E.R. Torre's Blog, page 157

Hmmmm….(now with an update!)

So last night the 2015 NFL season began with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing at/against the New England Patriots and…

What Exactly Happened With The Steelers’ Headsets?

As any NFL fan knows by now, the New England Patriots have a…reputation…for underhanded activities.  Cheating, for those who prefer less florid descriptions.

One thing New England has been accused of before is hooking into or interfering with the headsets/communication systems of the opposing teams.

Given all the scrutiny New England is getting at this point in time, it would be truly stupid or collosally arrogant for them to try to do any of that on opening day?

Right?

Yet during last night’s game the Steelers experienced periods of interference on their communication systems where the New England radio transmissions of the game were broadcast through their headsets, thus impeding the Steelers’ coaches from calling plays from the sidelines.  Theoretically, whenever there is a problem with one team’s communication systems, then all communication systems are supposed to be shut off, thus assuring both team remain of equal grounds.

in the article above, written by Timothy Burke for Deadspin, he notes one of the more intriguing quotes from the Steelers’ clearly irate coach, Mike Tomlin, regarding the communication problems his team experienced and the possibility there was of shutting the New England communication system off during the game:

…whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers’ headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast.

Weird.

Could they?  Would they?  Do they really have the b*lls to do this?

I suspect it’ll be an interesting season, if nothing else…

PROMISED UPDATE:  Looks like the NFL has investigated the situation and determined the communication problem was not created by the nefarious New England Patriots but was an electronic/weather glitch…

NFL Clears New England Patriots of Headset Suspicion; Electrical Issue, Weather At Fault

I’m actually glad to hear that.  Assuming everything bad said about New England were true and they knew all eyes were on them on opening day, for them to be involved in messing with the opposing team’s communication equipment right off the bat…well, we’d be dealing with a truly, massively arrogant organization if that had been the case.

I suspect New England is going to try to play it “straight” from here on in.  They have to know that all eyes are on them and therefore any attempt to do anything outside the lines will likely be caught.

That being said, I’m curious to see, when the season is done, how their statistics measure up compared to other years.

Hmmmm….

So last night the 2015 NFL season began with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing at/against the New England Patriots and…

What Exactly Happened With The Steelers’ Headsets?

As any NFL fan knows by now, the New England Patriots have a…reputation…for underhanded activities.  Cheating, for those who prefer less florid descriptions.

One thing New England has been accused of before is hooking into or interfering with the headsets/communication systems of the opposing teams.

Given all the scrutiny New England is getting at this point in time, it would be truly stupid or collosally arrogant for them to try to do any of that on opening day?

Right?

Yet during last night’s game the Steelers experienced periods of interference on their communication systems where the New England radio transmissions of the game were broadcast through their headsets, thus impeding the Steelers’ coaches from calling plays from the sidelines.  Theoretically, whenever there is a problem with one team’s communication systems, then all communication systems are supposed to be shut off, thus assuring both team remain of equal grounds.

in the article above, written by Timothy Burke for Deadspin, he notes one of the more intriguing quotes from the Steelers’ clearly irate coach, Mike Tomlin, regarding the communication problems his team experienced and the possibility there was of shutting the New England communication system off during the game:

…whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers’ headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast.

Weird.

Could they?  Would they?  Do they really have the b*lls to do this?

I suspect it’ll be an interesting season, if nothing else…

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) a (mildly) belated review

There has been much scorn heaped upon this past summer’s big hit Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Having missed the film when it was in theaters (not a big surprise) and despite the many complaints I read online, I was nonetheless eager to watch it and, when it finally arrived, I purchased it via VUDU (you can also get it through Amazon.  The physical disc version will be out soon).

Going into the movie, I wasn’t sure how I’d react.  I liked the first Avengers film despite some pretty big plot problems (why did the aliens need to arrive right over New York?  Why didn’t they just materialize, say, behind the Moon and, when an overwhelming amount of their forces was already through the wormhole, then invade Earth?).  I also liked several of the Marvel films that came before while I hated some others.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier is probably my favorite of the Marvel films while for the life of me I can’t understand what anyone found good about Guardians of the Galaxy.

With Age of Ultron (I’ll call it AOU from here on), I liked the actors playing the various superheroes.  I also really liked the idea of getting to play Ultron, the film’s big baddy.  He’s got one of those great voices that just drips evil when he wants it to.  On the other hand, the movie featured one hell of a lot of characters and, as mentioned, it appeared many fans who otherwise loved Marvel films turned away from this one.

So I watched the film and, incredibly, I found myself siding with those who complained about several aspects of the film…and yet I enjoyed it nonetheless!

