How to tell if it was a good day

One of the reasons (one of many) I really dig Firefly and Serenity is that the dialogue is very witty and sharp. There's nothing blase about the lines, never the cliche'ed crap that turns your stomach.

Example to illustrate.
It's the end of a very tumultuous day. Captain Malcom Reynolds and Dr. Simon Tam are in the cockpit.

Simon: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?

Mal: You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.

Simon: Are you always this sentimental?

Mal: I had a good day.

Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... Half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.

Mal: Well, we're still flying.

Simon: That's not much.

Mal: It's enough.

The Flash Season 1 Finale - The Bullshit Continues

SPOILER ALERT: Dude, I am gonna discuss the whole plot of the season 1 finale of The Flash, so major, major spoilers. 

As I mentioned in my last post on The Flash, I find Barry Allen stupid. But not all of his stupidity comes from his character, quite a lot of it comes from the writers of the show. This episode is an excellent case in point. So I will discuss the episode with special focus on Barry.

In this season finale Barry goes back to 15 years ago to save his mother from being murdered. Back to the Future 2 style. Before the move is made it is discussed and discovered that if he goes back and saves his mother's life, the timeline will change drastically, his father would not go to jail, he would not live with Joe, he would not meet Iris, etc. etc.

Some of the characters say he should do it, some say he should not, and there are a number of sappy scenes for all them, so many that it gets annoying. Only saving grace there is that the actors are all good and don't hem it up despite the opportunity to do so.

We get to know from the beginning that this is a very risky experiment and if Barry can't go as fast as needed he will die instantly. Then as preparations progress we find out that not only will he die but the whole world as we know it may be destroyed. Despite all of this Barry decides to do it. I mentioned in the last post on The Flash that he can't make a difficult decision. This is a case in point.  Although he makes a brave decision to risk his life but he risks the whole world for a personal gain.
Other than destroying the whole world, there is a risk that the alternate timeline could lead a to a terrible world for mankind but he doesn't care about that.

But, on the other hand, there are no paradoxes in time travel therefore if his blood was on the scene that means he did go back that means he will go back. The decision has already been made. Fine.

Then we come to the point which irritates the hell out of me! Just because it's a sci-fi show doesn't mean it has to be scientifically correct in every technical detail, especially on the future technology. So, the writer/director will take creative licence and that's fine. But on conceptual level it should not try to fool the audience with mumbo-jumbo. Time travel is a concept with which even the non-geek audience is familiar and at least the geeks know what a causal loop is.

Now, listen to this. Just before Barry is getting ready to go back in Time, Cisco tells him that there will be THREE of Barry Allen's there that night. One, the young child, the other as The Flash who gets the young Barry out and fights Dr. Wells, and the third, this one who's listening to Cisco just before going back. I will number them so we can discuss them without running into our own backs. Barry1 - the small child, Barry2 - The Flash fighting the man in yellow, Barry3 - who is just about to go back and save his mother. All clear? Now raise your hand if you can answer the next question.

Barry1 - The child lives there in his current time line, wakes up by the noise and comes down.
Barry2 - Went back in time to save his mother.
Barry3 - Where did Barry3 come from? 

Why are there 2 grown up Barry's or Flash's there on the scene? One is going back from the current year, but where's the other one coming from? My understanding was that the Flash going back now is The Flash fighting the man in yellow. How do they ADD a Flash? There's no mention of another time journey by a Flash and no explanation why there's a third Barry there on the scene.

I hope someone has the answer to it because it irritated the hell out of me when I was watching this episode!

For a bonus question try this. In the episode "Out of Time" when Barry goes back in time by a day, there is NO OTHER BARRY. He is the only Barry in that world and he has to live his day exactly that same again. So what happened to the Barry who is actually living his life on that timeline? They mention particularly that the Flash "Did not turn back the time" but "Traveled back in time" which means that that timeline should have a Barry/Flash already there that the Barry/Flash from future can see. That's how it works in all the sci-fi in the universe and that's how it make sense. But no, not for The Flash.

