La surconsommation from Lasurconsommation on Vimeo.
Category Archive: dystopia
Aug 07
Orwell VS. Huxley Infographic
click image for full size This infographic — created by Column Five for Akorn Entertainment — looks at the growingconcern over keeping the Internet as a free and open platform by visualizing the concepts from George Orwell’s book 1984, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World; then comparing them to the current Internet censorship techniques of the Iranian government, and the flood …
Jun 17
New Insect Drone Research from US Defence Agencies
Bio-mimicking MAV (micro aerial vehicles) are nothing new. (Been blogging about them almost as long as I’ve been blogging.) But, if you’re new to this, these are drones, that is, flying robots, that look and act like natural creatures. Insects, birds, whathaveyou. There’s some new work being done out of John Hopkins university –funded by US Defence agencies– that …
Apr 29
It Will Prove Invincible: Philip K. Dick Letter Re. Bladerunner
After Philip K. Dick got his first glimpse of Bladerunner (based on his “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”) he wrote this letter to the production company: October 11, 1981 Mr. Jeff Walker, The Ladd Company, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, Calif. 91522. Dear Jeff, I happened to see the Channel 7 TV program “Hooray For …
Apr 27
Semi-Free Copies of Technicolor Ultra Mall
I have a couple pieces of news regarding Technicolor Ultra Mall. The first is that my publisher has made the ebook version available through the Amazon Lending Library. So, if you’re an Amazon Prime Member, you can borrow it for zero dollars. If you’re old fashioned like me, it looks like the Canadian Amazon has …
Apr 23
Letter From Huxley to Orwell
This 1949 letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell is from Letters of Note. While these two authors shared a dystopic view, they disagreed on how it would be realized. Not to put too fine a point on it, Huxley feared the carrot while Orwell feared the stick. Wrightwood. Cal. 21 October, 1949 Dear …
Mar 30
Ryan Oakley on Night Fright Show
This is an interview that occurred in late January and will be hitting 12 television stations and 80 radio markets in about a week via TVCOGECO. It’s for Brent Holland’s Night Fright Show. Ryan Oakley – Technicolor Ultra-Mall via Skype from Toronto Canada. What if in the future Toronto had been turned into a huge indoor mall? …
Mar 02
Speech Jamming Gun
This gun, created by Japanese researchers, is capable of stopping speech at a range of 30 metres (100ft). I’m sure we could all think of a use for it. The dystopian, silence the protesters, angle jumps right out at ya. But I would remind people that the police already have used bullets, batons, tear gas and tazers. …
Feb 10
Drone VS Drone: Who You Got?
Looks like this drone fad is catching on. From Singularity Hub: According to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service, nearly one in three US warplanes are drones…and those machines are changing the way the world wages war. US soldiers in Afghanistan rely more and more upon intelligence gathered from drones, and President Obama recently …
Jan 20
Megaupload Down
Megaupload has been taken down and its founder arrested on charges of piracy. You can read the indictment here. Just so we’re clear, Blackwater, a mercenary group that has committed war crimes is a private contractor. Megaupload, a website that allows people to store information online and others to download it, are criminals. Blackwater, though …
PURCHASE
"This ultra-sharp, darkly satiric, hyper-speed novel is set in a world where multi-level mega malls serves as city states and everything on the outside lies in ruin. On the lower red levels, gang violence and media saturation and bio-tech designer drugs rule. During the weekend, slummers from the green levels leave their safe lives of jobs and families to partake in risky, sometimes deadly, fun on the red levels. And on every level, TV and advertisements literally penetrate the mind. Death is easy and life cheap, until that life is your own or your beloveds. Extreme stylization, great characters, and a high-level of intensity is maintained throughout. This is a whip-smart, truly violent novel that has at its core a still very human pulsing heart."
In the basement . . .
May 20, 1990: Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson’s remarkable Kenyon College commencement address on creative integrity.
川流不息 Endless stream by Singer 晴哥 on Flickr.
