Put on your Sunday Clothes There's Lots of World out There...

AMB-4 was my first best friend. As his name suggests, he was built (primarily by me, but my dad was certainly helpful) when I was 4, out of megablocks and for the most part resembled Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. Of course he couldn't be as tall as J-5, seeing how that machine was over 6 feet tall. He was my height, drove around on wheeled megablocks and was a pretty significant part of my life. He watched Ninja Turtles with me, watched me draw, and guarded my bedroom at night.

It's been nearly 20 years since then and when I first saw the trailer for Wall-E, I couldn't help but feel like Iwas rekindling an old friendship.

Wall-E is my favorite film of 2008. And I don't mean "animated film" or "Disney film" or even children's film. Wall-E is composed of the most charming parts of the human condition, personified in a trash compactor with what seems to be a soul.

Now apart from my obsessive interest in robots and machines, I also contain an obsessive interest for the extinction of the human race. Now when I first saw the teaser trailer, there was absolutely no presence of humanity whatsoever...immediately my imagination went into overdrive and jumped to the conclusion that this was a post extinction Earth.

"How gutsy!" I said. But really, I think it will be a long time before the issue of the end of humanity reaches an "All Ages" demographic.

Now Pixar has got to be the most incredible studio I've ever heard of, and for those of you who are skeptical, watch "The Pixar Story" documentary on the special features disk of the Wall-E DVD and have a change of opinion. Of course not all of Pixar's films have been gold, but for a production company almost 15 years old, it certainly has an incredible track record.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Flick and Hopper, Dora and Nemo, Mike and Sulley...These are just a few of the iconic characters Pixar has littered the last 15 years of cinema with. But like all great stories, it wasn't just the characters that made these films so memorable. It was the worlds they lived in, and the dilemmas facing them.
Oddly enough, each and every one of Pixar's films are focused specifically on a portion of the human condition yet mostly through the eyes (if applicable) of non-human characters.

Never is this formula more applicable than it is in Wall-E. Using the laws of empathy, Pixar got away with humanizing a rusty box and an i-egg, and some how made it the most romantic and universal love story of the year. Yes there is little dialogue, yes there is a pseudo-political message, and yes its kinda dark, and you know what? It worked.

As a representational artist, I know and appreciate the value of detail. I could honestly go through this film and reverse engineer every part and find a meaning and purpose in it. Framing, color scheme, even lens-type and lighting are considered in every second of this film. Even if you could convince me that it wasn't for the sake of artistry, I would still say it was considered simply because that is the nature of the medium. Undoubtedly this film has been looked over a bazillion times and I'm sure the animators were ripping their hair out over a small thing in the background none of us will ever see or notice...but that is the nature of art and the sign of care and love all artists put into their creations.

Now the geek-out part of my review where I touch on all the little homages and nods all great films provide to show their appreciation of those that have paved the way.

First of all, Ben Burtt.

This man IS Wall-E. I mean that figuratively and literally. For those who don't know, Ben Burtt was the sound designer for all of the Star Wars movies. You know those sounds you make when you face your friends in invisible lightsaber matches? Ben Burtt. Chewbacca? Ben Burtt. Darth Vader's breathing? Ben Burtt. I'd say 50% percent of the made up sounds that come out of the mouths of geeks world wide have been discovered, edited, and modified by this man. And now he can be credited with the lovable Chaplin-esque trash compactor, Wall-E.

I often draw while watching movies I've seen more than once. As a result I tend to remember a lot of films merely by their sounds, scores, and voices. This is a film I guarantee you'll enjoy without visuals (even though they measure up just as equally) especially if you're a multitasker.

Second of all? Sigorney Weaver.

There was a comment made in the behind the scenes featurette about how the love story between Wall-E and Eve is a love story between Charlie Chaplin and Sigorney Weaver. Holy shit is that true! In a different Universe, I could see Eve beating the shit out of the Queen alien and calling her a bitch in the process. Also, she is also the voice of Mothe- ahem, I mean the Axiom's ship computer. A small role yes, but in the mind of a sci-fi geek like myself, that's goddamn perfect.

And third of all? The pale blue dot.

How did no one understand the significance of that shot? I nearly cried after seeing that shot for the first time (If you by any chance DID recognize it, tell me...I need to know others know.). For those who do not know, at the end of Wall-E after the camera zooms out from a toxic earth, the shot fades to a near perfect replica of the famous "Pale Blue Dot" photograph taken by Voyager 1 (Thank you Christina). My favorite astronomer Carl Sagan poetically wrote and spoke about this image as the most important picture ever taken...and it is referenced in a Disney film. God. Damn. Perfect.

