HG Wells Hit

I have come to a decision.

I like what Stephen Spielberg did to War of the Worlds.

I realize that comment alone could get me lynched, but I plan to back it up with fact. My previous opinion, which was polar opposite, was formed having never in fact read the original novel. I simply listened to the opinion of my brother, my father, and I agreed wholeheartedly with them.

I should not have.

The primary point of contention around everyone's dislike of the adaptation is the fact that in the movie, the tripods were already deposited in the Earth, under its crust and only the aliens were delivered via some kind of energy tube.

Well, having now read that particular scene in the book, I can quite honestly say there is nothing in the book to contradict that interpretation. The cylinder that deposited the aliens in the original novel is described as having a diameter of approximately 30 yards, which calculates to 90 feet in diameter. Length is not described but if we assume that the cylinder is as long as it is wide we're looking at a total volume for the cylinder of approximately 500,000 cubic feet. That sounds like a massive number? It's about twice as big as big in terms of sheer volume as our space shuttle at 250,000 cubic feet.

I grant you that means these cylinders were very large, but were they large enough to carry enough equipment and materials to construct three TITANIC tripods, as well as the nine martian pilots, their life support equipment and supplies? These cylinders would also have to be extremely well armoured to withstand both atmospheric re-entry and impact with the earth's surface at extremely high velocities, so much of that cubic volume would be taken up purely by the shell of the cylinder itself. Remember as well that the tripods based on HG Wells description seem to have an organic component as well, which would probably require care and tending and special facilities inside the cylinder. Fuel would not have been an issue since Wells describes the cylinders as having been shot as though from a gun.

HG Wells never describes the actual construction of a tripod, never goes into distinct details about how it is assembled, what type of equipment is used to put it together, or where the parts come from. It is entirely likely that all the cylinders were for is transport of the pilots to very specific landing points, where equipment to build the tripods had been readied long in advance, and that upon arrival all that was necessary for the pilots to do was to dig out the materials and assemble them using what few tools it was necessary to carry onboard the cylinder.

So in my personal opinion Stephen Spielberg simply took this possibility and went one small step further with it, and I agree with his interpretation. I've been able to reassess the movie based on reading the book and I truly think Spielberg was as honest to the book as anyone could like while still putting in his own particular creative flare.

Disagree with me if you like, but read the book before you do.

Are We Crazy?

Well, having overcome the emotional tragedy and heartbreak of losing our first pet, Bun Bun, D and I thought and thought and finally decided that yes, we would get another pet. Our reasoning was mainly that we missed Bun Bun, and I think to honour her memory having another pet will constantly remind us of her, in a good way.

We once again decided on rabbits. Yes, the plural of rabbit. We are now the owners of two dwarf rabbits we obtained from the humane society, only 2 1/2 months old. They are brothers, and they came with very silly names, so we changed them.
The names they came with were Coal and Sweetpea. What kind of names are those? We have redubbed them Thelonious and Polonius. We call them Theo and Polo for short.

At this point we have yet to get a real feel for their personalities but as far as I've been able to deduce, Polo appears to be the more affectionate one, whereas Theo is more playful. Apparently Theo also likes to engage in a bit of incestual sodomy every once in a while, but we'll fix that maybe later this week or possibly next. Theo is a very dark black, while Polo has a brownish tinge to his fur. They enjoy grooming each other, and seem especially bent on cleaning each other's eyes. Both of them absolutely adore being pet, although Polo gets a lot flatter to enjoy it than Theo does.

We haven't really had them out of the cage for run arounds yet because we're still letting them adapt to their new environment. Since they're smaller rabbits as well we're going to have to keep a closer eye on them around places like the back of the fridge or stove to make sure they don't squeeze in and get trapped or find some wire to chew on and get zapped. Once D has finished her dining room table (HINT) I plan to use the vapour barrier she's protecting the finish with and seal up all the little hidey holes where they could inadvertently (that may be spelled incorrectly) kill themselves.

They seem to have a very strange fascination with paper towels. I was cleaning up something in their cage and couldn't finish because both rabbits were attached by very strong jaws to the paper towel I was using.

We'll have to find out if paper towels are bad for their digestion and if not, give them a supply to play with.

So far both rabbits are healthy and happy and seem to enjoy their new digs. I have yet to be thumped at, but that may be only because I've yet to bother them enough to warrant a thump. Time will tell, however.

I'm really hoping we have these two for quite a while. I quite like the burgeoning personalities I see in both rabbits and look forward to getting to know them over a period of years. But, since they are rabbits, I suppose I do have to accept the reality that they are fragile, and not very well designed from an individual survivability standpoint, so I'm trying to steel myself against potential tragedy. Still, they're brothers, and they seem to be looking out for each other so far. Perhaps they'll keep each other out of trouble.

We'll put pictures up soon.

Oh, and even though we haven't tested it yet, we're pretty sure both will fit in the crock pot simultaneously.

Swing Low

I'll be brief.
Bun Bun, for reasons yet unknown, is dead. She was a beautiful rabbit. I loved her, and D loved her. It's hard to find a pet as perfect as she was.
Cherish yours.

Retraction

Okay, just in case everyone didn't read my response to the previous post, I would like to be very clear about a few things.

I will never criticise any of my friends on this blog, either in subtext or overtly, and if something in one of my comments makes you feel like I have, I apologize in advance and if necessary, I will DELETE the offending post.

I love all my friends openly and completely, every fibre of each and every one of you is important to me and all of you are JUST as important to me as every other. None of you are better to me than any other, all of you are equal in my heart and mind, merely different in many wonderful ways.

While I will play the devil's advocate I will never play it in order to deride someone, or put someone down. As you may have seen previously when I play the devil's advocate I make sure that all fire and venom I might incite gets aimed squarely at me, and I make no effort to spread that around to others.

Finally, my blog is about posing entertaining questions, provocative if possible, and telling funny stories. I'm not using this as a soapbox for harsh thoughts and feelings towards anyone except for perhaps nebulous public organizations and the occasional stranger who may have incited my wrath. It will never be a place I come to be negative about my friends or family.

If my previous post was offensive to anyone, that was unintentional, as I was engaging in idle speculation.

Ooh! Look! Something on the ground I can read! La...tex... con...dom. I'd sure like to live in one of those!

EDIT: The previous post was deleted.