| 30 Jun 2007 |
Lists of "best"
SF movies are always questionable, but "The
Speculist" comes
up with one worth looking at, not least because BR is number
one... |
| 29 Jun 2007 |
Popular
Mechanics has a great article of why Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame)
thinks that after 25 years, the special F/X of Blade Runner
still stand out. |
| 29 May 2007 |
Metromix (of
Chicago Tribune) has an interesting interview with Rutger Hauer. |
| 29 May 2007 |
Should social
robots look humanoid? Should they interpolate humanoid expressions?
Should they behave as humans? STLtoday questions
how human a robot should appear and includes the views of several
doing the research/creation of home and office robots. |
| 28 May 2007 |
Do you know Lisa
Ling or Paul Song? No, neither do I and neither do I know lovetripper.com,
except for it reporting that the afforementioned couple have
got married. Of course I wish them all the best. But the point
of the story is they got married at Union Station in L.A. which
as you (should) know was used as the set for the police station
in BR. If you have read every bit of this website, you know
that Union Station is currently hired out for weddings, so
if you are in California and want a BR-related wedding, you
know where to go. Of course, if you are there for any reason,
send me the photos! I have infinite space on this website,
so I'll happily post your pictures. |
| 25 May 2007 |
"Paprika" looks
to me like an anime worth looking out for. Satoshi Kon directs
this "brainy sci-fi piece", or as Slate says, "Paprika's
story line combines elements of Blade Runner and Wim
Wenders' strange apocalyptic fantasy Until the End of the
World, both of which imagined the damage that could be
wrought by a machine that invades human memories and dreams." The machine in question is stolen and used to control people's
minds in a way that seems very Dickian. The BR influence is
no coincidence as Northwest
Asian Weekly comments that "Kon
gratefully acknowledges one observer’s view of his filmmaking
as a blend of Hello Kitty and science-fiction writer Philip
K. Dick, whose work inspired “Blade Runner” and “Total
Recall,” among others." Kon also directed
one of my favourite animes -"Perfect Blue" - a film that shows
anime can indeed handle the psychological thriller if done
right. |
| 25 May 2007 |
This nzherald opinion
piece seems to be aimed at proving the future is written by
the pessimists of SF and how some of those visions are partially
upon us now. Not that I particularly disagree with that...
It starts with Brave New World and 1984, then segues into Blade
Runner. The world of BR is certainly partially our world now,
but as Paul Thomas points out, some parts are still way in
the future. However, the robotics part is not nearly so far
distant as implied in this article. Remote controlled robots
are already out there. Bio-microbe artificial creations are
already in labs, as well as early androids ... and it is only
2007. Incidentally, it would be terribly nice if people, (especially
professional journalists), would spell Deckard's name correctly.
Oh and I disagree with one part - "science plays God" -
No, science doesn't do anything - a particular individual,
who is a scientist, plays God. There is a very significant
difference. |
| 24 May 2007 |
Are you interested
in a gritty, futuristic NY populated by Cyborgs? Romanticized
sleaze, robots and decay, cyborg hookers, drugs and dystopia?
Sounds like fun! Well, this is the comicbook world of 24seven,
a world inspired by NCY
Mech. As reported by PLAYBACK:stl. |
| 23 May 2007 |
The
Hollywood Reporter lets us know of Warner Bros. aims
to bring the best restoration detail possible to some of
their catalog of films. Chris Cookson (president head tech
guy at Warners) emphasises they want to aim at 4k definition
rather than 2k. Basically the 2k master simply does not have
all the detail originally filmed, whereas, for example the
negative for Blade Runner was scanned at 4k. (This refers
to 4000 lines of scanning resolution, which gives FOUR
times the resolution of 2k.) With the latest restoration
tools, this underlines how the ultimate high definition version
of Blade Runner should be even more visually stunning than
any previous version. Our only concern would be the danger
of models and props being more evident - but of course extra
work has gone into making them less evident, so hopes are
high. High-Def DVD releases will be 1080p. Note: This should
also enhance the standard DVD picture. |
| 19 May 2007 |
Blogcritics
Magazine picks up on a new SF series to be broadcast completely online
in "webisodes". Created by a number of people that
have worked on Stargate over the years, the quality apparent
in the trailer certainly seems quite high. As does a certain
BR atmosphere. One of the elements that being on the Web provides
is the level of direct feedback the audience can provide. Cost
of $1.99 for a 17 minute episode may well be a workable web
model if the show can get a dedicated base audience. As Amanda
Tapping, exec producer and one of the stars says, "I
feel like we're riding the crest of an amazing wave."
