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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.

11 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  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.
  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. 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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    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
  9. 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.

  10. 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.