Why Science Fiction Is Not A Genre "Now, a work of fiction, whether it’s set in 1950’s New York City, medieval England, or present day Rio De Janeiro, is classified as Fiction. But add a spaceship or another planet and it’s suddenly Science Fiction. Wanna add an elf to your modern day crime drama? Same problem. Fantasy is fantasy, no matter the subject matter. "Why’s this the case? Dracula features a vampire and yet it’s put in Fiction. Animal Farm has talking animals that run a farm and it’s in Fiction. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a weird dystopian novel with tropes straight out of science-fiction but it gets classified along with ‘proper literature’."
There's loads more, like how the Lord of the Rings books are regarded a high form of reading, yet go into Fantasy (unlike those other books just mentioned, and how Super 8 was a great film last year but wasn't even looked at for awards (it was my favorite, next to X-Men First Class probably, for the summer).
A very interesting and short read for us close to those types of literature. #observationdeck
Restarting my viewing of Farscape, trying to get one of my friends to start it by using Claudia Black as the lure. (He's a huge Claudia Black fan without having known Farscape.)
"The BBC accidentally used the logo of the fictitious United Nations Space Command from Microsoft's Halo (R) in a News at One bulletin about the United Nations Security Council."
I have been rewatching The Chronicle recently. So I'm currently sad over the serie final all over again. I wish it had been given a new season. ;_; It was such a awesome and unique show. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
I think that I have been burned too many times. Tricked into watching a pilot or series with her it in only for it to be short lived. I really do feel bad for her though - must really suck. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Yeah, she gets dinged as one of those actresses that kills a project (yawn....), but really it's evidence of *really* bad project selection. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
He's actually a nice enough human being. Lousy illustrator, but in person he's just another fellow. That's all that kept me from egging his signing at a local comic shop last year. XP #observationdeck(Edit comment)
I don't mind that he is a nice person, but if you want me to pay for a comic that was illustrated like that(I can draw worse), at least let the story be better than that(or at least flows with the drawings). #observationdeck(Edit comment)
-- There are big plans in the city of Chiang Rai, Thailand, for a massive Buddhist temple that priests aim to make one of the most beautiful structures in the world, and have entrusted artist Chalermchai Kositpipat to design it in all-white with glittering glass and arrangements of "rich symbolism derived from Buddhist and Hindu traditions." If Kositpipat has his way, according to an April Huffington Post dispatch, the temple will also have images of Superman, Batman and (from the movie "The Matrix") Neo -- all of which, Kositpipat said, further Lord Buddha's "message." [Huffington Post, 4-26-2012]
That's... interesting. I watched Roseanne when I was little. I enjoyed it enough to keep watching it, apparently, but I don't remember much of it. Maybe it's worth taking another look. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
So is Prototype 2 any good? Because Amazon has it for half off today and I'm down with showing some solidarity with Dan Harmon, but I don't want to spend $30 on a lousy game. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Help me add to my reading list! There are classic books out there which tend to get referenced in other media all the time. I feel like we've reached the point where the references are starting to be more familiar than the stories themselves. We all know the motto of the Three Musketeers, but how many people have read the book and know their story? How many people even know their names?
We know the names of Sherlock Holmes, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. We know that Moby Dick was a great white whale. We know who Dracula and Frankenstein's monster were, but it seems like a lot of us don't know anything else about the details of these famous stories.
I've been trying to fix that lately. I want to be familiar with all of these stories that everyone's heard of but has never actually read. I also want things like the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings; books that are so popular that everyone seems to be aware of them. Anything that manages to become universally known belongs on my reading list.
Can you think of any other suggestions? You don't have to convince me of why you like them, it doesn't matter if you've even read them yourselves. If I recognize whatever character, scene, or quote you're talking about, then I will track it down. #observationdeck
One of my favorites. a must read to prepeare for/avoid the future.
(Plus - evidently Frankenstein - you mentioned that already. everybody knows the green monster, few people read the tragic, moving story.) #observationdeck
It was a major goal of mine to read all the must-reads when I was younger. Of course, being a lit major in college didn't hurt - I was assigned Frankenstein no less than four times. If you do read it, get the 1818 version of the text, not the 1831 revision. (The Three Musketeers are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, btw, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Dumas, but I enjoyed having read it.)
