Tag: Open source

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Kubrick – 2001: A Space Odyssey, Forwards and Backwards.

The Dawn of Man
The Dawn of Man
The Dawn of Man superimposed over Dave's dawn as a space traveler.
Kubrick revealed? The Dawn of Man superimposed over Dave’s dawn as a space traveler.

Origins and Explanation or Why Kubrick is a Genius

This project, in which I arranged Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001 to play both backwards and forwards simultaneously, was inspired by the beautiful and enlightening documentary on Kubrick’s The Shining named Room 237 by Rodney Ascher. I was dumbstruck by the section that explained a theory of how to watch The Shining properly – Backwards and forwards. Here’s an introduction to that idea:

“Analysis and awe sit side by side in the parts of our brains that engage in pattern recognition. The Shining Forwards And Backwards feeds both of them at once.  Last year some folks at a Brooklyn theater – likely highly stoned folks – got the idea in their heads to play Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining forwards while projecting the movie backwards at the same time on the same screen. What was shocking was that it worked. That’s not to say that Kubrick intended the film to be seen this way, but it worked nonetheless.” curated by lemasney from Fantastic Fest Review: THE SHINING FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS | Birth.Movies.Death. at http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/10/01/fantastic-fest-review-the-shining-forwards-and-backwards

And perhaps my favorite way to introduce this idea that even if Kubrick didn’t do this purposefully, it’s still fascinating:

“(T)he film’s framing lends itself to this kind of an experiment. Kubrick is so precise about placement within the frame that you can overlay random images and find juxtapositions and reverberations in imagery. Whether or not this is purposeful is besides the point – what matters is how it’s experienced.” curated by lemasney from Fantastic Fest Review: THE SHINING FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS | Birth.Movies.Death. at http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/10/01/fantastic-fest-review-the-shining-forwards-and-backwards

I was so moved by the idea possibly applying to other films of Kubrick’s, that I rushed to my machine, ripped a copy, and started playing. This post is an invitation for you to do that play too. It’s easy for you to argue that it was not Stanley’s intention to do all of this extra work so that just a few might see it. Once you see it, it’s harder to argue against that idea. So, how does one do it?

Methodology

Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey, backwards and forwards. (lemasney)
Kubrick’s 2001, A Space Odyssey, backwards and forwards. (lemasney)

I don’t have access to projectors or film reels as The Shining theorists did. I did this right on my computer, and so can you. In fact, it’s likely the only way you’ll get to see it in all of its glory because of the copyright infringement of the product if broadcast without permission. I’ve had a few short clips taken down so far and rightfully so. I do not have copyright rights to the material. Because I am using this for the purposes of extending the content through critique and analysis, I feel I’m free to post this imagery, and have seen other examples, such as in the project that inspired this one:

“On Wednesday, March 9th, 2011, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, The Spectacle Theater screened Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining forwards and backwards simultaneously, superimposed. This experiment in projection was inspired by the analysis of The Shining by MSTRMND, and one line in particular:  The Shining is a film meant to be watched both forwards and backwards.  We took the MSTRMND gambit at face value. We put the US DVD version into Final Cut, removed all corporate logos and leaders at the beginning, and cut all credits at the end. The entire film image sequence was then copied, reversed and superimposed over the original forwards version. (For clarity’s sake we screened the forwards/backwards superimposition with the forwards audio only.)” curated by lemasney from KDK12 | The Shining: Forwards and Backwards at http://kdk12.tumblr.com/post/4879566957/the-shining-forwards-and-backwards

I believe I’d be able to argue that I did this without expectation of malice, but rather homage, to Stanley, nor personal monetary gain, while hopefully extending the film’s value through critical observation.

I still won’t post the whole rearranged film here, because it would easily be arguable that I had not done enough to change it, and I’d rather not have a showing with my voice over it, etc. You should see it in its true form, and that means you’ll probably have to do it or contact me for help, which I welcome. I am however sharing a lot of GIFs, the first of which are below. Please feel free to share at your own risk. I have a fantasy where I get the Paramount in Charlottesville, Virginia to do a screening for us on the big screen, but I doubt that I could afford the rights.

