When I started to do some background work on the blog (e.g., deleting dead links, reformatting parts, etc.), I discovered the CYBER Fair is scheduled to take place next month, right after Labor day in the US. Starting on Wednesday, September 6th, and running through Thursday, September 26th, the CYBER Fair is an amazing event filled with the cutting edge cyberpunk necessities for your role-play, photography, or just to add to your inventory. Needless to say, I'll be visiting it once it opens for my own avatar upgrades, but until then, you can go to the CYBER-Fair main page. See you there!
Old pix - Relaxing at the Stardust Lounge (defunct)
Finally returned to revive the Uplink... it's been a while. Bunch of RL stuff took me offline, but time to return, find out what is going on, do a lot of cleaning on the blog, and upgrade my mediocre av! Using the generic "Jaxon" av for now, but at least have a cigarette to enjoy while I get back into writing. Thanks for visiting, hope you stop by again, and Batou out!
Its been a bit since I've seriously blogged, so after an epiphany I decided to take up the keyboard and see where I might end up. I run by the online name of Batou Parker (yes, like the GITS character), and after watching what looks like everyday attempts of forced compliance and propaganda, I've decided to take a step towards the arena.... of dissent.
Daft Punk - Sea of Simulation [Extended, 1 hour loop]
(The soundtrack to this entry)
I was "anti-authoritarian" since the days when I was young(er), when being such meant that you pushed back against those who attempted to bully you. Now it seems an ill plague (bordering on an infohazard) has begun to affect the American psyche and too many are quick to bend the knee, consume whatever pap is pushed out by corporations, then tell individuals to conform, believe as your told to think, and just obey.
Am I conspiratorialist? I'd argue no - I simply see a lot of questionable things going on in the infosphere (e.g. internet, corporate media, social media, etc.), and shake my head as the shallowness of it all. So many seem to follow mega-corporations pronouncements blindly, but if you question anything at all, you'll be considered apostate, and (in theory) suffer the consequences (a bunch of idiots from Twitter, I suppose).
Waste Pickers, by GabrielBStierStrom I grin sardonically as I see more elements of the "dystopian cyberpunk" world come to pass. Even in my own small network of connection, there is more and more subservience to the bizarre cultists of the woke religion. Just like the religious fanatics of the 1900s, or 1980s, or even legendary French Reign of Terror, I expect this vein of strangeness will pass as a foot note, but I ramble.
Hoping that I can begin to build a sanguine narrative of the world I experience (virtual, online, and real), I will post and write here on the uplink, as the real world degenerates into its own hellish cyberpunk pastiche.
Finally have a moment to take a deep dive into the current CYBER Fair, and I wasn't disappointed. Often times hunting for that "one thing" you need to upgrade your appearance is a challenge, but the CYBER Fair is a proverbial cornucopia of enhancement goodness. While perusing the center square, I decided to add a bit of appropriate ambiance - seven hours worth (see below)…
… with the tone set and a peek at the sim map, its onto the sponsor's central area, which houses a number of familiar makers and builders, starting with, The Forge...
.. which has outstanding offers on cybernetic augments and weaponry. I impressed with their Ronin cyberpunk jacket (350L$), proto-arms (399L$), as well as their Iridium Spine (299L$). There is a wide selections of ladies attire as well, so they are well worth a stop!
Proceeding to the right, Inkrave has a storefront with some outstanding goods, including great men's attire. Their Typhoon Breaker jacket looked outstanding (at 475L$, 10% off, I will have to pick one up after this post), and I'll have to get a pair of their Linkhack gloves (outstanding detail on those at only 415L$).
Moving just to the right of the Forge storefront is Graves Fetish & Cyberpunk - a well known and outstanding purveyor of cyberpunk work...
I remember them from my first SL stint, as a lady-friend of mine swore by their work. Their CYBER fair offering is the Graves Levitation (above), an impressive look for any cyberpunk environ (390L$). They're also offering a really nice back tattoo (below), at a minimal price (99L$)
Next up is .:VSD:. (.:Virtual SYL Design:.), with their Stingray CYBER Fair excludes, but their weapons offering caught my eye (the S5821X pistols). Very nice pieces at only 800 L$...
And to the left of their storefront, they have a free offering, a nice little drone to document all of your... escapades (0L$)
REKT (just to the right), is next, offering superb cybernetic upgrades...
Loved the look of the REKT_Neo chest and arms (Frozen)... at 150L$! - an outstanding offer (below)
GABRIEL (right next door), has an amazing cybernetics gacha (gacha = random item) for only 75L$. Tried it, picked up a nice pair of boot... so money well spent, imo.
Their full suit also looks fantastic, so I'm going to have to head over to their main store after the fair is over (see below).
A&Y (below) has a number of cybernetic wear for females - nicely done and highly detailed...
