Oblivion Review: Earth is a Memory Worth Fighting For...

I just recently experienced the visually stunning motion picture Oblivion in an IMAX theatre and I highly recommend it. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (based on his graphic novel), this SF action thriller is worth seeing on the big screen. It takes place in a devastated NYC (no longer recognizable as a vast lonely landscape of buried skyscrapers and dried up rivers). It’s 2077, sixty years after aliens invaded and destroyed the moon and much of the planet as consequence. This film is LARGE. Kosinki’s spectacular imagery and M83's other-wordly and evocative score must be seen large.

Technician Jack Harper (Cruise) and Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) are assigned to mop up the remaining resource extraction of a "fallen" Earth, before they join what's left of the human race, who have settled on Titan, Jupiter's moon. Victoria oversees operations and communicates with mission commander Sally (Melissa Leo) in the Tet (a large space station orbiting Earth) from the 3,000-foot high Sky Tower, a posh high-tech home/work station where she and Jack live. Meantime, Jack risks his life daily, servicing the droids that chase after "scavs" (remnant aliens), who keep sabotaging the giant resource harvesters.

Jack and Victoria have been stationed there for five years and are due to leave in two weeks. Faced with the prospect of leaving Earth, Jack grows maudlin for humanity’s home. Without disclosing to Victoria or Sally, he’s been collecting Earth memorabilia (e.g., baseball cap, toys, sunglasses, books); It doesn’t help matters that he is haunted by dreams of living in pre-war NYC with another woman (Olga Kurylenko).

Every day Jack leaves his ultra clean and tidy Sky Tower home and descends to Earth's gritty and dangerous landscape. On some level, he thrills in the place, finding a strong connection between its vast and lonely landscape and his own identity. Jack is a man in search of an identity; he was 'mindwiped', after all (to keep the scavs from getting important intel if he was ever captured). Jack desperately summons shadows of memories and collects Earth memorabilia every chance he gets. "Is it possible to miss a place you've never been, to mourn a time you've never lived?" he reflects. When he finally learns what he truly is and the heinous role he (and those like him) unknowingly played in the near-destruction of humanity, Jack does the only thing he can; he sacrifices himself to save what's left of humanity and those he loves: "If we have souls, they're made of the love we share. Undimmed by time, unbound by death." 

Showatcher.com calls Oblivion “a slick 21^st century science fiction pulp actioner” with genuinely amazing CGI and action set pieces. Showatcher adds that “it was refreshing to witness a film that, though it did not break new ground, held the attention of a jaded sci-fi audience.” A large part of its attention appeal lies in its “techno-bass” musical score composed by Joseph Trapanese and Anthony Gonzalez with M83 (a French electronic/shoegaze band named after the spiral galaxy Messier 83). They elegantly orchestrated a score that was locked in step with the narrative imagery of Claudio Miranda in a viscerally synchronized life-pulse. The score surges and ebbs like an intelligent sea; at times assaulting the senses with an open-throated tsunami of crushing sound; at others a throbbing caress of longing nuance.

Many reviewers (see the litany on Rotten Tomatoes) have trashed the film for various reasons, from plot holes and appropriation, mismanagement of suspense, to it being a Tom Cruise film. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calls Oblivion "bafflingly solemn, lugubrious and fantastically derivative sci-fi, which serves up great big undigested lumps of Total Recall, AI, Planet of the Apes--with little snippets of Top Gun."

Roy Klabin of Policymic is less kind: “Unfortunately, I got to see an early preview and doubt it will satisfy even the most dim-witted of audiences…the film’s unsubtle commentary on our own use of robotics in warfare is lackluster and anticlimactic…the weak story is sprinkled with a heavy dosing of famous actors [with] wooden-faced expressionless performances.”  

David Dizon of ABS-CBN News calls Oblivion “an idea-movie, except the idea seems like a rehash of ideas from other, much better sci-fi flicks.” He and others cite Mad Max, Moon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Halo, Matrix, and Star Wars Episode 1 as examples. Dizon calls Oblivion “a pretty movie served cold.” He claimed that the movie’s sin wasn’t in the “idea” department, but in the way it was executed.

I couldn’t disagree more on all counts.

Oblivion is not a “pretty movie” and certainly not served cold. Vast. Beautiful. Eerie. Elegant. Visceral. Memorable. I also saw many similarities with the various films Dizon and others mentioned (I would include Bladerunner and Solaris in the mix). But here’s the thing: science fiction is the literature of “the large”. SF metaphorically explores our evolution, the meaning of our existence and our place in the universe through premise and idea. It is not surprising that viewers will see similarities with other films in Kosinski’s meditation on the nature of the soul, identity, self-actualization, love and community.

Several reviewers suggest that the film flirts with such big questions” yet makes no effort to fully answer them. Showatcher adds, "Where the film falls short is not in its visual styles; and its pacing can be forgiven in that it actually builds to a satisfying conclusion. The film falters with its need to include cliched action set-ups... the film addresses some very interesting questions of the human soul, religion, and the meditation of loneliness; however, it never takes it as far as it could. Instead we are left with a slick visual style and action scenes."

Good art always asks the big questions; unlike propaganda and polemic, good art also lets the viewers answer those big questions for themselves. This concept is not as palatable to North America’s multiplex crowd, eager for easily accessed answers.

Some movies are like appetizers or snacks. Others, like Kosinki's Oblivion, returns the film experience to a full meal, engaging all one's senses and where sound (its own character) marries with setting and actors to create an epic and heart-thrilling experience. Like many things in life, and certainly in good art, the most potent aspect of communication lies in the often subtle and oblique non-verbal narrative. Good art "shows more than it "tells".

For those receptive to his art, Kosinski--like Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Soderbergh in Solaris--lets the imagery and score express a sensual dance that invokes both mind and heart. 

In the final analysis, Oblivion is a simple film dressed elegantly. Oblivion goes beyond surface plot constructs and intellectual proselytizing; it dives deep into thematic representation to pose questions on identity, love, community, and the meaning of "home". Rather than offer up a platter-full of rhetoric, Kosinsky keeps the narrative slim; instead, he provides us with a multi-filigreed tapestry of sensual possibility.

And choices.

After making the startling discovery of who and what he is, Jack transcends his "mind wipe" and remembers what is worth remembering. In a final scene, Jack tells Sally why he is doing what he must do, even though it means his certain death. He quotes from an old book that he'd picked up earlier in the movie (Lays of Ancient Rome narrated by Centurian Horatius): "to every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late. And how can a man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods." 

Ben Kendrick of “Screenrant” summarizes what lies at the core of the film: “Oblivion could have easily been a convoluted and indulgent movie-going experience; instead, the film keeps a restrained focus on Jack’s character journey—which, thankfully, is an “effective team” of drama and post-apocalyptic adventure.”

Do me a favor; when you go into the theatre to watch this film, park your intellectual self at the door and bring all your senses with you. This film needs to be FELT. Prepare to participate.

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.

Best Aliens in Science Fiction

"Name your Choice of Best Alien in Science Fiction," was the question John DeNardo over at SF Signal posed me and several other SF authors such as Tobias S. Buckell, Louise Marley, Dean Wesley Smith, Jay Lake, to name a few.

"Aliens are a classic trope dating back to the earliest days of science fiction," John said.

In a previous post of mine entitled "Dream and Perceptions: the stuff of Science Fiction"I discussed what I felt science fiction did well: it makes commentary on humanity through our interaction with" the other ".

Have you ever done that? Looked craned backward or while driving through a familiar scene to gain a different perspective? And just felt different for a moment? Like you'd entered a different dimension and briefly glimpsed "the other "?

What is it like to meet "the other?

The Phoenix Landing & The Martian Chronicles

They came because they were afraid or unafraid, happy or unhappy. There was a reason for each man. They were coming to find something or get something, or to dig up something or bury something. They were coming with small dreams or big dreams or none at all—Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles)

When I was but a sprite, and before I became an avid reader of books (I preferred comic books), I read Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. It changed me, what I thought of books and what I felt about the power of stories. It made me cry. And perhaps that was when I decided to become a writer. I wanted to move people as Bradbury had moved me.

The Martian Chronicles isn’t really about Mars (though I’ve chosen to give it my Friday Feature placement as homage to the recent Phoenix landing on the red planet). True to Bradbury’s master metaphoric story-telling, the Martian Chronicles is about humanity.

Phoenix Landing on Mars

"It is good to renew one’s wonder, said the philosopher. "Space travel has again made children of us all."—Ray Bradbury (from The Martian Chronicles)

“The Phoenix spacecraft successfully landed in the north arctic plains of Mars today,” Carolyn Porco, Cassini Imaging Team Leader, announced to my friend Danny Bloom. “This is the first landing in 32 years -- since the Viking spacecraft made landfall on Mars in 1976 -- that we have soft-landed a craft on Mars using retrorockets.”

