Media Contact:
HENRY ESHELMAN
Baker/Winokur/Ryder
tel: (310) 277-6200
email: heshelman@bwr-la.com
Contact:
A.J. CATOLINE
Hazardous Media
tel: (213) 850-3245
email: ajc@hazardous.com
web: http://hazardous.com
Dateline: URBANA, ILLINOIS -- On Friday evening, March 14th at 8:00 p.m.,
an historic "Net" event will take place: author Arthur C. Clarke will
broadcast live birthday greetings to the legendary "HAL 9000" computer via
an internet video uplink to the University Of Illinois' CYBERFEST'97
celebration.
Cybercast from Colombo, Sri Lanka, Clarke will talk about the reality of building
HAL today, and what's ahead for computer technology and artificial
intelligence as we approach the new millennium. Clarke will also respond to
email questions from international viewers of the cybercast. In the 1968
landmark Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey", based on Clarke's
novel, HAL introduces himself as follows: "I am a HAL 9000 computer. I
became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of
January, 1997."
All HAL fans should note that the movie version of "2001: A Space Odyssey" says that HAL was born January 12, 1992. Clarke's original novel says January 12, 1997 however. Clarke comments that this discrepancy "may have been a fluff by one of the actors." It also would be illogical, he says, to use a 10 year old computer made in 1992 for a major space mission in 2001. But Kubrick may have changed the date from Clarke's novel so HAL's death at the end of the film would be considered more poignant.
Clarke, 79, who has lived in Sri Lanka, the island south of India, for the
past 45 years, is eager to address the large community of HAL fans and to
discuss as well his new novel "3001: The Final Odyssey", to be published by
Del Rey Books (an imprint of the Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc.) in March. Clarke finds it very appropriate to be doing
a cybercast in honor of HAL's birthday. "Perhaps the internet is leading
to HAL," Clarke says in a documentary film called "HAL's Birthday." "It's
the precursor of HAL."
Clarke's image and audio will be re-broadcast to the entire internet via a
web site called "HALbday.com." The site is designed by A.J. Catoline and O.B. Babbs, co-founders of
Hazardous Media, and Mayra L. Riesman of Film Scouts and Webcast Multimedia,
Inc.
The live internet picture out of Sri Lanka is being engineered by INTERNET
BROADCAST SYSTEMS (IBS) at "http://www.livecamserver.com". A special video camera
will be installed at a net connection in Clarke's hometown of Colombo, Sri
Lanka. The camera, called a "Livecam" and designed by IBS, digitizes 30 images or "jpegs" per second and sends them out to the internet, via a video server dubbed by project producers the "VAL 2000," an acronym for "Video Audio Link." The live digitized video will be received in Urbana and projected on a large viewing screen to give
the illusion of live moving video.
The live video will also be rebroadcast to the world wide web via the
"Multi-Cast Backbone" or Mbone using streaming technology by THINKING PICTURES (www.thinkpix.com), an
official sponsor of the cybercast. Thinking Pictures has developed a
technology for the web called "PixelFlix" that can stream live, real-time
audio and video to viewers around the world. No "plug-in" or special
software or equipment is required to see a picture other than a basic web
browser. The technology works best for viewers with ISDN or faster
internet connectivity, though users with 28.8 modem connections will still
hear audio and see 3-10 frames per second. (Normal video speed is 30
frames per second). Some other video rebroadcast technologies (including XING STREAMWORKS and VOSAIC will also be
used for the cybercast and will be available at "HALbday.com," where web
surfers should stay tuned for updates and information.
Cyberfest '97 (http://www.cyberfest.uiuc.edu) is being held March 10-15,
1997, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana Chamapign, to
celebrate HAL's birth and the UI's own achievments in computing across the
disciplines. Join CyberGala host Roger Ebert and others during the
week-long series of events. Ebert will also serve as an electronic host for the live cybercast. The university will play host to computer
scientsts, humanists, artists, and entertainment luminaries from around the
world at seminars, symposia, and performances, all dedicated to the art
and science that made the 2001 and HAL possible. The Clarke cybercast will
be broadcast from the UI's Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Documentary filmmaker A.J. CATOLINE, co-founder and designer of the web site
"Hazardous Media" (http://hazardous.com), is researching the specifics of
the HAL 9000 computer in his next documentary film called "HAL'S BIRTHDAY,"
about the quest to achieve artificial intelligence. It features an
interview with Clarke as well as one with M.I.T. Professor Marvin Minksy, a
leader in the field of A.I. Scenes from the cybercast will be in the film,
as Catoline thought this would be the best way to honor HAL's birthday.
"We are using the internet in a fantastic way," says Catoline, "This is a
major international broadcast free from the restrictions of the television
industry. Who better to pioneer cybercasting than Arthur C. Clarke and
HAL?"
Catoline teamed up with MAYRA LANGDON RIESMAN, founder and creator of
Webcast's "Film Scouts" and "Film Scouts on The Riviera"
(http://www.filmscouts.com) to produce this cybercast. Film Scouts is
pioneer in the area of real-time broadcasting on the net, famed for it's
coverage of the Cannes Film Festival 1996 via the MBone.
"The Net is a global village," says Riesman, "and by using the net as
broadcast media we are embracing the future and not imitating old media. We
are pioneers and new forms must constantly be developed and tried out."
The title sponsor of the cybercast is DEL REY BOOKS (an imprint of the
Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.), publisher
of Clarke's "3001: The Final Odyssey", to be at bookstores in March.
Additional sponsors are SONY DIGITAL VIDEO HANDYCAM, ROOTS CANADA, and the
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION. Clarke will be broadcasting from THE
CYBERCAFE in Colombo, Sri Lanka, near his home. Links to these sponsors'
web pages are available at "http://HALbday.com".
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