A Sense of Doubt blog post #2005 - DUNE previews
Sometimes my blog is just a dumping ground for content that I want to explore and have not yet.
I have read Dune four times in the 42 years since I first read it in 1978.
If this production is going to be anything close to the excellence of Blade Runner 2049, then I am all in and so very excited.
And as ever, following the main content, the year in number for 2005.
Here's the main content (and yes, I wanted some words so I just copied them from Wikipedia because I wanted hassle free words access).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1160419/
Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy.
Director:
Denis Villeneuve
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(2020_film)
Dune is an upcoming 2020 science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve with a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Eric Roth and Villeneuve. The film is an international co-production of Canada, Hungary, the United Kingdom and the United States, and it is the first of a planned two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, which will cover roughly the first half of the book.
The film stars an ensemble cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem.
Dune is scheduled to be released in the United States in IMAX and 3D on December 18, 2020, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Premise[edit]
In the far future of humanity, Duke Leto Atreides accepts stewardship of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, the only source of the most valuable substance in the universe, "the spice", a drug which extends human life, provides superhuman levels of thought, and makes foldspace travel possible. Though Leto knows the opportunity is an intricate trap set by his enemies, he takes his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, young son and heir Paul, and most trusted advisers to Arrakis. Leto takes control of the spice mining operation, which is made perilous by the presence of giant sandworms. A bitter betrayal leads Paul and Jessica to the Fremen, natives of Arrakis who live in the deep desert.
Development
In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they had a new feature film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune in development with Peter Berg set to direct.[7] Berg left the project in October 2009,[8] with director Pierre Morel brought on to direct in January 2010,[9] before Paramount dropped the project in March 2011 as they could not come to key agreements with their rights expiring back to Rubinstein.[10]
On November 21, 2016, it was announced that Legendary Pictures had acquired the film and TV rights for Dune.[11][12] In December 2016, Variety reported that director Denis Villeneuve was in talks with the studio to direct the film.[13] In September 2016, Villeneuve expressed his interest in the project, saying that "a longstanding dream of mine is to adapt Dune, but it's a long process to get the rights, and I don't think I will succeed."[14] Villeneuve said that he felt he was not ready to direct a Dune movie until he had completed projects like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, and that with his background in science fiction films, "Dune is my world."[15] By February 2017, Brian Herbert, son of Frank and author of later books in the Dune series, confirmed that Villeneuve would be directing the project.[16]
John Nelson was hired as the visual effects supervisor for the film in July 2018, but has since left the project.[17] It was announced in December 2018 that cinematographer Roger Deakins, who was anticipated to reunite with Villeneuve on the film, was not working on Dune and that Greig Fraser was coming onto the project as director of photography.[18] In January 2019, Joe Walker was confirmed to be serving as the film's editor.[19] Other crew include: Brad Riker as supervising art director; Patrice Vermette as production designer; Paul Lambert as visual effects supervisors; Gerd Nefzer as special effects supervisor; and Thomas Struthers as stunt coordinator.[20] Dune will be produced by Villeneuve, Mary Parent, and Cale Boyter, with Tanya Lapointe, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Jon Spaihts, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and Herbert W. Gain serving as executive producers and Kevin J. Anderson as creative consultant.[21][22] Game of Thrones language creator David Peterson was confirmed to be developing languages for the film in April 2019.[23]
Writing[edit]
