Future of Sports

I love soccer/football and wonder what the future holds for sports in general. Will we have something like Podracing in Star Wars or something more chill and less... Dangerous?. Looking into news on sports lately, a lot of changes and questions revolve around the safety role in sports. The rise in safety concerns isn't due to these sports being safer, rather the reason is it's easier to detect problems or health damage. If anything sports have gotten safer over the years. Look at football uniforms from 20-30 years ago and compare them to now. They are much more bulky and padded than before. Over time, sports will inevitably get safer just because of better health practices and treatments. But with them possibly being a problem, could it lead to something else playing the sport. With robotic advancements possibly the future would have Robot fighting sports, like Real Steel. Without having to pay contracts to robots like human players, it would be cheaper, it also eliminates the health concern, plus it would be cool to watch. But if mankind devolves into madness or some economic depression hits us, leaving us to worry about more important things like food on the table and not about others bruises and scratches, then possibly we could get some interesting Jabba the Hutt mobster sports...

Interstellar

The movie Interstellar isn't brand new, but its still worth talking about. I recently saw it over the weekend and it was surprisingly good and made me wonder why not many people were talking about it. I knew hardly anything about the movie going in, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. It has a lot of plot twists, making mystery a big part of the movie. Hopefully Without spoiling anything, I'll talk about what Interstellar did right.

To start it off, it was actual good science fiction. All ships and wormholes were all based on science, well, at least scientific theory. In fact, some say Interstellar's black hole and wormhole are the most scientifically accurate ever portrayed, and I believe it. The visuals and effects in this movie were fantastic, nothing was cringeworthy CGI or unnecessarily added special effects. Not only that, but the planets in the movie are incredibly  believable. I almost wish that it was just a 3 hour movie of planet exploring because it was all so interesting seeing these really foreign planets. It was interesting seeing how different factors affect how a planet forms and what the weather is like, etc. every part of this movie seemed like they put a lot of work into studying the theories and making sure all scenes were spot on, which made the movie constantly engaging with surprisingly little slow parts throughout the 3 hour span of the movie. One sidenote thing about the movie that I really liked were the robots. They weren't the typical humanoid machine we are seeing, in fact they looked more like a vending machine or a refrigerator than anything. What makes them useful is the shaped they can turn into, becoming extra mobile in rough terrain or folding in to become a ships onboard AI in a way. The robots just like the movie were a refreshing switch up from the typical science fiction thriller we are all used to seeing.

Star Wars Teaser

Over the weekend, something dropped onto the internet. A certain trailer for a certain movie that looks to have high hopes. Yes the new Star Wars teaser trailer came out over the weekend and I have watched it at least 10 times. I knew it was coming but I had assumed only to those select few theaters and I don't live in those areas. But now anyone can see it online and I highly suggest that everyone does because it is fantastic.

If you had any fear about the direction that Disney was taking the new Star Wars movie than hopefully this clears that up. It is short but in about 5 or 6 twelve second long scenes it is clear that mystery and darkness are going to be key underlying themes here. It opens with the sprawling dunes of Tatooine and the a man wearing what appears to be Stormtrooper armor frighteningly pops up onto the screen from below. The man is sweaty and looks frightened by something, like he is running from something. He is either a Stormtrooper (which would be great to have a main character as a Stormtrooper,) or he is in disguise like Han and Luke in A New Hope. This fits with another part where a woman on a speeder that looks like a fridge quickly puts on her goggles and rides, 2 people in a hurry, both adding to the mystery. Another scene shows off the Stormtrooper armor a bit better. The scene seems to be Stormtroopers in a ship, most likely assaulting somewhere because they are experiencing turbulence and the lights are flickering, a door begins to open and then the scene ends. The rebels are also featured in this, some X-wings fly over a lake on what could be Yavin and the Millennium Falcon does a ridiculous spin move evading some Tie-fighters. But out of the whole thing, none of those were as controversial as the darkside scene. A sith-type character walking in a snowy forest and whips out what appears to be a lightsaber, but then two more beams come out the side. I have two different theories. One is that it is a hilt, preventing certain hand accidents that happen far too often in the Star Wars universe. The other is they are exaust ports for the saber itself and it is heat coming out. The saber looks unstable so it is possible he made it himself and it needs those modifications. I don't know what the uproar is about it looks fine. All in all I am very happy with the way this movie feels, after dealing with a lot of crappy Star Wars products over the last few years, its nice to see something Star Wars that lives up to the Star Wars name.

The Final Frontier

Space may be thought of as the vast, open frontier. Endless possibilities that mankind is bound to never uncover. Although all that is true, there is another place that holds just as many questions as space does. There is place that contains species that are one would make one think they came from a nightmare. There is a place that the knowledge of man is more scarce than that of space. Of course I am talking about the deep, depths of the ocean.

You may not believe me, but the ocean is full of mystery, and it is shown in many ways. Think of the Lochness monster, or the Giant squid. Those things were imagined by people undoubtedly curiously afraid of the mystery that lies in the aquatic sandbox that is the sea. The Giant Squid has turned out to actually be a thing, so just saying, keep one eye open out there in the water. But in all seriousness, humans only make stories, fictional settings, or monsters up for things that they just plain don't understand, it isn't a new concept.

