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**rprosperi** · 01-13-2020, 08:45 PM

(01-13-2020 04:11 PM)Thomas Okken Wrote:
(01-13-2020 04:02 PM)Valentin Albillo Wrote: On the other hand I think this is one of the best scenes in a movie choke-full of them, and also one of the most memorables scenes in any movie, period.

I couldn't agree more! This movie blew me away when I first saw it back in 1976, and I still come back to it today. For me, no other movie has stood the test of time as well as this one.

Of course it does help that I generally prefer slower-paced movies over faster ones.

1 +

I too felt this scene was pivotal both in terms of its beauty, but also in explaining the issues and sequence involved with docking. At the time, I was watching Gemini missions on TV do these exact same things and did not understand the explanations from Chet Huntley and Walter Cronkite about how complicated it was to dock with the Agena stage. As a kid, it seemed it should be easy but the 'explanations' made it seem more complicated than I thought.

It was not until years later (mid 70's, like Thomas) that I saw 2001 and was immediately taken back to those missions and suddenly had a new appreciation of what guys like Neil Armstrong had accomplished, now that I understood the complexities of the docking process. (understood in an observer way, not in an astronaut way).

And it's always easy to judge after the fact, but the musical choice is perfect for the scene. Can anyone commenting hear "The Blue Danube" and not immediately be drawn into this scene. Perfect.

Beautiful film in many, many ways, full of one incredible scene after another. And I agree with both Valentin and Thomas that this movie has aged incredibly well. While the social references have aged a bit, the technology and space scenes are still first class today. (video phones, not so much).

Valentin Albillo · 01-13-2020, 10:37 PM

(01-13-2020 05:51 PM)Jeff O. Wrote: Obviously, I have soft spot for this movie (see avatar at left <--)

Douglas Rain could have made a (possibly small) fortune had he given his voice for a GPS announcer before phones took over that function. [...] I know, Majel Barrett would be a close second if not first. Unfortunately, we have lost both Douglas and Majel.

Both are fine but I'd choose the voice of GLaDOS, from the classic game "Portal", with all its quirks and excellent dark humor:

" 2 plus 2 is fff... fff... 10 ! ... in base 4, I'm fine !!! "

Regards.
V.

Jeff O. · 01-14-2020, 05:22 PM

(01-13-2020 06:19 PM)toml_12953 Wrote: Do you use a camera on any of your monitors or TV? Voice activation on any device that's connected to the Internet?

No and no. I realize it is probably a pointless battle that I will ultimately lose, but I'll keep trying.

Maximilian Hohmann · 01-14-2020, 05:41 PM

Hello!

(01-13-2020 08:45 PM)rprosperi Wrote: Can anyone commenting hear "The Blue Danube" and not immediately be drawn into this scene.

Hearing "The Blue Danube" rather reminds me of endless evenings after school when we had to take dance classes - our parents thought that it would do us children good if we learnt the associated skills as well and not only mathematics and phyics.

So there we were, on hot summer evenings in Italy (these courses took place in the last week before the summer holidays), sweaty schoolboys stepping on the feet of sweaty schoolgirls, and vice versa, to the hammering beat of the Blue Danube. Played from a worn vinyl record on a portable player that the dance instructor - a very fine lady who must have been around 75 years of age then - had carried with her all over the continent. This was over 40 years ago and I have not danced to the sound of a Walzer ever again. And I spared my son the experience as well :-)

BTW: On "Rotten Tomatoes", one of my favotrite movie sites, "2001" only scores rank 29 among the 110 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time (https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gui...-all-time/). This is probably around where I would place it as well. And yes, I later saw the film full length after my first sleepy attempt...

And regarding that docking maneuver: A society that is able to build a space station of that size should be able to program the autopilots of their spacecraft in a way, that the matching of the various relative motions and rotations involved can be achieved in one single elegant move. An HP71 with a MATH module is all that is required to perform the necessary calculations :-)

Live long and prosper
Max

Massimo Gnerucci · 01-14-2020, 06:25 PM

(01-14-2020 05:41 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: BTW: On "Rotten Tomatoes", one of my favotrite movie sites, "2001" only scores rank 29 among the 110 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time (https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gui...-all-time/). This is probably around where I would place it as well. And yes, I later saw the film full length after my first sleepy attempt...

Sorry Maximilian but - to me - that list is quite laughable: I didn't check all the titles but the first page was enough.

Then, of course, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Maximilian Hohmann · (This post was last modified: 01-14-2020 06:47 PM by Maximilian Hohmann.)

Hello!

(01-14-2020 06:25 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: Sorry Maximilian but - to me - that list is quite laughable: I didn't check all the titles but the first page was enough.

You must start from the end (page 4) as I did. Who cares about rank 88 or 97 anyway...

