Twitter just won’t be the same anymore.
International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, along with flight engineers American Tom Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko, returned safely to Earth aboard a Soyuz space capsule Monday night at 9:31 Central Time, landing by parachute in Kazakhstan.
We at borg.com have been watching Canadian astronaut Hadfield and his stunning photography on his Twitter feed since we became addicted to Twitter. In fact I got addicted to Twitter almost entirely because of Hadfield’s tweets and have been raving about his photos and commentary for months. Probably no person in Earth’s history has shared such a perspective and love for Planet Earth as Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the International Space Station. Through his stunning photography of the details of Earth from so far away, like images of Stonehenge from outer space, hundreds of cities alight at night, and hidden paradises and geological formations among unreal blue seas, Hadfield has shared his rare world view with thousands of Twitter followers.
Hadfield has been orbiting Earth for five months. He and his fellow astronauts undocked from the space station at 6:08 p.m. Central Time for his three-hour ride home. It was Hadfield’s first trip home in a Russian Soyuz capsule–he had traveled in space shuttles in past missions in 1995 and 2001.
As a farewell to the space station, Hadfield, who sports a Major Dad moustache, released a video of a slightly modified version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, the “ground control to Major Tom” song, this time referencing his Soyuz ride home among other personal references. It is the first music video made in space, including Hadfield’s own vocals and guitar, put together by Hadfield and the crew and musicians back here on Earth, over the past several months.
Hadfield has been a huge presence on Twitter, with more than 850,000 followers as of Monday night. Hopefully Hadfield will continue posting photos taken aboard the space station, and sharing his great insights about Earth from above. And I can’t wait to see him host Saturday Night Live (rumor intentionally started here in the hopes it comes true).
Moonrise by Cmdr Chris Hadfield
Enjoy this superb music video, where you can see someone clearly fulfilling a dream that began 44 years ago when Bowie first released the song and when Neil Armstrong first walked on the surface of the Moon.
The best rock video ever? The best YouTube upload ever? The coolest thing ever done in outer space ever? Yes, yes, and yes. And someone should point out this video to J.J. Abrams on how to effectively use lens flares. Right on!
And frankly, Hadfield’s heartfelt rendition of the classic rock tune leaves Bowie’s original in the dust. You might just tear up a bit when you think how awesome it is Hadfield did something we all wish we could do–as Bowie’s lyrics take on new meaning–and how Hadfield has shared his experience with everyone in such a cool way.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
The Coen Brothers have never made a movie on my favorites list since Raising Arizona, although No Country for Old Men had a lot going for it with great acting by Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald. And I’m probably the only person on earth that isn’t a fan of Fargo. But a story about the 1960s New York folk music scene might entice me to check out the Coens’ new StudioCanal period flick Inside Llewyn Davis.
The Coens are great at selecting key character actresses and using genre favorite Carey Mulligan in another period film seems to be a great choice as the love interest of what seems to be the stereotypical brooding, misunderstood musician, the title character played by Oscar Isaac. Isaac has appeared in Robin Hood and The Bourne Legacy, but this is clearly his big leading man break. Who doesn’t want to be in a movie with Bob Dylan singing the background music?
Happy Mothers Day to mothers of all varieties out there, and especially to ours!
We hope you find a way to get a break today*!
borg.com Staff
*Photo above of mama after she walked into her kennel to get a break from nursing pups.
It may be a sign that fans of much-loved TV series are finally having a say in determining what stays on TV. With fans voting with their wallets last month to bring Veronica Mars to the silver screen via an unprecedented Kickstarter campaign, someone savvy at NBC programming must have realized the loyal fan following of Community was worth keeping by saving the half-hour comedy series. Last night NBC announced Community will be back for a fifth season, moving it ever closer to the series not-so secret mantra “six seasons and a movie”.
The roars of thousands of series fans who chanted along with the montage of key scenes from the past three seasons at Comic-Con last summer said it all. And it didn’t matter that Chevy Chase wasn’t returning to the series or the much liked show creator Dan Harmon was cast away, as show regulars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, and Donald Glover continued to provide all the fans want and more over the past 84 episodes.
