Cyberpunk

[Fugazi Dave]

Yeah....any cyberpunk devotees here? Literature, music, culture, etc. I love it, personally. You?

[Raiyn]

http://www.chaoscontrol.com/article_images/billyidol_photo.jpg :roflmao:

I'm a Ghost in the Shell fan

[KrisPistofferson]

I liked the original sci-fi stuff that coined the term "cyberpunk", but never could figure out all the other meanings it attained. I think the word got used into oblivion, like "postmodern". Any links to the culture and music would be much appreciated, though!

[lotek]

huge Gibson fan. Reading alot of Stephenson too although he
isn't purely cyberpunk.

[jeff williams]

Gibson won the Phillip K. Dick award for Sci-fi. He lives in Vancouver, Can. very close to where I live so I became aware of his books many years ago.
Dicks works were probably a major influence on Gibson.
-A good writer, the movie Blade Runner is a Dick work. His book is called 'Do androids dream of electric sheep'.

Ghost is great, Akira is outstanding.

Flow my tears the policeman said.
The stigmata of Palmer Eldridge are very good books by P.K Dick.

[ßåЧëëÐ]

I'm into all that stuff, but I don't want to label myself a 'cyberpunk'.

I just finished reading "The Philip K Dick Reader", and rented "Total Recall' last week (it's inspired by a PKD story - so is "Minority Report" and "Screamers".

When I was younger, my favorite anime movies were "Vampire Hunter D", "Grey: Digital Target", "Macross" and "Akira". I still have all those old Otomo comics, and I even named my dog Akira.
http://www.geocities.com/edinger03/images/akirahead.bmp

Neuromancer is on my bookshelf, but I'm really into old 'jet-age' SciFi, you know - they talk about spaceships but they also talk about microfilm, like it was high-tech back then. Arthur C. Clark stuff, Asimov's 'Foundation' series.

I'm into punk music and video games too, but does all this make me a cyberpunk? Maybe we should do a "You Know You're A Cyberpunk If..." kinda thing.

[Fugazi Dave]

The word "cyberpunk" is pretty well overused by now, but it's hard to find a better term for it. I've always been really attracted to both straight-up cyberpunk writings like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, but also transitional things that aren't really fully contained within cyberpunk or any other single genre. I like the sense of decay and technological perversion you often find in these works, among other things.

[LordOpie]

enjoyed Neuromancer. Tried Irodu twice, got half way thru each time, just couldn't finish it, something lacking.

[Serpico]

Gibson fan, but I find most "cyberpunk" books and films to be "Zero-Cool" --lame as hell.

Rented Akira this weekend, has been on my "to watch" list for 10+ years.

[skitbraviking]

Not sure if he qualifies but I really like the author Steve Erickson. He's P K Dick-ish but with some Faulkner mixed in, by his own admission. I read an excerpt from some new work in the latest McSweeney's anthology, McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories. Nice collection overall.

His latest is called Our Ecstatic Days. But I have not read it.

[KrisPistofferson]

"Blade Runner"-YES. "Johnny Mnemonic"-NO.

[lotek]

Johnny Mnemonic was originally a short story by Gibson,
in the Burning Chrome collection. Itwas much better
than the screenplay and the lame movie
with keno Reeves (sic).
I found that reading Gibson requires reading the entire
series. Virtual Light runs into Idoru which runs into
All Tomorrow's parties. They are all intertwined, there
is alot of background info that is lost if not read
in sequence.
Marty

[skitbraviking]

"Blade Runner"-YES.

Seconded.

[KrisPistofferson]

Johnny Mnemonic was originally a short story by Gibson,
in the Burning Chrome collection. Itwas much better
than the screenplay and the lame movie
with keno Reeves (sic).
I found that reading Gibson requires reading the entire
series. Virtual Light runs into Idoru which runs into
All Tomorrow's parties. They are all intertwined, there
is alot of background info that is lost if not read
in sequence.
Marty
I like Gibson, and I had no idea about that. I think "Burning Chrome" will be my next book purchase.

[KrisPistofferson]

Does anyone remember the "Max Headroom" television show? It's kind of like "Twin Peaks", in that it was WAY too good for television at the time it was on. Whenever somebody sez "cyberpunk", I think of this show. One element I liked about it was it always had seedy, futuristic bars filled with 50 year old punk rockers. It's extra funny cuz me and all the punks I know are startin' to creep on up there!

[kateri235]

Does anyone remember the "Max Headroom" television show? It's kind of like "Twin Peaks", in that it was WAY too good for television at the time it was on. Whenever somebody sez "cyberpunk", I think of this show. One element I liked about it was it always had seedy, futuristic bars filled with 50 year old punk rockers. It's extra funny cuz me and all the punks I know are startin' to creep on up there!
I remember clearly, the death game played on motorcycle in a spherical field. And trash, garbage burning, desolation. Televisions everywhere. I love that show!

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~spires/Max/intro.html

[lotek]

I loved Max Headroom, lament that the show isn't shown
somewhere (57 channels and nothing on).
geez I can see Lassie or Perry Mason around the clock
(or the All Opie channel starring Opie Taylor) but no Max headroom?

There is no entertainment

Marty

[Karldar]

First intro to Gibson(whom I always equate with cyberpunkedness), was through my subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine back in the day. Good stuff, that! A lot of elements in The Matrix reminded me of various Gibson works. Johnny Mnemonic was an awesome story, but I enjoyed the movie as well since I knew it wouldn't be near as good. Plus I like Rollins in just about anything.;) Guess my expectations were sufficiently lowered that I could take it for what it was...bad Hollywood interpretation.

One thing that bothered me about Dick is that I always thought it would make more sense for the title to be "Do Androids Count Electric Sheep?". Am I the only one that thinks so? Not a proper analogy, IMO. Great story-and Blade Runner is an awesome movie, either way.

[jeff williams]

But the stupid thing is the sheep is not in the movie. The blade runners pet is an robotic sheep.
The lady android he loves, but can't admit =kicks his stupid pet off the roof.
He comes home and finds his dear pet all smashed up, she in a non-verbal way said 'you love that stupid sheep, and you can't decide if you love me? i'm WAY more than that, see ya jack.'

@ least that's how I remember it was in the book.

[Serpico]

My first skateboard, before I got a real one (a Vision Mark Gonzalez, with the pixelated graphics) was a Max Headroom deck. Not sure what brand, some store bought junk, not variflex but similar.

[Allister]

http://www.chaoscontrol.com/article_images/billyidol_photo.jpg :roflmao:


Hey! That's one of my alltime favourites.

Or should this be in the guilty pleasures thread?

[lotek]

Cyber guilt?

[Allister]

One thing that bothered me about Dick is that I always thought it would make more sense for the title to be "Do Androids Count Electric Sheep?". Am I the only one that thinks so?

You're forgetting that he was a bit of a looney.

[Allister]

Cyber guilt?

That's a relief. For a second I thought it was real guilt.

[Karldar]

You're forgetting that he was a bit of a looney.

I didn't forget, that just always bugged me. To clarify(as if anyone cares), I was trying to say that "Do Androids Count Electric Sheep?" would be a better title because it's analogous to asking if humans count real sheep, instead of dreaming of them. I can't ever remember dreaming of sheep--counting them, yes. Just one of those many little things that get on my nerves.

[ch0mb0]

anyone read "Pattern Recognition" yet?

[Allister]

I didn't forget, that just always bugged me. To clarify(as if anyone cares), I was trying to say that "Do Androids Count Electric Sheep?" would be a better title because it's analogous to asking if humans count real sheep, instead of dreaming of them. I can't ever remember dreaming of sheep--counting them, yes. Just one of those many little things that get on my nerves.

He wasn't from New Zealand was he?

[sqrt0]

I like Gibson, and I had no idea about that. I think "Burning Chrome" will be my next book purchase.

If you're quick you can catch part one of a reading of Burning Chrome on the BBC7 radio website (1800-1830 hrs):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/

The link should be fresh for a couple of days. Part two this coming Sunday.

[KrisPistofferson]

If you're quick you can catch part one of a reading of Burning Chrome on the BBC7 radio website (1800-1830 hrs):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/

The link should be fresh for a couple of days. Part two this coming Sunday.
Thanks, G. :)

[lotek]

I read Pattern Recognition,
its not Cyberpunk per say.
I think its kind of a prequel.
There are aspects that show up in
his cyberpunk series. There is the russia/japan
connection.
It's not really SciFi.
I enjoyed it, its different shows that Gibson
is diverse, and not nearly as boring as
The Difference Engine which I've tried to read
3 times and just could not force myself to finish.

Marty

[kateri235]

I can't believe you thought the Difference Engine was boring.

[TheKillerPenguin]

Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time.

[jeff williams]

I can't believe you thought the Difference Engine was boring.

Boring.....o.k..maybe not my thing.
J.G Ballard has some great 'myths of the near future'.

[lotek]

Never said it was boring, just could not
get into it, not sure why. Eventually I will
finish the book (maybe on 4th or 5th attempt?).
Currently reading Diamond Age by Stephenson,
who's writing style seems kind of tedious.
I stopped Quicksilver 1/2 way through the book
which is something I hardly ever do.

Marty

[jim-bob]

Never said it was boring, just could not
get into it, not sure why. Eventually I will
finish the book (maybe on 4th or 5th attempt?).
Currently reading Diamond Age by Stephenson,
who's writing style seems kind of tedious.
I stopped Quicksilver 1/2 way through the book
which is something I hardly ever do.

Marty

You didn't really miss all that much. I personally like stephenson's writing, but he can't write an ending to save his life.

[ViciousCycle]

My favorite aspect of cyberpunk is the books that laugh at the absurdity of modern life. In Snow Crash, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong is just another franchise, as the distinction between corporation and government disappears. In Jennifer Government, Hack is hired to shoot and kill the first several people who buy a new type of Nike shoe and make it appear that someone killed them for their shoes. The Nike marketing department assures him that this is to increase the street cred for the shoes. And all of the trouble starts when Hack subcontracts the killings to the police. And then, there is Sewer, Gas, and Electric... heh.