Tikkabik

George Lucas' first feature film was an oddball science fiction movie released in 1971 called THX 1138. Featuring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasance, the movie was this dystopian vision of the future that's very derivative of earlier anti-fascist parables like 1984 and Brave New World, where people live in underground cities and have their emotions controlled through mandatory drug use.

THX 1138 is a crap movie -- weak production values, a disjointed story and basic plot problems never have made it a favorite of mine, although there's an interesting plot device presented in it called the Omnichapel. Apparently it's the state-mandate religion of sorts, where people give their confession to a religious icon called Ohm that hears their confession and comments to them in a hollow way that will be immediately familiar to anyone who's toyed with "Eliza," that software that mimics human behavior by analyzing text you input and reacting according to keywords. In fact, we discover Ohm is nothing more than a tape loop.

It's an interesting image to be reminded of when you visit Grouphug.us, this odd site that Frank found and told me about where people are encouraged to make anonymous confessions to help them feel better about past transgressions against others or sensations of self-loathing or hatred.

Some of the confessions are so out of line that I suspect they're pulling our chains, but others are plausible (and occasionally revolting) enough to seem realistic. In any case, it makes for interesting reading, in a rather voyeuristic way.