/* *************************************************************************** ** *************************************************************************** ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** Published at random intervals by Phillip Thorne ** Volume 3, Issue 7: Tuesday, 3 July 2001 ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** ** "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; ** I want to achieve immortality through not dying." ** --Woody Allen ** *************************************************************************** ** ************************************************************************ */ OBSERVATIONS & C: Threadbare, hygiene, action wish-list, Disney icons. ERRATA & O+A+A: TV overlookings. TECH ON THE WEB: InViso, EInk, Power Paper, Color Kinetics. MOVIE REVIEW: Atlantis: The Lost Empire. CONNECTIONS: Witchblade and Thundercats. UPCOMING: TV Advisories, In development, Toys. plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. http://nsx.underbase.org/ - back issues http://nsx.underbase.org/index_plus.htm - synopses, reviews, analyses, etc. http://nsx.underbase.org/tv/ - Philadelphia TV listings http://www.underbase.org/ - additional databases /* *************************************************************************** ** OBSERVATIONS & COGITATIONS ** ** ************************************************************************ */ Ever think about the origin of the term "threadbare" in regards to garments? Well, consider the felty contents of the lint trap in your clothes dryer: that mass comes from *somewhere*, and it's probably not the universe where lost socks go. I've issued this hygiene advisory before, but it bears repeating: when washing your hands, keep at it for at least nineteen seconds. Remember to get the backs, thumbs, nails, and the webbing between. Scrubbing is a more sustainable solution than triclosan (antibiotic) soap. All hail scrubbing! And a little grime is better than none. *** This weekend I saw "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider", and it reminded me of some things I'd like to see in an action-adventure film: * A robot that, when it's knocked down, *stays* down, instead of resurging at a dramatic moment. * An ancient rube goldberg mcguffin[1]-device that has actually rusted into immobility. * An ancient rube goldberg device that has *not* rusted, because it was thoughtfully packed in oil or inert atmosphere. * An installation that suffers dramatic structural collapse *before* the confrontation is complete. * A pragmatic heroine who cuts a confrontation with the antagonist short by shooting him in cold blood, because he's going to end up dead anyway, but only after delaying said heroine and damaging her composure and makeup. [2] * A character who, when told "we have to leave now!" but nonetheless lingers for a farewell, is actually left behind. [1] A Term Introduced By Alfred Hitchcock In A 1966 Interview With Francois Truffaut. Describes A Device Or Plot Element That Catches The Viewer's Attention, Or Drives The Plot Logic, But Is Abandoned As Soon As It Serves Its Purpose. [From A Page On Http://Nextdch.Mty.Itesm.Mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/ That Now Exists Only In The Google Cache] [2] Wait, I Guess We've Already Seen That In "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981). Well, I'd Like To See It More Often. *** Given the never-repeated characters of its recent output, why are the international icons of Walt Disney Animation still Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy? (And Tinkerbell. Disney uses Tinkerbell as a mascot every time they revive their Saturday night broadcast movies.) Sure, we all *recognize* Mickey, but aside from his debut in "Steamboat Willie" (1928) and the "Sorceror's Apprentice" segment of "Fantasia" (1940), can we actually *name* anything in which he's appeared? For the past decade, I can't recall seeing him as anything but a costume silently advertising Disneyworld (usually perched atop EPCOT's "Spaceship Earth" dome). Has Disney's national presence decreased since the commencement of the Disney Channel, or risen since its purchase of Capital Cities-ABC? For that matter, and maybe it's just my limited memory; what *was* Disney doing before this past decade's rapid-fire features (continuing the fairy tale tradition incepted with "Snow White" (1937)) and dozen animated TV series? Why exactly is the company so intimidating that JMS had a throwaway line about "Disneyplanet" in one ep of B5? Disney animated films: The Little Mermaid (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pochahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (s1997), Mulan (s1998), Tarzan (s1999), The Emperor's New Groove (f2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (s2001). Disney animated TV series: Gummi Bears (1985), DuckTales (1987), Talespin (1990), Darkwing Duck (1991), Goof Troop (1992), The Little Mermaid (1992), Raw Toonage (1992), Bonkers (1993), Aladdin (1994), Gargoyles (1994), Timon & Pumbaa (1995), Hercules (1998). Recent serious non-musical American animated films: The Iron Giant (1999), Titan A.E. (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). /* *************************************************************************** ** ERRATA & OMISSIONS, ADDENDA & ADMISSIONS ** TV overlookings ** ************************************************************************ */ In the affiliated TV listings, I sometimes overlook eps of shows I'm supposedly tracking, or thematically-appropriate movies. Particulars are listed on the TV index webpage. /* *************************************************************************** ** TECH ON THE WEB ** InViso microdisplays ** EInk electronic ink ** Power Paper printable batteries ** Color Kinetics LED lighting ** ************************************************************************ */ www.inViso.com inViso Inc. US/CA/Sunnyvale Manufactures the "eShades" "electronic glasses" HUD (heads-up display), the "eCase" PDA, and a variety of "OptiScape" OEM (original equipment manufacturer, ie component) microdisplay modules. All are LCOS SVGA (liquid crystal on silicon super-VGA resolution) with unique optics for near-eye viewing. The eShades and eCase are due in 2001q3, with an MSRP of $599. www.EInk.com E Ink Corp. US/MA/Cambridge "Electronic ink" consists of tiny capsules, each containing a two-color bead: white on one end, dark on the other. When printed onto paper embedded with a control matrix, the beads can be flipped, changing pixels from light to dark; and the pixels are nonvolatile; they retain their state without power. One ultimate intended application is an electronic newspaper that has all the readability of the paper version, but less single-bulk (all the pages can be loaded on a single sheet) and repeat-bulk (updates can be loaded daily). The first marketed application, Immedia (available since jun-1999), are large-area dynamic store window price-message displays, colored blue and white. They can be remotely- and centrally-controlled, but do not require high resolution or rapid state changes. On 10-apr-2001, E Ink Corp. demoed a prototype active matrix e-ink display capable of hi-res illos and text. It measures 12.1 inches diagonally, has the res of a typical laptop, and uses a new e-ink formulation with blacker blacks (for higher contrast) and ten times faster state changes (compatible with the IBM drive electronics used). It's 3-6 times brighter than reflective LCDs, causes less eyestrain than emissive/transmissive displays, and is 30% thinner and lighter. It needs no backlight, so draws less than 1% the power. It's readable in both dim light and full sunlight, can be viewed at any angle, and exceeds newspapers in contrast ratio. www.PowerPaper.com/aboutTopfrset2.html www.ksw-microtec.de Power Paper Ltd. Israel/Tel Aviv/Kibbutz Einat Founded 1997; manufactures TFM (thin and flexible microelectronics) OEM organic batteries: flexible (0.5mm thick), non-sealed (no casing needed), low-cost ($0.01/in^2), and freely disposable (no heavy metals; Zn and MnO2 electrodes). Can be printed, pasted or laminated onto paper, plastic, etc., and then cut to shape for a specific application; has a two-year shelf-life. A one-square-inch cell provides 15mAh at 1.5V. In nov-2000 KSW (Germany/Dresden) released the TempSense(tm) temperature recording label for temperature-sensitive goods. (The site is flaky, and the homepage is un- navigable.) www.colorkinetics.com www.cksauce.com Sauce by Color Kinetics US/MA/Boston Color Kinetics produces professional lighting solutions based on red-green- blue LED arrays; its Sauce brand makes toys and accent lighting with the same tech. LEDs have manifold advantages over incandescents: greater lifespan, greater electric-to-photon efficiency, hence lower power and cool-running, hence no fan needed, hence silent. The two sites make good use of Flash animations to explain the operation of LEDs, and to demo the operation of the toys. The toys: LightWand, MiniLightWand, LightWasher, LightSprite, LightOrb and LightSaucer. Some are portable and battery-powered; a few are wall-AC- powered. Each has the same set of controls: a mode button to switch between color wash, random, fixed, and off; and a dial to change color or speed. The LightWand is currently in test stores across the US; the whole line should roll out in jul-2001 to multiple chains, including Claire's Accessories, Spencer Gifts, and Discovery Channel Stores. [Via space.com] /* *************************************************************************** ** MOVIE REVIEW ** "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" ** Walt Disney Pictures, 2001, ???? minutes, cel+CG ** Opened 15-june-2001 ** ** Language ** Diet ** Cast and Characters ** ************************************************************************ */ Disney Animation's latest annual feature film, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire", represents a departure for the company: it's