Picture: Whiteface Mountain, NY, 2012 (mine)
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
"In a Moment": In a high school in Germany, music and basketball set off a relationship
“In a Moment” (“In Einem Moment”), directed and written by
Sharon Lucia, is a sweet coming out film set in a high school in Germany. The film as shown on YouTube did not offer subtitles.
Max (Born Helge Jochum) prepares a guitar song (“Meine
Kleine Festung”) for a rock concert, and plays basketball (imported from
America). He witnesses Leon (Aaron Rufer) get bullied. Later, when Leon shadows
him on the court in practice, Max feels some intimacy.
Leon will indeed open up to him after the concert. The music (arranged by moog) sounds like a
theme from Arvo Part, I think, and it sometimes is a church hymn.
Picture: Whiteface Mountain, NY, 2012 (mine)
Picture: Whiteface Mountain, NY, 2012 (mine)
Labels:
foreign language,
LGBT,
music,
Short films,
sports
Monday, March 30, 2020
"Papercut": Just conversation in the back seat of a cab
Omad Productions offer “Papercut” by Damian Overton.
Two closeted actors talk in the back seat of a cab about the
film awards they will get. One of them
even says he is straight.
The cab driver has different ideas, though.
Both young men are “interesting” and the film could have
done more with this material.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
"What If We Relocated Humanity to Proxima B?"
Some day we may do this: “What If We Relocated Humanity to Proxima B?”
This is a relatively new “evacuate Earth” video.
A select group of humans boards a spaceship that will take
generations to get to Proxima B. It will
have an authoritarian political structure.
Everyone has to have kids. People
will be born and die on the vehicle.
Everyone will have to share the same communist version.
The Chinese may be better at this.
Proxima B’s earth-like planet may well be tidally locked and
is not likely to have free oxygen.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
"Just Like Arcadia", a gay Garden of Eden that starts out with perfect communism and non-compete
“Just Like Arcadia” (7 min) is a short film by Serj Llado, presented
by Cine Gluck.
The world starts as a gay garden of Eden, perfect communism,
off the grid, with no need for ego or initiative. It’s only when ego comes into
the picture that, well, the pretty boys start smoking.
There was no need for women, for reproduction, for genetic
diversity.
The film appears to be shot in Spain, Castille.
Picture, mine, near Myrtle Beach SC, Feb. 2019
Picture, mine, near Myrtle Beach SC, Feb. 2019
Friday, March 27, 2020
"The Math of Epidemics": statistics, and differential equations; many good videos (2 of them here)
Professor Tom Britton at the University of Stockholm, from
Vetenkapenshus (36 min) explains “Mathematics of the Corona Outbreak”.
He models diseases abstractly, and mentions how HIV
developed in the 1980s with a smaller totality of susceptible populations but
very long incubations which is what resulted in increasing the R-naught. The R0 came down with changes in behavior and
with drugs that suppressed the virus.
The presentation with regard to Covid19 (Sars-Cov2) is
relatively abstract and simplified.
Then Trefor Bazett explains “The Math of Epidemics” with an
introduction to the SIR Model. He uses differential equations to model
outbreaks (a system of three equations).
This reminds me of an undergraduate course at GW and then a more difficult
course in Partial Differential Equations at KU (starting with the Wave
Equation, which may matter to quantum theory now) with a text by Blaisdell which
was hard to follow as I remember (in 1966).
For predicting the peak of an outbreak (like in New York
now), it is the second derivative of the curve that matters, it needs to become
negative for the actual slope to flatten. I’m not sure which functions would
mimic the curves; maybe my 1968 thesis “Minimax
Rational Function Approximation” (KU in Lawrence, KS) matters.
The graph on page 12 of my thesis (picture) looks like a
poorly controlled pandemic with recurrent waves with sharp peaks, where there
had been no social distancing (e.g., Trump). I’ll look into this some more and
see if this is a close model to outbreaks.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
"Elevate" from the series "Frame of Mind" by Braden Summers
“Elevate”, by Braden Summers, is the first short film in a
series called “Frame of Mind”.
A male-female trans person (Aug Wang) rides a glitzy
elevator and gradually interacts a little bit with the people.
The link from the director on Vimeo is here.
There is no embed. So I embedded one of his other videos.
There is no embed. So I embedded one of his other videos.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
"Science Proves Dogs Really Loves Us", and there is a genetic twist
“Science Proves Dogs Really Love Us but For a surprising Reason”
by Anton Petrov.
Petrov was trying to raise money for a dog charity in South
Korea.
Dog personalities and attachment to humans comes from the way
oxytocin works, but, compared to wolves, they also have a genetic predisposition
like those with Williams Syndrome in people. People with this syndrome may demonstrate a dyspraxia similar to mine, but I am not particularly sociable.
The syndrome is quite interesting, in that it sometimes lead
to individuals with verbal skills that seem to outflank their lack of intelligence
in other areas. And they are unusually
friendly or sociable.
Wolves, compared to dogs, have the pack behavior but not the
same friendliness.
Cats may, however, for entirely different reasons which
Petrov will explore in another video. And Petrov mentioned that dolphins have languages
with actual grammar.
Labels:
animal intelligence,
science documentary,
short
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Sunday, March 22, 2020
"Slime Organism Creates an Accurate Model of the Universe" (Petrov)
Anton Petrov explains how “Slime Organism Creates an
Accurate Model of the Universe”.
I’ve presented other videos on the slime mold, which is a “protist”
animal, usually a single cell with multiple nuclei but sometimes a colony that
makes stalks. But the organism can fill
itself in over maps (like London subways) and form networks similar to the
filaments among galaxies in the Universe.
Petrov describes a 3-D simulation of this process. Alien life is likely to be like this.
Petrov says he works in South Korea and worked from home for two weeks under quarantine. He says he is fine physically.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
"Kiss Me Gay" and "Plumber"
I’ll do an easy one today, “Kiss Me Gay”, from CA Men TV.
(Well this one went private. It didn't stay up very long. Maybe it will come back later revised. )
Two young men, as one of them returns from work, must simply deal with latent jealousy.
(Well this one went private. It didn't stay up very long. Maybe it will come back later revised. )
Two young men, as one of them returns from work, must simply deal with latent jealousy.
I wish I had ever been in that situation. I sort of remember 1978.
This is a micro film, running less than two minutes. I wish the distributor didn't put ads for the next film over the final frame, interfere with even watching this.
Since the first video disappeared, here's another microfilm, "Plumber", who visits a straight couple. Not that much happens.
From Body Czech.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
"Isocation at the Giant Forest": how to take a quicky getaway during an outbreak?
Andrew Goes Places presents “ISOcation at the Giant Forest”
Dr. Andrew Neighbors goes on a long weekend in Sequoia
National Park with Matt and Sean. The
cabin is secluded and luxurious inside;
they have a whirlpool, and drinks, and go on a hike in the mist, through
redwood tunnels.
The gathering is fewer than 10 people. But they are not always six feet apart.
Andrew is an optometrist, I think. I’d love to know his
medical impression of the whole coronavirus thing.
Picture: My parents at Yosemite Falls (I think) in 1940, before I was born.
Picture: My parents at Yosemite Falls (I think) in 1940, before I was born.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
"Estimating Actual Covid-19 Cases" by Khan Academy
The Khan Academy offers a 12-minute animated or
instructional video “Estimating Actual Covid 19 Cases (Novel Corona Virus Infections)
in an Area Based on Deaths”, put up on March 14.
The video seems to be narrated by Salman Khan himself. It is based on a paper by Tomas Pueyo (from
the Book Reviews blog).
The main part of the analysis is to go back with each
patient and make a separate bar graph on the day symptoms started.
The video winds up explaining the need to “flatten the curve”.
Picture: Reno, 2018.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
"Learn from China Before It's Too Late" from Barrett Channel
Today’s short film is the sobering "Learn from China Before
It’s Too Late". The film’s tag is “Western
v. Chinese Mindset”.
