Category Archives: General

General

Nullification everywhere…

Absolutely fascinating article by Emily Bazelon for Slate Magazine explores the state attempts to surmount federal law with regard to marijuana use and guns.  Her thesis:  Are liberals hypocrites when they cheer states that have circumvented federal law against the use of marijuana while booing states that have tried to do the same regarding guns?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/09/colorada_and_washington_marijuana_legalization_why_aren_t_liberals_as_excited.html

I consider myself a liberal.  I have never, in my entire life, ever used marijuana (or, for that matter, any illegal drug).  Yet I feel that the laws against marijuana are way too stringent and support legalization (and taxation) of the product.  Why?  Because 1920’s era prohibition never accomplish eliminating the use of alcohol and I don’t believe these laws against the use of marijuana will do the same.

And yet, I’m alarmed by states attempting to remove all federal laws regarding the use of firearms.

Am I a hypocrite?  I don’t believe so.

Marijuana is a drug that from what I’ve read is considered relatively harmless versus so many other, stronger and addictive drugs.  One of the claims often made against marijuana is that it is “gateway” drug, a means by which people start using the “harder stuff”.  If that’s the case, then wouldn’t alcohol be a gateway drug as well?  And what about cancer patients (among others) who suffer crippling pain and low to non-existent appetites who claim the use of marijuana helps them ease both conditions over prescription pills?  Why deny them the use of a potential day to day aid?

Guns, on the other hand, were designed and created for one use and one use only:  To kill.  And guns, unlike marijuana, are not illegal to own and purchase.  What the gun lobby/nullification cause is trying to do is kick down whatever laws there are regarding federal regulation of firearms.  Laws that, let’s face it, are fairly weak to begin with.

The article discusses in much more depth the legal issues regarding both gun and marijuana regulation and the pros and cons of each.  As I said before, a fascinating read.

General

Never get another traffic ticket…?

Fascinating (and very short) article by Elliot Hannon for Slate.com regarding a move by the European Union to, and I quote, “introduce a new law requiring cars to come fitted with technology that would keep drivers from going over the speed limit.”

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/09/02/a_new_e_u_proposal_looks_to_install_technology_that_keep_cars_from_going.html

The other day I was watching a panel of reporters on TV (I believe the show was Chris Hayes on MSNBC) and they were talking about self-driving cars.  The panel noted the technology to make self-driving cars existed already, and the only thing keeping self-driving cars from becoming a reality were issues regarding the law and insurance.

Mr. Hayes noted that the mortality/accident rates for air and rail travel were almost non-existent compared to the same for automobile travel, and that it is strange we as consumers aren’t more alarmed by this.  He stated, quite rightly I felt, if the same mortality rates were present in air travel as they were in automobile travel, no one would use an airplane.

The article above notes that the European Union is being proactive in trying to lessen the mortality/accident rates on the road and that by having technology in a car that stops drivers from speeding those rates are bound to drop.  I agree with this as well, but feel that if we go to completely driver-less cars, the rate will drop even more.

Granted, there will be people who want to keep driving on their own, just as surely as there will be a large contingent of people who will be only too happy to let a computer focus on their morning and evening commute while they engage in any number of things with their now free time, from reading the paper to watching a movie to checking their email/texts.

I suspect driver-less tech will slowly work its way into the big cities and will not only reduce the rates of mortality/accidents but also significantly reduce traffic jams and the rush hour commute.  By the above action, the European Union is essentially taking the first step toward driver-less tech by implementing their system to keep drivers from speeding.

On the other hand, the book writer in me can’t help but think of the possible scenarios where a computer driven car might be a very big danger.  Perhaps I should keep those scenarios to myself…there’s always the next book to write! 😉

We live in interesting times!

General, Movies

On Joss Whedon…

So director/writer Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Avengers) offered some opinions regarding popular films and, more specifically, criticism directed at them.  His first major comment, regarding Empire Strikes Back, went like this:

“Empire committed the cardinal sin of not actually ending. Which at the time I was appalled by and I still think it was a terrible idea. Well, it’s not an ending. It’s a Come Back Next Week, or in three years. And that upsets me. I go to movies expecting to have a whole experience. If I want a movie that doesn’t end I’ll go to a French movie. That’s a betrayal of trust to me. A movie has to be complete within itself, it can’t just build off the first one or play variations.”

