Tag: jurassic park

There’s Always Room for One Moa

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Giant moa, artwork - Stock Image - C001/3508 - Science Photo ...

Totally defenseless: that’s why they’re extinct.

Led by movie-maker Peter Jackson, New Zealand scientists and entrepreneurs have launched a campaign to bring the extinct moa back to life (https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4327971/posts). We know this is gonna be a fabulous project because they’re using indigenous words.

The moas were huge flightless birds, 12 feet tall… that were wiped out by indigenous people some 600 years or so. The Maori people discovered New Zealand, settled it, and killed off the moas.

Do I hear the Jurassic Park theme in the background?

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to see a moa. I’d love to see dinosaurs, too. [John Hammond, call your office!] But there’s something about “de-extinction” that sets off alarm bells. “So first we wipe ’em out, and then we bring ’em back! There’s money in it, folks!”

Or maybe, in the course of bringing extinct species back from oblivion, we could, well, sort of touch ’em up, improve ’em… Make ’em more profitable. It’ll be a “blend of Maori wisdom and cutting-edge genomics!

And that’s when the dinosaurs get loose and start eating people.

‘We Are Not in Control’ (2015)

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Vintage Hardcover Novel - PREY Michael Crichton 1st Edition ...

Michael Crichton was a wildly successful novelist–The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, just to name two of his many books. But one of those books, Prey, suggests to me that he never came to terms with his own religious impulses.

We Are Not in Control

Try as he might, Crichton could not let go of the notion that human beings are destined to control their environment (“Ye shall be as gods”). We have no need of God: we will eventually learn how to iron out the rough spots.

But it was those rough spots that Crichton wrote about; and he never shook off the observable truth that people–even scientists!–make very inadequate gods. The promised utopia never gets past the breaking-the-eggs stage.

Prey made me pity Crichton. The man had too much integrity to set up phony-baloney fictional utopias. Reality kept crashing in.

He had the courage to face it, but not the wit to answer it.

‘How Stupid Can It Get?’ (2015)

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Trivia: Why Was The Triceratops Sick In 'Jurassic Park'?

Start a riot–these Haters killed a dinosaur!

Forty thousand ninnies thronged Facebook, back when, to protest what they thought was the shooting of a Triceratops. The fact that there are no more Triceratopses, no living human has ever seen one, did not register. All the ninnies were college-educated.

How Stupid Can It Get?

The protest attracted one of the grand poobahs of Serious Mainstream Litterature, Joyce Carol Oates, famous for writing short stories that melt into incoherence at the end. She was very upset that Stephen Spielberg allowed a dinosaur to be shot–there are so few of them left!

Wish we could say the same for colleges and universities.

Coming Attractions: My ‘Jurassic World’ Parable

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Jurassic World Dominion logo | Logos & Lists

Way too late to write this tonight, so be sure to tune in tomorrow sometime–I don’t know when, Monday is errand day–because we’ve watched all the Jurassic World movies, all three… and they have suddenly shaped themselves into a parable.

Now watch, someone in another time zone will write it all up before I can–but that won’t make it any less a parable.

Even from crazy movies, we can learn.

‘Snow White and… Who?’

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Fun Ideas for Snow • Pickle Planet Moncton

I’m trying hard to keep nooze off this blog today, although it does seem to be costing me readership. Haven’t clicked on to a single news site this morning.

This afternoon we’re going to watch a movie. Patty has selected one for us. It sounds like it might be something along the lines of Snow White Meets Jurassic Park–and probably you don’t want to be in it if you’re one of the Seven Dwarfs. Sam Neill is in it, though. He attracts dinosaurs.

The picture above indicates that the Dwarfs take shelter in a big plastic box full of cotton, and hide there until the Velociraptors are gone. I’ll bet Snow White winds up taming them! Anyway, I’m always up for dinosaurs. I hope they have a Dryptosaurus.

If you as a reader strongly object to my backing off the nooze on weekends, I guess you’d better let me know. It was Byron the Quokka’s idea, by the way. For once I’ve listened to him.

What We’re Gonna Do This Afternoon

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T Rex Dinosaur, Downton City Street Stock Illustration - Illustration of danger, downtown: 64131823

Time for some fun! We had to buy it, they weren’t offering rentals–but gee wiz, we’ve worked hard! We deserve a treat.

We’re going to watch Jurassic World: Dominion. We love all the Jurassic Park movies. We are told there are giant locusts in it. I love giant locusts! What movie would not be even better with giant locusts in it? Would’ve pepped up The Third Man a bit. I might’ve watched The Sound of Music if it had had giant locusts in it.

I read two reviews. The guy who hated this movie really hated it. He is probably a jurassophobe. (Colleges, take note: here’s a whole new Bad Person category for you.) The woman who liked it really liked it.

