Beam Me Up Podcast Episode 447 Now Online

Yep, Episode 447 of Beam Me Up is now available.

Articles from the blog here, stories include the conclusion of the English Dead and
In Plain Sight episode 34.

Plus Herb sets in to add to the mayhem.

Episode Link

Review: Interstellar

 Interstellar  



Directed by Christopher Nolan

Running time 169 minutes

Budget $165 million  Box Office $672.7



Cast (partial listing)

Matthew McConaughey as Joseph
Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand,
Michael Caine as Dr. John Brand
Casey Affleck as Tom
Ellen Burstyn as elderly Murphy
John Lithgow as Donald, Cooper's father-in-law
William Devane as Williams, a NASA board member
Matt Damon as Dr. Hugh Mann
Bill Irwin as robots TARS (voice and puppetry) and CASE (puppetry)
Josh Stewart as robot CASE (voice)

The first thing to look at in Interstellar is the out of this world cast!  Michael Caine  -  Ellen Burstyn, Pay attention, It wasn't just a small walk on part for her, but an important almost narrator.  The film is rife with instances where something is not what it appears.  John Lithgow in a part that reminds us just how good of an actor he can be.  And William Devane who has been one of my favorites for some time now,   Lets not forget about the "new" kids on the block, but are every bit as fantastic actors.   Matthew McConaughey spins this film in his hand. He was a perfect choice for the lead. Matt Damon really took a part that stretched his ability and he rose to the challenge.  The robots were a bit weird but what a freshness, non_ humanoid and still interesting and engaging, plus not stooping to robot cliches like jerky movements and that emotionless voice.

The movie premise is that the Earth is dieing.  Whole crops and even crop species are becoming extinct.   This galvanizes a super secret agency to begin with a plan to find an alternative place for humans to live.  

A select crew is chosen which will cold sleep it out to Saturn where a small wormhole has been discovered and a previous exploratory mission has already entered.  The plan being to follow the first mission in along the same trajectory to follow up on the first information block that made it back through.

And then let the weirdness begin.  Loose ends tied up, help comes from the most unusual corners.

I am reluctant to be a spoiler.  The movie as a whole is a strong 9 to 9.5, but the stuff they got wrong was done in spectacular fashion.  Watch the baseball game towards the end of the movie.

I really can't go further without really becoming a spoiler so I will end with a solid 9 maybe 9.5 well worth checking out.  

link to Wikipedia Interstellar movie

BMU #438 Juby, Kahn & CrystalWizard

Hi, welcome to episode 438 of Beam Me Up.  This week, something
slightly different.  I had several pieces of stories that by all rights should have played this month. But things being a being as they may, I am catching up on them all.

First off, we have the latest episode in Michael Juby's Squeek Squeek
series which takes up multi - generational star ships, but with a twist.

Then, from the blog we have an excellent article on quantum spin, this one will spin your brain sideways!

Next up is Jason Kahn's In Plain View episode 32.  I don't know about
you but I am treasuring each of these episodes. 

I review Elfin Lied anime series.

I am forever looking for the short films on YouTube.  This episode is no exception.  I found simply enough a short called Portal.  it is short but very entertaining.

I close with pt3 of Mimsy Were The Borogroves.

This and more.  Enjoy!


podcast audio is available Here
  Entire Beam Me Up podcast can be had at beammeuppodcast.com

BMU episode 406 now online

Hey there! Welcome to Beam Me Up episode 406.  This week my opening comment reflect those of Kallimus who is constantly amazed at the capacity of the human animal for stupidity. I use his comments, posted on the Beam Me Up blog, as my opening comments.

I also discover that Dark Inspectre stories have been lacking.  So I take the latest installment that played back in December and play that in hopes that it jogs people's memory and I will start with news installments as soon as I can get them from Mr. Kahn.

Then I move back to the blog for a few of the latest articles that have peaked my interest.

First is a review of a short film on YouTube called Payload...

Then a new product that the inventor says will be the end of food! And you will not believe what they call it!!!

ABC renews Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!  Plus another surprise!

