I agree that it was a pity that more didn't make into the movie, but unfortunately that's what happens when you try to squeeze a novel into the constraints of film, especially if that film must follow the Hollywood formula.
However, what Ridley Scott did was pretty neat. He turned Dick's narrative inside out. In Blade Runner, it's the human character that is the most devoid of emotion, the most detached, and it's the androids that seem to be more human.
Yet Scott presents to us the same basic question that Dick did: What does it mean to be human?
From what I've heard, the PKD estate will sell you the rights to anything if you come up with the cash. The daughters have said that they are primarily interested in making money with the assets of the estate. I think ASD is a special case for them and important to them. Maybe they feel now that they've made enough money to make up for their rotten childhoods.
However, you've got to understand H'wood. Probably by now all the options have sold, and they might be selling options on the options.
When something has been optioned, it means you can start developing it if you want (i.e., have the money to start writing a screenplay, or, more likely, start looking for money to write a screenplay). However, it's at this point that many projects just die. They go on the shelf, never to be heard from again.
So, who knows? Someone probably has the option on Three Stigmata. They might even have a completed draft of a screenplay. If this is the case, it's most likely in Development Limbo.
I elaborated on these ideas in your other comment.
If you want to try another, maybe Man in the High Castle. One thing to keep in mind is that Dick at times isn't writing Sci Fi. He's just using the trappings of Sci Fi because that was the only way he could get published and make any money.
Pardon! I've never seen it, but now that you reminded me . ..oh yeah. =)
You probably already know that Dick was huge in France before he really became popular in the U.S. I think this was because the French, especially the French intelectuals, really enjoyed the thrust of Dick. Well, whatever the reason, those French just really love Dick.
Don't worry if you're "deep enough". You're no doubt of above average intelligence, despite this being/. and all. Please excuse the folowing dissertation.
Probably, it's just that Dick doesn't float your boat. If we all liked tha same thing, what a boring world we'd have.
But I think you've hit on one of Dick's ironies. That people need a box to experience empathy. Remind you of anything?
Anyway, it's not so simple, where one can clear things up by saying whether Dick favored or disapproved Mercerism. In fact, this ambiguity is a major part of the book at the end. Is Mercerism a hoax? Or is it true, i.e., is there an underlying truth to Mercerism that will never be perceivable by the androids?
The love of animals is a central tenet of Mercerism. Yet, as happens in all religions, the expression becomes perverted. Animal ownership becomes a signifier of status, prestige, and even corporate power.
Also, I think that Dick was saying that the values behind Mercerism are central to being human, not whether or not it would be good for humanity.
Anyway, I think that Dick just isn't your cup of tea. Maybe you haven't really suffered, or maybe you've suffered, but haven't suffered enough. If this is the case, I hope you never have to, but if it happens, there are authors like PKD that are great to turn to.
PKD is definitely for the wounded and those that have been crushed. Most of his characters are damaged and flawed, and perhaps they are hard to like if you're not damaged and flawed. Mercer knows I'm plenty of both. I should start a blog or something. =)
Not all his novels are this deep, however. Some of his others, while dealing with interesting issues, are lighter and more fun.
Anyway, sorry if I was a dickhead, but, after all, I am a Dickhead.
One exception to this rule is Jason Taverner in Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, who is a big celebrity who wakes up in a shabby motel room to discover that he's a nobody.
If you don't "buy" the mercerism thing ("buy" is an interesting choice of words, don't you think?), then perhaps it says more about you and your humanity than it says anything about the book.
Chase scene? In PKD? The best I can think of (and it's been a while since I've read any PKD) is the end of A Maze of Death. What other novels have chase scenes?
There are plenty of movies, good and bad, with plots. Why does every movie have to have a plot? Does your life have a plot? I mean, other than the one in which you will eventually be buried.
Director's cut of Bladerunner. The original studio version totally blows, like an AC's sister. The thing I liked about the director's cut was that Scott took Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as a starting point and made a completely different movie. Yet he managed to bring out the important themes of DADoES. In this sense he was true to Dick, truer than anything I've seen since.