Yes, the film was awfully long.  Yes, Ultron wasn’t the be-all end-all villain he should have been.  Yes, the whole Thor goes to that mythical waters scene made no sense (the video release includes a “deleted” extended version of that scene and I’m here to tell you…it still makes no sense).  Yes, writer/director Joss Whedon tried a little too hard to include more “heavy” concepts (check out how many times he tries to shoehorn in the concept of everyone in the film being a “monster” of some sort).  Yes, and paradoxically, the dialogue is at times too cheeky and “jokey” and this diminishes the threat levels the protagonists face…

And yet…and yet…

I still enjoyed the film.

Not, however, at first.  The film’s opening minutes, featuring the Avengers attacking one of Hydra’s last strongholds, was a computer generated mess, never more than cartoonish looking at best.  This was a real surprise…and disappointment…considering the much higher level of CGI that came afterwards.  I can’t help but wonder if that opening bit was created at the last minute.  Considering it is what sets up the rest of the movie, though, that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.

Yet once the opening attack is over, the film proper began and, again, I enjoyed what I saw despite the enumerated problems mentioned above.

In AOU, the Avengers have a crisis of faith with each other that threatens to tear them apart yet through the course of the film they slowly regain their shattered trust before finally confronting their nemesis head on.

Along the way we’re introduced to a trio of new (to the Marvel movie universe) characters.  Again, one would worry that with so much going on and so many faces flashing by that several would inevitably get the short shift.  Yet to Mr. Whedon’s credit, everyone gets a decent amount of screen time and are able to strut their stuff.  Other than the already mentioned nonsensical Thor scene which was the only complete story misfire, things moved along well and I was never bored or at a loss as to what the heck was going on which was quite an accomplishment in and of itself!

No, AOU is not the “best” superhero movie ever made and yes, it has several flaws.  In spite of that, it is an enjoyable romp with a group of charismatic actors in their prime having a blast playing superheroes and villains.

What’s wrong with that?

Apple watching…

Hilarious (and foul mouthed) article by Kyle Wagner regarding yesterday’s Apple extravaganza:

A Layman’s Guide to the new iPhones, and Apple’s Other Crap

Perhaps its because of all these years of people genuflecting before the almighty Apple, but I get a chuckle whenever the proverbial worm turns (I suppose that’s a pun?).

Seriously, I use Apple products and see their value but I don’t get the crazed, breathless love some people have for the products.

Political quiz…

Who do you side with in the upcoming presidential elections?

The quiz found in the link below allows you to go through a series of questions and, once answered, you will find which of the 2016 candidates most fits your worldview:

http://www.isidewith.com/

I wasn’t too shocked to find that I sided with the Democratic Candidates.  In order, I sided with Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, then Hillary Clinton.  I agreed with Mrs. Clinton 89% and my agreement with the other two candidates moved up from there.

As for the Republican Candidates, I agreed the “most” with Rand Paul at only 37% and things went downhill from there.  I agreed with both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump at a mere 21%.  The only surprise is that I agreed with them that much!

From Spygate to Deflategate and beyond…

I’m a “squishy” football fan.

Love the sport.  Love watching it and love rooting for my team.  Yet I can’t help but wonder how long it will continue given the research and reality of what happens to the human body -and especially one’s brain- when participating in this sport.  The reality is that we now have a bunch of very big and muscular people at the peak of physical conditioning essentially running as fast as they can into each other.  How long will it be before we have an on field fatality?  I hope it never happens, but I can’t help but wonder…

Be that as it may, I’m fascinated with the controversy swirling around the Patriots organization.  A few years back, the organization was accused of spying on opposing teams.  Last year, Patriot Quarterback Tom Brady was accused of being behind a scheme to deflate the balls he used in games and was handed a four game suspension.  It appeared the punishment was a “make up” for the ineffective punishment given out for the spying done by the Patroits before, at least based on this fascinating article by Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham for ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13533995/split-nfl-new-england-patriots-apart

What I find most remarkable is the attempts by Patriot fans to brush these rather severe allegations aside.  “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying”, some quote while others attempt to diminish the importance of the examples presented.  Still others will use something along these lines: “You’re just jealous of our success.”

Of course, there is no resolution here between fans and fanatics.

What I suppose almost everyone can agree on, if they look at the facts impartially, is that the Patriots have been without much question one of the best teams in the NFL ever since Tom Brady’s arrival.  One can further state that they obviously work hard and are a smartly led team.

Where the debate starts and ends is with this: How much of their success is due to cheating?  5%?  10%?  30%?  50%?  More?  Less?

It’s an impossible thing to quantify yet for those who so quickly diminish the cheating this team obviously engaged in I would only say this: Coach Belichick and company wouldn’t be doing these things if they didn’t feel it helped them in some way.

