Heinlein Reader’s Discussion Group
Thursday 06-21-2001 9:00 P.M. EDT
Heinlein’s Aliens
Here Begin The A.F.H. postings
The Robert A. Heinlein Reading Group Notice of Next Meeting
Date: Thursday, June 21, 1999, 9 PM to midnight, ET and Saturday,
June 23, 1999, from 8 to 10 PM, ET, in our Internet AIM chatroom.
For instructions on obtaining the freeware and attending, see Dave Wright’s web page at
http://www.alltel.net/~dwrighsr/heinlein_1.html
Use the AIM link at
https://www.heinleinsociety.org/_site/Links/Links.htm (the one right below Jani’s photo down near the bottom), to get into the room using the link method, rather than the one referred to in Dave’s page.
For those of you receiving a copy of this by e mail, our message board, as always, is in the alt.fan.heinlein newsgroup. If you cannot find it, e mail me: or
Topic: Aliens! (no, not the Sigorny Weaver movies; but aliens in Heinlein’s stories) and Could A Commercially Successful Movie or Television Series be Made of Them Today? How?
Readings: Heinlein’s novels Red Planet (’50, ’90); Starman Jones (’53); The Star Beast (’54); Double Star (’56) and Glory Road (’63).
When I began reading Robert Heinlein in the hot smoggy summer of 1954, I was eleven, going on twelve years of age; and of course I began with the juveniles. It opened my eyes to something new and exciting.
This was really back before everyone had TV. Even if you had one, parents didn’t encourage you to watch it after about 7 PM or so.
We read during evenings at home mostly. Seeing movies was something else–a reward or treat. I’d seen the George Pal movie Destination Moon, which I never then connected with Heinlein–if anything, at my age I connected it with Woody Woodpecker, a couple years earlier with my parents; and I’d seen a few other ‘science-fiction’ movies all the same way, at a drive-in movie. In those days, back before fast food and truly greedy theater owners, admission was usually about $2 per car; and parents would bundle, literally, with blankets and pillows, their kids in the back, pop a big shopping bag of popcorn before leaving the house, fill dad’s thermos with coffee, buy a chilled sixpack or two of bottled sodapop at the local grocery before pulling into the drive-in, pack some fried chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob in season, fruit, and sandwiches mom cooked or made in a big brown bag or basket, arrive at 6:30 or 7 PM, just before dusk, let the kids run off their energy playing on the swings and jungle gyms, until the inevitable spotlights made a sufficient impression on the large white screen–and the equally inevitable horns to remind the management that everyone wanted the movie to start would blow; and signal the kids to get back to the car in time for the first of the three, four, five, or six cartoons; then the newsreels; then the two or three serials, and then came the two full-length feature movies.
A ‘science-fiction’ or adventure movie was usually the first feature–for the kids would be asleep in back in their PJs by 9 PM; and then mom and dad would watch something for grown-ups. If you were ten, eleven or twelve you’d struggle to stay awake yourself and watch from the back seat. Every once in a while dad would turn and ask, “Aren’t you asleep, yet? Don’t forget you’ve got to get up for school tomorrow.”
It would usually be an old favorite, some ugly guy named Humphrey and a pretty woman named Ingrid in black-and-white–those kinds of mushy films where they just stood around talking to each other, mostly. The ‘science-fiction’ films were a lot of fun; but the older I got the more I’d conclude they were also kinda stupid, sometimes. There’d be a spaceshipt or a crazy machine and these people would wind up on the wrong planet or way back in the past somehow; and they’d have to fight to survive with monsters or beings from the other planet. The monsters looked scary when you were little until it dawned on you that all they were magnified horny toads or lizards, or somebody dressed up inside a really dumb-looking costume–that you’d find out later was was a giant, intelligent carrot. Or humans fantastically suited up in what looked like black leather breastplates and helmets, with maybe batwings sprouting from their backs like Lucifer and his cronies escaped from the etched drawings in those old books you’d use for Bible study.
