And On And On

Conditions: Colder

The Mining Frontier

Turns out some people saw Armageddon as more of a potential blueprint for mining space asteroids rather than a precautionary tale of the end of civilisation. A new venture has been announced that is intending to do exactly that.

While the announcement may cause some people to snicker at what could be a page out of a sci-fi novel or a Hollywood movie scene, Planetary Resources is making its debut just as scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other groups are embracing the notion of mining "near-Earth asteroids" and providing blueprints for how such a feat would be
accomplished.

The possibility of extracting raw materials such as iron and nickel from asteroids has been discussed for decades, but the cost, scientific expertise and technical prowess of fulfilling such as feat have remained an obstacle. NASA experts have projected it could cost tens of billions of dollars and take well over a decade to land astronauts on an asteroid.

- online.wsj.com/article/

Really? Space mining? I dunno, I just can't see what could possibly be out there that could justify the enormous expense to find it, go to it, extract it, then somehow bring it back. How much gold out there can there be?



Film Review: Titanic (3D)

James Cameron's Titanic was a big moment in cinema. It was a revelation, revolving around the point that you can make a big romantic movie, have it also be exciting, and the audience will come and see it. - Not the regular teenage boy sub-audience that every normal blockbuster chases after, but the actual audience, the people around the world, of all types and ages who will pay to see good movies in the cinemaplex. And they came, making Titanic the biggest box office success ever - not needing the gimmicks of 3D, but instead relying on storytelling, character and spectacle, all handled by a master director at the top of his game. So it's a little ironic that it now is being released back to the theaters in 3D. I've railed against 3D often enough for it to get monotonous, but the key point is that it is a diversion, distracting us from the movie. It's also annoying in that the focus is a lot more narrow in a 3D movie, so many characters in a scene become blurry if you are not looking at the character you are supposed to be.

All of that is true again of Titanic, and the fun of seeing the ship in 3D, as well as the spectacular parts doesn't make up for the distraction factor. But despite it all, the heart of the film still shines through. And like so many Cameron movies, it's the female characters that drive the film. Here it's the lovely Kate Winslet as Rose, fighting to escape her fate as an unhappy housewife. Fighting to be with Jack, the catalyst to her revolution, and fighting to save him, save them, and finally to save herself as the ship sinks out from under them. The movie may groan at times under the weight of the inevitable, and the stuffy atmosphere of the early twentieth century, but all that fight keeps things moving.

Of course a big strength is the "realness" factor, the impression that we are seeing the reality of what happened, that these people are really real, another kudos to how well Cameron and his actors have done with their roles. And so as the ship sinks we are struck forcefully of how tragic it all was. This,of course, is a downer movie, with a hard and unhappy ending - and yet Gloria Stuart, as Rose's older half, manages to leave us with a sense of wistfulness, rather than despair. Not bad for a disaster movie. Four icebergs out of five.


- Peace out