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YEAH ❗

Wow I had a little withdrawal going there….crazy technology thingamagigs….

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😆 LOL 😆

Holy Cow Logan!!!!…and I thought I was being listy!!!

Great movies in there & alot I haven’t seen. Neato!

Thanks again that made me laugh!!!…..damn long list….

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Chiana is the kind of woman who likes to stretch the boundaries of her sexual experieces, I’m sure she’s been spanked before….

I bet the first time it turned her on….but I think I’d ultimately let someone else find out if she still found it a novelty.

‘Course it all depends on the circumstances now doesn’t it??? 😈

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Or for the marathon movie experience ❗

Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Star Wars 1-6 (when it’s all out)

other suggestions:

Wizards & Time Bandits

The Fifth Element & Brazil

Prospero’s Book & Heavenly Creatures

Chronicles of Riddick & Starship Troopers

( 😳 apologies for double dipping)

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Just for vampire kicks:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula & Near Dark

or

Logan’s Run & Blade Runner

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aquabloodstone, best of luck to your friend and her baby!
And good luck yourself – remember to keep yourself hydrated too – one thing I slacked on and ended up horribly thirsty at one point just gulping back water!!!

“Many women feel disappointed after a c-section because they feel they didn’t have a “natural” birth. Any procedure that results in a child being born is natural.”

yeah I know she feels a little disappointed, the father too, after months of Bradley Natural Childbirth classes and both being very commited to a drug-free birth they ended up trying patossin (sp?) first thinking she was just too tired and the contractions were getting weaker the midwife thought the baby wasn’t turned all the way and that some of that would allow her to be able to finish the
pushing, but the little boy’s head was just way too big.
“Tab A doesn’t fit into slot B” – as the father said! 😆

But the baby is here and healthy and the mother is resting and being taken care of, and that’s what truly matters and is the best outcome.

Quote:
9 lbs. 10 oz.

Whoo! Everytime I see a birth weight that high, I can’t help but think of my grandmother delivering my 10 lb father at home with no doctor. Thank goodness for technology is all I have to say!

yeah for technology is right. So she didn’t have to be in so much pain anymore. That patossin stuff was very agonizing for her. I was very happy when it was apparent she was going to need a c-section, it meant a quick end to her pain. I mean the midwife kept telling her she was getting closer but it was still far away from where I know she wanted to be.
I can’t imagine what we would have done if there was no option like that. Scary to think of….

That baby is so cute. He’s worth all the effort in the world of course, but it just seems crazy that birth is so difficult for some of us humans. I think I’d rather lay eggs. 😛

Never been so thankful to be single 😉 !!! Very far away from any decision like that! Whew! 😈

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Yes, while the Red Sox were winning the World Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was still in the birthing room with my friends. It was a long labor but the baby boy finally arrived via c-section yesterday.

So I’m a tired happy asst birth coach and Red Sox fan.

The game was on in the birthing center waiting room tv, so we got updates from a family member, and then we had the last inning on in the birth room on the radio – the mother’s suggestion! – she thought it might help distract her! 🙂

But none of us could really pay any attention, how could we?

Though the happy father is thinking it’ll be a great bragging rights birth story about when his son was born! When the Red Sox won the World Series during a lunar eclipse!

The last couple of days have been a little too amazing for words!!

I’ll let you know how the parade goes!!!!!

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Logan wrote:

It is an exciting time, but also a worrying, stressful time. I really hope it’s gone well for your friend. Interesting that it happened during the lunar eclipse. I’ve heard that a full moon, and new moon, can help induce labour — the sun and moon’s combined gravity creating a sort of amniotic tide, perhaps

Wow. She knew she was going to have the baby on the full moon/lunar eclipse and we could see it from the birthing center.

But she actually had the baby yesterday. I think the total time she was in labor was 35 hours. We were up all night with her and eventually it became clear that she just wasn’t able to push the baby through.
She wanted to do an all-natural drug free birth, had taken classes and prepared, (I attended some of the classes as were appropriate for an assisttant) She got so tired, but she was still trying so hard up until 3 in the afternoon yesterday.
But the baby was just too big for her, so she had to have a c-section.

A boy, 9 lbs. 10 oz. 😀 ❗ And she’s a tiny woman, no wonder!

It was hard sometimes to watch her go through all of it, her husband was excellent(she and I were both a little worried about how he we do). He was so supportive and her sister was with us too. I was wishing I could have done some of the contractions for her.
Her midwife was amazing, very proactive and helpful.
I was very moved by the whole experience, very honored that they asked me to be there and very priveleged to be the friend of such amazing people.

