Silent witness

Re-watching some movies on DVD recently, I noticed a recurring motif: pivotal death scenes featuring a passive, non-human observer:

  • : Jones the cat looks on as the xenomorph claims its first post-natal victim in Harry Dean Stanton.
  • : A genetically engineered owl—of course it’s not real—pays scant attention to the brutal killing of Dr. Eldon Tyrell at the hands of another of his creations, Roy Batty.
  • : During the combined patricide and regicide of Marcus Aurelius by his son Commodus, the camera comes to rest on a bust of the emperor within sight of the murder.

…or it could just be a series of coincidences.

Have you published a response to this? :

Previously on this day

13 years ago I wrote Microformats gone wild

You can’t swing a cat without hitting a microformat these days.

14 years ago I wrote Bound for Cork

I’m going to be incommunicado for the next few days. I’m heading back to my hometown in Ireland.

15 years ago I wrote Viva La iPodDownload

I wrote a little while back about a nice little plug-in for iTunes called iPodDownload. It plugged a glaring usability hole in iTunes whereby you aren’t able to simply drag your music from your iPod to your computer.

16 years ago I wrote Oh my God, it's full of rock stars!

All went well with the Salter Cane concert last night. My bout of gastroenteritis had luckily passed by the time the gig rolled ‘round.

18 years ago I wrote The Brick Testament

Now, this is what the Internet was made for: Bible stories in Lego form.

18 years ago I wrote Movie industry dealt DVD-cracking blow

This is good news. The infamous DeCSS code is protected under free speech.

18 years ago I wrote Giant Sand

The Giant Sand concert was lots of fun.