Saturday Watching and Reading

This week's Svengoolie film is one that I have not seen. The Sven stuff includes new material since it references not only Elon Musk but the upcoming eclipse. The show is now in a two-and-a-half-hour time slot. Some of the films are pretty short but overall this seems to work okay. 

The film is The Time Travellers, which partially inspired another MeTV late-night staple, Time Tunnel. The woman scientist at her desk keeping track of things is the time tunnel television show staple, the woman there is played by the daughter-in-law on Barnaby Jones. 

The film has our scientists travel from their cheap looking lab to the last 21st Century, which among other things has a type of transporter device. One of the people in this film was in the original Star Trek pilot, the creator was impressed with this film, including its special effects on a low budget. 

The mid-1960s film had one risque scene in a women's steam room-type location, where Svengoolie notes all the actresses were actually nude [we see a bit of side boob]. Overall, though low budget in some ways, the whole thing is enjoyable enough. It also has something of a trick ending though how the apparent "time loop" is created is unclear.  

===

It's National Poetry Month so Quiet Fire: Emily Dickinson's Life and Poetry is an appropriate read.  

The book is a young adult volume (listed as appropriate for grades 7-9 and ages 11-18, which doesn't quite overlap). I assume the two authors are present for this purpose, one as an expert on Emily and the other as someone who writes for children. The text is at times clearly written for this audience. A high schooler might find some of it a bit simplistic.

Still, overall, the book covers a lot of ground. This includes a discussion of poetic styles and GLBTQ aspects of her life and work. I found the whole thing a useful introduction/summary of her life and times.  

On a rather different subject, The Stuff They Don't Want You To Know is based on a podcast on conspiracy theories. The topics include aliens, chemtrails, and propaganda. The book argues conspiracy theories include some fact, including multiple governmental uses of dangerous chemicals to investigate the possible effects of biological warfare.  

Interesting collection in down-to-earth language with some good pictures. The Emily Dickinson book is also rather colorful with lovely smooth pages. Check both out!