http://www.starwarsuncut.com/newhope
Category: Film
Joseph Campbell on Darth Vader
“Star Wars deals with the essential problem: Is the machine going to control humanity, or is the machine going to serve humanity? Darth Vader is a man taken over by a machine, he becomes a machine, and the state itself is a machine. There is no humanity in the state. What runs the world is economics and politics, and they have nothing to do with the spiritual life.
“So we are left with this void. It’s the job of the artists to create the new myths. Myths come from the artists.”
Joseph Campbell, interviewed by Chris Goodrich, Publisher’s Weekly (1985)
Speaking about the machines – a conversation about the machines in the Matrix Reloaded. It is not really about moving parts… it is about power and control. We truly are godlike thanks to the power machines give us – we stomp the land for resources and run around in space. It is truly sad also that we often unleash machines on each other, as if we have run out of beasts to conquer.. but this is another, and long, conversation.
Just binged on Silicon Valley Season 3 – it is the most accurate description of common ways of communicating and joking in the Valley where geeks rule – one day i am gonna share a typical Valley thread of pretty pics… where lonely geeks working late photoshop each other into things – it is much worse than you think
Just saw the new Star Trek – here’s Yorktown Station Concept Art – i loved it and thought it much more exciting than the interstellar space town. Looks awesome!
Designed by Sean Hargreaves.
Kenny Baker, the actor behind my favorite robot
Kenny Baker, actor behind R2-D2 via the guardian.
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Press to Beep – via reddit.
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My next favorite robot is of course a sarcastic one:
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Speaking of it – interstellar is not necessarily among my favorites – but loved Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, have seen them both many times each. I spin Edge of Tomorrow often ( rip solarmovie ).
What is your humor setting, TARS?
100 percent.
Let’s bring that down to 75.
To be honest i like my robots and humans at 100 percent.
Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed WALL-E, talks about the clues to a great story
“Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.”
― William Archer
A tourist is backpacking through the highlands of Scotland, and he stops at a pub to get a drink. And the only people in there is a bartender and an old man nursing a beer. And he orders a pint, and they sit in silence for a while. And suddenly the old man turns to him and goes, “You see this bar? I built this bar with my bare hands from the finest wood in the county. Gave it more love and care than my own child. But do they call me MacGregor the bar builder? No.” Points out the window. “You see that stone wall out there? I built that stone wall with my bare hands. Found every stone, placed them just so through the rain and the cold. But do they call me MacGregor the stone wall builder? No.” Points out the window. “You see that pier on the lake out there? I built that pier with my bare hands. Drove the pilings against the tide of the sand, plank by plank. But do they call me MacGregor the pier builder? No. But you fuck one goat … “
The clues to a great story transcript:
https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story/transcript?language=en
Wall-E was in part inspired by R2-D2 (1:50):
More on WALL-E: WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) — Humanity and Dysfunctional Robots:
Yet throughout the film, robots express much more emotion than the humans. Almost all of the robot characters, from WALL-E to AUTO to MO have personalities, feelings, desires, and prerogatives outside of their simpler tasks. Even simpler robots, like the typing bot outside the Captain’s quarters are shown to have personality and desires, although they might be latent or ignored in favor of their pre-determined purpose. The human characters, on the other hand, are portrayed as dull and almost lifeless; they do nothing for themselves, are perpetually bored, and exhibit none of the creativity or connections that supposedly characterize the human race. They become almost robotic: they have a singular purpose, behave in repetitive ways, and rely on external input to change their actions. In a way, the robotic characters are far more human that the actual human beings because they do exhibit genuine emotions. The “dysfunctional” robots in the ward, for example, seem to feel real relief when WALL-E frees them, and even help her in the ensuing revolution aboard the ship.
Are we Happy and Effective? We are now programmed for perfect happiness
Just run into the latter movie and immediately thought of one of my favorite movies, George’s THX 1138. George wins here big time because he doesn’t try too hard, you don’t have to try too hard when you are inventing a genre. Movies today do not hold back as they have the genre worked out already for them and all they have to do is fit the script with an appropriate visual.
Here is the original trailer and clips from George’s movie which i find superior in every respect:
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A new attempt at the same themes – the movie is Equals (2015), with bigger smart screens but much less subtlety. A trailer ( can’t stand trailers to be honest but whatever ) and a clip:
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Which reminds me to share with you my favorite sci-fi movie of recent –
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Even if you are not fond of their grandiose schemes – you must admit the Wachowskis are a visual institution, the Matrix started the 21st century culturally and put whatever was in their minds – in the minds of millions of people. The blue and red pills, the streaky hallways, the bullet time – these grandmasters made the geeky weird mainstream. If you have ever sat in front of a computer 16+ hours you must know that feeling – my setup at Lucasfilm consisted of 3 computer screens and 3 televisions, 3 consoles, 2 computers and several other devices, including a Wacom tablet and various controllers. When I get off at the end heading to Chestnut street – I would see polygons and wireframe triangles everywhere, my brain would process and dismember all into visual components and put it back together in the next frame.