Logan wrote:

It seems you were also having contractions as you typed

I was! My brain just short circuited! I was routing calls to the wrong people at work and just being a general idiot I was so excited. I’ve been through alot with these 2 people. They’ve always been there for me. They’ve really helped and challeneged me whenever I’ve made big moves in my life – from leaving my fiance to deciding to apply to grad school. This was a wonderful opportunity they gave me to really be there for them.

aquabloodstone wrote:

let’s hope we can keep count (her husband coulcn’t last time)

We actually didn’t do the counting, just watching the time between contractions. Her husband took that job, he was very good with watching the time and keeping his watch handy. And it helped him to feel like he was doing something.

This was an amazing experience. I think we did a good job as a team to help how we could. I still need to catch up on sleep but it was worth it.

Thanks for the words!!!

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I’ve worn my Red Sox “Pride of New England” ball cap all day long for the first 2 games!

It’s actually a Sam Adams hat we made when we had Red Sox licensing last year, and I’m wearing it at work today too!!!!

I’m just a little too 😳 Boston these days. my family is from here, I live in town(just these last 3 1/2 years), work in town for a Boston company….I don’t think Boston is better than anywhere else.
I just love the Red Sox.

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I may be cursed 👿 for saying this but i wouldn’t be surprised if they give it up to St. Louis with the home field advantage, but then bring it back to Boston to win the series…. ❗

It’s going to be a 7 game series, definately. Both teams are too good for it not to be.

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Very cool website! I want to make the paper people!!!!
That’s a great idea for making gifts for my nieces and nephews.

Thanks!

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I’m sure how I feel about that. Though I like Waking Life it was kind of like another version of Slackers, and I can see where he could make A Scanner Darkly yet another version of that along the same lines…..

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Speaking personally, I thought the wormhole weapon was an apt metaphor for the entire series – that storyline seemed to engulf and annilihate its own universe.

Great analogy!!!

Black hole is to Space as Farscape miniseries is to Series plot lines!

There’s one for the Miller’s Analogy Test! Bravo!

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Hey now way. Deconstructionism is very useful here. People who who would provide the definition based on a hierarchy of imagery, would be reductionist.

Exactly esp as you referenced Romanticism and existentialism. Every genre or “new” art expression owes something to what came before to make the contemporary form possible. Like picking up a thread of an old sweater and adding it to the new one you’re knitting because you liked the thread’s color or texture and know it’ll help to shape your new creation.

I’m reading Nietzsche right now and I can very much see why he’s called a precursor to the existentialists and why that thread carries into Cyberpunk- the focus on individualism, isolation and a sense of overcoming perception. Whereas the Romanticism is important to the descriptions of the environment, the strength of characters feelings and how important a role that usually plays in the story line…..just thinking off the cuff here…..

I’m not sure my beat up laptop at home will be able to download it so i probably will order it.

Wow. It’s really nice to see someone take a mature stance on understanding film/literature.

yeah well , 😳 that old BA on the wall’s good for something!
And now that it’s 10 years later, I’m applying to grad school! Who knew?

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Rather than try to define it through imagery (the typical way) , the movie asserts that the best way to understand it is structurally

Wow, and yeah I agree that cyberpunk “structure” can be seen in a wide variety of scifi and other traditions, it’s not solely the arena of the folks who made it popular – Burroughs or Gibson.

Structure is a good way to look at it, because anything with a cyberpunk element is recognizable because of the structure…sounds simple but I know I can get caught up in the idea of something cyberpunk as an atmosphere or an aesthetic without knowing or thinking about why I can identify it as such – or is that too deconstructivist??? 😉

I’m excited to see this and relate it to how I’m following your description now.

Looked like I could order the movie, so I think I do that this weekend.
Hope you don’t mind some feedback.

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Wow, thank you!
I’m very interested in that.

Any mention of Larry McCaffery?

I really enjoyed Across the Wounded Galaxies the interviews were just great.

I haven’t really read much criticism about SciFi or Cyberpunk besides that, which is really interviews with authors….sort of out of the loop on that sort of thing since college. But I love noticing the correlations between movies and fiction of a genre like that.

Though I did have the pleasure of taking a class in school with Samuel Delaney! He’s a great professor and a nice person.

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Claudia Black’s monologue was just moving, heartbreaking. She’s an amazing actress, and definately desreves a nomination….

