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Life in Perpetual Beta: The Film

Melissa Pierce is a filmmaker who is making a film about "Life in Perpetual Beta." It's about how people who are adapting and reinventing themselves in the moment, and a new philosophy or approach to life. She's interviewed a number of interesting people, and while I was in Chicago recently, she spoke with me as well. Here is a clip about how I view the philosophy of living in Beta. Her film is also in perpetual beta, and you can see the clips from her interviews on her blog as the film evolves. Eventually it will be released through the indie film circuit, and it looks like it will be a cool film. By the way, she is open to getting sponsors so if you like this idea and want your brand on the opening credits, drop her a line!

A Modern Day Da Vinci?

My brother pointed me to this video of some incredible kinetic sculptures by a man who appears to be a modern-day Da Vinci. Watch the video to see what I mean.

Instructional Video: How to Eat Sushi in Japan

Check out this fascinating video on the correct way to order and eat sushi in Japan. Very informative! I had no idea that all these years I had been doing it all wrong. How embarrassing!

Very Funny Instructional Video -- How To Poke Pole the Monkeyfaced Eel

My cousin, Jeremy (the reincarnation of Ernest Hemmingway, I am certain), lives out by Muir Beach, San Francisco. Today he and some manly-man friends are going fishing for "monkey faced eel." YUCK. But ok, anyway, they're the ones who have to eat the stuff. Now I'm not a fan of eel (can you tell?), and I'm also not a fan of fishing -- I think it's cruel (which is an admittedly hypocritical view, since I still eat fish and I suppose they have to come from somewhere. Oh well, too bad we don't have Soylent Green to eat yet.). But in any case, Jeremy, or "JD" as we all like to call him, is a serious flyfisherman and generally a hunter (not a gatherer) type -- so I guess the prospect of being washed out to sea on the rocks is a small price to pay for the chance of snagging a slimy sea snake, bludgeoning it to death or suffocating it, and then boiling it into some kind of savory eel-stew concoction or something. Jeremy has never actually hunted for monkeyfaced eel and all he knows about the subject he learned from the video below. That's gonna be entertaining. But it's probably going to be even more dramatic given that his innocent wife, Natasha -- who doesn't like to eat anything "cute" (fortunately, monkefaced eel are definitely NOT cute)-- will be standing onshore anxiously watching him risk his life to bring a kill back to cave-clan. Anyway the point of this is that he just sent me an instructional video on How to Poke Pole the Monkeyfaced Eel (click the link for the video of that title on the page this goes to) and it is hilarious. The guy in the video is deadpan serious but completely zany. And the editing is great. You've gotta watch this.

Children of Men Needs to Be Seen

Go see the film Children of Men -- it's a bleak, brilliant, entirely convincing vision of the near future -- and has great action too. Here's a YouTube video that makes the case for why this film should win an award.

Go See King Kong

OK well, I tried to avoid it, but tonight I went to see the movie, King Kong. And I'm glad I did. It was, in a word, incredible. First of all it's got the most amazing special effects I've ever seen (and you'll agree, trust me). Kong is totally realistic, and totally believable. But that's just the beginning. This flick has it all -- adventures at sea, massive jungle island ruins, stampeding dinosaurs, disgusting giant bugs, monster bats, bi-planes, lots of people running around with tommy-guns, and incredibly realistic renditions of New York in the 1930's. Oh yeah, and there is a pretty good emotional connection between the lead actress and Kong too -- quite believable and touching. It was loads of fun, visually, and also just an all-round excellent production. You will enjoy it!

Just saw Serenity

I just saw Serenity. A very fun, cool, swashbuckling sci-fi adventure with great special effects. It had a lot of Star Wars moments, some Blade Runner, plust a bit of The Day After Tomorrow. I highly recommend it. A good time was had by all.

Spielberg Invents New Movie Technology

Steven Spielberg has applied for a patent on a new cinema technology which he claims will bring viewer right inside the movie.

  "But in the future, you will physically be inside the experience, which will surround you top, bottom, on all sides.