Ollie Barrett ("Oli") from the Barrett Channel (the father-son team)
walks through Shanghai (where they flew, from Shenzhen recently, I thought they said) still with a black
mask. It’s hard to believe you need a mask
outside but he makes a deal of it – to protect other people from “you” if you’re
infected and healthy enough not to have symptoms.
He talks about the collective mindset that the Chinese have,
since Maoism even as it then moved toward “The People’s Republic of Capitalism”).
This would never fly in the UK, where
there is more of “everybody takes care of himself.” Well, not quite.
He said Chinese pay for their health care – I thought under
communism that was covered. He compared
it to the British NHS.
Picture:
By 王沂峤 (Wsj8526) - self-made, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Picture:
Saturday, March 14, 2020
"Catch Me If You Can": the real DiCaprio movie
I do remember Steven Spielberg’s film with Leonardo Di
Caprio, “Catch Me If You Can”, the same title as an ABC 2020 episode last
night.
Ironically the movie starts in New Rochelle NY, Frank
(Leonardo) wants to get his divorced parents back together after his dad is
chased by the IRS.
Frank even impersonates being “The Good Doctor” before it is
over (does he scrub properly)? He also
becomes a post 9/11 airline pilot and a prosecutor. A “flim flam man” indeed.
Friday, March 13, 2020
"Brain in a Jar" aka "The Simulation Hypothesis"
Transhumania offers the 40-minute short film “Are We Living
in a Simulation?”
It could also be called “Brain in a Jar” or “The Simulation
Hypothesis”. In fact, back in the 1950s
there was a horror film (“Chiller”) called “Donovan’s Brain” which controlled
the stock market (better than Donald Trump does).
The film mentions a mathematician named Bostrock. It considers relativity to be like an “ingame”
model, where as quantum mechanics, with planck nuggets of space and time, is
actual physics.
There are multiple circular logical and perhaps moral
paradoxes in considering how you would prove your life is or is not real.
One thing I notice is that my own life has a number of
really improbable coincidences.
Image: Area 51 sign in Nevada, my trip, May 2012.
Image: Area 51 sign in Nevada, my trip, May 2012.
Labels:
quantum theory,
science documentary,
Short films
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Animated video "Where Do New Viruses Come From" seems particularly relevant now.
“Where Do New Viruses Come From?” seems relevant now.
This animated video comes from a channel called “Simply Stated”.
The video explains how virus particles attach to receptors on
cells. Animals have different receptors,
but evolution enables viruses to change receptors so that they can enter human
cells, sometimes.
Monday, March 09, 2020
"Chinese Authorities Tested Me for COVID-19" by the younger Barrett
“Chinese Authorities Tested Me for COVID-19”, a 16 minute
video today by Ollie Barrett ("Oli")
He was riding a cab and had taken off his mask. When the cab got to a toll booth in Shenzhen,
he was detained and taken to a center where he was given a CT scan and the
throat and nose swab test, which can make you gag. Part of the problem was that initially his temperature was elevated, but then dropped. Then the next day he got he result (negative) before he
was allowed to return.
Yes, in China it is that strict. This is all rather shocking to Americans who
are seeing the possibility of local lockdowns and accidental quarantines on
their own horizons.
Wikipedia:
By Kevin Poh - https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinpoh/4090961234/, CC BY 2.0, Link
Labels:
Communism,
coronavirus pandemic,
public health
Sunday, March 08, 2020
Why "Parallel Worlds Probably Exist"
Veratasium shows that “Parallel Worlds Probably Exist”
The video discusses particles as waves which collapse when
observed. He describes superposition,
entanglement, and measurement, and a probability of position as a square of
amplitude.
If the universe is infinite, you can see only one chain of
events. The theory may explain why
bizarre and ironic coincidences happen more often in a lifetime than you would
expect.
