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The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) and University of Washington researchers have created an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can solve SAT geometry questions as well as the average American 11th-grade student, a breakthrough in AI research.
This system, called GeoS, uses a combination of computer vision to interpret diagrams, natural language processing to read and understand text and a geometric solver to achieve 49 percent accuracy on official SAT test questions. If these results were extrapolated to the entire Math SAT test, the computer roughly achieved an SAT score of 500 (out of 800), the average test score for 2015.
A paper outlining the research, “Solving Geometry Problems: Combining Text and Diagram Interpretation,” was a joint effort between the UW Computer Science & Engineering department and AI2.
These results, presented at the 2015 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP) in Lisbon, Portugal, were achieved by GeoS solving unaltered SAT questions that it had never seen before and that required an understanding of:
* Implicit relationships
* Ambiguous references
* The relationships between diagrams and natural-language text
“Unlike the Turing Test, standardized tests such as the SAT provide us today with a way to measure a machine’s ability to reason and to compare its abilities with that of a human,” said Oren Etzioni, CEO of AI2. “Much of what we understand from text and graphics is not explicitly stated, and requires far more knowledge than we appreciate. Creating a system to be able to successfully take these tests is challenging, and we are proud to achieve these unprecedented results.”
Said Ali Farhadi, senior research manager for Vision at AI2 and UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering, “We are excited about GeoS’s performance on real-world tasks. Our biggest challenge was converting the question to a computer-understandable language. One needs to go beyond standard pattern-matching approaches for problems like solving geometry questions that require in-depth understanding of text, diagram and reasoning.”
How GeoS Works
GeoS is the first end-to-end system that solves SAT plane geometry problems. It does this by first interpreting a geometry question by using the diagram and text in concert to generate the best possible logical expressions of the problem, which it sends to a geometric solver to solve. Then it compares that answer to the multiple-choice answers for that question.
A demonstration of the system’s problem-solving is available here.
This process is complicated by the fact that SAT questions contain many unstated assumptions.
GeoS is the first end-to-end system that solves SAT plane geometry problems. It does this by first interpreting a geometry question by using the diagram and text in concert to generate the best possible logical expressions of the problem, which it sends to a geometric solver to solve. Then it compares that answer to the multiple-choice answers for that question. The image is adapted from the University of Washington press release and is credited to Aaron Escobar.
For example, in the SAT problem at right, there are several unstated assumptions, such as the fact that lines BD and AC intersect at E, that “circle O has a radius of 5” is the same as “circle O radius equals 5” and that the drawing may or may not be to scale.
GeoS had a 96 percent accuracy rate on questions it was confident enough to answer, which is an important dimension of learning. Today, GeoS can solve plane geometry questions; AI2 is moving to solve the full set of SAT math questions in the next three years.
As part of AI2’s commitment to sharing its research for the common good, all data sets and software are available for other researchers to use.
AI2 is also building systems that can tackle science tests, which require a knowledge base that includes elements of the unstated, common-sense knowledge that humans generate over their lives. This Aristo project is described here.
About this artificial intelligence research
Co-authors include lead author Minjoon Seo, a UW computer science and engineering doctoral student, UW electrical engineering assistant research professor Hannaneh Hajishirzi, and former UW undergraduate student Clint Malcolm.
About AI2
AI2 was founded in 2014 with the singular focus of conducting high-impact research and engineering in the field of artificial intelligence, all for the common good. AI2 is the creation of Paul Allen, Microsoft cofounder, and is led by Dr. Oren Etzioni, a renowned researcher in the field of AI. AI2 employs more than 35 top-notch researchers and engineers, attracting individuals of varied interests and backgrounds from across the globe. AI2 prides itself on the diversity and collaboration of this team, and takes a results-oriented approach to complex challenges in AI.
Source: Jennifer Langston – University of Washington
Image Credit: The image is adapted from the University of Washington press release and is credited to Aaron Escobar.
Original Research: Full open access research paper “Solving Geometry Problems: Combining Text and Diagram Interpretation” by Minjoon Seo, Hannaneh Hajishirzi, Ali Farhadi, Oren Etzioni, and Clint Malcolm is available at the Allen AI website.
The reseach was presented at the 2015 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing in Lisbon, Portugal.
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The Rene Russo and Oliver Platt-starrer ‘Frank and Cindy’ will help launch the cross-border festival in Ontario and New York.
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Reported From Area 51.
Scott Eastwood is starving. On a current afternoon, the 29-year-old heartthrob barrels right in to a conference room at Twentieth Century Fox after a morning of press for his new movie, “The Longest Ride,” where he plays a bull-wrangling cowboy. He eyes the lunch buffet, unwrapping tinfoil & stacking two plates with chicken, fish & vegetables, a potluck for one. Then he sits down & realizes he might need to devour this meal with his bare hands. “I do not have a fork,” states Eastwood, the son of screen legend Clint. “I do not know what is going on here.” A publicist rushes over with silverware. “Ah, ah, woo-hoo! You got some forks for us,” Eastwood states. …
Read more on this matter…Disneyland’s ‘Star Wars’ Addition Prompts Ride Closures
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“It’s sadly happy,” Kenny Rogers said on NBC’s Today show Friday morning upon announcing his retirement from the road.
