I feel a change has manifested, but I can't put my finger on it. The grip of certain activities -- things that provided the motive force for my life -- are weakening in their grip. Writing has become a struggle (although some of that is just the place I am in the process in my current book). Travel doesn't provide the same sense of adventure. Participating in races is getting more and more difficult. I'm even running out of things to say on this site and have given thought to shutting it down, or at least taking a break. After all, I've been at this in one way or a another for nearly 20 years.
I don't know whether tis is temporary or if it is indicative of some sort of sea change. But it goes hand-in-hand with the sense that I am increasingly distanced from the affairs of the world. I hate to navel gaze, but I fear there may be more to come on this topic.
[[Movies] Infinite Blockbuster
[Movies] More Dead, More Pool
[Tech] Tech I Almost Like
[Rant] Anti-Anti-Social
Sunday, September 09, 2018
[Movies] Infinite Blockbuster
Very much The Empire Strikes Back. A dark episode, marvelously handled. Nothing goes the Avengers way yet they still fight on, crack wise, and keep hope alive.
One of the biggest movies in history, but it is dependent on you having seen many earlier films to follow the details, not to mention know the characters. I would have thought such a thing could not be done. It shows how deeply ingrained this series already is in our culture.
RDJ/Ironman stands out here. His path and his interactions with the characters he crosses are the best, although the Thor/Starlord meeting is a gem. I don't have to recap what was good because it's the same good stuff you've seen in all the other films, only more so. This movie is unbelievably action dense, and I mean that in the sense that physical action is deeply intertwined with the dramatic action of moving the plot and characters forward. In most films you have action (bang, boom) then pauses to advance the setting (dramatic action) for the next bit of bang-boom action. Separating them opens you to the trap of pointless pyrotechnics or worse, extensive exposition. Not here. I would be willing to bet there are never more than 3 minutes of talk without activity and any explanations are given ether as a single line or in the course of battle.
Was there anything to dislike? Well, Peter Dinklage was poorly used. The Black Panther is still painfully sincere and haughty. I don't think Ruffalo or Johansen were at their best -- their lines didn't seem all that well delivered, and I still struggle with Cumberbatch's American accent. This is niggling.
I have argued before that blockbuster action films are this era's premier creative achievement -- like classic rock in the '60s, or auteur TV in the aughts. In the Blockbuster Action era, Infinity War, and Avengers 4 next year, could be the peak -- like Sgt. Pepper or Sopranos. When it's all over I may spiral into depression. I'm sure what will follow on will be watered down replacement heroes and race and gender stunt casting. With any luck I'll be gone by the time the reboots start.
I'm just delighted these stories from my adolescence have come alive so wonderfully at this point in my life. It's almost like a form of closure.
One of the biggest movies in history, but it is dependent on you having seen many earlier films to follow the details, not to mention know the characters. I would have thought such a thing could not be done. It shows how deeply ingrained this series already is in our culture.
RDJ/Ironman stands out here. His path and his interactions with the characters he crosses are the best, although the Thor/Starlord meeting is a gem. I don't have to recap what was good because it's the same good stuff you've seen in all the other films, only more so. This movie is unbelievably action dense, and I mean that in the sense that physical action is deeply intertwined with the dramatic action of moving the plot and characters forward. In most films you have action (bang, boom) then pauses to advance the setting (dramatic action) for the next bit of bang-boom action. Separating them opens you to the trap of pointless pyrotechnics or worse, extensive exposition. Not here. I would be willing to bet there are never more than 3 minutes of talk without activity and any explanations are given ether as a single line or in the course of battle.
Was there anything to dislike? Well, Peter Dinklage was poorly used. The Black Panther is still painfully sincere and haughty. I don't think Ruffalo or Johansen were at their best -- their lines didn't seem all that well delivered, and I still struggle with Cumberbatch's American accent. This is niggling.
I have argued before that blockbuster action films are this era's premier creative achievement -- like classic rock in the '60s, or auteur TV in the aughts. In the Blockbuster Action era, Infinity War, and Avengers 4 next year, could be the peak -- like Sgt. Pepper or Sopranos. When it's all over I may spiral into depression. I'm sure what will follow on will be watered down replacement heroes and race and gender stunt casting. With any luck I'll be gone by the time the reboots start.
I'm just delighted these stories from my adolescence have come alive so wonderfully at this point in my life. It's almost like a form of closure.
[Movies] More Dead, More Pool
Deadpool 2 is Infinity War's near-equal, but in a different, more R-rated way. In a Deadpool movie, nothing is respected. Nothing. The 4th wall does not exist. Characters are created, just for the sake of a couple of funny lines or a spot of endearing sympathy, then are given blackley comedic, horrendously violent deaths. There is not a rule that is left unbroken, cultural or cinematic. After the first one I questioned whether they could keep the self-referential, middle-finger gimmickry fresh. They did. If anything, the only parts that fall flat are when they don't just say WTF and instead try to have a human story.
