AI

More Black And White

Leave a Comment

So, yesterday I watched Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, AKA Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3, again in black and white. First up was Attack of the Clones with its sappy romance between two actors with zero chemistry with each other and the sheer amount of screen-filling, fast-paced CGI just because they could. The lack of color did not help at all. After a dinner break I waded into Revenge of the Sith, where we get to watch the creation of big bad Darth Vader. Here is where Hayden Christensen did have chemistry; he really nails the angsty teen, pissed at the universe, persona. Still way too much excessive use of CGI to the point of distraction.

This afternoon I went ahead and cued up The Empire Strikes Back in B&W (remember I watched the OG Star Wars very recently). Stopped a little more than an hour into Episode five because the Red Sox game was starting. I’ll finish it after the game.

I wonder if I like this black and white thing because we didn’t get a color TV at home until I was almost thirteen?

Black And White

Leave a Comment

Today’s post is about that weird little thing I did after finding the director’s cut of the movie “Justice League.” I had tried to watch the movie when it showed up on streaming, but just couldn’t get past about the 5-minute mark of the movie. While I enjoyed both of the Batman and Superman comics back in the day, for various reasons their movies never got close to those Marvel flicks of the 2010s.

While poking around HBO looking for something to watch, I saw that the Justice League director’s cut was now available in black & white. I thought maybe that would work for me because when Marvel released Logan in black and white, I enjoyed it more than the color version. As the movie started to play in b&w and in a television format of a 4:3 aspect ratio. Okay, when they get past the credits, it’ll surely expand to 16:9 like all modern TVs. Nope, I watched a little longer and quit pretty close to where I stopped the original movie.

This got me thinking: what movie that I have on disc might be better in black and white? I picked Alien. Opened the TV settings and took the color slider all the way left; ta da, no color. It was pretty good that way, not really better, but it did get me to rewatch the movie for the first time in probably a decade.

So today I tried another movie. Last week I had rewatched the original Star Wars movie. I really like the original three; the last three are tolerable, and the first three are way subpar. Maybe if I watched Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, without the vibrant colors, it would at least reach the tolerable level. Shooting for mediocracy, I nailed it. It also helped that I have the fan edit that tones down Jar Jar.

Poking Around

Leave a Comment

Today’s post was to be about this weird little thing I did after finding the director’s cut of the movie “Justice League.” But as I started the first line of the post with “While poking around HBO looking for something to watch…” it triggered a memory of writing that same line in two other recent posts. I needed a few different ways to change it up. Uninspired, I asked an AI and received a ten. Like anything from an AI, some were meh, others were okay, and maybe I’d actually use one.

  • I happened to find this while I was browsing HBO for a different series.
  • I was just digging around on HBO and ended up finding this.
  • I discovered this show by pure accident while searching HBO.
  • I came across this while looking for something else on HBO.
  • I caught this show while scanning the HBO library earlier.
  • I was deep in the HBO menus looking for a new watch when I chanced upon this.
  • While navigating the HBO app for a different title, this show caught my eye.
  • I was aimlessly exploring HBO when I happened to land on this show.
  • I fell down an HBO rabbit hole looking for one thing and ended up finding this gem instead.
  • The HBO algorithm did me a favor; I found this while hunting for something else entirely.

    • Thanks Dani

    On Tuesday I got a text from Dani at the local Mazda dealer; it was a reminder that the last time I had a service was in July. I texted back that I could come in Wednesday or Thursday early. Her reply asked if tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:00AM would work. I texted back, “Great, see you then.”

    I set an alarm for 5:30 so I could shower and have breakfast first. I timed my arrival pretty well; I was only 4 minutes shy of the hour of seven. When I walked up to the door and pulled, it was locked. That’s when I looked down and noticed the vinyl lettering saying that they opened at 7:30. There was someone inside, and he came over and let me in.

    Me, “I have an appointment.”
    He, “We don’t start until 7:30.”
    Me, “Someone named Dani texted me, and she gave a 7:00 time.”
    He, “Aaaah…our AI agent that helps with customer contact.”
    Me, “Well…I’m here.”
    He, “I won’t have any techs available until 7:30.”
    Me, “Thanks Dani.”