Don’t let the food stop moving

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We’re all busy, so I’ll make this quick. In fact, I’ll jump right into the facts:

  • Because of the global economic downturn, both individuals and governments have dramatically reduced the amount they are willing to give. The World Food Program has only received $3.7 billion of the $6.7 billion they need to operate in 2009.
  • The WFP will run out of money to send aid workers to Chad by August 15th, and will have to stop flying food and aid workers to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea by the end of the month if it can’t raise $10 million (Reuters).
  • According to Mashable, tens of millions of people are using Twitter every month. My guess is that just about everyone who uses Twitter can give some amount of money — even if just a few dollars — to help keep the WFP active in Western Africa. (Those who can’t give can at least re-tweet in hopes of reaching those who can.)

The WFP was already forced to discontinue air service to Ivory Coast and Niger in February because of lack of funds. Let’s not let that happen again. If you have a few dollars you can spare:

  1. Go to the WFP’s website to see how you can help.
  2. Post this link on Twitter and get your followers involved. There’s no reason why this problem can’t be solved by the end of the week without any of us spending any more time or money than we’ll ever miss.

Thanks for your help!

The Best Science Fiction Movies (and The Runners Up)

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Below is a list of the best science fiction movies that I’ve seen to date. I decided to list them alphabetically rather than to try to rank them, so don’t read anything into the order.

Runners up:

Review of “The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon

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It’s not uncommon for me to be slow to warm up to a novel only to find myself writing a glowing review and recommending it by the end. (For some reason, these are the novels I’m most compelled to review.) It happened with Cory Doctorow’s Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. It happened again with Douglas Coupland’s JPod. And, as you probably guessed by now, it happened most recently with Elizabeth Moon’s The Speed of Dark.

I started off loving the voice that Moon writes in which is that of Lou Arrendale, an autistic bioinformatic specialist. In fact, it was only on the second page (of the Kindle version, anyway) that I came across this fantastic quote (which, by the way, I think speaks for far too many of us “normal” people as well as autistics). But as I read on, I was disappointed to find that book was plagued by what I initially interpreted as cliches:

  • The ultra-evil executive at Lou’s office before whom all his minions tremble, and who is constantly on the prowl for cost savings.
  • The buffoon from Lou’s fencing class who reminds me of Clint from Chad Vador.
  • The girl who you are certain Lou is going to end up with by the end of the novel.
  • The prospect of Lou undergoing surgery to become “normal” and losing that which makes him special.

Confident that I had the book figured out, I read on only to find the story tilt and shift out from under me in unexpected ways (spoiler warning):

  • The executive in Lou’s office turns out to be way too over-the-top even for future corporate America, and is therefore unceremoniously canned.
  • The bully who targets Lou transitions from an annoying crybaby into a dangerous and borderline psychotic stalker.
  • Lou ends up entirely losing interest in the girl I kept waiting for him to finally muster up the courage to ask out on a date. No sappy tear jerking, after all.
  • After his surgery, Lou becomes neither better nor worse: simply different in a way that turns out to be impossible to judge.

I’m currently reading Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age which contains some wonderful and poignant passages on moral ambiguity, hypocrisy, and contradiction, all of which I believe are signs of sophistication in both worldview and art. The word “ambiguous” is exactly how I would ultimately describe The Speed of Dark . None of the characters reach the place you expect them to, and where they do end up is neither good nor bad. As in the real world, it just is.

