Blog Set 8: Je te Aime.

When was the last time you read a love story? I bet some people would think Fifty Shades of Grey, or even something classic like Romeo and Juliet. If there is one thing that I hope we can both share, is that love can be experienced through a story in many different ways. Your exceptions and definitions of love are surly different than mine. I'm positive that you can say the same when it comes to this thing we call love. Ah yes, love. It can even be called an act practiced throughout the ages. A human designed habit born from procreating and surviving. But is it only definable to our species and only on this world? 

The short story "Day Million", by Frederik Pohl so elegantly paints a picture of a different point-of-view on love. But first, let me make something clear, she is a he and he is an alien. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let us begin. 

Dora is from a far far away planet that is billions of miles away from us. Through a highly advanced genetic structuring, he has been reclassified as a she. Think of it as a redesigned fail safe. I found it to be a really an interesting process. It defines someone before birth, so that they do not have to go through the agony of trying to find themselves in a highly discriminatory society; they are already sexed to their mind’s strongest preference. Therefore, Dora can live her life as she was chemically designed to be and contribute to her society in a positive way. 

As for her lover and his star-crossed fate, Don is a starship traveler. He’s more machine than flesh and blood because he's had to modify his body in order to withstand the strains of intergalactic space travel. 

When they meet, well, let's just say that things move pretty fast from greeting to let's get married (reminds me of some other star-crossed lovers, actually). They decided to exchange their digits of individuality on a Wednesday. Now you are probably saying to yourself, how is this typical of love stories? Well, that's the point. It's not a typical love story, but it conveys the "essence" of what love is and it also sheds light on what love shouldn't be. For Dora and Don, after getting married, they never physically see each other again. For their culture, this is perfectly acceptable. They do see their digital spouse everyday though. For our alien lovers, the minutiae of human love with its greeting, chasing and always trying to keep the other spouse happy is not relevant for them, or at least, not anymore. We express our love through touch, sex or other forms of mental stimulation. Love is an emotional experience. Dora enjoys Don at her request and desires, as the same goes for Don. They cherish the uniqueness of one another, without the physical realities like that Don, in his mechanical body could not offer in pleasuring a woman like Dora to her ultimate satisfaction. 

It's such an interesting story based on love, with descriptions of what beauty can look like and how sexual organs are not always the finite end-all to personal design. What a spin on this age old concept with a dash of alien to spice it up! 

Blog Set 7: Total Recall Or Not!?

"I'll be Back!" I mean, "If it bleeds. We Kill It!" Oops, I getting his quotes mixed up again, sorry. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a action movie icon. His many portrayals of the action hero, robotic messenger of doom, or the larger-than-life jock shall live for a very long time in cinematic history. While Schwarzenegger’s film career has varied greatly, his presence on the big screen always seems to be consistent. 

However, what if we decided to place Mr. Schwarzenegger in role that has him living a lie? Where he is in a futuristic world where the separation of the have's and have-nots couldn't be any more wider than the truth. Where lame lower-class workers of society save credits all year long just to have a fake mini vacation memory implanted into their cranium. What if one of these implantations was to go wrong for a man that is six feet two inches, weighs about 260 pounds and has a barrel-like chest sized 58”? What could possibly go wrong? Well, you'll get one unforgettable action ride of Sci-Fi suspense that will only last until the aliens are brought into the picture. Yes, aliens. Whenever a Sci-Fi movie needs help, like Professor Geerling so elegantly put it, "just put in aliens, that'll make it better!" 

The observations from the 1990 Total Recall movie compared to the original short story of "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," by Philip K. Dick is the name changes of the main characters. Douglas Quail has a sort of lonely connotation of the below average male worker-bee of society. He’s the typical guy with an average life and with an average wife. However, much can be said about the wife and her condensing actions towards her loser-like husband from the short story. But that's a soapbox for another time and place. Mr. Quail is longing for more out of this world; he wants a trip to Mars! His finances won’t actually support an actual trip with his meager salary, so that's where the Rekal Incorporated comes into play. For only less than $1,140 Creds, he can enjoy a fully artificial vacation of his choosing all from the safety of his own mind. Where nothing can go wrong, right? However, in the movie, Hollywood decided to change Mr. Quail to Mr. Quid. This name conveys some sort of strength and power of fortitude behind it. A fitting name when you cast an icon like Arnold to play in this role. It is a name that is fitting for him, especially because of his physical attributes. He can invoke a stronger feeling of anger when McClane tries to offer him a different memory and he declines. He can show better brute force when fighting off the secret police who are out to capture him at any cost necessary. Arnold plays into his part well, but he does not quite capture the original essence of the story for me. 

