Botanists Gone Wild: 70s sci-fi film Silent Running

While searching for something else, I came across this daisy from the early 70s. Silent Running — not to be confused with the hit song by Mike + The Mechanics — is a 1972 environmentally themed American science fiction film starring Bruce Dern. According to Wikipedia, it was directed by Douglas Trumbull, who had previously worked as a special effects supervisor on science fiction films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Andromeda Strain. Clearly his budget was a little more constrained for this one.

The film is set in “The Next Century” where all flora on Earth has been rendered extinct. Dern plays Freeman Lowell, an astronaut who is given orders to destroy the last of Earth’s botany, kept in a greenhouse aboard a spacecraft. While the plot makes very little sense, and the plot holes can probably fit an asteroid belt, the thing to keep in mind is that this pre-dates Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, yet had constructs like Greenhouses in outer space and droids (called drones in the film) with personalities and semi-sentient characteristics.

Since everything gets recycled, rebooted or flat out re-made, it might not be too long before some aspiring writer, director and/or producers decides to give this a shot. Who knows, maybe Mike + The Mechanics are even available for the soundtrack.

Free Fun Friday is where I like to feature a video that has gone viral or is otherwise interesting. It started as a way to make a quick blog entry so that I wouldn’t go too long between post for my readers. Now it’s sort of evolved as a way to stretch my writing muscles and flex my creativity neural pathways.
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Field of Dreams: My favorite scenes

One of my favorite movies of all times is Field of Dreams.  I’m really not a big baseball fan per se but there is something about that movie that transcends the sport.  Probably because it’s really not really about baseball or building a baseball field in the middle of nowhere.  It’s about so much more.

The storyline from the good old IMDB:

Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his corn field tell him, “If you build it, he will come.” He interprets this message as an instruction to build a baseball field on his farm, upon which appear the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series. When the voices continue, Ray seeks out a reclusive author to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field.

Field of Dreams has so many memorable quotes and scenes that most people who have seen the movie can quote from.  But there are is a scene that is probably lost on most but has always touched me .  Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) playing the part of JD Salinger (Terrance Mann) walks into a small town newspaper office because in the 80s newspapers where still printed on dead trees and Google hadn’t been invented yet.  Anyway, he reads the obituary of a local doctor who spent a day in the majors eons ago and then went to  medical school and bought his wife a lot of blue hats.  I’m really paraphrasing here.

The obituary was written by Chisolm Newspaper Publisher played by Anne Seymour in what was evidentially her last role. The scene occurs about 58 minutes in according to by the way, do you know how hard it is to Google an obscure scene from a movie?

00:58:00 -You wrote that. -The day he died.
00:58:03 Can I see that?
00:58:05 -You’re a good writer. -So are you.

They both look at each other, really look at each other for the first time, and there is this mutual respect and understanding that transcends words.  It’s this scene that is just a perfect example of professional courtesy, and talent recognizing talent.  It doesn’t matter that he’s a famous author and she is a small town newspaper publisher.  Their gender and race do not matter.  All that matters in that moment is that they make a connection through their shared gift: the power of the written word.

There’s another scene in the movie that I also like and can sort of relate to.  In a combo dream/time-travel scene, Ray meets Doc Graham and offers to grant him his wish.

Dr. Graham: It was like coming this close to your dreams and then watch them brush past you like a stranger in a crowd. At the time, you don’t think much of it. You know, we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be other days.’ I didn’t realize that that was the only day. ….
Ray Kinsella: Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within… y-you came this close. It would kill some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they’d consider it a tragedy.
Dr. Graham: Son, if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes… now that would have been a tragedy.

 

In 2006 I ran a 3:30 marathon in St Louis.  It wasn’t enough to qualify me for the Boston Marathon but it was my best race of my life and still is my Personal Best.  I missed BQing by 15 minutes and that is a good amount to miss it by.  Any more and you really cannot even think about qualifying.  And any less and it will drive you crazy to think how close you came and not get another chance.

This blog post is written as part of the ChicagoNow Blogapalooza Hour. ChicagoNow has an awesome monthly Blogapalooza event where all CN bloggers are given the same topic at 9 p.m. and need to publish a post on it by 10 p.m. For one hour the bravest of the ChicagoNow bloggers take on the challenge to write and PUBLISH a blog post within one hour! The results are varied and always interesting.

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Campy low budget Spaced Out more like Orgy in Space

When I was about 10 years old, my mom would take me and a friend to $1 movie night at the local movie theater. Usually we’d watch the movie together but once in a while, the movie a couple of 10 year old boys wanted to watch was just too juvenile for an adult, or another movie that was playing was more suitable for an adult. My mom would allow us to watch the movie on our own as long as we behaved, didn’t yell “fire” and meet up with her by the concession stand once our movie ended.

