Well, I'm just about starting Chapter-10...

But my personal unrelated opinion of the universe is that A)- it's free-market capitalism out there.  B)- it's strong predator vs. less-strong predator... so it's probably not good that Earth is a blue sparkle*, theoretically attracting attention.  (* I've no data that defines the universal median of xray/visual/ultraviolet spectral resonance.  Dinosaurs living in the poles' long nights, had bigger eyes, thus were bigger delicacies for egg-snatchers.) 

Quote from: TboneAgain on May 05, 2015, 02:14:13 AM
Before you're finished with the novel, you'll be exposed to nothing less than an alternative theory of evolution -- Clarke's fascinating idea of species alteration by means of alien intervention. His description of the activities of the aliens, and specifically what they do in their travels, could substitute for the actions of God.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that Clarke was an atheist or an agnostic or anything else, and I'm not promoting or denigrating any sort of religious belief. In fact, after reading 2001, I can't believe that Clarke was agnostic. His work embodied the concept of a higher power. The aliens in Clarke's story were nothing if not a higher power.

The short story on which the novel is based was called "The Sentinel." Think about the monolith buried under the surface of the Tycho crater for millions of years, waiting all that time for exposure to the sun. Like a good sentinel, it sent out its shout when the event it was assigned to monitor happened. It took millions of years for mankind to find "TMA-1," but when the sun finally touched the monolith's surface,  it was time to blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to shoot that radio beam on a trajectory that almost struck Jupiter, and nearly blew the eardrums out of the folks posing for pictures nearby at the time. The message -- it's time for the next shift, the next mutation, the next skills test. Or perhaps the message was just that somebody has found the thing buried on Earth's moon, and it's time to take another look in that direction.

Y'all will find one thing in the book, if nothing else -- depth.

What you just described was L Ron Hubbard's theory which he based on Scientology, a Godless religion.
They too believe that we are essentially alien seed, that God had nothing to do with it, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room, the God that created the alien.

Something my brother and I used to argue about often, that is, until he left the so called "Church".
He joined back during it''s founding, lived and worked on Hubbard's ship for a decade, till he finally realized he had absolutely no future.

Back to the topic, sorry for the derail.

Quote from: Solar on May 05, 2015, 06:26:59 AM
What you just described was L Ron Hubbard's theory which he based on Scientology, a Godless religion.
They too believe that we are essentially alien seed, that God had nothing to do with it, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room, the God that created the alien.

Something my brother and I used to argue about often, that is, until he left the so called "Church".
He joined back during it''s founding, lived and worked on Hubbard's ship for a decade, till he finally realized he had absolutely no future.

Back to the topic, sorry for the derail.

I think it's already derailed...   In a good way.  It's the kind of subject that will re-rail itself.

Quote from: kit saginaw on May 05, 2015, 03:35:31 PM
I think it's already derailed...   In a good way.  It's the kind of subject that will re-rail itself.

Well, then speaking of Scientology....

Judy Garland - Follow the yellow brick road

Quote from: TboneAgain on May 05, 2015, 02:14:13 AM
Before you're finished with the novel, you'll be exposed to nothing less than an alternative theory of evolution -- Clarke's fascinating idea of species alteration by means of alien intervention. His description of the activities of the aliens, and specifically what they do in their travels, could substitute for the actions of God.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that Clarke was an atheist or an agnostic or anything else, and I'm not promoting or denigrating any sort of religious belief. In fact, after reading 2001, I can't believe that Clarke was agnostic. His work embodied the concept of a higher power. The aliens in Clarke's story were nothing if not a higher power.

The short story on which the novel is based was called "The Sentinel." Think about the monolith buried under the surface of the Tycho crater for millions of years, waiting all that time for exposure to the sun. Like a good sentinel, it sent out its shout when the event it was assigned to monitor happened. It took millions of years for mankind to find "TMA-1," but when the sun finally touched the monolith's surface,  it was time to blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to shoot that radio beam on a trajectory that almost struck Jupiter, and nearly blew the eardrums out of the folks posing for pictures nearby at the time. The message -- it's time for the next shift, the next mutation, the next skills test. Or perhaps the message was just that somebody has found the thing buried on Earth's moon, and it's time to take another look in that direction.

