1984 scared me less when I read it a couple decades back. I read it again this last year and with current technology it scares me more. TV’s that listen back. Alexa always recording. DNA heritage test companies sharing the info with the gov. Facebook. An always changing enemy and constant war(is it Isis or Al Qaeda, we have always been at war with Isis). It’s freaky how good George Orwell was at guessing the future. It’s part of why I’m on this forum and not on a Facebook group. I hate internet 2.0 and it’s homogeneity.
There’s definitely a strong Orwellian bent in modern society, but things like TVs that listen back, Facebook and Alexa are more like Huxley’s Brave New World, where the public openly invite the surveillance in to their homes because it’s easy and pleasing. There’s this great comic strip (linked below) that compares their two competing visions for a dystopian futures the central thesis of which boils down to Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us, Huxley feared what we love will ruin us. The horrible reality is they were both right. https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic-2/
I may hit Dune. Always heard about it. Never got around to it. I gotta do something. Today I saw a complete rerun of some Turkish football. You ever seen that league? Very tough league. I may need therapy before this is all over.
Apparently publishers were unimpressed with Dune and Herbert had a hell of a time getting it published. He went down the line getting rejections but finally an editor working for - of all places - Chilton (famous for automotive manuals) went to bat for it with his bosses. They relented and published it. It was a failure - critics didn't like it and it sold poorly - and the editor was fired. So it was a hell of a rocky start for the best selling science fiction book of all time. I haven't read it since college (for me a long, long time ago) so I'm not sure how it has stood up to the test of time. Just remember loving it at that time. PS - Never watched the Turkish league. Where did you watch it?
If you think of the Inner Party from 1984 as an example of those who live in the society presented in Brave New World that story takes on a whole new feeling of creepy. I like to think of V for Vendetta as the story of what would happen if one of the Proletariats from 1984 started a secret war against the Inner Party. Such a great story.
Stay healthy everybody. And check in. My parents aren’t seeing their grandkids right now. That’s where we are at. My nanny stayed in Chicago. As a single mom trying to work with a 20 month old at home, please let this be over quickly. For everyone.
I can't imagine. My kids are 19 and 17 so I pretty much never see them even when things are normal. But this whole thing must be really tough for parents of young children. And single moms... ugh. I'll send positive vibes your way...
What we've ended up with is a terrifyingly effective mixture of both: Night sticks for the poor, Netflix for the middle class.
I know many great books and writers have fascinating stories of how they came to be, lived and in the case of one of my favorites (Asimov) how they died. I caught the turkish match while just channel surfing for some action on cable. Also caught Perth vs another team I cant remember in the Aussie league and a couple day ago a river match in which they destroyed this other team by 9-0. I think by the end of this health emergency I may know alot more world footy then I care to.
A couple days ago I mentioned to my son that any long term closing of the schools was going to make life really difficult for single working moms (or dads). Hopefully you can at least work from home?Anyway, hang in there Berks! Wish I could help.
It is a spooky proposition if this thing goes any further. Some of you may already be aware of what is going on inside China or as they allow us to know. But just looking at the Italy case it sends shiver down the spine. The italians are talking about not having enough respirators and allowing 80+ folks not allowed respirators and left to basically, die. Be safe everybody. Err on the side of caution.
My friend today said that everyone spending 2-3 months stuck at home will create the next generation that follows Gen Z -- Coronalials.
Well, starting tomorrow, I will officially be working from home indefinitely. However, I have worked from home for long stretches before and it should be fine. I'm actually more productive and efficient at home because I usually get less interruptions and can just focus on my planned tasks rather than fielding unplanned requests all day long. Anyone else working from home?
I usually work from home a couple days a week. But ADR and mixing and spotting can't be done from my home (I wish!) That said, I'm sure the shows I'm about to move on to are shutting down production for a while at least. So odds are I'm going to have some free time on my hands. And no soccer to watch!!!! That's just not fair.
I have a question that might distract us from all this. Lots of people are asking ESPN to replay classic NBA games to entertain them and practice social distancing. What classic Galaxy games would you like to rewatch? Let’s exclude MLS Cup games. I’ll start. I would like to watch a game from our 98 season or the game in 2014 where we beat the sounders in Seattle 3-0. It was after we got a beat down by Manchester United at the Rose Bowl. I remember feeling like that win in Seattle was the driving point towards the 5th ring.
I'm afraid to watch those old games. Spectrum Sports showed game 5 of the 1972 NBA Finals between the Knicks and Lakers and the gameplay was pretty bad, almost comical compared to today's game. It's like those childhood movies you thought were the best thing ever, but were ruined forever after rewatching them as an adult (e.g., The Dark Crystal).
That's a bummer about the possible shut down of production. Hope this all passes relatively quickly and we can return to some normalcy.