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Josh Reviews The Trial of the Chicago 7
Aaron Sorkin, Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton, Movie Reviews, Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
The Trial of the Chicago 7, written & directed by Aaron Sorkin (mastermind behind Sports Night & The West Wing, writer of such terrific films as A Few Good Men, The Social Network, Steve Jobs, Moneyball, and Charlie Wilson's War, and the writer/director of the underrated Molly's Game) tells the story of the seven men (really eight, counting Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the Black Panthers) who were put on trial by the U.S. government following the violence between the Chicago Police and the anti-war and counter-culture protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The film is a story about members of our government using their political power to try to destroy their enemies. It's about how our criminal justice system can be twisted by bad-faith actors to be used as a weapon against against our citizenry. And it's about men and women protesting what they see as the wrongs of our society and being met by anger and violence from the police. In short, this is not only a critical history lesson that's important for every American — it's also a film that is very much about what is happening in the United States of America today in 2020.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is phenomenal. It's riveting. It's funny and it's horrifying. It's a film that will make you angry — it's designed to do so — but it's not a depressing slog. Mr. Sorkin's skill with dialogue ensures that almost every single scene is so brilliantly written that you'll be dazzled by the word-play. His skill with structure ensures that he is able to dramatize a trial that went on for month after long month is presented in such a way that, when watching the film unfold, you're carried along with the drama of the story. The film that is jam-packed with characters and plot points, but Aaron Sorkin's stills as a writer and director ensures that none of this ever becomes overwhelming or confusing or, worst of all, boring. (The film's opening sequence, which introduces us to a wealth of characters and backstory in a mile-a-minute series of walk-and-talk scenes that somehow manage to be clear, concise, and fun, is magnificent, and gave me confidence that I was in good hands with this film.)
The cast is absolutely extraordinary. One of the film's greatest strengths is how well we're allowed to get to know all eight defendants in the trial, how they're each well-developed as distinct and interesting characters. (OK, six of the eight. We don't spend too much time with Lee Weiner, played by Noah Robbins (Zach on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) or John Froines, played by Daniel … [continued]
News Around the Net
Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, News Around the Net, Orson Welles, Stephen King, The West Wing
"Mr. President. Welcome back."
I can't wait to watch that later today!!
Wayne Knight has reprised his role as Newman from Seinfeld to give some advice on mail-in voting and the importance of making a plan to VOTE:
Moving on to less-serious news… here's a trailer for the Amazon Prime animated series, adapting the comic book series Invincible:
It's cool to see the comic's designs so faithfully recreated on-screen! And the voice cast looks to be amazing: J. K. Simmons, Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Gillian Anderson, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Wakton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Mae Whitman, Chris Diamantopoulos, Zachary Quinto, Mahershala Ali, Kevin Michael Richardson, Lauren Cohan, Michael Cudlitz, Sonequa Martin-Green, and more!! The comic book series, created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker and illustrated by artist Ryan Ottley, is actually a lot more interesting than the set-up originally appears. I've been curious to see if this new show's marketing would spoil any of those twists. So far they haven't. I'm thankful they're preserving the series' fun secrets (at least, so far), though that also presents a challenge in how to convey to people that this show is different from all the other super-hero stories people have already seen on-screen…
Here's our first full trailer for the adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand, coming to CBS All Access:
I really hope this is good. I love the novel so much. The trailer is decent, though it looks sort of "TV" to me, without the breadth I hope this epic tale will receive. I also don't think the trailer does a good job of explaining anything about this story to anyone who's not already familiar with it. (I'm assuming the way the trailer glosses over the plague that mostly destroys humanity is because, in a world with COVID, they thought that'd be too on the nose. But focusing on the weird supernatural stuff does a disservice to the story, in my opinion…)
Here's a trailer for Mank, the new film from David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) about screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (played by Gary Oldman) and the making of Citizen Kane:
A new film from David Fincher is always exciting, and I love Citizen Kane, so I can't wait for this one. I'm thankful it'll be available to watch on Netflix in December.
I am very excited to learn that Benedict Cumberbatch will reportedly be appearing as Doctor Strange in the third MCU Spider-Man film! I'm also slightly concerned, though cautiously optimistic, to read that Jamie Foxx will be reprising his role as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I … [continued]
News Around the Net!
Aaron Sorkin, Battlestar Galactica, Mad Max, News Around the Net, Steve Martin
I loved the first look at WandaVision that played during the Emmys. I'm excited for the Marvel shows on Disney+ to start rolling out…!
Here's a trailer for the sequel to Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express, called Death on the Nile:
I liked the first film. I'm interested to see what they've done with the sequel. Once again they've assembled a stellar ensemble cast of suspects. But, holy cow, this is supposed to be released to theaters in October?? I had no idea it was supposed to come out so soon. That release date is going to get pushed, right?? I guess we'll see… (UPDATE: They just pushed it back until December…)
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have a new TV show, coming to Amazon! It's called Truth Seekers and here's a trailer:
This is cool: the 45 minute documentary Going Mad: The Battle of Fury Road is now available to watch on YouTube. This is a documentary on the making of Mad Max: Fury Road. I just watched this and it is phenomenal:
This is wild: they made a thirty-minute Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish), written and directed by Nancy Meyers, with the original cast reunited — Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kieran Culkin, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Martin Short and George Newbern — and joined by Ben Platt, Florence Pugh, Alexandra Shipp and Robert De Niro. The project was made to raise money for World Central Kitchen. You can watch it on YouTube right now (and if you do, please donate):
I was intrigued to read of the new book Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas by Glenn Kenny. Click here to read several interesting anecdotes from the book! And click here if you're interested in purchasing the book.
This is sad news: Michael Hogan, who played Colonel Tigh on Battlestar Galactica, has suffered a traumatic head injury. To raise money for his treatment, a GoFundMe page has been set up. I just made a small donation, and I suspect other Battlestar fans reading this might want to do the same.
I also just made a small donation to this GoFundMe for Bob Wiacek. Mr. Wiacek is a phenomenal comic book artist and inker. I grew up reading comic books that he'd inked. He worked with John Romita Jr. on The Uncanny X-Men, John Byrne on Sensational She-Hulk, Walter Simonson on X-Factor, and so much more. He now has an eye condition that is preventing him from working. If any readers out there enjoyed his work, as I did, then perhaps you'll want to help.
In my last News Around the Net update, I posted the trailer for Aaron Sorkin's … [continued]
Aaron Sorkin, Dune, Game of Thrones, News Around the Net, Star Trek, The Mandalorian
Let's start with our first look at The Mandalorian season two!!
I am super-excited!! We don't have long to wait…
I am also over-the-moon excited by this magnificent first trailer for Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation:
That is a gorgeous trailer. The visuals are every bit as epic and weird as I'd have hoped. The cast they've assembled is extraordinary. The sandworm looks amazing. I am pumped!! I deeply love Dune, and I am incredibly excited for what I hope will be a faithful adaptation of Brian Herbert's novel. I love Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, so Mr. Villeneuve has my trust. It's only the "only in theaters" tag at the end that makes me sad. It's unimaginable to me that a Dune movie might exist and I wouldn't go see it in the theaters; but if the world keeps going in the direction it's in, that might very likely be the case…
Here's another spectacular trailer, for Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7:
Wow. Could this film be more relevant?? I can't wait for this one and I'm delighted that it'll be on Netflix (rather than only in theaters) next month.
I wish I was as excited for the trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season three:
That's a solid trailer. It looks gorgeous, and I like this cast. But I am so down on modern Star Trek I can't muster up too much excitement for this. I'd love to be proven wrong. We'll see.
Sacha Baron Cohen was great in the above trailer for The Trial of the Chicago 7, and now in related news, word has leaked out that Mr. Cohen has apparently secretly shot a sequel to Borat! I cannot wait to see what he's cooked up. (I wonder if this is connected to Mr. Cohen's recent prank of Rudy Giuliani??)
E.W. has a fascinating look at the first, failed pilot that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss made for Game of Thrones. This is an excerpt from the upcoming book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Untold Story of the Epic Series. It's an oral history of Game of Thrones by James Hibberd, and I bet it'll be an interesting read.
WOW, this is a surprise — after previously renewing Stumptown for season two back in May, ABC has cancelled the show, citing concerns and delays related to COVID. I enjoyed the first season of Stumptown and I was under the impression the show did well in the ratings, so this is a shock and a disappointment.
Click here to read an interesting interview with Noah Hawley, in which he shares fascinating tidbits on Fargo season 4, Lucy in … [continued]
Josh Reviews Molly's Game
Aaron Sorkin, Idris Elba, Jessica Chastain, Movie Reviews
Molly's Game is Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of the book Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker by Molly Bloom. Molly trained to be a competitive skier, but when an injury ended her sports career, she found herself adrift. A job as an assistant eventually led her to become responsible for setting up a high stakes poker game. Molly became the manager of that weekly game, which developed into her managing her own business and multiple games frequented by movie stars and other extremely wealthy individuals. But it all came crashing down when Molly was arrested and charged with money laundering and running an illegal sports gambling operation.
I first became a fan of Aaron Sorkin's watching The West Wing, which still stands as one of the finest TV series ever made (at least the first four seasons which Mr. Sorkin masterminded). I then went back and devoured Sports Night (which, if you've never seen, you need to run, don't walk, and watch immediately), and I have been a faithful fan ever since, following Mr. Sorkin through his subsequent shows (all of which I have enjoyed, even though none have come close to The West Wing or Sports Night) and, of course, all of his fantastic movie work. Mr. Sorkin has scripted some of my very favorite movies, including A Few Good Men (which I just recently rewatched for the umpteenth time, and it holds up SO WELL), An American President (say it with me, folks: "this is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I AM the President"), Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs. (I love ALL of those films.) Mr. Sorkin wrote Molly's Game and the film is his directorial debut.
I really enjoyed this film. I don't know if any of what is depicted in the film is true to Molly Bloom's real life and experiences. But the Molly Bloom who is the main character in this film is a spectacular character, one who is very much of this particular moment. This is the story of a strong woman who is surrounded by arrogant, domineering men, and who sets out to be her own woman and make her own way, as unorthodox as the path she chooses might be. It's an inspiring tale, frankly! Is any of this true? Is Molly Bloom actually this strong, principled woman, or is this mythologizing bullshit? I don't know, and the movie is so good that I don't care. Some based-on-real-life movies fall apart for me once I start questioning … [continued]
Josh's Favorite Movies of 2017 — Part Three!
Aaron Sorkin, Edgar Wright, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo del Toro, Idris Elba, Jessica Chastain, Saoirse Ronan, Stephen King
Click here for part one of my list of my favorite movies of 2017, and click here for part two! And now, onwards into my TOP TEN:
