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What Does It Mean To Be Human? ‘Blade Runner’ And Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dream

June 24, 2015 by Eric Williams 1 Comment

If there’s anything I hate, it’s subcultural neologisms. Not subcultures, mind you, which are exciting and strange and dynamic, but rather the label-making that cements a taxonomy in a larger social lexicon. It’s foul magic, naming something to rob it of its potency. You inevitably trade whatever inspiration and energy that went into first creating…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: blade runner, do androids dream of electric sleep, philip k. dick, pkd

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‘Confessions Of A Crap Artist:’ Leave It To The French To Do A Semi-Decent Philip K. Dick Movie Adaptation

June 8, 2015 by Eric Williams 1 Comment

Some have said that we are living in a “short story golden age,” which just goes to show you how little sense of history most people have. If I had to guess, I’d bet this label is the result of our industrialized higher ed system churning out MFAs who, lost in the desert of their…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: Barjo, Confessions d'un Barjo, Confessions of a Crap Artist, philip k. dick, pkd, Saint Isidore

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Hey, Richard Linklater: It’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’ Not ‘A Scanner Dank-ly’

May 11, 2015 by Eric Williams 2 Comments

Mythical stories of psychonautical schizoid breaks from reality aside, Philip K. Dick’s drug of choice was amphetamine. Considering his blistering pace, this shouldn’t be too surprising, given he produced novel after novel in addition to his prolific short story writing. Dude wrote a lot and, by his own admission, mostly in days-long binges followed by…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: a scanner darkly, alex jones, keanu reeves, philip k. dick, pkd, richard linklater

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Screamers: Super Canadian, Super Peter Weller, Super…Numismatics?

April 23, 2015 by Eric Williams Leave a Comment

The “Science” in Science Fiction is often used to justify the genre, a totemic self-identity simultaneously fetishizing both wild creativity as well as technical expertise.  This was built into it right from the get-go; early pulp magazines advertised their space operas and rocket tales as stories with both educational and inspirational merit, a new literature…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: peter weller, philip k. dick, pkd, screamers, second variety, trofim lysenko

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We Can Forget ‘Total Recall’ For You Wholesale

April 9, 2015 by Eric Williams Leave a Comment

There are two essential facts about “Total Recall” (1990) that tell you everything you need to know about it, and you already know one of them. The first fact is, of course, that Arnold Schwarzenegger “stars” in it, which is a pretty good indication of what you’re in for. The second fact, and the one…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: arnold schwarzenegger, paul verhoeven, philip k. dick, piers anthony, pkd, total recall

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Minority Report: The Unbearable Loudness Of Spielberg

April 1, 2015 by Eric Williams 2 Comments

Steven Spielberg is a Phillip K. Dick character. He’s an immensely wealthy propagandist with a cynical streak so wide and so all-encompassing that, without the proper distance, can easily be mistaken for naïve mawkishness. Spielberg doesn’t have the microscopic misanthropy of, say, a Kubrick or a Lynch or even a P.T. Anderson, dissecting characters to…

Filed Under: Critic Tagged With: minority report, philip k. dick, pkd, steven spielberg, tom cruise

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