Comments on: Nabokov pitches a movie idea to Hitchcock: "A girl, a rising star of not quite the first magnitude, is courted by a budding astronaut." http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Wed, 22 May 2013 16:46:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: kiptw http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1601652 kiptw Sat, 08 Dec 2012 04:58:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1601652 Maybe if the girl was a genie... that's the ticket! But who could play the astronaut? Well, never mind. May I interest you in <a href="http://kipwblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/charlies-apocalypse.html" rel="nofollow">James Agee's rough draft for a post-WW3 Charlie Chaplin movie</a>? <i>[The scenario has just described a brief subliminal of Chaplin being chased around a corner by a cop as The Bomb is dropped. We see the worldwide devastation from a great altitude, then the camera pans down to ground level, and...] C. (1) ENTER THE TRAMP He is back to the camera, hunched deeply over, in a tinily narrow alley between two buildings. A rigid forefinger is still jammed in each ear. He is still motionless; frozen.He comes up as slowly, timorously, tremulously out of his crouch (fingers in each ear pulling timidly away), as a grass-blade recovering, which has just been stepped on. Straightens, still back to camera; and starts straightening his legs and arms inside clothes, and the clothes themselves, turning very slowly, face close to camera, staring into it. He continues to straighten his clothes, going over them very carefully ... polishing toes of shoes on calves of pants; sleeving his derby and resetting it with care on his head; testing his cane: then a sudden trembling shrug (involving a full check-over of body as well as clothes), which is a blend of what a suddenly dampened dog does, and of the feather-adjustments of a suddenly rumpled hen. Then very delicately and timidly, camera withdrawing, he advances, and sticks his snout around the corner of a building, and peers.</i> ... Maybe if the girl was a genie… that’s the ticket! But who could play the astronaut?

Well, never mind. May I interest you in James Agee’s rough draft for a post-WW3 Charlie Chaplin movie?

[The scenario has just described a brief subliminal of Chaplin being chased around a corner by a cop as The Bomb is dropped. We see the worldwide devastation from a great altitude, then the camera pans down to ground level, and...]
C. (1) ENTER THE TRAMP
He is back to the camera, hunched deeply over, in a tinily narrow alley between two buildings. A rigid forefinger is still jammed in each ear.
He is still motionless; frozen.He comes up as slowly, timorously, tremulously out of his crouch (fingers in each ear pulling timidly away), as a grass-blade recovering, which has just been stepped on. Straightens, still back to camera; and starts straightening his legs and arms inside clothes, and the clothes themselves, turning very slowly, face close to camera, staring into it. He continues to straighten his clothes, going over them very carefully … polishing toes of shoes on calves of pants; sleeving his derby and resetting it with care on his head; testing his cane: then a sudden trembling shrug (involving a full check-over of body as well as clothes), which is a blend of what a suddenly dampened dog does, and of the feather-adjustments of a suddenly rumpled hen. Then very delicately and timidly, camera withdrawing, he advances, and sticks his snout around the corner of a building, and peers.
…

]]> By: DancingSamurai http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598810 DancingSamurai Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:38:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598810 The tl;dr version is that the person who leaves and comes back is different from the stationary (earthbound) person because they experience acceleration & deceleration forces (particularily at the U-turn they make to come back). So they actually have two separate frames of reference which means a simplistic view is not applicable to their aging. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox The tl;dr version is that the person who leaves and comes back is different from the stationary (earthbound) person because they experience acceleration & deceleration forces (particularily at the U-turn they make to come back). So they actually have two separate frames of reference which means a simplistic view is not applicable to their aging.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox

]]> By: tobergill http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598767 tobergill Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:00:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598767  I believe Einstein disavowed the twin paradox, but if somebody can explain this in words of 2-3 syllables I'd appreciate it. Relatively speaking, both of these people are traveling at relativistic speeds, so why won't they both be simultaneously wrinkled 300-year-olds and young stud/hottie?  I believe Einstein disavowed the twin paradox, but if somebody can explain this in words of 2-3 syllables I’d appreciate it. Relatively speaking, both of these people are traveling at relativistic speeds, so why won’t they both be simultaneously wrinkled 300-year-olds and young stud/hottie?

