Conference noted::sf

    *THAT'S* it! I've seen the ads too, and it was bugging me that
    I couldn't place what seemed to be a very familiar storyline.
    
    Could make for an intersting movie if they kept to the story...
    
    	Dave

    Starring Keanu Reeves (after Val Kilmer dropped out).

Haven't read a lot of Gibson's stuff, but I believe it is based on 
Neuromancer which, itself, may be based on the Johnny Mnemonic story?
Could be pretty interesting, and then it could be a total bomb if
they don't get things right.  But that's not new.  I wonder how much
if at all they'll emulate the type of things we've seen in TekWar, and
VR.5, tv's closest approaches to the cyberpunk stuff.

PeterT

"Johnny Mnemonic" is from the short-story collection "Burning Chrome". It pre-
dates "Neuromancer" by a couple of years.

On the other hand, if memory serves, one of the main characters is Molly
Millions (the girl with the razorblade fingernails) who appears in
"Neuromancer". The hero is, of course, a console cowboy and the Sprawl is, as
always, the Sprawl.

\dave

    Yes, Molly Millions (she of the mirror-shade eye implants and the
    razorblade fingers) is a character in "Johnny Mnemonic."  
    
    "Johnny Mnemonic" was the first of Gibson's "Sprawl" stories. The story
    is only twenty pages long, and really only has one incident in it --
    probably not enough to form the basis for a screenplay. I have a
    horrible feeling that the only connection between the story and the
    film will be: they share the same title.
    
    					andrew

>    is only twenty pages long, and really only has one incident in it --
>    probably not enough to form the basis for a screenplay.

There is a book on the shelves now for JM, not the short story version.
If you really want to know ahead of time what the movie will be like :-).

-Joe

    What I've heard plotwise is that Johnny is a courier who has the cure
    for a disease loaded into a chip which he carries in his head.  The bad
    guys want to acquire the chip by removing his head.  So Johnny needs to
    manage to download the info.  I know, from an article in a recent
    "Premiere," that one of the players is an addicted dolphin.

    We Digital employees ought to know more than that:
    
From:	NAME: Howard Sholkin @AKO           
	FUNC: PCBU Americas                   
	TEL: 244-7802                         <SHOLKIN.HOWARD AT A1 at PCBUOA at 
AKO>
To:	See Below

Digital is going Hollywood next week with two major events.  First, there will 
be a world premier of the movie "Johnny Mnemonic" Wednesday evening, May 17 in 
Beverly Hills.  At this time, I will attend along with John O'Leary, VP, western 
region Systems Business Unit, and Rita Foley, VP, western Accounts Business 
Unit.  This is an exclusive event attended by the star of "Johnny Mnemonic", 
Keanu Reeves, and many other celebrities.

Second, on Thursday, May 18 at 10 a.m., there will be a news conference at 
TriStar Pictures in Culver City.  It is being held to announce an internet 
contest related to the movie as well as multiple divisions of Sony promoting it 
through a CD videogame, soundtrack, and merchandise.  At this event, 10 Digital 
PCs and one Prioris server will be showcased running the multimedia games, a 
virtual reality exhibit, and PCs connected to the internet game.  

The Sony news release for the May 18 event says, "this is a first for networked 
online entertainment, drawing on Sony New Technologies' vision for producing 
compelling programming for the Internet..."  Entertainment, high-tech, magazine, 
dailies, and TV reporters have been invited to the news conference.

The internet server, provided as a loaner, is in San Francisco and it's a 
Digital Internet AlphaServer 1000 four/200 that was announced last March.  The 
contest, which includes a Digital logo at the very beginning and a few questions 
about Digital, will run May 18 through at least June 22.  The grand prize winner 
will receive a Digital Venturis 5100 PC.

The multimedia games, virtual reality, and the internet contest will be a part 
of Digital PC's booth at PC Expo in New York, June 20-22.

"Johnny Mnemonic" represents a breakthrough in movie production because it is 
the first feature film to rely entirely on PCs to produce sophisticated computer  
graphics images.  The movie is based on William Gibson's short story.  Gibson, 
who coined the term cyberspace, said of the imagery, "it's an absolutely 
terrific visualization of something I've only ever seen on the inside of my own 
forehead."  High powered DECpc XLs were used with Autodesk software to create 
the cyberspace imagery.

Frank Foster, VP, Sony Pictures Imageworks is a strong supporter of Digital and 
Autodesk.  He pushed to use Digital PCs instead of workstations such as Silicon 
Graphics for this project.  The capability to upgrade the PCs from Intel to 
Alpha processors is very important to him.  I expect to have an approved story 
about Digital and Sony for the news conference.  Frank is a leader of Siggraph, 
the major computer graphics association.    