So we were allowed to see Spaced Out, a movie my mom thought was a campy but age appropriate Star Wars ripoff. Instead it turned out to be a movie with a horrible plot, unrealistic premise and a whole lot of nudity and sex! That’s right this was essentially sci-fi soft porn. My mother would never have allowed me, let alone one of my friends that she was responsible for, watch such a movie. This wasn’t a case of Parent Fail, it was a case of the Industry downplaying the level of sexual situations and quantify of nudity in the film. My guess is the film, which was released first in the U.K. (1979) then the United States (1981), wasn’t submitted for a rating in the first place (not a requirement, even today).

Unfortunately, my mom realized what kind of film we were watching and pulled us out of the theater — with about 10 minutes left of the film. So as bad as the plot was, I always kinda felt cheated that I didn’t find out how that Orgy in Space ended. My 10 minute search of the internet has only revealed the above trailer with French Subtitles. I recommend you read the reviews on IMDB — I was surprised to learn Bob Saget did the Stereotypically gay rendition of the ship’s computer voice.

Free Fun Friday is where I like to feature a video that has gone viral or is otherwise interesting. It started as a way to make a quick blog entry so that I wouldn’t go too long between post for my readers. Now it’s sort of evolved as a way to stretch my writing muscles and flex my creativity neural pathways.
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DIY Pipe Shelf Pantry

Update: if you want a more formal set of instructions, here is a similar project I found. My feelings will not be hurt if you use this instead, or take something from either post.

Update2: or you could just buy this one.  It’s a smaller unit for the same price and since you still have to do the installation, you might want to go custom after all.

We had a bit of underutilized space on our basement stairwell.  so we decided to install some shelving so that we could turn it into a pantry. I decided to try something a little different. On all the DIY shows and blogs the trend seemed to be using plumbing pipe and re-purposed wood.  I got the idea from Ethan Hagan on One Project Closer.

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You know, I don’t even know where to begin with a How To on these shelves. It felt like it took longer than it should have. When you add the actual hours I spent working on it, I’d say it took over a week, however, the total time from conception to implementation to completeness was the summer. It also involved a lot of frustration and design changes from the original plan. It cost about $60 in materials but when you factor in my time and frustration level, we would have been much better off just installing simple bracket and wood shelves.

The unit is roughly 66″ wide by 90″ tall and 7.5″ deep

Here is the supply list:
Plumbing pipe and fittings (all at 1/2″)

Pipe Fittings:
2 – 90º Elbows
4 – Base Flanges
package of self-anchored screws

Tools
Drill
3/4” Hole saw
plumbers wrench

Stay tuned.

Alinea story has many facets, but no real solution

Photo Credit (Smith Collection / Getty Images / September 13, 2011)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A couple and their baby walk into Alinea, hoping to enjoy an expensive upscale snooty dinner.

Maître d: I’m sorry we don’t allow loud whiny crying people.

Parents: what are we supposed to do with our 8 month old?

Maître d: I was talking to the 8 month old.

In case you were lucky enough to miss the latest Things That Don’t Concern Us But We’ll Chime In About fracas of the week, allow me to bring you up to speed: Grant Achatz, superstar chef of Alinea, sent a Tweet heard round the Internet when a couple’s infant allegedly cried during the restaurant’s dinner service.

Achatz tweeted: “Tbl brings 8mo.Old. It cries. Diners mad. Tell ppl no kids? Subject diners 2crying? Ppl take infants 2 plays? Concerts? Hate saying no,but..” via @Gachatz.

Alinea apparently is one of America’s most celebrated restaurants, where you can enjoy a one-of-a-kind gastro molecular experience at a price equal to many monthly mortgages a very expensive price.

We’re still waiting on Kim Jong-un, The Pope and two guys in Yamoussoukro to opine but the rest of the Internet didn’t hesitate to chime in on the subject. A parody account (@AlineaBaby) and a Yelp review written from the baby’s point of view have already sprouted up.  By the time national news had picked up the story, the whole hoopla had been christened Babygate or BabyCryGate. [I think this serves as an argument that we need to have moratorium on the whole name any scandal –gate.]

First there’s the No-Way Jose Camp that feels absolutely  under NO circumstances WHATSOEVER do you ever bring a baby to a fancy, expensive dinner.  Then there’s the Okay-Just-This-Once Camp that feels since  child care bailed 11th hour and the couple would be out the equivalent of the Gross National Product of Namibia, it’s okay just this one time.

Then there’s the Not This Situation But Camp who point out that kids shouldn’t be brought to movie theaters, sporting events and hey, could you actually keep them in your womb until it’s time to ship them off to college, who want to vent their spleen about all the volume crimes small children have every committed against them.