Critique of the Motion Picture "Contact"

The opening sequence of Contact tells the entire story… It is both spectacular and humbling at the same time as we begin with a view of Earth gleaming in a sunrise. An almost frantic jumble of broadcasts— news, TV shows, music—assail our ears. As we pull back from Earth and pass the outer planets, we hear older broadcasts… disco…Kennedy… the Beatles… Hitler…then ultimately the unintelligible static of all the radio stations on Earth. Then, as we leave the solar system, passing breathtaking nebulae, the sounds give way to silence. A dead silence, as we continue to pull back out of the galaxy and out of the local group of galaxies into the quiet depth of our vast universe. “It’s enough to make you feel tiny and insignificant and alone,” says Maryann Johanson of FlickFilosopher.com. “Which is precisely the feeling it’s meant to evoke.” From that vastness, we are brought back to our own “mundane” existence within it as the universe transforms into a dark reflection in the protagonist’s eye.

With a powerful entrance like that, it is hard to imagine that this 1997 movie directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) and based on the novel by Carl Sagan, received very mixed reviews by critics.

Space Traveller Alert: More Space Debris

This is a yellow alert to my alien friends who may be sleuthing near earth or even entering Earth's orbit or atmosphere to buy a Starbuck's. WATCH OUT FOR NEW DEBRIS!

In addition to being treated to an awesome moon eclipse last Wednesdy at 7:30 pm, my fellow Canadians also got to see a bright meteor-like streak in the night sky. No, it wasn't my clumsy friend, Beezl, from Tarsus-9 forgetting to use his "cloaking" device--again. It was a defunct U.S. spy satellite (from the National Reconnaissance Office) that had lost power as early as 2006 and had strayed well below the normal altitude of a satellite. As the 2,270 kg bus-sized satellite careered (at 27,400 kph) through space like a tornado on fire the Pentagon fretted that its 450 kg hydrazine (rocket fuel) tank would spill toxic gas on unsuspecting humans (upon impact). Hydrazine is a colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odour that can harm you if you come into contact with it. So, they shot down the satellite at 133 nautical miles above the Pacific Ocean down with a SM-3 missile from the USS Lake Erie at about 10:26 pm EST last Wednesday (Washington Post).

According to a senior military source (who shall remain nameless) the missile hit the satellite about three minutes after it was launched and the satellite exploded. “We’re very confident that we hit the satellite,” Gen. James E. Cartwright of the Marines, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday morning (CNN). “We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank.” (New York Times). Cartwright also said the satellite seemed to be reduced to small pieces. "Thus far, we see nothing larger than a football," he said. The Pentagon confirmed that debris would enter the Earth's atmosphere right away and burn up on re-entry.

As for the rest... Well, watch out, my alien friends... especially you, Beezl!

Across The Universe--A Call to Aliens!

Tristran, that Mad Tomato himself tagged me with this very cool MEME and I'm glad to oblige:

Says Tristran: "Today, February 4, 2008, at 00:00 GMT (7:00 p.m. New York /EST), NASA will beam the Beatles’ “Across The Universe” to the star Polaris, 431 light years away (that’s 431 years travel at the speed of light before our all-time favorite Beatles song reaches the 2.5 quadrillion miles away star). This is being done to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe, and the 50th anniversary of NASA."

"NASA has invited people around the world to play “Across the Universe” on their audio systems at the same time NASA beams its mp3 version into outer space. The idea was hatched by Beatles’ historian Martin Lewis, who encourages all Beatles fans to play the track as it is being beamed to the distant star. Additionally, this date will be known as “Across the Universe Day”. The event marks the first time a radio song has been beamed into deep space."

Says Tristran: "Bloggers, let’s do this! ... You can add the playlist to your blog or site." Tristran included its code at the bottom of his site. Please invite other bloggers as well to join the celebration.

I tag the following to join me and post the tune: Somerset Bob; Jennifer Rahn; Jean-Luc Picard; SiFiChick; SciFi Guy; Cassandra; Ilker; Peggy; David; DudeRoks; Uri; Rick; Alien Insomniac; and Earthsky.

Aliens Among Us

In a remarkable article in the Scientific American, Paul Davies reports on scientists’ pursuit of evidence that life arose on Earth more than once, providing evidence for a plethora of life in the universe.