How to make your own Forwards and Backwards movies:

  1. You have to have a non-protected version of the film in an editable format like MP4, which may mean getting the DVD and backing it up to a file, as I did. (If this is a new concept to you, check out this cool HowTo). You might get it some other way too.
  2. Open the MP4 in a video editor (I use the open source video editor KDEnlive on Ubuntu Studio, you might use Adobe Premiere or something similar) on track one.
  3. Open a second copy on track two and mute and reverse it. In KDEnlive, you can just right click on your original project clip and make a reversed copy. (Here’s the HowTo for that).
  4. We mute the second copy because the audio weaves together the narrative of the two directions.
  5. In order to see the second track ‘through’ the first, you have to add a transition between tracks to act as a layer mode for the video. I used Screen mode, which worked perfectly. (Here’s the HowTo for that.)
  6. Render your edit, and begin watching. In the mean time, check out some of the short animations below to get some sense of what you will see.

I’ll explain more below and in future posts, but I can not see how the timing of the cuts and positions are anything but designed. Kubrick seems perfectly capable of going scene by scene, second by second, and arranging image A and image B to coincide. I feel certain of it, but others may not believe. I also believe in The Dark Side of Oz, where Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon replaces the soundtrack of the classic film The Wizard of Oz. If you can believe that was by design, this is easy, comparatively.

Introduction and Exit

Please click on the images to see them full size. You can navigate through them by opening any of them and clicking on the arrows left or right.

Introduction and Title
Enrobed in light
The Dawn of Man
Obelisk encounters
The human issue of eating
Dave and the desert

The introduction and exit of the film are fascinating to watch simultaneously. Having read Clarke’s entire series of books on this universe, the obelisk is an alien intelligence, allowing humanity to flourish by giving insight to technology unknown before through contact. This happens to the missing link men in the first scenes, to the men on the moon, and to Dave, becoming the space baby, a newly born time-traveling entity.  Some impressions and narrative for the GIFs above:

  • Click on Introduction and Title to see the perfect choreography of space baby Dave’s eye, moon, sun, and earth.
  • The Dawn of Man plays with the idea of burial (Dave passing from human form to time traveler) in the ground of the reverse scene.
  • The obelisk contains light (symbolizing intelligence) often in this version of the film. Eating becomes a recurring, overlapping theme for ideological acceptance, and in The human issue of eating, we get a glimpse of the hogs lying about Dave’s purgatory room, and Dave eating an alien meal for sustenance.
  • In Enrobed in light, and Obelisk encounters the intense landscapes of the time travel Dave screams through are set against the landscape of early man. Also, notice how the light surrounds, follows, and amplifies the brutal emotion of early man, and how the light splatters and spits around these newly murderous human ancestors, shining with new and powerful intelligence.
  • Bright light (as intelligence, but not always kind) constantly reveals itself in the backwards and forwards play, like HAL’s red-eye over faces or objects of intense importance or intimate intelligence in other scenes.

In my next post, I’ll talk about the next scenes and my impressions. I hope you liked this introduction to the project, and I’d love to help you to do this kind of thing too, discovering new tools along the way. If I can help you, please give me a call at 609 553 9498 or email me at lemasney@gmail.com. There’s even a feedback form below. If it’s something especially nice, it might go in the testimonials! I’m John. Thanks!

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Open Source Primer: John LeMasney interviewed by Rich Kazimir on WDVR

Open source and free do not mean the same thing at all cc-by lemasney
Open source and free do not mean the same thing at all cc-by lemasney
LeMasney Consulting Logo
LeMasney Consulting Logo

A Primer: 11 Questions about Open Source (answered)

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rich Kazimir on Technology Today on WDVR on the topic of open source. He asked me variations on the following questions.

  1. What exactly is ‘open source’?  What criteria applies ?
  2. Let’s focus first on software.  What is open source software?  What are some examples?
  3. What are some pros and cons of the philosophy?
  4. What is Mozilla?
  5. How did the movement get started?
  6. Who contributes to open source products?  How do they continue to exist if they resulting products are free?
  7. What are some other open source products?
  8. Do you have any idea how many open source software products are out there?
  9. Is ‘shareware’ the same as ‘open source’?  Is ‘freemium’ the same as ‘open source’?
  10. What other industry areas have embraced an ‘open source’ approach, or at least started to?
  11. What is the future of ‘open source’ as you see it?

