Her: a movie review

Tags

HER, movies, postaday2014, technology

We rented the movie “Her” from Red box, we never got around to seeing it in the theater, with the prices of movie tickets there has to be something special about the movie such as CGI effects or something to the effect to warrant spending over twenty dollars for tickets.

We both enjoyed it, what I liked about the movie were all the various thoughts that cropped up in my brain while we were watching the movie. Basically the story is about a man who purchases the newest operating system on the market, one that evolves according to your personality, her voice is lovely to listen to (thank you Scarlett Johansson), and Theodore, (wonderfully acted by Joaquin Phoenix), and she, she calls herself Samantha, develop a complicated relationship.

One of my many thoughts during the movie was how ironic it was that even though the movie explores the boundaries of technology and the relationship people have with their private technology, Theodore made his living very comfortably by writing beautifully sentimental handwritten letters for all occasions, in my mind the height of irony. Moreover, very early in the movie, Samantha expresses as one of her first desires wanting to appear in human form. Theodore being human can’t help but ache to touch Samantha and he goes through frustration at various stages during the movie.

Another thing that I couldn’t help, but think of, was that instead of a new operating system, Theodore should have gotten a puppy, a puppy like Jack would have filled his days and nights with unconditional love and physical love as well; we who are dog owners know full well the wonderful quality that dogs bring to cuddling and hugs. Just a thought.

My other thought was that this movie wasn’t about technology after all, but really all about the human connection. Theodore was blessed with two great friends and he never forgets their worth in his life which I was happy to see expressed often.

A puppy would have helped Theodore tremendously. that along with his real friends and he would have felt easier in his skin. He had a lot of things going for him; a sensitive soul, good friends, a great apartment and a job; his melancholic turn made me sad for him, the poor lamb. A puppy would have turned his frowns upside down, but then what kind of movie would we have had?

Daily prompt: Head turners

Tags

cell phones, postaday2014, technology

We often hear strange snippets of conversation as we walk through public spaces. When was the last time you overheard something so interesting, ridiculous, or disturbing you really wanted to know what it was all about?

I would have titled the daily prompt head scratchers instead. I am trying to remember a weird conversation that I might have overheard, but this is so sad to say, that my ear has become so accustomed to hearing snippets of unwanted conversations that they have all faded into being background noises like the cars honking, the subway arriving and the engine noises that surround me whenever I walk down the street of any city.

If I would have seen this prompt years ago, when people speaking into cell phones or ear buds was more of a novelty, my ear would have discerned countless one ended conversations which by nature being one sided must have made for some doozies, I could have written one funny post. But I am too saturated in our tech savvy world. One sided conversations no longer seem strange, which is bizarre in a way, sadly I must walk by hundreds of funny possibilities, my ear no longer can pluck them out from the other white noise surrounding me.

Daily prompt: Game of Groans

Tags

cell phones, postaday2014, technology

Think about an object, an activity, or a cultural phenomenon you really don’t like. Now write a post (tongue in cheek or not — your call!) about why it’s the best thing ever.

I think that everyone knows how much I dislike the cell phone. So here goes an attempt to write about the cell phone as the best thing ever.

Have you ever worried about feeling alone, bored, undistracted or not in the loop? Well do I have the cure for you!!! It’s called a cellphone and once you have it, you will wonder how in the world you ever survived life on a daily basis before its inception! Just think, where before you would be in the bathroom, enduring countless minutes of unending boredom doing your business where now with the cellphone you can communicate with the outside world, you can upload pictures, play games all while relieving yourself; the essence of the multi-task. Or why go to a restaurant with friends and just speak to them when you can be messaging and poking an entire group of people not even within your vicinity. How is that for progress?

Better yet, you can provide endless amounts of entertainment to all sorts of strangers by speaking out loud in public over your cell phone reliving the worst break up or the horrible thing you did at the office. The things that you can share with the world is limitless, because don’t forget those eye catching selfies that everyone just loves posting for the world to see. As you can see the cell phone has made your life, everyones, isn’t it grand?

