The new original trilogy Star Wars DVDs are going to contain further changes beyond what was in the 'Special Edition' releases. Rumors are that Christian Haydensen will be digitally added in, replacing the original actor for Darth Vader (whose name I don't know and won't bother to look up). I'm sure there will be more changes. Whatever Lucas releases, it won't be what I saw as a nine year old child in 1977. Star Wars is an important cultural phenomenon which radically affected the late seventies. I remember seeing the film something like ten times with all my friends that summer, bugging our parents 'til they absolutely hated the movie. Empire was just as big, and I remember seeing that a bunch of times with friends too. None of us much liked Return of the Jedi though.
Lucas refuses to release his originals, as if by removing them from market they will cease to exist. A filmmaker who destroyed his own work in a Quixotic search for the continuing perfection of his one significant piece; without any new ideas, paths, or art to express. What about future historians who wish to research the cultural shifts the movie set in force or effects technology of that era? Lets hope there's a 35mm print somewhere in the Library of Congress somewhere safe. Yeah, he owns it. It's his copyrighted work. He should have every right to change it as he sees fit. But he shouldn't have the right to revoke history in the process. Yet another example of IP trampling culture.
So I bought the original trilogy in widescreen on Laserdisc. It's not anamorphic DVD, so I suppose it could look better. But it's what I remember as a kid. Cheesy model effects, the Guido murder Han, and all. Wonder if these old LDs will be worth something soon...
I know it sounds boring and unenticing, but if you have debt - even secured debt like a mortgage on a house - it might make sense to use the money to pay down that debt early. And if you still have outstanding credit card debt, just remember you're trading high interest rates for LASIK surgery. Just because you have cash in hand doesn't make debt any less real. Of course, if you're debt free and don't want or need anything else (like a house) - sure! LASIK surgery might look pretty good. And it could look good for personal reasons too, just like liposuction or other cosmetic surgery might seem desirable for others. Just remember your debt load, and act accordingly. --M
...a 'conflict of interest'. Does it really make sense for the OS vendor that can't secure its product to sell a product for securing its insecure product?
"Hey, I gotta deal for you... five hundred bucks a week and no one breaks your Windows. See? That's called protection!!!"
The recount had already happened. Twice. The redundant recount he stopped? For one thing, it was illegal under Florida law.
This is factually incorrect. In fact total manual recounts were mandated by Florida law when election results reached a threshold margin of error. That recount was never completed due to Bush V. Gore.
For another, it was an attempt by Gore to "roll the dice" again and again in a close election in order to try to have it come out his way.
Gore made a tactical mistake. He should have requested a manual recount of all the precincts, which would have met both the Florida recount statute and nullified an Equal Protection argument. However, (if you believe Gore's people) Gore wanted to finish the recount before the electoral college met to cast their votes, so he "conceded" the total recount and selected certain precincts he thought would best serve his case. According to the manual recount done by a consortium of newspapers after Bush's inauguration, Bush would have certainly lost a total recount of the entire state. However, he may have won had the state only recounted the specific precincts Gore requested, depending on which counting methodology was used (specific to rules for overvotes and undervotes). Another point to make is that manual recounts are by far the most accurate method of counting votes, regardless of GOP assertions to the contrary. In fact, Bush signed into Texas law a statute demanding manual recounts long before the Florida election. And Florida had done numerous manual recounts prior to the 2000 election going back for several decades.
And let's not discuss the numerous examples of election gaming and disenfranchisement by manipulating the Florida Felon list to the tune of over a hundred thousand innocent (mostly black) people. Or that almost all ballots tossed were primarily in black counties. Or that the Secretary of State (Kathryn Harris) was both the election supervisor for the state and the head of the Florida for Bush election committee, showing an obvious conflict of interest in her duties. Any fair person who looked into the specifics of that election would have to assume that the outcome was manipulated for political purposes both at the state executive level and by a partisan Supreme Court. SCOTUS has damaged their reputation for decades to come because of this. --M
The only way this will matter is if the US and Europe are able to maintain a cheaper oil (energy) supply over the long haul than what China can purchase on the open market (or extract locally). Otherwise, rising energy prices will stalemate any energy/economic advantage one might have over the other. Given China's huge labor resources, they still have other advantages beyond cheap energy and thus may still see much larger relative economic growth than the US. Not that I'm an economist, so if one wants to correct me here I'm all ears...
I certainly don't disagree that western democracies are slowly moving toward plutocratic corporate feudalism. It's happening. However, it's a pendulum swing, just like in the Gilded age of the 1880s - 1900. So there's precedent for it happening before, and precedent for change in the other direction back. I'm much less worried about Democracy in the US and Europe collapsing than the potential for economic and military threats from those with orthogonal ideologies of totalitarian political control like China. They may trade with us, but they are not our friend - they have a well thought out long term plan for the benefit of China (as any nation ought), and they will maximize their economic and military advantage to the best of their ability. To forget or ignore this is an extreme folly. --M
While the problem of incompatibility may appear to make this move foolish, it is in fact very smart of them to do so from an economic and national standpoint. Consider these points:
China has a huge trade surplus with the western world, and in particular the USA. They hold very large sums of US treasury bonds, giving them real economic leverage against US intervention in Taiwan and North Korea.
