Flooby Nooby

October 21, 2008

Ridley Scott Back to Making Best Sci-Fi Movies

Ridley Scott, director of Blade Runner and Alien, two of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made (non-debatable fact), is finally returning to the science fiction genre? Yes, please:

Fox 2000 has acquired rights to Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel "The Forever War," and Ridley Scott is planning to make it into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with "Blade Runner" and "Alien."

"I first pursued ‘Forever War’ 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since," Scott told Daily Variety. "It’s a science-fiction epic, a bit of ‘The Odyssey’ by way of ‘Blade Runner,’ built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise."
Book revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn’t recognize some 20 years later, Scott said.

I'm so glad he listened to the people wanting more sci-fi instead of the people begging for "something else where two best friend ladies drive off a cliff, or G.I. Jane 2." Via iwatchstuff

He-Man Movie Does Not Have the Power

Well, it sounds like a He-Man movie probably isn't going to happen. Sorry, everyone who really wanted a He-Man movie. From Latino Review:

So what is the latest on one of my favorite scripts of the year – Justin Marks’ GRAYSKULL? Nothing. As it stands, the project is dead at Warner Brothers.The studio gave the execs at Silver Pictures a very small list of A-director names they would consider making the film with, amongst them Doug Liman and Bryan Singer who both passed. There were some up and coming directors that were gung ho on the script, but the studio wasn’t feeling them. Another reason and perhaps the biggest was that Navid McIIhargey, the exec who brought in He-Man to Silver Pictures, left the company last month to become a Senior VP at New Regency as reported last month in both trades.

Just as well. We were greedy to ever ask for another try after the Dolph Lundgren attempt on the '80s toy character was such a... victory? Via iwatchstuff

500 Frames Per Second - Some Great Footage

Take On Me: Literal Interpretation - Pure Awesomness

October 19, 2008

Bright Bolide

On September 30, a spectacular bolide or fireball meteor surprised a group of amateur astronomers enjoying dark night skies over the Oklahoma panhandle's Black Mesa State Park in the Midwestern US. Flashing past familiar constellations Taurus (top) and Orion, the extremely bright meteor was captured by a hillside camera overlooking the 2008 Okie-Tex Star Party. Astronomy enthusiast Howard Edin reports that he was looking in the opposite direction at the time, but saw the whole observing field light up and at first thought someone had turned on their car headlights. So far the sighting of a such a bright bolide meteor, produced as a space rock is vaporized hurtling through Earth's atmosphere, really is a matter of luck. But that could change. Earlier this week the discovery and follow-up tracking of tiny asteroid 2008 TC3 allowed astronomers to predict the time and location of its impact with the atmosphere. While no ground-based sightings of the fireball seem to have been reported, this first ever impact prediction was confirmed by at least some detections of an air burst and bright flash on October 7th over northern Sudan.

A True Image from False Kiva

Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes. Pictured above is single exposure image spectacular near, far, and in between. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, taken with a long duration exposure. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band's left. Closer still are picturesque buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is a cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave was briefly lit by flashlight during the long exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave to take this image was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark for just the right exposure.