Its almost GAME DAY and the Nerdonomicon has made it's pick!!! The Miskatonic Leviathans!!!

     Don't know who to root for this Sunday? Well, the Nerdonomicon has dredged the oceans' depths and summoned the Deep Lord himself. Win or Lose, the world will never be the same!

(Click here to) Visit Arcane Apparel for official Miskatonic Leviathans fan products

like t-shirts and posters.

Neuromancer: A live action adaptation is coming in 20XX...

     In the beginning there was Bladerunner, and Bladerunner was good. 

The iconic cityscape from Blade Runner. © the Blade Runner Partnership. All Rights Reserved.

     Ridley Scott's brilliant 1982 film (based on the Phillip K. Dick short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) gave the world an intriguing (although dystopian) view of Los Angeles in the year 2019 (only four years away from today). With it's sprawling cities and technology-saturated society, Bladerunner literally brought the "cyberpunk" universe to life. Seventeen years later, The Matrix envisioned existence in an all-encompassing virtuality where 'hackers" prevail as super-powered operatives capable of manipulating reality. 

     Between those two films (in 1984) William Gibson wrote Neuromancer, a book that would be hailed as an iconic triumph of science fiction literature. Neuromancer was an amazing achievement from the author who coined the term "cyberspace". Winner of the The Nebula Award, The Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award, Neuromancer tells the story of a computer hacker, a cybernetic "razor girl", and their sordid contacts as they embark on a mission to pull off the "ultimate hack". As a novel, it is a richly detailed weave of future-culture, technology, violence, sex, and human nature; the perfect setup for a film. But after more than 30 years since its writing, a film version of Neuromancer still hasn't been made. And from the looks of things, it may never happen.

     Serious discussions to turn Neuromancer into a film first emerged in 2007,  proposing Joseph Kahn as director and Mila Jovovich in the lead female role portraying "Molly Millions". This news was supplanted in 2010 with an announcement that Vincenzo Natali would be the film's director and that the screenplay was being re-written (an existing screenplay written by Chris Cunningham and Chuck Russell would be scrapped, despite an endorsement from William Gibson for Cunningham as director). 

(Above) A PS Comp showing Mila Jovovich as "Molly Millions" from Nueromancer.

©Jeff Spangler 2015. All Rights Reserved.

     Currently the rights to create a live-action adaptation of Neuromancer lie in the hands of a little-known company called "GFM Films". 

     In their own words, GFM is "... a London based film company whose principal aim is to develop, produce, finance, and sell independent movies and television films and series.". On their site is a page dedicated to Neuromancer that lists the project's progress as currently being in "pre-prodcution". 

     You can see the GFM Films page for Neuromancer here.

(Above) An exceptionally badass promotional image created for Neuromancer that is likely the character known as "Armitage" (unconfirmed). ©GFM Films. All Rights Reserved.

     All of the assets that you would normally expect to see catalogued for a film in this stage of development (director, cast, producer, writer, etc.) remain "TBC" or "To be confirmed", meaning... they don't exist; At least not officially. It is also curious to note that while GFM has a number of projects tagged as being either in "post-production" or "completed", there are none in production. I created with an account with GFM and tried logging in to download the press kit materials for Neuromancer, but they are also currently unavailable with the vague promise of "coming soon".

     This could mean that the folks at GFM are either busy distributing and promoting other recently released film or TV projects, or that they are feverishly working to secure a director, writer, and cast for Neuromancer. I sincerely hope it's the latter.

    A synopsis for Neuromancer released by GFM in 2012 reads:

Case is a low level hustler living out his last days on the streets of the future Tokyo underground. A talented thief who would break into high security computer systems by directly linking his brain into them, he is discovered and injected with a poison which renders him unable to interface into cyberspace. Unable to work, Case embarks on a self-destructive path of drug addiction and double dealings, waiting for a local crime lord to collect on money and time that doesn’t exist. Enter a shady businessman named Armitage who offers him the impossible: the chance to repair his neural damage and regain the life he once had. There is a catch though. Armitage has implanted timer activated poisons in Case’s body that he can react if Case doesn’t carry out what he asks. Placed under the protection of Molly, a professional killer who frees him by executing the crime lord, Case is put on a mystery assignment that begins a journey out of the gutters of future Tokyo and into an ever-expanding world of multinational intrigue.

     A surprisingly accurate summary of the storyline from the book. Surprisingly accurate, three years old, and no longer available online.

     So what now? What happens next? I will be keeping up with developments, but at this point the future for Neuromancer as a film seems bleak.

     

The (Disney) Empire Strikes Back

"Well, the ones that I sold to Disney and everything, they came up with the decision that they didn't really want to do those. So they made up their own. It's not the ones that I originally wrote."