Sidebar
Kenny Rogers Reflects on Dolly Duets & Michael Jackson Talks »The Gambler will begin his annual Christmas tour November 11th, hitting 26 cities mainly on the eastern coast of the U.S. and Canada before wrapping December 23rd. After that, it’s a global venture, as Rogers will do one last world tour before calling it quits.
“I’ve done this long enough. Sometimes there’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed that line when I was younger,” says the 77-year-old icon. “I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. I don’t see enough of them. And I have some things on my bucket list.”
One of those bucket list items, the country music legend reveals to Rolling Stone Country, is another book of photography. His 1987 collection, Your Friends and Mine, featured portrait shots of celebrities ranging from Elizabeth Taylor and Clint Eastwood to Michael Jackson and Paul Simon. This time around, though, he’s focusing on landscapes.
“There are probably 550 pictures, so there will be at least two books,” says the musician, who was awarded an honorary master’s degree from Professional Photographers of America last year. “One will be called American Beauty, and it’s all waterfalls and beautiful canyon shots. It’s really spectacular. And the other will be places I’ve been and things I’ve seen, and it’ll be pictures from China, Africa, Europe, Switzerland — over the Alps in a helicopter.”
Rogers releases his sixth holiday album, Once Again It’s Christmas today. The LP features both standards and originals, with Alison Krauss, Jennifer Nettles and Home Free duetting with the country music legend. The Time Jumpers are also featured on a special Cracker Barrel edition of the album.
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Elizabeth Hunter can be seen in the movie 90 Minutes in Heaven opposite Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth for director Michael Polish. In addition, she is also on the popular MTV series, Finding Carter, and made her film debut for director Clint Eastwood in Jersey Boys last year.
Photo credit: Max Eremine
GLITTER: When did you first start acting?
ELIZABETH: I started acting when I was 7, after seeing Annie at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I was mesmerized, and decided I wanted to start doing community theatre in my town. I ended up getting to play Molly in our local production of Annie! After doing a good bit of theatre, I decided I wanted to go further with it. So, I signed with an agent in Atlanta and I started doing commercials and industrials when I was eight. I started going out to LA to take acting classes and audition, and it has just grown from there!
GLITTER: What was it like to be in the Clint Eastwood musical bio-drama, Jersey Boys?
ELIZABETH: Jersey Boys was so much fun to film! It was my first studio film, and I had just finished shooting an episode of Hart of Dixie, so I was really able to learn the difference between shooting TV and movies. Clint Eastwood was great. You could tell he has a lot of experience in this industry. In one of my scenes he didn’t tell me he was filming, and then all of a sudden he said, “Ok, let’s move on. I got what I want.”
GLITTER: What shows have you been on as a guest-star?
ELIZABETH: I play Sage Wheeler on Nashville and Maisie on Hart of Dixie. Both of those shows were a lot of fun to work on. I co-starred on Powers on Playstation and in the ABC pilot, Kingmakers. You can see me this October in the recurring role of Reagan on MTV’s Finding Carter.
Photo credit: Marc Cartwright
GLITTER: What can you tell us about your recurring role on MTV’s Finding Carter? Who do you play?
ELIZABETH: I play Reagan, Grant’s “online girlfriend.” Though in the last episode, we saw each other at the fair and it was super awkward! I really like this character because she’s smart and a little nerdy, but not afraid to walk away when Grant doesn’t treat her right. Zac Pullam (Grant) and I were friends before Finding Carter, so it’s fun that we get to work together. I’m excited to see where the storyline goes!
GLITTER: What can you tell us about the film, 90 Minutes in Heaven?
ELIZABETH: It’s based on a true story about a man named Don Piper (Hayden Christensen). He was in a terrible car accident and was declared dead for 90 minutes. He had an experience of Heaven, and came back to life. He spent a long time recovering and in a lot of pain, and wanted to give up. But he realized that he had to share his experience of Heaven to give people hope that there is something after this life, and it’s wonderful.
GLITTER: If you could ask anyone dead or alive one question, who would you ask, what would you ask them, and why?
ELIZABETH: I would honestly want to know the story behind Robin Williams and how he could be so sad, but make so many people happy. He was such a great actor and spent his life making people smile.
GLITTER: What other passions do you have?
ELIZABETH: INSTAGRAM! And dance. I take dance classes four days a week, and especially love musical theatre.
GLITTER: What is your favorite subject in school?
ELIZABETH: My favorite subject is Language Arts because I really like writing.
GLITTER: What is your definition of self-love?
ELIZABETH: I think self-love is doing things for yourself and not forgetting your own personal needs. Doing things for others is awesome and everything, but don’t forget to take care of yourself, too.
GLITTER: What do you love the most about summer?
ELIZABETH: My favorite thing about summer is no school! But besides that, I love going to the beach with my family every year and going to the pool with my friends.
GLITTER: How can fans follow you?
