Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must try to get to sleep earlier than I have been these past two weeks. So, to get down to the nitty gritty and also the gritty nitty, yesterday was a completely relaxing day in which I completely relaxed. I awoke at ten, stayed in bed, fell back asleep and awoke at eleven-thirty. Once up, I began my relaxing by relaxing. I relaxed for about an hour, then went and had a relaxing breakfast burrito and fruit – separately, of course. There were no packages to pick up, so instead I picked me up and went back home. Once back home, I decided to relax and sat on my couch like so much fish.
I then began my Mr. Robot marathon viewing session and finished season one. It’s a maddening show that has good things in it, especially the performance by its leading player. The reveal was revealed at the end of one of the episodes – anyone with a brain paying attention to what this writer/creator’s pop culture influences are (and they are unmistakable) will know it’s coming by the end of episode four, maybe even before that. But here’s the funny thing – the reveal happens and then this writer/creator spends the entire next episode as if the audience wasn’t quite certain what the reveal actually is (believe me, we’re certain) and then he hammers you over the head with it as blatantly as he can, as if it’s a big surprise (believe me, it isn’t). In the end, I’m not quite sure why it’s gotten the kind of rave reviews it has – its “style” is a combination platter of a lot of different directors, but it’s obviously the dictum of either its creator or what the pilot episode’s director came up with – the wacky framing that’s designed to make you feel off balance. It kind of works in the pilot (which was directed by a very good director – the Swedish guy who did the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), but after the pilot that kind of framing just becomes tiresome and irritating. And the creator also likes Kubrick, which will also be blatantly obvious as you watch. I’m not sure a season two is necessary at all and I really have no interest in seeing where it goes.
That took all afternoon and into the early evening, but I wanted to also watch a motion picture and so I did – Ex Machina, a film by the novelist and screenwriter (and now director) Alex Garland. Certainly it’s a subject that’s been done before (and most recently in the AMC series I just finished, Humans), but Mr. Garland has a good eye (also hugely influenced by Mr. Kubrick), he writes well, and I really liked it a lot. It’s about a brilliant billionaire who creates robots with A.I. and who has someone from his business (the brilliant billionaire made his billions by creating Google, herein called Bluebook). Someone from his office wins a lottery and gets to go spend a week with the billionaire at his remote island home/lab. Once there, the young fellow learns he’s to talk to the female robot with A.I. to glean information for the billionaire. Not everything is as it seems in terms of gleaning information. It’s paced very slowly and elegantly, and it’s basically a three-character piece. I was involved throughout, but I’m not sure it’s a movie for everyone. The effects are really good, and the young lady who plays the robot, Ava, is a real find. She’s a Swedish actress, who’s been doing a handful of English films recently – she’s also in this year’s The Danish Girl – her name is Alicia Vikander and she’s just great in this, a real star-making performance. The other two actors are equally great – Oscar Isaac as the billionaire and Domhnall Gleeson as the young man. I may just watch it again very soon, that’s how much I enjoyed it.
Then I relaxed some more.
Today, I’ll be up early, go do some errands and whatnot, jog, and then I’ll relax until it’s time to go to the birthday dinner at the Dal Rae restaurant. Believe you me, we will have a very detailed food report upon my return.
Tomorrow, I have a work session for the Kritzerland show, and then it’s another birthday dinner to attend. Next week is completely nutty with Kritzerland rehearsals, meetings and meals, and hopefully the part two miracle we really need. The new interim helper starts Monday and will be on until the first interim helper returns in two weeks.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, relax, and then attend a birthday dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite books, films and TV shows about robots and artificial intelligence? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I hope I shall have another relaxing day of relaxation.