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The NBC hit sitcom Friends had a separate fan base of its own and popularity that many found almost impossible to compete with. But while the show was incredibly popular, just like the rest, it wasn’t immune to certain generalizations. Something that actress Courteney Cox, who played Monica on the sitcom, had been quite vocal about.

Courteney Cox in Friends || Credits: NBC

In a past interview, the actress expressed her criticism of the Generation X label and added how this tag had not only misrepresented the entire cast but also categorized them as aimless.

Courteney Cox Expressed Her Displeasure With the Generation X Label

When Friends hit the NBC screens in 1994, the media as well as the public were quick to attach the quintessential Generation X tag to it. While it was then, today, almost three decades after its premiere, the sitcom is mostly discussed from the camera lens of millennials,...

Author Douglas Coupland once wrote in his seminal 1991 slacker work, “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture,” that “nostalgia is a deadly weapon,” and one supposes those words can be cautionary tales about our youth, what we romanticize and what potentially holds us back from growing because we can’t move on past it. I’m not exactly sure what that has to do with the new documentary, “‘The Elephant 6 Recording Co.,” about the late ‘90s recording collective The Elephant 6, mostly comprised of lo-fi indie bands from in and around Athens, Georgie, other than to say after watching this appropriately chaotic, shaggy and baggy documentary, Coupland’s quote immediately flashed back into my memory.

Continue reading ‘The Elephant 6 Recording Co.’ Review: Rock Doc Celebrates The Brief Life Of An Explosively Creative Indie Rock Collective at The Playlist.

Douglas Coupland, fashion icon? The venerated Canadian author is known more for his writing than his personal style, but it’s his words that are taking center stage as part of a new collaboration with Valentino (yes, the storied Italian fashion house).

The Douglas Coupland x Valentino collection features two hoodies and two T-shirts, each bearing an irreverent message from the popular writer. Inspired by “magnetic fridge poetry,” the phrases are printed in tonal block letters against a hoodie and shirt in basic black, and two garments in the fashion brand’s trending “Valentino pink.

This review of “Apollo 10 1/2” was first published on March 13, after its screening at SXSW.

Richard Linklater digs into his own salad days for “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood,” an animated feature that fondly recalls the NASA moment in a way that’s more reminiscent of “Amarcord” or “Crooklyn” than of “First Man.”

As a kid who was born in 1960 and grew up in the suburbs of Houston, like the film’s young hero, Linklater had a front-row seat to the race to the moon. In this delightfully evocative exercise in nostalgia, he captures the way that children will remember historic events in the context of what else was on TV, which siblings got to sit on the couch, and how your favorite song made you feel.

The story here is ostensibly about young Stan (voiced by Milo Coy), a schoolboy recruited by NASA (because of his...

Thirty years ago, R.E.M. dropped an album called Out of Time — and nobody was prepared for it. “Losing My Religion,” “Half a World Away,” “Country Feedback,” “Near Wild Heaven” — these were the most soulful, gorgeous songs the boys from Athens G-a had ever written. This comeback changed everything about the R.E.M. story, but it also presaged the whole decade to come. They basically invented the Nineties with this album. It was a total shock, after a few years when they sounded like bored rock pros going through the motions.

‘I kept some vodka in my trailer freezer. It certainly didn’t hurt when it came to dancing My Sharona at the gas station’

The last time I watched this, I was at a wedding. I went to my room and it was on late-night TV. I was surprised how well it held up. It was funnier than I remembered, too. Douglas Coupland’s Generation X was published in 1991 and you kept hearing the phrase everywhere. That’s who we were. Everyone would say the script captured Gen X and I would roll my eyes and say: “What does that even mean?” I resisted it, but now I find it fun.

Generation X author Douglas Coupland is to adapt his own novel The Gum Thief as a feature film after striking a deal with J.B Sugar's No Equal Entertainment. The Canadian firm has optioned the rights to the 2007 book and Sugar will direct the movie. The Gum Thief tells the story of Roger and Bethany, two Staples employees from North Vancouver with very different backgrounds; Roger, a middle-aged alcoholic dealing with an ugly divorce and the loss of his child and Bethany…...