By developing their own protocols, technical standards, and software (based on Linux or other open source we suppose) they further their goal of keeping capital inside China while sucking capital out from other industrialized nations in trade. Further, they maintain legitimate WTO status be meeting the letter of the law in their international trade treaties.
With each step they take integrating into the world trade community by breaking down centralized management of their economy the Chinese government has taken flanking steps politically to shore up power within the central government. This is a great example of how to implement capitalist economic theory without sacrificing political power with political decentralization through democratic means. IOW: freemarket capitalism doesn't necessarily require or create democracy, and here's your proof.
While Chinese GDP is small compared to the US or Europe, that won't continue for long. The Chinese economy is the fastest growing of all industrializing nations. And they have a huge pool of cheap labor with which to maintain that growth. Don't assume that just because we set technical standards here in the west that fifty years from now standards designed in China today can't take over a Chinese dominated marketplace tomorrow. Apple once held control over the GUI market for a time, who controls it now? There are many alternative scenarios whereby the technical leaders who dominate a market today lose their power and fade from the market tomorrow.
China is a real threat to the potential for world democracy. And don't forget it. They may trade with the west, but their political structure and long term planning make them political and economic adversaries long term. Compared to them, Iraq is a "[...]side show of a side show" (See Lawrence of Arabia for the quote).
The status and update page sat nearly a year without any change until May 17th when they posted an update explaining why they haven't released any results from last year's Arecibo run. I realize it takes time to collate data. And given the very high and unpredictable latency of the their distributed processing system, I understand why it might take a long time to push data out and get results back. Still, since the project was originally slated to run two years, then extended to five, yet why have we (the public) seen so few results from this program? Even negative results would be of interest. Maybe I'm missing something here, since I don't pay very close attention to the project, but I sure would like to see more published details including core data and methodology instead of a pretty web site and irregular status updates. JMO. --M
I haven't read those books on 2001, but I have read Nietzsche (translated to english) and completely agree with that aspect of your analysis. Good call.
And I also agree WRT Kubrick's manipulation of image to tell his story outside of Clarke's plot. Clark may be one of the best SF writers ever, but he ain't no Nabokov or Steinbeck. Kubrick was in that league for filmmakers. A true genius. 2001 isn't so much the best SF film ever, as it is one of the best films - ever. The theme transcends traditional plot and instead tells a story of human limitations, the mechanisms of self-awareness and cognition beyond the human form, and gave a powerful emotional expression of transcendence; all with images set to beautiful music. Many whine that 2001 is a boring and unemotionally stale film, yet I find the imagery highly emotional. Not only is it beautiful, but the contrast of human, machine, and alien show a completely original reality with an outcome many would go to war to stop; the transcendence of humanity into a new form, which essentially means the evolution of a new and better adapted species likely to out compete us in space. Yeah, we'd be fucked in the long run. --M
Hey, just read through the specs on the Tea. Yeah, it looks good, but for $925 why didn't you spring a couple hundred more and buy the Pasquini Liva 90? It has a real heat exchanger so you can pour espresso and steam at the same time without shifting boiler temp modes. Not to put that unit down, it looks like a fine espresso machine. I've had my Silvia for a couple of years and your unit wasn't on the market when I bought. Wouldn't have mattered though, the price is a bit too high for my needs. --M
...the last time I saw Metropolis was almost ten years ago on VHS. I was pretty amazed though. Suppose I ought to go rent the restored version and see the difference. Thanks for the heads up. --M
Yeah, I bought the Rocky Grinder too. You *MUST* have a good quality burr grinder or else you can't control the flow of espresso as it's pouring. I originally wanted to buy a Gaggia Classic, but the Silvia was only a bit more expensive and there are good instructions on the net for how to control the boiler temp of the machine by manipulating the steamer. I hardly ever go into coffee shops any more because I can't seem to find anyone who knows how to pull a proper shot. They just give you black dreck with no creme on top. Yuck. A properly pulled shot and you can drink it straight with little to no bitterness. Hmmmmmmm....:) --M
What's the aroma of roasting coffee beans like? Probably have neighbors sniffing your front door all the time.
Uh uh... it stinks to high heaven. A terrible smell. I roast my beans under my vented hood or outside on my porch 'cause it's so bad. But ohhh, the taste of the coffee!!! Un-freak'n believable how much better fresh roasted coffee tastes compared to high end "gormet" beans from coffee shops. The only place that came close was The Coffee Connection in Boston back over a decade ago; they would toss their beans three days after roasting. But they got bought out by Starbucks, who ruined the place. Thank God for personal coffee roasters!:) --M
I'd view it more of a "Great Moments in Human Evolution" type story; having HAL malfunction was as much a criticism of the human paranoia* as it was on human-machine relations.
