Person of Interest (S1E1-S1E4)

Series Rewatch: Person of Interest
Episodes: S1E1 – S1E4

Summary from Wikipedia

Person of Interest is an American science fiction crime drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2011, to June 21, 2016. Its five seasons comprise 103 episodes. The series was created by Jonathan Nolan; executive producers were Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, and Chris Fisher.

The series centers on a mysterious reclusive billionaire computer programmer, Harold Finch (Michael Emerson), who has developed a computer program for the federal government known as “The Machine” that is capable of collating all sources of information to predict terrorist acts and to identify people planning them. The Machine also identifies perpetrators and victims of other premeditated deadly crimes; however, because the government considers these “irrelevant”, Finch programs the Machine to delete this information each night. Anticipating abuse of his creation, Finch included a backdoor into the Machine. Tormented by the “irrelevant” deaths that might have been prevented, he eventually decides to use his backdoor to act covertly. To escape detection, he directs the Machine to provide him with only a tiny fragment of its data: the social security number of such a “person of interest”. This may be a victim, a perpetrator, or an innocent bystander caught up in lethal events. The first episode shows how Finch recruited John Reese (Jim Caviezel)—a former Green Beret and CIA agent, now presumed dead—to investigate the person identified by the number the Machine has provided, and to act accordingly. As time passes, others join the team.

From its first episode, the series raises an array of moral issues, from questions of privacy and “the greater good”, the concept of justifiable homicide, and problems caused by working with limited information program. At the end of the program’s first season, Finch discovers that the Machine has achieved sentience, introducing questions, from human oversight and other issues inherent in the use of artificial intelligence, to the complex ethical questions which the series addresses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)

My Take:

This is a fascinating show. It has tight writing, masterful acting. This show’s pilot is one of the best TV pilots I’ve ever seen. They seemed to have a hold of the overall themes of the show from the jump. They easily introduced the characters and even managed to make the exposition dump scene about the Machine to be engrossing. The ethical questions about such a surveillance device are provocative. And on the rewatch, I am seeing the beginning strands of long story arcs laid down earlier than I remembered.

TL;DR:

Person of Interest is a great show and deserves a watch if you haven’t seen it. I am looking forward to continuing my rewatch of this series.

“Skyscraper” — Inspiration Porn?

I rented and watched Skyscraper starring Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell. It’s another film that is in the theme of The Towering Inferno, but in this case they decided it needed an active human villain rather than simple hubris. The film has some good moments of VFX, and the concept itself of a mostly self-sufficient skyscraper as a vertical community is a long-held one in science fiction. All in all, not bad for some action entertainment.

So what is with the title, you are likely wondering. Dwayne Johnson’s character is an amputee: his left leg is missing below the knee. To his credit, Dwayne Johnson worked with an amputee to develop the characterization of acting a prosthetic leg. He and the director wanted to respect amputees with a faithful performance.

Here’s my problem. There is a special feature entry called “Inspiration”. In it, Dwayne Johnson discusses his process of researching and preparing for the role, including talking about the man who helped him. They also talked about how they really wanted to portray an amputee action hero. Representation is important.  But Dwayne Johnson also took time to build up the man he used as a reference and a coach on how to act like an amputee. Why not just use this man who was an athlete in his own right? It would have saved a lot on CGI for not having to remove the actor’s leg in the shots the prosthesis is visible or disconnected from the leg. Maybe the amputation decision was only made after Dwayne Johnson was hired for the role. Maybe they offered the role to an amputee actor and they didn’t want the part.

Inspiration porn is any situation in which able-bodied people recognize the struggle or at least existence of people with various disabilities to make the able-bodied people feel like good people. So in this case, the key question is who is being honored: amputees and wounded warriors for their sacrifice and to give them a reminder that they can be badasses; or Dwayne Johnson and the crew of Skyscraper for making the action hero an amputee and going to great lengths to get Dwayne Johnson to act like someone who had a leg severed?

Different Means Different

First off, I’m finally back! I’m going to rededicate myself to writing something on this page at least once a week.

Now, on with the point….

After rewatching “Rogue One”, I’m watching some of the special features. Something Kathleen Kennedy (then head of Lucasfilms) said resonated with me. Not just about Star Wars, but also Star Trek and almost every other intellectual property that is going through a revival or renewal right now.

“We can go through a period of nostalgia, but what are we going to do with future generations who want to step into their own era of this vast mythology and universe called ‘Star Wars’?”

I think that fits just about every fandom out there. What have been many of the complaints about the new Star Wars and Star Trek movies?

– “It breaks canon.”
– “It doesn’t match my memories.”
– “The feeling is different.”
– “Why is suddenly so much diversity?”
etc.

As Spock observed about V’Ger, the fandom had reached its limit and it must evolve. Same with Doctor Who and a new woman actor. No, it isn’t the same as what you grew up with, and that’s fine.

