nerdology

[nerdology]

Decoder: The executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on government surveillance, Elon Musk, and free speech

This week’s Decoder is a good one. Nilay Patel interviews Cindy Cohn the Executive Director of the EFF. They talk about what the EFF is doing to push back against government and corporate surveillance and how tricky everything has become politically the last few years. They also, inevitably, talk about Elon Musk. Because of course.

You can click through the link to hear the whole podcast and read a transcript. OR subscribe here.

[nerdology]

Well... ok. I dusted off the old tumblr because I wanted to reach out to the wonderful community that I had and then, unfortunately, left. Maybe other people looking for an alternative to twitter log back on and see that Nerdology is around again and then decide to stay. Maybe we can all stay. IDK man, I just think the world needs community and if I can connect people then lets do it.

[nerdology]

Best Adapted Picture

Why isn't there a category for "best adapted picture"?

There are already three different best picture awards, Documentary Feature, Animated Feature, and then Best Picture. But why not best adapted picture? We divide 'screenplay' into two categories, Original and Adapted. With all the sequels and reboots, and sequel reboots, and ‘based off comic book’ films or movies based on TV shows… it seems bananas that there isn’t a category for something like this.

Frankly I'm shocked Disney hasn't petitioned The Academy to do this. They have the most to gain with Star Wars, the Marvel movies, and the live action re-makes of their animated classics.

The Academy increased the number of films to 10 after The Dark Knight didn’t get a nomination in 2009, because most people went into those oscars saying it was the best movie they saw. But doing 10 films still doesn’t solve their problem - as evidence by this year. And I'll bet Black Panther doesn't get one next year either.

The press and audiences bemoaned Wonder Woman not getting a nomination but it could if there was a category for it. Hell, you could be strategic and nominate Jumanji just to get The Rock in the building…

Viewership of the Oscars was a record low. And I bet it's is because most people hadn’t seen the best picture nominees… something that Kimmel joked about in his opening monologue while remarking how much money Black Panther was making at the box office.

In the opening monologue this year Jimmy Kimmel said:

"Our plan is to shine a light on outstanding and inspiring films each and every one of which got crushed by Black Panther this weekend.  ...  of the nine best picture nominees only 2 of them made more than 100 million dollars."

I know creating new categories is tough for the academy. We didn't even have a "best animated feature" until 2001! And it went to Shrek! I know, the whole thing is crazy. Crazier, Beauty and the Beast was so good it was nominated for best picture but lost to Silence of the Lambs. Yeah. Think about how crazy that ballot is.

It's been 90 years. Doesn't it make sense for Hollywood to adapt, a little? I know that audience numbers are secondary in importance to The Academy,  but they do tell a story. They say that, maybe the Academy is out of touch. If Star Wars and Black Panther can make a billion dollars, but not be represented with best picture nominations?

(Yes I’ve written about this before, back in 2011. Remakes and sequels have been happening since 1904. It’s about time we recognized them as their own thing.)

[nerdology]

how about instead of ever reblogging a single picture of carrie in that fucking gold bikini you reblog this instead?

[nerdology]

Avengers Infinity War - Trailer

“All roads lead to this,” to steal the tag line from Fast and Furious 6.

The infinity war is here and it looks nothing like any previous mainline avengers movie. Saturated like Guardians 2, big scale fight scenes (also like Guardians), oh and look, the Guardians of the Galaxy show up.

Previous Avengers movies (by which I am including Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man) have been about characters first. That’s what has consistently separated the Marvel movies from, say, the DCEU. A focus on character. With this many characters. And fight scenes that look as grand as what we see, I worry that character is going to get lost.

And I really do care about the characters. I care about Tony. About how he fought to bring everyone together, only to see it torn apart (by him!) in Civil War. I do hope that the characters come through. It’s not impossible (LOTR accomplishes this) but it’s much harder.

Honestly, I’m optimistic. Marvel has given me no reason to doubt them so far. 

[nerdology]

End of an era. Thank you for everything, David.

