Natali explains how he'll adapt NEUROMANCER and HIGH RISE
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Posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 20:35:28 GMT by: io9

Posted under: movie news cyberpunk interview scifi horror
Splice director Natali has two huge movie adaptations in the pipeline: William Gibson's Neuromancer, and J.G. Ballard's High Rise. In an exclusive interview, Natali explains to us how he updated and changed High Rise, and his hopes for Neuromancer.
While explaining to us the ideas behind Splice's graphic horror, Natali took some time to update us on how he's transforming High Rise, Ballard's story of class warfare in an isolated building the size of a city, into a movie. And he explained what he hopes audience will experience in his recently announced adaptation of Neuromancer

In 1901, Massachusetts surgeon Dr. Duncan MacDougall attempted to prove the existence of the soul by weighing a person before, and right after, death. He hacked an industrial beam scale so that it could be attached to a hospital bed. Then, he began to seek out a subject in the terminally ill patients at the hospital. First up was a man dying of tuberculosis. According to MacDougall, “The instant life ceased, the opposite scale pan fell with a suddenness that was astonishing – as if something had been lifted from the body.” Apparently, 21 grams was missing from his body. MacDougall reproduced the experiment several more times. The physician's work has become a classic tale that, of course, is still widely cited by philosophers, skeptics, and "believers." And yes, it's MacDougall's experiments that inspired the film 21 Grams too. Fortean Times weighs the truths, half-truths, and unknowns of "the strange deathbed experiment of Dr. MacDougall." From FT:




Deducing exactly what went on in MacDougall’s laboratory after more than a century has passed is no easy task, but a possible insight comes from some written correspondence between MacDougall and Richard Hodgson. These letters (which were later published by the American Society of Psychical Research) start in November 1901, after MacDougall’s first experiment, and continue until May 1902, when the entire project was halted. They contain a full description of MacDougall’s methods, results and the circumstances of all six patients which, when compared with his American Medicine paper, offer some clues to the solution of this mystery.

MacDougall’s letters make it plain that, with the exception of the first patient, all the experiments were beset with problems that may be broadly divided into one of two categories. The first problem was in ascert­aining the exact time of death, an issue that appears to affect patients two, three and six. MacDougall acknowledged this with the second patient, where the period of uncertainty lasted for 15 minutes, but with patient three it is only in his letters that we learn of “a jarring of the scales” made while trying to determine “whether or not the heart had ceased to beat”. Patient six was excluded for other reasons (see below), but in his letters MacDougall remarks that “I am inclined to believe that he passed away while I was adjusting the beam”, which again suggests uncertainty as to the exact moment of death.



The second issue was a problem relating to the measuring equipment itself, which MacDougall himself cited as a reason for voiding the results of patients four and six. However, with the fifth patient the measured drop in weight at death was later followed by an evident malfunction, as the scales could not afterwards be made to re-balance themselves correctly. In any object­ive experiment this uncertainty would have voided the result, but at no point does MacDougall question the reliability of his set-up. Thus, of the six patients, just one (the first) appears to have been measured without mishap, but repeated troubles with the equipment and with determining the moment of death perhaps casts doubt on even these results. Thus, rather than trying to find a physical cause for the loss of weight at death, it is conceivable that there was no loss of weight at all, or that it might not have coincided with the moment of death. Only a complete retrial with human patients will answer these questions, and that has so far not been forthcoming

Space cowboy

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal independently confirmed that they heard Reagan  tell a moving story about having filmed the death camps. Even though he never left the United States during wartime. According to Reagan aide Michael Deaver, just because Reagan may have viewed "footage shipped home by the Signal Corps" and "saw the nightmare on film not in person," that "did not mean he saw it less." Yikes

Have you ever noticed how incompetent people are often incredibly confident? Meanwhile, highly-skilled folks underestimate their ability to perform. That's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect named for Justin Kruger and David Dunning of Cornell University who published their study of the cognitive bias in a 1999 scientific paper. ABC Radio National's The Science Show recently explored the Dunning-Kruger Effect. According to the scientists, "Overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it." ABC Radio National's The Science Show recently explored the Dunning-Kruger Effect:



Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1995. A local man, McArthur Wheeler, walks into two banks in the middle of the day and robs them both at gunpoint. Making away with the cash, he is arrested later that evening. Back at the station police sit him down and show him footage from the banks' security cameras. Wheeler can't believe it, the cameras had somehow seen through his disguise. He was seen mumbling to himself, 'But I wore the juice.' His was no ordinary disguise; no balaclava, mask or elaborate makeup, just lemon juice, liberally applied to the face. He was certain that the squirt of citrus would render him invisible to security cameras.