Anyway, while on the subject of sports…

Kansas State Marching Band Made a Giant 50 Foot Penis

Perhaps its me but…what a lot of nothing.  Do people really see a giant penis is this formation?  Seriously?

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar….

The case of the jailed country clerk…

Anyone following the news must have at least some knowledge of Kim Davis, Country Clerk for Rowan Country, Kentucky, who refused to give out marriage certificates (any marriage certificates) because of what she described as her deep religious beliefs being in disagreement with the now legally settled issue of same sex marriages.  So, rather than give gay people marriage certificates, she would not give anyone marriage certificates.

She (or rather her attorneys) took the case to court(s) and were defeated at every turn.  Her last chance was to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in and, when they refused, it essentially ended whatever legal recourse she had left.

Despite this she continued to refuse issuing marriage certificates and last Thursday was brought before a judge for consideration of being held in contempt of court.  She was indeed found to be in contempt and, somewhat surprisingly, the judge sent her to jail…

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/politics/kentucky-clerk-same-sex-marriage-kim-davis/index.html

I say “somewhat” surprisingly because although this was certainly one of the judge’s options, the defendants asked she be fined until she complied.  The judge, however, viewed her continued flaunting of law as more serious and therefore took the more punitive measure.  Plus, some speculated, the judge was aware that anti-gay marriage groups might collect money to pay whatever fines he might issue against Ms. Davis, therefore rendering that form of punishment null.

Predictably, there are many on the conservative side of the coin -and even presidential candidates!- who reacted negatively to the whole affair…

Twitter Conservatives Lose It After Kim Davis is Jailed

What to make of all this?

I suspect in the long run people like Ms. Davis are a dying breed.  Societies and their mores inevitably march on, and things that were not allowed/forbidden/illegal years before can be scrubbed away and society isn’t necessarily the worse for it.

There was a time, after all, when it was illegal to sell and consume alcohol.  This was the law of the land!  The law was, of course, repealed and I highly doubt we’re ever going to see any such law reappear ever again.  Quite the contrary, it now appears we’re starting to loosen laws dealing with illegal drug use.

What is also clear is that with regard to Gay Marriage there has been a shift in tolerance and acceptance and that has, somewhat predictably in some parts, led to a blowback among those with more conservative leanings.

This explains someone like Ms. Davis.  But given the fact that the country hasn’t descended into Mad-Max-ian anarchy since the Supreme Court formally allowed Gay Marriage, I think its safe to say the majority of people in this country have little to no big issue with this ruling.

A vocal minority, therefore, is left to cling to the pre-Gay Marriage ruling and try to fight to somehow retain the previous status-quo.

It has been pointed out that Ms. Davis is hardly a great example of squeaky-clean Americana given her past marital history and there is more than a wiff of hypocrisy to her stand against Gay Marriage.  While interesting fodder, it is irrelevant to the bigger issue.

The bigger issue, to me, is that the fight is over.

Ms. Davis and the conservative foundation lawyers who I strongly suspect are the real “brains” behind her stand are like Hiro Onoda, the Japanese soldier who, along with a trio of companions, hid for years and continued fighting a war they would not accept ended in 1945.

Unlike abortion, which still divides this country, I suspect the issue of Gay Marriage will eventually become an afterthought.  It’ll be one of those things that when people are asked about they will shrug and wonder why there was so much fighting about it in the first place.

As with so many other things…we’ll see!

Mr. Robot (2015) a (mildly) belated season 1 TV series review

Having just concluded a few days ago after a two week or so delay due to a violent scene that was perhaps a little too close to tragic real life events, I eagerly looked in on the 10th and final episode of the first season of Mr. Robot and found it, like most of the season before it, a fascinating watch.

Also, a bit of a troubling watch, which I’ll get into in a moment.

To begin, Mr. Robot concerns one Elliot Alderson (played incredibly well by ).  Elliot is a genius level computer hacker who is also a social misfit.  He can barely talk to people, is addicted to morphine, sees (and lies) to his psychologist, and in his free time hacks into other people’s lives.  It is while doing this that Elliot fancies himself a do-gooder.  If his hacks reveal bad or illegal things people are doing, he will expose them.

Elliot works, ironically enough, at a computer security firm where it is his job to stop hackers.  One of his co-workers is Angela Moss (), a friend of his since childhood.  The two share a platonic relationship -though there are moments we get hints of Elliot’s longing for her- along with a shared tragic past: When they were children, Elliot lost his father and Angela lost her mother after being exposed to chemicals.

The chemical exposure was caused by Evil Corp., the show’s “big bad” company that, ironically enough (part deux), employs Elliot and Angela’s company for security.  Thus the two have to work –well!– for the very company they suspect caused their parents’ deaths.