And the baby – I was thinking that too!!! Won’t baby D’Argo Sun Crichton have all the wormhole knowledge????

I mean how else will he ever be able to get back to Earth to see where his father came from??????

Still love that joke Aeryn made about naming the baby that funny sound she made!
Excellent actress, she’s amazing to watch, and has been throughout the whole series, “You’ve ruined my life.”

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Aeryn’s hair was fantastic too, (by the way)

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The peace treaty signing was great….Grazza almost doing a hair flip at Scorpius!!!

I also really liked how Aeryn found out about the ORIGINS of the PEACEKEEPERS….

very cool they originally came from modified humans!

I was worried Aeryn was going to give birth to a little Hierian for a bit there!

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I realize the reality of the situation…I just think we owe it to ourselves, to the native Americans who have to watch what we do to their ancestral home and to future generations to work towards a better vision.

America was founded by visionaries, people with specific goals to create a better society, it can’t just take care of itself now. Bigger better thinking is needed, and I don’t mean people out in the streets protesting, I mean the quiet transformations that happen in individual thought. Everyone has to decide for themselves that life can be better.
And that usually doesn’t happen until you hit rock bottom.

We need to be invaded from outer space or something.

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Only in so much as there needs to be options for dealing with situcations was Scorpius “right”.
If the peace making people Ekkions (sp?) had been given a better chance, then John would not have needed to threaten the whole galaxy to stop the fighting.
So yeah in the way that all nuclear holocaust movies have also tried to make the point, peace is preferable to annhilation, I think Scorpius realized it takes the threat of that to stop fighting, but he really hates the Scaarans. Really hates them….I don’t think if Scorpi had the wormhole weapon he thought he was going to get he’d have made peace like that. He would have wiped out as many Scaarans as he could.

It really was great, I thought the end was a trifle corny naming the baby, but they really did justice to the series and the characters and the whole story arc!
Bravo!!!!

Don’t forget Scifi channel is airing the whole thing Sunday at 3pm!!!

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Lexxlurker- Very well spoken! And I’ve actually heard a few people say, “If Bush wins another four years maybe that will piss people off enough to really start paying attention.”

I believe in voting, it’s the only option I have, and I’m sick of all these liberals saying a vote NOT for Kerry is a vote for Bush.
That’s the most frightened bit of PR I’ve ever heard.

And MoveOn.org, I became very disappointed in them becoming a mouth piece for the democrats.

Like all empires maybe we are or we have reached the pinnalce of our civilization and now the downward swing is upon us….

(sorry can never resist a little doom and gloom 😉 )

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Richard Linklater huh???

Not sure how I feel about that, though I did like Waking Life – that was him wasn’t it….

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Logan!

Thanks for all the feedback, I really like to hear how other artists approach the creation of their work.. I’m always very character/emotive driven in my fiction. The emotions that drive the characters motives and propel them through the conflict of the plot.

great quote from Anais Nin something like, “It’s our feelings in the face of experience and not the actual experiences themselves that make us similar.”

Also:
Good thoughts about the difference of screenplays, setting up the scenes…I did take a couple film classes in college…might have to rack the old brain to remember them…. 😉

Oh and Phil 😆 “my man Phil” is just how I refer to Philip K. Dick!
I love Phil’s writing! and I prefer Phil to just calling him Dick! 😆

Bladerunner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck are all Hollywood movies based on Phil’s work. I’ve been slowly making my way through all his novels and short stories….Scanner Darkly is one of my favorites and Valis.

So no SO for me….I was just had a tarot reading done last weekend…apparently next spring is when I meet the next big love of my life…. 😯 😆

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I don’t think I’m going to vote for any of these options.
I don’t like what Bush has done to alienate America from the rest of the international community, Americans don’t need any help with that.
Being from Massachusetts Kerry is as wishy washy as he appears…has backpedaled on numerous issues and I just don’t trust him.
Nader is a great man, but he’s not a politician….though I value his work on trying to give Americans another choice.

That’s what bothers me the most…the lack of choice. The lack of the Constitution writers to forsee political parties taking power like they have to hand tie the electoral college, the constitution needs to be amended to not let the parties nominate the electoral voters at their conventions….the democrats were fools to nominate kerry, Dean is the stronger personality, but I don’t like the Democrats in general either.
Their main mission seems to be to oppose the Republicans….
I want more choices – stronger parties, less democrats and republicans and more dialogue
Jimmy Carter gave a great speech at the DNC. I might just vote for him. Though my roommate could give them all a good run for their money. 😉

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I’ve had a post it note reminder above the power switch on my tv for 2 weeks about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long live Farscape!!!!

