Doug's Darkworld

I went and saw the latest Tarantino movie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Some general spoilers ahead, as opposed to specific spoilers. People’s preferences for spoilers vary, some don’t want to hear any, other friends want me to describe the movie or book in detail. I have a friend who when he gets a new book, he reads the last few pages first. I still have trouble grasping the appeal of that, but whatever floats his boat. OK, the Tarantino movie. If one is a Tarantino fan, fine movie; not as good as his best, better than his worst.

If one isn’t a Tarantino fan, the movie is two and a half hours of boredom followed by ten minutes of blood curdling violence. “Look, she’s watching a movie!” “Look, what a cute dog!” “Look, they’re driving a car! Again!” I got so bored I started watching the backgrounds to count how many times the same vintage cars were used in the various scenes. Then blood everywhere, the end. See, I saved the reader $7. Or $37 if they live on the east or west coast.

So yes, immediately after the movie, I hated it. Upon further reflection, I don’t hate it as much. It was a tribute to 1970’s Hollywood, and in retrospect that part worked. The main plot and subplots all tied together nicely. There was some quirky Tarantonio style humour. The thing I liked most about the movie, well, I can’t say anything about it without giving it away. I guess all in all using a four star system, I give it a provisional three stars. To recap, If one isn’t into Tarantino films, meh, I can’t recommend ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ Everyone else, enjoy!

In real news India lost their first Moon lander Friday. And the first human attempt to land something at the Moon’s South Pole. Bummer all around. Well, they didn’t lose the Vikram Lander, they just lost communication with it moments before it landed. The lander’s orbital component, the Chandrayaan-2 satellite, spotted the Vikram Lander intact on the surface. That doesn’t mean it had a soft landing unfortunately. Attempts to resume communication with the lander will go on for at least two weeks, but it’s not looking good. On the plus side, the orbiter has the best camera yet to orbit the Moon, it can resolve features down to .3 meters (about a foot) accross. Most space missions these days have multiple functions, so that baring a catastrophic failure, at least some science can come out of it. In this case, great science, the best pictures yet of the lunar surface.

No clue yet why Chandrayaan-2’s lander failed, but like airliner crashes, a lot of work has been done in identifying why space missions fail. Teams of experts are likely already meeting to discuss the possibilities. And there are a lot of possibilities, space is a brutal environment. Extreme heat and cold, radiation, and even at the Moon’s distance (1.3 light seconds away from Earth) real time control from Earth isn’t possible. And I’ve always thought there must be all sorts of ways to subtly sabotage space missions. India has at least one rival who won’t be sad to see India fail.

In other world news, Trump has walked away from talks with the Taliban. So much for the US pulling out of Afghanistan and ending America’s longest and possibly most pointless war. Of course when it comes to pointless or even counterproductive wars, 21st century America is a Viking. So once again after a promising start to negotiations, Trump’s efforts at diplomacy have yielded a big fat nothing. At least he’s consistent.

In other Trump news, Trump is still tweeting about his incorrect hurricane prediction. It’s kinda scary, he apparently is unable to admit he was wrong. That’s not a pretty character trait in anyone. The image above was sent to me by a Trump supporting reader. It made me laugh and facepalm. What can I say, if someone’s painting shit on overpasses, they’re likely not too bright to begin with. Speaking of Trump (God, he seeps into everything these days, as if America was just one big load of white laundry that a red hat got tossed into,) every time now I wish readers to have a great week or weekend, I wonder if readers think it’s some subtle allusion to Trump.

No. I was saying ‘Have a great week!’ long before Trump was even visible in Clinton’s rear view mirror. Now though, I guess Trump has kinda claimed the word ‘great’ for his own. So, um, have a wonderful week everyone. (See, not an allusion to Trump.)

Copyright © 2019 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: An overpass in the USA, circa Sept 2019. Credit: Anonymous, permission was given to publish it here.)