Travelers, The Expanse (noted by OP), Beef, and Breaking Bad are all solid. Add Mare of Easttown, the Morning Show, and the Newsroom and you've got half of my favourite shows of the past 15 years.
Ted Lasso was the big surprise to me here. The characters are lovable, caring, and well-crafted, and the story is simple but compelling. In all, only the most heartless, isolate, human beings would get nothing from this show.
Would materialism or consumerism, then, be the turn-off? Making more of "possessing" than "being" or "doing" is a real turn-off for me.
And, materialism/consumerism is — truly — promoted everywhere.
North Americans, I'm one of you. You have to leave for a while. You gain perspective.
Back in '07, I left. I was in Australia in '09 and some Aussies asked me, 'what's it like living over there?'
The only thing I could come up with at the time was " causes neuroticism.' It's so much worse now that we have social media, smartphones, and a penchant for duelling forms of misinformation.
What I learned is that there are many ways to live. There are lots of goals people have — and can have — many of them are quite modest: a safe place to live, love, and feel part of community. There are much worse daily experiences than those we hear about in the news, or see on TV, or read about it books. There is truly grinding poverty and privation that does not translate well into a novel or an article — readership is fickle. Yet, from those ashes, there is still joy, levity, and grace.
So, we residents of the most powerful economies must see outside of our bubbles. We must see, first hand, how we are duped into believing there is only one set of goals, one North American dream, one prestige, and one centre of power. When you spend enough years away, you just might forget about homeownership, career-building, and fretting over retirement. You might find that life is about living, about doing good work, and about being with people you care to pass the time with.
At least, that's what 12 years outside of NA taught me.
Seen the following?
Very Bad Things (1999)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
the Nice Guys (2016)
Miller's Crossing (1990) — I love this film.
Grosse Pointe Blank (1994)
Happiness (1998)
Actually, I'm wondering now what you thought of the 2002 Solaris remake. I've not seen the Tarkovsky version, and I'm assuming you have. Of his other films, I've heard of Stalker. Recommend any others specifically?
I've seen it. I enjoyed it very much.
I picked Her for my A.I. entry because it was so much simpler, more understated, and close to our everyday experiences.
I also skipped Primer (2004) because I steered clear of time travel.
2001 is timeless.
Political intrigue, technological advancement, piercing the unknown, all drawn on the backdrop of an innocuous, normal exploration mission.
Until things go awry.
As directly inspired by 2001, I'd count a bunch of modern classics: Children of Men (2006), Sunshine (2007), Passengers (2016), the Expanse (TV series), and more.
What Kubrick did write the story with Arthur C. Clarke, slow the pace to reflect the long-haul nature of the mission — let alone the slow pace of human development — and focus on the sheer scale of progress needed to achieve such exploration. He also ensured that the conflict was truly tangible and high-stakes. Simple and human in its genesis, but devastating in its execution. Then, confronting ET intelligence as truly "other."
Perfect.
Sci Fi top 6 ‐ focusing a bit on the soft sci-fi
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir: Stanley Kubrick
Arrival (2016) dir: Denis Villeneuve
Her (2013) dir: Spike Jonze
BladeRunner (1982) dir: Ridley Scott
Children of Men (2006) dir: Alfonso Cuarón
GATTACA (1997) dir: Andrew Niccol
Going with MacBooks. Used to be you could upgrade RAM and other components. Now, you have to get a new machine.
Heliocentric model.
Cosmic distance and time. Light speed as a limit.
The geological age of the Earth.
Dinosaurs.
Evolutionary theory.
Continental drift.
The periodic table of the elements.
Quantum theory, including wave-particle duality.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Black holes.
Good on you, friend.
Now, 2w later, have you done any more?
Also, what remains challenging?