Next week is significant for a few reasons:  Digital gains visibility in the 
emerging use of PCs in movie and television productions, we solidify our 
relationship with Sony, and we put Digital's name out front where it belongs as 
a pioneer of Internet applications and systems.

NOTE:  Any people planning to attend the May 18 news conference must contact me 
in advance so that you will be admitted without a problem.

 To Distribution List:
[deleted]

    The addicted dolphin was in the original story.
    
    					andrew

If you put a magnifying glass to the newspaper ads, W.G. is credited with the
screenplay.  There's stuill hope, maybe?

\dave

    Saw a snippet of a preview show before its release -- the director
    spent a lot of time in collaboration wirh Gibson -- interesting quote:
    "I'm trying to prevent the gearheads from coming up to me and saying
    `That's not Gibson' -- I can say `Well, he (Gibson) say it is.'"
    
    					andrew

    My local paper had "VR.3" in the lower left portion of the ad/picture.
    
    Huh?

    BYW I loaded the VR game sample from the WWW page.
    Not very impressive.  You can move around this artificial construction,
    but not very fast, and the display colors used are awfully dark.
    
    Any of the 3D games like Wolfenstein act better.  This may have more
    resolution, but it's not obviously so.  
    
    And I think you can only move around the one scene.
    

    Re: .12
    
    >"I'm trying to prevent the gearheads from coming up to me and saying
    >`That's not Gibson' -- I can say `Well, he (Gibson) say it is.'"
    
    Two of my brothers were less than impressed.  When I pointed out
    Gibson's involvement, their response was that he wasn't really an SF
    person, he was something like an English professor, and his grasp of
    science was somewhat lacking.

    Saw the film this week-end; credits say screenplay was by Gibson, 
    based upon the short story.  My take is that it was _very_ loosely
    based upon the story. Most of the key settings and characters were
    present, but the plot line only vaguely matched the short story.
    
    Taken on its own, it was "ok"; I'd give it say, 2 or 3 stars.
    
    Dave 

Since this is the most recent Gibson note, I might as well put this here...

While skimming through some older notes in this conference I came across a
discussion regarding non-European characters in S-F. One such character cited
was Molly Millions, referred to as a "black femme fatale street-warrior".

Can anyone remember any reference in any of the Gibson stories as to Molly's
racial identity?

If memory servesm there is a rather complete description of her in "Mona Lisa
Overdrive" which left me with an impression of a caucasian female.

\dave

Re .17:

I'll look.  However, I don't recall her race being stated at all.  It wouldn't
surprise me if the person who said she was black was himself black.  I've
noticed a tendancy for people to assume their own characteristics in others,
when those characteristics are not specified.  In fiction, this helps them
identify with the character, and it is sometimes used by authors.

    
    	Not to drag this topic down a hole, but that's why books are [for
    	the most part] better than movies.  The author can give descript-
    	ions of scenery and characters, but the reader has to fill in the
    	blanks as to specifics when they're not mentioned.  And depending
    	on story lines, etc., the reader will fill in details that seem to
    	correspond to his/her perceptions.  What should a character look
    	like?  How well should [s]he be built for the type of work [or the
    	type of avdenture] [s]he partakes in?
    
    	Movies fill in all the details for you, so there is practically no
    	guesswork or interpolation required.  In a way, it takes all the
    	fun out of the story ... or can be perceived as "just plain wrong"
    	by the viewer.
    

    *sigh*  The *only* time I figured out a character was black, without
    having it spelled out for me, was the THIRD time I read _The_Star_Beast_
    and finally figured out that the real hero, Mr. Kiku, was a black
    Kenyan.
    
    							Ann B.

    RE .19
    
    	You sound like you've read Harlan Ellison's essay "How the
    Dinosaurs Died and Why You Don't Look So Good Yourself" - that's a
    compliment, btw :-)
    
    					- Jimbo

    
    	No, I haven't ... is it any good?
    

    
    Somewhere I got the impression that Isaac Asimov's character Elijah
    Bailey (from the Robot novels) was black/AfroAmerican.  Despite having
    reread the novels again, I've been unable to locate whatever it was
    that gave me that impression.
    
    len.
    

    There are characters in Chip Delaney's stories whose Afro-american
    heritage can be inferred (not surprising, since Delaney is black.)

    re .23
    
    Maybe it was just the name.

    My recollection was that Molly was Oriental/Caucasian mix.