Jlawrence’s Comments (group member since Mar 08, 2010)

Jlawrence’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

That's funny about LeGuin -- I'd imagine Close Encounters would be sonically restrained in comparison with the sonic blasts meted out per minute in a typical Micheal Bay film these days, but it could also depend on how cranked up the speakers were at the theater she attended. ;)

Yes, I agree Anthony was actually not super-curmudgeonly, and I really liked the punishment he devised for designers who do not make on/off switches obvious.

Keith wrote: "I'd contribute to a kickstarter campaign for a film called "Ray Bradbury Using Pinterest"

Me too!

The third-person voice for Kassad and Sol's Tales were odd in terms of the structure we're given (each pilgrim telling their own tales), but I quickly adjusted to the shift once in them, since I found them gripping enough. Also holding out to see if it's a later-revealed "in-book" author (like Silenus or the counselor, as mentioned above) doing that stylistic tweak.

I am really intrigued by the Shrike's invoking of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, in the dreams Sol has, as another piece of "What is the Shrike, and what does it want?" puzzle. But, while I could see, for example, Kassad being punished/sacrificing in payment for his sins of violence, and the poet being punished for his vanity/summoning of the Shrike, I don't really see that Sol has a sin to pay for -- unless it's the "sin" of Rachel's investigating the Time Tombs re-bounding onto him, which would be a reversal of the old "sins of the father passing on to the children" - a reversal in keeping with the backward time-flow Rachel undergoes....but, if that's the case, isn't Sol already being punished enough through suffering through Rachel's reversal?

My guess is that the *additional* burden of the Shrike's demand for Rachel's sacrifice is less additional personal punishment and more something that ties in to the Shrike's possible purpose (as we're given hints of later in Hyperion) as (view spoiler)[a weapon from the future, wielded either by the AIs or the Outcasters (hide spoiler)]. Ie, I'm hoping (close to the end of Hyperion and primed to plunge into the sequel), that the demand ties into the specific plans of the Shrike (more specific plans than 'death for all' that is ;) ).

Each of the pilgrims has been set up as having a close connection to the Shrike despite none of them belonging to the Shrike church, a connection that seems to go deeper than the usual pilgrim's position of willing fodder for the Shrike's blades.

(Also, whenever I think about Shrike/Sol/Rachel - God/Abraham/Isaac, the first verse of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited starts repeating in my head. ;) )

Yeah, this Tale was excellently done - emotionally powerful without being cheesy. I agree with Nick that there's a echo of the 'deterioration' arc in Flowers for Algernon, but with the focus here on memories (and identity-through-memories) instead of the focus on intellectual prowess in Flowers. I did think about Benjamin Button as well, just from the concept - I haven't seen or read it.

How far into the Tale did it take you all to connect Rachel with the baby Sol has been carrying around? I admit I felt like I was slow on the uptake when I made the connection mid-way through reading about Rachel's regression.

I can sympathize a bit with hard science-fiction grumblers in terms of the plausibility of the backward growth. With things like the farcasters I can more easily imagine my own partial explanation (eg, fine-tuned, stabalized connected wormholes), and even the Shrike's ability to choose the speed at which time flows for it I could see being an advanced technology that still could fit in with known physics -- but it's much harder for me to imagine a plausible explanation for Rachel's regression -- it is the most 'magical' element of the book for me so far. That said, it doesn't ruin anything for me -- I'm just wondering if there's some attempt to explain it in the later books? And story-wise, it is echoed nicely by the time distortions around the Time Tombs, and the Shrike's ability to move at chosen speeds of time-flow, and as others have mentioned, the theme of memory.

Also really liked the parallels of the Sol's Shrike dreams with the Old Testament Jehovah demanding Abraham to sacrifice his son - and all the questions that raised for Sol about religious obedience, cosmic justice/injustice etc. And the fact that both he and his wife had (received?) the same dream was tantalizing as well. Of all the Pilgrims, I'm probably most interested in seeing what happens to Sol and Rachel at the end of this pilgrimage.

Random wrote: "Is it not more enjoyable and informative to argue over a book's merits (or lack or merits) than to quibble over its categorization? The first can bring insight or enlightenment, the latter just posturing over whose razor's edge definition is the correct definition."

Yes, what the author has specifically done (and how well) with the elements of a book is always more interesting to me than whether those elements strictly fall into one genre, sub-genre or another.

For the contention that Hyperion shouldn't be a Laser pick -- I can agree that elements of Hyperion lean more toward science fantasy than 'hard' science fiction. But I disagree that you could simply re-cast the thing as a pure high-fantasy and have it essentially be the same work.

To me it's Dan Simmons' masterful mixing of not just science fiction and fantasy elements, but also horror and noir, all bound with solid to excellent writing, that make Hyperion interesting and worth reading.

I think part of the difficulty of a simple, clear-cut definition of "science ficiton" is bound up in the fact that the term "science fiction" has historically included a *wide* variety of works that register at all different places on the scientifically-rigorous and not-so-scientifically rigorous scale. In addition, science fiction has shared common roots with and been messily influenced by other not-scientifically-rigorous genres -- most obviously and strongly fantasy and horror -- which has added to its historically amorphous (hungry amoeba?) like nature.

A good reminder of all this is this awesome visual history of science fiction. Look at the roots, look where things spread and crossed-over.

Also, for the arguments that "Laser" should be narrowly defined to only allow Heinleinian hard science fiction: I find it somewhat odd that one would come to a book club to only read what they would have read on their own anyway. I like being in book clubs that prod me to read things I wouldn't normally read.

For instance, when joining, I was laser in taste, yet I had a general disdain for the *entire* field of fantasy. Now I count several fantasy books among my favorites. That's thanks to S&L broadening my horizons.

Ugh, I didn't know that about the director either. IMDBing, I see he also directed Rendition, which by most accounts was an interesting idea poorly realized. Out of his track record, it looks like Tsotsi was the best received (haven't seen it either) .

Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley are good signs, granted, but I was hoping someone with a more solid record would helm this - Hood is writing the screenplay as well as directing. *Fingers crossed for a surprise (of the good variety)?*

One my favorite obscure books is The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World by A.K. Dewdney. A detailed computer simulation of a 2-D world ends up making mysterious contact with an *actual* two dimensional world, teeming with a full civilization of intelligent creatures who've adapted technology and engineering to their universe's constraints. Fun tale, likeable protagonist (Yndred) whose travels we follow as he explains his world and worldview to his human watchers. The world is very detailed, wonderfully thought-out, and fleshed out with many excellent illustrations.

Not much read these days is the delightful light fantasy The 13 Clocks by James Thurber.

The Codex Seraphinianus is a mind-blowing encyclopedia of an imaginary world, described in an imaginary language (well, it might be real, some people have tried to "crack its code"). Amazing surreal illustrations throughout.

I caught in the theater - very clever & fun. Yes, it's best to go in knowing as little as possible about it, but it's another film success for Joss this year!

Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "Can't wait to get the dvd so i can watch out for all the references I missed the first time around."

Yes! This will be a great one to do some pausing/slo-mo with. (view spoiler)[Especially on the list of all the possible supernatural antagonists in the control room, when the bets were being made, and of course, doing the all-out-chaos battle at the end (hide spoiler)].

It was also funny watching the jock guy and thinking, 'Now where I have seen him before?' until halfway through the movie it clicked: 'He's Thor! (Chris Hemsworth)'

Damn, you guys are OLD! :)

That Russian film Stalker was directed by Andrey Tarkovsky, who also directed an adaptation of the novel Solaris by..........Stanislaw Lem! The novel Solaris is immensely more approachable than Memoirs Found in a Bathtub - if we'd read Solaris instead, S&L might not even have the verb 'to Lem'. Tarkovsky's adaptation is eerie and beautiful but *immensely slow*, he liked to stretch things out, and out, and ouuuuuuuuuut, and he jettisoned certain interesting sf details of the novel. (There's also Steven Soderbergh's 2002 adaption of Solaris with George Clooney, which to me was very flat.)

http://blog.blankbaby.com/2012/05/pie...

