@gemcosta: It's Seattle, so sunlight is not an issue.

@Ravennl: It's almost laughable in the book in spots. Clarke actually describes a real baby being born in the alien place (the rococo room where Bowman "dies"). In the movie, Kubrick had only the (supposedly) metaphorical image of a fetus. In my mind, it's one of the most deftly interpreted visuals from a book ever…

"You expect me to read a book throughout all of that?"

@Ravennl: As I understood it, the whole "stargate" sequence and subsequent return to earth was an automated process that some ancient, and long since disappeared species had put in place. He describes them as biological beings long before humans first appeared, then they develop some kind of mega-cybernetic systems…

@Ravennl: [SPOILER ALERT] As an omniscient narrator, Clarke is able to point out several interesting details that the movie omits. That Kubrick chose to leave them out points to the fact that it doesn't really matter if the aliens are biological or some ancient automated routine (as the book describes). The results…

@reddingofish: How are we supposed to create defenses against that which we know nothing about?

And after all that gore and mayhem, they can't even pay their VFX company:

I'd install the free-floating design in the middle of the room only if I could incorporate a fireplace beneath it.

@tallchair: Yeah, i don't want them to get so lo that this veers into any imperial entanglements.

@Gungnir: I put my bes' spin on this and you have no idea what I'm tarkin about?

@Brandroid: I'm gonna have to ban tha next person who posts a stupid pun!

Fixed that for you....

@Pook365: There probably are, but what are you gonna do, FedEx it to one of them? The navy is not going to abandon the tour, turn the entire battle group around and head back to port to drop off an engine.

@lalawguy: I thought it was funny they show the owls hammering them on a forge right in the trailer. Apparently feathers are very grippy.

With so many words about Kurzweil, I thought I had accidentally surfed over to boing boing (also known as the Temple of Kurzweil's Singularity). Good Lord, this guy gets kookier by the minute.

@Mecharine: You'd be surprised how easy these fx are (or maybe you wouldn't) with even a modicum of talent and tools. I guarantee it was cheaper and easier to do a cg tank than to rent one, probably even cheaper than filling the gas tank.

This entire "problem" can be solved simply by using any camera with a flip down/up monitor screen.

What's Lance Armstrong doing on that poster? I guess he could outrun the aliens on his bike for at least 3 weeks.

Giving up the hard-working dev route and jumping on the PPC ad-spam wagon. Sounds like a smart financial move to me.

@ringer81: I stand corrected: ACCD undergrad tuition: $15,834...per trimester!