The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons

Just when one begins to think “They” have stopped making good, serious, artful Feature Films, along comes a big surprise!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons: This is the big surprise for me! What a great movie! All aspects of the production were great: Screen Play, Directing, Sets, Costumes, not to mention the Actors: all of them! For me this is a classic for all time.

Another surprise: as I watched the end credits scroll by I noticed that the Screen Play was adapted from a F Scott Fitzgerald Short Story. I thought I had at least heard of all his short stories, if not read them. I’ll be looking for it now to compare to the screen play.

Go see it, you’ll love it. Caution: take a box of Kleenex, you’ll need a full box.

I’m planning on seeing it again within a week with friends; and I’ll buy the DVD when it becomes available.

My faith in the Industry is temporarily renewed.

Well, they finally did it: NASA put the Orion Program on a six month hold for evaluation by the next Administration. It may never resume with the current economic crises going on: proposed Bailouts, Entitlements, and tax cuts. Oh well, C’est la vie.

On another note:

I was just perusing David Friedman’s BLOG, Ideas, and flew off on a tangent link of his son's, Patri. This link is about an interesting concept, Seasteading. Seasteading is a concept where Individuals or groups of individuals or a community builds very large, stable, floating structures in the International Sea Waters. These Structures are intended to be habitats for humans; like large Cities or small Countries. It is proposed that some may even claim to be a Sovereign Nation State, at some point in time

They, The Seasteading Institute, have an active Web site that is pursuing this end: Concepts, Feasibility Studies, Basic Engineering, Financing, etcetera.

I have previously read of this concept, in a book by David Brin: in this novel, amoung other things, he had these very such “Seasteads” as large communities, both organized and un-organized. These Seasteads would grow over time as newcomers joined their smaller structures to larger ones; resulting in floating conglomerate structures that would grow to many square miles in area.

This is a very interesting concept and may very well come to be.

Hello Again

It has been a long time, again, between postings. I have no excuse other than I have been very busy with my work, for PFI, on NASA’S Orion Program. Since last August I have spent about one third of my time down in southern California working it and when at home I work it too.

In our Great Conversations reading group we are just finishing up with Great Conversations IV with two full length novels: Emma, by Jane Austen and Swan’s Way, by Marcel Proust.

As noted last year, when we finished off with Jane Eyre and Great Expectations, I said that I really liked the English Literature genre; and Emma came through as I had expected: very good. Although Proust is not in the English Literature genre, and it is considered by most readers to very difficult reading, so far, I’m enjoying considerably. We do have a motion picture DVD of Swan’s Way available to watch, which may help out those that find it difficult reading.

Well, as I have said before, and failed, I’ll try to post again sooner than I have been lately.