The Most Honest Book About Climate Change Yet
“Vollmann’s undertaking is in the vanguard of the coming second wave of climate literature, books written not to diagnose or solve the problem, but to grapple with its moral consequences.”
Tag: USA
862 – Vexille (2007)
timespace coordinates: Japan, 2077
Vexille (ベクシル 2077日本鎖国 Bekushiru 2077 Nihon sakoku, full Japanese title literally “Vexille: 2077 Japanese Isolation”) is a 2007 Japanese CGI anime film, written, directed, and edited by famed Ping Pong director Fumihiko Sori, and features the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Yasuko Matsuyuki, and Shosuke Tanihara. (wiki)
A female agent named Vexille is dispatched to Tokyo to investigate whether Japanese are developing robotic technology, which has been banned by the U.N. due to its potential threat to humankind. (imdb)
live-action film
858 – Roger & Me (1989 documentary)
timespace coordinates: 1980’s Flint, Michigan
Roger & Me is a 1989 American film written, produced, directed by and starring Michael Moore. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith‘s action of closing several auto plants in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, reducing GM’s employees in that area from 80,000 in 1978 to about 50,000 in 1992. As of August 2015, GM employs approximately 7,200 workers in the Flint area, according to The Detroit News, and 5,000 workers according to MSNBC. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” (wiki)
Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint (1992)
0848 – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future by James Bridle (2018 book)
As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world.
In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of understanding to further their own interests. Despite the apparent accessibility of information, we’re living in a new Dark Age.
From rogue financial systems to shopping algorithms, from artificial intelligence to state secrecy, we no longer understand how our world is governed or presented to us. The media is filled with unverifiable speculation, much of it generated by anonymous software, while companies dominate their employees through surveillance and the threat of automation.
In his brilliant new work, leading artist and writer James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems, and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime. (VERSO)
James Bridle on New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future
man always makes it clear to himself: “You are using things which have the intention of not being penetrable.” 1180
0842 – Virtuosity (1995)
timespace coordinates: 1999 Los Angeles
Virtuosity is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard. Denzel Washington stars an imprisoned policeman whom is released to hunt down a virtual reality serial killer (Russell Crowe) whom escaped from cyberspace into the real world when he is uploaded into the body of a cyborg.
As LAPD officers gather evidence at the grisly crime scene, you can only ask yourselves: what kind of lunatic would commit such unthinkable crimes? The three adjectives which best describe this killer are sadistic, intelligent, and dangerous. (Acid Killer – Infected Mushroom)
841 – Kin (2018)
timespace coordinates: 2010’s Detroit, Michigan > Nevada
Kin is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker and written by Daniel Casey, based on the 2014 short film Bag Man. It stars Jack Reynor, Myles Truitt, Zoë Kravitz, Carrie Coon, Dennis Quaid and James Franco. The story follows a young boy who find a strange weapon and his newly paroled brother. Mogwai composed the score for the film. (wiki)
TimeSpace Warps 