“The origin of life is one of the great unsolved problems of science,” writes Davies. “Nobody knows how, where or when life originated. About all that is known for certain is that microbial life had established itself on Earth by about three and a half billion years ago. In the absence of hard evidence of what came before, there is plenty of scope for disagreement.”

And a plethora of disagreement there is.

The Adventures of Sammy the Wonder Cat—Part 4

Here's the 4th and final installation of my story. If you missed the previous parts of the story, you can read them here: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.--Sammy

~~~~

Okay! Okay! Go ahead. Roll the script...I’m a big cat. I can handle a little embarrassment…

“Yeah,” I said, suspiciously. “I sort of remember it. What’s that got to do with you?”

“Everything!” Krapper said. “Your mistake was that you sent one of your own secret agents to jail because he smelled guilty, remember? You mistook him for Vinny, the musical pharmacist, who’d created a plague to make everyone tone deaf. But he was really Agent Bob with a sore throat.”

“What?” Kevin and I cried.

“You did that?” Kevin asked me and I saw the start of a crazy grin on his face. “How could you mistake one of your own agents for a criminal?”

“They’re both dogs.” I shrugged. “All dogs look alike,” I explained. Then I turned back to Krapper. “What’s that got to do with your warning?”

“Well,” Krapper said, “You made the same mistake with me. I’m really Agent Norm, not Krapper.”

I stared at him and my jaw dropped. I’m sure my cute little pink tongue hung out of my mouth.

Kevin snorted. “Let me guess: all rats look alike.”

I shrugged. Then it hit me. “That means that both Vinny and Krapper, his side-kick, are still out there!”

Krapper ― that is Norm ― nodded. “You got the picture. And Galaxy police reported them heading this way, to Earth!”

“Wait,” Kevin said. “So what’s the big problem? So this dog and this rat develop some plague that’ll make everyone tone deaf. My parents are already tone deaf. They don’t appreciate ‘Our Lady Peace’ or ‘Avril Lavigne’. . .”

Norm and I clutched each other in panic. “You don’t understand,” I said. “That’ll be the end of Rock & Roll, Hip Hop, Blues and Jazz forever! That leaves Rap and Country music! Imagine hearing that everywhere you go?”

Kevin shrugged. “So? I like rap music.”

I shivered. “Okay, let me put it this way. You want to listen to Mark Chestnut right after Emenem?”

Kevin blanched. “What can we do?”

“Scream!”

You would too if you had to listen to Mark Chestnut all day. As for what Sammy and the Pixl did to save Earth from turning into a bad CD, you’ll just have to wait for the next installment of “Sammy, the Wonder Cat: The Plague of the Singing Pharmacist.”

The End…or is it?

The Adventures of Sammy the Wonder Cat—Part 3

Hi! Me again ... Here's Part 3 of my story. If you haven't read the earlier parts you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.--Sammy.

~~~~

We crept down the hallway and peeked around the corner into the office. Kevin turned to me and shrugged. We saw nothing unusual. Then, out of the corner of my eye I caught a slight movement close to the computer screen on the desk. I tapped Kevin’s shoulder with my paw and pointed. He saw it too. A shadowy figure.

“You go that way,” Kevin whispered to me, pointing to the left. “I’ll go that way.” He pointed to the right. “We’ll ambush it.”

I nodded, trying to look brave and majestic.

“Sure, easy for you to say, you’re ten times my size,” I said under my breath as I crept forward to the left of the shadow. It was then that I saw the string of action figures on the floor. So, this was where they’d ended up!

I saw Kevin move forward. We were so close, I started to feel my fur stand up on end. Then I leapt and Kevin lunged forward.

BONK! We hit heads!

“Hey!” I yelled.

“Where’d it go?” Kevin said. “We lost it!”

“Yeah,” I countered. “But at least you found your action figures.”

“Yeah,” a little voice said. “They don’t taste good. Especially Boba Fett.”

I could have told him that ― Wait! “Who said that?” Kevin and I exchanged glances. This was spooky!

“Look!” Kevin pointed to the top of the deep freeze. And there he was. The last person I’d expected to see: Krapper. With a lightsaber!

My fur really stood up then! My worst enemy. How’d he get out of jail? Flush was supposed to be foolproof. No one ever got off that jail planet.

Krapper let out a nasty giggle. “I thought I’d never find you,” he said.

Was he here to get revenge? I’d put him in jail, after all. You see I discovered that Krapper was the ring-leader of an evil smuggling and drug organization called the “City Dudes”. When I exposed them, I sent Krapper to Flush, a penal planet totally isolated from the rest of the galaxy. Krapper insisted right to the end that he was innocent. But I could tell he smelled guilty. My nose never lies. Well, almost never. You see there was that mistake I made ― but it’s too embarrassing to tell you.

