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If this concerns you please do not be alarmed; there is some good news:
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There is an ad for Hogfather available here (not embeddable). As far as ads go it is not that great. I certainly would not decide to watch this after seeing it - too short, too fast in its presentation so that everything flies by too quickly to get any handle on what it is about. Just a few shots flashing by, a couple of quick one-liners and no mention of half the stuff in it (where's Bilious, oh-god of hangovers?) or any of the actors bar David Jason (Sir, I think) (but Tony Robinson and Nigel Planer and probably other people would recognise other names too... but that is just frivolous and listing everyone would be too long).
Anyway, watching again it seems much better and I have lost track of any point other than a conveyment of excitement.
Anyway, watching again it seems much better and I have lost track of any point other than a conveyment of excitement.
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discworld it seems the Hogfather movie is done or nearly so and to be shown on the 17th and 18th of December (books make for long films!) and I hope they show it here and I hope they show it before Christmas because it is a Christmas story and it would be silly to watch it in June and I don't want to have to wait a whole year and, and *hyperventilates*
discworld it seems the Hogfather movie is done or nearly so and to be shown on the 17th and 18th of December (books make for long films!) and I hope they show it here and I hope they show it before Christmas because it is a Christmas story and it would be silly to watch it in June and I don't want to have to wait a whole year and, and *hyperventilates*
Yesterday had to go into an agency to try and help me find work. Just a preliminary thing, they had a look at my resume and nothing else happens now unless I am still looking in twelve weeks. Anyways, I had a voucher on hand that would get me in to see a movie free so I hung around for a few hours after. Some people were giving out white ribbons and bookmarky things proclaiming the wrongness of violence against women. Of course I don't like violence against anyone, but that day they were only seling opposition to male-against-female violence so I took one of those and wore it all day.
There were a few new interesting books for sale I had not known about before like The Art of Discworld and The Word and the Void Omnibus (I am a sucker for an omnibus). Also far too many games to play in any reasonable lifetime (just this past week I have been playing Forsaken 64 again - from 1998! Love the lighting in that game)
Where was I? Ah yes, I went to see The Prestige on account of Casino Royale not being released yet. Though I did get to see a trailer for it. Some parts looked pretty interesting, others less so, but it was clear as soon as I saw from the poster that it is rated M that it was not going to be an especially faithful adaptation. There was a trailer for Eragon too (which reminds me, I have a novel to work on) and though I laughed at it and its posters I suppose if I suddenly find myself with an excess of money when it comes out I will go see that too. At the least I will have something to help keep my blood pressure up and I may even be pleasantly surprised.
The Prestige itself I want to say was magnificent. A story well told is a thing of beauty. This one, of course, is structured like a magic trick. Or at least, how a magic trick works in the terminology of the film. I was caught off-guard several times, mostly because I underestimated how far the characters were willing to go for their obsessions. The rivalry between Angiers and Borden develops to great (if leisurely in execution) intensity and it was interesting watching everything else falling away from them. It was somewhat confusing in the beginning before getting a feel for the different frames it is told in but in the end the shape of it is truly, beautifully elegant. My only disappointments with it are not being able to watch it again and not having anyone else handy to argue with.
Actually, for a while after seeing it I was bugged by a nagging feeling that it reminded me of something else. Took me hours to realise I was thinking of Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds, another story about feeding oneself to obsession. Now I just have to get hold of a copy of the novel The Prestige was based on and see how that compares...
There were a few new interesting books for sale I had not known about before like The Art of Discworld and The Word and the Void Omnibus (I am a sucker for an omnibus). Also far too many games to play in any reasonable lifetime (just this past week I have been playing Forsaken 64 again - from 1998! Love the lighting in that game)
Where was I? Ah yes, I went to see The Prestige on account of Casino Royale not being released yet. Though I did get to see a trailer for it. Some parts looked pretty interesting, others less so, but it was clear as soon as I saw from the poster that it is rated M that it was not going to be an especially faithful adaptation. There was a trailer for Eragon too (which reminds me, I have a novel to work on) and though I laughed at it and its posters I suppose if I suddenly find myself with an excess of money when it comes out I will go see that too. At the least I will have something to help keep my blood pressure up and I may even be pleasantly surprised.