Douglas Coupland built a reputation as an author-futurist nonpareil with his first novel, Generation X: occasionally glib or fuzzy but often prescient, never dull, and certainly never idle. Today the former art student spends more time on visual work, including large public projects all over Canada and his own line of furniture. Currently preparing for his first big solo survey in his native Vancouver — where he lives in wooded mid-century splendor with his architect partner and acres of Pop Art — Coupland also happens to have a novel out. Worst. Person. Ever. follows the bizarre exploits of a nasty cameraman named Raymond Gunt. Sent to Kiribati to film an awful reality show, this evil amalgam of Larry David and Mr. Bean endures misfortunes hilarious, disgusting, and well-deserved. Coupland spoke by phone about that, the “torture” of interviews, and much more with Boris Kachka.Last week you did a Q&A at...

Feature Louisa Mellor 7 Apr 2014 - 17:45

Mike Judge's return to workplace comedy, Silicon Valley, is sharply written satire that does more than poke fun at the tech industry...

Farewell the cigar-chomping Hollywood exec and his wheatgrass-juicing starlet, satire’s moved about 300 miles up the Californian coastline. Silicon Valley, with its herds of would-be Zuckerbergs, philanthropic billionaire bosses and trendy campus workplaces, is the new target.

Mike Judge, whose 1999 film Office Space established his antipathy for corporate culture, is back sending up the tech industry’s nauseating self-satisfaction and sticking up for the little guy. This time the little guy is Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), a low-rung employee at Hooli - Silicon Valley’s caricature of Google - whose side project is discovered to contain a “game-changing” compression algorithm that puts him at the centre of a panic attack-inducing bidding war.

Should Richard take the millions he’s offered by Hooli’s vainglorious CEO,...

Exclusive: The Devil Wears Prada helmer David Frankel has signed on to direct NBC’s comedy pilot Girlfriend In a Coma, which had been dormant for the past four months. The network, writer Liz Brixius and producers, Wolf Films and Universal TV, made the decision to push the project in late March, shortly after the exit of Christina Ricci, originally cast as the lead. The pilot, whose script had been a favorite of NBC brass, is now headed to production again with Frankel on board, joined by original cast members Miranda Cosgrove and Daniel Stern whose options were extended. Based on Douglas Coupland’s book, Girlfriend In A Coma centers on Karen, a woman who was in a coma for many years and unexpectedly wakes up to find she has a 17-year-old daughter, Evie (Cosgrove). Stern plays Karen’s dad who has been raising Evie with his wife. Dick Wolf,...

In the Beginning Was the Word — Radio:

“I like doing radio because it’s so intimate. The moment people hear your voice, you’re inside their heads, not only that, you’re in there laying eggs”.

Doug Coupland

We can watch TV — or movies, YouTube videos, play videogames, exchange video phone calls — from anywhere and everywhere: on line at McD’s, from our seat on our commuter bus or train (usually annoying the hell out of the napping business professional next to us), even from a toilet stall (crass, I grant, but I’ve seen — , well, ahem, I mean, I’ve heard it done). It’s nearly impossible for a generation growing up immersed, submerged, and buried in portable visual media to imagine the magnetic hold radio had on its audiences back in its early days. Think about it, all you smartphone and ipad users, wi-fiers and Hopper subscribers: there...

Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater was among the most successful talents to emerge from the new wave of independent American filmmakers in the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour time period – and with non-formulaic narratives about seemingly random occurrences – Linklater’s work explored what he dubbed “the youth rebellion continuum.” In the early 1990s, his debut feature Slacker was hailed as something of a manifesto for Generation X, and ever since, the filmmaker has earned a loyal fan-base world wide with such hits as Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise. As big fans of the filmmaker, the Sound On Sight staff decided to vote on our ten favourite films from the director.

Note: There was two ties.

****

10: Suburbia

Originally a play by performance-artist Eric Bogosian (who also wrote the script), Suburbia is a character driven mood piece, which delves into the hearts and minds of a group of young adults.

Slacker

Directed by Richard Linklater

Written by Richard Linklater

1991, USA

In 1990, Slacker put Richard Linklater and Austin Texas in the spotlight. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, “Slacker is a movie with an appeal almost impossible to describe, although the method of the director, Richard Linklater, is as clear as day”.