By the time you were eleven you’d concluded science fiction movies were stupid; and by the time you were twelve if you kept your eyes open you’d figured out why there were also always a lot of cars full of teenagers unaccompanied by adults at the drive-in too. They were ‘making out’ while the stupid science fiction movie was on. I concluded Hollywood made science fiction movies so parents could spend a weekday evening watching a decent adult movie back before TV after their kids wore out and so teenagers could make out in the darkness all night long while both sorts of movies ran.
I never believed then it would be possible to make a Heinlein story into a good movie.
Well, coming right up is another summer . . . so let’s look at the aliens, monsters and not-so-maybe, in the five Heinlein novels above, and talk about making them into movies today. Relax, it’s summer, and we needn’t be academic in our discussions always–everyone should be able to enjoy this chat. And attend. Zim says he’ll be counting.
Maybe somebody can educate me about how filmmakers would go about making a decent movie involving aliens–particularly the Heinlein aliens, today; because, as I keep telling everyone, I stopped reading science fiction sometime in the sixties; and I stopped going to science fiction movies or watching them on TV, the occasional “2001–A Space Odyssey” and ST:TOS excepted, maybe ten years before that, so I’ll be the first to admit I can learn a lot about it from you.
As you read these works, please post your thoughts as replies to this lead-off post. Remember, the more pre-meeting message board posts we make the more our chats are lively and worthwhile. See you in about ten days. Jane Davitt will host Thursday, and I’ll host Saturday.
But Zim will be there both days, taking roll. And he sez he hasn’t seen a lot of you in a while. So show up, and get him off my back, please. I’m getting of having to run around that supply shed with Bronski or Malmud at my heels.
—
—
David M. Silver
“The Lieutenant expects your names to shine!”
Robert Anson Heinlein, USNA ’29
Lt (jg)., USN R’td (1907-1988)
“David M. Silver” wrote:
>
>Topic: Aliens! (no, not the Sigorny Weaver movies; but aliens in
>Heinlein’s stories) and Could A Commercially Successful Movie or
>Television Series be Made of Them Today? How?
>
>Readings: Heinlein’s novels Red Planet (’50, ’90); Starman Jones
>(’53); The Star Beast (’54); Double Star (’56) and Glory Road (’63).
>
>
David! What about Sir Isaac? You can’t leave him out…. OK, so a summary of the aliens required…
Red Planet; bouncer, water seeker, grown up Martian and an Old One who should be the same as a normal Martian.
Starman Jones; assorted aliens at Earthport, Mr Chips, centaurs, hobgoblins.
Star Beast. Good old Lummox in various sizes, with and without hands, Ftaeml and the rest of the Hroshii.
Double Star Just Martians I think.
Glory Road. Hmm, Igli, Horned Ghosts, Nevian horses, dragons, furry girls….
There are so many possibilities; a cartoon would be simple, a computer generated one like Shrek would be equally easy, a combination of real film and those other two options…
As to whether they would be commercially viable I really don’t see why not. Red Planet perhaps the least, Glory Road the most.
Just a quick post; I’ll be back 🙂
Jane
“David M. Silver”wrote in message news:…
> “David M. Silver” wrote:
>[all snipped, arrgh! Don’t you hate it when someone uses a text
>When I began reading Robert Heinlein in the hot smoggy summer of
>1954, I was eleven, going on twelve years of age; and of course I
>began with the juveniles. It opened my eyes to something new and
>exciting.
>
I am younger than David, I am younger than David.
—
Will in New Haven
—
Go To Postings
Here Begins The Discussion Log
You have just entered room “Heinlein Readers Group chat.”
ddavitt has entered the room.
SAcademy has entered the room.
ddavitt: Hi there
DavidWrightSr: Hi Folks.
SAcademy: Good evening David. Sorry Jane, I missed you.
ddavitt: Just got here this second
ddavitt: Ben volunteering at the library
ddavitt: Been..typos already!
SAcademy: Denis Paradis is coming, and I have to invite him.
ddavitt: I haven’t had any new messages on afh or rasfw all day; something wrong there
ddavitt: OK
SAcademy: He’s a blood banker and I was having some chat with him before we decided it was time.
DavidWrightSr: What’s his buddy name?