Into Elliot’s life arrives a strange man who calls himself “Mr. Robot” (, also doing some fantastic acting here).  Mr. Robot gradually pulls Elliot into his “work”.  Mr. Robot, we find, is also a hacker who, along with a group of fellow hackers, has set a goal on something far greater than Elliot could imagine doing: Taking down Evil Corp and freeing everyone from any debt they may have to any corporation.

All they have to do is crack into Evil Corp and fry their data all at once and all over the entire planet.

To get into more details than this would bring us into SPOILERY territory and, since I intend to do so in a moment, I’ll keep quiet here.

Suffice to say that if you haven’t checked out Mr. Robot, I highly recommend you do.  The show isn’t perfect and there was at least one episode, eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4 (episode 4 of the series) that appeared to be a time killer at best, but the show makes you think with each passing moment.

I highly recommend it.

Still with me?  Good.

What follows, however, is…

SPOILER FILLED!!!

You have been warned!

Ok, so here we go: Up above I wrote the following regarding this show: “(Mr. Robot is) a bit of a troubling watch, which I’ll get into in a moment.”  That moment has arrived.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, there have been times I’ve found myself picking up on “hidden” or “surprising” things in movies or TV shows before they are revealed to the audience.  Perhaps it is because I’m a writer myself and spot some clues beforehand or perhaps it is just that I’ve an interest and affinity to see these types of details, but it happens now and again (not always by any stretch of the imagination) and sometimes a show/movie’s biggest “shocks” or “surprises” are not quite as surprising.

In the case of Mr. Robot, I figured out Mr. Robot’s identity a couple of episodes before we reached that reveal. Not only did I figure he was Elliot’s father (an easier guess), I knew he was a figment of Elliot’s imagination as well.  In this case what clued me in was the multiple times characters (particularly Elliot himself) noted Mr. Robot was “crazy”.  There was even one startling scene where Mr. Robot confronted one of his cohorts and, while waving a gun at his head, said the same thing about himself.

Regardless of my amazing (I kid, I kid) precognition, the reveal that Mr. Robot and Elliot are one and the same person instantly made me realize another thing: Mr. Robot is a cyberpunk version of Fight Club.

In Fight Club (the movie, I have not read the book it was based on) we follow the narrator () and his eventual interactions with Tyler Durden () who introduces him to a “Fight Club” where men beat each other up and, eventually, engage in societal anarchy.  They fight the “powers” that be and are disdainful of society and its mores.  Eventually it is revealed that Tyler Durden and the narrator are one and the same person, that Durden is the narrator’s id breaking out.

I hate to say it, but this is pretty much exactly what we’ve got going on in Mr. Robot.

Interestingly, I didn’t like Fight Club (the movie) all that much because the concept was a hard one for me to wrap my head around.  In Mr. Robot, however, I totally get the concept of cyber security and hacking and therefore find myself intrigued with the concepts presented.

Having said that, I repeat: Mr. Robot is, thematically, pretty much the same thing as Fight Club.  While Mr. Robot is extremely well done/acted, one can’t escape the fact that it is also very derivative of that concept.  So much so that it wouldn’t surprise me if Fight Club author doesn’t one day sue the makers of Mr. Robot.  Hell, if Harlan Ellison had a case against James Cameron for The Terminator, Mr. Palahniuk certainly has one for Mr. Robot.

But just as James Cameron created a terrific piece of movie-making with The Terminator, so too do the makers of Mr. Robot create a must-see TV show.

Still recommended, despite this reservation.

Alternate Universe of Soviet Arcade Games

Fascinating article by Kristin Winet and found at i09.com concerning the above, Soviet Era arcade games!

http://io9.com/the-alternative-universe-of-soviet-arcade-games-1729012559

What’s the most intriguing is the way the games play, without a sense of individual “winning”.  I have to say, seeing some of the pictures, I’m really curious to see some of these games, but to do so, I’d have to travel quite a way…

This n’ that…

Found a few interesting things this morning.

First up, want to see what Lady Gaga’s “meat dress” looks like five years later?  Sure you do:

http://jezebel.com/heres-what-lady-gagas-meat-dress-looks-like-five-years-1728266149

Apparently the dress is now on display at Cleveland’s Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.  The video, presented in the above link, for those who don’t want to go to the website:

Tasty!

Next up, something that I suppose was bound to eventually happen:

Job Seeker Accidentally Sends Nude Selfies to HR Manager

No, the individual did not get the job.

Finally, a most eerie microscopic zoom…

What the heck is this?  Why its a…

Microscopic zoom-in on a bacterium on a diatom on an amphipod

Now you know.