Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[prabe]

...and don't get me started on FTL travel.

Just don't pretend it's like hard SF, and I'm fine with it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

No argument, but out of curiosity, are you referring to the modern one or the original, at the time of which Karate was much more of a cultural fad?

If you watch Cobra Kai -- which you should, as it's an absolutely deranged love letter to the original movies -- everyone in the valley remains obsessed with the 1984 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. It's the basis of Daniel LaRusso's extremely nice lifestyle, for instance.

The original was kind of, sort of, a decade or so late responding to America's new enthusiasm for martial arts. But Cobra Kai, decades later, is basically a parallel universe where people still care about a 40-year old teen tournament.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, to be fair it's post apocalyptic Glendale, so maaaaaybe?

I wouldn't bet against Glendale being an arid hellscape, apocalypse or no apocalypse, in 20 years. SoCal is just going to get hotter and drier, periodically interrupted by massive flash floods.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This reminds me that 2026 needs to be the year where I learn how to properly sharpen and care for knives.

 

[CleverNickName]

Just don't pretend it's like hard SF, and I'm fine with it.

I don't mind it in the context of fiction. I'm talking about people who just assume it's an eventuality, something that we are going to "just figure out" one of these days.

That would be rad, but no. Won't happen.

 

[Aeson]

I don't mind it in the context of fiction. I'm talking about people who just assume it's an eventuality, something that we are going to "just figure out" one of these days.

That would be rad, but no. Won't happen.

It's one of things people feel the need to hope for. We want to reach that galaxy far far away. We want to save the Na'vi from corporate greed.

Another way to look at it, trying to achieve it will lead to other discoveries and innovations that make the effort worth while.

Let the dreamers dream.

 

[Mannahnin]

If you watch Cobra Kai -- which you should, as it's an absolutely deranged love letter to the original movies -- everyone in the valley remains obsessed with the 1984 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. It's the basis of Daniel LaRusso's extremely nice lifestyle, for instance.

The original was kind of, sort of, a decade or so late responding to America's new enthusiasm for martial arts. But Cobra Kai, decades later, is basically a parallel universe where people still care about a 40-year old teen tournament.

I did watch the first season a while ago. I think I kind of swallowed the premise that the tournament was a local culture phenomenon at the time, that Daniel had traded on that youthful fame, and that once he opened his dealership(s?) his face on billboards helped keep him a visible local celebrity. It seemed implied that he had done a bunch of TV interviews and locals all knew broad strokes of the story of the original movie, and that his TV ads and sales gimmicks (like the free bonsai with purchase) memeing on his original fame kept the story alive. It looked to me like the car dealership(s) was why he was so well-off.

I did get the sense that karate in general had continued as much more of a thing in this parallel reality, of course.

Googling a little, it sounds like he got his start on his dealership in 2002 after Mr. Miyagi left him his collection of classic cars? So 18 years passed between the tournament and Daniel resurrecting the story for advertising?

 

[CleverNickName]

It's one of things people feel the need to hope for. We want to reach that galaxy far far away. We want to save the Na'vi from corporate greed.

Another way to look at it, trying to achieve it will lead to other discoveries and innovations that make the effort worth while.

Let the dreamers dream.

I'm on board with this. I want people to strive to make lives better, to help others, to make good things happen. Storytelling can be a great catalyst for change, and I'm all for it.

So why does this particular topic rub me the wrong way? Treating it as an eventuality can...distort your priorities. Every time I read an article or opinion piece about Space-X, I'm reminded of a famous quote from Kurt Vonnegut: “Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid.”

 

[RealAlHazred]

Once you've got filming set up in a particular area, its just really easy to keep doing so. Just the expense of travelling and arranging things at a different spot--even a cheap one--is often a budget hit people don't want to take.

I can see that, when it is a small production. Like, if you film an episode of Forever Knight in "San Francisco" but use Toronto because that's where everybody is, I have no beef with that. But at the time, The X-Files was a surprise monster hit! Surely they could have cracked open the wallet a little to film on location, when the location is extremely cheap!

 

[TwoSix]

I'm on board with this. I want people to strive to make lives better, to help others, to make good things happen. Storytelling can be a great catalyst for change, and I'm all for it.

So why does this particular topic rub me the wrong way? Treating it as an eventuality can...distort your priorities. Every time I read an article or opinion piece about Space-X, I'm reminded of a famous quote from Kurt Vonnegut: “Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid.”

A lot of times, people take for granted that we already found a planet that is 100% compatible with Earth-based life, and we haven't even explored all of it yet.