Recommended reading - The Machine Stops

 

The Machine Stops

by E. M. Forster.
 
Science Fiction short story.
Published by Suzeteo Enterprises.
First published 1909.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1645941566
ISBN-13: 9781645941569
 
Description:
 

In our modern era, we like to congratulate ourselves for our sophistication, knowing that we have doubtless created a world that our feckless ancestors could never have imagined. Actually reading the works of those ancestors would disabuse us of any such notion, and E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops is a case in point. Not only does it seem that Forster has contemplated the ubiquitous 'Zoom' call, but he correctly sensed the deadening of the soul that would accompany the faux-mastery of Nature, expressing itself through technology.

 

In The Machine Stops the height of mankind's advances was The Machine, and it cared for every aspect of human experience, and anticipated every human need, until such time that there was nothing left for humans to do except eat, and, if the algorithm approved, procreate; and when the algorithm decided Euthanasia was due, then Euthanasia was happily accepted. The Machine was not just the pinnacle of human ingenuity, it was Progress Incarnate. And then... the Machine Stopped. Today, we hail our own progress, technological and societal. If our machine stops, what then? Do we really suppose it is eternal?

Recommended reading - The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist

 

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist

by Syd Mead.
 
Published by Titan Books.
Published 2017.
Illustrated edition.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1785651188
ISBN-13: 978-1785651182
 
Description:

Syd Mead is one of the most accomplished and widely respected artists and industrial designers alive today. His career boasts an incredible array of projects from designing cars to drafting architectural renderings, but he is most famous for his work as a concept artist on some of the most visually arresting films in the history of cinema. Since working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1978 as a production illustrator Syd Mead has always aimed to render “reality ahead of schedule,” creating evocative designs that marry believable content with a neofuturistic form. It is this ability to predict technological potential that has helped Mead create such a distinctive and influential aesthetic. From his work with Ridley Scott on Blade Runner, to his striking designs for the light cycles in Tron, to his imposing concept art for the U.S.S. Sulaco in James Cameron’s Aliens, Syd Mead has played a pivotal role in shaping cinema’s vision of the future.

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist represents the most extensive collection of Mead’s visionary work ever printed, compiling hundreds of images, sketches and concept arts from a career spanning almost 40 years, many of which have never been seen in print before. Each entry provides a unique insight into the processes involved in Mead’s practice as well as illuminating the behind-the-scenes work involved in creating a fully realized, cinematic depiction of the future. With such a plethora of images from the many genre-defining films Mead has worked on, this is essential reading for film fans, artists and futurologists alike.

Born on this day – Jessie Ralph:

Jessie Ralph

Actress

November 5, 1864 – May 30, 1944

Credits:

They Met in Bombay (1941); The Lady from Cheyenne (1941); The Bank Dick (1940); I Want a Divorce (1940); Girl from Avenue A (1940); I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940); Star Dust (1940); The Blue Bird (1940); Drums Along the Mohawk (1939); Mickey the Kid (1939); The Kid from Texas (1939); Cafe Society (1939); St. Louis Blues (1939); Four Girls in White (1939); Port of Seven Seas (1938); Hold That Kiss (1938); Love Is a Headache (1938); Double Wedding (1937); The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937); The Good Earth (1937); After the Thin Man (1936); Camille (1936); Walking on Air (1936); Bunker Bean (1936); San Francisco (1936); The Unguarded Hour (1936); Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936); Yellow Dust (1936); The Garden Murder Case (1936); Captain Blood (1935); I Found Stella Parish (1935); Metropolitan (1935); I Live My Life (1935); Jalna (1935); Paris in Spring (1935); Mark of the Vampire (1935); Les Misérables (1935); Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935); Enchanted April (1935); David Copperfield (1935); Evelyn Prentice (1934); We Live Again (1934); One Night of Love (1934); The Affairs of Cellini (1934); Murder at the Vanities (1934); Coming Out Party (1934); Nana (1934); Ann Carver's Profession (1933); Cocktail Hour (1933); Elmer, the Great (1933); Child of Manhattan (1933); Such a Little Queen (1921); The Madonna of the Slums (1919); New York (1916); Mary's Lamb (1915); The Galloper (1915); A Ringer for Max (1915).

Born on this day – Joel McCrea:

Joel McCrea

Actor

November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990

Credits:

Mustang Country (1976); The Young Rounders (1971); Cry Blood, Apache (1970); Ride the High Country (1962); The Crowning Experience (1960); Wichita Town (1959–1960); The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959); Fort Massacre (1958); Cattle Empire (1958); The Tall Stranger (1957); Gunsight Ridge (1957); Trooper Hook (1957); The Oklahoman (1957); The First Texan (1956); Wichita (1955); Stranger on Horseback (1955); Black Horse Canyon (1954); Border River (1954); Shoot First (1953); The Lone Hand (1953); The San Francisco Story (1952); Cattle Drive (1951); Hollywood Story (1951); Frenchie (1950); Saddle Tramp (1950); Stars in My Crown (1950); The Outriders (1950); Colorado Territory (1949); South of St. Louis (1949); Four Faces West (1948); Ramrod (1947); The Virginian (1946); The Unseen (1945); The Great Moment (1944); Buffalo Bill (1944); The More the Merrier (1943); The Palm Beach Story (1942); Sullivan's Travels (1941); The Great Man's Lady (1941); Reaching for the Sun (1941); Foreign Correspondent (1940); Primrose Path (1940); He Married His Wife (1940); Espionage Agent (1939); They Shall Have Music (1939); Union Pacific (1939); Youth Takes a Fling (1938); Three Blind Mice (1938); Wells Fargo (1937); Dead End (1937); Woman Chases Man (1937); Internes Can't Take Money (1937); Banjo on My Knee (1936); Come and Get It (1936); Adventure in Manhattan (1936); Two in a Crowd (1936); These Three (1936); Splendor (1935); Barbary Coast (1935); Woman Wanted (1935); Our Little Girl (1935); Private Worlds (1935); The Richest Girl in the World (1934); Half a Sinner (1934); Gambling Lady (1934); Chance at Heaven (1933); One Man's Journey (1933); Bed of Roses (1933); The Silver Cord (1933); Scarlet River (1933); Rockabye (1932); The Sport Parade (1932); The Most Dangerous Game (1932); Bird of Paradise (1932); The Lost Squadron (1932); Business and Pleasure (1932); Girls About Town (1931); The Common Law (1931); Born to Love (1931); Kept Husbands (1931); Once a Sinner (1931); Lightnin' (1930); The Silver Horde (1930); Framed (1930); Dynamite (1929); So This Is College (1929); The Single Standard (1929); The Jazz Age (1929); The Five O'Clock Girl (1928); The Divine Lady (1928); Freedom of the Press (1928); Dead Man's Curve (1928); The Enemy (1927); The Fair Co-Ed (1927); Torrent (1926); A Self-Made Failure (1924); Penrod and Sam (1923).

Born on this day – Vivien Leigh:

Vivien Leigh

Actress

November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967

Credits:

100 Years at the Movies (1994); 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009); 20 to 1 (2010); 21 Days Together (1940); A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); A Yank at Oxford (1938); ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999); Alexander Korda, Kt (1956); All-Time Movie Greats (1988); America at the Movies (1976); America in Color (2018); American Masters (2003); Anna Karenina (1948); Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel (2001); Biography (1998–2001); Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975); Caesar and Cleopatra (1945); Canaan Land (2020); Catalogue of Ships (2008); Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940); Century of Cinema (1995); Churchill and the Movie Mogul (2019); Classified X (2007); Corazón de... (2005); Dark Journey (1937); Darlings of the Gods (1989); Der Klang Hollywoods - Max Steiner & seine Erben (2009); Dieter & Andreas (1989); Faye (2024); Fire Over England (1937); Gentleman's Agreement (1935); Glorious Technicolor (1998); Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace (2019); Gone with the Wind (1939); Great Performances (1983); Great Romances of the 20th Century (1997); Has Anybody Here Seen Canada? A History of Canadian Movies 1939-1953 (1979); Heinz Rühmann: Kleiner Mann ganz groß (1994); HI$TORY (2019); Hollywood Couples (2001); Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983); Hollywood Remembers Lee Marvin (2000); Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies (1988); Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940); Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972); Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969); Intimate Portrait (1996); ITV Play of the Week (1959); Korda Interviews (1956); Länder - Menschen - Abenteuer (2011); Larry and Vivien: The Oliviers in Love (2001); Legends (2000); Legends of Entertainment Video (1995); Legends of World Cinema (2004); Les couples mythiques du cinema (2015); Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016); L'Histoire nous le dira (2019); Living Famously (2003); Look Up and Laugh (1935); Mo' Funny: Black Comedy in America (1993); Morgenmagazin (2024); MsMojo (2023); Murphy Brown (1989); My Week with Marilyn: The Untold Story of an American Icon (2011); News 44 (1994); Reader, I Married Him (2006); Round the Film Studios (1937); Sale el Sol (2022); Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2017); Ship of Fools (1965); Showbiz Ballyhoo (1982); Sir John Mills' Moving Memories (2000); Small World (1958); Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006); Storm in a Teacup (1937); Suncoast Motion Picture Company - We Can Take You There Commercial (1986); Sunset Over Mulholland Drive (2019); Teresa the Thief (1973); That Hamilton Woman (1941); That's Entertainment! III (1994); That's Entertainment, Part II (1976); The 14th Annual Tony Awards (1960); The 17th Annual Tony Awards (1963); The British Academy Awards (1956); The Deep Blue Sea (1955); The Drunken Peasants (2016); The Ed Sullivan Show (1954 / 1963); The Extraordinary Seaman (1969); The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995); The Golden Gong (1985); The Golden Years of Alexander Korda (1968); The Good, the Bad & the Beautiful (1996); The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988); The Prince, the Showgirl and Me (2004); The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland (2021); The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961); The Screen Director (1951); The Sidewalks of London (1938); The Tales of Helpmann (1990); The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1960); The Village Squire (1935); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990); Things Are Looking Up (1935); To Oz! The Making of a Classic (2009); Today (1960); Today Australia (2017); Today Tonight (2007); Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020); Unsere Besten (2004); Vivien Leigh, autant en emporte le vent (2021); Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond (1990); Waterloo Bridge (1940).

Born on this day – Guy Green:

Guy Green

Director

Producer

Writer

Cinematographer

November 5, 1913 – September 15, 2005

Born on this day – Madeleine Robinson:

Madeleine Robinson

Actress

November 5, 1917 – August 1, 2004