Overall, the fight scenes from the movie are intense. Sharon Stone's appearance as Lori Quid is unforgettable, and the suspense is warranted for a big budget action film. But I missed the mind talking conversations with Mr. Quail and the police. I wanted to see or hear the thoughts that Mr. Quail has during the chase and leading up to his surrendering for another chance at another life. The memory artifacts and how McClane describes how each one will play into his new memory of alien mice and saving the world. We didn't get to experience that on the big screen when you have Arnold playing Mr. Quail, I mean Quid. What we would assume is that he probably would have stepped on the alien mice and not given much thought of surrendering, but fighting until his death. The whole movie is, in a way, a huge tree that grew from a little seed that was dreamt up by Philip Dick. Oh what a journey, but it could have been so much more if Hollywood executives would have left it be. Am I right?    

Literature of the Supernatural: SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror: Free Movie Nights!

Literature of the Supernatural: SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror: Free Movie Nights!: The A.S. in Film Production is hosting six movie nights this semester. All films are on Monday nights, from 6-8 p.m., in Building 3, room ...



Tonight's movie is "The Shining!" I hope to see my classmates there!

Blog Set 6: It Must Be Shut Down!

         Is this a story precluding to The Fifth Element, with a slice of Blade Runner like atmosphere and a Matrix Reloaded Plot of bring-down-a-corrupt-computer-system? "Burning Chrome" by William Gibson surely makes readers believe that some of the most iconic Sci-Fi films of all times took a little bit of something from this futuristic short story. The details of this wildly dramatized adventure of a group of guys trying to hack their way into a protected crime family server is so plausible and yet far-fetching from our current cultural realities. 

         The world of "Burning Chrome" is a bleak and dirty 20 year old gas station restroom of existence. People are suppressed to either do the questionable to survive or break the law to just maintain. Jack and Bobby are internet punk cowboys, or shall I say, outlaws. Their fix, in life, is breaking "ice" and stealing either digits with zeros behind them or information. Government order is out the door. The text mentioned a war and that Jack served in it. However, what is a little confusing is if Jack lost his arm during the war or trying to execute an attempt at smuggling; which was for his sake, an epic fail. This is a cold and dark world, and for me, the world seems like a mix of The Fifth Element and Blade Runner: always cold, raining, the sky is gloomy and the streets are busy with hustling and bustling, packed with people. They are dirty people with worn-out clothes; the clothes show their experiences of struggle just to get by and find enough sustenance. The city buildings, once shiny with newness and superiority, are now covered with a thickness of dirty, gritty ash, covering their once moral and solid foundations. An ironic image for those that now inhabit them. It's a world with corrupt individuals breaking the law through money laundering, illegal virtual-prostitution and a class system that only favors the top 1%! Oh, Gibson wanted his world not as a apocalyptic wasteland, but a drowned out country of struggle and strife. His imagery and details depict technology's advanced integration into the human world--a seamless relationship of wires and flesh. It's similar to Jack's robotic arm and the functionality of it during his hacking jobs. This is a place where tinkers are on a screaming edge of a half-pike, enjoying the ride until black-ice sharks wipe them out. 

        The power in this world is debatable. Chrome is a technology based system with a mean reputation. One that is not forgiving or forgetting. Her ice walls are notorious and the funds streaming through her circuits have people like Jack & Bobby salivating to score. The humans build the interfaces, systems and locks. But the technology has become entangled with human advancements. The techno brothel, as I like to put it, is the power of human weakness for desire. Chrome is the intellect of reason and funds. Break the bank, break the operations. For Jack and Bobby, the goal for them is simple. A big enough prize like Chrome is a big enough risk. Hence, the power struggle begins with ingenuity and luck. 

        Overall, I enjoyed reading this story and being transported to this futuristic Cowboys-and-Indians world. The plot was foreseeable, but the details of romanticism, human struggle and technology integration into biological interface was beyond captivating. Highly recommended for a second read! 