Oh, I disagree. Of course there's lots of fodder for disagreement here since Kubrick intentionally left so much of the story open to personal interpretation by focusing on symbolic imagery over dialogue and plot. However, I think you really miss the point of HAL and why he "goes insane" by killing the crew. Of course, you've read the books, which (IMO) explains too much and misses Kubrick's point. Realize that this was a collaboration between Clarke and Kubrick, and they definitely had differing ideas about the main themes of the story.
2001 starts off with aliens, personified by the black monolith, changing pre-cognitive apes (intended to be australopithecus) who were on the road to extinction into our semi-cognitive tool bearing forefathers. The apes were being out competed for access to water by another local ape tribe; they were being predated upon by leopards; local wart-hogs had no fear of them as they both competed for shrubs, grass, and berries. The result was that the first tool the apes learned to control was used to kill. Thus, a pattern begins where the beginnings of consciousness and self awareness lead to tool bearing for murder toward self-preservation.
As the bone turns to a ship in the segue from "The Dawn Of Man" section the first personal tool we see is of Heywood Floyd's pen floating in the corridor of the space shuttle. This signifies a shift in cognition and self awareness from tools for killing to tools for communication and peaceful endeavors. Yet, just as the apes before were nearing extinction because they were incapable of living in that environment, so were humans completely out of their element when surrounded by technology. Notice the 10 point instructions on using a zero-G toilet. Or the lies surrounding the find by the american moonbase purporting a non-existent epidemic in order to protect their find of the second monolith (which implies continuing tribalism and the potential for warfare throughout human society).
Then in Third section during the trip on Discovery to Jupiter, we see that the interactions between humans are as inhuman as can be. Bowman and Poole ignore each other as they eat. Poole has his birthday and watches the transmission from his family with the primary concern being whether his paycheck shows a recent raise. He orders HAL to raise and lower his bed; HAL complies without comment. In all of the interactions between humans there is a real sense of emotional self control in furtherance of misrepresenting emotional states, which HAL never quite understands. Bowman and Poole arrange to 'look at a broken transmitter' in the pod in order to get out of earshot from HAL, after learning that he made a mistake regarding the failure of the AE-35 unit. Then HAL watches them through the pod window and reads their lips as they discuss disconnecting him if he turns out to have erred.
And here is the critical point: When HAL learns of his fate his first action as a self-aware creature is to kill in self-preservation. Just as the aliens lifted those pre-cognitive humans into self-awareness and offered them self-preservation through tools for killing, so does HAL show his "birth" into self awareness by killing the crew to save himself. It was an example of humans taking on the goals of the aliens by creating machine intelligence of their own. The aliens understood what the apes would do with self-awareness and a bone, but the humans had no idea that once they created a self-aware creature, it would act of its own accord. Earlier in the film Bowman is asked by a reporter if HAL really felt what he was programmed to feel, and Bowman replies that he doesn't think anyone could know the answer to that question. Well, HAL's actions show that he was a thinking feeling being, because he acted out of self-preservation rather than for the good of the m
Buy a coffee roaster and green beans in bulk from Sweetmarias (I have no connection with them other than as a satisfied customer), and then buy a good espresso machine like the Rancilio Silvia, then enjoy the best damn espresso drinks in life for less than $.50 cents a shot. And who the fuck is worried about caffeine overdosing anyway? If you're heart doesn't palpitate, you haven't had enough!
...to remember the intro to the original Star Wars back in 1977, I can assure you that "Episode IV" was tacked on after the fact. I remember it clearly. Lucas added on Episode IV to Star Wars for a re-release in 1980 right before The Empire Strikes Back was released to theaters. And I remember that too, 'cause I saw both. Man, I'm an old fart. --M
Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, was a serious film which pondered the man/machine rift using the best film technology had to offer at the time. In the 1920s it was absolutely at the forefront of film special effects, yet the effects didn't overshadow a then highly original story and screenplay. Star Wars was simply a western shot in space with high end special effects of the era. Comparing the first Star Wars to Metropolis does Lang and his film a terrible disservice IMO. You would do better to compare 2001 with Metropolis since they both cover similar ground of dehumanization in subservience to machines and the cycle of birth and death - both for individuals and societies at large. Lucas never offered such serious themes in his work, it's strictly entertainment. --M
I've had mine since December and absolutely love the unit! Consider a professional screen too. I've had great results with a basic 1.0 gain screen. I went with Carada, but Da-Lite is the industry leader. I can't praise this projector enough. You'll love it!!!:) --M
Re:Manufacturing tolerances for full 1080i support
on
CableCARDs and HDTV
·
· Score: 1
Last I heard the Sony was going to be about $30K when it comes out in the US. That's expensive but still well within the "home" market when compared to 3-chip DLPs.