Now I could go on for hours about this movie but I think here's a good place to stop.

Pixar? If I had a crowd of me's, we'd slow clap for you.

"History is written by the survivors."

We are all made of starstuff. Thank you Carl Sagan (And yes later Moby) for that beautiful and awe inspiring quote. But this is simply half the story...

I am a storyteller, and as such I am also a storyfinder. Now the real problem with finding stories is not that they are difficult to find. They are everywhere. And everything.

Now currently it is believed that the Universe is infinite. I believe otherwise.

So does that mean that I believe the Universe has an end? Well as much as an end as anything else does. I believe the Universe is one of many "Verses" in a Multiverse. But I believe it is so complex and beyond our current understanding that we lack the imagination, cognition, and vocabulary to describe it.

I suppose I should also be clear in stating that I believe the "stuff" part of the Universe is finite...The dark matter quotient and nothingness of the Universe for all I know is infinite, but seeing how I'm much more attached to stuff than nothing, I'll equate the Universe with the stuff part.

Now that that clarification is aside, Starstuff.

Recently I've been greatly fascinated with Astronomy.
No.
That is a lie.

I have always been interested in Astronomy.
Recently I have been so inspired by astronomical creation and apocalypse stories that it has even trumped my first love of biology for the time being.

How will the Universe end?

The answer to this question has greatly impacted my views and my ideals of what is important.

Now I am a great advocate of intelligence and sapience, but not of humanity. In fact I strongly believe the word "human" must die if there is to be any sort of progression. Either the word dies or the species it represents dies.

Now I understand the need for segregation and compartmentalization is paramount in the need to comprehend the Universe around us, but there needs to be a point of realization that this is simply a means to comprehend. This is a case of sentience falling in love with the process of understanding rather than simply understanding.

Humanity is a word that segregates us from our environment and will always have implications of anthrocentrism. This is also the case with the word "God." When we say humanity or God, we still assume hierarchy. We still assume that there is some moral superiority, and we still assume that when attacked by something that is not human, our existence is somehow favorable. I'm sorry but this assumption has to die.

We are easily expendable.
We are not the most creative.
We are not the most social.
We are not the fastest.
We are not the strongest.
We are not prettiest.
We were not the first.
We are not the most destructive.
We are not the most social.

But we are the most intelligent...

Ok.

But how does intelligence fare against the shark?
The Crocodile?
Cnidarians?
Hell, even bacteria have survived longer than us.

Let's face it, intelligence isn't all that great.
It has almost shown up in other species, but no living creature has depended on it to survive millions of years.

Our strain has only been around for the past 1.3 million years.
Kangaroo rats have been around for longer.

So in case you haven't already guessed, my point is,

There is nothing special about humanity or intelligence.

But...

There is potential.

Now in 4 billion years of biological evolution, can you imagine all the failed life forms that never had the chance to display their true potential?

The troodon, The ammonite, the gastornis?

We are the 1% of all life that has ever lived on this planet. And by we I mean everything. Bacteria, Reptiles, Marsupials, everything.

But we do have something they did not...awareness.
We are aware of our possible demises.
And if we survive the next big change in our environment...
We have to keep predicting it.

I'm sorry everybody, but like it or not...we have to ditch Earth.
I know, I know, how anti-green of me, but hear me out.

Just because the word "Space" and "Technology" is unnatural to us, it is not unnatural to nature. Our planet is going to change regardless of what we do to it. We could try to preserve everything and it will still change.

The Earth has been many different colors other than blue and green. It has been red, and orange and yellow and even black.

To try to keep the Earth in a state where it can accommodate us is like trying to keep a teenage boy pimply and voice-crackly for the rest of his life.

The Earth will change and die...but that doesn't mean that we have to as well.

So wait...am I saying that we shouldn't preserve the Earth but we should preserve humanity?

Not at all.

That's why I hate that word...because it assumes we will be as we are, forever.

We will change.

We will mutate.

And we will adapt...I hope.

Like the dinosaurs before us.

That name did not go on.

But the word, "bird" did.

We are in the stages where we are writing how we want to go on.

Do we want to be remembered as those creatures that contributed plastic shards to the Burgess shale?

Or as the people we used to be...

- Adrian