Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
What about Crick?
Last night was the first of three consecutive episodes of Jeopardy! in which the two most successful contestants in the show's history, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, play against the IBM supercomputer Watson in a friendly match to show how impressively the computer can comprehend human speech patterns, and mimic human memory skills.
One of my nerdier confessions is that I have been a follower of Ken Jennings' blog since his record-setting run on Jeopardy!, where he won 74 games and 2.52 million dollars. Brad Rutter has won the biggest dollar amount on the show, topping out at over $3.2 million. Watson is an artificial intelligence program which can parse natural language patterns to mine its memory for the most appropriate answer. It is not connected to the internet, it does have to physically press the buzzer with a robotic "finger," and it is fed the questions electronically, not by picking up Alex Trebek's vocal cues.
Last night's episode was surprisingly compelling, and proved that observing the skills of this computer is surely enough more than a gimmick to warrant three episodes' worth of gaining an insight into what will be in charge after the coming robot uprising. Watson parses the question for key words, figures out how the structure of the sentence influences the type of answer to look for, and comes up with its top three options. Then, if its "confidence algorithm" intuits that the top guess is likely enough to be right, Watson pushes the buzzer. One major advantage Watson has over its human opponents is that it is prompted as to when the buzzer-clicking time has come, whereas humans may click too early, and not be called upon. One disadvantage which Watson fell prey to in last night's episode is that the robot is "deaf," and cannot hear when its opponent has guessed an incorrect answer, which it may then repeat.
The second installment airs tonight at 7pm on ABC, and the three-episode run ends tomorrow. Tune in for an interesting look at what the really interesting strides in robotics have been - AIBO, this ain't.
One of my nerdier confessions is that I have been a follower of Ken Jennings' blog since his record-setting run on Jeopardy!, where he won 74 games and 2.52 million dollars. Brad Rutter has won the biggest dollar amount on the show, topping out at over $3.2 million. Watson is an artificial intelligence program which can parse natural language patterns to mine its memory for the most appropriate answer. It is not connected to the internet, it does have to physically press the buzzer with a robotic "finger," and it is fed the questions electronically, not by picking up Alex Trebek's vocal cues.
Last night's episode was surprisingly compelling, and proved that observing the skills of this computer is surely enough more than a gimmick to warrant three episodes' worth of gaining an insight into what will be in charge after the coming robot uprising. Watson parses the question for key words, figures out how the structure of the sentence influences the type of answer to look for, and comes up with its top three options. Then, if its "confidence algorithm" intuits that the top guess is likely enough to be right, Watson pushes the buzzer. One major advantage Watson has over its human opponents is that it is prompted as to when the buzzer-clicking time has come, whereas humans may click too early, and not be called upon. One disadvantage which Watson fell prey to in last night's episode is that the robot is "deaf," and cannot hear when its opponent has guessed an incorrect answer, which it may then repeat.
The second installment airs tonight at 7pm on ABC, and the three-episode run ends tomorrow. Tune in for an interesting look at what the really interesting strides in robotics have been - AIBO, this ain't.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Mama who bored me
(wokka-wokka)
After desperately wanting to see Spring Awakening for the past few years, I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by it when I finally made it to the Los Angeles leg of the tour this weekend, where it was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. It wasn't the fault of the actors, whose youth and vigor were well-suited to the specifications of the play. Certainly, my expectations were quite high, but when it came to the storytelling, I found the show to be rather uneven, which along with the distracting set design, detracted from what could have been a solid, focused morality tale.
I'll start with the aesthetic. If you have any familiarity with the play, you know going into it that it's a modern alt-rock musical set in 1891 Germany, where adolescents struggle with the same imbalance of education and sexual urges that plagues the world today. So it's cool to see these extremely childlike-looking actors with cartoonish hairstyles, dancing to modern music while dressed in 19th Century school uniforms. Even as far as the band members in plainclothes seated upstage, this all contributes to an easy-to-understand juxtaposition of the old and the new. But add to that the onstage audience members, complete with unnecessary plainclothes audience plants, and the busy flair all over the walls, and the result is a jumbled hodge-podge when the story would best be served by a black box setting - a Sisyphean transformation for the Pantages, I know.