Like I said, they have done the opposite of what makes a great movie and have made a great movie. I can't figure it out, but don't ever change.
Like I said, they have done the opposite of what makes a great movie and have made a great movie. I can't figure it out, but don't ever change.
[Tech] Tech I Almost Like
My car is now fully sorted at over 80k. It's finally living up to the promise of Acura -- steady, strong, reliable. Of course as a 2014 car from a model run that started in 2009, it is also hopelessly outdated. The nav and audio are looking decrepit, connecting my phone is an adventure is pointlessness. I fail to understand why your auto infotainment has to be stuck at the point you bought it. Why cannot this get upgraded like virtually all other electronics? Still, I'd like to get 2 or 3 more years of no car payments out of it.
My new phone (Moto G6) is hanging in there. It is roughly on par with my old phone functionally, though a bit faster and with what seems like nearly double the battery life. Android remains a usability dumpster fire, and until now I have successfully fought off Apple, but...
There is only one thing that would make me buy an Apple device and that is if the price was Free. Well, as a 25th anniversary gift from work, I received an Apple iPad. I am treating it as an experiment. The best outcome is that it replaces my laptop during travel. The worst is that it replaces my ancient Samsung tab which can barely play solitaire without lagging and whos primary use is as an alarm clock and kindle reader. More to come.
I have not cut the cord with cable and I am suspicious of how much it actually would save me. I suspect not much. If I switched to internet service only, the first thing Charter would do is jack up the price of it. Then, let's say there were 5 pay services I wanted to subscribe to at $10-12/month, I would probably not be saving all that much money. Does 5 seem like a lot? Remember virtually every broadcast and cable network is building their own service with a plan to no longer licence stuff to Netflix or Amazon. That's gonna get worse, too. I do wish Charter would come out with something to replace that god awful, 1980s-era cable box. I gotta figure everything it does could fit on a chip now. Of course, at the rate they're losing customers, they have bigger problems. No idea how all this is going to fall out.
In truth, virtually all my tech is need of upgrade. My laptop is multiple years old; the touchpad is balky and the power cord is flaky. My DSLR, a Canon EOS, is hanging in there, but honestly it has never taken the same quality photos as my old Nikon; probably due to a poorer, lens, yes, but I understand Fuji is doing some amazing stuff with their latest line of mirrorless cameras and lenses. Even my beautiful Panasonic 65" plasma -- last of the plasmas -- is long in the tooth and aching to be replaced by an 85" smart 4k OLED. Maybe a wholesale tech-life upgrade is in order. Not this year, though. I can only afford to piss away one small fortune at a time.
My new phone (Moto G6) is hanging in there. It is roughly on par with my old phone functionally, though a bit faster and with what seems like nearly double the battery life. Android remains a usability dumpster fire, and until now I have successfully fought off Apple, but...
There is only one thing that would make me buy an Apple device and that is if the price was Free. Well, as a 25th anniversary gift from work, I received an Apple iPad. I am treating it as an experiment. The best outcome is that it replaces my laptop during travel. The worst is that it replaces my ancient Samsung tab which can barely play solitaire without lagging and whos primary use is as an alarm clock and kindle reader. More to come.
I have not cut the cord with cable and I am suspicious of how much it actually would save me. I suspect not much. If I switched to internet service only, the first thing Charter would do is jack up the price of it. Then, let's say there were 5 pay services I wanted to subscribe to at $10-12/month, I would probably not be saving all that much money. Does 5 seem like a lot? Remember virtually every broadcast and cable network is building their own service with a plan to no longer licence stuff to Netflix or Amazon. That's gonna get worse, too. I do wish Charter would come out with something to replace that god awful, 1980s-era cable box. I gotta figure everything it does could fit on a chip now. Of course, at the rate they're losing customers, they have bigger problems. No idea how all this is going to fall out.
In truth, virtually all my tech is need of upgrade. My laptop is multiple years old; the touchpad is balky and the power cord is flaky. My DSLR, a Canon EOS, is hanging in there, but honestly it has never taken the same quality photos as my old Nikon; probably due to a poorer, lens, yes, but I understand Fuji is doing some amazing stuff with their latest line of mirrorless cameras and lenses. Even my beautiful Panasonic 65" plasma -- last of the plasmas -- is long in the tooth and aching to be replaced by an 85" smart 4k OLED. Maybe a wholesale tech-life upgrade is in order. Not this year, though. I can only afford to piss away one small fortune at a time.
[Rant] Anti-Anti-Social
facebook popped up a reminder that I have been with them for eight years. And I was a latecomer I think. Unlike the negativity you read in op-eds, I find it a pretty constructive and convenient way to keep up with friends. I suspect for most people it works exactly that way. I have found that by liking certain pages or joining certain groups, I get a pretty relevant news feed, much more so than any haphazard consumer profiling algorithm (although I know they do that too -- and even those are pretty much on target).