10. It — 2017 brought two Stephen King adaptations that I was super-excited about. Sadly, The Dark Tower was a dud, but It was even better than I had dared hope. The film is very scary and filled with the sorts of nightmare-inducing imagery that you might expect. But the reason the movie works as well as it does is that, just as the original novel did, it takes the time to develop every one of the seven kids who are involved in the story, so that by the end you know and care about every single one of them. There isn't a weak link in this remarkable assemblage of child actors. I am almost sorry that the sequel will feature these characters as adults (the original novel tells two parallel stories, but this first film adaptation wisely chose to only tell the half of the story set when the kids were thirteen), because I'd love to see lots more movies with this cast! Like all the best fantasy or sci-fi stories, the fantastical elements in It are an allegory. It is a story about growing up, about that moment in which one leaves childhood behind and takes that first, tentative step into adulthood and the wider world beyond. I was hooked into this film from the first frame until the last. (Click here for my full review.)
9. Baby Driver — That Edgar Wright has not directed a film since his vastly-underrated 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a crime against humanity, a fact reinforced by how terrific his long-awaited return to cinemas, Baby Driver, is. This is a fiercely entertaining rush of a film, with every instant of screen-time packed to the gills with great music, exciting action sequences, and witty dialogue. The cast is spectacular (Jon Hamm is a stand-out), the dialogue is razor-sharp, and the film's score is magnificent, a marvelous array of music that comes together to create a distinct world and vibe for the film. The main character Baby's identity is wrapped up in the music he listens to (particularly when working as a get-away driver for criminals) and the music he makes, and so too is Baby Driver the film completely of a piece with the music in its score. And who knew Edgar Wright could direct action so well?? The car-chase action in the film is extraordinary, visceral and thrilling. Baby Driver is pure cinematic joy from start to finish. (Click here for my full review.)
8. … [continued]
The Top Twenty Movies of 2015 — Part Two!
Aaron Sorkin, Amy Schumer, Best of 2015 lists, Guillermo del Toro, Judd Apatow, Marvel, Movie Reviews, Paul Rudd
Yesterday I began my list of the Top Twenty Movies of 2015, listing numbers twenty through sixteen. Now, on with my list!
15. Trainwreck — A perfect vehicle for Amy Schumer (who wrote the film, in addition to starring in it) and a wonderful combination of her very specific comedic sensibilities with those of director Judd Apatow, it's no surprise that Trainwreck was a breakout hit for Ms. Schumer. That a raunchy comedy can have a woman as the lead shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. The film is hugely funny and elevated by a spectacular cast including Bill Hader, Colin Quinn, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, a who-knew-he-could-be-so-funnt LeBron James, and many more. But the film is Ms. Schumer's show and she crushes it from start to finish. Trainwreck would be higher on my list if it didn't fall into a few romantic-comedy cliches in the third act, but it's hard to criticize a film that is so joyously funny and filthy. (Click here for my original review.)
14. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation — I still can't believe how much better this film wound up being that this year's James Bond installment Spectre. Both films are about our super-spy hero uncovering a super-secret criminal organization that, it turns out, is responsible for most of the acts of terror happening around the world. Both are globe-hopping action-adventure stories, both feature our hero assisted by a small cadre of allies and meeting a woman who shares the adventure. And yet Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation crushes Spectre in every way. I just re-watched Rogue Nation last week, and I was again bowled over by what a fun, thrilling roller-coaster-ride it was. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has a perfect command of tone, creating a film that is a ridiculously entertaining romp that also has serious physical and emotional stakes for our heroes. The film is gorgeous to look at and extremely well-edited. The action sequences are spectacular. That Tom Cruise hanging-off-an-airplane stunt that opens the film got everyone's attention, and rightly so. The sequence is magnificent. (And once again an example of this Mission: Impossible film out-Bonding Bond, as this opening action sequence — a Bond-movie trademark — is far more memorable than anything in Spectre.) But there are so many other amazing action sequences in the film, from the extraordinary opera fight, to the underwater break-in, to that last big shoot-out-and-chase through the streets of London, and don't forget my favorite: the escalatingly crazy car-and-motorcycle chase in-and-around Morocco. Making great use of the ensemble from the last two M:I films (including Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, and Ving Rhames) … [continued]
Josh Reviews Steve Jobs
Aaron Sorkin, Michael Fassbender, Michael Stuhlbarg, Movie Reviews, Seth Rogen
The film Steve Jobs, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, is divided into three vignettes, each taking place in the moments before Steve Jobs will go on-stage to announce the launch of a new product. The first vignette is in 1984, at the launch of the Macintosh computer. The second is in 1988, after Jobs' ouster from Apple (the company he had co-founded), at Jobs' presentation of the NeXT computer. The third and final vignette is in 1988. Jobs is back at Apple and is about to present the iMac.
Steve Jobs has a very theatrical feeling, with its three-act/three-vignette structure. Though the film is an original screenplay, written by Aaron Sorkin based on Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography of Mr. Jobs, as well as on additional interviews conducted by Mr. Sorkin and the filmmaking team, it feels very much like an adaptation of a play. The tone reminds me very much of some of the films that David Mamet wrote, adapting his own plays, both because of the very stylized dialogue and also because of the theatrical structure. (This is on my mind as I just last week watched Mr. Mamet's 1996 film American Buffalo for the first time, which is an adaptation of Mr. Mamet's stage play of the same name.)
I sort of love this three-act structure here in Steve Jobs. The challenge of biopics is that of condensing a subject's entire life into a two-hour film. Many biopics over-reach, trying to cram in every major life event of the subject, and wind up feeling bloated and, at the same time, very superficial. I tend to prefer the approach taken by films like Steven Spielberg's Lincoln that focus in more narrowly on a specific period in the subject's life. Here in Steve Jobs, Mr. Sorkin has taken a different, and very clever, approach. By dividing the film into three sequences at three different points in Mr. Jobs' life, we are able to get a sense of the over-all ups and downs of his career, while also allowing the film to have a clear focus: on these three momentous events in Mr. Jobs' life and career.
When watching biopics, or any films based on real-life people and/or events, I often find myself judging the film based on its accuracy to the real-life events. I hate it when films twist the truth of real-life people or events in order to make what they think is a more palatable story for a movie. A film like A Beautiful Mind was well-made and well-performed, but it seemed to so clearly gloss over some of the difficult realities of John Nash that I found I had little patience for it. … [continued]
"What Kind of Day Has it Been" — Josh Bids Farewell to The Newsroom
Aaron Sorkin, David Harbour, Olivia Munn, The Newsroom, TV Show Reviews
I have enormous respect for the talent and skill of Aaron Sorkin. He has written the screenplay for some of my very favorite movies (A Few Good Men tops the list, but I also love The Social Network, Charlie Wilson's War, Moneyball, and many others), and he is responsible for two of my very favorite TV shows of all time (Sports Night and The West Wing). His third TV show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, didn't connect with viewers or critics and was cancelled after a single season. When it was announced that Mr. Sorkin was returning to TV with a new show for HBO, this was exciting news. I was eager to see Mr. Sorkin return to form after the failure of Studio 60, and working with HBO seemed like a match made in heaven. (Fewer episodes, high production values, and a reputation for prestige productions. What could possibly go wrong?)
Unfortunately, from the beginning, The Newsroom seemed to repeat many of the mistakes of Studio 60. While both shows featured some wonderful actors and episodes filled with clever Aaron Sorkin-written verbiage, both shows seemed to be missing that special je ne sais qua that made both Sports Night and The West Wing so magically delicious.
It seems to me that The Newsroom had two main faults from the outset. Number one, the shows's central device, of being set several years in the past so that we could see the show's characters report real-life news stories, never really worked. It removed a lot of tension from the show, because we knew how all of these events turned out. It also resulted in the show's having a feeling of smug superiority as we watched these characters do a better job reporting these events than any actual reporters did, often leaping ahead to conclusions far faster than anyone had done at the time. This often felt unrealistic, as the benefit of hindsight allowed Mr. Sorkin to write his characters as being consistently ahead of the curve. While I loved the bold political point Mr. Sorkin made in the season one finale, in which he (through the voice of Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy) accused the Tea Party of being the American Taliban, I often found the show to be a very preachy polemic. (The West Wing was a very liberal show, but I rarely felt that show to be preachy.)
The second, and more serious, problem with The Newsroom was that I really didn't care about any of its characters. When the show began, I was struck by how derivative all of the show's characters and relationships were of the far better, far … [continued]
Josh Reviews The Newsroom Season Two
The two-hour finale of The Newsroom season two, "Election Night" Parts I & II, were in my opinion probably as good as the show has ever been in its two short seasons on HBO (ten episodes in season one, only nine in season two). This is good news and bad, as on the one hand I quite enjoyed these two episodes, while on the other hand I think The Newsroom remains the weakest of all four of Aaron Sorkin's TV shows. (Yes, my feeling right now is that this show is weaker than the much-criticized Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, though I have never re-watched Studio 60′s single season, so I readily admit that perhaps absence has made my heart grow a tad fonder for that show without good reason.)
In The Newsroom season two, Aaron Sorkin took a different approach than he did in season one. While the show continued to be set in and around the real history of 2011 and 2012, allowing the characters to be involved with actual news-stories and political events, this season Mr. Sorkin crafted a season-long story-arc that was focused on a completely fictional event: the news-team's discovery of an operation called Genoa, in which US troops used illegal Sarin gas during an operation in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, as was made immediately clear in a framing sequence right at the start of the season two premiere, the story that News Night (the fictional news show featured on The Newsroom) reported about Genoa wound up being completely false, a huge journalistic screw-up that threatened to end all of our characters' careers.
This story-line was hit and miss for me. On the one hand, I loved the idea of a season-long story-arc. While I enjoyed the device in season one of having the fictional show take place in and around real-life events, by the end of that initial season I was tired of Mr. Sorkin's approach to those events, because usually they were used to make his News Night characters appear smarter thany all of the real-life journalists who reported those events. It seemed a little too much to me. I am all for TV characters being idealized — and that certainly worked perfectly in Mr. Sorkin's greatest TV triumph, The West Wing — but in this case it seemed like all of the characters on The Newsroom were just a little too good, a little too perfect, for the show to be at all realistic. It's easy to criticize the media, looking back two-to-three years late with 20-20 hindsight, and making his characters super-perfect robbed the show, in my opinion, of some of its story-telling strength.
So I was excited by the story-telling … [continued]
Aaron Sorkin, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Billy Crystal, Futurama, Jay Baruchel, Jerry Seinfeld, News Around the Net, Star Trek, Terence Stamp, The X-Files
This is an old clip (it's from 2012), but I just saw it for the first time and loved it: a revival of "Who's on First" with Jimmy Fallon, Billy Crystal, and Jerry Seinfeld!
This made me laugh a LOT. Ladies and gentlemen: Good Will Batman.
This is an interesting article on the production of season two of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, a show I find enjoyable though frustrating. (I was fascinated to learn the reason that season two only ran nine episodes, rather than ten.)
Bill Hunt runs one of my very favorite web-sites out there, The Digital Bits. He recently wrote a phenomenal editorial calling Paramount to task for their terrible treatment of the Star Trek films on DVD/blu-ray, specifically the disappointing blu-ray release of Into Darkness (in which Paramount created all sorts of special features for the movie but, instead of putting them all on the blu-ray, released individual featurettes to different vendors to be exclusive material just for them… making it impossible for Trek fans to get all of this material unless they wanted to go out and buy eight different copies of the blu-ray, each from a different vendor). I agree 100% with everything Mr. Hunt wrote. Well done.
