THE MT VOID
01/12/24 -- Vol. 42, No. 28, Whole Number 2310

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 16 (THE MONKEY KING, THE INVENTOR,
ROBOT DREAMS) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Evolution of TV (comments by Art Stadlin)
INFINITY POOL and Other Films (letter of comment
by Tom Russell)
Greek Drama (letter of comment by David Goldfarb)
This Week's Reading (THE DIARY OF A BOOKSELLER, ATOMIC
DREAMS AND THE NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE: THE MAKING OF
"GODZILLA") (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 16 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the sixteenth batch of mini-reviews, all animated films.

THE MONKEY KING (2023): THE MONKEY KING is an animated film in the
style of Pixar rather than Disney. That is, the dialogue is in the
sarcastic style of "Shrek" rather than the somewhat less snarky
style of "Frozen". It is also a prequel to the classic "Monkey
King" legend, "Journey to the West", or perhaps more accurately, a
secret history. The Monkey King is as well-known and recognized in
China as Mickey Mouse is here. Because the film is a prequel, it
requires no prior knowledge of the Monkey King in viewers, though
the final scene assumes some recognition.

(For older audiences, there is definitely an homage to THE COURT
JESTER in the rhyme about which tree is poisoned.) [-ecl]

Released theatrically 11 August 2023. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.

Film Credits: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8637498/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_monkey_king_2023>

THE INVENTOR (2023): THE INVENTOR is a combination of stop-motion
animation and hand-drawn animation. It is a biopic of Leonardo da
Vinci, but it concentrates more on his scientific pursuits than on
his artistic ones. This seems strange even to the characters in
the film, who in what could be described as "meta-dialogue" keep
asking, "Why can't you be satisfied with just painting pretty
things?" [-ecl]

Released theatrically 15 September 2023. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5822848/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_inventor>

ROBOT DREAMS (2023): In ROBOT DREAMS, a man builds a robot as a
companion. After spending time together, they are separated when
they go to the beach and the beach is locked off with the man on
the outside while the robot is still on the beach. What we see are
a series of the robot's dreams, as well as some less pleasant
realities. What makes this film unusual is that there is no
dialogue or dialogue cards--it is entirely visual. [-ecl]

Released at festivals 20 October 2023. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4),
or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13429870/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/robot_dreams>

===================================================================

TOPIC: The Evolution of TV (comments by Art Stadlin)

[This originally appeared on a retirees' mailing list; reprinted
with permission.]

I have mixed feelings about the evolution of TV. My experience:

1960's--In the suburbs of Philadelphia we got four OTA VHF channels
(3, 6, 10, 12), and 12 wasn't so clear because their tower was down
in Delaware. We were probably the last on our street to get a
color TV--a 25-inch RCA in a big wooden cabinet. Some UHF stations
started to pop-up (17, 29, 48). We improved on "rabbit ears" with
a Radio Shack antenna mounted in the attic, which really helped
stabilize local channels. It also brought in Harrisburg (8) and
Baltimore (13) when the atmospheric conditions were right.

1970's--In college in Melbourne, FL, we got two Orlando OTA
channels (6, 9). NBC (2) WESH's tower was too far away up in
Daytona. If I recall, sometime during this decade, the FCC gave
permission for WESH to move their tower to the Orlando tower farm
in Bithlo. And back in Philly, the FCC gave WHYY (12) permission
to move their tower to the Philly tower farm on Domino Lane. I
think it was the '70's when Philly UHF 17 bragged about their
5,000,000 watt transmitter. But UHF stations had trouble getting
viewers.

1980's--Soon after moving to Neptune, NJ (to work in Holmdel),
Cable TV came to town. Wow! 36 channels, all with clear
reception!!! And all the NYC and Philly FM stations too!!!
"Cable-Ready" TVs became a thing. the VCR went viral. TBS
(WTBS-Atlanta) was a "super station." CNN was born. MTV played
music! A couple of video disk systems (optical and vinyl) tried but
failed to catch on,

1990's--DirecTV brought even more channels! And in these early
days, did not carry local OTA TV channels. Instead, they supplied
an east and west coast channel from each of the big three networks.
(I don't think FOX had an OTA TV network yet.) I enjoyed the CBS
station from San Francisco.

2000's--Took the Lucent 5+5 offer and relocated to Bradenton, FL.
I bought a card for my Windows tower PC that would allow me to
record video and store MP4 files. Homemade some TV antennas,
mounted them in the attic, and played with TV-DX ("e-skip" and
tropo tunneling). Got some stations over 500 miles away in Alabama.

2010's--The big shift from Analog to Digital TV. We bought our
first flat screen TV ($2,400 for a 46-inch). And High Definition
(HDTV) was defined as anything at least 720 pixels. Verizon FiOS
came to town. Fiber to the home! Discovered Roku and started
streaming stuff. Wife said she would never stream, but then got
hooked on it. Regular Cable TV / FiOS TV gave us hundreds of
channels that we never watched.

2020's--Subscribed to too many streaming services, but my wife
disagrees. She watches something on each service! We downsized to
a condo. Was asked to lead a team to select a new TV / internet
provider for our 207-unit complex. After a "bake-off" with four
potential providers, we selected Blue Stream Fiber, which supplies
IPTV using the TiVo platform. About 150 channels of TV, including
a Sports Tier (with NFL, MLB, etc), two TV boxes, cloud DVR, and
500/500 internet--all for $74/month/unit. Seeing lots of 4K and 8K
drone videos with stunning images on YouTube.

Future--I'm starting to learn about "Next-Gen" TV, which the FCC
approved and is live in dozens of cities. Key points: ATSC-3
(Next-Gen) is *not* backward compatible with ATSC-1 (what we have
now). But rather than a flash cut, FCC is allowing both to operate
in parallel for 10(?) years. Technically, the newer standard
offers better reception / less pixelization, mobile reception,
something about 2-way / internet capabilities. I certainly will be
learning more about this in the coming months. It's not without
controversy. A patent dispute has caused LG to remove Next-Gen
capabilities from their new TVs. And some converter boxes are not
able to decode OTA content protected by copyright encryption. All
sounds way too experimental at this point in time. More here:

<https://www.youtube.com/@AntennaMan>

I started by saying I have mixed feelings about TV's evolution. To
boil it down:

+ I like that we get more and more choices, including lots of FREE
choices.

+ I like the crystal clear video and high resolution.

- I wish it were easier to locate programming I like, but it's
nice to have all these services making "recommendations" for me.

- It will be annoying if it comes to a point in time when my
wonderful 65-inch top-of-the line LG TV becomes a brick because
ATSC-1 is shut down.

- The competition between streaming services appears to be
*raising* prices (as they produce exclusive content).

- I'm annoyed by having to pay streamers to show me ads. (I
canceled my paid subscription to Peacock.)

[-as]

===================================================================

TOPIC: INFINITY POOL (letter of comment by Tom Russell)

In response to Evelyn's comments on INFINITY POOL in the 01/05/23
issue of the MT VOID, Tom Russell writes:

"Not leaving the resort is surprisingly common.

Also not getting off the cruise ship, even in the Galapagos...

And not reading anything more than the cruise/resort brochure.
[-tr]