In March 2018, Villeneuve stated that his goal was to adapt the novel into a two-part film series.[24] Villeneuve ultimately secured a two-movie deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, in the same style as the two-part adaptation of Stephen King's It in 2017 and 2019. He stated that "I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie" as Dune was "too complex" with "power in details" that a single film would fail to capture.[25] Eric Roth was hired to co-write the screenplay in April,[26] and Jon Spaihts was later confirmed to be co-writing the script alongside Roth and Villeneuve.[27] Villeneuve said in May 2018 that the first draft of the script had been finished.[28][29] Brian Herbert confirmed by July 2018 that the latest draft of the screenplay covered "approximately half of the novel Dune."[30] Legendary CEO Joshua Grode confirmed in April 2019 that they plan to make a sequel, adding that "there's a logical place to stop the [first] movie before the book is over."[31] In November 2019, Spaihts stepped down as showrunner on the Dune: The Sisterhood TV prequel series to focus on the second film.[32]
Villeneuve said of his vision for Dune that "Most of the main ideas of Star Wars are coming from Dune so it's going to be a challenge to [tackle] this. The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw. In a way, it's Star Wars for adults."[33] While Villeneuve had seen Lynch's adaptation of Dune and he respected both Lynch and the film, he does not expect to build upon any elements from that, saying that "I'm going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it" when he was a teenager.[34] Further, Villeneuve does not plan to incorporate concepts that Jodorowsky had laid out for his attempt for a Dune film in the mid-1970s, as Villeneuve stated that "Jodorowsky is a very unique visionary. He has a very strong, unique vision. I am a total different human being. It would be very presumptuous and arrogant for me to try".[35]
In adapting the book written in the 1960s for the 21st century, Villeneuve wanted to reflect on realities that have happened related to overexploitation of the Earth, and considered his screenplay "a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth".[25] Other changes included altering some of the arcs of the female characters in the book. According to Rebecca Ferguson, who was cast as Lady Jessica, "Denis was very respectful of Frank’s work in the book, [but] the quality of the arcs for much of the women have been brought up to a new level. There were some shifts he did, and they are beautifully portrayed now."[25] Lady Jessica was given a more expanded role as a soldier as well as being part of the Bene Gesserit, which the studio labeled as a "warrior priestess", comparing to the joking label of "space nun" that Villeneuve felt the book gave across.[25] Dr. Liet Kynes, the ecologist on Arrakis who is male in the novel, was also given to a female lead Sharon Duncan-Brewster to help expand the cast diversity.[25] Vileneuve also wanted to move the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from being a caricature as he was presented in the novel to a more complex antagonist.[25]
THE YEAR IN NUMBER: 2005
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/2005.html
Cosmos 1 Mission
U.S.
- Hurricane Katrina strikes the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastal areas. Levees separating Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, Louisiana were breached by the surge, ultimately flooding roughly 80% of the city of New Orleans and 1600 perished Hurricane Katrina
And the serious relationship that began in 2003 and really took off in 2004, ended in 2005. I tried not to blame myself, but it was my fault like so many endings.
One of the scariest moments in my life when Dad woke me yelling at 3-something a.m. with Mom having a seizure.
0507.04/11:39:37
Marjorie is back in the hospital again. She’s having seizures. Not Grand Mal seizures. But minor, though no less disturbing, episodes of varying intensity.
THE DETAILS.
Yesterday, Sunday July 3, I was in Detroit for a Tigers game and then a concert by a Japanese pianist at night. At 4:30-ish, when I returned to the car, I checked my cell phone to see if the battery had run down. I had left it in the car during the game. There was a message from my Dad from 2:53 p.m. He reported that while lying in bed, my mother had experienced a seizure. He was in the bathroom. Fortunately he had the monitor on (we have listening monitors like for babies that we use all the time still), and he heard my mother having trouble breathing. He rushed in and found her eyes glazed over and she was unresponsive in addition to having difficulty breathing.
He called 9-11. The ambulance came and took her to Bronson. At 4-something that’s about all the information I had. I called my dad back on his cell; no answer. Not surprising. He rarely carries his cell phone with him, and we are not supposed to use cell phones in the hospital, especially in ER or other places where the signal may interfere with some of the more high-tech equipment.
At this point, I am driving out of the underground parking garage, through the post game traffic, and on to I75, enroute to where we plan to have dinner. Before I can get to a place and stop, Lori calls. She has had the same message from Dad and wants to know what’s going on, having called the house and getting no one. I explain I am in Detroit (she doesn’t know), and she agrees to call the hospital and try to reach Dad and find out more. We park in Royal Oak and wait. Not much later, Lori returns my call.