I'd suggest adding to whatever list Pride and Prejudice, The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Turn of the Screw - they're shorter reads by deft authors. Almost anything by Twain, Dickens in moderation, Scott and Poe's short stories... Nineteen Eighty Four, The Satanic Verses, Don Quixote. Loved Paradise Lost. Same for The Waste Land, but suspect I'm a minority in that. Quite enjoyed Beowulf, but being able to work my way through the original Anglo-Saxon probably helped. Alice in Wonderland, The Once and Future King, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Jane Eyre, Du Maurier's Rebecca, Morrison's Beloved...
I started, but was unable to finish Wuthering Heights and Ivanhoe. May try Ivanhoe again, but I've given up on Wuthering Heights. I've read Les Miserables (unabridged) twice, but probably wouldn't do it again. Victor Hugo had something of an infodump problem at times.
A lot of those are already sitting completed on my shelf, but that just lends credibility to the rest of your list which I haven't gotten to yet. Definitely all in the right vein! #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Brave New World, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Farenheit 451 #observationdeck(Edit comment)
You've gotten a lot of really great suggestions so far, but here are a few more:
Animal Farm by George Orwell The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Persuasion by Jane Austen Dracula by Bram Stoker The Last Man by Mary Shelley Isaac Asimov's short story collections (especially the Robot ones) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
If your goal is to gain at least passing familiarity with major Western cultural reference points, I would also suggest some good collections of Greek/Roman/Norse mythology. Explore the mythology from other regions as well - Native American mythology is fascinating, as is the mythos of China and Japan. Hope this gives you a good starting point. #observationdeck
I'm a Jules Verne fan. I think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea should be required reading for pretty much everyone. I know Captain Nemo is referenced a lot in popular culture.
Also, if you've ever heard of Nurse Ratched, you should read One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Actually you should read it regardless. #observationdeck
It's actually my interest in mythology that prompted this goal in the first place. The idea that whole civilizations shared a common understanding of their entire pantheon of Gods, with their supposed moods, quirks and motivations, all without anything like our modern communication infrastructure is really fascinating.
Today we don't have any unified religious beliefs guiding our behaviour, but we still have this shared understanding of certain characters or famous scenes. In a way, Hogwarts is the new Mount Olympus. It's just that our modern pantheon is getting so large that most people aren't even familiar with all the stories. #observationdeck
Because of the recent controversy about Northstar getting married to his boyfriend, I've been wondering if Astonishing X-Men is worth a read. I've read the whole Whedon/Cassaday run, but nothing past it. Thoughts? #observationdeck(Edit comment)
I started reading with "Meanwhile," #38, 40, and 42, but haven't really enjoyed it since, so stopped after #47 with an alternate-timeline story that had potential but dropped the ball, IMO . Been enjoying Whedon's writing through trade paperbacks though. I tried reading #48 and 49 and whatever they are trying to do with marriages are the least of any reader's worries. The story, as cool as the team up was, just wasn't grabbing me, and the art was different. (Edit comment)
I think Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing a clone of both Kirk and Spock, think about it, in Star Trek 12, It came to me whilst I was on the toilet. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Simon Pegg says the villain in Star Trek 2 isn't Khan:
"Pegg is full of praise for Cumberbatch’s baddy, whom he describes as "not just another disgruntled alien. It’s a really interesting… sort of… thing," he squirms. "Obviously I can’t talk about it." Given internet rumours that Cumberbatch has been cast as Kirk and Spock nemesis Khan, will this be a very different "wrath of Khan" from the 1982 film of the same name? "It’s not Khan," replies Pegg, annoyed. "That’s a myth. Everyone’s saying it is, but it’s not.""
So, this might count as spoilers for Avengers so I'll put the it below, but I found a funny video on youtube of the hulk. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Cool planet. I just hope for consistency's sake that everyone who's annoyed about Pluto's degrading is in favor of restoring Ceres to its planetary status. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
The male to female nudity ratio is unbalanced in Game of Thrones, I cannot believe they didn't show us Rob nekkid when doing it t'other week. #observationdeck(Edit comment)
The lack of naked Robb is tragedy. It's just disappointing because I know those nudity clauses are in the contracts. I've heard them talk about them. Why aren't you using them, HBO?? #observationdeck(Edit comment)
Why Science Fiction Is Not A Genre
"Now, a work of fiction, whether it’s set in 1950’s New York City, medieval England, or present day Rio De Janeiro, is classified as Fiction. But add a spaceship or another planet and it’s suddenly Science Fiction. Wanna add an elf to your modern day crime drama? Same problem. Fantasy is fantasy, no matter the subject matter.
