Hyperland
Hyperland was a ‘documentary’ created for BBC and screened in 1990. It featured author Douglas Adams and introduced the idea of hypertext (web pages and links) along with software agents. While called a documentary it was an exercise in speculative fiction . The world has only really caught up with it now.
The preeminence of television as a medium was being addressed in fiction in film and TV with the likes of The Running Man, Network, They Live, Videodrome and Max Headroom.
In Hyperland, Adams starts with the tropes about TV seen in other media, along with western fear of the Japanese economy in the first couple of minutes and then goes far beyond them. Adam’s showcases what was cutting edge immediately before the web, from the idea of hypertext to VR and agentic AI.
Listen to Jordic
Listen to Jordic is one of the wittiest, funniest health public service announcements I have been in a long time. The film highlights the connection between erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular health.
The film was made for JOE Media.
BOSS Coffee’s Alien Jones
American actor Tommy Lee Jones has played an alien in Japan for 20 years for BOSS Coffee. His persona is a paragon of creative consistency. Japan Media Time pulled together a show reel of ads from each the past 20 years featuring Alien Jones.
Discover your Inspiration – Visit Korea
Visit Korea’s film looks beyond K-Pop and K-Drama to highlight the depth of Korean art, culture and heritage. It’s looking at premium travel, rather than a more mass-market approach.
Steve Jobs interview
I found this interview by NPR with Steve Jobs prior to his returning to Apple. On the interview he is talking about WebObjects web development application and the potential of the web. The interview is literally 30 years old.
Vintage Hong Kong
Alan Whicker brought his Whicker’s World programme to Hong Kong. He gives a whirlwind history of Hong Kong from the Second World War and meets some of the elites in the city. The 1997 handover is very much on their minds. It features footage from 1971 showing Shenzhen as rural fields.
More on Hong Kong here.