Finally Mr. Scholes changes gears slightly and brings us "Human Hunter" which is a departure from his Trathh series.

There is enough to entertain. I hope you find it as such.  Enjoy

BMU 398 Now Online

BMU 398 is here!  So  lets get started

My first offering is an unusual peice of anime music.  From all things a series that I have avoided for years.  I was looking for some cutsie anime music so I watched this episode and was floored on the ending song.  It's great!  So is the series surprisingly enough covers so many different aspects of life and it is not kiddy anime...weird

I have been reading on the James Webb and I start the science continue on the Webb space telescope.

Next is my review of Elyisium  With Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.  Next, NASA wants the ISS to get cold. Plus have you seen the new trailer for the next Captain America wow.

Oh and you can now see Felix's jump from near space.  All the camera footage has been released.

And Tratth: Return to Empire  By David Scholes

That's it in a nut shell!  Enjoy

BMU #397 Now Online

Here we are for another week of Beam Me Up.  This Week episode 397.

After my opening comments I play another track from John Anelio's Walk the Fire album.   This Week's cut, "Stuck at the Bottom of the Mine".

I have been doing Star Trek trivia for some time, but it IS wearing a bit thin, so I have swapped in some Twilight Zone odd facts which seem to be many!

Off to the Beam Me Up blog:

First is a review of the animated feature "The Croods"

Early Solar system dynamics were pretty chaotic with the gas giants doing a dance through the inner system!

I have a link to one of the most clever short films

Plus the funniest rip on the early Batman & Robin feature film, all the incontestability and just plain WRONG material, this short actually makes the older film more enjoyable!

The Sierra Nevada corp uncovers it's Dream Chaser, a reusable lifting body, which will help deliver men and supplies to the ISS.

and our story for this week....KS Dearsley's  "The pitch"  

Enjoy!                                                                                  

BMU #374 Now Online

 

 Welcome to episode 374 of Beam Me Up for show date 7/13/13.

After my usual show intro I open the program with one of my favorite tunes, Thomas Dolby's She Blinded Me With Science.  Yep this crazy tune encapsulates this program.

In news, Nasa's Jason-1 was decommissioned this week after more than 11 years.  Not bad for something that was on supposed to last 3 years or so.  I say that's a good return on their investment!

Instead of a regular weekly rundown, he does a review of The Tale Synphonia game / anime.

Next I read some trivia from the Dagger of the Mind.

From the blog, I review the Disney movie Oz: The Great and Powerful.  Japan is still gaga over power exoskeleton and NASA is giving composite materials.

And Finally I play the last of Ed McKeown's story, In the Mourning.

BMU #366 With Stories From Leiber and Daviess! Plus I review Lady Death dvd

Welcome to the eighth year of Beam Me Up!  Episode 366 is the first episode of the eighth yeah and who knows what will happen this year!

This week's program starts with former ISS commander Chris Hadfield, who among his other talents, is an accomplished musician, performs David Bowie's Major Tom while aboard the ISS.  Even Bowie himself said that it was one of the most poignant renditions of his song and the video is beautiful.  Well I can't play the video, but I do have it on the blog (you can find it on Youtube as well. 

Flash from the past again this week, I rejoin Fritz Leiber's 1960 tale, No Great Magic.  This week is chapter four.

From news this week, info on 1998 QE2, the 1.7 mile asteroid, makes it's closest pass May 31. 

From Earth Sky, where does the solar system fall in place among the stars of the Milky-Way?  How many sunsets and sun rises would you see on the moon in a month...? And scientists succeed in storing data in DNA. 

Boston Dynamics now has PETMAN!  The video is wild!  Do you remember Skylab? 

I review the animated feature Lady Death.  

I finish with Colin Davies' very inventive tale, The Fighter.

All in all, a good start to the new year.  

 

BMU # 354 Now Online!

Yes, I am in the WRFR lp/fm studios this week! Not that this is of heart stopping importance other than it is episode 354!  But anyway, I start off with a new segment, weekly rundown from Kallamis which covers some of the news that BMU may have covered, but often other material of interest.  

