E.R. Torre's Blog, page 164

Yet another self-driving car article worth checking out…

Ok, ok, I know.  I’m devoting far too much time on this subject so unless something really big shows up, I’ll leave this topic alone for a while.

But before I do, this link to an article by Sam Tracy regarding which jobs will be lost when self-driving cars (inevitably, in my opinion) become a reality:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-tracy/autonomous-vehicles-will-_b_7556660.html

Part of what fascinates me about the self-driving car thing is that I can see it as being an incredible boon…and an equally incredible job killer, something this article explains quite well.

Without linking on that article, anyone can think of at least a few jobs that will be heavily impacted by self-driving cars.  Taxis?  Gone…at least the models that are driven by people.  Uber?  Also gone.  Truck transportation?  Also gone.  Mail carriers (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) may also be impacted.  If you can have driverless cars, what’s to stop you from developing some kind of robotic system to deliver mail and packages, too?

Then you dig a little deeper.  With the rise of the self-driving car, what happens to the auto insurance industry?  It will be impacted, perhaps very hard, and that means more lost jobs.

Going into the article, one can estimate some very hard realities regarding anyone who makes their living driving and using a vehicle.

But there is an upside to all this: By “liberating” (in some cases very much against their will) people from tasks involving driving, it creates a tremendous amount of free time and, it has been noted, it is in this vacuum of free time that people come up with new concepts and, quite possibly, progress.

The pain will come, of that there is no doubt.  Can what comes afterwards be a boon to society in general?

We’ll see.

RIP Christopher Lee

The last of a truly intriguing group of British actors, Christopher Lee, has passed away at the age of 93:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11666316/christopher-lee-dies-live.html

There is no doubt as to my absolutely favorite Christopher Lee movie: 1973’s The Wicker Man.  Yes, he made a damn great Dracula and was a great villain in countless films (he was one of the more intriguing elements as the titular villain in the otherwise very dull -to me- James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun), but his role in The Wicker Man has stayed with me every since I saw the film.

Sadly, when mentioning this particular film modern audiences may confuse it with the truly horrible 2006 Nicholas Cage remake of the same name.  That later film is rightfully scorned but the original is an absolute horror classic that tackles issues of faith and religion in a manner today’s studios wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.

Here’s to you, Mr. Lee.  You’ve entertained people for many, many years and lived a long and very productive life.  In the end, that’s about all we can hope to do as well.

Yet more on self-driving cars…

I know, I know…I’ve devoted an awful lot of space around here to the driverless/self-driving car articles.  If you’re tired of reading these articles, scroll on because here’s another one.

In this case, it involves Elon Musk and his Tesla autopilot…and the fact that he’s already testing it, along with the limits of his version:

Elon Musk Is Already Driving His Tesla on Autopilot.  Would You?

As I’ve stated before, I’m absolutely fascinated with the concept of self-driving vehicles and feel this will be as big a game changer, society-wise, as we’ve seen since the advent of the personal computer/internet (which for better or worse has radically changed almost all aspects of our being as well).

I’m becoming more and more convinced the mass production and use of self-driving cars is just around the corner.  Perhaps in another five years or so we’ll see many of them on the streets of all major cities.  And maybe five years after that people will no longer care to own a car at all and will use self-driving cars they summon via their smartphones.

Interesting times.

Fascinating…

Found this on io9 and was blown away by it:

Eerie Chalkboard Drawings Show Life In Oklahoma Schools 98 Years Ago

From the article:

Contractors doing construction at Emerson High School in Oklahoma City unearthed chalkboards from 1917, showing classroom life from 98 years ago.

In making way for new white boards, the contractors removed chalkboards only to find another set of chalkboards — with the preserve writing and illustrations — underneath. It looks like the 1917 lessons were covered up during Thanksgiving/Christmas break, since every classroom had a lesson on the Pilgrims in it. And at least one classroom was counting down to Christmas.

Of the images found on the old chalkboards shown in the article, this is the one I found the most fascinating:

Some kind of multiplication aid, I imagine, yet one for the most part lost to time.  A comment below the article offers an idea of how this particular aid works, but I’m lost!

The original article, along with an equally fascinating video, can be found here:

http://newsok.com/workers-discover-preserved-writings-drawings-on-slate-blackboards-at-okc-high-school/article/5425449

Build ’em up, knock ’em down…

If there is one constant in this universe it’s this: If you or your company somehow manage to climb to the very peak of the mountain and succeed beyond your wildest dreams, be weary.  Be weary because it is only a matter of time before you’re knocked from your perch.

Apple has led a truly charmed life these past few years.  What started in the very late 1970’s and early 1980’s as a fascinating home computer company that then floundered and nearly died with the rise of the PC and Microsoft only to become renewed with the iPod, iPhone, etc. etc. has now, apparently, reached that lofty king of the hill point…and it looks like the knives are being sharpened.

