Concept art for the Alien 3 that never was - Before the Walter Hill version was shot, entirely in brown, by David Fincher there were many iterations of the Alien 3 script. One of the more exotic ones was the Vincent Ward & John Fasano "monks in space" script, illustrated here. [via io9]
posted by Artw on Feb 4, 2009 - 46 comments

The Agrippa Files presents a fairly expansive overview of the original and very rare 1992 art book Agrippa (a book of the dead), a collaboration between artist Dennis Ashbaugh, author William Gibson, and award-winning journalist Kevin Begos, Jr. that presciently explored the ephemeral nature of and decay of memories and information. [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Dec 13, 2008 - 11 comments

When I was a kid Meat Puppets were a band. When I was an adolescent a meat puppet was a cool concept in a cool science fiction book. Now that I am an adult I have no idea what this is: Pete The Meat Puppet (maybe NSFW). [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen on Dec 1, 2008 - 31 comments

New Scientist kicks off it's science fiction special by asking "Is science fiction dying?", with answers by Margaret Atwood, William Gibson and Ursula K Le Guin amongst others. Meanwhile on the Nebula Awards site Geoff Ryman talks about Mundane SF, and how it was a reaction to a phenomenon he noticed in new SF coming through the Clarion workshop: A lot of it doesn't have much science fiction in it.
posted by Artw on Nov 14, 2008 - 70 comments

Art Deco was the dominant style of the interwar era, coming out of Paris in the 1920's and ruling the roost until World War II broke out. Randy Juster's Decopix - The Art Deco Resource has enough pictures of Art Deco architecture to send one hurtling into The Gernsback Continuum. If that's not enough then there's always the 11000+ images of the Flickr Art Deco Pool. But Art Deco wasn't just about architecture. On the Victoria and Albert Musem's Art Deco site one can view Art Deco objects in great detail, rotating them and listening to audio lectures on each object. But before Art Deco was a design aesthetic it was an art-style. Illustrations for the Art Deco Book in France has more than 170 images from the proponents of that then-new style (some images are not safe for work, especially in the George Barbier section).
posted by Kattullus on Jul 22, 2008 - 23 comments

I first learned about them when they featured prominently in a Gibson book (Pattern Recognition). When I looked on eBay, I was stunned at the prices they fetch. Now I can at least play with a virtual Curta mechanical calculator.
posted by Dave Faris on May 22, 2008 - 35 comments

The New York Times thinks that we might be witnessing a paradigm shift: "Old labels, and old planning, do not apply. Certainly its style of 21st-century combat is known — on paper. The style even has its own labels, including network warfare, or net war, and fourth-generation warfare, although many in the military don’t care for such titles. But the battlefields of south Lebanon prove that it is here, and sooner than expected. And the American national security establishment is struggling to adapt."

So does author and history's weathercock William Gibson.

Here is some background reading on the new buzzword from Defense and the National Interest (which has a ton of articles on the subject), Global Guerillas, and antiwar.com. The last of these is of especial interest since it's written by one of the authors of the first article on fourth-generational warfare.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 29, 2006 - 44 comments

William Gibson’s blog is back.
So far, it’s mostly about Bush and Osama bin Ladin. ”You know who would’ve completely gotten OBL? Andy Warhol.”
posted by Termite on Nov 13, 2004 - 10 comments

The RAPTOR Mark III - "The RAPTOR Mark III is the fastest and most versatile security vehicle in the world. It mounts a devastating choice of firepower as well as a comprehensive assortment of non-lethal weapons, all interchangeable and deployed through a retractable top."

You in the Hummer 2! Hold on a second... via William Gibson's blog
posted by GriffX on Jun 13, 2003 - 24 comments

William Gibson now on William Gibson then. Yep, that is indeed me, though nothing I'm saying there, at such painful length, is even remotely genuine. They were offering $500 for someone to monologue about the summer of lurve, etc., and I was (1) somewhat articulate, and (2) wanted desperately to get my ass out of Yorkville ... $500 was serious money
posted by delmoi on May 1, 2003 - 10 comments

Open Source Judaism? This is the baby of Douglas Rushkoff, who recently wrote a book about the subject and whose opinions about icons and branding remind me of someone else. He's even started an open source haggadah.
posted by sodalinda on May 1, 2003 - 6 comments

Archive footage of a lanky 19 year old draft-dodger guiding CBC documentary film makers around the LSD and cannabis addled hippie village of Yorkville back in 1967. His name? William Gibson. Via William Gibson Board.
posted by armoured-ant on Apr 30, 2003 - 13 comments

William Gibson's weblog
Gibson, the man who popularized cyberpunk and who, through his invention of the word "cyberspace," may have been the first to assign the sense of space to network interactions (but who also gained a measure of early net.notoriety by shunning even email for years), began publishing a weblog a few days ago. Early topics include his thinking on "piracy," the physical perfection of form found in books, inspirations for his work, and the relationship of one well-regarded writer to grammar nazis.
posted by NortonDC on Jan 9, 2003 - 21 comments

21C Magazine Paul Miller (re-)launches an ambitious new magazine. Looks promising with such "Confirmed Regular Contributors" as Howard Bloom, Alex Burns, Erik Davis (yay!), Samuel Delaney, William Gibson, Jaron Lanier, Rudy Rucker, Douglas Rushkoff, R.U. Sirius, Bruce Sterling, and Margaret Wertheim :)
posted by kliuless on Sep 22, 2002 - 24 comments

candy for the eyes, ears, and brain. Although the documentary was shown at SXSW(and other locations) earlier this year, i haven't seen much reference to it. profiles william gibson and his mind's view of what he envisioned as 'cyberspace.' be sure to click the 'don't click' link for an interactive map that details some of the obscure points of the film.

and for those that already seen it, go get yourself some spooky, personalized M&Ms candy!
posted by donkeysuck on Oct 31, 2001 - 4 comments

William Gibson talks about the Japanese as the Ultimate Early Adaptors, mobile phones and schoolgirls. As usual he is obsessed with wrist watches.
posted by laukf on Mar 31, 2001 - 18 comments

I'm sick of the Cunningham rumors. I no longer believe the Neuromancer movie will ever happen. Music by Aphex, in my dreams. Console yourself by listening to William Gibson read the whole freakin' thing.
posted by lbergstr on Mar 24, 2001 - 22 comments

We're one step closer to William Gibson's vision as reported in today's NY Times Magazine article, "The Mind that Moves Objects."
posted by grumblebee on Jun 11, 2000 - 14 comments

Set your VCRs, tomorrow is a Mystery Science Theater 3000 mini-marathon on the Sci Fi channel. Also note, while you're on the Sci Fi channel website, that William Gibson is doing a Y2K chat there on Tuesday night.
posted by mathowie on Dec 26, 1999 - 0 comments