Sorry about lackof updates - got a gig working on an animated film project and the hours have been killing me!
An Alan Watts video then - for any random stumblers upon this blog. Because Alan Watts was pretty cool.
Take a break & watch the video before moving on - it's only 4 minutes long.
Saturday 28 September 2013
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Philip K. Dick Can Change Your Life
Hey everyone - lomg time no new blog posts from me. Life got pretty chaotic in December with tons of work, a long list of expensive dental treatments and a few Christmas parties too - I still haven't fully recoverd but "get some cool stuff up on Coolest Crap" has been on my "to do" list for weeks so let's get the ball rolling and hopefully we'll build up this cool crap blog into something pretty cool during 2013!
Let's kick off the New Year and a new phase of blogging with a mention of Phillip K Dick. He's in my list of cool people everyone needs to know about and 2013 should be the year we all start either re-reading his stuff or reading hos stuff for the first time. And by "we" I mean everyone on the planet over the age of 8 and a half, of course!
From wikipedia, then, a brief intro:
Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In his later works Dick's thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his own life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia, schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.
The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens in a parallel universe where he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975.
"I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards," Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real."
In addition to 44 published novels Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau.
In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
Pretty cool so far, eh?
However that is really just the tip of the iceberg and there's a whole world of juicy weirdness when it comes to exploring the world of Phillip K. Dick - go read the full wikipedia article for now and tune in sometime soonish (possibly tomorrow) as we dive deeper into the world of Phillip K. Dick.
There's a classic BBC "Arena" documentary on Youtube, you might as well watch that too:
Let's kick off the New Year and a new phase of blogging with a mention of Phillip K Dick. He's in my list of cool people everyone needs to know about and 2013 should be the year we all start either re-reading his stuff or reading hos stuff for the first time. And by "we" I mean everyone on the planet over the age of 8 and a half, of course!
From wikipedia, then, a brief intro:
Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In his later works Dick's thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his own life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia, schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.
The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens in a parallel universe where he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975.
"I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards," Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real."
In addition to 44 published novels Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau.
In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
Pretty cool so far, eh?
However that is really just the tip of the iceberg and there's a whole world of juicy weirdness when it comes to exploring the world of Phillip K. Dick - go read the full wikipedia article for now and tune in sometime soonish (possibly tomorrow) as we dive deeper into the world of Phillip K. Dick.
There's a classic BBC "Arena" documentary on Youtube, you might as well watch that too:
Friday 16 November 2012
The Boyfriend Pillow
Saturday 3 November 2012
Peter Molyneux On Obscurity
Peter Molyneux talks to Edge magazine about the delay to Curiosity, the next highly anticipated release from one of the world's most famous game designers. It's an interesting read although I am not sure what I think about Obscurity myself as I tend to shy away from high concept games, puzzle games etc. Basically I never had the money as a kid to spend out on the more leftfield titles for the Amiga 500 that I had so would just stick to the shoot 'em ups!
Obscurity is released on Wednesday 7th November for iOS & Android.
Obscurity is released on Wednesday 7th November for iOS & Android.
Wednesday 19 September 2012
Looper Viral
Looper starring Bruce Willis is released on the 28th and I am looking forward to this as I'm a big fan of time travel movies.
The Looper viral was pretty cool and has proven to be popular with visitors to the well designed The Looper Network site being encouraged to complete simple missions in return for behind the scenes goodies.
The final Looper viral is now out and leads to a reveal of a Looper feature
The Looper viral was pretty cool and has proven to be popular with visitors to the well designed The Looper Network site being encouraged to complete simple missions in return for behind the scenes goodies.
The final Looper viral is now out and leads to a reveal of a Looper feature
Interactive Paper News
Just a note that my latest project is live: Interactive Paper News Blog will be a cool techie blog dedicated to covering all aspects of printing and publishing technology with an emphasis on the up and coming Interactive Papers that are currently in the early stages of development plus I'll be covering eBook technology, specialist inks and some fun stuff too.
Oh yes - the coolest Blogger templates blog hasn't been forgotten either.
And I really need to find some time to post about some pretty cool crap too.
Oh yes - the coolest Blogger templates blog hasn't been forgotten either.
And I really need to find some time to post about some pretty cool crap too.
Saturday 15 September 2012
The Coolest Blogger Templates
Hey visitors,
I've started work on a new project - it's a blog dedicated to the coolest blogger templates. I'll be showcasing the best free blogger templates so if you're looking for the coolest blogger themes then check it out.
There's not much content at the moment as I'm super-busy with the day job (web design for a major U.K. company).
I'm still working on this blog too - I really need to fill this site up with the some of the very coolest crap ever.
If you have anything cool or crap you'd like me to cover do drop me a line - I'm keen to promote small companies, start ups, creatives, anyone doing anything cool really.
I've started work on a new project - it's a blog dedicated to the coolest blogger templates. I'll be showcasing the best free blogger templates so if you're looking for the coolest blogger themes then check it out.
There's not much content at the moment as I'm super-busy with the day job (web design for a major U.K. company).
I'm still working on this blog too - I really need to fill this site up with the some of the very coolest crap ever.
If you have anything cool or crap you'd like me to cover do drop me a line - I'm keen to promote small companies, start ups, creatives, anyone doing anything cool really.
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