Hey, Big Spender

In 1981 director John Waters released Polyester to much more favorable critical reviews than his previous productions. This is the movie that catapulted Waters to mainstream acceptance after a string of campy films know as the "Trash Trilogy" which included: Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living. To me what sets Polyester apart from many movies of that era is the gimmick coined 'Odorama' where theater goers were given a 'Scratch and Sniff' card with a series of numbers printed on the card. When a digit was flashed on the movie screen, you were instructed to scratch the corresponding number and voilà, you'd be able to smell what was going on in the production. Or this was what was supposed to happen. In any event, it wasn't a very sophisticated plunge into olfaction.

What is a futuristic push into olfaction is brought to us by Google. According to Wired magazine, "Google researchers are training neural networks with new techniques to predict how a molecule smells based on its chemical structure.". Although in its infancy, machine learning algos in what are referred to as 'graph neural networks' will enable the robots to have a sense of smell. With the rapid advancement of A.I., this could come quicker than you'd think. It's November 2019, the same year and month the neo-noir, sci-fi thriller Blade Runner takes place. I'm not going to go deep into the movie, but back in 1982 when Ridley Scott directed it, the thought of bioengineered beings known as 'Replicants' seemed like a far fetched idea. Now I wonder.

Another film from the same genre and era is 1984's Terminator which needs no introduction. This weekend Terminator: Dark Fate opens at the box office, and from everything I've read, it's much better than most of the other Terminator productions. Terminator 2:Judgement Day was a good movie, but you can keep the rest of them: Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Genesis. I am trying to keep an open mind about the new release because I am planning on seeing it on Tuesday when Regal Entertainment has their half priced popcorn promo. Don't want to get too down on it before I see it, or, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some movies are designed to be seen in the theater, and this is one of them. I am looking forward to it.

A movie I am anxiously anticipating is Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. I have been a big fan of Scorsese since Mean Streets which I saw on HBO in the mid 1970's. I just really liked it. He wasn't a household name then, and I didn't know a lot about directors in those days. Unless you were John Ford or Alfred Hitchcock, you went unnoticed to teenagers 45 years ago. Things are different today. Teenagers are more informed and media savvy. They know all about creative content and the metadata that accompanies it. I enjoy Scorsese stories so much, I just signed up for Netflix so I can watch The Irishman when it begins streaming on November 27th. Would have preferred to see it in a theater, but the closest screening is 40 miles away. In an era of conspicuous consumption, I have to budget myself, and that includes a subscription to Netflix. I was a customer of the service two years ago, but cancelled because I wasn't utilizing it enough. Especially during baseball season. I am going to give it a second chance.

According to Ad Week, about 25% of U.S. households will completely cut the cable cord by 2022. If you include the cord-nevers (people that have never paid for cable or satellite service), the number of households that forego traditional PayTV is even higher. I joined the streaming revolution and haven't looked back. I save close to $1,000 a year by cutting the cord, and that includes subscriptions to Netflix, HBO, MLB.TV and a basic television package through Spectrum TV Choice. That's a big savings for me and I'm still overwhelmed by all the viewing options. There's only 24 hours in a day and you can only watch so much television. Plus, if the impeachment hearings come to fruition, all eyes will be on the news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. The nation will be locked in on their news channel of choice. It's like Watergate. What a freak show. What's old is new again.