The Onion...

Classic.

Orphans 1:  

The first film on the Orphans in Space DVD (see previous post) is an educational film entitled Meteorites.  It dates all the way back to 1947 and is a product from the Soviet Union.  This was Stalin's Russia.  It's fascinating to me.  Anytime I encounter a film about science from the 1950's or earlier, I assume that it will be full of horrendous scientific faults.  You know, fear of breathing dangerous space-air or ships maneuvering between stars as if there's a good twenty feet or so between them.  For the most part this film was quite accurate and the modeling/animation was even obviously created with actual physics in mind.  It's only ten minutes and worth a look.

Orphans in Space!

So, a dear friend of mine bought me a DVD called Orphans in Space:  Forgotten Films from the Final Frontier.  It's great.  It is a strange collection of lost, forgotten, and/or incomplete films about science. It's a 2 disc set and the films range from early educational films, to visual arts pieces, to promotional videos for lost technology.  I'll give a short review of some of them in following posts, but I would recommend checking it out.  It even comes with a pair of 3D glass that work with a few of the films.

3D, the technology of the future!!!

Hey, the book is actually selling.  Who wouda thunk it?  Remember, you can read the first 50 pages or so by clicking the cover image for the "Look Inside" function.  Surely you'll know whether you like it or not by then.  Amazon link:  Bob the Galactic Hero.

On my website, which you can find here,
I have a section entitles "homage".  Here I list many of my influences that aided me in the creation of my book.  I generate visual spaces from musical ones and as such many of my ideas come from these fertile musical grounds.  Here I would like to share with you one of these influences.  He is a composer named Alfred Scnittke.  This link is to the last movement of his Cello Sonata.  It is dark and troubled, but exceptionally beautiful.  I've been affected by this piece for a great number of years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-T-14D79VU

Alright!  It is all happening now!  The paperback is now available on amazon.
Bob the Galactic Hero (paperback) $14.99
and, of course, the kindle version has been up and running for a while now.
Bob the Galactic Hero (kindle) $7.99

Pretty good article on several of the myths many of us still believe.  Oddly, a lot of this information doesn't make the rounds for some reason.

6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America.