(You can read more about this here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/26/star-wars-joss-whedons-critique-of-the-empire-strikes-back)

I couldn’t agree with Mr. Whedon more.  It is my opinion that if you intend to end a film (or a book, for that matter) with the glimmer of a possibility of a sequel, you should nonetheless make sure that whatever work you are creating is as complete as possible on its own terms.  Compare, for example, the original Star Wars to Empire Strikes Back.  In Star Wars, the film clearly gives us a hint of a sequel (the main villain, Darth Vader, gets away), yet the film accomplishes everything -storywise- it intended, from setting up the “big danger” and the heroes’ quest to their ultimate triumph in ridding their world of this threat.  Empire, on the other hand, seemed to present a series of events culminating in nothing at all being resolved…and indeed all the characters in flux…until the next film.

Now, does this necessarily diminish the film?  Empire is considered by many to be THE BEST of the Star Wars films, so clearly Lucas and company did something right.  Yet Mr. Whedon’s comments, I feel, are nonetheless on target.  Empire is a film without an ending, and as such is ultimately an incomplete experience…until you see Return of the Jedi.

(An admission:  I am not a big fan of the Star Wars films.  I don’t hate them, mind you, just never got into them as my peers did back in the day.)

Mr. Whedon’s made another comment, this time regarding self-referential humor -and the problem with it- in movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  I find this comment even more intriguing:

A movie has to be complete within itself; it can’t just build off the first one or play variations. You know that thing in Temple of Doom where they revisit the shooting trick? … That’s what you don’t want. And I feel that’s what all of culture is becoming — it’s becoming that moment.

Germain Lussier at /Film takes up Mr. Whedon’s comment and offers a wonderful explanation/examination of what he is essentially saying.  I underlined what I believe really gets to the heart of the matter:

The bigger issue Whedon is getting at here is that Spielberg relied on what had already happened for a cheap joke. Magnify that onto a larger scale and you have Saw VII, The Amazing Spider-Man reboot, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and One Direction. Things that are simply copying creative endeavors that have proven to be successful. Whedon’s issue is very few people create something new these days. And, even scarier, no one seems to care. They simply consume the same crap over and over again. This sentiment is a valid one.

(You can read the entire article here: http://www.slashfilm.com/joss-whedon-points-at-temple-of-doom-scene-as-example-of-cultural-problem/#more-192045)

There is, of course, some irony to be found in Mr. Whedon’s comments, even while I generally agree with them.  Wasn’t Mr. Whedon responsible for a TV show which essentially featured a character versus vampires (and other evils) as threats week in and week out?  And wasn’t that vampire show given a spin off series?  Yes, they were both very entertaining shows, but still.  And wasn’t Cabin in the Woods, a film he produced and co-wrote, essentially a long riff on many horror movie tropes/cliches?  Does one not need to know many of these horror movie tropes/cliches coming into that film to truly appreciate it?

Given that, how is Mr. Whedon’s use of such tropes/cliches to create his work all that different from the same example he points out in Temple of Doom?

Setting that aside, and going back to Mr. Lussier’s wonderful comments, the underlined elements are, in my opinion, the meat of the matter.  Thanks to the internet and new technologies, we live in a society where we are stimulated more than we have ever been, be it via video games or music or movies or shows.  We consume entertainment near constantly, and are always looking for the next fix.

Thing is, the next fix requires an awful lot of work.

Making a TV show or an album or a book or a movie isn’t something you can (in the most vulgar terms) “shit out” in your free time.  It requires hours and hours of heavy work and, once it is ready, there is the very real possibility that it never catches fire and is immediately forgotten or, worse, completely ignored.

Audiences are hard -if not impossible- to judge.  You may work your tail off and come up with something you feel is worthwhile and original and are meet with little more than yawns.  You may do a riff on something currently popular (yesterday it was Vampires, lately it seems to be either Zombies or superheroes) and instantly connect with audiences and have great success.  You may even hit it big with something that wasn’t so big before and, to keep the success going, start making your own spin-offs of said material…over and over again, to keep up your success.

The copying and re-copying of material carries with it, even in these over-stimulated days, diminishing returns.  What was popular can become tiresome and audiences might suddenly decide to turn off.

I suppose pop culture has always worked this way.  There are those who create material that offers a path for others to follow (and, if you want to be blunt about it, rip-off) until that path and creative direction is worn out and the “new” material -whatever that may be- takes over.  Until it becomes old and worn out as well.  Then the new-“new” material takes over, and off we go again…

General

Worst Baseball Card of All Time…?

