The 1982 cyberpunk cinema classic Blade Runner remains one of the most influential science fiction movies of all time, and tops many a nerd's favorite films list.

Today on Boing Boing tv, Boing Boing Gadgets editor Joel Johnson visits the studio of artist and futurist Syd Mead, who designed the film's dystopian look and feel. We learn about the "erotic machine" he dreamed for the replicant Zhora (this breast-shaped dreampod was cut from the script when director Ridley Scott ran out of dough), the 1 2 3 *4* alternate opening scenes designed by Syd (one of them, which involved shoveling dead bodies, was deemed "too Holocaust"), what really lights up those building facades, and many more secrets.

Syd explains he envisioned the world of Blade Runner as a place "you wouldn't want to be for too long," and describes the challenges of designing for "a love story with moralistic underpinnings... if we could actually make people, would we treat them like dishwashers? Just use them up and throw them away?"

If you like this episode, you might want to pick up:

BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT [Amazon]

VISUAL FUTURIST: The Art & Life of Syd Mead DVD [sydmead.com]

And more Syd Mead books on Amazon.

Previous episodes in BBtv's Syd Mead trilogy:

Joel Johnson interviews Syd Mead: part 1.

Joel Johnson interviews Syd Mead: part 2.

(Footage from the movie Blade Runner courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment / Warner Home Video; Artwork courtesy of Syd Mead Inc.)

Today on Boing Boing tv -- a sneak preview of Heavy Load: A Film About Happiness, a new documentary about a UK punk band whose members include people who have developmental disabilities.

'70s punk star Wreckless Eric describes them as "a triumph of dysfunctionalness," and even Kylie Minogue (they've covered a hit song of hers) has become a fan.

The band says their mission is...

...to demonstrate that disability rocks. There are few genres left in music that have yet to be defined. Heavy Load have unwittingly created a brand new one.

The band is also behind a campaign called "Stay Up Late" which advocates for the right of cognitively disabled people to be allowed to go out, supervised, to live music shows and -- well, stay out late enough to actually see and hear the show. Again, from the band:

We play gigs all over the country and we have noticed that something strange happens at 9.00pm – people start to go home. Heavy Load are fed up with people with learning disabilities leaving club nights and gigs early because their staff finish their shifts at 10pm. This means they are missing out.

If this happens to you: You need to talk about this with your friends, support workers, family and advocates. Our ‘Stay Up Late’ campaign is to make managers and staff know that we want them to plan ahead and talk to us about what we want to do...

The full-length documentary premieres on the US cable network IFC on June 23rd, 9PM ET/10PM PT, and again on 24th June. (Special thanks to BB's Mark Frauenfelder, and to the film's director, Jerry Rothwell)

Today on Boing Boing tv, part two of Xeni's visits with John Gaeta, the Academy Award-winning Visual Effects supervisor of the Matrix trilogy -- his new film, Speed Racer, opens today in theaters around the US.

This latest Wachowski brothers project reinterprets the classic 1960s Japanese anime series of the same name.

In this second part of BBtv's conversation with Gaeta, he reveals some of the art, anime, and pop culture elements that combine to form Speed Racer's "poptimistic photo-anime" feel. The live action Speed Racer is saturated in a candy-colored palette so rich, audiences may just leave the theater with a contact sugar high.

View interactive samples of the digital building blocks behind the movie in a related online feature in VRMAG, "Speed Racer Uncovered."

And Gaeta adds a special message for Boing Boing tv viewers, who are already well accustomed to all things digital -- "For optimal viewing experience, see Speed Racer at a digital cinema or IMAX theater." He's not kidding, with a feature like this, analog projection just doesn't do the work justice.

PREVIOUSLY: Part One of BBtv's interview with Gaeta on "Speed Racer."

(Special thanks: John Gaeta; Andy and Larry Wachowski; and David Pescovitz)

In today's episode of Boing Boing tv, Xeni visits with John Gaeta, the Academy Award-winning Visual Effects supervisor of the Matrix trilogy, to learn more about his digital craft in the new film Speed Racer. This latest Wachowski brothers project reinterprets the classic 1960s Japanese anime series of the same name, and opens in theaters nationwide on May 9.

Gaeta explains how he used VR "bubbles" and a mysterious team known as the "world unit" to create the film's "poptimistic photo-anime" feel. The live action Speed Racer is saturated in a candy-colored palette so rich, audiences may just leave the theater with a contact sugar high.

View interactive samples of the digital building blocks behind the movie in a related online feature in VRMAG, "Speed Racer Uncovered."

And Gaeta adds a special message for Boing Boing tv viewers, who are already well accustomed to all things digital -- "For optimal viewing experience, see Speed Racer at a digital cinema or IMAX theater." He's not kidding, with a feature like this, analog projection just doesn't do the work justice.

(Special thanks: John Gaeta; Andy and Larry Wachowski; and David Pescovitz)

Boing Boing tv is 6 months and almost 150 episodes old -- not unlike, say, a prolific baby. To celebrate, we're taking the week off and revisiting some of the "best of BBtv," as determined by you, our viewers. First up -- "American Furry: Life, Liberty, and the Fursuit of Happiness..."

Furries get no respect. Usually, when you hear about people who dress up like life-sized stuffed animals, it's in the context of an unfriendly internet joke, a sex gag on Entourage, or an insult that ends with "yiff in hell."

But Brooklyn-based filmmaker Marianne Shaneen has spent more than two years following these people around, capturing their lives in and out of their "fursonas." She's working on a documentary film called AMERICAN FURRY: Life, Liberty and the Fursuit of Happiness.

