Month: August 2012

Eh Tu, Disney?

Oh dear. It seems that Disney, not content to let other movie magnates have all the fun, will be launching (no pun) a reboot of its own. Yes, The Rocketeer, that kitsch, feel good movie about a guy who finds a rocket pack and becomes a super-hero, is getting remade for a new generation.

Personally, I got nothing against the original. Families had to have some kind of inoffensive option for super-hero movies back when Spiderman didn’t exist and Batman was still a bit Gothic for children to watch. But why does it need to be remade? Wasn’t the last one enough?

But then again, that’s a can of worms which myself and many smarter people besides have already opened. If you pull one thread in this giant tapestry known as reboot/remake/relaunch fever, it all comes tumbling down!

Luckily, some of the folks over at Vimeo made this hilarious video of what The Rocketeer would look like if it had been made into a Pixar movie. I can’t help but wonder if they have the right idea here. Seriously, when was the last time Disney ever did anything great that was live action?

http://vimeo.com/user4835392/rocketeer-pilote

And just to poke fun at Disney, here’s a musical clip from Family Guy where The Rocketeer didn’t do so well (at 1:24), not to mention Michael Jackson. Geez, MacFarlane, talk about kicking a dead horse!

What’s On…

If you’re like me, and suffer from what I assume is a form of literary ADD – where you can’t seem to commit to reading, or writing, one thing at a time – then it helps to take stock once in a while and make a list. At other times, its disconcerting, like whenever I check out my Goodreads account and see that a book I cracked over a year ago is still on my “Currently Reading” list.

But today I thought I’d combine that list with my list of upcoming reviews. As I’m sure I mentioned in a previous post or two, this vacay has been pretty good for scoring new books. I got some long 0verdue ones and managed to find at least one that has come highly recommended. To ensure that they don’t wind up in my pile, partially read and collecting dust, I thought I’d make a definitive list. That oughta help my ADD!

Editor’s Note: The author of this article is not a physician or psychiatrist and has no medical credentials whatsoever. He is thus in no position to diagnose, either in himself or others, any form of ADD or its hyperactive cousin, ADHD.

  1. Mona Lisa Overdrive – the final book in the Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson. Due to diversions in reading The Hunger Games, Second Foundation and a slew of others, this book has remained opened far longer than it had to have been. I hope to finish it this or next week.
  2. Second Foundation – the third installment in the Foundation series, which I have been meaning to read for some time. As the (sort of) conclusion to the Foundation saga, and after reviewing the first two, it was only fitting that I find and tackle the third book. I say sort of because decades after finishing this third novel in the series, Asimov would finally cave to demands that he return to the series with three more books. Fans and publishers, what can you do?
  3. Martian Chronicles – this book I just picked up last week. After years of hearing great things and wanting to get into it, I finally procured a copy and began devouring it. I got half way through before the wife and I got back to civilization and it was forced to take its place in the queue. It’s a testament to Bradbury’s old school, accessible, yet still high-minded style that you can read through his works quickly and still feel like you’ve digested a lot. I look forward to finishing this one and borrowing freely from it 😉
  4. A Feast for Crows – my reading of this fourth installment in the Game of Thrones series has stalled for a few reasons. One, I got a little tired after the first three books, especially since all the main characters keep dying! Second, after three books of excitement and climactic battles, George RR Martin seemed to think that was needed was a book that contained all the scraps. Not a bad read by any measure, but it’s kind of like a serving of leftovers after three sumptuous banquets.
  5. We – the classic of classic by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Again, I cracked this book a long time ago and haven’t been able to get into it due to the myriad of books that have entered and left my reading pile in the interim.  I want nothing more than to finish it and give it its long overdue due! For crying out loud, this man practically invented the dystopian satire and inspired my heroes – Orwell and Huxley. If that doesn’t warrant a read, I don’t know what does!
  6. The Giver – here’s a book that my wife has been recommending for ages! Considered to be a classic of YA fiction, this novel is certainly a must-read for those looking to stay current on the genre. Having found a copy at my local Coles, right next to City of Ember, I decided it was time to have a looky-loo so that I knew what I was talking about next time I chose to include it in a review of current utopian/dystopian lit.
  7. Red Mars – holy crap has this one been on my shelf for a long time! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked it up and put it down. Which is really too bad. It’s definitely one of the more profound sci-fi books that I’ve ever read, but somehow, the style lends itself to a certain inaccessibility for me. I do enjoy reading it, but find that it doesn’t quite happen easily or organically. In that respect, Kim Stanley Robinson is not unlike William Gibson for me. I know I want to hear from them, and I do get through their books, but not with the ease and grace that I would something by Bradbury or Asimov.
  8. Ready Player One – this one I bought alongside The Giver because I thought it was time to invest in something new. I tend to be reserved about buying the works of new authors, mainly because I don’t invest time and money in something which might prove to be disappointing or a flavor of the month kind of thing. However, I said ‘screw it’ this time around and picked this one up. And lo and behold, I discovered that it is actually a quite famous read, with the entire back of the dust jacket dedicated to the heaps of accolades that have been piled on it. Not only was it a manager’s pick at the Coles, it also comes recommended by my peeps over Io9.com. Them folks know their sci-fi, so I’m glad I went with my gut and checked this one out!
  9. Starfire – this hard sci-fi novel, by Charles Sheffield, is actually one I picked up in a laundry room at the park where my wife and I were staying in Lund. We had just returned from camping, were in the process of returning to civility (with showers and other amenities) and realized we still didn’t have anything to read! So I took a gander at this one, and after seeing that it was endorsed by Kim Stanley Robinson, I gave it a chance. I only got about 70 pages in before we had to leave and I chose not to take it (having nothing to exchange), but I was wrapped up enough in the plot that I decided I’d get a copy as soon as I could. Still looking, might have to go Amazon or Kindle on this bad boy, but I don’t intend to let it slip. The plot, which involves the creation of a massive orbital shield after A/B Centauri goes supernova, is quite interesting, and constructed using the latest in astronomical data. Check it out if you can!

