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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
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On Nov 21, 2020, Cliffg37 wrote: Yes,now that You mention it, it really looks like Cushing. Much as I admire Frazetta, I never bought any of those horror magazines, because I bought just DC and Marvel. Never cared for Frankenstein at all. The only time I enjoyed a Frankenstein appearance was in an old X-MEN issue where the X-men met Frankenstein, which turned out to be an android created by aliens from outer space. That appearance was an only exception because it had at least action. Why I love the Golden-Age Human Torch from the 1940s is that it's an android who can also flame on, but in its early appearances it could not control its flames at all, which in a real sense, made him a Frankenstein's Monster, as the Android Torch was initially seen as a Menace. And the other striking similarity is that both Frankenstein and the Android Torch were both man-made. In that sense, I like him even more than the modern-day Torch who is human. So if I had to pick a monster, I would pick the Android version of the Torch, because I get both a monster and superhero at the same time! |
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
While we're at it about Monsters in the comics, mention should be made of the Golem from Marvel Comics. Excellent was the Golem by writer Len Wein as Mr. Wein's refreshing-take gave the creature a much-needed shot in the arm--that the Golem is re-animated by the anguished tear-drop of an old man as he dies from a murderer's gunshot. (Notice that the tear-drop falls on the Golem's foot.) It could be interpreted that the violent revenge of the Golem is actually the spirit of the murdered old man who now inhabits the creature's body. But since the man, Professor Adamson, was so mild-mannered, I prefer to think that the tear-drop was just the catalyst for the Golem's re-animation.
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
So many superhero shows and movies coming up...
MARVEL: Coming up on Disney+ in 2021: "WandaVision" starts in mid-January, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" starts in mid-March, and "Loki" starts in May, and "What If?" (animated) starts in the summer. "Ms. Marvel" and "Hawkeye" are scheduled for late 2021. "Black Widow" is slated for the theatres in May 2021, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is slated for July, "The Eternals" is slated for November, and the "untitled Spider-man: Far From Home sequel" for Christmas 2021. I heard that Disney / Marvel recently renegotiated some of the actor's contracts, in case they decided to release those movies online / on demand. DC: We also have upcoming seasons of WB's Arrowverse on TV - "The Flash" (seventh season starts February 2021), "Supergirl" (sixth season starts mid-season 2021, and will be the final season), "Legends of Tomorrow" (sixth season starts mid-season 2021), "Black Lightning" (fourth season starts February 2021, and will be the final season), "Batwoman" (second season starts January 2021), and "Superman and Lois" (first season starts February 2021). "Stargirl" is also on that network, with a second season coming up in 2021 (no date yet). And of course, "Wonder Woman 1984" (WW84) will be released in theatres on Christmas Day 2020.... 2 days from now. Here in British Columbia, Canada, the government has allowed the theatres to be open since July, but there is limited capacity and other COVID protocols. Many are worried about going to a movie theatre, that they might be exposed to COVID, so they are being cautious. This is why box numbers are really down. So, Warner Brothers is releasing it on HBO Max (streaming service) at the same time. However, that streaming platform is in the USA only, and not in other countries. I suppose that the movie will turn up on Netflix sometime in early 2021, if I don't go and see it in the theatre. I'm sure there are other series and movies that I failed to mention. "The Suicide Squad" movie (2021). "Zack Snyder's Justice League" 4-part series (March 2021 on HBO Max). "Titans". Etc. - Donald
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
Warning, Long winded Scientific post.