Y'all will find one thing in the book, if nothing else -- depth.

Starting Chapter 17, just before actually meeting HAL.  So Dave's fave book was Homer's Odyssey, eh?

Quote from: TboneAgain on April 26, 2015, 09:54:18 PM
Clarke was a visionary, and a hell of a storyteller. He foresaw concepts like shuttle travel, satellite communication, space stations, and others. I'm glad his masterwork (2001) got the film attention it did. I'm sad the movie wasn't about two hours longer. The story deserves four or five hours to tell in movie form.

And you're right, for the first time, 2001 presented space as space looks. But even further, it presented the utter silence of space.... almost. If you listen carefully, in the space shots where there's no music, there's a sort of quiet hiss. It's not silence, but it's close, and it's consistent. What you don't hear is the noise of physical impacts or rocket engines. I think the scenes where Bowman defeated Hal and re-entered Discovery through the emergency door and then invaded the core of Hal himself and started removing memory modules represented that whole concept quite well. The shot of the escape hatch blowing off the excursion pod -- the utter silence of the detonation of the explosive bolts -- was powerful specifically because of the silence. I think 2001 was the first film to present that aspect of space travel, and I have to say that very few later sci-fi space flicks have met that standard.

" It's full of stars... "

I've finished the book.  Just about everything in it packs way more of a punch than the film could present.  Notably, the station's location in Saturn's orbit.  Not Jupiter's, as Kubrick couldn't get Saturn to 'look right' on film.  The essence of the book is the journey to Saturn's rings. 

The journey through the gate was as narratively-balanced as the descriptions through-out.  And it's an enlightening wrinkle to depict the aliens as caring in a not-caring-who-found-them pattern.

Bravo.

-from Cellular, with Jason Statham...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6s0rKc9bwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxg162QbDw

One of the movies, and especially the theme song, which made my childhood. But that princess was freakin' ugly, she still gives me the creeps. I remember I had to comfort myself: "At least she's a blonde. At least she's a blonde."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7KBIMFlRRY

Quote from: milos on December 19, 2015, 08:35:53 AM
One of the movies, and especially the theme song, which made my childhood. But that princess was freakin' ugly, she still gives me the creeps. I remember I had to comfort myself: "At least she's a blonde. At least she's a blonde."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7KBIMFlRRY

Even as an adult, I loved that movie and especially the sound track.

This one's not from a movie, it's an opening theme from a TV series, and it certainly made the series, since I can't possibly remember anything in this series but the opening theme. It brings back memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5ofSHZWTM

Quote from: milos on August 23, 2016, 01:52:12 PM
This one's not from a movie, it's an opening theme from a TV series, and it certainly made the series, since I can't possibly remember anything in this series but the opening theme. It brings back memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5ofSHZWTM

The song was a hit, but I have never heard of that show before. I think it was done by Roy Orbison, but to lazy to confirm it.

Best sitcom theme in my book was

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpvvSI5k7r8

Quote from: Solar on August 23, 2016, 02:10:10 PM
The song was a hit, but I have never heard of that show before. I think it was done by Roy Orbison, but to lazy to confirm it.

Crime Story was an all-out romp set in the early 1960s, following the Chicago police effort to take down a mobster on his way up to controlling the Las Vegas gambling world. It's packed with good music, funny characterization and terrific old cars. Good stuff!

Quote from: quiller on August 24, 2016, 04:14:22 AM
Crime Story was an all-out romp set in the early 1960s, following the Chicago police effort to take down a mobster on his way up to controlling the Las Vegas gambling world. It's packed with good music, funny characterization and terrific old cars. Good stuff!

ADDED:

My apologies for not including Del Shannon's marvelous song "Runaway," but unfortunately the only YouTube copy I could quickly find was awful audio, and this from the David Letterman TV show not much better. But here he is, live, and that song remains as strong in 2016 as when it first aired so long ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSkV9pdzLgo