The References and Allusions of “Terminator Salvation”

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I just got back from seeing Terminator Salvation which I found to be a little heavy on the action and special effects, and disappointingly light on character and intrigue. Perhaps more interesting than the plot where the numerous allusions and references which I spotted throughout the film:

  • The gas station where Marcus, Reese, and Star stop to fill up their Jeep Wrangler is clearly modeled after the Mexican gas station where Sarah Connor stops to fill up her Jeep Wrangler at the end of the first Terminator (where she has her picture taken by the young hustler).
  • The battle in the basement of Cyberdyne between John Connor and the T-800 is essentially a recreation of of the battle between Reese and the T-800 in the first film, right down to the close-up of the robotic feet ascending the steps and the fight on the catwalk. Of course, this is the same T-800 which, before its flesh is burned away, looks just like a young Arnold Schwarzengger (very impressive CGI, by the way).
  • The giant machines which are designed to collect, imprison, and transport humans are clearly inspired by the tripods of War of the Worlds. In particular, the sounds and smoke they emit are very true to both the H.G. Wells novel, and to Steven Spielberg’s modern interpretation.
  • It’s hard to believe that the red weeds that are shown in the scene where Marcus and Blair first approach the resistance hideout aren’t also inspired by War of the Worlds.
  • Maybe this one is a stretch, but the scene where Marcus hurls a chair through the image of Helena Bonham Carter sure seems reminiscent of the 1984 Apple Macintosh commercial warning the world of the dangers of conformity. (Is there a correlation being drawn between Skynet and Microsoft?)
  • While I’m stretching things a bit, Star sure seemed a lot like Newt from Aliens : big-eyed, quiet, and somehow wiser than those who take care of her. And, of course, Aliens was directed by James Cameron who also directed the first Terminator.

As expected, there were also several campy references like John Connor using the “I’ll be back” line, and Reese telling Marcus “come with me if you want to live” (which I believe has appeared in every Terminator story, and even the TV series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles). The literal tie-ins to the first movie are too numerous to list.

The most interesting connection I’ve made so far, however, is between the plot of Terminator Salvation and the 1953 Philip K. Dick story, Second Variety. Second Variety takes place during the aftermath of a nuclear war between the UN and the Soviet Union, and describes a world where the robots that the UN developed to help fight the Russians have become self-aware, and begin constructing increasingly human-like machines to infiltrate both American and Soviet bunkers. Although they have succeeded in causing a great deal of destruction, every model eventually fails to entirely eradicate the remainder of the human race until the second variety proves just human enough to finally slip past the last of humanity’s defenses. If you’ve seen Terminator Salvation, this should sound very familiar, and probably not accidental.

The amount of time I spent looking for nods to other movies, novels, stories, and even old television commercials should tell you something about what I thought of the movie. It was certainly entertaining, but like all the other Terminator sequels, it doesn’t even come close to capturing the darkness, eeriness, and authenticity of the original.

Buran-Energia: The Soviet Space Shuttle Program

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Did you know the Soviet Union had its own Space Shuttle program in the 1980’s and early 90’s? The Buran-Energia was the Soviet response to the America Space Shuttle program which they viewed as a major strategic threat. The term Buran (meaning “snowstorm” or “blizzard”) refers to the orbiter itself, and Energia (meaning “energy”) refers to the rocket system used to launch it into orbit.

Visually, the Buran was almost identical to the American shuttles, but there were several key differences:

  • The Buran could carry larger payloads (30 metric tons as opposed to the Space Shuttle’s 25). Since the Buran had no main rockets (all the propulsion was provided by the Energia), it could carry more cargo. Additionally, it could return to Earth with a payload of up to 20 metric tons as opposed to the Space Shuttle’s 15.
  • The Buran had jet engines which could provide thrust on reentry meaning it could actually fly (as opposed to the Shuttle which only glides).
  • The Energia system could deliver payloads to the moon. The Shuttle is confined to low-Earth orbit.
  • The heat shield on the Buran was more robust.
  • The Buran could operate entirely autonomously requiring no astronauts or pilots. In fact, the manual system was never installed.

The Buran’s only launch occurred in November of 1988 (ironically, during a snowstorm). It completed two full orbits, and landed automatically only a few meters off its intended target. It was transported on the back of an Antonov An-225 airplane which was designed specially for this purpose, and is still the largest aircraft in the world.