Orville asked me to do a scientific commentary on a comic book story written in 1953 called “The Cosmic Jigsaw Puzzle.” The story features Col. Tommy Tomorrow and his “Planeteers,” a group of highly trained and most unnecessary and unused sidekicks. Tommy Tomorrow has been summoned by two people known only as “A Scientific Foundation.” And is given a mission. A Dr. Malden was working on a super weapon built on an asteroid. Malden disappeared and the asteroid broke up into millions of pieces. Can Tomorrow put the asteroid back together and figure out what the super weapon was and perhaps make it available to the “Scientific Foundation.” Note, early on in the story, though the use of thought balloons, we find out that one of the two men is a traitor who plans to keep the weapon for himself. Tommy successfully (With adventures on the way) puts the asteroid back together, and figures out that a tube bored into the asteroid was a missile silo, and that was basically it. Except he overpowers the traitor to end the story. Usually when I do a science commentary, I make a big point about how my opinion of the story doe not matter to the science. This time I will. This is a poorly written story, period. I will comment on the science, but the story is just bad. The story needed to be much longer to fully develop everything that happens here. Let’s start with the good science first… There is none. The first thing we see is Tommy using a Spectrotelescope to find the fragments of the asteroid. There is such a thing as a Spectroscope, and yes, it can be used in junction with a telescope, so I’ll give the name a pass. The problem is that a spectroscope does not automatically tell you the chemical compound of something. It needs to be burned or at least hot, to give off energy that makes it visible to the electro magnetic spectrum. These cold bits of rock in space should be invisible to such a device, and better luck to be had with the human eye. Next, he uses tow ships with cables to drag the pieces of asteroid into place. Into place where? Asteroids don’t stand still, they move, or at least orbit. But OK. Put a piece of rock somewhere and hope it stays. We can ignore Newton’s first law that says an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force. The real problem here is towing city sized chunks of asteroid around. If you anchored bolts into the ground, and pulled with a strong force, either the bolts would just come loose, (likely) or Newton’s third law would nail you. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. A city sized piece of rock having way more mass than any two or three ships would simply pull back passively and go nowhere. If you could get them moving in the direction you want, how do you stop them where you want? Turn the ships around and pull in the other direction? That is your only chance and it is a slim one as both Newton’s first and third law are against you. Try this at home kids… Stand on a skate board on a smooth surface. Hold a heavy object, a bowling ball or a backpack full of heavy books. Throw the heavy object as far and as hard as you can off the front of the board. Did you roll back without meaning to? You just experienced Newton’s third law. Go to a supermarket and fill a shopping cart with heavy items. Drinks work well as water is 8 pounds to a gallon. Soup cans are good too. Is it hard to push the cart now? Only getting it started is hard. Once you get it started, it is not so bad. Do you have trouble stopping it? You bet. Newton’s first law is not your friend anymore. Now Tommy puts on a space suit and goes outside the ship to gather smaller fragments from inside a comets tail. A comets tail is dust. Wet, dirty dust, but just dust. The ship could have done it much more safely, but alright, the author wanted some drama to it. Tommy uses a “Magnet beam” in the shape of a gun to maneuver around to get the fragment. Now we fall victim to that horrible taskmaster, the law of the inverse square. This was why the late Dr. Carl Sagan laughed out loud at President Ronald Reagan. The President called for “ray gun” weapons in space to shoot enemy missiles while in the air and out at sea. The law of the inverse square in simple terms say that if you double the distance, you quarter the force. So, hold two magnets one inch apart and let go. Depending on how you held them, they may jump together or they may fly apart. Do it again, two inches apart. You’ve doubled the distance; did you quarter the force? Yes, but it may be hard to see. Double again to four inches. It won’t be too long before the magnets just sit there. another way to do this that might be easier to see, blow out a birthday candle from one foot away. Easy. Two feet away? Most people can do it. Four feet away? Some can do it. Eight feet? Nope. Not enough force. Magnetism is not strong enough to use as a propulsion system in a vast area like space. The way the gun is drawn, at first, I thought it was a compressed air gun. That would work in space, albeit moving you very slowly via Newton’s third law. So that would have been OK. But how much compressed air could you fit in a gun. Maybe a few shots, but you won’t get speed. Next someone decided to go with the dark side of the moon concept, but there is no “Dark side of the moon.” The moon spins. All of it gets hit by sunlight at some point. What there is though, is the part that faces away from Earth. I believe the Russians mapped the “dark side” rather thoroughly some years ago. So, off we go to Saturn, where there is a civilization living in darkness on one of the moons. The moon is always behind Saturn and so never gets light. That is so wrong. If a moon could just sit there, then half of Saturn’s year it would be constantly lit up. You can demonstrate this with a bright light in a dark room and some different sized balls or balloons, but without guidance it is hard to get right. I do demo this with Styrofoam balls of three different sizes in my