Project Hail Mary: Just Go See It

TLDR: It's the adaptation of the book that I'd hoped to see.  Here are my 2021 thoughts on the book.

Today was the first time I've set foot in a movie theater since 2021 (well I at least tried, once, in 2023; see jaundiced thoughts here), and it was an hour and a half drive each way to get there.  Worth every minute of the trip.  Go see it in a good quality theater while it's still in its original run, then buy the blu-ray next Christmas.

So... 4.5 out of 5 stars?  Maybe 5, I'll have to see it a few more times before granting that high honor.  It's good though, so go see it in a theater while you can.  It looks great up on the big screen, plus we need to vote with our dollars when given something to bother voting for.  Lord knows, that's a rare enough occurrence these days.

Yeah, yeah, the puppet alien stuff is good, as good as all the critics are saying.  However, don't fall into the cutesy-alien sentimental trap here.  Look at the person behind the carapace, at the fully developed character.  It took competent writing, scriptwriting, puppeteering, and voice acting to let Rocky's personality show through.  Don't waste all that effort treating this as another cheap Spielberg ET exercise in emotional manipulation, because it isn't.  This is a reasonably complex character, and while the kids can get a thrill from seeing an articulated rock pile, adults can appreciate what's going on too.

Finally, it's a miracle this story made it through production hell.  In a spoilerific interview here (No, don't click if you haven't read or seen it!  Really, don't!), the scriptwriter reveals how he was gently pressured to take out one key plot twist.  If the studio execs had succeeded in so gutting the story, my review would have been reduced to 2 out of 5 stars: "Nice special effects, but it's a shame they threw away the book.  Don't bother."  But they didn't!  So go see the movie.

This is not to say that major parts weren't adapted for screen.  And that's OK.  Not every technical in-joke or plot complication can make it – or even translates – to film.  The main point though is, the core of the story is there, it is a good story that people who've read the book will recognize, and it was faithfully translated to screen.  Again, this is the adaptation of the book that I'd hoped to see.

I Always Wondered About That Green Color

Why So Many Control Rooms Were Seafoam Green over at a designer's substack.

Not just control rooms either!  Accelerator vaults were full of this color.  So were many printing presses.  And metal bookcases.  Couldn't get away from that stuff.  So what color do I paint my place's interior?  "Wind Song," a very light seafoam green.  What color do I paint my place's exterior?  A similar light gray-green "Sea Glass."

OK, at least it is sort of calming.  I also note that I picked none of these colors, relying instead upon various female influences around me.  Only however after I mock-threatened to paint the place a nice 70's goldenrod yellow when they wouldn't step up and advise.  Had to motivate them somehow.

Maybe they're all trying to tell me to cALm tHe F! dOwn!

Picture Perfect

From today's APOD:

That is all for today.  It's a rocket to the moon, what, you want something more?

Changing of the Stems

The 100mm stem on the gravel bike (pic) always seemed a tad long.  It was okay... but not quite right.

Swapped it out for a 70mm (that'd be 1.18" shorter in Murican units), and it made all the difference.  I no longer tend to scoot forward on the saddle or feel too stretched-out.  Handling's much more, uh, snappy without becoming twitchy.  Big improvement.  Weirdly though, first time jumping on the bike with the new stem, it felt almost a full size smaller.

Rule of thumb for off-road bikes: In your normal / usual / preferred riding position (gravel bike: out on the brake hoods), the front hub should be more or less hidden by the handlebars.

I Knew That Stuff Was No Good

Erythritol crosses blood-brain barrier, linked to strokes etc.  Article at Inc, though I'm sure you can find other sources.

I tried that stuff a couple of times in various Monster drinks.  Nasty.  You can just taste that it's no damed good.

Quotes of the Day

I'm in the middle of planning out a radio tower for the new Franklin County EOC, and two quotes came to mind that are worth mentioning here.  The first is from the very best source, author unknown:

Always and Everywhere,

Mission drives Hardware

I'd like to tattoo this on some people's foreheads.  Reversed of course, so that they could just look in a mirror as needed.

The second of course is from Robert A. Heinlein:

What are the facts?  Again and again and again – what are the facts?  Shun wishful thinking ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what  the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places?  You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue.  Get the facts!

RAH may be an even more unassailable source of quotations than either Mark Twain or Winston Churchill.  Probably not the two combined, however.

Thus ends my smartassery for the afternoon.  Time to get down to some Egli calculations in order to nail down just how high this antenna has to be.  Because "as high as we have budget to build!" holds no water whatsoever with me, and in fact actively ticks me off a good bit.

Thursday Movie at the Library Night: Ulee's Gold

Tonight!  Don't forget!