Friday, February 28, 2020
"Must Be the Music" vintage gay short with a teen Milo Ventimiglia
Nickolas Perry directs short film “Must Be the Music” where
Milo Ventimiglia, in one of his earliest roles, plays a gay teen attending 18+
night disco in Los Angeles.
They talk about pagers, not cell phones. The video looks dusky. The film was apparently
made around 2000.
They deal with the idea that everybody is “bisexual” (but
binary).
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
"The Andromeda Strain (1971) Virus Explained" from Film Comics
FilmComicsExplained : “The Andromeda Strain (1971) Virus
Explained”
This is a detailed review of the 1971 Robert Wise film (20th Century Fox) of
the book which Michael Crichton wrote in medical school and became a hit in
1969. That’s on my legacy doaskdotell
site. I have a review of the TV series
remake on my “cf” blog, May 26, 2008.
The virus comes from a spacecraft at high altitude
returning, and it destroys a small town in Arizona, by destroying the small
blood vessels of its victims (like Ebola).
But in fact it is a radioactive virus that converts matter to energy and
vice versa.
The team goes into an underground biocontainment
chamber. With each level the team
undergoes more commitment, including depilation by a photoflash and then “body
analysis”. At the end of the film, the entire
facility has to self-destruct to save the world.
The video also discusses the “Resident Evil” virus concept
briefly as similar.
It seems fitting today.
Labels:
horror,
major sci-fi,
medically explicit scenes
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
"Does the Future Exist?" It's different for every person
The Science Asylum presents “Does the Future Exist?”
The past, now, and future is separate for everyone, defined
by local light cones. This video seems
to present the hidden variable theory, which now seems discredited (the Copenhagen
thing).
The presenter also explains the basic idea of calculus, the
infinitesimal, the dxdydx thing (and dt).
He also talks about how the light cone shows what or who you
can influence in the future – at a distance, by blogging. Does "Skin in the Game" require you to stay in your light cone?
SciencePhile has a discussion of this concept, recently shared on Facebook by a friend, here.
SciencePhile has a discussion of this concept, recently shared on Facebook by a friend, here.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Emily Carnichael demonstrates screenwriting from a prompt
Here’s an exercise that reminds me of the 48-hour-film
project.
Emily Carmichael (who writes sci-fi action movies) writes a
scene in 7 minutes to a prompt. She has
written for “Pacific Rim Uprising” and “Jurassic World III”.
It’s a sci-fi story set in 2048, It involves a woman, an older man, and
object, and a chase scene.
She makes information more specific, like “leaving town”
becomes “to the outer ring”.
The object is a small robot.
"You don't need to be perfect at spelling to be a writer". Just good at protesting? You are not supposed to tell the director where to put the camera.
Friday, February 21, 2020
"Bell's Inequality: God Plays Dice" and the EPR Paradox, by Arvin Ash
Arvin Ash : "Bell’s Inequality: God Plays Dice?" (and the EPR Paradox).
There are numerous videos about Bell’s Theorem. But essentially they all come down to the
question as to whether Einstein’s idea of reality is consistent with quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics had incorporated the idea of “local hidden
variables” determining reality until 1964 when Bell’s theorem proposed an
experiment.
Reality is really based on the interaction of probabilistic fields
and waves. This leads to paradoxes but that still doesn’t imply that
information (such as with quantum entanglement) can travel faster than light.
A particle is indeed changed when you observer – it is what
manifests when you observe the wave.
Fields are “real” without matter of energy but they seem to connect to
consciousness. Donald Rumsfeld’s “The
Known Unknowns” (actually a 2013 film) gets mentioned.
It’s a little hard to say how this affects
consciousness. Could the same individual
be reconstructed from waves at a different place in space time? Could this account for aliens, or angels?
The controversy would also feed the play by Michael Frayn, “Copenhagen”,
about a meeting between shown on PBS in 2004 (Drama reviews, Nov. 11,
2006).
In 1978, Jeffrey Mishlove authored a book called “The Roots
of Consciousness” that discussed Bell’s Theorem and was popular with a group
called “Understanding” that I was part of (Dan Fry’s group).