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thanks for that, but it lloks like Salter Street Films was bought out by Alliance Atlanic?? Wonder if the same process will work….

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😆 “Writer’s Spread” that’s great!

Unfortunately my day job is receptionist for a beer company so I’ve already got to fight off spread – desk job + beer gut!!!!! 😆

JMS is J.Michael Straczynski, the guy who brought us Babylon 5!

How about you thefrey? Ever try your hand at a screenplay/ script?

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Thanks for the rec, I’ll have to check that out too.

JMS’s is The Complete Book of Scriptwriting I ordered it off amazon.

It’s over 400pp and covers writing for animation too, which I didn’t realize he penned a He-Man and She-Ra here and there!

(which I did watch, after school is the distant, or maybe not so distant past)

I’ve been thinking about screen plays for a bit since a good friend read my WIP and said it suggested a series to her…. it’s not that huge yet but it’s far from slowing down. I posted some of it up here last year and got some very helpful feedback.

Plus my man Phil is one of my scifi heroes and he has been co-opted quite a bit by Hollywood, not that I think I’m anywhere near his genius, but obviously technology and scifi go hand in hand?!?!?

(yup – just typed that)

I would think a formatting program would make it go much faster too. What did you find really helped you the most? A formatting program, sound advice? Did you approach it as a completely different process than prose fiction?
Would like to hear more about your experience with the crafting!

Thanks!

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O Canada!!!

I’d love to go back, but the only place i’ve been in Canada is Nova Scotia – that’s where my family is from, though most of my younger relatives ( under 60) up there moved off to Montreal, etc….

I’m hoping at some point to take a Sea Cat (big fast ferry) down there. But I’ve heard numerous great things about Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver……but I don’t think I’ll head downeast before I get a chance to go somewhere warm and sunny for a trip.

My last 2 vacations I spent in Ireland. Wonderful times both, but i need some sand and sun for my next one!

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I don’t mind being confused and waiting to find out what is going on, esp with all the indications that Seffra is Tarn Vedra and the model of Andromeda etc…..and what was up with those medals Dylan found in Flavin’s place?????

Confused is better than one of the alternatives, like being able to guess what’s going to happen – when the script is just transparent.

keeps me interested.

😳 No one else drooling over Rhade out there like I am huh???? 😳

His lines have been great too, with Flavin telling him he’s got too much apocolyptic Nietszchean attitude going on….
really want to know what happened to Rhade in all the months he was on his on on Seefra….his room there with the crate of champagne and the women hanging out…. 😈
Can’t wait to find out….

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I think sure as an artist Lucas has the right to re-writes/editing his creation…. but I’m also disapointed that I’m not going to be able to get the original theatrical releases on DVD…..that’s my biggest complaint….
however….and here’s where my real 2 cents comes in…..Lucas had a great story idea. Maybe he couldn’t do it the way he had originally wanted, so he’s editing with the technology and money he has available to him now, fine.

But, —and let me first qualify that I LOVE Star Wars, the original 3 and I have enjoyed the new ones as well (whole different thread there), I kick butt at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, I love the story line the characters…..

But Lucas’ greatest movie was THX 1138. SW doesn’t measure up to it in the light of film as art form. SW are B movies, really. I love them, but I love them with all their flaws.
Lucas can’t really make the movies any better, he just doesn’t have the creativity to REALLY have any significant impact on the core of why they are so great – which is the story line and the actors that brought it to life….esp. Sir Alec, Harrison and Carrie et. al. not to mention the original special effects, jumping into hyper drive and let’s face it, The millenium Falcon is probably the greatest ship to grace the big screen ever.

Lucas is a hack, he’ll release the original theatrical releases on DVD 5 years from now and make a bunch more money off of us….

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Logan and Hedgehog,

Thank you both so very much for your help!!!

I appreciated your efforts! And now I just feel all the more groovy!

Thanks again!

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the space in my Profile for Avator says something like
“see Forum_Profile for admin”

Any ideas?

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😆 😆 😆

Thanks Logan for the faerie pic, she’s great!!!

hmmmm…….Irish coffee would be perfect right now….

Bottoms up!

Thanks again!