No, “Star Trek Discovery” doesn’t look like the original TOS, and that’s fine too. It looks great, and has fantastic acting. Production technology is different now. Audiences expect different, more robust stories. The Kelvin timeline Star Trek stories are more energetic for a more action-oriented audience, but they can still ask interesting science fiction questions.

Different doesn’t mean bad. Different doesn’t even necessarily mean better.

Different means different.

IDIC

Surprise! Politicians are Humans, Too

I once again feel like I am in the uncomfortable position of defending Pres. Trump. (And yes, I do still use the title out of respect for the office, not the person currently occupying it.)

There have many examples of Pres. Trump seemingly being confused or not present in the moment. Examples of these are him wandering out of a signing ceremony before signing the document; wandering away early from a lectern at a press conference; not noticing the photographers and Chancellor Merkel asking for a handshake in that photo op; wandering away from his motorcade upon disembarking Air Force One (video below); seemingly confused upon finishing his speech in Poland; rambling during speeches, getting facts wrong.

There have been many threads online positing on if Pres. Trump has dementia or not. Unfortunately, it seems like many of those references are trying to play up the humor of the “crazy old man” trope.

The problem is, I don’t really find it funny. Three members of my family (to my knowledge) have already died from dementia and Alzheimer’s. My mother has started her own struggle with dementia. It is heartbreaking to see anyone, no matter how monstrous, to go through this living death.

There any many implications of if Pres. Trump really is going through ordeal. It explains a lot of the odd behavior, such as the admission that he hasn’t read many if not most of the executive orders he signed. He may just be being used by the people around him, doing what they tell him. They may even tell him they’ve already talked to him about what he’s agreeing to. It may also explain why he has so much of his family around. The family members may be required to help him keep focus. I heard what my step-grandfather had to do to keep grandma’s focus, and I’ve seen what my father has to do to keep mom focused on tasks. And I’ve seen her get confused and easily distracted. This also might explain the almost weekly golf trips. Those may be times that he needs to recharge his focus ability, and maybe avail himself of some experimental treatments.

I think the most important thing we have to remember is that Pres. Trump is a human being, after all, with friends and family who at least tolerate him if not love him. As much as we might hate his policies and the way he is enacting them, he’s still a person.

 

<Now I think I need a shower….>

Could Trump Possibly Be Leto II?

First, I have to say I can’t believe I’m actually writing this. I join with millions of other citizens of the U.S. and the world who are terrified that Donald Trump is president of the United States. The chancellor of Germany has said the rest of the world can no longer rely upon the U.S. for leadership, which is true.

That said, I can’t shake an idea that entered my mind a couple of months ago. Could Donald Trump, Mr. Apprentice himself, be leading this country and maybe all of humanity down his own version of Leto II’s Golden Path?

Let me explain for those who haven’t read Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, and the other sequel Dune novels. Leto II, having the same prescient powers of his father, Paul Atreides, knew that something had to be done to strengthen humanity or it would self-destruct eventually. So, he made the sacrifice and took steps to become The Tyrant. When he became emperor, his policies were harsh and calculated to create that inner strength in humans to protect the species. It also gave future generations a template of what not to do to avoid such a ruler before.

So, even though he seems like a monster who just doesn’t know what he’s doing, that lets his passions drive him, that reacts when his delicate ego is bruised, all creating numerous international diplomatic incidents, is it possible that he actually knows what he’s doing? Is it possible that Trump may be smarter and more clever than we give him credit for? Is it possible that all of these measures are carefully calculated to protect the country in the future? So far, Trump’s presidency is a step-by-step of what not to do for future presidents, a guide for future legislators and judges of how to keep leaders in check.

I don’t whether I hope more I’m right or wrong. I want to be wrong about this hypothesis because I can’t stand conspiracy theories and I don’t want to give him more credit than he’s due. On the other hand, I want the best for people. I want the citizens to learn from this. And these events are such a perfect storm of bad things that it almost points to them being orchestrated.

Thoughts?

Yes, I’m still here.

I meant to do a post a week, but then I started getting too busy. But one of my goals for this year is to focus on my writing, so I will refocus myself. I think a more workable goal is a post every other week.

This is especially after the nice guys at The Babylon Project Podcast gave my page a shoutout on their show. (happy scream)

So, if anyone is still following this blog, welcome back!

Podcasts – Conversations on Demand

How many times have you sat around with friends and just talked about random things? Like gone over all the trivia of a favorite TV show or movie, reviewed a new movie, or talked about current news events in either a funny or serious way. But what do you do when you don’t have many friends to hang around with like that?

In those cases, there are podcasts, shows where people discuss whatever they want to focus on. There are podcasts on almost any topic you can think of. Ones I listen to are on TV shows, atheism, current events, entertainment, sexuality, and relationships.

In this post I’ll mention the podcasts I listen to that discuss TV Shows.

The Babylon Project Podcast
babylonprojectpodcast.wordpress.com
On this podcast, Raul Ybarra and Jim Arrowood are doing a re-watch of one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Babylon 5. Episode by episode, they discuss the episode, all the actors, the story, how the plot fits into the overall story of the series. I’ve enjoyed listening to their analyses, especially when they get on a military expert friend. I understand they plan to move on to the movies and Crusade after. I’ve paused my re-watch of this series until the podcast episodes catch up. This one started as basically a takeover of another podcast, the “Sci-Fi Cafe” I think it was. Then Raul and Jim started their own show. One of the funnier things is when they start going down various rabbit holes, then get back on track with “This isn’t the x podcast.”

Highlander Rewatched
soundcloud.com/highlander-rewatched
In this one, the podcasters are going through the Highlander series. The people on the show call themselves “Rewatchers”, a great pun on the Watcher organization from the show. They are also talking about going on to the movies (at least 4 and 5) and I expect they will go to Raven, too. I’ve been meaning to do a rewatch of the series, especially since it is one I’ve never really finished it. As soon as I get caught up in the episodes, I’ll do my rewatch at the same pace.

Synthaholics
synthaholics.com
This podcast is hosted by David Duncan, Aaron O’Brien, Fayth Hertzberg, and often Guy Davis. They discuss anything that has to do with Star Trek, from favorite or worst episodes, dream crews, sexuality, the new movies and the new series, web series, and the Axanar controversy. I like how the show isn’t an echo chamber of everything Star Trek is automatically good. They have diverse opinions on all things Trek and geek in general. I recently sent an email suggesting they do an episode on the Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who crossover comic mini-series. They said they’d look into it. Yay!

The West Wing Weekly
thewestwingweekly.com
This podcast is hosted by Joshua Malina (one of the show’s later stars) and Hrishikesh Hirway. They are also performing a re-watch of the series, The West Wing, another on my list of most favorite TV shows ever. They discuss each episode, and have often had other stars or past administration members on the show. I’m pausing my rewatch of this series until the podcast catches up. I’m looking forward to their discussions on many episodes later in the show’s run.

New Star Trek

Starting in 2009, the Star Trek franchise was rebooted with a new movie that created an alternate timeline. This was first referred to as the J-J-verse, both with derision and not, then recently made officially the Kelvin-timeline in reference to the USS Kelvin that was destroyed at the beginning of the movie.

The first one was good. It was fun, and had new spin on the franchise. Sure it had plenty of plot holes. The biggest one for me that pushed me out of the movie was the construction of the starship on the ground. True, there were no real deep issues involved but rather an exercise in melding the science and drama of Star Trek and the action of Star Wars.

The second one, Star Trek Into Darkness, was good at parts, too. There were some interesting character and political moments and exciting bits of action. But then the whole John-Harrison-is-Khan thing could have even been good. Except for when it started being an almost scene for scene homage/remake of Wrath of Khan.

Now there is the latest in the Kelvin timeline, Star Trek Beyond. I saw this over the weekend, and I thought it was great. It still had the action of a modern movie (helped by the director Justin Lin who also directed three of the Fast and the Furious movies) but also had some good thought provoking moments. Questions on why we do what we do, questions on the wisdom of pushing boundaries and the risks we take when we do. The old line of “just because we can do a thing, should we do that thing.” And each of the main characters has a chance to shine. I highly recommend it.

Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are so many people hating on the new Star Trek movies so much? Is it just because they are action movies? Each of the movies from TWOK on have had action, each more than the one before. Chris Pine said that a thoughtful movie can’t be made today, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, he’s right. People like to complain about dumb movies full of explosions, but they keep going to Transformers movies. I’m not sure even Donnie Darko could be created this year. I think you can have both. I think you can have a thought-provoking movie with production value.

I think it’s better to trust movie makers we know. And give things a chance. How many times do we have to experience how completely different from the tone of a movie the trailer is to start not trusting them? People could at least wait until the thing comes out and make up their own mind. Or at least find a reviewer they tend to agree with and go with them. But just don’t hate something because it’s cool to hate it or you think too many people like it.

Death and Perspective

A few hours ago, I saw multiple news stories about the accidental death of Anton Yelchin, most recently known as Chekov in the new Star Trek movies. According to the stories, his car rolled back in his driveway and pinned him against a brick wall.

I’ve seen many people express their condolences to his family on his death. I’ve also seen people talking about how badly they felt when the thought occurred about future Star Trek movies. They thought such concerns were selfish.

Why is it wrong to show concern about things one is interested in? The story says he was on his way to a rehearsal, so his death has disrupted the lives of all the people attached to that production. And it has disrupted the lives of all the people attached to the Star Trek movies. How then is it selfish to be sad about someone’s career being cut short?