/** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* * The Non-Sequitur Express * Confused: to check your wallet's status, you glance at your watch. * Published at fortnightly or random intervals by Phillip Thorne * http://nsx.underbase.org/ * * Volume 2, Issue 18: Monday, 17 July 2000 * ************************************************************************* * *********************************************************************** */ OBSERVATIONS & C: Blood, long sentences, simulations. ERRATA & O+A+A: Government service, please, pause-to-smell-the-faux-pas. MOVIE REVIEW: "X-Men". UPCOMING: The usual. plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. /** ************************************************************************ * OBSERVATIONS & COGITATIONS * Blood, long sentences, simulations * *********************************************************************** */ Have you considered blood donation lately? It's the second best way to save one or more lives with minimal physical discomfort or exertion (the best is to write a check to a humanitarian organization), and the best way to do so with minimal financial exertion. It's free, *and* you get juice and cookies or pretzels or fruit. Free+puncture+cookies versus painless+expenditure. Hmmmm. *You* decide! Factoids: Blood donations drop during the summer months. Only 5% of eligible Americans donate. The Midwest typically runs a surplus, and the Northeast a deficit. See redcross.org or call 800-GIVE-LIFE. Two long sentences... The title of Ben Aaronovitch's 1995 "Doctor Who: the New Adventures" novel _The Also People_ may be a reference to a scene in Douglas Adam's 1980 _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ in which, upon entering an interstellar eatery, provincial Earthman Arthur Dent exclaims "The people...! The things...!" and his veteran companion Ford Prefect quietly explains, "The things are also people." Aaronovitch's Acknowledgements passage, "while talent borrows and genius steals, New Adventure writers get it off the back of a lorry, no questions asked" is a tacit acknowledgment that his book's alien society, The People, are a near-identical copy of a creation of fellow British SF author Iain Banks, The Culture. In "Futurama" episode 216, "Anthology of Interest I" (21-may-2000), Professor Farnsworth creates a What-If Machine that runs a simulation featuring another What-If Machine. Obviously he salvaged the Planck Zero supercomputer from Stephen Baxter's 1997 Xeelee collection _Vacuum Diagrams_. /** ************************************************************************ * ERRATA & OMISSIONS, ADDENDA & ADMISSIONS * *********************************************************************** */ From #2.17 Observations... Some countries have mandatory national military service for young people. Perhaps we could solve the cited (reputed) problem of inexperienced EPA staffers with national *government* service for *middle-aged* people. You'd be drafted after 5-15 years in industry or academia, at age 30-35. We could assign a few programmers as patent examiners, some manufacturing engineers to the EPA, a bunch of biologists as bill-writing bureaucrats... From #2.17 Upcoming... Even though it was intended in a humorous vein, I should nonetheless have appended "please" when I asked you to "buy! play! bother!" the VV game "Terminus." Which is now available in Babbage's and Electronics Boutique. I have a policy (rarely followed) to never transmit an mass- distribution email until 24 hours after I've composed it. It takes that long for my brain to finish proofing and suggesting changes/corrections/additions... so that I can avoid potential foot-in- mouth malapropic gaffes. /** ************************************************************************ * MOVIE REVIEW * "X-Men" * * Distributed by 20th Century Fox * Written by Tom DeSanto, David Hayter, Bryan Singer * Directed by Bryan Singer * Opened 14 July 2000 * Rated PG-13 * *********************************************************************** */ How do you adapt to film a team of superheroes who've been gathering devoted fans for