotic ‘limbs’, and a backpack containing the suit’s battery and computer system. It is strapped to the body and controlled by thought. When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles, and very weak traces of these signals can be detected on the surface of the skin. The HAL suit identifies these signals using a sensor attached the skin of the wearer, and a signal is sent to the suit’s power unit telling the suit to move in unison with the wearer’s own limbs.
It seems a little heavy but with a battery and computer system that lasts for 5 hours, a person will be capable of much more activity and much more strength. It could aid a person in lifting heavy objects, getting out of a wheel chair, and many other tasks. Plus I am sure there will be many refinements to this suit as time goes by.
The exo-skeleton is named Hal and I cannot help but feel very excited about this creation. Getting older can be a bitch, a car accident can bring life altering injuries and now there is going to be a solution to those physical problems. It really feels like science fiction is merging with real life. Sometimes it feels like we are going backwards when I see so many wars, cruelties to plants, animals, and humans, and then I read a story like this and get excited that we are moving ahead and trying to make life better for everyone!
Here is a LINK to the story and enjoy your weekend.
Related articles by Zemanta

• Robo Muscle Suit: Japan continues to work on fully motorized humans (video) (crunchgear.com)

I enjoyed watching the television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, for many years because it was clever, silly, and just plain fun. They did all sorts of skits and all of them mostly ad lib. I found a very silly video in which they make up songs that have to do with science fiction. I wish there were still shows like this one today because it did not require super special technical effects, a lot of money, but it did require a lot of brain power and a great sense of humor.
Enjoy the clip.

When I first read the story about how Canadian Science Fiction writer Dr. Peter Watts, was beaten and arrested at the Canadian/US border while trying to return back to Canada from the US, I have to say I was not too surprised. I am an expat who lives in Mexico close to the Mexico/US border and this behavior from Homeland security is very common. A cyclist friend of mine told me he would never cross into the US again because he was going on a training ride on his 7,000usd bicycle and dressed in his team uniform, but the Homeland security agents were convinced he was smuggling drugs and proceeded to dismantle this very valuable bike. When they found nothing after hours of detention, they LET him return to Mexico with his bike in pieces. He had to call his wife to pick him up because they destroyed his special bike.
Another example, again from a cyclist friend, said she crossed the border and before she knew what was happening, a female military trooper began to frisk her from behind and she became scared when 5 other soldiers were watching and waiting to “get” her for speaking back to the soldier but fortunately she calmed down and said nothing more and the soldier left. What is the military doing reaching into peoples pockets without a word or reason!?
I personally have been detained in secondary inspection with other cars, trapped in a line, while dogs circled the cars. I was there for 1/2 and hour and given no explanation. I rarely enter my own country now because of the aggressive and rude behavior of the Homeland security agents and Military. I do not recognize my country anymore, it is not the same place it used to be and that is very sad. This is the very topic I usually discuss in my blog about the human condition, Big Brother, and treating each other with respect. If we cannot treat human beings with respect, what chance do aliens have if they dare set foot on Planet Earth?
I feel very sorry for Dr. Peter Watts and know from personal experience that he most likely did not provoke or attack any official. They look for the chance to abuse their power whenever possible.
Here is a link to the story with updates.
Here are some links well worth reading about the abuses of the US Boarder Patrol.
From Amnesty International. About the regular abuse on the US side of the border. Here is a part of the story: In 1992, students and staff at a local high school brought a class action suit against the El Paso Border Patrol alleging a pattern of serious human rights abuses. Cases adopted by the court as findings of fact included that of a 15-year-old girl, Nieden Susie Diaz, who was assaulted by a Border Patrol agent on her way home from school. According to the court, the agent “for no apparent reason knocked Nieden down to the ground and kicked her about twenty times.”
Here is another link :A Laredo man is speaking out against the Laredo sector Border Patrol tonight, saying agents repeatedly violate his rights.
He says after several years of complaining Border Patrol supervisors continue sweeping the issue under the rug.
He says he spent twenty years in the military all to be harassed by Border Patrol agents who seem to be taking advantage of their authority.
Now the concerned resident says either the U.S. is becoming a communist nation or people along the border are simply considered second-class citizens.
Carlos Gonzalez says getting home to his ranch off highway 83 just north of Laredo means having to battle border patrol agents.
“It’s just harassment in its purest form out there.”
That is just the tip of the iceberg, it goes on and on. Here is a video and a prime example of the abuse of the border patrol and the lack of rights you have within a 100 miles of the border north and south.

