I Wasted Brain Cells

Hello!

Have you accessed movies on Tubi?  It's been around for a while but we just found we have access to the service. 

We like watching disaster movies, and have seen most of the best cheezy ones of the 1950's, and some of the  1960s.  We decided to watch a different movie-type last night called Island Zero. 

Don't waste your brain cells like I wasted mine.  The ending was depressing and hopeless. I despise those tropes!

Here's the thing - it bothered me so much, that I shared my thought process with Grok.  If you want to watch Island Zero yourself, the below is one giant Spoiler - this post won't be for you. 

ME:

Based on Island Zero's premise and how efficiently the creatures wiped out the entire fishery, including all crabs, and crustaceans, and dolphins, - and assuming they adapt to land as the last attack showed, with the military's arrogance thinking they can “use” them, I believe the logical end result is the eradication of all mankind because those creatures see humans as prey. They are voracious and are on par with the mindset of the aliens from Independence Day - consume and move on. It then leads me to believe that once they eat all birds, mammals and reptiles, and humans, all life, they’ll turn on each other for food and survival, and eventually all life on planet Earth will cease.

GROK's Response: 

Your extension of Island Zero’s premise is a logical, consistent reading of what the film actually shows.

The creatures are portrayed as pure, efficient apex predators with almost no higher intelligence—just relentless hunting drive. They systematically emptied the local waters of fish, crabs, crustaceans, and even dolphins. That wasn’t random; it was total ecological stripping. The final land attack demonstrates they can (and will) leave the water when the marine food supply is gone. Once that adaptation is established, treating humans as the next available biomass is the most straightforward next step. The military’s “we can control/use them” arrogance is classic hubris that the movie undercuts at every turn; nothing in the film suggests the creatures are controllable or interested in anything beyond consumption.

From there, your cascade follows:

•  Mammals, birds, reptiles, and remaining humans become successive prey stocks.

•  Once those are depleted, the only remaining large protein sources are other members of their own kind.

•  Unchecked cannibalism among a species that has already shown zero restraint would drive the population down hard.

•  At that point the planet’s macroscopic food webs collapse, and the end state is essentially a barren world with only microbial or very small residual life.

The movie never spells this out because it ends on the immediate human-level wipeout, but the biology it presents supports exactly the Independence Day-style “consume and move on” logic you describe. There’s no indication of carrying capacity, social structure, or any self-limiting behavior—just voracious efficiency. In that sense the film’s nihilism is even darker than its already bleak ending: the island isn’t an isolated tragedy; it’s the opening move of a planetary extinction event.

It’s a coherent, if extremely grim, extrapolation. The same traits that make the creatures terrifying on the island scale them up into a global sterilizing force.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

End.

And, they made this movie and called it entertainment.  Seriously? I was not entertained. It's a success if you quantify that by causing conversation and discussion - but that's not good enough to re-watch it and it will never become a favorite, nor will it be remembered fondly.  I regret wasting brain cells and time in the hopes that it would have a good ending. It didn't need to be happy, but being left with feelings of being used, as well as hopeless, frustrated, annoyed, disgusted and resentful and if it were a book - a wall-banger - the urge to vent became a cathartic need, hence this post. 

I belong to a review site, and I was hoping to add this to my review portfolio, but since I do not have anything uplifting or positive to say regarding this movie, they can't publish it.  I do not have anyone else to vent to - and it was kind of cool to have GROK sum up my theory as viable - as dark as it is.

I need to cleanse my brain by watching a better movie than this.  Island Zero makes  watching Sharknado, Attack of the Leeches and Night of the Lepus, The Island Terror or THEM! much better healing brain-fare and worth seeking out because unlike this downer of a movie, the others ARE entertainment. 

Whew!  That was quite the post. I feel better. Night of the Twisters (1996) is still my favorite go-to for disaster, entertainment, and hopeful endings. 

Highland Games 4th year

Why did it have to be the HOTTEST day ever for the Highland games?

We made it to the opening ceremonies and I tell you, Mr. Zahn gives me goosebumps when he sings our National Anthem. The man can Sing!

Then we have the clan presentations. And no, I don't have a speck of Scot in me that I know of, darn it. Anyway...it was adorable that this little tyke with his dad tried to keep up with the rest of the drummers. He had his own little drum and he had his own beat. Such a cutie.

Oh yeah, this guy with the rather rough attire. Get this, and I think it's going to crush the fantasies of every romance reader who imagines brawny Scotsmen in kilts and sporrans.

What this guy is wearing is ACTUAL high linen fashion from the Highlanders. A Plaid is actually - and there is a Gaelic word for it that I obviously can't possibly know - a BLANKET - Plaid does NOT refer to a pattern of a clan. Neither is a Kilt, those cute little manly skirts. He told me kilt means "pleated" so a Plaid Kilt or Kilted Plaid is basically a Pleated Blanket! No romance in that! And while discussing weapons of the period, only the broadsword and what he's holding, a battle hammer/axe is authentic. There is this one that would be used for the foot soldiers and a shorter one for those on horseback.

