Category Archives: movies

December 16, 2022 · 00:11

The fickle entertainment industry

A few hours ago we were told that Henry Cavill will not return as Superman. The reason is not known to me. It was clear that he was eager and he did a magnificent role in Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman and Justice League. We saw him twice in a little exit shot in two movies, Shazam and another one. I honestly was looking forward to Gerald of Rivia to return as the man of steel (another fine franchise with Henry Cavill). We can speculate all we want, but the DC stage is up to James Gunn and Peter Safran and they have quite the plan brewing (from other small clips), their world is a lot bigger than the man of steel, how it all fits together is unknown to me and after the initial news in October that Henry would return, the setback will suck for all the Cavill fans around and he has plenty of those all over the world.

So as the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63983600) gives us “Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios in late October, just after Cavill made a surprise appearance as the Man of Steel during the credits of the Dwayne Johnson film Black Adam”, with the added “Among those on the slate is Superman. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill.” It makes sense that this is chosen, but that also does not rule out Cavill in a future Superman movie (but that is pure speculation from my side). I reckon that we will have to wait until the new year as we are given “we’ll be able to share some exciting information about our first projects at the beginning of the new year”, so I reckon that January is a month of DC revelations and with the hit that is Black Adam, it could go in directions we cannot yet tell, but there is every chance that the DC fans will go bug nuts when they get the actual information. No matter how this turns out, we still have 2023 with upcoming Argylle. And three other titles with release dates that are currently TBA. There is The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Rosie Project and some Highlander reboot. So there will be no shortage of Cavill in the cinema. For the rest, no matter where he is, he remains a local boy supporting the Jersey Reds. 

So we get it plans change and the entertainment industry is fickle to say the least, but to change gears to this degree in a span of 6 weeks is a little harsh to anyone facing it, and I think he took it and responded like a champ.

For me? Well I was looking forward to the next Superman movie because I remember the comics (Death of Superman) and the follow on where Clark Kent was revived and ended up a lot more Kryptonian than Kevin Costner left him, so I was kinda looking forward to that comic sequence to become silver screen reality. Still, I will have to wait what the DC bosses have in mind for us. I cannot give you anything real or any facts, I have to wait what comes just like all of you. Still, the stage gave me a few ideas to pursue towards the stories I put on this blog. I have now a clear grasp of Keno Diastima season 3, but a few issues on how to fill in the story, still I could not resist to make NASA part of it. And with the peeking solution called the James Webb space telescope I can look in other directions as well. The mini series is still at a standstill. I did come up with one hell of a twist ending, but there are a few other sides to it all, what we cannot see and what we were told (in school) are different settings and it gave me a few ideas. I’ll tell you soon how it pans out and there is a few more items on the shelf, I have not forgotten them, merely taking my time to consider the story on how it should (or could) evolve and that is the issue down the line. I have three plot lines running into season 3 and 4, and I am still looking at season 2. The stage that becomes the beginning of season 3 needs more ‘umph’, I cannot describe it any other way. The danger of any story written is that it has the danger of becoming too linear and I am trying to avoid that. Such is life. Time to snore and time to prepare for tomorrows challenge. 

Have fun all!

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November 27, 2022 · 19:09

It starts with options

Come to me in the vacation. I will explain what happened. I will take these of your hands for now. With that Olivander vanished and left Dan and the professor to go to Hogwarts.

It was snowy, it was dark, it was windy and it was wonderful. Dan always enjoyed the Christmas time. He quickly send an owl to his parents that he would be delayed by at least a day as he was expected at Olivanders. And as he entered the shop Olivander looked up with a big smile and quickly changed the sign at the door to ‘closed’, he then beckoned Dan to come to the back of the shop. There were two goblets with warm wine. Dan looked puzzled at Olivander. Your mother told me, I went to see them and told them I would be seeing you.

So lets start at the beginning. You are as far as we can tell a Wand finder. People with that gift are rare, very rare. Some become wand makers, some become wand merchants. All wand makers are wand merchants, not all wand merchants are wand makers. Some fix wands but that is part of the training you will face as my apprentice. We need to see how far your skills go. It is not an easy path, but there is always need for a Wand maker, there aren’t too many of us left and my apprentice went to the north. He was good, but nowhere near me, too hasty. You could surpass me, as I am not a wand finder. 