This sounds a bit like a larger version of the immersive movie-rides now common at amusement parks. Or is it something totally different? Could it be the Smell-O-Vision of our generation?

An Incredible Flash Production -- Must See!

I was fortunate enough to wander across this amazing online Flash presentation that reveals the hidden meaning of the film, "2001." It's a thoroughly engaging, brilliantly produced, fascinating production -- one of the best uses of Flash animation that I've ever seen. It also makes some really interesting points about human evolution, our relationship to our tools, and the future. It's a must-see -- takes about 20 minutes to go through it, and well worth it! -- also make sure to answer their little survey at the end for a hint about their next production...

Just Saw A Great Film

Today I saw The Motorcycle Diaries. This film is perhaps one of most beautiful, vivid, and emotionally powerful works of art to ever grace the silver screen. I knew nothing about this film before today -- it was a whim, at the suggestion of a very special person. I have seen hundreds of films -- and just about every significant foreign and independent film in the past several decades. This film is truly perfection in motion. It's a must-see.

Disclaimer: In case anyone takes issue with this film, or my review of it, let me just say that I personally know nothing about the life of Che Guevara, and the film does not delve into his politics or his later life as a revolutionary -- which I do not endorse or agree with. The film is really not very poltical in fact -- it is simply a great film about a road trip, the struggle to survive, and the strength of compassion. The cinematography, acting, writing, casting, direction and editing are amazing: That's why I like this film. It is a masterpiece of the medium. The film stands on its own as a great work of art and should be seen for what it is.

Just saw Primer

Ok, just got back from seeing Primer -- a very cool new indie sci-fi flick that you probably haven't heard about yet, but will. If you liked the film, Pi, or you like your sci-fi with a double shot of science, then you are going to LOVE Primer. There are several things about this film worth noting. First of all it is definitely the most authentically "techie" film I've ever seen. It definitely captures what it's really like to be a hard-core garage-geek working on the next big thing. Some people are going to hate the fact that there is so much physics jargon -- but if you have at least enough background in the frontiers of science you are going to like it. The film itself has an interesting story. The director also wrote the script and acts in it -- and it's his first film -- done on a budget of just $7000!!! But he's managed to make a really cool flick with a definite "feel" to it. The first half of the film is just awesome -- the writing is good, the pacing is excellent and it really gets you interested in what they are discovering. Then when they start using the machine it gets even cooler but also very hard to follow. I have to admit I'm still puzzled about what happens in the second half of the film. I'm hoping someone out there will put together a cheat-sheet -- let me know if you've found one that's any good -- so far the discussion on the Primer website doesn't really solve it (don't read that until after you've seen the film though). That said, even though I am still puzzled, I enjoyed it. Finally someone is making good sci-fi again. Go see it.

Artificial War

Here is a book that readers who are interested in multi-agent systems will find useful. The author, Andrew Ilachinski is also a reader of this blog, by the way -- it's called "Artificial War: Multiagent-Based Simulation of Combat" and provides an examination of the thesis that what happens on a battlefield (though the arena can be much more general of course) is a self-organized emergent phenomenon that can be understood, at least in part, by examining relatively "simple" underlying rules. In essence, mobile cellular automata. The book summarizes work that dates back to 1997 and was sponsored at different times by the US Marine Corps and Office of Naval Research. Among many applications of this research -- consider the applications for computer games and simulations, as well as for visual effects (think, even more realistic epic battle scenes and crowds).

Anyway, here's the link

TOC and index can be downloaded here

All About Machinima: Shooting Movies in Virtual Reality

Couldn't sleep. Woke up at around 4 AM. Channel surfing, I end up at a show about Machinima -- a new form of moviemaking. Here is what Wordspy says about Machinima. It's really cool stuff. Basically the idea is to use game engines such as Quake etc. for a purpose they were never designed for -- to create and produce recorded or even live dramas. Quake and other game engines allow you to create your own worlds and characters, so why not use them to make entirely virtual movies? Now there is even an Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences that sponsors a Machinima film festival. Interesting new trend...the future of film?