Tag: movies

A big story of Massachusetts maritime history is coming to the movies

I don’t know what it is, but something about the sea fascinates me, and has for most of my life.  Maybe it’s because the sea has played various roles in my family history – some big and some small.  Maybe it’s because ships captured my imagination as a little boy the way trucks or cars or airplanes do for most young boys.  For years as a kid, my favorite “souvenir” I would get from my trips to the Cape or Martha’s Vineyard was one of those little wooden ships, usually a fishing boat of some kind, that you find in local shops.  And I have been reading books about New England maritime history for years.

So anyway, it turns out that early next year there is a movie coming out based on the Michael Tougias book The Finest Hours. 

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The two different kinds of apocalyptic fiction

The first is the kind that I read and/or watch.  Stuff like The Walking Dead comics, or Mira Grant’s awesome Newsflesh trilogy of novels, or movies like Deep Impact, and even video games like Left4Dead 2 and Fallout 3.  I guess the thing I find most interesting is seeing how people adapt. It’s compelling drama.  And while I find it entertaining, it does have a certain amount of practical value if it makes emergency preparedness a little less dull, as even the CDC has discovered.

Then there’s the other kind.  The kind that makes seemingly ordinary people lose their minds, because they think it’s real.

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So no Winds of Winter in 2015 after all

Despite rampant speculation that the next book in A Song of Ice and Fire would be released next year, it appears now that is not the case, after an announcement was made by GRRM’s publisher.

Well.

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Time to break out the barbed wire and football pads, everyone

In popular culture, there is sort of a trope that when the actual apocalyptic event is over, there is always a struggle among the survivors over the few remaining resources.

To some extent, the same is true after Snowpocalypseageddon here in Greater Boston.  Everyone has already fought for the last loaf of bread or gallon of milk, so the next thing to fight over is parking spots. And boy, do people get medieval about those.

Space saver bear
Photo courtesy of @mdboston10

Continue reading “Time to break out the barbed wire and football pads, everyone”

Don’t call up Bruce Willis yet, but…

a fairly sizable asteroid has been spotted on a trajectory that gives it a fairly decent chance (about 1 in 4,000)  of striking the Earth.   That is actually better odds than the chance you will get killed in a traffic accident any time you get in a car (1 in 6,700).  At one point the odds were actually being calculated at 1 in 300.  So this particular object has raised a few eyebrows, to put it mildly.    Enough that some people think it would be time to call the drilling crew together.   Or something.

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Goodbye to an honorary Bostonian

Kelly and I were dumbstruck when we heard that Robin Williams died.

And we are not alone.  Our fellow Bostonians have spontaneously created a memorial to him in the Public Garden, on and around the bench where he sat during one of the most pivotal scenes in the movie Good Will Hunting.  

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GoT: Books vs. TV

Before I begin, I just want to say that if anyone reads the title of this post, and thinks that I am NOT going to talk about things that may be spoilers for those who have not read the books, you are just… dumb.  It is not my intent to be a big meanie who spoils everything for all those people who have not read the books but are devoted fans of the HBO series.  But come on, these books have been out for years, and the TV show is now in its fourth year.  You should probably just go read the books, or else stay off the internet.  Otherwise, perhaps you should consider staying in a monastery or becoming Amish or doing something to keep away from the internet and popular culture.  ASOIAF/GoT are so hugely popular and widespread at this point, it’s everywhere.  It’s in magazines at my doctor’s office and on t-shirts of people walking down the street.  It’s almost like saying you didn’t watch the 2007 World Series and you don’t want to know how it ends before you can watch it, even though you live in Boston.  Or not knowing the ship sinks in Titanic  but getting mad at someone who mentions it.  We are rapidly reaching a level of patent absurdity when it comes to these spoiler issues.  I just refuse to say “spoiler alert” everything time I talk about ASOIAF or GoT.     So this is the last time.

So if you want to have a freakout about that sort of thing, GO READ SOMETHING ELSE.  If you can’t think of anything, I can probably offer some suggestions.    But ultimately, those who wish to avoid spoilers should assume some responsibility for themselves and stop insisting the whole world police itself for their benefit.

Anyway, on with the discussion.

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Winter’s last hurrah

We got a slight covering of snow today, maybe an inch or a little more.  And the temperatures plummeted a good bit from the mid-50s we had the other day.  Right now it is about 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature tonight will probably drop down to around 9 or 10 degrees.

So while I was doing laundry and crafting cover letters, I popped in a movie that is just about as far away from winter, cold, and reality* as I could get…

Sharknado.

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Zombies vs. animals? The living dead wouldn’t stand a chance – Boing Boing

Kelly found an article recently that she knew would interest me.

One of the things about zombies that is commonly accepted within the genre is that they are dead and rotting.*  And in the normal world, all dead flesh is eventually broken down and picked apart by Mother Nature, leaving only bones, which will also one day disappear.  Everything from bacteria to bugs to birds to bears, all feast on whatever carrion they can find.  And so one scientist finally asks, how would zombies fare in the real world?  Pretty poorly, apparently.  As the author puts it:

Relax. Next time you’re lying in bed, unable to fall asleep thanks to the vague anxiety of half-rotten corpses munching on you in the dark, remember this: if there was ever a zombie uprising, wildlife would kick its ass.

-Geoff

*There are notable exceptions.  The zombies in films like 28 Days Later and Zombieland, as well as the zombies in the Left4Dead video games, are  technically alive, but have been turned into rabid/feral monsters due to some nasty disease.