Today on Boing Boing tv, an exclusive peek at this feature in progress. Marianne provided us with access to some of her raw footage (she's accumulated 2+ years' worth!), and we selected clips, edited, added some audio, and produced the short glimpse you'll see here.

"I'm looking for an editor, a couple of animators, finishing funds, and a producer," says Shaneen -- so if you'd like to get involved, email her at info@rabbitholefilms.com.

Special thanks to Susannah Breslin for first pointing us to this project. (Music by T.bias.)

A BBtv exclusive edition of the Alternate Reality Game (or 'ARG') revolving around the storyline of the Fox tv series Sarah Connor Chronicles (and the Terminator movie trilogy).

Enitech Labs designs cameras can take pictures of a future event by capturing faster-than-light "tachyon" particles. When pictures of ordinary scenery foretell post-apocalyptic outcomes, the developers find themselves in a race against time to publicize their findings and warn the public of the horrors to come...

(Thanks, Bart Cheever / millionsofus!)

Previously on BBtv:
Sarah Connor Chronicles (Terminator) ARG sneak peek: part 1.

An Alternate Reality Game (or 'ARG') revolving around the storyline of the Fox tv series Sarah Connor Chronicles (and the Terminator movie trilogy). The footage describes the development of a camera from Enitech Labs that can take pictures of a future event by capturing faster-than-light "tachyon" particles. When pictures of ordinary scenery foretell post-apocalyptic outcomes, the developers find themselves in a race against time to publicize their findings and warn the public of the horrors to come...

(Thanks, Bart Cheever / millionsofus!)

Each weekend at a bar in downtown LA, actors and audience gather to re-create the 1991 action-schlock cult classic Point Break (which starred Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze). Today on Boing Boing tv, we follow the quest of one lone German/French actor to find fame and greatness through the "Point Break Live" reality-play competition.

Special thanks to Klaus Pierre for enduring such tragedy and humiliation for the sake of Boing Boing tv. You'll always be Johnny Utah to us, old pal.

Love is forever. So is being undead. Excerpts from "Zombie Love," a film by Yfke Van Berckelaer which was recently released on DVD (special thanks to Ben Rodkin!).

A mashup of selected shorts from "Film Racing," an annual contest in which independent filmmaker teams from 10 cities around the US must each produce a 4-minute digital film in exactly 12 hours. Also, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle squares off with, um, an actual turtle. (Thanks, Charlie Weisman!)

Previously on Boing Boing: 24-hour Movie People.

Filmmaker G.J. Echternkamp and his parents make pastrami sandwiches in Xeni's kitchen, and talk with Mark about the new feature film FRANK AND CINDY, which documents their lives. Snip from the film description:

When Cindy married a rock star, Frank, in 1983 she imagined a life of glamour and GRAMMYS. But the song that propelled Frank to fame, Whirly Girl, would be the only chart-topper from his short-lived group, OXO. Years later, out of shape and nearly bankrupt after spending his money on "gas, food, dry cleaning and drugs." Frank is not the vision Cindy married.

Desperate to resuscitate her dream, Cindy furnishes a new studio for Frank in hopes he'll record another hit. Instead, he'd rather drink. Upset by his lack of ambition, Cindy berates him incessantly ("I hate every fat bone in your body!"). And now, twenty-three years after appearing on American Bandstand, Frank lives sequestered to the basement where he uses coffee cans as his improvised bathroom.

Both appalled and amused by his parents' behavior, Cindy's filmmaker son, G.J., picks up his video camera and aims it at them. After a year of filming, what began as an attempt to mock his one-hit-wonder step-father, instead becomes a candid portrait of the pursuit of happiness.

Last week on Boing Boing tv, we showed "the making of" -- now, here's the real thing. Jason Wishnow's book trailer for the new book, "The Zen of Zombie : Better Living Through the Undead".

Link to ZEN OF ZOMBIE video, and here's the backstory.

Previously: Zombie Yoga: 100 undead, doing poses in the park

Furries get no respect. Usually, when you hear about people who dress up like life-sized stuffed animals, it's in the context of an unfriendly internet joke, a sex gag on Entourage, or an insult that ends with "yiff in hell."

But Brooklyn-based filmmaker Marianne Shaneen has spent more than two years following these people around, capturing their lives in and out of their "fursonas." She's working on a documentary film called AMERICAN FURRY: Life, Liberty and the Fursuit of Happiness.

Today on Boing Boing tv, an exclusive peek at this feature in progress. Marianne provided us with access to some of her raw footage (she's accumulated 2+ years' worth!), and we selected clips, edited, added some audio, and produced the short glimpse you'll see here.

"I'm looking for an editor, a couple of animators, finishing funds, and a producer," says Shaneen -- so if you'd like to get involved, email her at info@rabbitholefilms.com.

Special thanks to Susannah Breslin for first pointing us to this project. (Music by T.bias.) -- XJ

The invite said "Bring a Yoga Mat - Dress Like a Zombie." When filmmaker and Boing Boing pal Jason Wishnow set out to create a trailer for Scott Kenemore's new book "The Zen of Zombie : Better Living Through the Undead" (yes, people make video trailers for books!) a vision came to his brrraiiiiinns. Why not gather 100 people in a Brooklyn park, dress them as zombies, and film them all doing yoga? There's no inner peace like undead inner peace.

So today on Boing Boing tv, in honor of Halloween, we've produced a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Jason's Zombie Yoga trailer. Watch out for flying guts when they do "downward decapitated dog" or "corpse pose." (Music by T.bias.) -- XJ