Category Archives: ~ Movie Night

Sci-fi Interfaces and Decipher SciFi go to the movies

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OMG y’all. We totally got asked on a date and we should totally go.

So I happen to be in NYC for the Interaction17 conference this week, and agreed with the guys from the Decipher SciFi podcast that we should hang out. So it’s late notice, but we have a plan: Join us at 7:25 P.M. to watch The Space Between Us, and then hangout and chat about it afterward? There may even be podcast recording and interface redesigning, it’s hard to say. Providing you’re not into The Big Game.

Here’s a link to the event details.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1302970839741111/1304373202934208/?notif_t=like&notif_id=1486263480732356

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scifiinterfaces presents: STRANGE DAYS in 35mm

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December 30 only

In San Francisco and looking to see a dark, disturbing New Year’s Eve themed science fiction film just before 2015 ends? Who isn’t? On December 30th, come to the Roxie Theater to join Chris Noessel, keeper of scifiinterfaces.com, and the co-author of Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction for a viewing of Strange Days: a twisted, recursive, techno-serial-killer brain-interface thriller. The movie was written by TERMINATOR great James Cameron, Scorsese-compadre Jay Cocks, and features an all star cast led by Ralph Fiennes as the anti-hero Lenny Nero and Angela Bassett as “Mace” Mason, whose performance won her a Saturn award for Best Actress. The film also earned director Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK, THE HURT LOCKER) a Saturn for best director.

It’s neither available on Blu-ray nor for streaming in the US, so you won’t want to miss this rare 35mm presentation. If you thought Brainstorm’s anti-corporate take on telexperience tech lacked bite, you will want to see this take on what telexperience tech would mean to psychopaths. Note that it’s rated R, not really a kid’s film, here.

For those familiar with prior scifiinterfaces movie nights, this is a LONG movie, and so there will be only the briefest of introduction presentations.

1995, 146 minutes, 35mm

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Movie night: Ghostbusters

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Thursday, 29 OCT 02015, 9 P.M. at The New Parkway

Come to Oakland to celebrate Halloween week spooktech with Chris Noessel, keeper of scifiinterfaces.com, with a big-screen viewing of the sci-fi/comedy/spooky greats Ghostbusters.

Reserve your ticket before they’re sold out at Brown Paper Tickets

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The pre-show includes

  • A trivia contest you take on your phone
  • A bookstacking contest
  • A short presentation deconstructing Ghostbusters for its…uhh…questionable service design

You can win stuff!

Prizes

Agenda

8:15 – 9:00: Dinner from The New Parkway concession stand: menu, queueing for seats.

9:00 – 9:10: Seating (going to try to get this done quickly)

9:10 – 9:40: Pre-show

9:40 – 11:30: Ghostbusters

Address

The New Parkway: 474 24th St, Oakland, CA 94612. You can find directions on getting there using Google or on the cinema website.

People getting back to San Francisco via BART need not worry. According to BART schedule, there are three trains to catch after the film:

  • 11:39 You can make it if you dash
  • 11:59 Makes for a leisurely stroll back
  • 12:19 Would even let you grab a drink nearby first

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Ghost in the Shell: Home viewing

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San Francisco Bay Area folks may have been wondering what was up with the Ghost in the Shell 20th anniversary movie night. Well, some bad news.

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There weren’t enough pre-sales to rent the cinema. We might have just run it as a public showing, but the cinema could not find a way to secure the rights for a public showing despite best efforts and the use of Google Translate on promising Japanese sites. You might think in that case that you could just show it anyway, but the owners cited a story in which independent filmmakers once had to fork over a cool $8000 for an unauthorized showing of a film, even when the normal licensing was only $200. So, without licensing, no public showing. But that doesn’t have to stop us. We have technology.

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A synchronozed home viewing of Ghost in the Shell

I’m watching Ghost in the Shell on Saturday, 28 March 2015, starting at 20:30 PDT. I may have a few friends over. Want to join? Well, my couch will likely be full, but get a copy of the movie yourself on Blu-Ray, or Amazon instant video, or Netflix DVD (not available at this time streaming through Netflix), and we can live tweet the event. I’ve just launched the twitter handle @SFImovienight, where

  • I will announce upcoming movie nights
  • I will track movie night requests
  • I will live tweet movies as we’re watching
  • Anyone else watching along can join in

The hashtag for this viewing will be #gits20.

Yes a contest

Since this won’t be a live event, let’s shake the contest up a bit. No trivia. Whatever tweet that:

  • Includes #gits20
  • Tags @SFImovienight
  • Gets the most retweets

…between now and 28 March 2015 23:00 PDT will win an Adobe Creative Cloud license for 1 year, a $600 value, as an offer by in-kind sponsor Adobe.

Has anyone tried this before? Have suggestions?

Scifiinterfaces.com presents the 20th anniversary of Ghost in the Shell at the New Parkway

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UPDATE (21 MAR): Owing to some licensing complications, the event can not be held publicly. But we’re nerds. That doesn’t need to stop us.