Here is the audio from that broadcast.

Some background on WDVR

“WDVR FM hit the air waves on February 19, 1990 as a newly established, Non-Commercial Station. It is licensed to Penn-Jersey Educational Radio, a New Jersey, 501 (c) (3), Non-Profit Corporation. Its mission is to provide high quality, Non-Commercial Educational Radio service to the Delaware and Lehigh Valley area of Western New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. WDVR provides a uniquely diversified format of music and talk, utilizing a staff of over 50 unpaid volunteers, each with his or her own specialized expertise in music and/or talk–“50 colorful gems creating a beautiful audio mosaic”. WDVR is a full-service FM station operating 24 hours a day at 89.7 Mhz from Delaware Township, NJ and at 90.5 WPNJ in Easton, PA. It also utilizes a translator on 96.9 Mhz in Trenton, NJ, serving the Lawrenceville, Princeton, Trenton area and points south. On the internet WDVR can be heard streaming live on www.wdvrfm.org . WDVR is a listener supported community oriented station, offering radio programming which is always suitable for the entire family.” – WDVR FM 89.7 91.9,

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Illustration Inkscape

We choose cc-by lemasney

we get in our own way cc-by lemasney
we get in our own way cc-by lemasney
We get in our own way, or we pull out all the stops. And in-between, we choose. - John LeMasney cc-by lemasney
We get in our own way, or we pull out all the stops. And in-between, we choose. – John LeMasney cc-by lemasney

We get in our own way, or we pull out all the stops. And in-between, we choose. – John LeMasney cc-by lemasney

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My philosophy regarding the benefits of hacking

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney

First, a personal definition of hacking:

Hacking is the art of working to understand something in a more complete way, to progress towards mastering it, for the sake of changing it to meet a need. Usually the result of hacking is innovations not introduced or intended in the original designs. Open source systems promote and benefit from hacking. Proprietary or closed systems make it harder to do that. Information, knowledge and recipes should be free, as in freedom. Hacking, without context, should not be used to indicate something akin to evil. It’s not.
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27 questions on being a technology consultant: A high school class interviews John LeMasney

Losing Weight: John LeMasney after picture
John LeMasney after picture
Losing Weight: John LeMasney after picture
John LeMasney

What is this all about?

I volunteer to take part and present in classroom interactive sessions arranged by Nepris.com. It is mostly with grade and high schools who want to talk with experts on a particular topic. I’m honored to do the work. This morning, I had the opportunity to answer the following interview questions via video chat with Stephanie Edmiston’s class in BENTON MIDDLE SCHOOL, BOSSIER PARISH via Nepris. Here’s the session description:

“Students enjoy learning about careers from people who are in the field. They like to understand how they can get on a career path and greatly appreciate practical insights and advice.” – View Session | Nepris – https://app.nepris.com/#!sessions/view/36551

Since I was going to answer these questions live, I decided to write out my answers beforehand to think about my logic, and so I’d be able to share the answers with you.

Also, Nepris was kind enough to share the video with me, so here is the video as well.

27 Interview questions for John LeMasney about being a technology consultant.

1. For an information technology/cyber security related career, what paths, opportunities, and/or strengths should the student identify or focus on?

JL: Mathematics, observational skills, and Linux. Also, try to understand every detail of knowledge contained in some thing. It can be anything: flowers, food, language. Be the most dedicated enthusiast of something, and know it through and through. Mine is Inkscape.

2. What is the job outlook in the information technology/cyber security field?

JL: Increasing exponentially. Internet of things, Cyber attacks nationally and internationally, Sony, etc.

3. How did you become interested in this field?

JL: I first caught the bug in a class in college where we were in a computer lab. I wanted desperately to be a computer lab tech for the classroom. I wanted to help people to know what I knew about computers and technology. It excited me, and I spent the rest of my life doing that.

4. Did you know you were going to do this job when you were a teenager?

JL: Not really, but I was an early enthusiast. I learned Basic on a TI99-4A at 12, basically at the urging and influence of my mother (sensing the increasing importance of technology), and I fell in love with technology in waves throughout my life.

