Meme: Favorite Scene in a Sci Fi movie

www.BlackScienceFictionSociety.com was created to highlight, explore, celebrate and develop black science fiction. We are just about at 100 registered members so please help spread the word about us to all your friends. The more the merrier! Anyways, there was a discussion on the forum: What is you favorite scene from a Science Fiction movie?

The admin stated, "Near the end of Gattaca, when the doctor revealed he knew the Ethan Hawke character had been faking the entire time."

Someone else added, "Roy Batty's death speech in Blade Runner: 'I have seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships off the shores of Orion.'"

SO then I'm passing this along and tagging those of you with blogs Chris Howard, with this meme. Here are my faves.

Incredible Shrinking Man --

"So close -- the infinitesimal and the infinite. But suddenly, I knew they were really the two ends of the same concept. The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet, like the closing of a gigantic circle. I looked up, as if somehow I would grasp the heavens ... the universe ... worlds beyond number ... God's silver tapestry spread across the night. And in that moment, I knew the answer to the riddle of the infinite. I had thought in terms of Man's own limited dimension. I had presumed upon Nature. That existence begins and ends is Man's conception, not Nature's. And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears melted away, and in their place came -- acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation -- it had to mean something. And then I meant something too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something too. To God, there is no zero. I STILL EXIST!”

DUNE -- When the savior brings the water of life to the planet

Equilibrium -- When the hero cleric kills all his would-be assassins and takes down Father.

Soylent Green-- When the old guy (Edward G Robinson) looks back on the beauty of the world before he dies.

I'd have added Soylent Green is people or -- from Invasion of the Body Snatchers-- the scene where some hero realizes something was way wrong with the world. They're memorable but I can't call them favorites.

Logan's Run -- When Logan returns to save the people. (Okay, I named my son after Logan.)

Alien vs Predator -- The moment when the predator warrior marks Sanaa Lathan's face and later when the other predator warriors accept her as one of them (symbolic, of course) and give her the warrior's spear as if she had been his mate. Love that kinda initiation/rite of passage stuff. And in some weird sense we see that she had TWO possible lovers in the flick. The italian, and the extra-terrestrial. Ah, if life had only gone differently.

Enemy Mine -- When the names are being read at the end of the flick.

Ooh, better stop now...I'm giving myself goosebumps. As you can see I like mostly the ending triumphant scenes in movies.

National Poetry Month -- minority style

Remember when Walter Mosley, Rafael Campo and several other poets resigned from the Board of Governor's of the Poetry Society of America?

They did it when New York Times Book Reviewer John Hollander made a comment comment about “cultures without literatures — West African, Mexican, and Central American.” Then he made matters worse by saying on National Public Radio that “there isn’t much quality work coming from non-white poets today.”

But that's my paraphrase. Go check out the article yourself and well, here are the three anthologies mentioned by the reviewer:




Check out San Antonio current online for the full article:

Book Review: The hidden dangers of soy

Here is my latest book review. Beware of soy. I always wondered why my vegetarian friend has thyroid issues and why certain vegetarians such as Linda McCartney died of breast disease. It's especially dangerous for kids. I wonder about Gabe...I gave him soy as a kid and then I read from an allergist that many kids who don't speak often begin to speak when soy is removed from their diets. Who knows?

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/04/16/162553.php

One of my commenters to this article said that anyone can skew statistics. It's not a matter of statistics or skewing them but there are many studies done by the FDA, the AMA, and other governmental and medical sources/resources that says there is something very wrong with soy. If you do a google search on soy health benefits or soy dangers (without quotes) you'll see that many websites from reputable doctors and governments discuss soy issues and soy dangers.

The human heart is very hard to change and it often doesn't change unless someone or something it respects tells it to change. The many books written about the dangers of soy won't change anyone. Not until the government steps up will anyone change....and that isn't likely to happen while the food companies have so many important and powerful lobbyists. Look how long it took for the government to start talking about the dangers of cigarettes, saccharhine, etc. And even now folks still take them. It's about the human heart's inability to change.

Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea

Sundays in America is a A Book Sense nominated title for those who like studying Christian spirituality and the nature of human community and worship.

