skandalon

It takes a hell of a lot of nerve for a man to stand up at the Oscarcast and proclaim himself King of the World. James Cameron just got re-elected.

✖ Via Roger Ebert “Avatar”, Dec. 11th, 2009.

A good critic by Ebert, 8,4 on IMDb (as for now, only 3821 members voted), a promising 83% on Metacritic : that’s not a bad start. People playing on HSX seems to think the film will be able to make a little over 200M$ in the next four week (estimations are a little more optimistic on Cantor Exchange, a parent company of HSX). The estimated budget is 230M$ (though it as been speculated it cost much more: there’s a good paper on the subject in The New York Times). Gross numbers related to first day and first week-end of exploitation should give a more precise idea of the situation.

• Dec 17, 2009 link notes tagged: art technology film filmmaker science-fiction avatar business blockbuster commercial box office critic reception

Without question, the most socially and economically significant technological event of the last quarter-century has been the invention of the surrogate. As this paper will show, never before in human history has the consumer been offered a product capable of delivering such a dramatic personal change. The ramifications of the surrogate’s rapid assimilation into everyday living can be witnessed in virtually every facet of culture, particularly in the United States where in the twenty years since their introduction the portion of the adult population that either owns or has operated a surrogate has risen to an astounding 92%. With surrogate technology in a constant state of refinement, there is no evidence to suggest this trend will be reversed. The improvements and transformations enjoyed by the operating public are here to stay, which leaves us with the question: What, if anything, remains to be overcome?

✖ Via aphelis : Paradise Found. Possibility and fullfilment in the age of the surrogate. Full paper in PDF.

” “Paradise found…” is a fictional paper appearing in the first volume of the comic book series The Surogates, created and written by Robert Venditti. The film was recently adapted into a film by Jonathan Mostow, starring Bruce Willis.”

Previously on SKandalon.

• Sep 25, 2009 link notes [via] tagged: technology art comic film movie future science fiction science virtual cybernetic individuation self man body evolution double avatar surrogate

Whether The Surrogates is about the positive or negative aspects of technology’s rapid growth is a question for each individual reader. Personally, I don’t know where the line is drawn between good advancements and bad. To reflect that, I tried to populate the story with characters that represent both sides of the surrogate issue. Some are for surrogates and some are against them, and it’s the up to the reader to decide which group is more sympathetic.

✖ Via Pop Thought: “THE SURROGATES An interview with writer Robert Venditti” by Alex Ness (May 20th, 2005)

Regarding the upcomming film The Surrogates directed by Jonathan Mostow and adapted from a comic book series created and written by Robert Venditti.

• Sep 24, 2009 link notes tagged: art communication technology film movie comic future science fiction science surrogate avatar virtual virtuality self double man evolution