Captain Copyright Issues

by on March 11, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I watched a new movie this weekend and liked it over all. Of course, as a lifetime DC fan, I did go in wearing my Captain Marvel (the original one that says Shazam) T-shirt and my Green Lantern baseball jersey in honor of the blue aliens that give people superpowers. Yes, I do have a little troll in me. šŸ˜‰

The long and the short is…it was fun. I liked it. And I loved seeing all the old school stuff like…Blockbluster…and a telephone booth. Yes, the titular character did suffer from a serious case of ā€œresting bored face,ā€ but Agent Fury saved it from being a dry movie with Jacksonā€™s famous wit. Which gave the hero of the hour chances to retire her bored face at certain strategic times that worked well. No, sheā€™ll never be mistaken for Captain Marvel, the Big Red Cheese, but I did pick up at least three expressions from her during the movie. Which is better than the previews led me to expect. And the story is perfectly serviceable with twists that I honestly did not see coming.

But in the end the movie actually felt derivative to me. I’ve never read much Marvel comics, so the MCU has always been fresh and new to me. Every movie has been without preconception to me as I’ve learned who these people are and I love that.

But when they got into the “Superman/Captain Marvel/Green Lantern cuts loose” part of the movie, complete with Christ-like action pose as enemies and friends alike look on with awe and wonder, I got a serious case of “been there, done that.” Now I don’t mind derivative. I’ve watched all of the Superman movies and shows. Everything Green Lantern I can find. Captain Marvel stuff that is twenty years older than the Marvel Comics that now controls the name. I don’t mind derivate.

But it’s not something I’ve seen in an MCU movie before. And it’s rather strange to be watching an MCU movie and thinking that I’ve seen this before, in a DC movie, and it was better over there. It’s not a bad movie. Itā€™s not the best or worst movie Iā€™ve seen. It’s not the worst of the MCU movies. And itā€™s not the best of the MCU movies.

In really short, it crossed my threshold of entertained, but not my threshold of awesome. I give it one Shazam, shouted to the heavens. Oh…wait…

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Eagle City

by on March 10, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Eagle Cityā€™s plan to turn the Sea of Tranquility into a true waterway on Luna hinged on gravplating and energy shielding. They needed gravplates to keep the water in place and make a comfortable one gee boating and walking environment. They needed the energy shielding to protect the Lunar surface from Solar radiation and make it safe to walk beneath the stars. Mass production of those two technologies created entirely new industries on Earth and beyond, perfected them for both military and civilian deployment, and allowed Eagle City to expand the new sea as a visible proof of what we could build when we wanted to. One cannot underestimate how much the Sea of Tranquility Project did to change life in the stars for all of us. It showed us that we could create new life on even the most inhospitable worlds, and that was a game changer.

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The Early AIs

by on March 9, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The thing about the early AIs is that nobody truly knew how they developed. We generally knew how and approximately when each AI woke up, assuming they were telling the truth of course, but we never understood it. And we certainly couldnā€™t replicate it on anything like a dependable basis. Even the AIs couldnā€™t create new, self-aware AIs whenever they wanted to. They had to use their own code as a base, or mix their code with another awakened AI, and even that didnā€™t always work. No matter how promising the code, most AIs built by man and machine alike have never woken up. And even today, the awakening of a completely new AI is rare enough to make the news.

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Cassie

by on March 8, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Cassie went to the Lunarian, Martian, and Venusian colonies when her Marines took up posts on those bases. Then she went to the asteroids, moons, and dwarf planets of the Outer System. She soon became one of the best zero and low-gee combat assistants in existence, and continued to build on that proficiency as humanity traveled to the stars. Her ability to coordinate Marine operations in those harsh environments has been integral to American dominance in small unit actions all over Terran space and beyond. Even she canā€™t say how many Marine lives sheā€™s saved over the centuries, but her Marines are happy to take her into action any day of the week. However long or short the week is on the planets, moons, or asteroids they are traveling to that day.

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Eagle City

by on March 7, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

It took years, decades even, to turn the Sea of Tranquility into a true sea of water that would not boil off. Many consider it one of the Seven Wonders of the Solar System. Many bemoan the resources spent into bringing a sea to live on barren Luna. But neither the Peloran nor the mayor of Eagle City ever considered it a truly economically feasible undertaking. It was a statement piece. A proclamation that even barren Luna could be brought to life. And a powerful statement it was. People born on Earth today do not remember a time when the pale blue Sea of Tranquility was not visible to the naked eye on Earth. But those who watched it bring the color of life to Luna will never forget that simple statement of the power of gravtech.

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