Tag Archives: Movies

Monsters of Our Making

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The Terminator’s Skull

The “Terminator” movie series is predicated upon man sowing the seeds of his own destruction. In each movie the machines, representing mankind’s collective stupidity are beaten back at the last minute by a courageous individual. Movie slouch aside we do seem to be heading down the path towards SkyNet. It would be awful for us humans end up as a B-movie.

Today’s real life killer robots prefer to fly instead of walking bipedally. Predator drones overfly many parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. They are also beginning to patrol the US border and this is all their uses that are publicly known. Predators are as much the cyborg as the Terminator is supposed to be. The main difference between these two cyborgs is the nature of the symbiotic man and machine relationship. The Terminator is an autonomous robot that is clothed in and camouflaged by human flesh. With the Terminator the human contribution is little more than window dressing. At the end of the movie the robot part of the Terminator continues to operate even after shedding its human skin. While the Predator drone is a robot tethered to a human pilot who controls it. The Predator is a more equitable melding of man and machine. This robot can’t operate without the man in the loop and the man is powerless without the machine.

The Terminator skull is part of the “Icons of Science Fiction” exhibit at the EMP Museum in Seattle. I must confess that I PhotoShop added the redeye. Otherwise this prop would have appeared both cold and dead. It wouldn’t have seemed so threatening without some spark chasing going on.

Anne-drenalin Rush

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A Citizen of Bike Nation

‘Adrenalin Rush’, that’s my moniker for the new Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie, “Premium Rush”. In messenger parlance, a rush order is worth twice the price, a premium rush order is worth four times the going rate, or about thirty bucks in this case. I’ve watched plenty of bike races on TV, but even Tour de France coverage only holds my attention for a few minutes. That was the challenge of this movie how do you hold an audience attention about bicycling for 91 minutes. The movie’s plot is dirt simple, get from point A to point B. Just like a Tour de France stage, but it’s not the getting there, but how you got there that makes the difference in this movie.

Levitt plays bike messenger and law school dropout, Wilee, as in wily coyote. In between points A and B is Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon), a NYPD police detective that the LA Times aptly coins as ’50 shades of crazy’. Wilee is a true-blood fixie. A fixie is a single speed bike that requires the rider to constantly pedal. Wilee eschews brakes; they’ve been nothing but trouble for him, “when you’re going 50 down Broadway, your bike is so stable.”

As I said it is not about the getting there, but about the how that this movie pirouettes about. Director David Koepp and co-writer John Kamps create the journey that makes this story worth telling. Don’t get me wrong, there is no message with this movie. It is like a rollercoaster ride, fun in the moment. Like I said, It’s not the getting there, but how you got there. So get there to the theater, anyway you can.

PS – Yes, the photo with this post is a repeat, but isn’t she so lovely that seeing her photo again is twice the charm?

2 Wheel News

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Lance, Say It Ain’t So

Our local bicycle shop, Maplewood Bicycles, made the national news this morning. The local NPR affiliate, KWMU, had a story aired on the nationally syndicated business show, Marketplace. This story set the stage for the durable goods statistics announcement, later in the day. Mike Mosblech, a Manager at Maplewood Bicycle was interviewed in the article. Mosblech spoke of bicycle shortages due to the recession. “No one wants to be caught holding the bag.” The definition of a durable good is a product that is designed to last five years. I wonder in some of my bike buddies know this. Some of them buy a new bicycle every year. You know who you are. 😉

The big news today was Lance Armstrong’s no-contest plea to the doping charges that have been leveled against him. Has he just grown tired of these charges that have dogged him since his return to cycling from his bout with cancer, like he claims? Or, has he finally been cornered? I’ll let the reader decide for themselves. I’ve always been a fan and remain so still. This will void his seven Tour de France wins, but if you look at who was number two through those years, almost to a man they were also found guilty of doping. Lance’s Livestrong Foundation will likely suffer. This is a shame since it has raised a half-billion to fight cancer. Nike has announced that it will stand by its man, so then will I. Sports heroes are men and women and just like everyone else, they have their faults. If Lance was a cheat then so was everyone else. The question still remains, was he the better cyclist, or just a better cheat.

Anne and I had a Friday night date night tonight. Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then a show. We ate and watched at the Galleria. We saw “Premium Rush”, which opened tonight. “Premium Rush” is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s NYC bicycle messenger movie that I’ve been waiting for all summer and it was worth the wait. In messenger parlance, a rush order is worth twice the price, a premium rush order is worth four times the going rate. This movie rounds out the trifecta of today’s two-wheel news. It rates more than just a paragraph in this post. You’ll be hearing more about it soon. Until then, don’t walk, don’t even run, but ride as fast as you can (safely) to your local neighborhood theater to see this movie.

Blubber Jellyfish Mosh Pit

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As described by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, these jellies come in a rainbow of colors. Nicknamed the “blue blubber”, this jelly isn’t always blue. Some blubber jellies come in shades of chalky white or plum purple.

Why does this drifter don so many different hues? Scientists still aren’t sure, but they tend to find the bluest blubbers in clear ocean water. In bays and rivers, blubber jellies wear earth tones instead.

While constructing this movie, I noticed the rhythmic pulsing of the blubbers as they propelled themselves around the tank. It reminded me of the similar up and down rhythmic motion of dancers at a rave. Hence, my choice of an electronica soundtrack. If you watch the movie closely, you’ll notice some head banging going on.

Spiral Out of Control, But Be Nice

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Lighthouse’s Spiral Staircase

People who really want to have a good time won’t come to a slaughterhouse. And we’ve got entirely too many troublemakers here. Too many 40-year-old adolescents, felons, power drinkers and trustees of modern chemistry. – Dalton, “Roadhouse”

I had my own Aurora, CO moment some 23 years ago. It was a week night. I can remember that much. Anyway, it was May of 1989. I left at home Anne with our two small sons, four and two. I drove the half-mile to the Esquire Theater to see “Roadhouse”, starring Patrick Swayze.

All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside […] unless it’s absolutely necessary. And three, be nice. – Dalton, “Roadhouse”

In this movie Swayze plays the pro-bouncer Dalton. He’s been called into this small Kansas town to clean up a bar, the roadhouse. Arrayed against him is Ben Gazzara, the evil crime boss and his minions. The interspersed dialog is Dalton’s introductory speech to the roadhouse’s staff.

If somebody gets in your face and calls you a c***sucker, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won’t walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can’t walk him, one of the others will help you, and you’ll both be nice. I want you to remember that it’s a job. It’s nothing personal. – Dalton, “Roadhouse”

This was your typical action flick, with the exception that most of the fighting was hand-to-hand, there was little if any gun play. That’s not to say that people weren’t killed, more than a few were. By the end of the movie the bad guys had been vanquished, the roadhouse was presentable and Dalton had the girl. Was there anything else? Oh yeah, the credits.

I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice. – Dalton, “Roadhouse”

I don’t know why I stayed for the credit, I seldom do, ask Joanie. This time I did though. I stayed until the trademarks and exited the now empty theater. I exited to a parking lot filled with police and their flashing lights. There had been a gunfight. Gang, domestic or what, I never did learn. There were no wounded or bodies left at the scene. I made my way to my car and observed a bullet hole in the trunk of the car parked next to mine. I drove home and by relating this story to my wife put the fear of the Lord into her. I scanned the paper for days, but never found any mention of this incident. How nice. Shortly after this incident the Esquire began to hire off-duty policemen as armed guards for their theater.