SAcademy: DJedPar
ddavitt: Oh, just got a few for rasfw; usually that group has a hundred an hour.
ddavitt: He came to the last chat didn’t he?
DavidWrightSr: I’ve got that name, but I don’t see in the active list
ddavitt: Nor I
SAcademy: Yes, he’s been here before.
SAcademy: Maybe he took a break, I came right here.
ddavitt: I have 49 names on my friends list now…
ddavitt: don’t know who some of them are; I add them if they show up here
SAcademy: For what purpose?
ddavitt: In case they need mailings or something
SAcademy: I don’t see that list. Where do find it?
ddavitt: Go to your buddy list; that’s the one I mean
ddavitt: Two options; online which shows you who is around
DavidWrightSr: So do I Jane
ddavitt: And list setup shows you everyone you’ve ever added
ddavitt: If they are stuck trying to get into the room it’s faster if you have their name
DavidWrightSr: I’ve even got a couple of people who I hope never show up!
SAcademy: I did but while he’s online he isn’t answering invites.
ddavitt: Also means you can see if they’re online if you want to chat
ddavitt: Some I should delete; they were one time attendees and haven’t been back
SAcademy: I will stay there on Aol and meet him when he’s back.
DavidWrightSr: My philosophy is that you never can tell when they might be back
ddavitt: True.
ddavitt: OK Ginny, let us know if you need help inviting him in
DavidWrightSr: In fact, one of them is on-line now. I am NOT going to invite him.
ddavitt: Does it begin with R?
DavidWrightSr: Yeah verily
ddavitt: I get it!:-)
ddavitt: I see Bill P; wonder if he is coming in
ddavitt: AG is also on a chat about the convention tonight
ddavitt: Do you see any posts in afh Dave?
DavidWrightSr: Bill is still only on AOL at the moment
ddavitt: That always confuses me..
DavidWrightSr: Nothing on this topic. There were the endless ‘Green’ and ‘hint’ topics
ddavitt: I see the BPRAL one
ddavitt: I haven’t seen any since early this morning.
ddavitt: My server must be down
ddavitt: Can’t belive a whole day has gone by and noone has posted
DavidWrightSr: If you click once on the name, it will tell you whether or not they are on AOL or AIM(internet)
DavidWrightSr: Sometime, it does it 🙂
SAcademy: It says he’s not available, but he’s there.
ddavitt: Oh well.
SAcademy: Can someone else help him?
ddavitt: Not many pre meeting post; summer doldrums maybe
ddavitt: He isn’t online for me Ginny
ddavitt: I can email him but not IM him
SAcademy: He’s online on AOL. Having trouble I guess.
ddavitt: It’s because I’m not AOL that I can’t see him I suppose
SAcademy: Is David Wright here? Can he help?
ddavitt: Yes Dave is here
ddavitt: Do you see Dennis Dave?
DavidWrightSr: Nope.
ddavitt: Maybe he needs to reboot?
DavidWrightSr: I’ve got a problem. I have an emergency call that I have to attend to.
ddavitt: OK Dave
DavidWrightSr: I’m going to leave this running. but if you see me drop, please save the log
BPRAL22169 has entered the room.
ddavitt: Will do. hi Bill
BPRAL22169: Howdy.
ddavitt: Ginny is having trouble trying to get DJedPar in
ddavitt: I don’t ‘see’ him as online
ddavitt: He is just on AOL
BPRAL22169: Is Denis’ system not recognizing invitations?
ddavitt: Yes
ddavitt: Should he reboot
maikoshT has entered the room.
maikoshT: I’ve got an additional one going just as backup. See y’all later, I hope.
ddavitt: OK Dave, thanks
SAcademy: I still get not avaiable
BPRAL22169: I’m not even showing him signed on aol
SAcademy: No., he went back somewhere. Maybe a reboot.
ddavitt: We will wait for him to show up and try grabbing him then
BPRAL22169: I do show Phil Owenby there, though. And Ron.
ddavitt: I don’t see them..must not be on AIM
ddavitt: What is Phil’s name?