5. What is your educational background?

JL: I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Sculpture, and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership with a focus on Communications. I am a lifelong learner. People tend to find my Degrees odd, in that there are not technology degrees there. My knowledge about technology comes from my passion for it. My degrees helped with understanding creativity and organizations, and I use those skills every day in my technology work.

6. What types of courses do you recommend for high school students?

JL: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. (STEAM)

7. Did you find any clubs or extra-curricular activities especially helpful?

JL: I find the rise in robotics teams and Makerspaces to be amazingly helpful. There are often computer enthusiast clubs, and lots of opportunities to learn about making and hacking. We are having a Princeton Hackathon to help solve civic problems like potholes with tools like Arduino. The entire community is welcome to learn to hack.

8. Is an advanced degree essential to career success in this field?

JL: No, though I find that pursuing higher levels of knowledge to be very common among hackers. Hackers are often lifelong learners.

9. What skills are the most important to acquire in this field?

JL: Learn and practice open source code. Learn everything you can about the ways that code works, which you can do with open source projects. Then, use it in unexpected ways. Figure out the essence of what makes code work, and you can be a stellar computer security specialist or technologist.

10. What professional organizations should students join to be successful in this field?

JL: Join Maker groups and find Makerspaces in your area, often in libraries. Look for Linux Users Groups (LUGs) and Computer Users Groups (CUGs), and find topics to present on.

11. Your consulting practice covers a wide range of services. What is your primary focus, and what are your major job responsibilities?

JL: My primary focus is Web Development, and my job responsibilities include Server Management (Apache, MySQL), Service Management (WordPress, Drupal), Graphic Design (Inkscape), Branding (a marketing imprint), and Customer Service (how can I help you?).

12. Do you work with other people, on a team, or by yourself?

JL: All of the above. I am an individual consultant, with my business. I work alone a lot, or in co-working spaces, like my library, because it often leads to new connections or re-connections with colleagues and clients. I often pair or team up with people for short-term or long-term projects. I just had dinner with the team for TEDxCarnegieLake, in which I was the technologist on staff. I also teach at several local libraries, schools, and universities, all of whom have people I have to work with to arrange times, space issues, technology infrastructure, etc. I recently worked with the technology staff of a local school district to migrate to Google Apps for Education, all of whom knew most of what I knew.

13. What is your typical day like?

JL: I start at about 9 am, and often go until 2 am. My life and work float in and out of each other, which keeps things interesting. If I have meetings that day, I usually arrange them in places near each other to keep travel down, and often between 10-12 or 2-4. I have some luxury with my meals, which is nice, because I love to cook and I’m a foodie. Also, I will often reward myself with a nice walk if I’m keeping up with projects. The work-life balance of a consultant can be very rewarding. I usually keep coding work for late at night, when it’s quiet, and I can focus. But it’s hard to describe a typical day, as I don’t often have two days alike.

14. What are the greatest challenges and rewards of your position?

JL: The greatest challenge, by far, is keeping a steady income and managing it. In the work that I did in Academia as an Instructional technologist, there was a check that came every month. Now, I get lots of checks, but all with relatively small amounts compared to a 9-5 job. There are a lot of $125 checks that have to come in to add up to a $40,000 salary.

The greatest reward by a mile, is flexibility. If I don’t want to work today, and can afford to take a break, I do. No demerits, no excuses, no concerns. If I want to go take a walk because it is an amazingly beautiful day, I do. It would take a hard, hard year to make me want the 9-5 schedule back.

15. Do you travel in your work?

JL: I travel a lot! I travel every week to NYC, Princeton. Philadelphia, Cherry Hill, Bucks County, Trenton, and other local areas for work. However, I visited (with gratis travel) to LA, San Francisco, Washington DC, Maryland, and Chicago since January. I really do not enjoy driving, but I do get to listen to my favorite podcasts, like All About Android, and This Week in Google.

16. Can you work from home some or part of the time?

JL: I work from home most of the time, unless I am meeting a client, or presenting. There are days where I work all day from home, and never leave.