Kevin waved madly at me and pointed in several directions. I finally got what he meant and nodded.

“What do you want, Krapper?” I asked. In the meantime, while I kept Krapper listening to me, I saw Kevin sneak up behind him. “Are you here to get your revenge? Finish me off? Nibble on my feet?”

In a flash, Kevin whipped Krapper in his hand. “Gotcha!”

“Ulp!” Krapper squeaked in Kevin’s hand. He made some more pathetic sounds. Even I almost felt sorry for him. Kevin finally put him down again with a warning that he’d shmoosh him if he moved even a centimeter.

He gulped than said, “I didn’t come for revenge. I came to warn you!”

“What?” we both said. Kevin glanced at me, puzzled.

“What d’you mean?” I asked. “Why would you want to warn me, Someone who sent you to Flush, the toilet seat of the galaxy?”

“Actually, it’s ‘the toilet bowl of the galaxy’,” he corrected me.

“Okay. So?”

“Because I work for your boss too.”

“What?” Kevin and I said.

“Remember that little mistake you made on Gamma 9?” he asked me―

OKAY! CUT SCENE! I don’t remember this in the script. Time for a little pause with a pretty picture. This is me when I first came to Earth. Aren’t I the cutest thing you ever laid eyes on?…


(Part 4 next post…maybe)

