Dork Hero: Sean Pertwee

    If there’s one dude who dies on film more often than Sean Bean, it’s Sean Pertwee.  The son of the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, Sean has been a genre staple since the 90s.  I first noticed him as Hugh Beringar on Cadfael, but it was with his appearance in Event Horizon that his continual death sentence began to be carried out.  In fact, the first thing I thought upon hearing that he was cast as Alfred in the new Batman TV series Gotham, was ‘how can they kill off Alfred in a prequel?’  Still, I’m always glad to see Sean show up in films, even if it is to get killed minutes later.  And part of me still holds out for him playing the Doctor one of these regenerations.

Five Favorite Sean Pertwee Films:
5. Doomsday
4. Dog Soldiers
3. Stiff Upper Lips
2. Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie
1. Soldier

-Matt

Book Review: Our Final Invention

    I have found the true heir to H.P. Lovecraft, and it is documentary filmmaker turned herald of the AI apocalypse, James Barrat.  No, his book is not a tale of a tortured artist who learns too many of the secrets of the universe and is driven mad by it.  Or is it?  Whatever the case, he presents a vision of the world so soul searingly, existentially terrifying that it belongs on the shelf with the master of cosmic horror.  This is a sobering look at the very real, very possible ending to all of us, building right below our very noses, and under our typing fingertips.  For a pro-tech, futurist like myself, this book is a grim dark side for my usual upbeat visions of a world without want.

One of the less grim scenarios...

    Barrat looks into the building wave of artificial intelligence, the possibilities of human level (and more, superior to human) intelligence, and does not doubt that it’s on the way.  What he doubts, is that it will be a good thing.  I believe…well, I want to believe…that we’re moving in the right direction (overall), and that the future is bright.  I also have an instant mistrust of folks who preach fear of advancements and refuse to look on the bright side of technology.  I’ve also never much bought into the idea that superiority equals maliciousness, which is all part of the slave mentality that infects us as a species.  That said, I can’t find fault in Barrat’s argument.  He makes an excellent case for the terrifying dangers the creation of a human level (or higher) computer mind.  The profound alien nature of a computer mind is where the key trouble lies.  And this, is where I first connected Barrat with Lovecraft.  Both envision something so far beyond our ability to comprehend or control that we would stand no chance against it.  The concept I found most chilling is summed up in the quote from Eliezer Yudkowsky.  “The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else.”  It isn’t that Barrat believes a human or more level intelligence would want to kill us.  It’s that it won’t share our interests or values, and we might not be able to even understand what its interests or values are.  We may quickly find that we are little more than ants before its unknowing, uncaring feet.

    My hope is that we as a people can shift our thinking and action in the direction of safety.  I have hope.  I do.  But I have a profound worry, because I can’t pretend I don’t see the opposite every day.  With people steadfastly ignoring scientific findings all the time, from climate change to the benefits of genetically modified foods, and with so many willing to step over their mother for a chance at a few extra bucks, I have worries.  And thanks to this book, I find that I have a fear I never knew about.  I don’t want to die by incineration from the waste heat of trillions of nanobots assembling each other.  That may have just surpassed tidal wave on my list of things I most want to avoid getting killed by.

    This book should be read.  Futurists and optimists like myself need a dose of reasoned descent on occasion.  I think many of us become so inured to the fear mongering, backward looking anti-science of Hollywood movies and uninformed man-on-the-streets, that we build up a wall around our optimism.  This wall blocks our view of the very real threats that are out there.  With so many people crying wolf constantly, the real problems can easily be ignored.  And I think that James Barrat has produced a well thought out and sobering call to action.  He doesn’t preach a halt to progress or a return to ‘simpler times.’  He suggests a safe and cautious handling of a potentially cataclysmic technology that would make the atom bomb seem like kids play.  He’s not talking about a danger to a city or a country.  He’s not even talking about danger to our planet.  The kind of scenarios Barrat suggests are existence erasing, galaxy polluting disasters.  I do believe that our future will be tied with artificial intelligence, and that future could be amazing on a level beyond the wildest science fiction stories.  But the danger must be understood, and we must protect ourselves and our future.