17. Are there any health hazards in this profession?

JL: Generally speaking, not really. I encountered a lot more danger in my time as an artist with chemicals and solvents and tools. There is a lot of driving, and the issues that go with that. I guess inhaling solder fumes or getting electrocuted, maybe? There are a lot of amps in a power supply.

18. How would you describe the culture of your workplace?

JL: Casual, organized, comfortable, utilitarian, knowledge-oriented, natural, creativity-oriented, mindful, technological, healthy, sunlit, cat-friendly, human friendly, equal, warm, garden.

19. What is a common myth or misconception about your job?

JL: I am often surprised at how often truly brilliant people marvel at what I know about technology. I think that people think that it is a special kind of knowledge, but it’s only as special as 1000 other expertise areas, like cooking or gardening or fishing or selling, all of which have an amazing depth and breadth to explore. The myth is that technology is especially difficult to learn or know deeply comparative to any other expertise worth diving into. .

20. Contrast the role of an independent consultant with employment in a large company.

JL: I’ve done both. In a large company, you are a cog. I am not using the term negatively. You might be a very important cog that keeps the mill running, but at the end of the day, you are a small part of a large machine. As an independent consultant, you are the entire machine connecting to cogs of other machines.

21. What do you enjoy most about your job?

JL: It’s a toss-up between waking up when I want and the pride that I feel in my work.

22. Can you describe related jobs in your field of work which might also be of interest to the students?

JL: System Administrator, Emerging Technologist, App developer.

23. What type of student work or internship experience would employers look for in a job applicant?

JL: Library, volunteer, tutor, study abroad, web development intern. At least that’s what I would look for. In all honesty, the interview is most important, and it’s the answers you can give to problems they have more so than anything else. If you can describe how to solve a problem the employer didn’t know they were having, that’s impressive. Security expert applicants should find holes in the systems of their potential employers and demonstrate them in interview. I’d hire that person.

24. How did you locate the right people to help you along the path to a successful career?

JL: I have no earthly idea. My best explanation is that I made myself available, offered to volunteer, and put myself in contact with ‘hubs’, people who enjoy connecting people. The person who launched my independent consultant career asked me to speak at a library about technology, and that is when everything changed as far as considering technology as an independent consultant. She ended up creating hundreds of connections for me, including many other hubs, and I will be forever grateful. Her name is Janie Hermann, she is at the Princeton Public Library, and she is a force to be reckoned with. She and other members of the library recently won an award for programming at PPL from NJLA. #Libraries have become incredibly important to my work, mostly because of Janie.

25. What type of compensation range and benefits should students expect in this industry?

JL: As a technologist or manager at a university, expect between 50-90 unless you pursue administrative positions, which can be 120,000 or more. As an independent consultant, expect more like 40-60 for a few years. Develop a business plan if you want to be an independent consultant. Know your expenses through and through.

26. In this field, is it more common to be paid by a predetermined consultant fee, sales commission, or salary?

JL: I don’t know anyone in my industry who works on commission. We are often selling ourselves or selling an idea and executing it, but not for commission. 🙂 Technologists in organizations are often salaried. I work on a rate that varies according to the client. Here’s my Rate and Policy Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1trir4rpKcTeK0xBWZcEPbE9cGcv6S5ycB18yEK36-5Y/pub?embedded=true

27. What is the most important piece of advice you would give to someone going into this career field?

JL: Treat people well. Treat people with kindness and dignity and truth. Learn everything you can and then give that knowledge away as freely as you can. Become a source of joy for the people you work with. Laugh every day.

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Illustration Inkscape

Love makes your soul crawl out – Zora Neale Hurston cc-by lemasney

Love makes your soul - Zora Neale Hurston cc-by lemasney
Love makes your soul - Zora Neale Hurston cc-by lemasney
Love makes your soul crawl out - Zora Neale Hurston cc-by lemasney
Love makes your soul crawl out – Zora Neale Hurston cc-by lemasney

On Zora Neale Hurston:

“Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature. Hurston was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance and has influenced such writers as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Gayle Jones, Alice Walker, and Toni Cade Bambara. In 1975, Ms. Magazine published Alice Walker’s essay, “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston”

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