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Tomorrow Is 'Back To the Future' Day (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader writes: In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly travels from 1985 to tomorrow — October 21, 2015. The occasion is being noted in a couple of ways. A documentary called Back In Time debuts tomorrow that will chronicle the making of the Back to the Future trilogy. There are also screenings of the films around the world, and even a tour of locations from the film. Much to director Robert Zemeckis's dismay, everybody's judging the predictive accuracy of the films. "I always hated — and I still don't like — movies about the future. I just think they're impossible, and somebody's always keeping score." For example: "big-screen TVs, yes, Mr. Fusion, no; virtual-reality goggles, yes, Jaws 19, no." On the other hand, people are keeping an eye on the baseball playoffs — the movie predicts a World Series victory for the Chicago Cubs, something they haven't managed since 1908. The Cubs actually did make the playoffs this year, and are fighting for a league championship title at the moment of this writing.

20 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong things improved by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    We still don't have #&@!% flying cars, but we do have nifty tablets to read USA Today on, unlike the flick's paper version.

    Hover-boards? Well, kind of, if you count big and noisy. 3D pop-out sharks? Well, kind of, if you are at the right spot (although automated eye position tracking is improving).

    1. Re:Wrong things improved by JBMcB · · Score: 3, Informative

      It got 80's nostalgia correct, if not the weird themed diner.

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      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  2. Fax Machine Question Needed to be Asked by retroworks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Amazingly, Chris Lloyd is right. Fax machines today are still for sale on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Brother-...

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    Gently reply
    1. Re:Fax Machine Question Needed to be Asked by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 2

      It's more cultural than technological. Technologically, smartphones are near ubiquitous, and Gigabit or better broadband is widespread there, so in that way, they're on par or ahead of the U.S., at least.

      The difference is that in the U.S., fax machines were primarily a business tool, whereas in Japan, they were a common household item that everyone had, like a landline phone. Many people in the US still have landline phones, even if that number gets smaller every year as we increasingly go mobile only. With faxes though, you can't as easily fax to a mobile device, and if your boss/parents/etc want to fax you stuff, you're more likely to hang on to one yourself (especially if they're highly common, and therefore cheaply available).

  3. Re:Do you mean today? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, we mean tomorrow. See, today is still today, tomorrow will be tomorrow. Apparently your today happened yesterday. Your tomorrow is the day after next.

    But tomorrow, by which time it will be today, it will be time for it to be Back to the Future Day. By which time you'll probably be Friday or something stupid like that.

    Do try to keep up, I know this time travel thing can be confusing. ;-)

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. Jaws? by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Funny

    Jaws 19, no

    Oh, really?

    Some nitwits with far too much time (and alcohol) on their hands in Ufa, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, in south central Russia, near Kazakhstan, came up with this putrid Jaws satire, obviously titled after the joke in Back To The Future part II, and obviously filmed on someone's cell phone. And allegedly on a budget of 100 Rubles, which, as of this writing, converts to exactly US$1.62.

    Suddenly I want to see this.

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Jaws? by Harlequin80 · · Score: 2
  5. Re:Libertarian future by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hopefully we still can manage to get a cyberpunk dystopia.

    Oh, we're going to get a dystopia, alright. Cyberpunk, not so much. More like Orwellian or Huxleyish. It's planned for 2030.

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    "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
    --- Jerry Garcia
  6. Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point by lgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I like the actual SF elements - they spent real effort on imagining minor changes and appropriate set dressing. I always liked that his job sucked so much he had to wear two neckties - predictive miss, perhaps, but a nice touch. I also liked their comment on the rise of biometrics, with the headline "thumb bandits strike again". Lots of cool details that they could have just ignored, and it really made the point by contrast that people will still be the same jerks as always.

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    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  7. Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point by Rakarra · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had read that Zemeckis and Gale didn't want to try to "accurately" predict what would be future possible because people would just nitpick it and it was all going to be wrong anyway. They were pretty sure we would NOT have flying cars, but they really wanted flying cars, so they decided to just have fun with it and come up with funny predictions. Hoverboards, self-drying clothing, self-tying laces, etc.

  8. Re:Do you mean today? by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    Tomorrow morning, I am spitting coffee on the keyboard of yesterday while rereading your clever post.

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    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  9. Actually the movie was right by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The movie was right. Marty and doc Brown did travel to 2015 and saw the 2015 as it had to be. But then, they traveled far back, then they went back to the future - their 1988 present. Unfortunately in between 2015 and 1988 they modified the "new" past (of 2015) which gave the boring and hoverboard-less 2015 we all live now.

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    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Actually the movie was right by Mogster · · Score: 3, Informative

      The movie was right. Marty and doc Brown did travel to 2015 and saw the 2015 as it had to be. But then, they traveled far back, then they went back to the future - their 1988 present. Unfortunately in between 2015 and 1988 they modified the "new" past (of 2015) which gave the boring and hoverboard-less 2015 we all live now.

      Actually they travelled to 2015 from 1985

      Back to the Future 2 was direct continuation from BttF1 which started in 1985

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      ACK NAK RST
  10. Re:Do you mean today? by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 2

    Time travel is loads of fun though. I remember the first time I flew to the US from Japan, and realizing that I arrived before I left.

    Even better was the time I flew from Korea to the US. I left on the evening of February 2nd, and arrived on the morning of February 2nd. It seemed rather fitting.

  11. Re:Libertarian future by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Cyberpunk? Seems to me like it's already here, in many ways. Oh, sure, we haven't quite started on the whole implants bit, but wearables are already becoming a thing, and body modification is already an alt culture thing, so we're not far off there.

    Corporations taking precedence over governments? Yeah, well on our way.

    World wide connected network with people increasingly spending all their time plugged in? Check.

    Hackers for hire breaking into to companies to steal information? Check.

  12. Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Matrix was a great film. I'm glad they didn't have any sequels for it. It was one of a kind.

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    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  13. Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point by Foobar+of+Borg · · Score: 2

    The Matrix was a great film. I'm glad they didn't have any sequels for it. It was one of a kind.

    Yes, just like Highlander. There can be only one! I heard these horrible rumours that there was a Highlander 2, and even a third Highlander movie. I can only assume it is the rantings of the diseased imagination of someone locked away in a padded room, next to the guy who thinks he's Napoleon.

  14. Re:Do you mean today? by Translation+Error · · Score: 2

    'What the hell am I reading? When does this happen?'
    'Now. You're reading about now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.'
    'What happened to then?'
    'We passed then.'
    'When?'
    'Just now. We're at now, now.'

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    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  15. Re:Not a flying car, but quick by KGIII · · Score: 2

    I almost bought a DeLorean out of some guy's field. It was in good shape and I tried, over several weekends, to get it running where it sat but, for the price they were asking, I simply was unwilling to get it towed out of the field (which would have been difficult and maybe damaged the vehicle further). The body and frame were pretty nice - the running gear appeared solid. The engine was toast, the internals were toast. They wanted a high price for it so I didn't buy it.

    They're not speedy. They're awkward. They've got crappy ergonomics and low-quality internals. Yeah, I wanted it.

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    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  16. Re:You have also missed the point. by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    Nothing in the BTTF series was ever intended to be a real prediction of the future. All the future stuff was just played for comic effect. BTTF2 is no more meant to be an accurate portrayal of the real 2015 than the series' version of 1955 or 1885 were ever meant to be historically accurate. Every era shown (even, to some extent, its own time of 1985) was comically exaggerated for humorous effect. The sights and inventions shown in BTTF2's fictional 2015 were just meant to make audiences in 1988 laugh.

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    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.