Charles Darwin once said, 'Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than knowledge,' and Dunning and Kruger seem to have proven this point. In light of this, it suddenly becomes clear why public debate can be so excruciating. Debates on climate change, the age of the Earth or intelligent design are perfect real-life examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect. It beautifully explains the utter confidence of those who, with no expertise, remain stubborn in their views regardless of overwhelming evidence. It makes you want to shake them by the collar and scream about how stupid they are. But evidence shows that's not the best strategy.

got to have one

The Deliverator belongs to an elite order..."


Here at ThinkGeek World Domination Headquarters, there is only one pizza delivery place we ever call. CosaNostra Pizza. The order always shows up in less than 30 minutes. The pie's still warm, in pristine condition, protected by its corrugated-plastic carapace. Best of all, our local deliverator shows up in his massive car wearing a ninja-black activated charcoal uniform. None of those crappy polo shirts and baseball caps with the corporate logo or the VW Rabbit with the neon sign perched precariously on the roof.



If you don't know what we're talking about by now, this shirt is probably not for you. But if you're curious, read on. The first chapter of one of second generation cyberpunk's seminal works, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, follows Hiro Protagonist on a run as a pizza delivery guy for the mafia. The chapter is visceral, gritty, and perfectly paints the picture of the novel's future world which feels simultaneously absurd and feasible. We thought it only fitting to make a t-shirt in honor of the CosaNostra Pizza chain, Stephenson's fictional creation which served as the baptism into cyberpunk for so many of us.



Zoom to be sure not to miss the shirt's details. The basics? Black, 100% cotton t-shirt. Text reads, "CosaNostra Pizza" with "#3569, proudly serving the Valley burbclaves" printed underneath

about time

Fan updating David Lynch's "Dune" with modern FX

Craig Engler at 2:15 PM Saturday

Craig Engler is general manager and senior vice president of Syfy digital. He twitters from @Syfy.

Sasha Burrow is working on a "fan-edit" of David Lynch's Dune to recreate some of the film's more outdated special effects. The picture above is what his version of a 2nd Stage Guild Navigator could look like.
The project started out simply but has steadily grown in scope, and now Sasha is looking for help from other contributors:
The project initially began as an endeavor to build a "proper" ornithopter - one with flapping wings, that neither the movie or the mini-series managed to achieve. However, with the advent of the "fan-edit" the scope of the project has expanded with the goal of updating the effects in all those places in the movie where I feel things could be significantly "improved."
Although I am currently working on this by Myself, it's a large undertaking and if there is anyone interested in helping this project along, feel free to contact

surprise

Hearing prayer shuts off believers' brain activity


David Pescovitz at 9:22 AM Monday

When some religiously devout people hear a charismatic healer speak the word of god , the regions of their brains involved in skeptical thinking and vigilance appear to shut down. Uffe Schjødt of Aarhus University in Denmark and his colleagues scanned the brains of Pentecostalists while they listened to recorded prayers from non-Christians, "ordinary" Christians, and a healer. The brain activity changed only in response to prayers they were told came from the healer. According to Schjødt, the same deactivation may occur in response to the words of physicians, parents, politicians, and other charismatic leaders. The researchers published their results in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. From New Scientist:
Parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, which play key roles in vigilance and scepticism when judging the truth and importance of what people say, were deactivated when the subjects listened to a supposed healer. Activity diminished to a lesser extent when the speaker was supposedly a normal Christian.
Schjødt says that this explains why certain individuals can gain influence over others, and concludes that their ability to do so depends heavily on preconceived notions of their authority and trustworthiness.