Speaking of Star Trek Into Darkness, Devin Faraci at Badassdigest has written a brilliant evisceration of the film and a disturbing analysis of how co-screenwriter Bob Orci's conspiracy "Truther" theories about 9/11 made it into the film's story-line. The idea that those sorts of nonsensical ideas about 9/11 made it into any big-budget blockbuster would be concerning, and the thought that these notions are a part of a Star Trek film — a series justly known for its progressive, liberal tackling of modern-day issues — is hugely upsetting to me.
This is a terrific interview with the show-runners of the new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. This husband and wife pairing can be overshadowed by Jed's more-famous brother Joss (who is executive-producing the show), but I have loved their work on Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Maurissa KILLS on the musical commentary track!), and even some terrific Terminator comic books they wrote for Dark Horse comics a year or two ago. I have a lot of faith in their talents. I hope all the ingredients come together for this to be a great TV show.
Can this be true? The blu-ray release of Paul Feig's The Heat (click here for my review) features a commentary track by the original MST3K guys?? Well, I am definitely buying that blu-ray now!!
So… the new Robocop is a Cylon??
So…R.I.P. Futurama… again. In honor of the show's recent cancellation … [continued]
The Newsroom Returns For Season Two
Aaron Sorkin, Olivia Munn, The Newsroom, TV Show Reviews
Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom has returned for season two, and I have seen the first two episodes. If you loved season one, I think you will love season two. And if you hated season one, I think you will hate season two. Because not much has changed.
For me, I find myself caught in the middle. There is quite a lot to appreciate about The Newsroom. The production values of the show are tremendous — the series looks absolutely gorgeous — and each episode is replete with phenomenal Aaron Sorkin banter and bon mot that is so unique and so unlike any other dialogue you will find on TV.
At yet the show also remains frustrating, in that — shocking for an Aaron Sorkin TV show — I find myself staggeringly unattached to, and almost actively disinterested in, any of the main characters on screen. After his wonderful dialogue, I have found one of Mr. Sorkin's greatest skills to be the way he is able to combine the main topic of his show (politics, sports, television production, etc.) with screwball comedy and romantic story lines, in which many of his main characters find themselves caught longing to be with the person they are not with. This has been a key aspect of audience engagement with Mr. Sorkin's shows, I think, as we have rooted for Casey (Peter Krause) and Dana (Felicity Huffman) to get together, and for Josh & Donna and Charlie & Zoey and Sam Seaborn & Mallory and Toby & Andrea and C.J. & Danny and even for Matt (Matthew Perry) and Harriet (Sarah Paulson).
But I don't particularly like or root for any of the characters on The Newsroom. Well, that's a little harsh. I do quite enjoy the character of Will McAvoy. I think Jeff Daniels is dynamite as the show's lead. He is able to make Will endearing even though the character often behaves like a prick (or, as MacKenzie colorfully describes him in episode two of season two, "a douchebag"). But I am not all that taken with the low-boil romantic tension between Will and MacKenzie, and I am painfully bored by the Jim and Maggie (Allison Pill) storyline.
In the first episode of season two, when we see the two of them stealing longing looks at one another while seated at their desks across their crowded workspace, my wife turned to me and said "It's just like The Office!" Except that Jim Harper is no Jim Halpert. And Maggie Jordan is definitely no Pam Beesly. One of my favorite moments in episode two of season two was when Maggie's former best friend Lisa absolutely eviscerates Maggie for her terrible behavior. It's a satisfying … [continued]
Sneak Peek at Aaron Sorkin's Return to TV!
Check out the first substantial trailer for Aaron Sorkin's new HBO show, The Newsroom:
Yes, it looks just like Sports Night crossed with Studio 60 crossed with The West Wing. In other words, a little familiar. But I don't care, I am pumped. Can't wait.… [continued]
The Top 10 Movies of 2010 — Part Two!
Aaron Sorkin, Best of 2010 lists, Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, Edgar Wright, Pixar
Yesterday I began my list of my Top 10 Movies from 2010. Here now are numbers 5-1!
5. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work — This documentary totally took me by surprise and completely changed the way I look at Joan Rivers. As the cameras follow Ms. Rivers for a year of her life, we see the struggles of this aging comedienne who wants, above all else, to keep working, working, working. The film gives one ample opportunities to analyze just why Ms. Rivers is so intent on remaining in the public eye, whether that be by doing stand-up in clubs, hawking merchandise on the Home Shopping Network, or appearing on Celebrity Apprentice. But whatever one's conclusions, positive or negative, I found it impossible not to be astounded by this woman's endurance and stamina. The film is well-crafted, and presents what I felt was an extraordinarily well-rounded picture of this iconic and polarizing figure. (Click here for my full review.)
4. Toy Story 3 — One of these days the folks at Pixar are going to make a bad movie (I'm afraid it might be Cars 2, but we'll see…) but for now I can only relish in their unparalleled recent win-streak of amazing films: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, and now Toy Story 3. This movie is simply deliriously entertaining. It's incredibly funny and also extraordinarily poignant. While the ending certainly isn't tragic, I nevertheless found it to be devastatingly sad. It's a wonderfully emotional climax to the story of Woody, Buzz and the gang, and pretty much every note is exactly perfect. The voice cast is stupendous, and the animation is absolutely beautiful (as are the 3-D effects). Pixar, my hat is off to you. (Click here for my full review.)
3. Black Swan — I've been an admirer of Darren Aronofsky's work for a while now, but this film made me a fan for life. I couldn't believe I'd ever go see a film about wrestling, let alone love a film about wrestling as much as I did Mr. Aronofsky's last film, The Wrestler (click here for my review). And I DOUBLY wouldn't have believed I'd ever go see a film about ballet dancers, let alone have been as head-over-heels in love with one as I am with Black Swan. The film is magnificent. Natalie Portman dazzles in the lead role of Nina Sayers, the young dancer cast in the lead role of Swan Lake, who just might be losing her mind as she struggles to take her dancing to the next level. The film is viscerally intense, with an escalating what-is-going-to-happen-NEXT mania that builds to a … [continued]
Josh Reviews The Social Network
Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, Jesse Eisenberg, Movie Reviews, Rashida Jones
It's hard for me to a recall another film that has so bravely allowed its lead character to come off as so completely unlikable. In The Social Network's power-house of a first scene, Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is clearly presented to us as a Grade-A, prime-cut jackass. It's a hell of a way to start a movie!
As you are all probably aware, this arrogant Harvard undergrad is the man who will go on to become the billionaire creator of Facebook. Based on Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaire, The Social Network follows Mark from his days at Harvard through the world-wide explosion of Facebook and the eventual lawsuits brought against him by several former Harvard classmates, including the young man who had once been his closest friend.
There has been some questioning of the accuracy of The Social Network, but screenwriter Aaron Sorkin defends the film. He told Entertainment Weekly: "If we know what brand of beer Mark was drinking on a Tuesday night in October seven years ago when there were only three other people in the room, it should tell you something about how close our research sources were to the subject and to the events." Producer Scott Rudin makes similar statements: "You can't make untrue statements about someone without running the risk of getting sued. Look around and notice that nobody has sued us."
While of course I myself have no idea about whether events truly unfolded the way they are depicted in The Social Network, I can say that the film FEELS real to me. All of the characters in the film — including Mark Zuckerberg — are depicted in a three-dimensional way. There aren't easy heroes and villains in the film — most of the characters seem likable and unlikable at different points in the narrative, just as real human beings are. (This, to me, is in contrast to a film like A Beautiful Mind, in which it seemed so clear to me as a viewer that the filmmakers had shaved away any unlikable aspects to John Nash in order to create a more heroic lead for the film.)
But knowing that the parties involved strongly dispute just what went down over the course of the creation of Facebook, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin cleverly decided to embrace that ambiguity with the film's structure. As we watch events unfold chronologically, the film regularly cuts forward in time to the depositions in the two lawsuits eventually brought against Zuckerberg. In those scenes, we see the participants debate and argue about the moments that we, the viewers, just saw occur. This is a really smart way to allow the film … [continued]
From The DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews A Few Good Men (1992)
Aaron Sorkin, DVD Reviews, Jack Nicholson, Movie Reviews, Rob Reiner, Tom Cruise
A Few Good Men is one of those movies that I saw countless times in the nineties, to the point that I knew the film so well that it bored me. But then I stopped watching it, and when I decided to pop the film into my DVD player earlier this month, it had been many years since I'd last seen it.
While there are a few moments that haven't aged well, overall I found A Few Good Men to still be a powerhouse of a film – just phenomenally entertaining.
This film is part of Rob Reiner's astounding run of films – This is Spinal Tap (1984), The Sure Thing (1985), Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989). Has any other director had such a run of such phenomenal films, one after another? And what's really astounding is how different they all are from one another – different genres, different styles. It's unbelievable how good all of those films are (and how well they all hold up to this day).
Take a director at the top of his game, and mix him with a screenplay by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin (adapting his own play), and you have a recipe for an amazing film. As with much of the work of Mr. Reiner and Mr. Sorkin, the story has a strong dramatic core – but it is also filled with a lot of humor.
It's fun to watch this movie now and to see just how young Tom Cruise and Demi Moore are in this film. Cruise is just great – you can see his star-power shining through, bright and strong, in his protrayal of hot-shot young lawyer Daniel Kaffee. Moore is a little flatter, but still does well in the role of the stiff Lt. Cdr. Joe Galloway. I think this is one of her best performances. I feel the same way about Kevin Bacon. I tend to think that he's a much better actor than Demi Moore, and there are certainly plenty of other films in which I've really enjoyed his performance. But still, I would argue that his role in A Few Good Men is one of his very best. I love the way he plays his relationship with Cruise's Kaffee. There's deep friendship, but also some rivalry and antagonism, between the two young men. In the hands of less-skilled actors, the relationship could have so easily tipped over to one side or the other – but Cruise and Bacon walk that fine line perfectly. I find their characters' interplay to be endlessly fascinating, and one of the secret treasures of this film.
The great Kevin Pollack is amazing, as he … [continued]
Aaron Sorkin, Peter Jackson, Planet of the Apes, Predator, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, X-Men
So is Peter Jackson going to direct The Hobbit? Or will it be his protege Neill Bolmkamp, who directed District 9? Who knows — I just hope this mess with MGM gets sorted out soon. I'm still getting over my enormous disappointment that MGM's financial situation resulted in Guillermo del Toro's departure from The Hobbit films. But boy would it be great to see PJ take the helm once again…
Great new trailer is up for The Social Network, the new film about facebook directed by David Fincher and scripted by Aaron Sorkin.
So, we finally got out first glimpse at The Green Hornet and… I'm still not quite sure what to think. This film is either going to be awesome or a total catastrophe…
This is a cool poster.
CHUD's list of the Worst CGI in Film History continues, and it's well worth your time.
Will we ever get another decent X-Men film? I loved X-Men and X2, but X3 was a crushing disappointment and the less spoken of the abominable X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the better. I hate prequels, as a rule, so when word came out last year that the next X-film would be a prequel entitled X-Men: First Class, I thought that was a big mis-step. So what now gives me hope? Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass) and stars James McAvoy (Children of Dune, Atonement, Wanter) as Professor X and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as Magneto. An ember of hope is fanned…
Are we about to finally get another decent Predator film? The first Predator is awesome — one on my favorite movies ever. But the second one (set in the future with Danny Glover as the lead) is weak, and the less spoken of the two Alien Vs. Predator films the better. But Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal's Predators is set for release in just a few short weeks, and damn if this new trailer isn't pretty awesome. An ember of hope is fanned…
It's hard for me to believe that a new Planet of the Apes film is really happening. And now I read that John Lithgow and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) have joined the cast? Um, okay… An ember of hope is… well… we'll see…… [continued]