A wand finder connects to wands, or better stated the wands connect to you. They only do this when their masters are gone or no longer sensed. Dan looked at Olivanders in some puzzlement. The wand choses the wizard, this has been a truth for the longest time. But the wand finder has the ability to see the best wood, the best ingredients and in some cases, they can retrieve much better quality goods. How far your skills go is not known and we might not know that for some time. But first things first. There were the 23 wands from the match, and there were 47 wands from the train. We found the owners of 15 of the wands. And only 12 of the other lot, but that seek is going on, which makes for a total of 52 galleons for you for the wands that were reunited with their owners, and also, he went behind the counter. A small silver goblet. It is quite exquisite. It has properties. If a poisonous drink is poured in this goblet, it lights up green, if the drink is not poisonous, but is harmful, the goblet will get a yellow shine. Dan looked at the goblet with some amazement. He had heard of protective cups, but this was the first time he saw one. Olivander continued. The man was happy to leave this to you as he was getting old and he has no family left, getting his wand back meant everything to him. Dan stared at the goblet, it was small, it fit easily in his hand and when he stared the cup seem to have a glow of sorts, there was almost invisible etchings on the inside of the cup, like elemental symbols, but not symbols he was familiar with. He nodded at Olivander and placed it in his messenger bag. Olivanders gave him the 8 wands from the match. These two are now dead, as such the wands are now attached to you until you get some skills. We will focus on those in the near future. The other 6 I was unable to find yet, 4 of them have the traits of a Bulgarian Wand maker, I did send him an owl, but the man might not give response soon, so we place them separately. The 35 remaining from the train are a bit of a problem. I am not getting response from these people. Most were first year Hogwarts students. The wand was not clearly defined and more importantly most of them got a second wand that year. So we need to wait a little longer. They might not care to get them back as they got connected to their new wands. 

Dan nodded.

Olivander looked at him. I want you to attend classes here in the new year during vacations. I am lucky, Flitwick is quite the charms expert. He will train you in splicing Yew wands, the easiest want to splice. He handed Dan a handful. These 20 wands are empty, be careful with them, because they still take time to make. You will do this in Hogwarts to see how you fare without your skills. Flitwick will teach you splice and unite spells and see how you handle this. Some of the wands will not survive, but that is how you learn, try to damage as few as possible please. 

Dan nodded, put the wands away and responded “Thank you master Olivander”, Olivander looked up with a big smile. I have not been called master Olivander for such a long time, it feels good to hear it again. What will you do now? Dan looked at the treasure he had. Gringot is my next destination, then home.

A Goblin by any other name

Dan walked into Gringots, and walked to the end. The Goblin looked up to Dan. Alone today? Yes sir, I would like to open a deposit box for personal storage. The goblin looked at him. It is one galleon per year, but you have a large family vault? Dan looked at the Goblin “I am now the apprentice of Olivander” I will need access to my own space for now. The Goblin nodded. Fee is one galleon per year, that is the fee all large vault holders pay. Dan placed a galleon on the desk. The Goblin took the coin and handed it to a clerk. He will show you the goblin who will take care of your box. Dan nodded and followed the clerk to the side. A goblin in a pristine suit looked at him. He listened to the clerk and took the coin. He stated that he could not access his box until the arrear was settled, Dan nodded. Can I pay ahead if I so desire? The Goblin nodded. Yes, that is possible, you have a year to pay the next year. A moment later a box roughly 60 by 30 by 10 was delivered. “Wand please” the Goblin asked. The wand was examined and placed on the box for a few seconds. Then the wand was handed back to him. Now perform any spell on the box and Dan whispered “Avis aspectu” and the box lighted up for a second than faded again. He opened the box and took his coin purse. He took a few coins out and placed the bulk in the box and closed it. The goblin looked and asked him to try the spell again “Avis aspectu” and the box lit up again. He could open the box and he saw the purse, he closed the box again. He saw the clerk moving towards the box with a cart. Dan picked up the box and placed it on the cart. He then looked at the Goblin. All done now, the Goblin responded. It normally takes a few minutes to get your box. Dan nodded, he nodded at the Goblin and clerk and left the bank. 

He walked through Diagon Alley. He had never done this with 4 galleons that were all his. He went into the bookshop and got another potions book he would need coming year. He had seen a small golden cauldron, but it was 45 galleons, he could afford it, but he had no real need at present. He was not that good a potion maker and even as Snape was approving of his potions, he could see the frown on more than one occasion. He would wait with that a little longer, but he did like making his potions and they almost always worked. He walked on and moved towards the exit he usually used to walk into London. It was there that he waved his wand to fly back home and the conversation he would need to have with his parents.  

And that is how my part of the story ends. It is not my IP, as such I have no intention to continue, but the dream i had was vivd as such I felt the need to write it down, perhaps it serves someone, perhaps not. It was fun to write.