Well, that about does it for me. Nine books in the reading list, not so bad. I could think of some more but… seriously, who the hell wants that kind of responsibility 😉

Mars Lander Mission, 2016

With all the news coming back from Curiosity rover since its deployment, one would get the impression that Mars is a pretty happening place. Blue sunsets, wide open vistas, tall mountains and extensive plains. All the while, our collective fascination with the planet has been growing apace. And it seems that this trend is destined to continue…

After looking at several low-cost options for their next major mission, NASA scientists decided to once again return to the Red Planet, this time to do some interior planet studies to determine whether Mars has a solid or liquid core, and determine the planet’s basic structure.

Known as the InSight lander, this mission won out over two equally enticing proposals. The first called the for the deployment of the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME), a floating high-tech buoy which would be sent to Saturn’s moon Titan. Once there, it would study the methane lakes of Titan, examining their composition and interaction with the atmosphere. Thanks to the Cassini probe, these lakes have attracted a great deal of interest of late, particularly since they may be able to support life. Understandably, many can’t wait to study them up close and see if this holds true.

The second potential mission called for the deployment of “Chopper”, a proposed Comet Hopper mission that would put a lander on comet 46P/Wirtanen where it would study the comet’s composition. This comet, which was originally discovered in 1948, belongs to the Jupiter family of comets and orbits the Solar System once every 5.4 years. Studying its make-up would go a long way to helping scientists understanding how Solar comets behave and provide clues as to the early formation of our Solar System.

But scratch those! With 2016 on the way, budget limited and Mars the happening place, InSight will be the one to go. What’s more, it’s research is likely to prove very useful in settling some ongoing arguments, not the least of which is whether Mars possesses liquid water beneath its surface. If this should prove true, it might mean terraforming could be a go sometime down the road…

People can dream! And speaking of which, check out the NASA simulation of what InSight will look like once deployed.


Source: Universe Today

The Martian Chronicles, Finally!

A funny thing happened to my wife and I while we were vacay-ing on the Sunshine Coast. After our walk in the wilderness – we asked for a Swiss Family Robinson-style vacation, we got the Hunger Games! – we put in at the town of Powell River for a little rest and recoup. In addition to drinking plenty of Townsite beer (brewed locally), we sampled local food, basked in the sun, and waited on the Blackberry Festival, which is celebrated every August.