Thursday, February 20, 2020
"Reverse Film School": what does a script supervisor do for the finished product?
“Reverse Film School:
What Happens When a Movie Has No Script Supervisor?” posted by Vanity
Fair.
A lawyer (at his desk) and client (sitting in front of
him) have a conversation. A female script supervisor points out all the logic
errors in the segment.
At one point, the lawyer seems to have teleported
himself in the room. That makes sense
only if he is an alien and a superman (like Clark Kent from Smallville). Never mind that I once saw a teenager do
that. Maybe (benevolent, angelic) aliens
are with us.
The wardrobe discontinuity is interesting. In some gay male videos, sometimes shirts appear
rebuttoned suddenly. Look at this one. he guy in the green shirt should have kept the
second placket shirt button closed until the intimacy started, to maintain
continuity (and body suspense).
Screenplays (especially shooting scripts) have to be checked carefully for logic errors; that includes the issue as to how a character knows something about another character's experiences.
Screenplays (especially shooting scripts) have to be checked carefully for logic errors; that includes the issue as to how a character knows something about another character's experiences.
There’s another process called script clearance. We'll cover that soon.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
"Findians" in northern Minnesota, as Finnish and native American cultures easily mix
Wildwood Vagabond presents “Findians”.
Other videos have presented the history Finnish emigration to
northern Minnesota (as well as the UP of Michigan, Ohio, and other places),
some of it after Russia took back some Finnish land.
The native American tribes in northern Minnesota also
endured “confiscation” by pioneers, which is becoming a guilty political issue
on some of the far Left today.
The cultures intermingled and sometimes intermarried.
Labels:
indie documentary,
Native American issues,
short
Monday, February 17, 2020
"Lasiurus": 2018 short previews today's apocalypse (Omeleto)
Omeleto offers Leonardo Missorion as the young man in “Lasiurus”,
directed by Marcus Alquero,
A young man seems unaware that doomsday is happening around
him. He is alone in a grocery store,
comes come and finds a note to look at his phone. His girl friend has locked herself in another
room.
Then he sees the bats, and runs to one upper study left.
How appropriate now (the film was produced in 2018).
Sunday, February 16, 2020
WSJ: "How Scientists Are Trying to Develop a Coronavirus Vaccine"
I thought I would share a “short” from the Wall Street Journal on a hopeful development regarding possibly a quick vaccine against COVID-19, the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus Jason Bellini narrates.
The official title is “How Scientists Are Trying to Develop
a Coronavirus Vaccine.”
Scientists design vaccines on a computer based on uploaded
RNA genetic codes. The great hope is
that this time there will be a “rapid response vaccine” where the body’s
T-cells are encouraged to make their own test antigens that mimic COVID-19
antigens.
The second part of the short also described how a nucleic
acid vaccine could work. It also instructs
the body’s white cells with messenger RNA.
This work goes on at NIH in Bethesda, MD,
Of course the patent needs an intact cellular immune system.
The video suggests that a trial vaccine could be available in
bout four months.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Quentin Tarantino: How to Write and Direct Movies
“Quentin Tarantino: How to Write and Direct Movies”, from The
Director’s Chair.
He explains how “Kill Bill” comes from “me”. He says his movies are little autobiographies
stuck in his multiple genre worlds. Remember the bizarre reference to Clark Kent in the second film.
He says in a novel you can start in the middle of the story.
So his movies are structured like novels. The ultimate film told out of chronological order (in seven movements, like a song cycle) that circles back on itself is "Pulp Fiction". But Christopher Nolan often employs similar circular structures, and Tyler Mowery's screenwriting lectures use a plot circle diagram (as opposed to Hauge's which is stepwise).
He says he puts little metaphors and
epithets in his writing from his own life that only he knows about. Often the material seems like lucid dreams, barely outside of reality.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
"Coronavirus and Me" -- a young Irishman teaching English in Wuhan "escapes" to quarantine in the UK and tests negative at the end
“Coronavirus and Me: Ben Kavanagh’s Journey: From Quarantine
in Wuhan to Wirral”. This is quite engaging and shows what has been going on with the pandemic.