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November 26, 2022 · 22:31

The choice that was pushed

It was a late afternoon Dan Weigh was walking down a meadow, he was on route to a quidditch match. He did not attend many of these matches, but this was a world cup and he was able to get a ticket, well his father was. It would be Bulgaria versus Ireland. He had no real side in mind, merely that he was attending a match, and a match of this level he had never watched before. He checked his ticket. It was close to the end of one field, the side Ireland was on. He watched in some amusement how the people were green and white, or red and black. There was shouting all over the field and everyone was having a good time. He saw a stand where they were pouring drinks. It was hot wine with nuts. He loved that, he got the knack for it in Stockholm in winter, so he went over and asked for a large goblet. It was two extra sickles, but he got to keep the cup. He reminded himself to get two cups more so that he could give his parents one as well. He was sipping the drink which warmed him up. He was also tasting a distinct flavour of pumpkins, it made it even better. There was a barrel on the side an he sat on it sipping his goblet. He remained watching the people and recognised a few people. Some from Hufflepuff, 2 Slytherins, yet he did not recognise any one from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. There was a decent chance that they wee painted in the colours of ‘their’ team, so recognition was not going to be easy. He got another goblet and placed the empty one in the messenger bag. The lady serving him assured him that they would be there at least a day after the match. So he got his goblet and walked to the game area. He saw the sigs and walked to the area where he would be. As he walked he saw another person, well two at least. They were the Malfoys, Slytherins. He ignored them, he never liked the kid and his father was important in the ministry, he did not need that kind of attention. He followed a few dozen people all going his direction, all Irish fans. A couple looked at him and smiled, he smiled back. They walked on and he followed for a while until he noticed a sign and turned right. /He saw his seat and sat down. There was still at least half a cup and he quietly drank it. Then the match began.

The match was amazing, these people had broom skills that were very next level. He had never seen that level of skill at Hogwarts. He was a decent flyer, but nothing like that Gryffindor seeker Potter. That guy was already a legendary broom flyer in his third year. There was more, but he shook it off. He got his spyglass out, it had a few basic functions, it could freeze frame and rewind 10 seconds. It had belonged to his grandfather and he loved his spyglass. He also knew that there were more advanced options nowadays, but for one match it was not worth the investment. He wasn’t a miser, he merely needed to see return on investment, or at least the promise of one. Until the end of the match he was hooked, Bulgaria got the snitch, but Ireland still won by 10 points. It was an amazing match and like others he walked to the exit. He was back on the field and he walked straight to the drinks vendor and got his third goblet. He went back to the barrel and sat on it, slowly sipping his drink. He sat on the barrel, enjoying the warm drink, it wasn’t cold, but it was a little more nippy than earlier that day, the darkness was about to set in when he heard shouts, he heard chaos. Then he saw the men at the far end. He had seen these outfits before and it filled him with dread. They were death eaters. He took the last gulp from the goblet and put the goblet away. He grabbed his wand. He knew a conceal charm and performed it. He vanished from the eyes of others and looked around. He now had two problems. The first was to remain unseen. The second one was that as he was concealed, he was not seen and others could run into him knocking him over. He moved between the back of tents. Less likely to run into people. He saw the explosions, the wand waving and chaos. He then noticed a small child. He ran over grabbed the child who was in shock and moved back to the back of the tents. He performed the concealment charm on the child as well. The child now saw him. He pushed his finger to his mouth and the child understood him. “Where are your parents?” The child shrugged, he made the pouring gesture. So his parents had a drink stand somewhere. There were dozens, so that did not make it easier. The explosions became louder. Tents were on fire and he moved to the far end of the tents. The death eaters were not here. He might be a final year student, he could hold his own in a class fight, but a death eater? He shuddered to think what his chances were. At least he was able to keep one child safe. Then he saw the sky, the death eater mark. He knew this was not merely some display of chaos, this was a lot more. The area was now mostly quiet. He picked up the child and walked into the area where several drink stands were. He pointed at the stands. “Are your mommy and daddy here?” The child shook his head and pointed to the far north. He walked in that area. It was a little later when he saw some people distraught and confused. He walked on, he had to get this child to safety first. He then saw a rather large drink stand and the child pointed at the stand. Dan looked around, there were bodies everywhere, but they seem like sport fan, not staff. He then saw a woman hiding in a tent, clearly out of her mind with fear. “Mommy” the child cried and the woman looked up, but saw nothing. Dan ended the concealment spell and handed the child to the mother. She looked grateful. “Come, we need to get going. Not a good idea to hang around here” the woman nodded and held tightly on to the child. “The father?” Dan asked. “He is in our tavern” she replied. He waved his wand and now all three were concealed. The walked towards the end of the area and n that walk something odd happened. He started to notice wands on the ground like they were covered in an aura of light. He picked them up and placed them in his bag, the walk gave a total tally of 23 wands. They got to the end and he ended the spell. He wished the two well and she gave him a card. “Please drop by, so my husband and I can properly appreciate you” He took the card nodded and changed directions. He was out of the area, so now he could travel more precisely and unhindered. He went to Diagon alley. He booked a room in the leaky cauldron and contacted his parents. They had heard of what was going on and wondered why he had not come home. I will explain tomorrow, need to see someone here in the morning first. He had a decent meal, but it was clear that all over Diagon alley and the Leaky Cauldron there was merely one topic of conversation. The death eaters were back.