Let’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of this awesome, hand-drawn anime title that features some amazingly foresightful wearable tech. The show will be at the New Parkway cinema in Oakland, California on Thursday March 26th at 7PM. As usual there will be an awesome preshow with an analysis of one of the interfaces, a mobile-phone trivia contest to win GitS t-shirts, a possible 30-finger race (if we get enough people and I can make the apparatus), and your ticket includes you in a raffle for one of the year-long Creative Cloud subscriptions (a $600 value) provided from my in-kind sponsor Adobe. Join Major Motoko Kusanagi in her mind expanding search for the Puppet Master, and please spread the word to your friends and mid-1990s anime fans!

Galaxy, Quested

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Thanks to everyone in the audience and the Netflix Design Team for an amazing scifiinterfaces movie night of Galaxy Quest. It’s one of my favorite movies, has some awesome interfaces, and it’s so much better watching it with a big group of people who love it, too. Not to mention the free shuttle. And free food. And free beer. And awesome schwag. A fantastic night for everyone who braved the rain.

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Don’t forget, if you won one of the shirts in the trivia contest but it’s not the right fit, let me know the right fit and where to have it sent!

Last but not least in my fall speaking tour is Nerd Nite East Bay at the New Parkway in Oakland on Monday. It’s a sex-themed night. Erin Brandt will seduce a dancing spider. Zarinah Agnew will introduce the basics neuroanatomy and has agreed to talk about where the penis is in the brain as a nod to the theme. 🙂 I’ll be doing a 20-minute (comedic) presentation of sex-related interfaces in sci-fi, including four awesome new and thought-provoking interfaces that weren’t in the book. See you there!

Scifiinterfaces and Netflix present: Galaxy Quest

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Thursday, 20 NOV 02014

Come to Los Gatos to join the Netflix Design Team and Chris Noessel, co-author of “Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction” in a viewing of one of the all time sci-fi/comedy greats Galaxy Quest.

Reserve your ticket at Eventbrite

It’s a great opportunity to hear Chris deconstruct one of the interfaces from the movie and network with other designers. There will be a trivia contest with sci-fi interface t-shirts based on the movie as prizes. Additionally there will be cool schwag and possibly some book giveaways. Food, drink, and popcorn will be provided. Best of all, the whole event is free and recently opened to the public!

Agenda

6:30 – 7:00 P.M.: Registration & Networking

7:00 – 9:30 P.M.: Presentation (some mild spoilers) & Movie

Address

Netflix campus cinema: 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032

Shuttle from San Fransico

A shuttle from San Francisco will be provided from the Glen Park Bart Station at 5pm. If you need additional information about the shuttle please email [email protected].

Sci-Fi Interfaces Movie Night “kickstarter” for The Cabin in the Woods

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9 P.M. Wednesday, 29 OCT 2014, $10

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I’m thrilled to announce the second Sci-fi Interfaces Movie Night, again in the New Parkway Cinema in Oakland. This time it’s the amazing meta sci-fi and horror fest from the minds of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods. (Kristen Connolly! Chris Hemsworth! Anna Hutchison! Fran Kranz! Jesse Williams! Richard Jenkins! Bradley Whitford!) Enjoy this amazing film the way it was meant to be enjoyed: With a bunch of other sci-fi nerds, on the big silver screen, with a pre-show, tables, couches, food, and a bar.

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This one is going to be bigger, gorier, and better than the last, with sci-fi and a heaping helping of metahorror to get you amped up for Halloween later in the week.

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A few folks had asked if we could move into the smaller cinema at The New Parkway. We could, but there are two problems with it. First, it would have raised the ticket price even more since there’s less seating. Second, that cinema can not connect to a computer for any pre-show visuals. So, we’re sticking with the large cinema.

As before, I’ll make a short presentation deconstructing and analyzing one of the interfaces in the movie, as well as running a trivia contest with at least The Cabin in the Woods sci-fi interface t-shirts as prizes. I’m working on a way to let everyone in the audience participate this time, via their smart phones or something.

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If you attended the last one, and you have other ideas about how it can have its awesome quotient increased, contact me or leave a comment here.

Let's get this party started

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Time and Date for Cabin in the Woods

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So it turns out there’s already a cool event happening at The New Parkway on Thursday 30 October from 6:30—9:30 P.M., which doesn’t leave a whole lot of options. But, which of these work best for you (and whoever you might want to invite)?

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Please share the poll with everyone you think might want to come!

Note: This polldaddy doesn’t work on Chrome. Head to Firefox if you want to cast a vote!

Movie Night: Cabin in the Woods!

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Sci-Fi Interfaces Movie Night is back this fall, just in time for Halloween! I’m in talks currently with The New Parkway in Oakland, CA to license one of my favorite horror/sci-fi crossovers The Cabin in the Woods!

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I’ll have some of the kinks worked out from the first movie night (a trivia contest that everyone can participate in, easier questions, better seating in the 100-seat cinema—though ticket costs may rise) and I’m working on some amazing additional surprises. Can’t spill the beans yet, but even my mind is blown.The first order of business for this amazing event is to find out who is interested: Would you be? You can let me know how excited you’d be for such an event on a scale of 1 to Oh My Stars in the comments.

Also, the cinema and I are wondering what night would be best for the event. The options are all during Halloween-week, but the question is which night:

  • Wednesday the 29th
  • Thursday the 30th
  • Friday the 31st

Answer this poll and let me know what night would make the most sense with your plans for that week.

And as before, the likelihood of the event depends on the amount of interest there is. If you want to make sure it happens, spread the word and share this URL with everyone you think would be interested.

Let's get this party started