On 03/09/10 23:38, BCS wrote:
> Venison makes really bad beef. And as long as you expect it to tates
> like beef it will taste bad. Same goes for most anything, if you think
> it's something it's not, you'll think it's a bad example of what it's not.

It's rather serendipitous that you say that as I recall a past
experience.

Long time ago a girlfriend once asked if I would like a coffee to
which I said yes.  Five minutes later she came back with the
hot beverage in a cup which I then sipped and almost spit out.
This was such horrid coffee.

She thought she would delight me by bringing chicken noodle soup
instead.  However as I was expecting the taste of coffee it tasted
bloody aweful. Once she explained that she was trying to
delight me with something a little different for the winter's day
and then I re-tasted it, with the knowledge of chicken soup in
mind, it was very in fact very nice.

Thirty years later I still remember what horrid coffee it was
but what nice chicken soup it was also once I knew it was chicken
soup.  Crazy our minds can be!!!

Cheers
Justin Johansson

On 02/09/2010 22:30, bearophile wrote:
> BLS:
>> But if you like SF, buy the book from Stanislaw Lem. IMO the best SF
>> author and philosopher ever.
>
> The SF author I like most is Greg Egan.
> Any group of ten of his short stories contain more ideas than the whole career of an average SF author :-)
>
> Bye,
> bearophile

Thanks, Is there a book you would recommend from Greg Egan ?  To be honest with you I have never heard about him.

BLS:
> Thanks, Is there a book you would recommend from Greg Egan ?  To be honest with you I have never heard about him.

Greg Egan is exceptionally good and he invents some of the most incredible ideas, but he's not for everyone. He writes the hardest SF. So if you don't like scientifically accurate SF, then Greg Egan isn't for you.

I have read all novels and short stories he has written (but the last one, "Zendegi", I will eventually read it too). As it happens with most other SF writers, his books are not fully separated from each other even if no characters last more than a book, there is a development in the author ideas. So I suggest you to start from the first books and short story collections he has written, in chronological order.

On the author site (and elsewhere on the net) you find many (probably 15 short stories or so), so even if you don't read them in chronological order, you will be able to know if you want to read his books.

http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Egan

I have written several short stories inspired by ideas or stories invented by Greg Egan. I think you will need to wait 20-40 more years before some movie starts to copy from his ideas (typically in a bad way, see the last movies based on Asimov novels, like I robot, Bicentary man, etc. The movie on I robot tells even the opposite of the purpose those short stories were written for).

Bye,
bearophile

On 09/03/2010 10:12 PM, bearophile wrote:
>
> Greg Egan is exceptionally good and he invents some of the most incredible ideas, but he's not for everyone.

I was curious and checked out his website. I ended up reading the short story “Crystal Nights”: http://ttapress.com/553/crystal-nights-by-greg-egan/

I liked it, but it was a modern-day take on "Microcosmic God" from 1941. I would be a little bit wary about attributing a bunch of new ideas from him. Lots of ideas are "in the air" and in many cases there's not much new under the sun. Just a different variation on a theme. The stories may still be good, but they are not necessarily revolutionary.

Jeff Nowakowski:
> I liked it, but it was a modern-day take on "Microcosmic God" from 1941. I would be a little bit wary about attributing a bunch of new ideas from him.

One story is a too much small sample. He has invented tons of ideas, but of course you are right that it's very hard to invent totally new things.

Bye,
bearophile

On 01/09/2010 15:26, Justin Johansson wrote:
> I know this is completely off topic and surely shows my age,
> but I wonder if anyone else on this ng has seen this movie.
>
> I couldn't remember the name of this movie but googling for
> movie star "bomb bay" "I think"
> found it for me first pop.
>
> Dark Star (1974) - Memorable quotes
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/quotes
>
> The reason for mentioning this is because the next time I ask
> a question about D on this ng that comes back with a something
> for me to consider further, I'll be answering along the lines
> "returning to bomb bay to think about this"
> and hopefully people will understand what I mean :-)
>
> Cheers
> Justin Johansson
>

I saw that one some years ago. I have a high-tolerance for low-budget effects, so when I read that it was quite a classic, I decided to watch it. It was good, yeah.


-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer

On 02/09/2010 06:46, Walter Bright wrote:
>
> Real sci-fi is based on a "what if X" and then a story is built around
> it. 2001 is what if we find an artifact on the moon? Colossus is what if
> a defense computer becomes sentient? Soap operas, horse operas, etc.,
> aren't really sci-fi even if they are in spaceships. Monster movies are
> sci-fi, but the genre is so tired (something is killing the crew one by
> one!) that I really don't want to see another one.
>

2001 A Space Odissey is about much, much more than "what if we find an artifact on the moon" that its not even funny. :p

> Is Star Wars sci-fi? I'd say not, because spaceships are the setting,
> but have nothing to do with the plot which you could transfer wholesale
> to a western or an eastern. The fact that entire sequences seem to be
> lifted directly from "633 Squadron" also argues that it is not sci-fi.
>

I highly disagree that you could transfer the Star Wars plot wholesale to a western. The Force is one big reason right there. Not only because it is equivalent to magic or psionic powers, but also because apparently it is (for better or worse) a central catalyst element in the moral decisions and alignment of characters.

As for an eastern, what is that? A movie set in ancient China/Orient/Asia?

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer

Bruno Medeiros schrieb:
> 
> As for an eastern, what is that? A movie set in ancient China/Orient/Asia?
> 
Seems to have different meanings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostern is one
Also (according to german wikipedia) it's also used for martial arts movies (John Woo, Jackie Chan etc).

On 03/09/2010 01:40, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 9/2/10 17:03 CDT, Walter Bright wrote:
>> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>> The scene was of the main character driving on a busy highway into a
>>> crowded metropolis. The meaning was to question the veracity and
>>> meaning of perception, existence, and human interaction - all of which
>>> are central themes in the movie.
>>
>> This sounds more like an after the fact rationalization!
>
> That's the thing with art - a relational value.
>
> Andrei


I also saw Solyaris and like Walter I didn't find it to be that special. I haven't given it a second view, which could (potentially) improve my appreciation of the movie. Such has happened before, with 2001 for example, which is one of my top 5 all-time favorite movies, but which I also wasn't too impressed with my first viewing.

But that increased appreciation would likely only happen if I gained a better understanding of the moive. So if indeed much of it is subjective/abstract/open-to-interpretation then that wouldn't happen, I generally don't like this kind of thing. (That's why I dislike almost all David Lynch movies... a level of magnitude above Solyaris in that regard)

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer