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Jump In The Urinal And Stand On Your Head. I'm The One That's Alive. You're All Dead.
Our friends from Frolix 8 have a recurring feature worth noting: "Which Philip K. Dick Story Are We In Today?" Your options for March 28:
Vulcan's Hammer - "Just like in the real world it can take 20 to 30 thousand generations before the system finds the perfect design to solve the problem, but this will happen in just a few seconds..."
Sales Pitch - "But there is something incredibly boring and sad about giant companies who constantly chase the fleeing tailcoats of the latest Internet trends."
A Scanner Darkly - "The state tells its people that the cameras are there for their benefit and to prevent crime, but the crime they are preventing is insurrection."
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - "The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security."
Solar Lottery - "These 3D models would be physical entities, not holograms. You could touch them and interact with them, just as if the originals were in the room with you."
The Simulacra - "In order to prove to us you are not a robot, select the three hot people..."
[Via bOING bOING.]
|3.28.07 @ 11:51AM|#
Just curious. Are there other, libertarian decoder ring wearing, sci-fi reading, certified geeks, that don't think Philip K Dick is all that insightful or engrossing?
|3.28.07 @ 11:55AM|#
PKD has more to say about the future everyday. He should be
required reading in schools to cushion the blow of future shock.
Forget all the crap movies* and get to the actual books. His
throwaway lines and ideas are enough for lesser wirters to hang
whole novels on: Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch's Dr.
Smile, a suitcase psychiatrist that attempts to convince the
protagonist that he's is insane so he can get a deferment out of
migrating to a craptacular planet. The coin-operated front door to
Joe Chip's apartment in Ubik. A planet that uses orange
marmalade as currency...
In reference to the headline: The PKD adapted screenplay for
Ubik is hard to get a hold of, but is fantastic. (My wife
is an awesome X-Mas presenter.)
*Scanner Darkly was fairly good, but they ruined the
ending and Blade Runner was too influence by the emerging
cyberpunk trend top really get at what PKD was trying to say.
Timothy|3.28.07 @ 11:59AM|#
SugarFree: Let's not forget that the emerging cyberpunk trend managed to ruin Johnny Neumonic, it's no surprise that they consistently fuck up something like PKD.
Jesse Walker|3.28.07 @ 12:00PM|#
Scanner Darkly was fairly good, but they ruined the ending
and Blade Runner was too influence by the emerging cyberpunk trend
top really get at what PKD was trying to say.
I'd say Blade Runner did more to set the trend than to
follow it. At any rate, there's one more PKD adaptation worth
mentioning: Barjo, a French film based on Confessions
of a Crap Artist.
|3.28.07 @ 12:01PM|#
Warren,
There's not much for a libertarian to really hang his hat on in
PKD. Dick was pretty much a squishy Bay Area 60's liberal and his
politics bleeds fairly subtly into his books when you consider he
was practically a Red Diaper baby. If they don't do much for you, I
can understand. It's fairly unstable fiction and extremely
paranoid. That is a literary distaste I can understand...
For those who are interested, I highly recommend the Lawrence Sutin
biography: Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick. He
was as interesting a character as any he ever wrote.
|3.28.07 @ 12:13PM|#
Jesse Walker,
I forgot about Barjo.
You're right about Blade Runner and cyberpunk. Some of the
early (eventually called) cyberpunk material had already been
published (Shockwave Rider,The Girl Who Was Plugged
In, True Names, early Sprawl stories from Gibson) but
none of them really established the BR future that became the
cyberpunk cliche.
What I can never understand is why they left out what is possibly
the best scene in the novel. Decker is captured by a police officer
who drags him to a police station he has never seen before and
proceeds to administer a different "are-you-human" test than the
Voight-Kampff empathy test seen int he movie. Decker fails and the
officer plan to kill him. They are all androids who think they are
humans and kill humans who they think are androids because they
administer a test that humans fail.
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:21PM|#
...Blade Runner was too influence by the emerging
cyberpunk...
I believe that it is the other way around.
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:23PM|#
And of course the ever brilliant Jesse Walker beat me to the
punch. :)
And sugarfree agrees with him.
|3.28.07 @ 12:25PM|#
I like PKD quite a bit, though I don't read him to bolster my
libertarian views.
As for what story I'm in today, I'm living in a High Castle.
Everyone who pointed out that Bladerunner helped launch
the cyberpunk movement and not the other way around is correct.
Also, although the movie was a poor adaptation of Dick, it was a
danged good movie, anyway. That's a rarity.
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:26PM|#
Anyway, I appreciate Blade Runner as something inspired by a PKD novel, but with a life of its own, and not to be judged in relation to the novel. Let's face it, amongst other things the movie is probably one of the best explorations of the sociological, philosophical, etc. aspects of slavery ever produced.
