Halloween Film Fest

Cover of Carrie (Special Edition)

Halloween is so much fun: the costumes, the decorations, all the parties and fun houses, and most of all, the MOVIES!!! I have so much fun lighting the candles and turning off all the lights, making popcorn, and sitting on the couch to watch as many scary movies as I can into the wee hours of the night(morning). The movies I will watch this year will be :
Saw(2004)
Jeepers Creepers(2001)
Halloween(1978)
Friday the 13th(1980)
The Exorcist (1973)
Carrie (1976)
Christine (1983)
Ghost Busters (1984)
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
I prefer the original versions of all these movies and while I have fun with the sequels, I think the original story is hard to beat. I am also going to watch a movie I just discovered entitled The Uninvited (2009). The movie had some parts that were predictable but overall I was on the edge of my seat really enjoying the movie!
Have a safe and Happy Halloween and here is a clip from the Uninvited.

Time to Change to Standard Time!

Image by LA Wad via Flickr

We changed time this weekend back to Standard Time and there is an awesome WEBSITE
I like to visit to see what time it is in various parts of the world. I am so glad we changed time because I am an early riser and lately it was just too dark in the mornings. I like to go out on my bike rides or do chores around the house so I have more time in the day to get it all done if you know what I mean. The odd thing living on the border with California is they change time a week later so when I look from my balcony over to San Diego, I can see that we are sharing the same sunlight but they are one hour ahead of the time I am experiencing. I often muse on this idea that on the Earth we are really existing together at the same time but experiencing different shades of light and time. Can you imagine when we finally have contact with other worlds with sentient life how we are going to tell time and what there measure of time will be like? I like for example, that Bajor on Star Trek:DS9 has a 26 hour day, however, time on the star ships is kept in terms of stardates. Well, getting back to reality, what is odd to me, though, is to be literally a few meters from another country and have different time zones. We will synchronize in one week, but for that one week it is crazy because so many people cross the border daily and they expect me to be in my office at a certain time. During the summer we have a month in which we share an hour difference but most of us have grown used to the difference.
Well, I am glad we are on Standard Time here in Mexico and I believe Europe and Russia also switched this past weekend as well!

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Star Trek Bloopers

I love to watch bloopers from my favorite shows and especially Star Trek because it reminds me how difficult it must be to act with costumes, special effects that will be added in later, or sometimes acting alone when you are supposed to be looking at some hideous alien or something. It is also a hoot to see how much fun the actors have doing a scene especially when it is serious.
This YouTube video I found is put together in a clever manner including interesting music.
Enjoy the video and your weekend!

Vampires are good for the economy!

Image via Wikipedia

All the Vampire books, movies, and television shows are so popular that there is an article that describes how the craze seems to be branching out into other areas such as clothing styles:

Vampires have even inspired a return to Gothic chic on the New York and Paris fashion runways.

Certain music groups or individuals can get a boost from the Vampire crowd:

Musician Anya Marina isn't a big fan of vampires, but her association with them has helped her burgeoning career.The former San Diego singer was picked to be on the soundtrack for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” along with artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

Even drinks are getting in on the action:

The craze isn't just for women, though. HBO's online store sells four-packs of Tru Blood, a blood-orange-flavored soda based on the beverage vampires drink on the TV show “True Blood.nd a fruit-punch energy drink called Blood Energy Potion will be available in January. It has the consistency of real blood and comes in a transfusion-style bag.

People are into Vampires and why:

“A vampire is free to do whatever he wants and be as sexual as he wants to be,” said Andrew Rempt, an English professor at Southwestern College. “They're always popular, especially with young people, for their rebellion. I'm not surprised that people are getting back into them.”

There are so many Vampire movies and shows these days you can most certainly get you fix!

You can read the entire article HERE.

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Fahrenheit 451

I was talking with some friends the other day about how fast news travels these days with cell phones and cell phones with internet connections, laptop computers small enough to go and connect anywhere, and then the usual newspapers, magazines, radio, and television news channels. The amount of information and the speed we receive it is absolutely astounding. The world, and I mean literally, those people around the globe connected to some source of a news outlet or social network can learn of an event within minutes. I brought up the novel Fahrenheit 451 in the discussion with my friends as still being relevant today in terms of the quality of information we get. I believe the author of the novel, Ray Bradbury, was concerned that with the invention of television, it would distract people from reading books.He was also discussing other issues in the book that fit nicely into a dystopian future such as lack of personal rights, being manipulated by the government, etc. I particularly like the conversation between the old professor Faber and the fireman Montag and how Faber explains to Montag that (and I am not quoting here) three things are important when we get information:
1. The quality of the information.
2. Time to process the information.
3.Use our own judgement to act on the info and not to do just as we are told.
In this day and age, info is being shot at us practically at the speed of light and then it is on to the next story without having time to process the first story, then the next and so it goes. We get bombarded with facts, stories, news, and have little time to sit down and digest the information.
I love these three points because in our busy lives these days it seems there is little time in a day to process events in our own lives let alone what we see and here on the net, TV, and radio. I know I am going to apply those three ideas to my life because sometimes I feel overwhelmed with information and I have a hard time distinguishing what is fact and important to my life and what is just a story to fill me with fear, prejudice, hate, or whatever the goal of certain news stories may be. I want to take time to digest the information and then decide for myself what it means and what are the implications in my life, city, and country.
The novel is a great read and it was fun re-reading it to get a fresh look at the ideas in light of today's internet driven world we live in.