I could go one but I’m running out of cute names for these camps.

You can certainly make an argument for any of these camps. And a counter-argument. And a counter-counter argument. We at Chicago Now have been debating it for hours in our Super Secret Bat Cave hideout. The thing is, there is no perfect solution because Life and People are seldom, if ever, perfect.

Everyone would handle this situation slightly differently than the next person. Sure some would opt to stay home, others would call someone and see if they wanted to take their spot. Even the same couple, if they had to make the decision twice, might do something different each time. I’m not sure how they would be in that situation twice. Break a mirror? Gypsy Curse. Drive a Delorean?

The thing to remember is unless you were actually there it’s hard to say what exactly went down and, more importantly, how you would react. Case in point: Different Media outlets are reporting differently on Alinea’s policy of transferring tickets. Tribune says they allow it, but Today quoting Chicago Eatery says they don’t. That context alone is important to straighten out before chiming in on what one would hypothetically do or not do in a situation with 100% 20-20 hindsight.

As a childless family I would hope that if we someday have kids we would not subject them to this. When I use to attend mass, I’d get annoyed if someone brought their germy projectile-barfing poopsacks to service and it started crying. It always felt like I was sitting right next to the kid when in fact it was more often the acoustics of the church. I solved this problem by stopping going to church. Come to think of it, that’s probably why the family brought the kid to Mass; to be able to leave early, like before the offering plate is passed around.

Maybe the couple was simply hoping to be asked to leave before the check arrived!

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Jay Cutler Contract: Stop bitching about it already

By now everyone who cares knows the details for Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s seven-year, $126.7 million contract.  According to a league source, the deal didn’t include a signing bonus and has $54 million in total guaranteed money.  The deal averages $18.1 million per year.  source

Note:  I created this graphic based on numbers reported here.  If the info is wrong, don’t blame be, blame Yahoo Sports.

I don’t speak NFL salary cap but it looks to me like the Bears essentially signed Cutler to a three year deal when you consider that there is no guaranteed money owed to Cutler beyond Year Three.   After that, the Bears can keep or release him depending on how things look.   If he continues to improve and the Bears succeed, then they can keep him. If things go sour, they can part ways at a time when it is better to invest in a new franchise quarterback.  My definition of improve is:

• make the playoffs the next three years
• go deep in the playoffs with at least one NFC championship trip
• sweep the packers 2 of the next three years.

Okay perhaps that last one is asking too much, but we are overdue.

Why not re-sign Josh McCown and get a young QB in the draft to develop?  Cutler is four years younger than the 34-year-old McCown and has superior arm strength and consistency. Plus, who’s to say that McCown won’t be a one-year wonder? Cutler has proven throughout his career that he is capable of performing at a high level when the people are around him.   [I’m not saying that  you don’t still try to re-sign McCown and get a QB in the draft.  It just means it becomes less of a do or die imperative.]

Remember this is a Bears team that almost went to the playoffs in spite of their defense, which needs the most amount of work.    If their defense was just a shadow of the defense that started in September, Chicago would have had a reason to care about NFL football one more weekend (other than to see Green Bay lose).  I see this as a 3 year window to get to the Super Bowl or start over.

It’s all about flexibility and Bears GM Phil Emery did a remarkable job structuring Cutler’s contract,  front-loading the deal so all of the guaranteed money will be earned over the first three seasons. That provides Chicago with  enough flexibility to fix the defense now and when young players such as Alshon Jeffery, Kyle Long, Jordan Mills and many others are due for extensions, evaluate giving them lucrative deals.

Re-signing Jay Cutler was a smart decision and it’s time to move one and stop bitching about it.

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Speaking of the Pope, Vatican City Explained

So every Friday I like to feature a cool video. This one by the geniuses known as CGP Grey explains Vatican City.

What to say about the not so New Pope.  On the one hand it sounds like he’s a different breed from the garden variety bishops.  On the other hand, you don’t get to be a top dog without playing the game in one way or another.  So far I do like what I’ve been fed.

I’ve stop being a practicing Catholic in the sense that I stopped attending mass coincidentally once the Era of Nightingale began and except for weddings, haven’t been in a church in ages. Last year I missed getting ashes this year for the first time since becoming catholic (RCIA) and I didn’t give anything up for the second year in a row. It is probably more luck than effort that I haven’t eaten meat on Fridays during Lent.

The fact is, while I still believe in God and try to maintain a sense of spiritualism, I am pro choice and pro same-sex marriage. I also recognize that it’s kinda ridiculous to eat no meat on Fridays or give something up for lent in this day and age. Even though I find fault with some of the policies of the church, I still consider myself Catholic. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, I don’t know. That’s between me and God.