And then, they change the rules completely in the finale and add an extra Flash. What annoys me even more is that they keep mentioning Back to the Future, so they do know these things, or should! In BTTF 2 you can see the Marty from BTTF1 and the Marty from BTTF2 avoids being seen by the other Marty. Makes perfect sense. When Marty and Doc go to the future, they can see and hear the future Marty. Perfectly clear. Here however, the rules of Time Travel in the Flash are neglected and played with.

I have 3 theories to explain this kind of writing, feel free to choose one or add a new one if you like.

1. The writers are not real geeks and do not really know about these things even after watching sci-fi like BTTF before.
2. The writers are idiots who can not comprehend anything as complex as time travel.
3. The writers think we are idiots who do not understand something as complex as time travel.

In the end, he doesn't save his mother. He waits off-screen and lets the man in yellow kill her. Okay, that made me admire him as that is THE MOST difficult thing in the world to do and he does it to save the timeline. But then I remember that he risked the whole world and the future of Mankind to say goodbye to his mother and it makes me mad again!

When he goes back, he crashes Dr. Wells' time capsule and doesn't let him go back. What a stupid moron! Instead of letting him go back he stops the one person he cannot beat and traps him in this time. What an amazingly stupid thing to do! And there's no point to it except his personal feelings! There's no real reason for stopping him from going back!

A fight ensues, as expected. At the climactic point, Eddie, Iris' boyfriend, shoots himself as he knows he is the ancestor of Dr. Wells/Ebart and this way he kills himself to kill Ebart. Once again a moronic decision by someone who is supposed to be an intelligent person. Does he not recognize that it would not "Kill" Ebart, it would "ERASE" him completely from the timeline, which means all of his influence on the events of the past will be erased - no particle accelerator, no accident, no Flash, and that's just the obvious things. A change of that magnitude would endanger the whole world! And it does!

So, you can see why I am not pleased with this slipshod way of writing science fiction.

Don't worry, it looks like this will be my last post on The Flash. I finished watching season 1 and have no desire to carry on in season 2. However, what I do like in The Flash, is the cool fast motion effect and how the show reminds me of Sheldon in Big Bang Theory doing Flash. :)

P.S. I am going to watch The Arrow next. That's been my gain from watching this stupid show - I found out about the Arrow and the adorable Emily Bett Rickards! :)

Avengers: Age Of Ultron - Movie Review - Awesomeness Exemplified

In all honesty, it would be unfair to call this a review. It should be called a rave. And here I feel the need to put the disclaimer, I have not been paid any money by Joss Whedon or Marvel for this review, I have not been sent or offered any inducements and all the four times that I have watched this movie I have done so with my own money.

Having said that, I did absolutely love the movie! Not surprising considering I have been a hard core fan of Joss Whedon ever since I watched "Serenity" follow by "Firefly". You can read how that happened in this post: http://sunilgoswami.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/firefly-i-joined-cult.html

I was in India when Avengers 2 was released. I watched the trailer and was immediately convinced that it was not a movie to miss. I should clarify here that my main purpose in watching movies is entertainment. Any messages or learning has to be incidental. And Avengers promised to be super entertaining.

(trailer)

With great expectations I booked the second most expensive movie tickets in Delhi with my kids. (And to this day I regret not booking the most expensive ones. If any movie was ever worth it, it's this one.) Usually, I am not a big believer in 3D. It was good for the first few movies that came out as a novelty feature but after that I feel that it's become more of a gimmick, a buzzword to lure the audience and (in some cases) hide the poor storyline.

However, I am not one of those who sleep with their back to the future. I do know that it can be a powerful aid to storytelling if used right. That's the trick, if it's used right by the director, it's an amazing aid to storytelling, if it's used just to add a buzzword to the movie, it's arduous and boring. If I am peering through glasses for hours just to watch a movie you need to make it worth my while.

I would like to give two examples here. Final Destination 5 (2011), 3D is used as a gimmick, throwing things at the audience and such similar stunts. I walked out of that movie a little before halfway through. Three Musketeers (2011) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1509767/) the director has used the 3D technology that lends itself to the storytelling. I was spellbound till the very end. Watch them both if you haven't and see if I am wrong.

