Revoltingly OT: Size of your colon

narf poit chez BOOM · #1 November 17th, 2005, 05:38 PM

Names get re-used.

AgentZero · #2 December 1st, 2005, 08:09 PM

Ack! It's happening again! TV's been screwy the last few days & we can only get one station, so I just sat through part one of a piece of drivel called Supernova. Self explanatory, it's about people suddenly realizing the sun's about to go supernova. Of course, no one bothered to mention to the writers that our sun isn't big enough to go boom and they didin't even bother coming up with a half-baked excuse for why it suddenly can, which leads me to believe they didn't bother checking. Shoddy bit of fact-checking, that.
Plus there's an American news reporter with an English accent, and I've never heard an American reporter with a regional accent, much less a foreign one. Shoddy bit of casting, that.
And finally, there's a bit where our hero is brought to a massive underground city, designed to support enough people to create the genetic diversity required for the species to survive. Implausible, I thinks, but at least someone in the movie isn't totally daft. But our hero's reaction to it. "This is madness!" And a failed attempt to escape. Now the hero is a) supposedly very intelligent and b) believes the sun is about to explode, so one would think he'd be rather pleased that someone's come up with a way for some of humanity to survive, if they have any chance at all, but no! He thinks it's a terrible idea. Apparently the total annihilation of all human life is ok, as long as you get to spend it with friends & family. Shoddy bit of writing that.

dogscoff · #3 December 2nd, 2005, 10:00 AM

Quote:

AgentZero said:
And finally, there's a bit where our hero is brought to a massive underground city, designed to support enough people to create the genetic diversity required for the species to survive.

How exactly would burying yourself in an underground city protect you from a supernova? Might as well try to protect yourself from an atom bomb by opening an umbrella...

AgentZero · #4 December 2nd, 2005, 10:46 AM

Well, obviously, it won't. If the sun actually goes nova. However, at this point that's just the leading theory. If the sun didn't go nova (which it CAN'T!), but did something else that made the surface of the planet uninhabitable, then an underground city at least gives some of the species a slim chance of survival (and not just humanity, mind you, they've stockpiled the DNA of thousands of other species. Coz cloning is just so easy doncha know). And hey, slim's always better than none.

Wolfman77 · #5 December 2nd, 2005, 12:49 PM

At that point they mightas well have just attached huge rockets to one side of the earth and flown it to another star.

Iv'e never cared for any of those disaster movies, disaster indeed.

Hunpecked · #6 December 2nd, 2005, 06:13 PM

A humongous solar flare would be a slightly more plausible (and survivable) menace than a nova/supernova. Larry Niven used this device in his story "Inconstant Moon".

AgentZero · #7 December 2nd, 2005, 07:09 PM

Yes, well I'm thinking it'll probably end up being something similar, since all these 'disaster movie' writers seem obsessed with happy endings, the concept of having the sun going blooie and killing everyone likely wasn't on their list of possible endings. But I'll probably end up watching the second part to it, if only to assure myself that if talentless hacks like them can get work, then there's still hope for me.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas on getting around writer's block, I and the fans of Hell is for Heroes would much appreciate your sharing. So far I've tried excersize, drink, banging my head against a wall, and a little wink wink nudge nudge. All to no avail. And those are the only cures I know.

narf poit chez BOOM · #8 December 2nd, 2005, 07:43 PM

Mmm...Just start writing?

Baron Munchausen · #9 December 2nd, 2005, 10:22 PM

Quote:

AgentZero said:
Yes, well I'm thinking it'll probably end up being something similar, since all these 'disaster movie' writers seem obsessed with happy endings, the concept of having the sun going blooie and killing everyone likely wasn't on their list of possible endings. But I'll probably end up watching the second part to it, if only to assure myself that if talentless hacks like them can get work, then there's still hope for me.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas on getting around writer's block, I and the fans of Hell is for Heroes would much appreciate your sharing. So far I've tried excersize, drink, banging my head against a wall, and a little wink wink nudge nudge. All to no avail. And those are the only cures I know.

The thing is, not only is the sun not large enough to go 'nova' but it wouldn't happen on anything like the time scale that we of the "quarterly balance statement culture" can comprehend. It would take billions more years for the sun to build up enough 'ash' (heavier elements than hydrogen and helium) in its core to become unstable.

Re: writer's block

Write something else for a while.

Although I also like the idea of playing a game of SE4, or SE5 if you happen to be a beta tester.

This also exercises your mind in new ways and will help to change those ruts you've fallen into.

Hunpecked · #10 December 2nd, 2005, 10:25 PM

What's the nature of the writer's block?

A. I know what needs to happen, but I don't know how I want to write it, i.e. plot is clear but implementation is hazy.

B. I don't know what I want to happen next, i.e. I'm stuck for a plot.

C. ??