If I remember correctly, I saw Contact (the movie) in the theater when it came out. I enjoyed it and always wondered how it compared to the book. It turned out that my future wife owned the book, but I didn’t get around reading it until now. Of course movies rarely ever measure up to the novels they are based on, and this was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was good, however it just scratched upon the surface of what the novel contains.

The main character, Ellie, is a radio astronomer that eventually becomes part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). One night the project stumbles upon an unmistakably non-random signal. Initially, it just seems to be that the signal is just a repeating list of prime numbers. Upon closer inspection, scientists uncover many layers to the signal by calculating wave modulation and other ways that I don’t remember. Anyway, the movie skips over many of the steps leading up to the discovery that the message really contains instructions to make something.

One of the more interesting themes is the selfishness of the U.S. government. The officials are worried that other countries might gain some type of military advantage if they build this “Machine” first. The scientists already determined early one that decoding the message was impossible without worldwide cooperation due to the origin of the signal and rotation of the Earth. The government hesitantly cooperated with the “Machine Counsel” in piecing the message together, but they wanted to keep the nature of the message secret as long as possible.

One interesting thing to me about reading Science Fiction is how often new ideas become a reality. In this story, a man named Sol Hadden developed a technology called Adnix. This chip would mute the sound on the TV when commercials appeared. It detected the increase in volume that many advertisers built into their ads. This book came out in 1985, and I’ve looked around to see if such a thing was in use back then, but haven’t been able to. I know for a fact that today there are software programs that can detect and automatically remove commercials from recorded TV. Sagan might not have been the first person to think of this, but he was definitely ahead of his time.

I thoroughly enjoyed Contact, and don’t think that the book was spoiled for me by seeing the movie first. Carl Sagan did a good job of walking me through all sorts of mathematical and scientific concepts some of which include black holes, relativity, number theory, pattern recognition, and cryptography. He also eloquently addresses some of the economic, political, religious ramifications of the worldwide goal to make the Machine. Sagan is an excellent writer, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

Last weekend my wife and I watched 2012 with a couple of friends. We planned on making some chocolate martinis, and I have to say they definitely improved the movie watching experience. About a quarter of the way through the movie we were wondering when the introduction of new characters was going to end. Most of them are empty with no depth whatsoever. I can’t tell you anything about the main character’s ex-wife other than she divorced him and is now with a plastic surgeon. Don’t bother watching this if you are expecting a gripping story.

There are many other disaster movies with better plot, character development, and humor. Independence Day comes to mind. Anyway, after we realized we were watching a bad movie, we decided to figure out how to make the best of it. Eventually we decided to take a drink when someone narrowly avoided death. This required us to stop the movie twice to make more martinis. As for the plot, basically the solar flares in 2012 are supposed to destabilize the Earth’s core. The crust will shift and there will be floods, volcanoes, and earthquakes. People secretly go around gathering investment money in the amount of $1,000,000,000 Euro for “tickets” aboard what turn out to be modern day Noah’s Arks. For those interesting in the martini recipe, see below.

Measurements are in ounces or each measure is approximately 2/3 of a standard shot glass.

2.0 creme de cocoa (whatever is cheapest)
1.5 Godiva chocolate liquer (brand is important)
1.0 vanilla vodka (any brand, we’ve used Svedka and Smirnoff before)
splash (.5) half and half

I typically double the recipe and it will just barely fit into a cocktail shaker depending on how much ice you use. I like doing that because it makes the measurements easy: 4, 3, 2, 1. Each batch makes 3-4 servings depending on how generous you are with the portions. The ingredients aren’t cheap but you can make quite a drinks. Please post your thoughts in the comments if you’ve tried the recipe!

Snowtrooper action figure

I had the opportunity to meet a couple “online” friends this past weekend. I’ve talked to these guys for several years through various online games, instant messaging, Ventrilo/TeamSpeak, and e-mail. Meeting them was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. BrainAlien, a guy I’ve known online since 1999, gave me a Snowtrooper action figure. He knows I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so I really appreciate it. If I ever find my Luke Skywalker in X-Wing suit, I’ll have to have a little battle to relive some childhood moments.

Thanks BrainAlien!

