Clouds & New Planets - NASA Discovery!!

NASA maps the clouds of an alien world!

Image courtesy of JPL Pasadena, Ca.

The Kepler/Spitzer Telescopes:

Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like world known as Kepler-7b.

"By observing this planet with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, we were able to produce a very low-resolution 'map' of this giant, gaseous planet," said Brice-Olivier Demory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Demory is lead author of a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "We wouldn't expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but we detected a clear, reflective signature that we interpreted as clouds."

The List of Extra-Solar Planets Orbiting Other Suns Now Close To 1000!!!

PLANETS DISCOVERED IN 'HABITABLE' ZONE!



Another discovery is of  Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The 'habitable zone' is that distance from a Main Sequence Star (like our sun) in which a rocky planet orbits (like our planet). There's been many such discoveries over the years.

"Alpha Centauri Bb" is a well known planet about 4.3 light years from our sun, Sol. It orbits too close to it's star to have life.

"Tau Ceti e" is about 11 light years from our Sun & it orbits just at the edge of the habitable zone.

"Gliese 581 d" is about 20 light years from our Sun. This planets orbits within the habitable zone!

"Gliese 581 Cc" lies 22 light years from Earth and lies within the habitable zone around it's star. This planet is considered the greatest possibility habitability of all the exo-planets discovered so far!

The list keeps growing every week. The discoveries being made at NASA & JPL are historical, to say the least.

"Waters of Mars" - NASA Discovery!

On September 26th, 2013; NASA stated that the Mar Rover 'Curiosity' had made a significant & historical discovery in Gale Crater by finding water in the soil.

While studying soils near Aeolis Palus in the Gale Crater, 'Curiosity' sampled part of what appeared to be an "alluvian fan" area. An alluvian fan is that area where a stream 'fans' out over a wider area. Generally, on Earth, alluvian fans have deposited pebbles and similar rocks in a pattern.

Below is a comparative picture showing the river bed alluvial fan section on Mars & one from Earth. The findings from the rover confirm that about 2% of the planet is water, which is incredible!

 

The pic above shows pebbles deposited from a once active stream, Mars (left) & Earth (right).

 

 

 

 

The "Hottah" outcrop - an ancient streambed as viewed by the rover on the 14th of this month.


There was once water on Mars! Not just water, but flowing streams of water! This brings the theory that life existed on mars in eons past into new light, wouldn't you say? What would Edgar Rice Burroughs would be thinking right now, if he were alive?!

This, to me, is an incredible discovery! This is right up there with the newly discovered extra-solar planets! Keep watching the NASA website for new information regarding this discovery!

"Primordial Fear"

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft

FEAR



        What is fear, beyond it's definition? Can the emotion of fear be quantized, measured? What is the origin of fear? Why do humans have so much of it on so many different levels?

        Fear is defined (in words) as "an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat." It sounds simple enough, but does this definition suffice? Of course not, as each individual has specific fears about certain things. However, there are fears that are shared with every single human on this world. Fears that are either inherited, learned or are passed along through endless collective memories from ancestors long forgotten. Can these primordial fears be distilled into a basic descriptive origin or, at least, an articulate and understandable definition? I believe that they can to an extent.

        Lovecraft had pin-point accuracy in the aforementioned quote. I will go one step further and offer the addition that the "unknown" that he refers to is, partially, death. Well, I can sum up by using the term 'primordial fear'.

     This term can't be applied to the two fears that we are born with, according to modern science: fear of falling and fear of sudden, loud noises. We'll deal with these two later on. I'm focusing on true primordial fears that have been with us since the rise of man. The earliest and most ancient of fears.

      Primordial fear are fears that have been around since the dawn of mankind on Earth. So, when we try and relate to those early humans, what fears did they have? Surely, a fear of darkness, starvation, being alone, death...these are but some of what they could be. What is notable that most of the examples that I can think of are learned fears. Without direct knowledge, we can only hypothesize regarding what the earliest humans learned first, but all of the scenarios all come back to a centralized fear...a fear of death. Darkness yielded predators, predators meant death. Being alone leads to feeling vulnerable, which leads to a fear of death. See, these associated fears, as I call them, are the pathways back to the central fear of death. What is death? (no theological or biological implications or thoughts here, that's another paragraph below!) Death is the ultimate unknown for an individual. Early man simply observed his fellow human to die (in whatever manner) and simply cease to function and in the fullness of time, fully cease to exist through physical deterioration of the body. A skull & crossbones represent death in modern culture to this very day. The primordial fear of death was established, the core fear - a fear of the unknown.


     Generations upon generations of humans have existed with this fear, this unknown fear. However, death itself can be interpreted as a transition to another existence could it not? Therefore, the fear of not knowing what lies beyond death is truly at the core of that primordial fear that all men share, not death itself. Those earliest of proto-hominids engrained in us the most ancient and powerful fears, fears so strong that they are stamped forever upon the modern human mind - immovable.