I watched two different movies with the same actor named Hayden Christensen and both were science fiction in nature. “Awake” (2007) sounded good because I like sci fi or terror with a medical slant but this one was weird and just dumb in terms of medicine. The premise of the movie is that the main character is to have a heart transplant surgery but remains conscious during the procedure even though he received general anesthesia. I guess we are supposed to turn our brains off about the medical science and just play along that a patient can be conscious and feel his ribs being cut open while under general anesthesia which by very definition means a loss of consciousness. If it were a local anesthetic then you would be awake and not feel pain but he is having heart surgery!! Like I said before, weird.
Then I saw him in “Jumper“(2008) and thought this movie might have a chance since it was based on a novel by Steven Gould but this one was just ok. The idea was interesting but hard to translate in film but if you like a lot of action it is fun and more entertaining than Awake. I hope that we have better to look forward to in terms of science fiction film because all special effects all the time is not necessary to make a great movie. I like special effects when done well and in a creative and appropriate manner in tune with the story.
Here is a clip from Jumper. Enjoy.

I watched this fascinating movie last night that I had never heard of before nor the novel by the same name written be P.D. James in 1992 about a dystopian future set in the United Kingdom in the year 2027.
Women have been unable to have children for the past 18 years, and society faces less than a century to survive. There is societal collapse and terrorism and the UK is the last functioning government which becomes the destination for many immigrants legal and illegal alike who end up caged and to say they are mistreated is an understatement. The story revolves around one refugee who is inexplicably pregnant and is trying to reach a sanctuary where she will be protected and able to raise her child.
I have not read the novel so I do not know the detail the author put into explaining the cause of the infertility, why this one woman was able to conceive, and how this would change the course of events for the human race in terms of fertility.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and especially in light of the current G20 meetings in Pittsburgh that have sparked riots, police brutality, heightened the fears some have that the swine flu vaccinations may cause sterilization, the overall civil unrest due to global bailouts of “too big to fail” financial institutions, and the simple fact that people are jobless, hungry, and desperate in many parts of the world. France recently dismantled an encampment of immigrants in a very brutal fashion which echoes to some degree events in the movie.
So this movie felt like a reflection of current events and a bit disturbing but well worth watching. Here is a clip from the movie.

I found this video on You Tube that is creative and fun to watch and while I do not agree with the Top 12, I sure do enjoy the clips and am reminded of some classics that I love like Logan’s Run, Westworld, and Close Encounters of a Third Kind. It was a nice touch to add a montage of a lot of interesting sci fi movies made throughout the years despite time limitations because we could have a video that goes on for hours.
Enjoy the video!

I watched and episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the SciFi Channel the other day entitled “Half a Life” in which Lwaxana Troi falls in love with a man from a planet where the people must commit suicide at the age of 60. Of course he is only a few days away from that age and goes on to give the reasons behind this ritual that has existed for generations on his world. He says it takes the burden of care off the children, people do not suffer if they are terminally ill, or can be remembered as strong and with all mental faculties functioning. This story reminded me of the film “Logan’s Run” made in 1976 and based on the novel written by William F. Nolan. It is a dystopian tale of overpopulation, war, pollution and the usual horrid scenarios envisioned for humanity in the not too distant future. To cope with these bleak conditions, people live in a protected society in which everyone is healthy, needs not work, has enough to eat, and appears happy, and the population is under control, the only catch being you must die at the age of 30 years. The inhabitants do not believe they are dying in the Carrousel ceremony but instead will be renewed and reincarnated in this quasi religious ceremony. The lead characters realize this is nothing more that a death sentence and charade and proceed to escape. It is an interesting movie and I was told they are doing a remake that should be out in 2010.
I like to ponder ideas such as overpopulation, quality of life, the right to have control over your own body especially if you have a debilitating disease and make decisions based current medical information whether to live or end life, when a government crosses the line in legislating how I should treat my body, and other things like how population control can be achieved in a humane manner, and on and on.
Well, here is a clip from the original movie, enjoy!