Here's the blurb:

A spirited, spiritual pilgrimage to different Christian churches for a year of Sundays—from storefronts to mega-churches, from Massachusetts to Maui

When Pope John Paul II died, Suzanne Strempek Shea, who had turned away from the Catholic Church of her childhood, recognized in his mourners a faith-filled passion that she wanted to recapture. She set out on a yearlong to visit a different church every Sunday for a year—a journey that would take her through the broad spectrum of contemporary Christianity lived in this country, from her New England home to the West Coast, the Deep South, the Midwest, and even to Hawaii.

Beginning with a rousing Baptist Easter service in Harlem, including a sing-along at the Cowboy Church in Colorado's Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and a multimedia experience at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church, the largest church in the country, Shea approaches each congregation with the curiosity of a newcomer and with respect for each unique expression of faith. Sundays in America weaves the threads of Christianity in America into a vibrant tapestry, an essential guide for those seeking a new house for their worship, as well as a colorful road trip for the armchair explorer.

Check it out.

Faith under fire by LaJoyce Brookshire

Check out the interview with LaJoyce Brookshire. She is the author of the novelization of the heartwarming film “Soul Food” but her latest book is self-published and it's called, “Faith Under Fire: Betrayed by a Thing Called Love.” This is a painful read, my friends. Not only does she have to deal with the illness and death of her husband but she discovered he had been on the down-low all the time she was with him.

okay: my soapbox:

AIDS and abortion are the highest cause of death in the African-American community. AIDS is the highest killer of black women. And down-low brothers are one of the biggest cause of this. There is a lot of sexual woundedness in the black male community: children raped by molesting relatives and church deacons, children raised without men in the family, many adopted male children, guys who got habituated to down-lowing when they went to prison. Yes, yes, I know there are some folks who are gay and none of this connects to them. But in my experience among my gay male friends...those folks are pretty rare. Some folks don't know why they are gay. Others know why they are. Am not picking on anyone's orientation. Just stating it like it is. And honesty is what heals a person and an ethnic group. And there is waaaay too much down-lowing going on in the black community. Whether a guy is gay or a sex addict or tipping, he should be honest and not be down-lowing and risking the health of the ONE woman he's involved with. And, yes, folks...we should be abstaining from pre-marital and extra-marital sex.

Anyway, check out the book and her blog.

Fasting from wrong thinking #1

Okay, where to start? where to start?

So many wrong thoughts, so little time.

I think the quick, powerful, active word of God I will use to conquer my first negative thought is: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139.

Alas, I dislike and distrust my body.

I dislike it because when I was around 8 my half-sister said, "our father likes me better and makes me live with him because I'm light-skin and you're dark." Okay, she has forgiven herself for this but it has done major damage and caused a whole lotta self-loathing on my part. Of course, as an adult I know that she probably needed to believe this lie. She was born a month after I was born to my mother's best friend. My mother was married to my father. Hers wasn't. And hers never wanted her so after my mother had had it with my father's various adulteries and beatings and forced abortions....well, she divorced the man. But my half-sister wanted to believe this and I have no doubt the lie healed her...but it's brought be a great deal of grief. I have never felt beautiful. Yep, I used to model for the students at my college etc and people have said that I was very beautiful...but I never felt it. I don't even look in the mirror. (Yeah, I gave this trait to Satha my main character in Wind Follower.)

I also distrust my body. My mother was a nurse...Nurses are alarmists. They always think the body is going to fall apart on you. It doesn't help that I've had such a stressful life that my health broke and my body did kinda fall apart on me.

Remedy: With God all things are possible.
Remedy: It is never too late.

Prescription: I am going to get up every morning and walk to the mirror and say, "I praise you Lord because I am wonderfully and fearfully made." I hope I can say this thing with faith. I hope I can believe it when I say it. (Might have to remind myself of my sense of humor and how happy I have made my friends. Will see.) I hope I can actually look myself in the mirror. I truly don't know what I look like. I so wish I were saner...but alas, I am what I am. May God help me. Amen.

UMBC S.I.S.T.E.R.S. Presents Black Author Showcase

"UMBC S.I.S.T.E.R.S. Presents Black Author Showcase™ April 26th" on April 26, 2008 from 12pm to 3pm.

Event: UMBC S.I.S.T.E.R.S. Presents Black Author Showcase™ April 26th
Time: April 26, 2008 from 12pm to 3pm
Location: University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)
Event Type: book, signing, and, reading
Organized By: S.I.S.T.E.R.S.
Description: S.I.S.T.E.R.S. at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) is hosting the Black Author Showcase from 12 noon to 3 PM on Saturday, April 26, 2008, at The Commons.

All are welcome to this book signing and reading.
Attendance is free, Light refreshments served,
parking is available on campus.

Guest Speaker Felicia Pride author of
The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs
Featuring local authors: Trice Hickman, Troy L. Thompson, Vickie M. Oliver-Lawson, AC Arthur, and Tahanee Roberts

new baby kitten

Yep...didn't know I'd end up with one but....

Little old lady (and pet-lover) neighbor called out to me when I went outside: "Carole do you want a kitten?" A two week old kitty, mind you.

Although hubby had told me, "NO, I don't want to have to commit to another eighteen years." What do I say? "Yes." After all, we just ended up with son's friend's dog and are defacto already committed to a dog for eighteen years or so. So, two animals instead of one?

Now we just have to take them both to get their shots. And -- big question-- we have to get kitty to stop shivering in doggie's (8 month old pitbull) presence. And we have to get doggie to stop licking kitty. Ah the energy spent keeping them apart. Am trying to get them to love each other. Will see. Am hoping doggie isn't licking kitty because he wants to eat him.

ah witchcraft

The Congo, witchcraft, and the male member

Pen*s theft panic hits city..

Ah those folks who don't understand the influence of witchcraft....

Baby Parts for Profit

This is a transcript of a commentary from the radio show "Stand to Reason," with Gregory Koukl. It is made available to you at no charge through the faithful giving of those who support Stand to Reason. Reproduction permitted for non-commercial use only. ©1999 Gregory Koukl

For more information, contact Stand to Reason at 1438 East 33rd St., Signal Hill, CA 90755
(800) 2-REASON (562) 595-7333 www.str.org

Baby Parts for Profit

by
Gregory Koukl

Some have argued whenever anyone cries "Nazi" this is a good reason to reject their whole point of view because nothing could really compare. Nothing in our country could be properly characterized by that kind of comparison. Well, I don't know. You be the judge.

I have a piece here that I would like to read to you. It's not ordinary that I read a piece in its entirety, but in this particular case I think it is critical. It's not only a critical issue, but it is said so well and so effectively that I just want to pass on what columnist Mona Charen has written November 9 in a piece that is simply entitled "Harvesting Part for Sale."

If you have not heard anything about this, I suggest that you sit down. If you have younger children around the radio, they don't need to hear this. You're going to have a hard time hearing what I am about to read, to think that this is possible in our country.

The rest of the article is here. And remember that many, many, many of these aborted babies being harvested for body parts are black babies and poor hispanic babies.

funny post over at jumpdrives

Dragon song...posted over at:
http://www.sfjohnson.rtsquad.org/wordpress/?p=88

Definition of "solution"

Okay, I really hate it when someone comes come up with an idea about some worldly problem and other folks start thinking it's a corny idea that will have not "solve" anything.

Okay, those who sneer and mock at any kind of activism...give me a brief definition of "solve" please?

Do you define "solve" and "solution" as an immediate resolution that encompasses everyone everywhere? Do you define it as something small that sets some other small thing in motion that over time -- perhaps a long time-- creates a groundswell of change? Does more than one person have to be affected for something to be "solved"? Does the "affected" person have to be someone important or just one small child whose mind and life has been profoundly changed? Is something "solved" when someone who might have been tempted to evil is saved from such a life because the artwork/sermon/whatever intercepted and challenged the evil before it came to that person? OR is something solved when someone who is performing the evil chooses --because he has seen this art-- to stop doing evil?

Did, for instance, Martin Luther King "solve" resolution? Did Desmond Tutu solve the problem of Apartheid? Did Malcolm X solve racism? Does any kind of art, sermon, newspaper article, or film in and of itself "solve" racism or anything?

Not that I'm being a pill or anything...but words and thoughts and concepts should be examined...and the word "solved" is a very deep and very heavy word.

How much visible change must be seen? And in whom must that visible change be seen? And BY whom should that visible change be seen.... for us to consider the agent of change valid...or the effect of that change valid? Should an artist not light a single candle in a dark world? What use is conversation of art then, if change is only measured in large increments?

-C

Free music, free video-making, and music opps

If you are an independent or non-profit filmmaker or film student and need free music for your project, go over to moby.com, in the 'film music' section.
You can choose from their available music. And it's free. If you want it for a for-profit film, you can work it someway to make some donations be given to the humane society.

http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html

Then there is ludacris's site www.wemix.com

upcoming Musicians can post their songs and videos there...and Luda might produce it.

Then there is www.animoto.com You can get make free videos there of about 47 seconds. If you want a longer one, you'll have to pay $3 for one or $30 for a year. I wonder if can use some of this to remake my wind follower trailer. Anyway, there's all this free stuff out there...so take advantage of the opportunity.
-C

Ah book prizes

Pulitzers:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz for literature
Time and Materials by Robert Hass, Failure by Philip Schultz for poetry.

Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union took home the California Book Award gold medal for fiction. The silver went to Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid
Suns. Special, out-of-category commendation for Robert Alter's translation of The Book of Psalms.

Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2008 Shortlist

Sarah Hall won Tiptree Award for The Carhullan Army (American title: Daughters of the North) It also won the 2007 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) from Britain or the Commonwealth written by an author of 35 or under.

Nnedi's The Shadow Speaker was on the honors list for Tiptree. Yay!!! Nnedi has been winning a lot of recognition for that lovely book.
I was also kinda hoping Sylvia Kelso's Amberlight would be recognized by Tiptree. Maybe next year.

For the Bram Stokers
Novel: The Missing by Sarah Langan
First Novel: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Long Fiction: Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway by Gary Braunbeck
Short Fiction: "The Gentle Brush of Wings " by David Niall Wilson

Fiction Collection: (Tie)
Proverbs for Monsters by Michael A. Arnzen
5 Stories by Peter Straub

Anthology: Five Strokes to Midnight edited by Gary Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble
Nonfiction: THE CRYPTOPEDIA: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange & Downright Bizarre by Jonathan Maberry & David F. Kramer

Poetry Collection: (Tie)
Being Full of Light, Insubstantial by Linda Addison <- YAY, Linda!
VECTORS: A Week in the Death of a Planet by Charlee Jacob & Marge Simon

Lifetime Achievement Award: John Carpenter, Robert Weinberg
Richard Laymon President's Award: Mark Worthen, Stephen Dorato, Christopher Fulbright

Site dedicated to Octavia Butler

Wow, I just discovered Octavia Butler.net - A fan Blog dedicated to S.F Writer, Octavia E. Butler. Make it grow, my friends! -C

so many vampires, so little time

Check out some of the vampire stories coming out this month. L A Banks has one coming out in March.

http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-new-vampire-books-for-2008.html

Paula Guran post on types of urban fantasy

It's over at the Juno Books blog and it's great.

Seaborn trailer

Ah horror

I'll admit that I have horror issues. I hate most horror flicks ....except I'm selective. I won't watch slasher horror such as Saw or hostel. I won't watch any film that is nihilistic and makes the evil triumph over the main characters. Heck, I know evil continues...but for me in the specific story I'm watching it BETTER end well for characters I've grown to love (which means they are alive and triumphant if a bit maimed) or else the story is just another story about evil triumphing. I like ghost and demon stories but if it's a story that is so real, a story that has happened, or a story that in any way or form reminds me of ghost or demonic encounters I've had....well I always regret seeing it. I loved the 6th sense and couldn't sleep for nights...but was especially perturbed by the fact that one could be dead and not know it. That was upsetting. I DID see Open Water and was pretty upset about it. I kept imagining their hopelessness in the water. Too much grief and worry...and I'm pretty sorry I saw it.

I did see Omega man back in the day ...zombies and destroyed humans don't really bother me. Unless I'm seeing something from the viewpoint of the destroyed human... like The Fly or some Cronenberg stuff. I hate the hopelessness and keep thinking about how they might be feeling as they live through their doom. I really hate that kinda thing....people in a bad state and knowing they're in a bad state and being unable to get out of it. That's how I define horror I think. I still haven't watched Terms of Endearment ...or any movie with someone dying of some loathsome disease...because of that. And yet (forgive all this rambling) I'll say that my favorite horror movie of all time has got to be The incredible shrinking man. Because it ends on such a spiritually triumphant committed-to-life note. -C

Christian comic bit.

Loved this. And you church folks will like it too.

Hedge of Protection



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvy_CMOhrg0