classroom every year. Anyway, a large piece of the asteroid landed on this moon inhabited by backward people. It is vaguely human shaped so they worship it as “god” and won’t give it up. Tommy bargains with them, and trades them an inexhaustible light source in exchange for the rock. This is one of the single most ignored concepts in comic books, though often mentioned correctly in real sci-fi. Power is everything. You need power to run every piece of equipment. Anything that never runs out of energy is not science based, it is fantasy. The light source that Tommy gives them will eventually run out of power. If there is a battery in it, it can be recharged. It cannot be solar powered, that moon is always dark. Nope, Tommy get a big goose egg for either being ignorant or lying to the people on the moon. Now that the asteroid has been reassembled, we see a deep tube going down into it. The evil foundation man (now called Dr. Tharn) arrives with his men to take possession of the weapon. Tommy sets his jet pack down on the ground at a seam where two pieces met and fires it. This creates a quake and the Planeteers overpower Dr. Tharn and his men in the panic. Put two ice cubes together on a plate and fire a spit ball through a straw at the joining point to try and separate the two cubes. Good luck with that. That same mistake was used in the movie “Armageddon” when Bruce Willis digs a few hundred feet into an asteroid ad splits it in half with a nuke dropped down the hole. It just doesn’t work. The comparative masses are just too big. All Tommy might have done was launch the jet pack into the sky. That by itself might have made for a good distraction, but no quake. Last one. With Dr. Tharn and his men in custody, Tommy reveals the big weapon. It was the tube dug into the asteroid. There would be a rocket put in there and the asteroid would then crash into whatever it was aimed at causing huge destruction. No. First of all Tommy explains that the idea malfunctioned and blew up the asteroid. As with the Armageddon example, that just plain won’t work. But what about weaponizing the asteroid. Surely an asteroid hitting a planet would be devastating? Yes, it would. But how fast is the asteroid going? Not too fast. I did not mention Newton’s second law before, but it sure applies here. Force equals mass time acceleration. The more you want to accelerate a mass, the more force you need. Need a demonstration? Throw a basket ball as hard as you can. Where did it first touch the ground? Throw a bowling ball (similar sized) as hard as you can. How far did the bowling ball go before it hit the ground? (Not rolling, just the initial point it hit the ground) The bowling ball is much more massive though comparable in size. As such you can’t throw it nearly as far. So maybe you could send an asteroid on a certain course this way, but it won’t go fast. Maybe your enemies aren’t your enemies by the time it arrives? Now I know the author of this story wasn’t going for science when he wrote the story. He was trying to entertain children, still Orville asked about the science and there you have it. Class dismissed
Magic is like Science,
Both are fun if you do it right! |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Anyone see WW?
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
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On Jan 1, 2021, Cliffg37 wrote: I'm going to take your excellently worked out post and simply say; "1953, guy writing a comic book." We should be lucky he got ANYTHING right at all! Isaac Asimov did a story in the fifties about rigging the iceberg sized pieces of Saturn's rings with rockets, and flying one to Mars to make up for Earth's restrictions on water use. (Water was a propellant in Asimov's story, and someone had started an anti-spacer group with the idea that they were "wasting" water.) In reprinting the story in his "Best SF Stories of 19XX" (which I had quite a few of before losing them. ) Isaac pointed out that we NOW know that Saturn's rings are pretty much the size of gravel or small rocks. Another thing Isaac did was his "Lucky Starr" series, which had David "Lucky" Starr, a "Space Ranger" travel to different planets in the Solar System. In reprinting those, Isaac insisted on an introduction to each book, explaining where he developed the plot from and how current scientific knowledge made them inaccurate. My point is. Isaac was TRYING for scientific accuracy and often missed. You can't expect too much from this guy.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
Well, my series of questions will be presented thusly:
How do you know he "missed"? Do you understand all of science, and so know absolutely? Have you read much of scientific theory, and assume he missed? Have you read other's, who understood all of science, explain how he missed, and so assume he missed? Have you read the works of other's who read much of scientific theory, and assume he missed because they assumed he missed? I'm just curious because, from what I gather, science is funny about ideas. I heard Einstein even presented a theory, that he later retracted as wrong, and later still was proven right. We should currently be lucky if we have ANYTHING right, but that's for the future generations to decide. Did that whole pile of words help DC at all? I never thought much about the DC universe, the Marvel universe however really grabbed my imagination! Spiderman and Wolverine, they were my imagination's wonder, then came Shatterstar... but very soon after I had to get a real job.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
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On Jan 4, 2021, Josh Riel wrote: I know he missed because he SAID he "missed" in reproductions of the works. He wouldn't allow them to be reprinted unless he had an opportunity to explain where and why they were wrong.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
What does he know? Remember Einstein!