]]> By: Antinous / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598658 Antinous / Moderator Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:47:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598658 Lost In Space covered the issue of what happens to the unattended girlfriends of space travelers long ago. Marzipan? Lost In Space covered the issue of what happens to the unattended girlfriends of space travelers long ago.

Marzipan?

]]> By: Frank Diekman http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598645 Frank Diekman Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:30:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598645  Oh, I see what you did there.  Oh, I see what you did there.

]]> By: Brainspore http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598625 Brainspore Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598625 <blockquote>If the astronaut were traveling to  a "distant star" he would have to travel at relativistic speed to get there and back within his lifetime. When he returned, hundreds or even thousands of years would have passed on Earth.</blockquote>That's the twist! When he leaves, she's the young hottie who can get any guy she wants. When he returns, he's still a relatively young stud and she's a wrinkled 300-year-old disembodied head floating in a jar!

If the astronaut were traveling to  a “distant star” he would have to travel at relativistic speed to get there and back within his lifetime. When he returned, hundreds or even thousands of years would have passed on Earth.

That’s the twist! When he leaves, she’s the young hottie who can get any guy she wants. When he returns, he’s still a relatively young stud and she’s a wrinkled 300-year-old disembodied head floating in a jar!

]]> By: Halloween_Jack http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598572 Halloween_Jack Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:17:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598572 Vladimir Nabokov's <i>Species II</i>. Vladimir Nabokov’s Species II.

]]> By: Awesomer http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598543 Awesomer Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:52:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598543 Hitchcock directing Nabokov, eh? That'd be cool. But what I'd really like to see is a Kubrick adaptation of something by Nabokov.  Hitchcock directing Nabokov, eh? That’d be cool. But what I’d really like to see is a Kubrick adaptation of something by Nabokov. 

]]> By: Scott Bartlett http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598535 Scott Bartlett Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:46:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598535  Maybe this, though: http://gizmodo.com/5942634/nasa-starts-development-of-real-life-star-trek-warp-drive  Maybe this, though: http://gizmodo.com/5942634/nasa-starts-development-of-real-life-star-trek-warp-drive

]]> By: Alpacaman http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598395 Alpacaman Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:30:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598395 I am only too happy to exempt Vladimir Nabokov from scientific rigours (which I'm sure he understood). I am only too happy to exempt Vladimir Nabokov from scientific rigours (which I’m sure he understood).

]]> By: Frank Diekman http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598379 Frank Diekman Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:11:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598379 If the astronaut were traveling to  a "distant star" he would have to travel at relativistic speed to get there and back within his lifetime. When he returned, hundreds or even thousands of years would have passed on Earth. Perhaps he begins the relation ship with the woman then on return resumes it with a holographic construct of her. He would want to resolve the emotional issues he had with the flesh and blood woman. But her construct is an artificial intelligence that processes emotions and interactions differently and is also technically a different being. If the astronaut were traveling to  a “distant star” he would have to travel at relativistic speed to get there and back within his lifetime. When he returned, hundreds or even thousands of years would have passed on Earth.

Perhaps he begins the relation ship with the woman then on return resumes it with a holographic construct of her. He would want to resolve the emotional issues he had with the flesh and blood woman. But her construct is an artificial intelligence that processes emotions and interactions differently and is also technically a different being.

]]> By: Jonathan Badger http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/nabokov-pitches-a-movie-idea-t.html#comment-1598348 Jonathan Badger Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:46:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=198262#comment-1598348 In other words, "The Astronaut's Wife" could have been a great movie (or at least a more worthwhile one?) In other words, “The Astronaut’s Wife” could have been a great movie (or at least a more worthwhile one?)

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