The Prestige itself I want to say was magnificent. A story well told is a thing of beauty. This one, of course, is structured like a magic trick. Or at least, how a magic trick works in the terminology of the film. I was caught off-guard several times, mostly because I underestimated how far the characters were willing to go for their obsessions. The rivalry between Angiers and Borden develops to great (if leisurely in execution) intensity and it was interesting watching everything else falling away from them. It was somewhat confusing in the beginning before getting a feel for the different frames it is told in but in the end the shape of it is truly, beautifully elegant. My only disappointments with it are not being able to watch it again and not having anyone else handy to argue with.
Actually, for a while after seeing it I was bugged by a nagging feeling that it reminded me of something else. Took me hours to realise I was thinking of Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds, another story about feeding oneself to obsession. Now I just have to get hold of a copy of the novel The Prestige was based on and see how that compares...
I finally watched Being John Malkovich last night/morning. My thoughts on it are 1) It is a film of high quality and well worth seeing and 2) The behaviour of almost all the characters was so disgustingly immoral I felt sick to my stomach (though that does not stop me from writing characters who do similar things). The only times any of them give the slightest thought to their violations of privacy (let alone autonomy!) they are if anything pleased with themselves*. There should really be more discussion of the content of the film than just my reaction to it, good thing I don't do reviews. I think there is much interesting to discuss, though, if only I would take the time to think clearly on it.
I shall have to get a copy for myself.
*Oops, revealing comments.
I shall have to get a copy for myself.
*Oops, revealing comments.
Now has a spot. So, former unfavourite planet has become interesting. I wonder what else has been dug up on the Ball With No Surface? Better go do some digging of my own.
This from SFSignal's daily roundup which also includes links to reincarnated criticism of Orson Scott Card's anti-family madness and even yours truly. I would be more proud if it were for an original article. Nonetheless: *dances*
This from SFSignal's daily roundup which also includes links to reincarnated criticism of Orson Scott Card's anti-family madness and even yours truly. I would be more proud if it were for an original article. Nonetheless: *dances*
Here's Complaining
2006-08-26 16:43 I was watching Stargate a couple of nights ago. There was an individual found cryogenically frozen on a distant world who turned out to be in a 'higher state of evolution', somewhere between humans and those oh-so-delightfully ascendable Ancients. I suppose there is not much point being irritated that evolution is teleogical in a universe where people can transcend their physical forms to exist as beings of pure spirit, and yet I am. Evolution in the real world does not have some goal or purpose 'it' is working toward (the quote marks are there because evolution is not even a thing to have goals or purpose, it is a process), evolution is a blind process that works by favouring whatever, well, works at the time. Not even whatever works best necessarily, so long as it works well enough.
But it gets worse. While the individual is under surveillance they observe that he is still progressing evolutionarily and will soon reach the point of being able to ascend - and they determine this by measuring what fraction of his brain's neurons are firing at any time! I think there was even mention of a 'DNA Simulator' which could predict the course of evolution. That's a lot of mumbo-jumbo just to give someone fancy powers.
For the record, this attitude to evolution bugs me just as much when I see it in anime.
But it gets worse. While the individual is under surveillance they observe that he is still progressing evolutionarily and will soon reach the point of being able to ascend - and they determine this by measuring what fraction of his brain's neurons are firing at any time! I think there was even mention of a 'DNA Simulator' which could predict the course of evolution. That's a lot of mumbo-jumbo just to give someone fancy powers.
For the record, this attitude to evolution bugs me just as much when I see it in anime.
Still Reading...
2006-07-29 15:32 The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. Getting near the end of this thousand page volume now. A lot of the stories are dry and often hard to read (the one I am on now, A Meeting With Medusa, seems to have been written with teflon) but there are some gems too. And abominations (she says with light heart): Neutron Tide is built around a pun. Reunion is built around a joke too, but one with a positive message. Late favourites from this third are The Wind From the Sun and Crusade, but the best of this lot is easily Transit of Earth.
Probably the most annoying part of these stories is the teleology that keeps creeping into the stories whenever biology comes up, or even just future history of civilisations. The frequent telepathy annoys me sometimes too, even though it probably should not. Could do with more women in the stories too, especially in important positions.