And of course, on our first afternoon there, we did a little shopping. Our first stop took us to a second hand bookstore where we perused old titles for something to flip through over the course of the next few days. Yes, we both brought a handful of books with us for our vacay, but for some reason decided to leave them with my folks in Comox. I don’t know, I guess we figured we wouldn’t have time. But let me tell you… when you’re between pumping creek water, nursing sore muscles, and cooking dried food in your rocky, buggy campsite, a good book comes in handy. And not just for swatting!

Anyway, one of the fruits of our bookstore search was a copy of the Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Already I had mentioned this book as part of my tribute to Ray Bradbury, but in truth, I never really read it. And since it’s style and format were part of what got me thinking about my group’s latest anthology, I thought it was high time I read it and saw what all the hub-bub was about. I am now half-way finished and it’s top of my current vacay reading pile, which includes Mona Lisa Overdrive, Second Foundation, and We… ambitious maybe?

I hope to do a full review in the coming weeks and paying this timeless book its due. I also hope to truly adopt some of the themes and stylistic touches to my own work, as they were certainly most effective at capturing the travails of colonization and the settlement on a new world. In the meantime, here is the hilarious video entitled “F*ck me Ray Bradbury”, comedian Rachel Bloom’s own tribute to the venerated author. I hope the master takes no  offense 😛

Time-Lapse Footage of Curiosity Rover Landing

Amongst the awesome footage which is coming back from Mars, courtesy of the Curiosity Rover, is this lovely compilation. Using the many photos snapped by the rover as it made it’s decent, the enterprising folks over at Spaceflight 101 have created a time-lapse video of what the landing looked like.

Taken by the the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), the images capture the separation of the heat shield from the rover and then its powered descent. Well worth watching, and stay tuned for more updates from Curiosity as it continues its journey across the Martian Landscape.

The 70th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid

Here in Canada, few historical events from World War II inspire as much anger, sadness, and remembrance than the anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. It was 70 years ago today that Canadian Forces, in what was to be the first offensive of the war, attacked the European coastline near the small French town of Dieppe. The raid, as it was classified, was a total failure, resulting in 913 dead, almost 3000 captured, and countless more wounded. Out of the nearly 5000 men who went in, less than half made it home.

Earlier today, I read some articles that spoke of the surviving veterans, the youngest of whom is 90, as they arrived at Dieppe to take part in the commemorative ceremonies.

Countless French people welcomed them by hanging Canadian flags from their balconies and volunteering to show them about town. For the locals, honoring the veterans who fell while trying to liberate their town has become a way of life, similar to the Belgian people of Ypres and the Dutch who honor how Canadian forces liberated their country in 1944.

Naturally, when these veterans tell their stories again to reporters or the many who wabted to hear them, they conveyed some rather mixed emotions. There were moments of anger and pride intermixed with a general tone of lament, and in that respect, they are joined by all Canadians who remember. Even now, 70 years later, there is still ample speculation about the Dieppe raid.

Taking place in 1942, during the height of the war when the Allies were still on the losing end, the planned raid on Dieppe represented the culmination of many hopes, fears, and political considerations. For over a year, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had been asking – in fact, pleading – with the Allies for a Second Front in Europe that would take pressure off the Russian forces. Ever since the Germans moved into his country roughly a year before, Russians were dying by the millions and the Red Army was struggling to hold them back.

At the same time, the Allies had been contemplating plans for the liberation of France ever since it had been overrun two years earlier. For the British and French, the memories of the summer of 1940, beginning with the invasion of Belgium, the outflanking maneuver through the Ardennes Forest, the fall of Paris and the evacuation of Dunkirk, were still phantoms they wanted to dispel. With Germany pushed out of France, the Allies would have a major ally back in the fight and put an end to Germany’s expansion, which had continued unabated since the war began.

And last, the Canadian Armed Forces were desperate to get into battle, hoping to demonstrate some of the same zeal that had popularized their forces in World War I. And with the US finally entering the war on the Allied side, there was an added push to score a victory before the Yanks got in and claimed all the glory 😉 A commando-style raid against a section of the Atlantic Wall seemed like just the thing to bolster morale and show the world that the Canadian Expeditionary Force was still a force to be feared!