Then we deal with one of the most twisted submissions I have had in some time.  We can all blame this one on Xnewsman, and it is better to just hear it.  Check it out at about 14:30 minutes into the broadcast.  

From there I play the conclusion to Colonial Scout by Doug Turnbull. 

Next I do a change up on Star Trek trivia.  There hasn't been much input, so I take the Star Trek trivia and basically turn it into....Did You Know or do you remember this type of information.  I think it will prove to be much more interesting this way.

In light of the Russian meteor, Earth Sky revisits the Tunguska impact of a hundred years ago.

I do two reviews this week, the first being Pixar's Brave, which I have to admit has made stunning improvements to their 3d rendering engine.  

Kallamis celebrates 50 years of Dr. Who with some really good, historical high points.  I give a brief summery, but it would behoove you to take a trip over to the wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com Beam Me Up blog for a more up to date rundown.   

My last review of the afternoon is the indie film Robot and Frank.  Frank played brilliantly by Frank Langella.  The film is a low key story of a two story man (Frank) who is suffering from dementia and must either accept a robot care taker or hospitalization. Check out my review in about 40:00 into the broadcast.

Final story of the afternoon is a Trath tale, "The Story Continues" by David Scholes, another low key tale of the warrior Trath coming back to visit one of the remote aboriginal tribes.    

And that winds up the weekend.  Thanks for visiting and for listening.

BMU ep. 340 Now Online!

And hello gentle beings! Welcome to episode 340 of Beam Me Up!

Boy, the hour goes by quick today! After the opening monologue I start with the first story of the show.

This week is part 2 of Poul Anderson' s “Call Me Joe”. This is proving to be one of the more excellent multi-part stories. Anderson's story holds up REAL well, because he downplays the tech end of the tale forcing your imagination to depend on the characters for support.

Next I travel to the Star Trek universe for Star Trek Trivia. This week I begin to do questions from the animated Star Trek!

This week I review The Hunger Game and Prometheus movies, that's right! Two movies!

People often take science in the movies as fact but in truth, most are just so much fluff. I challenge listeners to come up with some that we may have missed. I mention a few as do some readers and the IO9 article mentions a couple....If you have a favorite, write in the blog's comment section with additional material. Some of these are so bizarre!

And I end with episode 14 of the Dark Inspectre series In Plain Sight.  

Episode #333 is Now online

Another Week, and another episode of Beam Me Up.  This week is episode 333!  Plenty of stuff to get you thinking this week.

I open with Symphony of Science’s newest track.  A very well done track called “We Can Change the World – Our Biggest Challenge”  which deals with global warming.  

As a tie-in to this song I read editor Kallamis' rant on the lack of general understanding of even the most basic of scientific phenomena, in this case, the phases of the moon and the “new” moon in particular.  It would be funny, if it weren't so sad.

First break of the afternoon is a new episode of our telepathic detective of New Eden,  Jack Garrett in episode twelve “The Fearful Dead” by Jason Kahn.  Garrett's world continues to get more complicated and even stranger and dangerous often at the same time.  People are dying and something is feeding, but what....

And of course, what would a week be like without a visit to the Star Trek universe and two new questions this week.

Next from the folks over at the Earth Sky website report that scientists are rethinking the “goldilocks” zone where life might exist with liquid water. 

 Curiosity has uncovered evidence of liquid running water at some point in Martian history in the form of an ancient stream bed.  This is great news for the proponents of Mars being a wet world at some point in its' history.  

This week's review is a dvd of the move “Priest” which tries to be a lot of things to a lot of people.  Motorcycles, stream trains, steam punk, big guns, vampires and much more.   Is it as bad as it sounds? Well, catch my review...

For the final act of the afternoon.....part six of Ed McKeown's ever so excellent novelette “The Dive” This week, plans are formed and set into action to hopefully stop the invasion of the horrific beings from the underworld. 

That about winds it up!  I think you will agree that this week is an excellent episode. 

