The fiery brilliance of Oppenheimer was achieved with no CGI
11 July 2023
Oppenheimer, American filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s bio-pic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb”, opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 20 July 2023.
This is a film that stands to be remarkable for many reasons, but few people would have ventured to say that would be on account of computer-generated imagery (CGI), or, as the case may be, lack thereof. But according to Ryan O’Rourke, writing for Collider, Nolan has said Oppenheimer contains no CGI whatsoever.
Take a look at all fiery explosions we see in the trailer. Is the absence of CGI incredible, or what?
RELATED CONTENT
Christopher Nolan, film, film production
Twitter claims Meta Threads is theft of their trade secrets
8 July 2023
Meta is possibly facing a lawsuit from Twitter, hours after the much hyped launch of Threads, its micro-blogging service, according to Semafor.
In a letter sent to Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter accuses Meta of poaching certain of its employees (presumably those who weren’t laid off), together with “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
But haven’t we been here before, and isn’t there an answer to this? Anyone who saw American film director David Fincher’s 2010 movie The Social Network, will know what I mean. After all, a guy who builds a nice chair doesn’t owe money to everyone who ever has built a chair.
Is that right, or is that right? Time will tell I expect.
RELATED CONTENT
social media, social networks, Threads, trends, Twitter
The AIGA best book and cover designs of 2022 unveiled
8 July 2023
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has announced the winners of the 2022 50 Books | 50 Covers competition. Almost five-hundred covers, from twenty-seven countries, were submitted for consideration in the annual contest, which commenced one hundred years ago, in 1923. The fifty winning entries can be seen here.
RELATED CONTENT
WHAM! The story of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, by Chris Smith
8 July 2023
There’s an old saying in the place where I reside: if you remember Wham! you were in the eighties.
Wham! as in the out of control mega-successful British pop duo of the late George Michael, and Andrew Ridgeley. A new documentary of the same name, directed by American filmmaker Chris Smith, and produced by Netflix, recounts Michael and Ridgeley’s days in Wham! through archival interviews and footage, and previously unheard audio interviews. See the trailer here.
RELATED CONTENT
Chris Smith, documentary, film, history
Center for AI Safety warns of risk of extinction from AI
8 July 2023
The California based Center for AI Safety recently issued a short but stark warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting the risk of extinction — presumably ours, along with other species — is a distinct possibility:
Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, is among those who have put their signature to the statement. Despite the risk the Center for AI Safety believes is posed by AI, they did not however suggest any specific course of action to counter the danger.
RELATED CONTENT
artificial intelligence, technology
Barbie film banned in Vietnam over Nine-dash line map scene
7 July 2023
American actor and filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s new film Barbie, has been banned by Vietnam’s Department of Cinema, on account of a scene depicting a map of the South China Sea. The map in question features the “nine-dash line“, which represents a territorial claim over the waters by China, a claim Vietnam, and indeed an international court, have dismissed.
But Barbie isn’t alone in being banned in Vietnam. Pine Gap, a TV mini-series made in Australia in 2018, was likewise not broadcast for the same reason.
RELATED CONTENT
current affairs, film, Greta Gerwig
The Tiny Awards, celebrating a small, playful, heartfelt web
7 July 2023
Voting is open in the inaugural Tiny Awards, which honour websites that embody “the idea of a small, playful and heartfelt web.” Nominees include the html.review, which I wrote about in April 2022, and ooh.directory, a blog directory, where disassociated is listed. Voting closes on Thursday 20 July 2023, with the winner being announced the next day.
RELATED CONTENT
blogs, design, IndieWeb, technology
Monday 3 July 2023, hottest recorded day in the world
7 July 2023
Temperatures on Monday reached an average of 17.01 Celsius, up from the previous high of 16.92 Celsius, recorded in August 2016. This as parts of the United States, China, and Africa, have sweltered through oppressive heatwaves in recent weeks.
RELATED CONTENT
Mona Awad, Paul Tremblay claim ChatGPT learned from their books without permission
7 July 2023
Canadian novelist Mona Awad, and American author Paul Tremblay, have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, alleging breach of copyright. Both writers believe their works were used to assist “train” the artificial intelligence chatbot, after discovering ChatGPT is capable of crafting intricately detailed summaries of their books.
RELATED CONTENT
artificial intelligence, books, Mona Awad, Paul Tremblay, technology
Threads by Meta/Facebook has started rolling out
6 July 2023
Threads, the Meta/Facebook micro-blogging/discussion alternative to Twitter was ready to go when I came into the studio this morning. You can find me here.
Threads is pretty simple to set up, especially if you’re already on Instagram (IG), and there’s the option to import your IG profile data, if you don’t want to fill out the same information on your Threads page. You can also auto-follow everyone on your IG following list with a single click, or make individual selections.
From there, you’re pretty much ready to go. Instead of posting a tweet, as you do on Twitter, or a toot if on Mastodon, you post a thread every time you say something. It’s all very new, and early days, and I’m checking in on Threads as I do other things, but it looks like you’ll see a lot of threads from people you don’t directly follow, particularly influencers.
I’m interested to see what other Twitter-like features are, or will be, available, such as lists, and scheduling threads. Isn’t it fun though, something new, and perhaps not so encumbered with baggage, and general bad vibes. And another big one, fingers crossed Meta/Facebook don’t impose too much Meta/Facebook-ness upon us in Threads.
RELATED CONTENT