Yesterday, Apple had one of their big tech announcement events and, this time around, it appears it elicited more snark than “oohhs” and “aaahs”.

Why?

Perhaps in part this is due to the fact that many are catching on to Apple’s propensity to “borrow” (ahem) technological concepts already created/used by others and then make a big show of touting them as their very own.

Others may note that Apple has been doing this for years, yet fans of the company inevitably defend Apple by say something along the lines of “Yeah, but Apple took concept X and refined it to make it great!”

This line of thinking certainly worked for quite a while, but it seems as if the Emperor is finally being exposed for what s/he is.

In the case of yesterday’s event, one which I was curious about (I’m always interested to see what tech companies such as Apple have coming), I found reaction articles were generally muted.  Many fell along the lines of this one, written by Will Oremus for Slate.com:

All The Revolutionary Products Apple Just Announced, And Who They Copied Them From

The piece is well written and rather devastating in that it points out exactly what each “new” Apple product is…and what identical products are out there -some for years- that do the very same thing.

But the criticism may be the result of another thing, something I’ve felt for a bit now: We’re reaching something of a technological plateau where it comes to computers, phones, video gaming systems, and, yes, even software.

A couple of years ago people were writing about the “end of the desktop PC”.  I scoffed at these stories.  Sure, the sales of desktop PCs were indeed down, but I felt the reason for that was extremely obvious: The desktop PC had reached a technological plateau and there simply was NO NEED to trade in your old PC for a new one as the old one was perfectly good to use for many years.

As I noted in other blog entries, when PCs first came out, each new generation was a genuinely BIG step forward and made your older model look like crap.  In effect, you needed to upgrade to the next version PC because the version you had was so obviously inferior to the new version that was just released.

But a number of years ago desktop PCs hit a level that made them good enough to last many years and, suddenly, new versions weren’t all that different from the “old” ones.  You no longer had the need to trade in the old to get the new.

In my case, I kept and used my desktop PC for over six years (a lifetime in tech years!) without needing to purchase a new model.  Nonetheless, I recently wound up buying a new desktop PC but only because the old computer started to show signs of glitching.  Nothing super serious but it was enough to get me to buy a new PC because the last thing I needed to do was get ready to get to work on my PC and find it was dead.

My purchase, thus, was preventative in nature rather than because I needed the newest “thing”.

And what did I get?  My new desktop PC is a higher end big name brand and while it is faster than my old PC and I’m pleased to have it, I freely admit it isn’t a quantum leap above my six year old model.  Indeed, if the old machine hadn’t started showing problems, I would still be using it.

So returning to Apple, the company has this problem: They are one of the kings of the tech hill right now and they have to keep show people they deserve to stay there.  It wasn’t all that long ago, remember, when Blackberry was the king of the hill with regard to smartphones while today they’re essentially extinct.

So Apple continues having these technological “presentations” to get and keep people’s interest in their products.  But unfortunately for them, we’re getting to the point where there isn’t all that much out there to brag about.

The biggest technological advance to come, in my opinion, is significantly extending battery life.  But that isn’t a “sexy” tech to present.

So Apple trots out all these “new” programs and acts as if they’re just that.  Unfortunately for them, the buying public has become more savy, and thus an event that is supposed to get you excited for the next wave of Apple tech…leaves people noting just how unoriginal the material presented is.

Because you had to know, part 3…

From Cracked.com…

The 6 Most Embarrassing Historical Artifacts Ever Discovered

Just goes to show our ancestors weren’t all that different from us in many respects.

Still, quite amusing.  Reminds me of some of the things discovered in the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

For those who don’t know, Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried and lost for many hundreds of years following the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.  (You can read an interesting history of the town and its rediscovery here).  As excavations of Pompeii gained steam, plenty of “interesting” artwork was found intact, just as it was at the moment Mt. Vesuvius erupted.  In more modern times, the archaeologists and their benefactors found themselves embarrassed by some of the things they found and some of the rediscovered items were locked away and/or simply not talked about.

Today, with our more open society, there is more information available regarding some of the more notorious elements found in both Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Perhaps the biggest thing revealed is the fact that Roman culture of that time was much more liberal when it came to sexuality.

See for yourself:

Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum

and…

Pompeii Brothel Pictures

Spy (2015) a (not at all) belated review

Before the summer movie season formally began, I checked out various lists of (in some cases then) upcoming films and found myself looking forward to a precious few.  There was Mad Max Fury Road (seen it), Furious 7 (was curious but decided to wait for the home video release), Avengers: Age of Ultron (ditto, at least for the moment), and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Summer usually means action, action, and more action, and at least with regard to the films listed above, this was most certainly the case.

