Terry Gilliam on the making of Brazil

(NOTAMARKinc)

In this excellent interview, Gilliam discusses a variety of issues surrounding the production of his film Brazil - from his creative process to communication, bureaucracy, science fiction, his battles with Universal, poo-poo, and much more. They cram a lot into 13 minutes.

previously: Terry Gilliam - Storytime (1968)

stray bullets

Beijing Taxis Are Rigged for Eavesdropping As with digital cameras used in cities such as London, Sydney or New York, the stated purpose of the microphones is to protect the driver. But whereas the devices in other countries can only record images, those devices in Beijing taxis can be remotely activated without the driver's knowledge to eavesdrop on passengers, according to drivers and Yaxon Networks Co., a Chinese company that makes some of the systems used in Beijing. The machines can even remotely shut off engines. The whole world is rigged for eavesdropping. (via)

They Will Survive UNLESS John D. McCann, the managing director of Survival Resources, based in Hyde Park, N.Y., is wearing a suit for some sort of business meeting, he always carries in his pants pocket an Altoids tin. There are no mints inside it. Instead, he painstakingly packs the tin — which he explains can double as a mini-frying pan if you’re ever marooned in the wilderness — with a remarkable assortment of worst-case scenario supplies. Survival is good. (via)

Credit card thieves ran a polite, professional help desk Organized criminals often seen to be a step or two ahead of the competition. Many of us would settle for a help desk that was helpful.

also:
The Most Important Generation in History is the One Now Alive
blog all dog-eared pages: understanding media (McLuhan)
Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time (like the list, not the order) (via)
Gear Porn: Chemical Brothers Daft Punk
Cleveland Museum of Art via Flickr
Bartleby, the Scrivener.pdf (via)
The temple of tame tigers (photo essay) (patient, maybe)
A PhD in Ufology (via)
Frankie Knuckles Interview
Michel Gondry writes a comic book (via)

viddy:
An Interview With Jim Coudal (via)
The Prisoner: Caviezel and McKellen's First Reading
Smart Birds use cars to open their food (via)
Silent Shadow of the Bat-Man
Lessig on i-9/11
Powers of Ten A film dealing with the relative size of things in the universe and the effect of adding another zero.
Ladislas Starewicz - The Mascot, 1933 (creepy stop-motion animation) (more Starewicz)
Late Night TV in Japan: Spanking Class (this guy takes his spanking seriously)
MST3K 624: Samson Vs The Vampire Women (one of the best) (via)

Greetings San Martín De Sarroca!

stray bullets

Green pools and upscale decay in California (via); Ralph Steadman answers your questions; Frank Deford suggests that Water-Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green; and Dutch statisticians have established that Friday the 13th is actually safer than an average Friday.

Lagniappe: SecretTweet: anonymous Twitter posting; The Speed Trap Exchange (via); William S. Burroughs - The Cut Ups (ht); Watch a 500,000 volt electrical arc

Robotic Body Scooper

Didn't they have something like this in Soylent Green? Their's was much bigger, I seem to remember.

This one belongs to the Tokyo Fire Department.

From Weird Asia News:

Don’t worry if you happen to be presumed dead and picked up by Robokiyu, he has fresh oxygen pumping through him at all times for your convenience.

Robokiyu is also not above apology and will happily pour you a drink to say sorry.

That's a comfort.

Ted Turner: Global warming could lead to cannibalism

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

If steps aren't taken to stem global warming, "We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow," Turner said during a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with PBS's Charlie Rose that aired Tuesday.

"Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals," said Turner, 69. "Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state — like Somalia or Sudan — and living conditions will be intolerable."

One way to combat global warming, Turner said, is to stabilize the population.

"We're too many people; that's why we have global warming," he said. "Too many people are using too much stuff."

Stop it, please. Knock it off.

I know I should ignore these statements. It is Ted Turner. However, I see this is as a notable example of our counterproductive tendencies toward shrieking, hyperbolic alarmism.

I am so tired of doomsday scenarios. I've been hearing this crap since the seventies and none of it has come to pass. By the time I was graduating from high school, I was convinced we were all going to perish in global thermo-nuclear war or in its horrific aftermath. I've seen a number of these scenarios foisted on a worried, fearful and overwhelmed public and I have to declare that it's all complete bullshit.

The world has problems, major problems, no denying it. But if we can't get it together enough to prevent a Mad Max cannibalistic orgy, then we deserve our fate.

