Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
Recent Posts
- Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature
- We’re Living in an Age of Regression
- Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1
- Palace in the Sky, For the One
- Disconnects from Reality, and a Couple Positive Notes
- How the US is retreating into tribalism
- J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN
- The US Is Becoming a Demon-Haunted World. Not Necessarily Again.
- Shades of Baseless Certainty
- The Conservative War Against Liberals, and Cat Toys
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Meta
Category Archives: Movies
Skiffy Flix: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Of all the 1950s science fiction films, this one is arguably the most profound, the least typical, and the most liberal. It involves an alien arriving on Earth, but he is not hostile, despite the knee-jerk fears of the military … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, science fiction, Skiffy Flix
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Skiffy Flix: When Worlds Collide
Next of up my intermittent revisiting of 1950s science fiction movies is this one, one of the more popular and well-regarded of its era. It was produced by George Pal, who also did Destination Moon the previous year, and his … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Skiffy Flix
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Killers and EvoPsych
Quick post. We spent all afternoon watching Killers of the Flower Moon — a very good film, worth the 3 1/2 hours — so I only have a moment to post something before dinner. \ Washington Post, Joel Achenbach, 20 … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Psychology
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Watching Movies in Theaters; UBI; Reality; Why Everyone Thinks They’re Losing; and Epistemology
Items today: How watching movies in certain theaters (AMC) is a bloated experience; Why UBI studies are not making traction into political policy; A New Yorker graphic essay about how reality might exist only because we’re observing it; E.J. Dionne … Continue reading
Posted in Epistemology, Movies, Politics, Psychology
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Correction to Earlier Oscar Post
It turns out that a tune I liked, which I described as having “a relentless three note descending theme, underlying colorful violin lines,” in one of the Oscar nominated films, Triangle of Sadness, that I discussed in my post of … Continue reading
Oscars 2023, 2
My takes on the films released in 2022 that we saw, including 8 of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees.
Posted in Movies
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Oscars 2023, 1
Lots of items in the news media today about the Oscars, of course. Here’s a typical article about them, followed by some of my reactions, to the awards, and (tomorrow) to some of the individual films. Salon, Melanie McFarland, 13 … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
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Religious Presumptions, Divine Plans, Hollywood’s Worst
Catching up on links not yet used from the past week or so. Jerry Coyne responds to Timothy Keller’s presumptions about the metaphysical truth of Christianity and the need for a revived Church; The obvious evidence for lack of a … Continue reading
Mysteries, Stories, and Science
I like mysteries, once in a while, but I don’t trust them. They are too often contrived, “too clever by half” as the saying goes. Their narratives double back and re-interpret, like lawyers who revisit a set of testimony and … Continue reading
Assorted Links from Recent Weeks
About George Santos’s fictional resume, Tucker Carlson’s year of being wrong, Avatar 2’s “ecological Indian” cliche, the hypocrisy of right-wing “free thinkers,” Thomas Frank on the lack of imagination of Democrats, DeSantis and vaccines, book banning, and two religious graphics.
