Watching 2001 a Space Odyssey.

Posted on April 27, 2019April 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2001, Arthur C Clarke, Classic film, Film, Jupiter, Kubrick, Sci fi, Science, SpaceLeave a comment

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I haven’t seen 2001 for about 10 years but it hasn’t lost its magic. If you have never seen it then it’s worth having a look. It’s a classic science fiction film set in 2001. It was made in the 1960s but it has quite good predictions of how things would work in the future.

It starts at the dawn of man and charts what happens when a enigmatic black obilisk appears on Earth. The film then fasts forward to a future where humans have made a discovery on the moon and follows an expedition to Jupiter.

I did read the original book by Arthur C Clarke and the following sequels. I think in the original story they travel to Saturn, but the destination was changed in the film and the subsequent books.

I won’t post any spoilers about what happens. But it is very good, although modern audiences might find it a bit slow. The one thing I do like is that the space sequences are silent except for music in the first sequence. Sound cannot propagate in a vacuum as there are no molecules to transmit it. Hence although you would hear rockets in earth’s atmosphere you wouldn’t in outer space.

The director was Stanley Kubrick who also directed A clockwork orange and other classic films. I think they are showing it because its the anniversary of Kubruck death.

The start of the film shows the moon in silhouette with Earth and then the sun curving beyond. That’s what I’ve tried to draw here.

Eyes digitally drawn

Posted on April 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Artrage oils, Design, Digital art, Doctor, Drawing, Fun, Sci fi, Short story, Spooky, Very short storyLeave a comment

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Don’t look at me like that. It’s scary, she said. The screen stared back, green glaring eyes and red scaled skin. Only the slow movement of its pupils indicated life. The screen had been blank up until a few minutes ago. A voice had said humans were under control by the Jranson Collective and if all people worked with them they would be spared destruction.

She scanned her phone. The same image was being sent to it. All computer services are in our power, said the staring eyes. Do not attempt to attack us.

What the devil can we do? She thought. Nothing came to mind, but maybe? She picked up the land-line phone, a steady dialling tone greeted her. Now what’s the Doctors number? she thought.

Live long and prosper

Posted on April 23, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Climate change, Logic, Sci fi, Science, Spock, Star Trek4 Comments

One of my favourite sayings, even though it comes from a Sci fi series. When I was a child I learnt to do the sign that Spock uses, fingers seperate between middle and ring finger. Spock was my favourite character because of his logic. I also likes Sherlock Holmes for the same reason. I don’t know why logic appeals to me but I do.

Logic and science is denigrated too much these days. Instead of seeing how important it is people turn their backs on it. For instance the turning against vaccination by people and the consequent increase in cases of measles. Or the fake news and lies used to stop people realising that climate change is really happening. Logic tells us that if we see evidence of something we must take account of it. People’s lives are at stake.

Live long and prosper, bur stay safe and care for each other too.

Moonlight

Posted on April 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Imagination, Life, Moon, Moonlight, Night, Sci fi, Science, Science fiction, Short story, Space craft, Very short storyLeave a comment

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Fly me to the moon was Stella’s favourite song. She’d heard it as a child and whenever she saw the moon she would either sing that, or sometimes twinkle twinkle little star.

It was 3am and the moon was a half circle, flying high, dancing in and out of broken clouds. A few moonbeams made it into the kitchen as she switched on the kettle and waited for it to boil. She was careful to pour the liquid into her coffee mug. In the dim light she didn’t want to spill it onto her toes.

There was a flash, she looked around and saw, nothing. The world looked the same.

There was another bright flash. This time she was a meteor streaking across the sky. Far brighter than a normal shooting star. And there was another. These are fireballs, she thought. They must be high up. The shadows they cast shot across the kitchen rapidly. One particular one was so bright she thought it was going to hit the house. It made the windows rattle.

Then it just stopped. She waited minutes for another one. Nothing. No sound, no wind, no huge explosion. What had they been? In the morning none of her neighbours had heard or seen anything. She went to work, came home, made a coffee.

Turning on the six o’clock news.

“seven space vehicles have landed near Washington” “no response from them” “civilians are warned to keep away”.

She wondered what would happen next?

Wow signal?

Posted on April 11, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Creative writing, Fun, Radio astronomy, Sci fi, Science, Short story, Space, Very short story1 Comment

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Peeeeep she heard it on the radio. A loud pulse then it was gone. What was that? It had been a piercing squeal.

But it was gone. A disturbance in the aether, a cosmic scream perhaps??

She checked the Internet. It was all over Facebook. At precisely 4pm Greenwich mean time a signal had slashed into the Earth’s atmosphere. So strong it was picked up by transistor radios and radio telescopes alike. The Internet was calling it a Wow signal based on a signal heard by a radio telescope on August 15th 1977.

Could it be interference from Earth? But the signal had eminated from the milky way galaxy. Millions of light years away across the sky from us.

