Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 01:10:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFAList at KeithLynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] BAD movie science, irony, etc.
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

I saw XXX today.  It was about what I expected.  A hackeyed plot (a
cross between James Bond and The Dirty Dozen, with perhaps a touch of
Austin Power) with lots of spectacular effects.  See it if you like
lots of spectacular effects.

I saw previes for The Ring and The Core.  The Ring (no, not *that*
ring) opens in October, and is about a videotape where everyone who
watches it dies.  Implausible, but perhaps not completely impossible.
Everyone has their Godel sentence, right?

But The Core sounds like it will make the Lost In Space and Armageddon
movies look like documentaries.  Here's a summary I found on the net:

  Release Date: November 1, 2002.
  Cast and Credits
  Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Bruce Greenwood,
  Stanley Tucci
  Directed by: Jon Amiel
  Produced by: David Foster, Sean Bailey, Cooper Layne
  Written by: Cooper Layne, John Rogers
  Distributor: Paramount Pictures

  Science Fiction/Fantasy and Action/Adventure

  Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes (Eckhart) discovers that an unknown
  force has caused the Earth's inner core to stop rotating.  With
  the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere
  literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic
  consequences.  To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of
  the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the Earth's core
  in a subterranean craft piloted by "terranauts," Major Rebecca
  "Beck" Childs (Swank) and Colonel Robert Iverson (Greenwood).
  Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.

How many absurdities and impossibilites can you find in this description?

On the way home, I walked along Gallows road, and noticed a sign for
The Myelin Project.  It caught my eye because something didn't look
quite right.

The sign was glued in place, covering the previous tenant's sign,
which was riveted.  The glue had failed on one side, and the sign was
peeling off.  If you know what The Myelin Project project is, this is
a terrible irony.

Then I got caught in a thunderstorm and got thoroughly drenched.
When I got home, my power was off.  It stayed off for over an hour.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.