Why do fans like the show? The humor? The characters? The actors? All of the above? Watch the series cast talk about the show last year at Comic-Con:
Before Starbuck was played by a woman he was played by Face on The A-Team. Before Richard Hatch was Zarek he was Apollo. And Adama was played by Lorne Greene, not Edward James Olmos. Vipers were distinctive and cool. Viper pilots had helmets that were equally cool, with a bit of an Egyptian aura. These were the days of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. Despite the success of the modern remake, the original 1970s series has its own rightful place in the annals of sci-fi TV.
Next week Dynamite Comics is releasing a new comic book series for the TV series’ 25th anniversary, and if Issue #1 is any indication fans of retro TV generally and the original BSG specifically will find a familiar universe here. And yet the new series has been updated with some new twists.
How about time travel as a weapon? We saw something similar in the Bruce Willis sci-fi movie Looper, reviewed here at borg.com last month. It’s a cool idea introduced in issue #1 and likely will be a key element in future stories.
Artist Cezar Razek creates some nice outer space images with detailed baseships and both classic and updated vipers. The characters evoke the original series cast, especially Dirk Benedict’s Starbuck. Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning offer up the background of this future world where an epic battle has pitted man against machine. And man is in search of the legendary planet Earth. And in Issue #1 Abnett and Lanning set Commander Adama off on a new battle with those machines–the classic chrome Cylon warriors.
Despite the interesting idea of clone humanoids as Cylons in the BSG reboot, it’s really hard not to love the original appearance of Cylons more.
Battlestar Galactica Issue #1 is a fun retro sci-fi read. Pick up your copy next Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at comic book stores everywhere.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
Grimm fans who attended Free Comic Book Day Saturday and this week’s comic book Wednesday were treated to a double dose of their favorite series with both a free full-length comic story and an action-packed Issue #1. Now in its second season on NBC, Grimm is in contention for the best fantasy series on television. And unlike the typical comic book spin-off that is stuck in a story that doesn’t veer far from the TV scripts, the ongoing story of Portland Detective Nick Burkhart in the new comic book series actually continues key plot lines from the TV series, taking characters where it would be costly to take them on the TV series.
The comic book series opener in the FCBD comic, Issue #0, provides an origin story overlaid on what could be a Wesen-of-the-week episode of the TV series. It also reintroduces Nick’s mom, Kelly, played on-screen by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and her possession of the Coins of Zakynthos, which have a unique history, revealed in the pages of Issue #1. Side-stepping story obstacles and secrets yet to be revealed to viewers, like whether or not Nick’s girlfriend Juliet will remember Nick after losing her memory from a cursed cat bite, the story takes Nick, police department partner Detective Hank Griffin and Blutbad vegan pal Monroe to Vienna in pursuit of Kelly. Kelly had left Nick a cryptic voicemail message, sending Nick & Co. on this new adventure far away from the streets of Portland.
If you’ve ever read Orson Scott Card’s classic Ender’s Game (and if you haven’t, go do that immediately), you couldn’t help picturing it on the big screen. Card’s vision of a futuristic military academy is cinematic–in a way it’s taken over twenty years (and movie adaptations like the Lord of the Rings films to pave the way) for special effects technology to do it justice. But there’s more to Ender’s Game than its dazzling sci-fi trappings, and after the rash of recent YA novels-turned-films, focused more on pleasing fans of the original books than in making fully realized, standalone stories, it’s hard not to worry about director Gavin Hood’s upcoming adaptation.
Still, the first trailer, just released, gives us hope:
Marking the 35th anniversary of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series, Dynamite Comics is bringing the original series back for an ongoing monthly comic book series beginning next week. The Alex Ross cover art for the first three issues have been released and they look great, with homages to other 1970s science fiction posters. The cover to Issue #1 is above and here are the covers to Issues 2 and 3:
Although the only recognizable cast member is Ron Perlman, Pacific Rim looks to be a big movie with giant Transformer like robot avatars fighting Godzilla-type beasts. Guillermo del Toro released this new preview and we finally get to see the magnitude of the special effect scenes.
Striker Eureka, Crimson Typhoon, Coyote Tango, Gipsy Danger… they are all names for these Optimus Prime looking robots, one for each of the USA, Russia, Japan and Australia.
Check out the trailer for Pacific Rim:
