All posts by Alexander V Woods

News

Cyber Dystopia: Updates for the rest of 2018

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I created Cyber Dystopia as a place to keep and cherish all my thoughts on the different media I am discovering and consuming in the realm of Cyberpunk. A vision I had for CD is for it to be a place where I could keep up with the Cyberpunk trends, including media that has been recently released, and media that is being released soon. A couple different excellent pending releases would include Akira: Battle Angel (which was supposed to be released in July of this year but was pushed back to December 2018) and Cyberpunk 2077, the new Cyberpunk video game by the creators of The Witcher that everyone is excitedly awaiting the release for.

I know I’ve been a bit MIA for the past couple months, but it’s been a busy time for me. I accepted a job to teach English at the University of Strasbourg come September, so I have been preparing for that. I also got married last week, which required a lot of planning and preparation. Now, however, I have one more month of living in the United States, before a honeymoon in Egypt and then a move to France in August. Because of this, I anticipate being able to dedicate more of my time to posting reviews and content of all the cyberpunk material I’ve been coming across, in a hope to not only keep it all in one place for myself, but also as an easy way to share it with you, the reader. A great part of this project consists in your responses as well, so if you feel the inclination, I’d love to hear your responses or any feedback about your take of the media I’m posting about. Reactions are great, and I’m sure we’ll probably disagree about some things, which is what makes this whole thing fun–where we all agree to disagree in a world without rules but instead with steadfast independent thought.

Well, for now at least.

-Alex, founder of Cyber Dystopia

 

Music, Uncategorized

Le Matos: Chronicles of the Wasteland

Le Matos: Chronicles of The Wasteland

Of all sounds that best fit Cyberpunk, I often find that the retro-80s roots and electronica of Synthwave are a snug fit. One great example of such an up-and-coming artistic group is that of Canadian band Le Matos.

Le Matos

Their music combines retro synthwave in a beautiful Canadian blend of Electronica. Inspired by the likes of Vangelis, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and other 80s movie soundtrack composers, Le Matos was founded by Jean-Nicholas Leupi and Jean-Philippe Bernier in Montreal in 2007. The group released their first singles, 88mph and 58 minutes pour vivre, in a digital album labeled Coming Soon 2007-2011. The group then released a proper debut in 2013 called Join US, but the group didn’t become as well-known until the created the soundtrack (and subsequent remix) for the incredible independent film Turbo Kid. When the movie was presented at the Sitges International Festival of Fantastic Cinema in Catalunya, it won a best music award. They also released their single, No Tomorrow featuring Pawws, with a music video that also serves as a prequel to the film. Although the music video is really interesting and explains how Apple came to be where she was when she meets The Kid, I personally didn’t like Pawws’ vocal contribution to the song. It felt too bubble-gum peppy for me, although the electronic synths from Le Matos are good as ever.

Le Matos is still growing in the Synthwave sphere, where they have also created a song called Kiyoko that went to the credits scene of the fan-made live action tribute trailer called The Akira Project (http://www.akira-project.com/ )

Akira Project OST Le Matos Album Picture

While much of their music is excellent, my particular favorites of theirs are found in the 50-track album Chronicles of the Wasteland. I stumbled upon them via Pandora, which is great because it means that they’re gaining traction in streaming websites such as Pandora and also Spotify, in addition to traditional venues such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

The track that hooked me was the mellow beauty called “Like Faith or Some Shit”. I actually listened to their tunes before I had ever seen Turbo Kid, and as I listened to their tracks on repeat via Soundcloud I pictured myself in the wastelands of Blade Runner or behind a tinted glass with loglo outside being driven somewhere clandestine in the rain.

Le Matos is slang for “equipment” in French, and although all members come from the hardcore scene, they are described as straight edge (no drugs and no alcohol).

If you haven’t already, or even if you have, I recommend checking out Turbo Kid again.

