Carl Sagan
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Posts posted by Carl Sagan
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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, 5.5/10
Watched this because it's scifi and stars Rams-scarf-wearing Cara Delevigne (see @Posh Ram's avatar)
I like that people are trying to do space opera scifi that's not Star Wars (like Jupiter Ascending or Guardians of the Galaxy) and some of this is interesting, but there's just no tension and it's let down by some of Besson's puppets and ideas (as though nothing's changed since The Fifth Element. There are good bits such as the potted history of humanity's transition into a galactic-faring species but it ended up being more like one of those bad early movies based on videogames.
However, the beautiful Cara is excellent as ever. I genuinely think she's a star and has seamlessly made the transition from world's hottest/most in-demand model to credible actress. She's added a couple of points to the score on her own, and the whole film scores through interesting visuals. There's a good cameo from Rhianna too.
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Just now, Moist One said:
have you never seen Birthday Girl? She's awesome as a Russian Mail Order bride.
I have and that's true. Well remembered.
In this one, her husband is a heart surgeon with a fetish for comotose patients, so she has to lie there pretending she's under general anaesthetic while he does what he wants, but perhaps surprisingly it didn't redeem the movie.
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Finally got round to seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer after all the incredible reviews. Utter garbage. Maybe a 2/10 if I'm generous as the weird ugly kid acted well.
Two hours and fifteen minutes of my life I'll never get back. The only possible reason I can think to watch it would be if for some strange reason you're sweet on Nicole Kidman,
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A sad tale regarding what happened to his parents and brother. But I find it strange when someone can be oblivious to their own fame. Has the guy never self-googled?
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46 minutes ago, richinspain said:
Is the League’s version not available on a match basis?
I didn't know if that was an option. Some said they had given up on somehing called iFollow (is that the league one?) from bad previous experiences so had signed up to Rams TV for today's game. But were hating the Rams-based commentary!
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1 hour ago, OwenB87 said:
Sorry for anyone that had issues today.
I'm told there was a problem with Microsoft that was resolved pretty quickly and won't happen again.
Owen
An interesting secondary market I hadn't thought about but that we must be getting is opposition fans signing up using the single-match option. If you look at the match thread on the OneBoro forum a lot of people were apparently watching (and moaning about the feed). I suspect many will have gone through a VPN, but I don't know what you can do to prevent that.
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1 hour ago, Paul71 said:
Its a good discussion to have.
I think its easy to say we should not spend the money on exploring other worlds as there are so many problems here that need money spending on them.
As @Parsnip has said we see, and have done for such a long time, starvation and suffering in Africa, and its still happening.
We have been raising money for this all this time through live aid, children in need and so on (although im not convinced there isnt a lot of people getting rich of these things, but that's a different discussion).
But if we are going to adopt the approach that we shouldn't spend money on exploring because of this example, could we not also say we spend millions each year looking for cures or treating cancers in older people in the western world, could we not say money that's spent on treating and curing people in later stages of life should be diverted to providing a life for starving infants who havent had one?
I think we should be out there, when i was young in the 70's and 80's i was convinced we would have been to Mars by now. I still cant believe we went to the moon and have never been back.
I am really having doubts i will live to see a man on the moon again, never mind mars. The spacex and mars one stuff just wont happen, not in the timescales they are talking about.
At some point we will outgrow this planet, or just die, if we don't have other places to move to.
1 hour ago, Parsnip said:I think they did go back a few times then realised it was a complete waste of time and money (and nobody cared anymore). I'd be really pissed off if they went back to the moon now without good reason.
I'm actually not getting at @Carl Sagan at all - i agree 100% that space exploration is vital. I'm just putting forward an argument that if the money is there - why can't it wait 5 years while we deal with more pressing issues - it's what a lot of people feel when the subject is raised.
Anyway i'm about to spend £5 on a costa and one of their bacon cobs despite knowing that that fiver would be better spent in a charity pot.
To Paul I'd say SpaceX is entirely different from Mars One. They'll have the first humans on Mars by around 2030.
One thing that randomly cheers me up is that I'm mates with a brilliant Swedish philosopher called Nick Bostrom, and here's his take on the subject in a paper on "Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development": https://nickbostrom.com/astronomical/waste.html
The people in Nick's team who I sometimes advise, also founded the Effective Altruism movement, but I could also murder a bacon cob and nice coffee for a fiver right now!
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3 hours ago, Parsnip said:
We're not all living like that though are we?
It's Children In Need week this week and we'll all be educated on the level of 'need' there is in Africa (Planet Earth). If you watch a video of a mother trying to feed her baby a teaspoon of sugared water because she's so malnourished that she can't produce breast milk - and then learn that both mother and baby died shortly after - and then realise that literally tens of thousands of babies are dying weekly because of preventable causes...
...you get what Im saying, surely we have a moral imperative in the here and now too?