BPRAL22169: Phillipowe
ddavitt: Ah..don’t have him for some reason
SAcademy: Denis is rebooting.
ddavitt: I’ll add him.Nice round 50 people
SAcademy: Do you have that much room? I do’t
ddavitt: I didn’t know there was a limit
ddavitt: i have more in my family section.
ddavitt: maybe it’s because I’m not AOL?
BPRAL22169: That’s strange — I minimized my AIM buddy list, and now I can’t find it on the taskbar.
ddavitt: It used to do that to me
ddavitt: Doesn’t since I upgraded
ddavitt: Have to go to the menu at the top of the screen
ddavitt: to get it back
ddavitt: Might be different for you
BPRAL22169: I’m using the old version — 2.0 I think. I got it back by clicking on the startup AIM icon.
ddavitt: I wonder if in 50 years all computers will be the same or if there will be greater diversity?
ddavitt: VHS v Betamax
Dehede011 has entered the room.
ddavitt: Amiga/Atari
ddavitt: Hi Ron
Dehede011: Hi Y’all
BPRAL22169: Did you get to watch any of the eclipse today?
Dehede011: Hi y’all
ddavitt: Heard about it
ddavitt: Heard about it
Dehede011: Yes, I caught about 15 minutes in the middle
ddavitt: Sorry; it’s sticking
ddavitt: Did we see it here?
BPRAL22169: Africa, mostly
Dehede011: Black circles on white circles.
ddavitt: Thought it was in Africa
Dehede011: Nope not in NA
BPRAL22169: I thought I might drop down to the Exploratorium but didn’t. Too much to do here.
ddavitt: Have you got those photocopies from Jim yet?
Dehede011: I went nuts getting hooked up my virus detector wouldn’t let me
ddavitt: He said he would post them to me two weeks ago…
ddavitt: maybe he is putting them in with martina
ddavitt: Martian
BPRAL22169: Which photocopies and to whom was that directed, Jane?
ddavitt: You Bill, the ones from francesco
BPRAL22169: And for that matter, which Jim?
ddavitt: Gifford
ddavitt: Weren’t you one of the people who were getting a copy?
BPRAL22169: Oh, yes, he delivered them yesterday.
ddavitt: So long ago now…
BPRAL22169: He dropped off a box of Martians — I have a book! A real book!
ddavitt: Poor Francesco sent them to Jim G so we would get them faster 🙂
BPRAL22169: And lots of ’em.
ddavitt: Kewl:-):-):-)
BPRAL22169: Jim has many virtues, but promptness about forwarding stuff is not among them.
ddavitt: Congratulations!
ddavitt: Congratulations!
ddavitt: Darn!
ddavitt: I press enter, nothing happens, I press again and get 2 messages. Sorry
BPRAL22169: AIM BITES!
Dehede011: KInda like hiccups, Jane??
ddavitt: Till it draws blood…
BPRAL22169: Stuttering.
ddavitt: Just like!
ddavitt: Well, do we want to start?
BPRAL22169: No, the Heinlein Society bites until it draws blood…
ddavitt: Nice one..
ddavitt: Been a nasty sort of week for the HS tho..many hassles
BPRAL22169: I understand Jon is working on a chat software that doesn’t have this limitation.
ddavitt: I feel battered and bruised
ddavitt: Yes but he said it may be a while
BPRAL22169: … and bewildered? Why is that?
ddavitt: All the spam problems, criticisms on rasfw…
BPRAL22169: What’s rasfw?
SAcademy: I just can’t get him here. We’ve tried everything.
ddavitt: part and parcel of everyday life I suppose; I’ve been in a backwater at home too long
BPRAL22169: I don’t show him as logged onto AIM at all.
ddavitt: Bill! Rec arts sf written
BPRAL22169: Oh, them. The morons.
ddavitt: aka masters of the Universe
ddavitt: I darn nearly got booted off the sff groups. Scary!
Dehede011: I haven’t been reading rasfw, have I missed something
SAcademy: He went to MSN
ddavitt: Live and learn
SAcademy: To try to get here. I don’t understand it.
BPRAL22169: I saw that. Obviously they don’t think you’re a positive experience for sff.
ddavitt: No, just a few teething problems Ron.
