I’m a big fan of the “last man left on Earth” genre. I guess I like the minimalism style and the solitude subject matter. Anyway I’ve been reading The Earth Abides by George R. Stewart which is a book where a disease kills off most of the people. Recently I found a film from 1985 called The Quiet Earth. It was a New Zealand indie film and something that when I heard about it sounded like full exploration into that whole type of movie. No zombies or anything like that in this one most of the people are just gone vanished. There is a sci-fi twist but the most interesting part about this movie which I’ve had around for awhile is that it was the same movie that I saw the last 10 minutes of over 10 years ago. Like a song you fancy on the radio but never get the name of this movie was something that looked very strange, if you see just the last 10 minutes you’d probably have the same feeling, but was also something that I wanted to understand for what it was worth. When I watched this movie last night from the first few seconds I was very certain that this was in actuality the movie that I had been looking for and that after all these years I would get some sense of closure. It wasn’t a spectacular movie but as indie New Zealand films from the 1980’s go this one did have some funny and cinematic moments that only a film of this genre can have. Well now I have the closure; only for me the last 10 minutes still hold more questions than answers but some of the final pieces of imagery, like some dime sci-fi novel from the past, contain an elucidating exploration into a new world that I think cinema can do well, sometimes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/

What’s in a name? Not much really it’s at best a place holder for someone’s identity.
When there are too many John Smith’s at the convention center it certainly makes the need
of an uncommon middle initial quite useful. Through history the popularity of some names
have come and gone, I think Jennifer is one for girls these days. I’m not complaining
about too many girls being named Jennifer; hell my name Ian is one of the most common
names in the world being derived from some form of John. Still in an ever complicated
world it would be nice if a variety of names were encouraged. One of the best ways I can
think of to do this in a meager way is to quit naming hurricanes after common perfectly
usable names for people! Andrew in the 90’s and now Katrina. Katrina is a perfectly
good name but now if in the next 18 months or so you named a baby Katrina it would be
perfectly reasonable to assume that you hate: The South, New Orleans, Cajuns and by proxy
American Indians, and the French, the Blues, Mardi Gras and by proxy topless “girls gone
wild”, and Catholics, that scene from Easy Rider where they drop acid and freak out in
the old cemetery, etc. That’d be mighty hateful. Now Katrina, a perfectly good name,
is on a moratorium. I wonder why the National Weather Service does not just agree to
name hurricanes after historically bad people since those names are already no good? A
Hurricane Hitler or Khan would do just fine and then we wouldn’t have to take regular
names off the market and there might be somewhat less confusion at the convention center.

Use an acordian and go to jail. That’s what the sticker on the side of the box says.
When he was in the cages with the others he was sad. It wasn’t the cage or a lack of
social spirit. Today he is in a smaller cage and never sees any of the others. Most got
shipped off to zoos and that was the end of them. When the people with their signs came
in and had their way was when his new life started. He was free but infuriated. The ones before were dirty and loud and small. These new ones were tall and wobbly and bald.
On the streets that was where his freedom was now. On the streets in a cage on the corner with a top hat and a chain he would grab at the bald ones, at their colorful furs. While the man squeezed the box and pushed the keys it yelped and sighed. He would pull at the hat to cover his eyes to save him from the bald ones with their speed and chaos. He pulled at the hat to cover his ears and save him from the sounds the shrill painful
sounds of the streets of this freedom. Before he was alone he was the biggest the
quietest the others were annoying but now these bald ones, though not like the others in
the cages, were almost worse and still he was alone belonging to neither group.

I find that sometimes it’s rather unexpectedly calming to my rather neurotic sensibilities when I just put myself to a simple task. The frustration is low and usually my surronds if not myself are better for it. One chore I find particularly soothing is washing dishes. I like to cook because I like to eat so it follows that I create quite a bit of entropy in my culinary endeavors. I don’t mind it though if I turn on the warm water get some soapy suds going and scrub away the days anxiety. Maybe it’s the white noise of the flowing faucet or the warm water or the playful spalshing and clanging but I find this most simple of tasks not only rewarding (a clean kictchen invites more cooking and eating) but also relaxing. If nothing else it beats a sink full of stinking dirty dishes complete with a full complement of garbage rotting food smells and dead fruit flys.

Fearful Invagination (2001)

This is from a site about Babylon 5.

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/ulysses

Not your right my right, anatomical right.

hi there.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/

So word around the campfire and this has been verified by the Shepard Smith on FOX news G-block, that the will be making a live action (like that means much when it’ll no doubt be heavily filled with computer animated visual effects) version of The Transformers.
Michael Bay is set to direct so that might give it a competent action look (hopefully not overly stylized like everything Jerry Brukheimer has ever done). There are a few guys who claim to be fans of the old show (it’s difficult not to be) so I am optimistic.
The things I loved about the series and the motion picture (they’ve already done a Transformers movie and it’s awesome) were the music and the characters. Now in animation the audio component is extremely important in every respect. That said the best way to ensure that this incarnation of Transformers will “work” is to get all the original voice actors of the original series. If Megatron is voice by Gene Hackman instead of Frank Welker and if Optimus Prime is voice by like a Brad Pitt (ubiquity abounds) instead of Peter Cullen it just won’t work. I know the “star power” is a big deal these days but the truth is that I don’t think sinking millions of dollars into getting big name actors to read the script (no voice talent usually applies see Cameron Diaz in Shrek) will make it more money if you’ve got the real deal when it comes to talented voice actors. In the case of Transformers you are making this for a nostalgia 18-34 crowd that for the most part knows how these characters sound and part of the experience of the movie will be getting back to that.
On a related note the music must be good too. It can be metal but not this Hate Breed, System of a Down crap with some Dashboard Confessional for the sad dramatic part. Stan Bush did an excellent job with the Soundtrack along with Vince DiCola, it has a certain playful almost intensity that is almost an ironic take on the sometimes (usually too serious metal). I’d say a group that could blend that kind of crazy metal with some techno (this is about robots after all) would be like a Linkin’ Park. I think if there is a consistency brought to the soundtrack it will work best rather than just offering a mix disc of Billboard top 40 mediocre rock songs.