Pee Wee's Playhouse meets the apocalypse, complete with zombies in ROSE 3-D

Posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 21:30:59 GMT by: quietearth
Posted under: zombie movie apocalyptic news horror comedy
I think I just had a wet dream. John Skipp is planning a 3d horror comedy which is described as "Pee Wee's Playhouse meets Night of the Living Dead". Do I really need to say more? Wait, read the synopsis:
48 hours into the undead apocalypse, one woman has managed to stay on the air. She's a hot ex-mental patient with a message of hope, a baseball bat, and her puppet friends.
Welcome to "Rose's Place": where the songs, skits, and rescue stations run all night long or at least until the zombies get in.
F*** YES! They've raised about a third of the money they need, so go to their homepage and help out!
Someone take money from all those bull**** Hollywood remakes and get this one done, NOW!

Horrifying

The Deepwater Horizon disaster Maggie Koerth-Baker at 6:55 PM Monday Americablog has a breathtaking series of photos, taken by a DOE contractor, that show the final hours of the Deepwater Horizon.
Also worth taking a look at: The Times-Picayune's animation of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which shows the blob growing and shifting on the waves.

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Tribeca: 'Freakonomics' Dream Team Talks About the State of Documentary

by Christopher Campbell May 2nd 2010 // 3:03PM



Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Tribeca, Magnolia, Festival Reports, Politics, Cinematical Indie







The all-star directorial team behind Freakonomics stopped by the SoHo Apple Store in NYC Friday to talk with indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez about the making of this new anthology documentary, which had it's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend. Joined by author Stephen Dubner, whose same-named best-seller is the basis of the film, the six acclaimed documentarians and three producers also got into a discussion of the general state of non-fiction filmmaking in the first decade of the 21st century. This non-promotional part of the discussion caught my interest most, primarily because there could be no documentary "dream team" without the rise in popularity and esteem for documentary cinema that's occurred over the past ten years.

Without this surge, how else would Alex Gibney, Morgan Spurlock, Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki and Seth Gordon all be renowned enough to be specifically sought after by producer Chad Troutwine for a non-fiction compilation akin to his successful fiction anthology, Paris, Je T'Aime? And how is it that such a film becomes one of the hottest tickets of the fest, as the prestigious event's closing night film? The full reason may not be easily determined, but with so many brilliant representatives of non-fiction cinema together in one place, it couldn't hurt to start a conversation bent on unraveling this

Free market mayhem

While it was thought that the shut off devices that BP did have were more than adequate obviously they were not. Several different back up devices make sense for such an important function. Both Brazil and Norway think it is important enough to mandate their use.

There will be a huge price to pay for the spill now threating the gulf. It is much cheaper to purchace congressmen then to curtail production with safeguards or forethought. BP will not be barred from drilling for oil in the gulf. If previous behavior is to be a guide they will porably be granted more profitable leases.

Just Wrong

My friend Jonathan Koshi, who is Hawaiian, posted his recipe for Spam Musubi. Koshi says, "Over the last 30 years the Spam Musubi has indelibly stamped itself on the local Hawaii menu. They are great snacks, highly mobile, and filling." Here are the ingredients and equipment list, from Notes From The Zeitgeist

I need this !

Wall-mountable washing machine

Lisa Katayama at 7:27 AM Thursday Electrolux's design lab has come up with a great new concept for a wall-mountable washing machine. It would save so much space!
Link [via Inhabitat]

Unicorn Meat


Rob Beschizza at 7:19 AM Wednesday

This canned meat product from ThinkGeek costs $10 and is an 'excellent source of sparkles.'

cool

What has brought this Star Trek wonder scanner to life is Raman spectroscopy: a quick, easy, and non-invasive tool that tells users in seconds what something really is at the molecular level. Recent improvements in technology have shrunk the once expensive, unwieldy tabletop device into an array of smaller, more commercially viable Raman scanners, such as the handheld drug detector by DeltaNu, which costs $15,000 and is being tested by police departments in several states. About 1,000 portable devices that identify hazardous materials are also in use. Within 10 years, DeltaNu expects its handheld devices to be in every police squad car in the country, as ubiquitous as the breathalyzer.

