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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Outer Limits, “The Sixth Finger” (Oct. 1963)

I think everyone's familiar with the Outer Limits, the science fiction television series in the 1960s. This series is required viewing if you want to study the 1960s because many of the plots were metaphors for societal problems of the times.

In another thread someone mentioned the meme about AI art mis-drawing hands with six fingers and it reminded me of this episode, which itself, speculates about super intelligence.

As with most sci-fi at the time, a lot of the science facts in this show are wrong, but the philosophical examination isn't far off. The machine that the scientist uses in the film and the premise is really just there to provide a platform to think about what it would be like to have an intelligence that was so far beyond current human capabilities.

I highly recommend this one.

(Note: Some copies of The Outer Limits that are on streaming services have spoilers right at the top of video, so you might want to skip the opening segment.)

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accessible video description:
the video shows an shortened version of The Outer Limits introduction; then it shows a young woman walking into a laboratory and talking with the scientist in the laboratory; then it shows the same woman in a pub with a young man who is filthy from working in a coal mine and the woman’s mean sister tells her to deliver another loaf of bread; then it shows a scientist controlling a lever pushing it toward the position marked “forward” and the man is inside a chamber, he is all clean, but he is affected by the machine somehow; then the scientist opens the door and the man is covering his face with his arms so the audience can't see what he looks like and a scientist looks at him astonishingly and it fades out.

(fair use, unauthorized trailer)

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Pat

Electric organs were one of the first things to make use of electricity. They were used hundreds of years before Franklin wrote about his lightning kite experiment. In fact, the Teleosts used them even before the Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.

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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…

Her (2013)

This one's about an ambiguously gay man who interacts with an AI through his mobile device. This is a really boring movie – practically the whole thing is just this guy talking to the AI in his mobile device. It's supposed to be set in the future but there aren't many sci-fi techie devices and the cars look like they were made 10 years before this movie was made.

This film has essentially an all white cast. There's only one very minor bit part at the very beginning of the film played by a black actor, Lisa Renee Pitts. This technique of literally marginalizing black actors in movies, placing them at the very beginning or very end of the film has been used by pro-racist Hollywood for a very long time, at least since the 1980s.

There’s one Chinese character who is the girlfriend of the character played by Chris Pratt. That character, a minor supporting role, is played by Laura Kai Chen.

Because of the racial bias in the composition of the cast, I'm not recommending this film at all. Also it's just a boring movie. I’m including it here in the Film of the Week series because AI is a popular topic right now.

#641

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It's a Wonderful Life

Bank Run


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Pat

More people died last week in the US from COVID-19 than were killed in the 9/11 attack. Every week, another 9/11 attack.

Please wear your respirator when you are around other people.

Do a seal check on your respirator when you wear it.

It is more dangerous to be in public without a respirator than it is to drive without a seatbelt.

A properly worn respirator, like a N95 mask, prevents infection and spread of disease from all variants of the flu and COVID-19.

(right image: attribution Ryssby, CC-BY-2.5)

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Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

12 Monkeys (1995)

Magical realism and unrelenting dysphoria characterize this '90s time-travel sci-fi about a guy who tries to go back in time to help correct a massive pandemic that happened in the future. The attention to detail in this film is extraordinary. The writing, the acting, cinematography, the score, special effects, art design; everything in this film is so tight; very well done. Terry Gilliam deserves praise for his direction, for which he had great creative latitude during production. In fact it's so effective at creating a feeling of unease I think it requires a content warning for people who are under stress or who otherwise may be vulnerable to unsettling content. But there’s plenty of comedy for those who enjoy demented humor.

Brad Pitt had the most demanding role, I think, with lots of rapid dialogue playing an over-the-top delusional crazy guy. Bruce Willis, the main protagonist, also played a guy who is losing touch with reality. Madeleine Stowe, who plays a psychiatrist opposite Willis' character, is absolutely flawless. All the actors in this film did a very good job even in the minor rolls. I saw only one flawed bit performance in the whole film.

There were two societal phenomena happening when this film was produced in the 1990s – animal rights activism was at its height, and the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots had just occurred. Pitt’s character plays the leader of an eponymous underground animal rights group (Army of the Twelve Monkeys), which is apparently planning a horrendous act.