I wasn’t really expecting much when I heard about Surrogates, so waited to watch it until it came out on DVD. From the previews it looked like many other science fiction action films that seem to be pumped out by Hollywood. The main premise of the movie is that humans live their lives through “surrogate” (robot) bodies. I’m a huge fan of Asimov and his robot novels, so this was enough to catch my attention. The human interface is kind of like how control worked in Avatar, but instead of an organic body as the host, it is robotic. I would definitely not classify the surrogates as the cyborgs that Ray Kurzweil thinks we will eventually become.  One of the main advantages to using a surrogate is that the owner is always protected, so in some ways they are better than cyborgs. There was no way for any harm to come to a user, until now.

Tom Greer, played by Bruce Willis, is in charge of investigating the destruction of a couple of surrogates. This is usually not that big of a deal, but one of the owners is found dead. Whoever wrote the script really wasn’t trying anything new as far as the murder/mystery approach is concerned. I was expecting a lot more action based on the previews that I saw. It felt like I was watching for 40 minutes before things started to get moving. This move was all around average in most respects. Nothing really stood out. It wasn’t bad, but not great.

One completely unrelated observation is that I found Bruce Willis’ upper lip (stash zone) alarmingly long. It looked almost twice the size I’d normally expect. I think of most of the roles I’ve seen him in, he’s got a beard of some sort, so that kind of hides that feature of his face. Am I alone here? Check out the pic on IMDB

OK, so a long time ago I was excited to see the Slave Leia girls on Deal or No Deal. Watching it with my wife was somewhat awkward, but she was kind enough to humor me. One of my good friends over at What the Photo sent me an interesting stumble today featuring, get this, a belly-dancing slave Princess Leia! It looks like Amira Sa’id has been doing this for some time now. How I’ve not come across this until now is a complete mystery. For more information, including some interviews and other pictures and videos, visit Amira’s website at http://www.amiradance.com/LeiaLive.html
Check it out!

via Nerd Salad

I wasn’t really planning on watching Avatar in the theater until I heard a raving review of the 3D version from my brother-in-law. He told me he immediately knew he wanted to watch it again. I have never seen a 3D movie before, so I was pretty pumped to go see it. I had heard some reports of people getting sick from watching the movie, so I admit I was a bit apprehensive during the first few minutes. The 3D didn’t really bother me initially, but after about 30 minutes I found myself getting a bit of a headache. I think it was from me trying to look around the screen checking out the different levels of depth during each scene. I decided to just relax and look where I normally would and I started to feel better.

As for the movie itself, it wasn’t an amazing, earth-shattering experience for me like many people have said it was for them. The whole idea of controlling another body remotely was rather interesting. This concept has been around a long time, but I don’t think until now controlling another biological being built with parts of your own DNA has been described. The movie was fun to watch and is most definitely a milestone in cinematography. I haven’t really gone to movies in the theater in the past few years because it has started to become so expensive, but Avatar is worth the money. If you can see it in 3D without getting sick, I’d recommend that as well.

The main plot of the movie has been done many times before in one way or another. In this movie, humans discover a rich deposit of some precious mineral on a moon. The Na’vi, natives of this moon, of course live right on the most concentrated deposit of this mineral. Humans want the resource, so try to get the Na’vi to move, but they don’t want to. Where have we seen this theme before? English settlers vs. Native Americans? Conquistadors vs. Aztecs? I’ve seen quite a few people bash James Cameron for this obvious parallel, but honestly, it’s been done many times before. Where were the critics then? I don’t really understand all of this controversy.

Also, I’m a bit amazed that some people are reporting that they feel depressed after watching Avatar. I think that anyone sad that Earth doesn’t live up to a fictional world had some personal issues before watching this movie already. Don’t blame Avatar! Enjoy it for what it is, a movie. It has great action, decent story, and the best special effects I’ve ever seen. Don’t try to read more into it than you need to. I would watch it again, especially with someone that hasn’t seen it before, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so by myself.

Nobody is sure when exactly Isaac Asimov was born due to poor record keeping. January 2nd, 1920 was the day Isaac Asimov decided to celebrate his birthday. Along with creating the Three Laws of Robotics, Asimov also unintentionally coined the term robotics. It was first used in print when his short story “Liar!” was published in 1941. He was constantly writing in just about every area of literature. I have primarily read his Science Fiction, but he has done textbooks, humor, mystery, non-fiction, and more.