It was late morning when he woke up, he had a good sleep and went down for breakfast. He turned in the key and entered the alley. He walked down to Olivanders and entered. Good morning Mr Weigh. Good morning master Olivander. Could you please assist me? Olivander looked at me, wondering what was needed. I was at the match last night and I found these. He dropped the 23 wands on the counter. You once told me you remembered every wand you sold, as such can you assist getting these back to the people they belong to? Olivander nodded and looked at them. Yes, I can do that. I recognise a few and I will get them to the owners. I might not have sold all, so there will be some issues there, but I will do what I can. Dan nodded to Olivander and waved. He walked of to go home and tell them what happened and he was weirdly happy that he still had the goblets. 

Chook, Chook

It was two days later when he was at nine and three quarters. He boarded the train and got himself a seat in the coach that tended to be all Ravenclaw. He noticed several class mates and nodded to them. The nodded back. He was never much of a social person and others respected his space, just like he respected the space they had. The train ride was smooth and when they got to the station in the late afternoon, he noticed that his bag was heavier. He opened it only to be taken by surprise. Wands, dozens of them and he had no idea how he got them. He closed the bag and got off. He signalled one of the students. “Get Professor Flitwick here. I’ll wait at the station. This is important!” He was adamant and his fellow student understood that. He ran off towards Hogwarts. It was about 20 minutes later when Professor Flitwick arrived. Hello Mr Weigh. You have never summoned me before, well students do not summon professors. Dan looked at the professor and opened his bag. “I honestly do not know how I got these” Flitwick looked at Dan. “Well, well” this is the second time I ever see this. Wait here, you did the right thing. He made a gesture and suddenly Olivanders was here. Olivanders looked at the two in puzzlement. Flitwick then opened the bag. Dan seems to be a wand finder. Olivander livened up. Yes, he brought me 23 two days ago, It is good that you are at Hogwarts. Your powers will not work there, at least not as far as I understand. Come to me in the vacation. I will explain what happened. I will take these of your hands for now. With that Olivander vanished and left Dan and the professor to go to Hogwarts.

So this story appeared in my mind last night. This is not the beginning of more, but there is a chance that a second part will come and I will end the story there. I have a few more things to do and part one of the PD challenge is almost done. It is not due for another week (a nice way to start December), but in the meantime this occupied my mind. Perhaps because I was rewatching the 8 HP movies. This all got to me in a dream and about 30 minutes of typing. This is a weird Saturday to say the least.

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November 19, 2022 · 15:25

Correlating the mode

A weird term to say the least, but it will soon make sense. I was watching the Patriot today (the Mel Gibson version) which I had not seen in over a decade and something came over me. I suddenly wanted to play Assassins Creed 3 again.

One called or the other. I did not think it was a bad game, it had interesting elements and for one, the intro was brilliant. Yet the game had a missing part. It was a lot less AC then the previous ones and that is not bad, the game was not bad. It was merely less great. Yet one called for the other and I needed to recognise that. As such I wondered if BOTH directions work. You see the PS5 and Streamers (soon enough) have an optional additional side. To get there you need to answer a question. Have you ever watched a YouTube with cutscenes? What if there was another mode with more? To keep in the AC line, what if there wasn’t some DNA you were filling, but film reels? Consider any game, you have a main line and side lines (in RPG’s at least). So what happens when we find all the reels, more important when we find them all a new mode opens up that we can see at the end of the game. The movie! Not merely the cutscenes but a complete movie in 4K based on cutscenes with additional footage, footage that tells part of the story, but we never played that part of the story, it merely completes the entire storyline. Now consider that we play a game like Diablo 3, the cutscenes are fabulous, but what if the acts become additions to the movie and we have a wizard edition, a necromancer edition, a barbarian edition and so on. A game, nearly any game giving us a 4K movie to watch. Streamers are better equipped for it, but I am willing to bet that any Horizons Forbidden West gamer will go nuts when they complete the game and are then treated to the HFW movie. What surprises me is that this feature was never part of any game, why not? We can argue that previous editions weren’t ready for this, but these systems (Nintendo Switch gets an exemption) are and this option could be available in the next decent RPG game. 

I wonder who will bring us the most exciting game movie next. 

