Solar Activity

I was discussing solar activity with one of my brothers this past week.  There are so many parts and effects here: the observed eleven year cycle, the problems with predicting what will be going on in the next cycle, how it all affects radio wave propagation, how long we've been seriously observing the sun, etc.  Toward the end of the discussion I mentioned this page on solar physics from NASA.  Now that I've posted the link here, there's not a lot else to say other than (a) click through, (b) it's a short read, (c) with some nice graphics (sample below), (d) near the bottom of the page there are links to two review papers if you really want to know more.  Enjoy!

More Mustang Madness

Once again, Mustang comes out on top:

Of the Empire State Building, that is.  Article on how it got up there over at the NYT.

Then there's this: CNN slideshow of 50 years of Mustang in 50 pictures.

Enjoy!

Movie Review: Get Shorty (1995, long time ago)

Short and sweet: it's a good movie, and I'm a little surprised at myself for taking so long to get around to it.  If you liked Pulp Fiction, here is a second helping of John Travolta doing his gangster act.  He's not playing precisely the same character in both movies, but there is a comfortable resemblance.  The story is wonderfully twisted, without quite the eye-popping turns Tarantino would use; it's still satisfying in its own way.
The story, the plot... it's all key to the movie, but irrelevant to this review.  Just know that there's enough story to carry all of the wisecracks and awkwardly comedic situations.  No need to spell it out past that.
Beyond Gangster Travolta, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, and James Gandolfini all turn in fine performances.  This was a cast of pros firing on all cylinders, to good result.
Other... released nearly 20 years ago, it holds up well.  The suits and the hair and the sets don't seem particularly dated.  They were designed to be slightly outlandish for 1995, and remain enough so today that it translates well.  The running gag about "the Cadillac of minivans" remains funny, again because it's so improbable.  Perhaps some of the airport hijinks are a little more implausible in a post-9/11 world, but that's about it.  "Timeless"?  Maybe, it's a little too soon to give it that label, but yeah, it's still in the running for the honor.
Bottom line: 3.5 out of 4 stars.

After one review turkey and one movie wave-off this week, it's kind of nice to say a few nice things.  Puts me in a good mood.  Maybe I'll go wash some dishes and pay some bills now.

Speaking of the Unwatchable...

Having just made a few useful comments about Werner Herzog's sci-fi mess, let's now turn to this weekend's upcoming sci-fi mess: Transcendence.  Apart from the bordering-on-incoherent plot line and the fact that it is currently getting 19% positive ratings over at Rotten Tomatoes, this is all else that I really need to know about this movie:

(linkey-line was image captured from a scathing review at The Wrap)

There we go, just saved myself and possibly you too about $10 each and a couple of precious leisure hours.  That's us here at CoyoteSwamp, always trying to give you good reason to read and heed.

Now on to the next horror: Somebody's actually going to make a Prometheus 2?  I am stunned and will stop typing for a while.

Movie Review: Werner Herzog's The Wild Blue Yonder

Wow, was this ever bad.  A bunch of jumbled together footage from STS-34, a made-up fairytale plot line, more jumbled footage from some under-ice dives, some otherworldly orchestration, and Brad Dourif as The Man From Andromeda.  If that seems to make no sense whatsoever, then you are correct.  However the movie makes even less sense.  While it initially seems that it might be from the same band of hacks who brought us travesties such as Prometheus, Herzog's motivation here seem more pure: simple incompetence.

We now interrupt this blog post for two messages to the movie industry at large:
1: Obscure does not equal Profound.
2: If it has no story line, then we do not care.
Thank you.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.

My advice is do not watch, this is not worth your time.  If you absolutely feel compelled to learn more: Wikipedia article and Rotten Tomatoes reviews.  One star out of four, but only for the pretty pictures and bizarro music.

ps: Usually Herzog puts out a decent movie, so – being stuck at home sick and all – I clicked through to the special features part of the disk, hoping for Werner to blame the whole mess on a bad batch of acid or something.  But no, the man actually admitted that he knew nothing about science fiction beyond watching Kubrick's 2001 (which he thought was very good) and a few episodes of Star Trek (which he graded as terribly silly).  *sigh*  Do not waste your time on this one, people.  And will somebody please hand that poor guy a copy of Double Star or sit him down to watch Contact so that he can see what real science fiction is about.

Head Cold Holiday

Yeah, I know, no posts lately.  Cold is about all better now, will have something witty to say – or at least something to say – anytime now.

Driving Notes

I know my audience, and I know myself as well.  Time to put these driving notes into a short list:

When changing lanes: check all three mirrors, get your head on a swivel, and flip on the corresponding turn signal ahead of time.  Yes, I realize that using a turn signal in New Orleans is a signal for other drivers to cut you off.  Do it all anyway.

Snow is for cones.  Ice is for tea.  Neither is for driving.  We are all Southerners here, and have no business out and about when that awful white stuff begins falling.

Before any trip of more than a half-hours' duration, check a weather map.  When red box conditions prevail, the trip can usually wait.

On the topic of texting, fumbling with the stereo, hunting for the beer bottle opener in the back seat, etc. while attempting to pilot a car: covered last month.

Do not rely on the other driver's good judgement, he may have none.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is usually the case.  Prime exhibit: last week's Rat Brain Minivan Incident.

There, all done.  Here, have a little music about cars.  Sort of.