As a member of the OL Collective, you no doubt traipse about in generated worlds. While the best of these worlds are well-distinguished from one another, they can be sliced into distinct categories. There are Utopian worlds, worlds filled with magic, worlds filled with superheroes, and other worlds filled with dragons. In fact, some are Utopian worlds filled with superheroes wielding magic and thrashing dragons. Mix-and-match. Whatever. And so on.

However, I reckon that we all have our favorite slice of the generated-world nonsense that comes from enjoying the arts and farts. So I’ll ask you gals and guys: what is your favorite kind of fictional world? And does it come from a specific source?

Me? My favorite are there them cyberpunk dystopias, specifically that of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon and its sequels.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a new pilot about to be shot for AMC, which incidentally may cause me to shoot some white stuff. Ew! Gross! Sorry, sorry. Anyways, the new television show is described as a cross between Battlestar and Blade Runner. Glorious! Give me this!

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy 4^th of July everyone.  Today we Americans get to celebrate the birth of our country by eating too much, drinking copious amounts of booze, and then when we’re just about to pass out, play with explosives.  Take that Belarus!  In your face Mongolia!  Catch you on the flip side Latveria!  Since we all love freedom so much, let’s take this opportunity to actually recognize what we have.  This week’s High 5 will take a look at what the world would look like with either too much control, or not enough control.  There are some movies that tackle the subject quite well.  So let’s hear it for the dystopias!

Read the rest of this entry »

Anders Ramsell wants to do all of Blade Runner in animated watercolor. To that I say: godspeed, my friend. If the first test footage is any indication, this white whale will be most gorgeous upon completion.

Hit the jump to check out the first footage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh, Blade Runner. Even as the years pass you still remain as brilliant and beautiful as the first time I consumed you. Here’s a convention reel that Ridley Scott and Syd Mead conjured up to promote the flick way back in 1982.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was pretty cool with a Blade Runner  sequel happening, so long as it was telling a new tale in the glorious cyberpunkverse I had come to splooge on. I didn’t want no haggard ass Harry Ford and his dangling earring running through it. As my Dad used to say, “How does it feel to want?” Pretty shitty, pah. Maybe it won’t be as bad as it seems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s some more news on the Blade Runner  front, and it is turning up aces. At least for me. The flick is certainly  going to be a sequel, and the original screenwriter is back on board. It’s a Blade Runner-heavy news cycle, but in my world only the curmudgeonly bitch about such a wonder.

Read the rest of this entry »

Prometheus  international poster. Blade Runner  sequel news. Just hit the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I took a pounding for hating on some classic movies.   Except the Hangover … seems most of the super intelligent OL crowd didn’t fall for that movie.   This week I want to move on to happier topics, like death.   What makes a good death scene?   Dying for ones beliefs and convictions?   Sure, that’ll do.   Giving some epic prose before sloughing off this mortal coil?   Sure, that’s a good one too.   I think that a great death scene has meaning.   This means that we have to care about the characters, no easy feat.   So here they are, my top 5 Death Scenes.

Just be warned, there are spoilers ahead for the following movies: Star Wars, LA Confidential, Saving Private Ryan, Blade Runner, and Highlander: End Game.

Read the rest of this entry »

In my younger and more volatile years, I tried really hard to be smart. I read intelligent stuff, used big words, and analyzed movies more than I watched them. Hey, we all make mistakes. Anyways, per the requirements of a media theory class, I once found myself reading Scott Bukatman’s Terminal Penetration. At the time, I was simply enthralled by Bukatman’s examination of the postmodern relationship between technology, consciousness, narrative, and virtual reality.

This theorist’s words spoke to me, encouraging me to scrutinize reality and the ways I experience it. However, the class ended, so I went back to drinking beers and playing MarioKart: Double Dash!! instead of worrying about the inevitable collapsing of reality as its paper-thin foundation crumbles.

Whatevs.

However, I have now learned that Paul Pope has contributed art for the 2nd edition of Scott Bukatman’s Blade Runner reader. As a diehard acolyte of the PULPHOPE, a fan of Harrison Ford’s most under-appreciated work, and a one-time student of media theory, I may just have to snag this book.

Punch it to hyperspace to see art, clips of the movie, and a video of Bukatman analyzing superheroes.

Read the rest of this entry »