The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate is a novel that was written in 1959 by Richard Condon with the story centering around the son of a wealthy and prominent political family and was a soldier during the Korean War who was captured as well as the members of his team and they were brainwashed to be communist agents.
I had the chance to see both movies that were made based on this novel, one made in 1962 and the other in 2004.
The 1962 version starred Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, and felt very true to the novel. I enjoyed the movie very much and would recommend it highly.
The 2004 version of the movie stars Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. I am always leery of a remake of a good movie because it usually does not work. In this case I was pleasantly surprised because they took the original concept and put it into modern times to make it interesting and relevant to this generation. Instead of communism, Manchurian Global was a corporation bent on world domination using the character of Meryl Streep who plays a powerful Senator and offers her son for experiments in new forms of brainwashing. The movie was interesting, a little scary because it could be true that companies exist that want to develop new weapons that are bio in nature and too horrid to imagine, and the movie is very well acted.
I think it is interesting to read the novel and watch both movies to get a feel for the fears people have in the different times that we live in, as well as the overall mistrust of those who acquire too much power whether it be a person, corporation, or government.

Science Fiction Art

If you like space art that is quirky but interesting and ranges from space ships, space people, to UFO's, you will like this website called Spaceships.com. It is different, a lot of fun, and worth checking out.
I would not consider the work "high art" but that is my personal (and some would say snobby) opinion, but I love any kind of art that is creative, unique, and I have a special interest in space art.
Enjoy the website and your weekend!

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Top Ten Favorite Sci Fi Quotes

Cover of Soylent Green

Over the years, some lines in science fiction movies have become famous and are used in everyday vernacular. There are so many movies and shows to choose from that I narrowed it down to my personal favorites.

10. ET, Phone Home (ET, 1982)

9. I'll be back. (Terminator, 1984)

8. Get away from her, you bitch! (Aliens, 1986)

7. May the Force be with you! (Star Wars, 1977)

6. I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. (2001- A Space Odyssey, 1968)

5. They're here already! You're next! You're next! You're next! (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956)

4. Live Long and Prosper! (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)

3. Do you know of the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish best served cold? (Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, 1982)

2. The Universe is a pretty big place, so if it is just us, it seems like an awful waste of space. (Contact, 1997)

1. You've got to tell them! Soylent Green is people! (Soylent Green, 1973)

Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon is my favorite full moon of the year.
Space.com has some interesting information about the Harvest Moon this year:

Between 1970 and 2050, there are 18 years when the harvest moon comes in October. The last time was in 2006 and next time will be in 2017. The 2009 version of the harvest moon comes unusually late, although it can occur as early as September 8 (as in 1976) or as late as October 7 (as in 1987).

What sets the harvest full moon apart from the others is that farmers at the climax of the current harvest season can work late into the night by the moon's light. It rises about the time the sun sets, but more importantly, at this time of year, instead of rising its normal average 50 minutes later each evening, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night.

I also like the song "Shine on Harvest Moon" written in 1908 by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. I especially like the chorus:

Oh, Shine on, shine on harvest moon, up in the sky;
I ain't had no lovin' since April, January, June or July.
Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon,
So shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal.

You can read the full lyrics of the song HERE. The link below takes you to Space.com

Enjoy the moon tonight!!

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Logan's Run (1976)

I watched and episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the SciFi Channel the other day entitled "Half a Life" in which Lwaxana Troi falls in love with a man from a planet where the people must commit suicide at the age of 60. Of course he is only a few days away from that age and goes on to give the reasons behind this ritual that has existed for generations on his world. He says it takes the burden of care off the children, people do not suffer if they are terminally ill, or can be remembered as strong and with all mental faculties functioning. This story reminded me of the film "Logan's Run" made in 1976 and based on the novel written by William F. Nolan. It is a dystopian tale of overpopulation, war, pollution and the usual horrid scenarios envisioned for humanity in the not too distant future. To cope with these bleak conditions, people live in a protected society in which everyone is healthy, needs not work, has enough to eat, and appears happy, and the population is under control, the only catch being you must die at the age of 30 years. The inhabitants do not believe they are dying in the Carrousel ceremony but instead will be renewed and reincarnated in this quasi religious ceremony. The lead characters realize this is nothing more that a death sentence and charade and proceed to escape. It is an interesting movie and I was told they are doing a remake that should be out in 2010.
I like to ponder ideas such as overpopulation, quality of life, the right to have control over your own body especially if you have a debilitating disease and make decisions based current medical information whether to live or end life, when a government crosses the line in legislating how I should treat my body, and other things like how population control can be achieved in a humane manner, and on and on.
Well, here is a clip from the original movie, enjoy!