Slacker came out around the same time that Douglas Coupland released his book, Generation X, and the young filmmaker became an instant spokesperson for an entire generation. While Generation X as a whole sometimes seemed to lack direction, its filmmakers devoted their early careers to making powerful statements about contemporary society and their generation’s role in it. Linklater (Suburbia, Dazed and Confused) emerged as the reluctant messenger for a generation labeled, packaged and sold as a defiant demographic dedicated to shredding whatever classification society tried to mark them as. Nominated for the...

While many might feel this article is a violent blast from the past, the intense theatrical and creative expression Limp Bizkit encompasses through their delivery, message, stage presence and theme remain unmatched by most. Of course, the music industry would still thrive without them and the presence of hundreds of other bands that also “kick holes in speakers” prove that the art remains alive, but no one quite does it like Limp Bizkit.

Having established themselves as a trusted brand for the dark art lovers, their work also elicit an openly adventurous mind and some dynamic perception; their music (their best work at least) come as a reflection of a broken inner self themed around existentialism and individualism. Lb’s works usually capture the strife modern patterns of life puts the individual through, and how unforgiving the philistine mind state of many can cripple those of others with a different...

Exclusive: The decision was made mutually by NBC and the project’s creator, Liz Brixius, and producers, Wolf Films and Universal TV. It comes 10 days after Christina Ricci, who had been cast as the lead in Girlfriend In A Coma, exited the pilot. After seeing a number of actresses, the pilot’s auspices concluded that the talent pool so late in the pilot season is just not wide enough to find a suitable replacement for the Karen role, which carries the project. Based on Douglas Coupland’s book, Girlfriend In A Coma centers on Karen, a woman who was in a coma for many years and unexpectedly wakes up to find she has a 17-year-old daughter, Evie (Miranda Cosgrove). Daniel Stern and Ann Cusack play Karen’s parents, who have been raising Evie. The Girlfriend In A Coma script was a favorite of NBC executives who remain committed to making...

It's now become an annual tradition for Tube Talk to treat all you TV fanatics to our 'Pick of the Pilots' - the choicest cuts from the projects currently in development at the various Us networks...

Read our comprehensive list below for the most exciting pilots in the works for the 2013-14 season. Of course, it's not all good - there are a few potential disasters lurking in there too!

Doubt (ABC)

ABC's new legal drama will be fronted by unlikely duo Steve Coogan - yes, he of Alan Partridge fame - and Carla Gugino, best known for playing a sizzling sexpot in everything from Sin City to Spy Kids. Prison Break's Rockmond Dunbar also stars.

Coogan will make his Us television series debut in Doubt - which has sprung from the mind of House creator David Shore - as a former cop who's since taken up a new role as a low-rent lawyer,...

Pilot season is upon us and all the little TV seedlings seem to have potential. Take NBC’s prospective comedy, Girlfriend in a Coma. The show has Liz Brixius on board as showrunner – a role she previously excelled at on Nurse Jackie – and it has an outstanding pedigree, coming from the pages of a Douglas Coupland novel of the same name.

Yes, everything was coming up aces for the show until its star – Christina Ricci – reportedly walked off the set after the first table read.

Ricci was set to play Karen, a 34-year-old woman who awakens from a coma to find out that she has a 17-year-old daughter (Miranda Cosgrove) that had been – up to that point – raised by her parents. The parents are set to be played by Daniel Stern (Home ...

Click to continue reading Christina Ricci Quits NBC’s ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ Pilot after Table Read...

Christina Ricci has left her NBC comedy pilot "Girlfriend in a Coma," according to Deadline.com.

Ricci was set to star in the NBC series as Karen, a woman who awakens from a coma to find out she has a teenage daughter played by Miranda Cosgrove. Daniel Stern and Anne Cusack are also attached to "Girlfriend in a Coma" as Karen's parents.

Deadline.com reports Ricci left the project after the first table read. Cosgrove tweeted about the table read to her fans:

The "Girlfriend in a Coma" pilot hails from "Nurse Jackie" co-creator Liz Brixius and is based on Douglas Coupland’s novel of the same name.

Ricci previously starred in ABC's "Pan Am," which was canceled after a season. She went on to guest star on CBS's "The Good Wife" for an episode earlier in its current fourth season.

Click over to Deadline.com for more on "Girlfriend in a Coma.

NBC's comedy pilot "Girlfriend in a Coma" is looking for a new star after lead actress Christina Ricci departed the project.