Saturday, March 07, 2020
Austin cancels SXSW out of coronavirus fears, devastating to some indie filmmakers
City and county officials in Austin, Texas cancelled the
South by Southwest film festival (which also includes music festivals), and now
the SXSW reports that insurance does not cover city cancellation because of
communicable disease outbreak (or fear of one); it does cover other natural
disasters and probably terrorism.
The Austin Chronicle reports in an article by Kevin Curtin
CDC is probably more interested in seeing large events
canceled than small things like protests, ordinary movie performances, and the
like. The Travel show in Washington DC
was held as expected today. Outdoor events would not seem to raise the same
level of concern.
Friday, March 06, 2020
"Will Humans Conquer the Solar System?" Maybe with a lot of social credit along the way
Unveiled, with Noah narrating, “Will Humans Conquer the
Solar System?”
Noah says NASA expects us to be able to live in a colony on the
moon by around 2030. We might be able to start a colony on Mars in about
another decade after that.
For Venus, we would have to live in the atmosphere sailing
about the atmosphere at an altitude of about 30 miles. But he says we should
land on Mercury and mine it for materials to build a Dyson Sphere.
We could conceivably orbit high in the clouds about Jupiter,
but we would land on Europa (or other large moons) to look at the subsurface
ocean.
Titan could indeed by interesting. This video showed a shot of what looked like Niagara Falls to simulate Titan? A honeymoon spot? (The moon belongs to Carlos Maza.)
We would explore the Oort cloud, which may extend about half
a light year, something like one-eighth of the distance to Alpha Centauri.
The sociology of life on a space ship where one is confined
for years (maybe a big O’Neill cylinder) is interesting speculation.
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Writing a movie script in seven days: Tyler Mowery discusses Ryan's effort
Tyler Mowery has a new video Tuesday where a friend of his, Ryan,
tried to write a script in seven days and “failed”.
(This video links to Ryan’s and embeds much of Ryan’s in a frame
partition).
Tyler gives a pep talk here, and says it is a lot about
self-concept and self-motivation (this sounds a lot like what John Fish says in
his videos about personal achievement in general). Tyler says many new screenwriters
have trouble starting the “middle” of a script and then starting the “end”
also.
In other words, it’s the middle section (like in a music
ternary form) that is a problem, more maybe the development section of a Sonata
structure. I could imagine a situation
where going between two characters in an exposition could be a problem (like
going between the first two scenes within one Act of an opera). For example, in a video from 2017, John Fish
described (and films in aftermath) an auto accident when he was a teen driver (caused
by another distracted driver) and plays music where the transition to the
second theme in the Beethoven Fifth occurs with the crash.
I raise the question as to whether it helps to have a treatment
first, and a detailed plot with characters and incidents, Wikipedia style,
written first. I encourage outlining
your plot in detail in Microsoft Access and setting up keys to check for plot
holes and inconsistencies programmatically (with SQL).
Monday, March 02, 2020
“First Ever Animal that Doesn’t Breathe” is not exactly a box jellyfish but just as alien
“First Ever Animal that Doesn’t Breathe”, by Anton Petrov.
Anton describes the Henneguya Salminicola, which might be
related to jellyfish, but which has no mitochondrial DNA for normal respiration
with ADP. It lives inside the muscles of
salmon, and parasitizes them, giving up breathing to have more energy for
reproduction. A sea worm is also part of its life cycle.
It’s an odd animal to talk about in the middle of the world
public health crisis.
Wikipedia:
By Michal Maňas - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1777605
Sunday, March 01, 2020
"How Doctors Stay Safe Battling Coronavirus"
“How Doctors Stay Safe Battling Coronavirus”, according to the Wall Street Journal .
The doctors and nurses have to be very precise with the
order of their movements putting on and taking off the protective garments.
Then there is the issue of scrubbing.
The world keeps acting like this is the Andromeda Strain.
Wikipedia attribution:
By NIAID - https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/49557785797, CC BY 2.0, Link
Wikipedia attribution:
Labels:
medical ethics,
medically explicit scenes,
short
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