So, giving Marvel and Joss Whedon the benefit of the doubt I booked the 3D show, on the day that it was released. And I was right. The 3D aspect of the movie has been planned as carefully as the rest of the movie. The screen is used as a stage for the action and it feels all real that way but there's no gimmicky action and no stupid things being thrown at the audience.

Now about the movie itself. If you loved "Avengers" you are going to absolutely love "Avengers: Age of Ultron". In my personal opinion it's even better than the first. And here's why I think so.

There are more awesome characters in it, but all the characters have been giving enough screen time to do justice with them. Because the movie is part of the Marvel series you know the characters well by now and you know what they are all about. And they are all true to themselves in this movie which makes the audience identify well with them. Also we already know the actors playing those characters and it makes it easier for us to like them.

The story is complete in itself but also fits well as part of the large story arc that has been going on including Avengers 1, the 3 Iron Man movies, the 2 Captain American movies, Marvel's Hulk movie, the 2 Thor movies (did I forget any?) and the comic books.

You don't need to know anything just to enjoy this movie, but the more you know Marvel's characters and the back stories the more you enjoy the film.

The dialogue is so amazingly witty and lively that you would remember it and it would haunt you. I have watched this movie 4 times by now and every time I have been impressed by the dialogue. This is especially true as I get more of the dialogue with each subsequent viewing. For example some of the lines that get lost because they are delivered under the breath or are absorbed in fade out's you get them in the second, third, fourth time of watching. And they are witty and amusing!

In the dialogue and in the rest of film, references to the characters and stories are carefully preserved and utilized.

As a director myself, (granted that I director miniscule things compared to Hollywood), I do pay attention to and notice the things a director has to plan with his DoP and 1st AD. And I loved to see that each and every shot in the movie was planned and directed to add value to the storyline. I can't talk about those shots without spoilers so I would leave it at at that.

There is real depth in the movie. I am talking about the depth in terms of human drama, well-defined  characters and richness of the landscape, locales, building and gadgets..and pretty much everything that's part of the movie. I recently bought the Avengers 2 artbook and it's mind-blowing to see how detailed is the planning for each part of the film.

I make films myself (short, low-budget, not like Marvel) and I can hazard a guess as to how much effort and work goes into something this huge. I was wrong! The planning and pre-production work is beyond my imagination! Actually, it's more than was needed, to be honest. I mean I was curious about things like what kind of features does Hawkeye have in his bow? What powers and features does the current Iron Man suit have?

Looking at the artbook I can see they plan things in much more detail than even my curiosity. And that makes the movies so much more interesting than just something that was based on a Hollywood formula.

I didn't do this review for over a month because I didn't see any value in a review that only raves about a movie. I mean, it's Avengers you should know it'd be an awesome movie and go watch it. You don't need me to say it! Ultimately I decided to write it simply becaues *I* wanted to talk about the movie. In order to make it a balanced review, I should point out some of the weak points of the movie as well.

Sorry, don't have any. I went into it as a fan of Joss Whedon and came out as a super-fan of Joss Whedon.

Since watching Avengers 2 the first time, I have re-watched Captain America 1, Thor 1, Avengers 1 twice and of course Avengers 2  three more times and I can say with confidence that they are all immensely re-watchable.

Conclusion: If you haven't watched "Avengers:Age of Ultron" yet, you should and watch it in 3D if you can.
I myself plan to buy the blu-ray when it comes out. Actually, I have already pre-ordered the Blu ray 3D version and I don't even have a 3D TV. Don't worry, I am not crazy, the pack also contains a normal Blu-ray of the movie.

Firefly - I joined a cult!

You can't guess what I am watching these days. I am confident enough to offer a wager but let's not go that route. I will just tell you.

It's not a movie, it's not a TV show, it's not a documentary, not a music video, not a home movie, not even an advertisement....give up yet?

