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A futuristic treat for film/sci-fi/design/architecture geeks as Blade Runner, the iconic 1982 film by Ridley Scott starring Harrison Ford, gets a panel discussion on the groundbreaking visual design seen in the film. Hosted by Bonhams & Butterfields in Hollywood, the discussion will be conducted by Blade Runner’s producer Michael Deeley and futurist visual design legend Syd Mead (with a possible appearance by Ridley Scott-schedule permitting).

For details, including information on the upcoming Blade Runner fundraiser auction, click here.

From Bonhams & Butterfields:

“The 20th Century Decorative Arts Department at Bonhams & Butterfields, as part of its ongoing design lecture series, is pleased to announce an April 15, 2010 panel discussion titled “Blade Runner: Designing the Future.” The panel will focus on an exploration of the groundbreaking themes and visual design of Director Ridley Scott’s 1982 science fiction classic, Blade Runner.

The esteemed panel includes the Oscar®-winning Producer of Blade Runner, Michael Deeley (The Italian Job, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Deer Hunter) and legendary conceptual and industrial designer, Syd Mead (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Tron, Aliens, 2010) who contributed key set and vehicle designs for the film. Frances Anderton, Host of the “DnA” (Design and Architecture) show on National Public Radio (KCRW, Los Angeles) and Producer of “To the Point/Which Way LA” will serve as moderator for the panel. Ridley Scott, Oscar®-winning Director of Blade Runner and the upcoming Robin Hood (2010), has expressed interest in attending the evening’s program, schedule permitting.

Tickets for “Blade Runner: Designing the Future” are available on a “first come, first served” basis and are dependent on securing a reserved ticket, with the suggested contribution to the Los Angeles Conservancy. Please note that seating is limited. For event and ticket inquiries, please contact Katie Nartonis at (323) 436-5445 or katie.nartonis@bonhams.com.”

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For the denizens of design: My dear design-minded Gelatobaby friend Alissa Walker has been selected to co-curate The Pasadena Museum of California Art’s fourth annual California Design Biennial and is looking for a few good like-minded contributors for the Industrial Design portion of the show. Details and info below and remember, entries due by March 1, 2010.

From Ms. Alis:

“I’ve covered the PMCA’s design biennial for the last few years and it’s always served as a great survey of the state’s design. This year, however, we decided to theme it in a way that was appropriate to these times:

“Americans today live in a world of transformation and upheaval; we are facing a national economic  crisis and worldwide political uncertainties and are becoming increasingly attuned to environmental issues. The designs in California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction will address how designers are responding to these issues and how the products they create reflect the influences of our changing world.”

So, I am looking for a range of industrial design pieces, from furniture to gadgets, which evoke these principles:

1. Visually excellent (this goes without saying)
2. Initiated or furthers positive change:  economic, political, environmental, or social (creates an Action/Reaction, if you will)
3. Designed in California between January 2008 and early 2010 (as in by now)

To help me out, add worthy products—either your firm’s, something you own and love, or maybe something you spotted in a magazine or blog—to the CA Biennial Industrial Design Flickr group (or you can email directly to me, but uploading to Flickr would be really great). And if you’ve got something in the Graphic Design, Fashion, Architecture or Transportation fields, be sure to pass it along to my cohorts. We must receive all submissions by March 1, 2010.”

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This Sunday through next Saturday walk with a street walker, Alissa Walker that is. To commemorate the release of her New York walking guide, City Walks Architecture: New York published by Chronicle Books, the Gelatobaby herself will be taking you on a specially guided walking tour through the mean streets of the Big Apple. On the (free) personally guided tours throughout the week, Alissa will take you through “the fantastic structures left behind by the 1964 World’s Fair” in Queens to a “brisk early morning walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan to see New York rising in all its glory” to “a leisurely stroll up New York’s public space pride-and-joy, the converted railway corridor now known as The High Line, recently named to the GOOD 100 as one of the people, projects or places changing our world.” For more take a hike over to Gelatobaby.com

Here’s the full schedule of Alissa Walker’s walking adventures:

Sunday, October 18
A World of Tomorrow in Queens: Space-Age Adventures for Pint-Size Walkers/Pre-Walkers
Sponsored by Core77
Bring the kids (and strollers) for this walk as we wander through the fantastic structures left behind by the 1964 World’s Fair. We’ll be joined by World’s Fair enthusiast and designer Andrew Sloat who will tell us about the ongoing work to preserve the New York State Pavilion. And we’ll end at the New York Hall of Science for a round of Rocket Park Mini Golf ($6 for adults/$5 for children 6+) and astronaut ice cream.
1pm Meet at Willets Point Blvd – Shea Stadium Station [7], Queens

Monday, October 19
Sustainable Skyscrapers: Times Square Goes Green
Sponsored by Worldstudio & SVA MFA in Interaction Design
Join Alissa and a group of special guests, including Glenn Weiss, manager of public art and design for Times Square Alliance, as we learn about the reactive interiors and intelligent materials that make up the Bank of America Tower and six more of the city’s greenest buildings. We’ll find out how this unlikely corner of the city is going green, from low-energy LEDs to pocket parks in closed streets. Then we’ll head to SVA’s Interaction Design HQ for eco-friendly refreshments.
6pm Meet outside the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park (corner of Sixth Avenue

