WALL-E

So, we were one of the lucky ones (I guess) and received Wall*E from Netflix today. It is a pretty cool movie. Sure there were "save the planet" undertones, but that was just the backdrop to the story. More on that in a moment (I'll save a rant for the end.)

In any case, the movie is really good artistically, but fantastic for sound. I wouldn't say perfect, but an entire course on sound effects in a movie. I wish I could manipulate sound as well as I can colors. Although, I'm not that good at manipulating colors either. Anyway, I wanted to do a side by side comparison of a couple of screenshots. What it is showing is how light is calculated on EVE's shell. You can see the bottom of her shell, with the ambient light, you can see reflections and the shell looks polished. But when EVE receives direct light, as "she" is from the top, it is very refractive and the shell doesn't look as "polished".

Well, shoot, I can't get a screenshot and I'm too tired to try anything else. But suffice it to say, Pixar does not leave out the details... anywhere. How rubble bounces away from other objects. How the tracks on Wall-E move over different objects. It really is cool (and more math than I really care to think about...)

Rant time.
Okay, as I saw the "future" planet with all the junk piled on junk, the very first thing I thought of was, "Wow! Look at all that metal!" Basically, recycling. We have a lot of junk on our planet thrown here and there. Fortunately, a lot of the junk in our landfills are recyclable. Unfortunately, it is kind of expensive to break down the components. But it can be done. Paper, plastic, metals. Some of the things we have problems with are hybrids. A lot of new cars use paneling that is not very recyclable. But it can be, if a company is willing to make the expense.

Having said all of that, don't mistake me as part of the "Green" movement. I'm of the opinion that "sure, the Earth is getting warmer, but that's what it's supposed to do." Humans may be contribute some to the atmosphere, but the belching volcanos, gassy Siberian tundra, and the many cows on the planet do more than humans. The problem with the Save-the-Planet people is that they are greedy. It really is all about the money. When the recycle centers charge you for dropping off recyclables and then turn around and charge the company they sell the recycled material, this is a dead end road of moneyflow. A lot of people would recycle if the recycle centers would pay us for our supply to them as they charge and supply the manufacturers. The world would get cleaner. And places like Haiti, India, and other dumping grounds in the world could get both rich and clean.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/jun/10/eyewitness?picture=334634838