I commissioned 11y on deviantART back in 2017 and have had little to no updates in the two years. At first, I didn't really check up on them, letting them have the space they needed to handle the commission. After about After nearly three weeks with no updates, I asked if I could change the character for the commission if they haven't started - they said it was fine and I linked the new character. Around a month (November now) later and I asked if they had forgotten about my commission since I was in their waiting queue for what was a little more than I was used to originally, and they never responded. I believe I changed accounts since then, and didn't think to update them about it.
ufs/ufo designs . aIiendays, heywyd, hollow-princeI do have preference for money as of right now (needing to pay things off) however other offers are accepted!!
Note, I'm willing to haggle these prices, do split payments, etc.


Reutter School will be hosting a variety of events during the evening of March 2. From 4:30 PM—6:30 PM, please come out to support the Reutter School PTO during our Annual McDonald's Fundraiser. Myself, Mrs. Gereaghty, and several teachers will be serving from behind the counter at the Malaga McDonald's. Proceeds from the event will be used to help fund the school's positive academic/behavior recognition program (All-Stars). Later on in the evening, we will have a special presentation on the use of Google Classroom and Google Apps for parents. The presentation will begin at 6:30 PM in the Reutter School cafeteria. Please come out in order to learn about these applications that your children are utilizing during classes on a daily basis. Immediately following the Google presentation, there will be a Reutter School PTO meeting.
Reutter School will also be celebrating Read Across America during the week of February 29 – March 4. The Accelerated Reader Committee has developed a spirit-week to promote the love of reading during this week. Details regarding the Read Across America activities are listed in this month's school newsletter.
I look forward to seeing you during our events on Wednesday, March 2.