The program was canceled in the early 90’s due to lack of budget, and tragically, the Buran was destroyed in 2002 when the hanger it was stored in collapsed due to lack of maintenance.

The video below shows the evolution of the Buran project. Especially interesting is the animation showing it launching several nuclear warheads from space and destroying most of the United States.

buran-energia

Credits and additional resources:

Review of Watchmen (the book and the movie)

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First off, I have to admit that I’m kind of a comic book/graphic novel poser. I read a few when I was a kid, but like most people, I gave up the genre early on in life — probably by the time I got to middle school. A few movies rekindled my interest over the years (namely Batman), but it was Alan Moore’s Watchmen that really made me realize what incredible stories I’ve been missing out on all these years.

Like most people, my first exposure to Watchmen was the movie trailer (which I’ve probably watched a dozen times by now). I was so intrigued that I saw the movie the day it came out (not a simple feat for someone with two small children), then again about a week later with my wife. At some point, I ordered the book and added it to my fiction queue. Two weeks of business travel between the east and west coasts finally gave me the uninterrupted blocks of time I was waiting for to immerse myself in what I can honestly say is one of the most creative and riveting pieces of fiction I’ve ever experienced.

Before I get into the book, I should mention that I was surprised by the general reception of the movie. I thought it was one of the best action/hero/fantasy movies I’d ever seen, but in general, I’d say the reaction I witnessed in the theater, and then later saw online, ranged from subdued to negative. I thought the movie was extremely sophisticated and challenging in a way I’d ceased hoping for — especially in the hero genre — since the original Batman series got so bad (which was basically right after the first movie). Fortunately, movies like Batman Begins and Ironman kept my interest in hero movies alive, proving that the genre could still be done in a way that wasn’t insultingly sappy (yes, Spiderman, I’m talking about you). But I thought Watchmen took hero movies to an entirely new level.

As complex as the movie was (and I’m talking about character as much as plot), the book is an order of magnitude more complex. The graphic novel format not only provides the additional space the characters need to unfold, but it also provides additional dimensions for them to exist in, and devices for the writer and artist to use in order to create an incredibly rich and meaningful universe. For example:

  • Multiple stories being told simultaneously. There are almost always at least two different stories being told at any given time. Sometimes we’re in two different geographical locations at once, sometimes the past and present are being woven together, and sometimes there are literally two different but complementary stories simply superimposed and intertwined (the most obvious example being the Black Freighter comic which we watch unfold between and amongst frames).
  • Temporal fluidity. Just as Jon needn’t experience time in a linear fashion, neither must the reader. One of the best examples is chapter 4, “Watchmaker,” which is told entirely from Jon’s perspective. Events unfold completely out of sequence, but in a way that reveals a different, more interesting reality, and startling relationships.
  • Excerpts. Between each chapter are excerpts which temporarily take us out of the immediate story, and into what appear to be tangential stories, but which ultimately add additional layers of meaning to the entire book. I especially like the excerpts from Hollis Mason’s book, Under the Hood. They are so well done, in fact, that they stand entirely on their own.
  • Transitions and artistic detail. Even when the story gets riveting, make sure you examine each and every panel. No detail is random: newspaper headlines, posters, advertisements, graffiti, framed photographs, facial expressions — even the evolution of the heros’ costumes. And don’t just watch the frame you’re one; pay attention to the transitions between frames, and if something strikes you as meaningful (for example, a silhouette of a couple standing together, spray-painted throughout the city by gangs), it probably is.

I think what I like best about Watchmen is that the entire story, along with all the characters, exist squarely in the gray area between good and evil. I think this moral complexity is exaggerated by the fact that many of the characters are costumed heros or villains which traditionally have always been portrayed as moral booleans — either good or evil — or at best, perhaps slightly conflicted. The characters in Watchmen have such depth and complexity that even when they perform the most horrific acts, they seem worthy of redemption. In other words, they feel real.