Turbo_Kid_poster

I’m not sure if it would qualify as Cyberpunk or not (I’m leaning towards Dystopian future with a couple cyberpunk elements in it) but it’s an excellent fun film, made particularly memorable by the quirkiness of Apple, the silly over the top gore and excellent costumes, and the unusual yet familiar storyline. What’s more, you can enjoy the film that much more if you pay special attention to the soundtrack. This is one way you can revisit old movies, after having listened closely to the soundtrack independently from the film and then upon seeing the film again you get a better appreciation for the whole product.

Listen to the full album on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/lematos/sets/chronicles-of-the-wasteland-1

For Le Matos’ website, check them out here: http://www.lematos.com/

Movies, Uncategorized

Ready Player One (2018): Movie Review

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Ever since I read Ernest Cline’s excellent book by the same name, I had been so excited to see this movie ever since I saw its first trailer in the movie theaters. Ready Player One was the kind of book that I finished in a couple weeks, couldn’t put down, and found myself saying “Man, this would be an amazing movie!” as I read it.

So here’s my SPOILER-FREE review of the movie, and some thoughts about how it was different from the book.

First off, let me say that I really enjoyed the movie. Perhaps part of the reason why I really liked it is because it’s different enough from the book, that watching the movie felt like a different piece of entertainment altogether. Sure, the story was still basically the same, but a lot of the action sequences were completely different, leaving me to guess and experience the same surprise and thrill as the rest of the crowd.

A little about the story, in case you have no idea what it’s about. The basic premise is that this movie is about a young man who’s searching for a hidden “easter egg” (read: treasure) within a virtual reality world that serves as place of commerce and entertainment for the majority of human civilization in the future. Although it takes place in a dystopian future, there isn’t much in the movie that addresses that, neither was there in the book. The virtual world, conveniently called the OASIS, is a place to escape the real world and both works leave it at that. The real story comes in the chase for the treasure, as both forces of good and evil race against time to get the hidden egg before the other. In the movie Steven Spielberg masterfully crafts his characters, although they do feel a bit simplistic at times, as if the target audience is primarily young adults.

Which makes sense. After all, the book also felt like a fun bubble-gum kind of story, with little suffering or grit or real violence. This is also mirrored in Cline’s irreverent, lackadaisical writing style.

The other thing that is quick to notice, and the media will also be quick to point out, is how chock-full the movie is in references. From Jurassic Park to Back to the Future, the movie adds to the 80s references with more modern, often video game, references like Halo or Overwatch.

It was definitely fun to see these references pulled out in the movie, sometimes literally from thin air (such as a weapon from one of your favorite video games you’ve spent hours using and picking up suddenly appear on-screen in the main character’s hands). I also thought the direction was very well done, with the camera swiveling to catch fluid actions and angles of the action, especially in the virtual world’s action scenes.

The transitions from virtual to real also felt very fluid, and overall the pacing was excellent as well. There were a few scenes that I felt needed a bit more gravitas, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying the movie.

Overall it was a very fun movie, highly enjoyable if you don’t take it too seriously, and an excellent adaptation. My final verdict: 9/10.

Music, Uncategorized

Juno Reactor: My favorite Cyberpunk Jam

I discovered Juno Reactor, along with a lot of my favorite music, by listening to the original soundtracks and scores to the Matrix trilogy. Along with Fluke and Rob Dougan, Juno Reactor is an excellent musical performing group that are very much electronica, considered in the subcategory GOA trance or psytrance. Although I’m not a fan of all of their material, their album Beyond the Infinte (1995) has an excellent list of tracks. You can check out the full album in the link below on Soundcloud. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/36906372″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

News, Uncategorized

Driverless Uber car results in first death

“Are driverless cars safe? Uber fatality raises questions”

This is the headline of the article and question that CNET asks. With a driverless Uber hitting and killing someone walking along the side of the street, the police now have to decide who is at fault: The pedestrian, the driver, or the robot/AI technology?

I think this will be the litmus test for whether the technology can survive or grow in the future. If I had to guess, I would say while this is a technology milestone and it’s never really happened before, the growth into driverless cars is unavoidable. I remember seeing this idea first addressed in the I, Robot movie with Will Smith. As his character takes over the wheel of his Audi, he later has an unavoidable crash (it’s bound to happen if countless robots are jumping on your hood trying to kill you) but after the crash, his police team want to blame him for taking off the auto-drive function and supposedly being the reason for the crash itself. So in the future, will we be pressured not to take the car off automatic, not to drive it ourselves?

Image result for i robot car

Personally, I still think driverless cars will be safer than cars with drivers. Sure there will be fatalities, but it’s unrealistic to think that any kind of driving can be victimless and perfect, considering how many roads we have and how many cars are on those roads at any given time. Perhaps what scares people more is the illusion of being in control of whether or not they get hurt or hurt someone else. But is that any different from getting hurt in a train, plane, bus, or ship?

You can read more about the CNET article here:

https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-self-driving-car-fatality-in-arizona-has-people-asking-how-safe-are-driverless-cars/

 

Uncategorized, Video Games

Thoughts on Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I tried playing this game before but simply couldn’t get into it with the difficulty in getting to some places, the emphasis on stealth, and the myriad of side quests that slowed down the story. Since my recent discovery of the amazing genre of cyberpunk, I decided to give it a go (I was able to get Deus Ex Human Revolution used for $2.50 and its sequel, Mankind Divided, for 12.50 from Game Stop!) I really like the game now, although I wish I could truly power through it as a shooter only, and not always need to rely on stealth. Shooting and destroying things is a lot of fun for me, more so than always trying to stay out of the line of sight of guards. I will say that I really enjoy the psychological profiles you get to try to figure out of the NPCs in the game, in order to activate speech options and make each encounter as successful as possible. I also very much like the possibility of choice in the game, and the sets (especially when you go to the Chinese area). But why does everything have to be so orange all the time? Most items are outlined in orange, vision through walls is orange, all lights are orange. I feel like this game could have had a lot more potential if it weren’t so monochromatic. Nonetheless, it’s still an excellent game. I love the voice actors and the music.

News, Uncategorized

Neon Dystopia

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Neon Dystopia is my favorite Cyberpunk website, and I can’t recommend it enough. With countless in-depth pieces about everything cyberpunk, they chose to break down their content into the following categories: Movies & Anime, Music, Games, Fashion & Lifestyle, Books & Fiction, Technology, Politics and Philosophy, and Art & Photography.

They will often discuss news related to up and coming movies, anime, games, or books, providing reviews of the most famous and popular ones. They also share their favorite art and music in the Cyberpunk genre, as well as their thoughts on topics in the news that fall under politics or technology. Finally, the website wouldn’t be complete with a philosophy section to discuss the different philosophical themes that recur in the many different Cyberpunk Media out there.

In addition to all of their blog posts, they also have a Cyberpunk Catalog where you can find different movies and books in the Cyberpunk genre to see at your leisure. They usually only provide a link to where you can buy the media online, however, without much of a description of the media itself. The database they have is incredibly vast, but not very deep, so you’ll have to do the digging yourself. But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? To discover what you like and don’t like yourself.

Check out their website here: https://www.neondystopia.com/

Books, Movies

Ready Player One and its Utopian Educational World

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ready_player_one cover

A captivating read

In case you’re unfamiliar, Ready Player One is a novel that was written by Ernest Cline and is being adapted into a movie by Steven Spielberg. The story follows Wade Watts in his pursuit of finding a hidden treasure in a worldwide online virtual world called the OASIS. The OASIS is where people play games, escape their reality,  do their business transactions, and learn in school. It’s also a huge ode to video gamers and is chock full of pop culture references.

This book was so much fun for me that I read it twice (which never happens) and it’s a very fast read, too.  Quite the page turner. I remember thinking how exciting and interesting a film adaptation would be, which is why I could hardly contain my excitement when I saw the trailer for this movie for the first time in theaters.

Beyond describing the love videogamers have of completing a game and all of its fun referencing, there’s a lot that can be gleaned out of this book as thought pieces, even if the book itself never takes the time to consider the ideas.

Ready-Player-One-Oasis

A Beautiful Education System

I remember the first time I read the book, I was amazed by the educational world described in the book. In the OASIS, the government has online virtual classes where a program monitors student language and behavior, allowing the teacher to simply teach and nothing more. This means that bullying becomes a thing of the past, and enables teachers to do much more than they traditionally are able to do.