 

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November 9, 2022 · 20:14

It started with a prank

This is the story of a story if you want. To get the fill idea I have to take you back to 1974. We got a visit from an airforce officer, he showed us quartz. Not a small piece either, we needed both hands to hold it, it was like a small pyramid almost 10 inches each side and it was raw, not shaped, not prepared, raw quartz. It was almost like magic. Now we go back to almost the present. The movie Cloverfield is out and it is quite the trip and whilst I was watching the DVD it suddenly hit me. What if I could send pats of the edited movie on an SD card and hand it to the officer with the message to get it to DARPA. Apart from the simple fact that there were no SD card in 1974, the idea that a 10 year old knew about DARPA would be remote and the contraption would be unknown to the officer who would be able to see that it was advanced tech. Once they figured out it was 128GB the panic starts, because in 1974 a 200MB Winchester drive would be the size of an office desk. Then they need to decode what was there and when they saw the MP4 files panic would truly start. Lady Liberty, the Brooklyn bridge and more. The panic would be near complete and the prank would be utterly complete. So this was when the daydream stopped and the mind started to wind the cogs. What if it was not a prank, what if it was not then but now. What if hackers, not some government create a different kind of file. A file that gives a stage that could create panic. Like the light bar in newscasts, what if at 02:30 the transmission was interrupted WITHOUT the studios noticing that a special newscast that the bitcoin collapsed it was at this point 700 points down and expected to drop another 800 points. Not one, but orchestrated over half a dozen stations setting the stage in 2 timezones (in the US, China, Japan, or perhaps gullible North Korea). The panic wave would create a dip, large enough to make a decent killing, especially if the buys were not in the country where it was hit, and 30 minutes later all traces were gone. The media would have a field day trying to find out who did it and how it was done, but the stage is now complete. You see, What if Solarwinds did not just update supermarkets, what if that was the start of a specific backdoor that could not be found as it was too small and it was inactive (like the Optus hack).
The idea that people will drop their bitcoins at $14000 ($6K down) implies that there would be a lot of money be made in 30 minutes. And after the hour the bitcoin is sold again and the scoundrels walked out with millions, paying off their ‘loan’ with a healthy profit. It would need massive orchestration. The stations, the internet, several other elements and those who think it is impossible better realise that Solarwinds, Optus and a few more hacks overlap in places and a small cohesive group could be waiting below the line merely waiting for the right time and with the average detection time is set to 200 days there is plenty of manoeuvring space. 

The setting for a Hollywood script in a few hours. I need a hobby!

Well that was my scoundrel side thinking new ideas to be made into a script. Have a fun time and please invite me to the red carpet if the scripts becomes reality.

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November 6, 2022 · 00:24

Growing pains

Sorry for the delay, lost my internet last night. So here we go: I saw the article last week yet I decided to put it beside me, it was yesterday when I revisited the stage. There were things missing and that was at the heart of it. Not merely the missing parts, the foundation that we would have to take a stance, that was missing and I cannot decide whether the writer was merely cowardly or unwilling to open that can of worms. There is no real issue, the fact that someone is not willing to open a certain an of worms is not to be underestimated. We will all most likely fail there.

The article (at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221028-will-we-ever-live-in-city-sized-buildings) gives a decent consideration. ‘Will we ever… live in city-sized buildings?’ For the sake of nature we absolutely have to. With “Cinematic examples include the massive high-rise buildings in Dredd (based on the comic book character Judge Dredd)  and Skyscraper, although little detail is given on how they operate” the tone is set, yet one of the most powerful settings is overlooked and I believe it was intentional. It is the movie ‘Logan’s Run’ apart from an extremely good looking Jenny Agutter the movie touches on forms of decadence, but more importantly limitations. The City based building has a limit. In the story all people will have the die at 30, to prevent overpopulation. The book calls it the renewal procedure. Each person can renew their life in Carousel. It is the foundation that hits the core of every citizen. Those unwilling to go through that process and prefers life becomes a runner. And it was a brilliant concept. It does not matter how large the Line will be, it has a 9 million limit, so when at 8.9 million, new families will have a problem. You either limit your space to include one more, or you will find that the surplus expansion must move to somewhere else. These growing pains will be felt anywhere and everywhere. A city based building has the same limitations an island has, it is merely more direct, more defining. The writer gives a few examples but is seemingly anxious to avoid the population cull. It is dangerous because it has to addressed. You see, the movie Logan’s Run is pretty amazing because of it. The TV series had a council of elders where we get to see the explanation “Live must end at 30” the infrastructure could not deal with more people. And Expansionism is at the heart of us. More kids (sometimes seen as lust), more things (sometimes seen as greed) and that list goes on, expansionism is at the heart of it and we are for the most its slaves. I would like to be in such a place(without the culling) but when limits come something will have to give and that is where these places become hazardous, all of them become hazardous because it is part of us, we carry the failing within.