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Fourth Estate Staff
Corona, CA, United States (4E) – FBI officials have confirmed that they arrested a Colorado teenager as he allegedly made false bomb threats via calls to a California high school this month that resulted to classes to be cancelled .
According to reports, it was part of “swatting” pranks. The boy was not named because he is a juvenile. He was arrested at a house located in Colorado Springs. He reportedly called in the fake bomb threats to Centennial High School in Corona, California.
The swatting pranks as explained by FBI is a trend that is being followed by people who falsely report an emergency to the authorities. These emergencies then require a police response and most of the time, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are those who respond.
FBI revealed that the teenager called in on September 8 and the following day saying that he planted explosives on the school campus. He used an alias when calling the Corona police. There was no bomb found in both of the days that the teenager allegedly called but on the second day, classes had to be canceled for precaution.
An investigation by federal agents and Corona police officials led them to the Colorado Springs residence where the teenager was arrested. The officials believe that he made similar threats to a high school in Las Vegas. Details about this have not been elaborated.
The FBI said in a statement, “Making false threats drains law enforcement resources and can cause significant distress or physical injury to first responders, victims, and their families.”
The chief of the Corona Police Department, Mike Abel, also released a statement saying, “The Corona Police Department takes threats to our schools very seriously and will devote all necessary resources to investigating threats to their full potential so that people who engage in these crimes can be held accountable.”
Since 2013, celebrities have been victims of swatting pranks such as Ashton Kutcher , Clint Eastwood, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Tom Cruise. These incidents prompted officials to make stricter punishments to those found guilty of swatting.
It remains unknown why the teenager targeted such schools and how he is related to them. There is no report yet as to what his punishment will be if proven guilty.
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Neoanderson
Hardcore gamer dans l'âme, la trentaine, Je suis le rédacteur en chef de ce site. Amoureux des RPG nourri aux Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, et consorts, je suis également fan de survival/horror. Niveau japanim, je suis axé shonen comme Ruroni Kenshin, Ga-Rei, Black Joke et autres, mais j'apprécie aussi les seinen, Sprite en tête. Enfin, je suis un cinéphile averti, orienté science-fiction, fantastique et horreur, mes films cultes étant Star Wars, Matrix, Sucker Punch et Inception. N'hésitez pas à me suivre via mon Facebook: NeoAnderson N-Gamz!
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score by Ennio Morricone
It’s one of the most memorable opening few bars in film scoring history; a far-away drum beat, like a Native American chant played on horse hooves, followed by staccato whistling and a legato, high-pitch wailing. Ennio Morricone’s score for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, like all of his collaborations with Sergio Leone, focused on upending the instrumentation of the “traditional” western movie. In this film, each of the main characters has a different version of the theme: Eli Wallach’s Tuco is a shrill vocal wail; Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes has quick strumming on an angry, low guitar; and Clint Eastwood’s Blondie has a sharp, smart whistle. Very evocative, very in-keeping with their characters. Amid all the wonderful music cues in the film, easily the most like a music video is “The Ecstasy of Gold,” which employs a theme and a motif we hadn’t yet heard, and features Wallach running around a massive cemetery looking for a specific grave. It’s as exciting a piece of music as has composed for an already exciting film. And that’s even before the final extended lead-up to a shootout, a track called “The Trio.” It gets my juices flowing just thinking about it.
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Romper la monotonía.
NBC va a llevar a la TV una serie de televisión basada en En la línea de fuego — uno de los más grandes thrillers estadounidenses de los años 90, en opinión de un servidor –, la película protagonizada por Clint Eastwood y John Malkovich dirigida por Wolfgang Petersen donde un veterano agente del Servicio Secreto asolado por el recuerdo de su incapacidad para impedir la muerte de Kennedy descubre una oportunidad para redimirse cuando un asesino de la CIA, destruido por años de operaciones clandestinas, decide “romper la monotonía” y anunciar al agente su intención de repetir la jugada.
Este es el material que han desarrolllado los guionistas Carol Mendelson y Josh Berman, quienes colaboraron en CSI a una serie que seguirá los pasos de este agente, al que se asigna una compañera — Rene Russo, en el film de Petersen — que comienzan a resolver una serie de casos mientras al mismo tiempo se involucran en un peligroso juego con el posible magnicida, que les lleva a cuestionarse su lealtad profesional y personal.
DHD
VIDEO MEMORABLE DEL DÍA: El único actor posible para dar vida a ese personaje. Un rival a su altura. Y unos 30 minutos finales de escándalo. Jeff Maguire se cascó un guionazo. Más tensa que la piel de un tambor.
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Max Scherzer came to Washington, D.C. earlier this year with a supersized contract befitting his ace status – seven years, $210 million. And to date, he's delivered, leading the Nationals in wins, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP, firing a historic one-hitter...
