Using Online Cloud Backup Services

I have just spent an hour or two going through thousands of images stored in my Google Photos Cloud account. Some of these go back to 2011.

Now, if you are a traveller like me and travel light, which in my case means with an iPad, and you automatically backup up photos and other documents to the ‘cloud’, you will know how useful this feature can be. Having access to images, documents and other files stored in the cloud, no matter how far away you may be from home, is fast becoming an essential service for the convenience it offers to travellers of all descriptions—especially tourists and business people.

I’m a good example. For instance, I always take screenshots of receipts, concert tickets, booking information, flight itineraries, and sometimes even screenshots of information when I am online checking my bank statements. Of course I always try to remember to delete the most personal information after I have made use of it (Of course you do, Jim!)

HOWEVER!

On reviewing the photos and screenshots in my Google Photos account today, I was shocked to find all sorts of personal information, such as passwords, bank statements, credit card numbers, passport details, security codes, my home address, email accounts, and much more ‘safely’ backed up to the Cloud. 

The implications of this are obvious. We assume that these types of backup services are safe and secure from hackers and snoopers, and that may very well be the case. But if I had lost, or had my smartphone or iPad stolen, an enterprising and knowledgable person would find it simple enough to scroll through my Google Photos account on the off chance that personal information had found its way there. And in my case, they would have found plenty!

“But wait,” you say, “Surely everyone needs an email address and passwords to sign into their online accounts.”

Well, yes, but the helpful engineers at Google have a solution for that. They have designed their software to automatically save our sign-in details (after asking permission first), thus make the log-in process quick and painless, and if you are anything like me, you will have happily agreed to this time saving feature. Needless to say, any enterprising snooper will also be grateful to you for implementing these shortcuts!

One way of protecting ourselves from this type of deliberate or even inadvertent snooping is to log out of every application after we have finished using it. But of course, we all know how irritating it is to log into a service every time we want to access it.

So what’s a hard-pressed traveller to do?

Screenshot of files backed up to Google Drive

Well, you could disable all automatic backups to your cloud service providers, but that is not always the ideal option. If you do continue to use cloud services, the smart thing to do is make sure you sign out of your accounts like Google (and all other apps and programs) once you have finished doing whatever it was you were engaged in at the time. This is a better option than not using backup services at all. And if you can’t be bothered doing even that, then for goodness sake, at least check the files and photos stored with your cloud service provider on a regular basis, and delete those files that contain your personal notes, documents, screenshots and other private information.

While you are at it, check through Google Drive, the other Cloud backup service that may be storing important documents and information you would rather not share with the rest of the world.

And when you have finished doing that, you may also need to check your Dropbox and Apple iCloud accounts, or any other of the dozens of backup services now available, which is exactly what I am going to do now.

At The Movies: Martin Scorsese’s Silence

Well, it has taken me much longer than anticipated, but recently I finally caught up with Martin Scorsese’s latest epic, Silence. A quick online search reveals that the film has elicited mixed reviews from a wide range of viewers—both regular filmgoers and film critics—so today I thought I would add my own two cents worth to the discussion. But first, a brief synopsis:

In 17th Century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests Garupe (Adam Driver), and Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield), travel to Japan in search of their mentor and teacher, Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson). The Catholic Church has lost touch with Ferreira, and what is worse, rumour has it that while under duress, Ferreira has committed apostasy (that is, renounced his religious beliefs).

This is the third major film from Martin Scorsese that examines aspects of different religions. The first was his 1988 adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis novel, The Last Temptation of Christ, and the second was the 1997 film Kundun, which is based on the life and writings of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Of course, if you have been following Scorsese’s career from the beginning, you might remember the open scenes of his breakthrough film Mean Streets (1973), which begins with Harvey Keitel’s character, Charlie, in church holding his hand over a burning candle, while ruminating on Catholic guilt and redemption, a theme that crops up throughout the film. But back to Silence.

The two young priests refuse to believe that Father Ferreira’s apostasy was due to the torture and abuse he received at the hands of his Japanese authorities. They are convinced that their mentor would never apostatise no matter how severe the suffering he was forced to undergo. Firmly convicted of this belief, the two men make the perilous journey to Japan to search for Ferreira and to continue spreading the Catholic view of the Gospels to the Japanese peasants they encounter. 

Things progress well enough for a while, but with the Japanese authorities closing in on their hiding place, the two priests separate in the hope they might evade their pursuers at least for a while longer. At this point in the film Adam Driver/Garupe disappears for pretty much the rest of the movie and attention is focused on Andrew Garfield/Rodrigues.

A powerful moment between Andrew Garfield/Rodrigues and a villager played by Shin'ya Tsukamoto.

To begin with, I was not convinced that Andrew Garfield—who carried two-thirds of the film on his shoulders—was up to the task, but as the film progressed, I was drawn further and further into what became a very powerful, and believable performance. Of course, he is soon captured by the authorities and before long his own faith is tested in ways that he (and we the audience), never imagined possible.

To my surprise, apart from the opening scenes filmed in the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Macau, China, the rest of the film shoot took place on various locations on the island of Taiwan. The cinematography is stunning throughout, and as you might expect from a master storyteller like Scorsese, he is in complete control of his actors and the story he wants to tell. 

Since I am not a practising (or lapsed Catholic), and indeed since I hold no religious affiliations whatsoever, I did feel somewhat removed from the emotional heart of this film. I was certainly able to appreciate the film on an intellectual level, but at certain points during the film I could not escape the voice in my head that insisted on reminding me about the cultural imperialism of the Catholic Church, and its often brutal proselytising among other cultures that were, and have been perfectly happy with their own homegrown religious practices. Of course, this ‘going out into the world to convert the heathen’ was not confined to the Catholic Church. The proselytising of today’s Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and representatives of other faiths shows that while the language may be different, the aims are still the same.