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or sidhecafe at that….I’m surprised there were 2 pages on Janet’s anatomy. But aside from that, as a Bostonian, the ONLY thing that mattered about the SuperBowl is that the Patriots WON!!!! 😀

And I’m not a football fan at all. But to go outside in the streets the Tuesday after the game, everyone STILL nursing hangovers, and watch the team parade by, every one happy and yelling, confetti falling from office building windows….

I just hope the Red Sox win the World Series this year because that will be the party to end ALL parties in Boston!

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ShadowedVenus, I didn’t see Forbidden Planet or Donnie Darko, but I really liked Memento too, though I did trip over some parts of it, the actor did a great job. I’ve been back and forth about seeing Irreverisble, I’ve picked it up and put it back again, since I heard there was a rape scene that was very graphic….and I’m not sure I’m up for that lately, but I know I will see it at some point because I did like Memento and am wondering about this other movie so much…..

Unfortunately now, the neighborhood I live in in Boston’s rental stores don’t really cater to much foreign film tastes- much to my dismay. At this point I’m surprised when I like something new from Hollywood. (Though I did see Pirates of the Caribbean twice!) Oh and the Ninth Gate was TERRIBLE 😥 . J. Depp couldn’t do anything for it.

Elmey, Woman in the Dunes was great!!!!! Very thirst inducing, all kinds of thirst!!!!!

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Raise the Red Lantern was fantastic, I read the short story too and the film definitely did it justice. I LOVED the scene when the opera singer is perfroming in her courtyard to herself. The music was amazing.
I haven’t seen Ju Du, ….

Videodrome I haven’t seen in years, What did you think of his
Existense (sp)?????

I remember liking it with some conditions. I just saw another of Cronenburg’s in the rental store, Spider, haven’t seen and was out 🙁

Started Clooney version of Solaris earlier, and stopped watching it, doesn’t have the poetry of the first….language wise. And I miss the original Snaut.

I’m going to watch Ninth Gate now. I liked the book, and since I’m still recovering from last night’s drinking, I’m nursing a beer and watching the ol’ movies tonight.
Cheers!

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Oh movies, movies, I opted out of a film cert. program in college so i could graduate on time, (already had a major & minor, so wasn’t lacking work to do. )

I love Greenaway! I wrote a paper about Prospero’s Books, mostly on his use of sets, the long camera pan and color…cited The Cook, the Thief His Wife and Her Lover too as he used the same techniques.

Devils was disturbing for me, since I’m horrified by the Inquisition anyway, the reality – not Monty Python, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

But the nun’s dementia/religious quasi sexual obsession and how they try to “purge” her. Damn.

Dancer in the Dark was really brillant, good commentary on the “other”, I have the soundtrack too.

I just saw the original Solaris, I loved it. Have plans to see the new one to compare.

And I love you all dragged Wicker Man out of the back of the closest. 😯 That was so great!!!! makes me think of the Slaine comic book.
I’m a pagan/student of mysticism too, a lot of it just made me laugh!

Any one ever see The Wicked Lady?, very funny camp like humor.
I haven’t seen Wings of Desire but I loved Until the End of the World,(same director) a little slow in places but once they get to the dreams-creepy!
Speaking of german movies, what about Fitzcolrado(spelling?) or what was it, Wrath of God?

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Standard response for questions like this:

“My schedule does not permit me to attend on a regular basis.”

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It just struck me, not to get all political, but Space travel is dependant on the development of alternative fuel sources, propulsion generators.

Which is a bit antithetical to the world’s almost obsession with oil.

I agree with you, Lexxlurker…it’s not going to be governments who spur the exploration of off-world, or even the oceans for that matter, our unexplored inner space.- (That whole thing about the possible giant squid in Chile that turned out to be a whale. Cthulu? )

But I also agree with you, if the $$ to go into space I anywhere near had, I would go, regardless of the risk. Even just to look down on the Earth from there…

Like skydiving but much higher. 😯 I’d do that, HALO jumping but from orbit!!!!!! 8) ❗

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Logan : Thanks for the help and info!!!!

Yes it is interesting, I mean the shuttle was unveiled in 1976!!!!!!
Took 10 years and $10 billion to design/build.

This article’s saying the space plane idea won’t be ready in 5-10 years. Doesn’t it seem like they are limiting a lot of options by keeping it a “plane”, I mean I like the idea too. But 5-10 years????