I'm just being me, which I wouldn't suggest anyone be if you have the choice.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
Thanks,Cliff,for your analysis, especially because it was so long and detailed, thanks for taking the time to do it. With your analysis of Outer Space, I guess you would frown on the plane Tatooine (in Star Wars), because of its inhabitants despite having a Binary Sun. After all, the Binary System would cause conflicting gravitational fields that make the planet's geology much too chaotic for anybody to survive on the surface. So I guess it would call for the audience's suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy.
In the comic books was another planet with a Binary Sun. It had an interesting effect of causing a Jekyll-Hyde effect with the indigenous inhabitants becoming alternately peaceful or belligerent depending on which of the two suns happened to be prominent at a given time. Jekyll and Hyde on a global scale. |
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Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
Binary stars are tough, but I wonder if there isn't a sweet spot at some distance and some orbit that might actually be stable. I think if the stars are stable (not all are) there might be such a spot. Still tough though.
The binary Jekyll-hyde bit makes about as much sense as Superman being invulnerable when under yellow sun radiation. That is made worse by the fact that our Sun is not yellow to begin with.
Magic is like Science,
Both are fun if you do it right! |
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Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
I think asking science fiction to be factual is a little absurd, because: fiction.
Even current "facts" based on what we "know" about things we can't really even see clearly yet is up for debate, and I have a strong suspicion we'll realize in time, probably not much time if we ever build the Cosmic Telescope talked about in Cosmos Possible Worlds, that we got some stuff wrong and I think no astrophysicist has been trying for fiction. Even so, I like the game, even with the very little I know about it. Keep in mind I don't read Science fiction, preferring magic like Tolkien, Rowling, Anne Rice and Terry Brooks. I do enjoy Particle Physics and Astro Physics as a hobby... but I do not pretend to be an authority With a binary star it would be cool if a planet could revolve around the stars in time with their own revolutions. So instead of revolving around an "oval" gravity source, it's revolving around a round end, allowing for consistent gravity... maybe. Maybe the gravity of the second star would force the planet to keep time with it's own rotation. Maybe the planet would instead have a moon that could counteract the effects of the shifting suns gravity? Probably not of course, and I don't even think it's necessary with as many stars as are out there with known or possible worlds in that hospitable zone. It seems to me that if we could do it at all, we could do it hopping from hospitable planet to hospitable planet. Probably by the time we can do that we will as a species even consider LONG term solutions like terraforming as an option. Right now planning for a hundred million years in the future is simply beyond us (obviously, as we can't seem to get the next decade right) Or even a cooler idea to me is if life has found a way to totally go beyond what we consider possible and stretch the notion of what is livable where even rogue planets without a sun can have an ecosystem with light and life that no longer needs a sun at all, I mean we know there is a LOT of radiation in space, what if plants somehow used other radiation for photosynthesis. All we would have to do is live under the canopy of the plants that absorb all that deadly (to us) radiation... until we deforested it. What I think, and this is based off of literally almost nothing, is that -assuming what we know of the birth of our universe to be true- that a universe seems an awful lot like a generator. If less than a particle can generate the amount of power around us, even though spread out, then all you need is a container inside of which you would create a void, then inject this less than particle. Maybe it is inevitable that the void would cause that thing to go "bang", and you then would need some sort of siphon... perhaps a blackish-holeish thing that would steadily draw that energy out. Maybe life would be purely incidental, probably useless, to the power generation. So, to end my unreadable blabbing: DC doesn't NEED to catch up to Marvel! It's a good universe, it can stand on it's own.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
Finally appearing on cw TV-series is Green Lantern>
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=85Y2UQfR4Y8 |
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Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
While I am vey much looking forward to seeing David Ramsey as Green Lantern, I am worried. Everyone knows I am a GL fan, and I want to see it done well. John Diggle has paid his dues, studying under Oliver he is an able bodied physical fighter and certainly of strong will power. In that regard it should work well. What I am worried about is the CGI power ring effects. IF they look cartoony, that won't work for me. If they leave them out, that won't work for me. For budgetary reasons I can imagine there being limited use of the ring. Hopefully it will work out. I have heard we will see Diggle next on Superman and Lois. Time will tell.
