A Mirky Future
August 24, 2011 in Blogs
I spent the earlier part of yesterday waiting for a car repair to be finished. I could have had them bring me home, but I figured that was at least half an hour that the guy who drove me could have been working on something, and then when they were finished probably another hour before they would actually be able to get me back to the site to pick it up, and my wife was hoping to do something with the late afternoon. Oddly, one of their mechanics came out and offered again to take me home, saying he did not know how much longer it was going to take but didn’t seem to be progressing well, and then less than half an hour after that they were done. I had to replace a cracked muffler–apart from the fact that the noise was certainly tempting the police to ticket me, New Jersey still checks emissions once every other year, and it happens that they are going to check mine this month, so the exhaust system had to be intact.
I forgot to mention that the last post was number 1017; some of you might remember why that is significant from the old Game Ideas Unlimited series.
The later part of yesterday was that trip out to The Lobster House in Cape May, which has excellent seafood; but I was disappointed, as they seem to have changed their previously delicious crabmeat stuffing recipe for their stuffed shrimp for something more like everyone else, which I cannot abide. I’m not certain what I will order next time.
I’ve been very frustrated trying to catch up with the time travel articles for The Examiner; I wore myself out yesterday trying to make headway with them, and pushed most of the rest of the work into today. I gave up on having a series ready, and posted Future Time Travel Film Analyses–2011, put together somewhat hurriedly around two or three in the morning, which gives something of a look ahead. It occurs to me now that I had intended to include mention of various ways people can keep up to date on the series, but I should stop second-guessing myself and be happy that I posted something.
There’s more I could and probably should say here, but at the moment I should be in bed and still have several things I must do before I get there, so I’m going to stop trying to think of things to write and get out of here.
–M. J. Young
JohnA1nut said on August 24, 2011
A Mirky Future
Typo, or intended? Only MJ knows……
I forgot to mention that the last post was number 1017
Let me know when you get to 1138……..
M. J. Young said on August 24, 2011
Somewhere between the two–the influence of Tolkien, who spells “Mirkwood” that way.
I won’t let you know when I reach 1138, because that number has no meaning to me and I won’t notice it. However, at the present rate, it should be sometime in about one year and two months. Ask me then.
–M. J. Young
JohnA1nut said on August 24, 2011
You’ve never heard of THX 1138??? And you call yourself a sci fi fan…… Spielberg references that in a lot of his movies. It was an old sci fi movie.
JohnA1nut said on August 24, 2011
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/
The IMDb page for that movie.
JohnA1nut said on August 24, 2011
Not Spielberg, it was George Lucas, my fault. It was the first movie he directed. In a lot of George Lucas’ movies, the number 1138 is used. It’s used as an address or some other benign reference.
M. J. Young said on August 25, 2011
I certainly have heard of THX 1138; I’ve seen the film, thank you, and I’ve noticed that THX is the name of Lucas’ audio enhancement system (which he insists is actually the initials of the guy who invented it for him, which would be a remarkable coincidence). But really, John, that’s like asking if I didn’t know that 1600 was the address of the White House or 7365000 was the phone number in the title of a famous song. Without the context, the number is meaningless.
–M. J. Young
JohnA1nut said on August 25, 2011
But really, John, that’s like asking if I didn’t know that 1600 was the address of the White House or 7365000 was the phone number in the title of a famous song.
I’ve not heard that phone number in a famous song. 867-5309 is the one with which I’m familiar.
Without the context, the number is meaningless.
I guess I just overestimated your ability to draw the conclusion. When I hear the number 1138, my first thought is that movie. Even if it’s the price of my purchases at the store.
M. J. Young said on August 26, 2011
I’ll forgive you for not recognizing PEnnsylvania Six Five Thousand. They never actually give the 73 for the Pennsylvania Six exchange, and the song was certainly before your time. (It was also before my time, but I’ve been in music long enough that I know a lot about such things. It was the number of a hotel in New York, made famous by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania hotel in New York claims it is the oldest phone number in the city still in use by the same owner.
Everyone has their own numeric mental connections. Some of the more popular ones are 57, 64, 256, 66, 77, 1492, 1776, 1969, 1056. I can tell you what each of those are, but there are undoubtedly many more that I don’t know; and of course there are numbers that have meaning to me that would be meaningless to most people, or would have different meaning to them–such as the dates of birth of my sons.
–M. J. Young