Is Neil a Man or Cyborg? A Documentary That Questions Humanity’s Relationship With Tech

The question posed in Cyborg: A Documentary concerns how far people are willing to alter their five senses for the sake of improving their condition.

Cyborg A Documentary Movie Poster
Playing at select cinemas in the UK Beginning Sept 20.

The augmentation of the human body is controversial. And the question whether one will lose their humanity is in question. In R. Talsorians’s Cyberpunk, the role playing game, this idea is perfectly translated into a statistic. The score tracks when a player character becomes more machine than man. However, there are also valid reasons to allow for some people to become enhanced to improve their quality of life. In Cyborg: A Documentary, first-time director Carey Born dives into the possibilities. Thankfully, there’s people who know when to stop rather than to keep on augmenting.

Although this filmmaker is quite focused on this individual, the discourse concerning who else can benefit really depends. For the most part, Neil Harbisson‘s life is front and centre. Although born without the ability to perceive colour, he’s become an artist who uses sound to help him paint. That’s because of the computer software he helped develop to let him hear how paint works. Although he’s not the world’s first person to receive an implant, to show how he functions as a spokesperson for this movement is rather fascinating. While the idea of inserting a chip into an organic body is nothing new because pets often get an RFID chip, to put that in a human is troublesome.

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Chang’An, A City in Turmoil. It Was The Best of Times and Worst of Times.

For now, the movie Chang’an is available to purchase online via eBay or YesAsia as a Region 3 release until North American distributor Niu Vision Media figures out what to do.

Chang'An Movie Bluray R3“The Times They Are A-Changin’” is a song that should be used if a dub of Chang’an ever gets released to North American Market. Its lyrics are perfect, but if that does not work, I’d suggest David Bowie’s song,“Changes,” to the distributor involved in editing. While it’s doubtful the Chinese producers would approve of it, I’d get the reference since this movie concerns how the capital of Shaanxi Province would undergo shifts in political power. This city is also known as Xi’an, and it’s historically significant because it was the original beating heart of a unified China.

All of it is the backdrop for the rather ambitious animated film by Lightchaser Studios. This work not only recounts the historical events that transpired but also tries to figure out the relationship two famous poets had as rebellions took place around them. They were sometimes involved in it and other times not.

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After Star Trek and Boston Legal, You Can Call Me Bill in this Enlightening Documentary

To figure out why William Shatner says You Can Call Me Bill is because he’s allowed to expound upon what he feels is important about life. It’s not just his legacy in this well meaning documentary.

William Shatner You Can Call Me Bill PosterNow Streaming on Apple Play, Google TV and VUDU

After finally being able to watch William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill multiple times, all I can tell is that this documentary presents a different side of this actor that few rarely see. It had a very limited theatrical run, but back then, I didn’t have my notepad in hand. Within the fandom community, some may say he has quite the ego and outside, others wonder why is he a big deal? Here, the best segments concern his youth, what his upbringing was like and what made him decide to be an entertainer.

Anyone who knows his resume will say Twilight Zone or Star Trek is what made him a star. Prior to those appearances, he was in a few Westerns. Although his most famous episode concerns a gremlin, to recognise “Nick of Time” is just as important. While parts of his television career are quickly referred to, namely T.C. Hooker and Boston Legal, I’m curious why TekWar wasn’t mentioned? Although it was ghost-written by Ron Goulart, the ideas were his.

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Those Immediate Family Bonds are the Ones That Matter’s Most in the Music Industry

When making music on stage or at the recording studio, sometimes the big names depend on those session players to help lay down the tracks, but do we know their story? In Denny Tedesco’s Immediate Family, we learn about what goes on….

Immediate Family Documentary PosterMagnolia Pictures
Coming to Select Theatres: Dec 15, 2023

Session musicians should never get overlooked and in Denny Tedesco‘s excellent documentary, Immediate Family, there’s a handful of them in demand! Not only are they requested to perform with top names in the recording studio but also are sometimes asked to perform live too! Here, everything fans of music want to know about Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel but were afraid to ask is revealed.

And what we as listeners might not know is that they have formed their own supergroup and think this documentary’s title is perfect to call this band. They’ve been performing for a few years now, and I can’t wait to see what their future is. Although they don’t always get a chance to jam all the time, what they love about music demonstrates they have the potential to be superstars in their own right!

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Amazon’s Continuing ♥ with Lucy and Desi

What’s collected is a look based on archival footage, personal audio journals, and interviews (both old and new) from their peers.

Lucy and Desi (2022) - IMDbAvailable to view on Amazon Prime beginning March 4th

Amazon Studios’s release of Lucy and Desi fills the gaps that their previous work, Being the Ricardos, doesn’t explore. While it doesn’t offer anything new television historians don’t know, this excellent documentary does the job to revisit the pressures they faced from a different perspective. Both fled from one world to go live in another, either New York or Florida, in their pursuit of the American dream.

Both found success before meeting. Their love and failed relationship–as recounted in the prior drama–isn’t the focus. This take by filmmaker/documentarian Amy Poehler looks more at how they became a career focussed couple. Their bond only got stronger after the divorce. It’s well known that Desi didn’t enjoy living under Lucille’s shadow, so that’s why he needed his excursions elsewhere to be happy. Sadly, that included certain vices no doubt inherited from his family’s opulent life. Also, Desi stepped away from the limelight. It helped preserve the relationship instead of letting it fall apart.

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Examining I Want to Believe’s Investigator’s Archive

I Want to Believe, An Investigator’s Archive is a terrific read because it looks at the motivations and interests that led these people to become more than just weekend investigators.

I Want To Believe: An Investigators' ArchiveAvailable to purchase on Amazon USA

I Want to Believe, An Investigator’s Archive delves into the backend that television shows rarely feature–getting to know the people. In this book by Jason Hewlett and Pete Renn, we get a down to earth interviews with various paranormal investigators from across the world (North America mostly) who are truly dedicated to this craft, and why they’ve made it their life’s passion.

To cap things off, we hear a story or two of their most memorable finds about the hereafter. They won’t send shivers down your spine, but here, you’ll get a better sense of what these people do than seeing a dramatized take on television. This book is a loose extension these author’s own YouTube series, We Want to Believe, where they investigate the occult.

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