Not much to report. Wrapped up another week at work. I am still really digging my job.
I don't want to sound like a whiner, and I feel like I learned valuable stuff at my last few jobs, but its nice to head into work without wondering what is going to explode in your face today... The current job isn't predictable or anything, but it's just less likely I will be putting out fires on any given day. For example, my duties are just different enough that there's a far smaller chance of something going horribly awry and there goes the weekend... (let me tell you about running a support team some day...)
People I don't know
Last night was very low key. Jamie and I stopped by "Cherry Creek Catfish" (whose motto is, literally, "Keep South Austin Fried") and I began chatting with an older couple while we waited for a table. I guess we all have our starting point with how we approach people. For example, I might not be sure if some people speak English and ask a few probing questions before assessing the depth of their language skills so I know how to proceed.
So I felt kind of stupid last night when I began chatting up this nice, older lady and her husband and couched what I do for a living in the same terms I save for, say, Jeff the Cat and found out the guy was a programmer for Austin Energy for years and built several databases that they still use today and this lady held two masters degrees and was some sort of city planner they city needed so much they called her back out of retirement. And, suddenly, you realize... this isn't nice old Grammy and Grampy, these people are just as with it as you, and certainly smarter than you...
Anyway, once past the initial embarrassment, then you want to start asking all sorts of questions, like "how the @#$% were you building relational databases in the 1960's and 70's...?" and, honestly, this lady's job with the city sounded pretty cool (she worked with an arm that provided "how to" services for people looking to start businesses in town). But, you know, we got whisked off to our own table, and I think it might have been awkward to ask perfect strangers to eat dinner with me so I could barrage them with questions.
But I think that's part of why I like reality shows about people at work (Dirty Jobs, those crab fishing shows...). I get all the details without having to ask. Finding out what people do for a living is always interesting, and when the people themselves are interesting (for example, the lady had moved here from Austria... who moves here from Austria...?), then you've got a whole story to dig through.
Bells of St. Mary's
Went home and watched "Bells of St. Mary's", which is a surprisingly engaging movie for a movie which is devoid of conflict. But it also has Ingrid Bergman and Bing Crosby in one movie, and that's tough to beat. I am unsure of why "Bells of St. Mary's" is shown at Christmas. Only one or two scenes take place during the Holidays. The rest is spread over a school year.
I need to compile a list of great platonic couples in movies and TV. Surely Father O'Malley and Sister Mary Benedict would be at the top of the list.
Anyhow, its a great movie, and I always get a little misty during the final scene.
Unrelated, here's the Phil Spector produced "Bells of St. Mary's" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans.
My eyes do not work
Got up today and went to the eye doctor. My eyes are the same as last year (ie: lousy). I am going ahead and spending money on new glasses as well as contacts although my prescription hasn't changed a lot and my insurance doesn't cover them. I just hate my current glasses as my right lens pops out regularly, and they always feel like they're slipping off my face. I'm going back to plastic frames, so I look forward to my family's ceaseless commentary upon my selection of frames once again.
Gotta go clean the house.
Ya'll have a good weekend.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
RIP Bettie Page
Even if you didn't know her name, it's most likely you knew the face (etc...) of Bettie Page.
Ms. Page was a pin-up model of the 1950's, who occasionally posed not just for standard cheesecake faire, but also for some racier and edgier material that became a hot item among collectors. Page gained notoriety as she appeared in Playboy and eventually found herself subpoenaed to testify on the adult publication industry of the 1950's (congressmen were really into making a name for themselves in the 50's by calling hearings for all sorts of cultural/ moral issues which appealed to the easily outraged).
Much of Page's mystique springs from how the model basically quit the biz and disappeared off the cultural map for decades, leaving behind a look as iconic as Louise Brooks, or even her contemporaries such as Marilyn Monroe (or Harlow or Mansfield).
Oddly, there is a comics-bent to all this as Dave Stevens (who died in March), creator of the Rocketeer, was semi-obsessed with Page, using her as a model in his work. Jennifer Connolly would go on to play the role Stevens had modeled after Page in the Disney movie of The Rocketeer (which I love. You should rent it). Stevens eventually tracked down Page, who was apparently unaware of her cult status, and who chose not to be photographed so her fans would remember her as the smiling face they knew, forever young.
The 1990's and 00's saw a resurgence of Page collectibles, merchandise, and rock-a-billy chicks took on Page's look. Quite the cultural footprint for someone who was never a movie star, what-have-you.
Sadly, Ms. Page passed away this week at age 85. While her body and spirit have joined with the infinite, she has left an eternal legacy of people pausing longer than necessary when they stumble upon her photographs.
More on Page here.
We love you, Bettie. You'll be missed.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
no new pocket oracle for me (yet)
Our contract is pretty much up with Verizon, our current carrier. We've been with Verizon since 2002 and been very happy with our service. I've been very interested in upgrading from a cell phone to something a bit more feature-heavy. You know: something with a decent web browser, e-mail interface, camera, maybe some other features.
Despite what I recognize in the iPhone to be the epitome of such a device, I was so turned off by Apple's launch of the iPhone, and not interested in changing carriers, that I'd simply categorized the iPhone as something I would not have.
So... I was very interested in the new Blackberry Storm. Basically Blackberry and Verizon's answer to the iPhone, it also has a browser, GPS, what have you... I knew it wouldn't be as slick (this was Blackberry, after all), and so Jamie and I hopped in the car to check it out and maybe re-up our plan.
Basically, the thing never worked. The interface was relatively intuitive, and I liked that you literally clicked the screen to make selections. And my worries about fat-fingering the virtual keyboard were completely unfounded. That part of the technology was rock solid.
This was also true for the Samsung Omnia I looked at (Samsung's answer to the Storm, I guess). I actually liked the Omnia's interface better, but the screen seemed to have less real estate, and while I was able to look up a sample site (I looked up this site), I couldn't figure out how to click on a hyperlink from this page. And, honestly, it all just felt very, very cramped. Like... what's the point? It did use Windows, which was kind of cute.
I never could get a webpage to open on the Blackberry. It kept launching a Beyonce video whenever I clicked "Browser". The GPS didn't work on either device. Mail seemed iffy. I couldn't get a clear answer about web-mail versus signing up for some other mail... (I don't think the sales person was very educated on the devices and services) It just seemed like the foundational technology... the hardware... was fine. Everything else seemed like a mess.
Now, I know these devices have lots of people messing with them, and it was late, so who knows how many had pawed the devices before I touched them. But... their stuff didn't work. Not a strong sales pitch.
So... I don't know what we're going to do. Month-to-month with Verizon, but I think were going to go to an Apple store in January and look at the iPhone, check out the costs there (they are high, but so was the cost of the Storm and Omnia). But we may also just be in for phones. I dunno.
The whole thing was disappointing, to say the least. The iPhone has been out for a while, and the competitors just aren't keeping up. I predict another two years (at least) before they're at where iPhone is now, and who knows what Apple will have done by then...
Sigh.
Despite what I recognize in the iPhone to be the epitome of such a device, I was so turned off by Apple's launch of the iPhone, and not interested in changing carriers, that I'd simply categorized the iPhone as something I would not have.
So... I was very interested in the new Blackberry Storm. Basically Blackberry and Verizon's answer to the iPhone, it also has a browser, GPS, what have you... I knew it wouldn't be as slick (this was Blackberry, after all), and so Jamie and I hopped in the car to check it out and maybe re-up our plan.
Basically, the thing never worked. The interface was relatively intuitive, and I liked that you literally clicked the screen to make selections. And my worries about fat-fingering the virtual keyboard were completely unfounded. That part of the technology was rock solid.
This was also true for the Samsung Omnia I looked at (Samsung's answer to the Storm, I guess). I actually liked the Omnia's interface better, but the screen seemed to have less real estate, and while I was able to look up a sample site (I looked up this site), I couldn't figure out how to click on a hyperlink from this page. And, honestly, it all just felt very, very cramped. Like... what's the point? It did use Windows, which was kind of cute.
I never could get a webpage to open on the Blackberry. It kept launching a Beyonce video whenever I clicked "Browser". The GPS didn't work on either device. Mail seemed iffy. I couldn't get a clear answer about web-mail versus signing up for some other mail... (I don't think the sales person was very educated on the devices and services) It just seemed like the foundational technology... the hardware... was fine. Everything else seemed like a mess.
Now, I know these devices have lots of people messing with them, and it was late, so who knows how many had pawed the devices before I touched them. But... their stuff didn't work. Not a strong sales pitch.
So... I don't know what we're going to do. Month-to-month with Verizon, but I think were going to go to an Apple store in January and look at the iPhone, check out the costs there (they are high, but so was the cost of the Storm and Omnia). But we may also just be in for phones. I dunno.
The whole thing was disappointing, to say the least. The iPhone has been out for a while, and the competitors just aren't keeping up. I predict another two years (at least) before they're at where iPhone is now, and who knows what Apple will have done by then...
Sigh.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It Frikkin' Snowed Here Last Night
Seriously. It was snowing. It didn't stick, but it was building up on the fence and on the cars.
Even if it does freeze in Austin, it's usually in January (but there was one Christmas around 1998 where Jamie and I thought we were getting frozen in and weren't going home). It was kind of pretty, watching the fluffy flakes come down, and Lucy seemed to like it.
I do hope we get one good freeze in January with ice. I always like those days. Nothing to do but hang out, stay warm, read and check the weather.
In the News
So how about this Governor of Illinois guy? Now THAT is a political scandal. In some ways, I'm kind of impressed. He seems like a villain right out of a schlocky movie.
What's disheartening is that Blagojevich is just the guy they caught.
At work, I said something about "Geez, and this is the big fish. What level of Government do you work at before the corruption stops? PTA?"
And then my co-worker told me about his kids' PTA president who stole $500 out of the treasury.
Sigh.