Ricci was set to play a woman in her mid-30s who's been in a coma since high school and wakes up to find she has a teenage daughter (Miranda Cosgrove of "iCarly"). She and the show parted ways after a table read, Deadline reports.

"Nurse Jackie" co-creator Liz Brixius wrote the "Girlfriend in a Coma" script, which is based on Douglas Coupland's novel. The cast also includes Ann Cusack and Daniel Stern as the lead character's parents, who have been raising their granddaughter.

"Girlfriend in a Coma" is one of a handful of shows that have decided to recast roles this pilot season, although Ricci's departure is among the higher-profile exits. ...

Exclusive: NBC comedy pilot Girlfriend In A Coma will be recasting its lead following the departure of Christina Ricci. I hear Ricci left the project after the table read. She was the first major cast member to board the pilot, which has been a favorite of NBC brass. As part of Ricci’s casting, the pilot was slated to film in New York where she is based. It is unclear whether production will now stay in New York or move to Los Angeles. Written by Liz Brixius based on Douglas Coupland’s book, Girlfriend In A Coma centers on Karen, a woman who was in a coma for many years and unexpectedly wakes up to find she has a 17-year-old daughter, Evie (Miranda Cosgrove). Daniel Stern and Ann Cusack play Karen’s parents, who have been raising Evie. Recastings are an unfortunate but unavoidable part of pilot season when 100 pilots...

NBC's Girlfriend in a Coma comedy pilot has lost Christina Ricci as the lead Karen, leaving NBC to recast, reports Deadline. Apparently she left after the table read, and since the production was set to take place in New York, where Ricci is based, it's now unknown if this will remain in N.Y., or move to L.A. Liz Brixius writes Girlfriend in Coma, based on the book by Douglas Coupland which tells of Karen who, after being in a coma for several years, unexpectedly comes and sees she has a seventeen-year-old daughter in her life called Evie (played by Miranda Cosgrove). Also in the cast are Ann Cusack and Daniel Stern as Karen's parent, who've been raising the girl.

NBC's Girlfriend in a Coma comedy pilot has lost Christina Ricci as the lead Karen, leaving NBC to recast, reports Deadline. Apparently she left after the table read, and since the production was set to take place in New York, where Ricci is based, it's now unknown if this will remain in N.Y., or move to L.A. Liz Brixius writes Girlfriend in Coma, based on the book by Douglas Coupland which tells of Karen who, after being in a coma for several years, unexpectedly comes and sees she has a seventeen-year-old daughter in her life called Evie (played by Miranda Cosgrove). Also in the cast are Ann Cusack and Daniel Stern as Karen's parent, who've been raising the girl.

In her biggest break to date, up-and-coming actress Nicole Beharie has scored the female lead in Sleepy Hollow, Fox’s drama pilot written by Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci and Phillip Iscove and directed by Len Wiseman. A modern–day supernatural thriller based on The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, the project, from 20th TV and K/O, follows Ichabod Crane as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s Detective Abbie Archer (Beharie) to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. Abbie is about to leave for the FBI Academy when she witnesses the brutal murder of someone close to her, and her story is corroborated by only one person — a man called Ichabod Crane. Beharie, repped by ICM Partners and Ata Management, joins recently cast Orlando Jones and Katia Winter in the pilot exec produced by Kurtzman, Orci, Wiseman and Heather Kadin. Daniel Stern has...

Former iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove is headed to NBC.

The 19-year-old actress, who recently finished her role on the long-running Nickelodeon series, has signed on to Christina Ricci’s comedy pilot Girlfriend in a Coma.

The comedy is about a woman (Ricci) who wakes after a nearly two-decade-long coma to discover she has a 17-year-old daughter (Cosgrove) from a pregnancy she was unaware of. The show is based on the novel by Douglas Coupland.

Cosgrove was on Nick’s top-rated iCarly for seven years. The Dick Wolf-produced sitcom is being piloted for series consideration for next season.

"iCarly" star Miranda Cosgrove has booked a lead role as Christina Ricci's daughter in NBC's comedy pilot "Girlfriend in a Coma." Yes, 19-year-old Cosgrove will play 33-year-old Ricci's daughter.

It's a comedy.