text:
NVIDIA Announces Upcoming Event for Financial Community
January 02, 2020, 22:11 GMT
/EIN News/ -- SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NVIDIA will present at the following event for the financial community:
J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference
Thursday, Jan. 16, at 8 a.m. Pacific time
Interested parties can listen to the live audio webcast of NVIDIA's presentation at this event, available on the NVIDIA website at investor.nvidia.com. Replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days afterward.
NVIDIA's (NASDAQ: NVDA) invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing — with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world. More information at http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/.
Simona Jankowski Robert Sherbin
Investor Relations Corporate Communications
NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Corporation
sjankowski@nvidia.com rsherbin@nvidia.com
© 2020 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.
Distribution channels: Culture, Society & Lifestyle, Technology

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Put Our Men to Work
Most politicians wish to rise up the ranks and ascend to the highest office possible.
In theory, the pol who has aspirations for mayor might start in the state legislature, move to a city council district seat, then get elected to an at-large city council seat. The pol would then finally have the name recognition and experience to run for mayor. In the meantime the pol should offer meaningful or transformative legislation which moves the city forward.
'Political leadership' means risking not getting re-elected – or not being politically promoted – in order to promote the common good. Political leadership means doing what is best for the city despite the latest fad concept. Only a few of the greatest leaders in recent history have risked so much. If Mayor Moon Landrieu had paid attention to the conventional wisdom, New Orleans would have taken years longer to integrate city government at the highest levels. If Mayor Dutch Morial had been persuaded by prevalent thinking, New Orleans would not enjoy the largest, single economic engine in the city's history, the convention center, and would not be the international visitors' center it is today.
Right now, New Orleans suffers from a dearth in real leadership. The notion that we need our elected officials to work together has morphed into a bastardized backroom form of governance that has resulted in little to no progress for the city. We see backroom-planned legislation that does nothing to fix the major problems facing the city. The most significant legislation of the previous city council was introduced by City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell: the smoke-free ordinance, which passed, to much fanfare. And while a smoke-free New Orleans is a noble advancement, there are other, much more important matters that have seen no effort and little mention. Our new council must transform this city.
The biggest problem New Orleans faces is a lack of economic opportunity for African American men. This jobs privation is the driving force behind crime, blight, city budget shortfalls and failing schools. And far too many of those 53 percent of black men who actually have jobs are locked in an economy that is tourism-based, providing mainly-menial jobs. The 47 percent unemployment rate among African American men is not only beyond recession levels but has created a permanent underclass that perpetuates a vicious cycle of poverty. If the council creates jobs for black men, we can expect a 60 percent reduction in violent crime, an 80 percent reduction in blight, increased city tax revenue by the millions and New Orleans becoming a model urban center for the world. But to achieve this, we need leadership from our new council members.
The last city council was aspirational rather than progressive. When politicians act in politically motivated ways, we are left the Louisiana mess. Historically, we citizens suffer when Louisiana politicians seek higher office. Remember when former Gov. Bobby Jindal resorted to bleaching his skin in an effort to attract more voters and guided the state on the political expediency du jure? Common Core great. Common Core communist plot. Tax revenues shrinking – cut taxes. The state was forced to make drastic budget cuts because the governor led with an eye on the Presidency instead of for the good of Louisiana. And New Orleans suffered similarly during Mitch Landrieu's tenure. Governing with an eye on the presidency, Landrieu pushed creative but regressive revenue producing schemes like traffic cameras and aggressive parking enforcement tactics that only balanced the budget on the backs of poor citizens. Instead of support, the citizens got fines and fees. Crime and poverty increased significantly under the Landrieu administration.
For too long the problems of the now-entrenched black male underclass in New Orleans is a permanent anchor on the city's budget. Progressive legislation from this city council can change that. Instead of governing with an eye on the mayor's seat or a promotion to the clerk's office, we need meaningful jobs creation legislation and investment in the city. HOTELS IN NEW ORLEANS ARE THE MOST PROFITABLE IN THE WORLD!! High rates and occupancy coupled with low wages create extreme profit for corporations that send these profits out of state. Yet in New Orleans, there are 65,000 families that earn less than $17,500 for full-time work. The city council should introduce legislation seeking approval from the state legislature to change state law and allow the NOLA City Council to raise the minimum wage in this city for all major employers!
Why not create a jobs program funded by the tax increases from the hotel taxes, which would hire black men to fix the crumbling infrastructure? Invest $4 million of CDBG blight reduction money into a training and hiring program for black men from New Orleans to repair houses and eliminate blight. An improved water delivery system that saves millions and the elimination of blight would be just two immediate byproducts of such a training and hiring program.
Our most recent session in the state legislature is an example of what strong legislators can accomplish. In fact, the last legislative session was the best performance by New Orleans area legislators in modern history. Led by J.P. Morrell, Dr. Joe Bouie, our local delegation produced life changing legislation. They held the line on taxes, curbed NOLA gentrification and helped remove racist non-unanimous jury laws from the books. Our state is significantly changed and a better place to live because of their great work. Our new city council must do the same!
Instead of meaningful and transformative legislation, personal ambition has relegated laws offered by the city council to the mundane and the popular. Change requires courage, vision and leadership. Putting African American men to work in New Orleans is good governance that makes sense for all of us. Increased revenues, lower costs and reductions in crime and blight are just some of the bounties from meaningful legislation at City Hall. Remarkably, governing for these outcomes will generate the benefits of ascendency to higher office seemingly lusted for by some current legislators. Regardless, whatever the costs are to invest in African American men is it's certainly cheaper than the status quo.