There was at least one other film, however, that didn’t seem to fit in with that mold and, at least based on the trailers, looked to me like it could be a lot of fun: The directed/written, starring comedy vehicle Spy.  The red band trailer is presented below.  Careful for the decidedly NSFW dialogue spoken with!

Okay, first off: I know there are those who aren’t fans of Ms. McCarthy.  I can understand.  There are some “comedians” out there releasing movies on a regular basis I have absolutely no interest in seeing.  Further, I know there are also those who don’t like comedies with raunchy dialogue, something that is a Paul Feig specialty.

Me?  I like raunchy dialogue, if done well.  I also like Ms. McCarthy, so going in to see this was a no-brainer.

And as it turned out, with Spy I’ve found all three of Ms. McCarthy’s movie appearances in films directed by Mr. Feig to be a hoot (the other two were Bridesmaids and The Heat).

What makes Spy so good is that although it is a starring vehicle for a very hilarious Ms. McCarthy (the first time she is as with Bridesmaids she was a supporting character and in The Heat she was a co-star with Sandra Bullock), the supporting cast is also quite terrific.  Special mention has to be made to two co-stars in particular, and (I don’t want to slight the other actors, particularly who gives a terrific turn as a pseudo-James Bond, but his role is a little more straightforward and not meant to be as humorous).

Jason Statham is glorious as Rick Ford, a Clint Eastwood-esq “bad ass” secret agent whose legend, it becomes apparent rather quickly, is in his own mind.  His preposterous character appears to be the missing genetic link between Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil and every scene he’s in is an absolute delight.

So too it is with Rose Byrne who brings a cool, razor sharp wit to her role as Rayna Boyanov, the movie’s main villain.  While testosterone (over) fueled Rick Ford is the walking definition of a bull in a china shop, Rayna is Euro-Cool to the extreme and whenever she’s with Melissa McCartney’s not-quite superspy they engage in some devastatingly funny (and raunchy) verbal jabs.

As for the movie’s plot…well, it may not be the most logical thing in the world, but it is more than enough to keep things interesting.

One final note: while Spy is a comedy, its humor comes from the characters.  The movie itself is not a parody of the superspy genre.  In fact, there are some pretty brutal action sequences sprinkled throughout, in particular a close quarter fight in a kitchen.  Though it might seem incongruous for a comedy, this film does feature its share of gory/bloody stuff.

With all the above said, it should be obvious I highly recommend Spy to anyone who likes what they’ve seen/read.  While it may not be one of my all time favorite comedies of all time, Spy is a damn good time.

Personally, I hope we get to see the further adventures featuring the entire cast.  Give me more Rick Ford!

Gotta Love the Internet, part deux…

From Salon.com…

The 9 Most God-Awful, Terrible-For-You Chain Restaurant Meals On The Market

When I was young, I was skeletally skinny.  Scary skeletally skinny.  Then I got older, got married, and the ol’ metabolism slowed down to where it wasn’t what it used to be.

In sum, I blew the hell up.

It was a slow process down the road to becoming overweight but I knew it was happening and tried (not too hard) to slow/reverse the process.  But it wasn’t until I felt pain in my feet/ankles whenever I walked that I realized it was time to get serious.

What followed was sheer, absolute hell.  While there exists a cottage industry around weight loss, the reality is that if you want to lose weight, this is what you have to do: 1) Eat less.  2) Exercise.

I spent days on end with headaches and a gnawing hunger (one causing the other, no doubt) and did some light exercises each day to kill even more calories.  When all was said and done, I lost something in the range of forty five or so pounds and, while I still consider myself a little on the heavy side (roughly 10 pounds over my “ideal” weight), I look much closer to what I used to as a youngster than what I became later on as a young adult.

And those pains in my feet/ankles?  Completely gone.

I look around nowadays and I can’t help but compare what people look like today to what people used to look like in my youth.  People have always come in different shapes and sizes but but seems to me there are more heavyset people around nowadays than before, and with restaurants giving out meals like those listed above, that’s not all that surprising.

Then again, when I was younger, the “large” soda and fries sizes in the various fast food joints was equivalent to what today is the “medium” size.  Is it any wonder weight is becoming more of an issue when we’re getting larger and larger portions of foods?

 

Then again, one shouldn’t go too far and engage in extreme and unhealthy weight loss/control behaviors.

Regardless, it’s safe to say the above listed meals should be avoided.  Or, if you order them, it might be very wise to share the meal!

Gotta love the internet…

So I’ve got a few free minutes and I’m goofing around on the internet and on reddit.com I find the following link which states:

“My girlfriend just sent me this with no context”.

