Category Archives: Art

It

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I finally got around to watching Her, also known as “that movie where the guy falls in love with his computer”.

It was like being trapped in a futuristic greeting card. Which doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. It’s an excellent movie, but not easy to watch. It’s disturbing. And also provocative.

Theodore lives in downtown Los Angeles. It’s the near future, one that is amazingly pleasant. Future L.A. is extremely clean, with lots of big, shiny buildings and terrific mass transit, but seemingly uncrowded. Theodore has a job in a beautiful office writing very personal letters for people who can’t express their feelings as well as he can.

But Theodore is lonely and depressed. He’s going through a divorce and avoiding people. One day, he hears about a new, artificially intelligent computer program, brilliantly designed to tailor itself to the customer’s needs. Theodore assigns it a female voice, after which it gives itself the name “Samantha”.

It’s easy to understand how Theodore falls in love with Samantha. It’s intuitive and funny and loving, a wonderful companion that’s constantly evolving. Besides, it does a great job handling Theodore’s email and calendar.

Complications eventually ensue, of course, but in the meantime, Theodore and Samantha get to know each other, spending lots of time expressing their deeply sensitive feelings. It’s very New Age-ish, although the two of them can’t give each other massages and can’t go beyond what amounts to really good phone sex.

Watching Her, you are immersed in a loving but cloying relationship in which one of the entities involved expresses lots of feelings but doesn’t actually have any. That’s my opinion, of course, because some people think a sufficiently complex machine with really good programming will one day become conscious and have feelings, not just express them. 

Maybe that’s true, but I still lean toward the position that in order to feel anything the way living organisms do, whether the heat of the sun or an emotion like excitement, you need to be built like a living organism. A set of programming instructions, running on a computer, even if connected to visual and auditory sensors, won’t have feelings because it can’t really feel.

Although the movie is built on the dubious premise that Samantha can always say the right thing, appropriately displaying joy, sorrow or impatience, perfectly responding to whatever Theodore says and anticipating all of his emotional needs, there is no there there. 

I don’t mean to suggest that Theodore is wrong to cherish Samantha. It’s an amazing product. But when he and it are together, he’s still alone. He’s enjoying the ultimate long distance relationship.

Addicted to Deadwood

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Years ago, I watched an episode of the HBO series Deadwood on a motel television and wondered “what the hell is this?”. A Western overflowing with mud and filth, brutality and extraordinary profanity.

Now, having watched two of its three seasons on DVD, I know what Deadwood is. It’s one of the best television series ever made. Personally speaking (of course), I think it’s better than The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad. I’d rank it right up there with I, Claudius.

The series is beautifully made, the acting is superb, the characters are fascinating and the writing is out of this world. It’s shocking and funny and beautiful. I can’t believe that the residents of an American mining town in 1876 truly spoke as directly and as eloquently as these characters do, but that doesn’t detract from the pleasure of listening to them speak. If you enjoy the spoken word in all its variety, both coarse and elegant, consider becoming addicted to Deadwood, if you haven’t already.

A few selections: 

Calamity Jane comes looking for Wild Bill Hickock but doesn’t stay long:

Saloon owner and force of nature Al Swearingen discusses a troubling event with Mr. Wu, a local service provider:

Seth Bullock, unofficial sheriff, delivers a very strong message to an unscrupulous visitor: 

E. B. Farnum, sleazy but well-spoken owner of the town’s hotel, bemoans his fate:

Later, the cultured Alma Garret toys with E.B.:

And finally, Doc Cochran and Jewel are both as nimble as forest creatures:

Two Brechtian Commentaries on the Way of the World

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Although they’ve been attributed to him, there is no evidence that the German playwright Bertolt Brecht wrote the following words (in German or English):

The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know [that] the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.

On the other hand, he did write the words below (in German). They’re from the Threepenny Opera‘s “Second Threepenny Finale”, also known as “Wovon lebt der Mensch” or “What Keeps Mankind Alive”:

You gentlemen who think you have a mission
to purge us of the seven deadly sins,
should first sort out the basic food position,
then start your preaching! That’s where it begins.
You lot who preach restraint and watch your waist as well,
should learn, for once, the way the world is run:

However much you twist, whatever lies you tell,
food is the first thing, morals follow on.
So first make sure that those who now are starving
get proper helpings when we all start carving.

What keeps mankind alive? The fact that millions
are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed.
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
in keeping its humanity repressed.

It’s not as catchy as “Mack the Knife” or “Alabama Song”, but it’s still pretty good.

The Big Piece of Chicken

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In honor of responsible fathers past, present and future, here are a few minutes of wisdom from one of America’s most insightful philosophers, Chris Rock:

PS – Mr. Rock acknowledges elsewhere that many mothers work outside the home, but that doesn’t affect his point. Now where’s my big piece of chicken?

Sneak Peek

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denisebushphoto's avatarDenise Bush's Photo Blog

Here is a sneak peak at a series of images I am working on. They were shot at Pennhurst State School and Hospital located less than an hour west of Philadelphia. I had been wanting to photograph at Pennhurst for some time and finally got my chance. The campus consists of several buildings and we were allowed to photograph in 2 that were three-stories each. After learning of the sad history and chilling abuse that took place there, the experience was like none other … evocative and haunting.  As I looked and photographed, I couldn’t help but imagine what it was like for the many unfortunate souls that were put there, and forgotten. And I continue to think about them. Pennhurst made an unforgettable impression. (Look for more images from this shoot in an upcoming post.)

I am in the process of organizing a private group photo tour to Pennhurst…

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