I think the mood has shifted from the beginning of the book too - less emphasis on the fragility of humanity and how susceptible we are to events beyond our control and more stories about other stuff, strange gadgets and near future space exlporation (especially the moon, and most of the near future stories are in the past now). I think the shift came about during the flood of White Hart stories. There is a definite slowing of pace too. The past thirty years fit into about one fifth of the volume.
Probably the most annoying part of these stories is the teleology that keeps creeping into the stories whenever biology comes up, or even just future history of civilisations. The frequent telepathy annoys me sometimes too, even though it probably should not. Could do with more women in the stories too, especially in important positions.
I think the mood has shifted from the beginning of the book too - less emphasis on the fragility of humanity and how susceptible we are to events beyond our control and more stories about other stuff, strange gadgets and near future space exlporation (especially the moon, and most of the near future stories are in the past now). I think the shift came about during the flood of White Hart stories. There is a definite slowing of pace too. The past thirty years fit into about one fifth of the volume.
I am filled with fire, words of silver flow from my fingertips and burn on to the page. At least in my imagination.
Saw Superman Returns today. it was... what is the word I am looking for? Happier than I was hoping for. Always found Superman himself fairly boring as superheroes go. But at least the first half of the film was telling a good story about his isolation from the world. The whole 'world needs superman/saviour' was annoying. But still somewhat powerful (so disappointed in myself). It was a long movie but still too short. I think it was better than X3 but V for Vendetta is still by far the best I've seen all year.
Continuing with tradition I picked up a couple of new books after the show. Today it was Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds. Almost grabbed a four-in-one of Le Guin's Earthsea novels too but held off because I thought they might be part of the fantasy masterworks line (they aren't). See, if they just had the decency to have the book I was after one of this would have happened. Oh, and I read the back cover blurb of Eragon again and now I have another novel to write (it was the final straw).
Evening is still my favourite time of day, the sky dusted with colour and the air chilling. Roads twinkle and shine after rain and the cloud-wreathed moon had a glowing halo, winter bare trees stark against the sky looking like branching fingers of coral.
(too much? yess)
Saw Superman Returns today. it was... what is the word I am looking for? Happier than I was hoping for. Always found Superman himself fairly boring as superheroes go. But at least the first half of the film was telling a good story about his isolation from the world. The whole 'world needs superman/saviour' was annoying. But still somewhat powerful (so disappointed in myself). It was a long movie but still too short. I think it was better than X3 but V for Vendetta is still by far the best I've seen all year.
Continuing with tradition I picked up a couple of new books after the show. Today it was Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds. Almost grabbed a four-in-one of Le Guin's Earthsea novels too but held off because I thought they might be part of the fantasy masterworks line (they aren't). See, if they just had the decency to have the book I was after one of this would have happened. Oh, and I read the back cover blurb of Eragon again and now I have another novel to write (it was the final straw).
Evening is still my favourite time of day, the sky dusted with colour and the air chilling. Roads twinkle and shine after rain and the cloud-wreathed moon had a glowing halo, winter bare trees stark against the sky looking like branching fingers of coral.
(too much? yess)
I am reliably informed that new episodes of Doctor Who will be shown here as of 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. Sudden, til now they have been saying 'Returning Soon'. Let's see if David Tennant is as good as Christopher Eccleston. Too bad Captain Jack isn't expected back until series three (yes I am counting from the reboot).
Yes, I punned apurpose and you can't touch me. Ha ha ha ha ha!
Yes, I punned apurpose and you can't touch me. Ha ha ha ha ha!
For question 5. As a child, your voice was recorded for the phonograph discs that were attached to the Voyager spacecraft, which feature the sounds of Earth, just in case the spacecraft ever wandered by an extraterrestrial civilization. Do you think they ever will? Also, if the Voyager craft were being made today, would we include an iPod instead?
I want to say that no, I don't think we would. We might send a dvd but actually a phonograph is probably still a good idea to send. The beauty of the phonograph is that it is a fairly simple device and any ETI finding it would only need to work out that you put a needle in the groove and spin the disc to get the information out. Of course it would be very quiet without amplification and I don't know how we could convey the correct speed to spin it at, but the basics are relatively easy. The way we store information on a dvd would be as obvious as a phonograph is and I expect today we would send a dvd also, but getting the information out of it requires more processing than playing the phonograph.