The film features a lot of black actors, which was unusual for films in the early 90s. I think filmmakers at the time were intentionally trying to correct for past racial bias in the film industry in the wake of the Rodney King beating. However, none of the black players in this film had major roles, only minor parts. None of the black players played any of the many scientists and doctors in the story, they played mostly cops, orderlies and such. I counted twelve credited black roles in the film, which I’m sure was a coincidence and the producers had no intent to denigrate. (ambiguous sarcasm)

The film presents overshadowing stereotypes of people who have mental illness, a trend that continues to this day in filmmaking. The single female protagonist is also stereotyped as a mostly weak and submissive character even though she plays a psychiatrist which should be an authority figure in this context. (In all fairness, her character evolves considerably.)

However, in spite of it’s gaffs on political correctness (which were common in the 1990s), I think it’s such a well made film that it’s well worth watching.

Accessible video description:

a man (Willis) in a hazmat suit in a winter environment stoops down near some equipment, a bear startles him and he panics. Cut to a closeup of the central arch in Fre Carnevale’s “The Ideal City” as a woman’s voice reads Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the camera slowly zooms out to show the full painting and an old white woman reading to a small group of people seated on folding chairs in Walters Art Museum, a subtitle says, “Baltimore April 1990”. A beeper goes off as a white brunette woman in a little black dress looks at her beeper message, stands up and fumbles as she awkwardly walks out. As she walks by a man wearing silver shoes, her shoes inexplicably turn from black to silver. Then Willis and Pitt are in a mental institution and a black man with a gray beard wearing formal attire talks about not being from outer space with goofy looks on his face. Cut to old black and white cartoons with crazy characters. Then a guard at a desk reads a newspaper with a man on stilts in the background changing lightbulbs in a hallway as Willis stumbles to an elevator, the guard tell him it’s not working, but the guard’s appearance subtly changes from one face to another, his newspaper’s headline says, “Bat Child Found in Cave” with a scary photo. then Willis and Stowe are in a car, Willis has sad expressions while Stowe has incredulous expressions. Fade to Pitt with long hair wearing dark clothes and a black stocking cap as he explains his theory of predictive neuro-analytics, he grabs his crotch in a funny gesture, tosses a globe to the floor and walks around the room making exaggerated gestures. then a small logo for the film appears and the camera slowly zooms in, it is red silhouettes of monkeys arranged in a circle with the title “Twelve Monkeys” over it.

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(fair use, unauthorized trailer)

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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has received more than $3 million in book advances from Knopf Doubleday Group. The first advance, more than $1M, came as she was seated on the court.

I wonder why the media are not talking about that.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

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Pat

In 1962 when the United States sent its first astronaut, John Glenn, into orbit they weren't sure what to expect so he took some shark repellent just in case.

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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)


(image: publicdomainpictures.net, modified with some stars in the background)

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Pat

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This Twitch streamer is so nice that she interrupted her stream to feed her doggie...

(Fair use, full stream at: twitch.tv/videos/1800908100)

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Pat

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Investment tip...

Car Shredders.

(full video at : youtube.com/watch?v=bh8j_N0OUS )

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Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Blob (1958)

This movie was marketed as a horror film but technically it’s also a science fiction because the Blob came from outer space on a meteor. This is a B-movie with a lot of cheesy special effects but it makes fun of itself and it was marketed to young people many of whom actually thought the film was scary.

The Blob itself was basically just watered down gelatin with food coloring and they got it to move by placing it on a table with a camera mounted on it. Then they would tilt and jiggle and move the table around at various angles to get the gelatin to move around. Then they’d film it in slow motion or print the film in reverse or turn the whole jig upside down to get the different effects that they wanted.

The scene where the blob jumps from the stick onto the man’s arm was simply filmed upside down to get the blob to defy gravity.

To the producers of the film, the Blob was a self-referential metaphor. The film was produced about a decade after the end of World War II; all the returning veterans had jobs by then and were making a lot of money. This was the beginning of the hay day for a new advertising and promotion industry for all consumer products including movies. Just a couple of years after this film was released, The Beatles arrived on the scene using the new promotion techniques to help fuel their meteoric rise, resulting in Beatlemania during the 1960s.