The wonderful Issei Ogata in his role as the old samurai.

However there are other lessons to engage the non-believer and agnostic in Silence. Reflecting on the film and the nature of belief, I couldn't help thinking about the current crisis plaguing Europe and other parts of the Western world. I am referring to the rise of Islamic extremism, and the ongoing ‘war on terror’ that Western governments and their extensive security forces, are no closer to winning today than they were following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, or for that matter since the terrorist attacks on New York City, and elsewhere in America on September 11, 2001.

It seems to me that just as the Jesuit priests of the 17th Century were prepared to face the harshest conditions imaginable, as well as the trials and tribulations meted out to them by local authorities intent on protecting their own positions of power, so too are the foot-soldiers of the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Moro Islamists in the Philippines, Indonesia’s Jemaah lslamiyah, and other murderous Islamic splinter groups. 

It also seems to me that just as the Jesuit priests in Silence refused to renounce their faith in the Catholic Church and their God, so too are hundreds of Islamic fundamentalists confined to prison systems around the world refusing to renounce their own beliefs and faith in the tenets of Islam, as interpreted by their local religious leaders. Should we be surprised at their dedication to their various causes? Should we applaud the commitment to their faith? Or should we inflict so much suffering and pain on them that they are forced to recant and deny their own Gods?

And yes, dear reader, I am well aware that the vast majority of the world’s Christians are not strapping suicide vests to themselves and blowing up concert goers in Manchester and Paris, or gunning down diners relaxing in restaurants and cafés, or driving cars and trucks at high speed through suburban streets running down pedestrians. However, I am also aware that a study of Christianity reveals a history of murderous inquisitions, bloody Crusades, and death by stoning, beheading, fire and more.

A still from the crucifixion scene.

While it may seem that I have trodden a path well away from the one I started out on, that is, a review of the film, Silence, I am not so sure. After all, the film explores the nature of faith, belief and God, and the consequences of sticking to those beliefs—or not as the case may be—no matter what. It should be said that the film also examines the nature of love, betrayal and forgiveness.  

Despite its length (160 minutes), Silence is a film that can bear repeated viewings, not only for the excellent acting, stunning locations and beautiful cinematography, but also for the opportunity it gives the viewer for reflection and contemplation. There is much to appreciate in Silence, and I am delighted that I had a chance to see the film in a cinema with a big screen, which allowed me to appreciate its scope and grandeur even more.

If you haven’t seen the film, here is the official trailer to help wet your appetite.

More Information

IMDb entry for Silence…

Wikipedia entry for Silence… 

Film Comment Interview with Martin Scorsese…

TED on Tuesday: OK? Go!

OK Go: How to Find a Wonderful Idea

If you are a popular music fan that has been paying any sort of attention to the music scene over the past 10 or 12 years, you must surely have heard of the American rock group, OK Go. If you haven’t you are in for a delightful surprise. OK Go came to prominence after the 2006 video for their song Here It Goes Again, in which the band performed a complex routine on motorised treadmills, went viral with the help of YouTube, and other video sharing sites. 

Seemingly defying all odds and bets that the band could would not be able to top the hype generated by that video, OK Go have in fact gone on make many more innovative and genre defying videos that have set the benchmark so high that other bands have simply given up trying to match them. The only exception I can think of to that statement is the always innovative Icelandic artist, Björk.

Where does OK Go come up with ideas like dancing in zero gravity, performing in ultra slow motion or constructing a warehouse-sized Rube Goldberg machine for their music videos? In between live performances of "This Too Shall Pass" and "The One Moment," lead singer and director Damian Kulash takes us inside the band's creative process, showing us how to look for wonder and surprise.

The above talk, begins with OK Go performing This Too Shall Pass on stage while the video for the song plays in the background. But how, you may be asking, was this massive Rube Goldberg machine built and engineered? The answer my friend, is … in the video below. Adam Sadowsky takes us through the process, after his team at Syyn Labs were given the task of building it. He tells the story of the effort and engineering behind their labyrinthine creation that quickly became another YouTube sensation for the band.

The team spent months setting up the set in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse. The Rube Goldberg machine involved 89 distinct interactions, and required 85 takes (of which only three were completely successful). Two pianos and 10 television sets were destroyed during the shoot—and some of these trashed items can be seen lining a wall in the warehouse.

Having watched the video numerous times before watching this TED talk, I could never understand why it was that the band members wore clothing covered in paint. After listening to Adam’s presentation, the penny dropped so to speak, and I realised that this was as a result of previous unsuccessful attempts to film a flawless video. Anyway, the president of Syyn Labs, Adam Sadowsky explains all. Oh, and the finished video for the song is included at the end of Adam’s all too brief presentation.

About OK Go

Singer and video director Damian Kulash, Jr. and bassist Tim Nordwind met at summer camp in 1987, and a decade later they formed OK Go. With Dan Konopka as drummer and Andy Ross as guitarist and resident computer programmer, they've built a unique career at the intersection of music, visual art, technology, and science. They're among an emerging class of artists whose 21st-century brand of experimental creativity dissolves the traditional boundaries between disciplines.

"When our band started, music and art were actually different things," says Kulash. "Musicians made plastic discs and artists made objects for galleries. Now we all make ones and zeros, so the categorical distinctions don’t make much sense anymore."

Here is the video for The One Moment, the second song OK Go performed on stage during their TED presentation. 

And finally, in case you are not among the millions of people who have seen Here It Goes Again, the video that started it all for OK Go, why not take a look at it now? Enjoy.

Online: okgo.net | Twitter: @okgo | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okgo/