1 Year After Seeing CHAPPiE, and Finding Common Ground

I saw CHAPPiE on April 16, 2015. It was a Thursday.

Ya see, I remember the exact date I saw it! It was after an important day in my life. Anyway…

I still think about this film from time to time, even after just seeing it once. It is unlike any other robot film I’ve ever seen. Dark and gritty, and enchanting, and inspiring and hopeful.

I really want a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack of CHAPPiE, but so far they are available separately. That sucks, and I want it. (Don’t we all want too much?). Other movies got it, so why not CHAPPiE? But seriously, though...

I’m sorry, guys. I promised you a review of this movie and I never delivered. I am truly sorry about that. I hate it when I say I’ll do something and then I don’t—especially when it comes to stuff like this. That’s how it was with the RoboCop 2014 movie, another review I didn’t deliver. I still want to do it.

Do you guys still want my reviews of either or both films?

Maybe if I get enough demand—even 3 or 4 requests for those—then I’ll consider doing it after all. I still want to, but maybe my motivation to do it is low. I don’t know how many people are actually following or reading Cybernetic Dreams.

I’ve just been so busy, but…

Maybe it’s time I commit to visiting other blogs about robots and robotics. I don’t know enough people in the robotics field. Or anyone there, for that matter. Although, I really like talking about robots in entertainment as well: films, TV, literature. Even artwork.

I want to share what I think. I want to share how I feel, what I experience, every time I see a robot or a humanoid robot in a TV ad, a movie or a TV show. Not every single thing, but at least… the ones that can inspire us to find common ground, hmm?

Cybernetic Dreams is one way I can start. In addition, I should search elsewhere to communicate my thoughts, too. I dunno, it could be my severe introversion speaking. It could be my fear of becoming so vulnerable, even on the internet. Those trolls can be everywhere.

But I am strong. I can handle a little vulnerability. If I say it, and believe it, then I can.

I know I can make a difference. I just have to stop hiding.

Cartoon Robots in ROBOT Magazine!

I recently read the May/June 2016 issue of ROBOT Magazine, and to my surprise (and overwhelming joy!) an article about cartoon robots was featured in the issue. The article is written by Brett Weiss, a writer and expert in Pop Culture related to video games, TV and movies and other entertainment.

Here are some of my favorite cartoon robots that he mentions:

• WALL-E
• The Iron Giant
• Astroboy
• Baymax
• Optimus Prime
• Gigantor

I had coffee when I read the magazine. So I dunno if I became super hyper because of the coffee or because I read that article, or because I did both. But I was fired up!

It may have given me the jolt I needed to return to updating Cybernetic Dreams at a more regular schedule.

Right now, I don’t have a defined schedule for posting for Cybernetic Dreams. It is my personal robot blog, after all. I seem to post when I feel like it. And I know that I should have a more regular schedule if I hope to gain and keep more readers.

GOT THE NEW BLOG RUNNING

I got my new blog up and running now. I would call it a sister blog to Cybernetic Dreams, too.  Now I can finally tell you what it’s called: I've titled it The Frowning Robot. 

http://thefrowningrobot.tumblr.com/

I am so glad I started it because it may be a useful tool in inspiring me to look up, watch, or read about robot-related things more often than I do now.  More than ever before, I want to blog about my fascination and enthusiasm for robots, androids and cyborgs. Seeing CHAPPiE sort of motivated me to get right to it.  Plus because I threw out some dead weight career-wise, leaving my mismatched healthcare industry profession, I have the time and inclination to do more robot-related writing.

I wanted to keep the new blog more focused on real-world robotics, but it’s Tumblr…I’m going  to have fun with it and post/reblog screenshots, fan art and GIFs of robots, androids and cyborgs that are found in movies, animated TV shows, video games, or from my favorite comic book Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye. Some robot shows I haven’t even seen before, from the early 90s, are showing up on my dashboard and I can’t help but want to reblog them because it makes me smile!

Otherwise, I do want to post or reblog about the occasional real-world robotics, such as the Nao from Aldebaran Robotics, and the ASIMO humanoid robot from Honda.



A few of the blogs I follow there:

• ImagineYourFavoriteRobot
• RobotsInsider
• Adventures with WALL-E
• Jump-Gate
• Awesomerobotanimegifs

 

A Sister Blog is Coming!

I have wanted to start a Tumblr for a while now.  I’d like to share pictures or blog posts relating to robots on Cybernetic Dreams, but I didn’t know what and how, exactly.  It may be a bit more time-consuming, but I decided to start a Tumblr that also focuses on robots.  It will have reblogs and posts that pertain to what I already have discussed in this blog.