We probably need another thread for this! Of course I would prefer a more equal world, but from a rational or even utilitarian perspective we shouldn't sacrifice the future joy of trillions upon trillions of future humans for millions in the here and now. The drive to colonize other planets quickly is very important.
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10 hours ago, sage said:
I with people would stop fantasizing about living on other planets. We need to look after the one we have.
6 hours ago, Paul71 said:Nothing to say we can't do both.
6 hours ago, sage said:Why?
If we don't it is inevitable we will become extinct. I think for the sake of the benefit of the future humans who could spread through the universe, there is a moral imperative to colonize other worlds.
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After a lifetime of frustration, I do love that we seem to be living in the future (at last). I carry around instant access to the entirety of human knowledge in my pocket, cars can drive themselves, rockets can land, I hold a screen over text in another language and it automatically translates (and I could buy headphones that would automatically translate spoken language into English for me). We're seriously talking about colonies on the Moon and Mars, and we'll soon have flying cars - finally.
What's not to like?
- ThePrisoner, jono and AndyinLiverpool
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21 hours ago, JoetheRam said:
Trying to remember some specifics...
I will probably have to watch again.
The bit I most remember is where they need to access deeper dream levels so that they've got more time to do something, which is made out to be a problem, but then hey-presto they find a guy who just happens to have some extra strong prescription that allows them to do that.
Also, is it ever explained how Di Caprio is somehow able to get inside people's dreams and why he's even doing that?
I also never understood why there's people after him if he makes the dream seem unrealistic. It's his dream, he can surely just dream that they're not after him?
The maths of how time slows down seems pretty arbitrary. Why is ten hours in a level 2 dream 6 months in real life?
Why is gravity affected in two levels because of the van falling?
As I said, not my usual genre and maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but I just didn't ever really understand why certain things were happening.
Although the maths in the film isn't perfect, it's reasonably coherent and one of the cleverest ideas they come up with. Basically (and true to real-life) an hour of real time is the equivalent of 12-20 hours dreaming (20 if you have a strong sedative like the guy is able to prepare). And in the next level of dreaming this is multiplied so an hour in real life will be between 144 and 400 hours of dream time. And so on. Your question gets it the wrong way around. They have to do everything during the flight to America, but by the time Cobb is rescuing old man Saito from "limbo" at the end it's right that Saito would have lived decades down there and Cobb would have had time to bring him out.
Either in reality Cobb knows Yusef is a good chemist and has to go to wherever it is (Morococo?) to hire him or it's Cobb's overall dream state and he finds himself there when he needs the good chemist.
I think the film would have been dull if they explained how people get into each other's dreams. They show a device that they hook themselves up to and for that you have to suspend your disbelief and accept that this is possible.
In the film, the different levels are parts of different people's dreams. My personal interpretation was the entire film is set within an overall dream of Cobb's, but he refuses to acknowledge he's dreaming. His wife has killed herself to wake up, but he doesn't think it's a dream so he can't dream he's not being chased. But if you take the initial level as reality, the dream levels go:
- Van chase - chemist Yusef's
- Hotel - Arthur
- Snow fortress - Eames (the forger)
- Cobb's and his wife's dream world - Cobb
- Limbo - a shared state
The absence of gravity from the truck falling has a clever impact on the next dream down in the hotel. It makes sense to me that this happens, though I can see inconsistencies in that it doesn't affect the further down dream levels. The Nolan brothers would probably argue the effect is localized. Though I accept the kick of van hitting water and lift hitting the ground feed through the other levels.
All thoughtful questions. My answers may be rubbish or unsatsfying but it's important to me that there is a logical consistency to these things so I enjoy thinking about it. Onward! I have premieres of Downsizing and How to Talk to Girls at Parties coming up in a couple of weeks so look forward to posting about those.
21 hours ago, ViewsFromTheMiddle said:Inception is bobbins.
Is that good or bad?
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4 hours ago, JoetheRam said:
Fair points and I understand why there's no character depth to the others (I just don't agree with Nolan doing that) and maybe some of it went a bit over my head - definitely not my usual genre. It just all seemed a bit silly and like an episode of Dr. Who whereby things happen and there is a problem and then through some previously unknown mechanic the problem gets solved. Kind of cheating the audience.
I'm curious because I can't imagine what bits you mean. Can you specify (absolutely fine if you don't wat to bother, but I am genuinely puzzled)?
I'd say Nolan is the last director who would cheat his audience - just the opposite in that he accepts they're a bright bunch who don't have to be spoonfed everything. So, there's a lot of depth in his films and the audience is well-rewarded by repeat viewings.
I'll also add that my counter-post to your original post was a little tongue-in-cheek and just my interpretation of the film. I didn't mean to pick on you! But as well as many viewings I have read the screenplay (the shooting script) several times to come to that particular interpretation. But like all good films there's no "right" interpretation.
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On 12/09/2017 at 12:57, JoetheRam said:
1. "I'm not being funny, but..."
2. "To be honest..."
