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Sci-Fi is the Rodney Dangerfield of the book world

a completely sci-fi idea: the FT (FemaleType) robot

I just encountered an interesting article (that has absolutely nothing to do with robots) by Clive Thompson on WIRED. He says: “If you want to read books that tackle profound philosophical questions, then the best — and perhaps only — place to turn these days is sci-fi. Science fiction is the last great literature of ideas.” I completely agree…and that’s probably why I’m such a huge fan of science fiction. It’s all about the ideas.

He also asks: “So, then, why does sci-fi, the inheritor of this intellectual tradition, get short shrift among serious adult readers?” …and that is a question I’ve thought about many times. (Mostly when I recommend some type of sci-fi story to a friend and they act like I just asked them to eat their own poop. The only thing I’ve encountered that gets less respect than science fiction is comic books. And sci-fi comics? I keep those to myself…some of you just aren’t ready for things like Dreadstar. At least not until someone makes a movie. Anyway, I digress.) I’m sure the pulp adolescence of science fiction doesn’t help it’s credibility, but it seems like somebody might have noticed that sci-fi authors think. And the readers do too.

The evidence is right here: Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing

edit 1-29-08:

I just finished reading Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card and in the afterword he mentions the term “junbungaku“, which apparently means “pure literature or belles lettres“. He then goes on to say:

“I do not believe the tools of science fiction are any less suitable to the task of creating junbungaku than the tools of contemporary serious literature, though of course we who wield the tools may fail to use them to best advantage.”

I completely agree…and that’s probably why I believe that science fiction is as equally valid as contemporary serious literature. We just need more great minds wielding those sci-fi tools. And the best way for that to happen is to remove the stigma on science fiction.

OiNK is dead, R.I.P. OiNK

I have no words to describe how the death of OiNK makes me feel, so I will share what some others have said:

Paraphrased Wikipedia: Copyright agencies described Oink as an online pirate pre-release music club; former users described it as one of the world’s largest and most meticulously maintained online music repositories. There were around 180,000 members at the time of closure and all of their avatars had to be cute.

“If you’re not familiar with Oink, here’s a quick summary: Oink was was a free members-only site – to join it you had to be invited by a member. Members had access to an unprecedented community-driven database of music. Every album you could ever imagine was just one click away.”

[Read the rest on: When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.]

…and it wasn’t just me:

What do you think about OiNK being shut down?

Trent Reznor: I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that’s what’s such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band. I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.

[the rest of the interview is on: Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK]

Disney cartoons, pretty girls, fair use and free culture?

How one Walt Disney Cartoon was made:

(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs behind-the-scenes)

Here are a couple quotes from the documentary:
“…the thousands of pencil drawings go to the inking department. Here, hundreds of pretty girls…”
“The inked celluloids next go to the painting department where more pretty girls apply the final colors.”

Damn…Walt Disney was a bigger genius than I ever realized. Unfortunately, to some degree, we also have the Disney Company to thank for possibly being detrimental to cultural diversity. One can argue that a rich, continually replenished, public domain is necessary for continued artistic creation. Disney as we know it wouldn’t exist if the current copyright laws were in place years ago because many of Disney’s animated films are based on Nineteenth Century public domain works, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alice in Wonderland, and The Jungle Book.

There has never been a time in history when more of our ‘culture’ was as ‘owned’ as it is now. And yet there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the uses of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as it is now. (pg. 28 of Free Culture)

Free Culture is a book about the social dimension of creativity: how creative work builds on the past and how society encourages or inhibits that building with laws and technologies.

get a digital copy of the book for free

 

And here’s a humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles delivered through the words of the very folks we can thank for nearly endless copyright terms:

A Fair(y) Use Tale

the work that must have gone into this…woah.

Harry Potter Reviews: Deathly Half-Blood Phoenix Prisoner Secrets and a Stone Goblet

The post with the Order of the Phoenix trailer has been popular on here lately so here’s a small update with my ratings for the films and the books.

Agree? Disagree? Don’t care?
Get started on some comments. I’m eager to interact.

it’s good to love Luna

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
movie: 60 / book: 80

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
movie: 65 / book: 85

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
movie: 88 / book: 90

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
movie: 73 / book: 95

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
movie: 86 / book: 75

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
book: 85

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
book: 90

more movie ratings:

my criticker profile

13 most “important” 80s LPs of all time (according to mistersplice)

Because Jimi’s top 80s LPs of all time post has been getting so many hits lately I decided to share some of my eighties opinions. These are definitely not my favorite albums from the 80s though…I’m saving that for later.

These are the 13 albums from the 80s (listed in chronological order) that I think are the most “important”: the ones that were the most influential and had the biggest impact on pop culture. Feel free to point out anything that I may have missed…because I’m sure I missed something. And share your thoughts if you don’t agree.

AC/DC – Back in Black (1980)

Journey – Escape (1981)

Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)

Pink Floyd – The Final Cut (1983)

The Police – Synchronicity (1983)

Madonna – Like a Virgin (1984)

Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986)

Run-DMC – Raising Hell (1986)

Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction (1987)

U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987)

N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton (1988)

R.E.M. – Green (1988)

Pixies – Doolittle (1989)

(a response to Jimi and Christin. Also…I might have cheated with a few of these, but they didn’t seem to fit into my real “best of” list.)

Jiminy, Criticker…let’s rate movies!

Criticker.com

I found another online diversion and started ranking some films. Some of my previously published scores were tweaked to order things a bit better and it could still use some work, but there’s enough content to share now. Please make your own lists and link to mine…I’d like to see how our TCIs* compare.

*The TCI (Taste Compatibility Index) is a measure of the similarity between two people’s taste in films. The lower the TCI, the greater the tendency to agree on which movies ruled and which sucked. It’s scientific (kind of)!

click for my profile on criticker

(It gets better when you rank more movies.)

 

Marry, Boff, or Kill?

My new work schedule doesn’t allow me much time for updates at the moment, so I thought I would share something that will help you pass the time between posts.

I first encountered this game on 30 Rock so I will mention their version first:

the 30 Rock game (and the original clip)

Watch the clip, but don’t expect much from the game. The choices are too limited and unfairly balanced…although it did seem like a calculated effort.

another version

This one distracted me for a while, but they really need to add more people. It created more groups of three that were tough decisions than any of the other games from the FMK wiki page.

The Encyclopedia of Life

“Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.”

And it all starts now. With you.

 

 

Another Giant Leap: Back to the Moon

One of the things that I’ve not yet mentioned on this blog is the fact that I’m currently working on several fiction writing projects. One of those projects is set in the near future after we’ve established some kind of base on the moon.

NASA has released a trailer of sorts that outlines their plans to return to the moon again. They’re really trying to make it as exciting as possible…it’s kinda neat:

The newest NASA animation about the constellation program.
The NASA Lunar Exploration Trailer in higher resolution.