Sorry, wrong actor

*There is a message for you* - actually it was actor Gary Lockwood as *Frank Poole* who got the birthday video from home. BTW: It was interesting to note how *disinterested* his character was while watching the thing.

Bought on earth!!!!!!

The sneakers were brobably bought on earth (i see no store aboard), and were probably used there too before he went on board.

Bought on earth!

This is just to farfetched. Frank bought his sneakers on earth (i see no stores aboard), and may have used them there before leaving.

Dirty footwear.

The first nitpick is correct. A trip that important with that much time spent away from earth would've been thought out so carefully as to leave no room for error. Except for maybe one or two personal items brought along as souvenirs, pictures from home, bible, etc., there wouldn't have been any store bought stuff that they just happen to pick up at the last minute.

Human Filth / Disinterested

The vast majority of dirt in an ordianry home is composed of dead skin cells & other human byproducts. It's quite possible that, during the first several months of an 8 month voyage, there's enough creeping human waste to accumulate on the bottom of Frank Poole's shoes. Unless, of course, these guys are scrubbing themselves as thoroughly as the main character of "Gattaca". *grin*\r\rNote that the real, long-haul space station Mir had a nasty smell, and had a nasty case of Creeping Crud that was covering windows and electronic components with a hard plaque.\r\rSide note: Poster 1552 is fascinated by how stoic Poole seems, as he receives his birthday message. This is intentional, and is a recurring theme in Kubrick's work. Kubrick felt VERY strongly that technology had a dehumanizing effect. Notice that HAL is the most emotional of the crewmembers, and that all dialgue througout the film is banal, socially distancing, slightly manipulative, and ultimately artificial-sounding...even the scene when Heywood Floyd is talking to his daughter. In particular, note the very hollow tone of voice used by the earthbound communication specialist, discussing the imminent antenna failure and HAL's apparent mistake. Kubrick went to extraordinary lengths to find a speaker with the right flatness in his voice, ultimately choosing someone who was a professional military communications specialist and NOT a member of an actor's union. \r\rNote also that Bowman has no noticeable emotional reaction, when he goes out to recover Poole's lifeless body. It's only later, when HAL tells bowman to go get stuffed, than Bowman shows signs of emotional turbulence: Bowman loses his cool & says "Where the hell'd you get THAT idea, HAL ?"\r\rYou can see a further reduction of humanity in how the frozen men die: we see only their lifesign signals flattening.