"And now before giving you the details of the battle, I bring
you a warning: Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell
this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking.
Keep watching the skies."
Words spoken by reporter
Ned "Scotty" Scott
played by Douglas Spencer
in the science fiction film
"The Thing from Another World"
A cable
television station was running a string of science fiction films a few days ago
and I caught the last 30 minutes or so of "The Thing from Another
World." James Arness portrays "The Thing," which is
discovered frozen in a spacecraft buried in the ice near an Arctic research
station. When the creature is accidently thawed out, it terrorizes the
scientists at the station. Never fear, the wise and brave earthlings eventually
kill the creature and all ends well -- for now, anyway. That is when Scotty
issues his warning.
It was
sort of fun to watch the fearless and always honorable marshal of Dodge City
acting like an evil monster from outer space. He performed his growls
flawlessly.
With this
film in my mind and the Earth in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic, my
thoughts immediately went to Murphy’s Law: "If something can go wrong, it
will .... and usually at the worst time."
What if
the Romulans and the Borg and the Klingons decided to battle it out for control
of the Earth while the planet is in the throes of the pandemic?
Too
horrible even to think about .... right?
Lucky
thing for us those guys are the fictional products of over-active imaginations
.... right?
Then again, when Orson Welles and his Martians invaded Earth back in 1938, you might recall (or have heard stories) how the murderous invaders from Mars were wiped out by earth-borne bacteria, of which their immune systems could not cope due to having destroyed diseases on their home world. Those pesky "bugs" thereby saving us for yet more ruthless wars amongst ourselves in which we could / we did / we still do kill each other with impunity ad infinitum.
Sort of poetic justice, in more ways than one ....
Then again, when Orson Welles and his Martians invaded Earth back in 1938, you might recall (or have heard stories) how the murderous invaders from Mars were wiped out by earth-borne bacteria, of which their immune systems could not cope due to having destroyed diseases on their home world. Those pesky "bugs" thereby saving us for yet more ruthless wars amongst ourselves in which we could / we did / we still do kill each other with impunity ad infinitum.
Sort of poetic justice, in more ways than one ....
I wish
you a joyous Easter ....
17 comments:
Thanks for that comment on Jimi. Never imagined that he'd actually done work on All Along the Watchtower. It feels so natural.
I love Joan Baez. Thanks for the reminder. I'll definitely dust off a couple of CDs by her I've got back home. :-)
Greetings from London.
I have a sense that most of the "great ones" in most endeavors put in a lot more work than most people realize to make their accomplishments appear "easy" or "natural."
Tom Scholz, the founder of the band Boston, is among my usual examples. He is a MIT graduate and an engineer. He "invented" and built many pieces of sound system equipment and the band's first recording, "More Than a Feeling," was he himself playing keyboards, guitar and bass over and over and mixing them again and again in his basement "studio" until it "felt right," and finally sending out a few dozen demos.
I like Joan Baez and think she really has a beautiful voice. I do not like the way Bobby Dylan treated her, but I do not like myself in that sense, either. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits composed "Brothers in Arms" and is on record as describing it as a song being sung by a soldier dying on a battlefield and meant to include combatants on both sides of a war. I like to think of it as an anti-war piece, which seems appropriate on Easter Sunday.
Thank you, CiL, for coming and for writing a comment. Stay safe and keep on writing and writing and writing ....
The title of your post drew me in right away... I've definitely got my eyes on the sky, or at least on the weather map. We're under tornado watch and it's storming outside. My daughter's family to the south of me is under a tornado warning. Ugh.
Seems like a lot of the science fiction stories I've read lately might not be so far-fetched after all. Maybe I should start learning to speak Klingon?
Happy Easter, Fram.
Love your post and love your song picks, Mr. D.J. With the pandemic I've slowed down with the rest of the world and I've been enjoying reading, creating, just doing things that I have lost touch with. Some good always comes out of adversity.
