MCU and Trans Characters?

Maybe.

The source isn't the Daily Mail, but it isn't a major source either. The source claims that Marvel is currently looking to cast a "trans woman of any ethnicity" in a forthcoming film. It may tie in with some tweets made by black trans actor Angelica Ross.

Given the MCU's record on LGBT I'm not holding my breath, but we can definitely hope. There's no word as to which character in which film, although Sera, a canonically trans character connected tangentially to Thor might be a possibility.

If this is true I give them points, because I am so tired of cis actors being cast to play trans characters.

When trans actors are routinely cast to play cis characters then cis actors can play trans characters...

No, there is not...

...a city on the moon that NASA edits out because they're in the pay of the aliens.

(Or maybe the Inhumans?)

Seriously, gotta love the moon-related conspiracy theories. Btw, the reason the flag was rippled as by wind on the moon is: The flag was a special one. They knew it wouldn't fly without an atmosphere, so they put a bar along the top to hold it out.

Which the astronauts bent slightly, causing the flag to look ripply. Which probably looked better than planned ;).

Starhopper Flies - Honest

We pretty much have to believe SpaceX as there was a lot of smoke. The experimental engine flew up to sixty feet, hovered, and came back down. (The goal is for Starhopper to be fully reusable).

Solar Selfie

Just going to post this

Isn't that a beautiful sight? The tests seem to be going well.

Tears in Rain

One thing science fiction does not have many good examples of is the soliloquy. There's one notable exception:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

The scene is so iconic that some people likely have it memorized. Kids who are too young to have scene the original Blade Runner? You should.

Yet, the tears in rain monologue was not in the script. Or rather it was, but not in its final form.

The original script had him say something much more technical, was a bit longer and, tellingly, left out the actual "tears in rain."

In fact, Hauer, without consulting the director at all, rewrote the speech the night before filming. His version was the one that was used, over the much more forgettable original.

Actors often make alterations to the script. From inhabiting the character, they come to know them better than the writer and director ever could.

But there are very few cases when an actor alters the script and the result becomes one of the treasures of the genre. Even people who have not seen the movie know about the replicant dying in the rain. It was (less effectively) reprised in Blade Runner 2, but most of us knew that somebody had to die in the rain.

And we owe it not to Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner being, in all honesty, one of the exceptions to the rule that the book is better), nor to the script writers Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples (who's names we don't really remember) but to Rutger Hauer.

It's telling that many of us remember Hauer most for Blade Runner, including those who were just slightly too young to watch it first time round (I don't remember when and where I first saw it, but I think it was on TV and I was a young teenager), despite his numerous roles since. Blind Fury, Lothos in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he was even in a couple of episodes of Smallville, he was in Batman Begins and Sin City. He was known for his versatility as an actor and won a Golden Globe for Escape from Sobibor.

But even younger people remember that speech. And if you don't, here.

I'm with the people who think the words "Tears in rain" belong on Hauer's grave.

The actor died yesterday after a "very short illness." He was 75.

But tears will always fall in the rain.

They Risk Their Lives for Our Entertainment...

...and are thoroughly unsung.

The filming of Deadpool 2 fell under a cloud after the (thoroughly preventable) death of stunt performer Joi Harris.

Now Joe Watts, Vin Diesel's stunt double, is in a medically induced coma after falling thirty feet when a support cable apparently snapped.

This one may have been preventable too - sadly, many accidents involving stunt performers are.

But even when everything is done right, stunt performers risk life and limb so that we can enjoy that summer blockbuster...and some earn only a few thousand a year. Even the very best make up to $250,000, which sounds like a lot, but when you put it up against what the actors make...

Stuntmen also provide skills that actors may not have. It's relatively rare, for example, for an actor to learn swordfighting for a role - one notable exception being George Takei, who took fencing lessons because he wanted to do his own stunts in the Star Trek episode "The Naked Time." (Takei apparently enjoyed it far too much, because he went on to become a master fencer). Most horseback riders you see in the movies are stunt performers, especially these days. During the heyday of the western, riding was a required skill for actors, but not so much any more.

And they take these risk. And sometimes movie companies let them down. A stuntman was almost killed in the Ben Hur chariot race. Even actors occasionally die - Brandon Lee during The Crow comes to mind.

And there is no Oscar awarded for stunt work.

There should be.

Fingers Crossed for LightSail 2

The first attempt at solar sail deployment is scheduled for 18:22 UTC (GMT) today. That's 2:22pm for those of us on the east coast.

The deployment window is determined by the range of the ground station, and if controllers aren't happy with the health of the spacecraft, they will push it back.

The live stream will start at 2pm EST here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxcsLSpFV4c

So much for me getting anything done this afternoon...

