Probably required by the Actors' Guild for safety. The horses were probably all a newer breed, too.

A fair point, but couldn’t you edit them out?

Live feed of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch. Blast off is scheduled for 3:45PM EDT.

Awesome! I was literally clapping when I saw the two booster rockets make perfect landings at the end. It's about time we were able to do this, instead of just dumping them like garbage into the sea.

I hope the core landing went as well.

Core didn't fair as well. Two of the three engines didn't ignite, and it missed the ship. Hit the water at something like 300mph.

I have had poor luck with movies this week. I tried Bladerunner 2049 a few days ago. But it was meh. It moved a pace best described as glacial. They could have cut an hour from the movie and lost nothing, but boredom. It has a big twist near the end, which is rather meh. Harrison Ford is barely in it. Instead it relies upon Justin Theroux. Boy, that guy is ugly. His eyes are tiny, and too close together. It makes the top of his head look smaller than the bottom. I was very underwhelmed.

I also tried Netflix's new Cloverfield movie. Which like the last Cloverfield movie has absolutely nothing to do with Cloverfield. Maybe Solo will be the next Cloverfield movie? It is not like it needs to have any link to the first - and only real - Cloverfield.

Anyway, even as a standalone sci-fi movie, it is weak. That is in spite of Agent Kallus (well David Oyelowo) being one of the stars. It is supposed to be set in a future where the Earth is just a few years away from completely running out of energy. But aside from a long line at the gas station at the beginning of the movie, we never see any trace of energy being in short supply. Even those people in line had their engines on, wasting the fuel they had! Lights blaze everywhere, everyone is still driving their cars. The world we see is all nice and clean and neat.

Come to think of it, Bladerunner 2049 had a similar problem. The original Bladerunner was a dystopian mess, with garbage everywhere and people packed in like sardines. We hardly see any other people in the sequel, and for the most part everything is nice and neat and clean. Except for the part set in a garbage dump of course. But even that was just all piles of old iron scrap. Not plastic bags, no old tires, no rotting anything being eaten by seagulls. When I compare it to the worlds presented in films like Soylent Green, well it is very wanting.

Anyway, neither film really made me believe in their worlds. Or really much of anything.

I watched Westworld today. No, not the tv show. The original, from 1973. Even after all this time, it is still a good movie. Some of it is cheesy by modern standards, especially the fake blood. But the characters are good, and the story - while simple - works. I especially liked how the robots get a silvery gleam in their eyes, sort of like Riddick's shine job. Yul Brenner really steals the show as the Gunslinger. He only has something like 3 lines in the movie, but his charisma really shines through.

I got inspired to watch it because during my ongoing watching of the new Westworld there was a neat homage to the original. There is a scene where Jeffrey Wright (who is marvelous as always) goes deep down into the basements where the oldest robots are stored. In the background, and slightly out of focus, was Yul Brenner's Gunslinger. He was just standing there, obviously shut down for decades. But it was cool nonetheless.

Watching Gotham by Gaslight. Like the graphic novel, it is excellent. Outstanding voice acting, good story, solid artwork. Anthony Head is especially awesome as Alfred.

It is funny, DC is definitely lagging behind in the superhero movies. But when it comes to animation they are just killing Marvel. Mainly it is just the Batamation, like this one, Batman and Harley Quinn, Gotham Knight, Under the Red Hood, Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, etc.. Marvel has not been doing anything in animation remotely as good. At least not since Wolverine and the X-Men, and that was 10 years ago.

Even with its sappy parts, this is one of my favorite movies. I still get a knot in my stomach watching it when Yul Brenner is chasing that guy after his robotic eyes have been burned with acid!

I haven't seen the show yet, but would really love to see that scene!

Just got done watching Soylent Green again for the first time in probably a decade. Still an awesome movie.

Though it has been a very long time since I saw that, I do remember it well - and agree with you.

IT’S PEOPLE!!

Never saw the movie by the way. Need to do that.

That was another good one! Our sociology teacher in Jr. High school made us watch it = stunned the whole class so badly that we couldn't even discuss it; lol. Didn't want to eat in the cafeteria after that either,

Soylent Green was a wonderfully chilling dystopian future. When I watch other dystopian movies, I often compare them to it. That is one of the ways I found the new Bladerunner and Cloverfield movies wanting. It also takes place in... 2018! Oops I was wrong. The movie set in 2020. Something during the movie was from 2018, I think when Soylent Green first went on sale.

Wow, we are slacking. 2015 was supposed to be hoverboards and 2018 was supposed to be reconstituted human food paste. Khajiit is disappointed in humanity.

Now with more flavor!

Yes, it is really amazing how advanced everyone thought the world would be by now; yet here we are almost the exact same as we were when these movies were being produced. What happened to our drive for advancement?








Right? "Back to the Future?"









EW! Is that what the movie used to represent the urk? Now I won't be eating that again,

Mmmm, flavored powder!

No, the real Soylent company only got started a few years ago. They just used crackers for the other types of soylent in the movie. The soylent green didn't even look like real crackers, just like metal or plastic squares colored green (they didn't flake or crumble no matter how they were crushed).