over 30 years through multiple comic titles and a successful six-year cartoon? Very well, if you're competent. (1) The villians were competent. (2) The heroes were competent, their performance hampered only by a new team member and first-time combat against new foes. (3) The character motivations made sense. (4) There was no extraneous exposition. (5) There were only 2.5 combat sequences; the plot was driven by other mechanisms. (6) No over-reliance on gore; quite a few bloody puncture wounds and purple avulsions, but no exploding iron-bearing blood or yanked-out metal skeletons. Die-hard fans might be upset by the adjustments made to the composition of Xavier's good-guys team, but they all served to balance the plot. For instance, telekinetic Jean Gray (Famke Janssen) absorbed Hank "Beast" McCoy's doctorate and Congress-addressing role, and Marie "Rogue" (Anna Paquin) was reduced to a Jubilee-aged teenager, her mutant power just blooming. Rest assured, her hair gains its trademark white streak by the end of the film. Unlike the cartoon, Xavier's School for the Gifted (apparently actually filmed in Westchester, New York) actually has *students* dashing about -- including Bobby "Iceman" Drake (Shawn Ashmore), a pyrokinetic girl, a teleporting boy, and a blue-haired boy (probably Beast). According to the IMDB, there were also Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin, Kitty "Shadowcat" and Jubilee. Logan "Wolverine" (Hugh Jackman), searching for his missing past in Canada, is nicely paternal/big brotherly towards Rogue. His powers are all intact -- senses, healing, adamantium-braced skeleton and knuckle spurs -- as are his character beats -- rebellious, bad-tempered, slow- to-trust, attraction to Jean and friction with laser-eyed Scott "Cyclops" Summers (James Marsden). Arch-villian Eric Magnus "Magneto" Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen), Holocaust survivor and former colleague to Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), is ultimately a pitiable character -- but he's certainly a good organizer. He keeps his troops in line -- the shapeshifter Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), the surprisingly versatile Mortimer "Toad" Toynbee (Ray Park), and the not-blindly-rampaging Victor "Sabretooth" Creed (wrestler Tyler Mane). And rounding out the X-team is, of course, Mistress of the Elements, Ororo "Storm" Munroe (Halle Berry). She does her part, but is a bit of a cipher. There are several very clever/aesthetic scenes. Watch for Magneto's "Newton's Cradle" desk ornament, Xavier's Cerebro-enhanced telepathic astral excursion, and the acrylic chess set. There are very few opportunities for nitpicking, so long as you accept that comic-book physics and biology are slightly divergent from our own. The wire- flying effects were a bit obvious at times. The premise of the "X-Men" is a not-very-subtle allegory for racial/civil strife, and a few commentators seem annoyed by that. Have we in the US been so fatigued by successive waves of inclusionism -- abolitionism, womens' suffrage, civil rights; protection for race, sex, sexual orientation -- that we can't abide the SF extensions of clones, mutants, genetic engineering and alien species? /** ************************************************************************ * UPCOMING * Series, Seasons, Episodes, Movies, Books * *********************************************************************** */ abc wpvi-6, cbs kyw-3, fox wtxf-29, ind wgtw-48, ind wfmz-69, nbc wcau-10, pbs whyy-12, pbs wybe-35, upn wpsg-57, wb wphl-17; plx MoviePlex, sfc Sci-Fi Channel, and tnt is TNT. Dil Dilbert, FGy Family Guy, Fut Futurama, Mis Mission Hill, PJs The PJs, Sim The Simpsons. 7D 7 Days, B5 Babylon 5, BCJ The Adventures of Brisco County Junior, Chm Charmed, Cle Cleopatra 2525, EFC Earth: Final Conflict, JAT Jack of All Trades, Ros Roswell, SAM Secret Agent Man, SG1 StarGate SG-1, SI1 Space Island One, TNG Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vgr Star Trek: Voyager, Who Doctor Who, XF The X-Files. PRIMETIME ETC. PROGRAMMING... r Ros The Toy House 110 pg wb m 0717-2100 r Buf Who Are You 4abb16 14 wb t 0718-2000 r Ang Five by Five 1adh18 14 wb t 0718-2100 Dil (See sat-22-july) * FGy The Story on Page 1 214 14 upn t 0718-2100 * PJs What's Eating Juicy Hudson? 