~ George Lucas

(White) Ghost in the Shell

     When I heard that a live-action version of Masamune Shirow's manga masterpiece "Ghost in the Shell" was in the works, my first thought was "somebody loves me." (more information on the project here). Later when I learned that the company behind this move was none other than Dreamworks, my thoughts were confirmed. But somebody didn't just love me, they loved the universe.

     What better setting and storyline for a major motion picture than the ultra-industrialized, hi-tech future of Nihama Prefecture depicted in the 1995 anime film? And what better role for an up and coming action-oriented Asian actress than that of Section 9 Major, Motoko Kusanagi? For a self-confessed science-fiction-mega-geek and hopeless Japanophile it seemed as if the planets had finally fallen into alignment.

(above) Major Motoko Kusanagi, the protagonist from Ghost in the Shell.

     Then I was told that Scarlett Johanssen was being sought for the leading female role.

     Needless to say,  I was a bit confused.

    To be fair, there are clear merits to casting SJ in the role of a cybernetic ninja badass. Her work as Black Widow in Marvel's "Avengers" and "Winter Soldier" (as well as her performance as a hyper-evolved human in the more recent "Lucy" by Universal Pictures) certainly proves that she is capable of filling Kusanagi's jika-tabi.

(above) Scarlett Johansson as Natalia Romanava (aka "Black Widow") and "Lucy". 

     SJ is easy on the eyes, comes across as the perfect combination of sexy and tough, and brings a cold, detached, no-nonsense manner to her action scenes; The exact blend of aloof charm and casually inflicted violence that helped make Kusanagi a beloved anime icon. Dye Scarlett's hair black, give her a pair of chrome-iris contacts, and she even looks like drawings of Kusanagi.

(above) A quick PS edited comparison of Motoko Kusanagi and Scarlett Johansson.

     On the other hand there are more than a few Asian actresses who would have been excellent choices and who are (after all)... Asian. Hollywood has a long history of whitewashing Asian roles and the argument could be made that by casting Johansson, the filmmakers are slighting not only the story's creator but fans of the GITS world as well. Wouldn't we rather see a living, breathing Kusanagi who is Japanese in more than just her name?

     I've taken the liberty of posting shots of three Asian actresses whom I think would make excellent choices for the role of Kusanagi (below). There is still a lot of debate going on over the issue and I don't think that, at this early stage, the producers at Dreamworks have made their final decision. Either way, it's very encouraging to see a Japanese animation made into a live action film by one of the world's largest and most successful studios.

     Fingers crossed that they don't screw it up.

 

(Above) Rinko Kikuchi from "Pacific Rim".

(Above) Jamie Chung from "Sucker Punch".

(Above) Tao Okamoto from "The Wolverine".

Geek Art is Good Art

"The purpose of Art is washing the daily dust off our souls."

~ Pablo Picasso

     What is "Art"?


     A simple Google search reveals that "Art" is "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power."
     As an artist who studied at two of the top art schools in the nation, I have heard the word "art" debated and redefined more times than I care to discuss. Add the word "good" to make it "good art" and the discussion quickly descends into an argument. Now try to draw a line between "fine" art and "commercial" art or rate the merits of working traditionally as opposed to digitally and you have started a war... At least amongst artists.



     Why? Because what constitutes "good" art versus " bad" art is purely subjective. I'm not even sure its accurate to label any art as "bad" simply because perception and aesthetics vary wildly from person to person.  So what I call "bad art" you may see as a beautiful and profound example of artistic expression. 

     In the past several decades a new genre has emerged in the form of "Geek Art". By 2015 the concept of taking certain popular cultural icons (such as characters from a video game or feature film) and illustrating them in a new style or rendering them in a different context is nothing revolutionary. But it has made for some very excellent art.

     For Christmas last year my wife bought our oldest son a book that she saw at a local street fair. One look at the cover and I was mesmerized. 

Geek - Art, An Anthology of Art, design, Illustration and Pop-Culture.

Available from Chronicle Books by clicking here.

     What's inside? I'm not going to show you. Not because it's not awesome but because "Geek Art" is more than just a book - it's the tip of the iceberg that represents an entire culture. A very rich, detailed culture that you can explore by going to their site - http://www.geek-art.net

     Created and curated by a man named Thomas Olivri who (in his own words) is dedicated to "Discovering passionate talents and sharing them to the world..." , essentially "Geek Art" is a collection of some pretty amazing artwork created by a horde of very impressive artists who just happen to be geeks. Wonderfully talented, mind-bogglingly imaginative geeks who have become masters in their chosen disciplines. 

     Mr Olivri himself is something of a self-avowed super-fan of "... epic comic books, cult movies, awesome cartoons, brilliant fantasy literature, astonishing science-fiction, extraordinary TV shows, amazing video games, fantastic role playing games… And Star Wars." In the creation of Geek-Art.net he has taken his fandom and transformed it into a truly unique contribution to the world of "Good Art".