Ultimately, the raid was a failure for numerous reasons, all of which proved intrinsic to helping the Allies draft Operation Overlord – the invasion of Normandy – roughly two years later. First off, the raid had little support to speak of. Aside from the 5000 men and tanks heading onto the coastline, their were very ships ships and aircraft standing by to blast German positions and take on the coastal defenses.

Second, the planners did not take into account the challenging terrain along the beaches. Rather than being sandy shores, they were composed of tiny little rocks which played havoc with tank treads, making them virtually useless. As a result, the Canadian soldiers found themselves running into German machine guns and mortar positions with no cover or support.

Third, the plan was changed over and over again so that less and less forces would be committed to the fold. This led many to question whether the raid would even have enough men or firepower to achieve their mission. However, Allied planners dismissed these objections by emphasizing that the attackers would have the element of surprise. That was not the case though, since Allied Command had been publicizing the attack for some time before it happened.

In short, the mission was the perfect recipe for failure, leading some to speculate that that had been the goal all along. With Stalin pleading for a Second Front and the Allies unable to convince him that they were not ready, some claimed that Dieppe was meant to fail as a way of illustrating their point.

In addition, new evidence is being brought to light that suggests that the raid was a diversion for a covert operation that involved commandos attacking the secret German naval headquarters in the town in order to capture a working model Germany’s new four-rotor Enigma machine and their most recent code books. At the head of this operation, so the argument runs, was Mr. Ian Fleming himself, the man who would later create James Bond.

A very interesting interpretation, and which explains quite clearly why the raid was so publicized. In keeping with Allied counterintelligence plays, it was customary to let the Germans know exactly what they were doing in the hopes that they would chomp at the bit and not realize it was a feint to cover their true aims.

What’s more, if this latter interpretation should prove to be true, it would mean that politics and incompetence was not the reason for the Dieppe Raid. Instead, it would have been a vital intelligence mission which went wrong for a number of reasons. However, this still would not change the fact that the operational planning suffered from the fact that the raid failed to take into accounts some key problems. Nor would it change the outcome.

In any case, some good did come out of the operation. Four months after the raid, the Allies managed to crack the 4-wheel Enigma code and went back to winning the intelligence war. In addition, Soviet Forces began to defeat the Germans on all fronts and initiated the slow process of pushing them back into their old stomping grounds. And in the Mediterrenean and North Africa, the German Navy and Afrika Corps began to get their asses kicked.

But most importantly of all was the operation that would succeed where Dieppe had failed. Taking on June 6th of 1944 in the Normandy region of France, Operation Overlord was the largest invasion in history, and several key factors had been adapted from the Dieppe Raid. In addition to committing all kinds of men, materiel, ships, and planes to a cohesive, multi-phased invasion plan, the Allies also conducted a vast counter-intelligence operation well in advance to trick the Germans into thinking that their real invasion force would be coming in the Pas de Calais region.

So today, like all good Canadians, I wish to honor the veterans who are currently overseas, receiving their well-deserved honors and recounting the historic Dieppe Raid that they took part in so many years later. I’d also like to salute those soldiers who are no longer with us, many of whom were wounded, captured and forced to spend the rest of the war in army hospitals and German POW camps. And I would especially like to pay tribute to those who didn’t make it back, who died on those rocky shores as the result of either politics and ineptitude, or desperation and intrigue.

Even after 70 years, surely we must be learning something from all this…

Top Five Exoplanets In The Known Universe

Hello again! Boy, I tell ya, it’s good to be back in the swing of things. You know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder? Well, they also say a few things about being addicted to your devices! But either way, I’m happy to be back in civilization and able to communicate with my friends and colleagues who are, unfortunately, only reachable electronically.

And I’m even happier that people have had a creative outburst while I was away. I miss being able to take part in brainstorming sessions and coming up with new ideas with people. So I was pretty pleased when I came home and found my inbox so crammed full of emails and comments from my writer friends. And, like a plant that’s been deprived of water, their thoughts set my mind aflame with new ideas!