"Nurse Jackie" writer Liz Brixius adapted the script from a book by Douglas Coupland about a young woman (Ricci) who suddenly awakes after years in a coma and discovers she has a 17-year-old daughter (Cosgrove). The overachieving teen isn't exactly thrilled to welcome a free-spirited and previously Mia mom into her life.

The comedy pilot has a rather unexpected executive producer on board: "Law & Order" veteran Dick Wolf. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of Cosgrove's casting.

For anyone else who remembers how adorable Ricci was as little Wednesday Addams in "The Addams Family" movies, don't worry: we feel old too.

iCarly alumna Miranda Cosgrove has been cast as a lead opposite Christina Ricci in NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot Girlfriend In A Coma, from Wolf Films and Universal TV. Written by Nurse Jackie‘s Liz Brixius based on Douglas Coupland’s book, it centers on Karen (Ricci), a woman who was in a coma for many years and unexpectedly comes out of the coma to find she has a 17-year-old daughter, Evie (Cosgrove). Evie is a small-town, overachieving loner whose world is turned upside down when her mom wakes up, and every hope she ever had of keeping her nose to the grindstone, saving money, and getting grades for an out-of-state college is thrown out the window. Cosgrove, who has Despicable Me 2 coming out July 3, is with Wme and Anonymous Content. British actor Humphrey Kerr has been cast as one of the leads in another NBC comedy pilot, Justin Spitzer’s Holding Patterns,...

Everybody’s favorite Pan Am stewardess is heading back to TV.

Christina Ricci is near a deal for the starring role in NBC’s comedy pilot Girlfriend in a Coma. She’ll play Karen, who wakes up from a coma to find out she has a 17-year-old daughter from a pregnancy she was unaware of when her life was put on hold. The show is from Nurse Jackie co-creator Liz Brixius and based on Douglas Coupland’s novel.

Ricci was last seen as a series regular on ABC’s Pan Am. Since, the Speed Racer and Sleepy Hollow actress also...

Christina Ricci will star in NBC’s comedy pilot Girlfriend in a Coma.

The former Pan Am star will play Karen, a woman who wakes from a years-long coma to discover she has a 17-year-old daughter from a pregnancy she never knew about.

Related | TVLine’s 2013 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Getting Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?

The single-camera project is based on a Douglas Coupland novel. Dick Wolf (Law & Order), Peter Jankowski (Law & Order) and Danielle Gelber (Chicago Fire) will exec-produce, with Liz Brixius (Nurse Jackie) producing and penning the project.

Earlier this season, Ricci...

NBC on Tuesday doled out pilot orders to seven prospective series, including a comedy starring Will & Grace fave Sean Hayes and a sitcom from Office scribe Justin Spitzer.

The network’s vehicle for Hayes, from Better Off Ted creator Victor Fresco, is a multi-camera project centering on a man attempting to both parent the teenage daughter who just moved in and appease a temperamental new boss. Hot In Cleveland‘s Todd Milliner will also produce.

Spitzer’s Holding Patterns, meanwhile, is a multi-cam ensemble about a group of friends whose lives are altered after surviving a plane crash. Rachel Kaplan...

NBC ordered a pilot from "Life" creator Rand Ravich about an unlikely puppeteer who brings Washington's most powerful people to their knees. The untiltled pilot, executive produced by Ravich and Far Shariat, comes from 20th Television. It involves an international conspiracy that brings together an unlikely band of allies. The pilot was one of several announced by NBC Tuesday, including a Dick Wolf comedy, "Girlfriend in a Coma," based on a Douglas Coupland novel of the same name.   Related Articles: ...

Lena Dunham's HBO show Girls-and the online conversation that has surrounded it since its April debut-calls to mind something Violent Femmes singer Gordon Gano told Details magazine back in 1993. Paraphrasing the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset, he noted how "the youth, because he is not yet anything determinate and irrevocable, is everything potentially. Herein lies his charm and his insolence. Feeling that he is everything potentially he supposes that he is everything actually." This keen blend of youthful charm and insolence has made Girls both a critical darling and a topic of intense debate about how the show represents (or fails to represent) one generation's experience of sex, gender, race, privilege, and potential.

For those of us who were Dunham's age in the pop-culture cycle of the early 1990s, there is something eerily familiar in the way Girls-which concludes its first season on Sunday-has set off...