There’s got to be better ideas more developed out there…did they think they’d use the shuttle forever? I’m not sure what the EU Space Agency is using…hmmm…

What we need is just to finish the station, fine use capsules to do that, but then we can build ships up there that don’t have to be aerodynamic, for surface take off and landings.

‘Course we need some way to get up and down from the ISS, maybe moveable huge elevators???? Yes, sliding back into Science Fiction there….

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Sorry for the cartoon characters in there, I’m on the second day of a fast, so I can’t be responsible for my thought patterns at the moment, they are all in bliss la la land from deprivation.

Though having a cartoon character as a boyfriend could possibly solve some of those tough issues humans tend to have with each other….

am I really typing or is this just a figment of my hungry mind????

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Ok I have to put my sick and twisted 3 cents in here 😈 .

Some of the sexiest characters on Scifi TV, according to me:

Heero Yuy
Milyardo Peacecraft aka Zecks Marquise

(both from GundamWing)

John Crighton (Farscape)
Aeryn(Farscape), because she’s strong beautiful and kicks serious “*%$”,

Movies:
Sting as Feyd in Lynch’s Dune *thud*

Vampire Hunter D ❗

I can’t remember her name but the shaved head woman in the first Star Trek movie!

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As a fairy mostly concerned with food(sidhe-gaelic for fairy -cafe), I can’t imagine why hack such a site that does no harm!!!!

boo-hiss! 😕 😥

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Good points on both your counts. I’m betting on the private sector myself, I mean the folks pushing the space tourist and the other companies that have programs in the works. And the EU has a Mars mission in the works now, and Japan launched a probe to investigate Mars’ asteroids a couple of months ago.

Mars has been so difficult for us, I think it’s rather ambitious and hopeful that the EU Space Agency is STARTING with Mars….

The main point now being the ISS. The 70’s design Russian crafts are the only thing we’ve got for that at the moment besides the shuttle.
Space exploration won’t be in the hands of the American government….they’ll just be landlords for the launch pad.

“Cape Canaveral, FOR RENT” They do that for all the commercial satelites that go up already.

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Well, thank you! Thank you! Those are some really great comments and feedback! I really appreciate it. Everyone made some very good points. ❗

Obviously I need to work on the formating for posting, on paper it’s easier to follow. And I will definately will take into consideration how a few of you want less dialogue, more description. (I’m easily seduced by conversation) 🙂

I’ll post more of the story when I get the chance!

Thanks again, that wasn’t as painful as I thought! 😉

PS – It doesn’t bother me at all about the profanity being bleeped, it’s contextual enough to understand.

PSS- Last night I got a rejection letter from The Black Gate mag, for a fantasy/modern fable, which although he didn’t accepted it, the editor wrote to say it was “well crafted and entertaining”

So thanks again, between your comments and last night’s letter this has been a great deal of encouragement. 😀

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Fatguy, I think especially in light of 9/11, that some ranting about racism is very justified, esp. after how W. uses the event to still further his own political gains. And how can a discussion about 9/11 stay away from politics? We can’t mourn the dead without realizing why they are gone. That would be just blindness, and America has enough of that already.

One Irish Immigrant I knew said to me on the day after the attack, “Now you Americans can join the rest of the world. We’ve lived with this shite for ages.”

If any thing with this mourning, Americans should use this time of reflection to try and understand what it will really take to live in a world that technology has brought closer together…instead of holding ourselves apart.

And that racism is alive and well, no matter how White America tries to pretend we’ve come to grips with it.

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One thing I’ll ask, is just for balanced criticism. If you hate it, try and relate something you did like, and if you like it, tell me something that doesn’t work. Ok? Phew…. this is the beginning of Chapter One: copyright me Hope the format’s ok to read. 🙂