Tumblr has always been my favorite social network (even has my participation has wained over the years). He is exactly right that it encouraged people to be more creative. That’s what made me excited about it. Facebook was not the behemoth it is today, and twitter only made sense over SMS. Tumblr was the only place I could find that was encouraging people to create and share. I loved every minute of my time here, and I have David to thank for that.

I wish him the best in the future. 

Letter I just sent to my team ♥️

[nerdology]

The Best Pumpkin Spice Product Ever Made

[nerdology]

New Mutants - Trailer

OH MAN. I love this move to genre films set in superhero worlds. first with Winter Soldier being a spy thriller, then Logan being more of a quiet western, and now New Mutants is a horror film.

It really underscores just how sad it is that the mainline X-Men movies have gotten so off the rails by trying to be giant action fate-of-the-world movies. Smaller, more contained movies will always be more believable, and have more of an impact for me.

This shift to making the superhero world the setting rather than the genre and making any kind of film you want has been my dream for Star Wars since it was acquired by Disney. I want Star Wars to get to a point where you can make, essentially, Fast Five in the Star Wars universe. I use Fast Five because it was huge at the box office, made for a broad audience, but at it's core is a genre film. For those who haven't seen it, a ragtag crew on the run from the local government wants to rob a drug lord who disrespected them so they break into a secure location. It's a heist movie with family and fast cars. The story is small and very tight.

You can set this movie on Coruscant, Corellia, Nar Shadda... anywhere. Instead of fast cars, our heroes would be on swoop bikes, and wielding antigravity tech, and a couple of droids. Maybe someone is Force sensitive, that would be an interesting dynamic (not a Jedi, but just has a little extra awareness). Not a single story beat, or character, would have any connection to any of the previous Star Wars films and certainly no one with Skywalker lineage.

Star Wars becomes the setting, not the genre. I was hoping for a heist movie with Rogue One, but didn't quite get it. (Don't get me wrong, I did like it.) I was excited for a Han / Chewie / Lando buddy comedy for the Han Solo movie... but with the Phil Lord and Chris Miller fired I don't know what we're going to get.

But just to get back to the superhero thing. Smaller movies don't have to be genre films.  The first two X-Men and Spider-Man movies were 'traditional' superhero movies. Sure X-Men ended with a high profile fight at the statue of liberty, but New York City wasn't destroyed. In Spider-Man 2 (arguably the best superhero movie of all time) A battle with Dr Octopus plays out across the city, but the story is personal for Peter. And while he stops a train from derailing and saves hundreds of lives, it's earned because we saw Peter's struggle thought the entire film.

The wide net that recent X-Men movies have cast make it completely devoid of personality. And as they've gone back in time (First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse) the've destroyed any canon they may have been holding on to so there isn't even a sense of wonder for the characters I liked.

I didn't mean for this to end on a down note. I'm excited for New Mutants. I think doing genre films instead of traditional superhero movies is the right way to go, especially for the X-Films because there are just so many characters. I'm into it, and I hope the success of Logan and the (hopefully) success of New Mutants can elevate the story telling across all of the X-Men films.

[via /Film]

[nerdology]

There is a Blade Runner Johnny Walker Black Label coming... so... that’s a thing.

[nerdology]

I Want Microsoft To Build Kinect Into Their Controllers

Paul Miller just wrote a piece over at The Verge pointing out the similarities between the Kinect and the Notch in the new iPhone X. He notes that this is from June 2009:

And this is from September 2017:

It got me thinking about Kinect and the possibilities for an updated Kinect within the Xbox ecosystem. If you can shrink the technology to be so small that it fits in a cell phone, you can basically put it anywhere.

I applauded Microsoft for including Kinect with every Xbox One (at launch) and then mourned it’s death when it was ripped out of the bundle so Microsoft could compete with Sony on price. I loved how it had the potential to change gaming... but people didn’t want another box below their TV and they found navigation with voice sometimes slower than with a controller.