I don't even really know what to say, other than "Now this is a scandal!" It makes other folks' attempts to cook up a scandal with a call-girl, secret lover, what have you... seem like small potatoes. Now selling a Senate seat... Man...
End of Year Lists
This weekend I petitioned Leaguers to send in their very own "End of Year" lists. We've had a pretty good response thus far.
I invite you to go over to Jason's list of 10 Things They Wanted Us to Like in 2008 That Ended Up Being Lame. Plus, our irrational debate about a minor issue here in Austin's telecomm industry.
The League's own McSteans also piped up today with her very own Top 10 of 2008 list entitled "The Awesome of 2008". You should stop by.
Michael also chimed in, by the way.
Top Three Do-Dahs for Christmas
1: Kindle
An electronic book AND always connected to Wikepidea? Sign me the %@#^ up.
2: Itouch Apps
That much fun for .99cents a pop is seriously addictive. I'm asking for an itunes gift card for just that purpose.
3: The Wii and all its Wiiness.
Because it's so much fun it should be criminal. How could I still be playing Final Fantasty more than two decades after numero uno? Because Nintendo brings the thunder, that's why.
Seriously. It was snowing. It didn't stick, but it was building up on the fence and on the cars.
Even if it does freeze in Austin, it's usually in January (but there was one Christmas around 1998 where Jamie and I thought we were getting frozen in and weren't going home). It was kind of pretty, watching the fluffy flakes come down, and Lucy seemed to like it.
I do hope we get one good freeze in January with ice. I always like those days. Nothing to do but hang out, stay warm, read and check the weather.
In the News
So how about this Governor of Illinois guy? Now THAT is a political scandal. In some ways, I'm kind of impressed. He seems like a villain right out of a schlocky movie.
What's disheartening is that Blagojevich is just the guy they caught.
At work, I said something about "Geez, and this is the big fish. What level of Government do you work at before the corruption stops? PTA?"
And then my co-worker told me about his kids' PTA president who stole $500 out of the treasury.
Sigh.
I don't even really know what to say, other than "Now this is a scandal!" It makes other folks' attempts to cook up a scandal with a call-girl, secret lover, what have you... seem like small potatoes. Now selling a Senate seat... Man...
End of Year Lists
This weekend I petitioned Leaguers to send in their very own "End of Year" lists. We've had a pretty good response thus far.
I invite you to go over to Jason's list of 10 Things They Wanted Us to Like in 2008 That Ended Up Being Lame. Plus, our irrational debate about a minor issue here in Austin's telecomm industry.
The League's own McSteans also piped up today with her very own Top 10 of 2008 list entitled "The Awesome of 2008". You should stop by.
Michael also chimed in, by the way.
Top Three Do-Dahs for Christmas
1: Kindle
An electronic book AND always connected to Wikepidea? Sign me the %@#^ up.
2: Itouch Apps
That much fun for .99cents a pop is seriously addictive. I'm asking for an itunes gift card for just that purpose.
3: The Wii and all its Wiiness.
Because it's so much fun it should be criminal. How could I still be playing Final Fantasty more than two decades after numero uno? Because Nintendo brings the thunder, that's why.
Year End List - Movies and TV
My Favorite Movies I Saw in 2008
1) Iron Man
I'm not sure it's all ages fun. I'll leave that to the parents to decide, but I don't think there's any denying how great Robert Downey Jr. was as Tony Stark, how great the armor and effects were, or the level of summer-fun that director John Favreau squeezed into the movie.
2) I liked "Incredible Hulk"
Maybe not the brightest movie ever made, but it brought the story of the Hulk to the big screen with a certain, imaginative panache. Ed Norton was a likable Bruce Banner, and the final effects on the Hulk were really pretty good.
3) Dark Knight
I've already talked at length about Dark Knight, but it set a new standard for action movies and comic adaptations. And for this DC Comics fan, it was particularly gratifying to see something that was so close to the spirit of the Batman comics after so many years of bad adaptations under WB's belt.
4) Step-Brothers
Dumb comedies never make these lists, but I laughed myself sick at this movie (as I tend to do at about 2/3rds of Will Ferrell's comedies). It's no masterpiece, but I liked it.
5) Wall-E
I tend to go for Pixar's work, and I found Wall-E to be a triumph even by Pixar standards. I'm not sure I loved it as much as I loved Ratatouille, but... just a deeply gratifying movie.
Movie that wasted my time: Wanted
This movie didn't just complete ignore the source material, it just wasn't a very good movie. Unlikeable characters engaged in a plot that seemed like it was cooked up by someone in a blindfold mixing up words from fridge magnet poetry... If I knew it wasn't going to get any better after the first 30 minutes, I probably would have walked out.
Television
1) The Middleman
I think JimD, Jason, Jamie and I were the only folks who watched ABC Family's bizarre little show about a straight arrow fighter of bizarre threats to the world and his cynical sidekick. But for a low-budget show, it was big on ideas and very well written and cast. I will actually pick up the series/ season 1 on DVD.
2) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Season 4 didn't have quite the same zing as Season 3, but this FX Network show still delivered. It's in no way an all ages show, and it may not fit your brand of humor (how badly didn't you want to see Danny Devito's posterior through a hospital gown?). But the characters are well drawn and the show is, if nothing else, not afraid to take risks. Plus: Kaitlin Olson is one of the funniest women on TV
3) 30 Rock
Speaking of hilarious women on TV, Tina Fey continues to be, maybe, the funniest person on television, rivaled only by the rest of her cast on 30 Rock (I have special love for Alec Baldwin on the show).
4) Mythbusters
It's not just the explosions that are fun. I really enjoy watching these guys, who you sorta wish were your friends, engage in problem solving for problems nobody else would bother to work out. Whether shooting arrows as a "ninja" (martial arts master) or blowing up pianos, it's always a good time.
5) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm not one who goes in for hour-long dramas, but I'm hooked on Terminator, and not just for the one-two punch of Summer Glau and Lena Headey. Robots, a gripping storyline, and tying into one of my favorite film franchises... I'm a fan.
6) Ghosthunters
I cannot explain why I love this show, but I do.
7) A Colbert Christmas
I always enjoy The Daily Show and Colbert Report, but I particularly enjoyed the hour-long special of A Colbert Christmas on Comedy Central. If you stumble across it on cable, I highly recommend it.
8) American Experience
More of a clearinghouse for documentaries on PBS than a particular show, the documentary program covers both grand and horrific moments in American history. It might not have the immediacy of "Independent Lens", but it does put history into context in a way that I'm not sure even the programming on the History Channel manages. Always beautifully produced, it's well wortha dding to your DVR.
9) John Adams
An HBO mini-series, this show followed the life of America's first Vice President and Second President from the earliest rumblings of revolution in the colonies to Adams's death on the 4th of July. Add in another great performance from Paul Giamatti as Adams and what may be Laura Linney's finest performance, and its a good renter.
10) History Detectives
This PBS show is the natural spin-off of Antiques Roadshow. People contact the show with heirlooms they know very little about, and a team of researchers uncovers whether the item is authentic, the true story behind the item if its not authentic, but most importantly relates the story of the part of history where the item might be from. This can be anything from old firearms to paintings, to photographs... It's a great show, and often oddly moving as the owners of the objects learn the history that's touching them through the items.
1) Iron Man
I'm not sure it's all ages fun. I'll leave that to the parents to decide, but I don't think there's any denying how great Robert Downey Jr. was as Tony Stark, how great the armor and effects were, or the level of summer-fun that director John Favreau squeezed into the movie.
2) I liked "Incredible Hulk"
Maybe not the brightest movie ever made, but it brought the story of the Hulk to the big screen with a certain, imaginative panache. Ed Norton was a likable Bruce Banner, and the final effects on the Hulk were really pretty good.
3) Dark Knight
I've already talked at length about Dark Knight, but it set a new standard for action movies and comic adaptations. And for this DC Comics fan, it was particularly gratifying to see something that was so close to the spirit of the Batman comics after so many years of bad adaptations under WB's belt.
4) Step-Brothers
Dumb comedies never make these lists, but I laughed myself sick at this movie (as I tend to do at about 2/3rds of Will Ferrell's comedies). It's no masterpiece, but I liked it.
5) Wall-E
I tend to go for Pixar's work, and I found Wall-E to be a triumph even by Pixar standards. I'm not sure I loved it as much as I loved Ratatouille, but... just a deeply gratifying movie.
Movie that wasted my time: Wanted
This movie didn't just complete ignore the source material, it just wasn't a very good movie. Unlikeable characters engaged in a plot that seemed like it was cooked up by someone in a blindfold mixing up words from fridge magnet poetry... If I knew it wasn't going to get any better after the first 30 minutes, I probably would have walked out.
Television
1) The Middleman
I think JimD, Jason, Jamie and I were the only folks who watched ABC Family's bizarre little show about a straight arrow fighter of bizarre threats to the world and his cynical sidekick. But for a low-budget show, it was big on ideas and very well written and cast. I will actually pick up the series/ season 1 on DVD.
2) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Season 4 didn't have quite the same zing as Season 3, but this FX Network show still delivered. It's in no way an all ages show, and it may not fit your brand of humor (how badly didn't you want to see Danny Devito's posterior through a hospital gown?). But the characters are well drawn and the show is, if nothing else, not afraid to take risks. Plus: Kaitlin Olson is one of the funniest women on TV
3) 30 Rock
Speaking of hilarious women on TV, Tina Fey continues to be, maybe, the funniest person on television, rivaled only by the rest of her cast on 30 Rock (I have special love for Alec Baldwin on the show).
4) Mythbusters
It's not just the explosions that are fun. I really enjoy watching these guys, who you sorta wish were your friends, engage in problem solving for problems nobody else would bother to work out. Whether shooting arrows as a "ninja" (martial arts master) or blowing up pianos, it's always a good time.
5) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm not one who goes in for hour-long dramas, but I'm hooked on Terminator, and not just for the one-two punch of Summer Glau and Lena Headey. Robots, a gripping storyline, and tying into one of my favorite film franchises... I'm a fan.
6) Ghosthunters
I cannot explain why I love this show, but I do.
7) A Colbert Christmas
I always enjoy The Daily Show and Colbert Report, but I particularly enjoyed the hour-long special of A Colbert Christmas on Comedy Central. If you stumble across it on cable, I highly recommend it.
8) American Experience
More of a clearinghouse for documentaries on PBS than a particular show, the documentary program covers both grand and horrific moments in American history. It might not have the immediacy of "Independent Lens", but it does put history into context in a way that I'm not sure even the programming on the History Channel manages. Always beautifully produced, it's well wortha dding to your DVR.
9) John Adams
An HBO mini-series, this show followed the life of America's first Vice President and Second President from the earliest rumblings of revolution in the colonies to Adams's death on the 4th of July. Add in another great performance from Paul Giamatti as Adams and what may be Laura Linney's finest performance, and its a good renter.
10) History Detectives
This PBS show is the natural spin-off of Antiques Roadshow. People contact the show with heirlooms they know very little about, and a team of researchers uncovers whether the item is authentic, the true story behind the item if its not authentic, but most importantly relates the story of the part of history where the item might be from. This can be anything from old firearms to paintings, to photographs... It's a great show, and often oddly moving as the owners of the objects learn the history that's touching them through the items.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Re-Telling Superman's Origin
click the image for a full-sized version
This Spring DC comics will release a series retelling the origin of Superman. It is the 3rd effort in the past 23 years, but will establish a post Infinite Crisis baseline of the Man of Steel. I think you'll enjoy it.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Round-Up of Interesting Information and a Plea for Donations
New Jim Parsons Interview at USA Today
Check it out, Jim P. who plays Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory" got a high profile interview at USA Today. There is no accompanying pie chart.
Hopefully Jim has not entered the twilight zone for actors where they have so convincingly embodied a character mostly unlike themselves that the audience is somewhat disappointed to learn that Jim is playing a character and not himself. (See: George Reeves as Superman, Michael Richards as Kramer, etc...) But, really, would anyone want to put up with Sheldon for more than 22 minutes per week?
Price of success, I guess. Hopefully Jim is enjoying the fruits of his labors. I'm still enjoying the show.
Give Some Dough to the Salvation Army and Help Out Your Fellow Humans
I am $5.00 from my personal goal set for raising money for Salvation Army. I am, however, $160 dollars from what I had hoped would be a team goal.
Tis the Season of Giving, Leaguers. Sure, I know times are tough, but that's all the more reason to share if you can.
The website is easy to use, the donation is probably tax deductible, and anything you give will genuinely help other people out in a time when so many people are in need. I know you gave $3.00 to the guy ringing the bell at the mall, and that's super. If you can afford to give more, we'd certainly appreciate it. We're going to be leaning on each other a lot more in the next few years.
So join League of Melbotis in giving. Click here, and then click "donate to my kettle". Anything from $0.25 to $250 would be welcome.
I've heard some people find the site a bit wonky. If you need help, let me know.
New Years Party
A gentle reminder that December 31st at 8:45ish, we're kicking off our annual Holiday Party as a New Year's party (Melbotis's 2008 New Year Hullabalunacy!).
Click here for details and to RSVP.
And to Keep You in the Yuletide Spirit
Also: SLOTHS
Only moderately safe for work
Check it out, Jim P. who plays Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory" got a high profile interview at USA Today. There is no accompanying pie chart.
Hopefully Jim has not entered the twilight zone for actors where they have so convincingly embodied a character mostly unlike themselves that the audience is somewhat disappointed to learn that Jim is playing a character and not himself. (See: George Reeves as Superman, Michael Richards as Kramer, etc...) But, really, would anyone want to put up with Sheldon for more than 22 minutes per week?
Price of success, I guess. Hopefully Jim is enjoying the fruits of his labors. I'm still enjoying the show.
Give Some Dough to the Salvation Army and Help Out Your Fellow Humans
I am $5.00 from my personal goal set for raising money for Salvation Army. I am, however, $160 dollars from what I had hoped would be a team goal.
Tis the Season of Giving, Leaguers. Sure, I know times are tough, but that's all the more reason to share if you can.
The website is easy to use, the donation is probably tax deductible, and anything you give will genuinely help other people out in a time when so many people are in need. I know you gave $3.00 to the guy ringing the bell at the mall, and that's super. If you can afford to give more, we'd certainly appreciate it. We're going to be leaning on each other a lot more in the next few years.
So join League of Melbotis in giving. Click here, and then click "donate to my kettle". Anything from $0.25 to $250 would be welcome.
I've heard some people find the site a bit wonky. If you need help, let me know.
New Years Party
A gentle reminder that December 31st at 8:45ish, we're kicking off our annual Holiday Party as a New Year's party (Melbotis's 2008 New Year Hullabalunacy!).
Click here for details and to RSVP.
And to Keep You in the Yuletide Spirit
Also: SLOTHS
Only moderately safe for work
Sunday, December 07, 2008
DITMTLOD Special: Robot Ladies of Interest Part 2
So... looks like we got derailed with the whole Matrix discussion last week. That's all right. It's probably an important movie in a lot of ways, and the discussion it engenders is probably a sign of the movie being better than I give it credit for.
But we're not here to talk about the Matrix today. We're here to puzzle over that oddest of topics: The Robot Ladies of Interest
Alice Krig as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact
I'm sort of on the fence with this one. ST; First Contact isn't one of my favorite movies, and I think Krig's character was more interesting as a special effect than as an actual character. But if you were a fan of the Trek series, her character added a new dimension to both The Borg and Data.
Technically, Borg aren't really robots. They're organic beings being piloted by robotic intelligence in a hive mind. I figure there's enough intersection on the mental Venn-Diagram that it's okay to cover our friends, The Borg.
But, really, if we want to talk Borg, we want to talk Seven of Nine.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine on Star Trek, Voyager
ST: Voyager was struggling in the ratings on the fledgling UPN network (now defunct). The show was a bit dull, from some perspectives (mine), as its primary conceit was leaving behind the very rich environment of the Star Trek corner of the galaxy. This was problematic. Star Trek: The Next Generation was the best rated syndicated show in history, and UPN executives had expected their new show to carry their network until other shows caught on.
Producers seemed to have decided that the primary reason the show wasn't doing well was that the show was missing a certain element.
Three guesses what they thought the show was missing prior to Ryan's arrival.
I can't talk too much about Voyager, Ryan, Seven of Nine, etc... I didn't watch the show and saw the move to drop in a character in a shiny, skin tight suit as suspect at best (no, seriously). But Ryan's arrival on the show did, in fact, boost ratings. So say what you want about Sci-Fi audiences, I guess. They're an easy enough read.
Battlestar Galactica Reboot
In college I became nostalgic for a show I remember watching as a very young kid, Battlestar Galactica. For its time, and certainly for 1970's TV, it was a pretty awesome show. However, by 1997, when I watched it again... not so much.
After decades of attempted reboots, about five years ago someone finally re-did BSG and added what the original had been sorely lacking: really attractive Cylons.
Enter: Tricia Helfer as "Six". A robot seductress who tricks a top earth scientist into helping the Cylons wipe out the outerspace colonies.
an understandable error
Well, apparently that wasn't enough.
The show went on to introduce several models of humanoid Cylons, including Grace Park as Sharon, and Lucy Lawless as D'Anna.
If this is the doom that awaits me by steely, robot hearts... I am okay with that.
BSG is a surprisingly smart show, and unlike your average syndicated sci-fi program, there's a point to the Cylons' human appearance. I came in to the show too late to keep up, but what I have seen, I've really liked.
Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell
Yes, she's animated, but Motoko Kusanagi is a terrific character in a phenomenal movie. Just don't ask me what the hell's up with the ending.
It's a dark future in Japan (is there any other kind?) and the Japanese military/ police force has created a cyborg unit to keep up with the level of crime their having to deal with.
I saw this one on my own in the theater one night in college at The Dobie. It's a hell of a movie, visually, if the story is a bit muddy. I guess they've turned it into a whole franchise, but I haven't kept up.
The manga and anime of Ghost in the Shell would go on to be highly influential to the genre. It's tough to point to specific examples in American film where they've managed to evoke the same design, exploration of AI, etc... If anything, I'd say Blade Runner had a huge impact on the look, tone and issues of this movie.
Here's some music video that used Ghost in the Shell animation. Beware, non-sexual nudity is included.
Terminator 3 and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm, like, legally obligated to mention Terminator 3, because it did star a woman as the base form for one of the shape-shifting sort of Terminators you saw in T2. But I really didn't like T3, so I don't want to talk about it (can you tell I was a little disappointed?).
I don't care
The lady Terminator was played by... you know what? It doesn't matter. She's gone on to be in a bunch of really goofy and forgettable stuff I hope you haven't seen. The producers felt T3 was so irrelevant that they used a neat narrative trick in the pilot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to render T3 completely irrelevant.
Speaking of T:tSCC, remember 90's band Garbage? No? Well, you guys missed out. They had some good tunes. Anyway, their singer, Shirley Manson, has hung up her mic and moved on to play Catherine Weaver, a cyborg who has taken the place of a millionaire industrialist in order to further the evil, robot agenda.
Only happy when it rains...
The Sarah Connor Chronicles demonstrates the richness of the Terminator franchise once its been divorced from the star wattage of Governor Arnie. Look, I love Arnie as much as the next child of the 80's, but if he was attached to the franchise, the promise of time travel + robots just wasn't going to be fully achieved.
And now, we have Shirley Manson creeping me out.
PLUS, we have Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips/ Baum, a Terminator unit reprogrammed by future John Connor to go back in time and protect modern-day John Connor. Glau might be recognized from her work in Whedon's Firefly series where she played "River Tam". She was also in a spectacularly bad Sci-Fi original movie "Mammoth".