For one, I realized I had yet to discuss NASA’s top 5 Exploplanets in any real detail. Not long ago, it was announced that the planet Gliese 581 g, which is roughly 20 light years from our Solar System, is the most Earth-like planet in this region of the Galaxy, and hence, the most likely candidate for settlement someday. However, this news came as part of a larger story about all the planets, Earth-like or otherwise, that NASA has been confirming the existence of in recent years. Guess I was too busy focusing on how this effecting my writer’s group to expand on how cool these discoveries really are 😉

The table above shows the top five contenders, grouped according to how similar they are to Earth in terms of gravity, atmosphere, distance from their star, and ability to support life. Gliese 581 g, the fourth planet from the Gliese 581 star, ranks as number one with a 92 percent comparison match. Being roughly the same size as Earth, though boasting significantly more mass, it is also thought to have roughly the same gravitational pull. In addition, the astronomer who was intrinsic in it’s discovery, Steven Vogt, indicated that it is a prime candidate for extra-terrestrial life.

The second candidate, at 85%, is Gliese 667C c, a planet which orbits a red dwarf roughly 22 light-years away. It is so named because it’s parent star is part of a triple star system, or a trinary. Since c is estimated to be at least 4.5 times as massive as Earth, it has the honor of being designated a “Super-Earth”, and no doubt would have enough gravity to make even a world-class athlete feel overwrought from the simple task of walking.

Third is Kepler-22 b, an exoplanet which was spotted by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope in 2009. An 81% match to Earth, this world is another “Super-Earth” which is speculated to have an atmosphere and climate which could be hospitable to Earth creatures. Unfortunately, this bad boy is over 600 light years away, making it a pretty poor candidate for settlement anytime soon.

Fourth up is HD 85512b, another super-Earth which orbits the orange dwarf Gliese 370, which is roughly 35 light-years away. At a relatively reasonable distance, and a 77% match to Earth, this planet could be a suitable candidate for colonization one day. NASA already estimates that its average surface temperature and presence within the star’s “Habitable Zone” would be within tolerable limits. Hopefully the gravity is the same!

And coming in at fifth place is the second planet to come to us from the Gliese 581 system, the fifth planet known as Gliese 581 d. As the above table shows, g and d are both within the systems Habitable Zone and could be made to support human populations, provided certain requirements (i.e. the existence of water, suitable temperatures and gravity) were met. When it was first discovered in 2007, it was dismissed as being “too cold” to support life. However, subsequent atmospheric modelling studies suggest that it could be habitable provided its atmosphere is capable of generating a Greenhouse Effect, as Earth’s is.

Many question how and why the discovery of exoplanets will benefit humanity. As one of my friends (hi Rami!) asked me recently, what good is it to colonize worlds do us if our problems remain? I argued that it would ensure our survival, but quickly realized that I’d need to make a better case if I was going to prove that point. As a curve-ball, I asked him to consider the possibility that maybe Earth itself, as we’ve made her in the past 15,000 years, could be the problem…

Naturally, that statement requires clarification. But that’s something for another time. Right now, all I am hoping for is that the discovery of habitable planets within humanity’s reach will mean either the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, or the option of planting the seed of humanity in a distant solar system. The implications of either would be mind-blowing, and I for one feel privileged to live in a time when such possibilities might be coming true!

Red Dawn Relaunch

Oh boy, I thought as when I heard about this preview. Another reboot of a cult-classic huh? As I’m sure I’ve said a million times before, why doesn’t Hollywood just admit that they are out of ideas. Sure, this relaunch of the movie about a possible Soviet Invasion will star Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and sure they are taking a slightly more realistic take by making at least one of the “Wolverines” an actual combat veteran (as opposed to say, a bunch of teenagers and Patrick Swayze).

However, beyond that, there doesn’t appear to be anything new or remotely realistic about this movie. For one, the plot has been updated so that small town America is invaded by Cuba and North Korea. Really? Two tottering Soviet-era dictatorships that can’t even feeds their own people and are on the brink of collapse manage to circumvent America’s coastal defenses and occupy the United States? Really? This movie sounds like Cold War propaganda, sans the actual Cold War!

