SF writers advise on homeland security

SF writers advise on homeland security
The Homeland Security Department has called up their special team of science fiction authors, a group called Sigma, to help them imagine various terror scenarios and ways to fight the "war" on terror. Sigma members Jerry Pournelle, Arlan Andrews, greg Bear, Larry Niven, and Sage Walker, all attended a Homeland Security conference in Washington this month about science and technology. Andrews formed the group fifteen years ago and apparently the last time they met was to envision a post-nuclear age. From USA Today:

The group's motto is "Science Fiction in the National Interest." To join the group, Andrews says, you have to have at least one technical doctorate degree.

"We're well-qualified nuts," says Jerry Pournelle, co-author of the best sellers Footfall and Lucifer's Hammer and dozens of other books.

Pournelle and others say that science-fiction writers have spent their lives studying the kinds of technologies and scenarios Homeland Security officials have been tackling since the department began operating in 2003.

"We talk to a lot of strange people and read a lot of weird things," Bear says.

At the Washington conference, Bear offered to put biometrics researchers in touch with movie special-effects experts. The experts might be able to help the government determine how to match the face of someone walking through an airport to a grainy photo of a known terrorist.

Black Lagoon

Young Japanese business drone Rokuro Okajima was given a simple but important task by his company: carry a critical CD on a business trip to SE Asia. His mundane, metropolitan world gets turned upside down when a team of modern-day pirates called Black Lagoon not only steal the disk but kidnap him for ransom as well. When his employer decides that preventing the disk from falling into the wrong hands is more important than saving him, Rokuro finds himself thrown into the harrowing world of Black Lagoon, a world utterly unlike the one he knew before.
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Snot siphon

Snot siphon for sucking your kids' nose clear

The Nosefrida is a suction straw for clearing snot out of your kids' nostrils. Put the rubber hose up your kid's nose, then suck on the other end (keep track of which end you use for what). A filter stops the gunk and germs from ending up in your mouth.

Rodriguez To Helm Barbarella

Rodriguez To Helm Barbarella

Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) has signed on to direct Barbarella, a new film adaptation of the classic SF comic-book series that Universal Pictures is fast-tracking for a 2008 worldwide release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The character was immortalized in a 1968 movie starring Jane Fonda. Dino De Laurentiis, who produced the original film, will produce the update with Martha De Laurentiis.

Barbarella tells the story of a female mercenary who roams across the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require physical fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. The character debuted in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest and was known for her many adventures, often involving sex. There also was a musical produced in 2004.

Rodriguez is working with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale), who are developing a completely original adventure for Barbarella.

Rodriguez's coming on board puts to rest questions about what the in-demand director would do next, including The Jetsons at Warner Brothers and Land of the Lost at Universal. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)

gasp in astonishment

Mars Rover Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter Past

"You could hear people gasp in astonishment," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the Mars rovers' science instruments. "This is a remarkable discovery. And the fact that we found something this new and different after nearly 1,200 days on Mars makes it even more remarkable. It makes you wonder what else is still out there."

Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer observed the patch, and Steve Ruff of Arizona State University, Tempe, noticed that its spectrum showed a high silica content. The team has laid out plans for further study of the soil patch and surrounding deposits.

Mars Rover

Black Sabbath-War Pigs (set to political footage.)

Black Sabbath-War Pigs (set to political footage.)

Pirate Bay

"The Pirate Bay has confirmed that is working on a streaming video site with user-generated content. A spokesman said the site will be modeled after YouTube but there will be 'no censorship': The Pirate Bay 'will not be the moral police' and determine what content stays or goes as is oftentimes the case with YouTube. He added that 'the community will have to do that.'" The site will be at thevideobay.org, but nothing is up there for the public yet.

Fukusaku and Oshii unite to lead Toei’s Rebellion

Fukusaku and Oshii unite to lead Toei’s Rebellion
Liz Shackleton in Cannes
16 May 2007 04:31


Japanese studio Toei is developing a sci-fi action project, Rebellion: The Killing Isle (working title), uniting two of Japan’s hottest film-making talents – Kenta Fukasaku and Mamoru Oshii.

Battle Royale II director Fukasaku is set to direct the $10m film from a script by Oshii – director of acclaimed anime titles Ghost In The Shell and its sequel Innocence.

Set in the near future in Japan, Rebellion depicts the fierce conflict between refugees from the rest of Asia, who have flooded into Japan when their economies have collapsed, and the Japanese armed police.

Toei is co-financing the project with Japan’s Cinema Investment Corporation which finances films through the Independent Film Fund (IFF) and the Angel Award for innovative new producers. The company is also in talks with Hong Kong’s E Entertainment and Korea’s Barunson Films about boarding the film as co-producers.

The cast will be headed by an as yet-to-be-confirmed Japanese actress, who will play a feisty rebel leader, alongside Taiwanese actor Dylan Kuo.

The crew will include Korean DoP Kim Sung-bok whose credits include mega-hits Shiri, JSA and Silmido. Production is scheduled to start in the second half of the year.

Toei’s Cannes line-up also includes Taku Shinjo’s For Those We Love, about Second World War kamikaze pilots, which opened on May 12 in Japan and took the number three spot.
Oshii