More Awesome Technology

When the film Minority Report hit theatres back in 2002, two things seemed certain. 1) Tom Cruise was box office GOLD, not to mention totally sane. 2) Touchless computer manipulation, like Tom's character used when he donned special gloves and deftly moved pictures through the air, was pure science fiction. Flash forward four years of super-exponential technological growth - and one overexposed and f*cking bizarre courtship/birth, and those certainties are shattered. A new company called G-speak is working on the technology to replace the mouse (plastic, not furry) with your hands.

I didn't really love the movie (except for the fine performance of Colin Farrell, before he turned into the man-whore he is today), but I recently referenced that scene in a conversation about the future of computers. (To be honest, I actually mimed the mid-air movement, in what must have been a truly dorky display) As it turns out, one of G-speak's co-founders aided Mr. Spielberg in making that imagined technology look so compelling. The real system looks similar: gloves with reflective beads work with cameras that interpret gestures using the reflected light. Each pre-determined gesture corresponds to an action. Objects on-screen can be moved. Video can be stopped or rewound - a "TiVo-like control." For designers who work in 3-D, the advantages are endless. Plus - it just looks frickin awesome!!!

There are detractors, of course, including one scientist named Ed Chi who says:

"It turns out people are lazy... They don't want to move a lot to interact with their technology."

People are lazy, eh? Well, there's "I don't want to go exercise or work in the yard or cook a homemade dinner because it takes effort and energy, and I'm tired from a long day," and then there's "my hand is too heavy and unwieldy to move six inches from left to right, Jeeves, I fear I'll strain myself trying to use the computer... also, would you fetch me some of those delightful pork rinds from the pantry?" I think plenty of tech geeks would sacrifice their trusty mouse to try something out of a sci-fi movie. As long as Mr. Cruise doesn't show up and start making jokes about eating placenta or Xenu. Crazy f*ck.

Ready, Set, PLAY!

Saturday night was one of the most gloriously geeky evenings of my life. Play! - A Video Game Symphony made its world debut at the Rosemont Theatre, and Alan and I were there! The Chicagoland Pops Orchestra and Choir, along with some awesome special guests, did a magnificent job of bringing music from over a dozen beloved video games to life. As a longtime fan of Final Fantasy, I was pleased that several of the pieces came from VII and VIII - with Nobuo Uematsu, godfather of Final Fantasy music, there to oversee it all. It was especially cool to get the final piece, "One-Winged Angel," TWICE! (I've mocked such repetition in one-hit wonder bands like Wheatus, who once played "Teenage Dirtbag" not once but THREE TIMES in my presence. Since this was a once in a lifetime affair, the encore was more than acceptable.) There was a small glitch: it seems that Square Enix did not give Play! the rights to use imagery from their games. That meant no deadly Sephiroth in flames to accompany "One-Winged Angel," no Crono, Frog or Magus during the Chrono Trigger suite, and not even a glimpse of fleet-footed Chocobo when Arnie Roth turned the adorable bird's theme music into a swinging big-band number. A minor bummer, but there was more than enough auditory nostalgia to make up for it.

I spent the entire three-hour performance with a grin plastered to my face, but there were a few especially glee-inducing moments. Koji Kondo, otherwise known as the genius who composed almost all of the music from the Super Mario Bros. and Zelda games, was there in person!!! He played a jaunty piano solo from the forthcoming Mario game before the orchestra launched into an awesome Mario medley, complete with coin-gathering, Goomba-stomping video. Consequently, I've had the original Super Mario Bros. music stuck in my head for almost 48 hours.

Highlight #2: We had some (occasionally clever) wiseasses sitting behind us. One of them uttered the following gem after perusing the program: "No Tetris? Who are these people, savages?" Right before the program ended, Roth paused to announce that he had a special treat in store for this debut audience. From behind us and far to the left came the call: "TETRIS???" The crowd loved it. I think my thumbs actually got twitchy.

