Pardon My Swastika

That'll Court Some Controversy!
Although it's totally legitimate, and follows on from yesterday's musing about Hom. Sap. inadvertently sending television signals into space; those signals being from the Olympics held in Nazi Germany as of 1936.  I can't be bothered to track down and watch any footage there is of such event (because I'm so politically correct), but you can bet that, since it was made as propaganda promoting the Nazi state, there'll be scads of swastikas present.

The evidence

     Predictably, Conrad is curious as to what any prospective aliens out there would make of these broadcasts, and how they'd respond.
     Here an aside.  Stephen Hawking, that very clever chap, warned against trying to communicate with extra-solar aliens, even if they already know we're here.  Confirming our location and technological level would be extremely rash, since any such aliens could well be advanced enough to make you us look like a mere fleshy plague upon the planet.  As another astronomer once said (code for "I can't remember who and can't be bothered to check) "If the interstellar telephone rings - don't answer it!"

What every well-furnished house needs

     Okay, let's get back on-topic.  Our proposed aliens see these televison broadcasts and your humble scribe can see a couple of more extreme scenarios play out.
     Scenario One:  Our alien society is so extremely right-wing in it's orientation that they froth with delight at seeing how lowly Hom. Sap. have also found The One True Way.  Not satisfied with merely being onlookers, they set out in their starship armada to come pay us a visit.
     Imagine their undisguised horror when they find out that the Third Reich is a footnote in history, long dead and gone and not missed one bit.*
     "How dare you!" they rage, full of righteous Frothing Nitric Ire (See?  It's not just me).
     Then they blow up the planet.

"Hang on, we can take them over and - Whoops.  Too late."

Scenario Two: Our alien society is so radically left-wing that they are immediately aroused to a killing rage by Earth's transmission of this fascist groove thing.  Not waiting to see if there's any more broadcasts - for they are hasty as well as quick to judge - they send their interstellar war fleet, which was stooging around anyway waiting to explode things, off to Earth and - you've probably guessed this one already -
     Blow up the planet.

"Hang on - we can take them over and - damn my butterfingers!"

     So there you go, food for thought.  Indigestible and liable to give you colic, yet still food.
     Okay, motley, time to walk on hot coals.  Coals made from PLUTONIUM!

How I Spent My Afternoon Yesterday
Attending an organ recital.

BOOJUM! Kind Of Reviews Films
Once again I made notes about some of the cheesier DVD covers on display in Morrisons on Wednesday, expecting them to be either sub-par rip-offs of much better films, or surprisingly good.
     Alas, your modest artisan got it wrong again.  All three title's IMDB score indicate that they range from "Meh" to "A Cut Above Meh, But Still Not Great".  Let us look at those titles.
"Final Score": This is the one rated 5.7 on IMDB, thus hitting ACAMBSNG.  It stars Dave  Bautista, whom you will be more familiar with as the hilariously droll Drax in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" fillums.  Plus Pierce Brosnan, who has to be the bad guy. Art?

Dave!

     Oh, and he was the replicant medic at the beginning of "Blade Runner 2049", where he underplayed well.  Howsobeit, here he's the Lone Hero, and only he can Save The Day when a football stadium of 35,000 people is taken over by eeeeeevil terrorists.  The gimmick here is that it was filmed at a real but disused football stadium that was demolished when the filming had finished.

Before

After

     I think West Ham United played there, so imagine all their rival fans rubbing gleeful hands at whatever happens in the end.
"Death Race: Beyond Anarchy": I doubt they are referring to the political systems advocated by Kropotkin and Bakhunin.
     Somewhat to my surprise, this clunker gets rate 5.2 at IMDB, which is not bad for the fourth in a pretty underwhelming franchise. Art?

"With subtitles", eh?  How about a decent plot instead?

     There appears to be a race, and there's death involved.  Oh, and the whole thing's set inside a prison, because - well, because that's what the script says.  Yes, prisoners are allowed to build and race lethal cars and kill each other, because only that way can order prevail in the South Canadian penal system.
     Or something.  I fear this franchise may run and run, like the increasingly ludicrous Fast and Furious.  We can but hope.
"The Hurricane Heist":  We've mentioned this one before, when it was on general release, which was before it had a score at IMDB.  This one comes in at 5.1, so it borders on "Pretty Crappy, Actually".  Art?

"From the director of The Fast and the Furious" is not a good selling point in Conrad's eyes.

     I think the title says it all, really, and you can all go home now.  One of those films where, if you've seen the trailer, you don't need to bother with the film.  Let me guess, there's a gang of criminals trying to rob a bank, and our plucky lone underdog (with love interest attached at hip) defeats it by picking off the bad guys one by one, until only the leader is left, holding the love interest as hostage, but our plucky lone underdog (should I be capitalising these terms?) turns the tables and kills the bad guy and there's a hurricane going on in the background.
     They must churn these things out on a machine.

Ah yes, behold the "Plot-o-Mat 200".  Input drivel at one end, pick up film script at the other.

Time, I think, for lunch.  Later!


*  Except for the neo-Nazis, and they don't count.