Finally, Solaris Heavy Industries has uniquely interesting items, including their Xenogene Raider at 25% off (876L@$), and a Boombox Hammer (really nice looking, imo), also at 25% off gacha (75L$).
So while you're waiting for "... the new life that awaits you in the off-world colonies...", make a point of visiting the CYBER Fair. Part 2 coming soon...
One of the oldest cyberpunk sims in Second Life, In Silico has had a challenging past. Though I've known it as an impressive work, its traffic is a bit limited due the the RP nature of the sim. Running an RP sim can be challenging, as it takes a lot of effort to maintain an active RP community. That being said, In Silico seems a bit more sparse than its earlier days. That's to be expected, I assume... I'm not part of their RP, but based on the interaction of its RP board (e.g. a minimal number of entries during this year (2019) on their blog), I'm guessing that aspect has been dwindling as time progresses.
The aforementioned dispute between the original owner of In Silico, Skills Hak, and Linden Labs, was eventually resolved (documented by Ricco Saenz, on his outstanding blog Second Sightings).
A post I had added to an earlier version of a cyberpunk blog, the narrative below is a good intro into the Cyberpunk genre. Its about 50 minutes long, but does a great job of covering the "early" era of Cyberpunk. If you have the time and interest, its worth a watch. More to come, so catch ya later...
First, a great photo of the original Blade Runner Blaster prop by Mr. Mark Raats. The link has additional information about it, so do consider a brief visit to learn more about it.
Additionally, while I whittle away at blog entries and fiddle with Second Life, I'll pop on some "cyberpunk" music, which usually involves soundtracks from cyberpunk works. One of my favorites is the body of music from the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided computer game. Looking forward to playing it, but the music (and screen shots of the game) are amazing. The "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Ambient mix" (below) is one of my favorites, but there are plenty Deus Ex music works available on You Tube - just search for them... and enjoy!
One of the more daunting aspects of this blog was developing some kind of metric to attempt to outline what could be considered a work that is part of the "cyberpunk" genre. In reality, its still in flux, but it'll be the metric I use going forward.
Digging a bit deeper into how cyberpunk can measured, I've listed my criteria below. I’ll work on the three main
categories in an attempt to delineate the metrics:
1) Cyberpunk Atmosphere & Aesthetics
2) Genre and Storyline
3) Cyberpunk Work Worldbuilding
These are broken down into subsections, of course… starting with Cyberpunk Atmosphere category. (“The Feel”), per Mike Poundsmith (designer of the original paper & pen Cyberpunk 2020 RPG - see the above video) about
Cyberpunk World.
Atmosphere: Does the world portray a cyberpunk future?
- Does the work provide a world immersed in a
cyberpunk atmosphere? Are there parts of
the work that reflect a run down, gritty environment, if not the entire work?Is there a dystopian theme in the work?As part of the “atmosphere”, I figure the
“rebellious” part of “punk” would apply here – generally towards corporations,
sometimes governments, sometimes both.The proverbial “crapsack” world (per TV Tropes).
- Dystopian aspects: Not a totalitarian
dystopia (e.g. al la “1984”), but with a regression of the larger government,
predatory corporations have taken over governmental aspects that are either
profitable or somehow benefit in some other way. Please bear in mind the genre would only have aspects of a dystopia. If the end baseline is focused on the dystopian setting, then it is likely to be considered a dystopian work, not a cyberpunk work.
Aesthetics: Attire, attitude, social interaction and attitude,
among other things. I’d say that this is
part of what makes a cyberpunk work fit the genre – if the characters don’t
reflect a hard-nosed, gritty world, it may simply be just another science
fiction story.
- Grittiness: A key component of cyberpunk is a
“hard-nosed, grittiness” struggle at the street level. There may be (on occasion) interaction with
the “corporate” world (e.g. clean, sleek, modern buildings with beautiful
employees in snappy attire), but the bulk of the work would be at the lower end
of the socio-economic scale. Its a classic element of some modern works that aren't cyberpunk (one of the best examples of this is the Aliens motion pictures), but overall, is the world "lived-in" and not "Future-clean" in the majority of the work (a la "Star Trek")?
- Kudzu technology: I'll have to find the reference for this term, but basically it's the pervasiveness of advanced technology (modern to our 2020-2030 eyes, but old to the cyberpunk work) in the world. Each work has its own view, but an extrapolation would how we use smart phones, Internet connectivity, or even the use of plastics now, as opposed to the world of say 80 to 100 years ago. Such tech is commonplace for us, but to the world that just came out of WW2, they would be almost magic. Therefore, does the work have common place tech in 2090 - 2100 that would be amazing to a current purveyor of the work?
- Media Pervasiveness: The media and memetics will certainly play a huge part of the future (heck, just look at big media and social media now). As such, how does the speed of communications, dissemination of messages, manipulation of information, and impact of the media have on the work's world? It may not play a huge factor in some works, but in others it will be key.
