Giger's Necronomicon (1975) by H.R. Giger and J.J. Wittmer

A very rare documentary on the Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer, Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger (pronounced /ˈɡiːɡər/, born in Chur, Grisons Canton, Switzerland, February 5, 1940. The documentary which features an amazing soundtrack is directed by H.R. Giger and J.J. Wittmer and was produced in 1975 and was released only in Japan. More on Giger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.R._Giger

Philip K. Dick; letter to Jeff Walker regarding the film, Bladerunner (1981)

Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose published work during his lifetime was almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In his later works, Dick's thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his own life experiences and addressed the nature of drug abuse, paranoia and schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.

The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens in a parallel universe where he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975. "I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards," Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real." Dick referred to himself as a "fictionalizing philosopher."

In addition to 44 published novels (as of January 2010), Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, nine of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

Blade Runner (1982), based on Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford. A screenplay had been in the works for years before Scott took the helm, with Dick being extremely critical of all versions. Dick was still apprehensive about how his story would be adapted for the film when the project was finally put into motion. Among other things, he refused to do a novelization of the film. But contrary to his initial reactions, when he was given an opportunity to see some of the special effects sequences of Los Angeles 2019, Dick was amazed that the environment was "exactly as how I'd imagined it!", though Ridley Scott has mentioned he had never even read the source material. Following the screening, Dick and Scott had a frank but cordial discussion of Blade Runner's themes and characters, and although they had incredibly differing views, Dick fully backed the film from then on. Dick died from a stroke less than four months before the release of the film.

More on PKD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick

Eadweard J. Muybridge (1830 - 1904) : The Father of Motion Pictures

Eadweard J. Muybridge (pronounced /ˌɛdwərd ˈmaɪbrɪdʒ/; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904) was an English photographer, known primarily for his important pioneering work, with use of multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip that is used today.
For more on Eadweard J. Muybridge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
Muybridge Buffalo Galloping (video): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Muybridge_Buffalo_galloping.gif

Buffalo Dance (1894) by William K. L. Dickson and William Heise

Buffalo Dance is an 1894 American 16-second black and white silent film shot in Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio. The film was made at the same time as Edison's Sioux Ghost Dance. It is one of the earliest films made featuring Native Americans. In this film, produced by William K. L. Dickson with William Heise as cinematographer, three Sioux warriors named Hair Coat, Parts His Hair and Last Horse dance in a circle and two other Native Americans sit behind them and accompany them with drums. According to the Edison catalog, the actors were "genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes." They were also apparently veterans of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Dance_%281894_film%29

"Au Clair de la Lune" and other early recordings (1860) recorded by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville

This is the first sound ever recorded, by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, a French printer and bookseller who lived in Paris. He invented the earliest known sound recording device, the "phonautograph", which was patented on 25 March 1857, as French patent #17,897/31,470.
In 1860, before Edison's wax cylinder experiments. Ironically, the "phonautograph" was designed only to record sounds, not to play them back.
In 2008, American audio historians played back phonautograph recordings as sound for the first time. The team accessed Leon Scott's phonautograph papers, which were stored in France's patent office and the Académie des Sciences. They then optically scanned the etched paper recordings into a computer program developed a few years earlier for the Library of Congress. The sound waves on the paper were then translated by the computer into audible sounds. One recording, created on April 9, 1860, was revealed to be a 10-second recording (of low fidelity but recognizable) of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune". While it was initially believed to be the voice of a woman or adolescent, further research in 2009 suggested the playback speed had been too high and that it was actually the voice of Scott himself.
The "phonautograph" scratched sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp,"It's magic," says David Giovannoni of First Sounds, a group of audio historians, recording engineers, sound archivists, scientists, others dedicated to preserving humankind's earliest sound recordings.A phonautogram containing the opening lines of Torquato Tasso's pastoral drama Aminta has also been found. Recorded around 1860, probably after April 9, this phonautogram is the earliest known recording of spoken human speech to be played back, predating Frank Lambert's 1878 recording of a talking clock and the Edison Company's 1888 phonographic recording of a Händel concert. Earlier recordings, made in 1857, also contain Scott's voice, but are unrecognizable because of the irregularity of speed.

Scott in his own words: http://www.firstsounds.org/features/scott.php

Opening lines from Tasso's Aminta (undated, probably April-May 1860)
Vole, Petite Abeille - Fly, Little Bee (undated, probably September 1860)
Au Clair de la Lune - By the Light of the Moon (April 9, 1860)
Gamme de la Voix - Vocal Scale (May 17, 1860)
Diapason at 435 Hz--at sequential stages of restoration (1859 Phonautogram)

You can listen to Scott's above mentioned early recordings here: http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/scott.php

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard-L%C3%A9on_Scott_de_Martinville and http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/art... and http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/03/28/2202033.htm

For more on the "phonautograph" and to listen to the slowed down audio recording of "Au Clair de la Lune"check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonautograph

Footage of Ralph Baer and Bill Harrison Demonstrating Ping-Pong Video Game (1969)

Forty years ago today, the first video game on a television set was played by these two men. Two years later, they would be recorded demonstrating their famous Ping-Pong game on the "brown box" console, which later became the basis of Atari's Pong.

For the whole story, check out "Video Games Turn Forty" at 1UP.com: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.o...

Also, here is an interview with Bill Harrison:http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index...

Roundhay Garden Scene/Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge by Louis Le Prince (1888), Handel's oratorio, Israel in Egypt by Sir August Manns (1888)

1888, the year of the death of the composer Charles-Valentin Alkan (Chopin's friend and neighbour) is also the year of the earliest surviving recording of music and earliest recorded film.