I click on that link and viola…

I have myself a good laugh.  I mean…what the hell…a pug with a pepperoni pizza on its back in the middle of a nice green lawn/field.  Weird…amusing…weird.

Then I go to the commentaries for this link and right away it is pointed out that this photograph is the work of a photographer by the name of Jonpaul Douglass.  Turns out taking photographs that involve pepperoni pizzas is his “thing”.

Curious to see more examples?  Then click the link below and enjoy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/jonpaul-douglass_n_4904595.html

And don’t ever say this blog never does anything for you.

World on a Wire (1973) a (virtually) belated review

A few months back the kind folks at the Criterion Collection, makers of some of the finest BluRay/DVD releases of intriguing national and foreign films, had a sale on their products.

I checked through their stuff and considered some films here and there but nothing stuck out.  As diverse as their listings are, for the most part I had the films I wanted and, while there were some that called out to me, they didn’t make me curious enough to outright buy them.

So I narrowed my search to “science fiction” titles and, in a few seconds, stumbled upon the listing for the 1973 2 Part German TV movie World on A Wire.  The description of the film, as presented in the Criterion listing, follows:

World on a Wire is a gloriously paranoid, boundlessly inventive take on the future from German wunderkind Rainer Werner Fassbinder. With dashes of Stanley Kubrick, Kurt Vonnegut, and Philip K. Dick, Fassbinder tells the noir-spiked tale of reluctant hero Fred Stiller (Klaus Löwitsch), a cybernetics engineer who uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy. At risk? (Virtual) reality as we know it. Originally made for German television, this recently rediscovered, three-and-a-half-hour labyrinth is a satiric and surreal look at the world of tomorrow from one of cinema’s kinkiest geniuses.

Huh, I thought.

I had never before heard of this film and had only the barest idea of who director is/was.  Yet that description had me and I ordered the movie.  Before it arrived, I researched Mr. Fassbinder and found him to be a fascinating character.  He died in 1982 at the age of 37 from an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills…and left behind a mind-boggling legacy of 41 films made in a span of 13 years, many of which are considered classics of German cinema.

Incredible.

World on A Wire would be Mr. Fassbinder’s only science fiction film and, as stated in the Criterion description, it was essentially forgotten and lost (hence the need to be “rediscovered”) for many years.  No doubt this was due in part to the tremendous amount of work Mr. Fassbinder released.  As was stated in some of the supplemental materials on the BluRay, there is such a wealth of material Mr. Fassbinder left behind that much of it even today waits to be rediscovered.

Based on the 1964 novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye, World on a Wire can rightfully be called one of the very first -if not THE first- film to deal with the concept of virtual reality, something explored to great effect in more recent years and in movies such as eXistenZ, The Matrix, Dark City, and The 13th Floor (itself also based on the novel Simulacron-3)  Virtual reality has also found its way into various TV shows, including the concept of the “Holodeck” in Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Even I’ve explored the concept in my short story Virtual found in the short story collection Shadows at Dawn. (self promotion ends in 3…2…1…)

As I put the movie into my player, I frankly didn’t know what I’d get.  It is, after all, an older film and a TV movie to boot.  It’s long, consisting of two parts each of which run a little over an hour and a half.  It was a daunting task to find that much free time…

Still, that description had me.  I gave the film a go…

…and I couldn’t have been happier with what I saw.

World on a Wire is, paradoxically, an incredibly forward thinking work yet one whose luster is nonetheless -perhaps inevitably- somewhat dulled by the movies/TV shows I’ve mentioned above.  I imagine audiences in 1973 were floored with the cliffhanger revelation at the end of the first part of the film but modern audiences, I suspect, will have figured out that particular twist long before it is formally revealed.

The thing is, once that revelation is made, we’re left with the entire second part of the film and this is where we venture into “new” and unexplored territory.  To put it more clearly, part 1 of World on a Wire acts as a “rules of the game” presentation while part 2 gives us the story/resolution proper.  This very logical progression worked incredibly well and, in spite of my familiarity with the concepts, had me intrigued until the very end.

Those expecting to see a special effects extravaganza need look elsewhere.  Despite its science fictional trappings, World on a Wire is decidedly low tech and features almost no special effects.  Its tone is more in line with film noir mysteries, and indeed that works best for the mysterious story presented.  Our hero, Fred Stiller (), as also noted in some of the extra material on the BluRay, is essentially a Humphrey Bogart detective-type, a man who is presented with an initial mystery involving a disappeared co-worker no one else but he remembers existed.  It is this initial mystery that leads him down dark paths and strange new experiences and tests his very sanity.

World on a Wire turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  I so enjoy discovering older, fascinating works that put into perspective other works.  In the case of this film, it clearly is the granddaddy of many more famous, recognized virtual reality works, yet it stands out on its own.

Highly recommended.