Here’s a trailer for the film, showing the style of advertising they used, which seems quaint compared to the psyops employed by businesses today.

Accessible video description:

The trailer opens with Steve McQueen and another woman entering the police station to tell the police about the blob then there are big title graphics that say “Beware of the blob” as the announcer talks about the film.
It shows a bunch of people sitting in a theater and it shows the blob oozing from the projection booth then it shows a bunch of people running from the theater screaming.
More Title Graphics say “it crawls... it creeps... it eats you alive!” The Blob, now very large, oozes out of the front doors of the theater. a man and a woman are briefly shown kissing in a car as they are interrupted by a falling meteor, the man and woman drive off. then it shows an old man with a stick with the small blob on it and the blob jumps up from the stick onto his arm. Shows the blob indoors, about the size of a bear, a man tries to shoot it with a gun. then it shows Steve McQueen trying to calm people down but they run towards a diner. then the blob engulfs the diner. next it shows Steve McQueen, the text says, “starring Steve McQueen”, then more title Graphics say, “Get Set it's coming soon”, then in huge type “The Blob” with smaller type that says “a Tonylyn production”, “color by Deluxe”.

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Pat

Chess puzzle

White wins in 546 moves...

No joke.

(from chess.com/forum/view/endgames/)

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Pat

Index of Pat’s pinned toots:


qoto.org/@Pat/1093064572536971

Guide to Content Warnings
qoto.org/@Pat/1093215339289551


y=${x##*pid=}; echo ${y%%,*}
qoto.org/@Pat/1078178931515951
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A properly worn respirator stops all variants of the COVID-19 virus -- past, present and future...
qoto.org/@Pat/1073640495460189
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A pseudorandomly selected list of ten films to critique regarding how they treat black actors/characters
qoto.org/@Pat/1071404103036091
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A list of
qoto.org/@Pat/1076429679575921
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What's wrong with this picture?
qoto.org/@Pat/1071115454963739

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Pat

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Energy saving tip number 1
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Drive an electric car…

It’s best to try to avoid driving whenever you can by planning your errands, living close to work/stores, car-pooling, walking or riding a bike. But if you need to drive, an efficient electric car can save a lot of energy (and money).

Here are some other advantages to driving an electric vehicle…

- low maintenance (no regular oil changes, less wear on brakes, less heat damage, fewer moving parts, no muffler or emission system...)
- if you charge at home, you can always start with a full “tank” in the morning
- much lower cost of fuel
- much quieter ride
- it safer because electric vehicles don’t explode or spill fuel like putt-putt cars
- no smell of gasoline on your hands
- avoid the adverse health effects of petrol
- electric vehicles have more self-driving features
- no smelly exhaust fumes
- no need to start or warm up the engine, save time
- often no need to stop to refuel just charge overnight at home, at work or while you shop
- less noise pollution
- no oil leaks in your parking spot, or on the roadway, or on waterfowl
- it’s better for the planet

The prices of electric vehicles continue to fall and more used EV’s are available for those on a tighter budget. And the range of electric vehicles continues to increase. Future EV’s will have a longer range than putt-putt cars.

Electric vehicle models each have different fuel efficiencies which are designated in watt-hours per km (or per mile) like 240 Wh/km, or sometimes as miles (km) per kilowatt-hour, like 4.3 mi/kWh. Watt-hour and kilowatt-hour are measures of energy, kind of like liters (gallons) of fuel. If it’s designated as energy per distance (Wh/mi or Wh/km) you want a lower number.

(image: Alexander Megl, CC-SA-BY-4.0)

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Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Killers from Space (1954)

This film was released less than a decade after the United States had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII and just five years after the Soviet Union had tested their first nuclear weapon. It's very typical of 50s scifi during the height of the Cold War with all the giant bugs and lousy special effects -- but this one is special because it has a couple of well-known actors in it.

Steve Pendleton was a character actor whose face was well known to audiences at the time and Peter Graves, the protagonist in this film, was just getting his career going. He's probably most well known for his starring role in the comedy Airplane (1974), and to older folks he's most known for playing Jim Philps the lead character in the original Mission Impossible series.

