Christopher Lantz

Jon sez, "When conjuring up the future, why do writers and filmmakers so often imagine Northern California as an edenic utopia, while Southern California gets turned into a dystopian hellscape? While Hollywood, counterculture, and Mike Davis have each helped to shape and propagate this idea, Kristin Miller traces its roots back to the 1949 George R. Stewart novel Earth Abides. Her essay follows the north/south divide in science fiction films and literature through the decades, and explores how it's continued to evolve. In the accompanying slideshow, Miller photographs stills from sci fi movies filmed in California, held up against their filming locations, from 1970's Forbin Project to 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It shows not just the geographic divide in SF, but also how our futures have evolved, and how movies have the ability to change how we see our surroundings in the present."

Northern California-as-utopia, on the other hand, is strongly linked to the countercultural movement of the sixties, with its guides for technologically advanced back-to-the-land living. One can read Ernest Callenbach’s influential novel Ecotopia (1975) as the possible future seeded by Whole Earth Catalog. Ecotopia is a fictional “field study” of a future Pacific Northwest society that has split from an apocalyptic United States and is governed according to ecological principles. While much technology has been abandoned, the Ecotopians have selectively retained public transit, electric cars, networked computers, and improved recycling (Callenbach was a longtime resident of Berkeley). Ecotopia‘s themes were later picked up and elaborated in the eco-feminist tales of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home (1985), a cultural anthropology of latter-day Napa Valley-ites who have returned to indigenous ways; Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993) about a pagan, nonviolent San Francisco threatened by southern biological warfare; and Octavia Butler’s Parable books (1993, 1998) where refugees from the LA wasteland grow a new eco-religion, Earthseed, in the forests of Mendocino.

Postcards From the Future [Kristin Miller/Boom] (Thanks, Jon!)

Hang the Bankers has a set of photos from 1972 surrealist ball hosted by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild at the Château de Ferrières, with Salvador Dali in attendance. Hang the Bankers cites this as evidence of "the underlying ideology and the mind state of the occult elite," which sounds like hogwash to me. I mean, I'm all for reflexively condemning the hyper-rich, but if you're a weird shadowy billionaire aristo, better you should be spending your unimaginable riches on cool dress-up parties than tacky mega-yachts or sabotaging health care bills.

On 12/12/72 Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, member of the most powerful elite family in the world, held a Surrealist Ball at Château de Ferrières, one of the family’s gigantic mansions.

While these events are usually extremely secretive, photographs of this particular Ball surfaced on the web. In short, it is a mix of an “Eyes Wide Shut”-style masked ball mixed with a Lady Gaga-style pop video. I’m not even kidding.

Photos from a 1972 Rothschild illuminati party [Clark Kent/Hang the Bankers]

(via Kadrey!)

"In short, The King in Yellow has gone viral. But why? It's all due to the powerful creative draw of the weird mythos, stories which create, in the words of H.P. Lovecraft, a shared literary universe defined by an "unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces" and "the daemons of unplumbed space." And that effect is very definitely by design."

The now public-domain text is free online. Kevin McFarland reviews the show here at Boing Boing every week.

Jamie Lanister

Dublin, Ireland artist Mick Minogue has created an amazing collection of hand-painted woodcut action figures based on “battle damaged” characters from George R.R. Martin‘s epic series of fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire. They are all currently on dislay at the Winter is Coming art show, hosted by George, at the Ltd. Art Gallery in Seattle. You can view more photos of Mick’s figures on his blog or Facebook page.

Viserys Targaryen

Theon Greyjoy

Ned Stark

The Hound

images via Mick Minogue

via Yahoo News UK, Topless Robot, The Awesomer

Life moves pretty fast. Break the fucking rules.

“John Hughes’ The Reckless Club” is an illustrated project by Brazilian artist Butcher Billy that reimagines the cast of The Breakfast Club with 80s rock stars. Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy are replaced with Morrissey, Ian Curtis, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, and Siouxsie Sioux. You can view more images from the Billy’s art project on Tumblr and Behance. Prints, apparel, and more are available to purchase online from Society6 and Redbubble. We’ve previously written about Butcher Billy and his ongoing collection of mashups.