It was a great night, and it inspired me to a) buy a used copy of FF VIII to replace the one I gave my brother Steve years ago, b) dig out the demo copy of FF XII that came with Dragon Quest VIII and give it a whirl, and c) show Alan the opening sequence from FF VII so he could meet Cloud, Barrett and Aeris. Obsess much, you ask? Yes. But don't worry, I actually went outside during my Memorial Day weekend. We made our first trip to the beach for 2006 and had a few beers at Casey Moran's during the CUBS WIN! P.S. - Jennifer Aniston loves the Cubs. Pass it on. :)

Invisibility: Closer Than You Think

I'm not ashamed to say that I've read all six (available) Harry Potter books. I'm not ashamed of pre-ordering Half-Blood Prince so that it would arrive, via amazon.com, on the day it was released, saving me valuable travel/reading/effort time. And I'm certainly not ashamed of seeing the first Chicago midnight screening of Goblet of Fire with Alan and some good friends. Though... I'm a little ashamed of leaning over and whispering a terrible pun to Ravey as Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor headed into the trap-laden and winding foliage of the final task, in search of the Tri-Wizard Cup. What did I whisper? "That's a-MAZE-ing!" I'm a dork.

So imagine my excitement to read about a newly published study which reports: an invisibility cloak is closer to reality than I thought! In theory, a cloak like Harry's - and it would be more like a shield, given the thickness - is entirely possible, once engineering catches up with scientific progress. I don't pretend to understand the details, but it would work like this:

...like a river streaming around a smooth boulder, light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation would strike the cloak and simply flow around it, continuing on as if it never bumped up against an obstacle. That would give an onlooker the apparent ability to peer right through the cloak, with everything tucked inside concealed from view.

Awesome. Magic sure is fun to read about, but science has it beat. Now if only we could discover that unicorns were real...

Bye Bye, Boo Boo

I have a sad update on an earlier Electra blog entry: despite the heroic mouth-to-beak resuscitation efforts of a nurse three months ago, Boo Boo the chicken has died. Boo Boo was a skittish bird and apparently prone to seizures, but she was a beautiful and exotic chicken and will be missed. After a near-death encounter with a pond, an ordinary chicken might have given up immediately, wary of water and avian flu. But Boo Boo, no ordinary chicken, enjoyed three more peaceful months of pleasant Arkansas spring. Boo Boo is survived by one chick, whose distinctive black and white marks remind its owners of its lovable mother. If you have a pet, treat it fondly today - for Boo Boo's sake.

That's the first time I've ever eulogized a chicken. Also, that sentence is something I never thought I'd type.

South Side BaseBrawl

Well well well... I leave town for the weekend (little brother's college graduation, and I could not be prouder of Supe), and I miss THE MOST SHOCKING TWIST IN THE CUBS/SOX RIVALRY EVER!!!!! ...or just some grown men beating on each other in front of a live crowd, you pick. And since I was staying at a Quality Inn in Troy, NY, with no internet, no local news and NO TIVO, I was forced to stay glued to ESPN this morning for MINUTES trying to catch a glimpse of what my brother called "the cleanest punch I've ever seen in baseball." It was a grueling ordeal. I waited for MINUTES!!!

Before seeing the fight, I was sure Pierzynski had done something to deserve it. He's a talented but hotheaded punk, after all. After seeing it and reading about it, I think he was running hard and being passionate. I'm still not sure how I feel about the chest-thumping afterwards, but I suppose the adrenaline was still running a bit hot. (As for his taunting of Zambrano today post-home run... now THAT was a totally punk move, albeit a move the crowd at the Cell certainly appreciated.) Michael Barrett is on the jackass list for taking an action that will definitely result in a suspension and thus DEFINITELY hurt the Cubs. The Cubs - and their fans - don't need any more pain.

Wait a minute... Kerry Wood's experiencing soreness in his shoulder? He might miss a start mere days after coming off the DL? WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT MORE CUBS PAIN?!?!?