Confessions of a Crap Artist (Confessions d'un Barjo) is the only one that's decidedly outside the Hollywood mold.
How about The Transmigration of Timothy Archer? Not a shred of Sci Fi there; I doubt Hollywood will take the chance.
VALIS would be a huge challenge. Maybe Linkletter could do VALIS, I dunno. I think I'd rather see Iñarritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) direct it.
What's most troubling to me about this Scanner Darkly project is that Keanu Reeves is playing the Bob Artor character. Since they're using the rotoscoping tecnique that Linkletter used in Waking Life, why couldn't they just use the Walmart Happy Face or a sock puppet? It's chit like that that makes me wonder if Linkletter hasn't just become a whore. The only reason you put Keanu in a movie is for boxoffice returns.
It's really tempting to flame you, but I'll try to exercise some control.
Dick has all those things you mention from page one of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Dick's stories aren't about "believability", per se. They're morality tales with sci fi skins. The thing you describe as "the shared experience of being sisyphus" is a religion based on the human ability and desire for empathy. Empathy is one of the key concepts of the novel. The whole thing with the animals is about empathy as well (although Dick puts a layer of social competition on top of this).
My favorite part is the beginning, the scene with the Penfield Mood Organ. One of the funniest things I've read anywhere.
So how do we off-load the graphic chores of the GUI onto the video card? I'm not a programmer, obviously, but is anyone doing this?
I have mixed feelings about animated graphics. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes they are annoying. Expose in OS X is particularly nifty, but I find some of the dock animations annoying. One of the nicest little touches, though, is the subtle dropshadows that a window leaves on an underlying window.It's that "2.5D" illusion that I like.
But on the whole, I think you're right. Lickable buttons don't get my work done. A good comparison might be to website design. I really appreciate a simple well designed site that lets me get at the information and content I want. There might be all sorts of complexity behind the simple design, but I don't want to know about it.
I know it will sound like blasphemy to a lot of the/. crowd, but MS really isn't a company of idiots who are just drooling over the prospect of coloured buttons. It's what you get when you cross (in more than one way;) a whole lot of hackers, with a whole lot of hard working usability experts.
You forgot to mention that the hackers and usability experts are directed by drooling marketdroids and PHBs at the behest of cut-throats and criminals.
And indeed it has committed more sins in the name of speed, than for all other reasons combined.
Because someone, in marketing or management, decided that this was the priority, and screw everything else.
deliberately pissing off Sun aside, all the changes they did to their implementation of Java were precisely aimed at making it very very fast.
No, you can't set aside "deliberately pissing off Sun", because one of the primary goals was breaking compatibility and breaking the standard, i.e., undermining another groups technology. This at the expense of the user. I'm not making this shit up. It's been documented in court that this is SOP for Microsoft in it's path to world domination.
Despite the appearance of Karma Whoring, it really needs to be pointed out again and again that MS as a company is unethical and ruthless, and will do whatever it takes to gain and maintain power over your computer.
Disclaimer: From time to time, I have needed to use MS software, so my ethics have certainly been compromised.
No, it's about insecurity. When one is insecure about oneself, any other choice implies that his or her choice was not the best or the most intelligent.
The most extreme fanatics usually have the greatest doubts, albeit secretly or unconsciously. Anything that challenges beliefs or that appears to challenge beliefs is perceived as a threat to the fanatic's self image.
The sole exception to this, of course, is Mac Zealots.:n)
I lived in Casa de las Brujas for part of my time in Guanajuato. It's a school now. I lived in a room in the building in the back of the school (which I'm pretty sure was built much later). Let me commend you on the job you and your team did. Apparently the witches are all pretty happy. =) I saw one, but that's another story.
Anyway, just so you know, everyday people slow down as they drive by to look at your work. Sometimes tour buses drive by and slow down.
What do you call that style of architecture? It's Victorian, obviously, but not any style of Victorian I've ever seen before.
Oh, and I haven't seen las mommias either. I went up there one day, but the lines were way too long, so I'm saving it for another day.