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About Legal India
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/ Judgements / Shri B.S. Rajesh vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Anr. on 7 September, 1999
Shri B.S. Rajesh vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Anr. on 7 September, 1999
September 7, 1999 / October 8, 2016 by Legal India Admin | Leave a comment
Central Administrative Tribunal – Delhi
Bench: D B Vice, S A N.
D.N. Baruah, Vice Chairman (J.)
1. The applicant in this O.A. has challenged the Annexure A-5 order dated 18.8.1992 dismissing the applicant from service with immediate effect and prayed that the said order be quashed and set aside. The applicant further seeks direction to the respondents to reinstate him in service giving him all the consequential benefits.
2. Short facts are:
The applicant joined service as Tracer under the Government of India, Ministry of Defence in the month of November, 1975. He was thereafter promoted to Draftsman in the year 1983 and further promoted to Senior Draftsman in the year 1986. Since then he had been discharging his duties as such till he was dismissed from service by Annexure A-5 order.
3. On the basis of a criminal case, the applicant was placed under suspension by Annexure A-1 order dated 25.10.1990. He submitted a representation on 9.6.1992 praying for revocation of the order of suspension. There was no reply to the said representation. The applicant, thereafter, submitted Annexure A-3 representation dated 20.7.1992 stating his grievance and prayed for revocation of the suspension order.
4. On the basis of a First Information Report (FIR for short), lodged in connection with certain espionage matter, a criminal case was instituted. However, the name of the applicant did not appear in the said FIR. Certain persons were arrested. The applicant was, however, not arrested in connection with the said case. No challan was also issued by any Court. In the said criminal case, some persons were chargesheeted and they were facing trial in the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, New Delhi. The applicant was expecting a reply to his representation with a hope that his suspension order would be revoked and he would be reinstated. The applicant was, however, served with Annexure A-5 order dated 18.8.1992, dismissing him from service. The Annexure A-5 order dated 18.8.1992 also indicates that he would not be entitled to any pensionary benefits. Even after availing of all the remedies available to him, as nothing was done in his favour, he approached this Tribunal by filing the present application.
5. The first respondent Nos. 1 and 2 have filed counter disputing the averments made in the O.A. In the O.A. the applicant contends that he was dismissed from service without there being any ground whatsoever. Before passing the impugned order there was no satisfaction of the President as contemplated under the law. The satisfaction referred to in the impugned order was only a purported satisfaction without there being any material in this connection. Regular enquiry was dispensed with on the ground that it would not be expedient to hold enquiry in the interest of the security of the State. The applicant states that there was no material whatsoever for satisfaction of the President to come to that conclusion. He further
contends that none of the conditions for invoking the provisions of Rule 19(iii) of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 was available before taking the decision for dispensing with the enquiry.
6. The respondents in their counter have stated that there was no cause of action for the applicant to approach this Tribunal. The applicant was engaged in espionage activities. He passed information/documents for spying activities of the Pakistan High Commission Office. The further contention of the respondents is that the order of dismissal passed by the President in exercise of the powers under Article 310 of the Constitution read with Rule 19(iii) of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 are unquestionable.
7. Rejoinder has also been filed by the applicant. In the rejoinder he contends that there was no material whatsoever before the Disciplinary Authority for exercising of power of summary dismissal. The respondents further contend that the applicant made confessional statements which are valid and legal.
8. We heard both sides. Mr. P.P. Khurana, learned counsel for the applicant, submitted
before us that the impugned order could not be sustained in exercise of the power under
Article 310 of the Constitution. According to him Article 310 deals with the doctrine of
pleasure. The President may only in an appropriate case withhold the pleasure if the materials
available before the President so justifies. The dismissal was not contemplated under the said
Article. The Dismissal removal or reduction of rank are some of the major penalties
contemplated under Article 311 of the Constitution. The impugned order was passed de hors
the provisions under Article 311 of the Constitution. Therefore, the order of dismissal under
the provisions of Article 310 was bad in law and cannot sustain. His second submission was
that the provisions of CCS (CCA) Rules was not applicable to the civilians in the Defence
Department like that of the applicant in view of the various judicial pronouncements. His
third submission is that there was no material before the President for his satisfaction that in
the security of the State it was not practicable to hold an enquiry. The alleged confessional
statements extracted from the applicant were before the Police Officer and such confessions
had no force. Lastly, Mr. Khurana submitted that the impugned order was not in accordance
with the provisions of the Constitution and the Rules made thereunder.
9. Mr. H.K. Gangwani, learned counsel for the respondents, disputed the submissions of Mr. Khurana. According to him the applicant was engaged in espionage activities as referred to the O.M. dated 27.7.1980 and as amended by O.M. dated 1.8.1986 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The applicant's case was referred to the DOP&T for placing before the Committee of Advisers comprising of the Secretary, Ministry of Home, Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, Secretary, Ministry of Personnel and Training, Director; IB and Secretary, Administrative Ministry for their consideration. The committee after due consideration recommended that the applicant might be dismissed from service. This was thereafter placed before the Defence Minister and the Defence Minister approved the recommendations. Ultimately, it was placed before the Prime Minister who approved the order of dismissal of the employees including the applicant for espionage activities. Thereafter the impugned order was passed by the President in exercise of power under Article 310(1) of the Constitution. The order of dismissal was authenticated by the Under Secretary (Defence) on behalf of the President. The impugned order passed on behalf of the President was in accordance with the Transaction of Business Rules, 1961. There was no infirmity in this. Mr. Gangwani further submitted that a Bench of this Tribunal had already dealt with the case of other employees in connection with the aforesaid case in O.A. No. 3223/92, Shri N. Srinivasan and O.A. No. 3278/92, Shri D.D. Ojha. The Tribunal did not interfere in those cases. As the applicant was a civilian employee in the Defence Ministry and he was paid from
the Defence Estimates and not from the Civil Estimates the provisions of Article 311 would not be applicable. Hence the impugned order was passed in exercise of the powers under Article 310(1) of the Constitution. Mr. Gangwani disputed the submissions of Mr. Khurana that the provisions of CCS (CCA) Rules would not apply to the applicant's case. The learned counsel further submitted that all the civilian posts under the Government were held at the pleasure of the President. There was, however, certain restrictions.
10. On the rival contention the learned counsel for the parties, the following questions fall for determination:
(I) Whether in the present facts and circumstances of the case the impugned order dismissing the applicant from service could be passed invoking the provisions of Article 310 of the Constitution.
(II) Whether the provisions of CCS (CCA) Rules was applicable to the civilians in the Defence Department like that of the applicant.
(III) Whether the impugned order was issued in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the rules made thereunder.
(IV) Whether there are materials for satisfaction of the Authority to arrive at the conclusion that in the interest of the security of the State it was not practicable to hold any enquiry.
Point No. I:
11. The pleasure doctrine has been incorporated under Article 310 (1). Unlike in the U.K., in India the pleasure doctrine is not subject to any law made by the Parliament, but is subject to what is expressly provided by the Constitution. This doctrine relates to the tenure of a Government servant. During the British Rule, under Section 96(B) of the Government of India Act, 1919, civil servants used to hold office during the pleasure of the Crown. The said Section 96 in addition to dealing with the tenure of civil servants also dealt with a matter relating to their recruitment, conditions of service, pay and allowances and pension. The note to Section 240 of the Government of India Act, 1935 however, refers to "Tenure of office of persons employed in civil capacities in India." A marginal note of Article 310 of the Constitution also refers to tenure and states, "the tenure of officers serving in the Union and State." Accordingly the tenure of the Government servant under Article 310(1) is subject to the pleasure of the President or the Governor of the State except as expressly provided by the Constitution. Therefore, the pleasure doctrine as enunciated under Article 310(1) is not unfettered. It is restricted to what is expressly provide by the Constitution. It was argued that this doctrine was a relic of the feudal age and a part of the special prerogative of the Crown, which was imposed upon India by an imperial power and thus is an anachronism in this democratic, socialist age, and therefore, it must be confined within the narrowest limits. However, this argument was countered by saying that this doctrine was a matter of public policy and it was in public interest and for public good that the right to dismiss at pleasure a government servant who had made himself unfit to continue in office. However, certain safeguards should exist and be exercisable in the constitutional sense by the Crown in England and by the President or the Governor of a State in India. The arguments for abandoning this doctrine were found to be unacceptable.
The position in India that the pleasure doctrine was passed on public policy had been accepted by the Apex Court in State of U. P. v. Babu Ram Upadhya, (1961) 2 SCR 679, 696, and Moti Ram Deka v. General Manager, N.F. Railway, (1964) 5 SCR 683. In a welfare State
1ike that of ours, the policies and statutes are intended to bring about socio-economic reforms and the uplift of the poor and disadvantaged classes. From the nature of things the task of efficiently and effectively implementing these policies and enactments, however, rests with the civil services. The public is vitally interested in the efficiency and integrity of such services. So unwanted, inefficient, corrupt civil servants becomes a burden to the State and in such cases the pleasure doctrine has to be applied. But, then for a government servant to discharge his duties faithfully be must have feeling of security of tenure. Therefore, under our Constitution, this provided by the Acts and Rules made under Article 309 and also by safeguards in respect of punishment, removal and reduction of rank as provided in Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 311. It is, however, as much in public interest and for public good government servants who are inefficient, dishonest and corrupt and become a security risk should not be allowed to continue in service and that the protection afforded to them by Acts and Rules made under Article 309 and by Article 311 may not be abused by them to the detriment of public interest and public good.
From reading of Article 309, 310(1) and 311(1) it is abundantly clear that the pleasure doctrine as contemplated under Article 310 can be exercised with restrictions that are imposed under Article 311(1) and (2) of the Constitution. Article 310 begins with the expression, "except as expressly provided by this Constitution."
The livelihood of an individual is a matter of great concern to him and his family but his livelihood is a matter of his private interest and where such livelihood is provided by the public exchequer and the taking away of such livelihood is in the public interest and for public good, the former must yield to the latter. These consequences follow not because the pleasure doctrine is a special prerogative of the British Crown, but because public policy requires, public interest needs and public good demands that there should be such a doctrine [See Union of India and Anr. v. Tulsiram Patel, (1985) 3 SCC 398=1985(2) SLJ 145 (SC)]. Article 310 (1) begins with the expression "except as expressly provided by the Constitution," meaning the pleasure doctrine is envisaged under Article 310 subject to any provision provided in the Constitution. Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 311 put restrictions in invoking the pleasure doctrine of the President or the Governor as the case may be. The provisions contained in Article 311 (1) and (2) are express provisions as with respect to termination of service by dismissal or removal as also with respect to reduction in rank of a civil servant and thus come within the ambit of the expression "Except as expressly provided by the Constitution" qualifying Article 310(1). Article 311 is thus an exception to Article 310 and was described in Parshottam Lal Dhingra v. Union of India, AIR 1958 SC 36, as operating as a proviso to Article 310(1) though set out in a separate article. Article 309 is, however, not such an exception as it does not lay down any express provision which would derogate from the amplitude of the exercise of pleasure under Article 310(1). Article 309 only confers power to the Legislature or the Executive to make laws and frame rules but the said power is made subject to the provisions of the Constitution. Thus, Article 309 is subject to Article 310(1) and any provision restricting the exercise of the pleasure of the President or Governor in an Act or rule made or framed under Article 309 hot being an express provision of the Constitution, cannot fall within the expression "Except as expressly provided by this Constitution."
Reading of these Articles will abundantly make clear that the President or Governor may exercise the pleasure doctrine subject to the restrictions imposed in the Constitution. In the absence of any restrictions the pleasure doctrine of the President or the Governor becomes unfettered.
In Union of India and Anr. v. K.S. Subramanian, 1989 Supp (1) SCC 331, the Supreme Court observed as follows:
"….. Article 311 (2) thus imposes a fetter on the power of the President or the Governor to determine the tenure of a civil servant by the exercise of pleasure. Tulsiram case was concerned with the exclusion of Article 311 (2) by reason of second proviso thereunder. We are also concerned with the exclusion of Article 311(2), if not by second proviso but by the nature of post held by the respondent….."
In the said case, the Supreme Court further observed that the employee occupied the post drawing his salary from the Defence Estimates, and therefore, would not be entitled to get protection under Article 311 (2). The exclusionary effect of Article 311 (2) deprived him the protection which he is otherwise entitled to. The Supreme Court in the said case further observed that in such cases there would be no fetter in the exercise of the pleasure of the President or the Governor. So, the restrictions imposed under Article 311 (2) any employee not entitled to get the protection under Article 311 (2) will be exposed to the pleasure of the President or Governor without any fetter and in such cases he President can use the pleasure doctrine without any restriction.
In the instant case, it is admitted fact that the employee was a civilian employee drawing his salary from the Defence Estimates. Therefore, Article 311 was of no application. In that event the President can pass order terminating the service without any fetter. Therefore, we find sufficient force on the submission of the learned cdunsel for the respondents that the President could pass the Annexure A-5 order dated 18.8.1992 invoking the power under Article 310(1). Even if the CCS (CCA) Rules are not applicable, as submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant, it would not effect the President's power under Article 311.
In view of the above we answer Point No. I in the affirmative and in favour of the respondents.
Point No. II
12. This point does not require much time to come to the conclusion. In view of the decision in K.S. Subramanian's case (supra), Article 311 is not applicable. In para 5 of the said judgment, the Supreme Court observed that acivilian employee in Defence Service who is paid salary out of the estimates of the Military of Defence does not enjoy the protection of Article 311 (2). Again, in L.R. Khurana v. Unionoflndia, (1971) 1 SCC 780, the Supreme Court observed as follows:
"The question whether the case of the appellant was governed by Article 311 of the Constitution stands concluded by two decisions of this Court. In Jagatrai Mahinchand Ajwani v. Union of India, it was held that an Engineer in the Military Service who was drawing his salary from the Defence Estimates could not claim the protection of Article 311(2) of the Constitution. In that case also the appellant was found to have held a post connected with Defence as in the present case. This decision was followed in S.P. Behl v. Union of India. Both these decisions fully cover the case of the applicant so far as the applicability of Article 311 is concerned".
In K.S. Subramanian's case, the High Court proceeded with the matter as if the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 were applisable. However, in para 11 of the judgment, the Apex Court observed as follows :
"…..The 1965 Rules among others, provide procedure for imposing the three major penalties that are set out under Article 311 (2). When Article 311 (2) itself stands excluded and the protection thereunder is withdrawn there is little that one could do under the 1965 Rules in favour of the respondent. The said Rules can not independently play any part since the rule making power under Article 309 is subject to Article 311. This would be the legal and logical conclusion."
In view of the decisions quoted above, the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 would not be applicable in the present case. It that is so, the non-application of the CCS (CCA) Rules will not curtail the power of Article 310(1).
Accordingly, this point is answered in favour of the respondents. Point No. III
13. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted before us that the impugned order was not passed in compliance with the Transaction of Business Rules, 1961. The President's signature was not obtained in the present case. In reply, Mr. Gangwani placed before us the details of the procedure adopted before passing of the impugned order. The order was passed in the name of the President and was authenticated by the Under Secretary, Ministry of Defence. We do not find any infirmity in the procedure adopted. The President or Governor acts on the aid and advice of the council of Ministers in executive action and is not required by the Constitution to act personally without the aid and advice of the council of Ministers. On looking to the papers and on hearing the learned counsel for the parties we do not find any infirmity in the order. Assuming there are some irregularities in compliance with the rules it would not make the impugned order invalid in view of the fact that the rules made under Article 77 are only directory in nature.
Accordingly this point is answered in the affirmative and in favour of the respondents. Point No. IV
14. The learned counsel for the applicant very strenuously argued before us that there was no material for passing the impugned order by adopting a summary procedure. The materials were placed before us. Mr. Gangwani had also placed before us certain records. We do not feel that the impugned order was passed without any material. Besides, if Article 310 is unfettered as observed earlier the President may come to the conclusion on the materials before it. Considering the entire facts and circumstances of the case we do not agree with the learned counsel for the applicant that the impugned order was passed without any material.
Therefore, this point is also answered in the affirmative and in favour of the respondents.
15. In view of our discussions made hereinbefore, we find no merit in the application. Besides, Mr. Gangwani submitted before us that in two other original applications this Tribunal refused to interfere with the order of dismissal passed by the authority. We do not find any ground to disagree with the earlier decisions of the Tribunal,
16. Accordingly the application is dismissed. No order as to costs.
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text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{section:introduction}
Motion planning is a fundamental challenge for robotic systems that must execute complex tasks.
It is possible for motion planning methods to produce trajectories requiring large joint velocities in response to small changes in task space constraints, particularly when na\"{i}ve sampling-based initialization is used.
The goal of singularity avoidance (see below) in motion planning is to generate trajectories avoiding such configurations, known as \textit{singularities}. The arm trajectory shown on the left side of Fig.\ \ref{fig:IRL} is an example in which the configuration is initially (and throughout the motion) nearly singular, with the arm fully extended. On the right side of Fig.\ \ref{fig:IRL} is a trajectory that results in the same final 3D position of the end effector in task space, but that avoids these near-singular configurations throughout.

