Monthly Archives: February 2011

metropolis budget

Posted on by March 29, 2011
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All right, I am on my way to proof a point regarding the cyberpunk genre, respectively the discourse which in my view it has become. And Foucault really has me now, as I am creating lists, tables, and stuff for that. In respect to motion pictures variables of interest are budget (correllating with the faith the producing industry had in the project) and gross revenue (correllating with the audience’s interest in the project). At the moment I am concerned with the budget.     The idea is to make a comparison through time.     Now, the earliest motion picture … Continue reading →

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cfp cyberculture

Posted on by April 11, 2013
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From 14th through 17th September 2011 this year’s installment of the biannual conference of the ↑German Association of Anthropologists (GAA aka DGV) will take place in Vienna, Austria. Since 2005 I organize workshops on ‘things cyber’ at the GAA conferences, this time a workshop titled ‘Cyberculture,’ in accordance with the conference’s overall theme: ‘Wa(h)re “Kultur”? Kulturelles Erbe, Revitalisierung und die Renaissance der Idee von Kultur’ (‘True/commodity “culture?” Cultural heritage, revitalization, and the renaissance of the idea of culture’). As of today the conference website isn’t up yet, only a .pdf with the ↓collected Calls for Papers. As I have invited … Continue reading →

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computerspielemuseum

Posted on by March 29, 2011
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Of course you can accuse me and my consorts to be computergame-aficionados, but the importance of computergames, not only for culture and society, but for technology and economy as well, meanwhile is ↑percepted more ↑and more. Hence it is a shame that computergames still are somewhat underrepresented museum- and exhibitionwise. Stanford’s ↑Henry Lowood has ↑aptly put it: ‘Since the late 20th century, cultural history includes digital game culture. It is not only the case that the history of this medium will be lost if we do not preserve the history of digital games, but also that we will not be … Continue reading →

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pkd motion pictures

Posted on by March 29, 2011
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Meanwhile ten ↑works of Philip K. Dick have been made into motion pictures—plus one to be released in 2012. Here are the pairs, the novel or short story by PKD, followed by the motion-picture adaptation, in reverse chronological order of the release of the motion pictures. DICK, PHILIP KINDRED. 1953. The king of the elves. Beyond Fantasy Fiction 1(2) [September 1953]: 142-164. WILLIAMS, CHRIS. 2012. King of the elves [animated motion picture]. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studios. DICK, PHILIP KINDRED. 1985 [1976]. Radio free Albemuth. Westminster: Arbor House. SIMON, JOHN ALAN. 2010. Radio free Albemuth [motion picture]. Los Angeles: Utopia … Continue reading →

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somnolence

Posted on by March 2, 2011
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Patrick Kalyn‘s short-film Somnolence (HD at YouTube) goes well with Chris Marker’s La Jetée. /Film says: /Film reader and aspiring filmmaker Patrick Kalyn has just completed work on a new sci-fi short film Somnolence. Kalyn is an Emmy nominated visual effects animator, who has worked on films such as Avatar, District 9, I, Robot, King Kong, X-Men: The Last Stand, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Jumper, The Water Horse, and television series like Stargate SG-1. Filmed for $10,000 in 2 days in Vancouver, BC using Red Cameras, the short is part of a larger story that Kalyn hopes to … Continue reading →

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watson

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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More water on my mills, this time from an Op-Ed out of yesterday’s New York Times on Watson, IBM’s AI which will compete in Jeopardy! on Valentine’s day: It’s remarkable how much of the digital revolution has been driven by games and entertainment. (Powers 2011: WK 10)     The machine’s one great edge: Watson has no idea that he should be panicking. (Powers 2011: WK 10)     This raises the question of whether Watson is really answering questions at all or is just noticing statistical correlations in vast amounts of data. But the mere act of building has … Continue reading →

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