215 pg upn t 0718-2130 r FGy Love Thy Trophy 113 14 upn w 0719-2030 r 7D The Backstepper's Apprentice 213 pg upn w 0719-2000 r Vgr Blink of an Eye 933/612 pg upn w 0719-2100 r Chm Ex Libris 4399040 pg wb r 0720-2100 * SAM TKO Henry 111 pg upn f 0721-2100 * Inv The Devil You Know 106 pg sfc f 0721-2000 f 0721-2200 * Fsc Look at the Princess: A Kiss Is [.. 211 14 sfc f 0721-2100 z 0722-0000 * Lex The Net 217 -- sfc f 0721-2100 z 0722-0100 * Dil The Fact 216 pg upn z 0722-1220 r EFC Apparition 319 pg 17 z 0722-1600 s 0730-2230 r SG1 Serpent's Lair 201 pg 29 z 0722-1700 s 0730-0400 r Vgr False Profits 844/305 pg upn z 0722-1800 r Cle Quest for Firepower 1201 pg 17 z 0722-2000 z 0729-1300 r JAT Return of the Dragoon 1301 pg 17 z 0722-2030 z 0729-1330 * Inv Impetus 107 pg 48 z 0722-2000 SI1 35 z 0722-2200 Who 35 z 0722-2300 Who 35 z 0722-2330 r Vgr False Profits 844/305 pg upn z 0722-2200 r Fut Put Your Head on My Shoulders 207 -- fox s 0723-1900 r Sim Last Tap Dance in Springfield 1115 -- fox s 0723-2000 r XF Chimera 716 -- fox s 0723-2100 Mis --- 14 wb s 0723-2130 r Blind Date 1ada13 pg wb m 0724-2100 r Buf Pangs 4abb08 14 wb t 0725-2000 * Dil Ethics 217 -- upn t 0725-2030 r Ang I Will Remember You 1adh08 14 wb t 0725-2100 * FGy Wasted Talent 215 -- upn t 0725-2100 * PJs The Jeffersons 201 -- upn t 0725-2130 r 7D Deja Vu All Over Again 214 pg upn w 0726-2000 r FGy Death Is a Bitch 114 14 fox w 0726-2030 r Vgr Virtuoso 934/613 pg upn w 0726-2100 STRIPPED SF... Star Trek: The Next Generation Weeknights (Tue,Thu,Fri) 21:00 1 hour, TV-PG, WFMZ-69 Thine Own Self 268/716 t 0718 Amnesiac Data invents science. Masks 269/717 w 0719 Alien archetype archive zaps Data. Eye of the Beholder 270/718 f 0721 Troi goes paranoid, suicidal. Genesis 271/719 m 0725 Troi the frog, Barclay the bug. Journey's End 272/720 w 0726 Wes gets super powers in DMZ. Firstborn 273/721 r 0727 Worf's son visits self from future. Babylon 5 Weekdays and Saturdays 06:00 1 hour, TV-PG, TNT Exogenesis 307 m 0717 These parasites are different. Messages From Earth 308 t 0718 Earth's Shadowplans and martial law. Point of No Return 309 w 0719 B5 martialated, Londo's destiny. Severed Dreams 310 r 0720 Mars bombed, B5 rebels. Ceremonies of Light and Dark 311 f 0721 Nightwatch, Delenn, Londo vs. Morden. Sic Transit Vir 313 z 0722 Vir saves Narns. A Late Delivery from Avalon 312 m 0724 King Arthur returns. Ship of Tears 314 t 0725 Bester, blip ship for Shadows. Interludes and Examinations 315 w 0726 Kosh KO'd when JS has V fight S. War Without End, pt 1 316 r 0727 Time travel! Big station! Steal! War Without End, pt 2 317 f 0728 Unstuck! The One! Great War! Zathras! /** ************************************************************************ * Legalese * Acknowledgments * Opt-in/out Instructions * *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2000 by Phillip Thorne. Certain data has been obtained and aggregated from, repeatedly and in particular: Epguides.com epguides.com Excite tv.excite.com The Internet Movie Database imdb.com Pazsaz Entertainment Network pazsaz.com Star Trek Continuum startrek.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it. Or possibly you've procrastinated in subscribing and I'm sending it to you anyway. Or maybe you're a family member and I'm demonstrating that I'm still alive. In any case, to cancel your subscription, send an email message to pethorne@earthlink.net with the words "UNSUBSCRIBE NON-SEQUITUR" in the subject line and/or body. Capitalization and punctuation don't matter, since I'm doing this all manually. /** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* * The Non-Sequitur Express * http://nsx.underbase.org/ * Volume 2, Issue 18: Monday, 17 July 2000 * Copyright 1999-2000 Phillip Thorne, pethorne@earthlink.net * ************************************************************************* * *********************************************************************** */