Thanks for the late reply. Anyway, $30K for a home projector may be in upper well off market, but it's way over my budget.:) Think I'll stick with the sub $3K market and be happy with my HS-20. Like I said, give it two (maybe three) generations and a full 1920x1080 projector will be mine!!!
Re:Manufacturing tolerances for full 1080i support
on
CableCARDs and HDTV
·
· Score: 1
That looks like a commercial projector for cinemas, trade shows, and concerts. Nice, no doubt. But if a $10K LCoS projector is out of my price league, this thing is at least and order of magnitude more expensive. But yeah, can't wait for that stuff to hit the consumer market.:) --M
Re:Manufacturing tolerances for full 1080i support
on
CableCARDs and HDTV
·
· Score: 1
Actually, TI already has begun manufacture of a 1080 DLP chip. The xHD3 chip was demoed at a trade show back in February in a Samsung RPTV prototype and should be out in the market by the end of the year.
Thanks for the heads up on the new 1080 DLP chips coming down the pike. But even if that hits the consumer market, it'll still be damn expensive. DLP projectors are often twice the cost of LCD at the same resolution, so I still bet is that most consumers will have to wait a couple generations before this hits a price range the conusmer market can afford.
Oh, and there's been a 1080p LCoS set out for about a year now. Unfortunately, Toshiba is discontinuing it because its LCoS chip provider couldn't keep up with the demand.
So you aren't talking about the JVC DLA-SX21U, because that LCoS unit offers a native 4x3 resolution of 1400x1050; just shy of 1080 lines. Looked like a nice unit, but waaaay out of my price range. And it doesn't meet the OPer's definition of meeting "real" 1920x1080 resolution either.
BTW, thanks for the interresting reply. --Maynard
Manufacturing tolerances for full 1080i support
on
CableCARDs and HDTV
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's not 1024x768 (DMD) or even 1280x1024 (LCOS). It's 1920x1080. Didn't the industry learn from the lawsuits on disk drive size and display diagonal measurements? (Of course they did, they learned that lying generates far more profit than the resulting lawsuits consume.)
I think it's kind of a rip that there's a ton of hype over HDTV, and that people are rushing off to buy HDTV "compatible" TVs, spending nearly $10,000 for some, and not one is true HDTV. Of course, in a year or two when the plasma screen finally fades away, the replacement model might actually be HDTV.
The problem here is that you expect manufacturers to build to the 1080i/p standard before the technology exists. The best sets for high resolution out there are still CRT based, because LCD (and that goes for LCoS too) and DLP technologies simply don't offer more than 720p resolution at the consumer end of the market. In fact, there are no DLP chips out there that do more than 1280x720, and the high end of LCD Front/Rear projection is still 1366x768 (Sony HS-20). Only a CRT offers full 1440x1080i resolution, because CRTs are inherently analog technology from the electron beam out to phosphor.
If you want full 1920x1080 resolution you must either wait for LCD/DLP technology to progress to native HD spec resolution (probably two chip generations away before it hits consumer), or buy a very high end CRT based system. I have an HS-20 LCD front projector (720p native) and a Hitachi 51S500 RPTV; a low end model with three 7" CRTs and semi-decent optics. It only supports 1080i at 1440x1080. The better RPTVs use 9"CRTs, with better optics, but they're still limited to 1440x1080. The only "real" CRT systems out there that do full 1080i spec are commercial units for pre and post production, usually costing somewhere in the range of $25K - $30K.
Why is this? Because the scan times for 1080i and 1080/24p are insanely fast, and the bandwidth requirements are insanely high. It's not just a computer monitor. And with an RPTV, the convergence issues alone get in the way of full 1080i. Really, the upshot here is that full 1080i spec was written long before the technology existed to display such resolutions. Only today with the migration away from CRT to digital LCD/DLP chip technologies are we coming close to display devices capable of real 1080i. And note, plasma doesn't even come close.
Anyway, feel bad about it all you want, but I think the manufacturers are doing a fine job with implementing the standard given current technology. I note that my 51" RPTV with the higher resolution isn't much nicer than images projected against my 117" screen at 720p. Honestly, one can't tell the difference, though 480p from DVDs does suffer with such a large screen size.
The real PITA has been the fight over DRM and copy controls interfering with rollout of content and obsoleting old HD displays. There will be a lot of very pissed off customers once they realize their component only HD sets are worthless for HD content in the next few years.