Wouldn't be Terminator without a steely stare and a messed up face
The show is using the long format of a weekly series to look into the actual character of a Terminator as it continues to learn as it lives among humans. The cast is very good, even the younger players.
Plus, the show features lots of robot fights. Nigh weekly. And, also, Glau is foxy.
That's it for this post.
If you guys have any robots I might have missed, pipe up. We'll do a Leaguer special!
But we're not here to talk about the Matrix today. We're here to puzzle over that oddest of topics: The Robot Ladies of Interest
Alice Krig as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact
I'm sort of on the fence with this one. ST; First Contact isn't one of my favorite movies, and I think Krig's character was more interesting as a special effect than as an actual character. But if you were a fan of the Trek series, her character added a new dimension to both The Borg and Data.
Technically, Borg aren't really robots. They're organic beings being piloted by robotic intelligence in a hive mind. I figure there's enough intersection on the mental Venn-Diagram that it's okay to cover our friends, The Borg.
But, really, if we want to talk Borg, we want to talk Seven of Nine.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine on Star Trek, Voyager
ST: Voyager was struggling in the ratings on the fledgling UPN network (now defunct). The show was a bit dull, from some perspectives (mine), as its primary conceit was leaving behind the very rich environment of the Star Trek corner of the galaxy. This was problematic. Star Trek: The Next Generation was the best rated syndicated show in history, and UPN executives had expected their new show to carry their network until other shows caught on.
Producers seemed to have decided that the primary reason the show wasn't doing well was that the show was missing a certain element.
Three guesses what they thought the show was missing prior to Ryan's arrival.
I can't talk too much about Voyager, Ryan, Seven of Nine, etc... I didn't watch the show and saw the move to drop in a character in a shiny, skin tight suit as suspect at best (no, seriously). But Ryan's arrival on the show did, in fact, boost ratings. So say what you want about Sci-Fi audiences, I guess. They're an easy enough read.
Battlestar Galactica Reboot
In college I became nostalgic for a show I remember watching as a very young kid, Battlestar Galactica. For its time, and certainly for 1970's TV, it was a pretty awesome show. However, by 1997, when I watched it again... not so much.
After decades of attempted reboots, about five years ago someone finally re-did BSG and added what the original had been sorely lacking: really attractive Cylons.
Enter: Tricia Helfer as "Six". A robot seductress who tricks a top earth scientist into helping the Cylons wipe out the outerspace colonies.
an understandable error
Well, apparently that wasn't enough.
The show went on to introduce several models of humanoid Cylons, including Grace Park as Sharon, and Lucy Lawless as D'Anna.
If this is the doom that awaits me by steely, robot hearts... I am okay with that.
BSG is a surprisingly smart show, and unlike your average syndicated sci-fi program, there's a point to the Cylons' human appearance. I came in to the show too late to keep up, but what I have seen, I've really liked.
Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell
Yes, she's animated, but Motoko Kusanagi is a terrific character in a phenomenal movie. Just don't ask me what the hell's up with the ending.
It's a dark future in Japan (is there any other kind?) and the Japanese military/ police force has created a cyborg unit to keep up with the level of crime their having to deal with.
I saw this one on my own in the theater one night in college at The Dobie. It's a hell of a movie, visually, if the story is a bit muddy. I guess they've turned it into a whole franchise, but I haven't kept up.
The manga and anime of Ghost in the Shell would go on to be highly influential to the genre. It's tough to point to specific examples in American film where they've managed to evoke the same design, exploration of AI, etc... If anything, I'd say Blade Runner had a huge impact on the look, tone and issues of this movie.
Here's some music video that used Ghost in the Shell animation. Beware, non-sexual nudity is included.
Terminator 3 and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm, like, legally obligated to mention Terminator 3, because it did star a woman as the base form for one of the shape-shifting sort of Terminators you saw in T2. But I really didn't like T3, so I don't want to talk about it (can you tell I was a little disappointed?).
I don't care
The lady Terminator was played by... you know what? It doesn't matter. She's gone on to be in a bunch of really goofy and forgettable stuff I hope you haven't seen. The producers felt T3 was so irrelevant that they used a neat narrative trick in the pilot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to render T3 completely irrelevant.
Speaking of T:tSCC, remember 90's band Garbage? No? Well, you guys missed out. They had some good tunes. Anyway, their singer, Shirley Manson, has hung up her mic and moved on to play Catherine Weaver, a cyborg who has taken the place of a millionaire industrialist in order to further the evil, robot agenda.
Only happy when it rains...
The Sarah Connor Chronicles demonstrates the richness of the Terminator franchise once its been divorced from the star wattage of Governor Arnie. Look, I love Arnie as much as the next child of the 80's, but if he was attached to the franchise, the promise of time travel + robots just wasn't going to be fully achieved.
And now, we have Shirley Manson creeping me out.
PLUS, we have Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips/ Baum, a Terminator unit reprogrammed by future John Connor to go back in time and protect modern-day John Connor. Glau might be recognized from her work in Whedon's Firefly series where she played "River Tam". She was also in a spectacularly bad Sci-Fi original movie "Mammoth".
Wouldn't be Terminator without a steely stare and a messed up face
The show is using the long format of a weekly series to look into the actual character of a Terminator as it continues to learn as it lives among humans. The cast is very good, even the younger players.
Plus, the show features lots of robot fights. Nigh weekly. And, also, Glau is foxy.
That's it for this post.
If you guys have any robots I might have missed, pipe up. We'll do a Leaguer special!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Call for End of the Year Lists
I actually do like End of the Year Lists.
Part of why I like end of the year lists is that it gives the writer time to really realize what stuck with them. It's not just the immediate enjoyment or dislike of whatever's in the list, its been a few months, and maybe the writer has had an opportunity to put things into perspective, or realize "hey, maybe that was a good idea at first blush, but now... I dunno."
Take a song you hear and like when you're out, or you hear it in a movie or on TV, and you decide "that song is awesome!" and maybe that song is good, but maybe it just really, really worked in a particular movie.
Anyhow, the point is, it isn't marketing hype or initial reviews that determine what's going to endure. It's time. And I sort of think the year end reviews and lists are the first step toward figuring out what might stand a chance at being remembered.
I often use End of Year lists for non-DC or Marvel comics as a bit of a shopping list. By then, we're past the buzz and people are maybe pushing something they believe in rather than something they happened to like.
So, I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there:
Send me your End of the Year Lists
I will publish them as they come in.
Here are the rules.
1) Keep it clean. Sure, I'd love to work blue here at The League, but my mother-in-law reads this blog and I have to continue to make a good impression.
2) Try to use a good number, like The Top 5 or 10 movies of the year.
3) It's not enough just to send a list. We need a sentence or three on why.
4) Send as many lists as you like!
5) It can be on pretty much any topic. Media is usually a pretty popular topic, but whatever...
That's it. Send 'em in.
Part of why I like end of the year lists is that it gives the writer time to really realize what stuck with them. It's not just the immediate enjoyment or dislike of whatever's in the list, its been a few months, and maybe the writer has had an opportunity to put things into perspective, or realize "hey, maybe that was a good idea at first blush, but now... I dunno."
Take a song you hear and like when you're out, or you hear it in a movie or on TV, and you decide "that song is awesome!" and maybe that song is good, but maybe it just really, really worked in a particular movie.
Anyhow, the point is, it isn't marketing hype or initial reviews that determine what's going to endure. It's time. And I sort of think the year end reviews and lists are the first step toward figuring out what might stand a chance at being remembered.
I often use End of Year lists for non-DC or Marvel comics as a bit of a shopping list. By then, we're past the buzz and people are maybe pushing something they believe in rather than something they happened to like.
So, I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there:
Send me your End of the Year Lists
I will publish them as they come in.
Here are the rules.
1) Keep it clean. Sure, I'd love to work blue here at The League, but my mother-in-law reads this blog and I have to continue to make a good impression.
2) Try to use a good number, like The Top 5 or 10 movies of the year.
3) It's not enough just to send a list. We need a sentence or three on why.
4) Send as many lists as you like!
5) It can be on pretty much any topic. Media is usually a pretty popular topic, but whatever...
That's it. Send 'em in.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
We'll get back to that Robot Thing On Monday
I noticed that Carla and Simon both hit my post from Pre-Turkey Day about Robots and Robot Toys. Carla pointed out that Fisher-Price, maker of beloved children's toys, has introduced "Spike" into the mix of robotic toys. Apparently a large robotic dinosaur with some sort of remote control. What struck me as really odd about Spike wasn't just his size for kids, but that he's part of the Imaginext playline of toys. Each of those toys is about 2 - 3 inches high. Which makes me wonder if Spike is supposed to be in scale with those, in which case, I have a whole new respect for Spike at 10x the height of helpless and delicious characters of the Imaginext line. All I'm saying is that Spike + Imaginext toys = awesome dino-laden destruction.
Simon, on the other hand, accused me (in good fun) of cribbing from The Matrix.
Others often find this surprising, but I'm not a fan of the Matrix movies. I saw the first one and didn't like it, so I didn't bother seeing parts 2 and 3. Even on cable, all I've seen is a car chase from one of them that seemed to go on a really long time and which reminded me that I felt the Wachowski's might be all flash and no substance.
What's amazing to me is how many people who hear I didn't like part 1, so I didn't go see part 2 or 3 address the issue this way (a) well, you should really see them, (b) no, they're not as good as the first one, and (c) they get kind of dopey.
It's never been a strong sales pitch.
I've also never seen most movies people think I should see, but most people won't watch "This Gun For Hire" or "The Killing" with me, so they can stick it in their ear.
I'm going to go read my new "Superman vs. Brainiac" collection. You're on your own.
Simon, on the other hand, accused me (in good fun) of cribbing from The Matrix.