Okay I think that that was enough snark for me for a long time. Personally I would never deny someone their cell phone, I just don’t like them. In my opinion; they are too much of an interference and how did the world become convinced that they were a vital necessity in our daily lives? I really think that they speed up time or at least our awareness of time passing; they make things have to be more immediate or at least that is how it seems to me.

Any questions you can call me at ha, ha, ha. Write or leave comments instead 😀

Daily prompt: Going Obselete

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obsolete, postaday2014, technology

Of all the technologies that have gone extinct in your lifetime, which one do you miss the most?

I can’t say that I miss any of the old technologies, but I do experience a certain nostalgia when thinking of them in a certain contextual way. I remember my best friend Teri and I, hanging out in her living room playing her grandfather’s eight track cassettes, dancing to the music while the lights pulsed in time to the music and our dance moves. We had no idea that we were getting down to soon to be obsolete technology, we were happy and carefree.

I can move slightly down the timeline to the tough decision my parents made; invest in Betamax or VHS. Maybe it was because we were French; we went Betamax; if we had been living in Europe, we would have made the right choice. Oops wrong continent, we were living in New York. We lived with that bad decision for a long time.

Next obsolete piece of technology that completely passed me by, voluntarily, was the Sony Walkman. I remember taking the subway to both high school and college watching everyone sitting or standing listening to their Walkman’s and I never ever had any inclination to wanting to be part of that experience. There is something about having earbuds or earphones on my ears that is so uncomfortable that I can’t stand it for a second. Give me a book to pass the time on the subway, I’ll listen to my music at home.

I kind of miss the cassette tape; I remember making my own mixed tapes and the importance of receiving a mixed tape from that special someone, that was a really big deal. I remember getting excited when I made the cut between songs, clean and crisp, like a “professional”. In my first Subaru, I had a cassette deck and the kids still remember my tapes, which ones they liked and the ones they didn’t. They were fed a steady diet of Simply Red, Sade, Tracy Chapman and Keith Richards, both his solo albums and a friend’s mixed tape, I lost that one. I know that cassette tapes were replaced by the c.d, but I haven’t found a c.d that has the ability to generate the same special memories that my old cassettes could. Funny I never though of tape cassettes as technology, but they are same as vinyl records, old outdated clunky technology, worthy of big doses of nostalgia.

I am still waiting for Rosie the housekeeper from The Jetsons and the flying car. I would’t mind making my current vacuum cleaner obsolete.

Daily prompt : Mix tape

Tags

good old days, music, postaday2013, technology, writing

You make a new friend. Make them a mix tape (or playlist, for the younger folks) that tells them who you are through song.

I remember spending hours making mix tapes when I was younger, using my cassette player and buying blank cassette tapes, waiting for my favorite songs on the radio and recording them, hitting the stop button and then patiently waiting for another song to come on to record right afterwards. Those were the days, often the result was a little grainy and the volume not very consistent, but the thought and effort were there. A lot of love went into this project and that is why mixed tapes were a big deal. I don’t think that a playlist would ever have the same deep meaning simply because with the new technology, the time and work isn’t there. There isn’t the huge investment put into the finished product and I am not talking about the monetary value.

I am feeling a little nostalgic for the old days of low tech technology, the dinosaur age of technology if you will, when you still put some elbow grease into it.

There are things that I will never understand

Tags

politics, postaday2013, social media, technology, Twitter

As I was reading the news for the past few days, the focus was on two topics, topics diametrically opposed to each other; one was an extremely happy event, the birth of the Royal Prince, (hello Prince George!) and the other the most embarrassing political scandal once again perpetrated by former congressman Anthony Wiener, who is currently running for Mayor of New York City. He resigned in 2011 because he was caught on social media via Twitter with literally, his pants down; he was sending pictures of himself in his boxer briefs to young ladies who weren’t his wife. He admitted he had a problem after he tried to deny it at first and then resigned to go work on himself and his marriage. Fast forward to a few months ago when he announced his running for Mayor of New York City and it appeared that all was forgiven and he was given a second chance until now. He apparently never got the help that he so desperately needed, he instead, continued sending lewd photos of himself and this time without the boxer briefs and he isn’t stepping away from the race. It is so embarrassing for New Yorkers, it is embarrassing for his wife and for his friends and family. The oppositional nature of these two events is mind boggling, on one hand we have such a wonderful sharing through social media of the birth of a beautiful baby boy who happens to be the third in line of the throne of England and on the other hand, again through the lens of social media, we have the manifestation of a sick addiction of a politician, who cannot seem to admit that he has a serious problem and is letting his ego hurt the woman in his life, who is his wife and partner. Unbelievable how social media can be both a wonderful platform and a horrible platform, depending solely on the person sharing whatever content they so choose at any given moment.

The good folks at Plinky.com

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blogging, postaday2013, prompts, technology, writing

The following is the latest update on my technodifficulties with my Plinky.com account. I wrote my tale of woe to the service people and I received a very prompt response. Krista from the tech department at WordPress, Plinky is an offshoot of WordPress, wrote back and said that they tried but they couldn’t find my account anywhere. I wrote back and reconfirmed all of my log in information and Krista replied that she was not giving up but it might take several days to clear this up. I appreciate their prompt response especially given the fact that this is a free service provided by our good friends at the wonderful world of WordPress.

I am curious to see how this will resolve itself; if they will find me in their archives or if I will have to establish a new account. It is curious that they can’t find my information but we shall see.

Plinky’s latest prompt is to write about the latest nightmare that you remember, I can’t recall having a nightmare recently. The dreams that I remember these past few weeks have all been either good ones where I am in France or puzzling dreams that really don’t make any sense. I haven’t had a nightmare in years. I suppose that is a very good thing, my subconscious is at peace or that is how I choose to see it.

Goofing off with my photo booth

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goofing off, passing time, pictures, postaday2013, technology

While I was on my IPad, I was looking through the applications that I hadn’t clicked on before and I opened photo booth. It has all these photo manipulative techniques that allow you to distort your subject in quite a few ways so I used my self-portrait to experiment and I came up with some scary pictures. As you can probably tell, I got a little bored with writing important stuff so I am relaxing and goofing off with frivolous playing. Enjoy the pics!

Playing with data

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IPad, learning, pictures, postaday2012, technology, thoughts, writing

I am still playing with and discovering the bells and whistles of my new toy. Yesterday I figured out how to upload a video that my baby girl had shot of Jack and our dinner, the lobster. Today I found out that my IPad automatically uploads the pictures that my hubby takes into my photo stream. I just need to figure out and play with the settings to make my posts more attractive. I think that what I am aiming to do is fiddle around with the ratio of space between text and photo, almost like what I used to see the art directors do to the catalog and the print advertising at Conran’s-Habitat all those years ago.

These photos that I am going to upload are all the photos from yesterday,Christmas Day and the day before, Christmas Eve; in between the food and Jack, the camera’s were busy these past two days.

What belongs?

Tags

historical record, modern achievements, NASA, planet, postaday2012, space travel, technology

Imagine a new Voyager spacecraft is being built by NASA, and like its earlier counterparts, it’s going to carry the best of modern human culture inscribed onto a record. What belongs on there and why?

I wonder if they mean a vinyl record because that would indeed be ironic, inscribing all of our detailed modern achievements into a quasi relic from the past. Moreover, by modern; how modern do they mean? I suppose by modern it would have to be within the last forty years or so. By that standard, I would include the internet as a modern achievement for all of its downsides, it has broadened many people’s horizons by making a whole world of information accessible to them, if they were curious enough to read about it. I still don’t want to include the cell phone because I think that the negatives to instant access at all times to others definitely outweigh the positives.

I would include the advancements of wind and solar energy as evidence that we care about our environment and planet. I would include the research lab in Switzerland to show that we are forever curious about our past, present and future in the universe and we think outside ourselves every once and a while. All of the research made in marine biology and ocean habitats would be included as well, to show that we understand that what happens beneath and around us is of vital importance to the health of us all. Basically I would be mindful of showing that despite most indicators, we are trying to be good stewards of our one and only planet. I’m not sure if the evidence that I would be sending would be sufficient enough to argue the point in our favor but we can only hope.