I have been green since the seventies. I haven't owned an automobile since 1995. I am 100% behind clean and green alternatives, technologies and lifestyles. I don't want to live in a polluted environment. None of us should. It just seems that we should work toward cleaning up our messes and preventing further ones because it's what we should do, not because we're motivated by Al Gore or The Discovery Channel or Ted Turner warning of impending dystopian awfulness.

These kind of messages serve no useful purpose for humanity at large. Fear ignited by them is misguided and the rest who reject the message, or just can't handle it because they have too much other stuff to worry about in their lives, make little effort toward making things better.

I see two disturbing trends that have emerged this decade. One is the Right's fanatical obsession with the War on Terrorism and all of its baggage, and the Left's fanatical obsession with Climate Change, (formerly known as Global Warming) and all of its baggage. Both operate in much the same way. There's no room for debate and if you dispute any of their views you are branded and shunned. I am just as wary of emerging eco-fascism as I am of the more garden varieties.

It is my fast conviction that we have to transcend turning every issue and crisis into an ideological and political football game. Somehow, I see cannibalism more probable, but I hold on to my hopes.

I have nothing against Ted Turner, but I do think it is irresponsible to use a bully pulpit, such as it is, to deliver these misinformed and ridiculous statements. It might serve those prone to such outbursts and attitudes well to take a look and a moment to see how it really comes off and just what it accomplishes.

If you'd like to see for yourself, here's a clip:



The media have always made bank with doomsaying, fear and horror; if it bleeds, it leads, this is nothing new. But lately, I've noticed a higher density of doom in the news. Along with the ubiquitous economic and environmental ill tidings, war and rumor of war, there have been a number of stories like this:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Lawmakers from California to Kentucky are trying to save money with a drastic and potentially dangerous budget-cutting proposal: releasing tens of thousands of convicts from prison, including drug addicts, thieves and even violent criminals.

Officials acknowledge that the idea carries risks, but they say they have no choice because of huge budget gaps brought on by the slumping economy.

First of all, how many other types of criminal are there other than drug addicts/users/dealers, thieves and violent criminals? That pretty much covers it, doesn't it? What is the purpose of this statement, other than to cause alarm?

And don't try to hand me this guff that they're releasing them because of the slumping economy. We've been throwing so many people into prison over the last twenty years that they've been sagging under the weight for just as long.

This is just one example of many I've seen lately. They're turning it up a notch with these kind of items. If anyone has any ideas, insights or opinions on any of this, please let me know.

I'll stop now.

Truckers to strike on April 1st

The National Ledger reports:

It takes a ton of cash to run a truck these days. So much so that several truck driver's will voluntarily take their rigs off the road on April 1st in what has been billed as a trucker's strike. It is not an organized effort by a union but it appears to be more of a grass root effort of independent owner-operators that has picked up steam with Diesel prices well over $4.00 per gallon in many truck stops across America.

I hate to say it, but the way things are looking, the way goods are moved around this country might be in for a change. Can you say outsourcing? If these guys can't make a living as independent owner-operators, who's going to pick up the slack?

I'm no economist and I'm not really up on how the commercial freight business is run in America, but it seems that the logical solution is to pass the cost down the line. If I'm not mistaken, the reason many business hire independent owner-operators is because it's more cost-effective than buying a fleet of vehicles and paying to maintain and operate them. Pay up and pass it on. Yeah, prices will be higher... tough. That's the way shit goes.

The other alternative is the "o" word.

I don't have to belabor the point too much by pointing out that up the trail, profits and bottom lines and shareholders are somehow involved.

Trucker strikes and food riots always seem to be precursors to dystopia in futurist and science fiction scenarios.

Can you say Ubiquitous Surveillance?

Smart dust isn't exactly news, I heard about this over ten years ago. It's just a little bit closer to being a part of your everyday life.

In the Annals of Galactic History(TM), we'll be known as the species that turned everything in the universe into a camera.

Little Brother All Grown Up

According to NewTeeVee's Chris Albrecht, Comcast is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room.

No.

No no no no no no no no no.

via MetaFilter

Food Riot!

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

From MSNBC/AP:

If you’re seeing your grocery bill go up, you’re not alone.

From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions. Freak weather is a factor. But so are dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.

The world’s poorest nations still harbor the greatest hunger risk. Clashes over bread in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month.

Great. What's next, Soylent Green?

I'm really trying to be optimistic. I need to go watch a few TED videos to cheer me up.

Call me an eye-bright moonbat, but shouldn't we have the 'feeding humanity' thing down by now? We eradicated smallpox, what's the hold-up?

Another thing, anyone ever notice that when prices go up, they rarely come back down?

Foreign Policy chimes in.