|
| 18 May 2007 |
High-Def
Digest reports, "In
a new promotional flyer housed inside next week's HD DVD
release of 'Ultimate
Matrix Collection,' Warner is touting an October arrival
date for the highly-anticipated upcoming next-gen release of
'Blade Runner.'" The date listed on the flyer is
October 2007, (for HD DVD). |
| 17 May 2007 |
In Battlestar
Galactica, when they do eventually get to Earth, will it look
like Blade Runner? Grace Park has some interesting thoughts
to share on this and other subjects with the NY
Post. |
| 17 May 2007 |
One of the funniest
things I've heard in ages: Before BR, Rutger Hauer was in Nighthawks where
(of course) he totally acted Sylvester Stallone off the screen.
In Hauer's new memoirs, he records how he had to warn Stallone
that he might have to "break your fucking
balls" -
and I bet he would have if Stallone had continued being stupid.
Read about it in Radar. |
| 17 May 2007 |
Here are the
latest images of the Honda Fuya-Jo car - which would not look
out of place in BR's L.A. 2019. |
| 15 May 2007 |
This would
be a link to a story about PKD and BR, but the infinitely
stupid guardians of the website have asterisked out any refererence
to "Dick", calling him Philip K. *****. Anyone who
is so extremely stupid that they can't differentiate between
somebody's name and a (quite-frankly not very offensive) slang
word should be shot. They certainly don't get my link.
"I'm impatient with stupidity. My
people have learned
to live without it."
- The Day the Earth Stood Still
|
| 15 May 2007 |
Movies
Online claims knowledge of features of
the Blade Runner 5-Disc Special Edition. |
| 14 May 2007 |
Details of what
could be on the Australian 5-Disk set have been released by
ezydvd.com.
Check the BR:SE News Page for full details.
Note: 17 MAY - the store's page is temporarily unavailable
while they finalise the deal with their supplier, but should
return shortly. They assure us the details were accurate, so
check out our page. |
| 10 May 2007 |
The Hollywood Reporter mentions that the Visual
Effects Society has released their list of what they view as
the "50 most-influencial visual effects films of all time".
Of course the "experts" have named Star Wars in their top spot.
Blade Runner is named second. ""2001:
A Space Odyssey" and "The
Matrix" tied for third, and "Jurassic Park" came
in at No. 5. The top 10 is rounded out by "Tron," "King
Kong" (1933 version), "Close Encounters of the Third
Kind," "Alien" and "The Abyss."" VES
50 page (PDF) is here.
(Ridley Scott's "Alien" also makes the Top 50.) |
| 10 May 2007 |
The
Prague Post (not often I get to quote them!) has an article
on "Renaissance" - an anime movie that I've reported
on before that has some similarities to Blade Runner. Do
you want to buy the DVD? |
| 10 May 2007 |
Microsoft's
Visual Earth and Google Earth are excellent examples of 21st
Century technology. Latest is to view cities in 3D - to fly
through a city on your computer as if in a spinner from BR.
Take Swindon for example. |
| 09 May 2007 |
Tropical oceanside
landscape compared to Blade Runner? Unfortunately not a pleasant
comparison as Broward-Palm
Beach New Times describes Singer
Island beachfront as ugly ossified towers. |
| 09 May 2007 |
LA
Times delves
into the person of Edward James Olmos. Those of you who don't
know him beyond BR certainly need to read this. Those of you
who know a little of him might still learn more about the person
beyond the actor. |
| 09 May 2007 |
I wouldn't normally
even provide a link to a comment on Windows Vista on this forum
as I don't much care (until I buy my next computer). But here's
a thought - is the "Home" version worth having? Or
to put it another way, can it handle your BR DVD? ZDNet has
the answer. Or do they? |
| 09 May 2007 |
How is Tim Duncan
like Harrison Ford? Bill Simmons of ESPN
Magazine wants to tell you. |
| 09 May 2007 |
January
Magazine comments on SF and echoes the
NY Times particularly on how PKD now seems to have reached
the mainstream. The International Herald Tribune picks up on the same article. |