Slashdot Mirror
No, no, and no.
1) The laptop powers you, you insensitive overlord.
2) ????
3) Profit!!!
I agree that it was a pity that more didn't make into the movie, but unfortunately that's what happens when you try to squeeze a novel into the constraints of film, especially if that film must follow the Hollywood formula.
However, what Ridley Scott did was pretty neat. He turned Dick's narrative inside out. In Blade Runner, it's the human character that is the most devoid of emotion, the most detached, and it's the androids that seem to be more human.
Yet Scott presents to us the same basic question that Dick did: What does it mean to be human?
Why did so many people go see Waterworld? And don'[t you think we all felt a common bond through our suffering?
Oh, wait. Hardly anyone saw Waterworld. It was a critical and box office flop.
Where is he buried? In Colma? It's great to be alive in Colma.
From what I've heard, the PKD estate will sell you the rights to anything if you come up with the cash. The daughters have said that they are primarily interested in making money with the assets of the estate. I think ASD is a special case for them and important to them. Maybe they feel now that they've made enough money to make up for their rotten childhoods.
However, you've got to understand H'wood. Probably by now all the options have sold, and they might be selling options on the options.
When something has been optioned, it means you can start developing it if you want (i.e., have the money to start writing a screenplay, or, more likely, start looking for money to write a screenplay). However, it's at this point that many projects just die. They go on the shelf, never to be heard from again.
So, who knows? Someone probably has the option on Three Stigmata. They might even have a completed draft of a screenplay. If this is the case, it's most likely in Development Limbo.
If you want to try another, maybe Man in the High Castle. One thing to keep in mind is that Dick at times isn't writing Sci Fi. He's just using the trappings of Sci Fi because that was the only way he could get published and make any money.
Pardon! I've never seen it, but now that you reminded me . . .oh yeah. =)
You probably already know that Dick was huge in France before he really became popular in the U.S. I think this was because the French, especially the French intelectuals, really enjoyed the thrust of Dick. Well, whatever the reason, those French just really love Dick.
Don't worry if you're "deep enough". You're no doubt of above average intelligence, despite this being /. and all. Please excuse the folowing dissertation.
Probably, it's just that Dick doesn't float your boat. If we all liked tha same thing, what a boring world we'd have.
But I think you've hit on one of Dick's ironies. That people need a box to experience empathy. Remind you of anything?
Anyway, it's not so simple, where one can clear things up by saying whether Dick favored or disapproved Mercerism. In fact, this ambiguity is a major part of the book at the end. Is Mercerism a hoax? Or is it true, i.e., is there an underlying truth to Mercerism that will never be perceivable by the androids?
The love of animals is a central tenet of Mercerism. Yet, as happens in all religions, the expression becomes perverted. Animal ownership becomes a signifier of status, prestige, and even corporate power.
Also, I think that Dick was saying that the values behind Mercerism are central to being human, not whether or not it would be good for humanity.
Anyway, I think that Dick just isn't your cup of tea. Maybe you haven't really suffered, or maybe you've suffered, but haven't suffered enough. If this is the case, I hope you never have to, but if it happens, there are authors like PKD that are great to turn to.
PKD is definitely for the wounded and those that have been crushed. Most of his characters are damaged and flawed, and perhaps they are hard to like if you're not damaged and flawed. Mercer knows I'm plenty of both. I should start a blog or something. =)
Not all his novels are this deep, however. Some of his others, while dealing with interesting issues, are lighter and more fun.
Anyway, sorry if I was a dickhead, but, after all, I am a Dickhead.
One exception to this rule is Jason Taverner in Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, who is a big celebrity who wakes up in a shabby motel room to discover that he's a nobody.
You, sir, a real dickhead! And I mean that in the good way.
If you don't "buy" the mercerism thing ("buy" is an interesting choice of words, don't you think?), then perhaps it says more about you and your humanity than it says anything about the book.
I guess you didn't know about the big "1990s" nostalgia craze in 2234.
