Science Fiction movies then and now

I think my body is deliberately shutting out the sound of the alarm to keep me warm for as long as possible. Late again! I heard my neighbour leaving, and decided to stay out of sight, so she wouldn’t know I was late again – writing this defies that objective, though, since she reads my blog.

The office is getting decidedly cuddly now. It’s a double-container office, with a total space of 6m x 5m in which we’ve fitted 7 tiny desks, 2 shelves, a bar fridge, a water cooler and a big A3 mobile printer. So, we have eight people sitting together in a 30m². The tiny desk did not work for me, since – unlike everyone else – I work at a PC, not a laptop and a regular part of my job is to file documents; and on a tiny desk I was juggling the Lever Arch Files on my lap which did not go well. So after a few weeks it was agreed that I need more room and they bought an L-shaped desk for me. Today our newest arrival has had no choice but to sit at squashed between the wall and the end of the L-shape on two boxes of paper – since he makes number nine! And with people not just sitting still at their desks, but moving – it gets quite cuddly at times, or athletic depending on your point of view. Climbing over the two boxes everytime I leave my desk is decidedly gymnastics!

I’ve joked that I would open a souvenir shop in our office, what with all these tourists coming to site for a day or two, or a week or two – and that again fuels my motivation to get the EL (East London) publications going. I did make a teeny bit of progress last night – nothing worth mentioning, though, as I got side-tracked with dinner, watching out for my water warming up, and watched some 80’s SciFi movies.

One thing I’m noticing, regarding SciFi movies, is that lately the trend seems to be Dystopian, which I find rather distasteful. In the 80’s the trend was a lot more uplifting, regardless of the story, the background was much more ... inventive, more positive. Not exactly Utopian, but more imagination went into assumptions of technological advances expected to have been made by now (e.g. the Hoverboards from Back to the Future). Whereas newer movies tend to project mostly doom and gloom, with humanity loosing itself in technology a la 1984. And what worries me even more is the popularity of that trend! I’ve had several youngsters (if you’re under 40, I call you a youngster) rave about some movies – e.g. Cloverfield – which, personally I found depressing. Even the Gene Roddenberry Franchise gave in to that trend – I was very disappointed with the turn Earth: Final Conflict took in later seasons. Ditto Fringe. Although they always close with a Happy Ending (well, after seasons of doom, gloom and darkness, even a single ray of light seems happy). But the Series opened with such promise, such potential! Bleh! The only SciFi released within the past two decades found worth watching is District 9. Also Dystopian and thus depressing, but at least it was what I call true Science Fiction. Truly taking a concept and opening the mind to a variety of scenario, what-if’s – without closing the mind with a ‘solution’. I like short stories, whether science or fantasy fiction that explore concepts which open the mind to completely non-cliche, non-stereotypical viewpoints – one the the best Series along those lines was The Outer Limits. The Original Series AND the 90’s Series. I’m still working on getting all Seasons on DVD.

For dinner I made a lamb roast – living the good life this week! I have no clue what to make tomorrow night, though – that’s all I had planned for this week! I’m starting on the EL Project, though – so this is all for today, folks!