Once I have the new Tumblr ready, I will announce it and include a link to it in Cybernetic Dreams.  I think it would be nice to share my interest in robots, androids and cyborgs in ways other than writing.  The visual aspect of Tumblr will be fun, and it will supplement the topics of the blog  And also, I don’t have to worry too much about what pictures I am allowed to post on the Tumblr because they would be reblogs of posts/images, which is allowed there anyway.

I am hoping to get it started by the time autumn is over.

Do I Want to Write for a Magazine?

I am considering writing for Robot Magazine.  I am not a robot builder, or an engineer, although I considered taking up a mechanical engineering major when I was too late.  But I like writing about robot-related things, robot-related topics, including cybernetic body parts.  But I especially love A.I.-based robots and want to read more about them.

One television show, called Extant, features an android boy named Ethan and he is what his creators call a “Humanich.” The story is not about robots—or androids—but I love how robot ethics plays into some parts of the story.  There are robotic machines in this show too, and recently we met a sweeper robot that is badly damaged—a result of robot abuse—and Ethan the Humanich feels sorry for him and wants to take him home.

It would be interesting to observe the different between how John the creator/father treats his “son” Ethan and how he treats the sweeper robot.  Very different.

I have yet to read more of the Robot Ethics essay collection, but I’d like to write an essay of my own.  I also want to connect the essay and the articles to different robot stories I’ve encountered, either in reading or in television, and especially, in the real world.

I recently started watching an old Japanese anime on the Internet, called Brave Police J-Decker.  The animation is old but it is a show with a good story.  Deckard is a big man-made robot who transforms into a police car (yep… a transforming robot, but not the Hasbro Transformers), and after befriending a boy, his A.I. systems developed a consciousness and a personality.  He is able to laugh and smile and frown.

My life changed so much since I started this blog in June 2010.  Priorities have changed but, I still want to keep this blog going.  It is important that I keep my fascination with robots, androids and cyborgs a strong presence, in case someone out there would happen upon it and would like to join in a conversation about the related topics.

BotCon 2014, My First BotCon

I may have not said it so explicitly, but…I am a fan of Transformers.

When my sister and I found out there was going to be a BotCon in Pasedena this year, we decided we would go during the General Admission days Saturday and Sunday. 

We’ve been fans of Transformers for one year.  June 2013 we started watching Transformer’s Prime.  Then September we started watching Transformers Armada.  Starting in mid-April we’ve caught several good episodes of the classic 1984 Transformers cartoon on its second season.  We love all of these shows.  We haven’t finished watching the entirety of all three of them, but we will.  We now have seen all three Michael Bay Transformers movies and are at this moment giddily looking forward to Transformers: Age of Extinction—no matter what others will say.  It’s Transformers.  Why not.

I think it’s safe to say we aren’t noobs to the franchise anymore.

So we went to the Pasedena BotCon 2014 at the Pasedena Convention Center.  We didn’t know what to look for—we aren’t collectors of the Transformers toys—so upon entering the Exhibit Hall, we were quite lost on what to do.  It is very different from going to an anime convention.  The majority of items sold and displayed there is the Transformers toys, but there were other cool things too.  There were artists who displayed and sold their fan art.  There was a Transformers Art competition.  IDW Publishing was selling their Transformers comic books at their booth. The writers and artists of The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and The Transformers: Robots In Disguise attended the Exhibit hall and sat at tables for fans to meet them and possibly buy their artwork.  James Roberts (writer of The Transformers: MTMTE) and John Barber (writer of The Transformers: RID) were there.  A video game demo was set up for Transformers Universe (the designs of the characters are reminiscent of Transformers Prime).

The panels were held at the Conference Rooms at another building within the Pasedena Convention Center.  Sis and I went to several of the panels in the course of the two General Admission days at BotCon.  It didn’t leave a whole lot of time to absorb everything that was in the Exhibit Hall.  We needed to eat and use the restroom too; if we wanted to enjoy ourselves, we needed to take care of ourselves too, and at least drink water and eat a snack if not a lunch. 

My personal favorite panel at BotCon was “James Roberts: Storyteller.”  I absolutely love the TF:MTMTE comic books; it was such a treat to hear him tell his fans about what was behind the scenes in creating the story for the comic book. There was a nice long Q and A session. Unfortunately I came up with a question to ask soon after the panel was finished.  And we didn’t get to meet him in person.  But it was so awesome just to be in the same room as James Roberts and hear him talk about his work.