Now I kinda want a whole series: Ol' Codgers of Sci-Fi Tech Reviews!

(It would be great to get a Ray Bradbury rant-review, but he won't go near these satanic bearers of the evil of e-books, I reckon.)

Saw it Friday, and thought it was great fun. Like aldenoneil, I was amazed at how well it balanced all the characters, their personalities and backstories, and mixed patented Whedon humor with the sfx whiz-bang. I want to see it one more time in the theater, too.

Also loved seeing the Prometheus trailer on the big screen.

I've been meaning to check this out, especially since I'm big fan of Anthony Head from his days of playing Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

You're welcome - it was great fun making it, and I'm glad people are enjoying it. :)

Dharmakirti wrote: "Brandi wrote: Also I find watching the shows with the original Japanese voice actors are far more pleasing experience than with the English-language actors. Anyone else agree?"

With the exception of some of the Miyazaki films, I much prefer the Japanese voice actors."

I usually find the Disney/Miyazaki dubs are decent (they go out of their way to get good actors), but still prefer the originals. BUT the English cast for Princess Mononoke is excellent and perfect fits for their characters - for that one, I greatly prefer the dub (and that's one I've watched over and over).

Likewise, the Cowboy Bebop dub is good, and the FLCL is decent, but I still enjoy the originals (especially Mayumi Shintani as Haruko in FLCL - her unique voice is amazing).

But often dubs are horrible and ruin the whole feel of an anime for me -- the English cast of Evangelion does this for me (Eva walks a fine line between brilliant and completely ridiculous anyway and the cheesy English line readings, especially from the guy playing Shinji, push it right over into ridiculous).

This is also the bane of anime on Netflix streaming for me -- I was excited about watching the post-Standalone Complex Ghost in the Shell series, and then realized they were all the dubs. To be expected really, but still I was bummed.

Sean wrote: "Based on the shows you list, I think you'd enjoy Penguindrum if it ever gets an American release. Just watch this clip and then consider that the series gets even weirder."

Haha, I did like that! Is it fan subbed? I might have to check that out, and some others on your list. Sounds like noitaminA is indeed my demographic.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. I did a lot of kickstarter game pledging recently - this, Wasteland 2, Faster Than Light, and Banner Saga. Exciting times for independent games!

terpkristin wrote: "If you have the mp3, it's pretty easy to make iOS versions. And most Android phones let you use a regular mp3.

You should post the mp3 so people can grab it...just sayin'."

Done & done! :)

Sword & Laser Theme Music MP3

Oh man, thank you guys!! Yes, it was me.

Ring tone - hmmm, I know nothing about making one, but I'll look into that!

Also note forum member Anne, discussion leader on The Magicians, recorded a ukelele version of the theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esexyj...

Justin wrote: "I often wonder if it boils down to general trends in storytelling that turns me off of a lot of anime. Emphasis on more over-the-top facets, really wacky tonality levels, and just a general sense of melodrama seems to dominate a lot of the medium."

Yeah, despite a wide variety of genres within anime (romantic comedy, science fiction, horror, drama, fantasy, etc.), I feel there's some strong stuck-in-adolesence conventions within the entire medium that make a lot of it frustrating (or plain mind-numbing) to me. I say this as someone who owns and *really* loves certain anime series and movies (but also as someone whose anime viewing has dropped off a lot about 7 years ago).

The anime I like best usually leans away from those over-the-top, otaku-pandering conventions OR leans so far into those conventions that they, well, I don't want to say takes it to the next level because I hate that phrase - let's say "leans so far into the anime conventions that they end up riding the conventions like a rocket to a new planet."

