 inside. Then later in the afternoon, after cleaning out the fish, tank we decided to pop to The Japanese Koi Co Aquatic Superstore. I am not the least bit interested in Koi but we needed some blood-worms for the goldfish and knowing that the Koi Centre has them it was the nearest place to go. They stock all manner of tropical, marine and cold water fish (including some Koi which cost over £2,000 each!), reptiles, small mammals, birds and parrots as well as all the paraphernalia that goes with them. It is always, always, always busy, often with people at the weekend queuing outside in their cars to get in before they open. I really don't understand the attraction!
>>IMAGE.
>>IMAGE.
Posted by Karen at 5:46 pm 2 comments:
Tbf, the other commenter is absolutely right. It's far more fantasy than sci fi. Coruscant, like lots of planets in Star Wars, has nearly all the same makeup and dimensions as Earth, so we'll just plug Earth numbers in.

Now, Level 5127 is the surface level of Coruscant. We'll say this is effectively mean sea level to avoid any confusion. As you said in another reply, each subterranean level has the height of 0.7 miles.

Simply because of the mass of all the things above it, Level 5000 (which appears in The Clone Wars) would be uninhabitable.

At 89 miles below the surface, the conditions would be ridiculous:

- The atmospheric pressure would be 650,000 pounds per square inch, and the temperature would be 725°C.

Level 1313, where the Martez Sisters live, things are even more ridiculous. At 2,670 miles below the surface, Level 1313 is well within the outer core of Coruscant:

- The atmospheric pressure would be about 40 *million* pounds per square inch. The ambient temperature would be about 5,000°C. As hot as the surface of the sun.

&gt;Coruscant is a strange thing to point at tbh to make a point about Star Wars' poor science. Plenty of hard science fiction novels have stuff way more advanced than city worlds.

Well, at some point all sci-fi has to ignore science. I'd say that disregarding gravity, pressure, entropy, and thermodynamics makes this an example of dismissing it rather early.

Let’s get this out of the way first – How in the world was “The Lego Movie” not at least nominated for Best Animated Feature? This is the one true travesty of this year’s nominations.
“The Imitation Game” left with a surprising 8 nominations. I actually passed over it because I thought the reception was positive but nothing tremendous. Was I wrong?
Ok Academy, seriously? The Meryl Streep nomination thing had become a fun little joke but honestly it is becoming annoying. Deserving actresses are being left out for these ridiculous token nominations.
“Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” lead the pack with 9 nominations each. Of the two I like “Grand Budapest” the best, but Wes Anderson has a history of getting a lot of nominations but not that many wins.
Am I the only one who was broadsided by the strong showing of “American Sniper”? I knew there was some buzz behind it, but I didn’t think it was a ‘6 Oscar Nominations’ kind of buzz.
Many are pointing to “Selma” as Oscar’s biggest snub. Perhaps, but I think the movie is intensely powerful but also needlessly frustrating. I don’t think the movie was snubbed, but I do think David Oyelowo was. He absolutely deserved a nomination.
I loved seeing “Ida” nominated for its cinematography. It has absolutely no chance of winning, but I’m glad the Academy recognized its immense beauty.
Where is Amy Adams? Fresh off her Golden Globe win for “Big Eyes” I expected to hear her name. This once again proves that the Globes aren’t always the Oscar indicator that some think they are.
Do you realize that Bradley Cooper has received Oscar nominations for three straight years?
I’m always happy when I see Marion Cotillard’s name mentioned. “Two Days, One Night” still has opened up here, but I’m sure she is brilliant. She could have easily been nominated for “The Immigrant” as well.
Do you think it was a good year for Alexandre Desplat? He was nominated twice in the Best Original Score category – for “The Imitation Game” and for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.
It was quite frustrating to see “Force Majeure” left out of the Best Foreign Language Film category. It’s hard to gripe since I haven’t seen all of the nominees, but “Force Majeure” was an incredible movie deserving of recognition.
So in the Academy’s eyes Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t deserve a nomination for “Nightcrawler”? I would love to hear the thought process behind that. Gyllenhaal was superb and there is no excuse for leaving him out.
Three comic book movies were nominated in the special effects category and all three will lose. I’m rooting for “Captain America” but “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” has it wrapped up.
J.K. Simmons will be the biggest sure-thing of the entire show.
Actually all for acting categories have really strong frontrunners. Arquette, Simmons, Moore, and Keaton will probably all go home carrying a statue.
“Interstellar” is still my favorite film of the year. I would have liked to see it at least grab a Best Picture nomination. At least it was recognized in five other categories.
Sorry Jennifer Aniston. Some are pointing at Cotillard as the reason you weren’t nominated for “Cake”. Sorry Aniston fans, Cotillard is fabulous. Maybe you can point in another direction.
Interesting to see “Gone Girl” only grab one nomination. It didn’t make my Top 10 of 2014 but I know a lot of people were behind it.
Who can forget Roberto Benigni’s exuberance upon winning Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor Oscars for “Life is Beautiful”. His infectious enthusiasm and charm resembled that of the character he played in his wonderful 1997 Italian drama. Benigni’s Best Actor was notable due to the Academy’s usual reluctance to nominate or award performers from foreign films. His win is also considered an upset as he beat frontrunners Nick Nolte and Tom Hanks. Perhaps it was an upset, but to call Benigni’s win undeserving would be untrue. It’s a brilliant performance that serves as the centerpiece for this moving story.
“Life is Beautiful” is essentially broken down into two chapters. The first half starts in 1939 Italy and tells the story of a clownish, good-natured Jewish-Italian fellow named Guido (Benigni) who falls for a lovely upper-class teacher named Dora (played by Benigni’s real life wife Nicoletta Braschi). Guido’s happy and playful demeanor wins over many of the people he encounters and eventually Dora. We watch as he woos her through spontaneous meetings which don’t always sit well with the upper-crust establishment. The two fall in love and soon marry and have a son named Joshua.
The second chapter of the story takes a darker turn. Throughout the first half of the film we get hints to how Europe is changing as World War 2 approaches and anti-Jewish sentiment surfaces. But Guido wants to shield young Joshua from these things and he does it the only way he knows how. He puts on performances and depicts things in comical ways. His goal is to keep his son focused in the goodness and beauty of life.  But even in those brutal circumstances and regardless of the death and misery surrounding them, Guido is determined to safeguard his son through his blithe fictional creations.
“Life is Beautiful” is really a fable. It’s not intended to be a by-the-books depiction of Nazi atrocities in the concentration camps. But some people have criticized Benigni for his incorporation of humor into such a serious subject. I find that to be an unfair objection. At no point does this film make light of the horrors. At no point does Benigni make a joke of the Holocaust or anything related to it. The humor ties in perfectly to the character. Guido isn’t a soldier or a fighter. He uses the only gift he has solely for the purpose of comforting and saving his family. There are several really big laughs but they never do disservice to the characters and they never go outside the bounds of taste and respect.
It’s obvious that the movie could do more to show the brutality and horror of the concentration camps. But not every movie on the Holocaust has to do that especially when they are telling a specific story that doesn’t require it. Benigni does a fabulous job of building his characters and telling his story while planting the reality of their situations in our subconscious. I knew the dangers and I knew the stakes were high. But yet in the midst of that this gentle and uplifting story is told with tenderness and care. And at the film’s center is Benigni’s spirited performance. He is vivacious, loquacious, and almost annoyingly positive especially to cynics like me. But there is nothing false about his performance, just a deep and genuine portrayal of a loving father.