3. People coughing.
1. I know you're not being funny - you've never made me laugh in the 3 years we've known one another.
2. Surely this goes without saying. Do I presume every sentence you don't preface with this is a lie?
3. Just don't come in if you're going to be making that awful noise and spreading your illness.
I have to add:
4. "To be fair..."
It's pretty much never even being fair as it's almost always followed by a "but", with the speaker going on to be critical based on their own subjective opinion. Even if you are being fair it makes you sound nearly as stupid as those idiots who "reach out" (see earlier post).
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On 12/08/2017 at 22:26, JoetheRam said:
Had a marathon recently.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 10/10 hands down one of the best films I've ever seen. Bought the book as well.
Apocalypse Now - 8/10 - Weird. Epic. Feels like too much film to take in in a single viewing.
American Beauty - 8/10 - A bit pretentious, but love me some Kevin Spacey and a great dark comedy.
Inception - 5/10 - Just plain stupid with zero character depth. Great special effects.
Wash your mouth out!
Inception is one of the finest movies ever made. Only Cobb has real depth because all the other characters are shallow representations of people in his subconscious, as he explains to his missus at some point. That's after she's explained to him that being pursued around the globe by nameless organizations is because he's in a dream. But he refuses to wake up. You're waiting for a train...
Extraordinary conception. How do you know you didn't dream up DCFCFANS? Do you remember how you got here?
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@David Fair enough and I understand that. I could never leave the beauty and utter simplicity of my touchscreen Windows laptop for the bizarre and terrible touchstrip at the back of the keyboard of the MacBook Pro. But each to their own.
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Fair enough but nowadays if you want to stick with just Google you get vast amounts integrated out of the box (chrome of course is Google's as is Maps and Keep is the notes package and there's tons more - no music but I just use YouTube which of course is Google's too). And if you want it to everything syncs between phone/laptop/tablet and (android) telly!
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1 minute ago, David said:
The minute you can have iOS on Android phones I’ll be there that day
Will that ever happen? (seriously - I have no idea on that)
And even if it could, what's not to love about android and it's cusomisability and free apps? Doesn't a techie lad like yourself not feel constrained in the straitjacket of iOS? And isn't Apple's closed ecosystem a betrayal of the Web - philosophically surely open source is the way to be? And even Macworld admits of Google Assistant vs Siri "its capabilities seem far more advanced thanks to contextual understanding of language that allows follow up questions to initial queries": http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iosapps/siri-vs-google-assistant-3659249/
A problem for Apple is that if you want to do amazing interesting work in the California tech industry that might change the world you'll be at Google or Tesla or SpaceX or similar. Or else you could go to Apple and do a tiny tweak on how an Apple watch works. So they don't have the calibre of people for genuine innovation any more.
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4 hours ago, ViewsFromTheMiddle said:
I prefer to not have my already limited leg room reduced.
But reclining a seat doesn't have any impact on legroom - it's only the higher-up portion that moves back.
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2 hours ago, ViewsFromTheMiddle said:
People who put their seat back on the plane, shouldn't even be an option to do so imo.
You have to ask them instantly to put it forward or you're screwed.
If everyone puts their seat back you're all more comfortable. I don't think it should be done on short flights, but it's perfectly acceptable and expected on anything long. When you're coming back on an overight flight from America, how else are you to try to get some sleep?
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5 hours ago, reveldevil said:
Just come out of the cinema after paying £17.50 to watch Dunkirk at the Imax.
Worth double, easily one of the top 5 films I've ever seen, needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
10/10.
Good to know. While I tend to avoid reviews until I've seen a new film, many good things about this are osmosing into the Sagan-sphere. Off to the Imax next weekend for it.
Bizarrely it's been the year for WWII films so I've been to he premieres of Their Finest (enjoyed even if Gemma Arterton turned up in the least sexy bright red trouser suit imaginable), Another Mother's Son (sat next to Ronald Koeman and big Duncan Ferguson so that made it fun) and Churchill (terrible - Brian Cox said he based the character on Stewie Griffin!). Nolan has to be the most impressive filmmaker working today and I think an ensemble Dunkirk movie will be a very tough task to get right, but if anyone can do it it's him.
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Apple's fallen so far behind the competition.
As phones they're rubbish, and everyone using them must realize it's as if they're talking underwater. But of course we buy these devices to be computers and cameras nowadays and that's what matters.
I understand people who know nothing about computers still buy them because they're not customizable so it's a reasonably simple way of doing things and the media tells you they're good. But I hate their closed ecosystem and that they charge twice the price for something that's actually half as good. If you know something about computers surely you want to be able to customize your phone to do what you want, and the enormous power of things such as Google Assistant?
A few years ago I bought the HTC One M8 when it was the best and most beautiful phone in the world, and I'm about to do the same again and get myself a Google Pixel.
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If we win, you'll have a job not hearing about it, even in Zaragoza! But I always like trying to do a "Likely Lads" if I can't follow the game.