Apparently, Mom’s throat filled with fluid. Those of you who read the long missives in 2000 and have kept up with me know that she has a problem with phlegm and with clearing her throat. New people to these missives don’t know. As explanation and refresher, she had many swallowing tests when in ICU (Bronson’s Intensive Care Unit) in 2000 after the meningitis and at the start of her stay at Mary Free Bed (MFB). Since her release in October of 2000, there have been many choking incidents. One, in I think 2001, though it may have been 2000 still, I forget, she almost choked to death on a pill and was rushed to emergency. In emergency at that time, she had a Grand Mal seizure while Dad and I watched. The seizure was eventually attributed to imbalanced electrolytes as the cause, principally low sodium, which, as many of you know, has been on going struggle with my mother to both maintain low sodium for her diet to prevent dizzy spells but to ingest enough sodium to maintain levels out of the danger zone. Imbalanced electrolytes can kill you. One of the many things I have learned during this long saga.
Back to now, the doctors ran all kinds of tests on Sunday 7/3 in ER. Everything came back normal. No sign of stroke. No sign of heart attack. She is not epileptic. Her blood pressure was very elevated following the most intense seizure but dropped closer to norms, and as we know, mom’s BP and temperature are both low compared to “normal” for adult women of her age.
So the best explanation is that the fluid and difficulty breathing caused her to freak out and have a minor seizure. I am thinking this is actually a good thing. We have seen the one seizure before, and that one was much worse than this, so she will be admitted to the hospital, which is good for her. She does well in the hospital. She likes the care and attention, the safety of having health professionals on hand, and she enjoys trying all the items on the food service menu. Of the many short hospital stays since 2000's six months (three months in each of the two places), she has enjoyed her stays more often than not. She also becomes eligible for physical therapy paid by Medicare after a hospital stay. So, Lori and I (and I am sure my Dad too) are hopeful that this will all turn out for the best.
I get an update around 8:30. Bronson has put her on Dilantin, an anti-seizure drug that she has had before. They plan to pump her full of the stuff and SEND HER HOME. She’s being discharged. Bronson is full. The beds are full. Or I wonder if she just doesn’t have the right insurance or money for admission.
Anyway, apparently she has gone a few hours without a seizure. I need to find out if she just had one yesterday, Sunday, or another at the hospital. She’s lucid and normal. Able to talk just fine. So after drugging her, they send her home. Dad gets her home around 10:30 p.m. (after over 7 hours in ER), feeds her some toast and puts her to bed.
I get home about 1:30 a.m. Everything is normal. They’re in bed. It’s quiet. I am whipped since my alarm woke me at 5:30 so I could go to Detroit. I go to bed. Sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. I hear my Dad yelling. Took two yells to get me out of bed on the second one at a dead run. He tells me to call 9-11, which I do, dropping the phone and misdialing the first time. Ambulance on the way. The dispatch asks a lot of questions I cannot answer as I have been gone so I am getting information from Dad as he tries to get Mom ready. He has to remove the bed bag, connect the leg bag to catheter, etc.
Mom is glazed over and having trouble breathing. Not as scary as the Grand Mal seizure with all the shaking and risk of swallowing her tongue, but all the same, very very scary. But she’s aware, and Dad has learned from his discussions with her since that she remembers and is aware but has trouble talking. She makes noises, cries, attempts to form words, and I deciphered many of them. But she yelled at me for hovering. She was angry with me during her seizure and wanted me to stay out of the way, especially when the EMTs came.
Old school bud Jeff Schmitt was one of the volunteer firemen who arrived. The EMTs put her on oxygen; connected an IV (of what I don’t know); took her blood pressure, which was already going down; and prepped her for transport. The lead EMT did not think she was having seizures as he has never had a seizure patient try to talk to him during a seizure. Dad followed and I stayed home, trying to get some sleep, and not really succeeding. I felt badly calling my sister and her husband Noel. I woke Noel and told him what was going on figuring that even at 4:30 in the morning, this was important enough to call.
Since then, Mom has had many more seizures, both big and small. They tried one drug and when it proved ineffective, switched her to Verced (sp?). She has been on this one before I believe. As I type this, my Dad had last told me that she was being admitted to the ICU. He called three hours ago to tell me that, and I have not heard from him since.
The working theory right now is that scar tissue in her brain, built up from the meningitis, is somehow responsible for the seizures. I am unconvinced that this is the cause or at least the sole cause. Coincidentally, Mom had just tapered off Cymbalta, an anti=depressant, and started back on Lexapro just Saturday or maybe even Sunday. Our old favourite neurologist, Dr. Juwett (sp?), is going to be called in. Let’s hope he can arrive today.
I am very curious for his opinion on why Mom would have seizures related to the meningitis, five years after her recovery? Is this new bout of seizures related to the Grand Mal one I saw years ago? Why hasn’t she had seizures regularly? Could there be a catalyst that affected the scar tissue or something else? The drug switch? Sodium? Something else? The choking yesterday? I have lots of questions and not many answers.
If you read to the end of this, I appreciate your love and support. As all of you know who lived through this five years ago, I am in no position to write individuals emails or call everyone I love and care for, who also loves and cares for me. So you know I am appreciative and beg your forgiveness. You people with whom I have become close since 2000, now also know that I appreciate your understanding and compassion, especially with mass emails. I write these things as much for myself as for others. I need to sort it all out and get it down.
Back in 2000, we began a six month siege in which I never fully recovered and was never able to fully or completely respond to all the emails I received let alone cards and well wishes sent to my mother. I don’t know what the future holds right now. I don’t know how long Mom will be in ICU, what kind of havoc this will play all our lives, especially hers. I will do my best to keep those of informed who wish to be kept informed.
Prayers, cards, well wishes, positive energy, and just thoughts are always appreciated and cherished.
Love and peace
chris
0507.04/12:37:28
Dad just called as I was ending this missive. Mom is still having seizures. She’s had five or six now since the middle of last night, early this morning. Details on Sunday: one long seizure that started at home and then continued at the hospital.
So far, both Dilantin and Verced (Versed? Sp?) have failed to stop the seizures. They switched her to Cerabix (sp?) sometime this, Monday, morning, and when she had another seizure, she’s now on a fourth one, Adavan.
Dr. Juwett’s partner Dr. Wesellesski has checked in and seen at least one of Mom’s seizures. He’s 50% or better certain that it’s the switch from Cymbalta to Lexapro. As he joked, “never switch medications on a weekend.”
This renewed confidence in the medication explanation is obviously very very good. First, it’s easily fixed. Second, it’s not scarred brain tissues, a problem that sounds neither like it would go away on its own nor would be easily fixed. So let’s hope it’s the drugs.
Seeing the seizures stop after her system adjusts will be a good sign. However, after this incident, she will probably have to take an anti-seizure medication for life, regardless of the explanation for said seizures. And when she recovers from these episodes, she can go back on the Lexapro properly. I discussed with Dad that Cymbalta is a new drug and relatively untested in the market outside of pre-release trials and maybe the tapering off it and the tapering onto Lexapro was too fast or too slow or whatever. Dad did confirm that Mom took her last Cymbalta Saturday and her first Lexapro yesterday, Sunday morning. Given the time of the seizure that followed (2 p.m. ish) would back up that explanation.
As with the comments above, thank you for all your love and support.
Me on my birthday, 2005:
Lori Christmas 2005:
We formed a Masters team; GREY AREA (get it, heh)...
And Mom got a kitty cat: Princess.
YES, DAMMIT, her name was Princess. Sadly, she passed a way a few years ago, outliving Mom.
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| Mom with Princess on adoption day when she was brought home |
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2008.14 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1869 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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