[FPSPACE] Yuri Gagarin's trek aboard Sputnik

[LARRY KLAES]

I love my country and what it stands for but the growing ignorance and religious zealotry I see all around me at so many levels has me feeling that a strongly worded letter to the editor just isn't going to be enough any more. 

And now we have Obama cutting NASA off at the knees and our future in space. 

I recall during the 2008 election how one of his flunkies - I mean aides - kept heavily suggesting that people might want to experience space travel virtually rather than in person. Guess that's the real goal of this administration despite Obama telling us how much he likes Star Trek. 

Larry
R
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-----Original Message-----
From: Anatoly Zak <agzak at optonline.net>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:23:18 
To: <fpspace at friends-partners.org>
Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Yuri Gagarin's trek aboard Sputnik

Jim, sorry he's got so much math shoved down his throat, that he could no longer swallow even most basic knowledge. Actually, sounds like many of my classmates in America - dumb and proud of their ignorance. I wouldn't single out Hollywood. 
 
 Anatoly Zak 
 http://www.russianspaceweb.com <http://www.russianspaceweb.com> 
 
 
 On 1/28/10 2:24 PM, "James Oberg" <jameseoberg at comcast.net> wrote:
 
 I also got a chuckle out of "Star City, 
 somewhere on the dark side of Kazakhstan boondocks..."
  
 I'm presuming these howlers are from the reviewer, NOT the film itself.
  
  
  
  
 Space Tourists -- Film Review
 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/space-tourists-film-review-1004062347.story <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/space-tourists-film-review-1004062347.story> 
 By Duane Byrge, January 26, 2010 11:09 ET
  
 PARK CITY -- Even us Baby Boomers who got advanced math shoved down our throats in the wake of Yuri Gagarin's trek aboard Sputnik, and couldn't care less about outer space, will be entertained by this spry, melancholy glimpse into the last half-century's race to space. "Space Tourists' " informative and engaging trajectory should land it on cable somewhere: History and Discovery come to mind as orbit platforms.
 
 If you've got $20 million set aside for your next vacation, you can sign up to hop aboard a Russian rocket and get lifted into the wild not-so-blue yonder. That's what dreamer Anousheh Ansari has shelled out for her lifelong dream vacation. In this wry and inspiring documentary, filmmaker Christian Frei concentrates on her trek to live her dream, from the rigors of the Russian space school located in Star City, somewhere on the dark side of Kazakhstan boondocks, to her eventual re-entry to the boondocks of Mother Earth.
  
 Told through the narration of a young Norwegian man attempting to connect with his Russian heritage, "Space Tourists" is alternately gloomy and balmy: In essence, it visualizes the failure of Communism. We see the ugly ruins of government apartments, which during the Khrushchev we-will-bury-you era, housed thousands of engineers and top scientists. It's now a ghost town, shut down by Gorbachev and creaking toward "Mad Max" ruination.
 
 With its nicely languid story loopings, including a team of scrap metal scavengers who retrieve the re-entry detritus for its precious titanium, "Space Tourists" is a multi-dimensional glimpse into dreams and obsessions. Filmmaker Frei smartly interweaves the pride that many felt because of the space program's accomplishments while visualizing its down-to-earth, economic failings.
 
 Cinematographer Peter Indergand's scopings are expressively accented by the fine editing of Frei and Andreas Winterstein: The images, glorious and crude, butt against each other -- evocative of this Quixotic quest. The film's spare musical score is also ascendant, courtesy of composers Jan Garbarek, Edward Artemyev and Steve Reich.
  
 Venue: Sundance Film Festival
 Sales: Films Transit International
 Production companies: Christian Frei Productions GMBH in co-production with Swiss National Television, ZDF/Arte and Suissimage
 Cast: Anousheh Ansari, Jonas Bendiksen, Dumitru Popescu, Charles Simonyi
 Director-producer: Christian Frei
 Director of photography: Peter Indergand
 Music: Jan Garbarek, Edward Artemyev, Steve Reich
 Editors: Christian Frei, Andreas Winterstein
 No rating, 100 minutes
 
 
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