Combined on this video is the earliest surviving recording of music (a live performance of Handel's oratorio, Israel in Egypt conducted by Sir August Manns, recorded by Edison engineer George E. Gouraud at Crystal Palace, London, England, 29th June 1888) and the earliest surviving recorded film (shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince in Leeds, England in October 1888): Roundhay Garden Scene (filmed 14 October 1888) and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (filmed late October 1888).

In the Roundhay Garden Scene (filmed in the garden of the Whitley family home in Oakwood Grange Road, Roundhay, Leeds, England) are the following people (from the left at beginning of sequence): Adolphe Le Prince (the film maker's son), Miss Harriet Hartley, Mrs. Sarah Whitley, (the film maker's mother-in-law), and Joseph Whitley (the film maker's business partner). The original film was shot at 12 frames per second and lasts 2 seconds. Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge was filmed in Leeds, England in late October 1888, at 20 frames per second.On Friday 29th June 1888, from 2pm, a performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt was captured on a number of wax cylinder recordings. This performance was part of the trienniel Handel Festivals mounted in the UK. They were recorded from the press gallery in Crystal Palace by Edison-representative Colonel Gouraud, as a way to test and show off Edison's phonograph. Three of these cylinders still survive.

The conductor was Sir August Manns, conducting an orchestra of some 500 musicians and a choir of over 4,000 voices, in front of an audience of 23,722 people.

These are the earliest deliberate recordings of music known to exist (earlier recordings from the 1870s are considered lost). Fortunately these can be played back at a quite definite pitch, as we know the pitch of the Crystal Palace organ at this time.

Unfortunately, the recordings are in very poor shape, audibly speaking. You are going to have a very hard time grappling with the sound, and trying to make out anything. Each cylinder contains a number of tracks. This is what you are hearing:

Cylinder 1 (0:00 - 2:27) -

The first text is "[Mo]ses, and the children of Israel sung unto the Lord and spake saying", from the chorus at the opening of Part II (very hard to hear the orchestra in this).

Following this is "I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed" from the next number in Part II (you should be able to hear the altos and tenors singing at the start of this). Near the end you might make out the word "gloriously" sung in Handelian semiquavers.

Cylinder 2 (2:30 - 5:10) -

The first track on this cylinder is effectively inaudible. We do not know what the music is on it.

The second track is no.24 from the Oratorio: "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power". Unfortunately, the stylus sticks in this track.

The third track is from the same number at "Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy", also with some stylus sticking problems.

Track 4 is yet more of this movement, ending with "For He hath triumphed gloriously".

Cylinder 3 (5:14 - 7:45) -

The first track is the last part of movement 37: "...ever, the Lord shall reign for ever and ever".

The second track is a fragment of number 39: "For ever and ever"

The third track is a continuation of the previous one from "...shall reign for ever and ever", and continuing as far as "For He hath triumphed gloriously".

The last track is the very end of the oratorio, from "...horse and his rider, the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea".

It's all very hard to make out. You can perceive a very slow tempo being employed at least.

Incidentally, Colonel Gourard was also present at the "phonograph party" in 1888 which captured Sullivan's voice, and his voice too exists on wax cylinder.

For more info about these rolls, there is a fantastic website to read here: http://www.webrarian.co.uk/crystalpalace
For more information on: Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Aim%C3%A9_Augustin_Le_PrinceFor more information on: Sir August Manns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Manns

Edison phonograph cylinders (1888): Handel - Israel in Egypt

Earliest surviving film and sound recording 1888

Pull My Daisy (1959) by Frank Robert and Alfred Leslie

Pull My Daisy (1959) is a short film that typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of his play, Beat Generation; Kerouac also provided improvised narration. It starred poets Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso, artists Larry Rivers and Alice Neel, musician David Amram, actors Richard Bellamy and Delphine Seyrig, dancer Sally Gross, and Pablo Frank, Robert Frank's then-young son.

Based on an incident in the life of Beat icon Neal Cassady and his wife, the painter Carolyn, the film tells the story of a railway brakeman whose wife invites a respectable bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman's bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results.

Originally intended to be called The Beat Generation the title Pull My Daisy was taken from the poem of the same name written by Kerouac, Ginsberg and Cassady in the late 1940s. Part of the original poem was used as a lyric in David Amram's jazz composition that opens the film.

The Beat philosophy emphasized spontaneity, and the film conveyed the quality of having been thrown together or even improvised. Pull My Daisy was accordingly praised for years as an improvisational masterpiece, until Leslie revealed in a November 28, 1968 article in The Village Voice that the film was actually carefully planned, rehearsed, and directed by him and Frank, who shot the film on a professionally lit studio set.

Leslie and Frank discuss the film at length in Jack Sargeant's book Naked Lens: Beat Cinema. An illustrated transcript of the film's narration was also published in 1961 by Grove Press.

Pull My Daisy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The impromptu narration juxtaposed with particular shots portray the Beat Generation in an autobiographical sense. The film editing process began with a picture lock and was a conservative, narrative story arc conceived by Jack Kerouac, directed by Alfred Leslie and shot by Robert Frank. The narration was then improvised by Kerouac resulting in a film that defines the Beat Generation, making a comment on a number of topics representative of conservative America, including protests to industrialization, education, anti-Semitism, sexuality, gender roles, religion and patriotism.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_My_Daisy

Click HERE to watch Pull My Daisy!

Watch the making of Pull My Daisy below.