Tomorrow Is 'Back To the Future' Day (cnn.com) 127
An anonymous reader writes: In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly travels from 1985 to tomorrow — October 21, 2015. The occasion is being noted in a couple of ways. A documentary called Back In Time debuts tomorrow that will chronicle the making of the Back to the Future trilogy. There are also screenings of the films around the world, and even a tour of locations from the film. Much to director Robert Zemeckis's dismay, everybody's judging the predictive accuracy of the films. "I always hated — and I still don't like — movies about the future. I just think they're impossible, and somebody's always keeping score." For example: "big-screen TVs, yes, Mr. Fusion, no; virtual-reality goggles, yes, Jaws 19, no." On the other hand, people are keeping an eye on the baseball playoffs — the movie predicts a World Series victory for the Chicago Cubs, something they haven't managed since 1908. The Cubs actually did make the playoffs this year, and are fighting for a league championship title at the moment of this writing.
Wrong things improved (Score:2)
We still don't have #&@!% flying cars, but we do have nifty tablets to read USA Today on, unlike the flick's paper version.
Hover-boards? Well, kind of, if you count big and noisy. 3D pop-out sharks? Well, kind of, if you are at the right spot (although automated eye position tracking is improving).
Re:Wrong things improved (Score:4, Informative)
It got 80's nostalgia correct, if not the weird themed diner.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm surprised we don't see [b]more[/b] people shouting "Where's my hoverboard?!!"
Do you mean today? (Score:2)
Re:Do you mean today? (Score:5, Funny)
No, we mean tomorrow. See, today is still today, tomorrow will be tomorrow. Apparently your today happened yesterday. Your tomorrow is the day after next.
But tomorrow, by which time it will be today, it will be time for it to be Back to the Future Day. By which time you'll probably be Friday or something stupid like that.
Do try to keep up, I know this time travel thing can be confusing. ;-)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Even better was the time I flew from Korea to the US. I left on the evening of February 2nd, and arrived on the morning of February 2nd. It seemed rather fitting.
Re: (Score:2)
"You're not thinking fourth-dimensionally" would have sufficed.
Re: (Score:3)
'Now. You're reading about now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.'
'What happened to then?'
'We passed then.'
'When?'
'Just now. We're at now, now.'
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's still 22 hours away.
Living in a different timezone doesn't count as time travel.
Posting from New Zealand.
--
Baa.
Re: (Score:2)
No, because in the movie they are in some suburb in Los Angeles, not in Australia. So it was Nov 21 in LA, probably Nov 22 in Australia at the time. Still tomorrow for you and everyone else.
Re: (Score:2)
Take some time off, you're working too much. It's October.
Libertarian future (Score:1)
Marty McFly: Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
I miss the libertarian future that never was...
Hopefully we still can manage to get a cyberpunk dystopia.
Re:Libertarian future (Score:5, Informative)
Hopefully we still can manage to get a cyberpunk dystopia.
Oh, we're going to get a dystopia, alright. Cyberpunk, not so much. More like Orwellian or Huxleyish. It's planned for 2030.
Re:Libertarian future (Score:5, Interesting)
Corporations taking precedence over governments? Yeah, well on our way.
World wide connected network with people increasingly spending all their time plugged in? Check.
Hackers for hire breaking into to companies to steal information? Check.
Re: (Score:2)
Have you ever looked at Bitcoin ?
Re: (Score:2)
They put gullwing doors and a wing on the back of their Ford Falcon and called it a DeLorean.
Both the additions look weird and out of place.
Re: (Score:3)
I almost bought a DeLorean out of some guy's field. It was in good shape and I tried, over several weekends, to get it running where it sat but, for the price they were asking, I simply was unwilling to get it towed out of the field (which would have been difficult and maybe damaged the vehicle further). The body and frame were pretty nice - the running gear appeared solid. The engine was toast, the internals were toast. They wanted a high price for it so I didn't buy it.
They're not speedy. They're awkward.
Fax Machine Question Needed to be Asked (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
The difference is that in the U.S., fax machines were primarily a business tool, whereas in Japan, they were a common household item that everyone had, like a landline phone. Many people in the US still have landline phones, even if that number gets smaller every year as we increasingly go mobile only. W
Re: (Score:2)
Or just use one of the numerous online fax services?
http://www.efax.com/ [efax.com]
In the GSM spec, there is ability to fax to mobile, it was just never used, it is much easier to just email a scanned document anyways.
Re: (Score:2)
http://aqfl.net/node/11418 [aqfl.net]
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, my old king ant still uses his fax machine! I think a lot of companies too. I even had to use a fax machine to turn in my lay off stuff. :(
Jaws? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, really? [imdb.com]
Suddenly I want to see this.
Re: (Score:3)
Here you go! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Jaws? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
https://xkcd.com/209/ [xkcd.com]
I have a time traveling truck...
I am so-o-o looking forward to "Jaws 19" ... (Score:1)
... seeing how Jaws 16, 17 and 18 were really derivative.
BTTF Predictions (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I saw a video yesterday that claimed that BTTF predicted 9/11. Sad part is some people actually believe this shot.
The sad part is that cellphones avoid letting you type cuss words even after you turn off the obscenity filter
Celebrating early (Score:2)
The characters are on Twitter! (Score:1)
Looks like Griff is planning something for tomorrow night...
Marty McFly Jr: https://twitter.com/mseamusmcflyjr
Marlene McFly: https://twitter.com/mcflygirl
Griff: https://twitter.com/bionic_griff
Griff's girl: https://twitter.com/SpikeYourBalls
No, it's today. (Score:1)
Might have been tomorrow yesterday. It wasn't obvious this was a stupid headline as you were typing it? Or is this some joke on the inability to see into the future?
Jaws19 (Score:2)
Hoverboard nitpicks (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Meme Map of #Backtothefuturetoday (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
"The first and foremost "failed prediction" was that time travel would be invented in 1985."
It's not a failed prediction. It happens that someone came from 2025 and hid the issue.
Re: (Score:2)
Or... it has already been used to change history. The just, egalitarian 2015 where almost everyone led happy prosperous lives was lost to us when history was tweaked to concentrate all the wealth into the hands of a minority.
We'll never know.
Re: (Score:3)
Nothing in the BTTF series was ever intended to be a real prediction of the future. All the future stuff was just played for comic effect. BTTF2 is no more meant to be an accurate portrayal of the real 2015 than the series' version of 1955 or 1885 were ever meant to be historically accurate. Every era shown (even, to some extent, its own time of 1985) was comically exaggerated for humorous effect. The sights and inventions shown in BTTF2's fictional 2015 were just meant to make audiences in 1988 laugh.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, I love that movie, the way they shot it. It’s so urm like futuristic, you know?
Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point (Score:5, Insightful)
I like the actual SF elements - they spent real effort on imagining minor changes and appropriate set dressing. I always liked that his job sucked so much he had to wear two neckties - predictive miss, perhaps, but a nice touch. I also liked their comment on the rise of biometrics, with the headline "thumb bandits strike again". Lots of cool details that they could have just ignored, and it really made the point by contrast that people will still be the same jerks as always.
Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point (Score:5, Interesting)
I had read that Zemeckis and Gale didn't want to try to "accurately" predict what would be future possible because people would just nitpick it and it was all going to be wrong anyway. They were pretty sure we would NOT have flying cars, but they really wanted flying cars, so they decided to just have fun with it and come up with funny predictions. Hoverboards, self-drying clothing, self-tying laces, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually the Japanese have kinda self-drying clothes. They infuse the material with some kind of lactose derivative IIRC. It kills the bacteria that create B.O. and wicks away sweat, but also dries really fast so you don't get patches. It's pretty cool when you come in from the rain and are completely dry in a few minutes.
Re: (Score:2)
What the hell kind of name is that? It's like some sort of superhero or something.
Re: (Score:2)
A fictional one, you dumb shit.
Says the daft twat who doesn't remember Donnie Darko.
Re: (Score:2)
Whoa, AC! A little hostile there. Maybe you should be the one in therapy. Then Mom and Dad can pay someone $200 an hour to listen to your thoughts so we don’t have to.
Re: (Score:2)
>"the movie predicts a World Series victory for the Chicago Cubs"
No, it fucking doesn't.
The movie is not a prediction. It's fiction.
Many of things in the movie were intended as humor. Jaws 19 is making fun of the movie industry's pattern of making sequels to shitty movies.
And poking fun at the Cubs. Hey, they're such pathetic losers that 30 years from now they'll FINALLY win a world series.
Re: (Score:2)
With Jaws 19, they merely forgot how many shitty movies there are to run through. It isn't a matter of if Jaws 19 will be made, but of when.
Hmm. Maybe it's about time for another Batman movie. Perhaps we'll just rehash his origin story again.
