Finally got out to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End" back on the first weekend of this month, and I quite liked it. I really liked it, I thought it was fun and supremely escapist with excellent action sequences and truly excellent special effects. A perfect summer blockbuster, in other words. And I think it capped the trilogy nicely, while being open-ended enough to credibly be able to do a fourth movie (if, as Johnny Depp has famously said, the script is right). In fact, I already know what the subtitle of the fourth movie should be: "Drink and the Devil." At least, that’s from my working notes thus far. And as I was thinking about it, it occurred to me that something I’d read elsewhere was true: the "Pirates" movies really are the "Star Wars" movies of this generation. (I’m talking about the Original Trilogy, of course; the Prequel Trilogy doesn’t come close.) That’s a tricky thing to pull off; I don’t think it can be done intentionally. The "Matrix" movies might have come close, but ultimately they collapsed under their own weight. I won’t go into some sort of pedantic nerdly comparison essay between the two; suffice to say that the "Pirates" movies I can go back and watch again and again and still enjoy, like the Original Trilogy. That’s good stuff.

I’m surprised it took this long
Announced on Variety.com: a live-action G.I. Joe movie, to be released summer of 2009 and directed by Stephen Sommers. Hasbro’s Goldner said that the mythology of G.I Joe was fleshed out during the 1980s through 155 issues of Marvel Comics, as well as an animated TV series. There are about 30 core characters, good and evil, that can be exploited in films. "Marrying Steve’s vision with 25 years of this brand mythology feels like a great way to go forward," Goldner said. While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man ’60s incarnation, he’s evolved. G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to "X-Men" and James Bond than a war film. Brussels-based and more like an "X-Men" movie? I don’t know, sounds like it could be weird. I guess that’s what you’d expect from the guy who directed Van Helsing. And I might be wrong, but reading over the Wikipedia G.I. Joe page, isn’t the "double-crossing Scottish arms dealer" Destro? If they don’t have Cobra Commander with the ultimate casting choice playing the role… man, I don’t know. (Next fun diversion: picking the ultimate cast for the movie.) I guess the time is ripe for this sort of thing. But yeah, I’m surprised it took this long, though on the other hand, I remember seeing a live-action G.I. Joe movie back in 1994…

Simulated reality
This article from the NY Times (link is good at the moment, though I’m not sure it won’t disappear behind some paywall at some point and be inaccessible) covers the sufficiently weird theory/philosophy proposed by Nick Bostrom that we are likely (actually, almost mathematically certainly) living inside a computer simulation. ("Living" wouldn’t quite be the correct term, of course.) It’s a theory I’ve encountered before, though the NY Times does a good job of simplifying it and squirting it out into the public consciousness: You couldn’t, as in “The Matrix,” unplug your brain and escape from your vat to see the physical world. You couldn’t see through the illusion except by using the sort of logic employed by Dr. Bostrom, the director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford. Dr. Bostrom assumes that technological advances could produce a computer with more processing power than all the brains in the world, and that advanced humans, or “posthumans,” could run “ancestor simulations” of their evolutionary history by creating virtual worlds inhabited by virtual people with fully developed virtual nervous systems. Some computer experts have projected, based on trends in processing power, that we will have such a computer by the middle of this century, but it doesn’t matter for Dr. Bostrom’s argument whether it takes 50 years or 5 million years. If civilization survived long enough to reach that stage, and if the posthumans were to run lots of simulations for research purposes or entertainment, then the number of virtual ancestors they created would be vastly greater than the number of real ancestors. There would be no way for any of these ancestors to know for sure whether they were virtual or real, because the sights and feelings they’d experience would be indistinguishable. But since there would be so many more virtual ancestors, any individual could figure that the odds made it nearly certain that he or she was living in a virtual world. I don’t know about this "virtual ancestors" scenario necessarily—I mean, why not just run a simulation for the heck of it, a là The Sims or something? The author considers that: And if owners of the computers were anything like the millions of people immersed in virtual worlds like Second Life, SimCity and World of Warcraft, they’d be running simulations just to get a chance to control history — or maybe give themselves virtual roles as Cleopatra or Napoleon. Anyway. I followed this up by finding Simulated reality on Wikipedia, which contains a rundown of Bostrom’s theory as well as broad coverage of others. Interesting stuff, and it got me thinking as to how one would go about determining whether one lives in a computer simulation. (As a start, consider how one might determine whether or not one is dreaming. After all, dreams are a type of simulated reality, no?) Of course, it all hinges on whether or not consciousness itself is a computable phenomenon. I’m a little torn on that question; I certainly think the brain is a computational entity of some sort—Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works is an excellent book, by the way—but does that make consciousness computable as well, or something more? Or is it merely an illusory side-effect of some process? Or is it ultimately indeterminable? From a science fictional standpoint, I like the idea of the brain being an advanced quantum computer of some sort, with whatever wackiness extending from that. That’s probably neither here nor there, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Hmmm… I guess it doesn’t all hinge on the computability of consciousness. Would the simulations (ie, us) becoming aware that they are a simulation qualify as becoming "self aware" in the "real world"? I mean, we have a term for it when a computer program does: Strong Artificial Intelligence. (Okay, that’s theoretical too, since we don’t currently have Terminators or a Data running around.) Does "self awareness" count if it’s only theoretical and there’s no way to prove it? Good thoughts. Random, but good.

Let’s string clotheslines all over bend
Jake points to an utterly jaw-dropping article in the Wall Street Journal about a woman who is running into trouble up on Awbrey Butte by… get this… daring to hang her laundry on a clothesline. No kidding. This is stupid beyond words. Check it: The regulations of the subdivision in which Ms. Taylor lives effectively prohibit outdoor clotheslines. In a move that has torn apart this otherwise tranquil community, the development’s managers have threatened legal action. To the developer and many residents, clotheslines evoke the urban blight they sought to avoid by settling in the oregon mountains. "This bombards the senses," interior designer Joan Grundeman says of her neighbor’s clothesline. "It can’t possibly increase property values and make people think this is a nice neighborhood." Let’s break down a couple of those things, shall we? It states, "clotheslines evoke the urban blight they sought to avoid by settling in the oregon mountains"—ummm, if you’re settling in the "oregon mountains," you’d better believe clotheslines are a way of life. You know, the kind of life you moved here to experience? If that’s a problem, then leave. And "urban blight" and "bombards the senses"? Seriously? It’s a clothesline. If anything, I would think it would not only make the neighborhood nicer, but it would increase property values. That’s how the world works for those of us with common sense, anyway. So Brooks Resources is threatening legal action. And while she may be, technically, in violation of the CC&Rs for the neighborhood, Ms. Taylor responded by pointing out that the subdivision is "blatantly full of noncompliant owners" who display everything from plastic play equipment to exterior paint colors that don’t meet the requirement of "medium to dark tones." She added: "Who am I hurting by hanging clothes out to dry?" So yeah, I’m just blown away by this level of stupidity. Hanging a clothesline is the "green" and environmentally-responsible thing to do—and isn’t being green the new trend, especially among the "elite" and all these new, trendy homes and developments that are going up? How does caring about the environment constitute "blight"? I guess being environmentally responsible isn’t a priority for Brooks Resources or the other fools complaining over a backyard clothesline; if I was really snarky I’d write a headline saying Brooks Resources hates the environment. Man, some days I agree with Jake’s comment that bend really seems to be turning into a craphole.

On blogging, media and the OBF
One more day and I’m off to the oregon Brewers Festival; like last year, I’m going again with the intent of blogging the experience. (You can read all of my OBF-related stuff on The Brew Site here.) What’s different this year, though, is that I, as a blogger, am also recognized as a media/press person; I contacted the OBF press guy and as a result, I get the full treatment: press kit, program, and all. Now I know most media/press folks (and a few pro bloggers) would be entirely blasé about it, but I have to say—I’m incredibly excited about this! Maybe the shine will wear off at some point, but for now, I just think it’s too cool. I’m also hoping to meet other bloggers and writers, and brewers, and, well, anybody interesting. So I’m trying something new; I’ll have my cellphone with me but I don’t necessarily want to publish my phone number for the world to see and abuse, so I registered a free phone number and voicemail with PrivatePhone—a service from NetZero that seems promising. How it works is I get a free private phone number, and all calls to it go directly to voicemail. I can check this voicemail via phone or computer. So here’s the deal; if anyone wants to get a hold of me this weekend, call and leave a message on this number: 360-362-1627. I’ll check for messages every hour or so, and call you back. (Yeah, I couldn’t get an oregon area code. What’s up with that?) I’ll also try to be checking email, but that won’t be happening til evenings, if I get the chance. So don’t rely on that if you want to reach me sooner rather that later. Off to drink beer and blog about it!

A weekend in Ashland
We left Friday morning (just the wife and I; Grandma had the kids for the weekend) and headed down to southern oregon for a play and a getaway. The weather turned out great, and the trip was largely a winery tour, among other things; we visited four wineries and ended up buying just over a case of wine. The last time we’d been to Ashland was nine years ago, before the kids were born. Compared to bend over the past decade, few things in the area have changed; both Medford and Ashland have remained pretty stable, and even though there are signs of growth, much of it (particularly downtown Ashland) is as I remember it. (Holy smokes, this post got long.) Click through to read on…

Free tickets to The Fray in bend
Yes, you read that right: over on my Hack bend blog, I get to do a giveaway for a pair of tickets to The Fray—playing in bend this next Wednesday, July 25th, at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. How cool is that? So if you live in Central oregon—or you’re planning on being in Central oregon next week—and want to see The Fray, head over and sign up for the drawing for the pair of tickets—a $70 value.

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