GWC Podcast #121

Podcasts Galactic Watercooler
#21

I was thinking about it during the podcast. Do we really want flying cars? Back in the day the idea was more freedom and independence. Just imagine the bureaucracy to even pilot one. A Private Pilot license needs at least 40 hrs flight experience and several tests. After 9/11 forget it. I will need to begin my commute 30 - 60 min earlier to go through security and forget about a coffee in the morning because i can’t have more than 3oz.

Besides, with the advances in transportation it will probably be online before the flying cars anyways. I also hear there is a formula to give me powers out there now so it won’t be long till I can fly myself. :smiley:

#22

Ok, just tracked down some clips (btw, so going to rent it now). The movie sounds very interesting. And man does the facial animation suck, even more then I initially thought. I’ve studied animation for a while now, especially facial animation, and while I’m not that great at it myself I can safely say whoever did the facial animation for appleseed weren’t that good themselves.

It also looks like the facial rigging is fairly bad, which also tends to make the animation done on top of it even worse. I suspect they may have been trying to imitate an anime style (which isn’t that easy to do in 3D when you’re not aiming to look like cels).

Still, the movie looks very very interesting. I’m definitely going to rent it now. I have to say, they use mocap much more effectively then I’ve ever seen. Rather then aiming for a totally realistic depiction of motion (which is really, really hard, maybe even impossible with mocap) they use more of a stylized style which works much better then I would’ve have believed before seeing it. So, despite my gripes about the facial animation (in fact, everything about the heads of the characters) it does look really cool :slight_smile:

Joe

#23

Eh there’s really no security for small private airplanes. I know, since my dad’s a pilot. It’s really pathetic, it’d be dead easy for terrorists to put bombs in small airplanes. Makes me wonder how much of commercial airport security is show.

Joe

#24

Pretty much all of it.

#25

I swear to the godz this is true. On Sunday I was on my way to Home Depot to buy some cordline for my weedwacker (no IYKWIM please). And I started listening to Podcast 121. And just minutes after pressing play my car pulled up to stop light just before the turn into Home Depot.
And what kind of car is right beside me at the stop light? Oh yeah, it was a DeLorean.

So I immediately got out of my car and knocked on the DeLorean’s wind sheild and said HEY! THERE’S THIS GUY NAMED CHUCK IN TEXAS WHO WANTS A DELOREAN!!! CAN HE BUY THIS OFF YOU!!!

Okay, well, the stuff in italics above didn’t actually happen.

#26

A shame!

Kidding aside, I’ve got a year or two of saving before I can start my hunt in a big way. But the time will come soon enough… :slight_smile:

#27

They’re asking for a hunk of change for them.

http://www.vast.com/cars/used-for-sale-Delorean/location-Englewood--CO

#28

in honor of some time traveling arcs, here is a fun story:

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/10/the_ten_least_competent_time_travelers.php?page=1

#29

My absolute favorite time travel story is Wikihistory. (It’s probably funnier if you’ve edited a wiki, but it should make sense regardless.)

#30

I always thought George McFly was spying on Lea Thompson. And that he was supposed to be hit by the car and Leah Thompson would take care of him, but instead Marty got hit and hit on by his mom.

#31

Clearly the work of Marty McFly

#32

Haven’t been on here in ages, and way behind on the podcasts, but, doing my best to catch up and chime in on the BTTF arc. Remember, I AM YOUR DENSITY!! Hahaha! Hope you are all doing well.

#33

Just chiming in on my area of expertise (college drinking). I believe the hallowed vodka of which you refer to early in the podcast is POPOV. It definitely has its own powers of time travel. I [don’t] recall many times taking that first pour out of the plastic jug and then suddenly jumping ahead 12 hours into the future, fully clothed in a heap on the floor looking and feeling slightly worse for wear than Reverend Jim. Way cheaper than a DeLorean.

Ah, college…

#34

Man, I’m kinda bummed to see that Back to the Future is so relatively unpopular. Chatter sure is down. But hey.

After all this talk of time travel, here’s something that hasn’t come up. And I’m talking out my butt – huh, I said “butt” – here, but if I understand correctly, which I probably don’t, according to some versions of superstring theory, the universe actually has ten (possibly 11) dimensions… as opposed to the three we generally acknowledge. And one of those is time. Sorta. I think.

Now in the Watchmen book, Dr. Manhattan says that time all happens simultaneously. I forget the exact page and quote, but he says something like “somewhere, a block of granite has a sculpture inside it.”

I’m not sure what my point his here.

I still haven’t see Primer, but as far as time travel mechanics go, two of my favorite movies are BTTF 2 and Bill & Ted 2 (in particular the scene at the end when they’re caught in the cage).

Speaking of changing times and booze and Back to the Future, it’s semi-interesting to note how BTTF was made right before alcohol became such a big deal. Like at the beginning, Biff’s DUI was just a slight embarassment – no felony, no arrest, no manadatory jail time.

I’m only a half-hour into the podcast… Has there been any talk about how the BTTF #1 movie originally started filming with Eric Stoltz as Marty? But they felt the vibe was just too intense and dark. Stolotz and Lea Thompson would reunite 4/5 years later in the totally underrated Some Kind of Wonderful.

#35

Nothing will beat Poland Spring Vodka. It’s the number 1 reason I was in college for 7 years (and remember only 3 of them).

#36

Where’s the love for the sound track? No comment on the Huey Lewis cameo?

I’ve always thought it was interesting that Huey Lewis turned down the chance to do the soundtrack for Ghostbusters, but then a year later did BTTF. I figure the colossal success of Ghostbusters with its obvious ‘influence’ from “I Want a New Drug” led him to rethink his decision…

#37

Power of love, for sure. Huey & company sued the cajones off the Ghostbusters folks and won.

#38

LOL - I think if Chuck forgot to mention it, it’s because it’s ALL we ever talk about when this movie comes up in conversation. Chuck is a HUGE fan of Huey Lewis. He also pointed out in the re-watch that there’s a huge poster of HL&TN in Marty’s bedroom, a big ad for the album “Sports.”

“I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”

Guess we didn’t mention some of those things because they’d become so ingrained in us as “the old stories.”

Oh, and re: the rolled-up hats. I didn’t think it was bad to have the brim curled, but when guys used to take the brims, roll them into a tube about an inch across, rubberband them, and soak them in water until it curled up on itself - THAT was over the line, Smokey.

#39

I just wanted to say that I love BTTF, but I’ve had a busy week and haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet… so it’s totally me, it’s not GWC or the best time travel movie ever. :slight_smile:

#40

There were so many things in the podcast that were new to me, even though I can’t count how many times I’ve seen it, so bravo.

The biggest problem for me in time travel would be that some of the medication I take that keeps me alive wouldn’t have been invented yet!

Oh, and what’s with the Irish in America? I don’t know my history in that area, were they persecuted? My family background is Irish, being a Walsh, they came to Australia around late 1800s

BTW an intro is coming for this week :wink: I’ve been bogged down writing job interviews - very boring!