Our Final Invention
Author: James Barrat
Publisher: Thomas Dunn Books
ISBN: 978-0-312-62237-4

-Matthew J. Constantine

Matt’s Week in Dork! (4/1/12-4/7/12)

    Not too much going on this week.  A bunch of TV series watching, I guess.  And a bit of reading.  No major adventures.

Doomsday:  Starting with Escape from New York and a dash of 28 Days Later, then mixing a little Aliens, a healthy dash of Mad Max, and let simmer.  Then, just as you’re settled in, take a swig of Excalibur.  Yup.  It’s a weirdass hodgepodge of other movies, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.  When it was released, it felt like I was finally seeing the return of R-rated cinema.  Blood, violence, over the top nuttiness.  I’m not putting this up for an Oscar or anything, but if you want some fun apocalyptic adventure with some colorful characters, it’ll do nicely.

The Invention of Lying:  Extremely subversive and genuinely cute, this romantic comedy for atheists features a charming cast, some clever scripting, and a few laugh out loud moments.  And there are a few pretty powerful emotional scenes to boot.  Genre cliché still poke their head in on more than one occasion, but the overall feature is still very enjoyable.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Season Two Part Two:  More and more of the most insane DC characters to pop out of some comicbook writers’ fevered brains do the dance with the Dark Knight.  When you see GI Robot, the Haunted Tank, and the Doom Patrol, you just know it’s madness.  And then Scooby and the gang drop by.  Wow.  This show has so much fun with the crazy, stupid characters of the 60s and 70s.  Plus, it’s genuinely clever and surreal.  Great stuff.  Though on the complete other end of the spectrum, this is my favorite animated Batman since the 90s’ Batman: The Animated Series.

Wrath of the Titans:  I know some hold the original Clash of the Titans in pretty high esteem.  Stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen’s last film sports some cool creatures, and as a boy I thought it was the bee’s knees.  But, honestly, it’s boring as all get out.  The recent remake was surprisingly enjoyable, for a bunch of CG flash, and it wasn’t boring.  This follow-up was shockingly entertaining.  Oh, sure, I could deal with 100% less shaky-cam, something that has LONG outstayed its welcome but won’t go away.  But the story, freed from its remake shackles, is satisfactorily Greco-mythological.  The creatures are cool, the action exciting, and there’s some genuine humor that doesn’t feel out of place.  There’s also a twist in the Zeus/Hades story that I didn’t see coming, but absolutely loved.  I could have watched a whole movie about them, frankly.  Like the first film, I wish there’d been more Danny Huston though.  Man, if I were a kid right now, I’d be in hog heaven.  With these two films, plus Immortals and 300, my love of fantastic Greece would be through the roof.  Heck, it’s half way there now.

Pandorum:  Certainly not a perfect science fiction film, it does capitalize on some of my favorite tropes.  A guy wakes up on a spaceship that has seen better days and needs to find out who he is, what’s been happening, how long he’s been asleep, where the ship is, and what the heck those horrible things running around in the halls are.  With the help of a superior officer, a savage scientist and a crazy warrior farmer (and a few other friends he meets along the way), he may just be able to save everyone.  Creepy sets, nasty monsters, and some cool ideas make this one worth a watch.  There is a twist near the end I found annoying.  And at one point, I thought it was going to have a twist that would ruin the film in my mind (but thankfully, it didn’t happen).  Overall, it’s a good watch.

