THE MT VOID
07/29/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 5, Whole Number 2234

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Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
We Now Have Racist, Sexist Robots
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in August (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Mini Reviews by Evelyn, Part 7 (HULLABALOO, MAN OF THE
YEAR (2006), WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT, THE SECRET OF
THE BLUE ROOM, MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (1935))
(film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper)
LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by Ryka Aoki (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, HERO OF TWO WORLDS, SF Aging Well
(or Not), A STUDY IN SCARLET, THE DEVIL AND MISS
PRYM, and HIDDEN FIGURES (letter of comment
by John Hertz)
This Week's Reading (OPERATION MINCEMEAT) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

==================================================================
TOPIC: We Now Have Racist, Sexist Robots

<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/16/racist-robots-
ai/>

First two paragraphs:

"As part of a recent experiment, scientists asked specially
programmed robots to scan blocks with people’s faces on them, then
put the 'criminal' in a box. The robots repeatedly chose a block
with a Black man’s face.

Those virtual robots, which were programmed with a popular
artificial intelligence algorithm, were sorting through billions of
images and associated captions to respond to that question and
others, and may represent the first empirical evidence that robots
can be sexist and racist, according to researchers. Over and over,
the robots responded to words like 'homemaker' and 'janitor' by
choosing blocks with women and people of color."

==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)

Meetings are still fluctuating between in-person and Zoom. The
best way to get the latest information is to be on the mailing
lists for them.

August 4, 2022 (MTPL): 5:30PM, THE HIDDEN (1987) & novel NEEDLE
by Hal Clement
<https://flibusta.club/b/191110/read>
September ?, 2022 (MTPL), 5:30PM: ???
September 22, 2022 (OBPL), 7:00PM: ???

==================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in August (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)

Back in 1989 Turner Classic Movies ran a gigantic triple of the
three films that composed the SAMURAI TRILOGY, which told the life
of Miyamoto Musashi with its highlight on the duel against Sasaki
Kojiro on the morning of April 13, 1612, on Ganryu Island. (The
films themselves are adaptations of Eiji Yoshikawa's novel
MUSHASHI, which originally ran as a newspaper serial in Japan
between 1935 and 1939. If you are a samurai film fan you cannot do
much better. Well, yes, you can actually. In August TCM will run:

08/19 08:00 AM Throne of Blood (1957)
08/19 10:00 AM Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
08/19 12:00 PM Samurai 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
08/19 02:00 PM Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
08/19 04:00 PM Yojimbo (1961)
08/19 06:00 PM Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)
08/19 08:00 PM Rashomon (1950)
08/19 09:45 PM The Seven Samurai (1956)
08/20 01:30 AM High and Low (1963)
08/20 04:00 AM I Live in Fear (1955/1967)

[The last two are not samurai films, but are set in the 1950s and
1960s. You probably.won’t know the difference.]

If you are just getting started in samurai films my 1989 review of
SAMURAI may or may not help:

Capsule review: Three films make up one long story, a
fictionalized account of a historical samurai and what is perhaps
the most famous samurai duel ever. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4).

Perhaps the most fabled samurai duel ever was the duel between
Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Musashi had been a ronin from
an early age. After the great battle of Sekigahara, he became a
notorious bandit until virtually forced by a Buddhist priest to
learn zen. After that he became a samurai in service to a lord and
traveled the country, winning more than sixty duels. Musashi is
famous for, among other things, writing GORIN NO SHO (a.k.a. THE
BOOK OF THE FIVE RINGS).

Sasaki Kojiro was a brilliant young swordsman using unorthodox
technique. Each man had an impressive list of victories when they
faced each other on the shores of Ganryu Island.

In 1953 and 1954, Hiroshi Inagaki made three films based on the
life of Miyamoto Musashi. The first one--known variously as THE
LEGEND OF MUSASHI, THE MASTER SWORDSMAN, and MIYAMOTO
MUSASHI--tells how Musashi fought in the battle of Sekigahara, how
he became a bandit, and finally how he became a full-fledged
samurai.

DUEL AT OCHIJOJI TEMPLE (the continuation) finds Musashi's past
catching up with him, forcing him into a great battle against
tremendous odds, as well as a battle with himself in order to
follow the way of the samurai code. We also meet the enigmatic
young swordsman Sasaki Kojiro, whose name would be ever linked with
Musashi's.