As a teacher, a virtual world free of bullying, fully immersive and with the ability to engage and inspire students in such novel ways is like a dream come true. But here’s the thing:

This could actually happen.

Why not? We’ve already seen students use ipads more and more in classrooms, and now the VR setting on anyone’s smartphone simply requires a headset to view it with, and we’ve already got visual VR which can connect to headphones to become audiovisual VR.

Imagine if teachers could use this VR system in their classrooms to take students to the surface of Mars. Or take them inside a cell to observe a mitochondria. Or take them back in time to witness the rise and fall of Ancient Rome. Imagine if teachers didn’t need to act as counselors, or disciplinarians, and could simply teach the content they love!

What are your thoughts? Do you think this will be the future of education, or is it unlikely to become a reality?

News, Uncategorized

5th package explosion in Texas reminds of a black mirror episode of technology misused by humanity.

Starting March 2nd, a series of packages containing bombs have been going off in Texas. So far it has killed 2 people and injured several others, the first three bombs being packages delivered to people’s doors, the 4th being a tripwire on the sidewalk, and the 5th one going off in a fedex factory. Since writing this story, however, I’ve seen on the news that the police were able to find a suspect, and on pursuing the suspect (a 23 year old white male), he decided to blow himself up in his car.

Doesn’t this feel like made-for-television news? Its seems like there’s been a lot of that going around these days. I can’t imagine how the people of Austin Texas must have felt scared and worried to simply order something on Amazon or receive a package. It’s easy enough to hold off on ordering a package until the perpetrator is apprehended, but how about employees of companies who have to order packages as part of their business?

Package delivery is a relatively simple idea, but this fits the theme of Cyberpunk by virtue of it being a simple, harmless technology (online delivery) being misused fwith fatal consequences.

It’s not hard to extrapolate this a little further. Imagine if this happened with Amazon’s drone delivery service. Bombs sent flying via drones to your backyard or doorstep. Truly a hellish idea indeed. This reminds me of an episode I saw recently on Black Mirror, called hated by the nation. In it the bees are dying out, so a company creates a network of robot bees to pollinate the flowers artificially and thus avoid a food catastrophe. Needless to say, someone misuses the bees with similarly fatal consequences.

But it seems to me that misusing something’s original purpose in dangerous means might perhaps go back as old as time, when cavemen fought each other using innocent rocks lying on the ground. Is this really any different? Perhaps the thing that alarms us is not feeling in control, and not being used to seeing the postal service being misused in this way. Although we’ve seen Anthrax be used in mail before, so perhaps this isn’t truly so new.

What are your thoughts? Comments always appreciated below.

News, Uncategorized

Facebook in trouble with sharing private data feels like a Cyberpunk Dystopian nightmare

My, aren’t these interesting times we are living in.

Politicians not only on both sides of the aisle in the US, but also in Europe (namely the UK) are asking that Facebook, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, come to explain the company’s handling of the now current scandal involving the misuse of data and information of millions of users. The company that is blamed for misusing this information, Cambridge Analytica, was purported to have worked with the Trump Administration on making psychological profiles of people using their Facebook information in order to market to them and garner votes. Talk about mind control! A multi-billion dollar tech giant being summoned to members of government to explain their involvement in alleged unethical activities is exactly the theme that is so often shown and discussed in modern day cyberpunk themes. It is reminiscent to me of the company in Robocop, pushing to get congress to agree to cybernetics and robots to be sold and used in the United States. The current state of the world definitely feels a bit surreal. I wake up, turn on the news, see these things, go to work, see the news again on the tv in our lobby, work, come home, and to relax boot up my xbox to play Deus Ex Human Revolution and again see different tech mega-corporations involved in shady dealings. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I love cyberpunk so much. In addition to being simply visually striking, mentally stimulating, and fun, it can also act as a stark warning for different paths that we as a people do not want to walk down.

You can read more about this developing story with Zuckerberg and Cambridge Analytica here: