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#8080 #6502

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

WarGames (1983)

The authenticity of this film has held up pretty well over time. They apparently had very good technical consultation with only a few incredulous “Hollywood moments” thrown in here and there. The film also provides an excellent snapshot of the early hacker culture and the 80’s cold war posture. At the time the film was produced, only a small portion of the population even knew how to use a computer, let alone owned one.

Production wise, it was pretty well made and is still entertaining even though it’s now been 40 years since it was produced. The filmmakers made liberal use of stock character actors in the film who played it a bit over the top at points, and there was quite a bit of awkward exposition, which is not uncommon for a film that is trying to introduce new concepts to an audience, which at the time, was digitally illiterate.

The film has acquired substantial cultural significance over the years and was likely influential in forming public opinion about technology, nuclear weapons and the cold war.

Recommended for anyone who needs to understand the early days of the computer revolution and the American cultural environment during the years leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union.

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Pat

Here’s a cool chart I found on Wikipedia that shows the age/sex demographics of the US population over time. In a sense, it’s a 3D chart – 2-spacial, 1-temporal dimension.

There’s a common trope about not having enough working-age population to support the retirement of the Baby Boom generation, because there was a huge bulge in births followed by a decline in births. But, as this chart shows, immigration has filled in those “low spots” over time, so thanks to our high immigration rate there are enough people to take care of all those old Boomers as they retire. (Even the ones who protest against immigrants.)

(chart from Mediawiki Commons, creative common license)

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Pat

A quick video tip for those migrating from twitter...

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Pat

A sad and scary video clip 

This video has not been modified. This is how thin this person actually is.

I wish there was more that society and medicine could do to help people with this affliction.

(fair use 50s clip from an hours-long video, reproduced here for critique and commentary.)

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Pat

C-SPAN website has been down all day.

Anyone know if they are still broadcasting on the cable systems?

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Pat

Reposting this to the local timelime because I think it's funny...

(original thread: qoto.org/@lupyuen/109217111189)

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Pat


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Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on becoming the Prime Minister of the UK, and the first Asian and Hindu PM.

And congratulations to the UK for another peaceful transfer of power under trying conditions.

(image source: flickr.com/photos/hmtreasury/4, Open Government License v3.0, nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/op)

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Pat

Although an avid streamer, FDR was confined to a wheelchair so he rarely did IRL, instead limiting his online social engagement to Fireside Chats. His frequent use of social media, at the time known as “bulletin board systems”, gave Roosevelt an advantage over his frequent rival, Adlai Stevenson, who didn’t even know how to use a mouse.
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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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Pat

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

In Time (2011)

This one is definitely in my top-ten list of best science fiction films ever made.

When I sat down to watch this, I thought it was going to be some cheap, exploitive film to take advantage of Justin Timberlake’s fame, but it turns out that he can actually act. And he’s a very good actor, world class.

The premise of the film is that time, instead of money, is the currency. Everyone is genetically engineered to stop aging at 25 years old, but then their built-in clock starts ticking and if they don’t refill it, then they die. People who acquire a lot of time can live forever in their 25-year-old body.

Highly recommended. (The film, not the economic system :)

(fair use image from the film)

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Pat

In case any of you font designers are confused...

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Pat


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NASA’s planetary defense spacecraft mission (DART) has successfully altered the trajectory of the asteroid Dimorphos and they have determined that it will not hit the Earth. The asteroid is about 170 meters in diameter and if it hit Earth it would have caused immediate massive casualties on impact with a crater more than a mile in diameter and likely spewed dust and debris into the atmosphere effecting the climate for years.

The success of the mission means we will not have to face the same fate as the dinosaurs - - at least this time.

Here’s the full briefing:
youtu.be/Zhzn0U2m5wQ?t=13

(Public domain image of the Barringer Crater)
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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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Pat

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Happy Mental Health Day!
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Pat

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Island (2005)

The beginning of this film kind of reminds me of modern food laboratories or food manufacturers for some reason. It’s very similar to the film “Never Let Me Go” (2010) except this one is much more of a real scifi with lots of high tech, special effects and action.

For 21st-century films, each of these films have a lot of racial bias. I don’t remember seeing any black characters at all in Never Let Me Go. Screenwriters (and novelists who want their work picked up for the screen), know that Hollywood producers are racist and will often choose settings for their stories that are exclusively white, like European historical dramas or, for example, a mid-twentieth century English boarding school. That way when Hollywood gives the green light, the producers know that black people will not be cast for the leads. That’s racist.

The Island was set in the future and could have had black characters in the leads, but they just chose not to. There were a few minor black roles in the film, but they were deemphasized. There was, however, a reference to historical racial oppression at one point in the narrative.

(Fair use image from The Island)

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Pat

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Waterworld (1995)

Over a quarter of a century ago, this climate-change movie was way ahead of its time. When it was first released, many critics panned this wonderful film simply because the oil industry controlled so much of the economy and the media at the time. If it was released today it’d get glowing reviews.

It was an expensive movie to make because of all the underwater scenes, which required highly specialized cameras and gear to films. The special effects were also top notch. And those elaborate sets must have cost a fortune. Today it would be much easier to produce.

It’s kind of campy and the premise (that the entire Earth is covered with water due to climate change) is complete nonsense, but it’s still fun to watch.

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Pat


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NASA’s asteroid-hunter spacecraft misses Didymos…

DART, the spacecraft mission designed to test whether we can defend ourselves against asteroids crashing into the Earth, has missed the asteroid Didymos. Didymos is the larger of two asteroids of a binary minor planet system discovered in 1996.

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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Pat

Why should you never, ever shoot a video with your phone in vertical format?

Because people don't look like this:

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Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Loss of Sensation (1935)

This movie and Metropolis (1927) were heavily influenced by the 1920 Czech play U.R.U., which introduced the word “robot” to science fiction and the English-speaking world. (“Robota” in Czech means “corvée”, serf labor or unpaid labor.)

Recently, a lot of authors have been writing about the post-scarcity economy, but this film examined the concept back in 1935. These filmmakers were likely influenced by Marx, thinking that productivity was a bad thing because it means less work (and fewer workers) are required to produce what we need. Most writers today envision a more utopian outcome from a post-scarcity world in their stories.

The film is in the public domain. Here’s a link...
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.

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Pat

Star Parker is so anti-abortion, that she wants a law to prohibit people from swipping left on Tinder.


(image: cropped, CC-BY-CA-2.0, Gage Skidmore, Fickr)

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Pat

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Splash (1984)

A creature comes out of the sea and reeks havoc.

(image: fair use image from the film)

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Pat

The truth is...

The King of England from 1714 to 1727, George I, could not speak English.

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

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