Blade Runner DVD

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Blade Runner concept painting by the great Syd Mead.

Several reliable news sources are reporting that Blade Runner is to finally receive a decent DVD release.

In September of 2006, Warner Home Video will release a restored and remastered version of the Blade Runner 1992 Director’s Cut for a special four month limited release, in anticipation of a series of exciting and unprecedented releases of the film in theaters and on DVD.

Following a four month run of the remastered Blade Runner DVD, this disc will be placed on moratorium, by WHV. In 2007, Warner will follow with a limited theatrical run of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which is being touted as Ridley Scott’s definitive version. Subsequently, there will be a multi-disc Special Edition DVD release which will contain three alternate versions of the film: the original U.S. theatrical cut, the expanded international theatrical cut and the 1992 director’s cut. “Ample, groundbreaking bonus features will also be included,” according to the WHV press release.

Blade Runner has been on DVD already in a very shoddy edition that’s now happily deleted, a rush release from the early days of DVD. Most news reports don’t seem to mention that the re-issue of the film was held up by various legal wrangles; the Blade Runner fan site, BRmovie.com, details the whole sorry tale. Here’s hoping Ridley’s masterpiece will be given the same treatment as the excellent (if unfortunately named) Alien Quadrilogy which had great transfers of the films and an insane amount of extras.

Jay on the radio

Later today, boys and girls…

Jay Babcock’s interview with Godsmack (a big band in America, apparently…) about the use of their music in ads for the US military caused quite a stir earlier this month after the band had a hissy fit and put the phone down on him. I posted the interview here and the Arthur magazine page below has over 200 comments discussing the whole business. So far the debate has generated more heat than light so the radio discussion is most welcome.

ARTHUR ON “AIRAMERICARADIO” NETWORK, WEDNESDAY MAY 31.
Thanks to the efforts of PressHere’s Chloe Walsh, Arthur editor Jay Babcock will be guest on national progressive radio network AirAmericaRadio’s ‘The Marc Maron Show’ on Wednesday, May 31. He’ll be discussing the ARTHUR VS GODSMACK kerfuffle and also Arthur’s forthcoming “So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh” CD (curated by JOSEPHINE FOSTER) which will **benefit ANTI-MILITARY RECRUITING campaigns**.

It’s going to be AWESOME.

• Info on the show:
www.airamericaradio.com/maron/

• AirAmerica radio network stations:
www.airamericaradio.com/stations

• Listeners on the internet can stream live at
www.airamericaradio.com

• Alternatively you can stream starting at 11p.m. PST from the Los Angeles Air America Radio affiliate KTLK 1150-AM’s website at www.ktlkam1150.com/pages/streaming.html

• Transcript of the original Arthur v Godsmack interview (May 1, 2006), with Introduction, Afterword and Footnotes: www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=1244

• Howie Klein commentary at The Huffington Post (May 8, 2006):
www.huffingtonpost.com/howie-klein/not-all-rock-stars-are-li_b_20648.html

• New York Daily News on Arthur vs Godsmack (May 10, 2006):
www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/416382p-351810c.html

• CNN Headline News’s ‘Showbiz Tonight’ interviews Godsmack on controversy – transcript (May 11, 2006):
transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0605/11/sbt.01.html

• Streaming audio of Arthur vs Godsmack interview (May 1, 2006) (courtesy Apollo Audio and Bobby Tamkin):
www.apolloaudio.com/lt.asp?name=AA32

• MP3 of the Arthur vs Godsmack interview (May 1, 2006) (courtesy Crooksandliars.com and Bobby Tamkin):
movies.crooksandliars.com/arthurvsgodsmack.mp3

Frémiet’s Lizard

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Emmanuel Frémiet (1824–1910) is chiefly known for his rather prosaic sculptures of animals, some of which are still sold in reproduction today. He also produced a notorious piece in 1887 entitled Gorilla Carrying off a Woman, a precursor of King Kong and all the other rampaging apes of later pulp fiction.

His Lizard ceramic (also 1887) is untypical which is a shame, I’d liked to have seen more in this style. It reminds me of the similarly stylised winged lion on the wonderful cover of Wolf City by Amon Düül II.

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Irrepressible.info

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Irrepressible

Adj. 1) Impossible to repress or control.

Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information.

The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments – with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world – are cracking down on freedom of expression.

Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.

Find out more about this campaign