      This raises the question as to why evolution has chosen simply two of those primordial fears to be 'hard-wired' into a newborns brain? I think they are associated fears as well. Falling, for an infant, is something potentially harmful and unnatural at first- something to be feared, but the infant knows not why. Fear of falling is a fear of death. People fall to their deaths quite often in a myriad of circumstances; whether a trip & fall cracks open the skull or a fall off of a cliff - it doesn't matter. Loud noise, I believe is also an associated fear of death as the infant cannot determine if the startling noise is harmful or not. Both of these fears can easily be associated with death and therefore, the 'unknown'. I think nature knows that those two fears are exactly what infants need to survive, the others can be learned through exposure.

      As we grow older and our experiences teaches us the various pitfalls of life, we develop our own set of individualized fears. We learn that fear can be temporarily suspended, but it will always return in some form or fashion. We still have the fear of the unknown that keeps us alert and alive in dangerous circumstances. That oldest piece of intuition, fear, given to us by our ancestors can be attributed to our oldest and arguably greatest instinct: survival. Without the fear of the unknown, we would have no instincts to survive.

     As a society we have grown both technologically, philosophically and socially to try and keep the fear of the unknown away through developing ways to learn more about everything. Technology tries to find ways of keeping death at bay through medical knowledge, religion keeps the ideals that death is but a transcendence, socially we even keep each other connected and informed thru computers so not a shred of things go unknown. Our governments compile data about everything & everyone on the planet. We reach outward to space to explore, so we will know that is there. We explore and investigate everything that is unknown so it will be known and therefore; not a threat. Countries, entire cultures, wage war on each other because they don't know how they could live together as one people. The world is in chaos because there is that fear of the unknown. The more advanced we become, that ancient fear remains with us. It simply manifests itself in different ways.

     This can all be attributed to the fear of the unknown.

     Lovecraft was right. 

TWD Weirdo-of-the-Week #2 (9-5-2013)

Wow! Yet another entry into the "TWD Weirdo-of-the-Year Competition"! It's hard to believe that someone could possibly top some of the things that have been happening so far during this filming season, but we have another contestant!

A big "TWD Weirdo Welcome" to 'bigflo1127' (Ebay user name)! See, 'bigflo' has actually tried to enter the competition before about two months ago by interrupting a movie tour locally in which he was not a part of. Oh, he screamed & yelled and threatened to buy bolt cutters to break into certain locations. At the time, there was a lot of contestants, so I let it slide.

However, his attempt this time to garner the "Weirdo-of-the-Week" got my attention. An Ebay listing for a "walker" shirt appeared and 'bigflo1127' described that he and his son had found the prop clothing near the small bridge near the prison while touring. He even provided a picture of his son standing just outside of the prison set at Raleigh Studios! As we all know, there ARE NO tours of those studios and he certainly trespassed there to get in as far as he did- with his SON, nonetheless! So, I hereby enter "bigflo1127" into the competition for the following reasons: 1) He caused a terrible scene, disrupting a tour, 2)- He trespassed onto Studio Property, 3)- He obviously stole a prop & 4)- He took his son along for the criminal ride!

Kudos, ASSHAT! Not only for giving us someone to laugh at, but for possibly screwing up your sons view of right & wrong! Here's one of the pics from the description:

 

I wonder if he stole the sign too! Click the Link below to see the actual listing!!

 

r.ebay.com/YBgp6

TWD: Where will it be going? (Possible Spoilers)

As usual, I've been thinking a lot lately about where TWD could be taking us when it begins airing Season 4 in October. There are so many possibilities that a totally accurate prediction is quite improbable.

We do know that a central focus is on Carls decent into a much darker place. It wouldn't surprise me one bit that whoever it is baiting the walkers to the prison by feeding them is Carl himself, in an attempt to force the group to leave the prison. It seems a logical progression as we know that Carl disapproves of Rick's decision to bring the remaining survivors of Woodbury back to the prison.

The addition of new characters will only add to the confusion in the first few episodes as to who the real culprit is. Stookey is probably the one who convinces the group to send a search team to Ft. Benning (if that is even the case). We know that there are some scenes that were shot at Ft. Benning, however these could have been flashbacks. The battle involving the tank will be an interesting one, very flashy. We know that someone (most likely the Governor) drives a large truck through the gates of Woodbury and destroys Woodbury Town Hall- but the exact circumstances are unknown or too sketchy to relay at this point.

Generalities abound as we know that the walkers themselves are more aggressive and a little smarter. The estimated count of actual walkers seen during the Plant Yates shoot runs about 200 make-ups. While the shoot in Turin, I counted about 35-40. Earlier this week, in Senoia, I saw numerous walker make-ups including an armless walker that looked especially cool.   Digital additions are most likely going to be used to increase their numbers. It's about time for the TWD crew to do a "money shot" of thousands of walkers in a single shot. I mean, c'mon!

