Trivia and Trouble. Get it here! (Page 1 of 2)

LOLOLOL

THis would be more me as sometimes I feel I must  either 'return with my shield or not at all'.

I was tricked into attending ‘Christmas drinks' with a team of Management Consultants and Sales/Marketing executives last night. The kind of social gathering I normally avoid like the plague. However, in terms of value (inspiration and observational material for writing), the experience was priceless. I listened to one such champagne swilling (single) executive nonchalantly explaining how she’d spent £8,000 ($12,000) upon a tropical fish tank display and contents only to forget to make arrangements for the upkeep of the fish and their environment whilst on a four month overseas assignment. Another guy, a bombastic overbearing arse of a CEO who at some stage of his life, had named his penis ‘Little Romeo’, recount bawdy adventures of said Little Romeo in the third person as if his penis was an individual character in its own right. Like it were a naughty little brother, he spoke fondly of Little Romeo but gave the impression that although associated with him, he was not entirely responsible for Little Romeo’s actions. In fact at one point the guy seemed quite upset by one or two adventures that Romeo had embarked upon; apparently without his owners consent.

Is this how world leaders, politicians, errant priests etc. manage to deal with their conscience?

Watched the movie 'The Martian' this evening. Very decent and I'm glad I took the time.

I am ALWAYS right.

I've not read the novel. The intro was off-putting for me. Now that I've seen the film I need never bother with the book.

I did enjoy the movie per say (in terms of an amusing castaway/jeopardy romp), but to enjoy it requires total suspension of disbelief. More so than fiction like Harry Potter. There are a lot of reality issues with the film but the Mars atmosphere one is the most blatant.  The atmosphere on Mars is only 1% as dense as that this planet. Storms of 100Mph would actually be like a light puff of air (i.e 99% less strength than the wind would be here on Earth). But they know this! When they instruct him to remove the nose assembly of the Ascent Craft and use polythene taupe/sheet in it place. The Mars atmosphere will allow the flimsy polythene sheet to withstand launch speeds of thousands of miles per hour. This could be true, but the wind storms on the surface of Mars are a nonsense. They treat Mar's atmosphere like the Earth's when it suits the story (because Mars is sterile and they need a suitably dramatic and dangerous protagonist and the 'storms' provide this). How much wind pressure in 1% density of atmosphere would it require to topple a spaceship or even bury a man in the sand when the air pressure of a thousand MPH airspeed velocity can be dispersed by plastic sheet? 

Interestingly, most people are skeptical of the replacing of the rocket's nose cone with a plastic sheet (which is possibly feasible) than they are of the Mars wind and storms (which are actually as ridiculous if it suddenly rained banana milkshake up there).

Why am I so picky? Well, the wind and sandstorms such the pivotal part of the premise; the reason that the original mission is aborted in an emergency evacuation, the reason Damon loses his crops etc. Ridley Scott must have been reigning himself in from the introduction of a few Zombies or ingested aliens hatching out of peoples chests (which is much feasible/possible than the storms).
 
No wonder the script has Matt Damon declaring,  'We are going to get the science the shit out of this movie'. He punctures his suit 'to fly like Iron-Man' and in truth, the sc-fi is on a par with Iron-Man.

   Did I put the kybosh on it for you yet?

These guys are with you all the way...

I have to admire the genius vandal who saw that paper towel dispenser and envisaged this scene.

What is this? What is this in my little "to be watched" box? Why it's:

I don't believe this one is on the do not discuss list! I shall watch it this week.

My gripe this evening is toward amateur authors who produce naff illeist bio synopsis. Trendy and arty? Pretentious and bile inducing! The third person rammed up the arse of the first. I've started a private collection.

Here's my gripe.

WHAT IS THAT? "When Rhett Butler meets Scarlett O'Hara," the trailer says. As if he is the protagonist! AND WHERE are all the scenes with Melly? Or with Scarlett standing alone?

"A love affair you'll remember as long as you live, filled (by the way) with all the fire and fury of the times in which it happened." Oh, yes. The whole story is Rhett Butler and Scarlett, and the rest of that stuff -- the war, the human survival, the "I'll never go hungry again" no matter what I have to do, ladyhood being a minor point, after all -- all of that is just a side note in the actual story, which is that RHETT MET SCARLETT AND IT IS A LOVE AFFAIR YOU'LL NEVER FORGET AND HERE ARE ALL THE SCENES WHICH INVOLVE THEM KISSING. WE PICKED THEM OUT SPECIAL FROM ALL THAT OTHER RUBBISH ABOUT SCARLETT.

Here's the icing on that bad cake:

DISLIKE.

CLARK GABLE's name is on the top, and so is his face! I protest. Also, pardon me, but he's hardly even in the novel until the last third. Not that I don't love the character, but let us all keep things in perspective. This cover belongs to Scarlett & Melly.

Corra is in agreement.