No old fool am I

There’s no fool like an old fool. According to phrases.org.uk this proverb already existed in 1546 when it was included in A Dialogue of Proverbs as ‘But there is no foole to the olde foole, folke saie’ [1]. Methinks it’s as true today as it was in 1546. Or truer. In yesterday’s post I wrote that the robots in Surrogates ‘look life-like in a smoothed-out faux manner, à la Sam Newman, Paul Hogan and Cher’. Then – chance or not, who knows – in the Age yesterday was an article about a recent increase in cosmetic surgery among men [2]. And which men are mentioned? Sam Newman and Paul Hogan (pictured at age 69). (And Shane Warne, but only for teeth whitening though he’s thought to have had botox and laser dermabrasion.) It says men are increasingly turning to cosmetic surgery ‘to stave off the signs of ageing’. I think cosmetically surgified men look stupid – not younger. And I reckon it’s no accident that though Newman, Hogan and Warne are public figures, there’s something immature and, yes, adolescent about them. As if they haven’t grown into compassionate and reflective adults. Given this, it’s no surprise that as their appearance ages, they need to return it to its juvenile form. Boys will be boys. Me? I think I look my age. And I’m proud of that. I’ve no wish to look younger. I wear my face as a badge of honour. Flight attendants and shop assistants now call me ‘sir’. I like that. No old fool am I. Ho hum.

Review Tuesday: 'Surrogates'

Today’s ‘Review Tuesday’. The place is Boston. The year is well into the future – yet the cars and helicopters are contemporary. It’s a dangerous time and place. So flesh-and-blood humans stay at home where it’s safe, and operate surrogates (i.e. stand-ins, substitutes, proxies). In the 2009 movie Surrogates [1, 2, 3], the eponymous beings are robots – which look life-like in a smoothed-out faux manner, à la Sam Newman, Paul Hogan and Cher. In the film’s Boston there are thousands, perhaps millions of surrogates. And also a group of humans who not only don’t have surrogates, but abhor them. This group’s relegated to a central Boston ghetto where they’re forced to live in squalor. Some of the surrogates look like younger versions of their operators. This includes Tom Greer, played by Bruce Willis. Therefore the movie’s premise is an interesting one. So far, so good. But, alas, I can’t summarise the story line – because I couldn’t understand it. It’s far too convoluted and confusing for me, as a mere mortal, to unravel. All I could work out is that Bruce’s character’s our hero (as usual), he survives frequent mortal threats, and finally to redeem the love of his emotionally distant wife he inactivates the software of all the surrogates, leaving the future to humans. At least until someone fixes the software – which may or may not happen because its inventor/head honcho has suicided. Though its idea’s reasonably novel, as a whole Surrogates doesn’t fly. Generously I give it two stars.