Sorry, I get these urges sometimes. Also, I'm sitting on the floor because there is a cat in my chair.
The interview itself is interesting and I need to check out some of Sagan's books. Both Sagans, actually.
I want to say that no, I don't think we would. We might send a dvd but actually a phonograph is probably still a good idea to send. The beauty of the phonograph is that it is a fairly simple device and any ETI finding it would only need to work out that you put a needle in the groove and spin the disc to get the information out. Of course it would be very quiet without amplification and I don't know how we could convey the correct speed to spin it at, but the basics are relatively easy. The way we store information on a dvd would be as obvious as a phonograph is and I expect today we would send a dvd also, but getting the information out of it requires more processing than playing the phonograph.
Sorry, I get these urges sometimes. Also, I'm sitting on the floor because there is a cat in my chair.
The interview itself is interesting and I need to check out some of Sagan's books. Both Sagans, actually.
Tags:
Television Stuff
2006-07-01 22:05My sister bought a dvd of The Goodies the other day, yay! It has been faaar to long since we watched that show. And Stargate is finally showing again, season nine, I think, where Ben Browder joins the show. I hope he makes up for the absence of Richard Dean Anderson. And for Nine only showing Farscape and Enterprise and Bullshit! for a couple of weeks at most and getting my hopes up before dashing them to the ground. Bitch bitch bitch, yes.
Ok, I am informed The Goodies is actually borrowed from a friend, not ours. So I need to watch it soon
Ok, I am informed The Goodies is actually borrowed from a friend, not ours. So I need to watch it soon
Egan Quote of the Day
2006-06-22 05:51"The gene is going to try to take everything. All it cares about is reproducing. Everything that matters to us: love, honesty, intelligence, reflection - they're all just accidents. A few freak waves swept them up on to the beach. Now the tide's coming in, to wash them away again."
From Teranesia
Even though I was crying by the time I finished this one I still maintain that Egan's work is utterly unromantic. I don't know of any other writer who could manage to draw a warm smile from the phrase 'Life is meaningless'. And of course he just had to give the lie to what I said before - although the lead character is gay the story does not rely on that at all.
This really is the last quote for a while, I've read all his books now and it's back to the relatively unnourishing fare of Clarke's Collected Stories for me.
From Teranesia
Even though I was crying by the time I finished this one I still maintain that Egan's work is utterly unromantic. I don't know of any other writer who could manage to draw a warm smile from the phrase 'Life is meaningless'. And of course he just had to give the lie to what I said before - although the lead character is gay the story does not rely on that at all.
This really is the last quote for a while, I've read all his books now and it's back to the relatively unnourishing fare of Clarke's Collected Stories for me.
Egan Quote of the Day
2006-06-21 01:20 But as the countryside materialised around me - the purple-grey ridge of the Black Mountains to the north starkly beautiful in the dawn - I was slowly beginning to understand. This was not my world any more. Not in Herodotus, not in Seattle, not in Hamburg or Montreal or London. Not even in New York.
In my world, there were no nymphs in trees and streams. No gods, no ghosts, no ancestral spirits. Nothing - outside our own cultures, our own laws, our own passions - existed in order to punish us or comfort us, to affirm any act of hatred or love.
My own parents had understood this perfectly, but theirs had been the first generation to be so free of the shackles of superstition. And after the briefest flowering of understanding, my own generation had grown complacent. At some level, we must have started taking it for granted that the way the universe worked was now obvious to any child, even though it went against everything innate to the species: the wild, undisciplined love of patterns, the craving to extract meaning and comfort from everything in sight.
We thought we were passing on everything that mattered to our children: science, history, literature, art. Vast libraries of information lay at their fingertips. But we hadn't fought hard enough to pass on the hardest-won truth of all: Morality comes only from within. Meaning comes only from within. Outside our own skulls, the universe is indifferent.
Maybe, in the West, we'd delivered the death blows to the old doctrinal religions, the old monoliths of delusion, but that victory meant nothing at all.
Because taking their place now, everywhere, was the saccharine poison of spirituality.
