A Far Out Fantastic Site

Credit: Pixabay .com As we all know, the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to rise and there’s no sign of it stopping. It’s like the black plague reincarnated. And we’re all seeing the effects of it. The store shelves are going empty. I actually bought nearly the last of four 1-quart bottles of spring water at my neighbourhood super market because all the two-gallon jugs were gone. Schools and colleges are closing indeterminately. And, worst of all, people disease the world over are dying from this. Hell! Even some of our government leaders are getting the virus! Kind of sounds like the science fiction we read and watch, doesn’t it? Maybe we’ve arrived at a science fiction moment in time. It makes many of us wonder, how many more days, months, years, etc. we, the human race, will be around. Considering the ongoing advancement in artificial intelligence, will the world be left to the robots? It even makes me wonder if we’ve reached the end times according to my own reli...

Because the movie adaptation of award-winning author Cixin Liu’s short story, The Wandering Earth , is a disaster sci fi film I would see it on the big screen rather than wait for it to come out on DVD or to streaming video. And, when I say “disaster sci fi film”, I mean as in natural and not box office disaster. It’s far from that. At least it is in it’s native China. In fact, the movie did so well there ever since its February 5 th release that it is considered the country’s first science fiction blockbuster .  Unfortunately, I probably won’t be seeing Wandering Earth o n the big screen because it’s had a limited run in the U.S. It is showing in my home region of Sacramento but it’s at a movie theatre opposite of the part I live in and I take public transportation. If I tried taking a a bus there it would probably take me half a day to get there and then half a day to get back to my house! That’s how complicated the bus system can be here in the Sacramento region. So, why...

It has no skin! Or does it? This sculpture of an alien is said to be from the H.R. Giger Museum. Photo Credit: Pixabay.com I finally saw A Quiet Place yesterday evening. It was really good in almost all aspects. T he story to this film was not made to be merely an audience pleaser. This was an intelligently made movie with well-developed characters and a well-written storyline. But the monsters were designed terribly. So as not to create any spoilers I won’t go into too many details, but at many points in the film the monsters looked like they were cut open in parts of their bodies. I know that’s been a major characteristic in the creatures of horror films ever since Alien in the late ‘70s, but it’s been over done too many times. I’m not against the design of the Alien movies’ exoskeleton creatures that’s muscle tissues seem to be exposed. In fact, the first movie has been one of my favourites among sci fi horror. But those monsters were Ridley Scott and H.R. Gige...

I’m submitting my complete file for the print edition of “Circa Sixty Years Dead” early next week. Hopefully it will be available for purchase by Wednesday. I’ll post an update for the release on my Facebook page and definitely here next week. As busy as a weekend it has been, I’m squeesing in some time for a summer sci fi flick— Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets . Valerian I’m always looking for the Star Wars -type blockbuster each summer and it looks like Valerian could be it. In fact, according to TheHollywood Reporter , it even borrows from Star Wars . However, according to the bulk of critics , it hasn’t been much of a blockbuster on this weekend of its release. But it’s definitely blockbuster-like yet with its own style and vision from its director, Luc Besson, who also directed The Fifth Element back in the ‘90s and look what became of that. It became a cult classic, and hopefully this movie will too. The reason I say that is because...