The conclusion, DUEL ON GANRYU ISLAND or MUSASHI AND KOJIRO, tells
how Musashi turns his hand from samurai to farmer. Part of the
story seems to have been the inspiration for Kurosawa's SEVEN
SAMURAI. Finally Musashi must meet his young opponent on the beach
of Ganryu.

These are not so much three films as one film in three parts and
have been called SAMURAI I, SAMURAI II, and SAMURAI III. They
total more than five hours in length and tell a nearly seamless
story with complex characters and situations. Director Inagaki
returned to the story of the famous duel, incidentally, in 1967.
His KOJIRO also told the story of the duel, but gave Kojiro's
history instead of Musashi's. One minor problem, at least for me,
is that after the battle of Sekigahara comes the peaceful early
years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. (Readers of SHOGUN should realize
that Sekigahara was the real name of the great battle in SHOGUN.
Toranaga's real name was Ieyasu Tokugawa.) But my point is that
these were times of peace and the duels were not fought over
politics but were more like sports events. They do not have great
historical significance.

The production was from Toho and fans of 1950s Toho films will
recognize familiar faces such as that of Takashi Shimura, who
played the wise old scientist from the first two Godzilla films,
the dying man from IKIRU, and the lead samurai in SEVEN SAMURAI
(the part played by Yul Brynner in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN). Also
present is Akihiko Hirata, whose oxygen destroyer was the only
weapon ever to kill permanently a godzilla and whose report
foretold the coming of the Mysterians.

This clearly was an expensive production and Inagaki not only used
color at a time when most Japanese films were in black and white,
he also made full and unorthodox use of color with (for example)
surrealistically vivid skies. Just as Masaki Kobayashi did with
the 1964 KWAIDAN and Kenji Sawara did with 1957's RODAN, Inagaki
gets the full effect he can from the color photography.

SAMURAI is probably not classic film in the same way as Kurosawa's
samurai films are, but it is a sort of light classic in the way a
film such as HIGH NOON is. If it shows up at your video store it
is certainly worth seeing. I rate SAMURAI a +2 on the -4 to +4
scale.

[-mrl]

==================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews by Evelyn, Part 7 (film reviews by Evelyn C.
Leeper)

HULLABALOO (1940): HULLABALOO sounded like it might be interesting,
with its main character being fired from his radio job for
broadcasting a fake Martian invasion. But there was so little of
this, it's almost not worth mentioning. And the claim that Frank
Morgan was doing all the impersonations has been pretty much
debunked. Skip it.

Released theatrically 10/25/1940.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032614/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/4f63eb49-34d9-3441-8c5c-
e0ba19db8b7c>

MAN OF THE YEAR (2006): MAN OF THE YEAR is a political satire that
is depressingly true to life. Robin Williams plays a television
comedian who jokes about running for President, gets put on the
ballot in a bunch of states, and then due to a programming error,
is announced as the winner. The premise of one computer company
being given the contract to run the election in all fifty states is
impossible due to how elections are defined in the Constitution,
the programming error makes absolutely no sense (even if
intentional, which it wasn't), and so far the evidence (at least in
Ukraine) is that a television comedian would actually be a better
President than a reality show host. Still, as with other prescient
films (A FACE IN THE CROWD, NETWORK), it is at times painful to
watch as it is more didactic and less nuanced than those other
films.

On 7/31/22 10:22 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:

> TOPIC: We Now Have Racist, Sexist Robots
>
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/16/racist-robots-
> ai/>
>
> First two paragraphs:
>
> "As part of a recent experiment, scientists asked specially
> programmed robots to scan blocks with people’s faces on them, then
> put the 'criminal' in a box. The robots repeatedly chose a block
> with a Black man’s face.
>
> Those virtual robots, which were programmed with a popular
> artificial intelligence algorithm, were sorting through billions of
> images and associated captions to respond to that question and
> others, and may represent the first empirical evidence that robots
> can be sexist and racist, according to researchers. Over and over,
> the robots responded to words like 'homemaker' and 'janitor' by
> choosing blocks with women and people of color."

The flaw was inherent in the experiment. The software (calling it a
"virtual robot" just adds clickbait) was used to identify personal
characteristics based on facial appearance. How could it not engage in
some kind of stereotyping?

The only thing it can do is go by statistics. In the United States,
black people more often have menial jobs than whites do, black crime
rates are higher, and women are more often homemakers (though the
correlation is less than it used to be). This doesn't mean you should
assume someone is a criminal or has a low-paying job based on
appearance, but that was exactly what the software was directed to do.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com