And yes, especially the top 20 are very biased towards Star Wars (which I really don't like at all). But this is due to the fact that the Earth has revolved around the Sun many times since "2001" was made and the moviegoers of 1968 are not the same ones as in 2020. Or at least not the majority. And by the way, my favorite sci-fi movies are "Alien" (which I first saw in a small Italian village cinema in 1979 - there are no village cinemas any more in 2020) and „Blade Runner“. Do you like our owl? Is it artificial? (One really must read the book, which is called "Do Androids Dream of Artificial Sheep", to understand what this is about though). I have been looking for an artificial owl since decades and would trade all my calculators for it in an instant. Just in case someone has got one to spare.

Saluti
Max

Massimo Gnerucci · 01-14-2020, 06:53 PM

(01-14-2020 06:44 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: Hello!

(01-14-2020 06:25 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: Sorry Maximilian but - to me - that list is quite laughable: I didn't check all the titles but the first page was enough.

You must start from the end (page 4) as I did. Who cares about rank 88 or 97 anyway...

And yes, especially the top 20 are very biased towards Star Wars (which I really don't like at all). But this is due to the fact that the Earth has revolved around the Sun many times since "2001" was made and the moviegoers of 1968 are not the same ones as in 2020. Or at least not the majority. And by the way, my favorite sci-fi movies are "Alien" (which I first saw in a small Italian village cinema in 1979 - there are no village cinemas any more in 2020) and „Blade Runner“. Do you like our owl? Is it artificial? (One really must read the book, which is called "Do Androids Dream of Artificial Sheep", to understand what this is about though). I have been looking for an artificial owl since decades and would trade all my calculators for it in an instant. Just in case someone has got one to spare.

Saluti
Max

With "first page" I meant the one containing the top choices (i.e. #4).
C'mon: Wall-e (sci-fi?)? Gravity? Her? Bah.

Ok, with Alien & Blade Runner (and there's the sequel in the top 25, not the original one, bah, again).

Ciao
Max, too ;)

**rprosperi** · 01-14-2020, 07:46 PM

I mostly agree: 2001, Blade Runner and Alien are among my top 10 movies of any kind, ever.

As for rotten tomatoes, while useful for some things, it is hugely biased and you need to consider that before evaluating anything that they list. Though it's not that the age of movie goers has changed so much, it is the age of folks that put ratings into places like rotten tomatoes that causes the bias. Does anyone here spend time entering their opinion about movies?

The true core evil of social media is it has convinced a lot of (mostly younger) people that their opinions matter to other people, so they spend a lot of time sharing them (their opinions). Case in point: a confusingly large number of young folks seem to think Wall-E is a good Sci-Fi movie, when it is really neither (good, nor SciFi), but they still go to rotten tomatoes and vote. That time would be better spent watching better movies....

Maximilian Hohmann · 01-14-2020, 08:27 PM

Hello!

(01-14-2020 07:46 PM)rprosperi Wrote: Case in point: a confusingly large number of young folks seem to think Wall-E is a good Sci-Fi movie, when it is really neither (good, nor SciFi), but they still go to rotten tomatoes and vote. That time would be better spent watching better movies....

That is probably correct, but I have not seen Wall-E (and no intention to watch it either) so I can not be sure ;-)

But you are spot on concerning people who share their opinions on internet platforms. The only ones I know who regularly do that are the ones whose opinions I care for least. But on YouTube I "liked" all videos on HHC talkes that I have watched.

Regards
Max

Thomas Okken · 01-15-2020, 12:19 AM

(01-14-2020 07:46 PM)rprosperi Wrote: As for rotten tomatoes, while useful for some things, it is hugely biased and you need to consider that before evaluating anything that they list. Though it's not that the age of movie goers has changed so much, it is the age of folks that put ratings into places like rotten tomatoes that causes the bias. Does anyone here spend time entering their opinion about movies?

It's not exactly a new phenomenon that young and old people have a different outlook, broadly speaking. Hang out with lots of over-50s and you get pretty one-sided opinions as well. The fact that their bias is different from that of a group of teenagers doesn't mean that there's no bias there.

What over-50 even looks at Rotten Tomatoes in the first place, anyway? Do we need outside validation for our tastes or something? I thought that one of the nicer things about getting older is getting over such neuroses. Big Grin

Valentin Albillo · 01-15-2020, 12:52 AM

(01-15-2020 12:19 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote: What over-50 even looks at Rotten Tomatoes in the first place, anyway? Do we need outside validation for our tastes or something?

Myself, I never read the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes or other such sites because I care nothing about what critics think on this or that movie, I need no confirmation for the validity of my very own opinions on movies.

Actually, it's frequently the case that a movie I consider great and awesome has bad reviews and is kind of a boxoffice bomb (I could give examples) and conversely, there are movies with ravishing reviews and hundreds of millions at the boxoffice that I consider a painful waste of my time, which actually reflects pretty badly on the many (highly undeserved) enthusiastic reviews and the critics perpetrating them.

And yes, I'm over 50.

Best regards.
V.