The music, which is the play's greatest asset, starts out very strong with well-crafted hits "Mama Who Bore Me," "The Bitch of Living," and "All That's Known," but other than a second act standout with "Our Bodies Are the Guilty Ones," the songs feel forced, or sometimes completely at odds with the emotional temperature of the story beats. Just like R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (hear me out), the grandeur of the music didn't often match the mood of the concurrent scenes. Courtney Markowitz, as Ilse, sang beautifully on "The Song of Purple Summer," though.
These criticisms are especially deserved when it comes to the story itself, though. The tragic romance of Melchior and Wendla (roles originated by Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele) could be a great archetype for the dangers of withholding critical knowledge from people, and conversing with young people in an open and honest way. Terrible things happen when ignorance is king, and the central coupling of the show could have been a new, unconventional version of star-crossed lovers suffering from the same lesson. But the imbalanced additions of secondary characters whose storylines seemed included to confront the audience without sufficiently contributing to the message.
The standout performer, for me, was Sarah Kleeman, who took on all roles of Adult Women in the show, and perfectly transitioned from persona to persona with subtle vocal trills that gave depth to seemingly minor characters. I know my negative opinion about the show is an unpopular one, but to me, Spring Awakening was a victim of its own hype. I had heard it compared to the quality of recent breakout hits In the Heights and Wicked, and this praise was, as I saw it, off the mark.
After desperately wanting to see Spring Awakening for the past few years, I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by it when I finally made it to the Los Angeles leg of the tour this weekend, where it was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. It wasn't the fault of the actors, whose youth and vigor were well-suited to the specifications of the play. Certainly, my expectations were quite high, but when it came to the storytelling, I found the show to be rather uneven, which along with the distracting set design, detracted from what could have been a solid, focused morality tale.
I'll start with the aesthetic. If you have any familiarity with the play, you know going into it that it's a modern alt-rock musical set in 1891 Germany, where adolescents struggle with the same imbalance of education and sexual urges that plagues the world today. So it's cool to see these extremely childlike-looking actors with cartoonish hairstyles, dancing to modern music while dressed in 19th Century school uniforms. Even as far as the band members in plainclothes seated upstage, this all contributes to an easy-to-understand juxtaposition of the old and the new. But add to that the onstage audience members, complete with unnecessary plainclothes audience plants, and the busy flair all over the walls, and the result is a jumbled hodge-podge when the story would best be served by a black box setting - a Sisyphean transformation for the Pantages, I know.
The music, which is the play's greatest asset, starts out very strong with well-crafted hits "Mama Who Bore Me," "The Bitch of Living," and "All That's Known," but other than a second act standout with "Our Bodies Are the Guilty Ones," the songs feel forced, or sometimes completely at odds with the emotional temperature of the story beats. Just like R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (hear me out), the grandeur of the music didn't often match the mood of the concurrent scenes. Courtney Markowitz, as Ilse, sang beautifully on "The Song of Purple Summer," though.
These criticisms are especially deserved when it comes to the story itself, though. The tragic romance of Melchior and Wendla (roles originated by Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele) could be a great archetype for the dangers of withholding critical knowledge from people, and conversing with young people in an open and honest way. Terrible things happen when ignorance is king, and the central coupling of the show could have been a new, unconventional version of star-crossed lovers suffering from the same lesson. But the imbalanced additions of secondary characters whose storylines seemed included to confront the audience without sufficiently contributing to the message.
The standout performer, for me, was Sarah Kleeman, who took on all roles of Adult Women in the show, and perfectly transitioned from persona to persona with subtle vocal trills that gave depth to seemingly minor characters. I know my negative opinion about the show is an unpopular one, but to me, Spring Awakening was a victim of its own hype. I had heard it compared to the quality of recent breakout hits In the Heights and Wicked, and this praise was, as I saw it, off the mark.
In Soviet Russia, Iron Invades You!
This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.
This weekend, the SyFy network gave us an early Valentine’s gift of their new original movie Iron Invader, directed by Paul Ziller (Android Apocalypse, Stonehenge Apocalypse). I have a love for made-for-TV movies, and while I’m partial to the “your baby will be kidnapped by a conspiracy” brand more common to the Lifetime network, there is a wholly different type of fun to be had with the B-horror revival on the SyFy network.