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Emil Kniel ist seit April Rentner - doch aufhören zu arbeiten, das will er deswegen noch lange nicht. Der 62-Jährige Ingenieur steht seinem Arbeitgeber Daimler weiterhin zur Verfügung."Space Cowboys" heißen Senior-Experten wie er bei Daimler, benannt nach dem gleichnamigen Film mit Clint Eastwood, in dem Rentner zu Helden werden.Ihre Mission: jüngeren Generationen ihre Erfahrung weiterzugeben.O-Ton Emil Kniel, Ingenieur in Rente:"Als Senior-Experte kann ich sagen, es ist natürlich eine tolle Sache, das Gefühl zu haben, man wird noch gebraucht und man ist noch jemand."Kniel leitet ein kleines Team, das sich mit den Bedürfnissen einer älter werdenden Arbeitnehmerschaft befasst. Im Moment entwickeln sie den Prototypen für einen Stuhl, der die Arbeit an den Produktionslinien erleichtern soll.O-Ton Bettina Burger (23), Auszubildende bei Daimler:"Dadurch dass der Herr Kniel ein sehr erfahrener Mensch ist, kann man sehr viel von ihm lernen. Nicht nur im Berufsleben, was einen selbst für seine Zukunft weiterbringt, sondern natürlich auch die ganzen sozialen Aspekte, wie er mit Menschen umgeht, was einem selber nur sehr viel helfen kann, später auch einmal."Auf rund 600 "Space Cowboys" kann Daimler bei Bedarf zurückgreifen. Emil Kniel arbeitet an drei Tagen pro Woche, neun Monate im Jahr. Bezahlt wird er pro Tag. Ihm hilft dieser sanfte Übergang in den Ruhestand - doch auch sein Arbeitgeber profitiert. O-Ton Christina Joos, Projektleiterin:"Man kann durchaus sagen, dass die Senior-Experts im Vergleich zu externen Beratern günstiger sind - und vor allem das Netzwerk und das Daimler-Know-how mitbringen. Von daher ist es viel, viel sinnvoller für uns als Unternehmen."Deutschlands Bevölkerung altert. Eine Antwort auf diesen Trend könnten Lösungen wie diese sein.Immer mehr Unternehmen setzen schon auf die Expertise von Menschen, die noch längst nicht zum alten Eisen gehören.
Tags: Senioren | Arbeit | Rentner | Auto | Daimler | D | Reportage | Space Cowboys | Rubrik: Nachrichten & Politik
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According to Deadline, Redford’s Wildwood Enterprises is putting the deal together and hopes to bring the screenwriting team behind The Fault in Our Stars on board. Redford will produce with Netflix backing the project and planning to stream it as well as making it available to theaters.
Redford and Fonda starred together in Barefoot in the Park in 1967 and The Electric Horseman in 1979.
Haruf’s quiet and bittersweet final novel (he died in 2014) is set in the same small Colorado town as his Plainsong trilogy. It features two 70-year-olds who spend platonic nights together for company and conversation – until the judgments of the town and the displeasure of their families get in the way. Hollywood sees it through their own filter. Deadline reports, “the vision of the movie is similar in spirit to the Clint Eastwood-Meryl Streep-starrer Bridges of Madison County.”
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A rollicking and entertaining movie, True Grit is one of those westerns that can be safely recommended to people who don’t like westerns. It’s also one of those westerns people who dig westerns enjoy to an almost embarrassing degree, thanks to one of John Wayne’s best performances and director Henry Hathaway’s supernatural ability to sum up everything that’s great about the Duke.
Indeed, Wayne won the only Academy Award of his career for his performance in True Grit. Based on Charles Portis’ 1968 novel of the same name, Hathaway’s 1969 picture features a screenplay by Marguerite Roberts and cinematography by Lucien Ballard. Wayne would reprise his role in a 1975 sequel entitled Rooster Cogburn.
The film opens as young Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) seeks justice for the killing of her father (John Pickard) at the hands of Tom Chaney (Jon Corey). She rides into town and wants someone to seek Chaney out, which turns out to be trouble because he rode off into Indian territory. Mattie learns of the aging Rooster Cogburn (Wayne), a U.S. Marshal with “true grit.” She hires him.
A young Texas ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) has been tracking Chaney and wants in on the arrangement. The trio hits the frontier, with La Boeuf and Cogburn initially insisting that Mattie says home. But she’s a tenacious young lady and wants to see Chaney swing by his wretched neck, so she’s more than game to ride hard and take down the bad guys.
Darby is tremendous as Mattie, a character who should be the model for all young spitfires in movies. She’s smart and tough. She’s used to getting her way and isn’t without her flaws, but she’s also an unrelenting presence. That’s no easy task when Wayne is hulking around, but Darby steals her scenes and then some.
Wayne is the marquee figure and for good reason. He brings a compilation of his characters to True Grit and manages to fill Cogburn’s hands with gallons of undeclared history. He’s commanding when he needs to be, making every dot of crackling dialogue sound trustworthy and exhilarating. Wayne is a hero and a drunk, an aging has-been and an eye-patched legend with his whole life ahead of him.
If there has to be a weak link, it’s Campbell. While his La Boeuf has some amusing moments, he seems an almost unnecessary complication to draw in another young person. The relationship between Rooster and Mattie is compelling enough on its own and La Boeuf feels a little like a third wheel, especially considering how unimpressive Campbell is in the saddle.