Jesse Walker|3.28.07 @ 12:32PM|#
Dick's politics were inconsistent and almost impossible to
label. But I think there is a lot for a libertarian to
hang his hat on in his work, though making that case would require
more space than I have here. You might call it a libertarianism of
empathy. It shines through in places as different as A Scanner
Darkly and that marvellously odd essay, "The
Android and the Human."
Oh, and I agree with the posters who have said that Blade
Runner succeeds as a movie even if it isn't a fully faithful
adaptation of the book.
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:35PM|#
My recent thoughts on "Blade Runner," "Androids," etc. can be found here. Scroll down to March 18th.
|3.28.07 @ 12:36PM|#
PKD gave Blade Runner high praise.
A much overlooked book of his that I like is Radio Free Alblemuth,
which is essentially the first draft of Valis.
|3.28.07 @ 12:37PM|#
I would have chosen Divine Invasion because we're ruled
by Christianislamofascists.
From their list, I'll take Flow My Tears, The Policeman
Said.
I would like to add that Spielberg's PKD adaptation is the worst
PKD movie.
Wasn't PKD dead before Blade Runner was released?
|3.28.07 @ 12:38PM|#
...though making that case would require more space than I
have here.
Right, because 10,000 word manifestos are for the home page.
I keed, I keed ;)
VM|3.28.07 @ 12:38PM|#
d'oh! Gro - was just about to recommend yer site!
The "this is why Duke sucks" link was hilarious, BTW.
Good call JESSE!
Timothy - even ROLLINS couldn't save Johnny "woah" Neumonic...
Timothy|3.28.07 @ 12:40PM|#
VM: And that's a crying shame, because it's a great short story. It's sort of a proto-Neuromancer.
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:40PM|#
highnumber,
PKD saw some cobbled together outtakes of the film. As I recall, he
liked the atmosphere of the film. I don't know if he liked the way
the story itself.
|3.28.07 @ 12:41PM|#
"Spielberg's PKD adaptation is the worst PKD movie."
I don't know, as much as I hate Tom Cruise, Paycheck was pretty
bad. And Total Recall was shite.
|3.28.07 @ 12:44PM|#
And Dick was distrustful of rightists and leftists and gov't in general. That gives libertarians something to hang their hats on.
VM|3.28.07 @ 12:48PM|#
Timothy:
very cool!
BTW:
this was a classic!
"That gives libertarians something to hang their hats on."
um. high#: they hang their hats on... Dick?
/backs away slowly. puts down corn syrup
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 12:50PM|#
Anyway, though this is a bit of a cliche at this point, it is hard sometimes to realize just how revolutionary Blade Runner was. Indeed, to analogize, it is bit like trying to imagine how revolutionary Mozart's use of the piano-forte was.
|3.28.07 @ 12:53PM|#
Grotius,
8 Major films,
http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html
PKD on Blade Runner...(he saw 20 minutes of it and read the
screenplay).
"...the opening is simply the most stupendous thing I have ever
seen in the way of a film. It is simply unbelievable."
Read
What if your World Is their Heaven?
He talks at length about the film.
VM|3.28.07 @ 12:58PM|#
A Scanner Darkly - "The state tells its people that the cameras
are there for their benefit and to prevent crime, but the crime
they are preventing is insurrection."
Now, Dick Productions thrust into the market with its new
film
A STEVO DARKLY
Stevo tells his minions that the cameras are there for their own
benefit - namely to answer the question, "is she hot", but instead
the cameras serve as a street-corner cabaret show for Mr. Steven
Crain, his assless chaps, and the borrowed Noam Chomsky Blow Up
Doll.
Cu Coming to Theaters this Summer!
High#: Don't wanna smear the rainbow, yo!
dhex|3.28.07 @ 1:03PM|#
"Just curious. Are there other, libertarian decoder ring
wearing, sci-fi reading, certified geeks, that don't think Philip K
Dick is all that insightful or engrossing?"
well, i don't generally care for his (or anyone's sci-fi) but the
valis trilogy is utterly fantastic.
decoder loss: and i liked the movie version of scanner darkly. it
was sad, like the book. that's the ultimate force that shines
through with his work - an alienated, humiliated and isolated
sadness.
further decoder loss: i don't think william gibson is worth shit as
a writer.
final annihilation: i couldn't name three rush songs, and would
kill myself if i could.
|3.28.07 @ 1:20PM|#
That's what I get by posting before I had lunch...
I wasn't suggesting that there was nothing for libertarians in PKD,
but if you go in expecting Heinlein or L. Neil Smith you might be
disappointed.