Long long ago on a planet called there was this man called Joss Whedon. He wrote and directed a show called Firefly. The show had low network ratings and was cancelled after one season by Fox. But the people who watched the show were immense fans. Not just fans but crazy fans. They actively tried to resurrect the show, even raised some money for it.

It didn't work. But then later on in 2004, Joss Whedon made a movie based on a show, it was called "Serenity". The movie had some overlap in the story from the show and then progressed with the story. The movie was also loved by the Firefly fans and got more coverage than the original show.

Couple of years ago I across the movie - "Serenity" and got it. I love sci-fi movies. But I have a huge choice of movies and TV shows that I can watch so I try and see the trailer, find out about the movie and see which one tempts me the most.

In a quick research I found out the story that I have mentioned above. I read that this show and the movie have a cult following. Now, honestly, I am not much for cults. But the movie itself seemed interesting to I want so far as to watch it.

The movie was fantastic! I love sci-fi and I have watched a truckload of them but this one just blew me away. Not just from effects, they were good, but the story line and characters, the writing was simply great!

Then I just had to get the TV show. And once I watched that...well, there was no going back! I was hooked! And I joined the rest of the world in feeling awfully sorry that the stupid network cancelled this gem. The DVD version of the show has 13 episodes, the pilot is 88 minutes long, but rest of the episodes about 42 minutes each. Even when I was watching them the first time, I could feel that I was watching something special! That's rare!

The thread of this thought. Every year, there are several huge events held in America centered around comic books and other related stuff. I don't know if there's any held in UK at all, but US is the kind of place where this kind of fun things take place. These events are Comic con, Dragon con and Sci fi event.

As you can imagine all kinds of nerds attend these events. As part of these events there are some panels made up of the cast and crew of TV shows and (I am guessing) movies. The cast and crew on these panels answers questions in front of a limited audience. Sometimes the questions are asked by a moderator, other times directly by the audience, it can be a mix as well.


One of my favourite TV stars Zachary Levi (Chuck) has started a charity for which he organizes informal panels where audience can ask what they want of their favourite stars.

All these events are recorded, some on personal cameras, some professional (Zachary's Nerd Machine YouTube channel has the latte) and they can be found online mostly on YouTube.

Even though firefly has been cancelled for 11 years now, there is still a huge demand for a Firefly panel at these events and they are well attended.

And that is what I am watching these days!

I don't know how I found the first video but once I watched it, I was hooked. I had never watched anything like that before. I find that I liked to hear about the show and hear its cast and crew answer questions about it.

In 2012 there was a 10th anniversary of the show's cancellation and there are videos from those panels at Comiccon and other events. There are other interviews from 2013, and some 2010. I am just finding all that I can and watching them. They are damn addicted!

I am very impressed by the cast and the audience alike. The cast members and the crew (writers and director) are always so in love with the show even after doing other stuff in their careers. And you can see the chemistry between the various cast members and director, writers. These are successful Hollywood people and yet when they talk to the audience they are very down to Earth and friendly.

Oh, and they are witty! The videos are so funny because of their wit and leg-pulling humour. But the fans are also amazing! They ask these fantastic questions, some insightful, some cheeky but all interesting.

I am enjoying these videos very much.

The tagline that you see in my previous post "You can't stop the signal!" comes from the movie Serenity and is kind of catchphrase.

You can't stop the signal

Causal Loop - An Essay

I am going to talk about something technical but fun. No such thing? Yes, there is. It's called Science fiction!

In science fiction exists this thing called Causal Loop or Causality Loop. I will explain this slowly and simply, even at the risk of sounding patronizing. :)

In regular, non-sci-fi life, there is something called cause and effect. For example, you walked to office and hence reached the office. Someone buys a car, and then they can drive in that car. Two lovers have a fight and as a result they break up. These things are simple and straightforward. Jake talked back to his wife and had to sleep on the couch. It's easy to see what is the cause and what is the effect.