In the 'taking the conventions into a liberating hyperdrive' category are my three favorites, all by Gainax:

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- giant robot genre taken to some bizarre, psychotic and amazing places

His and Her Circumstances -- a typical high-school romantic comedy made amazing by constantly and hilariously visualizing the main character's neurotic thoughts -- and by treating the characters with more subtelty than most romantic comedy

FLCL -- Combines His and Her Circumstance's visual innovations with sci-fi and hilarously batty tone/imagery shifts, while still having some non-cheesy dealing with growing-up (or not growing up) emotions at the core of its craziness

Part of my drift away from anime was caused by the heartbreak of watching Gainax morph from an innovative and anime-cliche-challenging studio into a lobotomized panderer to the worst anime tropes of otaku-wish-fulfillment, with these series: the ultra-pandering Mahoromatic, Diebuster 2 -- which could have been good if not torpedoed with its panty-flashing genki girl lead whose stupidity is supposed to be cute and funny -- and the unforgivable nadir of He is My Master (14-year old pervert gets his own live-in harem of submissive maids).

OK, moving out of bitterness mode:

Serial Experiments Lain, which has been mentioned, is another favorite -- errie and strangely touching cyber-puzzle of a series (though the very 1st ep is hard to get through -- it starts giving you much more to go on after that).

Satoshi Kon's films are excellent - Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress and Paprika all do wonderful things blurring the line between reality and fantasy.

Liked the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex series, want to watch the other related series.

The recent film Summer Wars is definitely in the 'lean into the conventions' category, but is really good fun.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other favorites...

edit: Oh, and Miyazaki's films that people have mentioned - my favorites are Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro (no one can resist Totoro!)

I've always loved science-fiction cover art. I've been intrigued by Hyperion for a long time (both for its cover and what I've heard about the content), but instead of taunting me from a store shelf, it's been taunting me from my own bookshelf - I'm pretty sure I bought it used in Austin more than 10 years ago. It was on my "read this book this year, dammit" list anyway, so I was even happier that it won the S&L pick for May.

For lovers of sci-fi cover art, I recommend the book Infinite Worlds: Fantastic Visions Of Science Fiction Art, which holds an amazing number of great illustrations between its covers (it was really fun to see ones I remembered but haven't seen in a long time), and relates some interesting history of the evolution of sf art, illustrator's bios, etc. There are many places where it points out how different covers varied wildly from the actual content, or (more rarely) made pains to be accurate.

Some covers are indeed cheap or absurdly divorced from the book's contents. But sometimes mediocre source material is totally outshone by a cover that does a far better job of conjuring up a world.

Sandi wrote: "The Canterbury Tales were actually written in Middle English, not Old English. Beowulf is in Old English. I took a semester of Chaucer in college and it was really tough. At my university, either..."

Oh, sorry, I got that wrong, too. It even says "Middle English" as the original text choice on the site I linked to above. My college exposure to Chaucer was a big chunk of a semester class, but not the whole class, and while the professor (who was actually great - I also took an excellent folklore class from him) loved to read the original Middle English out loud, I think the required reading was a book with original and modern versions on facing pages, for which I was thankful.

I read some of the Canterbury Tales in college, and I am going to try to re-read at least some of it while reading Hyperion for S&L. I've forgotten any specifics about the Canterbury Tales, but I remember being struck by how funny some of the pilgrim's tales are, once you get past the language (even with a modern 'translation' it's still very much something of its time).

It's true, as far as I can remember, that the individual stories in Canterbury Tales don't interlock in the way I've heard the stories in Hyperion do. That will be interesting to look at.

The Electronic Literature Foundation has a nice site for the Canterbury Tales, where you can choose from the menu at the left to read it in a modern version, original old English, or have page-to-page or line-to-line comparisons of the two. I'm trying that out.