And Blade runner is set in 2019. So Pris will be two years old on Wednesday.

I wonder how they were eaten/chewed if they couldn't be crushed?





It would make a good theme for a party though = soylent green looking cookies and cakes, green ice cream,

Add in some green beer and Khajiit is totally at that party!

Speaking of green beer, anyone ever drink the stuff on St. Paddy’s? Khajiit prefers Guinness on St. Paddy’s so has never touched the green beer.

I am watching Salem's Lot, the original from the 70s with David Soul. It's a bit dated, and I thought "Mr Barlow" was kind of poorly done. But I still love it. Bonnie Bedelia is playing the girlfriend. That's right. John McClain's (ex) Wife Holly.

Saw that a long time ago but don’t remember a whole lot about it though. Also saw the remake with Rob Lowe they did last decade. Again, don’t remember much about it, lol

A curling match between Switzerland and Norway!

The Frankenstein Chronicles is now on Netflix! And they are claiming it is their original work!! Netflix simply bought it from ITV. But I am not complaining too much. I never had the chance to see the second season.

Now that's long-distance winter sports!

Or did you just mean the teams come from those places?

Yes.

I've not watched a full-length feature film in going on to year now! When my hearing tanked to its now even more pathetic level I sort of lost interest, as a film's sound and music tracks were always of utmost importance to me. I do still watch a LOT of video at YouTube, mainly independent news media, gaming videos, those fewer and fewer classical music clips I hear well enough to enjoy, documentaries on things past, and so on.

But that's beside the point.

Whether or not this is the most appropriate thread to do so, I wish to announce that, after an over four year absence, I have at long last uploaded another game related video. No, not a continuation of my abandoned Oblivion series. This one's about a game I'm currently playing hot and heavy, the railroad empire building early alpha title Mashinky. Unlike every player-made Mashinky video I've seen, and I've seen quite a few, at least in part, mine focuses solely on the game's "realistic view mode," and spends almost the whole of its time in first-person cab engine mode:

Mashinky Scenic Excursions EP01 - from Wigan to Hisherlick

One thing for sure. It'll never win awards for narrative delivery! Still, I'm more satisfied with the results than I expect to be. (But then I had pretty low expectations.) Unlike my old Oblivion episodes, this looks good seen full-screen at 1080p.

Wow, nice work, Decrepit!

quite enjoyable, Decrepit! Takes me back to my childhood spending summers at a railway museum in Wisconsin riding behind steamers and watching the landscape scroll by . . .

One of my most memorable vacation memories was the day I spent riding the Cumbres & Toltec from Antonito to Cumbres Pass. Even though the engine cracked a crankrod and we were stranded on the mesa for about an hour while a repair crew ran out from Antonito, it was a blast and I would totally do it again.

Thanks for an enjoyable watch! Even Google's mangled captions didn't ruin the ride.

Decrepit Railways. I hope this will cure my insomnia!

I was wondering about how you came up on the name Hisherlick. I did guess right that it was inspired by Troy!

*Waves goodbye to Train 253!*

Mangled captions? Oh my! I haven't noticed those. What you might be seeing are not the fault of Google but rather myself. I make couple of my infamous brain-fart mistakes when first typing my vids info. I corrected them, or think I did, almost immediately. Maybe Google is being slow to catch up?

Wow, I envy your experience with railroading. I've had little direct experience riding trains, except during my late 80's stay in Japan, where I took advantage of their excellent rail public transit service every chance I got. I'm old enough to have witnessed the final dying days of steam as it was being obliterated by diesel. Alas, the Cotton Belt tracks that ran through my small hometown were amongst the first to jettison their entire steam loco roster. I never saw a one. Not until during a brief trip to Thailand during my earliest military days, when one of the towns we visited had a train yard full of functional steam engines.

Well, if that first episode doesn't cure insomnia, the one I'm working on now surely will. At least I had a few interesting things to say in EP01. With the longer EP02 I run out of ideas partway through and start spewing out filler material of little worth. Nor is its scenery as interesting except maybe at the beginning. I'm gonna re evaluate how I wanna handle long train runs, maybe cut out the more boring bits if they extend too long. We shall see.

The classic movie Blade Runner.

Still haven’t seen it in its entirety.

Its a good film even better that my favorite New Age artist Vangelis composed the soundtrack to it.

I have been watching Hitler's Circle of Evil on Netflix. It reminds me of the good old days when the Hitler History Channel actually had shows about, you know, history. Rather than focusing on Hitler, which has been done to death, this series is all about his inner circle: Goering, Goebbels, Hess, Himmler, Rohm, etc...

It starts in the final months of WWI, and slowly takes us through the creation of the Nazi party, their rise to power, and eventual downfall. The show takes its time, and does it really well. The jockeying for position and infighting among the inner circle is center-stage in most of the show. Likewise the clever use of economic disasters and bigotry they used to gain power (because the Nazi's never took power, it was given to them). For people too young to not be familiar with it, I suggest watching, because it is definitely a cautionary tale that all electorates should be aware of.

This sounds very interesting. Will probably be checking this out.

Badgers.