In a causal loop, these lines are blurred. Causal Loops, so far as I know, can only be caused by time travel. At least the ones I have seen are. In a causal loop,it's hard to say which event is the cause and which one the effect. Both are both actually. If you have heard the question, "which came first, the egg or the chicken?", then you have heard of a causal loop.

Let's take a fun example. Have you seen the movie The Terminator? The first part I mean. Do you understand the story?

When I saw this movie the very first time, on a rented VCR with a bunch of my friends, I don't think any of us understood more than 50% of the story. We were just happy to see the "hot" scene in addition to all the fast-paced action and shooting by our friend Arnie the Terminator. So,let's recoup the story for all of us in simple terms.

-A defense firm Cyberdyne creates a computer network called Skynet.
-Skynet is an artificially intelligent network and becomes autonomous.
-As Skynet tries to take over the Earth and kill all humans...
-One man, John Connor leads the resistance against it.
-Skynet sends a killer robot, a Terminator, to the past to kill John Connor's mother Sarah Connor so that John connor is never born.
-The humans, at the same time, send a human, Kyle Reese, back to the same time, to protect Sarah Connor
-While Kyle Reese is running around with Sarah Connor, trying to keep her safe from the Terminator robot, the two have sex, Kyle and Sarah, not Sarah and Robot, ok?
-From that copulation is born John Connor...
-Who later leads the charge against the machines and...
-Sends Kyle Reese back to the past to save his mother who....

See what I mean? If John had never sent Kyle back, John would never have been born and so on. It's a circle. cause becomes effect and vice versa.

It's also called the Predestination Paradox. You can read more on the topic on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_paradox

Cowboys and Aliens - Quick Review

It's not a secret that I don't like Daniel Craig, part of it is the prejudice that comes from the fact that he replaced Pierce Brosnan as James Bond who I think was the most perfect Bond. But also I think Craig is an ugly boy pretending to be a ruggedly handsome man. But still I went to see this movie because I do like Harrison Ford and I knew this movie will be okay for watching once.

I was right. The plot is very basic, very sketchy. Aliens coming down in their flying machines and abducting people to study them. Also they are after gold, for whatever reason, not really explained in the movie. Craig is a cowboy with amnesia and an armgun. Btw, I don't like it that they couldn't come up with a name better than "armgun" for that cool weapon.

In short, there is some action in the film which is  worth watching, once. Nothing very remarkable, just action. The profound scenes are not really profound, emotional scenes fail mostly. The performance are fine, not a whole lot for them to do in there anyway.

Couple of sexy girls in there but not utilized well. There are quite a few chuckleworthy moments. That's all the comedy there is.

The redeeming feature of the whole film is that armgun which looks damn cool.

In conclusion, it's okay for a timepass if you like that sort of thing, but it's nothing remarkable. So if you decide to spend your Saturday afternoon with a good book, you won't lose anything. 

Android Waale Baba Ki...

Year: 2069 AD
Place: Baba Sunilanand ka ashram

Baba ke bhakt (more women than men) holographic ghaas par apne-apne PIACS (Personal Information And Communication System, much advanced and portable version of laptop) liye baithe hain. Aashram ki rooftop par badi si dish lagi hai. Wifi signal is strong. Kaune-kaune mein mobile charging points bane hue hain.

Baba ke aane ka sanket hota hai. Bhakt apne PIACS par jalte diyon aur agarbattiyon ka holographic display chaloo kar dete hain.

Baba Geruye rang ke suit mein andar se nikal kar aate hain...

"Baba, Sunilanand ki.."
Crowd shouts, "JAI!"

"Bolo Android waale baba ki..."
"JAI!!"

Somebody plays "Jai ho, ho, ho!" on his device. Kuchh yuvtiyan ek do thumke lagaati hain, then stop.

Baba aasan par sthaan grihan karte hain. Baba ke handsome, tejwaan chere ko dekhkar kuchh yuvtiyaan aah bharti hain. Baba ke kaan mein advanced bluetooth v51.0 ka handsfree laga hai. It can hook up with baba's mobile phone, read his email from his PC, connect to the Ashram PA system wirelessly and is thought-activated. Saath mein machchhar bhagaane ka kaam bhi karta hai.