Mr. Kavanagh, from Ireland, had been teaching English. He was out for New Year’s Eve when he got a
text warning him of a few SARS-like cases in Wuhan.
The situation worsened, and most of his film is shot on the
deserted streets of Wuhan in late January, as he puts on very elaborate masks
and googles to go out for groceries.
He gets a chance for evacuation, rides a bus for four hours
to Beijing and is flown to the UK, and place in a well-supported hotel-like quarantine
in Wirral, UK.
Finally, he gets out.
There is a second video where he reports testing negative. He mentions
the 24-day outlier case, where others complained he should have stayed 10 days
longer. At some point this has to
stop.
Christos Lynteros writes about how in Asia use of face masks,
which may not be that effective, show “solidarity”.
Wikipedia attribution link, CDC diagram of COVINT-19, CCSA
4.0.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
"Paper Boy": black and white short film from festival circuit in India charms with its simplicity
“Paper Boy”, from Pocket Films, and Idiot Box films, is
a 15 minute short film from India, and won a prize in the Kolkata (Calcultta)
film festival and various other fesitvals in India.
It is directed by Amilet Matra and stars Raja as the boy,
and is filmed in black and white Cinemascope.
A 10 year old boy delivers a small local newspaper in the
slums and runs into touching sights that tourists miss (because they never come
to the slums), like a ferry, and pigeons. Finally a customer throws
down a bicycle pump with a paper as a present.
Here's JIFF link to a slum picture.
Here's JIFF link to a slum picture.
I was reminded of “The Bicycle Thief”, Italian film in the
late 1940s.
By Arun Kumar Jena / Arnabchat - https://www.flickr.com/photos/arnabchat/103000299/in/set-72057594068528736/, CC BY 2.5, Link
Monday, February 10, 2020
"Proof We're Living in a Simulation" according to Connor Franta
“Proof We’re Living in a Simulation” (2018), by Connor Franta
Connor experiments with dynamic screenwriting (voiceovers), like
“Adaptation”, as he ad-libs after finishing a run in Beverly Hills. He says he barely missed getting hit by a
(driverless) car. Maybe his own simulation
saved him. His gams are in great shape.
He mentions Pride. It’s
been a while since I’ve watched him.
But let’s have some real science.
Sunday, February 09, 2020
"Parasite" is first foreign-language film to ever win Best Picture, as politics covers up the Oscars tonight
This was the night for politics at the Oscars, perhaps, as
Kate Cohen predicted in the Washington Post (for the 92nd Academy
Awards).
At the end, “Parasite” , Boon Joong Ho’s satire in Korean,
became the first foreign language film to ever win Best Picture. While
the rich family was away, the caretaking family found the gangsters in the bomb
shelters set up anticipated Kim Kong Un.
The link for the Oscar winners was here on ABC Go:
Joaquin Phoneix, after winning best actor for “Joker”, gave
an impassioned speech about not only intersectionality, but about our not being
the only species (yes, orcas are people and should have the rights of humans)
and even did a guilt trip about putting milk in his coffee.
Brad Pitt ranted about the impeachment "trial", as reported in many rags.
The Kodak Theater in LA is really big, like an opera house. They had rainstorms earlier this evening, and now the parties start. WJLA Good Morning Washington will cover it at 4:25 AM Monday.
Saturday, February 08, 2020
"Why I Left Social Media" according to Dominick Whelton, but "leaving" is a matter of degree and perspective!
“What I Left Social Media”, by Dominick Whelton.
Well, this one doesn’t seem to be the radical step of
closing your social media accounts and leaving it forever. People have threatened to do that (like David
Pakman) and not followed through.
He says he gave up posting on Instagram for a few weeks
after some family issues distracted him, and feels better about it now.
I have a more complicated potential situation. My own online presence is very old (since
1996) and supports my three books and supports a “brand”, a lot of it with
hosted content rather than social media itself.
This does not make money now and that is OK with me in retirement as I
am OK because of other assets, but that may not be OK forever with social media
platforms or even hosting companies because social polarization and cultural
changes, especially since Charlottesville.