Cheers, --Maynard
No, but yes for some on tape
on
CableCARDs and HDTV
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The HD DVD consortium has yet to approve a standard. It's expected that they will decide and manufacturers and content providers will have product on the market within the next year or two. Currently, JVC manufacturs an HD VCR (the JVC-HD3000 and newer HD4000). This takes standard and HQ digital VHS tapes. Some film distributors have released films on the new format, but not all, and the content is "protected" by an encryption system similar to DVD CSS. If you're looking for HD films on tape, it's available but limited. I'd say, wait for HD DVD if that's all you care about. But a Widescreen television is still useful for 480p DVD output. I looks wonderful. --M
But my screen is 117" diag made by Carada, and the image is generated by a Sony HS-20 Front Projector. You can get a very good Panasonic AE500 for about $1750 these days, and over at AVS Forum there are plans for cheap wall mounted screens using materials available from Home Depot. With a $200 STB, and cheap sound system you could get away with having a full home theater with a +100" diag screen for less than $2500 easy. And yeah, it's worth it!:) JMO... --M
Then there's stuff like ESPNHD. They usually just take the ESPN feed and stretch it to 16x9 which is really lame. They have maybe 4 or 5 events in actual HD per week.
I couldn't agree more; ESPN has really dropped the ball here. The major networks broadcast sporting events in HD most of the time. And HDNET usually beats ESPN for broadcasting HD sporting events too. Don't buy the DirecTV HD package for ESPN, that's all I have to say. --M
Slashdot Mirror
The new original trilogy Star Wars DVDs are going to contain further changes beyond what was in the 'Special Edition' releases. Rumors are that Christian Haydensen will be digitally added in, replacing the original actor for Darth Vader (whose name I don't know and won't bother to look up). I'm sure there will be more changes. Whatever Lucas releases, it won't be what I saw as a nine year old child in 1977. Star Wars is an important cultural phenomenon which radically affected the late seventies. I remember seeing the film something like ten times with all my friends that summer, bugging our parents 'til they absolutely hated the movie. Empire was just as big, and I remember seeing that a bunch of times with friends too. None of us much liked Return of the Jedi though.
Lucas refuses to release his originals, as if by removing them from market they will cease to exist. A filmmaker who destroyed his own work in a Quixotic search for the continuing perfection of his one significant piece; without any new ideas, paths, or art to express. What about future historians who wish to research the cultural shifts the movie set in force or effects technology of that era? Lets hope there's a 35mm print somewhere in the Library of Congress somewhere safe. Yeah, he owns it. It's his copyrighted work. He should have every right to change it as he sees fit. But he shouldn't have the right to revoke history in the process. Yet another example of IP trampling culture.
So I bought the original trilogy in widescreen on Laserdisc. It's not anamorphic DVD, so I suppose it could look better. But it's what I remember as a kid. Cheesy model effects, the Guido murder Han, and all. Wonder if these old LDs will be worth something soon...
--Maynard
I know it sounds boring and unenticing, but if you have debt - even secured debt like a mortgage on a house - it might make sense to use the money to pay down that debt early. And if you still have outstanding credit card debt, just remember you're trading high interest rates for LASIK surgery. Just because you have cash in hand doesn't make debt any less real. Of course, if you're debt free and don't want or need anything else (like a house) - sure! LASIK surgery might look pretty good. And it could look good for personal reasons too, just like liposuction or other cosmetic surgery might seem desirable for others. Just remember your debt load, and act accordingly. --M
...a 'conflict of interest'. Does it really make sense for the OS vendor that can't secure its product to sell a product for securing its insecure product?
"Hey, I gotta deal for you... five hundred bucks a week and no one breaks your Windows. See? That's called protection!!!"
The recount had already happened. Twice. The redundant recount he stopped? For one thing, it was illegal under Florida law.
This is factually incorrect. In fact total manual recounts were mandated by Florida law when election results reached a threshold margin of error. That recount was never completed due to Bush V. Gore.
For another, it was an attempt by Gore to "roll the dice" again and again in a close election in order to try to have it come out his way.
Gore made a tactical mistake. He should have requested a manual recount of all the precincts, which would have met both the Florida recount statute and nullified an Equal Protection argument. However, (if you believe Gore's people) Gore wanted to finish the recount before the electoral college met to cast their votes, so he "conceded" the total recount and selected certain precincts he thought would best serve his case. According to the manual recount done by a consortium of newspapers after Bush's inauguration, Bush would have certainly lost a total recount of the entire state. However, he may have won had the state only recounted the specific precincts Gore requested, depending on which counting methodology was used (specific to rules for overvotes and undervotes). Another point to make is that manual recounts are by far the most accurate method of counting votes, regardless of GOP assertions to the contrary. In fact, Bush signed into Texas law a statute demanding manual recounts long before the Florida election. And Florida had done numerous manual recounts prior to the 2000 election going back for several decades.