Others often find this surprising, but I'm not a fan of the Matrix movies. I saw the first one and didn't like it, so I didn't bother seeing parts 2 and 3. Even on cable, all I've seen is a car chase from one of them that seemed to go on a really long time and which reminded me that I felt the Wachowski's might be all flash and no substance.
What's amazing to me is how many people who hear I didn't like part 1, so I didn't go see part 2 or 3 address the issue this way (a) well, you should really see them, (b) no, they're not as good as the first one, and (c) they get kind of dopey.
It's never been a strong sales pitch.
I've also never seen most movies people think I should see, but most people won't watch "This Gun For Hire" or "The Killing" with me, so they can stick it in their ear.
I'm going to go read my new "Superman vs. Brainiac" collection. You're on your own.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
No Robot Post Again
hey all.
Sorry about the lack of a robot post again this evening. I left work late, and then met Jamie, Jason and Nicole at Havana down on S. Congress.
I'm a little tired and after staying up late last night to work on a post for Comic Fodder, I'm not going to stay up tonight making sure we're all agreed on the topic of Robot Ladies of Interest.
Speaking of the Comic Fodder post... We got a link from Newsarama over the weekend based on a post I did on Batman comics. We saw a massive spike in hits, which was pretty cool. I had an idea for a post (actually, suggested by Randy, which I forgot to mention, so RHPT, I apologize) that I wanted to capitalize on while people might be coming by from that Blog@Newsarama link. Looks like that post is also getting a lot of hits. Anyway, that post was on Superman comics.
I don't know if I'm all that fascinating, if I'm hitting buttons with people, or what... but I've also seen a little bump in comments and e-mail sent directly to me, by-passing the comments section. Including from a gentleman who is pretty high up at Fark.com who somehow stumbled across my Superman post.
Sure, its a cardinal sin of blogging to talk about blogging, but when you're writing stuff all the time, its nice to see when you get even a smidge of buzz going.
Anyway, I also gotta go write a Christmas Card letter, so if anyone out there can remember what the @#$% I've been up to this year that doesn't sound kinda moronic, let me know.
Sorry about the lack of a robot post again this evening. I left work late, and then met Jamie, Jason and Nicole at Havana down on S. Congress.
I'm a little tired and after staying up late last night to work on a post for Comic Fodder, I'm not going to stay up tonight making sure we're all agreed on the topic of Robot Ladies of Interest.
Speaking of the Comic Fodder post... We got a link from Newsarama over the weekend based on a post I did on Batman comics. We saw a massive spike in hits, which was pretty cool. I had an idea for a post (actually, suggested by Randy, which I forgot to mention, so RHPT, I apologize) that I wanted to capitalize on while people might be coming by from that Blog@Newsarama link. Looks like that post is also getting a lot of hits. Anyway, that post was on Superman comics.
I don't know if I'm all that fascinating, if I'm hitting buttons with people, or what... but I've also seen a little bump in comments and e-mail sent directly to me, by-passing the comments section. Including from a gentleman who is pretty high up at Fark.com who somehow stumbled across my Superman post.
Sure, its a cardinal sin of blogging to talk about blogging, but when you're writing stuff all the time, its nice to see when you get even a smidge of buzz going.
Anyway, I also gotta go write a Christmas Card letter, so if anyone out there can remember what the @#$% I've been up to this year that doesn't sound kinda moronic, let me know.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
and you accused Jake Lloyd of making Star Wars cheesy...
Donnie + Marie + Dilution of Brand = Awesome
Just FYI: The first video's audio track is really, really far off from the picture. I don't even know what would cause this and I used to work with video equipment for years.
I also want to say: Redd Foxx on Donnie & Marie as Obi Wan has filled a special place in my heart I didn't even know was empty. Thanks, internet!
really, the thought of Redd Foxx as any kind of mentor to Donnie Osmond sort of blows the mind...
Tip o' the hat to Journalista
Donnie + Marie + Dilution of Brand = Awesome
Just FYI: The first video's audio track is really, really far off from the picture. I don't even know what would cause this and I used to work with video equipment for years.
I also want to say: Redd Foxx on Donnie & Marie as Obi Wan has filled a special place in my heart I didn't even know was empty. Thanks, internet!
really, the thought of Redd Foxx as any kind of mentor to Donnie Osmond sort of blows the mind...
Tip o' the hat to Journalista
Monday, December 01, 2008
A DITMTLOD Special: Robot Ladies of Interest (Part 1)
I'm going to go ahead and put a disclaimer on this one:
1. I find this whole enterprise kind of embarrassing for reasons I cannot begin to articulate.
2. Ladies, if you value your own sanity, it might be best if you sat this one out. You're not going to like this post one bit. Any reading you do below, you do at your own risk.
3. This whole thing is pretty spoiler-laden. I wind up accidentally giving away a lot of plot on all movies/ characters discussed.
On to the pain.
Historically, the first robot lady of interest that we can probably trace back to in Western Culture is probably Galatea, the woman brought to life by Pygmalion from a statue. There are all sorts of contexts in which the story is reviewed, some more flattering than others, and most certainly influenced by both the intention of the teller of the tale's vision (romantic tale, tale of hubris, etc...), and certainly the popular view of gender relations in which a tale is told. In today's society, it may seem difficult for readers to get past the easy reads of Pygmalion's misogyny that the story hinges on.
But more to our point: Sexy Lady Robots.
The first of which I can probably think of in film would be Fake-Robot-Maria from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Basically, it's the future and all the rich folks live in palaces miles above the Earth, while everybody else toils below. Maria is a community organizer of sorts who is giving the worker bees hope (and a rich dude falls for her). An evil scientist guy has built a robot to take the place of his lost love, but disguises the robot as Maria, who he's kidnapped.
Anyway, instead of whining about the poor, Robot Maria ruins Human Maria's credibility as she ascends to the towers of the rich and parties it up. Actress Brigette Helm plays both roles (evil and good Maria) exceedingly well, and sets up Evil Robot Maria as a Robot Lady of Interest (RLI) as early as 1927.
I don't know how hard you have to party before you wind up in this situation, but that robot is programmed to get her crunk on.
Keep in mind, the term "robot" came into the parlance as late as 1921 thanks to Czeck playwright Karel Capek's play "Rossum's Universal Robots". It's generally thought to be the first appearance of the word "Robot", although "automaton" had appeared previously.
Depending on your definition, one could also include Elsa Lanchester as "The Bride" in 1935's "Bride of Frankenstein". I'm mostly including her because, due to the hair-don't the Bride sports, Lanchester is often overlooked.
Made for each other?
I'm not as familiar with pulp science-fiction as I should be, so I'm going to leave a big old gap here that could certainly be filled with all kinds of paperbacks and magazine stories about robot love.
1973's "Westworld" featured life-like robots which would join in all sorts of adult shenanigans with the tourists. Yeah, I found that a little yicky, even as a kid when I first saw the movie. But if you make it through that portion, the movie gets really awesome really fast.
The 1975 film "The Stepford Wives" is a bit of weirdness we can all enjoy (I've not seen the remake). A movie that's a refelction of its time, the Stepford Wives big reveal is that the reason the wives seem so perfect in the Stepford enclave? When the wives become problematic, the husbands replace them with robots.
So, basically, yeah, it was a horror movie for NOW-era feminists, with a less abstract threat to represent the specter of the lives many felt would be foisted upon them if the push for women's lib wasn't successful. Just, you know, in a cheesy way, with robots. But there's a reason the term "Stepford Wives" is ingrained in our vocabulary. Worth checking out.
The 1980 film Galaxina seems to include a robot who is intended to be eye-candy in what seems to be a comedy. The titular character was played by the lovely, but doomed actress/ model Dorothy Stratten. I've never seen the film, so I don't have much to say about it.
I haven't seen the movie, but here's a pretty strong pitch for checking it out.
We've already covered Sean Young as Rachael in Blade Runner.
As I write this, I realize Blade Runner should really get it's own post, but what are you going to do?
Blade Runner features several androids, including Rachael, Pris and Zhora. If you don't know the plot, (a) I pity you. Get a DVD player. (b) It's about a detective who must track down several renegade "replicants", basically flesh and blood robots with pre-programmed minds and a four-year lifespan. One of my favorites of all time.
Pris was played by Darryl Hannah, who... well, who did all kinds of crazy film work in the 1980's, but whose profile dropped a bit in the 1990's. I'm not sure why she isn't used more. She's lovely enough without a mermaid tail, and I always liked her. But what do I know? (answer: nuthin')
We don't know why it works. It just does.
Joanna Cassidy played Zhora, some sort of former soldier-droid, I believe.
Your mileage on naked robots covered in glitter and draped with snakes may vary
Zhora doesn't get much screen time, and viewers may note that she looks particularly weird during her death scene. Well, that's some stunt-person in a fright wig and plainly not Joanna Cassidy. According to sources I've read, documentaries, etc... nobody was happy with how that turned out. But when you're watching the scene, she looks so weird during her death, its kind of disquieting.
Before that sequence when she's talking to Deckard... maybe less disquieting.
Kelly LeBrock as Lisa in "Weird Science".
I'm not sure if she's a robot, but she is some sort of computerized artificial construct, right? Anyway, kudos to John Hughes for one of the weirdest and oddly non-skeeviest teen comedies (that, from its premise, should have been in there with "Hamburger: The Motion Picture").
"Lisa" (probably named for Apple's early-era personal computer) was the result of two nerds' hacking back in the 1980's when computers were about as accessible as atom smashers. Thank God for icon-based interfaces, says I. Back then, it seemed entirely reasonable that two motivated teenagers might accidentally create Kelly LeBrock on their computer while their parents were out of town.
What couldn't you do with a 2400 baud modem?
If you've never seen "Weird Science", it's a teen-classic. We'll revisit this movie some other time, because, darn it, I love "Weird Science". And Kelly LeBrock. Who unfortunately was married to Steven Seagal for a while. What must that household have been like?