"Why’s this the case? Dracula features a vampire and yet it’s put in Fiction. Animal Farm has talking animals that run a farm and it’s in Fiction. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a weird dystopian novel with tropes straight out of science-fiction but it gets classified along with ‘proper literature’."
[essaysnotrants.tumblr.com]
There's loads more, like how the Lord of the Rings books are regarded a high form of reading, yet go into Fantasy (unlike those other books just mentioned, and how Super 8 was a great film last year but wasn't even looked at for awards (it was my favorite, next to X-Men First Class probably, for the summer).
A very interesting and short read for us close to those types of literature. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Restarting my viewing of Farscape, trying to get one of my friends to start it by using Claudia Black as the lure. (He's a huge Claudia Black fan without having known Farscape.)
How to approach this... #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Isn't this enough?
#observationdeck
(Edit comment)Can you work out the articles (or interminable Powerpoint presentation) that go with each of these stock photos?
[www.buzzfeed.com] #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Iron Sky.
woah.
I need some time to digest.
just...woah.
#observationdeck
(Edit comment)It drags massively in places and scales promethean heights of brilliance in others.
It is the strangest, most bipolar thing I have seen in a long time and its pure marmite.
I think its going to be very disliked or very loved.
I think i fall into the 'loved' category. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)"The BBC accidentally used the logo of the fictitious United Nations Space Command from Microsoft's Halo (R) in a News at One bulletin about the United Nations Security Council."
[www.telegraph.co.uk]
#tips #observationdeck
(Edit comment)/*puts on tinfoil hat #observationdeck (Edit comment)
... #observationdeck (Edit comment)
I have been rewatching The Chronicle recently. So I'm currently sad over the serie final all over again. I wish it had been given a new season. ;_; It was such a awesome and unique show. #observationdeck (Edit comment)
Unfortunately, awesome and unique doesn't often last on American TV.
Now for yet another singing or dancing show! :(
Poor Rena Sofer. Hollywood kept trying to get it right with her. So many shows and pilots that just didn't make it.
Sadly, I can't really forgive her for the American version of Coupling blech! #observationdeck
(Edit comment)So maybe we've been a little harsh on Liefield? :)
#nah
(Edit comment)#observationdeck
dont forget strangly sized limbs...
...but really, maybe all this time he's been 'tracing' and if we search google hard enough,we'll find freakishly proportioned people! :p
I'll let someone else type 'freakishly proportioned people' into google first though. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)What if Liefield sees a distorted version of reality where everyone is freakishly proportioned and he's just drawing what he sees?
Directed by M. Shyamagalangaladingdong #observationdeck
(Edit comment)-- There are big plans in the city of Chiang Rai, Thailand, for a massive Buddhist temple that priests aim to make one of the most beautiful structures in the world, and have entrusted artist Chalermchai Kositpipat to design it in all-white with glittering glass and arrangements of "rich symbolism derived from Buddhist and Hindu traditions." If Kositpipat has his way, according to an April Huffington Post dispatch, the temple will also have images of Superman, Batman and (from the movie "The Matrix") Neo -- all of which, Kositpipat said, further Lord Buddha's "message." [Huffington Post, 4-26-2012]
(via [www.newsoftheweird.com])
#tips
(Edit comment)#observationdeck
#lol
HOLD UP!!!!!
Joss Whedon wrote for Roseanne?
[splitsider.com]
#tips
(Edit comment)#observationdeck
#hc
O_o
Welp, it is one of the few sitcoms I ever found funny... #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Help me add to my reading list!
There are classic books out there which tend to get referenced in other media all the time. I feel like we've reached the point where the references are starting to be more familiar than the stories themselves. We all know the motto of the Three Musketeers, but how many people have read the book and know their story? How many people even know their names?
We know the names of Sherlock Holmes, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. We know that Moby Dick was a great white whale. We know who Dracula and Frankenstein's monster were, but it seems like a lot of us don't know anything else about the details of these famous stories.
I've been trying to fix that lately. I want to be familiar with all of these stories that everyone's heard of but has never actually read. I also want things like the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings; books that are so popular that everyone seems to be aware of them. Anything that manages to become universally known belongs on my reading list.
Can you think of any other suggestions? You don't have to convince me of why you like them, it doesn't matter if you've even read them yourselves. If I recognize whatever character, scene, or quote you're talking about, then I will track it down. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)One of my favorites. a must read to prepeare for/avoid the future.