In Iron Invader, a pair of brothers living in the small farm town of Redeemer (a poignant name never to be used poetically) are startled when a mass of old car parts covered in Nickelodeon-brand Slime falls from the sky onto their land. At first it seems that the mass itself is the titular iron invader, making me think how unlucky these guys are that a deformed Cylon from the 1970s crash-landed there instead of Superman. Especially given that these guys are kind of good-looking, and if this movie were on deeper cable, I think the story would get a lot sexier from here on out.
The brothers, discovering that the twisted metal is a damaged Russian satellite, take it to old Earl’s scrapyard, believing they can sell it for some quick cash. There they see a giant metal sculpture, where they come to the obvious conclusion that it is the skeleton of one of the gorillas often used to draw customers to used car lots. Shockingly, they are wrong, and the sculpture is revealed to be proud Earl’s handiwork. He has created a golem out of scrap metal and plans to display it at the county fair. It’s unclear to me if Earl is Jewish, but I have to wonder if his not-Wicker Man would bring up any anti-Semitic feelings in this extremely tiny rural town.
The green slime begins “activating,” causing its metal hosts to move on their own accord towards the golem, where the slime grows, infecting the metal makeup of the entire sculpture. Now self-propelled, the golem wanders the night, looking for human victims for a reason yet to be defined. It finds the perfect first victim in an alternate universe version of David Crosby if he were a contestant on Gay Rock of Love, and leaves his corpse distended with swollen veins and arteries.
Making its way through the town, the infected golem strikes back at the farm of the two brothers, killing the younger one, Ethan. When his brother Jake finds his body, he reacts with a gentle “Aw, no no no no,” which is likely not how I would respond, but what do I know – I’ve never been involved in an attack by alien goop (plus robots). Meanwhile, Jake’s high school sweetheart Amanda is back in town with her teenage daughter, and Jake, being a regular Mystery the Pick Up Artist, asks Amanda out within literally one minute of hearing about her divorce.
The robot kills some more people, so everyone decides to take refuge in the local bar, and Amanda, being a high school biology teacher, figures out that the green goo is a space age bacteria that feeds on metal, so the reason it is draining people is because of the iron in human blood. Earl is getting blame from all sides for creating a killer robot, but his defense of, “I couldn’t build a machine; I don’t even have a high school diploma,” is pretty solid, except that it’s actually the most ridiculous thing ever. Basically everyone is clueless except for Amanda. Even the coroner, who’s a regular House, M.D., thinks that the dead people all died of E. Coli, even though there’s all these destroyed buildings and a giant living robot wandering the streets. (Maybe it’s lupus?)
The bartender’s got some pretty serious mutton chops, which alone is a pretty good indicator that he’s going to die, but when he jokes to Earl’s grandson, “your grandfather’s in the monster-making business now, is he?” he seals his fate. Eventually he is killed by an infected axe head that literally flies off the handle and stabs him in the foot. There’s a lot of ridiculous stuff going on at this point, with bar patrons trying to kill the alien bacteria using hand soap (“It says it’s antibacterial!”), Amanda slicing her arm all to hell with a knife to lure the robot away from her daughter, the robot sparing said daughter (“Thank God you’re anemic!” Really.), and then Jake blowing up the golem for some reason even though that doesn’t kill the bacteria. Of course, in the end , the bacteria can be killed by alcohol, so they pour beer and whiskey all over the shrapnel to save themselves. Of course, because the satellite was Russian, there is a comment about “Commie sonsabitches,” but surprisingly no link is drawn between this and the alcohol being what saves the day.
I admit, I would have liked a little more from Iron Invader. I was curious why the bacteria could take over a golem and make it walk, but it wouldn’t do the same to the humans it attacked, commandeering their bodies like Vincent D’Onofrio in Men in Black, giving the movie a bit more of a zombie edge. And the movie lacked a memorable catchphrase, such as “Release the Kraken,” or “Damn you, Sharktopus!” As to why the falling satellite was not noticed by any astronomers, or why the bits of infected shrapnel could float of their own accord, but the golem had to walk like a biped, instead of hovering or whatever, I choose ignorance. Join me in two weeks for a recap of the next SyFy original movie, Area 51, which premieres on Saturday, February 26 at 9/8c.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Social Networking
Full disclosure: I am an employee of Sony. That said, there is a really great event happening this Sunday at the Arclight Sherman Oaks, a free documentary screening and filmmaker Q&A, which I think anyone living in L.A. should think about doing this weekend.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
No more than meets the eye.