We can debate Catholicism another time. For now, just enjoy the video.

 

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Polish Museum of America opens new First Floor Gift Shop and PRCUA

Photo by Julita Siegel

If you are Polish or have Polish ancestry and grew up in Chicago, chances are good that your family dragged you to the The Polish Museum of America at some point in your childhood.  Depending on your level of maturity you either appreciated it or felt it was a waste of an afternoon.  The thing to realize is that if we Poles don’t start utilizing places like the PMA, they won’t be around for the next generation. Therefore please consider attending the following event.

 From the Press Release:

The Polish Museum of America cordially invites you to the Opening of the new First Floor Gift Shop and PRCUA / PMA Entryway on Sunday, January 26, 2014, with an Open House, 1-4 pm, The Polish Museum of America, 984 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, Illinois.

Tours of the new area will be given throughout the Open House.  Free will donations are always gratefully accepted.  Free Parking

https://www.facebook.com/events/1406515429594100/

 

 Komunikat prasowy

Kontakt: Maria Cieśla 1-773-384-3352 wew. 104

Muzeum Polskie w Ameryce serdecznie zaprasza Szanownych Państwa na Uroczystość otwarcia nowego sklepu muzealnego oraz nowego wejścia do budynku Zjednoczenia Polskiego Rzymsko-Katolickiego w Ameryce i Muzeum Polskiego w Ameryce w niedzielę, 26 stycznia 2014 roku w Muzeum Polskim w Ameryce, 984 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, Illinois w godzinach od 13 do 16.

Podczas uroczystości można będzie zwiedzić nowo otwarte miejsca. Dobrowolne datki na muzeum mile widziane. Darmowy parking

Photo by Greg Wiley

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Facebook up to no good — Again!

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4. That’s it, you’ve done it! Now you will see a notification that I’ve updated my fan page when you check into Facebook. I share infrequently and try to make it as fun and interesting as I can. Thanks for making my page and my blog a part of your day.

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What in the world ever happened to Maren Jensen?

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A bought of insomnia in the wee hours of the morning led me to scanning my Facebook feed and among them I happened across this post.

Geeks like me who grew up in the 70s and early 80s were big fans of Battlestar Galactica, one of the first space operas in the post Star Trek days. Many of us had a healthy crush on Colonial Warrior Athena AKA Maren Jensen.

 

a Facebook Fan page by James Flagler, the president of the Maren Jensen Fan Club states:

• Maren Jensen was born September 23rd 1956, in Glendale California, she attended Hebert Hoover High school, where she was an honors student (Maren was a straight ‘A’ student throughout high school) she went to UCLA on a scholarship. (where she majored in Law and Theatre-arts)

  

  Bet everyone was too intimidated to ask her to prom

• Maren’s stunning and exotic good looks (Danish and Hawaiian decent) soon landed her television commercials and a career in modeling. She was on the cover(s) of the most popular beauty, fashion and glamour magazines there are, in both the United states and Europe.

• In the 1980s, Maren was engaged to Don Henley (lead singer for the musical group the Eagles) and she also developed Epstein-Barr syndrome (which cut her acting career short) Maren recovered, but she left show business behind for good.

• Maren and Don broke off the engagement, but have remained very good friends over the years. Maren helped Don Henley with the Walden Woods project in the 1990s, it is dedicated to protecting the Walden Woods (in Massachusetts) from development.

• Maren is married and has a family. She lives in the New York metro area. Family, friends and business have her returning to the Los Angeles metro area from time to time.

I contacted Mr Flagler and through a volley of emails learned some interesting things about her.  On the Battlestar Galactica Fan Page, someone suggested the reason Jensen “disappeared” as the season went on was because she wouldn’t go the casting couch route.

“Maren’s time on Battlestar Galactica was reduced, because she was not an established actress and was in an adjustment period, going from model to actress, and at times, her acting was sub-par according to Glen A Larson, the producer of the show,” Flagler said. He went on to mention that Maren and Glen clashed out in the open at times because he thought she was lazy because she did not know her lines but it was the fact, that Maren was already feeling the early effects of Epstein Barr Syndrome (which drains a person of their energy) making daily activities difficult. Maren was taking acting lessons while shooting Battlestar Galactica and was paid $100,000 in advance to do BSG.

Flagler said he created the Maren Jensen fan page “because I really like the work that M.J. did….on Facebook, I saw numerous fan pages for Cheryl Ladd…and not one for M.J., so I thought, what the heck?”

this pic was taken (spur of the moment) by a fan, at a sci-fi media convention, many many years ago. (photo credit: James Flagler)

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