And let's not discuss the numerous examples of election gaming and disenfranchisement by manipulating the Florida Felon list to the tune of over a hundred thousand innocent (mostly black) people. Or that almost all ballots tossed were primarily in black counties. Or that the Secretary of State (Kathryn Harris) was both the election supervisor for the state and the head of the Florida for Bush election committee, showing an obvious conflict of interest in her duties. Any fair person who looked into the specifics of that election would have to assume that the outcome was manipulated for political purposes both at the state executive level and by a partisan Supreme Court. SCOTUS has damaged their reputation for decades to come because of this. --M
The only way this will matter is if the US and Europe are able to maintain a cheaper oil (energy) supply over the long haul than what China can purchase on the open market (or extract locally). Otherwise, rising energy prices will stalemate any energy/economic advantage one might have over the other. Given China's huge labor resources, they still have other advantages beyond cheap energy and thus may still see much larger relative economic growth than the US. Not that I'm an economist, so if one wants to correct me here I'm all ears...
:)
Thanks for the reply BTW.
--Maynard
I certainly don't disagree that western democracies are slowly moving toward plutocratic corporate feudalism. It's happening. However, it's a pendulum swing, just like in the Gilded age of the 1880s - 1900. So there's precedent for it happening before, and precedent for change in the other direction back. I'm much less worried about Democracy in the US and Europe collapsing than the potential for economic and military threats from those with orthogonal ideologies of totalitarian political control like China. They may trade with us, but they are not our friend - they have a well thought out long term plan for the benefit of China (as any nation ought), and they will maximize their economic and military advantage to the best of their ability. To forget or ignore this is an extreme folly. --M
China is a real threat to the potential for world democracy. And don't forget it. They may trade with the west, but their political structure and long term planning make them political and economic adversaries long term. Compared to them, Iraq is a "[...]side show of a side show" (See Lawrence of Arabia for the quote).
--Maynard
The status and update page sat nearly a year without any change until May 17th when they posted an update explaining why they haven't released any results from last year's Arecibo run. I realize it takes time to collate data. And given the very high and unpredictable latency of the their distributed processing system, I understand why it might take a long time to push data out and get results back. Still, since the project was originally slated to run two years, then extended to five, yet why have we (the public) seen so few results from this program? Even negative results would be of interest. Maybe I'm missing something here, since I don't pay very close attention to the project, but I sure would like to see more published details including core data and methodology instead of a pretty web site and irregular status updates. JMO. --M
Hey,
I haven't read those books on 2001, but I have read Nietzsche (translated to english) and completely agree with that aspect of your analysis. Good call.
And I also agree WRT Kubrick's manipulation of image to tell his story outside of Clarke's plot. Clark may be one of the best SF writers ever, but he ain't no Nabokov or Steinbeck. Kubrick was in that league for filmmakers. A true genius. 2001 isn't so much the best SF film ever, as it is one of the best films - ever. The theme transcends traditional plot and instead tells a story of human limitations, the mechanisms of self-awareness and cognition beyond the human form, and gave a powerful emotional expression of transcendence; all with images set to beautiful music. Many whine that 2001 is a boring and unemotionally stale film, yet I find the imagery highly emotional. Not only is it beautiful, but the contrast of human, machine, and alien show a completely original reality with an outcome many would go to war to stop; the transcendence of humanity into a new form, which essentially means the evolution of a new and better adapted species likely to out compete us in space. Yeah, we'd be fucked in the long run. --M
Hey, just read through the specs on the Tea. Yeah, it looks good, but for $925 why didn't you spring a couple hundred more and buy the Pasquini Liva 90? It has a real heat exchanger so you can pour espresso and steam at the same time without shifting boiler temp modes. Not to put that unit down, it looks like a fine espresso machine. I've had my Silvia for a couple of years and your unit wasn't on the market when I bought. Wouldn't have mattered though, the price is a bit too high for my needs. --M
...the last time I saw Metropolis was almost ten years ago on VHS. I was pretty amazed though. Suppose I ought to go rent the restored version and see the difference. Thanks for the heads up. --M
Yeah, I bought the Rocky Grinder too. You *MUST* have a good quality burr grinder or else you can't control the flow of espresso as it's pouring. I originally wanted to buy a Gaggia Classic, but the Silvia was only a bit more expensive and there are good instructions on the net for how to control the boiler temp of the machine by manipulating the steamer. I hardly ever go into coffee shops any more because I can't seem to find anyone who knows how to pull a proper shot. They just give you black dreck with no creme on top. Yuck. A properly pulled shot and you can drink it straight with little to no bitterness. Hmmmmmmm.... :) --M
What's the aroma of roasting coffee beans like? Probably have neighbors sniffing your front door all the time.
:) --M
Uh uh... it stinks to high heaven. A terrible smell. I roast my beans under my vented hood or outside on my porch 'cause it's so bad. But ohhh, the taste of the coffee!!! Un-freak'n believable how much better fresh roasted coffee tastes compared to high end "gormet" beans from coffee shops. The only place that came close was The Coffee Connection in Boston back over a decade ago; they would toss their beans three days after roasting. But they got bought out by Starbucks, who ruined the place. Thank God for personal coffee roasters!