At first, I thought I saw some meager potential here. But that was before I read the actual description of the plot. After that, I felt like grabbing the producers and execs who thought this was a good idea and giving them a good shake. “This is why you can’t reboot Cold War Era ideas in the post-Cold War world!” I’d say. The first movie made sense in that it resonated with Americans who were hearing about Russia’s fortunes in Afghanistan. Red Dawn played to the imagery coming out of that war, where young fighters were running around, their heads wrapped in bandanas, and taking out Russian tanks and helicopters with Stingers and RPGs.

But this? This just seems like another excuse by Hollywood producers to do something that’s been done, throw in some cool new action sequences, and sit back and count their money. If they had any guts, they’d have made it China invading instead of Cuba and North Korea. But then again, you gotta hedge your bets right? Can’t piss off the real threats if you’re currently tied at the hip economically. Better to talk about the marginal countries that are under embargo and no one worries about anymore.

Ah well, at least the trailer looks cool. Might even be a good candidate for download.

Back From the Brink!

Hello all! Just wanted to let people know that my wife and I triumphantly (well, sort of) returned to civilization yesterday. After three days in the bush, we decided that our vacation and health would better be served if we detoured from our planned path and headed back into the small town of Lund to rest and recoup. Before ya’ll go thinking we’re a bunch of weaklings, let me assure you the decision wasn’t made lightly!

After being dropped off on slippery a rock face at the head of our trail, which is apparently safe to scale at high tide, we proceeded to march with 5 days of supplies on our backs through 12 kilometres (5.5 miles) of mountains forests. Our destination was 16km from the coastal point where we were dropped off, which we figured would b easy. After all, we hiked that much in the day when we were in Camino in Spain. Well, let me tell you… hiking the West Coast Trail is nothing like Spain!

After the first four we were tuckered. After the first eight, we were exhausted and drank all our water. And of course, the bugs were quite awful and my darling bride was stung by a wasp, which swelled up really bad by midday! As the day was drawing to a close, we realized we wouldn’t make it to the first cabin on our journey, not unless we wanted to arrive at 8pm (2000 hours) and finish dinner by 10. And so we decided to make camp at the first camp site which came our way.

And when I say make camp, I mean old school! Since we planned to hike from cabin to cabin along the trail, we had no tent, and were forced to sleep on the ground in our sleeping bags and thermarests (1 inch thick pads). We drew our water from the lake and used that to cook and recoup all the water we lost hiking through the summer heat and forests. Thank God for water filters and iodine tablets, I tell ya! And granted, our shelter was very improvised, consisting of a slanted rain cover and a mosquito net, but we were pretty proud. And in spite of some serious pain from sleeping on rocks and noises which kept waking my wife up, we slept alright.

The next day, braving really sore muscles and stiff backs (from sleeping on rocks) we made it to the cabin another 5.5 km away, all uphill. However, we quickly learned that there was no water there, and we had to pump our water from a rain barrel. We knew the next leg of our journey would be even harder, and would consist of 17 km if we were going to make it to the next cabin. Otherwise, we would be camping out in the open again, subject to whatever came our way. And of course, the shortages of water were scaring us just a little. With the summer heat being more than expected, most creeks in the area were thought to be dry…

So instead we came up with the alternate plan. Instead of either hiking 17 km and braving dehydration and incredible soreness and pulled muscles, or hiking another 12 and braving much the same and expecting more sleeping on rocks with the chance of visits from nocturnal predators, we hiked 5 km through clearcut landscape and marshes to the nearest road, then hiked another 4km through road construction and a dusty highway to make it to the town of Lund, which is where we set out from in the first place. We were sore, dirty, tired, and very hungry. A shower and a final camp meal later, and we were feeling somewhat human again!

It was not an easy decision. Even though we found scarcely any water along the way, which confirmed some of our worst fears, and we were so sore we could barely walk when we got into town, I still feel like we bailed on a challenge. That never sits well. However, we vowed to return sometime in the future, promising to travel light, prepare well in advance, and bring a damn tent! That way, we should be able to set out own schedule, be able to put down where we want, and not be subject to the weather or worry about night-time predators.