Sad news
Only 19 years old, Kaycee passed away yesterday. She will be missed. My thoughts are with her family and friends.
The Lord of the Rings
Note to self: Read this article about the movie tomorrw: ‘The most colossal movie production ever embarked on’.
Link via Garret.
2001
Tonight, André and I went to see 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, which was being shown in the original version. Since I had not seen the movie before, we had to grab the opportunity – not many films are shown in English here, and especially not good ones. I’m already worried that I have to watch ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ in German…
Anyway, I’m still a bit confused about Kubrick’s film. I don’t know if I can make sense of anything that happens after Dave Bowman shut down HAL 9000. I guess I’ll have to watch the film again – at least I’ve read that you have to watch it more than once to make any sense of it.
However, I was very impressed by the accuracy and credibility of the scenes in space. Rotating space ships to create a force like gravity, realistic-looking scenes on the moon and in the spaceships. The last film I watched that had scenes in space was Armageddon. Yes, it was on TV the day after easter, and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I watched it. I couldn’t believe they really went to MIR in order to refuel their space craft. And there were icycles hanging around everywhere on the outside of MIR. Two questions: Where did the water come from, and what force made them freeze like that, without gravity? I could go on and on.
Da schaue ich doch lieber ein paar Stunden Space Night. 
thanks for posting how you ‘saw’ the film 2001. i saw it when it first came out; my dad took me. i was just as confused. the image of dave bowman growing old, and the boxes of blue powder stayed with me longer than many other images. the bed, the pod … just plain strange.
it was many years later that i actually picked up the book and read it … once i did that, it all made sense.
i think that was the issue … kubrick had read the book, and we, the audience, hadn’t. granted, it’s his responsibility to make things understandable … but standing here, so many years later, i can see why he would want to leave the movie a little ‘unknowable.’ we’re talking about infinity, really.
it’s still one of the best ‘space’ films around. my biggest impression about the space scenes were the silence and vastness of space. kubrick succeeeded well there, at least for me as a child.
i haven’t seen the film since it opened so long ago. i can’t wait to catch it when it gets played in either denver or las vegas in 70mm. there’re standing invitations from a couple of webloggers, so when it comes around, i’ll be taking a road trip.
another interesting take on the ‘space voyage’ is the old film ‘silent running’ with bruce dern. it’s a strangely beautiful film, different than 2001. click here if you’re interested. it gives the plot, though, so be warned.
i was just as confused. the image of dave bowman growing old, and the boxes of blue powder stayed with me longer than many other images. the bed, the pod … just plain strange.
it was many years later that i actually picked up the book and read it … once i did that, it all made sense.
Thanks for mentioning the book. I think I’m going to read it. (I don’t think I would have thought of that if you hadn’t mentioned it. Duh.)
it’s still one of the best ‘space’ films around. my biggest impression about the space scenes were the silence and vastness of space. kubrick succeeeded well there, at least for me as a child.
Yes, I felt that way, too, but sometimes it’s hard for me to express things in English. (Especially when I’m tired… <yawn!>
‘Silent running’ sounds like a film I’d like to see. I’ll try to find it, although I doubt that the video rental store here has it. (And if it does, I bet they don’t have it on DVD, but we don’t have a VCR…)
This is totally off topic, but is there a chance that you guys will be at the Scripting News dinner next weekend? Andre mentioned the possibility in my DG. Frauke has rearranged her schedule to have the weekend off, so we might go with Christopher and spend a long holiday weekend in Amsterdam.
Oh cool! Yes, we’ll be there! I meant to post a reply to André’s message in your DG, but you were faster. Looks like we’ll have a chance to meet without me standing barefoot in the snow in your garden…
We’ll only be in Amsterdam on Saturday and Sunday though because André has to work and I have to prepare for my exams.
Can you recommend a hotel in Amsterdam? We only know the one we’ve been staying at last year, and that one is too far from the city center.
Update: We just found and booked a hotel online and also made reservations for the train rides to and from Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, here we come!
You guys are ahead of us on the hotel rooms. We haven’t reserved anything yet, but we’ll try to find something in the city as well. Our schedule also dictates that we arrive on Saturday and return on Sunday.
And Frauke says she’ll come to the dinner as long as you do.
Yep, I’ll be there! Bring her along!
I’m really looking forward to meeting Frauke, Christopher and you!
It’s now official. We’ve booked the hotel, we’ll arrive around noon on Saturday, and we’re hoping for good weather.