Earthstorm on Sci Fi tomorrow

shastastar · 03-27-2009, 07:32 PM

Heads up and sorry for the late notice. Earthstorm is running on Sci-Fi channel tomorrow( Saturday March 28, 2009) in the United States at 6PM Central, 7PM Eastern and west. Sorry for the late notice, but hopefully for those of us who have not seen it like me, you still have time to set your TIVO.

Peace Hope Faith Love and Bancha

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asmay · 03-28-2009, 03:27 AM

I've got the DVD. I'm curious as what you think of it, not having seen it yet and all.

For me it was a bit of a disappointment, to say the least. Honestly, apart from Dirk's performance, I could have done very well without having seen it ever (and that's saying it nicely).

But that's, of course, only my humble opinion.

shastastar · 03-28-2009, 10:16 AM

ROFL... okay I will let you all know.... I intend to TIVO this so I may not watch it for a few days. That way if it gets boring or lame I can fast forward to Dirk's scenes..... and not worry about the rest.... but I will try to sit through the whole thing at least once....so I can give you an honest opinion of the whole piece of work
Peace Hope Love Faith and Bancha
SS
"To celebrate a baby born from spirit into man"
John Denver

pinar · 03-28-2009, 04:09 PM

It was a big disappointment for me too but not as big as Recon 7 Down...

shastastar · 03-28-2009, 10:41 PM

As part of my continuing effort to be more positive and less cynical rather than writing a review... I created a drinking game which I think if followed would make the movie truly enjoyable... Dirk doesnt even appear until a half hour in ( if watched with commercials on Sci-FI) so feel free to start watching a half hour in. If you start drinking from the beginning of the piece, if followed properly the drinking game player would be good and lit bye the time they see Dirk for the first time so pick your preference.

drink when you hear anyone say any kind of scientific term
drink twice if it is mispronounced, ( fissure is mispronounced throughout),
drink three times when the scientific term in unintelligible or if it sounds like it is being said by the actor for the first time and they are sounding it out like a small child learning to read
drink when you hear any of the characters repeat another characters name
drink when you hear any kind of odd accent from the red head
drink when dirk has a different suit or tie on than he did in the previous scene
drink every time they show the fake moon
drink every time they cut to CGI
drink every time they cut to that family cheering
drink every time they show a meteor
drink every time someone says roger that or copy
drink every time they show all the random green lights in mission control
drink every time you hear music
drink every time the pilot ladys face turns pinkish red
drink if you can determine anything intelligible that dirk is writing on the clear board that they keep shooting him behind near the end

Cheers people and feel free to add other things to drink at.....
Peace Love Hope Faith and Bancha

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deebeelicious · 03-29-2009, 07:14 AM

LOL - ROFLMAO

I thought the way the actors pronounced the scientific terms was a 'US' accent thing - from what you say, apparently not!

Dirk at least looked credible with his mathematical scrawls on the clearboard!

Can't say I cared much for his grey suits and the washed-out 'grey?' makeup they gave him

- were they trying to emphasise his 'G-man' role visually too?

My favourite part of the film is the complete lack of any attempt at special effects to show loss of gravity as the shuttle moves away from Earth!

Dirk mentioned the making of this film during CBB and it was hilarious how he said all the young (yeah they were mostly younger than him - aren't most people now!

) kept asking during read-throughs, 'what's my motivation here' etc and not knowing their lines etc

, whereas Dirk arrives at his hotel the night before he has to begin work, reads through the script that was left for him, and knows all his stuff ready for the next morning. Ahh!

shastastar · 03-29-2009, 10:52 AM

Well DeeBee since you asked......( or maybe you didn't and this morning I am just urgently wanting to write all of this)

That is so funny that you thought it was a US accent thing, no that's not a US accent thing... its a "I have never heard these words in conversation and was told that "fissure" is pronounced fishyour.... and I must pronounce everything else phoneticly like a six year old would when they are learning to read because I have no idea how these words are pronounced and no internet access nor any idea how to use a dictionary to figure it out"

OMG..... no dirk was fine..he sounded normal and pulled off his scientific terms (because at that point I was paying attention to how they pronounced everything)... except the wardrobe changes.... what was the motivation for changing his clothes every five minutes???? The guy that was the crazy good engineer was good also.... all the rest of them were vacant morons

I couldn't tell whether he was scrawling MATH / formulas / or what it was but I want to ask him now if I ever meet him. I am going to pause the TIVO and look closely when I am not so tired / bored and see if I can tell.

