Cinema: "The Imitation Game"

Post #397,420 by rcareaga 12/21/14 10:34:46 PM Reply	Cinema: "The Imitation Game" Framing story: Alan Turing is detained for man-on-man naughtiness in 1951, and shares with investigating copper details about his wartime researches that, in real life, would have got him a considerably harsher punishment than the (to be sure atrocious) "chemical castration" he as obliged to endure in lieu of two years imprisonment. Main story, and the best part of the film, A.T.'s time at Bletchley Park, creating the "bombe" that broke the German Enigma code (as depicted in the film, the key—spoiler warning—is that the patriotic Nazi Enigma operators routinely end their transmissions with "Heil Hitler." How dreadful for the Germans that during all those years they had not a single cryptographer of their own canny enough to identify this as an operational vulnerability!). The contributions of sundry others are elided in the interests of drama. There are a couple of brief scenes in which U-boat wolfpacks are depicted underwater in implausibly tight formation (like, ten meters apart) as they close in on British-bound convoys. Sundry other offenses against history (including someone, possibly Turing, referring to his magical device as a "digital computer." I'm pretty sure it was electromechanical: doesn't the unsung Konrad Zuse, who worked for the other side, have the laurels for the first such apparatus? For all those reservations, it was a largely satisfying two hours in the theatre. I particularly enjoyed Charles Dance as a starchy, skeptical overseer to Turing's eccentric prodigy, and regretted it when he dropped out of the story halfway through. Bumadick Cummerbund was certainly credible portraying what we would today call a high-functioning Asberger's type, although from what I read he should probably talk to his agent about the dangers of typecasting. For those not particularly allergic to obvious simplifications of and outright trespasses against historical truth in the service of popular entertainment, the flick is worth a look. cordially, (No regrets about the expenditure of these matinee dollars, and I'm particular pleased to learn that the local "art house" chain now recognizes me as a "senior citizen," and admits me to prime-time screenings for about 75% what they charge L's nephew, thirty years my junior and way back of my tax bracket. Then again, he's probably a "taker," one of Mitt's 47%, so fuck 'im.)
Post #397,447 by Another Scott 12/22/14 5:50:21 PM Reply	:-) Thanks for the review.
Post #397,456 by a6l6e6x 12/22/14 8:55:15 PM Reply	Thanks! Put on to view list. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #397,488 by rcareaga 12/23/14 2:26:44 PM Reply	It's odd to think ...that early in my "career" with Flatline, Comatose, Torpor & Drowse I was occasionally required to serve a fortnight in the "ADP Room" (today the lair of our LAN guy, directly above the space I had to vacate a few months ago), where I operated punched-card machines to match shipments cleared through Customs to documents subsequently filed to make these imports copacetic with the USG. I was using, in 1980, electromechanical technology configured around a technology standard settled upon in 1928. My father, now quite frail, was just seven back then. Sheesh. Of course, for seven years after 1980, following my elevation to the International Division, my "database" consisted of a bank of about forty file drawers, the contents of which it was my responsibility manually to track. These days you'd look long and hard to find file cabinets in what remains of the ID here... cordially,
Post #397,489 by a6l6e6x 12/23/14 2:34:13 PM Reply	You're an old fart! :) And I was twelve when you were born. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #397,496 by Ashton 12/23/14 6:00:13 PM Reply	You had punched cards? file cabinets!? All we had were MDMCCCCn notations on papyrus. Then the ink would spill, then.. back to 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 got you an X, then X+ ... well, you know. These pesky young-uns! who never had n extended, rapid conversations in igPa atinLa ... as a superior form of encryption (when amidst lurking adults, ever seeking clues to our clearly Alien roots.)
Post #397,498 by static 12/23/14 6:06:15 PM Reply	Reminds me of my high school librarian. Always updating the card catalogue. She often took whole drawers home to add updates. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #397,682 by CRConrad 12/30/14 10:47:38 AM Reply	What's so wrong about that? Querulates the Quareaga: Sundry other offenses against history (including someone, possibly Turing, referring to his magical device as a "digital computer." I'm pretty sure it was electromechanical: doesn't the unsung Konrad Zuse, who worked for the other side, have the laurels for the first such apparatus? I always thought "digital" only meant, as opposed to analog(ue), "works by being on-or-off, not more or less, or just a smidgen this way or that". So I'd say an electromechanical computer working with on-or-off relays is just as digital as a transistorised one; after all, aren't transistors basically just tiny electronic relays? (And, hey, what's more "digital" than a rotary-dial telephone? :-) Also, unbalanced parentheses.) --- Furthermore, BTW: Yeah, Charles "Tywin" Dance has certainly come a long way since he was one of Sue Ellen's heartthrobs down on Southfork. (Personally, I particularly appreciate his letting go of his curly helmet of Big Hair, which had him looking perhaps a little too much of a poodle. But that may of course have been a less than voluntary move on his part.) -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)

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