Miranda July is either the most irritating film-maker on the planet, or a visionary with something quirky to say

There are some film-makers who are infuriated by the Teflon sensibility of modern cinema audiences and go all out for something that will stick, or get a reaction: astonishment, outrage, a seat-bang, a walkout, anything. Gaspar Noé described how, in his legendary shocker Irréversible, he deliberately used a droning frequency that causes nausea for background white noise. Artist-turned-film-maker Miranda July, renowned for her fey and quirky style, may be part of this tradition, simply by being 20 times more irritating than any normal person can stand.

There is an extraordinary fingernails-down-the-blackboard-up-to-11 quality here, especially in the massively cutesy opening moments of her new film, The Future. But I admit to seeing a deliberate point to it: partly satirical, partly an exercise in pop art amplification. What Jeff Koons does to banal objects,...

Marshall McLuhan's pronouncement that "the medium is the message" was revolutionary back in its day. Nearly 50 years later, McLuhan's influence survives, with many of his ideas serving as memes for wave upon wave of new media. Not for nothing did Wired Magazine anoint McLuhan as patron saint at the dawn of the Internet! Digital hipster Doug Coupland even published a McLuhan book subtitled” You Know Nothing of My Work” that riffed on the old gent’s ironic appearance in that Woody Allen flick. McLuhan asserted that the container (the medium itself) mattered more than its...

Marshall McLuhan's pronouncement that "the medium is the message" was revolutionary back in its day. Nearly 50 years later, McLuhan's influence survives, with many of his ideas serving as memes for wave upon wave of new media. Not for nothing did Wired Magazine anoint McLuhan as patron saint at the dawn of the Internet! Digital hipster Doug Coupland even published a McLuhan book subtitled "You Know Nothing of My Work' that riffed on the old gent's ironic appearance in that Woody Allen flick.

We Gen-Xers are getting too old to wear ironic T-shirts or pine for Winona Ryder. And that includes you, Douglas Coupland

Generation X is generally defined as those born from 1961 to 1981, which means – I can scarcely bring myself to type these words – that the first Gen-Xers turn 50 this year.

God, I feel ill. The only social tribe I've ever identified with is over the hill, or at least on the cusp of it. Forget that I'm four years older than Jesus was when he founded a major religion; forget that my beard is getting more grey than John Major's famously monochromatic underpants. Xers are turning 50, and that makes me feel old. And while I'm near enough to the centre of the Gen-x timeline that the dreaded Five-o won't arrive for a while, I'm also near enough to the start that I can make it out, just about, in the distance.

Player One is a novel by Douglas Coupland, it was written for a CBC lecture series and was broadcast on the radio as well as through podcasts. It is split up into 5 one-hour segments. We follow four main characters and a couple side characters through a global crisis as it unfolds.

My favorite book is The Stand and in some ways this book reminded me of that one, but overall it was a bit disappointing. Coupland is quite a famous Canadian author, and this is the first book of his that I have read. I think that perhaps trying to fit it into the time frame of the lecture series may have been responsible for the shortcomings that I perceived.

I think that Coupland set a good scene, created interesting characters to fill it in. One of the main characters suffers from a plethora of medical conditions on the autism/Ocd spectrum,...

Back in the day, designing an issue of Filmmaker meant two or three weeks of long evenings sitting around our office in the DGA building on 57th street with our beloved designer Wayne Van Acker. Wayne passed away a few years ago, but I thought of him today when I saw this notice that designer David Carson is returning to print journalism with a new magazine titled, appropriately, Carson. We were — and still are — closet design geeks, and we always held up certain designers as our heroes. Neville Brody was the one we could all agree on, with me remembering his great design for the now-defunct U.K. magazine The Face back in the ’80s. But the ’90s were the days of David Carson, whose radical typography and conceptual approach to print design was making waves in advertisements, in the pages of Ray Gun magazine, and in his own books.

In profiling the Canadian theorist and coiner of “The medium is the message” in <i>Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing Of My Work!</i>, Douglas Coupland assumes his effort will be futile, an assumption he professes his subject would share. But even allowing for this knowingly incomplete posture, Coupland’s book is still an unfinished sketch. Coupland posits McLuhan’s scholarly progress as the byproduct of a childhood clamoring for the attention of his mother, who neglected her sons while crisscrossing Canada on speaking tours. After a much-sought-after Cambridge stint, McLuhan wandered in the wilderness for several years, teaching English at a ...