And as far as the shuttle... so many innacuracies there. Like the fact that in reality all the astronauts are all on their backs for launch and the video feed shows that, it doesnt show them upright ( like this movie does). Like the fact that their masks are put down and their oxygen is secured by the preflight crew that leaves the shuttle before launch. Like the fact that she was piloting the shuttle with the stick during launch, when in fact that is all auto controlled. Like the fact that they stated they launched in Houston ( because that is where the hurrricane was) when in fact there is NO LAUNCH PAD in Houston. The only place they launch is Cape Canaveral, they could maybe launch at Johnson in CA or maybe at WhiteSands NM but for geologic reasons for where mission control is at Johnson Space Center Houston TX they cannot launch there. Like the fact that they have back up mission control centers all over the world and at least three backups within the US alone (there is one in Australia and one with the European Space Agency) in case of power failures like that so that they don't run into that, and all those backups have people monitoring 24 /7 so that if the power goes out they don't lose communication with the shuttle and the people that take over mission control know exactly what is going on. Also they wouldn't put nukes in the shuttle like that even in an emergency because well I can't really say why... but they wouldn't.....

And like the fact that the shuttle is NO WHERE NEAR that manueverable in it's current configuration. I know way too many people that work at NASA and the shuttle cannot manuever like that...I was willing to suspend all of that ( and a lot more bad science) because it would be cool if the shuttle could actually move like that it doesn't it moves like a turtle, because the course course corrections they have to do are small precise and slow. The shuttle really only runs its engines to maintain orbit, most of the time it is coasting in orbit on earths gravity ( like a car in neutral)

I could go on but there is really no reason to... I think I made my point... I would call this movie "fantasy fiction" more than science fiction because there really is no science involved. No wonder our children don’t really understand anything about actual science / engineering.

And Dirk did a great job as a government scientist, and that is a tough job because you have to walk a fine line between what is proven or the prevailing thought and what you discover as you go along. It's very tough to get the US government to go along with new ideas. For example, NASA hasn't done anything to improve upon the shuttle really since the 1980s???? That's almost 30 years now, why don't we have anything better???? The avionics ( internal electronics ) have been improved and updated but the basic materials / functions of the shuttle haven't changed. It was envisioned under president Carter first launched under president Reagan.... Why isn't there anything new or better??? The shuttle's replacement has been delayed yet again.... the shuttle was supposed to be retired by now.... Okay Rant over

Since you asked Deebee (HUGS) Okay so this is long enough to be a blog but has nothing to do with MACROBIOTICS.....

In the warmest Spirit of Peace Love Hope Faith and Bancha

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deebeelicious · 03-30-2009, 03:05 AM

PMSL -
I wonder who the writers were

- I should IMDB them, and make sure I avoid any other 'science' fiction movies they write.

Agree the crazy good engineer was the only other credibly portrayed character.

Re: clearboard - LOL - only a geek would tivo pause it and study it to check his maths!

(I think it was some integration calculus - I assumed Dirk was copying it from the white paper he had in his hand

- not that I paused it or anything

- not that I'm a geek or anything!

shastastar · 03-30-2009, 07:49 AM

I think you are calling me out as a geek here so thanks I appreciate that!!!! I think everybody important on this site all ready was aware of my geek like status....

I was not going to pause it to check the math, but rather to see if it was even math or formualic equations at all. I agree with you that he was probably copying some formula from that piece of paper in his hand on to the board, but if he wrote something like else funny, it would be awesome to catch that.

And No DeeBee of course you aren't a geek, but should you ever consider yourself in that category.... Hatch and his friends have a new dating site for geeks / fangirls / fanboys called www.soulgeek.com you may want to check out.

Hugs

Peace Love Hope Faith bancha and B12

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Quote:

Originally Posted by deebeelicious

PMSL -
I wonder who the writers were

- I should IMDB them, and make sure I avoid any other 'science' fiction movies they write.

Agree the crazy good engineer was the only other credibly portrayed character.

Re: clearboard - LOL - only a geek would tivo pause it and study it to check his maths!

(I think it was some integration calculus - I assumed Dirk was copying it from the white paper he had in his hand

- not that I paused it or anything

- not that I'm a geek or anything!

deebeelicious · 03-31-2009, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shastastar

I think you are calling me out as a geek here so thanks I appreciate that!!!! I think everybody important on this site all ready was aware of my geek like status....

I don't think 'geek' is a 4-letter word, oh wait ... yes it is!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shastastar

I was not going to pause it to check the math, but rather to see if it was even math or formualic equations at all. I agree with you that he was probably copying some formula from that piece of paper in his hand on to the board, but if he wrote something like else funny, it would be awesome to catch that.