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September 27, 2022 · 11:54

Bloomberg cake time

I got a nice surprise yesterday. Bloomberg handed it with the article (at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-09-11/amazon-will-spend-15-billion-on-programming-this-year), there we learn ‘Amazon is the Least Understood Company in Hollywood’. It was interesting because I do not know anything about tinseltown (Hollywood) and I put all these creators, streamers or not on one pile. It seems that there are differences and the article brings out a few sides I never considered. So when I read “Amazon has been making original series for as long as Netflix with far less to show for it. But there are signs its strategy is starting to pay off” my mind started procedure ‘Wake up’ and I took notice. You see, I created plays as stories, mini series, even a movie, but with nothing more in mind than a story. I put some of it in my blogs and that is the end of it (or so I expect) and as a storyteller. 3 series, 2 mini stories and a movie is not a bad result, especially as it is not my field, I am in technology. I am a call centre operator, a customer care person and I am happy there, even though I also miss technical support. So as we see the three things we need to be mindful “Six Gulf States told Netflix to remove videos that violate “Islamic values.”” My movie ‘How to assassinate a politician’ was specifically designed for these states. Then we get “The world’s second largest movie theater chain declared bankruptcy” yes this is sad, but it is also a sign of the times. Hollywood did not help here, they are all about creating more and too little about creating higher quality, that is definitely part of the equation and I am NOT looking at Marvel movies. Their endgame was magnificent, I still watch it at least twice a year and I might upgrade that one to a 4K edition when possible (I still do not have a 4K TV, so no rush). Then we get “Mark Bergen’s YouTube book is now for sale”, I merely wonder why that is a factor? Let’s be clear, it might be an optional work like  the Social network, you know, that movie with Mark Zuckerman’s lookalike Jesse Eisenberg. But that is optionally one movie, perhaps the book has more than I reckon, but I haven’t read it yet. So when we get to “Netflix has spent more than Amazon over the last decade, and produced a much higher volume of shows. But Amazon Studios chief Jen Salke has a $10 billion budget. If you include sports, Amazon is projected to spend $15 billion on programming this year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s comparable to what Netflix (and many others) will spend”, we see the first element I foresaw ‘produced a much higher volume of shows’, it is about more, not better. And there is the rub. Lets be clear, Netflix has created high quality work (the Sandman) no one denies this, but Hollywood produced in 2019 (pre Covid) 792 movies, that is almost 2 movies a day just to see it all, now we get that they cater to a niche and every movie house has a niche. Yet in 2000 they only produced 371 movies, that is quite the jump in less than 20 years, and as we are aware that the number of writers did not exponentially increase they either tailored to less quality or upped the pressure on writers giving that very same result, yes that is a personal view on the matter.  As we get to “Yet we know that Amazon is a very successful company that generated $470 billion in sales and $33 billion in net income last year. We also know that its advertising business is booming” we can speculate that they are doing something right, or they have additional data none of the others have. So when this is supported by “This is Amazon’s greatest strength, but also its greatest weakness. The company has seemingly unlimited resources — and no real need to win, at least not right away. While Netflix and Disney stress over whether shows attract new customers or prevent people from canceling (or churning), churn at Amazon is almost nonexistent” We optionally see a second part that is not mentioned and merely hinted at. It is not the resources, even though that helps. They can cater to THEIR population, which implies that churning is reduced to zero, and they keep focus on the projects and so far that is paying off. There is a benefit when you OWN the bank, but I reckon that they have a stage where they cater to a plan that holds 100% of their customers. Reality makes me rephrase that into ‘that holds 95% of their customers’, a stage both Netflix and to a lesser degree Disney cannot adjust for. Not unless they spend a whole lot more and that is the danger, they do not own the bank and the first insight that involves ‘Islamic values’ is actually a lot more important. Instead of creating an offspring with the focus on the gulf states, the ego of Hollywood thinks it can do it all and there is the trap that sinks 1000 titanic’s. To be honest, I would love to see the data that Amazon relies on but I reckon that only a few (at Amazon) ever get to see that whole picture. A simple lieutenant does not get the image the generals have and these generals have to make the hard calls, the tough calls and so far it seems that them at Amazon re making the right call. I personally speculate that they are playing the long game whilst the others are limited to quarterly pushes, until the next stockholders meeting. That is why in the end Amazon will overcome nearly all hurdles and most others are sunk as they were unable to see three hurdles ahead. The article holds more and Lucas Shaw did a really good job here, he showed me a few sides I never knew (why would I), and it brought information and delight all at the same time, so you should definitely read that article, it is worth your time.

Now I need to focus on fortune cookie marketeers, hopefully more in several hours.