It could make a lot of sense to discontinue a lot of my activity
(including these blogs, as Blogger is somewhat a social media platform as opposed
to just publishing even now) and focus narrowly only on a few things (including
finally finishing some music composition that has been out there since 1962). In that kind of environment, it might make
sense to discontinue discussing social and political issues on FB and Twitter
too, and mention only narrow interests, and not be taken for granted. I don’t generally participate in raising
money for causes or candidates – but Facebook tries to prod me to do that
whenever I make a news story linking post.
I like my work to be mine, and not be someone else’s mouthpiece or let
them be mine.
So right now Whelton’s video seems to be the tip of a very
deep iceberg – and we do have climate change.
Labels:
LGBT,
short,
social connectivity and Internet users
Friday, February 07, 2020
"The 50s" according to "Andrew Goes Places" in black and white
Cory Ewing and Andrew Neighbors (of “Andrew Goes Places”)
present the 5-minute short viginette in black and white, “The 50s”.
A young man, whose shirt flaps open and shits again, plays
with a beach ball and his girl friend while staring at a nearby hunk. They’re “on the beach” waiting for a waltzing matilda.
At the end, a little bit of Mike Wallace’s 1967 report on
CBS “The Homosexuals” plays. Not capable
of a lasting relationship like a heterosexual make?
Complementarity?
Neighbors is an optometrist by profession and could well make
a video about transmitting coronavirus through the iris. That happens.
Neighbors sometimes appears with Eduardo Sanchez Ubanell.
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
"A City of 13,000,000 Is Now a Ghost Town: Shenzhen, China", from an (Australian) visitor's perspective
“A City of 13,000,000 Is Now a Ghost Town: Shenzhen, China”: Ollie, from the Barrett Channel (is this from
Australia?) walks around three areas of Shenzhen, across from Hong Kong,
including the tech avenue, and then Coco Park.
The channel seems to have many presenters. This was a young white man in his early 20s
who stands out when he walks around.
Everyone wears a mask, even outside, as the streets and
shops are deserted. Occasionally a cop
stops him to take his temperature from a distance. It’s not accurate. You have to go through security to get on the
Metro.
The city looks lie a science-fiction metropolis. There is plenty of fresh food in the grocery
stores, and no one in them.
Picture:
By WiNG - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Picture:
Labels:
China and speech,
pandemics-cf,
short,
travel video
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
"If You Never Answered X": an iPhone has some found footage of a kidnapping (for Dateline?)
Daniel McKee offers a 6-minute short from the UK, “If You
Never Answered X”, on the Omeleto channel.
.
A young man’s iPhone is found in the country, and his
messages can be traced, including unpaid bills.
He seems to have been last seen at a party. How do you get
kidnapped at a party in front of other people?
Monday, February 03, 2020
"Why Did China Invent the Social Credit System?"
“Why Did China Invent the Social Credit System?”, by
Serpentza.
It was published Jan. 17, 2020, just as the coronavirus crisis
was starting.
He explains the underground economy, where until recently
you could “do what you want”. So the
Chinese needed some additional system to control deliberately anti-social behavior. (Singapore has the same determination to stop
sloppy personal habits in public.)
But the video does not describe the actual staged
implementation of the scoring, and that some people now are denied the right to
fly.
A broader idea of social credit could include voluntarism
and community engagement to address systemic inequality on a personal level.
Serpentza notes that Chinese society doesn't like the idea of personal "hobbies" which it sees as a self-centered diversion from common goals.
Serpentza notes that Chinese society doesn't like the idea of personal "hobbies" which it sees as a self-centered diversion from common goals.
Labels:
China and speech,
short,
social credit scores
Saturday, February 01, 2020
"Stop": a short film about police profiling (Sundance)
Reinaldo Marcus Green has a short film for Sundance workship
called “Stop”.
A young black man and student baseball player is stopped while
walking home from practice by police.
It is a simple case of police profiling. When the copy sees
the baseball in his backpack he lets him go.
This seems to be a Sundance workshop exercise.
Labels:
Omeleto,
police profing,
race relations,
Short films,
sports,
Sundance
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