Verwüstung Krieg

"I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together"- President Barack Obama, press conference with Donald Trump, November 10 2016. 

(National Security Advisor Henry) Kissinger: "we’ve got to break the back of this generation of Democratic leaders.
(President Richard) Nixon: Yeah.
 Kissinger: The [Cyrus] Vances, [Clark] Cliffords—
 Nixon: That’s right.
  Kissinger: —and company have to get out of public life. That is, the new ones, nowadays. We just don’t have all [unclear].
 Nixon: Well, the other thing, too, we’ve got to break, we’ve got to destroy the confidence of people in the American establishment, too." -A segment of a private conversation between Nixon, Kissinger and  H.R.  Haldeman, April 17 1971.

If Then: A Review of Westworld

Note: Although the second episode of Westworld has been released early, this review will only cover the pilot.

The Turing Test has been a staple of both science and science fiction for more then sixty years. Its weaknesses and strengths poured over and parodied. But, at its core its pretty simple. Can a computer trick a human into believing that its human?  The first episode of Westworld forces us into the judges' chair as we follow Teddy (James Marsden) as he seemingly enters the theme park of Westworld.  We watch as he turns down a sidequest,  and the advances of a saloon sex worker, before (re-meeting) Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) , the firey daughter of a rancher. Things go pear shaped however, with the intervention of the mysterious Man in Black (Ed Harris) (no, no that one, or that one) who kills Teddy,  revealing him to be an android.

Movies as Ideology (Part I)

In its domestic opening weekend Suicide Squad, the latest adventure in the DCEU, earned 135.1 million dollars. As of this writing the reboot Ghostbusters has earned an estimated 116.7 million domestic in 3.5 weeks of release. The two films Rotten Tomatoes critics scores are 73% for Ghostbusters and 26% for Suicide Squad respectively. In the realm of public opinion (as measured by IMDB user ratings) this trend is reversed.  Suicide Squad pulls in an weighted average score of 7.0 (median is 8.0) and Ghostbusters lags behind with a weighted average of 5.5 (median is 7.0). Why is there this difference in opinion?

Its Sexism Stupid.

Why Liberals Dismiss Donald Trump At Their Peril (And Why They Could Vote For Him)

Consider this meme:

Diversity & Science Fiction (Part II: A Case study of Star Wars)

(Via)

In July of 1977 the LA Times published an article entitled  "The Great White Void" by Raymond St. Jacques, a black actor and director. In it James critiqued the fact that while science fiction was supposed to be free "from worry about acceptive norms of our present racist society". But instead, popular science fiction films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Logan's Run and Star Wars were nearly devoid of African-American actors and actresses. In the weeks ahead the Times would publish letters to the editor in response of Jacques.  One of these was by a reader, Linda Buzzwell, who added on to Jacques observations, saying: "there are no women pilots, soldiers, or other professionals" in Star Wars.  Despite this, Buzzwell had seen the film five times. The same number, as it happens, as Jacques.

On Diversity & Science Fiction (Part I)

The first Star Wars: Rouge One trailer dropped today.  You should it see it. Go, right now. I don't mind.  Its awesome. In response to the film's main protagonist seemingly being a woman (played by Felicity Jones) conservative luminary John Podhoretz, film critic for the Weekly Standard  tweeted (and quickly deleted) this 'joke'

(Via)

Grappling With Vigilantism: A Review of Jessica Jones & Daredevil (Part II)

(Here be spoilers)

Fred punches me in the face and walks away. Do I: A -report Fred to the police and hope he is arrested for assault- or B -ask my my masked vigilante friend to beat him up? How one answers that question has important implications for the role of the state in your life.  To explain why, and how superheroes fit into all of this, you have to understand the idea of a "Monopoly on Force"