not a musical (ie no dance numbers or songs with vocals) and it lacks cute animal sidekicks. It has plot problems, but they cannot fully explain its poor box office showing ; like Fox's "Titan A.E." (2000) and Warner Bros. "The Iron Giant" (1999)??? before it, the American moviegoing public just doesn't know how to react to a serious cel-animated film . --And Disney can probably blame itself for that . (The public seems eager enough to watch *computer* animated non-musicals, though.) I watched the film with my two younger sisters, who usually dread such outings because I start the autopsy immediately upon leaving the theater. In fact, I can simultaneously enjoy a film and nitpick every decision by its creators. This article (possibly the first of several) uses rough points of the film as nucleation sites to crystallize dendritic discussion. *** "How's my accent?" "Boorish, provincial... and you speak it through your nose." --Milo to Princess Kida, learning Atlantean The Disney subsite for "A:TLE" includes many value-added resources, including a TrueType font for the Atlantean written language. (Font files are easy to create, and promote brand consistency within a film and related merchandising.) The language has 29 letters: the 26 of English, plus "ch", "sh" and "th" (the latter actuated by the capital C, S, and T keys). This is silly: when used to transcribe English, the Roman alphabet (as used not only for English but most of Europe's languages) is at the same time redundant and inadequate: eg "qu" acts just like "kw", and the many vowel sounds are mapped onto multiple vowel digraphs built of the six vowel letters -- and not always consistently (reflecting the adoption of multiple lexicons). Moreover, spoken Atlantean is shown in the film to be a proto/ur- language, its speakers able to instantly adapt to any descendent tongue (French, Spanish, and English are heard). Are we to believe its phonetics are adequately represented by a mere 29 symbols? (On the other hand, the magic mcguffin at the heart of the city, the sentient emotion-energy-crystal-lifeforce, might be pulling strings behind the scenes. It's apparently responsible for the enhanced lifespans of the king and princess. When the people lost all knowledge of their written language, post-Flood, might it have been the cause? And could it act as a universal translator for the rare visitors?) (For a different "pre-Babel" language, see spoken Sumerian in Neal Stephenson's novel _Snow Crash_ (1995).) *** "What's this?" "It's *lettuce*. A *vegetable*. The men need their four food groups." "I'll givya four food groups! Beans, pork, whiskey, and lard." --XO Sinclair to "Cookie", discussing provisions This exchange is a historical anachronism. Although late-18cen British explorer Captain Cook is credited with the use of citrus juice to combat scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) in his sailors, and the USDA has been issuing nutritional recommendations since 1894, it was not until 1956 that the "the basic four" (dairy, meat, fruits and vegetables, grains) were introduced to the American consciousness. A fifth group (fats, sweets, and alcohol) was added in 1979. In 1984 (or 1993) it was revised to six: dairy, proteins (meat, eggs, beans, nuts), fruits, vegetables, grains, and fats-oils-sweets. http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/Nautica/Medicine/Medicine.html --Naval medicine and scurvy, by Lars Bruzelius of Sweden. www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib750/aib750b.pdf --"Dietary Recommendations and How They Have Changed Over Time". www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/etext/000085.html --USDA Food and Nutrition Information Center, Historical. www.usda.gov --The US Department of Agriculture. www.nutrition.gov --Food facts, safety, assistance, research; lifecycle, health, statistics. (In one ep of the Amblin cartoon series "Freakazoid" (1996), the four groups are named as "cakes, ice cream, pies; and very large pies". Non-governmental rivals to the USDA, such as vegetarian and vegan groups, issue their own recommendations.) *** "So cookies are sweet, but yours is not; and your doctor *is*, but that is not a job requirement." --Princess Kida to Milo, discussing the _Ulysses_ crew The cast structure of a Disney animated film is usually dictated by a formula: the female lead, and some fuzzy sidekicks; the male lead, and more fuzzy sidekicks; the villain, and even more sidekicks; plus miscellaneous relatives. "A:TLE" rejects these quotas in favor of a crowded ensemble more akin to "Star Trek" or "Babylon 5": a quasi-military command structure with department heads. A few of the humans are *almost* used only as comic-relief sidekicks, but there are really too many characters for a 90-minute film. Their presence makes sense if the rumors of a TV series ("Team Atlantis") are true -- though the expenses of a feature film and marketing campaign seem excessive for merely a *pilot*. ("Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" did exactly that in 1980, but movies were cheaper in that era; even ones with piles of SFX.) Film end-credits are sometimes excessively concise when specifying the cast, much to the frustration of completists; but the IMDb rides to the rescue. For instance, it provides the full spelling of Princess Kida's name (ki-DA- ga-kash), plus her father's (not provided in dialogue). Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch James Garner as Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke Cree Summer as Princess "Kida" Kidagakash Don Novello as Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini Claudia Christian as Helga Katrina Sinclair Phil Morris as Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet Jacqueline Obradors as Audrey Rocio Ramirez Florence Stanley as Wilhelmina Bertha Packard John Mahoney as Preston B. Whitmore Jim Varney as "Cookie" Farnsworth Leonard Nimoy as King Kashekim Nedakh Corey Burton as Gaetan "Mole" Moliére David Ogden Stiers as Fenton Q. Harcourt And rearranged into an organizational tree, with (as per genealogic custom) males in square boxes and females in rounded ones: Cast | +-[SPONSOR ] | [P.B.Whitfield] | | | +-[COMMANDER ] (EXEC.OFFICER) | [L.T.Rourke] (H.K.Sinclar ) | | | +-Support: | | (ENGINEERING) (COMMUNICATIONS) [MEDICAL ] [MESS SERVICES] | | (A.R.Ramirez) (W.B.Packard ) [J.S.Sweet] [C.Farnsworth ] | | | +-Mission specialists: | [DEMOLITIONS] [GEOLOGY ] [LINGUISTICS] | [V.Santorini] [G.Moliére] [M.J.Thatch ] | +-City of Atlantis: | | | +-[KING ] (PRINCESS ) | [K.Nedakh] (Kidagakash) | +-Museum: | +-[TRUSTEE ] [F.Q.Harcourt] CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN b.1965, us/ca/glendale: TV priors: 1984-2001; Cdr. Susan Ivanova, "Babylon 5" (1994-1997); no voice acting. Just listen for the line, "that's not a suggestion, that's an order!" MICHAEL J. FOX b.1961 ca/alb/edmonton: TV priors: Michael J. Keaton, sitcom "Family Ties" (1982); Marty McFly, SF trilogy "Back to the Future" (1985,1989,1990) (but not the animated series 1991), NYC deputy mayor Michael Flaherty, sitcom "Spin City" (1996). LEONARD NIMOY b.1931 us/ma/boston: TV priors: Spock, "Star Trek" (1966-9); Spock, "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (voice, 1973); Mustapha Mond, "Brave New World" (1998); Gen.Konrad, "Invasion: America" (voice, 1998). Film priors: Spock, "Star Trek" films 1-6; Galvatron, "The Transformers: The Movie" (voice, 1986). Nimoy at first resisted his typecasting as the logical Vulcan in _I Am Not Spock_ (1977), then accepted it in his second autobiography, _I Am Spock_ (1995); even so, he pointedly failed to mention his voice role as an evil transforming robot in TF:TM. (Or the index failed, anyway.) CREE SUMMER b.1969 us/ca: TV priors: Winnifred Brooks, "Cosby Show" Denise- goes-to-college-spinoff sitcom "A Different World" (1987), huge pile of voice actor credits including Elmyra Duff, "Tiny Toons Adventures" (1990); Lady MacBeth, "Project G.eeK.eR" (1996); Nefertina, "Mummies Alive!" (1997). [Data from imdb.com and amazon.com] /* *************************************************************************** ** CONNECTIONS ** "Witchblade" and "Thundercats" ** ************************************************************************ */ In the TNT telemovie "Witchblade" (2000), backdoor pilot to the currently- airing TNT series, New York city cop Sara "Pez" Pezzini (Yancy Butler) comes to wear the WITCHBLADE, a morphing metal weapon forged around a magical crimson stone (possibly alien in origin); among other things, it permits psychometry (reading the history of an inanimate object) and conversations with the dead. (The "Witchblade" series is based on a comic published by Top Cow Productions, the home of "Rising Star", a title created and written by JMS, creator of "Babylon 5". A "telemovie" is a movie made for TV (called by execs "long form"), and a "backdoor pilot" is a telemovie that stands on its own but also serves to gauge audience receptivity towards a full series -- on the same premise, though details may change.) In one scene in the film, fellow cop Jake McCartey (David Chokachi) has fallen asleep on his couch while watching a cartoon -- in particular, "ThunderCats" (1985). This wasn't a random choice by the creators : leader Lion-O wields the SWORD OF OMENS, forged around a magical stone called the EYE OF THUNDARA. Like the Witchblade, the Sword permits "sight beyond sight" and is capable of independent movement at dramatic moments. Only a few seconds of the ep are seen, but if I'm not mistaken, the clip is from the first episode (which, /caveat emptor/, I've never seen in its entirety). You can tell because Cheetara isn't wearing her signature orange leotard; the royal family of Thundara didn't seem to bother with *clothing* before fleeing their exploding homeworld. Perhaps Third Earth (the planet on which they settled) had a colder climate, or perhaps the interlopers didn't wish to offend the locals -- various dwarf-oids, elf-oids, "ro-bear berbils", and undead megalomaniac mummy-mages. (In one ep we're shown the inside of Cheetara's closet: it contains a fur- edged cape, four spare leotards and three spare pairs of boots -- all identical. Notice that nobody ever changes their outfits in cartoons? Is it *really* that confusing for the 'tweeners and painters to use more than a single animation model per character per series?) And while I'm babbling, the actor who in "Witchblade" (2001) plays Vorschlag CEO Kenneth Irons, is Anthony Cistaro b.1963 us/mo/kirksville. --Not to be confused with Peter Woodward b.1958 uk/london, techno-mage Galen from "Crusade" (1999), even though they share sophisticated accents and a penchant for maddeningly mysterious utterances. [From imdb.com] /* *************************************************************************** ** UPCOMING ** TV Advisories, In development, Toys ** ************************************************************************ */ ADVISORIES... fri-06-jul-01:00, SFC, "Galaxy Express 999" -- the classic anime SF film by the man who brought us "Captain Harlock" and "Space Battleship Yamato". sun-08-jul-10:00, WB-17, "Earth: Final Conflict" fills the summer hiatus with 10 weeks of fan-selected favorite episodes from the prior four seasons. The first is the first: #101 "Decision", in which William Boone is recruited by both the Taelons and the Resistance. sun-08-jul-18:00, TNT, "Witchblade" -- four-hour marathon of the first four eps. fri-10-aug, TCN, "Samurai Jack" -- premiere of yet another quasi-anime from the makers of "Power Puff Girls" and "Dexter's Laboratory". From mon-02-jul to fri-06-, TCN is running an online poll for the next show to appear in the Toonami block: "ReBoot", "Superman", "Outlaw Star", or "Batman". The winner appears mon-16-jul-17:30. (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/TOONAMI/midnight/pttp_enter.html) IN DEVELOPMENT... For this fall, expect cartoons based on the two summer films "The Mummy" and "Evolution". And how exactly will the latter distinguish itself from prior capture-the-aliens cartoons? Ie "Men in Black", "B.A.D.: Bureau of Alien Detectors", and "Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends". [From Corona Upcoming Attractions] David Hasselhoff is working on yet another "Knight Rider" spinoff, in which he's the crusty advisor to a bunch of kids. (Wasn't that tried with "Team Knight Rider" (1997)? Maybe this one won't have a pair of motorcycles that magically become a single car.) [From Corona Upcoming Attractions] TOYS... McFarlane Toys (http://www.spawn.com/mctoys_home.html) is now making anime "ultra action figures". There's Tetsuo from "Akira", complete with grossly- swollen-with-superpower spare arm, and Ryoko from "Tenchi Muyo" -- but the makers painted her hair exactly the *wrong* shade of green. They've also done the "Shrek" figures. (Most of the company's toys have been described as "looking like a diseased lung".) The same toy aisles contain three-packs of superdeformed "Tenchi Universe" figures, and "Mobile Suit Gundam" toys -- not "Gundam Wing" -- that imply the original 1981 space-mecha series is coming to the US (as rumored at Katsucon- 007). /* ************************************************************************ ** Legalese ** Acknowledgments ** Opt-in/out Instructions ** *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2001 by Phillip Thorne. In this issue, certain data (possibly not otherwise acknowledged) have been obtained, aggregated and synthesized from: Amazon.com books and videos amazon.com Cartoon Network cartoonnetwork.com Corona Upcoming Attractions corona.bc.ca/films/ Disney's Atlantis: the Lost Empire disney.com/atlantis/ Epguides.com epguides.com Excite TV tv.excite.com IMDb, the Internet Movie Database imdb.com The Sci-Fi Channel scifi.com Sci-Fi Wire scifi.com/scifiwire/ Space.com space.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it, or possibly you're interested in special topical coverage, or maybe I've sent you a teaser issue. To subscribe, email nsx@underbase.org with the words "SUBSCRIBE NON-SEQUITUR" in the subject line and/or body. To unsubscribe, use the same address but the phrase "UNSUBSCRIBE NON-SEQUITUR". Capitalization and punctuation are irrelevant, since there's still absolutely no automation behind the subscription process. Newsletter: nsx@underbase.org (human-managed) Discussion list: nsx-l-subscribe@underbase.org (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-l (list posting) nsx-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) /* *************************************************************************** ** *************************************************************************** ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** Volume 3, Issue 7: Tuesday, 3 July 2001 ** Copyright 1999-2001 Phillip Thorne, nsx@underbase.org ** *************************************************************************** ** ************************************************************************ */