When I was very young, I collected a lot of things, from coins to stamps to (of course) books and comic books.

One thing I never got into, however, was collecting baseball cards.

Even so, this story, concerning the “worst baseball card of all time”, had me laughing:

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2013/08/bob_hamelin_worst_baseball_card_ever_the_case_of_1996_pinnacle_foil_no_289.html

For those too lazy to click the above link (I highly recommend it…the story behind the card, and other examples of terrible sports cards, is worth your time), this is the notorious card:

Bob Hamelin baseball card.

Hard to believe such a terribly, terribly designed card was approved and released.  Not only is the photo itself strictly amateurish, but the flourishes added to the card (in particular the bit at the bottom with the player’s name…covering the player’s mug-shot looking photo and identification!).

Very weird -and hilarious- stuff.

General

A single photon of light…

Fascinating article by Charles Q. Choi and presented at MSNBC.com regarding a new manner in which to search for signs of intelligent life, via faint laser pulses in contrast to the larger, isolated bursts they were looking for before:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/faint-alien-laser-pulses-sought-hunt-extraterrestrial-intelligence-8C10995618

Perhaps the most fascinating quote of the article is this one:

“We assumed that aliens would use the simplest possible way of attracting our attention, one already implemented in seafaring since ancient times using lighthouses — that is, periodic light pulses,” (laser scientist Walter) Leeb said.

The key is repetition in the signals, faint as they may be, which would indicate something not necessarily found in nature.

As I said, fascinating stuff!

Now, on to the other side of the coin:  Top Ten Alien Encounters…Debunked:

http://www.space.com/9704-ten-alien-encounters-debunked.html

General

The Bulls**t Police…

Fascinating article by Michael Moynihan for Newsweek Magazine concerning the “Skeptic” movement:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/08/16/james-randi-the-amazing-meeting-and-the-bullshit-police.html

Don’t know how long ago it was I first saw/heard/became aware of James Randi, the movement’s founder…perhaps it was on one of his Johnny Carson/Tonight Show appearances…but I’ve always felt a kinship, of sorts, with him.  I suppose what drove him into this area (he was a well known magician/illusionist before) was a distaste for people claiming to have some kind of extra-sensory power and using this flim-flam to get money.

In some cases, lots and lots of money.

Where the article gets really interesting, in my opinion, is when it deals with some of the groups trying to appropriate the term “skeptic” to essentially promote anti-scientific ideas and, the big one, the whole issue of religion in the skeptical community.  The author notes that skeptics can sometimes come off as arrogant and this passage, found close to the end of the article, sums up that danger:

Many believe that the movement’s insularity and self-confidence is damaging its ability to broaden its impact. In his 2010 speech at TAM, Slate’s Phil Plait offered his allies a harsh bit of advice: if you want to gain converts, he said, “don’t be a dick.” “The tone of what we are doing is decaying,” he admonished, and “vitriol and venom are on the rise.”

As I said, a fascinating article.

General

Rare historical photographs…

Over at the fascinating slightlywarped.com you can find three incredible pages devoted to “rare” historical photographs…oddball pieces that surprise, delight, and amaze:

http://slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/2013/march/rare_historical_photos.htm

In this, the first webpage, I found the following photograph the most fascinating:

Yes, that’s Fidel Castro standing before the Lincoln Memorial after laying a wreath!  Though I knew of his trips to the United States both before and after the Cuban Revolution, this image is so very…odd.

The second page can be found here:

http://slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/2013/august/even_more_rare_historical_pictures.htm

Of this group, my favorite has to be:

According to the website, this is a photograph taken in 1893 of three Princeton students after a Freshman/Sophomore snowball fight!  Guess the snowball fight became somewhat…intense.

There is a second photograph in this grouping, however, that I simply have to show:

Believe it or not, that’s a photograph taken in 1894 of Mark Twain in Nikolai Tesla’s lab…with, I’m assuming, Mr. Tesla looking on!  Seems like something you’d see in a steampunk movie.

Finally, we have this, the last of the three pages:

http://slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/2013/may/hidden_rare_historical_photos.htm

Of these, easily my favorite photograph, and one I had seen before, is this:

This photograph, taken in 1885, shows the Statue of Liberty nearly completed…while sitting in the middle of Paris.  Sometimes its easy to forget this extraordinary statue was a gift from the French and was constructed over there before being brought over to New York.

As I said before, fascinating, fascinating stuff.