Jack’s Problem

Jack sucked on his cigarette as if it would solve anything. Mireille was a problem. He didn’t lie well enough to himself to believe otherwise. She’s strong, tough and seemingly unafraid of everything. She could be cruel to her only friend Taft and to anybody who threatened Taft or stood in her own way. She held him, her father, in contempt.
As a sensitive man he was prepared for that, she was seventeen, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. An hour ago another parent had called to complain about his daughter.
“This is ludicrous, Chief of Security. You can’t keep my son safe from your own offspring! Or any one else on this damned colony!” Ms. Deluc had sneered at him.
She was right. Where had he been when Mireille beat Bart Deluc until he was bruised and bloodied? He was standing next to his mother when she called. Jack had seen the damage.
“Unfortunately Ms. Deluc, my force and I cannot be everywhere at once. However I deeply regret my daughter’s behavior and will see to it she is punished for this.”
“You’d better! That brat deserves to be shipped back to Earth! Let the DOWYS deal with her!”
“Ms. Deluc that is unnecessary. They are teenagers. Children aren’t anymore perfect than their parents. And we all make mistakes.”
“Are you accusing me of being a bad parent? I’ve informed the school of your daughter’s brutality. Headmaster Ledo will also be calling you. I think we’ve all had enough.”
Jack still sat in front of the snowy screen. Sucking in another drag of his local cigarette, he turned off his terminal. The headmaster of the school hadn’t called. Yet.
If Mireille is suspended again they will expel her.
Jack was at his wits end. He didn’t understand why Mireille always had to protect Taft. He was constantly stealing from older kids, Bart included apparently, was sharp with his tongue but never quick enough on his feet.
Mireille befriended him years ago and had vowed to be his protector. Maybe he just gave her an excuse to exercise her aggressions. Jack didn’t know.
She was so much like her mother, an unbound adolescent tidal wave version of Zael’s passions for her own work.
Jack Barton did not understand either of the women in his life. Perhaps Mireille was right in his anger towards him. He had missed something vitally important in their relationship. He missed it with Zael as well, or more appropriately mislaid.
He and his wife had not shared a bed in over a year, a meal in months. She spent all of her time sequestered in her laboratory. There she ate and slept while conducting her research. It was consuming her. She’d lost weight, was frequently unshowered when he did see her, and she’d picked up his habit for cigarettes.
Mireille spent a lot of her time in her mother’s rooms at the lab. She had to be ordered to visit Jack at what had been their family home. She wouldn’t go skimming the canals with him anymore. She preferred to go with Taft now.
Jack finished his cigarette and lit another.

Zael’s husband had no idea what her research entailed. He knew the goal, after eighteen years of marriage she couldn’t keep that from him. But he would never abide the extent to which her research infiltrated their lives, especially their daughter’s life.
In essence Mireille was her experiment, years of research, testing and constant observation. Zael’s work was to create a tougher, stronger human being to withstand the rigors of long-term off-world living. A human being whose mind was inured to human’s instinctive fears of space travel, exploration of deep space, new worlds and endurance to handle multiple ecosystems impact.
Her research began long before she met Jack Barton. She had developed varying formulas of an extract of cocaine. Using herself as a test subject to track results from different compositions. Her intent, once she had settled on a proportion that produce the desired effect, was to become pregnant and put herself on a daily treatment of the substance to manipulate the affect on her child. With persistent gene testing and mapping through out her pregnancy she carefully controlled the damaging side effects while tracking the influence of the drug in her daughter.
Mireille was a born addict. Zael was as well. She had met Jack at a fortuitous time in her research, she had come to Mars to pursue that goal with a syringe of frozen sperm she’d selected from a bank. But her access to a near perfect specimen whom she was quite attracted to seemed a better route scientifically and emotionally. The attraction waned, but the experiment was all that really mattered anyway.

Taft skidded to a halt just behind her own ride. In his helmet he looked much younger and afraid. Mireille nodded and they both stepped out of their skimmers to stand on the ledge. The bottom of the canal was 40 feet below and hidden by the encroaching darkness as the sun drew further away.
“Thanks Mir, but you’re gonna be in deep shit this time.”
“Maybe I should just hit you for getting me in to this.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. You always blame me , but you’re the one who loses it. I saw your eyes…it’s always the same. You’re mental!”
He took a few steps out of her reach.
“You ungrateful little shit! Would you rather I just let them get you? It’s always the same with you. If I get sent to DOWYS you’re dead.”
“Well maybe you should lay off a bit. do you want to get shipped out of here. You’re mother would kill you. What’s she going to do?”
“Fuck off about my mom Taft.”
“Zael’s gonna freak.”
Two steps and she was in his face, “Leave that to me. I said fuck off.”
“And what’s Jack gonna do? He knows it’s my fault. Maybe they’ll can me too.”
“And you only worry about this after the fact. Maybe you should keep your nose clean. Quit stealing shit. You’re no good at it. I’m not gonna be here to back you up forever. I’ll get suspended for this. I hurt Bart.”
She kicked the rocks beneath her boots and looked down the canal where Taft had come from. Taft turned to look as well but there was nothing there.
“I need to go see my mom, she’s waiting for me. Jack should’ve checked there by now.”
“Are you going to tell her?”
“Yeah, she’ll be able to keep Jack off my back. Mr. Ledo’s gonna come after me for this. I don’t know what she can do about that.”
Taft nodded and looked at his skimmer, “Hey Mir? Thanks.”
He heard the cockpit of her skimmer open and close.