A configuration's proximity to a singularity can be inferred using the manipulability ellipsoid \cite{sciavicco2012modelling}, which gives a measure of the robot's capacity to perform task space motions.
The manipulability measure introduced by Yoshikawa in \cite{yoshikawa1985manipulability} is proportional to this ellipsoid's volume and has previously been used for singularity avoidance in motion planning.
Velocity-level redundancy resolution \cite{chiaverini1997singularity}, search \cite{guilamo2006manipulability}, and optimization \cite{dufour2017integrating} methods have all been used to maximize the manipulability measure of a single configuration.
In this paper we propose a novel method that considers singularity avoidance as an optimization problem over a continuous trajectory representation.

\begin{figure}
	\vspace{0.7\baselineskip}
	\centering
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.49\columnwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/thingManipulability_1-5}
	\end{subfigure}
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.49\columnwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/thingManipulability_1o-6o}
	\end{subfigure}
	\vspace{2mm}
	\caption{Comparison of two solutions for reaching a 3D point (position) goal from a given near-singular starting configuration (caused by fully extending the arm).
	The left image shows a solution based purely on inverse kinematics, which maintains low manipulability throughout.
	The image on the right shows a trajectory generated by our method, which attempts to avoid excessive arm extension.}
	\label{fig:IRL}
\end{figure}

By choosing to represent the robot's trajectory as a sample from a continuous-time Gaussian process \cite{barfoot2014batch}, the above singularity avoidance problem can be formulated as probabilistic inference; a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator can be used to find a solution that is, locally, relatively far from singular regions \cite{gpmp-ijrr}.
By formulating this problem as inference on a factor graph \cite{dong2016motion}, we can interpolate over the trajectory to provide additional gradient information.
Further, replanning on a factor graph \cite{dong2016motion} can be performed in a very efficient manner using the Smoothing and Mapping (SAM) family of algorithms \cite{dellaert2006square}.
This results in a smooth trajectory which maintains high manipulability.
Moreover, the resulting trajectory can be queried at any point, allowing us to monitor the robot's manipulability throughout.
We make the following contributions herein:
\begin{enumerate}[(i)]
\itemsep4pt
	\item we formulate the problem of singularity avoidance using a continuous-time Gaussian process trajectory representation,
	\item we define the likelihood of a given configuration \emph{not} being singular using a known manipulability measure,
	maximizing this measure over the entire trajectory using a MAP estimator, and
	\item we demonstrate that the likelihood gradient information from interpolated states can be used to further improve the resulting trajectories.
\end{enumerate}

\section{Singularity avoidance}
\label{section:singularities}
Consider a joint configuration $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$ as the state of a trajectory $\boldsymbol{\theta}$ at time $\tau_i$.
The kinematic relationship between configuration and task space velocities at $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$ for an n-DOF robot is defined as
\vspace{-3mm}
\begin{align}
\label{eq:jacobian}
\dot{\mathbf{x}} = \mathbf{J}\left(\boldsymbol{\theta}_i\right)\boldsymbol{\omega} ,
\end{align}
where $\mathbf{J}\left( \boldsymbol{\theta}_i\right) \in \mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$ is the robot Jacobian matrix at $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$, while $\boldsymbol{\omega} \in \mathbb{R}^{n}$ and $\dot{\textbf{x}} \in \mathbb{R}^{m}$ are the configuration and task space velocities at $\tau_i$, respectively.
Now, consider an $n$-dimensional ellipsoid in the space of unit joint velocities $\|\boldsymbol{\omega}\|^2 = 1$; we can define the mapping to the Cartesian (task) velocity space as
\begin{align}\label{eq:ellipsoid}
\|\boldsymbol{\omega}\|^2 = \dot{\mathbf{x}}^T\left(\mathbf{J}\mathbf{J}^T\right)^{-1}\dot{\mathbf{x}}.
\end{align}
From Eq.\ \eqref{eq:ellipsoid}, we see that the scaling of joint velocities to the task space depends on the conditioning of the positive semi-definite matrix $\mathbf{J}\mathbf{J}^T$.
Configurations that result in the matrix $\mathbf{J}\mathbf{J}^T$ being non-invertible are termed \textit{singularities}.

\subsection{Manipulability}
Manipulability is a computationally tractable measure of the capacity for change in the pose of a robot given a specific joint configuration \cite{yoshikawa1985manipulability}.
It is associated with the ellipsoid defined by Eq.\ \eqref{eq:ellipsoid}, which is known as the \textit{manipulability ellipsoid} \cite{sciavicco2012modelling}.
The principal axes $\sigma_1\mathbf{u}_1, \sigma_2 \mathbf{u}_2 ... \sigma_m\mathbf{u}_m$ of this ellipsoid can be determined through singular value decomposition of $\mathbf{J} = \mathbf{U}\boldsymbol{\Sigma}\mathbf{V}^T$.
The manipulability measure of a given kinematic chain at $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$ is defined as
\begin{align}\label{eq:mnp}
\lambda = \sqrt{\det{\left(\mathbf{\mathbf{J}}\mathbf{J}^T\right)}} = \sigma_1 \sigma_2 \dots \sigma_k \dots \sigma_m,
\end{align}
and is proportional to the volume $\mathcal{V}$ of the manipulability ellipsoid \cite{sciavicco2012modelling}.
The value $\sigma_k \geq 0 $ is the $k$-th largest singular value of $\mathbf{J}$, while $\mathbf{u}_{k}$ is the $k$-th column vector of $\mathbf{U}$.
A low manipulability corresponds to a low volume of the manipulability ellipsoid, inhibiting motion in the task space. An example of the manipulability ellipsoid of the end effector frame of a simple manipulator is depicted in Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_ellipsoid}.

The gradient of Eq.\ \eqref{eq:mnp} can be calculated numerically, but it is also possible to derive its change with respect to the $j$-th joint of the configuration $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$ using Jacobi's identity:
\begin{align}\label{eq:mnp_jacobian}
\frac{\partial \lambda}{\partial \theta_{i,j}} =  \frac{\lambda}{2}
											Tr\left( \left(\mathbf{J}\mathbf{J}^T\right)^{-1}
											\left(
											\frac{\partial \mathbf{J}}{\partial \theta_{i,j}}\mathbf{J}^T
											+ \mathbf{J}{\frac{\partial \mathbf{J} }{ \partial \theta_{i,j} }}^T \right)
											\right) \ .
\end{align}
The components of Eq.\ \eqref{eq:mnp_jacobian}, $\mathbf{J}$ and $\frac{\partial \mathbf{J}}{\partial\theta_{i,j}}$, can be calculated using geometrical methods \cite{hourtash2005kinematic}.
 \begin{figure}
\centering
    \def0.6\columnwidth{0.6\columnwidth}
    \input{figures/mnp_ellipse.pdf_tex}
    \vspace{2mm}
\caption{Illustration of the manipulability ellipsoid of volume $\mathcal{V}$ for a manipulator end-effector at configuration $\boldsymbol{\theta}_i$.
    Larger axis lengths indicates higher mobility.}
    \label{fig:mnp_ellipsoid}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Singularity Avoidance Likelihood}\label{subsection:likelihood}
Consider a kinematic chain and corresponding manipulability ellipsoid with a volume $\mathcal{V} \propto \lambda$, as shown in Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_ellipsoid}.
We define a minimum acceptable ellipsoid volume $\mathcal{V}_S \in \mathbb{R}_{+}$, and regard configurations resulting in a manipulability $\lambda < \lambda\left(\mathcal{V}_S\right)$ to be \textit{nearly singular} (labelled $S$).

Conversely, a high manipulability value does not guarantee that a configuration is not nearly singular, as an ellipsoid with one `degenerate' (i.e., of very small magnitude) axis may still have a large volume. The volume of manipulability ellipsoids for the chain is bounded by the value $\mathcal{V}_{max} < \infty$.
Assuming the axes $\sigma_1\textbf{u}_1, \sigma_2\textbf{u}_2 ... \sigma_m\textbf{u}_m$ are of an acceptable length for all such ellipsoids, we infer that configurations whose ellipsoid volume is sufficiently close to $\mathcal{V}_{max}$ are \emph{not} nearly singular (labelled $\bar{S}$).

