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William Gibson's Neuromancer Staged With Porn Star

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the are-you-familiar-with-her-work dept.

destinyland writes "Sunday night saw a reading of the William Gibson's classic cyberpunk novel featuring porn star Sasha Grey at a New York art museum, along with sculpture-props simulating virtual reality. Artist Brody Condon promised to combine 'Gibson's 1980s dystopian techno-fetishism with early twentieth-century abstraction,' but the editor of H+ magazine challenges that description. 'In a 1993 interview, Gibson himself told me: "I think my world looks dystopian if you're a middle class white guy doing reasonably well in 1993... There are so many places in the world today that are so much crappier than anything I'm writing about."' And earlier this month William Gibson shared his response to a blog post about the event. 'Gol' dang! It's news to me!'"

9 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. "sculpture-props simulating virtual reality" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    sculpture-props simulating virtual reality

    You get the sense that someone doesn't quite grasp the basic concepts.

  2. Re:Queen of 'Loser Porn' - Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's "Loser Porn"?

    It's "I can't even dream of having sex with a girl as pretty and intelligent as Sasha Grey, so I'll just call her a skank and call her work 'loser porn'".

  3. I think my world looks dystopian... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But the world looks utopian if you're a middle class white guy doing Sasha Grey.

    1. Re:I think my world looks dystopian... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If your boss gives you a car, you feel great.
      If your boss gives your co-worker two cars, now you feel badly.

      The last three decades have consisted of taking away pieces of white middle class males cars until now they are riding a used bicycle only very slightly better than everyone else's.

      The drop in status, income, prestige, and even the ability to retain a job has been painful and protracted. Very soon white males will be a minority in many areas and from what I've seen, the former minorities have a lot of illegal practices (like hiring only the same minority as they are) which no one is willing to fight against yet. I think that at some point very soon (the next 10 years), you will see a Mexican company based in the U.S. sued successfully for not hiring/promoting white males.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  4. I saw this... by PortWineBoy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was at the reading yesterday as part of my sojourns around Performa 09. No one else recognized her (that I could tell) in the audience, but it was a durational piece and I was only there a half hour. I was almost positive it was her, but she had these huge sunglasses on and I couldn't be sure...and it didn't seem like a good question to just ask a random chick at a performance piece while I was there with my gf...

    --

    this sig deleted by another sig

  5. They're Still Dystopian by russotto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The world of _1984_ would look great to someone from Somalia or some of the other hellholes of the world. _Brave New World_ even more so. Yet they're still both considered dystopian. Same goes for Neuromancer.

  6. Re:Article written by... by SolarCanine · · Score: 5, Informative

    R.U. Sirius has been writing for years, and was the editor of Mondo 2000 magazine during the '90s, as well as co-author of Cyberpunk Handbook:: The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook with St. Jude. So yes, it's very real (and not the first time his work has found the convergence of cyberpunk and porn, either...)

  7. Re:LOL! One of Sash's Loser Jerkoff Boys Speaks by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Guess where I live loser? That's right, the San Fucking Fernando Valley. Fucking pornstars. Been there, done that.

    translation: I think I am Napoleon Bonaparte.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. The middle class by manekineko2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree the race dropping was uncalled for, but he also was giving this response in an interview, where we can't always pick the perfect words for what we're trying to say. If he was just trying to draw a distinction between middle class in the privileged (and largely white) West versus the middle class in, say, India where by US standards you're still desperately poor, I don't think it's entirely illegitimate.