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September 23, 2022 · 21:29

Dopey to some

Yes, Dopey, a name I cloak myself in frequently, that loveable dwarf not right in the mind and that is me to a fault. I just saw Matrix resurrections. I did not really like it, that is not the fault of the actors, they all played their hearts out and you can see that. The story was clever, really clever but the WOW factor was missing. I saw the first three as a complete story and I was fine with it. There was nothing missing. It had the elements of a Greek Tragedy, it had action (a lot of that) and several other sides. I was happy. So when the 4th movie came out, I was not really on par with my thoughts, and it had been close to 2 decades. I still remember the trailer that I saw in Chicago, it blew me away, I saw the movie 8 weeks later in Europe and I saw it more than once. Then the DVD came. I reckon that plenty of people got a DVD player just for this movie and that is saying something. There was a WOW factor that numbers 2 and 3 continued. It was missing here, but it made it not a bad movie, it merely made me less interested and I was not alone in this, but it does not matter. The storyteller in me woke up. I had my own movie considerations. It is called ‘How to assassinate a politician’ and the story was made for the Arab world (Egypt, UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan) in this I personally believe it would be a hit, but that I my view. Then my mind created ‘Another Furlong’ after the whole 9 yards with Matthew Perry. Just now I saw the Hulu Trailer of Hellraiser, it might be a hit. Especially if they resurrect the Nightbreed franchise as well, in the comics there have been several interaction between these two and there would be enough materials for either movies of mini series. The mind does not sit still, so as I was contemplating ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’, more important the other books. Not sure if Tim Burton is considering to make the others into movies, but if he is not any of the streamers should consider it. There are so many options, but we get to see (for the most) a newly resurrected version of Death Wish, Robocop, Firestarter or Flatliners. I have nothing against any of these movies. Yet where is thee good stuff? Where is the original stuff? Now, lets be clear Matrix resurrections is original, based on a franchise, but an original story. Yet where are the titans? Another Lord or the Rings? OK, this is the prequel, the rings of power. I grant you that, but we are so about seeing more of the same that we merely endure repetition, this was one of the reasons why I came up with ‘How to assassinate a politician’, not the most important reason, but a reason none the less. I wonder what more I could make. I started to pencil season two on the grandson of Hades (still no title come to mind), I made one on the stage of the past with Kenos Diastima and Residuam Vitam. And past that a few small parts that require evolution. Perhaps it is a dopey thought, but is this what most of us have resorted to? Repetition? I am uncertain but overall I see less awesome movies. I reckon that Maverick is the most overwhelming movie I have seen this year and that is not a good thing. Consider, how many truly good movies have You seen in the last 6 month? If you need more than a minute to name 5, you will be able to see my point of view. With Netflix, Hulu, Disney we see so many more works, but the overall quality is falling down, that is not a good thing. You might have another idea regarding this and that I fine, but I worry what we will get in 2023, 2024 and 2025. That might just be me though.

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September 17, 2022 · 17:40

The option in the open

There is always an option, there is always a way. Those are the words we hear, those are the advice we are given. But one mans option is another man’s abyss, or another man’s vacant lot of nothingness. Options are what WE see, not directly the options another person observes or recognises. I got into that frame, not be looking at my IP, but at watching a movie. I was watching the bluray of Death on the Nile, the 2022 remake by Kenneth Branagh. I watched the first movie which I personally did not like as the previous Murder on the Orient Express (1974) with Albert Finney. Still, I was curious and I was blown away. This version was much more overwhelming than the previous version with Peter Ustinov. Now this is not about the actors, they are all top notch. There are two reasons, the first is the curse all the Agatha Christie books have. Any whodunnit remade will lead to the same guilty party. It is not her fault. She never banked on people remaking the same book again and again. The second part is that the music is overwhelming in the remake. It is magnificent and gives the movie added life. Kenneth Branagh really outdid himself and lets be fair, does anyone mind watching Gal Gadot as much as possible (for as long as we can)? No, I really loved this second remake. 

This got me thinking, there are so many great or underestimated movies. I have no idea how players like Netflix overlooked them. In 1989 we were given The Salute of the Jugger. It was an awesome film. I liked the story, I liked the setting. If there is one complaint, than it is the fact that we all got it in 104 minutes, the US cut it back to 90 minutes. But this dystopian movie starring Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, and Vincent D’Onofrio gave us an interesting story, one that would much better fit a mini series of 1 hour over 4-6 episodes, and lets be clear Netflix could use a few more mini series. We need more embossed storylines, a story that better represents the books they came from. I could not find the reference to any book, yet the setting of 9 cities. The reference to the sport, the dog skulls and the interactions of rural and cities beckons a much larger story and therefor a much larger stage. Possibly even 6-8 one hour stories, perhaps even more. Yet that would be up to whomever writes the remake. You see, in those years we all listened to critics and whatever THEY didn’t like too many others would not like either. That needs to stop and perhaps it is a great legacy for an actor like Rutger Hauer to make, to leave us a treasure overlooked in 1989. I just hope we can leave his impression, like the painting of a ruler of of one of the nine cities, accidentally looking a lot like a youthful Rutger Hauer. 

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September 2, 2022 · 22:49

When one door closes

Yes, that is the stage I find myself in. However I could say when one door closes someone gets to open the window. Yet, even as I am eager to give you that story now, I will await the outcome of Twitter (who blocked my account) and the outcome there will support the article. Which is nice because it makes for an entertaining story. It did however make me wonder on a few parts. You see AI does not exist. It is machine learning and deeper learning and that is an issue for the following reasons.

Deep learning requires large amounts of data. Furthermore, the more powerful and accurate models will need more parameters, which, in turn, require more data. Once trained, deep learning models become inflexible and cannot handle multitasking.

