Klaatu Barada Nikto!

I watched the remake of the classic SF film The Day The Earth Stood Still
and enjoyed it. I don't particularly understand why people complain about Keanu being "wooden" in the role, because frankly, if I had to walk around in a body I wasn't used to I'd be feeling a bit stiff too.

By the time the end credits rolled I was left with several questions, of course.

• Why are we so afraid of everything that is foreign to us?
• Why do we always consider violence the most appropriate action?
• Why do we think everything/everyone is out to harm us?
• Why won't the secretary of defence follow her own mind when she knows the president is clearly taking the wrong approach? ("Bomb that f**er"!)
  

There are so many interpretations for those questions, very, very interesting ones. But I think the most important question to ask is -- Can we really change? Will we be able to stop everything, to turn things around? I'm not sure. The idealist in me keeps getting beaten down but dammit, the bitch keeps getting back up to lick her wounds. I want to believe that we can change. I'm a firm believer in the "big things start small philosophy". It's just that the pessimist in me keeps pointing out the fact that species are dying off at an alarming rate (really, the word "alarming" isn't nearly half alarming enough anymore) while the foremost things on our minds are whether Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will get divorced soon. Particularly troublesome is the notion that those in powerful positions will not disregard the orders of those to whom they answer, despite knowing that catastrophe will ensue. (Especially if it's Kathy Bates. I mean, this is the woman who immortalised Annie Wilkes!).

Begs the question: What will be our precipice?