Nevermind. I don't want to know.
That's it for this installment. More later this week. We'll get to BSG, Terminator and more.
But from the 1980's and earlier, what did I miss? Help a brother out...
1. I find this whole enterprise kind of embarrassing for reasons I cannot begin to articulate.
2. Ladies, if you value your own sanity, it might be best if you sat this one out. You're not going to like this post one bit. Any reading you do below, you do at your own risk.
3. This whole thing is pretty spoiler-laden. I wind up accidentally giving away a lot of plot on all movies/ characters discussed.
On to the pain.
Historically, the first robot lady of interest that we can probably trace back to in Western Culture is probably Galatea, the woman brought to life by Pygmalion from a statue. There are all sorts of contexts in which the story is reviewed, some more flattering than others, and most certainly influenced by both the intention of the teller of the tale's vision (romantic tale, tale of hubris, etc...), and certainly the popular view of gender relations in which a tale is told. In today's society, it may seem difficult for readers to get past the easy reads of Pygmalion's misogyny that the story hinges on.
But more to our point: Sexy Lady Robots.
The first of which I can probably think of in film would be Fake-Robot-Maria from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Basically, it's the future and all the rich folks live in palaces miles above the Earth, while everybody else toils below. Maria is a community organizer of sorts who is giving the worker bees hope (and a rich dude falls for her). An evil scientist guy has built a robot to take the place of his lost love, but disguises the robot as Maria, who he's kidnapped.
Anyway, instead of whining about the poor, Robot Maria ruins Human Maria's credibility as she ascends to the towers of the rich and parties it up. Actress Brigette Helm plays both roles (evil and good Maria) exceedingly well, and sets up Evil Robot Maria as a Robot Lady of Interest (RLI) as early as 1927.
I don't know how hard you have to party before you wind up in this situation, but that robot is programmed to get her crunk on.
Keep in mind, the term "robot" came into the parlance as late as 1921 thanks to Czeck playwright Karel Capek's play "Rossum's Universal Robots". It's generally thought to be the first appearance of the word "Robot", although "automaton" had appeared previously.
Depending on your definition, one could also include Elsa Lanchester as "The Bride" in 1935's "Bride of Frankenstein". I'm mostly including her because, due to the hair-don't the Bride sports, Lanchester is often overlooked.
Made for each other?
I'm not as familiar with pulp science-fiction as I should be, so I'm going to leave a big old gap here that could certainly be filled with all kinds of paperbacks and magazine stories about robot love.
1973's "Westworld" featured life-like robots which would join in all sorts of adult shenanigans with the tourists. Yeah, I found that a little yicky, even as a kid when I first saw the movie. But if you make it through that portion, the movie gets really awesome really fast.
The 1975 film "The Stepford Wives" is a bit of weirdness we can all enjoy (I've not seen the remake). A movie that's a refelction of its time, the Stepford Wives big reveal is that the reason the wives seem so perfect in the Stepford enclave? When the wives become problematic, the husbands replace them with robots.
So, basically, yeah, it was a horror movie for NOW-era feminists, with a less abstract threat to represent the specter of the lives many felt would be foisted upon them if the push for women's lib wasn't successful. Just, you know, in a cheesy way, with robots. But there's a reason the term "Stepford Wives" is ingrained in our vocabulary. Worth checking out.
The 1980 film Galaxina seems to include a robot who is intended to be eye-candy in what seems to be a comedy. The titular character was played by the lovely, but doomed actress/ model Dorothy Stratten. I've never seen the film, so I don't have much to say about it.
I haven't seen the movie, but here's a pretty strong pitch for checking it out.
We've already covered Sean Young as Rachael in Blade Runner.
As I write this, I realize Blade Runner should really get it's own post, but what are you going to do?
Blade Runner features several androids, including Rachael, Pris and Zhora. If you don't know the plot, (a) I pity you. Get a DVD player. (b) It's about a detective who must track down several renegade "replicants", basically flesh and blood robots with pre-programmed minds and a four-year lifespan. One of my favorites of all time.
Pris was played by Darryl Hannah, who... well, who did all kinds of crazy film work in the 1980's, but whose profile dropped a bit in the 1990's. I'm not sure why she isn't used more. She's lovely enough without a mermaid tail, and I always liked her. But what do I know? (answer: nuthin')
We don't know why it works. It just does.
Joanna Cassidy played Zhora, some sort of former soldier-droid, I believe.
Your mileage on naked robots covered in glitter and draped with snakes may vary
Zhora doesn't get much screen time, and viewers may note that she looks particularly weird during her death scene. Well, that's some stunt-person in a fright wig and plainly not Joanna Cassidy. According to sources I've read, documentaries, etc... nobody was happy with how that turned out. But when you're watching the scene, she looks so weird during her death, its kind of disquieting.
Before that sequence when she's talking to Deckard... maybe less disquieting.
Kelly LeBrock as Lisa in "Weird Science".
I'm not sure if she's a robot, but she is some sort of computerized artificial construct, right? Anyway, kudos to John Hughes for one of the weirdest and oddly non-skeeviest teen comedies (that, from its premise, should have been in there with "Hamburger: The Motion Picture").
"Lisa" (probably named for Apple's early-era personal computer) was the result of two nerds' hacking back in the 1980's when computers were about as accessible as atom smashers. Thank God for icon-based interfaces, says I. Back then, it seemed entirely reasonable that two motivated teenagers might accidentally create Kelly LeBrock on their computer while their parents were out of town.
What couldn't you do with a 2400 baud modem?
If you've never seen "Weird Science", it's a teen-classic. We'll revisit this movie some other time, because, darn it, I love "Weird Science". And Kelly LeBrock. Who unfortunately was married to Steven Seagal for a while. What must that household have been like?
Nevermind. I don't want to know.
That's it for this installment. More later this week. We'll get to BSG, Terminator and more.
But from the 1980's and earlier, what did I miss? Help a brother out...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
On UT's BCS ranking
What are you gonna do?
If UT played Saturday and OU played Thursday, we might have been ranked below Alabama instead of our rivals to the north. Or if one coach had voted one way, and other a different way... you never know.
But it is a lot messed up that its not purely about competition, and requires votes, etc... We need a better system so we don't have this kind of mess to begin with.
Ah, well. It was a great season and the Longhorns have everything in the world to be proud of.
I tend to side with Simon's opinion that play-offs might be the solution.
If UT played Saturday and OU played Thursday, we might have been ranked below Alabama instead of our rivals to the north. Or if one coach had voted one way, and other a different way... you never know.
But it is a lot messed up that its not purely about competition, and requires votes, etc... We need a better system so we don't have this kind of mess to begin with.
Ah, well. It was a great season and the Longhorns have everything in the world to be proud of.
I tend to side with Simon's opinion that play-offs might be the solution.
Thanksgiving Follow Up
Well, it's Sunday. Sunday night.
It's been a pretty long four days, and, in saying that, I'm kind of surprised its only been four days. But that's what happens when you have family coming and going, football on the brain, and the transition from the the Fall season into the Holiday Season.
I had a glimpse of life to come, and holidays to come, this weekend. My parents stayed at their new pad in N. Austin, Jason at his house, Cousin Sue at her place and we at ours. It seems the days of Too Many People in One House have drawn to a close. Which, really, has been most of my life, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. In the past, I was always amazed and confused by friends whose families lived in town and sort of didn't bat an eyelash that the Holidays were coming. If you weren't going to spend three or four nights kicked out of your bed and camped out in some corner of the house not your own, while wondering who kept turning up the thermostat (so you'd start sweating), it just wasn't the Holidays.
Anyhow, sadly, the Steans Family And Affiliated Family is now smaller in number. And we've somehow consolidated in Texas, with the locus in Austin. This is going to make things easier in some ways. And just plain odd in others.
No more sitting up with The Admiral and discussing the news until the wee hours. No more Jason abruptly standing up at some late hour and declaring "I'm tired as @#$%." Then going to bed.
No more shuffling into the kitchen and sorting out what sort of coffee was put in the pot (the parents like to poison me with 50% caffeinated), or coming downstairs at the folks' house to find some of their friends were not just up before me, they're over and visiting when I wander in with my hair standing straight up and peering out from behind my coke-bottle lenses.
Or, at Jamie's folks' house... no more realizing everyone has put off eating while you were sleeping. Or wandering out into the kitchen first thing, walking right past everyone and staring out the window into the backyard until your brain decides to actually wake up.
All that said, I'm happy to trade that for popping in to Jamie's folks' or my folks' house with a 30 minute drive instead of 3 hours.
Its just going to change things, and that's okay. Time marches on.
Jill mentioned on her blog that returning to Spring didn't feel like coming home. I think to a certain extent, I get that feeling. I love my parents, and I love their house, but (a) I've lived in Austin for 18, maybe 19 years, instead of the 3 I lived in that house in Spring, and (b) Jamie and I have worked hard to build lives in Austin. We're also heading quickly into our (gasp!) mid-thirties. While our lives are vastly different from those of our parents, we're not still moving from apartment to apartment like people right out of college. Hell, this spring we'll have been married for nine years. NINE.
And I think my folks are ready for the change.
Jamie's parents are in San Marcos now, so this is going to make the Christmas Holidays interesting. Doug and Kristen are coming into town, and will be hopping back and forth between here and the in-laws.
We're kinda/ sorta decorated for Christmas. I'd managed to get the inside about 80% decorated on Friday while Jamie rested after dialysis (we needed to put ornaments on the tree). Around 12:00ish today, we were just starting to pull exterior decorations down from shelves in the garage when Jamie noticed her fistula was bleeding through her sweatshirt.
Add in about three and hours in the ER (of which, about seven minutes was actual medical attention. The rest was waiting, giving information, and watching "Big" on basic cable), and we were home again by 3:15 and I was trying to get lights strung before the front would go dark by 5:30.
