Wasn’t this the year that both the Americans and the Russians were supposed to have spaceships orbiting Jupiter in order to take a closer look at that big black rectangular solid thingy called a monolith? (Apparently it’s full of stars.) It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen this year now does it. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even heard of the release of a computer called the HAL 9000. I know Future Shop isn’t selling them yet, but I bet you can order one from Alienware. I’ll have to check out their website again. Oh well, I suppose I should have adjusted my expectations after 1999 came and went without even a single moon base being established.
It seems we had far greater dreams for our future world back in the 60s, 70s and 80s than we do now. 2010 and other randomly selected distant future years were so far away that it must have seemed quite appropriate to assume humans would be living on the moon and taking trips to distant planets in the early 2000s. On the other hand, I guess that is why they call it science fiction. Because even though some of it may be based on science, in the end it’s all just pretend isn’t it?
It’s not just that we haven’t progressed as far as some might have thought we would by now, it’s that we’ve lost the ability to do things we managed to accomplish decades ago. Although to be fair, I’m pretty positive the computers they used to go to the moon in the 60s and 70s aren’t Windows 7 compatible so somebody is going to have to relearn how to do all that stuff over again.
Maybe there is still hope for us all though. If I’m not mistaken, in the Star Trek universe we have a couple hundred more years (until the 23rd century) to join the United Federation of Planets and be exploring strange new worlds with warp speed or hyper drive or something like that.
Anyway, 2010 is here, no drops of Jupiter getting in or anywhere near anybody’s hair yet. On the other hand we do have twitter, texting, facebook and …blogging. So yeah, we’re like... SO awesome.
May 2010 be your best year ever.
4 comments:
Ha ha Ha! Happy New Year Lorin
A moonbase! That's exactly what the past decade has been missing; I couldn't put my finger on it until I read your post.
I enjoyed the references. I still remember when my dad pointed out to me that name "H-A-L" is made of the letters proceeding "I-B-M" in the alphabet.
You have motivated me to rent 2001 A Space Odyssey. I was pretty young the first time I watched it and I did not really "get" some parts of it.
Happy New Year
- C
Chad - I never realized the HAL/IBM connection, that's pretty cool.
I wasn't sure anyone would remember the TV show "Space 1999" with the moon bases.
I think 2001 A Space Odyssey is a great movie now but I admit I fell asleep the first time I watched it. I guess I was expecting a typical space movie with lots of action. The slow pacing and emphasis on atmosphere instead of action caught me off guard the first time. When I knew what to expect and waited until I was in the mood for it I enjoyed it much more the second time.
2010 is a much more mainstream movie I think and definitely an easier film to watch for most people. I don't know if you've seen it or not but it's a good compliment to 2001 and an enjoyable story just on its own.
Great post Lorin! Made me laugh. Happy New Year.
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