MCU Phase Four

Marvel unveiled Phase Four, which will contain six movies and four TV shows (all sadly on Disney Plus, so you'll have to pay extra for them...admittedly it's tempting at this point, with them being in continuity. Dang you).

I'm gonna stick to the movies.

Black Widow - May 1, 2020. Filming right now. Is going to feature Florence Pugh as Yelena (the other Black Widow/Red Widow) and David Harbour as Red Guardian. Will take place in the immediate aftermath of Civil War. I'm both glad and mad it's not Budapest.

The Eternals - November 6, 2020. Features a multi-ethnic ensemble headlined by Angelina Jolie. I'm intrigued. I know very little about the books.

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - February 12, 2021. Simi Liu will be taking on the title role and The Mandarin will appear for real, played by Thomas Leung. No Fu Manchu, thank the gods (I really think that character is unsalvageable). Liu is Canadian, while I was rather hoping for a British actor for accent reasons. But he's got some solid stunt credits, so I'm hopeful.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - May 7, 2021. Dear The Verge, it is in not and. This is not a Harry Potter movie and getting it wrong ruins the Lovecraft pun. It's confirmed that this will be a horror movie of sorts.

Thor: Love And Thunder - November 5, 2021. Natalie Portman will be wielding the hammer as Jane Foster/Lady Thor. Directed by Taika Waititi. From that and the title I'm expecting a romantic comedy.

Phase five will start in 2022.

The TV shows, incidentally, are Hawkeye, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki and What If? with the last being a series of short animated episodes that are things that will never happen in the MCU. This is an old comics standard being brought to TV for the first time.

Making Mice Hallucinate

Scientists have discovered that simulating a limited number of neurons can cause visual hallucinations in mice.

The mad scientist use of this in people is obvious, but there are two very good things:

1. It could allow the creation of some really amazing visual prostheses, restoring sight to the blind.
2. It could eventually be used for some kind of advanced VR that didn't need any kind of external glasses at all.

But it's a long way from being tried in people. Mice don't even use their eyes as much as we do.

Views of our Moon

I'm just going to share this. NASA folk have digitally stitched together old Apollo photos to make some wonderful panoramas of the moon.

You'll need to go to images.nasa.gov and search on moon panorama, but they're there not just to view but to download. Because NASA.

As a side note, I found out late yesterday that the entire original source on the Lashana Lynch as 007 story was The Daily Mail - not only are outlets running with it en masse, but some of them aren't admitting where it came from. Sadly, this means it's probably not true. However, the idea of replacing the character of Bond is still a fantastic one, and maybe...

Apollo 50

Yes, I'm well aware I should have posted this yesterday. Mea culpa.

50 years ago we put a man on the moon.

So, where's our moonbase? Why don't we have anyone on Mars yet?

The problems aren't technical, they're political. As a species we haven't been willing to sustain the effort of will it takes to develop a meaningful presence off of this planet. 50 years on, we have one small, aging space station that badly needs to be replaced.

We know a lot more about the universe than we did. We are finding exoplanets at a rapid rate. We have pictures of Pluto that are just amazing.

But we are still confined to one planet...and not doing a great job of looking after it.

Exploring space is still science fiction in any meaningful way. And no, I don't know how to change that except that we have to want it enough.

We including the people in power.

Hugo Roundup: Campbell Award

The last one! Woot!

The problem with this year's Campbell is that most of the writers were in their second year...and not all have done anything significant.

I went with S.A. Chakraborty who at least did get another book out. The Campbell is supposed to reward promise. Was this just a bad year for new authors? I'm thinking so, and hopefully there will be more new material next year.

My pick: S.A. Chakraborty.

My prediction: Hard to tell. R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War was indeed excellent, though.

How do we update Bond?

James Bond is one of my guilty pleasures. The venerable franchise has a history of amazing gadgets, insane chase scenes (sometimes with ever stranger vehicles), occasional elements of over-the-top humor...and some awful sexism.

Bond womanizes his way around the world. Each movie has its own romantic lead, the "Bond Girl." Some of whom are frankly interchangeable.

At the same time, he's a British folk hero.

And herein lies the problem. As Phoebe Waller-Bridges, working as script doctor for Bond 25 (Yes, yes, it's 26. Never Say Never Again doesn't count because it was under different licensing), said, "He has to be true to his character."

James Bond is never going to treat women well.

And changing that changes the character. "James Bond is a Time Lord" jokes aside.

The last couple of films, starring Daniel Craig, have deconstructed Bond. He's now an aging man with PTSD.

The assumption was that Craig would leave, a younger man would be hired, and the franchise would undergo one of its periodic semi-reboots. Which, frankly? I was tired of the deconstruction.

I was, in fact, quite disappointed when Craig was convinced to come back for one more movie.

He didn't want to do it. He said he didn't want to do it. So why would the studio do this?

There's now a possible answer:

This may be the last James Bond movie.

And if that is true, then it is a good thing.

I watched Bond on my father's knee. I've seen every movie, some of them twice.

But, but. Why would they end the franchise?

The paradoxical answer:

This may be the last James Bond movie.

It may not be the last 007 movie.

Because, it turns out, there may be a way to have the franchise treat women well even though James Bond never will (which is part of the interview that quote from Waller-Bridges, who is working as a script doctor on Bond 25).

Just have a new 007.

Have Bond retire or even die. If Bond dies in this movie, it would explain why Craig was willing to come back.

To which some people's reaction would be "Elba!" Idris Elba has already said he won't do it.

But if the rumors are true, then "Nomi" the character played by the amazing Lashana Lynch is, in fact, the new 007.

And what if the way to bring Bond into the 21st century is...to move on from Bond himself. To say "007 is a codename. 007 can be anyone."

In Skyfall they established that Bond is an individual. In Spectre, they let him age and get tired and retire.

Maybe in Bond 25 they will let him go.

Follow LightSail 2?

If you're interested in space technology, then go here: http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/lightsail-mission-control.html

The Planetary Society is releasing real-time telemetry from their LightSail 2 satellite. So we can all "watch" when they deploy the solar sail in what will be one of the first significant tests of the technology.

Solar sails may be a future means of propulsion for long distance probes and even eventually for manned missions.

Farpoint 2020

I can now announce that I will, indeed, be a guest at Farpoint 2020.

Which will apparently be a Trek year (two actors from Star Trek and one from The Orville). Space fiction for the win!

Farms and Mines

So, this is actually old, but was just brought to my attention.

And it's right from my home town, so how did I miss it?

There is serious talk about using old coal mines as underground farms. These farms would allow year round production of certain crops, and faster production of crops. But they need shafts and the like near towns.

Thus, coal mines.

There's three very real advantages to this idea:

1. It really would produce a good amount of food, close to where people need it. This would reduce transportation costs and emissions.

2. Using old coal mines equals maintaining old coal mines equals fewer collapses that cause massive sink holes. And believe me, this is a problem in old mining areas.

3. This is exactly how we would have to farm on the moon or Mars, or anywhere else where you don't have a working ecosystem. Like...good practice.

So, yes. Let's turn our mines into farms. I like it.

Hugo Roundup: Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Like the Campbell, the Lodestar isn't a Hugo, but it's voted on with the Hugos and announced with them.

I was able to read four of the six books (one only an excerpt). Holly Black's publisher did her no services in apparently not testing the excerpt distributed through NetGalley - the file crashed Digital Editions on two different devices. (And who delivers an excerpt through NetGalley, which has some of the worst DRM...)

I feel bad for the author any time a publisher sends out a bad sample, because it's not their fault.

So, to the list.

1. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Again, couldn't read the sample, couldn't vote.
2. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. No sample, and I didn't read it.
3. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. From the excerpt, seemed a solid read.
4. The Invasion by Peadar O'Guilin. In this case I got extra: The packet included both books in the duology. This made sense as The Invasion does not stand that well on its own and made a huge difference. The first book is The Call. It's a post-apocalyptic YA dystopia, but it's an exceptionally good one. It's also the darkest of dark fairytales, and be aware if you pick it up: There is a lot of body horror in this book. It didn't hit my particular issues (eyes and teeth), but...
5. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman. Secondary fantasy about a girl who runs away with a dragon. Okay, not a dragon, but a creature related to dragons (and looked down on by them). Some really nice worldbuilding here, fun characters. It's also about how people relate to nature.
6. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I've heard from some black fans that they don't like it when people are tired of high fantasy tropes and don't want any more...because they haven't gotten to be in those tropes. This book kind of proves that point. It's a Chosen One Brings Magic Back to the World book...but it's set in a not-at-all-veiled Africa, written by and for black people. And it's really good, but is let down by a less than satisfying ending.

Oh.

And out of the four books I got to read in full?

Not one single love triangle.

My pick: The Invasion, although I doubt it will win because of the body horror.
My prediction: Probably Children of Blood and Bone despite the ending.

Hugo Roundup: Best Fan Writer

Sometimes I just want to see new names in this category. There have to be young, up and coming writers who can knock somebody off the list.

I mean, Bogi Takacs and Charles Payseur and Foz Meadows are all great, but I can't even do an analysis because it's all the same people again.

New blood, anyone?

My pick is Bogi Takacs this year, but it's really got to the point where you can stick a pin in it because they're all excellent and I've read them all before.

(Lodestar is much more interesting and will follow once I've read the last book).

Hugo Roundup: Best Fanzine

This is one of the three categories that tends to have a higher number of repeat nominees. In fact, the only new fanzine is Quick Sip Reviews.

Which kind of...after a while it gets old. This year's contenders

1. Rocket Stack Rank, a highly useful index of short fiction (sadly they don't cover everything, because they can't).
2. Galactic Journey. Their schtick of being a fake 60s fanzine is growing on me.
3. Lady Business. A solid review zine.
4. Nerds of a Feather. Also a solid review zine.
5. Quick Sip Reviews. If it only has one writer is it really a fanzine?
6. Journey Planet. The only traditional fanzine in the bunch, but I've never cared for it, mostly because each issue focuses on a different fandom and I generally only have interest in a third. Doesn't speak to quality.

All deserving winners.

My pick: Rocket Stack Rank, because it's the most useful.
My prediction: Who knows.

TV Shows Don't End Well

Okay, there are rare exceptions. And no, I'm not talking about endings where everyone dies or is miserable.

I'm talking about the fact that TV writers don't appear to be trained on how to write endings.

This is unsurprising. In the past, shows tended to run until the ratings dropped below a critical level and then be promptly canceled without warning - resulting in things like Angel ending on a cliffhanger. In older episodic shows such as Star Trek endings didn't really matter.

Babylon 5 changed a lot of that. The realization that people actually like a show's arc to, ya know, end has slowly drifted through television. Now, it is starting to be common for a show to be canceled a season in advance, sometimes even if ratings are still strong. The idea is to let the writers end the show.

The problem is, a lot of them don't know how. The most recent example is Gotham.

The Batman prequel show started out as a police procedural that happened to be set in the DC universe and slowly moved from there into a true prequel. (I do wish they had not done No Man's Land, though, my second least favorite Batman arc after the infamous Killing Joke, which they also managed to touch on).

Because they had warning, they were able to bring it to a planned ending. Spoilers follow:

The show ends with the announcement that Jim Gordon and Barbara Keene's daughter will, indeed, be named Barbara Gordon, the future Batgirl. Riddler and Penguin end their ambiguous relationship in Arkham, where they belong. Bruce goes off to travel the world and learn how to be Batman. Jim Gordon is promoted to Commissioner.

It's a fine ending for a prequel. We know what happens next. We know Selina Kyle is going to become a world class thief. We know that Riddler and Penguin will escape from Arkham and try to take over Gotham's Underworld. We know the Joker will also escape from Arkham.

So.

They did an entire last episode telling us all of that.

It was a completely unnecessary and frankly boring epilogue to the show. It insulted the fans who already knew what was going to happen and I doubt it added much for those who were less familiar. (Oh, and we didn't need Barbara Keene with Barbara Gordon's comic hair either. Pleaaaase).

The only thing I can think of is that they literally messed up their timing and the network told them they had to do X episodes...

Can we teach TV writers about endings? (Heck, can we teach writers about endings? I don't always get them right myself). Please?

Locus Award Results

Taking a break from talking about the Hugos because I'm not through Fanzine yet.

Locus Magazine announced the winners of their awards on Saturday, so, here goes.

Science Fiction Novel: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. I can't argue with this one.
Fantasy Novel: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. My pick. Novik does fairy tales like no other.
Horror Novel: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. I don't read much horror, so...
Young Adult Novel: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. Haven't read this one either.
First Novel: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. I like Roanhorse's short fiction better, but this is a worthy winner, although I haven't yet read The Poppy War, which I've heard good things about.
Novella: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. Oddly, Okorafor wasn't even nominated here. No complaints on the winner, though.
Novelette: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander. Uh, no. Just no. What do people like about this? I'm mystified.
Short Story: The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington. I preferred A Witch's Guide to Escape, but this is a solid choice.
Anthology: The Book of Magic, ed. Gardner Dozois. Probably good. May have won on dead editor. I haven't read any of them.
Collection: How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin. Also haven't read it.
Magazine: Tor.com. Just sad Analog didn't win.
Publisher: Tor. Yeah.
Editor: Gardner Dozois. I would have given it to any of them. Okay, I don't give opinions on editors ;)
Artist: Charles Vess. He's not my favorite, but I can see it.
Non-Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing. I still prefer the Astounding book, but dead nominee here too.
Art Book: Charles Vess, The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition. Decent choice.
Special Award: Mary Anne Mohanraj.

This may bode well for The Calculating Stars in the Hugos.

Hugo Roundup: Best Professional Artist

Honestly, I'm not an art critic. So I can only vote for what I like and am not going to do an analysis except to say that I liked Jaime Jones' sci fi art the best.

My prediction? Who knows.

(Also, as a note, I don't do the editor and semiprozine categories because I'm not comfortable publicly giving my opinion on editors I might be sending stories to...)