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A review of the filmed-in-Saskatchewan Tideland
Here's the first review I've seen of Terry Gillam's Tideland, shot in Saskatchewan (as you can see in the photo that accompanies the article, which was clearly taken in the Qu'Appelle Valley). In fact, a great deal of it was shot across the street from the condo we lived in until last October, at the Canada-Saskatchewan Production Studios.Here's the opening paragraph of the review. I'm not entirely sure the reviewer cared for the movie:The newest Terry Gilliam movie is best described as nightmarish. With no particular point, the end of the film evokes relief and embarrassment, as if you have just finished witnessing Gilliam pass an enormous kidney stone. One feels the urge to ...Disney is bringing back hand-drawn animation
This makes me happy.Old sci-fi movies got it right!
It used to be a staple of B-movie science fiction involving travel in outer space or landing on another planet: the meteor shower, rocks flying through space and threatening our heroes with explosive decompression (see yesterday's post!) or worse.Turns out, they may have been on to something.A recent episode of The Backyardigans (our TV is locked on the preschool Treehouse channel, since we have a five-year-old) had our singing kid-whatever-they-ares threatened by a meteor shower. Fortunately, they had a meteor umbrella on their rover.Maybe NASA should watch more kid-TV!Movie monster biology
Not long ago I wrote an article emphasizing that science fiction is, first and foremost, fiction, and that a little fudging of the science for the sake of the story is expected and accepted.Having said that, however, I must also admit that nothing warms the cockles of my heart (what exactly is a cockle, anyway?) like a big juicy article pointing out silly science in movies, and that’s just what Michael C. LaBarbera, a biology professor at the University of Chicago, has provided.His article (much too long to go through in detail: you can read the whole thing here) starts off with a discussion of size.Giant critters have been a mainstay of ...The Biology of B-Movie Monsters
I can't believe I hadn't come across this until now (but then, the World Wide Web is a rather large place [if it's a place at all (and how many paranthetical [like this] statements can one put in a single sentence, anyway?)]): Michael C. LaBarbera, a University of Chicago biologist, has taken a scientific look at The Biology of B-Movie Monsters. (Via MedGadget.) Now, not too long ago I talked about the silliness of using science to disprove the existence of vampires and ghosts. So why do I like this one? Because vampires and ghosts are supernatural--that is, they are conceived to exist outside of nature and therefore are not subject to nature's laws, but rather to a different ...Bad movie science
It will probably come as no surprise to you that when Hollywood tackles scientific topics, it almost always gets them wrong. But as Sid Perkins describes in a recent article in Science News Online, some scientists and teachers are using movie science to teach science and promote an interest in science. There are innumerable examples of bad movie science, but Perkins focuses on two recent examples, beginning with the would-be blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow. In The Day After Tomorrow, global warming melts so much polar ice that the flood of cold fresh water interferes with the ocean's thermohaline circulation, which warms the North Atlantic (and with it, Europe). In the movie, the collapse of this circulation triggers a new ice age within weeks. Alas, about the time ...Synthespians: artificial actors
In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, one of the best performances is turned in by an actor who isn't entirely real. Gollum, the hobbit-like creature who once possessed the One Ring and would do anything to possess it again is the latest and most-impressive-to-date example of a "synthespian"--a computer-generated actor. He's hardly alone. The film's massive Battle of Helm's Deep, featuring tens of thousands of combatants, is fought almost entirely by synthespians. Gollum is amazingly lifelike; yet, with his emaciated body, big head and enormous eyes, he looks like nothing ever seen on Earth. He certainly doesn't look like Andy Serkis, the Shakespearean-trained actor who spent 2 1/2 years being ...Stupid movie physics
The season of the movie blockbuster is upon us, and that means it's time once again to ask the question: what planet do the people in movies live on? Judging by the physics displayed, it's not this one. In our world, for example, you cannot outrun the fireball of an exploding bomb down the hallway of a building and leap through a handily placed window just before it engulfs you. And that's just one example. For others, I turned to the Intuitor Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics Web site, where a list of the most common examples of stupid movie physics is maintained. First: sparking bullets. In movies, bullets which strike other objects, especially steel objects, create sparks or flashes of ...Mad science
We've all seen mad scientists in the movies, hair standing on end, shouting, "They laughed! They said I was crazy! But we'll see who has the last laugh now! Hahahahahahahaha!" Havoc ensues until torch-carrying villagers burn the laboratory. The real-life counterparts to these fictional mad scientists are the scientists pursuing theories that mainstream science considers, if not crazy, at least too implausible to take seriously. Sometimes these "mad scientists" are right. Consider meteorologist Alfred Wegener. In 1912, after noticing that the coastlines of Africa and South America fit together as though they were pieces from the same jigsaw puzzle, he suggested the continents had once been joined, but had drifted ...The Saskatchewan Film Pool: bringing filmmakers together
It's not easy being an independent filmmaker. Of all the art forms, film is one of the most expensive, requiring specialized equipment and facilities. But filmmaking is like any other complicated endeavor: it gets easier when you pool resources with other individuals involved in the same pursuit. That's the philosophy behind the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative. Much like the Neutral Ground Gallery, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, it's a non-profit, artist-run centre. It provides workshops, equipment and funding to independent filmmakers across Saskatchewan, and through its monthly bulletin, Infoshot, and its three-times-a-year magazine Splice, helps build a sense of community. Shane Eason, member services coordinator for the Filmpool, says the cooperative currently has ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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