I'd view it more of a "Great Moments in Human Evolution" type story; having HAL malfunction was as much a criticism of the human paranoia* as it was on human-machine relations.
Oh, I disagree. Of course there's lots of fodder for disagreement here since Kubrick intentionally left so much of the story open to personal interpretation by focusing on symbolic imagery over dialogue and plot. However, I think you really miss the point of HAL and why he "goes insane" by killing the crew. Of course, you've read the books, which (IMO) explains too much and misses Kubrick's point. Realize that this was a collaboration between Clarke and Kubrick, and they definitely had differing ideas about the main themes of the story.
2001 starts off with aliens, personified by the black monolith, changing pre-cognitive apes (intended to be australopithecus) who were on the road to extinction into our semi-cognitive tool bearing forefathers. The apes were being out competed for access to water by another local ape tribe; they were being predated upon by leopards; local wart-hogs had no fear of them as they both competed for shrubs, grass, and berries. The result was that the first tool the apes learned to control was used to kill. Thus, a pattern begins where the beginnings of consciousness and self awareness lead to tool bearing for murder toward self-preservation.
As the bone turns to a ship in the segue from "The Dawn Of Man" section the first personal tool we see is of Heywood Floyd's pen floating in the corridor of the space shuttle. This signifies a shift in cognition and self awareness from tools for killing to tools for communication and peaceful endeavors. Yet, just as the apes before were nearing extinction because they were incapable of living in that environment, so were humans completely out of their element when surrounded by technology. Notice the 10 point instructions on using a zero-G toilet. Or the lies surrounding the find by the american moonbase purporting a non-existent epidemic in order to protect their find of the second monolith (which implies continuing tribalism and the potential for warfare throughout human society).
Then in Third section during the trip on Discovery to Jupiter, we see that the interactions between humans are as inhuman as can be. Bowman and Poole ignore each other as they eat. Poole has his birthday and watches the transmission from his family with the primary concern being whether his paycheck shows a recent raise. He orders HAL to raise and lower his bed; HAL complies without comment. In all of the interactions between humans there is a real sense of emotional self control in furtherance of misrepresenting emotional states, which HAL never quite understands. Bowman and Poole arrange to 'look at a broken transmitter' in the pod in order to get out of earshot from HAL, after learning that he made a mistake regarding the failure of the AE-35 unit. Then HAL watches them through the pod window and reads their lips as they discuss disconnecting him if he turns out to have erred.
And here is the critical point: When HAL learns of his fate his first action as a self-aware creature is to kill in self-preservation. Just as the aliens lifted those pre-cognitive humans into self-awareness and offered them self-preservation through tools for killing, so does HAL show his "birth" into self awareness by killing the crew to save himself. It was an example of humans taking on the goals of the aliens by creating machine intelligence of their own. The aliens understood what the apes would do with self-awareness and a bone, but the humans had no idea that once they created a self-aware creature, it would act of its own accord. Earlier in the film Bowman is asked by a reporter if HAL really felt what he was programmed to feel, and Bowman replies that he doesn't think anyone could know the answer to that question. Well, HAL's actions show that he was a thinking feeling being, because he acted out of self-preservation rather than for the good of the m
Buy a coffee roaster and green beans in bulk from Sweetmarias (I have no connection with them other than as a satisfied customer), and then buy a good espresso machine like the Rancilio Silvia, then enjoy the best damn espresso drinks in life for less than $.50 cents a shot. And who the fuck is worried about caffeine overdosing anyway? If you're heart doesn't palpitate, you haven't had enough!
...to remember the intro to the original Star Wars back in 1977, I can assure you that "Episode IV" was tacked on after the fact. I remember it clearly. Lucas added on Episode IV to Star Wars for a re-release in 1980 right before The Empire Strikes Back was released to theaters. And I remember that too, 'cause I saw both. Man, I'm an old fart. --M
Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, was a serious film which pondered the man/machine rift using the best film technology had to offer at the time. In the 1920s it was absolutely at the forefront of film special effects, yet the effects didn't overshadow a then highly original story and screenplay. Star Wars was simply a western shot in space with high end special effects of the era. Comparing the first Star Wars to Metropolis does Lang and his film a terrible disservice IMO. You would do better to compare 2001 with Metropolis since they both cover similar ground of dehumanization in subservience to machines and the cycle of birth and death - both for individuals and societies at large. Lucas never offered such serious themes in his work, it's strictly entertainment. --M
I've had mine since December and absolutely love the unit! Consider a professional screen too. I've had great results with a basic 1.0 gain screen. I went with Carada, but Da-Lite is the industry leader. I can't praise this projector enough. You'll love it!!! :) --M
Last I heard the Sony was going to be about $30K when it comes out in the US. That's expensive but still well within the "home" market when compared to 3-chip DLPs.
:) Think I'll stick with the sub $3K market and be happy with my HS-20. Like I said, give it two (maybe three) generations and a full 1920x1080 projector will be mine!!!