BPRAL22169: Bite ’em till they bleed.
ddavitt: No, they were right, I hadn’t realsied the smallness of the community
ddavitt: I posted to 30 groups, no x posts…some people had to read david’s message 30 times
ddavitt: Eek…
ddavitt: Not happy campers
ddavitt: Thankfully I cottoned on that I was being cancelled and stopped posting
BPRAL22169: I wonder if that’s why afh has been so unwontedly well behaved the last few days.
BPRAL22169: You have a good influence on afh, Jane
ddavitt: Has it? i haven’t seen any messages since early AM; server must be down
BPRAL22169: Perish, forbid.
ddavitt: Good influence? hah! I need lessons from Uncle Bodie then 🙂
ddavitt: Afh I am marking as read these days…too much junk
ddavitt: Hardly any pre meeting posts for this chat at all\
BPRAL22169: There is a lot of fizzy nattering with no meat.
ddavitt: We need some good juicy on topic threads
Dehede011: BRB
ddavitt: I will think up something..still working on the dedications ith Tim
BPRAL22169: That will be fun to see.
ddavitt: Just not guns, politics or Vietnam 🙂
Dehede011: Back
ddavitt: Do we want to start she says again?
ddavitt: I think the topic is movies of some of the books
ddavitt: Double Star, Star Beast
SAcademy: I think he gave up.
ddavitt: Starman Jones
ddavitt: Glory Road, with emphasis on the aliens
ddavitt: Who Ginny?
Dehede011: Double Star would be my pick if we could find the actor with the range to play it
ddavitt: Someone with an option?
SAcademy: Denis.
ddavitt: But isn’t the plot too familiar with its echoes of prince &pauper?
ddavitt: Oh, I’m sorry. maybe he will drop in later
ddavitt: Not to mention that recent film, ‘Dave”
Dehede011: Perhaps, but the main thing is the job of characterization and growth
ddavitt: Which was a real similarity to the Heinlein book
ddavitt: Reading the book you get those nuances…not sure the film could show them
ddavitt: But it would be good to see him do Bennie, the grey murderer
Dehede011: To find an actor that portray the actor in the beginning and gradually
Dehede011: transition into that statesman at the end
ddavitt: It’s a challenging role
Dehede011: Would you accept daunting??
ddavitt: Yep!
ddavitt: I think the aliens are no problem nowadays..not sure what AG had in mind with that bit of the topic
Dehede011: DS is one of the best jobs of characterization I have ever seen
Dehede011: in print
ddavitt: Not sure the public would accept not going into the Nest tho; they like to have all the dots connected
ddavitt: I always say that it’s a tragedy that both Bonforte and larry die
ddavitt: What remains is a synthesis…
ddavitt: Both die to create a new person in a way
Dehede011: Why do I get the idea that Larry ends up better than Bonaforte
BPRAL22169: I think RAH might have had Laurence Olivier in mind originally.
ddavitt: At the end he thinks of himself as Bonforte; that’s really getting into the role
ddavitt: How do you mean Ron?
ddavitt: LO would have been good but needs to be youngish.
Dehede011: I walk away seeing Bonforte as having grown to exceed the original
BPRAL22169: (in 1956 he was youngish)
Dehede011: but don’t know why I think that
ddavitt: Maybe he was at the time it was written
ddavitt: GMTA
Dehede011: Sorry I meant Larry.
ddavitt: Lorenzo loses himself and grows to the point where he looks down on his old self
ddavitt: But it’s not a natural result of maturation
Dehede011: yes, but why do I think he exceeded the original Bonforte
ddavitt: The way i look back at me as a teenager and cringe!
ddavitt: He was forced into a different path
BPRAL22169: Who’s that actor that just got canned from Ally McBeal?
ddavitt: Ah, i get you now
Dehede011: Is it Penny (?) coming to love him?
ddavitt: Downey?
BPRAL22169: No — I agree: Bonforte-Smith has to be more than just Bonforte.
ddavitt: You mean, he does better than B would’ve if he’d lived?
BPRAL22169: And he’s been in the role for decades by the end.