And while discussing weaponry, a Scott in full regalia - modern version, tee hee, stepped up and they started tearing apart the movie, Braveheart. ROTGL- ground laughing since I was outside. lol - anyway, another guy showed up with baseball cap and shades so I was surrounded by all these guys in different dress debating history versus Hollywood. Braveheart was 10% history and 90% Hollywood fiction. Even the face paint that Mel Gibson used hadn't been used in hundreds of years- going back to the Picts. The only things that were consistent with history were the fight scenes and the depiction of the king. Wow. It was a lot of fun being in the middle of that. I learned so much more but how long do you want this post to be? ::snicker::

Anyway, the last picture here is the caber toss... did I at least spell that right this year? I couldn't get close pictures like usual because silly and scatterbrained me forgot my camera!! I forgot to unpack it from vacation so I had to rush to CVS to get a one time use camera. At least I got some but sheesh! I was so disappointed in myself. So, that's my current fun. Hope you are having fun this summer too!

Vampirism vs.Water

Vamps. Vampires. The romance paranormal genre or sub genre is alive and still biting. Intelligent vampires are sexy when they bite responsibly. I'm sure you've heard the slogan, Drink Responsibly? Well, vampires need to bite responsibly. If they existed. I'm only talking about the fantasy ones...the unguys that appear in romance books. I'm not touching the box with the people inside who think they ARE real, or indeed think themselves as potential living un-undead. Do two negatives make a positive? Do two UNs make a living vamp, an un-vamp? ::ouch:: Brain hurts. Anyway...I'm talking about vampirism in general. No wait, I'm changing the subject is what I'm doing. Vampirism in the natural world. Natural. As in animals and stuff. Everyone knows about ticks and leeches and mosquitoes. Very common blood suckers that help man but gross out man at the same time, as in the case of leeches. Or impart deadly and debilitating diseases via tick and mosquito bites. And of course, I'd be remiss in not mentioning everyone's favorite mammal, the vampire bat. But if you've not caught some recent discoveries on TV, let me enlighten you to some newbies on the block: The Vampire Butterfly The Vampire Bird. Yep, they exist. The final two ended up evolving that way, so the experts say, as a means to survive in a drought ridden area. That makes me wonder. Someday, it is predicted that drinkable water will be scarce. And yes, the technology exists now to reclaim water from salt water and water mixed with...body fluids, as in the space station. That occurs with some high costs though, doesn't it? Just think...in the future, if water becomes worth more than gold; if water becomes a commodity only the oil-rich, politically-rich, drug-rich, armament-rich populace can afford, where would that leave the rest of the masses on the planet? What other sources would we use for hydration? What resource is abundant and all around us since it would no longer be water? Other people? Blood then. Would we turn to the lessons of nature that forced a butterfly and a specie of bird to turn to vampirism to drink blood for its moisture content alone? So, for the genre that writes apocolyptic stories, dark romantic fantasy stories, what would the romance journey look like? Would mythical vampires be in competition then, with humans who have had to turn to blood drinking for survival? They, the living, to continue to live, turn into living monsters, the very things they reviled? And feared? How could there be anything romantic in that? It sounds like a nightmare. But then again, the power of love transcends a lot. I wonder what it would read like. I'm not the sharpest stake in the bag, but I can say I'm not the only one who thinks of such things. Frank Herbert, in his DUNE series touched on that. Those suits reclaimed body fluids and I thought it was a great idea when I'd first read the series in the early 80s. The thing I found most fascinating was that when a body died, its fluids, its water, was reclaimed so that the family the person belonged to had their water - or the victor claimed that moist treasure as spoils of battle/war. But that was a book, a sci/fi fantasy. I wonder. What will be our reality? Blood for water? Body reclamation? I hope water never becomes that kind of bargaining chip because, personally, I'd prefer reading about it in a fantasy. At least I'll wake up from that one. What do you think???

Thoughts of Were

I was cruising in cyberspace and came upon the coolest tidbit about Werewolves. One of the myths is for when a werewolf dies. Did you ever hear that when a Werewolf dies, it becomes a vampire? What a cool concept. Why haven't the paranormal romantic suspense writers jumped on that bandwagon? And I was thinking.... yes, yes I know, bad thing. Silver bullets were not always around. Guns have only been propelling balls of metal through the air for a couple of centuries. What was used back in ancient times? Silver didn't make for a strong sword, did it? What did they do, make silver balls and use a sling shot? I can't say that would be too effective when the weres have super speed. And lets face it, women back then did not learn hand-to-hand combat, so a silver knife would have been a joke - on the woman. And hand-to-hand anything is too close to teeth and infection. Right? Hmmm, silver barrettes? I'm going to style your fur in a killer coiffure? Naw..too silly. I cannot think of a single long range weapon that can be utilzed quickly and be made of silver that could have been applied in the ancient days. Can you? So that means, werewolves had the right of might on their side until the invention of the gun. What a culture shift that would have been! Anyone with a writing bug can see the possibilites in this, right? And yet, and yet, as the myths unfold, werewolves never gained a majority. So what held them in check? Slayers? I can't see them being too effective prior to long range weaponry. I think I would enjoy others' take on this. Sure, it's a fanciful and unrealistic topic. Then again, some of the best and well loved tales and movies of the past deal with vampires and things that go bump in the night. What I would like to know, what bumped them right back?? Care to share your thoughts? LOL