My first exposure to Asimov’s writing was when my father gave me an old worn out copy of I, Robot. I tucked the book away for a few years and eventually got around to reading it. I was so enthralled with the robots that I eventually read every robot book by him and other authors. This naturally led me to read the Foundation series which I also enjoyed, but I’ve always preferred the robot series. The Robot and Foundation books make up the biggest reading project I have ever completed. Aside from those, I’ve read a bit of his autobiography and plan on sampling some of his other writing in the near future.

By the time I discovered Asimov, he had already died. I wonder how much more he could have written had he not contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart surgery. He died of myocardial and renal complications on April 6, 1992, but the true cause of his death wasn’t publicized due to the stigma of HIV/AIDS at the time. His work has greatly influenced my love of Science Fiction, and for that I am thankful.

For more information on the life of Isaac Asimov, please visit the official Wikipedia post

If only the Emperor somehow was able to save Padme as well, Darth Vader would have been a little less grumpy!

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Vader

I really didn’t know much about Watchmen before I rented it. I saw one preview earlier this year and read a couple reviews by disappointed fans of the original comic book series that was later released in graphic novel form. The funny thing was that my wife seemed more excited to see it than I was. I decided to wait for DVD and we ended up watching it last night. My first impression was that it was a dark look at superheroes reminiscent of the original Blade Runner. There were a lot of night scenes that were dark and rainy. The movie opens with narrator, Rorschach (named for his ever-changing ink blot mask), investigating the murder of Edward Blake.

When Rorschach discovers Blake was really The Comedian, a superhero employed by the US Government, he suspects a plot to murder other retired superheroes. Rorschach takes it upon himself to warn the rest of The Comedian’s old team. The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan were the only two not forced into retirement after a Keene Act was passed in 1977 to ban all superheroes. Dr. Manhattan and Adrian Veidt (the once active Ozymandias) are working to solve the world’s energy crisis. Adrian believes that once solved, this will remove much of the motivation for conflict, and help to ensure world peace.

While the murder seems to be the main plot of the movie, I had the feeling that the love triangle between Dr. Manhattan, The Silk Spectre II, and The Night Owl II might have been the focus of the comic book series. I won’t know for sure until I track down a copy and read it for myself. The pace of the movie felt very jumpy, but overall it didn’t feel like it was really 2hrs and 43 minutes. It did seem like there were some obvious gaps though. I just looked up on IMDB, and it looks like the Director’s Cut is 3hrs and the Ultimate Cut is over 3.5hrs long! I’ll wait and see once I read the comic to see if I’m interested in the extended versions.

While there was a good share of fight scenes, I would classify this movie as a drama more than an action flick. There were a couple humorous moments, but on average this was a rather serious film with many scenes that are not for the fain of heart. There was quite a bit of gore and violence, along with a small amount of on-screen sex. This was definitely not a movie for kids. While obviously targeting adults, some of the philosophical discussions felt forced and out of place. The ending seemed to drag a bit, and I said to myself, “yes, I get the point, move on already”. Overall it was a decent movie, and for a star rating I would say 3 out of 5.

How would you like to control your own personal robot to do your bidding? The new movie Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, takes this concept to extremes. In the movie, humans link their minds to a robot and control them directly. This is a bit different than being converted to a cyborg like Ray Kurzweil predicts.

As CNN reports:

“Surrogates” director Jonathan Mostow, whose film credits include 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” said he was drawn to the concept of surrogate robots as an extension of current technology. And, he said, as he met with scientists, he became convinced that something approaching the concept could one day be a reality.

It seems like the concept of “old fashioned” humanoid robots is  finally becoming outdated. I wonder how Isaac Asimov would feel? It is one thing to boss around a robot using the Second Law of Robotics, but actually mind-melding with one, or becoming one is completely different. The main dilemma in Surrogates is that someone found a way to fry someone’s brain before they were able to jack out of the robot they were controlling. This concept is very old, dating back to the old Virtual Reality plots. I was very interested in the movie when I first saw the trailer, but after reading some lackluster reviews, I think I might just wait for DVD.

The critics could be wrong though. Do any of you think I should give it a chance?

Check out the full article via CNN for more information. I found it to be an interesting read.