EdS2 · 01-15-2020, 08:53 AM

Even if you're old enough to have seen movies in the 60s (and I am, technically, but I think my first not-specifically-for-children was 2001 and in the 70s) it's very hard not to have a bias towards the recent.

FWIW I do highly rate Wall·E - it's certainly science fiction, and it manages profundity, drama, humour and emotion. You wouldn't mistake it for Terminator or Alien but that's not the only kind of SF.

I have a real soft spot for Arrival too - and I don't think it's just because it's recent.

Oh, and would we put Brazil or Twelve Monkeys on the list? I would!

BruceH · 01-15-2020, 11:57 AM

(01-14-2020 06:44 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: I have been looking for an artificial owl since decades and would trade all my calculators for it in an instant. Just in case someone has got one to spare.

Here's one for sale.

Massimo Gnerucci · (This post was last modified: 01-15-2020 01:35 PM by Massimo Gnerucci.)

(01-15-2020 11:57 AM)BruceH Wrote:
(01-14-2020 06:44 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: I have been looking for an artificial owl since decades and would trade all my calculators for it in an instant. Just in case someone has got one to spare.

Here's one for sale.

Or this one.

[Image: DSC_0012%2Bcopy.jpg]

**rprosperi** · 01-15-2020, 02:10 PM

(01-15-2020 08:53 AM)EdS2 Wrote: I have a real soft spot for Arrival too - and I don't think it's just because it's recent.

Oh, and would we put Brazil or Twelve Monkeys on the list? I would!

I still have not seen Arrival, but have heard good things; still can't yet say it's among the top films.

And I do concur that both Brazil and Twelve Monkeys are great films (for really different reasons) and both need to be seen by more people; deemed obscure (again for different reasons) lots of people avoided them and they never reached mainstream.

Maximilian Hohmann · 01-15-2020, 09:04 PM

Hello!

(01-15-2020 01:34 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: ... Here's one for sale.

...Or this one.

Yes, certainly pretty, but not the real artificial owl. Because the real one can fly! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AXOjlPF0Y)

Anyway, the link says: DX Full SET: SOLD OUT- Thank you! So even if I wanted to buy one of these I coudn't. Maybe one day I will 3D print an owl - non flying I'm afraid - and put an Arduino inside so that it can at least move it's head and blink with the eyes.

Regards
Max

Massimo Gnerucci · 01-15-2020, 09:23 PM

(01-15-2020 09:04 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: Hello!

(01-15-2020 01:34 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: ... Here's one for sale.

...Or this one.

Yes, certainly pretty, but not the real artificial owl. Because the real one can fly! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AXOjlPF0Y)

Anyway, the link says: DX Full SET: SOLD OUT- Thank you! So even if I wanted to buy one of these I coudn't. Maybe one day I will 3D print an owl - non flying I'm afraid - and put an Arduino inside so that it can at least move it's head and blink with the eyes.

Regards
Max

Yep, I saw that but, since he is already at Rachael V.2, who knows? Maybe a V.3 will show up...
And, please, let me know if you'll make your own owl: I'd like to have one for myself, too.

Guten abend

Maximilian Hohmann · 01-15-2020, 09:31 PM

Hello!

(01-15-2020 12:52 AM)Valentin Albillo Wrote: Myself, I never read the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes or other such sites because I care nothing about what critics think on this or that movie, I need no confirmation for the validity of my very own opinions on movies.

Yes and no. The problem is time. My day only has 24 hours. I do not need a lot of sleep, often 4 to 5 hours are enough. But I have to work very long hours (today I left the house before 7 in the morning and came home again at half past 8 in the evening) on many days. That does not leave much time to watch movies.

And there are too many movies being made now, and even more already made which I did not see yet, to watch during the remaining free hours in my remaining lifetime. I am over 50 as well. So I must carefully choose which movies to watch. What do I base this choice on? Reviews and ratings by average internet users? Certainly not. Reviews in newspapers? Sometimes. Recomendation by friends and familiy members? Certainly. But there are very few recommendations of that kind. So that leaves only professional critics. They too make mistakes sometimes (critics did not "Blade Runner" when it came out in 1982 and they did not initially like "Verigo" either which by some - me included - is now considered the best film ever made) but overall their opinion and my opinion are in good agreement.

Regards
Max

**rprosperi** · 01-15-2020, 10:29 PM

(01-15-2020 09:31 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: ... "Verigo" either which by some - me included - is now considered the best film ever made...

Better than Citizen Kane ?

Maximilian Hohmann · (This post was last modified: 01-16-2020 11:08 AM by Maximilian Hohmann.)

Hello!

(01-15-2020 10:29 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(01-15-2020 09:31 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote: ... "Verigo" either which by some - me included - is now considered the best film ever made...

Better than Citizen Kane ?

Yes (a lot better if you ask me. I have never understood what people see in Citizen Kane): https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19078948
And as a little consolation to the fans of HAL - "2001" scores place 6 in that poll and is thereby the best Sci-Fi movie.

Regards
Max