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My father's cousin visited last night. Recently he attended a charity dinner where he was at the same table as Buzz Aldrin. Buzz gave him an autograph and shared a couple of space tales from his moon mission.
In the first, they were on the moon, and unable to launch the landing module to return to the capsule which would take them home. What had happened was the other astronaut had accidentally bumped the ignition toggle getting back into the module, breaking it off. NASA was already preparing for the possibility they would have to be left on the moon, when Buzz remembered he had a pin within his suit that he had used to tinker with his radio. He was able to use this pin to get the ignition to work, and they left the surface of the moon.
A short while later, they discovered that a UFO was shadowing them. Buzz has told this story many times in interviews recently, but he told a slight variation here. When they saw the UFO, they radioed NASA asking about the location of the jettisoned booster rocket. When he usually tells this story in interviews, he suggests they were just making sure they were not confused, or that they were apprehensive about causing a stir on the ground with NASA, as though reporting it this way was a decision they made themselves.
What he told guests at dinner was a little different. Apparently this kind of thing had been discussed long before the mission, in certain circles anyway, and they had been instructed to use this as code for encountering a UFO so that only the right people on the ground would know. The astronauts were told that we didn't want to cause a world panic. But it was definitely something that was discussed before the mission.
Also, he said it was definitely shadowing them, for many hours, and it was an object, not just a light. They were spooked by the thing's presence, but not threatened by it. Eventually they ignored it and went about their business. On the ground, they were told not to talk about it. Later, Buzz discovered many if not most astronauts have had some kind of similar experience in space.
Ok, there's a true story that maybe can set the mood for the OWC!
I believe that they've since established quite exhaustively that it was indeed the SIV-B booster that they were tracking. the reason it looked so "alien" was because the early boosters had a problem with the propellant dump so that it started tumbling at a pretty high rate. They tracked a similar object all the way to Apollo 15, if memory serves me correctly.
But then again, I wouldn't go arguing about it with Buzz Aldrin.
Incidentally, if anybody's interested, a heavily revised version of my earlier surreal drama short just went live. Ignore the earlier comments, because this is a massive revision that pretty much changed everything, both writingwise and in terms of plot. Can be found here: http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1271617135/s-0/
And since I'm essentially begging for comments, I'll apologise for being relatively inactive in that department myself. The truth is that I've been so busy in my own writing commitments that I haven't had the time to read and review stuff. But I'm planning on rectifying the situation in the very near future.
The act of writing is a quest to put a hundred thousand words to a cunning order. - Douglas Adams
Could be true, Henrik, no idea. I just thought it was an entertaining tale. Like I said, he explained that this was kind of a code they worked out before the mission, but who knows. Perhaps, like --u-- in the realm of politics, we should not let truth get in the way of a good story!
I have no doubt that they had a code to convey the message. It's NASA, after all. Just because something is impossible, it doesn't mean that they don't have a contingency plan for it.
And of course, it was a UFO. Because UFO does not mean that it's an alien spacecraft. It just means that they detected an object they couldn't immediately identify. I've seen the footage that was taken of it during Apollo 11 and although I'm far from being qualified to make such determinations, it seemed like a tumbling SIV-B to me.
The act of writing is a quest to put a hundred thousand words to a cunning order. - Douglas Adams
I'm not a UFO guy, Henrik. I heard the story last night, shared. I like a good UFO story like a like a good Bigfoot story, or a ghost story, or the Jersey Devil tale. Strictly entertainment. That fact that a story COULD be true is what gives it its edge, gives it some impact.
Buzz clearly does not think it's space junk. And he specifically said the reason for the code was because they didn't want to alarm people. Space debris would not alarm anyone. Does that mean it was a Klingon envoy? No. If there is something out there, I'm not it sure it makes much sense to me that it's alien visitors zipping around under the radar. So I can't imagine what could be out there.
Sorry to go off topic guys, but I woke up this morning with a script title running in my head:
NASTY
Now, I have been thinking about the upcoming OWC that might be horror, but, I dunno, it just appeared out of nowhere.
whether it be a short or feature or what the hell it might be about, I don't know. But perhaps my mind will start chiseling into it, to carve out a new project.
I'm really big on one word titles, so it might've been meant to happen.
Ok, apologies for the dribble...back to your convoes!!
My father's cousin visited last night. Recently he attended a charity dinner where he was at the same table as Buzz Aldrin. Buzz gave him an autograph and shared a couple of space tales from his moon mission.
In the first, they were on the moon, and unable to launch the landing module to return to the capsule which would take them home. What had happened was the other astronaut had accidentally bumped the ignition toggle getting back into the module, breaking it off. NASA was already preparing for the possibility they would have to be left on the moon, when Buzz remembered he had a pin within his suit that he had used to tinker with his radio. He was able to use this pin to get the ignition to work, and they left the surface of the moon.
A short while later, they discovered that a UFO was shadowing them. Buzz has told this story many times in interviews recently, but he told a slight variation here. When they saw the UFO, they radioed NASA asking about the location of the jettisoned booster rocket. When he usually tells this story in interviews, he suggests they were just making sure they were not confused, or that they were apprehensive about causing a stir on the ground with NASA, as though reporting it this way was a decision they made themselves.
What he told guests at dinner was a little different. Apparently this kind of thing had been discussed long before the mission, in certain circles anyway, and they had been instructed to use this as code for encountering a UFO so that only the right people on the ground would know. The astronauts were told that we didn't want to cause a world panic. But it was definitely something that was discussed before the mission.
Also, he said it was definitely shadowing them, for many hours, and it was an object, not just a light. They were spooked by the thing's presence, but not threatened by it. Eventually they ignored it and went about their business. On the ground, they were told not to talk about it. Later, Buzz discovered many if not most astronauts have had some kind of similar experience in space.
Ok, there's a true story that maybe can set the mood for the OWC!
I wanted to connect back earlier on this, but I was just too busy today but here we go...
Several years ago I had written an article for UFO magazine entitled Part of a Clock. It's an article that speaks to our perception as well as a real life experience from an elderly gentleman who used to be a pilot. I'm not sure if he's still living or not.
Here's just a short excerpt from that article:
"When I think of Big Valley, I think of ranchers and coal miners; I think of people and horses, not flying saucers and aliens. But Mr. Reischman says he's seen flying saucers. In one encounter, ground radar operators steered them away. He said, "You would get close to it...and they would say, 'Break off, you can't go near that one.'"
The beginning of the article rang like this:
In the fall of 2006 I came across a local newspaper article detailing a fighter pilot's experiences; his assignment to 439 Squadron at Uplands Air Base near Ottawa in September of 1951, his waiting there,(flying Harvards)and eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first Canadian built F-86 Saber. Following that excitement he was sent overseas to North Luffenham, England, becoming part of three squadrons serving as NATO forces from Canada.
Harold Reischman's life made a substantial leap when he went from milking cows to flying planes, joining the Air Force and living the exciting life he'd dreamed, and it got me thinking about the extraordinary which often hides itself...
**Myself, I understand that this world is a great big place-- indeed, it is a wonderland. I cannot ever discount anything which others might consider paranormal. To me, it's all normal. There's physics behind it, but I just don't understand it. No more than I understand how my own body works, how a car works, or how this blasted computer works.
BTW Kevin, when I read your suggestion, it reminded me of Bloomb Thicket's Opera (The Xilon of Witch Racket), based on the Voyager Spacecraft sending that golden record into space.
Does anyone know how many times I re-write beginnings? You know what? I should start keeping score or something.
You know, someday I think I'm going to look back and say, "Wow, that was really cool how that happened." Actually, I'm even saying it now.
That's why I will write and move on. Write and move on. I do so much re-writing when I write, I need to really let something die on the shelf before I come back to it.
Once, it took like 6 years or something. I had expanded this lilly paragraph and it really turned out into a likeable short story. I don't know if I'll ever turn it into a script. Who knows.
Anyways, I've been up and at 'er since 5:30 this morning and I must have quantum jumped a few dozen times or more. It's all very loosey goosey right now. I've learned not to over edit during the initial stages. Stop re-writing during the initial stages? Haven't got that down. Maybe I never will. It might just be how I play the cards.
As far as numbers go. Page 56 is where the last letter lies for now, but I'm working in the beginning and middle of the script and by the time I move forward, I might wind up at page 44 or page 79. I just don't know.
For me right now, I'm paying attention to each character's individual motivation. How they work in the script as a whole because they are all dynamic players. Even the one female character I had written who I saw as quite ditzy, turned out to be very important. This might be my own mind realizing how so many things in our lives (the things that seem inconsequential0, really are meaningful.
I would state the ditzy character's names and all the names (for now) as they appear, but I don't want to create potential spoilers. Like I said, this project is going to run for quite a span, so we will see.
It's late. I need someone to post something funny or something. I'm burnt out.
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