I checked three of our strings of lights before putting up four of them, and, curiously, once up they only half worked. Every single string of lights lit about half-way and then... nada. I tried swapping bulks, etc... but nada. I have no idea what was going on.
Anyway, I decided I just was going to quit and start again next Saturday morning.
The neighborhood will have to wait a little longer for The League's Onslaught of Cheer, '08.
Jamie is totally fine, by the way. What happened requires some a priori knowledge, but really simply: She had a scab on her fistula that fell off. The fistula is a very powerful vein, Jamie's also on blood thinners. Add the two together and you get a mix of Old Faithful and the elevator doors from "The Shining".
We did decorate the tree, and its lovely. We moved it this year, so its no longer out of view from the living room. I'm quite pleased with the change.
I'll get around to the Robot Ladies of Interest column later this week.
Keep it real.
It's been a pretty long four days, and, in saying that, I'm kind of surprised its only been four days. But that's what happens when you have family coming and going, football on the brain, and the transition from the the Fall season into the Holiday Season.
I had a glimpse of life to come, and holidays to come, this weekend. My parents stayed at their new pad in N. Austin, Jason at his house, Cousin Sue at her place and we at ours. It seems the days of Too Many People in One House have drawn to a close. Which, really, has been most of my life, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. In the past, I was always amazed and confused by friends whose families lived in town and sort of didn't bat an eyelash that the Holidays were coming. If you weren't going to spend three or four nights kicked out of your bed and camped out in some corner of the house not your own, while wondering who kept turning up the thermostat (so you'd start sweating), it just wasn't the Holidays.
Anyhow, sadly, the Steans Family And Affiliated Family is now smaller in number. And we've somehow consolidated in Texas, with the locus in Austin. This is going to make things easier in some ways. And just plain odd in others.
No more sitting up with The Admiral and discussing the news until the wee hours. No more Jason abruptly standing up at some late hour and declaring "I'm tired as @#$%." Then going to bed.
No more shuffling into the kitchen and sorting out what sort of coffee was put in the pot (the parents like to poison me with 50% caffeinated), or coming downstairs at the folks' house to find some of their friends were not just up before me, they're over and visiting when I wander in with my hair standing straight up and peering out from behind my coke-bottle lenses.
Or, at Jamie's folks' house... no more realizing everyone has put off eating while you were sleeping. Or wandering out into the kitchen first thing, walking right past everyone and staring out the window into the backyard until your brain decides to actually wake up.
All that said, I'm happy to trade that for popping in to Jamie's folks' or my folks' house with a 30 minute drive instead of 3 hours.
Its just going to change things, and that's okay. Time marches on.
Jill mentioned on her blog that returning to Spring didn't feel like coming home. I think to a certain extent, I get that feeling. I love my parents, and I love their house, but (a) I've lived in Austin for 18, maybe 19 years, instead of the 3 I lived in that house in Spring, and (b) Jamie and I have worked hard to build lives in Austin. We're also heading quickly into our (gasp!) mid-thirties. While our lives are vastly different from those of our parents, we're not still moving from apartment to apartment like people right out of college. Hell, this spring we'll have been married for nine years. NINE.
And I think my folks are ready for the change.
Jamie's parents are in San Marcos now, so this is going to make the Christmas Holidays interesting. Doug and Kristen are coming into town, and will be hopping back and forth between here and the in-laws.
We're kinda/ sorta decorated for Christmas. I'd managed to get the inside about 80% decorated on Friday while Jamie rested after dialysis (we needed to put ornaments on the tree). Around 12:00ish today, we were just starting to pull exterior decorations down from shelves in the garage when Jamie noticed her fistula was bleeding through her sweatshirt.
Add in about three and hours in the ER (of which, about seven minutes was actual medical attention. The rest was waiting, giving information, and watching "Big" on basic cable), and we were home again by 3:15 and I was trying to get lights strung before the front would go dark by 5:30.
I checked three of our strings of lights before putting up four of them, and, curiously, once up they only half worked. Every single string of lights lit about half-way and then... nada. I tried swapping bulks, etc... but nada. I have no idea what was going on.
Anyway, I decided I just was going to quit and start again next Saturday morning.
The neighborhood will have to wait a little longer for The League's Onslaught of Cheer, '08.
Jamie is totally fine, by the way. What happened requires some a priori knowledge, but really simply: She had a scab on her fistula that fell off. The fistula is a very powerful vein, Jamie's also on blood thinners. Add the two together and you get a mix of Old Faithful and the elevator doors from "The Shining".
We did decorate the tree, and its lovely. We moved it this year, so its no longer out of view from the living room. I'm quite pleased with the change.
I'll get around to the Robot Ladies of Interest column later this week.
Keep it real.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Coming to terms with BCS
Breaking in again for football...
So, yeah, I broke my oath of silence once again. But, look, I just watched a day full of high-stakes college ball. UT played Thursday, Tech and OU played today. All are tied for the Big 12 South. Only one can advance.
Tech came out against Baylor today looking a little mushy, which surprised me. I figured they would come out swinging harder against Baylor, but their recent loss seems to have broken them a bit. Oklahoma had to really fight against Oklahoma State until the end of the game, but wound up 20 points ahead when the clock ran out.
All that's left is a wait for the BCS computers and voters to tell us who will wind up in the Big 12 Championship game next week.
Anyway, I'm feeling pretty zen about the whole thing.
1) There's nothing UT could have done better, except for three or four things during the Texas Tech game. Aside from that, they've had a very, very impressive season. If something as small as Gideon hanging onto the ball had happened, UT would be the undisputed Big 12 leader.
2) The Big 12 was a tough conference this season. I'm always pretty impressed with our competition, and as I can't always count on UT to wind up in a BCS Championship game, I pull for the Big 12 as a whole.
3) At the beginning of the season, I looked at our schedule, reviewed what I knew and sort of sweated it a bit. I had serious doubts about our ability to beat OU, Tech and others. We've had such a great season (11-1) that I can't help but feel that no matter what the BCS finally decides: We had a great regular season. Hopefully we'll get sent to a cool bowl game.
So, yeah, I broke my oath of silence once again. But, look, I just watched a day full of high-stakes college ball. UT played Thursday, Tech and OU played today. All are tied for the Big 12 South. Only one can advance.
Tech came out against Baylor today looking a little mushy, which surprised me. I figured they would come out swinging harder against Baylor, but their recent loss seems to have broken them a bit. Oklahoma had to really fight against Oklahoma State until the end of the game, but wound up 20 points ahead when the clock ran out.
All that's left is a wait for the BCS computers and voters to tell us who will wind up in the Big 12 Championship game next week.
Anyway, I'm feeling pretty zen about the whole thing.
1) There's nothing UT could have done better, except for three or four things during the Texas Tech game. Aside from that, they've had a very, very impressive season. If something as small as Gideon hanging onto the ball had happened, UT would be the undisputed Big 12 leader.
2) The Big 12 was a tough conference this season. I'm always pretty impressed with our competition, and as I can't always count on UT to wind up in a BCS Championship game, I pull for the Big 12 as a whole.
3) At the beginning of the season, I looked at our schedule, reviewed what I knew and sort of sweated it a bit. I had serious doubts about our ability to beat OU, Tech and others. We've had such a great season (11-1) that I can't help but feel that no matter what the BCS finally decides: We had a great regular season. Hopefully we'll get sent to a cool bowl game.
Friday, November 28, 2008
49-9
After UT flubbed the last two meet-ups with A&M, I was pleased to see they not only were able to get a check in the win column, but that they got a decisive win. And Colt McCoy played a heck of a game.
For those watching on TV, I have no idea what was up with the field. It hasn't really rained here in months, so I guess someone left the sprinklers on the field too long. What a mess.
As pleased as I am with the win (this game and the OU game are, of course, the biggest games every year) I'll be watching the OU game with terrific interest. It's awful, because I respect the hell out of OU, but if they lose to OSU, it does huge things for the Horns. And OU is playing at Stillwater, so there's as much chance for something to go wrong for them as it did for us at Lubbock.
I am also morally obligated to remind you (and BCS voters) that UT defeated OU 45-35 this season. And, you know, if you're a Hesiman voter and have a vote to spare, Colt McCoy could sure use it.
We now return you to your promised radio silence for the weekend.
For those watching on TV, I have no idea what was up with the field. It hasn't really rained here in months, so I guess someone left the sprinklers on the field too long. What a mess.
As pleased as I am with the win (this game and the OU game are, of course, the biggest games every year) I'll be watching the OU game with terrific interest. It's awful, because I respect the hell out of OU, but if they lose to OSU, it does huge things for the Horns. And OU is playing at Stillwater, so there's as much chance for something to go wrong for them as it did for us at Lubbock.
I am also morally obligated to remind you (and BCS voters) that UT defeated OU 45-35 this season. And, you know, if you're a Hesiman voter and have a vote to spare, Colt McCoy could sure use it.
We now return you to your promised radio silence for the weekend.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Have a Happy Thanksgiving
I'm outta here for a few days.
Sure, I'll be in Austin, but I'm going to take a break and hang out with the family for a few days. So don't expect much more in the way of navel-gazing, complaining, or pondering about robots or Superman until late in the weekend.
Jason is usually pretty good about taking photos and posting them, so I invite you to hit his site.
Enjoy your days off if you have days off. Enjoy the folks around you. Go see a movie. Watch a football game or three. Give some thanks.
Now get out there and eat the hell out of some potatoes.
FREEDOM FROM WANT
Sure, I'll be in Austin, but I'm going to take a break and hang out with the family for a few days. So don't expect much more in the way of navel-gazing, complaining, or pondering about robots or Superman until late in the weekend.
Jason is usually pretty good about taking photos and posting them, so I invite you to hit his site.
Enjoy your days off if you have days off. Enjoy the folks around you. Go see a movie. Watch a football game or three. Give some thanks.
Now get out there and eat the hell out of some potatoes.