Probabilistic inference provides an intuitive and efficient way to reason about the mapping between configurations and singularities. We define the likelihood of a given configuration not being nearly singular as:
\begin{align}\label{eq:singularity_likelihood}
L \left(\boldsymbol{\theta}_i | \bar{S}\right)  \propto p\left(\bar{S}| \boldsymbol{\theta}_i \right).
\end{align}
By modelling the distribution in Eq.\ \eqref{eq:singularity_likelihood}, we can optimize a chosen  trajectory prior to avoid singularities by maximizing the corresponding likelihood.
Our approach requires the distribution of Eq.\ \eqref{eq:singularity_likelihood} to take the form
\begin{align}\label{eq:singularity_likelihood2}
p\left(\bar{S}| \boldsymbol{\theta}_i \right)  =  \exp \{ -\frac{1}{2} \norm{ h_{\bar{S},i} }^2_{{\Sigma_{\bar{S}}}} \}.
\end{align}
Since the manipulability measure is proportional to a $m$-dimensional volume, its value may vary by several orders of magnitude throughout a trajectory.
In order to compensate for these large changes, we choose the cost $h_{\bar{S},i}$ to be logarithmic\footnote{Viewing $\Sigma_{\bar{S}}$ as a covariance matrix implies that $\frac{1}{\lambda}$ has a log-normal probability density function.},
\begin{align}\label{eq:mnp_likelihood}
h_{\bar{S},i} = \ln\left(\frac{\lambda_{max}}{\lambda}\right) ,
\end{align}
where the value $\lambda_{max}$ is the manipulability value at $\mathcal{V}_{max}$.
This improves cost gradient scaling by canceling out the $\lambda$ occurring in Eq.\  \eqref{eq:mnp_jacobian}.

\subsection{Trajectory Optimization}
A continuous-time trajectory is considered as a sample from a vector-valued Gaussian process (GP), $\boldsymbol{\theta}(t) \sim \mathcal{GP}(\boldsymbol{\mu}(t), \textbf{K}(t, t^{\prime})) $, with mean $\boldsymbol{\mu}(t)$ and covariance $ \textbf{K}(t, t^{\prime})$, generated by a linear time-varying stochastic differential equation (LTV-SDE)
\begin{equation}
\dot{\boldsymbol{\theta}}(t) = \textbf{A}(t) \boldsymbol{\theta}(t) + \boldsymbol{u}(t) + \boldsymbol{F}(t) \boldsymbol{w}(t),
\label{ltvsde}
\end{equation}
where $\boldsymbol{A}$ and $\boldsymbol{F}$ are system matrices, $\textbf{u}$ is a known control input and $\textbf{w}$ is generated by a white noise process.
In \cite{gpmp-ijrr}, such a representation is used to achieve efficient trajectory optimization.
Assuming an exponential distribution for the trajectory prior $p\left(\boldsymbol{\theta}\right)$, finding a trajectory maximizing the likelihood in Eq.\ \eqref{eq:singularity_likelihood2} is a MAP problem:
\begin{align}\label{eq:MAP}
\boldsymbol{\theta}^* = \underset{\boldsymbol{\theta}}{\arg\max} \, p(\boldsymbol{\theta})\,p(\bar{S}\,|\,\boldsymbol{\theta}).
\end{align}
The maximization in Eq.\ \eqref{eq:MAP} can be performed using methods such as Gauss-Newton or Levenberg-Marquardt.
This MAP trajectory optimization procedure can also be represented as inference on a factor graph \cite{kschischang2001factor} and solved efficiently using the SAM class of algorithms \cite{dong2016motion}.
Gradient information from additional states can be collected by GP interpolation, due to the Markovian property of the LTV-SDE describing the exactly sparse Gaussian process. Other factors representing likelihoods for constraints such as obstacle avoidance may be added in the same manner.

\section{Results} \label{section:results}
A nearly singular trajectory similar to the one shown in Fig.\ \ref{fig:IRL} can be generated by significantly extending the Universal Robots UR-10 arm\footnote{The UR-10 manipulator is available in our laboratory at the University of Toronto.} at the elbow joint, for example. The result is a loss of the capacity to move along the arm's extended axis.
To demonstrate our approach to singularity avoidance, in this section we define an example motion planning problem where the final state is a Cartesian goal position and the trajectory prior is nearly singular throughout. The first scenario we describe places no constraints on arm movement, while the second scenario incorporates an obstacle in the arm's workspace.

We solve both problems using the GPMP2 algorithm \cite{dong2016motion}, comparing cases with and without the singularity avoidance factors described in Section \ref{section:singularities}.
The singularity avoidance factor covariance value in Eq.\  (\ref{eq:singularity_likelihood2}) is initialized as $\Sigma_{\bar{S}} = 10^{-4}$ with a GP power spectral density value of $\textbf{Q}_c = 10^3\,\mathbf{I}$.
The position goal is defined as a factor on the final state of the factor graph in both cases, while singularity and collision \cite{gpmp-ijrr} factors are included in the optimized and interpolated states. We expect our method to increase the manipulability measure over the entire trajectory, `escaping' from the nearly singular prior while maintaining smoothness.

\subsubsection{Unconstrained workspace}

\begin{figure*}
	\centering
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.32\textwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/norm_mnp_no_obs.pdf}
		\caption{Normalized manipulability values.}
		\label{fig:norm_mnp_no_obs}
	\end{subfigure}
	\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.32\textwidth}
		\resizebox {1\textwidth}{!}{\input{figures/fig1.tex}}
		\caption{Simulated trajectories.}
		\label{fig:mnp_no_obs_3d}
	\end{subfigure}
	\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.32\textwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/joint_trajectories.pdf}
		\caption{Joint trajectories.}
		\label{fig:mnp_no_obs_joint}
	\end{subfigure}
	\caption{Experimental results for both the prior and optimized trajectories, without collision avoidance. The values are normalized to the maximum observed manipulability value of 2.93.}
\end{figure*}

Fig.\ \ref{fig:norm_mnp_no_obs} shows that our method results in a significant increase in the manipulability measure, as defined by Eq.\ (\ref{eq:mnp}), over the entire trajectory.
The standard GPMP2 method produces a smooth solution, maintaining a minimum distance from the initial trajectory as governed by the GP prior factors.
The change in trajectory achieved by our method is seen in Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_no_obs_3d}---the arm is (visibly) less extended and regains its movement capability along the previously degenerate axis.
The GP prior factors also maintain smoothness in our solution (with manipulability optimization), as seen in Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_no_obs_joint}, where there are no sudden jumps or changes in the joint values.

\subsubsection{Obstacle in workspace}

\begin{figure*}
	\centering
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.32\textwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/norm_mnp_with_obs.pdf}
		\caption{Normalized manipulability values.}
		\label{fig:norm_mnp_with_obs}
	\end{subfigure}
	\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.28\textwidth}

		\resizebox {1\textwidth}{!}{\input{figures/fig2.tex}}
		\caption{Simulated trajectories.}
		\label{fig:mnp_with_obs_3d}
	\end{subfigure}
	\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.32\textwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/joint_trajectories_obs.pdf}
		\caption{Joint trajectories.}
		\label{fig:mnp_with_obs_joint}
	\end{subfigure}
	\caption{Experimental results for both the prior and optimized trajectory with collision avoidance included. The values are normalized to the maximum observed manipulability value of 2.93.}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.78\columnwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/norm_mnp_no_obs_2.pdf}
	\end{subfigure}
	\begin{subfigure}[]{0.79\columnwidth}
		\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/norm_mnp_with_obs_2.pdf}
	\end{subfigure}
	\caption{Increase of manipulability with a larger number of interpolated states. Values are normalized to the highest observed value.}
	\label{fig:inteprolation_improvement}
\end{figure}

In order to ensure that multiple factors can be successfully optimized simultaneously, we repeated the test above while placing a table-shaped obstacle in the workspace (hence necessitating the use of collision avoidance factors). We choose singularity and collision avoidance factor covariance values of $\Sigma_{\bar{S}} = 10^{-2}$ and $\boldsymbol{\Sigma}_{obs} = 10^{-3}\mathbf{I}$, with a GP power spectral density value of $\textbf{Q}_c = 10^3 \mathbf{I}$.

In this case, the trajectory prior passed through the table, making the initial collision cost non-zero.
Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_with_obs_3d} shows both resulting trajectories in the collision avoidance scenario as feasible solutions, with our method achieving a significant improvement in manipulability, as can be seen in Fig.\ \ref{fig:norm_mnp_with_obs}.
As demonstrated by Fig.\ \ref{fig:mnp_with_obs_joint}, both trajectories maintain the smoothness imposed by the prior. Note that the final trajectory produced by the standard GPMP2 method  remains nearly singular, despite avoiding the obstacle.
Our method finds a solution with a visibly larger capacity for further motion in the task space, by bending the arm at the elbow to pass directly in front of the table. This is instead of the more conservative trajectory that avoids the table but compromises the arm's manipulability, maintaining a near-singular (overextended) configuration throughout the motion.

An interesting result is shown in Fig.\ \ref{fig:inteprolation_improvement}, which characterizes how increasing the number of interpolation states affects the manipulability over the trajectory.
In the first scenario, where no obstacle is present, increasing the number of interpolation states improves the results by a large margin, whereas in the second scenario, with an obstacle, the need to avoid collisions offsets this manipulability improvement.
A possible explanation is that propagating interpolated gradients for both collision and singularity costs to support states fails to provide clear gradient information for optimizing the support states.
Nonetheless, we observe that in all cases, even when avoiding collision, the manipulability values are higher than those in the prior.

\section{Conclusion and Future Work}
\label{section:future_work_conclusion}
In this paper we presented a novel method for avoiding singular configuration during planning and replanning using a continuous-time Gaussian process trajectory representation.
This allowed us to formulate the problem in a maximum likelihood framework, which, for our representation, is solvable using a MAP estimator. Initial results show significant manipulability improvements, which we have shown in our analyses.

Preliminary tests demonstrate that our method can be used to achieve rapid replanning with the iSAM2 algorithm, however we leave a full experimental treatment as future work. Exploring the properties manipulability ellipsoids when taking into account configuration uncertainties could prove to be an interesting future research direction. This may provide an alternative formulation of the likelihood function.

\balance
\bibliographystyle{IEEEcaps}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv