- Overall, it was a pleasant way to spend a 100+ degree summer afternoon.
- However, Inglourious Basterds suffers from much the same problem I think Death Proof had. Quentin Tarantino is too much in love with the sound of his own voice as a writer. Sure, he’s somewhat entitled to be; when he’s on, he’s very good at it. But apparently no one around him is willing to edit him; there’s no one to say, “Q, the basement scene goes on a little too long,” or “Q, less talk, more Nazi killing.”
- Mélanie Laurent is something special.
- I was glad to see Zoe Bell, even if it was just stunt credit; she was the best thing in Death Proof, and I hope Tarantino or someone puts her in a real movie sometime soon.
- Edited to add: I should have linked to Jesse Walker’s essay on Reason‘s web site when I was composing this last night. Sorry.
Archive for August 30th, 2009
Quick thoughts on Inglourious Basterds.
Sunday, August 30th, 2009We like the moon, but not as much as a spoon…
Sunday, August 30th, 2009The Austin American-Statesman has a wonderful profile of UT geology professor Bill Muehlberger, the man who has been teaching geology to NASA astronauts since 1964.
…he believes it’s important for humankind to return to the moon — and not just to finish the work begun at the old landing sites.
“I think it would be more valuable to go to new places,” he says. “One of my favorites is the Copernicus Crater. You could land in the bottom of it and be within a mile of the central uplift, which brings you stuff in from deeper in the moon. Or you could go over a mile in the other direction, to stuff that fell back out of the crater during the impact, and get a 3-D sampling. You’d be landing on glass, on the melt rock that flowed in during the impact. Hey. We could keep going forever … “
I’m fascinated by geology, but, sadly, not very good at it. That hasn’t stopped me from reading John McPhee’s and Simon Winchester’s books, though. In that vein, I’d like to recommend Donald Beattie’s great book, Taking Science to the Moon