We wrap up our growing up geek arc this week with some mixed discussion of how our various media selections fit together to make us who we are today. Also, we run down the week in geek, including Ray Bradbury’s death (and how Fahrenheit 451′s message still applies in today’s digital book market), the new DC superhero movie plan (which we hope works, but worry might be too much of a response to The Avengers), Sam Jackson’s casting in Robocop, and the 100 midget march. Also: Chuck and Audra share tales of their recent visit to the National Air & Space Museum, and we decide to include a special cast on the space program next week.
Fun as always.
A bit regarding Topgun and soundtrack. I vaguely recall American Graffiti being sound track driven as well. Perhaps not of a contemporary nature due to the setting of the movie but it did break ground in that regard. Of course even George Lucas didn’t make a Pepsi tie in promo … well at least not until later … after the dark side 
OB
PS … Audra, do not click this link ----> NO STEP.
Gina Carano is already a real-life superhero…Crush from American Gladiators. She would make a kick ass Wonder Woman.
That’s Hot! :eek:
Flying cars…HA!!!
Had that same conversation a few years ago too…and during the discussion I realized and said back “Hell people can’t drive in two dimensions, could you imagine the havoc that people would cause driving in a THIRD dimension???”…that thought made me feel much better about it
adding in more commentary
as for DC movies…yeah the theater ones may bite (Batman’s aside…though I LOVED GL)…if you want some GOOD DC movies…you gotta get the Animated ones…they’re pretty damned awesome!
Like Sean said, I’m not sure if Gina Carano has the acting chops for Wonder Woman, but at the same time, I’m not sure if Morena Baccarin (my choice for Wonder Woman) would be able to portray the physicality of Wonder Woman.
My Justice League cast:
Superman - Matt Bomer
Batman - Michael Fassbender
Wonder Woman - Morena Baccarin
Green Lantern (recast Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner) - Nathan Fillion
Flash (Wally West) - Seth Green
Martian Manhunter - Lawrence Fishburne
Black Canary - Yvonne Strahovski
Speaking of Robocop…and DC Animated movies…Peter Weller is gonna voice Batman in the Dark Knight Returns Animated movie coming to Blu-Ray this Fall… aaahhhhhh!!! 
I went to D.C. on vacation back in ‘09 and loved it. Air and Space was definitely a good choice - all the Smithsonian museums are awesome to see, though. I was there for five days, and still didn’t have time to see everything there is to see there. There’s just so many freakin’ monuments and they’re all great sightseeing spots.
P.S. Sorry to nit-pick, Chuck, but Apollo 8 was the first flight to the moon, Apollo 11 was the first landing
Personally I tend to use ‘I, Robot’ as my ‘how the future should be’ film reference since I saw it. Barring the risk of an AI-controlled robot uprising, I think that having non-gasoline burning, self-driving smart cars and computer-controlled houses is the way things should be.
And yes, it really does suck that we don’t have moon colonies and Martian bases yet. What irks me is that we have the technology to at least start making ships capable of traversing the Solar System, but no one’s investing the money to develop it. I think we could do great things with plasma drives and electromagnetic radiation shields if we really wanted to.
Bradbury’s death is sad, but he did live a good long life. I tend to think about Fahrenheit 451 alot lately…both given how reality TV and internet TV has come to dominate popular media, and how so much data - not just books, but information in general - is starting to be stored digitally (on the ‘cloud’). Forget the Great Library - imagine how easily all those servers and their terabytes of information could be simply wiped clean, without even having to be physically destroyed. I’m starting to think that we need to start inscribing things on stone tablets again, just for the sake of having a more durable storage medium.
Peter Weller played John Frederick Paxton, leader of the Mars-based, anti-alien extremist group Terra Prime, in the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise. (Live long and regularly consult Memory Alpha.)
regarding your topic for next week, I may be jumping the gun … but there is a synthesis that can occur from this interview with Ray Bradbury ( around time mark 1:45) and the questions as to why we should explorer space.
The resonant quote ( for me ) is “we ensure the future by doing it”.
There are numerous writers, scientist, politicians and philosophers who have framed the discussion as to “why man kind would bother with space exploration?”.
Personally, I would like to use the analogy of Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norkey’s conquering Mt. Everest. Before they did it, all mankind would look at that peak and say that we had not went there and that there may be dragons there. Afterwards, we all knew ( from our school text books and Life Magazine articles ) that it was just a mountain.
OB
P.S. I clipped Sir Edmund Hillary’s obituary from the New York Times several years ago and carry it in my wallet. Never met the man, but the idea of what he and Tenzig accomplished is worth carrying ( to me ).
Sean… BTW “We care a lot” by Faith No More appears in Grosse Point Blank. I think that might have been the movie you were thinking about…
Casting the Wonder Woman movie is difficult for the same reason I found trying to cast a female Commander Shepard is difficult. Most well known Hollywood actresses are not physically built in way that would be realistic for a powerful superhero or a military officer. They are out there though, so hopefully they cast well. The only person I can pull right now who I think would be good is Julia Benson, best known as Lt. James on Stargate Universe. She is believable as a tough person and as the right, ahem, build for Wonder Woman.
I still think Rodney McKay, when she told him, “My eyes are up here,” should have answered, “But mine are down there.”
I was thinking Rhona Mitra might be good to play Wonder Woman…
Talking about Commander Shepard, Jennifer Hale did mention that she was looking for screen acting work. I know she was targeting SyFy but maybe a Wonder Woman staring role would work too.
In reference to the 100 midget march, I think Game of Thrones is an excellent example of a great role for a little person and a great actor, Peter Dinklage. He really makes the whole second season for me. Wonderful series so far. Dragons also play a role in it.