Friday, November 8, 2013

Sound of My Voice-Confusing in a (Mostly) Good Way



If you haven't seen Sound of My Voice yet i highly recommend it. It's very intelligent and has dynamite acting,even if the writing can be pretty confusing. But in a good way-in a think about it for a few minutes kind of way.
**SPOILERS**

Sound of My Voice is a fun movie but it's plagued by terminal ambiguity. Is she a timetraveler? Is she not? Ambiguity is OK, when it supports multiple readings each of which work just as well. But when mysteries have no explanation at all, or are directly contradictory it just seems like bad writing. Still- the “emotional orgasm” moment was awesome and the ambiguity of Peter’s view of the cult leader was interesting too. Creators say more tv/movie stuff will answer questions, but this reviewer- http://thescriptlab.com/movie-reviews/movie-reviews/1804-sound-of-my-voice-maddening-ambiguity made a good point that it was coherent enough to be much of a carrot. My interpretation- very intelligent children are being prepared for something. 

Maggie from some kind of splinter group that is trying to gain access to children who are being enhanced in some way and she’s trying to gain access to them. The injections we see elude to some special program, and the towers elude to some gift. The only piece of info that “proves” her claims is the handshake. This is easily dismissed if we assume that Maggie had access to her file or information about her some other way. Maggie is either deluded or a con woman. She’s gathering children who are gifted to form some messed up society. 

You could also say her preknowledge about going to jail proves her credentials, but it could mean that she suspected her meeting was going to be dangerous. Until we get more information, this is the most likely explanation. Going the other way leaves way too many questions. If she is a time traveler, why does the FBI have files on her? She picked up interest along the way? If she were gathering children that she thought would be important in the future, why is she so dominant and creepy? As a stand alone, the movie definitely came up short, it doesn’t say anything except maybe “I am pointlessly confusing.” I suppose that could be potentially remedied in an ongoing story, depending on how that was done.
Still, either way, this great concept and fantastic acting could’ve received much better writing.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Scientific Telekinesis, Here We Come



“I’ll admit it’s the future when I can control everything with my mind.” People who say this are being pessimistic, downplaying the amazing way humanity is increasing its understanding and power over the universe.
Well pessimists, better come up with some new one liners, because telekinesis is more or less here. There are several products out on the market now that let people alter the world around them physically one way or another, using only the power of the mind. Here’s a few.


Mind-Controlled Cars (that light up!)


A graduate from Design Academy Eindhoven is using an electroencephalography (EEG) headset to take the electric activity in your brain and turn it into signals to control a car. The car lights up too, with the intensity of the light matching how much you focus on the car. So the old phony depictions of psychics putting their fingers over their temples and having head spams while staring at an object might actually do something now besides make everyone laugh.
In fact, the researchers are marketing the car as a way to help train people who have ADHD to focus their minds on tasks for longer. It’s not quite a mentalist helmet that shoots lasers yet, but just give it time.
**

Bionic Limbs

This is only kind of telekinesis, a kind of remote telekinesis, but it still counts. There’s the story of the Re-Net program, for example, where a guy from Iraq who lost his arm got a prosthetic one that actually works pretty much just like a regular arm. Check out the amazing video below where he picks up a cup, bounces a ball, and catches a gossamer piece of cloth. This is all done through the-innervation, where your nerves are re-wired into the prosthetic, allowing you to control it with existing muscle wiring.
Then there’s Pierpaolo Petruzzielo who lost his left arm in a car accident. The LifeHand project implanted electrodes in his arm that allows him to manipulate a hand remotely. It’s not even directly connected to his arm!
**

Mind Control Headband


Then there’s MUSE, the Indiegogo project that lets you-

·         Play games
·         Operate appliances
·         Analyze your thoughts

All with just your brain! The most awesome thing here is the game they re-created from the mind-control episode of TNG where you try to make balls go into cones.

Now you can do it for real, nerds rejoice! Besides just making remote controlled vehicles roll around and playing super simplistic video games, you can also take a look at your stress levels based on your brain patterns, and focusing on getting it down.

This is a game that everyone in the world can benefit from.

It’s like mind improving psychic magic.

For science!