Zael swallowed sedatives.
“They will suspend her for this. More likely expel. Ms. Deluc wants her in DOWYS.”
“Ms. Deluc is a simple minded fool who can’t stand anything beyond her rose-tinted viewpoint,” Zael said between swallows of coffee, her hand shaking.
“You know Mir doesn’t pay any attention to me. You’ve got to do something about this! Talk to her, punish her. For godsakes Zael are you a mother at all or just her friend!?” Smoke from his cigarette followed him as he paced.
Zael said nothing, waiting for the pills to kick in. Right now she wanted to kill her husband and if she wasn’t so exhausted she might have tried it.
“If she’s expelled they can vote her off world,” Jack reminded her.
Zael put down her coffee mug and turned away from him. The sedatives were taking affect.
“What do you propose I do?”
“Will she do what you say?”
“I can’t stop her from protecting her friend.”
“Can you stop her from resorting to violence? Hell it’s only the new colonists who mess with her, test her out. But she’s out of control. You saw the video of the last one. Can’t you give her some Ritalin or something?”
“Ritalin? You’re suggesting I sedate our daughter. I won’t do that.”
“The school board may force us.”
“Maybe it’s time Mir leave school anyway. We can remove her before they expel her. I’ll school her here. I’m linked to Terranic’s library.”
“Zael have you looked in the mirror lately? You can’t take care of yourself. I don’t know if the school board will allow it.”
“You’re security chief Jack, can’t you do something? I need Mireille here with me. I know you don’t want to lose her either. This isn’t America.”
“I’ll call Ledo right now and tell him we’re taking her out. First I’ll call my boss, and tell him what we’re doing. Jared will probably think it’s a good idea.”
“Thank you.”
“Zael, do you think, maybe we could all have dinner together to talk about this.”
“With Jared and Ledo?”
“You, Mireille and I.”
“Yeah, sure. At the house?”
“Tonight at 20? Do you think she’ll show up by then?”
“I think so. Jack, I’ll teach her to be a scientist, she’ll help me with my work. We’re doing the right thing.”
“We can’t really do anything else, that’s the only reason I’m agreeing to this. That and it’ll be nice to have dinner with my family for a change.”
Zael went back to her coffee.

Zael was so intent on her breathing she didn’t know Mireille was standing there until she opened her eyes.
“Mireille.”
“Jack’s been here?” She put her EVA helmet on the table.
“Yes. We’re taking you out of school. We’re all having dinner tonight to discuss it.”
“You can do that? Dinner?!”
“Yes, your father is using some of his clout to get you home schooled instead.”
“And you’re letting him do that?”
“What else would you have me do? You are intent on ruining yourself. Why don’t you use the calming techniques I taught you?”
“They don’t matter, I never have time to use them. I just get angry and then everything goes away and I’m calm…you know. Mom do I have to learn from Jack, why can’t it be you?”
“I know what happens, but you need to learn some control. Someday you’ll run into someone stronger than you are, what then? We haven’t spent all this time, my efforts, to see you harmed.
Damnit Mireille, you could endanger everything I’ve worked for! No, this is the best thing. You’ll be here with me, I’m going to teach you to help me and yourself. This is the best thing.”
“You’ll teach me?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t leave your education to Jack….though he could teach you a thing or two about weapons.”
“He’s already taught me to shoot and I’m the best skimmer pilot in school.”
“Jack’s a good pilot.”
“One of the best, you said so.”
“Yes I did.”
“Mom, is this really going to work?”
“I think so. Jack thinks it’s the only way, otherwise the school board could vote you out of here. You know that.”
“Vote me off the colony?”
“Don’t get all innocence now, you’re the one whose been beating up boys bigger than you to a bloody pulp.”
Zael lit a cigarette and walked toward the windows, “It’s time you grew up Mireille. I’ll tell you what this is all about and you’re going to be my partner. How does that sound to you?”
“Jack’s not going to know everything?”
“This is serious. You need to agree to this or we’ll have to find something else to do with you.”
“I want to work with you. I already am grown up.”
“Not just yet kid. I’m going to hit the shower, put something nice on for dinner.”

[Sidhecafe]

😯 (it’s not all me, promise)

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