One reason the deep blue sea is an area lacking in knowledge is that is is hard to reach. It is just as hard to get to the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean, as it is to get to space, almost harder one could argue. We could send a probe out into space no problem and it can relay information back from far distances, we are already doing this, its just excruciatingly long to do. But the pressure of the water and the temperature are some factors that make it harder to reach. Combine the difficulty to get there with the possibility for life we cannot even comprehend it makes the sea seem like the most curious place there is. Scientists find new life down there all the time, usually creepy but hey. We still aren't even sure life is out there in space which is why I and many others, deem the ocean, the true final frontier.

The Force Awakens

It has become increasingly obvious to those reading and myself included that Star Wars is a popular topic of mine. Although this post is a bit different. I am not going to talk about the probability of something or the quality of one of the movies at all. Instead, I am going to hypothesize and ponder things about the new Star Wars movie. Particularly pertaining to the title of the movie.

The new title was recently announced to Episode VII and it will be called "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Now as interesting, mysterious, and thought-provoking this name is, it is equally as cool. Stepping back and thinking a minute, it's close to best title for any of the trilogies titles. "Revenge of the Sith," "Empire Strikes Back," and "Phantom Menace" are my favorites to date. In a strange coincidence it just so happens all of those have negative connotations in their meaning. This leads to my next point, could the new title be somewhat negative or evil?

What I mean by this is that is the Force Awakens, the same as the Beast Awakens, or the Kraken is released or something else along those lines. Could something have happened that the dark side has turned into something bigger/more threatening. We already know that 0 sith will appear in the movie, but jedi hunter-like people will be a threat. Maybe the force has become stronger and accidentally harmed some people and now the jedi's are to blame, like an uncontrollable power. Therefore hunters are after them. Luke may have to recruit new jedi to help combat the new threat but it could be hard because the force may have negative connotations along with it. A plot line like this is possible, or something that somewhat resembles it. Although this obviously isn't the only possibly outcome, it could just as likely positive as it is negative. The Awakening could be like the religious

Another thought I had from the title is that the (light) side of the force is making a comeback. Think for a second, back to the prequels. In the prequels, jedi were abundant. There were masters and padawans, large temples for them to study, and a council. The original trilogy only featured a Obi-wan who dies, Yoda who dies, and Luke. So the universe is technically left with one jedi. Now, with the darkside defeated, Luke could possible recreate what the prequels inspired. A jedi sanctuary/ home if you will, where Luke teaches new Padawans. He starts gaining followers and new jedi thus AWAKENING the force. Again though, all of this is hypothetical. I'm not sure what the actual movie will pertain at all. Take everything I have said here with a grain of salt because it is just analyzing a title... A title this fan is excited for.

Prequels vs Originals

I've talked a lot about Star Wars, and you should be ok with that because Star Wars is worth talking about. But I'm going to get "ranty" and talk about the pros and cons of the prequels and originals of Star Wars. Obviously this is all my opinion so take it with a grain of salt and don't get all flustered or salty with my opinions.

Lets start with the story aspect of both. Both are influenced highly by fantasy and have a lot of fantasy elements in the story. The prequels story mostly follows Anakin and his path to the darkside. Overall he has to much emotion to be a Jedi and is lured to the darkside to try to save his love Padmè. But this is conflicting because he isn't a bad guy, hes just confused and conflicted. The originals story follows Luke, and his conflicts with the darkside of the force. He is unable to be swayed to the darkside, unlike his father, but in doing this gets his father to side with him. Personally I enjoy the prequels better because it's alittle darker than the originals which can be a bit over the top at times. I think these stories show that there is a bit of gray zone, it isnt just darkside and lightside, that there is some good in all, scratch that, most of us.

Now onto visuals of both trilogies. I'm going to say it outright, the originals did it better. Yes, the 30 years older trilogy beats the coming of age technology in the prequels, but heres why. The prequels got to caught up in CGI that the movies at times felt, empty or inorganic. Not a single set of clone armor was built, all CGI. The originals used props, people in costumes, and miniatures which in some ways were more convincing. For this reason I'm glad they are returning to their roots and using mostly props for episode VII.

I am not going to say one trilogy is better than the other, because one isn't. They are both great, but at the same time, so different from one another. I wouldn't want to live in a world where one existed and the other didn't because they are both fantasic, they are both Star Wars.

Laser Technology

When most people think lasers, they obviously think science fiction. Lasers are present in a lot of science fiction movies, like Star Wars for example, so it makes sense why they would think that. That preconception may begin to change though. Lasers may not be science fiction for long, in fact, they already exist.

You probably know about small lasers that are only dangerous if you look right into the beam, such as a laser pointer. Although those are considered, lasers, they are not what I am talking about. What I am talking about are lasers that for lack of a better word, destroy things. You may not believe it but these lasers do in fact exist. Aboard some modern day battleships are actual lasers, but not to the extent of Star Wars... How they function as a weapon is relatively simple. They can take down aircraft quite easily by pointing the laser at the jet. More precisely, they point it at a mirror on the jet that then ignites the bottom of the jet into flames. It's really cool to see and there are videos online if you are curious or you don't believe me. Since this technology already exists it begs the question can we take it a step further. Can we turn this into some kind of concentrated shot that can be fired out of say, a rifle.

I really do hope so even if its just for a cool factor at best. But the odds are not in this technologies favor. Think about it, light travels extremely fast, faster than the naked eye can detect. If we created this laser rifle it wouldn't fire cool big red blasts that are observable, the effect would be along the lines of turning a laser pointer on and off again. So there probably won't be a laser rifle that functions like I want it, the answer most likely lies in plasma as it usually does. Tech that could fire a small dose of plasma is definitely more plausible than lasers, and it would undoubtedly be much more effective, and cool.