Just watched 10 Cloverfield Lane. I have avoided it up until now because it is not really a Cloverfield movie. The rights to it were bought by JJ Abrams, and for some bizarre reason he decided to slap the Cloverfield name on it, even though it has nothing at all to do with the original Cloverfield movie, or the Netflix Cloverfield Paradox movie. All of that just put a bad taste in my mouth.

But I have seen good reviews of it, so I decided to give it a chance, and judge it simply on its own merits. I am glad I did. It is really good. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is, well, Mary Elizabeth Winstead She is such a talented actress, I don't know why she has not gotten bigger roles. John Goodman is outstanding as the crazy survivalist who kidnaps her. He is ultra creepy.

It is basically just her, Goodman, and one other dude locked up in a bunker. Goodman's character claims the world has ended. Nuclear war, chemical weapons, aliens, could be anything. So he is keeping everyone inside, and he is clearly a psychopath. I am not going to get spoilery, because there are some big plot twists. But just forget the Cloverfield name, and it is an excellent suspense thriller.

I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!!!

Khajiit has never gotten into comic books, and has never been an overly big fan of Marvel. Growing up, this one occasionally watched the X-men cartoon when it was running, and later the movies that came out in the early/mid 00’s. Yesterday, Khajiit watched both of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, and found them to be enjoyable, fun flicks. The plot of the second one was a bit “out there”, but it was still enjoyable. Absolutely love Dave Bautista’s character in this series. Dude is hilarious!

I finished Hitler's Circle of Evil today. It was really good. A solid view of the intense rivalries, plots and counter-plots that took place within Hitler's inner circle of henchmen.

I never quite realized it until now, but almost every one of them committed suicide in the end. Hitler of course did. Then Goebbels and his wife killed their children and themselves. Then Borman tried to escape Berlin, but when facing possible capture by the Soviets, he killed himself. Himmler killed himself with cyanide after being captured by the British. Goering likewise went into captivity, but after being sentenced to hang at Nuremburg, he too took cyanide. Rudolf Hess spent most of the war in British custody, and remained in prison for the rest of his life. Until he too killed himself by hanging. Only Albert Speer did not take his own life, but instead spent 20 years in prison.

Yeah Khajiit watched a bunch of the episodes but hasn’t finished them yet. It is quite an interesting series.

Thanks to Hitler's Circle of Evil, I am now watching Conspiracy. Or rewatching, as I have seen it several times already. I was delighted to notice who had a tiny part of a radio operator with only two lines of dialogue - Loki! Yes, Tom Hiddleston himself, looking younger than ever.

I finished AICO on Netflix. It was good. A solid anime sci-fi with strong characterization and action. It has a few plot holes, and the very large cast of characters got a little confusing at times. But none of that was deal-breaking. If you are in the mood for anime, I highly recommend it.

With that out of the way, I am going back to Dark Matter. I watched the first two seasons over the last month and a half, then got sidetracked with other things. Now I am starting season three, which I just read is sadly the last. This is such an excellent show. The Sci-Fi channel has not done anything of this quality since Farscape, which it resembles in some ways (a band of anti-heroes thrown together on a spaceship vs. the rest of the galaxy).

I discovered that my favorite character of Five/Emily is played by Jodelle Ferland. Not a name that immediately jumps to mind I know. But she played the little girl Sharon/Alessa in Silent Hill. Now I might have to go back and watch that again.

I have been watching Violet Evergarden on Netflix. It is just outstanding. The main character Violet is described as a weapon. I think she is a robot. Even though we see in some episodes that she has red blood. No one really says what she is. But she clearly is not human. It is not really a key point though, because the show is not about what she is, but who she is becoming.

It is set in a land similar to Europe, at the end of the equivalent of WWI. Violet was a soldier in the war. The show starts at the end of the war, and Violet - who has never known anything else - must learn to how to simply live her life, and choose who she is going to be. She becomes a scribe, writing letters for hire. It seems in this land writing is not so common, but even people who can write hire people like Violet to help them express their feelings in writing. Or just to perform the task of typing while they dictate - for example Violet spends some time doing the typing for a playwright who is working on a new play. She also assists an astronomical observatory translate old books that are falling apart into new editions -saving them from being lost.

Many of the episodes are told from the pov of the supporting characters. I liked this a lot, as it shows how Violet touched these people lives, and changed them forever. Along the way Violet herself grows as a person, learning to feel, to face her feelings, and face her future. It can be very sweet and sappy, but also very sad. There is a little bit of action in spots, but mainly it is about character development. Definitely a chick flick all the way, and a really good one.

This sounds cool!

I just finished the second episode of the new Lost In Space. So far so good. It is a huge improvement over the Lost In Space movie from the 90s.

The characters are good. They mixed things up a little by making John Robinson the military war guy, Maureen the scientist, and Don West a mechanic. Toby Stephens is great as usual as Daddy Robinson, and his wife Maureen is played by Jackie Sharp from House of Cards. The robot is really cool. It was built by aliens, and it looks like it was responsible for destroying the character's mother ship. Whether it is friend or foe remains to be seen. I just love Penny the most though. She has an everyman quality, that makes her stand out all the more when she rises to the occasion.