The Dallas Connection:  Look, I know this is some kind of irrational, chauvinist, and generally wrong thinking, but I don’t like Texas.  Sorry.  There it is.  This isn’t based on first hand experience, or any of the things that one truly needs to make this kind of judgment.  It’s purely based on perception, through the image typically portrayed in movies, TV, and frankly, by Texans themselves.  There’s a sinister embracing of belligerence, stupidity, and profound tackiness that I find alien to my idea of right.  From ‘boot scooting’ and country music, to cowboy hats and rhinestones, it’s like a whole state built on the core concept of  pissing me off.  That rant is to establish why by this point in the series, I’m really missing Hawaii.  The switch to Texas is making it hard for me to continue enjoying the otherwise same-old same-old of the Sidaris T&A action mega-series.  This movie is a real family affair, with a Sidaris in nearly every behind the camera position, but it lacks the charm of many of the earlier films.  Giantess Julie Strain is back to crush acting.  And long-time series regular Rodrigo Obregon gets many a chuckle with his awkward suave.  But I’m really not digging the whole Texas thing.  Line dancing?!  What the hell, Texas.  (Look out for Andy Sidaris acting up a storm in that post-murder locker room).

Day of the Warrior:  Julie Strain has switched names and sides, playing some kind of laughably heroic leader type for our super-spy team.  Most of the regular faces are gone, except perennial favorite Rodrigo Obregon (with sweet sideburns!).  The pro-wrestler villain, Warrior looks like he stepped out of George Michael’s Fantasy Land.  But this movie, in spite of its Texas local, manages to bring back a lot of the charm of earlier films in the series.  Oh, sure, there’s still not a real boob in sight (being the late 90s, the women are starting to sport tattoos, too --ew!), and people seem dodgy on the whole ‘acting’ thing.  But it’s occasionally funny, always goofy, and several things blow up.  Watching a dumbass stripper run across a lawn in high heals while trying to hold onto an oversized video tape is comedy gold.  I’m also impressed that a series of movies with this much pseudo-sex is as monumentally un-erotic as it is.  You’d think something sexy would just happen statistically.  Nope.  But that’s just part of the charm.

Return to Savage Beach:  “You want to go for that swim?“ Oh, yeah.  Back to Hawaii!  At least for part of it.  The final film in the modern epic of spies, explosions, and breast implants features a lot of familiar faces.  Rodrigo Obergon is wearing a sweet Phantom of the Opera mask, too.  Awesome.  This movie also has more Fu.  I think every movie could be made better with some Fu.  And when the two ladies show up in Tomb Raider outfits, with their comicbookishly oversized chests, I was laughing pretty hard.  Look, it’s awful.  I know.  But it’s wonderful.  A great ending to a wacky series.

Night of the Living Dead:  The movie that pretty much launched a sub-genre and redefined the walking dead, this movie is a tight thriller about a bunch of random people stuck in a house, surrounded by an army of hungry dead.  Like the best of what has become known as ‘zombie’ movies (they’re actually referred to as ghouls here), this is about people, not monsters.  The walking dead are like a natural disaster, with the added horror of familiarity and the potential of any one of us to join their ranks with little warning.  Grim, dark, and well ahead of its time.  A must see for horror fans.

    I also got in a few episodes of Supercar, which is weird and fun.  Love those puppets.  Then a few episodes of Futurama, which continues to make me smile.  I love the combination of cerebral and low-brow.  Ben and I also watched another episode of From the Earth to the Moon.  Great show, but every time I watch an episode, I feel a deep emptiness and disappointment that we betrayed all those people did by letting our imagination die.  It’s time to get back to exploring beautiful places.

    And I got my hands on the first two disks of Torchwood’s fourth season, Miracle Day.  Dang, but it’s tough.  Season three, Children of Earth was an emotionally brutalizing experience, but mercifully short.  This season is considerably longer, but no less brutal.  Don’t like anyone too much.  Six episodes in and one of my favorite characters is not coming back.  After the first two seasons, which were uneven to say the very least, season’s three and four have been fascinating, if sometimes hard to watch TV.  Holy nuts is Bill Pullman creepy.

    Finally, I read the second hardcover volume of B.P.R.D.  You can read my review here.  And I finished listening to the audio book of Christopher Hitchens’ Arguably.  See my review here.

-Matt