Welcome back, constant readers! We begin today’s blogging week with a few robot lists from Whitney Z., a library assistant in CLP’s substitute pool (with apologies to the ‘bots of MST3K).
In his third film, South African director Neill Blomkamp (District 9 and Elysium) once again sets his film in Johannesburg. The movie focuses on a South Africa that has become so violent that police robots are being used to keep the peace. One robot (Chappie) that has come to the end of its life and is destined for the scrap heap finds new life after a (significant) software upgrade from its maker (Dev Patel), who stole him after failing to convince the company making his police robots to allow for a testing of his rudimentary Artificial Intelligence program. Although it was disliked by a majority of movie critics, I found it to be entertaining and enjoyed it enough to give it a solid 3 stars. This movie isn’t going to be the next Terminator 2, but if you liked District 9, you certainly won’t be disappointed with Blomkamp’s latest effort.
Image spotted at The Ranger, a news blog for Amarillo College. Click through for their review.
A Few Robot DVDs in the Library collection:
Big Hero 6 (2015)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Bicentennial Man (2000)
The Matrix (1999)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2002)
Wall-E (2008)
If you’re looking for some reading material instead, here are four books to help you get started:
I, Robot
Isaac Asimov
Written in 1950 and one of Science Fiction master Asimov’s first books-this collection of nine short stories introduces the world to the infamous Three Laws of Robots and gets you thinking about a robots place in our world.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick
Written in 1968, one of the most popular science fiction books of all time, and (loose) inspiration for the film Bladerunner, this dystopian book tells the story of what happened after the World War left our planet almost uninhabitable (by the year 2021!) and humans evacuated the planet for others deemed more hospitable.
The Robot: A Life Story of a Technology
Nocks, Lisa
Everything has a history—including robots. Learn all about it in this fascinating book!
–Whitney Z.
Eleventh Stack 