Prometheus

(This is not a review but it’s spoilerish–be ye warned.)

We saw a 10:40am showing of Prometheus. Afterwards…

Me: So what did you like most?
M: The sound quality was fantastic.
Me: That’s it?
M: The surgery machine was great, every house should have one of those.
Me: Two–one for men, one for women.
M: The movie itself didn’t add anything new to the genre. Eh.

*Observations/Questions:
-How does reminding a woman that she is barren – when it’s obviously a very sore spot for her-lead to sex? That’s the weirdest foreplay ever.
-Does Dr. Shaw feel that she owes an explanation to the fruit of her loins?
-Since Shaw is headed to find her maker with a ship full of what she thinks is black, gooey death–is she going to find the answer to the all important question or, deep down inside, is it to destroy the creator’s who “abandoned” us? Didn’t David say that every child wanted to see their parents dead?
–I hope we don’t find out; no need for a sequel here.

With Prometheus there are faint echoes of Alien Resurrection.
-In both cases, the alien comes from the main female character.
-At the end of AR, Ripley and the robot are on the way back to earth. At the end of Prometheus, Shaw and the robot are together headed for points unknown.
-The creature that Shaw had an inadvertent hand in creating is traveling back to earth in the alien amplified dna of Ripley.

For a more thorough review/discussion of Prometheus that contains spoilers:
A Shipload of Confusion
Spoiled Movie Review: Prometheus (podcast)

One last thing.
When they first meet and Fifield tells Milburn,”I’m not here to be your friend” – I was reminded of this:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24&w=300%5D

WILTW: Bad Idea

The Sinking Of The Titanic: The Board Game
The Sinking Of The Titanic
This board game appeared in 1975. Players had to rescue people from staterooms and race to lifeboats. The winner didn’t just win…it was implied that the losers and the people they tried to rescue were lost at sea. T’was perhaps a bad idea to have people perish in a children’s game linked to a real life disaster.  After it’s initial release the game was re-named Abandon ship. (source: boardgamegeek.com)

This means, of course, that copies of The Sinking Of The Titanic are rare and worth a nice bit of change now. The copy above is on display at the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

My guess is that the gaming company saw the popularity of disaster movies (The Towering Inferno-1974; The Poseidon Adventure-1972, and lots more) and wanted to cash in.

Five Were Wise / Five Were Foolish

More about the painting from the last post:
Five were wise and five were foolish

We are staying in the house once owned by Hungarian painter Eva De Nagy and it contains several of her pieces. This one is called Five Were Wise And Five Were Foolish and is based on the Parable of the 10 Virgins. To summarize the parable, 10 virgins were invited to a wedding party and were waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. The Five Wise Virgins had oil in their lamps, the Five Foolish Virgins had lamps but didn’t bring any oil. When the bridegroom shows up, everyone is supposed to light their lamps and join the procession. Guess who couldn’t light their lamps–and got shut out of the party?

In the painting (as in the parable), the five foolish virgins are hoping that they can share the oil/light of the five wise virgins but it’s impossible. It’s a warning for people who only pretend to be waiting for the bridegroom (Jesus): you can only get away with looking the part for so long…

The majority of the paintings here are religious images or depict fishermen in their daily activities. For example:

The painting on the left is Our Daily Bread. I didn’t see a title for the fisherman on the right, but isn’t he giving a Ben Willis vibe?

Oh, and here is the obligatory shot of the beach: