The Year in Movies 2016 Supercut

A look back at 2016 movies.

Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer

After his introduction in Captain America: Civil War, here is the trailer for the new reboot of Spider-Man. Yep its the third time in less then 20 years but this one was done under the control of Marvel whose track record is only matched by Pixar.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Teaser Trailer

First teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 which will hit theaters in May 2017. Looks like the love of baby Groot will continue.

Let the GOP Implement Their Wish List

200M Americans decided to not vote and therefore support the winner while an additional 50 million voted for President Trump. As of now the GOP have zero excuses for not implementing their wish list of laws and changes. After all they have a majority at the state level, in the House, in the Senate and shortly in the Supreme Court. 250M+ Americans have demanded they be allowed to do what ever they want and Democrats should stay out of their way.

While elected Democrats should vote their conscious, otherwise they should not interfere. No poison pills, no tricky admendments, no behind the scenes gamemanship. Vote yea or nay and stay out of the way. Let the GOP and their supporters get EVERYTHING they want. All of it. No matter what the law is and the potential harm it will cause. The GOP have promised that if they are allowed carte blanche, we will see an economic and societal utopia. Let them have their shot at it.

Those that voted against Trump, stop reading political sites, stop watching the news, just use that time to do other things like read a book, hang with loved ones or do your favorite thing. Check out for the next four years. Let the chips fall where they may and do nothing to prevent them from landing be it for good or bad.

Let them all feel the love if the promised trickle down utopia emerges or the pain if it doesn't. The demographics have demanded this. Around 42% of women voted for Trump so clearly nearly the majority want a roll back on women's rights. around 12% blacks voted for Trump so sadly they are screwed but based on city heat maps it appears most stayed at home and so are part of the 200M that supported Trump by their inaction. Around ~40% of Latinos voted for Trump so it seems they think by a not insignificant margin that Trump is right on immigration. If any of these groups have supported Clinton in higher numbers, the poor white man vote would have not made the difference. Again 200M Americans choise to not act and by their inaction they declared their support for the victor aka President Trump. Follow the will of the people and let the GOP give them EVERYTHING they have coming to them. Do not interfere, do not protest, let it happen and as promised will we will have utopia on earth in four years.

President-Elect Trump

White people have spoken by showing up and voting and the result is a racist, sexist sociopath will be the next President of the United States. It is official as Hillary Clinton conceded to President Donald Trump. As a middle age, middle class white guy, I am horrified by tonight’s events. Not surprised because I am aware of how truly ignorant the average American is on how government actually functions (“I will upend the ‘establishment’ by voting in all incumbents! That will show that do nothing Congress!”). Having said that, if you do not fit that demographic, be afraid, be very afraid.

The GOP and Trump believe the young are lazy and higher education is something only the elite should have access to. The old just drain the economy with the best solution being the elimination of medicare and social security. Let nature do the rest. The poor (aka the majority of white that voted Trump), forget about it. Best thing they can do is go off and simply die. As for minorities...the US use to know what to do with you and will learn so again. Women...see kitchen, use kitchen. See bed...spread legs. That is all.

The next four year with GOP owning Presidency, Congress and Supreme Court is going to be ugly. Looking at the close states, be sure to thank those that voted third party (the coward’s vote) for that. They surely impacted this election, make no mistake. Not in anyway to help their cause but for sure to help the GOP cause.

Ultimately those that vote third party or the huge swaths of minorities that once again chose not to vote can only blame themselves what follows next or what may happen to them. They were warned what white people were going to do and they ignored the warning. At the very least the non-voters and 3rd party voters gave up their right to bitch for the next 4 years (seriously, I am going to ask and if I hear either answer my response will be: shut up, you lost the right to complain).

In the end, here is hoping that President Donald Trump somehow goes against his long history of mediocrity and failure to actual rise to the occasion of his position. Maybe, just maybe, he turns out to actually be a good President. Its about the only hope we have.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see what happens when his poor white supporters realize he can’t keep any of his promises (I mean that literally as most are economically or legally unfeasible). The only real lesson to learn from this - next time vote. Don’t assume, just vote and know for sure.

Vote!

Just a friendly reminder to vote. I have already stated my opinion on our choices. At the end of the day you are not asked to do much for this country. Quite literally the least you can do is every few years and take the time to vote.

The 108 Year Drought Ends

Sports longest drought comes to an end as the Chicago Cubs wins their first World Series since 1908. The storied team finally accomplishes what fans have been desperate to see in their life time and often did not. In a close match that started with a score, grew to a 5-1 lead before getting tied 6-6 in the 8th only for the Cubs to regain the lead in the 10th (after a 15 minute rain delay) to hold on long enough to win 8-7. Chicago is celebrating tonight. Congratulations to Chicago for a victory that everyone wanted to see.

Below, the moment Chicago learned of their victory outside of Wrigley Field.

If Congress Was Your Co-Worker

From the mind of Joss Whedon, here is Chris Pine playing a petulant, useless co-worker that blocks progress and accomplishes nothing - just like Congress! Despite how dissatisfied people are with Congress they always vote to keep the same useless members in office. The average retention rate for a Congress person is 92% despite a popularity rating in the low teens for all of them. Just saying, it pays off to be useless and the only lesson voters keep giving them is to demand more of the same uselessness. Show up, vote, and vote against the incumbent Congress person regardless of party.

Save the Day and Vote

Below is a new video from Joss Whedon and friends of Joss (which basically means bunch of movie and TV celebs) that are attempting to encourage people to actually vote this upcoming November. While not explicitly said, they are asking people to not just complain about Trump and his vile talk but back it up with action.

Simple action. Called voting. Something millions have died to protect and yet hundreds of millions of Americans avoid doing. To me its not a choice of Trump or Clinton but a choice of For Trump or Against Trump. If you are for Trump, the choice is simple and you will likely vote. Republicans have never had that problem. If you are against Trump, you have to vote for Clinton.

You do not have to like it, you do not have to proud of it (I am not), but you have to recognize that not voting is a vote for Trump as is voting for one of those third party candidates whose chances of winning the election is about equal to you and every single member of your family winning the lottery in the same week despite none of you buying lottery tickets. Until then see the video below and keep and eye on SaveTheDay.vote for future vids.

Shiva Ayyadurai Did Not Invent the Concept of Email

Below are two stories removed by Univision due to possible litigation with Shiva Ayyadurai whose assertions have not reached a historical consensus. Ayyadurai claims he invented email. The article makes a good case on how he did not. Or at least he was not the first. At most he can claim to have invented the word "email".

It likely is like the case as with other inventions where ideas get created independently of each other but the "winner" is the one to do it first. For example the inventor of the airplane is credited to the Wright brothers for their flight on December 17, 1903 while Brazil considers Alberto Santos-Dumont to be the "father of flight" for his airplane invention that flew on October 23, 1906. Chances are he had no clue of Wright brothers work and so independently invented the airplane. He could accurately claim, based on his knowledge at the time, to be the 1st to fly. Except he wasn't by three years.

Just like Ayyadurai probably had no idea that sending electronic messages from one device to another via a network already existed when he independently created his program called "email." It doesn't change the fact, as indicated by the links below, that he was not the first and thus should not credit no matter how desperate he is to make it happen (100+ websites? really?) and apparently is willing to sue to force history to align to his viewpoint. Sadly the law isn't about justice or being right, it is often just about those with the will and means (aka money) to fight regardless if the fight is worthy or not.

Apple Announces the iPhone 7

Yesterday Apple official announced the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and Apple Watch 2. In short, as rumored, they have eliminated the headphone jack in favor of bluetooth solutions, a dongle, and waterproofing the device. To early to say if the trade off is worth it. In general, just like in the last few years, all the devices are just the usual incremental improvements in CPU, camera and other features. If you are currently using an iPhone 6, the bump to 7 is minor at best but for older devices you might see a real improvement in overall quality. One thing to consider is how often you use wired headphones. If you almost never use them, then the iPhone 7's lack of headphone jack probably will not matter to you but otherwise its something you will need to consider in your upgrading decision. I signed up for the iPhone upgrade program last year but the differences are so minor that it doesn't seem worth bothering with. I can easily get three years or more out of my iPhone 6. While I use bluetooth devices heavily, I also do occasionally switch to headphones either out of convenience or because of dead batteries so the lost of that port is actually giving me pause. Maybe once can touch and feel it in a store I can make a final decision. Below is the highlights, click the links for more details.

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
- Headphone jack removed: replaced with an adapter that plugs into lightening port (replacement dongles are $9) with expectation of users moving to Bluetooth for sound needs

- Home Button Removed: replaced with Force Touch sensitive spot that acts as the home button

Sony Reveals the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro

After months of speculation, yesterday Sony finally revealed their new Playstation 4 hardware. Previous codenamed Neo, the PS4 Pro is essentially a 4.5 version of the hardware. It still plays existing PS4 games, still plays Blu-rays, but under the hood it has a much more powerful processor and graphics chips. The result is ability to play games in 4K resolution, assuming you have a TV that displays at that resolution (most TVs currently are 1080p which is equivalent of 1K. In addition this will allow those interested in playing in the virtual reality space to be able to do so without having to drop some money for a new desktop computer setup that would be necessary to handle the burgeoning technology. Because of that new power, it means that existing games will get a bit of a graphical bump in quality when playing on it while future games will be able to take full advantage of the new hardware, at least up to a point as the games are required to be playable on the PS4 Slim also.

As for the PS4 Slim, its what the name suggests. Just a smaller version of the current PS4 console. Its actually official name is simply the "PS4" since it will be replacing the current model. Same chip specs, same graphics, same capabilities just in a smaller device that uses less power and runs a bit quieter. The key difference between the two comes down to graphical detail. If you love crisp details in your games, you want the pro. If you don't care or phone and handheld graphics have long suited you without much thought then the $100 price difference and it being about the same size as the regular PS4 may make it not worth it to you to upgrade. If you already own a PS4, the Slim also may not be worth it unless you really need to take advantage of its smaller footprint, less noise and power usage.

One caveat of weirdness is while both systems will be able to display HDR videos. However while only the Pro does 4k, it cannot run 4K Blu-rays. Therefore if you want to watch 4K videos on the PS4 Pro, you will have to stream it and since those files are enormous, be aware that means if your ISP has data caps, it could become a problem. Sony has not explained why they have chosen this rather odd hardware limitation considering the specs of the machine.

The price of the PS Slim is $299 with 1TB hard drive, set for release on September 15th. The PS4 Pro will be released on November 10 for $399 with 1TB hard drive. You can pre-order the PS4 Pro now.

NBC Olympics Opening Intro and Closing Ceremony Montages From The Past

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games have come to a close. I love watching the Olympics and this year's games were no different. The joy of victory and the pride to compete was on full display.

In the United States, the Olympics Games television rights are owned by NBC (starting in 1988 for Summer Games, 2002 for Winter Games), CBS (1990s Winter Games) and ABC (1980s Winter Games). For NBC, their many hours of coverage always begins with a poetic introduction that shows off the host country and ends with their Olympics Ceremony credit montage that summarizes the games in spectacular fashion and while it has the expected focus on the US, it doesn't remain entirely there. As have done in previous Olympics here are the ones I could find. I have also added closing credits from 1980s games which are not that good.

I tried to identify the music where possible besides NBC's traditional use of John Williams's "Olympic Fanfare and Theme", Leo Arnaud's "Bugler’s Dream" and Randy Edelman's "Theme from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr". Some of the videos are crap quality since NBC and the Olympic Committee isn't willing to post their versions online. If you find better copies, missing copies, or identify music gaps, please post in the comments.

As always thank you to the Olympians for bringing two weeks of joy, peace and the competitive spirit. Looking forward to the next Olympics.

Olympic Closing Credit Montages

Wonder Woman Trailer #1

Here is the first real look at next year's Wonder Woman. I have to admit to be very surprised at how good this looks and Gal Godot looks amazing as Diana Prince. Having seen some of her previous work not entirely sold on her acting but off to a great start as just nailing the look is a massive challenge and they nailed it.

R.I.P. Muhammad Ali 1942-2016

Boxing greatest and the sport's world most famous champion, Muhammad Ali, died Friday night at the age of 74. He died in Phoenix, AZ due to respiratory issues and likely complications from his long fight with Parkinson's Disease.

"Words can't explain what Muhammad Ali (has) done for the sport of boxing," Floyd Mayweather told ESPN. "He's one of the guys that paved the way for me to be where I am today. We lost a legend, a hero and a great man."

Said Cavaliers star LeBron James: "The reason why he's the GOAT [Greatest of All Time] is not because of what he did in the ring, which was unbelievable. It's what he did outside of the ring, what he believed in, what he stood for -- along with Jim Brown and Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor, obviously who became Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Bill Russell, Jackie Robinson. Those guys stood for something. He's part of the reason why African-Americans today can do what we do in the sports world. We're free. They allow us to have access to anything we want. It's because of what they stood for, and Muhammad Ali was definitely the pioneer for that."

Captain America: Civil War Trailer 2

With the inclusion of Spider-Man, Captain America: Civil War is shaping up to be an epic movie. Really looking forward to it.

Goodbye Mythbusters 2003-2016

It has been a few days but have to admit I am still not quite ready to admit that after 14 years, Mythbusters is no more. This is one of my favorite all time shows, a joy to watch in part because the hosts clearly were enjoying what they did. Often I would learn a new nugget of information, be reminded of a lost childhood fact, or just be memorized at the creativity (and explosions) that were on display. I suspect that before its all said and done that the Mythbusters impact on the next few generations of scientists, innovators and creators will rival that of the moon landing. No matter how you cut it, that is a hell of a legacy to have. Goodbye, it was a privilege to enjoy this show for so many years.