 There was a fly-over of an old, Huey military chopper directly over the filming location. I find it hard to believe that it could have been anything but a part of the production. I did notice that there was a FLIR unit on the nose and another device as well, which could have been an aerial camera for reverse angle shots as it circled the building. Maybe, maybe not. There was lettering on the tail of the chopper, but even magnification of the photos are unreadable. The side door was open, which could also have been a camera, but it's unclear.

Anyway, I'll post some more as time permits.

Later Gators! - Nash

Goofing Around Senoia & TWD (8-22-13)

Hi All!

With my crazy schedule lately, I have been neglecting my TWD buddies. So, @picklesandpdots and I decided to run down to where TWD is currently filming. I'm glad I did as I finally got to see my buddies and we just goofed around for a few hours! I mean, we did see a lot of zombies- the best one I saw had both arms torn off. The area where we had chosen to hang out was the best as we could see the large crowd on the opposing street being told to move back. There was only 6 of us over at our viewing location and probably had the best view of the walkers, cast & crew as they went back & forth to Craft Services.

We saw Danai Guirara, Chandler Riggs, Eulyn C.Womble  and a few regular "walker" actors that looked like they were just arriving. We didn't stay but a few hours to check it out and fellowship with our fellow fans.

Something funny did happen, although I do not know if it's related or not. A low flying, old, olice drab green, military Huey helicopter flew a circle around the building where the shooting was taking place. They did one circle and flew away. Maybe it was part of the shoot, maybe it wasn't. Looked like it had a FLIR mounted under the nose, so it could have been the GSP doing marijuana fly overs- it is about that time of year for them to be doing that. Maybe they got curious, I dunno. It does seem kinda odd though.

The large brick building in the background is where filming was taking place.

 

 

This is to the right of the last picture, it's Craft Services.

 

 

Anyway, we had to leave early and of course, after we left we received word that Chandler Riggs came out and met with the small group! Lol! Well, life gets in the way sometimes ya know!

 

Alright folks, that's all I'm saying today...except "boots"...drop the 'tude, you ain't all that with them big old legs....LMFAO!

 

Later Gators

Update on Current Projects 8/17/13

Hi Everyone!

I've been so busy lately, I've not had the time to blog much. I figured it was the right time to post a short update on what's been taking up most of my time.

Well, I finally scored the Adobe Master Collection CS6, which include After Effects! I've been focusing on learning more about AE, as a majority of my projects tend to lean towards the visual side of things.

I began sorting through my older short stories, scripts & storyboards to see if there was anything that I could develop into a short movie that would take full advantage of After Effects, but it needed to be simple. Most of the things I have written and storyboarded were too complicated for an initial effort, so I began searching for something to adapt to suit a smaller enterprise.

Being a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan, I decided to use his material. So, I started scouring  his writings to find something that met my criteria:

1)- Could be adapted to remain faithful.
2)- Short enough to remain within my capabilities to film/edit/SFX, etc.
3)- Can be completed within an almost non-existent budget.
4)- A Lovecraft story no one else had tried to adapt to film yet.

I found the perfect piece, "The Thing in the Moonlight". Not only does it meet all criteria with absolute perfection, but it's got creatures! A good-old monster story!

I began by creating conceptual artwork for both creatures featured in the short story and have now finalized the designs. Sketches, concepts, notes and re-reading the story about 150 times resulted in many hours of work...but it's fun! I did Tweet a single conceptual creature concept so get a reaction and it was all favorable. Once I have the time to scan them all, I'll post them on a Blog update.

Currently, I am one-half completed with the initial script and have completed story boarding the shots of what has been written thus far. I'm hoping to shoot something that will fall in or around 7-12 minutes long when finished. I will have to cast 2 main characters & their younger selves along with 1 central character. I've actually scouted some locations and will have to contact a man in our area to have access to a turn of the 20th century trolley...but other than that, it's all After Effects. With the exception of two practical creatures that will be crafted.

So, the problem I am having is the same issues that every Lovecraft adaptation has ever had: "How is it possible to interpret his writings into a visual format without destroying the original material or losing it's 'Lovecraftian' tones?".

Well, with this short story, what you read is exactly what you will get...almost. I've crafted a wraparound story that should link the body and ideas of the short story, while keeping it intact. That's really the only way to go with the choice I've made. To simply film what is written would not work- it wouldn't make sense. However, there are mentioned characters who, in an expanded capacity, would provide a common link to the "nightmare" itself. Hopefully, what I've chosen to do with it will translate to the screen. I honestly think it will.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. It really is just like Troma Team owner Lloyd Kaufman said: "Go Make Your Own Damn Movie!".