A charming set of letters Dick wrote to a 15 year old fan in 1982.
TagPhilip K. Dick
Sci-fi author Ray Nelson recounts the last time he saw Philip K. Dick.
“You know when we were kids at Hillside School in Berkeley, I believed without question that Walt Disney personally drew all those talking ducks and mice”.
“Well, so did I. I took it for granted. Of course we both know now that he didn’t even draw his signature. He probably didn’t himself actually invent Mickey Mouse. He fooled everyone.”
“Not everyone Ray. Can you imagine Larry Niven being taken in?”
“I guess not.”
“No Ray, Larry would have laughed at us. I can just imagine his scornful, hurtful laughter if he had found us out.”
“But that was a long time ago Phil. We’ve changed.”
“Oh? Larry hasn’t changed. He still has no room in his universe for talking mice. Today, if anything, he’d be more scornful, more sarcastic than he must have been as a child.”
“Get to the point Phil.”
Again He glanced around. He paused, gathered his courage.
“I still believe” Phil whispered.
I burst out laughing.
“You too, Ray? Yes, you and Larry have changed all right. Only I have remained faithful.”
“So that’s it? The big secret?”
“That’s it.”
“I have to say, I don’t believe you. You had me going there for a second, but I don’t believe you really still believe in Disney.”
He looked hurt.
An article in New Dawn Magazine explores the prescience of Philip K. Dick’s writings in light of 9/11 and the Bush administration’s reactions.
New Dawn Magazine: The Political Gnosis of Philip K. Dick
(via New World Disorder)
“However, Nixon’s weary world ignored the eschatological opportunity I thought my brother’s inspired fiddling with hyperspace had afforded. The world continued grinding forward in its usual less than merry way. There was only one small incident that might subsequently be construed, even within the framework of the schizoid logic that was my bread and butter then, to support my position. Unknown to me, a struggling, overweight SF writer, an idol of mine since my teens, discovered the next day that his house have been broken into, his privacy violated by the Other. How peculiar that on the first day of the new dispensation in my private reformist calendar, he had been burglarized by extraterterrestials the CIA or his own deranged self in an altered state. The torch had been passed, in a weird way the most intense phase of my episode of illumination/delusion ended right where Phil’s began.”
The Psychedelic Shakespeare Solution: I Understand Philip K. Dick
(via New World Disorder).
There’s a longish piece on Slate today on why Minority Report isn’t film noir, comparing it to past noir masterpieces. I think the author makes his case, though I’m not sure what the relevance is.
How much do you know about Philip K. Dick? I scored an 8/10.
Guardian: Do you have total Philip K Dick recall?
(via Boing Boing)
Philip K. Dick is finally being recognized as a “serious” author by Time Magazine as part of a cover story on Minority Report.
The latest issue of Wired has an interview with Steven Spielberg about Minority Report:
I thought Ridley [Scott, director of Blade Runner] painted a very bleak but brilliant vision of life on earth in a few years. It’s kind of acid rain and sushi. In fact, it’s coming true faster than most science fiction films come true. Blade Runner is almost upon us. It was ultranoir.
How did I miss this one? Waking Life‘s Richard Linklater is in talks with George Clooney and Stephen Soderbergh’s production company, Section 8, to write and direct an adaption of Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick. I would’ve sworn I posted the news that Section 8 had aquired the rights to Scanner, but I can’t find it in the archives. Damn Sirius transmissions!
Being Charlie Kaufman: Skanner Darkly
Update: The movie is out now, you can buy it here.
Infamous comic artist Robert Crumb did a comic adaption of infamous science fiction author Philip K. Dick’s “religious experience” for Weirdo Magazine– and you can now find it online!
(via Boing Boing).
You can also find this comic on Scribd here.
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