Monthly Archives: March 2019

Comic-Fest 2019

Last weekend my sweetie-wife and I attended our first Comic-Fest here in San Diego. Now, this is not the world famous and massively attended Hollywood trade show that is known as Comic-Con, but rather a much smaller convention that was founded by the original Comic-Con founders. The first few Comic-Fest passed by without me attending as they were much more focused on Comics and that art form is not my passion. Last year it looked to be much more generalized in its mediums along with a growing a science track of programming but it sadly conflicted with Kingdom-Con a local gaming convention, so I missed that year as well. Now that I have been to a Comic Fest what do I think?

It was a blast.

The science was very robust with lectures and presentations on the on going search for dark matter, galactic formation, imaging the moon, and even about two competing missions from NASA that look amazing. (Both un-crewed one a sample return from a comet the other an autonomous flying drone for Titan.) The media programing was sharp, with histories on the Twilight Zone and personal recollections from 40 years in the industry. The convention was rounded out by some decent SF programing and of interesting panels, presentations, and discussion on the comics industry.

 

 

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Thoughts on the College Admission Scandal

The last couple of days have been amusing as various celebrities have been entangled with federal crimes concerning issues over fraud and bribery over college admissions for their precious offspring. At a time with justice and equality are rising as political concerns and coupled with the dazzling nature of celebrity it is no surprise that this news story is finding its legs.

My reactions fall into one of two major lines of thought.

First off; no duh. It is of absolutely no surprise that these sort of things are going on, the only original element is that these lower tier celebs had to resort to criminal means instead of the usual just buy your way in with an overly generous ‘gift’ as the more wealthy does. An elite institution will admit anyone if there is a large enough endowment attached. This is the real affirmative action crisis, mediocre and worse student taking up valuable slots in important institutions solely because of the accident of their birth. This does not stop at the university; it extends through internships and entry into the halls of power, both economic and political. I have read, though not yet confirmed, that the number of legacy students, i.e. sons and daughters of former students, at elite universities outnumber the total number of non-white students. This is the lie at the heart of ‘merit.’ Too often what people think was merit is a perk of class and nothing more.

Second this is also a function of gate-keeping and elitism. Harvard, Yale, and many other ‘elite’ institutions are sitting on vast fortunes. They could open dozens of schools across the country, vastly increasing the number students, graduates, and accelerating human advancement but that would destroy their brand as their only real value is the artificially restricted enrollments.

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Movie Review: Captain Marvel

Yesterday my sweetie-wife and I took a few hours out from Comic Fest, a local Comic/SF convention to catch the latest release from the Marv el Cinematic Universe: Captain Marvel.

I was touched, as I am sure many people were, when the flashing scenes features the heroes of the MCU in the opening logo was replaced with flashbacks to Stan Lee’s numerous cameo throughout the franchises.

Captain Marvel,  the released after the universe shattering events of Avengers: Infinity War  actually takes place in the past, 1995, making it the second movie, following Captain America: The First Avenger,  to establish and/or retcon history in the MCU. Centered on an amnesiac Kree warrior Vers, this movie is about one woman’s journey to discovery not only who and what she is but to firmly plant her flag about the nature of heroism. Chasing about Earth after

Captain Marvel (2019) poster
CR: Marvel Studios

shape-shifting alien Skrulls, Vers, played by the talented and captivating Brie Larson, teams up with SHIELD Agent Nick Fury, played with digital de-aging assistance by the incomparable Samuel L. Jackson, and learns about herself and the slippery nature of truth until she confronts and accepts her place in the larger scheme of things.

In previous posts I have ranked the MCU films into four categories and Captain Marvelfalls firmly into the mid-grade ranking along side with Guardians Vol2, Thor, Thor: the Dark World, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant-man  and Iron Man 2. It is a solid movie without major flaws and a talented cast that is engaging and talented but it lacks the breakout qualities that would elevate the film into either the Honorable Mention or Top Tier categories. Well worth a trip to the theater and almost certainly a future addition to my library Captain Marvel  is fun, fast, and not without worthy themes.

