On the nature of Facial Recognition

There are lots of facial recognition stuff around. Phones have it. Computers have it. Takes an image of your face, checks it against whatever stored scanned image it has, and says okay or not.

But the basic function of that is the computer takes an image. With a camera. With just one camera. Which can only take a 2D image. So there is no 3D image taken of your face.

I don't know what exactly goes on behind the scenes, but clearly it processes the image to recognise some features and extrapolate points, and what have you... but it does this from a 2D image.

Which suggests that if you have a suitably fitting photo, you could use that instead. The image would need to take into account that it is also a 2D image and might need to do some manipulation in order to be demanipulated by the processing computer to meet requirements, but it should be possible.

And certainly recognising any adult, no particular one, would be even easier.

Which has been done!

Brits can get around Discord's age verification thanks to Death Stranding's photo mode, bypassing the measure introduced with the UK's Online Safety Act.

Not just Death Stranding, but I suspect any realistic photo mode would work. Lara Croft? Aloy? William "B.J." Blazkowicz? Computers do so many pixels these days, other computers thing those are enough pixels.

But how long before any photo could do to unlock specific computers?

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Frantastic Frour!

It's amazing what this movie doesn't do.

On a world of their own, the Fantastic Four are the only heroes the world has. So when a galactic threat comes a-knockin', everyone looks to them to solve the issues. But this is family, and there are some things family won't do.

This movie is a slow burn. It just takes its time over everything. Each plot beat is slowly introduced, and the audience just sits with it while it happens, and then the movie eventually moves onto the next thing. Even the action sequences take their time! Now, it doesn't take too long, and definitely gets what it wants done, but this is not a movie for those that need punching every other minute.

This is going to sound heretical but... can someone please get Pedro Pascal to act? Yes, Reed is supposed to be stoic, but here he shows no emotion whatsoever. Even when it is scenes where we are supposed to see the real emotions beneath the surface, they are so far beneath you could be mistaken for not seeing them. Vanessa Kirby is fine, and I applaud their restraint over not putting her in skimpy outfits, until certain other Sue on screen appearances. The Thing... came across mostly well, but there were very obvious moments where it was some CGI creation trying to interact with the real world. Joseph Quinn kept reminding me of the young RDJ from the start of Civil War.

Shalla-Bal was... in the movie. And I applaud, as well, them not trying to make Galactus not entirely serious, with his huge helmet and such, although they did decide not to dress him in his usual purple skirt.

I'm not saying "they're back" cos they have always been here. This might be the start of a new stretch (sic) of movies, but let's see if they can actually keep momentum.

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M32gan

People are talking about how this movie is a shift to action over the last one, but there's one tag they aren't talking about.

There's a new killer robot on the loose, so we need to resurrect the old killer robot in order to protect them. But going on the attack only works as well as those involved are willing to let you.

So this is all action and stuff, but what this is more than anything is... Comedy! Indeed, at moments it goes into Farce. There is no way to take this seriously, and there is a large part of fetish around dressing up women as sparkly robots that speaks to what the writer/director wanted.

Acting and effects are fine... but then this movie isn't aiming for peak performance. This entertains, and that's the best this movie is aiming for.

It's a movie, I've seen it, and will forget all about it when the next one comes along.

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Games for Streaming only

I like games. Even horror games. But we are seeing a slew of particular kinds of horror games. Co-op horror games.

Now, that might not sound terrible, but they all have a common secondary characteristic... your avatar looks stupid and can do stupid things.

There is only one reason for that... to amuse viewers in streaming, baby!

Which brings us to so many "horror" games that are just there for the jump scares which are just there for the views, and when there aren't jump scares, people can act stupid, for the views!

So the game is all about the streaming experience, not the game experience.

Sod off.

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Ten Days to Go

There is a new Madonna album coming... kinda.

Veronica Electronica is sort of a concept album, whereby Madonna is putting on an alter-ego self, which isn't uncommon for singers. Heck, Madonna has done that herself, with Dita during Erotica and Madame X in Madame X. One upcoming track has been released already:

That's the demo version, which won't be the version on the album because... the album will be remixes.

Oh... is that all? I'm gonna get it, but... kinda disappointed that this is just rehashing old material. I was hoping this was a full new album because... I will admit, this song is already better than the entire Madame X album.

Here's hoping we do get something fully original in the future than a remix of Ray of Light.

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Dance it out!

Girl Talk did some great mashups, one of which is All Day. And then I found this amazing video of someone who did a whole dance choreography movie to it!

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Krypto

You will believe a Dog can fly!

We start with Krypto coming to the rescue to be a good boy, and jumping around a lot. Later he tries to help more, but is unable to, and is left to deal with squirrels. But he comes back later to be the best boi and save the day!

We get into it with not needing an origin story, 'cos everyone knows the origin story. This is basically a Superman vs Lex story, but I am surprised by how much this is the first time Lex has gone up against Superman. And everyone buys into Lex's side of things. So much for the big boy scout.

Everyone is fine with their performances. Even Rachel Brosnahan isn't irritating as Lois, and Lois can be extremely irritating as a character. The effects are believable, but we are not exactly in the same age as when Superman first came to the big screen and CGI can do so much, as can wires (as can wire removal).

Is this a big bold new stance for DC? Given we've already had several TV projects, this does feel like it fits in with that, but I really need to see a bigger universe before I know how this fits in.

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