Weekend Stuff
Ok, I actually have stuff to post about, but we're getting ready to go to Dland for a couple of days while the construction guys put in new stairs, so not much time.
Finally saw "Bladerunner" for the first time and I was so confused. I mean, the main story seemed to make sense but it felt like something was missing, and there were all these long sequences where there was no dialouge and it make the whole movie seem really slow paced. Then I mentioned it to a friend of mine who asked if I watched the Director's Cut, which apparently does not have the nifty voiceover that explains what the crap is happening. So I have to rewatch it now. Anyways, it was visually interesting, but does not seemed to have aged well. Especially since a large amount of SciFi people seemed to totally miss the mark in the 80's. We are nowhere close to flying cars, but apparently no one saw the minaturization and internet revolution coming at all.
Anyways, I was disappointed to learn that my Dad (who usually has the same taste in movies I do) thought "Napoleon Dynamite" was "stupid". But apparently this is because he was the cocky jock guy when he was in high school and says he didn't get the nerds then, and he doesn't get them now. Which is funny to me because all three of his kids, myself included, are so geeky it's silly. Ah well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that guy who was a drag racing surfer voted Most Likely to marry Miss America in high school doesn't get "Napoleon Dynamite", but still it made me a little sad to realize the social rift that lies between us. Anyways, he liked "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and continues to be a Star Trek fan, so there must be some geek in him somewhere. (Maybe he's just in denile.)
Ok, off to doc signings, Disneyland, LYTs, and other fun adventures.
Finally saw "Bladerunner" for the first time and I was so confused. I mean, the main story seemed to make sense but it felt like something was missing, and there were all these long sequences where there was no dialouge and it make the whole movie seem really slow paced. Then I mentioned it to a friend of mine who asked if I watched the Director's Cut, which apparently does not have the nifty voiceover that explains what the crap is happening. So I have to rewatch it now. Anyways, it was visually interesting, but does not seemed to have aged well. Especially since a large amount of SciFi people seemed to totally miss the mark in the 80's. We are nowhere close to flying cars, but apparently no one saw the minaturization and internet revolution coming at all.
Anyways, I was disappointed to learn that my Dad (who usually has the same taste in movies I do) thought "Napoleon Dynamite" was "stupid". But apparently this is because he was the cocky jock guy when he was in high school and says he didn't get the nerds then, and he doesn't get them now. Which is funny to me because all three of his kids, myself included, are so geeky it's silly. Ah well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that guy who was a drag racing surfer voted Most Likely to marry Miss America in high school doesn't get "Napoleon Dynamite", but still it made me a little sad to realize the social rift that lies between us. Anyways, he liked "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and continues to be a Star Trek fan, so there must be some geek in him somewhere. (Maybe he's just in denile.)
Ok, off to doc signings, Disneyland, LYTs, and other fun adventures.
posted by BurgandySkies @ 9:52 AM
6 Comments:
At 12:01 PM,
Christian Lindke said…
Miniaturization and the internet in 80s sci-fi...
Brainstorm starring Christopher Walken is about a computer device which records thoughts which can then be used by other people. Sound similar to Strange Days and Shatner's Tek War? Yep it is.
Scanners by David Cronenberg. First time a person "jacks" into a computer on film. Of course, he is a psychic and technology isn't used, but the guy still jacks in and manipulates.
War Games Matthew Broderick uses his modem to hack into the Norad mainframe and almost starts nuclear war.
Tron Basic premise is that all computer programs are subject to a "Master Control Program" across all electrical connections. Video game programs and military programs battle for survival under the MCP's tyranny. It's up to video game creator Jeff Bridges and security programmer Bruce Boxleitner to stop the MCP.
Sneakers starring Robert Redford as a computer architect who is stealing a decryptor which can bypass all computer security through existing phone lines.
Cloak and Dagger Hacking is involved again.
Written...
Count Zero and every other William Gibson novel.
Shadowrun RPG that came out in 1989 before the internet was popular.
The novels really are too numerous to count.
What Blade Runner captured was the "noir" essense of a possible future. In my opinion, the director's cut is significantly weaker than the original. In the original, a replicant gives up his live for a human (a noble act) who is sacrificing his life for a replicant (another noble act). While in the director's cut a replicant saves a replicant who loves a replicant. It makes all sacrifice meaningless.
Oh, and in the novel people "dial their moods" using devices to help them feel and a new religion trying to help people become empathic has emerged. As to the replicants, they are purely villainous and the Rachel character has no redeeming qualities. Novel and Film are totally different, but I think both speak well about human relationships and against using "thinking machines" (in both cases actually programmed clones) as slave labor.
At 12:02 PM,
Christian Lindke said…
I can probably think of more if given time, but I don't want to bore anyone.
At 7:08 PM,
David N. Scott said…
I agree with #1s thoughts on BR, but there's something more important...
You forgot that Tron inspired the birth of the Tron guy.
At 7:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
I love Sneakers!
At 5:08 PM,
Anonymous said…
I am an ancient 46 years old.
But, I LOVED Napoleon Dynamite, ID'd with him big-time(for the geek part). It seemed more like a documentary than a movie.
Sweet!
-chris muir
At 12:20 PM,
BurgandySkies said…
I could relate to pretty much everything in the movie. Which is funny because I could also pretty much relate to everything in Requim for a Dream. So goes my very wierd life. Anyways, being pretty much the same age as the writer/director, I totally got all the references (I even have my Glamour Shot somewhere around here, though it isn't by Deb)
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