I have returned afresh to writing blogs for my astronomy page. It seems to be a popular blog, into the 90,000s for hits. I have written 153 entries so far and have plans for about a hundred more. When I'm out a lot with the telescope I don't have much time to blog about it. But so far this year I've only had six outings, a very disappointing count. Usually by now I have had twenty or more. The weather has been cloudier than usual during my monthly window of opportunity, when the moon is not that bright. So I'm done now until August with the telescope.
Speaking of weather, the heat has vanished for now, but we still have crappy air and tons of humidity. Our 60 hours of heavy smoke was a challenge to get through. Even though the smoke has been blown away from here, the distant fires continue to grow. In Ontario alone there are over 150 fires currently burning, a few of them super fires. These are large fires that have joined up to make a much larger one. Most people, including most Canadians, have no idea how much wilderness forest Canada, and especially Ontario, has. Imagine a continuous boreal forest the size of Europe, with virtually no roads and hardly any population. How do you manage something that size? Answer: you don't. It's impossible. Fire has always been a useful tool to Nature, and so it is today. It's just that things get so dry so quickly. Along comes a lightning storm, and while some rain may fall, other places just get the lightning. Then come the rapidly growing fires.
Spain is currently fighting its largest wildfire ever. So far nearly 400,000 hectares have burned this year. So far in Ontario that is doubled, and the season is still young and the fires still burning. Many of the fires cannot even be fought as they are so remote. Americans get a few days of smoke and instantly hold Canada responsible. I guess if we were the 51st state there wouldn't be any more fires. Problem solved. Or not.
My cousin Rick is in the hospital. He got out of bed one morning and instantly fell. He could not stand up. He was on the floor for three hours before he managed to crawl to where his phone was. Richard is my eldest cousin on my mother's side. I have more cousins than I have hairs on my head, but Rick and I were close for a long time when we were young. I'm hoping they soon discover what is wrong. So far all medical tests have been less than informative. Thinking of you, Rick!
In movie news, there are three to report. Two are well worth reporting, while one not so much. Most recently we watched Dying To Know: Ram Dass and Timothy Leary. It's a well produced, directed and edited documentary from 2014 (Leary died in 1996, Ram Dass in 2019) about their search for truth and happiness, largely through the use of LSD. Dass studied with a guru in India and it also changed him profoundly. There are some really good reasons to watch this film, especially if you are concerned about death and dying. I know that Leary's life cannot be suitably covered in one documentary, but there is enough here to lead the curious on to further reading and explorations. Their unique friendship had some rocky periods, but they did get back together for this film and seemed happy about doing so. Recommended for those curious about the drug-fuelled sixties and how they got their start.
Before that came a real corker of a film. O Brother, Where Art Thou is a 2000 comedy from the Coen brothers. The depression area south (Mississippi) has never been shown better. Very loosely connected to Homer's Odyssey, the film owes at least as much hommage to Preston Sturges, The Three Stooges and Looney Tunes. Starring George Clooney, John Turturo and Tim Blake Nelson as a kind of Three Amigos, the film opens as they attempt to escape from a chain gang breaking rocks. I am not a fan of most film scores, but the music in this film is outstanding for purpose. The directors used an actual song sung by a real chain gang from the 1930s at the start, and things just improve from there. While the tie ins to Homer are often slight, there are some unforgettable scenes in this film. Several of them. Also, it contains some of the funniest moments ever put to film.
In Preston Sturges' classic comedy Sullivan's Travels, the lead actor is researching a film he wants to make by dressing like a hobo and going out to experience a different kind of life. The film he wants to make is to be called O Brother, Where Art Thou. He wants to make a serious drama, but after learning what comedy can do to people who are in a depression, he changes his mind. So the Coens made the film for him. The three lead actors are priceless in their roles, no moreso than when they become a singing trio, the Soggy Bottom Boys, and an instant radio and record sensation, unbeknownst to them. No less so when they become enraptured and seduced by the three southern sirens, one of the most powerfully sexual mythological scenes ever filmed. Again, that music. There are so many funny scenes, but there are some very scary ones, too. The cyclops encounter is painful to watch, and I don't much like the film's Penelope, but the movie has far more hits than misses. It is unlikely that viewers will ever forget the Ku Klux Klan gathering, with military style marching and a haunting southern folk song for accompaniment. Altogether a priceless film, worth many viewings, and one of the best things we've seen in while. Highly recommended. The more one watches the performance of Tim Blake Nelson, the more one realizes his great comedic talent.
Finally comes the big disappointment. We both loved The Martian, from the novel by Andy Weir, and we were greatly looking forward to the filming of his novel Project Hail Mary (2026). I couldn't have been more disappointed. Another Spielberg look-a-like film. Big budget and big tropes. Nearly every SF film cliche is here, and our heartstrings are manipulated to the max. There is a weird but somehow cute alien, one with snappy dialogue and one who manages to be on exactly the same wavelength as humans, despite a momentary language barrier. Then there is the behind the scenes very hastily put-together star ship, ready to launch in no time. Where did that come from? How did it get built? Who paid for it? We can't launch a big rocket today without it blowing up several times before it finally works. How does it go so fast, near the speed of light? I may never read the novel now, so I won't know if Weir accounts for this.
But the biggest trope is one I dread more and more in films, especially SF ones. First, there is a disaster that is going to destroy the Earth. From outside. Not inside. We are not dealing with solving any Earth problems in this film. No sir. Those are too easy. Climate change. Wars. Starvation. Dictators. Piddly stuff. Instead of using a big budget to maybe present some real problems threatening our planet and trying to deal with them in super creative ways, we have a phage that is eating stars, including old Sol. Dear me. Now that is a real problem. And it could actually happen at any time. So let's get busy here and solve this problem. With international scientists, no less. However, when it's time to cut to the chase, only a white American male can really be up for the challenge, even though he doesn't think so. Yup. White. Male. American. He is not a pilot, has no training, but he figures out quite easily how to drive that spaceship, even making U-turns when necessary. Roll eyes. I won't get started on the soundtrack, either. I think I've beaten this film up enough for now.
I did like the very ending, the last shot as our hero (really just a school science teacher, though extra brilliant) is faced with a class of hyperactive alien children in his new classroom. Good luck with that. Not recommended, and I could not see a reason for watching this film twice.
Mapman Mike
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