BPRAL22169: Yes — Robert Downey. he could do it.
Dehede011: Yes, Jane
ddavitt: He brings something new to the mix.
ddavitt: Interesting choice Bill
ddavitt: So..can we separate it out?
BPRAL22169: There aren’t that many actors with strong training
ddavitt: What does he have?
ddavitt: The actor’s ability to know his audience maybe?
ddavitt: brb; baby crying, dad in bath
BPRAL22169: Downey also can project “putting on a good face when you know you’re going down the drain.”
Dehede011: Actually I think Enneagram theoretically explains how that character
BPRAL22169: Very difficult.
Dehede011: could have grown that way
BPRAL22169: Please elaborate, Ron.
ddavitt: back
Dehede011: There are nine basic types, okay?
BPRAL22169: Ron is relating to the Enneagram, Jane.
ddavitt: of character?
Dehede011: The Reagan/Clinton type can almost totally change
ddavitt: Not heard of it before
ddavitt: Oh, is it that passive/aggressive, type A thingie?
Dehede011: Look it up on line and pay particular attention to type nine
Dehede011: That is the Reagan/Clinton type
ddavitt: brb
Dehede011: No Jane, the theory is there are only nine basic kinds of personalities
SAcademy: What is the Reagan/Clinton type? They’re very different.
Dehede011: Not really
Dehede011: Both look to occupy the middle ground and be the decision maker
Dehede011: after everyone else does the arguing
Dehede011: also both tend to get people to do the job instead of their doing
Dehede011: close supervision
Dehede011: Both also tend to have a little secret life
SAcademy: Anyone notice that all the names are in red tonight?
Dehede011: Except here Ginny, they are all blue
Dehede011: LOL
BPRAL22169: Mine are all blue, too.
SAcademy: Two weeks ago each person had a different color.
SAcademy: Someone is playing games?
BPRAL22169: No, I think it’s a local thing with your machine.
SAcademy: Someone must have told them that I don’t especially like red.
SAcademy: Did anyone else hear a door slam?
Dehede011: No, but I heard a noise in my machine
ddavitt: Sorry, back
ddavitt: Just had IM from Dave Silver while I was away; he is still on Philcon chat, will try and join us later
SAcademy: He is really taking that conseriosly.
ddavitt: Yes, i have lost all the pretty colours too
Dehede011: I take it Dave wants to run a blood drive at Philcon.
ddavitt: It’s the Developing Young Readers group
ddavitt: They are discussing Farmer I think and dave is helping
ddavitt: Wish i could go and meet you all:-(
ddavitt: It’s in Toronto in a few years I think
SAcademy: I’m not going either.
BPRAL22169: You should! The afh dinner is turning into a THS function.
Dehede011: Ooh, I would like to go to Toronto
ddavitt: Bet you’ve been to lots in the past though!
ddavitt: I’ve never been to one; not many in the UK
ddavitt: Well, everyone’s welcome to come vist;I’m about an hour away
Dehede011: I used to go to WindyCon for a few years.
SAcademy: I’ve been to a con.
ddavitt: I’ve read a spoof book about one; Sharyn McCrumb’s one. People either love it or hate it, depending
SAcademy: Every time I think about them I think of Karen Anderson saying” Are you going to the Con?”
BPRAL22169: For her it was always “yes.”
ddavitt: Any one in particular?
Dehede011: I was drinking in those days and seem to remember spending time with Gordon D.
ddavitt: I don’t get how it works..is there just one world one?
ddavitt: Like the Olympics, it moves around?
ddavitt: And lots of little ones in variuos places?
BPRAL22169: Yes.
SAcademy: Yes. Different place each year.
ddavitt: So is Philcon the biggie this year? that’s the world con?
BPRAL22169: Right. In Philadelphia – but they’re calling it “Millennium Philcon” or MilPhil
ddavitt: Is it generally the US?