We took pictures of some cosplayers (Sis took most of those—I took a couple myself), got to chat a bit with a couple of comic book artists, and we were even lucky get our copy of the Transformers: Dark Cybertron comic book volumes 1 and 2, before they ran out. This way we get more of TF: MTMTE and are introduced to TF: RID.  Maybe we might get into that and start reading TF:RID from the beginning sometime later.  Sis and I just finished Volume 5 of The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and…well, we want to continue reading it.  At the risk of meaning we’d lose our favorite characters further in the story.  The stories in this comic book can be so heartbreaking sometimes.  I have a few favorite characters I don’t want to see killed off, as well as plenty of characters that are not necessarily my favorite but are cool to appear every once in a while.

FAVORITES:

*Rung

*Drift

*Skids

*Fortress Maximus

*Tailgate

*And maybe Rodimus.

I’d regret if I didn’t go to this year’s BotCon.  We owed it to ourselves as newish Transformers fans to be introduced into the world that is—well, for us, just nice toys to look at, but also the beautiful artwork and storytelling that goes into the franchise as a whole.

Happy New Year!! New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year, dear readers!!  It's a new year and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for reading Cybernetic Dreams and for those stopping by for the first time, thank you!

 

I am looking forward to the new year!  Aren't you?

 

I have some more reading to do on robotics when I get around to it.  I am especially excited about a book I want to read that focuses on one of my favorite topics about robots: robot ethics.  There will be more on this within the next few weeks, I hope very soon.

A realization about my science fiction…

I have actually known for a long while now that I need to do more research on robotics for the science fiction I plan to write and publish in the near future. I’ve read some of Technophobia!, and want to read David Levy's Love + Sex with Robots in the near future as well, in fact as soon as I can. But I need to be reading on actual robotics—what really makes machines work.

In the past I wasn’t very interested in engineering and the building and controlling of robots. I’ve only been interested in robots and androids that appear in science fiction. The author, of course, would throw in some words and phrases that indicate he or she knows a thing or two about robots and computers. I stupidly told myself, “I am not going to do that. I don’t have to. I just want to focus on the character of the robot or android.”

Well, to understand how a robot, android, or talking computer might respond to a human, or how its own thoughts develop and spark, I DO need to know the historical and scientific facts about how robots and computers work. What would it look like inside a robot’s head? If it were able to think and compute, where do all the chips and cables go? I need to learn about key words like circuits, cables and programming. I probably should have taken learning courses on robotics and artificial intelligence. Maybe when I have a safe amount of money set aside for that pursuit.

So here is what I feel like I need to do. I need to just go ahead and write down the robot stories I have in my head…….all seven or eight of them, or so.  Later when I have enough background information and can incorporate the knowledge into the stories, I can choose one and work on them one at a time. Knowing that they won’t be published for at least the next two years, I feel a little discouraged about this giant writing project.

But I want to do it.  I need to work harder.

Welcome!

Welcome to Cybernetic Dreams, my new blog.


My favorite type of science fiction is stories about robots, androids and cyborgs, and I want to write novels that feature such characters. I haven’t done much research on these topics yet. I haven’t had the right motivation for looking up on artificial intelligence and cybernetic implants (and generally robotics), other than wanting to write science fiction.

I am extremely fascinated with these topics and would still like to research them to expand my knowledge on my favorite futuristic characters. So I decided to write a blog to capture and gather my thoughts on the research process. I will update this blog every one to two weeks. I will mainly be reading some non-fiction books I borrow from libraries, but I’ve also recently bought some Japanese anime DVDs featuring cyborg or android characters. There are also science fiction magazines that I read.

I have issues of two different science-fiction magazines: Science Fiction & Fantasy and Asimov’s Science Fiction. There are two really good stories in these magazines that I read and almost brought me to tears. They are such bittersweet, beautiful tales. I had to stop subscribing to Asimov’s Science Fiction because I meant to only sub to one, but I tried out both of them and liked the bi-monthly SF&F better. One day I’d really like to submit a novelette to one of these magazines.

I’ve read the original I, Robot, which is actually the short story, “Little Lost Robot” in the collection of Asimov’s stories titled I, Robot. I also read another of his collection called Robot Dreams. Maybe I should reread them, now that I am at least eight years older than when I read them the first time. I can read them with a shaper fascination, learning and pondering these stories and speculations, so that I can incorporate what I’ve learned into my own writing.


Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, I’m so excited……!!!!!!