I have to talk about Transformers 3 for a minute. The first movie was completely forgettable, and I didn't bother to see the sequel. But now I am legitimately offended by the existence of the newest installment, Dark of the Moon.
My issue right now is that the trailer starts out teasing you about a *really awesome* looking movie, and then hits you with the Transformers stick. How great would a movie be about these young astronauts going on a secret mission on the dark side of the moon, then discovering this crashed spaceship (nevermind that a ship that massive crashing into our moon would likely have seriously affected life on Earth), and all the adventures that could lead to?! And then "Oh, okay, Michael Bay, well...this could still be awesome, just dumb, I guess." And hey, Steven Spielberg producing! Cool! And then there's a decepticon or whatever and "TRANSFORMERS" and just all the wind was taken out of my sails. Bait and switch, trailer makers. How dare you.
My issue right now is that the trailer starts out teasing you about a *really awesome* looking movie, and then hits you with the Transformers stick. How great would a movie be about these young astronauts going on a secret mission on the dark side of the moon, then discovering this crashed spaceship (nevermind that a ship that massive crashing into our moon would likely have seriously affected life on Earth), and all the adventures that could lead to?! And then "Oh, okay, Michael Bay, well...this could still be awesome, just dumb, I guess." And hey, Steven Spielberg producing! Cool! And then there's a decepticon or whatever and "TRANSFORMERS" and just all the wind was taken out of my sails. Bait and switch, trailer makers. How dare you.
Return to form?
So Sunday night's post-Super Bowl episode of Glee was miserable, and didn't bear discussing. Luckily it was fairly standalone, plotwise, so this week's episode could swoop in without a viewing. Quinn, Brittany, and Santana chose New Directions over Cheerios, and Quinn kissed Finn.
Our mohawked guitar-player Puck is now harboring a not-quite requited crush on Laura Zizes, the newest member of New Directions. It makes sense that Puck would go for a tough girl, one who's a badass, being the school's wrestling champion, and one who turned him down after their blackmail-induced kiss didn't turn her on. Puck, being an idiot, thinks that Laura should be thrilled to receive his advances since he is a dreamboat (but looks 35), and she is heavy-set. She continues to turn him down, and Puck earnestly pursues her, not once hiding his affection for her, which I did find to be a sweet surprise. He serenaded her with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was an obvious choice, and clearly offended Laura. I think a rendition of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" would have swayed her *if* the show felt so desperately that he needed to pick a song about her weight. She continues to keep him on the hook, admitting that she likes him, but wants him to prove that he's really genuinely interested in her. In one episode, a minor character has been given a thoughtful plotline about body image when main cast member Mercedes has been weirdly subjected to starvation dieting one week and protesting the cafeteria's removal of tater tots another. Well done, show?
Santana's jealousy plotline wasn't very interesting, though it seemed an obvious extension of her role on the show. However, her conniving plan to infect Finn with mononucleosis in order to reveal that Quinn's cheating on Sam with him, was clever, and a perfectly devious way to stir up drama when Santana is feeling dissatisfied with her situation. Also, the line "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo" was good enough to forgive her awkward 'street slang' which cropped up once again. Meanwhile, Tina and Mike are so in love that she breaks down crying during a really weird performance of "My Funny Valentine," and I guess this doesn't bother Artie at all because he's with Brittany. I maintain that Brittany and Mike deserve each other and should just be funny sexy dance lovers, but whatever. His slow-motion dancing to Artie's "P.Y.T." was so cute! Team Mike Chang.
What does it say about Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer or his character Kurt that I completely forget that Kurt has transfered out of McKinley and is now singing with the Warblers at Blazer Prep? His crush Blaine, played by Darren Criss who has more charisma than the rest of the male cast combined, wants to serenade his crush, some dude at the mall with crazy grunge hair and great bone structure. It's awesome. It's a weird ad for The Gap ("Shop at The Gap! We fire our gay employees?") but the song is just great and Darren Criss is like a teddy bear that you want to make out with. Kurt is surprisingly okay with the fact that Blaine isn't into him (given his creepy reactions when his straight brother Finn rebuffed him). There's a great moment after Blaine says, "If [the grunge-hair dude and I] got married, I'd get a 50% discount [at the Gap]," and the camera pans to Kurt's "Really?" face, then quickly back. Well done, show.
Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel decide that they're better off focusing on themselves instead of desperately needing boyfriends, which - THANK YOU, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - will help them become the stars they are destined to be. From my heart to your face, readers: If you are not happy when you're single, you will not be happy when you're in a relationship; date yourself first! Also, plus points for identifying Patti LuPone as Kurt's diva idol. My friend Ashley who is a gay man in a woman's body would approve. Rachel decides to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" as a sort of love song to herself, and an awkward reference to her love parallelogram with Quinn/Finn and whoever, and she blows it away. I like the song more than a lot of people do, but Lea Michele performs it with all the teen angst and self-empowerment that she can muster. Let's hope this show can start using Rachel's character better...if she is more comfortable with her reality, maybe she'll be less insufferable.
All in all, one of the best Glee episodes in a while. Keep praying for the spinoff Brittany loves Mike Chang!
Our mohawked guitar-player Puck is now harboring a not-quite requited crush on Laura Zizes, the newest member of New Directions. It makes sense that Puck would go for a tough girl, one who's a badass, being the school's wrestling champion, and one who turned him down after their blackmail-induced kiss didn't turn her on. Puck, being an idiot, thinks that Laura should be thrilled to receive his advances since he is a dreamboat (but looks 35), and she is heavy-set. She continues to turn him down, and Puck earnestly pursues her, not once hiding his affection for her, which I did find to be a sweet surprise. He serenaded her with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was an obvious choice, and clearly offended Laura. I think a rendition of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" would have swayed her *if* the show felt so desperately that he needed to pick a song about her weight. She continues to keep him on the hook, admitting that she likes him, but wants him to prove that he's really genuinely interested in her. In one episode, a minor character has been given a thoughtful plotline about body image when main cast member Mercedes has been weirdly subjected to starvation dieting one week and protesting the cafeteria's removal of tater tots another. Well done, show?
Santana's jealousy plotline wasn't very interesting, though it seemed an obvious extension of her role on the show. However, her conniving plan to infect Finn with mononucleosis in order to reveal that Quinn's cheating on Sam with him, was clever, and a perfectly devious way to stir up drama when Santana is feeling dissatisfied with her situation. Also, the line "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo" was good enough to forgive her awkward 'street slang' which cropped up once again. Meanwhile, Tina and Mike are so in love that she breaks down crying during a really weird performance of "My Funny Valentine," and I guess this doesn't bother Artie at all because he's with Brittany. I maintain that Brittany and Mike deserve each other and should just be funny sexy dance lovers, but whatever. His slow-motion dancing to Artie's "P.Y.T." was so cute! Team Mike Chang.
What does it say about Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer or his character Kurt that I completely forget that Kurt has transfered out of McKinley and is now singing with the Warblers at Blazer Prep? His crush Blaine, played by Darren Criss who has more charisma than the rest of the male cast combined, wants to serenade his crush, some dude at the mall with crazy grunge hair and great bone structure. It's awesome. It's a weird ad for The Gap ("Shop at The Gap! We fire our gay employees?") but the song is just great and Darren Criss is like a teddy bear that you want to make out with. Kurt is surprisingly okay with the fact that Blaine isn't into him (given his creepy reactions when his straight brother Finn rebuffed him). There's a great moment after Blaine says, "If [the grunge-hair dude and I] got married, I'd get a 50% discount [at the Gap]," and the camera pans to Kurt's "Really?" face, then quickly back. Well done, show.
Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel decide that they're better off focusing on themselves instead of desperately needing boyfriends, which - THANK YOU, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - will help them become the stars they are destined to be. From my heart to your face, readers: If you are not happy when you're single, you will not be happy when you're in a relationship; date yourself first! Also, plus points for identifying Patti LuPone as Kurt's diva idol. My friend Ashley who is a gay man in a woman's body would approve. Rachel decides to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" as a sort of love song to herself, and an awkward reference to her love parallelogram with Quinn/Finn and whoever, and she blows it away. I like the song more than a lot of people do, but Lea Michele performs it with all the teen angst and self-empowerment that she can muster. Let's hope this show can start using Rachel's character better...if she is more comfortable with her reality, maybe she'll be less insufferable.
All in all, one of the best Glee episodes in a while. Keep praying for the spinoff Brittany loves Mike Chang!
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