Baba pravchan aarambh karte hain.

Baba uvaach:
"Bhakto, we are living in difficult times. Microsoft has announced 267th security breach in their operating system last night. We must keep patience. It will pass.

Bhakto, samay bada kathin hai, achchhe log kubudhi ka shikaar hokar apna maansik santulan kho rahe hain. Jis par Apple ki mahadasha chal rahi hai usse sirf Google hi bacha sakta hai.

Apne man mein Google ka jaap karo aur achche, sundar (baba looks at the front row which is full of beautiful bhaktins), vichaar rakho.

Ab question answer."


Ek bhakt aage aata hai, "Baba, naya PIACS liya hai, Windows ka kaun sa version install karoon?"

There's a gasp from the bhakts around him.

Baba uvaach, "Windows nahin, baalak, Google Chrome OS 17.3 install karo. Tumhara kalyaan hoga."

Another bhakt asks piteously, "Baba, MacBook Pro ek week mein teesri baar crash hua hai. Kuchh upaay bataayein, baba."

Baba nods solemnly, "Tum par Apple bhaari hai, beta. Chrome PIACS 5 mein invest karo. Sab theek ho jayega."

There is a commotion in the back. Some disciples come forward dragging another bhakt by the collar. They throw him down in front of Baba's aasan. His device is clutched defensively in his hands. It's showing a Microsoft logo on the screen.

"Baba, he had Windows Vistaria installed on his device!" They shout accusingly.

Baba raises his hand and looks up to the sky, "Forgive him, O divine Cloud, he does not know what he is doing."

There's a puff of smoke, 3.9 seconds later, when the smoke clears the Microsoft logo has been replaced by Google logo on the man's device. There's a collective gasp in the crowd.

The accusing disciples shout vehemently, "Baba ki..." "JAI!"

"Android waale baba ki..."
"JAI!!"

Baba smiles softly.

Baba stands, two bhaktins stand on either side of Baba, Aarti starts, "...Red, green aur yellow ki mahima jo koi gaave..."

I, Robot

Okay, so I finally finished Asimov's crappy story collection "I, Robot". And since you guys are all agog to hear my views on it, here it goes.

To be honest, the story collection was not that horrible, it just didn't have the same grip that keeps me hooked to Heinlein's work. To start with I had thought it to be a novel and since it had the same title and Will Smith's photo on the cover with the words "Now a Will Smith starrer movie...", I had assumed, with sufficient evidence, that it would be the same story as the movie. "I, Robot" the movie I had loved. Well, both assumptions proved wrong. It was a story collection and not a novel, I hate it when that happens. And it had nothing whatsoever in common with the movie other than the title and Will Smith's face on the cover. I really hate it when that happens. Other than that also, none of the stories justify the title, at all!

Moving on from the title and movie, the stories themselves are okay, just okay. I place Asimov as a contemporary of Heinlein and expect about the same quality if not that astonishing mind-whirling magic from him. I was bitterly disappointed.

To talk about the content of the stories, the narration device is weak and makes you wonder if it would lose anything at all if the narration device was neatly cut out of the picture. The answer is no, it would not miss anything. The stories themselves are not much more than simple puzzles all based around, you guessed it, robots. Asimov keeps harping on the Three Laws of Robotics so much that it becomes annoying.

The last story "The evitable conflict" sucks the most, and I seriously wondered if it would lose any real content if 80% of the story was removed! It wouldn't. The story will still make as much sense.

After I picked up "I, Robot" in the library, and before going to the check out counter, I went to the help desk and asked the lady to search for any other Heinlein books in the library system. She searched and I found that I have read all of the Heinlein books that are available in this or any other libraries in the state. Great. The lady helpfully pointed me to a book that tells you which other authors write like a particular author.

"Oh, I know that!", I said with more than a little smugness in my face, and held up I, Robot, "This guy writes like him!". After reading "I, Robot" I will have to say, "I stand corrected!".

Don't read it unless you are a big fan of Asimov and like anything he writes.