The James Webb Space Telescope – Hubble’s successor – has successfully lifted off.
Now starts the “two weeks of terror” as it gets into position and unfolds. Fingers crossed! 🤞
World’s largest space telescope has liftoff
December 26, 2021
Blog Archives
Trace Gas Orbiter finds traces of hydrogen underground in the Valles Marineris
December 16, 2021
The original article title?
“Astronomers Detect Secret Water Reserves in The Largest Canyon in The Solar System”
Science isn’t quite as catchy. The hydrogen may indicate water in the form of permafrost 3 feet and more under the surface.
The high-hydrogen region is about the size of the Netherlands, and overlaps with Candor Chasma, one of the largest canyons in the Valles Marineris system.
Looks like there may be some competition for who gets to land near here first…
https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-water-has-been-found-in-the-soil-of-mars-grand-canyon
Getting Yourself to Write
December 14, 2021
Writing can be a struggle for writers of all levels, from beginning to professional. The struggle has a dreaded name: writer’s block. Writer’s block …
Getting Yourself to Write
I’ve never really experienced the so-called “writer’s block.” Not that I’m bragging…but I often just don’t find I have enough time to write.
By which I mean, writing seriously. It’s easy, however, to find time here and there just to jot down some random thoughts.
(Aside note: if you type really quickly on the WordPress smartphone app, it autocorrect “random” to “radon,” which would put you in an entirely different frame of mind.)
Continue ReadingNo Season 2 for live-action Cowboy Bebop
December 11, 2021
Well, the writing was already on the virtual wall from the beginning. The anime had only one season.
White fanboys got butthurt by the use of diverse actors – anime is anime, but live action is real actors in the real world where “race” and ethnicity are still issues and women don’t actually look like hourglasses.
Ratings plummeted after the initial hype. Netflix always panders to the masses, so this is not surprising.
Adios, amigos. See you, space cowboy.
— Read on soranews24.com/2021/12/10/there-will-not-be-a-season-2-for-netflixs-live-action-cowboy-bebop/
Real world locations of dystopian scifi movies
December 10, 2021
The Bradbury Building is well known (Blade Runner, 1982), but do you know these other locations?
Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings, city halls, abandoned mills, even a high school in Texas…
(An older article, but still interesting…too many movies rely entirely on green screen these days…)
Apologies for the absence!
December 9, 2021
Sorry, everyone, for the lack of posts lately!
I wasn’t able to post short stories and news from my smartphone (which is what I had been doing on the train to work) bc I went way over my ISP plan and got throttled for about a week.
Then December started, and work got really busy. And I look up and suddenly realized I haven’t even watched more than the first ep of the live action Cowboy Bebop.
(It was OK. Too many guns and not enough kung-fu.)
I’ll get back to regular posting soon.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of what it looks like on the hiking trail behind my house. (“Wild dogs and boar suddenly appear. Beware!”)
(Yes, I have seen a few. They come with their piglets down to the creek near us at night and then on the property next door dig in the ground with their tusks, looking for bugs to eat.)
Tales of a 6th-Grade Nothing (Apologies to Judy Blume)
November 26, 2021
I started writing stories when I was in 5th grade. Our teacher gave us a list of vocabulary each week — about 10 to 12 words, I think — and said we had two choices: 1) write down all their definitions along with a sample sentence, or 2) work them into a short story to show that we understood the meaning of the words.
I chose the 2nd option. In fact, I was the only one who did out of a class of about 25.
The thing is, the teacher wanted us to read them at the front of the room.
Man, that was not something I was looking forward to. But somehow I managed.
I wrote nothing but detective stories, all in the first person. At some point, I borrowed my mother’s old manual typewriter (originally my grandfather’s, from the 1950s) and typed them all out. I still have most of them.
But my peak as an elementary school age creative writer came part-way 6th grade, when I attempted to write my first horror story.
Continue Reading10 Cheesy Sci-Fi Movies That Deserve Remakes | Screen Rant
November 25, 2021
Between a hated Marvel movie, a quarterback in space, and ‘the worst movie ever made,’ there are so many sci-fi flicks just waiting to be rebooted.
— Read on screenrant.com/cheesy-science-fiction-movies-that-deserve-remakes-reboots/
I agree with some and totally disagree with others.
A remake of Flash Gordon?
🙆♂️ Sure! (The original is campy, but the comic strip it’s based on was fairly dramatic.)
Logan’s Run?
🤔 Would make a much better series than a one-off (a movie remake is currently in “development hell”).
Howard the Duck?
🤢🤦♂️
Are you kidding? 🙅
What do you all think?
The DART has lift-off
November 24, 2021
twitter.com/nasa/status/1463315612042678279
Technically, the two asteroids the DART is aiming at are a “binary” (they orbit each other).
The BBC’s explanation is pretty good.
They don’t even mention Bruce Willis until the final sentence.
Cowboy Bebop – from anime to live action
November 19, 2021
I was lucky: I got to watch Cowboy Bebop (the classic anime) in 2000.
I had just moved to Japan to teach English as an ALT the previous year. Stuck in the countryside with no friends and very little to do when not working, I immersed myself in Japanese language study.
Part of that involved keeping the TV on in the background, even though I couldn’t understand any of it.
After a few months of studying, I got help from a student in the English Speaking Society (a club at the high school where I was working) in getting a membership card at the only video rental store in town. At the time, the owners weren’t so keen on allowing a foreigner to rent videos; they even asked how I could guarantee that I wouldn’t simply up and leave and take their videos back to my home country.
Over the three years I was in the town, I borrowed hundreds of videos from that little store. None of the Japanese-language ones had English subtitles (obviously), and Cowboy Bebop was a series I must have borrowed at least three times, understanding more each time I watched it.
In the anime, the primary characters all have katakana names – Spike, Faye, Jet, Edward – and their computer screens always show English. The opening credits are in English, and the text behind the credits is also in English, even as the characters use Japanese (it’s never said, but we can assume universal translators in action). The show features multiethnic interaction with no hints whatsoever of racism or prejudice. A show way ahead of its time.
As various websites have pointed out, it was originally designed to sell Bandai toys, but the director had other ideas.
Episode 5 explains, with text behind the characters: “This is not a kind of space opera.” It slips in references to shows and movies like Star Trek and Star Wars, but it’s really an angst-ridden, existentialist space western with misfits galore.
Based on jazz.
“Space jazz,” really, is a better description of the show (even though pop, funk, and even heavy metal are played — entirely made by Kanno Yoko’s band, which she specifically created just for the show).
The live action remake version was just released on Netflix on November 19th (EST; click on the link to see the trailer on YouTube), who I sincerely hope do it justice (most, if not all, of their recent remakes of anime have quite frankly sucked donkey).
It’s not supposed to have a happy ending. I hope it doesn’t.
And I hope there’s no second season. The anime is brilliant. Don’t ruin its legacy.
M Thomas Apple Author Page 