Beam Me Up episode 308 now online

I think you will find episode 308 to your liking. I start right off with a story from the pages of this month’s Antipodean magazine. The very graphic tale of an alien ummmm “visit”. “Phobic” by Kevin J. Phyland. Fair warning, the story contains strong images that some people might find unsettling.
From there I travel over to the blog. I review the blu-ray “Hanna” which I found moderately entertaining, next is a catchy tune called the bio-tech blues, you may not be able to follow all the lyrics, but you still find your toes tapping. Explorers think they have found the booster engines of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket in 14,000 feet of water! The opening story came from this month’s Antipodean online flash fiction magazine. I take a moment going down through the rest of the stories available. There is more evidence every day supporting dark energy as the power source driving the galaxies apart. Once again a short piece of music. This time the “Zelda Girl” this time we are treated to 1 voice and one instrument blended through 120 tracks. Peter Hollens does the vocals and Lindsey Sterling does the violin that and 120 tracks becomes Skyrim, it is truly an amazing piece of work. I have seen trailers on Youtube for a remake of Total Recall without Arnold S. and it looks BETTER! Not so cartoony and fake plastic sets and much better lightening...Might just be watchable!
And finally part one of Maya Kaathryn Bonhnhoff’s If it ain’t broke.... where one scientist has found a way not to be a total clutz all the time... But the solution is not always optimal...

Beam Me Up episode 303 now online

Strange and creepy are the cornerstones of this week’s Beam Me Up broadcast. I start off first with T. Fox Dunham’s spin on a well worn science fiction theme. I read his “Freedom Day” Where a long lost space traveler only to find humans enslaved by mechanical overlords. Upon freeing the oppressed human race our stalwart traveler garners a reward that was far beyond anything he could have imagined.

Next from Earth Sky - news on the VLA telescope soon to be fully operational in Chile called Alma and feathers caught in ancient tree sap helps demonstrate that early flightless dinosaurs and ancient birds both used feathers but for varying purposes.

From there I head over to the Beam Me Up blog to discover that dinosaurs themselves were plagued by fleas just as much as modern animals, but these were no ordinary fleas! Next I review the blu-ray Batman: year one which follows the genesis of the Batman mystique from the comic book history time line, Hubble has detected a gas cloud thought to be the precursor to a supernova that could happen at any moment, Some voice over actors find it difficult to drop their assumed personas once the project is finished. Watch Ben Shelton's web series The Daly Show - I have a link and the mentioned video - funny just can not describe it! The most distant object in the visible universe had been discovered. Light from the GRB has been traveling to us for 13.2 billion years, that makes it 96% of the age of the Universe itself. I find another Darwin hopeful....this brain trust is not to be believed! And finally from the blog comes one of the most disturbing ideas yet to improve on meat production. You will not believe your ears!

And finally part two of Nancy Fulda’s story Movement which is up for the Nebula this year in the short story department. Good Luck Nancy!

Beam Me Up episode 295 now online

This week on episode 295 of Beam Me Up I start with Alexander Perls song Data Base just to get the blood pumping.  Then just to start a slow boil I rant a moment about an old Apollo 13 note book containing some of the calculations Jim Lovell used to bring his battered craft home.   Next a short from Earth Sky asking do meteors make noise when they enter the atmosphere, even Xnewsman says that yes they do and he has experienced it!  Fascinating!

Our first story is a strange tale of time travel and murder called the Lightening Gun by Antoinette Rydyr.  

From here we progress to the Beam Me Up Blog for a review of the blu-ray / dvd  of Captain America the First Avenger,  certainly not a terrible movie.  Next I see that ST:TNG is going to get an HD remastering that is truly stunning!  Look for the upgraded video later in 2012.    Did you hear that scientists have succeeded in hiding an object in both space AND time?  Could moons of gas giant planets that are in the habitable zone possibly harbor life?  There are several really big problems on sending people to the stars, I speak on what I think are the top 3 most important and difficult to overcome problems.  Finally what kind of gift do you get the Star Wars Fan just about Everything?  I think I may have found, if not the best choice, the most ….well....I will let you be the judge!

And finally for the last story of the night Transmutation from Harris Tobias