FREEDOM FROM WANT
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
My Robot Friend
I DVR every episode of the WB cartoon of Superman from Disney's sugar-fueled kid's cartoon network, Jetix. One of the oddities of networks like Jetix and Cartoon Network is that toy companies are pretty clearly buying up vast swaths of ad-time on these networks and aren't very discriminating about which shows their ads get folded into. Especially the late night ads for toys when you kind of hope the target market is off with dreams of sugar plums in their heads.
It being a month before Christmas, they're really going for the hard sell on all kinds of toys. Expensive toys. Stuff I am sure that, as a kid, would have flipped my gourd and caused some awkward discussions between me and KareBear as to why Santa couldn't bring me The Very Expensive Toy.
If you have any doubt that kid's toys are far more complex, if not far cooler than what we had growing up, I would point you to this year's line-up of interactive pals your kid can enjoy. We've moved beyond Teddy Ruxpin and his rudimentary/ creepy mouth movements.
Apparently... these semi-lifesized toys will respond to touch, sound, etc...
Here's Kota the Triceratops who will let your tyke sit astride his back, eat a leaf, make sounds, roll his head around...
Jason will frequently point out that as a kid, I was usually more interested in the potential of a toy than the actual toy, and would often wind up disappointed. If they sold a kid's microscope, I was ready to set up a crime lab. So part of me figures these toys aren't as cool as I think they are, but I also have as of yet to see one out of the box.
For people who want the magic of a child and a dog, but also want to not worry about the kid becoming too attached, or learning to love... there's Biscuit, the Fur-Real dog.
Or, for the parent who doesn't have the dough to pay for riding lessons, stabling fees, horse whisperers, etc... but can afford D Batteries, there's S'mores, the Fur-Real Pony.
There are also interactive dinosaurs, lizards, lion cubs, what-have-you out there. And the technology seems to be getting marginally better every year.
All of this reminds me, of course, of Kubrick/ Spielberg's AI. I don't know how sorry I felt for Haley Joel Osmont's eternal boy, but I did worry about his little, stuffed robotic pal, the Teddy bear. Which, by the way, they did try to market to kids. (Nobody seemed to notice the horrible fate the movie states robots are doomed to as humans look at robots as they would any other consumer electronic, despite rudimentary awareness... which... yeah, that's what you want to tuck your kid in with at night).
You have to sort of wonder, as the technology improves and kids are expected to abandon their toys, isn't it a little creepy to begin a societal trend toward creating emotive, responsive objects that can be thrown into the waste? Moreover, I know as a kid I would have read a heck of a lot into my robot dog's responses and been horrified at the idea of tossing it in the dump if it broke. How will we deal with our AI's as they become outmoded, break-down, etc...?
People are pretty wretched with their pets to begin with, so I'm not sure if (as technology improves and these toys begin to actually demonstrate AI) we're reinforcing bad behavior to begin with by teaching kids to shove responsive objects into a corner or expect it to turn off with the flick of a switch. That, in no way, has anything to do with actually owning or caring for a pet. Pets do not simply turn off. Sometimes they wait until you've just fallen into a deep sleep to begin meowing as loudly as possible for no discernable reason. Other pets stick their nose in your eye because they feel you've slept too late and it is time to play with the puppy. And simply "turning them off" is called animal cruelty (no matter how right it seems when the puppy jumps on you on Saturday morning).
Yes, I know... the robot dog is supposed to be a toy, but...
The other part that makes me lose some sleep is what AI and emotional responses we choose to bestow upon our creations. Especially as I consider the work of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and her emotive robots. She seems to be leading the way for becoming her own Dr. Susan Calvin, building robots which can currently respond to certain stimuli, mimicking what we recognize as an emotive response. The leap hasn't been made yet to actually make a robot feel bad when its chastised, but how far down the road can a matrix of emotional responses actually be? And if we attach that response to an ability to learn, what are we building?
I see no reason to believe we won't see AI's in my lifetime. Or rudimentary robot pets. I don't know if they'll have a capacity to learn, adapt, or merely perform routines based upon certain stimulus or commands. Right now roboticists like Dr. Breazeal seem poised to teach robots to learn. Which, of course, loops me right back to the sad, doomed little teddy bear of A.I., thrown to the junk heap, and still functional.
Oh, and, yes... the MIT labs are working on a robotic teddy bear.
Robots will have no legal rights, its safe to assume. No matter what traits we embue them with, will they ever be a part of the family as many people treat their pets?
Right now Biscuit the Robot Dog is little more than a mass of wires, plastic and fake fur that performs simple functions based upon certain stimulus. I hate to break it to you, but we're basically bags of meat and bone that respond to stimulus, too. Sure, we respond in infinitely more complex ways, but that's basically our deal. We just have a few billions years of leaping from single-celled flagellates to avid fans of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" behind us rather than 100 years of useable electricity and 50 years of computer engineering.
All I know is that when our robots turn on us, I won't be at all surprised. Especially if their vanguard is comprised of a legion of disposed of Teddy Bears, Fur-Real puppies, and fuzzy triceratops. And if I have to go, I hope its at the hands of an enraged teddy bear.
All that said, if you are looking for a robot for under my tree:
If you have to face down a machine that will turn on you and kill you, it might as well be Summer Glau
It being a month before Christmas, they're really going for the hard sell on all kinds of toys. Expensive toys. Stuff I am sure that, as a kid, would have flipped my gourd and caused some awkward discussions between me and KareBear as to why Santa couldn't bring me The Very Expensive Toy.
If you have any doubt that kid's toys are far more complex, if not far cooler than what we had growing up, I would point you to this year's line-up of interactive pals your kid can enjoy. We've moved beyond Teddy Ruxpin and his rudimentary/ creepy mouth movements.
Apparently... these semi-lifesized toys will respond to touch, sound, etc...
Here's Kota the Triceratops who will let your tyke sit astride his back, eat a leaf, make sounds, roll his head around...
Jason will frequently point out that as a kid, I was usually more interested in the potential of a toy than the actual toy, and would often wind up disappointed. If they sold a kid's microscope, I was ready to set up a crime lab. So part of me figures these toys aren't as cool as I think they are, but I also have as of yet to see one out of the box.
For people who want the magic of a child and a dog, but also want to not worry about the kid becoming too attached, or learning to love... there's Biscuit, the Fur-Real dog.
Or, for the parent who doesn't have the dough to pay for riding lessons, stabling fees, horse whisperers, etc... but can afford D Batteries, there's S'mores, the Fur-Real Pony.
There are also interactive dinosaurs, lizards, lion cubs, what-have-you out there. And the technology seems to be getting marginally better every year.
All of this reminds me, of course, of Kubrick/ Spielberg's AI. I don't know how sorry I felt for Haley Joel Osmont's eternal boy, but I did worry about his little, stuffed robotic pal, the Teddy bear. Which, by the way, they did try to market to kids. (Nobody seemed to notice the horrible fate the movie states robots are doomed to as humans look at robots as they would any other consumer electronic, despite rudimentary awareness... which... yeah, that's what you want to tuck your kid in with at night).
You have to sort of wonder, as the technology improves and kids are expected to abandon their toys, isn't it a little creepy to begin a societal trend toward creating emotive, responsive objects that can be thrown into the waste? Moreover, I know as a kid I would have read a heck of a lot into my robot dog's responses and been horrified at the idea of tossing it in the dump if it broke. How will we deal with our AI's as they become outmoded, break-down, etc...?
People are pretty wretched with their pets to begin with, so I'm not sure if (as technology improves and these toys begin to actually demonstrate AI) we're reinforcing bad behavior to begin with by teaching kids to shove responsive objects into a corner or expect it to turn off with the flick of a switch. That, in no way, has anything to do with actually owning or caring for a pet. Pets do not simply turn off. Sometimes they wait until you've just fallen into a deep sleep to begin meowing as loudly as possible for no discernable reason. Other pets stick their nose in your eye because they feel you've slept too late and it is time to play with the puppy. And simply "turning them off" is called animal cruelty (no matter how right it seems when the puppy jumps on you on Saturday morning).
Yes, I know... the robot dog is supposed to be a toy, but...
The other part that makes me lose some sleep is what AI and emotional responses we choose to bestow upon our creations. Especially as I consider the work of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and her emotive robots. She seems to be leading the way for becoming her own Dr. Susan Calvin, building robots which can currently respond to certain stimuli, mimicking what we recognize as an emotive response. The leap hasn't been made yet to actually make a robot feel bad when its chastised, but how far down the road can a matrix of emotional responses actually be? And if we attach that response to an ability to learn, what are we building?
I see no reason to believe we won't see AI's in my lifetime. Or rudimentary robot pets. I don't know if they'll have a capacity to learn, adapt, or merely perform routines based upon certain stimulus or commands. Right now roboticists like Dr. Breazeal seem poised to teach robots to learn. Which, of course, loops me right back to the sad, doomed little teddy bear of A.I., thrown to the junk heap, and still functional.
Oh, and, yes... the MIT labs are working on a robotic teddy bear.
Robots will have no legal rights, its safe to assume. No matter what traits we embue them with, will they ever be a part of the family as many people treat their pets?
Right now Biscuit the Robot Dog is little more than a mass of wires, plastic and fake fur that performs simple functions based upon certain stimulus. I hate to break it to you, but we're basically bags of meat and bone that respond to stimulus, too. Sure, we respond in infinitely more complex ways, but that's basically our deal. We just have a few billions years of leaping from single-celled flagellates to avid fans of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" behind us rather than 100 years of useable electricity and 50 years of computer engineering.
All I know is that when our robots turn on us, I won't be at all surprised. Especially if their vanguard is comprised of a legion of disposed of Teddy Bears, Fur-Real puppies, and fuzzy triceratops. And if I have to go, I hope its at the hands of an enraged teddy bear.
All that said, if you are looking for a robot for under my tree:
If you have to face down a machine that will turn on you and kill you, it might as well be Summer Glau
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