* Happy 40th anniversary of the moon landing, everyone!
-- "40 Years After Apollo 11, NASA Maps Out the Future"
-- "NASA Lost Moon Footage, But Hollywood Restores It"
-- "40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Celebrated in Liverpool, UK"
-- "Neil Armstrong Remembers Dead Astronauts 40 Years After His Moonwalk"
* Happy early birthday to
faramirgirl, and best wishes for many happy returns of the day!
*sittingduck1313 has been been working on a science fiction version of Diana Wynne Jones's The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Visit toughguidescifi and check out his results!
* I've been thinking about disaster movies in preparation for the WorldCon panel "It's a Disaster!" Here's the description: Disaster movies reflect their times. From nuclear war to terrorism to eco-catastrophe, what do these movies tell us about ourselves? Do they help us deal with our fears or just make things worse? (I've found some useful lists of disaster movies here and here, among other places.)
Please let me know what you think in my Disaster Movies Poll! (More than one answer per question is welcome, as are additional comments.) Thanks!
DISASTER MOVIES POLL
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space.”
- Douglas Adams
-- "40 Years After Apollo 11, NASA Maps Out the Future"
-- "NASA Lost Moon Footage, But Hollywood Restores It"
-- "40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Celebrated in Liverpool, UK"
-- "Neil Armstrong Remembers Dead Astronauts 40 Years After His Moonwalk"
* Happy early birthday to
faramirgirl, and best wishes for many happy returns of the day!*
sittingduck1313 has been been working on a science fiction version of Diana Wynne Jones's The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Visit toughguidescifi and check out his results!* I've been thinking about disaster movies in preparation for the WorldCon panel "It's a Disaster!" Here's the description: Disaster movies reflect their times. From nuclear war to terrorism to eco-catastrophe, what do these movies tell us about ourselves? Do they help us deal with our fears or just make things worse? (I've found some useful lists of disaster movies here and here, among other places.)
Please let me know what you think in my Disaster Movies Poll! (More than one answer per question is welcome, as are additional comments.) Thanks!
DISASTER MOVIES POLL
What's the best disaster movie about nuclear war?
What's the best disaster movie about a natural/ecologial/environmental catastrophe?
What's the best disaster movie about a virus/plague/contagion?
What's the best disaster movie about a historical catastrophe?
What's the best disaster movie about an alien or monster attack?
What's the worst disaster movie ever?
Disaster movies...
make us think about the things that are most important while we can still appreciate them.
0(0.0%)
offer timely warnings about how we should change our ways before we bring disasters on ourselves.
0(0.0%)
make us scared, and being scared is fun.
0(0.0%)
panic us for no good reason.
0(0.0%)
are lame.
0(0.0%)
provide a useful study about our deepest fears.
0(0.0%)
foster productive debate about important problems of the day.
0(0.0%)
exploit ridiculous worries while obscuring important concerns.
0(0.0%)
blow things up real good
0(0.0%)
are unintentionally funny.
0(0.0%)
exploit gullible audiences.
0(0.0%)
are something I enjoy.
0(0.0%)
are something I avoid.
0(0.0%)
ate my mother, you insensitive clod.
2(11.8%)
don't change the fact ticky-boxes are love.
1(5.9%)
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space.”
- Douglas Adams
- Current Music:"Fast Horse," Tori Amos
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Comments
The Day After Tomorrow, as you can see from my answers, is both brilliant and terrible :o)
Henry Fonda trumps special effects
LOL! Well said. And great choices! Thanks for reminding me of these.
They are:
The Towering Inferno
A Night To Remember
Thank you.
I think it's the far more 'real' factor about this kind of disaster film. The fact that when it comes down to it, these are the 'more likely' than alien attack, etc. And of course the Titanic did happen. If that makes any sense.
As for the Disaster Movie Poll, you forgot the option Shows that Hollywood writers don't know Jack about science.
Ha! Very true. My sister was a graduate student in meteorology when The Day After Tomorrow came out, and she said that she and her pals (also in the sciences) went to the late showing and heckled the movie throughout. Apparently, even the MST3K factor wasn't enough to redeem it. LOL!
I'd like to add The Invasion to the worst list, I would have but I've tried to burn it from my memory despite my love for Ms. Kidman. I'd also like to put The Happening in the worst catagory, but I haven't seen it, so that wouldn't be fair.
Edited at 2009-07-24 10:57 am (UTC)
The Happening may be one of the worst films I've ever seen in a theater in my life. It's two hours I'll never get back again. *mourns*
Thankfully, as I said, I avoided The Happening, learning from the suffering reported by others.