SF Tidbits for 6/18/08
By John DeNardo |
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at
12:40 am
- John Scalzi turns the Whatever blog mike over to Peter David, author of Tigerheart.
- Spectra Pulse Podcasts features Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, authors of Mind the Gap.
- Cover Pr0n:
- John Picacio’s artwork for the next Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress.
- Pyr-o-mania posts the Dan dos Santos cover for Mike Resnick’s Stalking the Unicorn.
- Jeff VanderMeer likes A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. Mmmm…Cthulhu art….
- Recently-free fiction at ManyBooks.net: “The Gods of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs. (Was this not already available?)
- Harry Harrison responds to that Pravda piece. [via Locus Online]
- Cory Doctorow at the Guardian: Surveillance: You can know too much. “Britain has never collected more data on her citizens. But what use is all that information if we can’t process it fast enough?”
- The Entertainment Weekly writer who identified Sci-fi misfires defends himself after including Jurassic Park and Blade Runner. All I can say is: Vindication is mine! [via Mike Brotherton]
- A rediscovered 1881 science fiction novel anticipates space travel, space suits, and more. [also via Mike Brotherton. What, you never saw me steal 2 links before?]
- Velcro City Tourist Board clears up the confusion between marketing and hype.
- George Takei is getting hitched! (Or, as nick Mamatas put it: “Sorry green-skinned dudes, he’s taken.”)
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I’m with you guys on the Blade Runner issue. It is what I consider an interesting failure. Generally, this is a better thing than being a boring success, like, for example, any of the top grossing sports movies and romantic comedies made in the last fifty years. They work, but they work predictably and you don’t GET anything from them. They’re like emotion porn. All rush, no substance.
Blade Runner has some substance, maybe even a lot, but it’s so buried in dullness it’s tough to dig it out. I’m so glad there are others in this world who feel this way! I’m a film student, and defending my position on the Blade Runner issue gets to be a hell of a chore some days. I had a teacher yell at a kid in class for not appreciating Blade Runner.
Looking at the comments on your review is pretty funny. I like the last guy, who strangely assumes you mean Noir = Boring, and goes on to say that, well, if you think this movie is bad then you probably hate Casablanca too, you big, stupid jerk!! The part he seems to be missing is that Casablanca *isn’t boring*. It’s like, the most enjoyable, quotable film ever made! It’s practically an interactive experience! I mean, who hasn’t spoken along with Ol’ Humphrey in that last scene at least once?
I can’t say I’m 100% with him on Jurassic Park. I can sort of see what he’s saying, but…I had the advantage of seeing JP at around age 12, so it’s glossed over with this rosy glow of nostalgia and childlike wonder for me. I am not the best judge.
Gods of Mars (and many other ERB titles) have been available online for a while. This might be a new version, with corrected text. In any case, it is nice to get the multiple formats.
If you give credit, you’re not stealing, you’re sampling! And I had way more than two links on that post the other day…