This leads to: 

Massive Data Requirement. As deep learning systems learn gradually, massive volumes of data are necessary to train them. This gives us a rather large setting, as people are more complex, it will require more data to train them and the educational result is as many say an inflexible setting. I personally blame the absence of shallow circuits, but what do I know? There is also the larger issue of paraphrasing. There is an old joke. The joke goes “Why can a program like SAP never succeed?” “Because it is about a stupid person with stress, anxiety and pain” until someone teaches that system that SAP is also a medical term for Stress, Anxiety and Pain” and until we understand that ‘sap’ in the urban dictionary as a stupid person, or a foolish and gullible person the joke falls flat. 

And that gets me to my setting (I could not wait that long). The actor John Barrowman hinted that he will be in the new Game of Thrones series (House of the Dragon), he did this by showing an image of the flag of House Stark. 

I could not resist and asked him whether we will see his head on a pike and THAT got thrown from Twitter (or taken from the throne of Twitter). Yet ANYONE who followed Game of Thrones will know that Sean Bean’s head was placed on a pike at the end of season 1, as such I thought it was funny and when you think if it, it is. But that got me banned. So was this John Barrowman who felt threatened? I doubt that, but I cannot tell because the reason of why this tweet caused the block is currently unknown. If it is machine learning and deeper learning we see its failure. Putting ones head on a pike could be threatening behaviour, but it came from a previous tweet and the investigator didn’t get it, the system didn’t get it or the actor didn’t do his homework. I leave it up to you to figure it out. Optionally my sense of humour sucks, that to is an option. But if you see the emoji’s after the text you could figure it out. 

High Processing Power. Another issue with deep learning is that it demands a lot of computational power. This is another side. With each iteration of data the demand increases. If you did statistics in the 90’s you would know that CLUSTER analyses had a few setbacks, the memory needs being one of them, it resulted in the creation of QUICKCLUSTER something that could manage a lot more data. So why use the cluster example?

Cluster analyses is a way of grouping cases of data based on the similarity of responses to several variables. There are two types of measure: similarity coefficients and dissimilarity coefficients. And especially in the old days, memory was hard to get and it needs to be done in memory. And here we see the first issue. ‘the similarity of responses to several variables’ and here we determine the variables of response. But in the SAP example, the response is depending on someone with medical knowledge and one with urban knowledge of English, and if these are two different people, the joke quickly falls flat, especially when these two elements do not exchange information. In my example of John Barrowman WE ALL assume that he does his homework (he has done this in so many instances, so why not now), so we are willing to blame the algorithm, but did that algorithm see the image John Barrowman gave us all, does the algorithm know the ins and outs of Game of Thrones? All elements and I would jest (yes, I cannot stop) that these are all elements of dissimilarity, as such 50% of the cluster fails right of the bat and that gets us to…

Struggles With Real-Life Data. Yes, deeper learning struggles with real life data because it is given in the width of the field of observation. For example, if we were to ask a plumber, a butcher and a veterinarian to describe the uterus of any animal we get three very different answers and there is every chance that the three people do not understand the explanation of the other two. A real life example of real life settings and that is before paraphrasing comes into play, it merely makes the water a lot more muddy.

Black Box Problems. And here the plot thickens. You see at the most basic level, “black box” just means that, for deep neural networks, we don’t know how all the individual neurons work together to arrive at the final output. A lot of times it isn’t even clear what any particular neuron is doing on its own. Now I tend to call this: “A precise form of fuzzy logic” and I could be wrong on many counts, but that is how I see it. You see why did deeper learning learn it like this? It is an answer we will not ever get. It becomes too complex and now consider “a black box exists due to bizarre decisions made by intermediate neurons on the way to making the network’s final decision. It’s not just complex, high-dimensional non-linear mathematics; the black box is intrinsically due to non-intuitive intermediate decisions.” There is no right, no wrong. It is how it is and that is how I see what I now face, the person or system just doesn’t get it for whatever reason and a real AI could have seen a few more angles and as it grows it will see all the angles and get the right conclusion faster and faster. A system on machine learning or deeper learning will never get it, it will get more and more wrong because it is adjusted by a person and if that person misses the point the system will miss the point too, like a place like Gamespot, all flawed because a conclusion came based on flawed information. This is why we have no AI, because the elements of shallow circuits and quantum computing are still in their infancy. But salespeople do not care, the term AI sells and they need sales. This is why things go wrong, no one will muzzle the salespeople.

In the end shit happens, that is the setting but the truth of the matter is that too many people embrace AI, a technology that does not exist, they call it AI, but it is a fraction of AI and as such it is flawed, but that s a side they do not want to hear. It is a technology in development. This is what you get when the ‘fake it until you make it’ is in charge. A flaw that evolves into a larger flaw until that system buckles.

But it gave me something to write about, so it is not all a loss, merely that my Twitter peeps will have to do without me for a little while. 

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