Total Dick-Head Is Five Years Old Today! (now with links)

You read that right, compadres! TDH is five years old today. In a few more years perhaps the blog will be mature enough to get over the dick jokes, but anyhoo, it's been a fairly unqualified success.

Seriously, the coolest thing about the endeavor was being a part of the PKD scene and meeting so many cool people. Mr Hand over at Philip K Dick and Religion has become a great friend, and Patrick Clark and the Otaku folks are super-cool. Erik Davis and Lord Running Clam... I promised myself I wouldn't cry. It's also nice to see PhilipKDickFans.com up and running again. And Frolix-8 has consistently churned out awesome PKD content for ages. And now we have a festival page. Now we're on Facebook too, please 'like' us so we can look big time. It's nice to see more Dick on the Internet.

It's been a big five years for PKD too:

Published by Library of America
Briefly the subject of two dueling bio-pics
Back-handed compliments by The New Yorker
High Profile Profiles in LA Times, NY Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek...you name it
Cinematic adaptations including Next and Adjustment Bureau
A good adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth and talk of a Gondry-helmed Ubik
Publishing of 975 pages of Exegesis writings
(I was going to link all of these, but you're so good with The Google, you do it)

So it's been a fun time. For some reason I feel like the wave has crested, like the publishing of The Exegesis was Dick's high-water mark in pop-culture - actually I think it was a little before that. Maybe I'm wrong, and when Ubik comes out they'll fire up the Philip K Dick Article Generating Machine and churn out "Troubled Misfit Druggie Wondered What Was Real (And He Predicted Robots!)" articles by the dozen.

So, you probably want some links:

Miguel Conner has posted a cool interview with John Simon, director of Radio Free Albemuth (which we'll all have watched some day) over at Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio. Check it out.

There's short preview trailer that's been released in anticipation of the Full Trailer for the Total Recall remake:



It's got a dodgy chair - generally considered to be the kiss of death in PKD adaptations - those and hats.

Erik Davis, Ted Hand, and I will be presenting at this year's Esotericism Conference in sunny Davis, California on Friday, July 20. You can learn more here.

Forget Paul Giamatti as PKD, reader Mike Winder found this pic to convince all of us in the PKD group on Facebook that Jeff Bridges is PKD:

PKD Segment on The Electric Playground

Just got word that The Electric Playground, a website devoted to SF-fandom, is running a short video piece on Philip K Dick's cinematic adaptations. I wish they'd interview me for these things, instead of just telling me they've been posted. But if you want to spend three minutes listening to a couple guys tell you a few things (literally) about Philip K Dick, head on over and take a look.

What would I have said if I'd been interviewed? Something about how all the bad PKD movies have dodgy chairs, and all the good movies capture Dick's themes, but don't necessarily have to stay true to the plot (A Scanner Darkly being the exception that proves the rule). I'd also probably bring up a few points from this article I wrote. Oh, and I'd be sure to mention that sometimes, believe it or not, books are just better than movies, and that the ultimate sign of a story's success is not a cinematic adaptation, but rather a dedicated group of readers who fall in love with their own version of that fictional reality, and who care enough about that world to plumb its depths in search of meaning.

'Your Name Here' Trailer Now Online

YOUR NAME HERE TRAILER


I see pink beams, tooth-related agony, an insane asylum, and Pill Bullman. Doesn't look like a big-budget picture, but then maybe that's something it's got going for it. As you may have guessed by now, I was unable to attend the world premiere of "Your Name Here" due to the high price of travel (note to Middle East: after all the democracy we've spread on you, this is how you repay us?!). No word yet on when non-gamblers will get a look at this film but I'll keep you posted.

How's it look to you?

Update: QuietEarth.us has the movie poster:

Double Update: I finally figured out what this trailer reminds me of: the quick-cut viddies Alex has to watch in Clockwork Orange.

Could this be the most subtly diabolical dodgy chair reference ever? And if so will the curse doom this film as well?

Or maybe I'm thinking of Billy Joel's video for 'Pressure':