PKD is very mistrustful of government in most of his works, but it
seems to come from massive paranoia instead of small government
principles. Yes, he believed the FBI had blown up a safe in his
house, but he also occasionally believed he was a reincarnated 1st
century Christian. He left the house as little as possible, took
staggering amounts of amphetamines, was divorced three times and
was almost constantly barely living over the poverty line. I think
all these things are more important to understanding his fiction
than his politics.
|3.28.07 @ 1:24PM|#
highnumber,
Eye In The Sky for me... reality is shaped externally by
the internal crazy of other people. One character is a religious
zealot and her world features rivers flowing with grace. Literally
flowing with God's grace.
|3.28.07 @ 1:28PM|#
Neu Mejican,
Have you ever read about the publication of Radio Free
Albemtuh and VALIS? His publisher sent him
RFA back with a few minor revisions they wanted made. They
didn't hear from him for months, and he sent them VALIS
instead.
Russ 2000|3.28.07 @ 1:58PM|#
PKD has more to say about the future everyday. He should be
required reading in schools
Reminds me of the time my brother has his copy of "the Man In The
High Castle" confiscated by one of the nuns in his grammar school.
She never gave it back. So much for "Thou Shalt Not Steal". The
Catholic Church has about as much respect for the Ten Commandments
as the US Govt. has for the Bill fo Rights. So surely PKD is more
likely to be banned from a public school than be assigned reading
in one.
|3.28.07 @ 2:24PM|#
That's what I get for being at work w/out my reference
books...
Have you ever read the book about him that Anne wrote? Hatchet
job.
|3.28.07 @ 2:26PM|#
Search for Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982: A Memoir and Biography
of the Science Fiction Writer
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0773491376/reasonmagazineA/
|3.28.07 @ 2:37PM|#
I read it on an Interlibrary Loan from where I work.
She's clearly quite bitter that she doesn't have any stake in the
movie money and the impression you come away of her from
Confessions and the Sutin biography are starkly
confirmed.
|3.28.07 @ 2:37PM|#
it is hard sometimes to realize just how revolutionary Blade
Runner was. Indeed, to analogize, it is bit like trying to imagine
how revolutionary Mozart's use of the piano-forte was.
Well, except that a lot of us were actually alive and can realize
it because we were there (cue LCD Soundsystem), while Mozart is
long dead and all we have are some writings and our own aesthetic
judgement.
And +5000 points for managing to work the sentence "Mozart's use of
the piano forte" into a PKD thread.
Bonus link: A good
ukelele flavored cover of Are Friends Electric
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 3:18PM|#
dead elvis,
Well, I was pretty young in 1982. I believe I saw it on videotape
in 1983 and while my family hated it, I was completely engrossed by
the visuals. Anyway, I did see it in all its glory when it was
re-released sans the voiceovers and the cheesy tacked-on
ending.
Anyway, how do I redeem this newly acquired points? Can I get a big
stuffed animal or some scuh?
Grotius|3.28.07 @ 3:28PM|#
dead elvis,
Another reason I love about Mozart is that he was in many ways a
keen businessman. Yeah he overspent, etc. but he could do that
because he was such a fantastic self-promoter. In general he
created an audience for his work not via court favors and the like,
but by his talent and his business acumen. And of course he brought
his music to the "people" in the process. Similarly a hundred years
later or so the French impressionists did very similar things and
through sheer doggedness, talent, etc. created non-state sanctioned
art that was sold directly to the people. Artists often demonstrate
some of the most passionate and compelling stories of the use of
markets to bypass various elites (government and otherwise), etc. I
can think of.
|3.28.07 @ 4:10PM|#
I had a total man-crush on Rutger Hauer after I saw the
movie.
My GF at the time had a cold and would quote back Darryl Hannah
lines in a very convincing Darryl Hannah voice.
'Twas Heavenly!
Wirkman Virkkala|3.28.07 @ 4:17PM|#
I saw Blade Runner on its first outing, in a theater,
and knew nothing about it. As I was watching it, I kept thinking "I
know this story!" and then "Isn't Rick Deckarda Dick hero?"
Then I realized "This is Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep!" before the credits rolled.
But without the wit. The movie prescinded the tragedy from the
satire, and gave us a sad tale without a silver lining of black
comedy.
My favorite bit is the opening of the novel, where the husband and
wife argue over the settings on their respective Mood Alarms (or
somesuch). She'd set her morning mood to "existential despair" (I'm
going by memory here).
We are living in a Dick world. Which Dick world? It depends on
which aspect you are looking at. Specify the category on your
homeopape and you'll see the kindred spirit of Dick's nightmares
there.
SIV|3.28.07 @ 6:40PM|#
Screamers is the most faihful movie adaptation of a Dick
story.Make sure you get the right one, there is another screamers
that has nothing to do with it.
I enjoyed Bladerunner in its initial theatrical release right up
till the end which soured the whole thing- they don't have built in
" death dates" they die just like we do(and wher did all that green
come from-it looked like owl habitiat).
I found the "directors cut" to be much more in the spirit of the
book- particularly the scene in which he almost kills the sleeping
Rachel).
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