Stay safe <3
Kelly
Kelly the reader:
My love affair with science fiction and fantasy began as a teenager. I leave it for a while here and there, then return to it. I read H.G. Wells and Jules Verne early on, and have a number of SF magazines from the 1930s which, I think, contain some of the best stories of the genre. I like the concept of a "time travel machine," mostly wishing to go back and see for myself what is fact and what is fiction, but I am jealous of those who will come after me for what (almost certainly) will be available for them to see and to do.
If I were to learn a language in contemplation of other-world visitors, it would be sign language.
I really feel alive during thunderstorms, but my experience with tornados has been pretty much negative. We have snow again at the moment, up to about four inches so far, but most of it is predicted for the west and the south of me -- good place for it.
I wish you and your loved ones good health and safety, Kelly. Thank you, for coming and for writing here. I hope your Easter is being a good day for you in every way .... take care and stay safe ....
Kelly the swimmer:
I see the California mermaid has risen from the wide Pacific Ocean and has returned to the sprawling sea of blogs -- at least for today. Welcome back, Kelly. Your excursions into the ethereal world are so rare it is surprising and pleasant to have you visit me again.
My life is moving at a slower pace these days, too, largely due to the pandemic because my activities sometimes revolve around what others are doing. The fact that winter lingers also adds to the lack of action. It looks like November out my window, and I am beginning to wonder if we are not in the midst of Fimbulvetr / Fimbulwinter.
How are your children doing? Are you still the crème de la crème of Los Angeles court reporters?
I am glad you like the post. The Dire Straits' song dates back to 1982 and the Falklands War and is poignant for any day of the year, I think, but especially for Easter Sunday. The Boston piece, you might recall, was written by Tom Scholz and is my favorite from among any and all the band's songs.
Thank you, Kelly, for "swimming" back to me today. I hope you will more often. I wish you the happiest of Easters and the best of life .... take care and stay safe ....
I didn't read much Science Fiction until I was an adult, therefore I'm still catching up with the classics. If you like vintage SF, you should check out the collections edited by Mike Ashley that the British Library is releasing. I've read three so far and really enjoyed them. Mostly stories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the introductions to each story are an added bonus. Compiled by theme, I've read those dealing with the rise of AI, end of the world scenarios, and monsters. There are also collections about the moon, Mars, and time travel. Nice cover art, too.
Stay warm up there. It's cold and windy here. (that means the mid-40s... go ahead and scoff)
There are only so many days, hours, minutes .... in a lifetime and never enough time to read (or do) each and everything you would wish to do. I will check out the British Library collections edited by Mike Ashley, but my problem is that my interests are varied enough to cause me to jump from one topic to another with hardly enough time between to come up for a breath of air. I could have mentioned that at the same time I was reading Wells and Verne, my eyes also were seeing words written by Zane Grey, Hamlin Garland, J.F. Cooper and others.
I will read a novel by Ole Rølvaag, for instance, then I might find a biography about him and pick it up .... in the biography there will be mention that he had been president of the Norwegian-American Historical Association, so I will look that up and the next thing I know I own thirty-some volumes of its publications and begin reading segments from them .... possibly seeing something there about the School Children's Blizzard of 1888 and moving along to looking for books about that .... it adds up to an endlessly flowing river of material.
The same is true for me of music and of life experiences .... the more, the better, but never enough time to hear or to do a fraction of what is available. I have a difficult time understanding how anyone can work at the same job for 40 or 50 years.
Sometimes, I think of myself as an attic where I constantly am putting things and hoping I will remember where some of them are .... so far, so good, but the brain is not a "supercomputer" and an overload occasionally shuts things down.
So, that is Fram Actual ....
Forty degrees is cold to me these days. It is in the mid-30s here today, with off and on snow, about 20 degrees colder than the average for mid-April. Living alongside Lake Superior (which I have done twice) is neat, but the cold dampness there is bone chilling. Humidity is what drives me into the ground, no matter what the temperature.
I hope the nasty weather has disappeared for you and your family members, Kelly. I noted that 40 tornados had been reported on Sunday in states in your region. Nature is beautiful, but we never should take it for granted. Stay safe and healthy and happy ....
P.S. You should give old man Rølvaag a glance when you can fit him in .... my first recommendation (whoops, suggestion) would be "The Third Life of Per Smevik" ....
Olá Fram!
Gostei da sua postagem, muito bem construída. Esse filme com certeza deve ser bem curioso. Embora eu não curtir muito ficção cientifica eu sempre que recebo alguma indicação de filme, eu assisto. Não consegui abrir o vídeo, estar bloqueado pra meu País. Em tempo de pandemia e ter que ficar em quarentena acho que assistir um bom filme ajuda distrair e passar o tempo. O Brasil decretou isolamento social em todos os Estados e está ficando difícil conter as pessoas em casa. Acho que a parte mais difícil estar por vir devido o inverno que vai começar.
Um punhado de sorrisos pra você Fram.
Eu vou atualizar meu blog por esses dias.
Greetings, Smareis .... I am glad you have returned and will take your presence here today to mean you are well and fine. I am glad you liked this post and very pleased to "see" you.
My relationship with science fiction and fantasy is sort of complicated in that I only like and read particular types of it. The kinds I like are best illustrated by George Stewart (Earth Abides) and Jack Finney (Time and Again) and Robert Holdstock (Mythago Wood). Dozens of rather silly science fiction films were made during the 1950s, and "Thing" in 1951 was among them. I have seen it in its entirety and parts of it on a few occasions, and would not recommend it in a serious sense except to students of movie making and film history.
As for the coronavirus, Minnesotans are under "house arrest," as I choose to describe it, until May 4. As for you, Smareis, I hope you will follow all the precautions and try to live your life as closely as possible to your customary fashion. That is what I do.
I have been listening to a bit of Victor and Leo again. I had not noticed earlier, but Victor sometimes sings in English. I would like to hear more songs from Leo in English.
Thank you, Smareis, for your visit and your comment and -- especially -- for your smiles. Take care / be safe / be happy / think of me thinking of you ....
Hi !
Wish you had a lovely Easter!Here we had such a snowstorm I could hardly goout to work(Buses are closed dont have car)
I have seen that Movie the Thing a long time ago..I didnt not like it i remember
Nice Music :)
ok I
have to go Alex is playing around With what I am writing here heh heh
He loves to tease me
All good to you
Anita
There was an Easter Sunday snowstorm for me, as well, Anita. It left six inches of new snow to replace that which had melted earlier. At times the blowing snow was so fierce I could not see across the street. Another inch fell on Easter Monday.
Yes, "Thing" is neither a memorable film nor a likeable one. It is appropriate only for people who are easily frightened and want to be.
Yes, both songs are nice .... beautiful, I think.
One "nice" thing about the pandemic is how "my world" has grown much more silent. There is a branch of an interstate highway about a mile away to the east and a highly-traveled interstate (Canada to Mexico) about seven miles away to the west. The one to the east is completely silent much of the time and traffic on the one to the west is barely audible. The world is at sort of a stand-still in many ways .... I enjoy it ....
Hmmmm .... I love to tease, to the point some people throw things at me ....
All good to you, too, Anita, and here is a bit of health-luck for you and Alexander ....
حظا سعيدا، في مشروعك، عبده العمراوي
Good afternoon, how are you? I'm Brazilian and I'm looking for new followers for my blog. I can follow you too.
https://viagenspelobrasilerio.blogspot.com/?m=1
If you follow me, send the link to my blog and I'll follow you back.
I look forward to seeing the sights of Brazil through your eyes and the lens of your camera, Luiz. You are an excellent photographer ....
Bom dia Fram comecei a te seguir.
Obrigado, Luiz. Tenha um bom dia.
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