Chase scene? In PKD? The best I can think of (and it's been a while since I've read any PKD) is the end of A Maze of Death. What other novels have chase scenes?
There are plenty of movies, good and bad, with plots. Why does every movie have to have a plot? Does your life have a plot? I mean, other than the one in which you will eventually be buried.
Hanks is a good actor, and thus forgivable. Same can't be said for Keanu.
Director's cut of Bladerunner. The original studio version totally blows, like an AC's sister. The thing I liked about the director's cut was that Scott took Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as a starting point and made a completely different movie. Yet he managed to bring out the important themes of DADoES. In this sense he was true to Dick, truer than anything I've seen since.
How about The Transmigration of Timothy Archer? Not a shred of Sci Fi there; I doubt Hollywood will take the chance.
VALIS would be a huge challenge. Maybe Linkletter could do VALIS, I dunno. I think I'd rather see Iñarritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) direct it.
What's most troubling to me about this Scanner Darkly project is that Keanu Reeves is playing the Bob Artor character. Since they're using the rotoscoping tecnique that Linkletter used in Waking Life, why couldn't they just use the Walmart Happy Face or a sock puppet? It's chit like that that makes me wonder if Linkletter hasn't just become a whore. The only reason you put Keanu in a movie is for boxoffice returns.
It's really tempting to flame you, but I'll try to exercise some control.
Dick has all those things you mention from page one of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Dick's stories aren't about "believability", per se. They're morality tales with sci fi skins. The thing you describe as "the shared experience of being sisyphus" is a religion based on the human ability and desire for empathy. Empathy is one of the key concepts of the novel. The whole thing with the animals is about empathy as well (although Dick puts a layer of social competition on top of this).
My favorite part is the beginning, the scene with the Penfield Mood Organ. One of the funniest things I've read anywhere.
That was cruel. Goatse is preferable to that. Oh well, to each his own.
Here's the link:
Blosxom
I've used Blosxom, and it pretty much rocks. I haven't used the latest version, with the plug in architecture, but it looks sweet.
OK, point taken.
So how do we off-load the graphic chores of the GUI onto the video card? I'm not a programmer, obviously, but is anyone doing this?
I have mixed feelings about animated graphics. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes they are annoying. Expose in OS X is particularly nifty, but I find some of the dock animations annoying. One of the nicest little touches, though, is the subtle dropshadows that a window leaves on an underlying window.It's that "2.5D" illusion that I like.
But on the whole, I think you're right. Lickable buttons don't get my work done. A good comparison might be to website design. I really appreciate a simple well designed site that lets me get at the information and content I want. There might be all sorts of complexity behind the simple design, but I don't want to know about it.
Despite the appearance of Karma Whoring, it really needs to be pointed out again and again that MS as a company is unethical and ruthless, and will do whatever it takes to gain and maintain power over your computer.
Disclaimer: From time to time, I have needed to use MS software, so my ethics have certainly been compromised.
No, it's about insecurity. When one is insecure about oneself, any other choice implies that his or her choice was not the best or the most intelligent.
The most extreme fanatics usually have the greatest doubts, albeit secretly or unconsciously. Anything that challenges beliefs or that appears to challenge beliefs is perceived as a threat to the fanatic's self image.
The sole exception to this, of course, is Mac Zealots.
What's the difference between Capitalism and Communism?
Under Capitalism, man exploits his fellow man. Under Communism, it's the other way around.
Hombre!
I lived in Casa de las Brujas for part of my time in Guanajuato. It's a school now. I lived in a room in the building in the back of the school (which I'm pretty sure was built much later). Let me commend you on the job you and your team did. Apparently the witches are all pretty happy. =) I saw one, but that's another story.
Anyway, just so you know, everyday people slow down as they drive by to look at your work. Sometimes tour buses drive by and slow down.
What do you call that style of architecture? It's Victorian, obviously, but not any style of Victorian I've ever seen before.
Oh, and I haven't seen las mommias either. I went up there one day, but the lines were way too long, so I'm saving it for another day.