Here’s what Googlism thinks of “science fiction”:
- science fiction is not difficult to compile
- science fiction is a native 20th century art form that came of age at the same time as jazz
- science fiction is a brief history of how sf started
- science fiction is the search for definition of man and his status in the universe which will stand in our advanced but confused state of knowledge
Googlism uses the Google engine to find related phrases with the search time…with mixed results. Most of the entries are nonsensical since they are taken out of context (“arthur c. clarke is a world”). Some are complete, but boring (“isaac asimov is hard to beat”). Others are humorous (“theodore sturgeon is alive and well for about $5″).
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Web Sites
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JP Frantz | Monday, May 24th, 2004 at
9:58 pm
Ok, I am now officially excited about an upcoming MMORPG. Which one? Tabula Rasa, of course. Why?
First, because its Richard Garriott’s (Lord British to us game afficionados) new game for Destinatin Games. DG is NCSoft’s Austin-based development group. NCSoft has had a lot of MMORPG success with Lineage and now City of Heroes. Second, and this one is key, its NACFS (not another crappy fantasy setting), it will be SF based! Woo hoo! Read on my SF MMORPG friend…
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Games
By
Peter | Monday, May 24th, 2004 at
11:12 am
REVIEW SUMMARY: The first ever Unreal Tournament 2004 LAN Party at my house — geeks, computers, sugar induced, alcohol-laden trash talking combined with pizza. What more can you ask for?
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: It was a bit slow getting started, as usual, we had network problem (Kevin!) but luckily no power problem. I took a trouncing but I’m not the worst. Our friend Daniel, who did much trash talking, showed up way late so he didn’t get much of a chance to get his behind blasted too much.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: 11 People, Lot’s of fun, even Craig showed up!
CONS: Not being on Fargo’s team every time. Not having JP and Tim not being there.
BOTTOM LINE: Hell of a blast! I’m willing to do it on a regular basis. If bi-monthly is too frequent, I would opt for quarterly or semi-annually. I know that as soon as we put a schedule to it, everyone will have conflicts and it will lose its draw so we can play it by ear.
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Games
By
JP Frantz | Saturday, May 22nd, 2004 at
11:37 pm
REVIEW SUMMARY: A refreshing SF series that focuses on people instead of aliens, lasers or galactic wars.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In the near future, mankind has taken its first steps towards the outer planets. Permanent habitats have been placed in orbit and on the Moon. However, this expansion has come at a price. Earth orbit has become a dangerous place to be because off old satellites, booster rockets, and other flotsam also orbit the Earth. Planetes is the story of one ‘Debris Section’ team and the events that happen to its characters.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: A hard SF look at a near future Earth, with loads of character development and interaction.
CONS: At 26 episodes, a few of them were a bit slow.
BOTTOM LINE: I can’t recommend this one highly enough. I’d rate this now as either #1 or #2 on my Anime list. Its easily more accessible and enjoyable than Neon Genesis Evangelion and can hold its own with Cowboy Bebop or Last Exile.
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Anime
REVIEW SUMMARY: Two first-rate, highly recommended stories
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Two novellas set in the Revelation Space Universe
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Huge sense of wonder; compelling storytelling.
CONS: I cannot imagine how these stories could have been made better.
BOTTOM LINE: Two highly recommended reads.
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Book Review
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JP Frantz | Friday, May 21st, 2004 at
9:06 pm
And this guy did, so you don’t have to! Not that I troll Star Wars Holiday Special web sites. ‘Cause I don’t. Much.
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Star Wars
Is this why Star Wars Episode III is taking so long?
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Movies
The website FilmFiction lists all of the movies that are based on SF books. Also, an interesting chat transcript with SF authors talks about converting SF books into film.
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Books • Movies
REVIEW SUMMARY: Classic alien encounter SF
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The episodic adventures of a space exploration team – mostly dealing with hostile alien encounters.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Classic feel; rousing space adventure.
CONS: One of the four adventures should have been left out.
BOTTOM LINE: Read the first three stories, skip the fourth.
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Book Review
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JP Frantz | Thursday, May 20th, 2004 at
4:30 pm
Unbelievable. The climactic fight between Obi-wan and Vader will take place in lava……..on surfboards. Seriously, when did George acquire the crackpipe? Why do we have to have this pseudo-hip crap in this movie? Its supposed to be heavy and cool, and not loaded down with surfer Darth. Please.
To quote Sting from Dune: “I will killl him!”.
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Star Wars
By
JP Frantz | Thursday, May 20th, 2004 at
3:41 pm
The Website at the End of the Universe lists all the upcoming SF-related, chewy movie goodness for the summer.
There looks to be some good ones and some dingo’s kidneys ones. But which is which? Let me give you the answers!
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Movies
By
Tim | Thursday, May 20th, 2004 at
12:40 pm
Yes, we need the help of somebody, and even MS-NBC has figured it out that for EP3: Birth of the Empire to be saved – some changes are needed. The article here lists some of those… Let us hope that it can be saved and confirms the inverse theory as defined in an earlier post on this blog.
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Star Wars
A well-done animated SF short: Rockfish by Blur Studios.
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Web Sites