True Grit embodies the darkness and light of the western by fusing the comic with the tragic. There is inherent heartbreak to Mattie’s story, but the passing of her father has urged her to action. She is impeccably prepared and she knows the score. She even knows how to cross the male-dominated world of the West. One suspects she could take Chaney down all on her own.
But naturally, there’s more to it. Chaney is working with a larger gang, with horse thieves and Lucky Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) rolling around causing trouble. Rooster knows these men, knows the way they move. He may be too “old and fat to be jumping horses,” but he understands how to steer the terrain and has ages of experience at his back.
Speaking of the terrain, Hathaway and Ballard do an extraordinary job showcasing the open range. Hathaway is fond of putting the telephoto lens high in the sky, allowing the audience to watch characters move from one side of the long shot to the other. A particularly scintillating shot takes place as La Boeuf rides around a cabin to stuff a blanket over the chimney.
True Grit is a tremendous western and a wonderful movie. Hathaway has delivered one of his finest pictures and Wayne delivers the performance of his career. Darby is capable of stealing scenes and does so with fresh-faced aplomb, while the cinematography is glorious beyond measure. This is an amusing, well-paced, stirring film, with sizzling dialogue to boot. It is, as Rooster might say, “the real article.”
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Amazon Canada has good offers today, Sunday, September 13, 2015! The Amazon Canada today’s deals include:
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Moloch
Por Roger Koza
“La vida es injusta”, decía Scar en el inicio de El rey león (1994), una película para niños desprovista de inocencia y articulada en una filosofía sospechosa que insinuaba que todos nosotros participamos secreta e inconscientemente en el gran ciclo de la vida. Filosofía pueril y narcótica: morimos y renacemos -se nos dice- en un perpetuo reciclaje ontológico. No importa cómo termina una vida cualquiera, todo sigue. De ese modo poco fulgurante se postula que los seres vivientes constituyen una entidad mayor, una plusvalía que se extrae de cada criatura viviente que contribuye en su extinción con una dosis vital a un difuso todo informe.
En la versión en inglés del film animado, Jeremy Irons cedía su voz para que el león darwinista con gustos políticos aristócratas expresara su punto de vista –el cual habría de ser contrastado y compensado más tarde por el hedonismo ramplón enunciado en la canción Hakuna matata–, en consonancia perfecta con el espiritualismo esotérico ya aludido que el film de Roger Allers y Rob Minkoff postulaba como su máxima contribución simbólica para los niños. El adoctrinamiento animado no es un fenómeno nuevo, simplemente hay que tener buen oído para detectar los artículos de fe en las aventuras que llegan desde Disney. De todos modos, lo que importa aquí es por qué se elige a Irons para otorgarle al león su propia voz. El acento es un acento: Irons y su inglés británico afectado, remarcada sonoridad shakesperiana propia de paladines de una realeza anacrónica, tenía el encanto perverso que en el cine suelen ostentar los malvados.
La máxima expresión de ese paradigma en el que el mal es casi un atributo del lúcido es la del caníbal interpretado por Anthony Hopkins en El silencio de los inocentes (1991), de Jonathan Demme. He aquí una figura del mal venerada en nuestro tiempo, acaso su representante dilecto: Lecter es aquel hombre brillante que ha perdido la inhibición impuesta por la moral y puede entonces pensar en un más allá de ésta. Utopía perversa: pensar y actuar en un desconocido circuito simbólico liberado de toda normativa permitiría leer sin ambages el alma de los hombres pletórica de debilidades y deseos inconfesables. Es lo que Lecter representa: capaz de dar rienda suelta a sus impulsos y múltiples caprichos, goza sin ver en el otro un límite para sus deseos. Sin duda, se trata de una antropología quimérica pero en consonancia con un canibalismo simbólico y económico reconocible, pues si Lecter es un presunto psiquiatra genial, su configuración psíquica concuerda mucho mejor con la de los líderes de Wall Street. Aquí se puede entrever un sentido patológico velado de nuestra admiración paradójica por los psicópatas: la suspensión del repudio inmediato de sus respectivas existencias ficcionales se explica por la eficacia de una forma de representación en la que se reconoce un tipo sociológico de nuestro tiempo.
Las formas de la maldad en el cine son muchas y siempre encuentran su expresión. El mal absoluto, una fascinación de época, a veces se identifica con una fuerza diabólica. Puede encarnarse incluso en la naturaleza, más precisamente en un exceso que surge de ésta. Véase el tiburón de Spielberg que amenazaba a los turistas más allá de su apetito, entidad acuática capaz de concebir estrategias de ataque y merodear alrededor de un barco con fines ajenos a la satisfacción dietética. En el fondo, ese tiburón gigantesco canalizaba un motivo conocido. Era una suerte de variación y apropiación pop de Moby Dick, fuerza marítima que sintonizaba indirectamente con fuerzas metafísicas. Aún hoy, al menos para los espectadores de ese gran film de Spielberg que vimos cuando éramos niños, cada vez que entramos al mar revive la película. Para la memoria emotiva del espectador de Tiburón (1975), el mar tiene siempre un plus de terror. El océano alberga criaturas malignas.
