Coming Back Around

Conditions: Cold and Sunny

The Rising Tide

It seems to me more richly ironic that mankind's ultimate downfall would come at his own hand, rather than some kind of massive natural disaster. Mutating viruses that get out of control. Pollution levels spiking and poisoning the world's water supplies. Nuclear warfare, that kind of thing. So when the Future of Humanity Institute recently conducted a survey of their members about the possibility of Artificial Intelligence playing a part in the downfall of man, you might think they'd be skeptical. I mean, even the beginnings of A.I have not really been figured out yet, while we have several arsenals of Nukes just begging to be fired off. Any yet...

The most likely outcome is extremely bad. Eyeing it up it looks like a good outcome of any degree (extremely good + good) is less likely than a bad outcome of any degree (extremely bad + bad). Given that these experts think that the result is most likely very bad, why do we hear such little discussion about how to stop intelligent machines from being invented? In response to a question about what kind of organization was most likely to develop machine intelligence, the most probable was the military. This means we have something of a lever with which to try and slow them down. Should DARPA be shut down?

- modeledbehavior.com/

Well we all know how difficult it is to try and shut the military down when they have their eyes on a new "toy". The survey also asked what the time frame was, and basically it looks like we've got about 40 years until human-level machine intelligence will emerge. So be warned, the eggheads have spoken, and time is apparently running out.




Film Review: HoodWinked Too

I don't care what anyone says, if a film is good then it deserves to be seen regardless of what age group it aims at. I do care if a movie theater is filled with kids, who tend to be a tad more disruptive than your normal late night movie-watching audience, but at least kids aren't ashamed to laugh out loud at the jokes. So I'm not ashamed to say I saw the first Hoodwinked movie, and went to see the sequel as well. And it just goes to show how difficult it is to capture lightening in a bottle twice. The first Hoodwinked film was a delightfully fun re imagining of the Red Riding Hood story, whereby several wacky characters in an enchanted forest told their differing versions of the same event while figuring out who the mastermind behind a heinous crime was. This film works in a more simple fashion, whereby the characters are sent to San Francisco to stop a witch from creating magical cupcakes for evil masterminds that will give them super powers. Red and the Wolf are now partners, but the focus is on them struggling to work together and getting in each others way, each preferring to work alone. The moral of the story is how we all need help, and it's okay to ask for it.

Despite more screen time for Twitchy the beaver, and even a bit more for the crazy folk-singing goat, the film isn't as funny or wacky as the first film. It spends a lot more time with the bad guys and their constant screaming of how evil they are and what they're going to do. Red and Wolf proceed around the city asking questions, and then there's a final confrontation on a city street. I miss the enchanted forest setting, which felt a bit more special than San Francisco, despite how well the city was drawn.

Everyone's trying their best, but that crazy spark the first film had has been diluted down a bit in the sequel. There are some good laughs to be had, but with no real surprises to deliver, the film comes up a little flat. Two and a half cupcakes out of five.


- Peace out

And I Feel Fine?

Conditions: Not too bad, actually.

The End of the World, Again

It's always nice to have something to look forward to for the weekend, and this particular weekend we have a special treat indeed. It's the end of the world, again. This time on the advice of bible mathematician Harold Camping, who has calculated out that the rapture will take place today, around 6pm (18:00 hours.). That's 6pm, everywhere!

The 89-year-old doomsday prophet, a former engineer who perhaps inevitably comes from California, has prompted a tide of expectation, elation and derision after persuading listeners to his Family Radio Worldwide across the US and as far away as the Philippines to sell up everything and prepare for the beginning of the end of the world with the second coming of Jesus.

If all goes according to plan, those who have been "saved" by Jesus will rise into the air in the Rapture and look down as God smites billions of nonbelievers with a great earthquake rolling from city to city across the planet, and a bit of fire to boot.

"Everyone will be weeping and wailing because they'll know in a few hours it'll come to their city," Camping told the TYT Now online news show. "It's going to be a horror story of tremendous proportion."

Judgment day will begin at 6pm wherever you are. The mayhem will move west over the planet, wiping out cities, towns and villages.

In the US, some believers have given up their jobs and donated money they think they will no longer need to pay for more than 2,000 billboards across the country proclaiming "Judgment Day: May 21, 2011 – Cry mightily unto God. THE BIBLE GUARANTEES IT!"

- guardian.co.uk/world/

Oh dear. See one of the problems with the rapture is that it's not really in the bible. And the second problem is just how batshit insane it sounds when you try to communicate it to others. You really need to already have a touch of the crazy to take it on board. However that hurdlke has not prevented a very large portion of people preparing themselves for the big event, selling their stuff and saying goodbye. And that has allowed another large amount of people to try to make some money off the true believers, by for instance offering to take care of their pets once the rapture comes (no pets in heaven, see. I guess if the angels want someone to go fetch, they'll draw straws.)

So what can we learn from this? Well, it seems most people like the idea of the rapture, presumably because they are tired and hate their jobs and want a really long vacation. One sympathizes. The great thing about making fun of these kinds of things is that if it is actually the apocalypse no one will care about who was being snitty beforehand.

But inevitably I feel confident that come 7 o'clock there's going to be a bit of a down slide for a certain population who perhaps gambled a little too much on the predictions of one man. It's one thing to wonder about the end of the world, but quite another to make preparations for it.



Film Review: Thor

What a boost this whole Avengers thing has been to the comic book movie genre. I mean, without it various films of late would have had to come up with extra scenes and characters of their own, rather than just relying on this overall Government department of superheros to step in and help out with plot points. Thor, one of the lesser-known comic book properties, puts forward the idea that all the old Scandinavian legends were actually real, and that back in the day humans were subservient to the various Nordic gods. But with the war against the ice planet won there was no longer need to mess about on Earth, so they've left us alone. Odin, played by a rejuvenated Anthony Hopkins, is preparing to pass his crown on to his son Thor, essentially a hot headed pretty boy. This does not sit well with younger son Loki, who wants the crown for himself. It doesn't take much goading for Thor to act thoughtlessly and risk the peace his father fought so hard for. His punishment is to be banished to Earth, without his powers.

And so enters Natalie Portman, who plays some kind of Astrophysicist working in New Mexico alongside Skellen Skarsgard trying to figure out these weird space phenomenon that keep happening. Naturally when Thor arrives she hits him with her car, and from there it's, well, some kind of goofy attraction at first sight. Thor immediately sets about being Thor, trying to strong-arm his way back to retrieving his hammer, but soon realizes that he's just a man, and needs help. It's then up to him to finally grow up a little bit and figure out how to get back home again to save his father from his brother.

This is quite a shallow movie, balanced precariously on the charm of it's leading man and some action sequences involving Thor hitting various things with his hammer. And while both things are reasonably OK, we really are expecting a bit more in this day and age. Or at least I am. Perhaps I'm just simply cut off from this kind of movie, all style with a small bit of meaning in the middle. Kenneth Branagh has directed his actors well, but there's just simply not a lot for them to do, or even be, hence I expect the rather large amount of Shield nonsense throughout. And when is Hollywood going to finally understand what the word 'immortal' actually means? Two fancy costumes out of Five.


- Peace out

Well Here We Are

Conditions: Cold, jittery.

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead.

As I type I can see people celebrating in New York city. They laugh and cheer and carry flags about while chanting "U.S.A" "U.S.A" "U.S.A". They mug for the cameras and smile and dance with each other. It's very early in the morning there, and crowds have congregated to Ground Zero in celebration. In Washington there's another crowd who have gathered outside the white house. They too are singing and laughing. There's a few bagpipers who are playing Amazing Grace. People are thowing streamewrs in to the air. What has prompted this sudden outpouring of good cheer?

Osama bin Laden, the elusive mastermind behind the devastating September 11, 2001, terror attacks that led the United States into war in Afghanistan and later Iraq, was killed in a firefight, President Barack Obama said Sunday.
[...]

Obama said a small team of Americans killed bin Laden early Sunday in the town of Abbottabat, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, U.S., Pakistani officials said. The team took custody of his remains and American officials said they were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

- indianexpress.com/news

Yes, after a 10 year man hunt the most wanted man in the world is dead. Executed by special forces soldiers in a Villa in Pakistan. So with the apparent mastermind of Al Queda dead, is that the end of the war on terror? Can America finally now creep out from behind the big rock they've been under, and start regaining some sanity?

LONDON - World leaders from Britain to Japan on Monday hailed the death of Osama bin Laden and urged heightened security precautions in its aftermath. News of the terror leader’s killing by U.S. forces in Pakistan boosted the dollar, sending stock markets higher in Asia and driving down the price of oil.

In official reactions and global media reports, there was a broad sense that the successful operation amounted to a personal victory for Americans and a milestone in the fight against extremism.