As voice assistants have gotten better, and more prevalent thanks to the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices there is even more of an opportunity for the Xbox to own voice on your TV. But I don’t think they’re going to sell people a 60-80 dollar camera/microphone array like the one from 2009.

They should build it into the bottom of every new Xbox One controller.

Seriously. Right there, next to the headphone jack and data port should be everything in the iPhone Notch. And build a microphone into the top somewhere. Maybe near the Xbox button.

“But how does it work?” you’re asking. It’s simple. You just put the controller down. Put it down on the coffee table in front of you, or put it down at the base of the TV on the TV stand (exactly where a Kinect would be).

You can pick up the controller to start playing a game and then put it down on your coffee table and say “Xbox open Kinectimles” (or whatever game you want to play) and then just start moving around. When you’re done, pick up the controller and use it like a controller.

Yes, I’ve thought about the power needed. And this probably isn’t something an Xbox One or Xbox One S could do. But I think the Xbox One X could pull this off. By all accounts it has extra overhead power even while running games at 4K 60FPS . It could dedicate some of that power to interpreting the Kinect information coming from the controller. And by offloading those processes you won’t have to build in a new chipset into the controller, just the sensors.

Just a thought. I’d love to see the Kinect come back. I think the technology is too good to let die. Maybe the Xbox One Z will be able to do something like this.

-Creighton

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Oh, hi.

It’s been more than 2 full months since I’ve posted. I’m sorry about that. I love tumblr, I love the people on tumblr, and I really just can’t figure out how to quit you.

I’ve had some work and life changes which kept me away, but I promise I’ll be back. I mean... there are three (3) new iPhones and a Google event in early October... How could I possibly stay away!

[nerdology]

I AM SO HERE FOR THE STAR WARS AR LIFESTYLE!

[nerdology]

Xbox One X - Arrives November 7th

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The Last Jedi - Teaser

WOW!

The teaser for The Last Jedi just landed and... wow. I’ll say this, 17 years ago I spent a LOT of time at the message boards on TheForce.net. We heavily debated the meaning of ‘bringing balance to the force’. How that prophesy was dangerous and how Anakin actually did bring balance by slaughtering Jedi, and how at the end of ROTS there are two Sith and two Jedi.

Balance doesn’t mean killing Sith, it means, evening out Sith and Jedi out so they are in check.

So at the end of this trailer, when Luke says “It’s time for the Jedi to end.” He means that to save the galaxy, there can be no more Jedi. If there are Jedi, there will be Sith, and the galaxy can’t handle that any longer. I bet that’s why he was in hiding. 

MAN, I do not want to wait until December to watch this movie. On top of Rian Johnson being my favorite working director, making a film in my favorite franchise, I want to know if I was right 17 years ago!

[nerdology]

Ludacris Recaps Every Fast & Furious Movie In 8 Minutes

I had the pleasure of consulting on this video. It’s great! And if you’re new to Fast and the Furious, this is a great recap.

[nerdology]

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Tailer

I have written a LOT about Spider-Man over the years. Excitement, disappointment, joy, sadness, concern... you can find a range of emotions if you look at #spiderman on this blog.

We can add a new adjective to now: smile-inducing. This trailer made me smile. It made me smile in every possible way. Peter is good and happy and his interaction with his high school friend seemed natural (albeit brief) and MAN Tony taking away the suit is also fantastic. It makes Peter have to earn becoming Spider-Man without Stark’s tech. To (dare I say) learn power and responsibility, without it being a gift.

And Michael Keaton as Vulture has presence. He has presence and a mission not seen in a Spider-Man villain since Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. The best villain aren’t bad for the sake of being bad, they just have rival ideology. Give a villain a mission and real motivation and it’s so much more powerful. It’s why Magneto works so well. With just a few lines of dialogue it certainly seems like Vulture has all that.

I love this trailer on every level. And I probably wont watch any more before the movie comes out in July. 

[nerdology]

This is my Nintendo Switch to go kit! 

Am I missing anything? What does yours look like?