Radiation by Fiona Rae

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Radiation: Geek, annoyed

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  • Megan Wegan,

    When filming they hand-delivered daily rushes overnight to Los Angeles. That's one guy whose job is to travel daily between LA and Hawai'i, with daily return plane tickets on top.

    Jeepers. Could they not just hand it to the pilot?

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Jeepers. Could they not just hand it to the pilot?

    I hear they're all alcoholics these days. Can't trust them with anything important.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Jeepers. Could they not just hand it to the pilot?

    Last time they tried that he just "Threw it out of the window..."

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • tussock,

    Y'all should go watch B5. That's how you write a multi-season story arc that you won't see the big reveal a minute into the first episode.

    Guy sucked into the engine? Yes, welcome to afterlife for souls not ready to depart #1 (that guy was ready to leave after all). Everything else was just people finding what they wanted to find, secret hippy era nuclear bases and all.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    I never could stomach the production values and occasional silliness of Babylon 5. One of the main characters rose to be "Emperor of the Republic" - come on!

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Y'all should go watch B5. That's how you write a multi-season story arc

    Probably not the best example -- the last season was a bit of a mess, because it was assumed (for all kinds of fairly rational reasons) that the show was going to be cancelled at the end of season four. So, a lot of major plot threads were rather uncomfortably shoe-horned into the back end, and at least one held over into season five was rendered WTF-ly random by the sudden departure of a core cast member, and her part of it being dumped on another member of the cast.

    One of the main characters rose to be "Emperor of the Republic" - come on!

    So, no constitutional monarchies in the future -- or jockeying for power when the incumbent obligingly dies without a heir? :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • tussock,

    Probably not the best example

    Probably is the best example from my experience, despite the flaws. Most attempts are all over the place. For any series: tv, movie, book, comic, whatever, where time advances in a continuous fashion, the authors start with "leaping tall buildings in a single bound" and jump the shark with spinning the planet the wrong way to turn back time.

    Oh, right, jumping the shark.

    "Emperor of the Republic"

    Sure, because after centuries of democratic republics growing in power and ruling over the world, how could we ever fall back to Imperial rule. Caesar crossing the Rubicon or something? Never happen.

    Communist China a major world military and economic powerhouse compared to a peacefully united Europe? Ha! The people of 1970 would think you a madman.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Islander,

    Coupla things tussock - China has fucked huge amounts of that country's environment and that is the matter that will destroy current government.

    An Emperor of a republic is a non sequitur - it is illogical.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    An Emperor of a republic is a non sequitur - it is illogical.

    Well... you could argue that the Centauri aren't that big on logic. It's a nominal constitutional monarchy -- patriarchal, enforces a strict social and class hierarchy, obsessed with tradition, its government not "democratic" or "republican" in any sense we'd recognise. They're in denial that the days of unlimited power and influence are long gone; their society apathetic and decadent. And doomed.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • chris,

    China has fucked huge amounts of that country's environment and that is the matter that will destroy current government.

    I see it differently.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    An Emperor of a republic is a non sequitur - it is illogical.

    And that'd never happen in real life. I mean, where are you going to find a one-party dictatorship with hereditary leadership called The People's Democratic Republic of something?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    In context: still dumb.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    The Roman Emperor claimed to have a Republic, so I can't see why it should always be illogical.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • recordari,

    I see it differently.

    Yes, and so do a few other people, many of whom live in China.

    But also this article from 2009 indicates China's environmental malaise is not quite as bad as Western media would have us believe. Particularly if sourced from the US, as their house ain't so clean, and getting dirtier by thousands (millions?) of barrels of oil a day.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Now with this announcement , put me down as geek, intrigued (and cautiously optimistic):

    BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and US premium entertainment network Starz Entertainment have today announced a three-way co-production partnership that will develop a new series of the hit BBC sci-fi drama Torchwood. BBC Worldwide will also distribute the series to broadcasters globally.

    Oooh... I do hope John Barrowman isn't off being fitted for a Sparty-style prosthetic penis though...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    Now with this announcement , put me down as geek, intrigued (and cautiously optimistic):

    Oo! If this is, as it appears, instead of Russell T writing a separate American version of the show, that in itself gives it a big head start in the optimism stakes.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oo! If this is, as it appears, instead of Russell T writing a separate American version of the show, that in itself gives it a big head start in the optimism stakes.

    Well, after the complete cluster-fuck gang bang Fox made of Dollhouse and Sarah Connor Chronicles, I'm downright ecstatic they passed on Torchwood in any form. I think Fox just isn't interested in genre shows with any kind of edge or complexity.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • 3410,

    New York Times:

    A late silent feature directed by John Ford, a short comedy directed by Mabel Normand, a period drama starring Clara Bow and a group of early one-reel westerns are among a trove of long-lost American films recently found in the New Zealand Film Archive.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Yes ,an interesting story here. They appeared to be moldering in a back room at the Archive--potentially turning into nitrate soup--until a visiting American archivist chanced upon them. Apparently they hail from a time when it wasn't worth the expense to return American film prints to the home territory.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    An academic in my department who researches Clara Bow films will be looking forward to seeing that lost one.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Yes, an interesting story here.

    Chech out the slideshow.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    China has fucked huge amounts of that country's environment and that is the matter that will destroy current government.

    No, actually, we did.

    The computer you are reading this on either was made in China or has components made in China. We demand these products for our lives, along with a whole heap of other products, right down to the undies that you are wearing.

    If we manufactured those products ourselves, our environment would be fucked. All we have done is come to some nice arrangement with China whereby we export that pollution and import consumer goods from there.

    And given their particular political and governance arrangements, and general worldview they are pretty happy to have come to this arrangement. Undoubtedly, we are very happy with it; shiny Apple computers and a clean(ish) environment - what more could we want?

    It's not about merely importing consumer goods; it's about us exporting pollution to China.

    And to be fair, China exports pollution to us in return for their imported NZ milk; just ask the many fish and other fauna that inhabit the many streams on dairy farms.

    Given our exporting of pollution to China, I suspect that they have every right to change the terms of the arrangement and charge us more for their goods to help clean up our exports.

    Get the right perspective and the problem becomes much clearer.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report

  • Islander,

    That is one aspect of China's very real environmental problems.
    Other aspects include mining, dam building, deforestation - and those things are driven by Chinese authorities.
    (My - unboutedly partial - info comes from 2 Chinese friends, based in Australia, and connected with one of the extraction industries.)

    I wont comment on the huge damage that we have done to our environment - suffice it to say I've been a greenie since the early 1970s, with paticular interests in bush, wetlands, and the ocean.

    O, and my undies do not come from the Warehouse, and they are not made in China.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    Ok, so I guess we could agree that a) part of China's environmental problems is the result of us exporting pollution, and b) another part, which I hadn't actually thought about, is caused by their own actions not linked to our consumerist demands,

    And my undies are made in China, sadly. I will have to hunt down NZ made ones, or at a stretch, Aussie made. (Which is difficult as often NZ 'made' ones means the base garment comes from China and then 'transformed' here).

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report

  • recordari,

    And my undies are made in China, sadly. I will have to hunt down NZ made ones, or at a stretch, Aussie made.

    That should be a rule in the Undie 500. Down under undies™ only.

    [coat]

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

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