The Waiting (Almost) Drove Me Mad

As if this past weekend's amazing Tool show wasn't enough to make me happy... I just got back from the United Center and my first Pearl Jam show EVER. I've been a fan for almost 15 years. It was worth the wait. They started with Release, tore right through four songs from the new record, eventually covered the Beatles and the Who, and ended with a raucous Yellow Ledbetter. Quote of the night comes from Eddie Vedder, after the band reclaimed the stage for the second encore just around 11pm: "I don't know where we're playing tomorrow, but f*ck 'em." Um, Eddie, you're playing Chicago again tomorrow. Runner-up quote of the night, also from Eddie, and totally paraphrased: "I bet we could raise this roof tonight if we took down some of these banners... like this Jordan one!" (Lusty boos from Michael Jordan lovers) "We could put it in my suitcase!" (Boos turn to cheers)

Plenty of Q101 listeners in the crowd, which was one of the most enthusiastic I've ever been in. Singing and swaying and general happiness. Not to mention... Pearl Jam is just a fantastic live band. Even songs I'm sick to death of, thanks to my job (Evenflow, Alive, and Daughter to name a few), sounded fresh and exciting thanks to flourishes and improvising. After almost three hours of music, I turned to Alan and said, "I could see them again right now." I may have been exaggerating, since my legs are about to give out and bed sounds like heaven right now.


Setlist:

Release, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Comatose, Given To Fly, Low Light, Corduroy, I'm Open, I Got Shit, Evenflow, Unemployable, Daughter/(WMA-improv lyrics about president), Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Save You, Porch

1st encore: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Better Man, Come Back, State of Love and Trust, Black, Alive
2nd encore: 2nd encore: Go, Blood/Atomic Dog, Indifference, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter


Goodnight all.

Tool: The Review

I don't want to brag, especially since I know how lucky I am to have gotten tickets when so many didn't, but last night's Tool show at the Auditorium Theatre was one of the best I've seen in a while. It was my second Tool experience, and I am still beaming about it. Here's your setlist:

Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Right in Two
Sober
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

Maynard stayed in full sight of the crowd the whole time, standing next to the drum set in a cowboy hat (occasionally), shirtless and sunglassed. (Sunglassed... word? Not a word? Probably not a word.) To the best of my knowledge, the visuals (on four tall monitors) were mostly the old videos and a few new treats, like during "Vicarious." A few songs in, Maynard stopped to say: "Chicago... I don't know what it is about this town, but I always get sick." He sounded good, considering. Our setlist was slightly different - and a tad shorter - than what they've been playing to compensate. They played "Right in Two" (for the first time ever, I guess... awesome) instead of "The Pot" to save his voice, and swapped out "The Patient" entirely. Maynard thanked everyone for coming to this "warm-up show" and promised to be back in "late summer."

Things I particularly loved:

-Just about everything Danny Carey did. That man is amazing.
-The breakdown in the middle of Schism.
-The band choosing to sit on the stage rather than leave before the "encore." Maynard teasingly asked for more applause while they drank water and drank up the love.
-Forty-Six and 2 and Aenema. I personally nearly broke my neck jamming out to that final song.
-The crowd. Pretty much everyone was excited, happy, and into it. I saw people in all manner of Tool gear, girls dressed up like it was prom, and a lot of smiles. People gathered outside the Auditorium Theatre after the show for smokes and excited chatter; every once in a while you'd hear this roar go up from the crowd, like they couldn't contain themselves after what they just saw.

Add an excellent pre-show dinner and post-show socializing with friends until the wee hours, and really, I could not have asked for a better weekend. How was yours?

Tooooool Toooooonight!!!

Today is a happy day, and a bit of a sad one too. A good friend is back in town for the weekend. Another one is moving to Milwaukee to start a new job tomorrow. And, thanks to the extreme kindness and diligence of a co-worker, we're going to see Tool tonight at the Auditorium Theatre. (I'm listening to "Hooker With a Penis" as we speak.) There will be lots of celebrating tonight. I feel extremely lucky - especially because our seats are reeeeeally good. I'll tell Maynard you said hello.