Re: (Score:2)
I was going to point out the boring predictable reboots of reboots happening. It might as well be "Jaws 19" or "Star Trek 27 Rebooted".
I blame "The Matrix Rebooted".
Re:Stupid article doesn't get the point (Score:5, Funny)
The Matrix was a great film. I'm glad they didn't have any sequels for it. It was one of a kind.
Re: (Score:3)
The Matrix was a great film. I'm glad they didn't have any sequels for it. It was one of a kind.
Yes, just like Highlander. There can be only one! I heard these horrible rumours that there was a Highlander 2, and even a third Highlander movie. I can only assume it is the rantings of the diseased imagination of someone locked away in a padded room, next to the guy who thinks he's Napoleon.
Re: (Score:1)
Great TV series tho. Amazing how they had at least 60% great episodes and very few stinkers. Yet they could only find good ideas for one Highlander movie.
Re: (Score:1)
You didn't hear about the Superman vs Batman movie? With Ben "Horse tooth" Affleck as Batman? Yeah, they didn't jump that shark high enough with George Clooney.
Re: (Score:2)
Definitely one of the more pitiful ways to assert dominance on Slashdot. I guess claiming you don't have a TV has gotten old.
Re: (Score:2)
Pfft... Long before it was popular, I didn't have a TV. I didn't turn into a 'hipster.' Hipsters turned into me! Except, they probably like shitty music. I really haven't watched TV in a long time and don't even own one that connects to the OTA broadcasts - I simply don't watch television. I never thought it made me cool, though. I always figured it made me out of touch and unable to keep up on a lot of current events and popular topics.
Re: (Score:2)
Being a cord cutter isn't cool anymore. Cool and hipstery would be cutting your internet cord, and/or getting rid of your smartphone
Re: (Score:2)
I think I'll just stay the way I am until it's cool again. I've seen my clothing choices go in and out of fashion a couple of times. It was kind of strange being labeled a hipster, though. Next, I'll be a foodie because I grow, hunt, and fish for much of my food when I'm home.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.motorola.com/us/Dr... [motorola.com]
They did update the series, so I guess they became popular again. I had that one and it is still kicking, since I upgraded, my son is using it.
Actually the movie was right (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Actually the movie was right (Score:4, Informative)
The movie was right. Marty and doc Brown did travel to 2015 and saw the 2015 as it had to be. But then, they traveled far back, then they went back to the future - their 1988 present. Unfortunately in between 2015 and 1988 they modified the "new" past (of 2015) which gave the boring and hoverboard-less 2015 we all live now.
Actually they travelled to 2015 from 1985
Back to the Future 2 was direct continuation from BttF1 which started in 1985
Re: (Score:1)
But, OTOH, your comment (surprisedly) perfectly suited with the plot "Back to the future": to deal creatively with the paradox of the time traveling, in both funny and "acceptable" way as the films did. That is the plot prevented to explain deeply the "technical" inside the "cause and effect" of time traveling, instead, considered this as "natural" phenomenon. Simplifying the paradox let the screenwriters more space for their creativeness.
In my opinion, this is the
Re: (Score:2)
I gave a fuck, because when the movie came out I was in university and felt like an adult.
Now I just feel old.
Re: (Score:2)
You guys didn't post one article about the new Star Wars trailer yesterday, and you are barely late to the game on this [snip] story (It's been weeks in the making).
I have a feeling of déjà-vu. Did you time travel from 1999 ?
I can't wait for the dupe later this week.
By the way, today is 'Back to The Future' Day on this side of the Atlantic.
Re: (Score:2)
By the way, today is 'Back to The Future' Day on this side of the Atlantic.
Today has been Back to the Future Day on this side of the Pacific for 15 hours as I write this.
Re: (Score:1)
I don't have any further commentary on the subject. It just seems like you love getting raped in the asshole on a pinball machine.
Re: (Score:2)
You guys didn't post one article about the new Star Wars trailer yesterday, and you are barely late to the game on this BTTF story (It's been weeks in the making).
What the fuck has happened here? Just close up the shop and turn out the lights, guys. You guys clearly don't care, the readers have left.
RIP Slashdot.
Yup, Slashdot is dead. Netcraft confirms it. Also, Star Wars? I hope it has Natalie Portman - naked and covered in hot grits!
Re: (Score:2)
Where is your story submission for any of those items?
This site is mostly made up of user generated content. If no one submits the story, there is no story for all of us to read.
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't change when 4:29 pm is in Los Angeles though.