- washingtonpost.com/world/

So the stock market is climbing, and it looks like security will be ramped up in the aftermath. Terr-ific.

The mood this morning is likely to be more sober, as Americans cast their minds back on past premature declarations of victory, in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 and at George W Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" triumphalism over Iraq in 2003.

The struggle against terrorism does not give itself easily to neat beginnings and endings. In one sense, the "war on terror" ended in March 2009 when the incoming Obama administration decided it was a counter-productive phrase in the first place, bringing America's enemies together rather than dividing them.

After being driven from Afghanistan in 2001, al-Qaida's response was to transform itself into a far looser global network that would be harder to destroy. In its most dilute form, al-Qaida is little more than a franchise that alienated groups around the world can sign up for, exchanging formal oaths of allegiance for the dread that the name inspires in their enemies.

The most likely short-term impact of Bin Laden's death is an increase in al-Qaida attacks around the world, as the martyr effect kicks in and these disparate groups carry out attacks to ensure that the killing of their spiritual leader does not go unavenged. If they fail to do so, their supporters and enemies alike could rightly question whether they are still in business at all.

- guardian.co.uk/world/

And there we have it, the glaring and obvious truth. That the war on terror has been handled so badly that the leader and figurehead of the terrorist network Al Queda was able to settle into life in a Pakistani Villa. His organisation had time enough to reconfigure itself to operate effectively without him. And that when he was finally apprehended he was not arrested and put on trial for his crimes, which I reluctantly feel I should point out would have been the preferred outcome, but instead killed that likely will prompt some kind of retalliation and ensuring any possible victory or value that could have been gotten from this guy has been pissed away. Let the revelry continue.


Film Review: Fast and the Furious 5.

Or Fast 5, or 5ast and 5urious, whatever the kids are calling it these days. Fed up with doing sequels where someone gets in trouble and everyone else has to drive like lunatics to help out, the filmmakers have decided for the latest round of the Fast franchise to do an Ocean's 11 on wheels. Which is the Italian Job. But not the classic 60's Italian Job, more like the recent one with Marky Mark, BMW's, and a dead Donald Sutherland. However even this lowered bar proves a mighty challenge for the likes of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as they assemble a rag-tag crew of people from the last four movies, because they're going up against a notorious Rio drug kingpin who has the entire city's police force in his pocket. Which is just as well since they probably end up killing most of the cops, as well as a significant number of bystanders, in the truly ludicrous finale.

There's an effort to concentrate on the theme of family, where Walker's character becomes a father, and Vin therefore an uncle, and the various other half-remembered faces are included in the family mashup as well. But really, the overall theme I got from the film was a steady undertone of desperate viciousness. We begin right at the end of the last one which was (since no one remembers) where Vin was sentenced to jail and put on a prison bus. Our heroes (? really?) bust him out by triggering one of the biggest bus crashes I've ever seen. But it's ok, apparently no one else escapes, or even gets hurt. This is probably the first film I remember where you know the filmmakers are just flat out lying to you, likely because they know that the audience doesn't really care. Wheee: bus crash. Anyway, our heroes (? maybe?) go to Rio to steal cars for a living, only top fall foul of said drug kingpin. Enter The Rock(tm) playing some kind of American Marshal with the power to basically charge around Rio in a tank as if it's Bagdhad, doing whatever he wants in pursuit of the team. I can't decide whether he puts the term "bad" or the term "ass" into the word "badass". Perhaps it's a full sweep. Eventually he gets his chance to fight Vin Diesel, in a carefully choreographed brawl where Vin wins but totally lets The Rock off the hook. I guess that's why Vin's name is above the title.

Anyway, after much bullshitting around the team decide that instead of some clever plan to steal the bad guys' money from his safe in the building, they can just smash though the walls and steal the safe itself, towing it through the streets of Rio behind two muscle cars. If you've seen the trailer you can imagine how that turns out. This really comes across as a mean film, where everyone is desperate to destroy whatever stands between them and getting paid. And in the end the good guys win (again: ?) and retire to live the good life with all that stolen drug money, and I can't help but wonder exactly why we in the audience are meant to care for any of these chumps at all? Seriously, we all like Vin Diesel, and the other guys are okay, but why in these movies should we give a damn for these characters? Maybe it's my mistake, for looking at characters in a Fast & Furious film, so packed to the brim with roaring engines and stylish flash that there's simply no room left over for actual depth. And being pregnant doesn't count. Two pancaked cop cars out of Five.


-Peace out