Facebook is a 'beloved interface with reality' for its users and the previous generation doesn't get that, Zadie Smith has written

In the early 90s, before Google (founded 1998) and Facebook (2004), the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland popularised a term that described the post-baby boom generation: Generation X. But kids today aren't slackers, they're geeks, and it's clear that new terminology is needed for a new generation.

So it is that Zadie Smith, writing in the New York Review of Books, describes "2.0 people". These are the children of the internet who came of age with the social web and to whom concepts such as "privacy" are just plain alien. But credit where credit's due.

"You can't help feel a little swell of pride in this 2.0 generation," writes the novelist. "They've spent a decade being berated for not making the right sorts of paintings or novels or music or politics. Turns out the...

Director Edgar Wright (center) with Michael Cera and Mark Webber on the set of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Photograph by Kerry Hayes. Last fall, while in London for the premiere of Up in the Air, director Jason Reitman got an advance peek at Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He screened only 30 minutes of a very rough cut, but what he witnessed was enough to give him a movie boner. “(Scott Pilgrim) does what everyone our age has been dreaming about,” he tweeted later. “(It) achieves the first all encompassing film of the joystick generation.” If you qualify as “our age” (which I’m going to ballpark as somewhere between old-enough-to-go-on-the-Internet-unsupervised and geriatric), Reitman’s endorsement probably fills you with a confusing mix of emotions. On the one hand, it sounds exactly as awesome as all the teasers and trailers and pre-release praise have led us to believe.

The science and technology advisor of the film discusses how he helped shape the amazing props in the movie and also on his real-life G-Speak technology

When the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report first came to theaters in 2002, many hailed it as a sci-fi masterpiece, with Spielberg drawing us into a rich, fully-developed world with remarkable technology that seemed light years away, at the time. One of the reasons this fully immersive world came to be was the involvement of science and technology advisor John Underkoffler, who was initially brought in by Spielberg for a three-day "think tank" conference of sorts, with experts in fields of all sorts that came together to pitch in ideas on how this world in the year 2054 might actually look and feel like. After working closely with production designer Alex McDowell, Underkoffler was brought onto the production as the science and technology advisor and the rest is history.

Have you ever heard of the author Douglas Coupland? He writes novels with a comical nod to pop culture, though the main plot might be gravely serious. In the case of jPod, it was just another book about that generation of young professionals who graduated in an era when computer science was the hottest destination under the sun. Coupland wrote a few books about this generation (they’re all worth checking out), but only jPod found its way as a television show. Guess what? You probably never heard of it. But you really ought to seek it out.

The series’ single season aired in 2008, ran for 13 episodes and ended with a cliffhanger. Basically, Ethan (David Kopp) can’t keep his work life and his private life separate. It’s not his fault though. His mother Carol (Sherry Miller), has a pot farm in her basement (a damned good one too...

There's a new indie on the way that I have a feeling you might want to see. It tackles a modern and relevant subject matter -- mass killings at educational institutions -- and it also boasts a cast that you probably never would have dreamed of. Variety reports that Maria Bello and Michael Sheen have wrapped production on an upcoming film called Beautiful Boy. But they're not the only ones attached to this feature. They star alongside Moon Bloodgood, Alan Tudyk, Kyle Gallner, Austin Nichols, and Meat Loaf.

Whether you love epic, karaoke-adored rock songs, dodgeballing pirates, geeky teen killers trying to axe Veronica Mars, Blair Williams, or a dude who can be a werewolf or a vampire, this indie definitely has the bases covered. Written by director Shawn Ku and Michael Armbruster, the film focuses on a married couple (Sheen and Bello) who are about to get separated when...

After Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel Generation X became an international bestseller and slapped a name on a generation of kids, he resisted becoming a spokesperson for them, and disavowed the label he’d given them. For his 13th novel, Generation A, he establishes the source of the Gen-a term up front in an commencement-speech epigraph from Kurt Vonnegut—supposedly Vonnegut’s rebuttal to the Gen-x label. And again, he isn’t trying to label an entire age group. His protagonists are treated as anything but typical, thanks to a zoological fluke that brought them together, and through which they ...