From Silver Fire, collected with Mitochondrial Eve in Luminous
I expected this to be the last one I posted but I just finished Teranesia so I think I will do one more. I've noticed his near future stories tend to be a lot more depressing than the far future ones.
In my world, there were no nymphs in trees and streams. No gods, no ghosts, no ancestral spirits. Nothing - outside our own cultures, our own laws, our own passions - existed in order to punish us or comfort us, to affirm any act of hatred or love.
My own parents had understood this perfectly, but theirs had been the first generation to be so free of the shackles of superstition. And after the briefest flowering of understanding, my own generation had grown complacent. At some level, we must have started taking it for granted that the way the universe worked was now obvious to any child, even though it went against everything innate to the species: the wild, undisciplined love of patterns, the craving to extract meaning and comfort from everything in sight.
We thought we were passing on everything that mattered to our children: science, history, literature, art. Vast libraries of information lay at their fingertips. But we hadn't fought hard enough to pass on the hardest-won truth of all: Morality comes only from within. Meaning comes only from within. Outside our own skulls, the universe is indifferent.
Maybe, in the West, we'd delivered the death blows to the old doctrinal religions, the old monoliths of delusion, but that victory meant nothing at all.
Because taking their place now, everywhere, was the saccharine poison of spirituality.
From Silver Fire, collected with Mitochondrial Eve in Luminous
I expected this to be the last one I posted but I just finished Teranesia so I think I will do one more. I've noticed his near future stories tend to be a lot more depressing than the far future ones.
Egan Quote of the Day
2006-06-19 18:51 'Burn all your symbols!' I shouted. 'Male and female, tribal and global. Give up your Fatherlands and your Earth Mothers - it's Childhood's End! Desecrate your ancestors, screw your cousins - just do what you think is right because it's right.'
From Mitochondrial Eve
I didn't think to mention it last time but the first section of Diaspora, 'Orphanogenesis', from which I took yesterday's quote, is available at Egan's website.
From Mitochondrial Eve
I didn't think to mention it last time but the first section of Diaspora, 'Orphanogenesis', from which I took yesterday's quote, is available at Egan's website.
Notes from The Seventh
2006-06-18 19:35[Figured I may as well repost this since X-Men came up again]
Out and about yesterday and – oh! - what fantastical adventures I had. Haven't been clothes shopping for ages so I collected some much needed new skirts and, as is becoming my habit, a new book. This one was for my younger sister rather than me, The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde, though she's offered to let me read it when I get the chance (I think I'm free sometime next May).
I did have some fun wishing people a 'happy.end of the world' in honour of the date. Too bad no one seemed to notice. And to cap it all off I saw X-Men III – The Last Stand (it is kind of like a pointy rock). A very inadvertantly themed day punctuated by reading the short story Coccoon (part of my Egan reading kick) while waiting for the movie to start (that'll show me for buying tickets early and then finishing my business soon after)
The movie might well have been the least of what I got up to but it also seems the easiest to talk about so that is what you are going to get. It seems to help to go into the theatre expecting disappointment; I think this one was not as good as the second and probably not the first either but I still enjoyed it (weep for poor Summer Snow, tragically born without taste). I lost a fair bit of respect for Magneto in this one. Even if he is the villain I had (mistakenly?) thought he was intended to be an intelligent and sympathetic one. He clearly should have expected plastic weapons and he could have organised his forces in a more effective manner (Why would anyone voluntarily take unnecessary losses? For the sake of a clever line, apparently). I blame one of my pet peeves – characters behaving inconsistently to force the story into the desired shape.
My favourite character is still Mystique (watch X2 to see what a minion should be). If I could choose the power of any of the mutants to have for myself it would probably be hers (though Wolverine's healing is pretty neato too). I wonder if those two things are related? Too bad she's barely in this one. Still can't decide if I'm angry with the filmmakers or the characters for some of the things that happen in this one. Depends if I come down on the side of 'in character' or 'out of character' really. I'm no fan of the comics so I may well come down on the wrong side.
Weird narrative deja vu thingy (not mentioned here previously, no need to look) struck again – when I saw the final shot before the end credits there was a strong feeling of having seen it before. Time to go now and try to solve my new problem; now that I have new skirts I have no tops to go with them. The saga continues...