Tech
Application: Is the technology
appropriate to a cyberpunk narrative? I'm breaking this category down into specific areas:
- Space travel: Is space travel limited to the
Earth solar system? (Note: If the space
travel extends into interstellar travel, it isn't Cyberpunk. This is kind of a "hard line" - if it has interstellar travel, I'm seeing it as in the Space Opera genre or at least Interstellar Travel/Exploration genres. Frankly, that's kind of hopeful fiction... and not cyberpunk). However, within the cyberpunk world, there is
space travel, anywhere from the Earth’s orbital habitats, all the way to the
extremes of the solar system.
- Augmented Personal Technology: Bionics and/or
genetics… or both. Part of the cyberpunk
existence is the ability to “upgrade” yourself, or maybe others. Upgrading might not be easy or cheap, but it
can be done at the right price.
- Artificial Intelligence / Cybernetics / Robotics: An artificial lifeforms of some sort – within
cyberpunk the artificial intelligence is from earth (e.g. not “aliens from another
system/ galaxy/ universe). Nothing wrong
with the aforementioned sources, but “first contact” stories are usually not
part of the cyberpunk genre. Humans generally create artificial life forms... though they can also lose control of the same life forms...
Storyline: Is the main storyline intertwined with a futuristic
narrative that, were the technology removed, it would not work in the current
day? In other words, the technology is
an integral part of the storyline? (If
not, that speaks to the lack of a good science fiction storyline to the work). The story may be good, but at its essence, it
isn’t a story that depends on science fiction, and that would in turn lead it
from the cyberpunk genre.
“ZeeRust”:
The definition borrowed from TV Tropes, and relating to “…a quaint sort of
datedness”. Basically, are there parts
of the work that seem dated? It can be
minor (e.g. as in Blade Runner’s opening with a future date & location of
“Los Angeles, 2019”… which will take place in a few months, as of this
writing), or eye-askance descriptions (e.g. Johnny Mnemonic memory capacity of
80 gigabytes… which in the work's world is
fatal, but… is less memory than some medium-to-high end iPhones). Some situations are unavoidable, and ZeeRust
wouldn't necessarily affect a cyberpunk’s work and/or categorization. It just tend to leave one with an
eye-squinting wince.
Analysis: If something is important, it needs to be measured (yeah, a lot of general references to this concept)... But really, at the end of the day, is work in question part of the cyberpunk genre? My own guide is outlined below:
Not Cyberpunk – the work in question / reviewed may or
may not be good a good work of fiction, but it isn’t cyberpunk.
Soft Cyberpunk – The work in question has some
cyberpunk attributes, but I wouldn't really consider it part of the Cyberpunk
genre. I'll specifically detail why, but at the end of the day, I'm saying the work has some cyberpunk "aspects"... but it isn't a true cyberpunk work.
Hard Cyberpunk – The work in question is a cyberpunk
work… while it may not meet every criteria outlined for the cyberpunk genre,
its is no doubt part of the larger cyberpunk world. When you watch / read / play (or whatever) this work, you'll likely say, "yeah, that was cyberpunk".
Genre-Defining Cyberpunk – Only a few works are really
worthy of being titled as “Genre-Defining”.
These movies/anime/books are some of the first examples used when
describing cyberpunk, and thus, can be considered as defining the genre of
cyberpunk. To let the proverbial "cat out of the bag" on some future entries, think of cyberpunk classics such as Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Neuromancer.
Moving forward, I'll tweak this outline to include somethings and focus on others. Nothing is written in ... stone, but still, things can always be improved, including the above metrics.
Formulating the metrics I'll use for the blog reviews are turning out to be a bit more complex than I had previously anticipated. Saying something is "Cyberpunk" is easy, but providing some kind of metric as a base is a bit more challenging. Still, I've been working on it, with the goal of establishing the Cyberpunk Uplink as a compendium of Cyberpunk works.
To reach this "lofty" goal, I continue to "dig" around with associated sites that attempt to describe "Cyberpunk". Found a good descriptive narrative by Geek.com, titled "The Geeksplainer: Cyberpunk", which provides a good, if brief overview. Do head over for a view, and I'll catch you on the flip side!
Still working on establishing the criteria I'm going to use for my reviews... and one of the insights I'll consider is the below work by Mr. Btongue. He really likes Shadown Run (an old-school paper and pen cyberpunk game that I was never really a fan of), but he does lay down a good outline for methodology on how to consider the cyberpunk genre. Take a listen - he has some pretty good ideas.
Still doing design and "scut work" on the blog, but I did want to post the Cyberpunk Short "True Skin", as is an exceptionally good short into enhancements and mods... as well as a good short noir story - until later!
I'll have to admit that one reason the cyberpunk genre has come back on my radar was the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. I'll admit I'm old enough to remember when Cyberpunk 2020 came out - not bad for a paper & pen RPG, but with the advances in video RPGs, the entire genre has a new light. Thus, I've posted the extended trailer below - later.
