Max Headroom was an original and creative television show created in 1987 that only ran for 13 episodes, yet was beloved by the small group of fans who rallied around the science-fiction show. We’re not talking your typical science-fiction. Hell, Max Headroom was cyberpunk before the movement had really began, presenting a strange future ruled by media companies. It was a great show, perhaps too creative for its own good, forgotten by most. Now, after all these years, Max Headroom is finally making a grand return to DVD.

“Max Headroom” starred Matt Frewer as a reporter whose mind is downloaded into a computer to create a virtual clone who exists in the digital world. Amanda Pays, Jeffrey Tambor and W. Morgan Sheppard also star in the series, which ran for 14 episodes on Cinemax and ABC in 1987 and 1988. Set in the near future, “Max Headroom” depicted a world of television run amok.

Shout! Factory has a “Max Headroom” complete-series DVD set slated for August, according to a spokesperson. Episodes are being transferred from their original elements to provide the best quality, and Shout! Factory is planning a robust range of extras for the set. Bonus content may include the original U.K. telefilm 20 Minutes Into the Future, upon which the series is based, though nothing has been confirmed. Max Headroom also appeared in a series of Coca-Cola commercials in the 1980s, raising speculation such content may also be fodder for bonus material, but Shout! Factory said planning the extras is in the early stage.

Source

It’s that time of year again – a geek’s best chance to look cool on the cheap. ScotteVest is having its biggest sale of the year with 40% taken straight off the top of some of its coolest stuff. Just remember to enter in this special coupon code – 9SALE40 – when you reach checkout. But the sale is only on through Friday and on limited stock so it’s best to act quickly. Then once you do, you’ll still be able to hold on to all those gadgets that make our digital world possible, but walk around empty-handed and un-encumbered like your only care in the world is looking good. (At least that’s what we tell ourselves when we wear ours.)

You can find their special sale page with all the details here.

Unfortunately one of the movies I was most exited about last year came and went before I had a chance to see it in theaters. The film I missed tells the timeless tale of two cultures in conflict. One is comprised of a dark-skinned race of people who are misunderstood and are being exploited by another group who considers themselves superior. In an attempt to gain total control the second group hatches a plot that takes advantage of medical science and uses the enemy’s own bodies against themselves. They also lie to one of the males and trick him into working as their inside man in order to keep the peace and prevent larger-scale violence and destruction.

While it sounds like I may be describing Avatar, that’s actually the plot of a different movie we’ve mentioned more than a time or two here on InfoAddict. The smaller independent film I am referring to is called Black Dynamite and it had so limited a release for such a short span of time that I never could find it playing anywhere even close to a time I could make it.

Well Black Dynamite was finally released on DVD yesterday and I can say without reservation that it was worth the wait. I rented it from my local Blockbuster early and have watched it several times already. Not because I am trying to squeeze every penny I can out of the rental fee, but because their are new things I notice every watch-through and some parts keep getting funnier. To put it on the t on the same level as “This Is Spinal Tap” would be a little blasphemous, but it would be accurate to say that it succeeds well at delivering the same kind of layered, deadpan, seemingly unintentional comedy that really grows on you.

If I go to return it at Blockbuster today it will only be because I plan on stopping somewhere else on the way home to buy a copy of my own.

Keiichi Matsuda has created a wonderful short film that depicts what our near-future may be like once augmented reality comes of age. With various augmented reality apps hitting the iPhone on a seemingly daily basis, the below video isn’t too much of a stretch. If nothing else, it will be a marketer’s dream come true. For the rest of us, I wonder if we’ll be able to pay a little extra to minimize the blitzkrieg of advertising.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.