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From: "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: MT VOID, 05/30/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 48, Whole Number 2382
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THE MT VOID
05/30/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 48, Whole Number 2382

Editor: Evelyn Leeper, evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by
the author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
inclusion unless otherwise noted.

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     evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
         Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
         Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments
                by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         Extra-Terrestrial Life--Not So Fast (comments
                by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         Twilight Zone: "Steel" (link)
         PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE by Michio Kaku (2008)
                (book review by Dale Skran)
         Live Toads (letters of comment by Fred Lerner, Jay Morris,
                and Gary McGath)
         A CLOSED AND COMMON ORBIT (letter of comment by Hal Heydt)
         THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
         AURORA, Willy Ley, WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE,
                Color-Blind Casting, "The Court of Tartary",
                Ancient Rome in the Movies, THE RETURN, and
                Diego Rivera (letter of comment by Taras Wolansky)
         This Week's Reading (POIROT AND ME)
                (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group

June 5, 2025 METROPOLIS (1927) & novel by Thea Von Harbou (1925)
    <https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11607476>
    <https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/73727>
    <https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601891h.html>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Okay, I can't pick A FACE IN THE CROWD *again*.  So instead I'll
recommend a film with some equally chilling and topical moments,
CABARET, which sets a love triangle against the back-drop of the
decadence of the Weimar Republic cabaret scene and the rise of
Nazism.

[CABARET, Monday, June 30, 10:15 AM]

There is also BRIGHT LEAF, of which Mark wrote in the 07/30/99
issue of the MT VOID (in an article about tobacco), "BRIGHT LEAF
[is] the stirring story of how a real he-man, played by Gary
Cooper, builds a tobacco empire."  And in the 02/11/00 issue he
wrote, "I am going back and re-watching a bunch of 1950s science
fiction films.  And in just about every cheap one the characters
stop and discuss things over a cigarette.  Do you think that is
coincidence?  Go back and see the movie BRIGHT LEAF with Gary
Cooper about the brave American heroes who founded our country's
tobacco industry.  In films people who fight disease are played by
Edward G. Robinson types.  People who sell disease to the public
for good money are played by the Gary Coopers."

[BRIGHT LEAF, Thursday, June 19, 7:30 AM]

There is also a whole afternoon of monster SF on June 18 (I have
no idea why June 18):
12:00 PM    Them! (1954)
1:45 PM    The Hypnotic Eye (1960)
4:45 PM    The Green Slime (1969)
6:30 PM    Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Other films of interest:

MONDAY,  June 2
1:00 PM    The Ghost Ship (1943)

TUESDAY,  June 3
12:00 AM    Cries and Whispers (1972)
4:00 AM    The Seventh Victim (1943)
10:45 AM    The Boy with Green Hair (1948)

THURSDAY,  June 5
8:00 AM    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
6:15 PM    Forbidden Planet (1956)

FRIDAY,  June 6
10:00 AM    Kismet (1955)
12:00 PM    Brigadoon (1954)
8:00 PM    A Face in the Crowd (1957)

SATURDAY,  June 7
8:00 PM    Carnival of Souls (1962)
9:30 PM    Rosemary's Baby (1968)

SUNDAY,  June 8
8:00 PM    Apollo 13 (1995)
10:30 PM    For All Mankind (1989)

WEDNESDAY,  June 11
11:30 AM    Africa Screams (1949)
1:00 PM    Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

MONDAY,  June 16
8:00 PM    The Last Wave (1977)

WEDNESDAY,  June 18
4:30 AM    So Long at the Fair (1950)
6:00 AM    A Bucket of Blood (1959)
12:00 PM    Them! (1954)
1:45 PM    The Hypnotic Eye (1960)
4:45 PM    The Green Slime (1969)
6:30 PM    Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

THURSDAY,  June 19
7:30 AM    Bright Leaf (1950)

THURSDAY,  June 26
11:30 PM    Sisters (1972)

FRIDAY,  June 27
3:30 AM    Dead Men Walk (1943)

SATURDAY,  June 28
6:00 AM    Black Orpheus (1959)
6:00 PM    Field of Dreams (1989)

SUNDAY,  June 29
8:30 AM    Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

MONDAY,  June 30
10:15 AM    Cabaret (1972)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Twilight Zone: "Steel" (link)

"Two humanoid robots traded punches while fans watched on, in a
competition held in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday.  The fight was
part of the China Media Group World Robot Competition and featured
robots developed by Unitree Robotics.  The event included both
fighting demonstrations and matches, marking a world-first combat
sports event featuring humanoid robots."

Thirty-seven second video at:
<https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cgeg2x3lwepo>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Extra-Terrestrial Life--Not So Fast (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)

In response to Greg Frederick's comments on extra-terrestrial life
in the 04/25/25 issue of the MT VOID (where he provides the link
to an article claiming the "strongest evidence so far" of
extra-terrestrial life), I am saddened to report:

New Studies Dismiss Signs of Life on Distant Planet

In April, astronomers said they had detected a possible signature
of life on the exoplanet K2-18b.  Now, three independent analyses
discount the evidence.

In April, a team of astronomers announced that they might--just
might--have found signs of life on a planet over 120 light-years
from Earth.  The mere possibility of extraterrestrial life was
enough to attract attention worldwide.  It also attracted intense
scrutiny from other astronomers.

Over the past month, researchers have independently analyzed the
data, which suggested that the planet, called K2-18b, has a
molecule in its atmosphere that could have been created by living
organisms.  Three different analyses have all reached the same
conclusion: They see no compelling evidence for life on K2-18b.

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