Say hello to SYNTHIA

Dr. Craig Ventor, maverick biologist & entrepreneur (wanna know who pushed the human genome project - here's your guy), recently announced the design of a microbe from scratch. Nicknamed "Synthia", this marks the first documented account in the creation of artificial life.

Ethicists and Theologians globally are weighing in, calling it a "Pandora's box of ethical questions, including concerns that researchers are playing God, tampering with the very essence of life". It's a solid argument and one that should definitely be considered. But the fact of the matter is, we've been headed down this road for a long time.

In fact, consider this - humans have been altering genetic life since the invention of agriculture. Cross-pollinating seeds to form newer, more robust strains of foods.

The question isn't if we should continue, but how. With proper funding and motivated, forward-thinkers like Ventor, we can set up safeguards for protection against the negative exploitations of such technologies. And yes - there are many: biological weapons, potentially toxic agricultural crops and of course, the ever-impending grey-goo swarm.

But think about the positive impacts: advances in medicine, fuel production and the flip-side of the agricultural coin.

A few years ago, when he first publicized his endeavors in this direction, Dr. Ventor used a more prescient example for this technology's use - introducing manmade, eco-friendly, algae into an environment to eat/fend off toxins. If that promise still holds true, there's a certain body of water off the Louisiana Coast that jump at the chance to cuddle up with Synthia...

Meet Amy French and Jeff Parise

As mentioned before, we shot a few scenes from the script for the Directors Lab which gave us the chance to work with two amazing actors: Amy French and Jeffrey Vincent Parise.

Beyond a versatile set of acting chops, Amy is a talented writer/director (look for her feature directing debut El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise of Juan Francés out this summer). We knew she could bring an ethereal depth to the role of Tamaran. Jeff, who is also a painter and director in his own right, played the role of mild-mannered Christopher. For Jeff, this role was a departure from many previous roles as criminals or off-the-wall, morally questionable characters.

There's nothing quite like hearing actors take the words you've written and say them out loud for the first time. Even though it was an exterior shoot on what seemed like the coldest night in LA in a long time, Amy and Jeff brought these characters to life and reminded me why I started all of this to begin with.

21•C Magazine Rises Again

In the '90s, there was a magazine called 21•C created by the Australian Commission For The Future (a short-lived governmental organization). Regarded as an Aussie version of Wired that was more high-brow and less conservative, the publication focused on technology, science and social issues that would affect the near future. Contributors and interviews featured the likes of R.U. Sirius, William Burroughs, Mike Davis, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard and much much more. Sadly, the magazine folded in 1999, ceasing to continue into the century it was named after. Until now.

 21•C is back from the dead with a website and a new online issue titled Apocalypse Noir. Editor Ashley Crawford explains Apocalypse Noir as, "...the trend toward the apocalyptic, or at the least extremely dark – in contemporary writing. If earlier 21•C’s tended toward the darker aspects of cyberpunk, then the newer crop of writers have given up any pretense of a happy ending. Good luck!"

The site also features amazing archives from the much-loved print editions.

The Van

The test trailer for Things We've Made featured this vehicle as the van that Christopher takes on his life-changing road trip. This trusty van also transported the crew from the urban landscapes of Dallas and through the deserts of West Texas while shooting these scenes. Since then, we've developed a certain fondness for vans and we've been thinking about the design of the film's picture vehicle. While researching, we came across this modification kit for the Volkswagen Bus called The Phoenix...

EU Rejects Clone Food Plan

AFP reports that on May 4th, an EU parliamentary committee rejected a proposal to allow food from cloned animals and their offspring onto the European market. However in the U.S., meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals has been allowed into the American food supply since 2008 and do not require labels stating this distinction.

The Federal Dept. of Agriculture also produced this guide "Animal Cloning and the Food Safety" to reassure consumers that these animals are fit for human consumption. If there were labels on food, would you still eat these products?