Magic is like Science,
Both are fun if you do it right! |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Keep in mind they are not writing Green Lantern into the series for comic book fans. They are doing it for the pre-teen/teen audience that watches the CW and specifically those shows. In other words you might want to set yourself for disappointment.
I am betting the HUGE percentage of writers didn't even read the source work for the show. They are now preaching to their choir. That is the most important part for them and it is a good business model. It is not about making a good comic book show, it is about satisfying the base at this point.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
Sometimes the way a superhero is depicted in the comics might appear disappointingly cheesy when adapted to film. The fx artists for the Doom Patrol tv series realized this about Negative Man's radioactive face being just an exposed skull in DC-comics as being too cheesy for film. So they made a great improvement by creating a face which is translucent and eerie. Depending on the camera angle and the lighting, it really makes Neg Man appear as the freak he is. This is one exceptional case when the adaptation was Not faithful to the original and yet that Unfaithfulness was even better and yet still remaining close to the essence of Neg Man as a freak.
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
Good news that the next Dr. Strange film will make his cloak more faithful to the original from the comics. Even in the comics, the cloak underwent a change during the 1960s when the Ancient One bestowed the Cloak of Levitation to Stephen. Before that, it was that dark-blue cloak which was just an ordinary cloak. Although what's odd is that in one particular issue when Stephen had the old blue one, it appears to be levitating, in that the cloak is apparently standing erect by itself, apparently levitating. But it could simply be that the cloak is mounted on a hook on the wall so that it can dangle its entire length.
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
I really enjoyed the first episode of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier." 5 more episodes to go in that series.
Today, they announced a shuffle in the dates for MCU movies in 2021. - "Black Widow" is now on July 9th (instead of May 7th). - "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings" is now on September 3rd (instead of July 9th). - "Eternals" stays on November 5th. - "Spider-man: No Way Home" stays on December 17th. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Cin......e#Future Marvel / Disney also announced that "Black Widow" will be released on Disney+ Premier Access (for the extra fee) at the same time as the theatres. This was a "maybe" before. https://deadline.com/2021/03/black-widow......4720116/ - Donald
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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Orville Smith New user 87 Posts |
Thanks for the latest scoops,Donald. Your report about Marvel's Shang-Chi and specifically the Rings seems as though the Chinese copied from the Japanese, specifically the Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Even with Bruce Lee, fans mistakenly think that he originated the phrase,"Be Water," when in actuality it originated from Buddhism thousands of years ago.
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
There's now a trailer for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings".
I haven't read the comics, but I once saw an animated series that was about Iron Man, The Mandarin, and the 10 Rings, and they were finger rings. I think it's interesting that the rings for this movie (Shang-Chi) appear to be on his arms. I don't know which is most true to the comic book source. And of course, Sir Ben Kingsley played a version of The Mandarin in "Iron Man 3", but he was a red herring because he was actually Trevor Slattery (spoiler about that 2013 movie). They even did a special video related to Ben Kingsley's character after he was in prison ("All Hail the King"). I've seen bits and pieces of that video on YouTube. - Donald
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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