Ironically the giant insects in this movie are not the result of exposure to nuclear radiation but they look just like the giant insects from any other 50s scifi. The rest of the special effects in this film are just as bad.

And the science facts presented in the film are just as bogus as most other scifi films at the time. (Some of the science mistakes are highlighted in this satirical trailer of film.)

You'll notice a picture of Eisenhower in the background on some of the shots in this movie. The actors were awkwardly positioned to make sure that you could see his picture in the background. I'm not sure what point the filmmakers were trying to make but it was obvious they were trying to include his picture in those scenes.

This is a really bad film with a ton of unintentional flaws but it's really rather entertaining for that reason. I recommend this film for anyone who enjoys watching silly 50s science fiction or who studies the Cold War period.

Accessible video description:

The video starts with a title, then the protagonist in tattered clothing stumbles up to a poorly acting guard at a building. then he's in a doctor's office with his shirt off and the doctor points at a large scar on his chest. then in an office with military men with Eisenhower's picture in the background. then his wife, is talking to a man who is investigating the protagonist and they subtly flirt as he lights her cigarette. then a man in a phone booth asks for the police. then a woman takes a printout from a teletype and puts it into a message tube which is sent to a dispatcher who reads it. then the protagonist is in the laboratory of the humanoid aliens who have big eyes. then a video screen shows pictures of an alien city. then a bunch of closeups of giant insects, lizards, a cockroach and a grasshopper with silly sound effects dubbed over them as the protagonist looks frightened. Then the protagonist is walking with the leader of the aliens and the alien tries to convince him to be a traitor. then the protagonist is talking to one of the military guys about how to destroy the alien facility while it briefly cuts to a shot of the woman in silence. after he gives his plan there are close-ups of people looking incredulously into the camera including a woman from another 1960s comedy and finally Larry Tate from the old TV show Bewitched.

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(fair use satire with scenes from this film, The Absent Minded Professor (1961) and Bewitched (circa 1970) plus well-known sound effects from other films)

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Pat

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(Here's a GIF version of the video.)

Putt-Putt cars are headed off a cliff 😂

(fair use clip - Radar Men from the Moon, 1952)

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The future of putt-putt cars...

(fair use clip - Radar Men from Mars)

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That chess-playing stream is done now, but you can see an archived video of it at:

twitch.tv/videos/1790028089

Show thread
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Pat

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Grandmaster vs. NYC chess hustler...

(the grandmaster is on the left)

Streaming live now:
twitch.tv/akanemsko

Here's a sample...

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Pat

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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

The Day Time Ended (1979)

Remember that film about an extraterrestrial (ET) that comes to Earth and befriends a little girl? The ET does miraculous feats and at first he doesn’t talk and just uses hand gestures to communicate with the little girl. The ET has a large head, skinny limbs, and pale reptilian-like skin. In the beginning she is the only one who knows but later everyone finds out about the ET.

I’m referring, of course, to The Day Time Ended (1979). Yeah, three years before the movie “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” was released in 1982 there was this low-budget movie with a similar plot. Other writers have claimed that E.T. had plagiarized their work. (I far as I know, the producers of this film made no claims of infringement.) The courts ruled that the plot was too general to claim infringement, so if anyone wants to do a remake of E.T. without purchasing adaptation rights, there’s plenty of material available out there that predates E.T.

The Day Time Ended had a plot that was a lot more complicated with multiple alien species, time travel, and other stuff that I can’t make heads or tails of. It’s a poorly executed project with bad acting, lousy special effects and cinematography, and an unclear story arc. The best actor in the film was the little girl, which gives you an idea of just how bad the acting was.

This one’s probably not worth watching unless you like to see rare B-movie science fiction along with some of the historical artifacts, like an analog dial AM car radio, a detachable pull-top soda can, and of course those goofy late-70s haircuts.

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Accessible video description:

A little girl watches as smoke flows under a door and an alien appears. It is about one foot tall with a large head, big eyes, thin body and pale skin. It jumps up on the bed post and then jumps across the room to a dresser as it accidentally knocks over a potted plant. The ET spins around and stops like a figure-skater as the plant rights itself. Silly music plays in the background.

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