(Plus - evidently Frankenstein - you mentioned that already. everybody knows the green monster, few people read the tragic, moving story.) #observationdeck
(Edit comment)It was a major goal of mine to read all the must-reads when I was younger. Of course, being a lit major in college didn't hurt - I was assigned Frankenstein no less than four times. If you do read it, get the 1818 version of the text, not the 1831 revision. (The Three Musketeers are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, btw, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Dumas, but I enjoyed having read it.)
I'd suggest adding to whatever list Pride and Prejudice, The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Turn of the Screw - they're shorter reads by deft authors. Almost anything by Twain, Dickens in moderation, Scott and Poe's short stories... Nineteen Eighty Four, The Satanic Verses, Don Quixote. Loved Paradise Lost. Same for The Waste Land, but suspect I'm a minority in that. Quite enjoyed Beowulf, but being able to work my way through the original Anglo-Saxon probably helped. Alice in Wonderland, The Once and Future King, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Jane Eyre, Du Maurier's Rebecca, Morrison's Beloved...
I started, but was unable to finish Wuthering Heights and Ivanhoe. May try Ivanhoe again, but I've given up on Wuthering Heights. I've read Les Miserables (unabridged) twice, but probably wouldn't do it again. Victor Hugo had something of an infodump problem at times.
Is that enough to start with? #observationdeck
(Edit comment)You've gotten a lot of really great suggestions so far, but here are a few more:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
Isaac Asimov's short story collections (especially the Robot ones)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
If your goal is to gain at least passing familiarity with major Western cultural reference points, I would also suggest some good collections of Greek/Roman/Norse mythology. Explore the mythology from other regions as well - Native American mythology is fascinating, as is the mythos of China and Japan. Hope this gives you a good starting point.
(Edit comment)#observationdeck
I'm a Jules Verne fan. I think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea should be required reading for pretty much everyone. I know Captain Nemo is referenced a lot in popular culture.
Also, if you've ever heard of Nurse Ratched, you should read One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Actually you should read it regardless. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)It's actually my interest in mythology that prompted this goal in the first place. The idea that whole civilizations shared a common understanding of their entire pantheon of Gods, with their supposed moods, quirks and motivations, all without anything like our modern communication infrastructure is really fascinating.
Today we don't have any unified religious beliefs guiding our behaviour, but we still have this shared understanding of certain characters or famous scenes. In a way, Hogwarts is the new Mount Olympus. It's just that our modern pantheon is getting so large that most people aren't even familiar with all the stories. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Oy: #observationdeck (Edit comment)
Although I'm a staunch opponent of bootlegs, I do enjoy looking at all these silly product packagings. #observationdeck (Edit comment)
I tried reading #48 and 49 and whatever they are trying to do with marriages are the least of any reader's worries. The story, as cool as the team up was, just wasn't grabbing me, and the art was different. (Edit comment)
I love it when the Census is released! It's so interesting! Facts! Numbers! Statistics!
...This is really the only place where I get to be excited about this....
[www.cbc.ca] #observationdeck
(Edit comment)Another article:
[www.calgaryherald.com]+Canada+aging+population+putting+demands+government+business/6694893/story.html
#observationdeck
(Edit comment)Simon Pegg says the villain in Star Trek 2 isn't Khan:
"Pegg is full of praise for Cumberbatch’s baddy, whom he describes as "not just another disgruntled alien. It’s a really interesting… sort of… thing," he squirms. "Obviously I can’t talk about it." Given internet rumours that Cumberbatch has been cast as Kirk and Spock nemesis Khan, will this be a very different "wrath of Khan" from the 1982 film of the same name? "It’s not Khan," replies Pegg, annoyed. "That’s a myth. Everyone’s saying it is, but it’s not.""
source: [www.telegraph.co.uk]
#tips
(Edit comment)#observationdeck
They already pissed away Gary Mitchell in the comics for Nu Trek. [www.tor.com] #observationdeck (Edit comment)
... #observationdeck (Edit comment)
LMAO
I'll have that drink now
Am I the only one who's worried about the repercussions of the deal he made? "there will be no where you can hide from us" #observationdeck
(Edit comment)As a defender of Pluto's degrading (knowing I'm probably in sort of a minority here ;) ) I present you this video.
And as Io9ers you might consider subscribing to the guy - his videos are amazing. #observationdeck
(Edit comment)I just hope for consistency's sake that everyone who's annoyed about Pluto's degrading is in favor of restoring Ceres to its planetary status. #observationdeck (Edit comment)
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