Excitement Guaranteed!

SpaceX finally launched the Starship from their Boca Chica launch facility on April 20th.  Super Heavy booter #7 lifted Starship #24 to an altitude of nearly 40 kilometers before it started tumbling back to earth.  During the liftoff, several of the rocket engines failed, dramatically reducing the lift of the Super Heavy.  Also, the multiple failed engines impacted the booter's ability to steer correctly.  At approximately 4 minutes into the flight, the flight termination system was activated and both booter and starship were blown to bits that fell into the Gulf of Mexico some miles off the coast.  Success?  Absolutely!

By flying the rocket, the engineers can determine what doesn't work as expected by looking at the results.  This test flight provides a huge number of issues that can now be tackled.  I suspect the number one problem is the near destruction of the launch pad.  The amount of debris that flew in all directions - doubtless including into several of the failed engines - inflicted considerable damage to the launch site.  This is not ideal for rapid reuse.  A flame trench looks like a necessity.  Such will require massive redesign of the site.  A second test in 'a few months' appears unlikely to me.  This is a longstanding problem; it seems that every launch has been followed by a new layer of concrete.

The Starship will have to liftoff from the moon or Mars without the benefit of a flame trench, which is why SpaceX has pursued the current path.  Of course, Starship doesn't have anywhere near the thrust of a Super Heavy, so perhaps that can work with only 3 engines.  Not so for 33 engines.

How are the oil platforms that SpaceX purchased coming along?  The ocean should make for a fine flame trench.

Missing Link (2019)

Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) is drinking a tepid cup of tea in a rowboat in Loch Ness with his valet, Mr. Lint.  Frost hopes to capture irrefutable proof of the Loch Ness Monster.  Though he manages to take a picture of the great beast, things go awry and the camera is destroyed.  After returning to London, Mr. Lint resigns.  However, Sir Lionel has a new quest: to find Bigfoot in the American Northwest!  He proudly declares his intention to a local explorers' club that he has long wanted to join.  Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry) is adamantly opposed to Frost's plans and sends an assassin to make sure he is not successful.  Sir Lionel has hardly arrived in Washington than he meets Sasquatch (Zack Galifinakis).  To his great astonishment, bigfoot speaks!  He is the last of his kind in the area and sent the letter to Sir Lionel in hopes that he would help him reach Tibet where he could join the Yetis, whom he views as cousins.  Frost agrees.

Here is a fun adventure story that reminds one of Raiders of the Lost Ark or King Solomon's Mines.  A globe-trotting adventure that spans Scotland, England, the United States, India, and the Himalayas.  The settings are excellent and the claymation is terrific.  The animation of the elephant scene is shown as a post credits scene and demonstrates the immense effort taken to make this film.  Sir Lionel goes from being a man concerned entirely about his reputation to a man who connects with others.  Mr. Link - the name that Lionel bequeaths to bigfoot - finds a friend and is no longer lonely.  Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saladana) leaves her self-imposed seclusion in the wake of her husband's death to partake in Mr. Link's quest for the Yetis.

Made by the same company that did Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings, this was the most expensive of them and the first not to turn a profit.  That is unfortunate as it is a really entertaining movie.  Definitely recommended.