Two Thoughts, One Post

a) Muse is one of my favorite bands, and a new song FINALLY surfaced this week. I've been obsessed with it (read: listening to it at least 10 times a day) since Monday, and I'd like to share it with you. Muse is made up of three talented guys who make more noise than bands twice their size - sometimes overly ambitious, sometimes dizzyingly orchestral, often Radiohead-esque, and - I think - totally brilliant. "Supermassive Black Hole" sounds like Queen on steroids. It's crunchy and weird and falsetto-tastic. This song has hardcore Muse fans split: some hate its poppy, dancey, not-the-Muse-of-old sound, and some love it. I'm in the latter group. I love my Museykins. Please go listen. (Link via Stereogum)

b) Shameless plug: tomorrow is the first edition of this year's Bud Light Bleacher Bash! I'll be broadcasting live from Redmond's on Sheffield. There will be beer, Cubs tickets, and Electra's Toy Box. (Connect Four, Operation and Barrel of Monkeys = surprisingly fun when drunk.) So what if the Cubs have lost 9 of their last 10? They made it through three games without allowing Barry "Big Steroid-Using Liar" Bonds to hit a home run, and that's something to celebrate. With beer. During the workday. See you there!

The Lost Experience: Post #2

I'm tingly about tonight's Lost, and I'm in way too deep with the Lost Experience. Alan and I have been spending a lot of time on the Hanso Foundation's website. So far, what we're discovered has very little to do DIRECTLY with the characters and plots covered in the show, save Mr. Hanso himself - but even he has only been introduced in a filmstrip, quoted by a dirty guy with a fake beard, and possibly vaguely referenced by a creepy liar. Instead, the game is fleshing out a world BEYOND the island... which, one would assume, will eventually lead to why our castaways find themselves in their current predicament. There was even a clue in the Tribune today, for crying out loud! (A huge ad taken out by... you guessed it, the Hanso Foundation, if you missed it.) You have to give the Lost brain trust points for creativity.

This is a great blog full of clues, but I only go when I'm stumped. I'm all about helping each other out, but only after going through the steps first, you know? So in the spirit of helping... go to sublymonal.com, play around with the monitors until you find something, then head back to Hanso and poke around there, looking for changes. Apparently crafty ABC hid a clue in commercial during the bird flu movie, and I'm sure you weren't watching that. :)

Update: 5/11/06 Well, the updated Hanso Foundation ad ran during last night's Lost after all. That's great news, because if ABC was going to make me watch crap like According to Jim to get my clues, I would be pissed off.

Babies and Bird Flu

Britney Spears is officially pregnant again. She'll be announcing the impending birth shortly on Letterman. (Believe it or not, I'm not watching.) And here I was, thinking the bird flu movie was the biggest sign of the apocalypse on television today. Seriously - the pandemic hasn't even arrived yet, and we've already got a made-for-sweeps TV movie about it? What's next, a government official issuing inane statements about the reasons for said movie?

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt saw the movie and described it as "a fictional account designed to entertain.

"It was not a factual presentation of a real-life situation. It's obviously depicting events that have occurred in the past and could occur in the future," he said.

Yes, he said "designed to entertain." Okay, it's a television movie, so I get that it's not supposed to be hard news. But the first definition of "entertain" that pops to mind (and on dictionary.com) is "To hold the attention of with something amusing or diverting." Nothing screams "amusing" to me like nation-wide quarantine, mass hysteria and a deadly superflu. To be fair, superflu can lead to some great entertainment, but only in the hands of my favorite Entertainment Weekly columnist. But this movie doesn't look back fondly on a real averted crisis or create an imagined chaotic scenario. It takes a possible impending REAL scenario and imagines what it could be like as a REAL crisis - which doesn't exactly help diminish REAL building panic! And REAL BUILDING PANIC isn't amusing!!!