My experience with facebook makes me one of the few people who have a positive view of being profiled by marketers. I get a lot of promotions for races and fitness stuff and travel, because that is my real life social circle. I click on them out of organic interest and that reinforces the behavior. Overall it's much better than the ads for over-40 dating and male enhancement pills that I used to get when all they knew about me was that I was an aging male.
I admit that it's a little freaky when I shop for something on Amazon and, within seconds, ads for similar products appear in facebook. Still I don't see the harm or what everyone is up in arms about. I am quite happy to have retailers battling for my eyeballs. I know there are fears of information about your habits freely floating around, but it's been quite remarkable how quickly the developed world has built in legal and technical safeguards to defend against this. Laws have been written such that any organization that gathers truly personal information would instantly become a criminal enterprise by using beyond it's explicitly intended purpose. The Europeans have GDPR now, and since everything is connected globally, it might as well be in place for the entire world. (That's why you suddenly got all those pop-ups asking you to accept security policies suddenly appear on your favorite sites recently).
Note: It's not the brave new technological world that puts your info at risk. Don't delude yourself that you ever had protection against criminals who wanted your info. It is vastly easier for me to steal your snail mail right out of your box, than to hack your bank's server.
Yes, I have some "friends" who reflexively share inane political memes, but they are easy to ignore and it's a small price. So, unlike most, I'm good with facebook. I especially love the local groups that serve the small community live in. They are peppered with people reporting lost and wandering dogs or farm animals, arguing about local road construction issues, engaging in nostalgia, or expressing joy at the fact that the local high school football team just won their first game in five years. I really think this may end up being facebook's highest purpose.
And that's where I draw the line at social media.
Since I use it, it's no surprise that facebook has gained a reputation as a site for old folks. Young'uns like Instagram or Snapchat. (Actually most young people I know primarily use SMS more than social networks for communication which is also encouraging. It's not social it's personal.) But I strongly suspect all of these mediums will converge on a main feature set and become an oligopoly, maybe including WeChat from China. If social forces still keep them in check and we avoid giving the government too much power over them, at some point in the future we will end up with them so deeply interwoven into our culture that it will be hard to remember life without them.
My experience with facebook makes me one of the few people who have a positive view of being profiled by marketers. I get a lot of promotions for races and fitness stuff and travel, because that is my real life social circle. I click on them out of organic interest and that reinforces the behavior. Overall it's much better than the ads for over-40 dating and male enhancement pills that I used to get when all they knew about me was that I was an aging male.
I admit that it's a little freaky when I shop for something on Amazon and, within seconds, ads for similar products appear in facebook. Still I don't see the harm or what everyone is up in arms about. I am quite happy to have retailers battling for my eyeballs. I know there are fears of information about your habits freely floating around, but it's been quite remarkable how quickly the developed world has built in legal and technical safeguards to defend against this. Laws have been written such that any organization that gathers truly personal information would instantly become a criminal enterprise by using beyond it's explicitly intended purpose. The Europeans have GDPR now, and since everything is connected globally, it might as well be in place for the entire world. (That's why you suddenly got all those pop-ups asking you to accept security policies suddenly appear on your favorite sites recently).
Note: It's not the brave new technological world that puts your info at risk. Don't delude yourself that you ever had protection against criminals who wanted your info. It is vastly easier for me to steal your snail mail right out of your box, than to hack your bank's server.
Yes, I have some "friends" who reflexively share inane political memes, but they are easy to ignore and it's a small price. So, unlike most, I'm good with facebook. I especially love the local groups that serve the small community live in. They are peppered with people reporting lost and wandering dogs or farm animals, arguing about local road construction issues, engaging in nostalgia, or expressing joy at the fact that the local high school football team just won their first game in five years. I really think this may end up being facebook's highest purpose.
And that's where I draw the line at social media.
- I don't understand what Instagram is that facebook isn't, other than photo oriented. I think if I understood it better I might join, but I would need a practical reason, not just for the sake of entertainment.
- I have a Twitter account, although I have never tweeted. Have you ever seen Twitter. It is a cesspool. You know how a dog will pee on a fire hydrant, then another dog will come and pee on top of it, then another dog pees on top of that. That's Twitter.
- I never understood Snapchat and I still don't. It strikes me as a platform for people to do lurid things then leave no trace. So, kind of like before there was social media. Hmmm, maybe that's it. Providing idiots the promise of the past world, where not every dumbass thing you did lived forever in some data center. Of course, it's a false promise with respect to Snapchat because people can screenshot anything.
Since I use it, it's no surprise that facebook has gained a reputation as a site for old folks. Young'uns like Instagram or Snapchat. (Actually most young people I know primarily use SMS more than social networks for communication which is also encouraging. It's not social it's personal.) But I strongly suspect all of these mediums will converge on a main feature set and become an oligopoly, maybe including WeChat from China. If social forces still keep them in check and we avoid giving the government too much power over them, at some point in the future we will end up with them so deeply interwoven into our culture that it will be hard to remember life without them.
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