After putting in his time in a series of studio comedies early this decade like Road Trip and 40 Days, 40 Nights, Paulo Costanzo found his indie groove, lending his wry presence to the Douglas Coupland-scripted Everything's Gone Green and the horror film Splinter. Now, as Evan Lawson on the USA series Royal Pains, he's got an out-of-the-box cable hit to his name. Movieline talked to the 30-year-old actor about improvisation, Josie and the Pussycats, and that whole "de-Jewing" kerfuffle.

Cologne, Germany -- A not-so-happy holiday is the focus in the new project, "Home For Christmas" by award-winning Norwegian director Bent Hamer ("O'Horten").

Hamer has co-written the script, set in a tiny Norwegian town on Christmas Eve, with writer Levi Henriksen. Cologne-based Pandora Film, who produced "O'Horten," is on board, together with German European public broadcasters Zdf and Arte. The Nrw Film Board is backing the project with €400,000 ($560,000) in production subsidies. Hamer plans to shoot portions of the film in the Nrw region.

Also benefiting from Nrw's largesse is "Generation X" author Douglas Coupland, who has received backing to adapt his own novel "Eleanor Rigby" for the screen. The book tells the story of a lonely woman whose life is changed by an unexpected meeting with the son she gave up for adoption. Coupland is adapting his book for Cologne-based production house Tatfilm ("The Last King of Scotland").

Director Thomas Riedelsheimer,...

Jean-Paul Gaultier

Frocks on film, singing and dancing, "Boston marriage" and the Great White North, all on this week's new DVDs.

Read on for more!

Jean-Paul Gaultier and Jennifer Beals are just two of the fabulous faces featured on Fashion in Film, a new documentary that explores where the worlds of cinema and couture have so glamorously overlapped. Originally produced for Starz, the film takes us through the history of costume and high-fashion on the silver screen.

No stranger to outlandish costumes himself, Elton John lets you relive the over-the-top grandeur of his Las Vegas show in the comfort of your own living room with The Red Piano, now available on DVD. Featuring many of Sir Elton's biggest hits, performed on a stage designed by David Lachappelle, The Red Piano will no doubt thrill the singer's many fans who weren't able to make it to Nevada and bring fond memories to those who did.

Who cares about the box office? Narnia sure doesn't! Prince Caspian might have struggled to put an impressive number of arses in seats, and gotten unceremoniously dumped by Disney, but someone still wants those Pevensie kids. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Fox 2000 is picking up the tossed aside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and wants to get it in theaters by the holiday season in 2010. Talk about a risky proposition. The last one wasn't only over budget -- it brought in a sucky box office. Who in their right mind would take on a struggling series and try to bring dragons and other beasties to the big screen while saving pennies in a bad economy? The warning bells, they are a-ringing.

Meanwhile, The Thing is coming back to attack! But have no fear -- the man behind this might just make this a desirable remake. Variety reports that Ron Moore...

You might have thought that, having inflicted the absolutely godawful The Love Guru upon the world (without even asking for permission, which was doubly rude), that Marco Schnabel would have been banned from even seeing any more movies, let alone writing or directing them.Yet Hollywood now appears to be working on some sort of three strikes and out policy, and so it’s just been announced that Schnabel will team up with that other comedic powerhouse, Larry Stuckey, to write Girlfriend In A Coma.Smiths fans will, of course, instantly recognise the title of one of Morrissey & Co’s finest singles, which in turn inspired the Douglas Coupland novel of the same name. Schnabel and Stuckey’s film, though, would seem to be unrelated, given that it’s, apparently, a satirical high school comedy which focuses on an unlikely romance (could it be a romance between a guy and...

Here in Todd’s personal literary world there a few authors who rise right to the top of the heap. I’m a big fan of Haruki Murakami. Looking forward to the new Neal Stephenson rather a lot. But the big three here in Todd-land are Douglas Coupland, Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut. I came to Vonnegut the earliest of the three and have read every word the man ever published in his life and love just about all of them. Vonnegut has, however, proven rather difficult to adapt to the screen. Yes, there have been attempts, and a few of them have even been successful - I rather like the recent Breakfast of Champions - but his structural quirks and distinct voice generally make life difficult when people try to bring him to the screen.

Enter 2081, a new feature based on Vonnegut’s short Harrison Bergeron. It’s the...