Thanks for the late reply. Anyway, $30K for a home projector may be in upper well off market, but it's way over my budget.
That looks like a commercial projector for cinemas, trade shows, and concerts. Nice, no doubt. But if a $10K LCoS projector is out of my price league, this thing is at least and order of magnitude more expensive. But yeah, can't wait for that stuff to hit the consumer market. :) --M
Actually, TI already has begun manufacture of a 1080 DLP chip. The xHD3 chip was demoed at a trade show back in February in a Samsung RPTV prototype and should be out in the market by the end of the year.
Thanks for the heads up on the new 1080 DLP chips coming down the pike. But even if that hits the consumer market, it'll still be damn expensive. DLP projectors are often twice the cost of LCD at the same resolution, so I still bet is that most consumers will have to wait a couple generations before this hits a price range the conusmer market can afford.
Oh, and there's been a 1080p LCoS set out for about a year now. Unfortunately, Toshiba is discontinuing it because its LCoS chip provider couldn't keep up with the demand.
So you aren't talking about the JVC DLA-SX21U, because that LCoS unit offers a native 4x3 resolution of 1400x1050; just shy of 1080 lines. Looked like a nice unit, but waaaay out of my price range. And it doesn't meet the OPer's definition of meeting "real" 1920x1080 resolution either.
BTW, thanks for the interresting reply.
--Maynard
The problem here is that you expect manufacturers to build to the 1080i/p standard before the technology exists. The best sets for high resolution out there are still CRT based, because LCD (and that goes for LCoS too) and DLP technologies simply don't offer more than 720p resolution at the consumer end of the market. In fact, there are no DLP chips out there that do more than 1280x720, and the high end of LCD Front/Rear projection is still 1366x768 (Sony HS-20). Only a CRT offers full 1440x1080i resolution, because CRTs are inherently analog technology from the electron beam out to phosphor.
If you want full 1920x1080 resolution you must either wait for LCD/DLP technology to progress to native HD spec resolution (probably two chip generations away before it hits consumer), or buy a very high end CRT based system. I have an HS-20 LCD front projector (720p native) and a Hitachi 51S500 RPTV; a low end model with three 7" CRTs and semi-decent optics. It only supports 1080i at 1440x1080. The better RPTVs use 9"CRTs, with better optics, but they're still limited to 1440x1080. The only "real" CRT systems out there that do full 1080i spec are commercial units for pre and post production, usually costing somewhere in the range of $25K - $30K.
Why is this? Because the scan times for 1080i and 1080/24p are insanely fast, and the bandwidth requirements are insanely high. It's not just a computer monitor. And with an RPTV, the convergence issues alone get in the way of full 1080i. Really, the upshot here is that full 1080i spec was written long before the technology existed to display such resolutions. Only today with the migration away from CRT to digital LCD/DLP chip technologies are we coming close to display devices capable of real 1080i. And note, plasma doesn't even come close.
Anyway, feel bad about it all you want, but I think the manufacturers are doing a fine job with implementing the standard given current technology. I note that my 51" RPTV with the higher resolution isn't much nicer than images projected against my 117" screen at 720p. Honestly, one can't tell the difference, though 480p from DVDs does suffer with such a large screen size.
The real PITA has been the fight over DRM and copy controls interfering with rollout of content and obsoleting old HD displays. There will be a lot of very pissed off customers once they realize their component only HD sets are worthless for HD content in the next few years.
Cheers,
--Maynard
The HD DVD consortium has yet to approve a standard. It's expected that they will decide and manufacturers and content providers will have product on the market within the next year or two. Currently, JVC manufacturs an HD VCR (the JVC-HD3000 and newer HD4000). This takes standard and HQ digital VHS tapes. Some film distributors have released films on the new format, but not all, and the content is "protected" by an encryption system similar to DVD CSS. If you're looking for HD films on tape, it's available but limited. I'd say, wait for HD DVD if that's all you care about. But a Widescreen television is still useful for 480p DVD output. I looks wonderful. --M
But my screen is 117" diag made by Carada, and the image is generated by a Sony HS-20 Front Projector. You can get a very good Panasonic AE500 for about $1750 these days, and over at AVS Forum there are plans for cheap wall mounted screens using materials available from Home Depot. With a $200 STB, and cheap sound system you could get away with having a full home theater with a +100" diag screen for less than $2500 easy. And yeah, it's worth it! :) JMO... --M
Then there's stuff like ESPNHD. They usually just take the ESPN feed and stretch it to 16x9 which is really lame. They have maybe 4 or 5 events in actual HD per week.
I couldn't agree more; ESPN has really dropped the ball here. The major networks broadcast sporting events in HD most of the time. And HDNET usually beats ESPN for broadcasting HD sporting events too. Don't buy the DirecTV HD package for ESPN, that's all I have to say. --M