I'm impressed with your dedication in checking Dirk's gravitational calculus!

LOL - somehow I don't think the director/props guys gave that stuff to him!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shastastar

And No DeeBee of course you aren't a geek, but should you ever consider yourself in that category.... Hatch and his friends have a new dating site for geeks / fangirls / fanboys called www.soulgeek.com you may want to check out.

Hugs

Peace Love Hope Faith bancha and B12

SS

LOL - No it's true SS, I can't deny my geekiness!

That site looks pretty good !

It's certainly tempting.
I'm getting nowhere with a site I'm on at the moment.

Problem is I'm too nonconformist, if someone tries to pidgeonhole me as a certain type of person based on religion, ethnicity, education, etc, that doesn't describe me.

For other's here interested in reading about what Richard is up to, here's the link to a brief interview with him promoting the site - he wants to develop it for more than just dating/networking!

https://www.pcworld.com/article/16160...geek_love.html

shastastar · 03-31-2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deebeelicious

I'm impressed with your dedication in checking Dirk's gravitational calculus!

LOL - somehow I don't think the director/props guys gave that stuff to him!

DeeBee gravitational attraction between two objects is a very basic formula that does not need to be within the realm of calculus. The concept that the graviational force between two objects is related to the mass of each object and the objects proximity to one another can be solved through basic math. So it wasn't a calculus formula persay that was up there on the clear board.

The formula is derived from Newton's other formulas via multivariable differential and integral calculus. However, it is not necessary to know how to work deriviatives and integrals to solve this most basic equation. It is a basic formula that is accessible to everyone with knowledge of division and how to plug numbers into a formula.

That was the only one that I was able to spot as real, there were others as well that looked real, that was just the only one that caught my eye, where immediately I knew what formula it was. I welcome you or anyone who spends there spare time in their hobbies solving basic or complex physics questions with or without the aid of calculus or pre-derived formulas to pause this movie on those scenes and see if you can come up with anything. We could develop a whole library of equations that were up on the clear board in Earthstorm. That would make for a fun weekend chat that would probably bore everyone except the two of us to tears LOL

Now who wins the title of geek queen of DBC???? I think it's a draw ROFL

Peace Love Hope Faith Bancha and B12

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asmay · 03-30-2009, 03:42 PM

To be a geek or not to be a geek,

I must say I found your posts on this particular film a lot more interesting and entertaining than the whole film itself ....

shastastar · 03-30-2009, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmay

To be a geek or not to be a geek,

I must say I found your posts on this particular film a lot more interesting and entertaining than the whole film itself ....

Thanks Asmay. At least something positive came out of the two hours I spent watching this piece of work ( I hesitate to put it into the category of film). I entertained you..... cool....

Peace Love Hope Faith B12 and bancha

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shastastar · 03-30-2009, 10:22 PM

Okay so I slowed it down and determined that Dirk was for the most part writing actual equations. Including one for the gravitaitonal force between two objects that I recognized involving M1 and M2 in the numerator of the equation. Way to go Dirk!!! You actually put some real science into this movie.... And yes with this I think I have moved into the realm of full fledged geekdom LOL!!!!

And DeeBee one last thing... yes I agree with you where was the absence of gravity inside the shuttle when they are in space????? Come on people even "Space Camp" which wasn't the best movie in the 1980s when they showed the space shuttle depicted the absence of gravity .....

That's it I'm out enough brain cells and time spent on this "project"

Peace Love Hope Faith Banch and B12

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deebeelicious · 03-31-2009, 03:09 AM

I forgot to say, I'm glad it's not just the Brits who've panned this film - and they're still playing it on UK SciFi channel at the momment!
I'd love to see Walter Koenig's Inalienable - I don't know why UK Sci Fi doesn't pick that up to show! ?

deebeelicious · 04-01-2009, 09:41 AM

LOL

It makes sense to use Newton's law of gravitation rather than Einstein's field equations for general relativity

- why use 10 simultaneous, non-linear differential equations

, when Newton's is a good enough approximation for the job, in this case a near object like the Moon!

I can't believe the effort for that compared to the whole lack of effort on other areas?

One knew how inept this film was going to be when you saw that NASA had refused to give them permission to use its name, and they had to use 'ASA' instead!

ROFLMAO

bibbi · 04-05-2009, 01:06 PM

I really had a good chuckle reading all those posts.

I got the movie on DVD and am going to watch it later on tonight.