This is a tribute to the great writer, producer and film director John Hughes, that touched a generation of teenagers through 90-minute pop psychology high school life lessons, followed by amazing soundtrack music.

images via Butcher Billy

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

via http://www.storenvy.com/products/5537263-mother-of-dragons

via http://ebonyeyes1984.tumblr.com/page/8

thebirdandthebat:

postcardsfromspace:

emeraldcitycomicon:

Just wanted to take a moment to post our policy on harassment on tumblr, it is also on our website, and will be in the program guide. The image attached is the sign we will have displayed throughout the convention.

Emerald City Comicon’s mission is to create a safe, awesome environment where geeks of all kinds can come together. We have a zero tolerance policy for harassment of any kind.

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments (related to race, gender, sexual orientation, body size, disability, appearance, and religion), overly sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact and unwelcome sexual attention.

Exhibitors, sponsors and guests are subject to our anti-harassment policy as well and have also been informed. In particular, exhibitors should not use images or material that surpasses a PG-13 rating at their booths. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use over-sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes.

If a person engages in harassing behavior, ECCC Directors and Department Heads may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from Emerald City Comicon (with no refund). If you are being harassed, witness someone else being harassed or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the Emerald City Comicon staff immediately (identifiable by green Minion t-shirts or black polos/Staff badges). We are happy to contact our security or local law enforcement, provide escort, a safe place, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the convention.

All attendees, exhibitors and staff are subject to this anti-harassment policy and are expected to follow these rules at all Emerald City Comicon events.

Thank you!

Emerald City is one of my very favorite shows in the world, and this is the iceberg-tip of why.

Obligatory panel plug: On Saturday, at 12:40, in Hall D, Laura Hudson, Janelle Asselin, Bobby Roberts, and I will be talking about harassment in geek communities.

Thank you, Emerald City Comic Con for being a positive example for other fan conventions when it comes to harassment issues.

Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 36 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness.

Header Photo: Iron Prime t-shirt

10 pilot season trends for fall

10 Movies ‘300‘ Made Possible

‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure‘ Bike for Sale on Ebay

Can ‘Divergent‘ Really Become the Next ‘Hunger Games‘?

5 Theories About the New Season of American Horror Story

James Bond & Spy Thriller Parody Posters for ‘Muppets Most Wanted‘

THE TOP 10 UNDISCOVERED TV GEMS TO WATCH

‘West Side Story‘: Why a Steven Spielberg remake could work

George R. R. Martin Art Show – Winter Is Coming – Ltd Art Gallery – Part II

Disney Interactive Lays Off 700 Employees

Here’s The Mashup Of ‘True Detective’ And ‘Star Wars’ We’ve All Been Waiting For

Machinima Lays Off 42 Employees As It Turns To YouTube To Sell Ads

Star Trek Spock Hand Business Card Holder Statue

The Wolverine Writer Mark Bomback Checks Into Veronica’s Room

Continue Reading Page 2 >>

• No Related Post

The post Page 2: Iron Giant, Pee Wee, Muppets, GoT, True Detective, Star Trek, 24, Ghostbusters appeared first on /Film.

tastefullyoffensive:

Pun Dog #4 (previously) [via]

Voyager Week 2/7

corgidogsorg:

Who ordered a Corgi Wrap? :)

a furrito

“He takes a while to warm up to people.”

In this video, BuzzFeed demonstrates how creepy it would be if you did some of the things that cats do in real life. It’s just not socially acceptable to ask someone to rub your belly, run and hide when being introduced to a new person, and to knock breakable objects off of a coworker’s desk.

music by Kevin MacLeod – “Ranz des Vaches”

image via BuzzFeed

Danish-based group The Bottle Boys performed an impressive medley of video game songs using empty bottles as instruments. They cover video game songs from Pong to Angry Birds. Previously we wrote about The Bottle Boys and their hip-hop mashup.

roane72:

#republican nightmare