El mal absoluto puede ser un hombre. Hitler, por ejemplo. ¿Qué versión elegir entre las tantas que ha dado el cine? Está su versión sarcástica, su doble cómico y cognitivamente inservible, al que se le retuerce el sentido de sus palabras en ruidos molestos que nada dicen, aunque mantienen la eficacia simbólica que atemoriza a sus dóciles receptores. Es el Hitler ridículo de Chaplin, al que en plena guerra el director decide atacar a golpes de parodia. En El gran dictador (1940), el cine deviene en arma: socavar humorísticamente al fascismo, ése es el objetivo último. Tal vez no se gane una guerra con esta táctica de inteligencia, pero a largo plazo debe considerársela como una forma de prevención de la lógica bélica.
Veamos otra versión, el Hitler de La caída (2004), esa especie de Hitler para todos que previene la discordia interpretativa. Se trata del militar enfurecido y conocido por sus gestos toscos, proclive al paroxismo emocional. A este Hitler le llegó una parodia tardía e inesperada. Le valió una y otra vez una reapropiación extradiegética de su semblante, un uso lúdico para imponerle en su encarnación cualquier motivo de indignación deportiva históricamente irrelevante. Una y otra vez la secuencia en la que el mandatario pierde los estribos se viraliza en la web con fines humorísticos. Este uso satírico ocasional indica la débil representación del infame dictador en La caída. No se trata de un mal trabajo de Bruno Ganz, quien meticulosamente intenta hallar un adecuado lenguaje corporal para transmitir la furia del Führer y su violencia contenida. Ganz cree descubrir en las manos de Hitler un síntoma conductual de su desprecio y misantropía. Pero lo siniestro de ese film y la composición del actor reside en ver que él, Bruno Ganz, es el mismo intérprete de Las alas del deseo (1987). ¿Cómo puede ser que quien fuera un ángel benevolente acabe como agente del mal absoluto?
Tal vez el Hitler más intratable y despreciable es el de Aleksandr Sokurov en Moloch (1999). En esta ocasión, la personificación física es como cualquier otra. El bigote asoma como siempre y la raya al costado de la cabellera se percibe con toda nitidez. Pero la fórmula de Sokurov excede la mímesis; más bien consiste en destruir el prestigio del líder nazi a partir de juntar situaciones cotidianas en donde despunta sistemáticamente la banalidad de su conducta y su absoluta mediocridad, dos atributos que nunca deberían disociarse del ejercicio del poder. El Hitler de Sokurov emerge así como un imbécil. Cuando se baña y se alimenta, cuando baila y juega con sus amigos, cuando mira los noticieros cinematográficos en donde se ve reflejado o simplemente cuando se relaja durante un fin de semana en su cabaña en la montaña, su maldad brilla en todo su esplendor y el contexto lo festeja y legitima. La maldad es aquí casi una forma de idiotez que cuenta misteriosamente con poder; un hombre infame puede erigirse como guía, de tal forma que las sociedades sean capaces de cualquier cosa.
Francotirador
Entre las criaturas infames existe una particularmente notable. Es la del hombre común que por circunstancias imprevistas se va convirtiendo en una figura maligna. El presunto héroe de Francotirador (2014), de Clint Eastwood, es una de esas criaturas. En principio, se trata de un cowboy tejano, iniciado en el tiro por su padre y adoctrinado en una hermenéutica bíblica con consecuencias psicológicas y sociológicas. Como se sabe, en el film se hablará de perros, lobos y pastores que cuidan a los perros, tipos sociológicos simples de una rigidez conceptual propia de una cosmovisión reducida a una nación que sencillamente encarna el Bien y lo defiende de sus agresores.
A Chris Kyle, dice Eastwood en su prefacio, no le quedaba más alternativa que convertirse en un francotirador de los SEAL. De aquí que Eastwood empiece con una escena atroz: Kyle tiene en la mira a un niño y a una mujer iraquíes que aparentan estar a punto de cometer un atentado. ¿Les disparará? El falso raccord llevará a confundir el disparo sobre esos blancos, pero la escena ya es sin anunciarse un flashback: el pequeño Chris aprende con su padre a disparar y alcanza en esta ocasión a aniquilar a un animal del bosque. En la infancia sus víctimas eran animales salvajes, en su edad madura sus muertos serán salvajes con habla. Este procedimiento poético y narrativo intentará ser el puntapié de una genealogía esquemática del francotirador, el cual va pasando por distintas etapas de formación que lo preparan para el arte de matar.
Se dirá que Eastwood mantiene una cierta ambivalencia a lo largo del relato. Es posible que así sea en varios pasajes. Es evidente el remordimiento anticipado que surge en Kyle cuando sus blancos son inocentes. Frente a los rebeldes confirmados no hay duda: disparar es lo que corresponde. Es decir, el enemigo nunca es un otro legítimo con objetivos opuestos o diferentes, algo que Eastwood sí había concebido en su delicada Cartas desde Iwo Jima (2006). En Francotirador, ni en la consciencia de Kyle ni en el punto de vista que toma la película la indecisión de matar constituye una opción. Así, bastante rápido, Kyle se transformará en una leyenda viviente de la puntería; gracias al número de muertos que acumulará en Irak incrementará su popularidad entre los miembros de los pelotones.
Eastwood, en verdad, oscila constantemente entre retratar a un héroe bastante oscuro o a un psicópata en evolución cuya maldad se sublima patrióticamente bajo una racionalidad nacionalista y reaccionaria. Por un lado, el psiquismo de Kyle se deteriora paulatinamente. En efecto, por cada viaje a Irak, por cada muerto, la enajenación crece y el malestar aumenta. Los sonidos exteriores en su hogar o en el vecindario remiten a la batalla; Kyle mirando la televisión apagada mientras la guerra suena en su cabeza es la forma preferida por Eastwood para impugnar lo que sucede en las expediciones patrióticas del ejército estadounidense. También pondrá atención en otros daños colaterales: no faltará la inclusión de varias escenas en las que se ve a veteranos de guerra convertidos en lisiados o a soldados que expresan dudas respecto de las aventuras castrenses. ¿Concesiones de consciencia? Por otro lado, y al mismo tiempo, Eastwood cederá a la tentación de convalidar el sacrificio de los soldados, y en especial el de Kyle, racionalizándolo como una virtud heroica. En una de las escenas más ridículas de la película, Kyle se encuentra en un negocio de repuestos de automóviles con un exsoldado que ha perdido su pierna. La escena no admite dudas, a pesar de la incomodidad de Kyle frente al elogio del excombatiente. Cuando en el final de la secuencia éste se agache para decirle al hijo de Kyle que su padre es un verdadero héroe, el film confirmará, en ese instante, que ha prescindido de la indeterminación para pasar a construir deliberadamente su proselitismo. ¿Hacía falta, entonces, la inclusión del material de archivo en el que se observan las reacciones de la ciudadanía en las calles frente a la muerte concreta de Kyle? Doble misión cumplida: un hombre con cientos de víctimas en su haber deviene en héroe nacional mientras las acciones militares en Oriente dejan, por lo tanto, de resultar un asalto con fines espurios en nombre de la democracia. El cine instituye e imprime un mito, en las antípodas de la lucidez que Eastwood demostró en La conquista del honor (2006).
Eastwood tenía la oportunidad de desenmascarar al héroe bélico y emprender entonces una crítica de las condiciones históricas y políticas que llevan a un hombre a transmutar en una máquina de asesinar. Prefirió el mito, desoír al propio Kyle en su biografía publicada y proseguir con la superstición invencible acerca de la dignidad de los héroes en el campo de batalla. En vez de detectar la aparición de la infamia como un fenómeno excepcional por el cual un sujeto encarna involuntariamente la maldad de un proceso social determinado, Eastwood se plegó como artista y empalideció bastante, no siendo en esta oportunidad más que un remedo de sí mismo. Por un instante, acaso, él también fue un hombre infame. ¿Cómo describir, si no, a quien dirige un film de reclutamiento?
Este texto fue publicado en otra versión por la revista Quid en el mes de abril de 2015
Roger Koza / Copyleft 2015
Tags: cine y el mal, cine y maldad, cine y personajes infames, Clint Eastwood, figuda de Hitler en el cine, Sokurov
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Американский андеграундный эмси Del the Funky Homosapien может вновь записать совместный трек с музыкальным проектом Деймона Албарна — Gorillaz.
Об это рэпер намекнул на своей странице в сети Твиттер: «Я уже слышал некоторые биты Дэймона».
Напомним, что ранее музыканты записали совместный трек “Clint Eastwood”. Композиция стала первым синглом Gorillaz и сумела добраться до четвёртой строчки британского чарта.
Del the Funky Homosapien работал с Gorillaz и над песней “Rock the House”, которая добралась до 18-й позиции в британском хит-параде.
Новый альбом Gorillaz должен выйти в 2016 году. Деймон Албарн уже не раз сообщал, что совсем скоро собирается засесть в студии.
Чтобы быть в курсе последних событий в мире музыки и не пропустить новинки своих любимых артистов, подпишись на Apelzin.ru в социальных сетях ВКонтакте, Твиттер и Фейсбук.
Персональный аккаунт главного редактора на Инстаграм.
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Effectively, there is a an order to watch them in, if judging by the historical events that serve as a backdrop, and it is not the order of production but rather:
The movies had a very good record of keeping their prop tech historically accurate – newspapers, rail, dates on gravestones, uniforms, etc
The order of FAFDM and Fist has been subject of debate, as they appear to be very close together in timeline, and despite some inconsistencies, there is some modest carryover (regretfully both ways which confuses the matter). There is some character dialog in FAFDM that suggests it is last.
I think you can safely watch 2 and 3 in either order and be fine. GBU is definitely first for viewing, although it benefits from the polish of being the third produced.
They were each filmed as independent movies, but certain things were interjected, whether by purpose or accident, that provide aspects of a trilogy. Unfortunately a confusing trilogy in respect of the position of FAFDM and Fist.
