Greeting Cosmic travelers, I have a question for you. Tell me, have you ever noticed how time flies by when you are having fun? This is a concept I have experimented with over the years and still cannot argue the validity of the theory.
The idea is simple enough, when you are enjoying yourself doing something like playing a game or creating artwork of some kind, even reading a book or making love, time passes faster than if you were doing things you don’t enjoy, such as your homework or doing the dishes. Well at least your perception of time appears to pass by quicker than it normally does.
I’ll have to admit I took advantage of this seemingly odd quantum distortion of personalized reality by speeding my way through math class or washing those dastardly dishes by immersing myself within my endless imagination. This however wasn’t an end all cure of all of life’s many miseries but was certainly a more interesting way to pass the time.
Time like the ruthless keeper it is will never freely relinquish control, for on the other end of the spectrum lay the antithesis of fun, drudgery. However, the lesson I took away from all of this has been, time is ultimately what you make of it, and paradoxically, intentionally speeding through time to escape the dull-drums of life only quickens the clock. Perhaps there is a benefit to subjecting yourself to the slow drag of household chores without your favorite music playing as a distraction, but I doubt it.
At any rate, time has passed and I’m now an old man sitting in my time machine, reflecting on all that time I wasted enjoying myself. God damn, time is cruel shit but why not enjoy yourself, sit back, watch a movie, read a book, draw a picture, play a video game because it’s all relative, we are all simple users of the great cosmic drama racing around on the gaming grid.
Speaking of time and Cosmic drama, it’s been 43 years since the movie Tron was released through Walt Disney Productions and I’ve been so busy having fun that that time has gone by in a flash. Released in 1982, the movie Tron was a visually ground breaking movie that attempted to bridge the gap between the newly minted video game industry and the concept of high tech corporate espionage. The film was written and directed by Steven Lisberger and produced by Donald Kushner, it starred Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan and David Warner.
I remember watching Tron in the theatres when it was first released, I believe I was 14 y/o and still a little young to fully comprehend the complexity of the concepts presented in the film. The fact I didn’t completely grasp those higher ideas of programs wrestling with religious ideas, pondering their existence while simultaneously being manipulated by corrupted master programs seeking world domination may have been a little over my head.
This perhaps is why Tron wasn’t a huge financial success. Now many have blamed the graphics were too revolutionary for the parents to watch but I have come to realize that Tron was just ahead of its time and perhaps over the head of its intended audience.
By the time the sequel, Tron Legacy was released in 2010, I had developed a more mature level of attention and viewed the original with a deeper understanding of the techno jargon and general story dynamics that by-past that 14y/o, munching popcorn gazing at the bright flashing lights trying to keep up.
Now the sequel didn’t change the art of film making quite like the original but it was a very stylish and dare I say sexy production. Disney even attempted to honour the original movie by pushing the technological envelope, this time with its usage of digital actors. Many were turned off with the end result but personally I have always been in favor of this kind of experimentation in film and considering by this time it had been used in Star Wars, I was willing to give it a pass. The film starred once again, Jeff Bridges as Flynn (the User) and this time joined by his son Sam, played by Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde who played the girl in black leather extremely well.
Fast forward to 2025 and we are on the edge of the Trilogy. Tron Ares is set to be released next week and I haven’t a bloody clu what to expect. Now personally I am excited to see what the writers have come up with and hope the story of the Flynn’s comes to a fitting conclusion that doesn’t turn Jeff Bridges into a Digital God. I suspect it will be stylish and sexy with crazy disco music and hot video game girls in tight spandex riding cool hotrods all lit up.
Damn I gotta get this movie in VR.
My first thought when I heard of this movie being released was if they were going to once again push that technological envelope and do something crazy with AI. Specifically, using AI actors. These are not just a digital face superimposed upon an actor’s body like they did in Legacy but complete digital characters that no one will even realize are AI. It’s been done now on TV with a lot of criticism but my idea is why tell anyone, just do it and see if they even notice, after all, it would fit perfectly within the theme.
One thing is certain, this film also stars Jared Leto. Honestly, whether or not he’s playing a good guy or bad guy I’m kinda hoping they leave him trapped in cyberspace for all eternity.
-Cheers