Viewing Blog 1: "Book of Eli"

"Lay that hand on me again, and your not going to get it back." If a cinematic tale could capture the grittiness and dilapidated state of just total apocalyptic destruction, the "Book of Eli" is it! As a movie goer, the plot is purely Freudian and moves fluidly to a foreseeable "all hope is not lost" ending. However, the ending might be debatable. Spoiler alert! As the main character Eli bites the dust, he finishes relaying the good Old Testament to the "preservers" of culture and art. The closing scene of Solara walking down the dusty never ending road foretells of several possible outcomes. A) She keeps Eli's legend alive by assisting when she can. B) She spreads the gospel of The Lord to all willing to listen. C) She returns to the town where she grew up and seeks revenge for Eli's death and proceeds to rescue her mother from Carnegie. All of them are plausible and really give little hope, in the short run, of humanity's betterment when it comes to the terms of an apocalyptic lifestyle.

The story, in a whole, also provides viewers an interesting hypothesis as to the cultural shift that would occur if America was setback to a time before currency debuted here. When Eli visits Carnegie's town, he barters with a tinker to restore power in his prized MP3 player. There is no form of currency exchanging hands, but merely goods needed for entertainment's sake or survival.

The movie is just enjoyable to watch. The hero, portrayed by Denzel Washington, is one of my favorite actors of all time. I really appreciate his ability to convey the sense of hopelessness that usually encompasses apocalyptic movies. His character's determination to fulfilling a predestined journey is a great example of how to overcome challenges and achieve one's life's goals. The morals of the movie center around the human condition and kindness in a world that seems to have none. Solara saw something more in Eli that even he didn't realize or sees until the tragic end. She saw that even though he was a natural killer and survivor, he was also compassionate and, at times, generous with his knowledge. He helped people that he didn't have to help and risked everything to do so. He probably did this to get his jollies off. There are studies that have been conducted that show true happiness is found in helping others. He was just trying to find his happy place! Selfish? Selfless?

He also shared his wisdom. That sharing of knowledge and past experiences is also a valuable lesson Solara needed to adapt in an apocalyptic world. This is a thematic lesson we need to incorporate into our own lives. Without having an open mind to seek out new information and one willing to share old information, a generational gap of knowledge might occur. Hence, the full circle of doom for the human race could become complete. But that didn't happen in the movie, therefore hope still remains.  

"So that's where I parked my car!" 

"Rush hour traffic anyone?" 

"Yeah, I told you that you weren't going to get that back."

Blog Set 5! Robots & Code, Oh My!

"Sizzling Saturn, we've got a lunatic robot on our hands!" Or do we? The old saying, "your perception is your reality" is brought to light in "Reason", an artfully written short story by Isaac Asimov. Cutie is the gold-standard definition of reason without a doubt. The logical formatting of the robot's actions conform to solidly known facts. This is the only path of intellect he knows. When Powell questions Cutie's telescopic observations outside the porthole, he receives a reply conducive to a child seeing a playground for the first time. How can a child know what to do with a swing or the function of a slide? Cutie tells Powell that space is a black sheet with lights on it, not realizing, through depth of educational exposure, that space is a rather vast and empty medium. I find Cutie's intelligence amusing as I imagine the frustration that Greg and Mike must have been feeling trying to reason with an expressionless and emotionless robot. I also like the religious references to Cutie and his unquestionable loyalty and to the Master. While Greg and Mike become ever more frustrated with the looming doom and destruction resulting from the electron storm, the climax of the story is resolved when Cutie produces the latest data from the previous day. The robot did exactly what it was meant to do; the Master was merely a concept of rule and implied direction for Cutie to continue to exists with function. I enjoyed reading this story and I wonder if one day, robots will be engineered to such a high level of efficiency that reason will doubt our very existence. I also can't help but compare how Cutie compares to robots from other famous science fiction tales. 

         Can love be transmitted through circuit boards and wires? The concept is a very interesting one to ponder. David's interaction with Teddy and comments such as, "are we real?" as well as his letters to Mummy saying, "I hope you're well just now. I love you..." bring to the surface a magnitude of questions as to how these reactions of emotion are being created in David's synthetic brain. The possibility that, in the near future, population controls and artificial intelligence can become a reality is scary to consider. Who would be in control of family decisions? Who would monitor the artificial intelligence? But the emotional toll that families would face with either the separation of a living human or an artificial one is perplexing to contemplate. Would the robot feel anxiety about leaving the only forms of interaction it has ever known? Would the humans feel sympathy for the destruction of the man-made psyche? This was an interesting read. I wonder if I could ever build a relationship with something that wasn't human and powered by artificial intelligence. My guess is that people would be brainwashed into believing their emotional interactions with artificially intelligent beings are authentic. Look at how we are so easily brainwashed into thinking the things that we think now? We must have a cell phone but no one had cell phones thirty years ago. They seemed to have survived without them.