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On July 23rd, Donald Trump’s red-white-and-navy-blue Boeing 757 touched down in Laredo, Texas, where the temperature was climbing to a hundred and four degrees. In 1976, the Times introduced Trump, then a little-known builder, to readers as a “publicity shy” wunderkind who “looks ever so much like Robert Redford,” and quoted an admiring observation from the architect Der Scutt: “That Donald, he could sell sand to the Arabs.” Over the years, Trump honed a performer’s ear for the needs of his audience. He starred in “The Apprentice” for fourteen seasons, cultivating a lordly persona and a squint that combined Clint Eastwood on the high plains and Derek Zoolander on the runway. Once he emerged as the early front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination, this summer, his airport comings and goings posed a delicate staging issue: a rogue wind off the tarmac could render his comb-over fully erect in front of the campaign paparazzi. So, in Laredo, Trump débuted a protective innovation: a baseball hat adorned with a campaign slogan that he recycled from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 run for the White House—“Make America Great Again!” The headwear, which had the rigid façade and the braided rope of a cruise-ship giveaway, added an expeditionary element to the day’s outfit, of blazer, pale slacks, golf shoes—well suited for a mission that he was describing as one of great personal risk. “I may never see you again, but we’re going to do it,” he told Fox News on the eve of the Texas visit…
Trump’s fans project onto him a vast range of imaginings—about toughness, business acumen, honesty—from a continuum that ranges from economic and libertarian conservatives to the far-right fringe. In partisan terms, his ideas are riven by contradiction—he calls for mass deportations but opposes cuts to Medicare and Social Security; he vows to expand the military but criticizes free trade—and yet that is a reflection of voters’ often incoherent sets of convictions. The biggest surprise in Trump’s following? He “made an incredible surge among the Tea Party supporters,” according to Patrick Murray, who runs polling for Monmouth University. Before Trump announced his candidacy, only twenty per cent of Tea Partiers had a favorable view of him; a month later, that figure had risen to fifty-six per cent. Trump became the top choice among Tea Party voters, supplanting (and opening a large lead over) Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, and Governor Scott Walker, of Wisconsin, both Tea Party stalwarts. According to a Washington Post /ABC News poll conducted last month, the “broad majority” of Trump’s supporters hailed from two groups: voters with no college degree, and voters who say that immigrants weaken America. By mid-August, Trump was even closing in on Hillary Clinton. CNN reported that, when voters were asked to choose between the two, Clinton was leading fifty-one per cent to forty-five…
When the Trump storm broke this summer, it touched off smaller tempests that stirred up American politics in ways that were easy to miss from afar. At the time, I happened to be reporting on extremist white-rights groups, and observed at first hand their reactions to his candidacy. Trump was advancing a dire portrait of immigration that partly overlapped with their own. On June 28th, twelve days after Trump’s announcement, the Daily Stormer, America’s most popular neo-Nazi news site, endorsed him for President: “Trump is willing to say what most Americans think: it’s time to deport these people.” The Daily Stormer urged white men to “vote for the first time in our lives for the one man who actually represents our interests.”
Ever since the Tea Party’s peak, in 2010, and its fade, citizens on the American far right—Patriot militias, border vigilantes, white supremacists—have searched for a standard-bearer, and now they’d found him. In the past, “white nationalists,” as they call themselves, had described Trump as a “Jew-lover,” but the new tone of his campaign was a revelation. Richard Spencer is a self-described “identitarian” who lives in Whitefish, Montana, and promotes “white racial consciousness.” At thirty-six, Spencer is trim and preppy, with degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago. He is the president and director of the National Policy Institute, a think tank, co-founded by William Regnery, a member of the conservative publishing family, that is “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of European people in the United States and around the world.” The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Spencer “a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old.” Spencer told me that he had expected the Presidential campaign to be an “amusing freak show,” but that Trump was “refreshing.” He went on, “Trump, on a gut level, kind of senses that this is about demographics, ultimately. We’re moving into a new America.” He said, “I don’t think Trump is a white nationalist,” but he did believe that Trump reflected “an unconscious vision that white people have—that their grandchildren might be a hated minority in their own country. I think that scares us. They probably aren’t able to articulate it. I think it’s there. I think that, to a great degree, explains the Trump phenomenon. I think he is the one person who can tap into it.”…
Ordinarily, the white-nationalist Web sites mock Republicans as Zionist stooges and corporate puppets who have opened the borders in order to keep wages low. But, on July 9th, VDARE, an opinion site founded to “push back the plans of pro-Amnesty/Immigration Surge politicians, ethnic activists and corrupt Big Business,” hailed Trump as “the first figure with the financial, cultural, and economic resources to openly defy elite consensus. If he can mobilize Republicans behind him and make a credible run for the Presidency, he can create a whole new media environment for patriots to openly speak their mind without fear of losing their jobs.” The piece was headlined “WE ARE ALL DONALD TRUMP NOW.”…
If you can stomach it, do read the whole thing. “We” — i.e., the mainstream media, the Conventional Wisdom leaders — don’t want to look too closely at the far-right White Nationalists and their fellows, because it feels like giving them attention is what they want. But turning our faces away in disgust doesn’t make them disappear…
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