BPRAL22169: We’re calling them “idiots.”
ddavitt: I don’t ever recall one in UK
ddavitt: That’s funny; we have Star Wars in french on as I speak
Dehede011: Jane, I am almost sure I have read of a worldcon in the UK
ddavitt: maybe I was just not in the loop for it
Dehede011: But maybe only one
ddavitt: I read SF; was never into the fan scene
BPRAL22169: They’ve been in London 2 or 3 times, I think.
ddavitt: Didn’t know anyone else who like dit
ddavitt: Never read any magazines either so i never knew when there was a new Heinlein out; they just appeared
Dehede011: I had the same experience til I got to Navy Flight School
ddavitt: in the library.
Dehede011: They were a bunch of space cadets
ddavitt: When I got older and had more pocket money, I bought them.
ddavitt: Amongst others…got over 3000 now…,brag>
ddavitt: It is a funny pun tho Bill; almost irresistable
ddavitt: can’t really blame them for it
SAcademy: I saw those bookshelves back of the pictures of your children.
ddavitt: That’s some of them!
ddavitt: That whole room has six shelves on three walls, more in the basement
SAcademy: I know I have a book wall in my bedroom.
ddavitt: Finally I have a library with nothing in it but books, a chair and a light
BPRAL22169: John Lee Hooker and Carroll O’Connor passed away today.
ddavitt: I’m sorry, i don’t know who they are.
SAcademy: We had them all over te place when we lived in Bonny doon.
ddavitt: You had over 10,000 I read; that is a lot of boxes when you move
SAcademy: Who are they Bill?
BPRAL22169: John lee Hooker was a famous bluesman in SF — The boom Boom Room.
BPRAL22169: Carroll O’Connor was an actor — Archie Bunker
ddavitt: Oh, played a bigot in a comedy series?
SAcademy: Lack of air condtioning, I suppose?
BPRAL22169: Yes
ddavitt: Ginny!!
BPRAL22169: You’re in fine form today!
ddavitt: Shame on you!:-)
SAcademy: Shame on me with a big grtin?
ddavitt: It was funny so you get a smile.
ddavitt: So hard to convet voice tones…
ddavitt: convey
ddavitt: Lose a lot when it’s just words and limited to a sentence or two
ddavitt: We are not talking about the topic. Are you all done?
ddavitt: I still vote for glory Road to be the most filmable
ddavitt: If they remember to do the beginning and end right and not just film the middle that is
SAcademy: Someone had an option on it for a while, but coldn’t get backing.
ddavitt: It’s way more than a quest
ddavitt: Or rather, the Egg isn’t the quest
ddavitt: Shame
ddavitt: So much rubbish out there…
SAcademy: Yes, well,. no one wants to put a lot of money into somehting that is good.
ddavitt: Be nice to have a film with a solid story behind it
SAcademy: Look at Titanic and the latest thing out there.
ddavitt: Pearl harbor?
SAcademy: Yes, Jane.
ddavitt: Not my cup of tea, doubt I’ll ever se it
SAcademy: A flop and heads are rolling now.
Dehede011: I would rather not look at PH
ddavitt: I saw Titanic when my friend lent me the video or I would have missed that too.
SAcademy: No one of my generatio wants to see PH
ddavitt: It had it’s moments…but I knew the ending.
Dehede011: My son got me a copy of Smoke Signals
SAcademy: They more or less made a joke of it.
ddavitt: The captain came from hanley…a few miles from my home town
ddavitt: It makes a difference when you lived through it Ginny
SAcademy: Where they hold the boat races?
ddavitt: No, that’s Henley
ddavitt: I come from the Potteries, the Five Towns that Arnold Bennet wrote about
SAcademy: Sorry. I didn’t know the difference.
ddavitt: Hanley is tiny Ginny; I doubt anyone knows it
ddavitt: I’m impressed you know Henley even
SAcademy: Well a nephew rowed there.
ddavitt: Wedgewood, royal Doulton, all get made where i come from
ddavitt: Americans come and spend a fortune in the factory shops; you must like our china. It is good quality
Dehede011: Send all that china to my home — we had the world’s biggest earthquake
SAcademy: Yes, I know about those. I was impressed when I saw Royal Doulton on a toilet somewhere.
ddavitt: Heh, yes but we do figurines, tea services and such too.
SAcademy: Not to mention table dishes etc.
ddavitt: I have a ‘Top of the Hill” Doulton figurine that belonged to my great grandmother who worked there
Dehede011: What is that Jane?
SAcademy: My sisterinlaw Caryl was going to write a book on the water closets of Europe, but she refrained.
ddavitt: Sorry, Ron, just saw your comment
ddavitt: A real earthquake?
Dehede011: Yes,
Dehede011: The biggest in recorded history
ddavitt: It’s a range of very collectible statues, small ones. The baloon lady is most famous I think
SAcademy: New Madrid fault?
ddavitt: And you lost a lot of your stuff?
Dehede011: That you. Yes, Ginny — it happened about two miles from where I was born
Dehede011: No, 1912
SAcademy: It took place in 18 something.
ddavitt: That would have been an interesting book Ginny
Dehede011: sorry 1812
SAcademy: Rang church bells in Boston
BPRAL22169: That’s on the USGS’s top 10 list.
Dehede011: Yes, and I just found out what caused that fault and eventually the quake
BPRAL22169: What’s that?
ddavitt: We had one here in Toronto a few years ago; made the computer wobble.
Dehede011: It was the last glaciers
BPRAL22169: That’s the fault that runs through Missouri, isn’t it/
Dehede011: Yes,
ddavitt: In the uk we get them but it’s man made; too much mining under the town
Dehede011: The glacier field was so heavy it actually cracked the plate causing the fault
ddavitt: Scary!
SAcademy: Where were you Bill during the Loma Prieta quake?
Dehede011: and a depression which relieves itself from time to time
BPRAL22169: That’s the 1989 one? I had just moved down to Los Angeles and was in a job interview
Dehede011: like popping a bucket lid
BPRAL22169: They guy was on the phone with a lawyer in SF when it hit.
ddavitt: No where to run to; must be a very frightening experience
BPRAL22169: usally it’s over before you realize what’s going on.
Dehede011: I’m still alive you say to yourself
ddavitt has left the room.
Dehede011: I’m thinking — let there be light should make a good movie that Hollywood could understand
BPRAL22169: I think Tunnel in the Sky would be good.
Dehede011: Yes, Hollywood could do a good job with that one also
Dehede011: how about “If this goes on?”
SAcademy: I was sitting with a cat in my lap, when it went. Cat was ot the door so fast he almos tturned into
SAcademy: ghee
BPRAL22169: That was Pixel, wasn’t it?
SAcademy: Yes.
BPRAL22169: Tiger butter.
Dehede011: Ginny, I always knew Ghee as something strictly in books.
SAcademy: Right. Yoou knew that?
BPRAL22169: I guess I did.
Dehede011: the little Pakistani grocer down on the corner carries it.
BPRAL22169: I just didn’t know I did until it came out.
SAcademy: Unconscious.
BPRAL22169: Ghee is just clarified butter.
Dehede011: Right
Dehede011: comes in a clear jar
maikoshT has left the room.
SAcademy: Who he?
BPRAL22169: David Wrights’ alter ego.
Dehede011: ??
SAcademy: Thank you.
Dehede011: What happened to Jane
BPRAL22169: She just disappeared without warning a few minutes ago.
Dehede011: Right and I have kept expecting her back
SAcademy: One of the kids cried, maybe.
SAcademy: Or AOL is having some fun
Dehede011: Wow she gets a double whammy doesn’t she?
BPRAL22169: maybe a little of both.
BPRAL22169: We don’t seem to be concentrating on our groove today. Maybe we should pack it in.
SAcademy: It’s past my bedtime.
Dehede011: I will be leaving in 30 minutes
BPRAL22169: I believe you would be forgiven if you went now.
SAcademy: Nite, all.
BPRAL22169: Shall we pack it in, filk?
Dehede011: nite
Dehede011: up to the gang.
BPRAL22169: We can tell Jane we left because there just wasn’t any point without her.
SAcademy has left the room.
Dehede011: That will make her day
BPRAL22169: ciao, all.
BPRAL22169 has left the room.
Dehede011: chow to you too
Dehede011 has left the room.
Final End Of Discussion Log
