Ghost In the Shell
This is just short-form notes for the talk I gave, but I was pretty pleased with the content and thought I'd put it out there for anyone who was interested.
- Talk for CSLUG and Anime club presentation of "Ghost in the Shell," November 17, 2004, by Giles Orr
- Thanks to ...
- Ashley Clair - several other people worked hard on this, but Ashley kept on pushing us until it really happened.
- Let's talk about computers ...
- The Internet originated with the idea of networking computers to share information
- computer viruses - started as just destructive or humourous - printing a message on your screen
- computer worms - viruses require you to run something to let them in. Worms look for vulnerabilities and let themselves in.
- hijacking computers is now commonplace
- You get a virus or worm, it allows someone else to use your computer - usually you'll never even know it's happening.
- groups of hijacked computers become a zombie network
- DDOS
- Distributed Denial Of Service
- What it is: Multiple hijacked computers attack a website at once.
- spamming
- Spammers don't want people to know where they're sending mail from because people tend to blacklist those addresses.
- Spammers buy zombie networks or the worms/viruses to create them.
- They send spam through multiple hijacked computers making the mail almost completely untraceable.
- Always connected
- We expect these days to always be connected to the internet
- DSL
- Cable modems
- Even cell phones - a lot of cell phones can browse the web
- Cyberpunk
- A genre of science fiction, started by William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
- Came out in 1984
- He wasn't really a computer user, but came up with the idea of "jacking in to the net"
- The idea of visualizing data, and extreme body modification
- A genre of science fiction, started by William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
- Cyborgs
- Some consider it the next step in computers and human evolution
- Inserting computers into humans
- We have wearable computers right now - they're not very good yet
- We have mind-controlled computers right now (as of October 2004) - they're not very good either, but they exist
- Stick a computer in your body, wire it to your brain, connect it to the internet
- Enhance your memory and reflexes, make yourself better
- Search the web by thinking about it.
- Wait, is that a networked computer you're using to remember stuff with?
- Anime
- term used for Japanese Animation
- North Americans think of animated material as being "for kids," but Anime ranges from children's material through action adventure and adult content
- Fan service
- The "fans" are mostly young, adult, and male
- Give them what they want: "fan service"
- ie. naked women - it's mostly gratuitous in this one, and one of the movie's few failings
- Detour: Why do so many anime characters look caucasian?
- ~ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/2607/shoujo.htm
- big eyes, more emotional - small eyes, more furtive
- Shoujo Manga initially set in the west, now hair colours represent personal characteristics to some extent
- Westerners were perceived as having more freedoms, a less restrictive society. So the characters were set in that less restrictive milieu.
- GitS itself
- directed by Mamoru Oshii
- released in 1995
- Only major North American anime release prior to it was the non-sensical but beautiful "Akira"
- COMPLEX movie - I was astonished how much more I picked up the third time I watched it.
- Very philosophical
- The Wachowski Brothers definitely found some inspiration here for "The Matrix"
- What to see/read after this
- Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
- Haven't seen it: reviews indicate it's more intellectual (too much so?), more violent, and maybe even more beautiful.
- Ask at Anime Club
- Neuromancer - still highly relevant
- Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson, the other definitive cypherpunk novel
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Spirited Away
- Kid-safe, but stunningly beautiful - so much so as to be great for adults too
- Princess Mononoke
- Not exactly for children - very dark, pretty violent
- My Neighbour Totoro
- Definitely for children
- Spirited Away
- Akira
- Incomprehensible but beautiful
- Bladerunner
- The Matrix
- Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
- Sponsors
- Anime Club
- CSLUG
- Meets 5:15 Herty 252, next year Herty 313
- Alternate discussion with presentations, outside and local presenters
- Previous presentations include ...
- Linux Live CDs
- Hardware Basics
- Vinyl to CD Conversion
- Previous presentations include ...
- ~ http://www.gilesorr.org/cslug/