DarkObserver, 10. Oktober 2002 um 00:25:38 MESZ

Another "cool" website (originally posted August 28th 2002)

Check out

www.teleport-city.com

This site covers "cult" in the medium of film, music, literature and "life". They do it in style and with a mixture of high- and lowbrow demands.

Their reviews of movies and music are really good fun -read for example the over-long review of "1990 Bronx Warriors", a post-apocalyptic gang movie from the 80's, that I actually own myself.

Under www.teleport-city.com

you can find a five-part-travelogue of a trip to Japan!

Isn't it interesting, how we tech-types are all similarly fascinated by this culture? And this has been so even before Anime became a Western mass-phenomenon

 
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DarkObserver, 10. Oktober 2002 um 00:21:40 MESZ

William Gibson (originally posted August 26th 2002)

I've been a fan of the American Sci-Fi author William Gibson for a long time. Some of you may have heard about him, because he coined the term "cyberspace". Along with Bruce Sterling (with whom he collaborated on the novel "The Difference Engine"), Gibson used to be the spearhead of a literary genre known as "Cyperpunk", because it mixes elements of 80's punk counter-culture with esoterical concepts of elevating one's mind to a higher form of being, obviously reminiscent of 60's psychedelic soul searching. The medium this time is not drugs, but technology. Gibson's anti-heroes roam a virtual plane called cyberspace, the sum total of all the world's stored information, where they are hackers in a sense, but also fed up with civilization and longing for catharsis, which at least some of them find by "uploading" their minds, leaving their body behind and becoming a part of "the matrix".

Since his first ground-breaking novel "Neuromancer", Gibson has explored many implications of the way we use and perceive technology and it is his theory, that all social change is technology-driven. He -like myself and many others- is fascinated by the Japanese way of adopting and assimilating new technology and his books show it, often featuring Japanese characters, lingo and locations.

Numerous movies, like "Matrix" asf. owe a lot to William Gibson's ideas although he's rarely credited for them.

Although his later novels lack the innovative power of his earlier works, they still offer cool ideas for people who like to be compelled to think.

I could say a lot more about Gibson and my view of his work but instead I recommend:

This fantastic website, run by a German gentleman, currently living in Japan, has collected all sorts of information about William Gibson that one can think of (and wish for). Please visit

www.antonraubenweiss.com

and see for yourself.

 
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DarkObserver, 9. Oktober 2002 um 23:38:22 MESZ

H. P. Lovecraft (old article, back from Nirvana)

I've always been a fan of fantastic genres like Science Fiction and Horror, and in the course of this interest I eventually came across the name of H. P. Lovecraft, an American writer from New England. Although he never published a single book in his lifetime, his work has influenced numerous authors, screenwriters and artists and is now being rediscovered -and re-evaluated- by literary scholars and others.

What I really have some trouble with is the fact, that he was a racist who lived in fear and hate of all folks not fitting into his puritanistic WASP (White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant) scheme of things. Nonetheless I decided against throwing him out of the window completely, because in his later years he seems to have reformed his views somewhat and the impact of his work as a whole simply can't be dismissed.

Judge for yourself:

You can read almost all of his works online

A biography

While researching the reality of his racist attitudes on the Web I realized another odd thing: How easy one is led from Lovecraft to all sorts of occult websites, mixing his inventions into their demonology or magic recipes. I read some lengthy articles about spellcasting...maybe I will give it a try ;-)

If you like weird over-the-top horror movies for people with strong stomachs and a quirky sense of humor, get a hold of Re-Animator and its sequel "Bride of Re-Animator", both loosely based on a short story by Lovecraft and featuring the great actor Jeffrey Combs -mostly known to fans of B-horror movies but maybe also to Star Trek fans, because he has appeared regularly -wearing heavy makeup- in episodes of almost every series, most recently as an Andorian and a Ferengi in the latest incarnation of Trek "Enterprise".

Update 10/9/02: I've read that there's a third installment in the making called "Beyond Re-Animator".

 
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