Ad Astra (2019) – A Science Fiction Movie Review

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(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)

Ad Astra (Latin for “to the stars”) is a science fiction movie starring Brad Pitt as astronaut Roy McBride whose father Clifford McBride (played by a decrepit looking Tommy Lee Jones) is inexplicably firing anti-matter particles back at Earth from the orbit of the planet Neptune.  The anti-matter will eventually destroy Earth so Roy is supposed to go to the Moon to catch a ride to Mars to broadcast a message to his father asking him not to destroy Earth, or something.  The why and how of all this is very odd.  Clifford has been MIA for twenty years on a mission called Lima that was somehow supposed to be looking for extraterrestrial intelligence (from somewhere near Neptune!).

Eventually we learn that Clifford murdered his crew long ago because they figured out, he was crazy.  When Roy gives his message on Mars Clifford doesn’t agree to cease and desist so the military outfits a mission to nuke Project Lima to erase the threat.  Somehow (but not believably) Roy stows aboard the rocket (after it blasts off) and without really trying he kills the whole crew that were trying to kill him.  Now he flies to Neptune and confronts his father who is completely nuts.  He sets the nuke and thinks he’s convinced Clifford to return to Earth with him.  But when push literally comes to shove, Clifford unshackles himself from Roy and heads off into empty, empty space.

Finally, Roy uses a hatch panel to protect himself while he takes a shortcut through the rings of Neptune and then somehow the nuclear blast that destroyed Project Lima was able to provide most of the kinetic energy to return him to Earth before Roy dies of old age.  And despite all the astronauts he killed getting out there the military decides to forgive and forget and so Roy finishes off by reciting some kind of humanistic spiritual affirmation statement of some kind or other and then gets back together with his ex-wife Liv Tyler.

Now maybe that sounds quite odd for a science fiction story.  And it is.  This is a somewhat confusing rigamarole.  So let me give my thoughts on it.  The visual effects are quite good.  Some scenes in low Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and aboard spacecraft are a lot of fun to watch.  But there are (I kid you not) space monkeys!  Which I kinda/hafta frown upon.  So, two points off.  Brad Pitt’s character starts out as an apparently emotionless robot who always saves the world from disaster without getting his pulse above eighty.  By the end he’s crying about his crazy father being crazy.  Tommy Lee Jones’ character is crazy so there’s not much there.  Donald Sutherland has a small part and he’s always crazy.  So, this movie doesn’t make a lot of sense.  For instance, how is Tommy Lee Jones investigating other life in the universe from Neptune.  Neptune is too incredibly cold for anything to live there.  And it’s not like it’s any closer to the stars than Earth.  Alright, I’ll stop making fun of the movie.  It’s a crazy movie, but like “2001: A Space Odyssey” it’s a visually enjoyable movie if you don’t care too much about the plot.  I recommend it for hard-core sci-fi film lovers who can live with space monkeys.

Caffeine is a Powerful Drug

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I love coffee.  I love the taste of it, the aroma, the way it enhances the enjoyment of various foods.  A cup of coffee with ham and eggs and a pumpernickel bagel is splendid.  A pastrami or corned beef or roast beef sandwich with coffee is incredible.  And what could be better than coffee with cake, pastry or pie ala mode?  Nothing!

It is a wonderful part of life.  At the same time coffee is very hard on my digestive system.  It gnaws at my guts.  It is not benign.

So, what’s a fellow to do?

For years I searched for the magic bullet.  Milder blends, better blends cold brewed.  Milk, cream, fat free cream, oat milk and on and on and on.

And several times I’ve given it up.  And that is an amazing thing.  I remember going cold turkey in my thirties and experiencing symptoms that were more reminiscent of heroin withdrawal.  I had the shakes and broke into a cold sweat and had blinding headaches.  Truly absurd problems getting rid of something as innocuous as the morning cup of joe.

And equally interestingly, even after getting past the physical symptoms, I eventually drifted back into the habit.  After all, I love the stuff.

A couple of months ago I decided to do something I considered smart.  I switched from coffee to tea.  And I was able to do it relatively painlessly.  The caffeine in tea apparently was sufficient to offset at least partly the craving my body has for coffee.  Maybe there were some mild feelings of discomfort for a day or two but really nothing to think about.  So, there you go.  Mission accomplished.

But I didn’t reckon with one thing.  Tea is the most boring drink in the world.  There’s no there, there.  So, I tried to jazz it up.  I tried Thai tea and chai tea.  I added sugar and honey and lemon.  Nothing.  Insipid.

 

In desperation, I asked Camera girl to start me on cocoa.  We tried 100% cocoa.  Not so good.  Then we tried some versions with varying amounts of sugar.  Too sweet.  Finally, we hit upon a low concentration that isn’t too sweet but still has enough taste to qualify as a beverage.  And so, we thought we had arrived at a workable solution.  But something happened.

Camera Girl and I were out for the day for an out of state family party.  I had breakfast with my now customary thin cup of chocolate.  No problem.  When we arrived, it was early afternoon and I wasn’t starving.  So, I sat down and was talking to some people.

And it was the strangest thing.  I couldn’t think.  I was stumbling over words and thoughts like Joe Biden without a teleprompter.  It was the damnedest thing.  And then I realized, I was completely out of caffeine.  Now granted I was also low on food at that point.  So maybe I needed blood sugar or something.  But I was so groggy that I am convinced that I now need a certain specific amount of caffeine in my body just to keep my IQ in triple digits.

I asked my host if he had any coffee or tea around.  All he had at that moment was Red Bull.  Well, it was like some miracle drug.  Within moments I was back to normal.  Later on, I had a large cup of coffee at dessert with my large piece of cake.  Of course, I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 a.m. but what can you do.

So now I’m once again in a quandary.  Do I endure the “enstupiding” whenever I’m low on caffeine or do I cave into the lure of coffee?  I stand on the edge of the cliff.  May I find wisdom.

10JUL2023 – Quote of the Day

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“Are you going to offer yourselves here to the weapons of the enemy, undefended, unavenged? Why is it then you have arms? And why have you undertaken an offensive war? You who are ever turbulent in peace, and laggard in war. What hopes have you in standing here? Do you expect that some god will protect you and bear you hence? A way is to be made with the sword. Come you, who wish to behold your homes, your parents, your wives, and your children; follow me in the way in which you shall see me lead you on. It is not a wall or rampart that blocks your path, but armed men like yourselves. Their equals in courage, you are their superiors by force of necessity, which is the last and greatest weapon.”

Livy

 

08JUL2023 – This is Horrifying

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Beyond child abuse.  Approaching psychopathic evil.

Do You Just Put Quantum in Front of Everything?

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H/T to Hans G. Schantz.

Is the Universe really all just one thing?  Huh?

“If we do find evidence to support this idea, it would dramatically alter the way we conceive of the cosmos. It would mean we could not only see a world in a grain of sand, as the poet William Blake once said, but we could also quite literally see the entire universe in its tiniest pieces and particles. While this might sound like just a different way of going about physics, it is much more than that. I believe that we are on the way to a completely new understanding of how the universe is put together.”

What will this do to Ant Man?

 

 

 

08JUL2023 – This ‘N’ That

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The Raven is a Wicked Bird

Yesterday marks a minor milestone.  Last night I posted the last of the 2022 Yellowstone Expedition photographs.  Now, this is a relative statement.  That was a first pass.  Also I have some flower photos that I’m holding off until I can identify them (hopefully).  But interstingly it marks about a year since the actual trip took place.  From now on the photo of the day will be a bit more prosaic and local.

Today is a smaller milestone.  For the last eight days I’ve been working on a very cramped schedule.  Parties, grandchildren and minor missions have prevented me from keeping up with the website.  Today is the capstone of this run.  I’ll be out of pocket and out of state for the whole day and even a part of the night.  Which means this site will be destitute.  I don’t even have the photo of the day in queue.

Horrible things could happen today.  Nuclear Armageddon, fluoridation of the water supply, even adoption of the metric system could happen behind my back and no one would ever know because I would not have recorded it.  Ah, well.

But rejoice!  Tomorrow is another day.  And I vow to do better.

Honestly it is the Silly Season and there is no real news.  Or at least the news agencies aren’t reporting anything worth reading.  Sure, there’s some war news and stupid celebrity hijinks.  And there’s always the government taking something away from us but we can wait a week before hearing that.  Even I can’t summon the usual outrage at the moment.

But the good news for us that live on the Arctic Tundra is that right now the days are long and nights are short and the air is hot and our blood is warm.  Even old codgers feel the irritability that tells us we’re still somewhat alive.  We can smell the roses, toss around a baseball with a youngster and appreciate God’s Green Earth for at least one more day.

So with your permission, I’ll exit stage left, pursued by a bear and see you a little later.