Following our list of quotes from St Thomas Aquinas, this is the second in our series of famous quotes from great atheists and great religious minds. Here are 15 quotes from some of the greatest atheist minds in history.
1. Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night — Isaac Asimov

2. I don’t believe in God. My god is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life. — Andrew Carnegie
3. All thinking men are atheists. — Ernest Hemingway
4. Lighthouses are more helpful then churches. — Benjamin Franklin
5. Faith means not wanting to know what is true. — Friedrich Nietzsche
6. The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. — George Bernard Shaw
7. Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. — Kurt Vonnegut
8. I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. — Frank Lloyd Wright
9. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. — Denis Diderot
10. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. — Samuel Clemens
11. The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life. — Sigmund Freud
12. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. — Edward Gibbon
13. The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church. — Ferdinand Magellan
14. Not only is there no god, but try getting a plumber on weekends. — Woody Allen
15. It’s an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don’t try to make it posthumous. — Gloria Steinem

Screamsheet, a cyberpunk zine from 1988


Mark Frauenfelder at 11:45 AM Saturday

I am cleaning out the garage, and I came across a xeroxed copy of Screamsheet, a "Publication of Cyberpunk International" from 1988.
It includes "ruminations and convolutions on the substance of Cyberpunk" by Dr. Odd, A Cyberpunk Vocabulary, the results of a contest to find the "worst opening paragraph of a Cyberpunk novel," and reviews of Cyberpunk books and articles.
I scanned it and saved it as a PDF. I'm sorry that some of the text is cut off, but that's what

Archie comic to introduce gay character


Last Updated: Friday, April 23, 2010
9:40 AM ET Comments79Recommend45CBC News

Archie and the gang will meet Kevin Keller, the venerable teen comic's first openly gay character, this fall. (Archie Comic Publications Inc.)

Riverdale's first openly gay character is set to join Archie and the gang at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe this fall, the publisher of the venerable comic book has announced.



On Sept. 1, the comic Veronica #202 will introduce Kevin Keller, a newcomer who catches the eye of the titular raven-haired beauty and sometimes Archie love interest in the full-issue story Isn't it Bromantic?



According to Archie Comic Publications, "Kevin Keller is the new hunk in town and Veronica just has to have him... Mayhem and hilarity ensue as Kevin desperately attempts to let Veronica down easy and her flirtations only become increasingly persistent."



"The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive," Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater said in an online posting Thursday.



"Archie's hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books."

The Keller character is part of an overall commitment to stay relevant with today's teens, the publisher said.
Last year, Archie Comic Publications caused a stir with a six-issue storyline that purportedly saw the perennial fence-sitter Archie Andrews finally choose between girl-next-door Betty Cooper and wealthy heiress Veronica Lodge.
In the meantime, Archie is in an interracial relationship: the current issues have him dating Valerie, the bassist from the girl group Josie and the PussycatsRead more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/04/23/archie-veronica-gay-kevin.html#ixzz0lwN2zdME

only buttheads drink here

Rectum-themed bar
David Pescovitz on April 20, 2010 9:44 AM 41 Comments

The BarRectum was an actual bar built inside a giant anatomical model representing the human digestive system, from tongue to anus. Dutch design firm Atelier Van Lieshout created it several years ago for the Vienna Museum Quarter. From the project description: BarRectum, Arsch Bar, Asshole Bar, Bar Anus. While the translations sound different, the form is universally recognizable. The bar takes its shape from the human digestive system: starting with the tongue, continuing to the stomach, moving throug

Living "paintings"


David Pescovitz at 10:46 AM April 20, 2010





Alexa Meade, 23, is a Washington, DC-based artist who paints on top of her subjects and puts them in real life settings. (No, you can't see the pixels. This is real.) From Meade's artist statement:



The reverse trompe l'oeil series is Alexa Meade's spin on reality. Alexa has invented a painting technique that makes 3 dimensional space look flat, blurring the lines between illusion and reality.

Typically a painting is an artist's interpretation of the subject painted onto another surface. In Alexa's paintings, she creates her artistic interpretation of the subject directly on top of the subject itself. Essentially, her art imitates life - on top of life.



By wrapping her subject in a mask of paint, she skews the way that the core of