Justin Cecil's Blog

  When I went to the University of Central Florida about a decade ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long!), the film director Jason Reitman came over to give a Q & A. Below is a picture I took of him, and I even got to shake his hand. At this point he had already directed the film “Thank You for Smoking” and “Juno,” and would soon premiere his film “Up in the Air,” which I would say is one of my favorites of his. “Up in the Air” is a 2009 movie in which George Clooney plays a man named Ryan Bingham, a “termination assistant” and motivational speaker. Basically he is paid to fire people on behalf of companies not willing to do so; since this was made during a dark time for the American economy with many people being laid off, it was a very timely film. Bingham is one of those perhaps rare people that truly loves his job, and revels in the fact that he gets to travel around the country and fly in planes most days of the year. While he doesn’t work as either a pilot or a fli...

  Back in the 1960s, a lot of people thought we’d have flying cars by the year 2000. It’s 2020 now and we’re probably still a little ways away from flying cars. I’d love to see them come to fruition at some point in my life, although realistically I think the automobile industry should first focus on making vehicles much more energy efficient, and perhaps also self-driven. Flying cars have been a staple in science fiction for decades upon decades, but perhaps they’re most famous in the classic cartoon “The Jetsons.” I was just looking at the opening of “The Jetsons” on youtube and there are a couple of things I noticed. One thing is that while it still looks futuristic, stylistically the animation feels very much like the 1960s. This is pretty common in science fiction, for the style to look like the era it was made in, or for people to look and behave like people from the era the series or film was made in rather than the future. If you watch “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the cloth...

  I wouldn’t consider myself to be an expert in Greek mythology (although I honestly think I might know more than the average person). When you read and learn about a particular thing, like an author’s work or perhaps even some of the works of an ancient culture as a whole, you might notice recurring themes and ideas. And there is one common theme I’ve noticed in a lot of stories from Greek mythology. Never piss off a god or goddess. One prominent example involves the goddess Artemis (one of my favorite ancient Greek deities). She was the goddess of hunting, the great outdoors, wild animals, chastity (she decided to remain a virgin her entire life, unlike many of the Greek deities who slept around with countless people) and the Moon. When she wasn’t answering the prayers of worshippers, Artemis could often be found outside hunting and simply having a good time. In fact as a child, when with her father Zeus, she asked him to fulfill several wishes of hers. These included but w...