Speculation increased Could it be aliens? Or the voice of God? Maybe there was a new astronomical phenomenon.

For now the sky remained annoyingly quiet and the world waited with mixed fear and hope to see if it would happen again or what would happen next.

Alien visitor

Posted on April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dalek, Dr Who, Fun, Humour, Joke, Sci fi, Short story, Silly, Train, Very short story6 Comments

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WHAT Time Is The Next Train Due in? The creature barked out the words to a startled passenger. WHAT Time is it due? Its strange tinny voice was demanding.

Er? Have you looked at the time table? The man on the platform asked. He started looking for a way out. The pepper shaker shaped creature was waving what looked like a sink plunger at him with some menace. The other thin arm looked even more worrying.

WHAT TIME IS THE NEXT TRAIN? The voice was getting louder and angrier, the man cowered in a corner behind an advertising hoarding for “cool menthol” cigarettes.

Just then a 2.6.0 standard steam train pulled into the station. Taking a quick decision the man ran across the platform and wrenched open the door to the third class carriage and leapt aboard.

The creature trundled over to a first class carriage. Its tiny eye on a stick looked up and down, it saw the step up to the door. It noticed the door handle. No way to grip it with its too large suction cup. The train started to move, the creature (a Dalek) tried to follow, but the train sped up and left the Dalek floundering in its steamy wake…..

The steps

Posted on March 10, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blog, Creative writing, Fun, Mystery, Sci fi, Science fiction, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

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A light from the sky settled gently on to the field at the back of the housing estate. The sound was muted. No one would have heard it if they had been more than 50 metres away.

But on that night Sam had been looking up at the sky from a corner of the field on the local footpath. She had been struck by the beauty of the Milky Way and the clarity of the night on this chilly evening. She had been about to leave when she saw the light from the corner of her eye. A meteor? Too slow. A plane? The flashing lights were not there, just one spotlight. A helicopter? No sound …. She stood still as it landed. The classic ufo shape that she had seen on many old black and white films.

She was surprised at how calm she felt. She didn’t know whether to move toward the object or run away. Finally she noticed a yellow ramp with steps lowering down to the ground.

Why not be the first? Why not make contact? She walked slowly up the slope of the field and came to the base of the steps……

Tranquil – from Sue Vincent’s weekly #writephoto prompt.

Posted on March 9, 2019March 9, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #writephoto, Creative writing, Ideas, Sci fi, Space, Star, Tranquil, Writing17 Comments

Funny how the light shines in this glade she thought. The trees and the beach look pink and purple. It must be the weather. Then she looked up to where the sun should be, but the star she saw was red, like the sun when you see it through thick clouds on the horizon. But this star was small and high up in the sky. She could tell it wasn’t her sun. You could actually look at it without being blinded.

She tried to remember how she had got here, what had happened to her? All she could think of was the lights in the sky the night before. Not meteors but green flashes, like falling fireworks. Yes, then something had lifted her up and everything had gone dark and silent….

Where am I? Where have I been brought to? she thought, this place is so peaceful, so quiet. Then she realised what was missing, birdsong, insects churring, the everyday sound of traffic… Wherever she was she knew now it was alien. It could not be Earth.

Written in response to Sue Vincent’s Thursday #writephoto prompt here

Giant metal frog

Posted on March 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Copper, Creative writing, Frog, Fun, Metal, Sci fi, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

Am I on Earth or an alien planet? I thought. I was walking around the lake, the ground was wet. In the distance I could see a metal spike rising up from the ground, with something sticking out, attached to it.

I got closer, the thing was clearly metallic, greenish copper coloured.

It was a sculpture of a frog, feet wrapped around the spike. It seemed to be looking at me? How? Its metal isn’t it?

Then it moved! One arm came up, it rubbed its eye in that odd way frogs do. It opened its mouth. .. The last thing I remember was its tongue flashing out, catching me round the neck. . The world faded.

A lesson

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Creative writing, Learning, Life, Memories, School, Sci fi, Short story, Teaching, Very short storyLeave a comment

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The old school walls were damp and the paint was peeling off them. There were holes where ceiling tiles had fallen down and sunshine had broken through the roof.

She walked between discarded chairs, the tables were stacked against the walls. At the front of the classroom stood one of those rotating chalkboards. Grey with layers of chalk.

She reached out and pulled on the join between the boards but the thing was jammed up, no movement.

She remembered the first day she had taught here. Registration followed by the history of the celts. Teaching about Boudicca and the ancient Britons.

Nowadays children didn’t come to school. They were all home schooled, isolated, plugged in. Teaching was easy. Link to the local computer by an imput in the cranium. Download all the information, sit in a chair and learn the curriculum.

She remembered the sweet feeling of imparting knowledge The look of wonder when a pupil understood a new concept. Ideas flying from lips to ears to brains.

No more, no enthusiasm, just imput, data, no fun.

She sighed, closed the door to the classroom. She walked home.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Sci fi