& 42nd Street)
8pm Reception at SVA MFA in Interaction Design, 132 W 21 Street, 6th floor

Tuesday, October 20
Official Release Party at Jen Bekman Gallery & Rising Lower East Side Walk
Sponsored by ForYourArt
Join us at Jen Bekman Gallery for drinks, carb-loading and and Hosang Park’s photography, then stroll through the ever-changing Lower East Side with special stops at the New Museum, Red Square, BLUE, the Hotel on Rivington, Storefront for Art & Architecture and more. Then we’ll head back to Jen Bekman Gallery for four special New York-inspired flavors of gelato from il laboratorio del gelato. Purchase a copy on-site and Alissa will sign your favorite neighborhood!
6pm Meet at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street
7-8:30pm Walk through the LES
8:30pm Gelato reception at Jen Bekman Gallery

Wednesday, October 21
The Brooklyn Bridge Before Breakfast
Sponsored by Chronicle Books
Don’t miss this brisk early morning walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan to see New York rising in all its glory. And gosh darn it if we don’t find some breakfast ice cream on the other side. We’ll be finished by 8am, just in time for you to head to work.
7am Meet outside the High Street Station [A/C], Brooklyn

Thursday, October 22
Broadway Skyscrapers: How New York Got High
Sponsored by The Architect’s Newspaper
Pack a picnic for this one-hour lunchtime walk that starts at Bowling Green Park and marches up Lower Broadway, revealing the Gossip Girl-worthy back-stabbing backstory behind the battling buildings (and architects) who attempted to keep topping each other during the skyscraper race of the early 1900’s.
12pm Meet outside the Bowling Green Station [4/5]

Friday, October 23
Midtown Modernism: Then & Now
Sponsored by SVA MFA in Design Criticism
Wear your Mad Men finest for this evening walk to see some of the city’s modern masterpieces, as Alissa narrates with excerpts from reviews of each building that were published at the time of completion. Includes the “Slaughter on Sixth,” MoMA, Lever Building, Seagram Building and a few lesser-known/secret spots, followed by Gordon Bunshaft-approved martinis and Mies van der Gelato.
6pm Meet in front of the Time & Life statue at the Time-Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas

Saturday, October 24
The High Line: A Rail Good Idea
Sponsored by GOOD
A leisurely stroll up New York’s public space pride-and-joy, the converted railway corridor now known as The High Line, recently named to the GOOD 100 as one of the people, projects or places changing our world. We’ll also be gawking at the spanking-new architecture sprouting up around New York’s “Starchitect Row,” followed by gelato in the shape of Frank Gehry’s InterActiveCorp Building. Kids absolutely welcome!
11am Meet at the southern terminus of the High Line, at the corner of Gansevoort & Washington

Lost? Left behind? Raining? Canceling? Wanna meet the tour already in progress? Simply check my Twitter updates or send me a message at @gelatobaby

Also check out Alissa’s coverage of City Walks Architecture: New York which is now on sale at bookstores everywhere as well as online at Amazon.com!

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Oh how I long to be one of the many thousands of lucky nerds in San Diego for Comic-Con (still can’t believe I’ve never been, I fear my dork credibility may be in jeopardy!) Fortunately there are many a happening around Los Angeles to take your mind off all the geeky goodness we’re missing out on.

• With that being said, allow me to start with a few events at Comic-Con for those who made the trek down the 405 freeway:

Artist signings by Mark Ryden, Joe Ledbetter, James Jean, The Pizz, Scott Musgrove, Ron English, and Travis Louie for Last Gasp Publishing.

James Jean (again), David Choe, and David Horvath for Giant Robot.

And a Tim and Eric sighting at their very own con of the awesome variety, appropriately called Awesome Con!

• Wayne White (one of my favorite typographists) and Exene Cervenka fly their way over to the Western Project Gallery in Culver City with their two person show, We Are Not the Jetset.

• Stick around Culver City for a three person show featuring some Heavy Petting with David Burke, Riddles In the Dark with Mia, and Keep It Down with guest artist Sarah Folkman at the Corey Helford Gallery.

• Don’t leave Culver City just yet cause the Scion Installation Space opens up it’s place for the 2009 Vice Magazine Photography Exhibition featuring Jamie Lee Curtis Taete, Maggie Lee, and former Vice photo editor, Tim Barber.

• Cinespia presents The Muppet Movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, need I say more?

• Recoup on Sunday and take an Urban Hike through Little Tokyo with the Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles.

• Spread your wings and fly to the MOCA’s Pacific Design Center on Melrose for an art talk with Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues whose installation Feathered Edge: A New Installation by Ball-Nogues Studio is currently on view and features “over 21 miles of colored strings configured in catenary curves span the gallery space to form a dynamic environment.”

• And finally, end your weekend on a “high” note (yeah, that’s right I said it) with Cheech and Chong’s classic Up in Smoke at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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