I suppose we could watch some Great Work Of Cinematic Art, intended to impart to us a respectably gloomy view of life. But we’ve got the nooze for that, don’t we? There is a Giganotosaurus in Dominion. We wish a few would show up at the World Economic Forum. They need a Triceratops scattering their chairs to Kingdom Come.

Tune in tomorrow to see how we liked the movie.

 

Some of My Favorite Films

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ALASTAIR SIM SCROOGE (1951 Stock Photo - Alamy

Our friend Mike has asked me to name the movies that I really like. Fair enough–although I have so many favorites, I couldn’t possibly name them all. So I’ll just trot out a few that would always be on the list regardless.

Scrooge. This is the 1951 “Christmas Carol” starring Alistair Sim. We make sure to watch it every Christmas. Nothing beats Alistair Sim’s performance.

Gunga Din. You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever. We might call this movie a celebration of male silliness–only it’s so much fun! I don’t know whether to call this “ham acting” or histrionic brilliance. Either way it works for me.

Jurassic Park. I can’t help it, I’m a lifelong dinosaur freak. But what I love even more about this movie is the way it totally shreds the whole idea that Science Is Always Right And We’re In Control And What Could Possibly Go Wrong!

Never Let Go. (1960) Peter Sellers takes a break from comedy to be a villain–and turns in a great performance. Richard Todd is the poor underdog who has to go up against a ruthless criminal. No kidding, it’s up there with The Iliad.

Treasure Island. The 1934 version, with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper and a fantastic supporting cast. Another one of my absolutely all-time favorites–starting with the titles (“Sixteen men on a dead man’s chest, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum”)! If this movie can’t crank you over, better see if you can still fog a mirror.

Jason and the Argonauts. Glorious musical score by Bernard Herrmann, and some of the best-ever special effects by Ray Harryhausen. See the colossal statue of Talos come to life! Fight off an platoon of animated skeletons! It just doesn’t get better than this.

The Uninvited. Understated film in black and white, widely regarded as one of the best ghost stories ever filmed. Starring Ray Milland and Cornelia Otis Skinner. No sex, no gore, no cussin’, no computer-generated razzle-dazzle… but really, truly creepy! Its reputation is well-earned.

That’s seven of my favorites. I could do this all day, but can’t spare the time.

Yo! out there! I’d very much enjoy seeing your list of favorites.

Back to Jurassic Park!

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So there’s a new Jurassic Park movie coming out, I’ve seen the trailer–and I’m hooked! But really the hook was set in 1993 (good grief, 30 years ago!) with the first Jurassic Park–which we’re going to watch again this afternoon.
I have just blown 20 minutes trying to turn my computer back on–which is one of the lessons Michael Crichton tried to teach when he wrote Jurassic Park. All those high-tech safety and security systems aren’t worth a damn when they rely on human beings never to forget anything, never to click the wrong key, never to try something cute. God made us fallible. Did He ever make us fallible! You’d think that would breed humility. But then Jurassic Park is about hubris, not humility. Homer would’ve understood it instantly.

How wonderful would it be to see a dinosaur? I’ve been fascinated by dinosaurs since I first learned how to read. Of all God’s creations, these speak most powerfully to me. Imagine the size and strength! Try–in vain, probably–to imagine what it must have been like to be a dinosaur.

I know, I know. I’m old enough now to forget dinosaurs and just watch movies about failing relationships and sinks full of dirty dishes.

Not a chance, kimosabe! Not a chance.

‘The Illusion of Control’ (2019)

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Jurassic park entrance Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock

In Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs get loose and kill people. The reason they’re able to do this is because the park’s creators are 100% convinced they’re in control, nothing can ever happen to upset their plans.

They’re wrong. Horribly wrong.

The Illusion of Control

The chief danger of this age, worse than any T. rex, is globalist fat-heads who want to be as gods, controlling everything. They actually think they can do it–that’s what makes them dangerous. The World Economic Forum is one of Satan’s masterpieces.

Michael Crichton, educated in science and on a first-name basis with many scientists in many fields of study, made a career of warning us all about the limits of science–and what can happen when we go beyond those limits.

No one believed him.

Do we really have to wait for these WEF jidrools to drop a major catastrophe on us before we get wise to them?

‘Trump Kids Ripped for Shooting Dinosaurs’ (2018)

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People think Steven Spielberg killed a Triceratops

The original image, with Steven Spielberg. Not real, scholars. Honest.

You hear so much bilge about “our democracy” these days, and how EVERYBODY should be voting.

But I’d rather people didn’t vote, if they thought you could go around shooting dinosaurs.

Trump Kids Ripped for Shooting Dinosaurs

Oh, that public education! Can’t even teach that dinosaurs aren’t with us anymore. What do you want to be that every single ignoramus in this Mark Dice video has a college degree.

In what, don’t ask.