The Adventures of Sammy the Wonder Cat—Part 2

Here's the second part of my story. If you haven't yet and want to read Part 1 first, you should go here. Or you can just scroll down too.--Sammy.

~~~~~

I was just settling in to read my favourite Star Wars comic book, Mara Jade, when Kevin stormed into the room. At first I thought he was mad at me for drinking his milk but he looked worried too.

“Did you hide Boba Fett, Sammy?” he said, eyeing me suspiciously, like he usually does when I’ve just been exercising. He obviously meant his action figure toy.

“Why would I take Boba Fett?” I huffed. “What am I, a pack rat?” I turned back to Mara Jade, but, speaking of pack rats, my mind couldn’t help wandering to Krapper, the criminal rodent I’d sent to jail on the planet Flush. It was my last mission before . . . well, before that accident I can’t tell you about. I went back to the comic, remembering that Boba Fett didn’t taste that good anyway from the last time I’d tried to bite his head off.

“But that’s the third action figure missing today!” Kevin insisted.

“As if you cared about Xizor or Greedo!” I sniffed. Then I ignored him, like a good tabby cat does, and he finally calmed down to play with his other action figures.

I was just getting to a neat scene in the comic ― Mara Jade was creaming those lousy pirates using her blaster, light saber and her foot ― when Kevin shrieked in his highest pitched voice, “You pig! You ate my veeshy pie!”

He wiggled Nomi Sunrider in his left hand. Then wiggling Darth Maul in his other hand, he bellowed in a low, but still squeaky voice (he’s a kid, after all), “But it was good! Make another!” Darth Maul used to be an evil Sith, but he turned into a Rebel . . . and a gourmet.

“But I made the pie for Boba Fett,” Kevin made Nomi say. “He’s my hero―”

I couldn’t stand it any longer and pounced!

All mayhem broke loose. Kevin fell back, accidentally kicking one of his ships. Action figures flew in all directions. He screamed, “Get off, Sammy! You’re wrecking the set!” Next thing I knew, I was flying across the room, wondering if I’d just become part of the script.
Not one to sulk, I sauntered back to see the damage I’d helped create and maybe even to help Kevin clean up. Kevin flashed me a look of concern. “Shhh!” he whispered, putting his fingers to his lips. “I think I heard something in the office.”

“But no one’s there,” I objected.

“Burglars,” we both said at the same time. I was on Kevin’s shoulder in a flash. But my intrepid friend decided to check it out. Fool! Didn’t he know that’s how you can get creamed?

Okay, I decided. If the Pixl could be that brave, I could at least help out. So I scurried to my hiding place and donned my cape. Kevin changed into his Pixl suit. It was time for Sammy, the Wonder Cat, and the Pixl!

(Part 3 next post)

The Adventures of Sammy the Wonder Cat--Part 1

I’d like to introduce you to my guest blogger, Ishmael, who’s come from very far to post this week while I’m holidaying on Helsig 2, a moon off HD168443b in the HD168443 system (staying away from tax collectors). Ishmael has a story for you. It comes in four parts, with Part 1 to start today. Please be nice to him and post comments for him to read. This will encourage him to post more of his story. Well, gotta go. I leave you to him and…good luck.

Book One: Revenge of the Repulsive Rat

Hi. That good-looking dude is me. I’m Sammy and that goofy-looking guy next to me is Kevin, my pet. Hey, but don’t break the news to him. He thinks I’m his pet! Actually, the truth is we work together and he’s my friend. It seems he’s pretty good-looking for a human kid too! That’s what I’ve heard the girls say, anyway . . . if you can trust them.

So, you think we’re just an ordinary kid and his pet cat, eh? Well, think again! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s how the boring story of an ordinary kid and his cat became the exciting tale of two super-heroes who had to fight an evil pack-rat from space who ate STAR WARS action figures. But I’m getting ahead of myself again . . . .

It started in a quiet little community called Delta, British Columbia. That’s in Canada, by the way, for those of you who are spatially challenged. That’s where Kevin and his parents live. Little did Kevin know when he chose me at the animal shelter that he was getting no ordinary cat. You see, my real name is Ishmael Jakheem Borrogrove Peetaky Sammiloo (Sammy, for short) and I’m a space traveler from Mangoleeky, the third planet circling IT-501, a tiny red dwarf star in the Araki System. That’s another galaxy, by the way, so don’t even bother to look for it. You don’t believe me? Well, take a look at my retractable antennae. Told you!

I’m Agent Sam, a galactic secret agent ― well, I used to be. I ran important missions for the Inter-Galactic Secret Police. Top Secret stuff, which is why I’m telling you all this. You see, I made a big mistake, as in GIANT. Mega HUGE. Well, you get the picture. I can’t tell you what I did, because it’s too embarrassing. Anyway, because of it, they gave me this routine mission on Earth. And if I do okay, they might give me my old job back. The mission was to keep any of our galaxy’s criminals from messing up this planet.
I was instructed to lay low as an ordinary tabby kitten. “Just act like you usually do and they won’t know the difference,” my boss told me. So I did. But what no one told me was that, while I was a normal feline on Mangoleeky, I had super powers on Earth! I found out one day when I was chasing a bird in Kevin’s backyard. I crept up to it like I normally do and just as I pounced it took flight, like they always do. The only difference was I flew after it! I COULD FLY! WEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Of course, I had a few things to learn about landing . . . . Anyway, I thought to myself, how can I lay low when I have all these neat powers? Especially flying! I just had to do something to help these poor technologically-challenged humans. So, having read the best human stories on Earth (“Superman Comics”), I made a super-hero outfit to disguise me ― well, actually Kevin’s aunt did ― and I gave myself a super-hero name: Sammy, the Wonder Cat. Of course I had to let Kevin in on the secret, because we’re buddies. Well, being my sidekick, Kevin figured that he should have a name too, so we came up with “Pixl”, which is what his mom calls him when she gets mad at him for being such a smarty-pants.

That’s how “Sammy the Wonder Cat” and “Kevin the Pixl” came to be. Now you know too. But don’t tell anyone, because it’s a secret.

~~~~

My first mission as the Wonder Cat came more quickly than I imagined. It was a normal day in Kevin’s house.

For exercise, I’d already tipped over a vase of flowers in the kitchen, coaxed an entire roll of toilet paper down to the floor, batted Kevin’s dad’s watch under the couch and drank Kevin’s milk from his glass on the dining room table. It was promising to be a very good day…

(Part 2 next post)

Aliens too Wierd to Spot?...

Just to follow through from my last post on habitable planets and water...

According to the National Academy of Sciences panel, extraterrestrial life may be so wierd we couldn't recognize it, says Maggie Fox of the Vancouver Sun. The panel suggested last Friday that NASA's approach to "follow the water" may be too parochial and works only on the assumption that life everywhere is like life on Earth, based on water, carbon and DNA. But the panel of experts convened in Washington Seattle, contend that this approach may miss something exotic.

The purpose of a report commissioned by the U.S. space agency from the National Research Council (that advises the federal government on scientific issues) was to "be able to look for life on other planets and moons iwth an open mind," said John Baross, professor of Oceanography at the University of Washington and chair of the committee.

What might they look like? Will they have intelligence? Would we even recognize it?...We should perhaps be looking to the science-fiction writers of this planet for some ideas on other "life" forms...Of course, I always knew that...