The movie is not without flaws, the overall plot is fairly standard for an MCU movie, the action while fine and well performed doesn’t break out into anything noteworthy, and the digital de-aging for Clark Gregg as Coulson, while better than the digit masks for Cushing and Fisher in Rouge One   came off as plastic and nearly plunged me into the uncanny valley. These are the principal reasons why Captain Marvel  landed as a mid-tier Marvel movie and an honorable mention or high in my personal rankings.

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Some Thoughts on the Representative Ilhan Omar Controversy

People following politics are undoubtedly aware that freshman Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota had landed a couple of time in hot water for comments critical of Israel and America’s relationship with Israel that invoked imagery or concepts closely linked to anti-Semitism. The House is considering a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and conservatives are in full attack.

I do not know what it is Representative’s Omar heart. She does not have a paper trail of lawsuits concerning civil rights violations of a racist nature and her public record if correspondingly short given her recent entry into national public discourse but her comments are unsettlingly in the close nature of classic anti-Semitic tropes.

Before I continue let me make clear an important concept, context matters. During the administration of President George W. Bush a common caricature of the president utilized his unfortunately prominent ears giving him an ape-like appearance. Fair game in the world of rough and tumble politics, but doing the same thing to President Obama is not the same, despite some conservative who insisted it was some sort of double standard. Portraying any black man with an ape-like appearance plays on centuries of vile racist imagery and it out of bounds for any civilized discussion. Context is king.

With Representative Omar’s unfortunate choice of words I see that it would fall into one of three major categories.

First: Representative Omar harbors some level of anti-Semitic thought or feeling.

Second: Representative Omar has spent or spends considerable time associating with people who are comfortable voice anti-Semitic positions. (This is an effect I have watched take place with some conservative friends as they repeat ‘jokes’ or opinions voice by darker corners of the movement. Living examples of the adage ‘lie with dogs; rise with fleas.’)

Third: Representative Omar stumbled into these anti-Semitic tropes accidently, unaware of the history behind these ideas and insults.

Time and future behavior will make it easier to judge which of these categories best fits her actions.

That said it is clear to me that the attacks from conservatives are disingenuous. Their lack of any serious reactions to numerous similar situations put a lie to all their pearl clutching over Omar’s comments. Representative Steve King had to openly question why ‘white supremacy’ was a bad thing before they rose in any meaningful fashion opposing his years of public bigotry, to say nothing of the president’s repeated crossing of numerous lines of racist comments.

As to the potential resolution of condemnation, the House should make it explicit that referring to sovereign nations as ‘shitholes’ or considering neo-Nazis chanting ‘Jews will not replace us’ as ‘fine people’ is equally unacceptable.

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The Most Pointless Debates

Any number of debate topics are pointless; the best known among these being anything concerning politics or religion. As an aside let me lay out in my mind the difference between a debate and a discussion. In a debate the goal to is present argument strong enough, well reasoned enough, and supported by enough facts that one party ends up conceding their position to the other while a s discussion is a dialog that does not possess conversion or ‘winning’ as a goal. Today religion and politics are often matters of core identities and people rarely surrender their identity for mere fact and logical construction and so discussion of religion and politics can be illuminating debates on these topics are often nothing more than unmasked futility. I would add to this short list of futile debates and relative merits of various television shows and feature films.

Beyond the traditional divides, Star Trek  vs. Star Wars these debates where someone tried fervently to get someone to admit that a film or series is good or bad, depending on the debater’s point of view, are sound and fury signifying nothing. Art is not objective, it is inherently subjective and those pieces that speak to us or do not speak to us do so on levels that are effective by our known reason and our, often unknown, biases. It is possible to discuss why a film works or what made it so appealing to you, but climbing the mountain to getting someone who hates a movie to flip and love it is a fool’s errand. This is a debate I have witnessed over and over again. There have been films I loathed and friends have tried to convince me we worthy of love and there have been film I loved that friends have to get me to dismiss as garbage. It doesn’t happen, the heart wants what the heart wants.

Lately, as these debates have moved on line, the futility of these debates has grown with their number. I have watched as member of communities engaged in vicious and utterly meaningless debates over recent genre films. Often these debates are deeply heated because the movies themselves have become stand in for political positions and as such tokens of political identity and to love or hate a movie becomes inescapably bound up with one core sense of self. The participants in these debates rarely are aware that they are in fact debating matters of personal identity and descend into hateful attacks as the personal stakes continually rise.

I do not participate in these on line debates. I am more than happy to discuss movies, I adore movies, but I will never try to convince you that need to think of any film the same way I do.

My god if everyone did that film would be boring.

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Movie Review: Apollo 11 (2019)

This year is the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s flight, landing, and return from the moon. In celebration and in partnership with NASA a new documentary is currently playing in theaters nationwide.

Apollo 11, using footage that has never before been exhibited, chronicles the historic voyage to our nearest celestial neighbor. Omitting present day narration and interviews the film utilizes 65mm footage shot by MGM Studios for a proposed film that was never realized, 35 and 16 mm footage shot by NASA and the Apollo 11 astronauts respectively, and original audio recoding for Mission Control, Apollo 11 transmissions, and national news coverage, to create the sensation of witnessing the fantastic venture. Aside from digital process in the film restoration and brilliant on-screen titling, the only modern feature of the documentary is the music, while created on period electronics is all original composition.

I am a space nerd. I was eight when Armstrong and Aldrin walked the surface of the moon as Collins orbited overhead.  I could not begin to count the number of documentaries about the space race, Apollo, and the planets I have watched and this one is the most impact, the most emotional, and the most thrilling. Seeing this massive endeavor on an Imax screen with belly rumbling bass was an unmatched experience. Sadly if you want to see it in Imax also you will need to hurry. It plays in these large format theaters this week only and will be replace by the MCU’s next entry, Captain Marvel.

This movie is fantastic and the landing sequence surprisingly suspenseful for an event that not only happened in out lifetimes but that we witnessed live.

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The Old Ways Die and are Replaced

Over the weekend I have seen reports that some senior member of the MPAA are planning to introduce new rules that they hope will stop companies such as Netflix from competing in the Oscars.

To be eligible for an Oscar nomination a film, among other factors and there are many, is that the film must play for seven consecutive days at a commercial theater in Los Angeles and the film must not have been broadcast or available via home video or pay per view prior to that L.A. exhibition.

Netflix, having moved solidly into the film production as well as the exhibition business and looking for the validation that serious awards grant gamed the system to get its movie Roma  into Oscar consideration for the 2018 awards. It lost Best Picture to Green Book,  a film that upset many people and it likely to be one of the lesser-remembered Best Picture winners, however Roma’s near victory has unsettled those with a more traditionalist view of the motion picture industry, fueling this charge to change the rules.

Frankly, I am not concerned.

The distinction between television and feature films has been vanishing for decades. Movie theater attendance never recovered from the blow that was the adoption of television and now with more movies being made than ever most people get their experiences in such diverse environments as state of the art theaters with massive sound system to ear buds while sitting on a moving mass transit bus. Trying to hold to an outdated model first constructed at the start of the last century is a fool’s errand. What matters, and what has always mattered more than anything else, is that people see the features.

Art without an audience is worthless. A book has value only when it is read, a song when it is heard, a movie when it is watched.

I prefer seeing films in theaters, I love that experience but I see far more films for the first time on my television. It is the point of discovery where I learn about new voices that speak to my own.

The olds ways are dying; let them.

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My New Camera

Things have been hectic around here and hopefully soon I will be able to talk about it. Until then here is a photo from the used camera I got this week. I am looking forward to taking lots of pics with this Nikon D80

 

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