Oh, and nothing good will come from being impregnated - AGAIN - by the mastermind behind "PopoZao." That poor, dumb girl.

David Blaine: Not Drowned Dead

Well, David Blaine didn't drown in Lincoln Center tonight. But he didn't set the world record for holding one's breath underwater, either. I didn't watch Blaine's latest "stunt" - or as I prefer to call it, desperate plea for press and attention - but I just read this recap of "Drowned Alive." I wouldn't click that link until half an hour or so after eating. It's peppered with unpleasant phrases about the side effects of spending a week underwater. The word "pruny" doesn't even come close.

I'm not much of a Blaine fan, though I wore out a Mr. Blackstone's magic kit as a wee Electra. To me, his elaborate stunts smack of self-indulgence. True feats of strength and courage happen every day without the benefit of a camera crew, incredulous reporters and celebrity gawkers. If David Blaine is disciplined enough to survive these incredible tests of endurance, why can't he utilize that energy for something practical? He trained with Navy SEALS to survive underwater: why couldn't he have been a soldier himself? Mr. Blaine may be an inspiration to some, but to this cynic, he's a crazy dude with a great PR team.

Of course, I've taken an expensive English degree, focusing on British poetry, and used it to prop up my ever-expanding CD collection, so I shouldn't talk about squandering one's potential. (Mom, Dad - I'm kidding. It's really just collecting dust in a drawer.)

Mission: OVERREACT!

So here's a shocker: Mission: Impossible III didn't do as well this weekend as distributors and other movie types hoped and predicted. Since its launch kicked off the "blockbuster season" to less than thunderous success, some critics have claimed the whole summer movie season is now doomed. DOOMED! (Making less than $50 million in a weekend is the new abject failure, I guess. So... just call me Lil' Miss Incompetent.)

Let's take a more objective look at why M:I 3 might, just might have tanked.

1) It's been 6 years since M:I 2. Yeah, I'd say the anticipation for the next installment fizzled some time ago. Also, I hear it was originally a TV show, but I think someone was just pulling my leg on that one.

2) The plot was, according to at least one respected critic, short on dialogue, formulaic, and repetitive. I know there are plenty of people who are still shocked and awed by explosions on the big screen, no plot necessary, but that number has to have shrunk since the dawn of the CGI era.

3) I'M TOTALLY F***ING SICK OF SEEING TOM CRUISE'S CRAZY F***ING FACE, AND SOME CORPORATE BIGWIG IS GOING TO SHED A TEAR FOR THE FUTURE OF CINEMA BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO PAY $10 PLUS SNACKS PLUS PARKING PLUS THE AGGRAVATION OF PEOPLE TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONES/PEOPLE TALKING TO THE SCREEN/PEOPLE IN GENERAL TO SEE F***INC M:I III???

...So yeah, I think it's a little early to pass judgment about the summer blockbuster season.

P.S. - Anyone else lucky enough to snag Radiohead tickets this weekend? :) :) :)

Come Discover the "Lost Experience"

Tonight's new Lost (damn, I can't believe there's finally a new Lost) will be the first in which "clues" will be given for the new "Lost Experience." It's sort of like a treasure hunt, from what I can gather. Viewers can discover new characters and plots using hints and hidden visuals in each new episode, with the ultimate goal of finding out more about the island's secrets than the show itself reveals. It's supposed to be globally interactive too; imagine thousands of Lost fans who've never met, working together to solve a mystery. It makes me a little bit tingly.

I like scavenger hunts - they were a highlight of my Park View Jr. High Chorus days, when my friends and our families would race around Cranston looking for items and information for FABULOUS PRIZES. So I'm interested in a multimedia scavenger hunt that will shed some light on the zillions of questions Lost asks every week. But if it ends up being just as cryptic, or some unfulfilling detour, I'm going to be pretty annoyed. For now, though, I'm in. The heads-up for this week: there will be a phone number revealed during the commercials. Apparently you call it to get started. Anyone else who's playing along, feel free to come back here to share what you find...