I spent a long weekend in Amsterdam in March and my friend and I rented bikes and joined the masses going about their lives on their seemingly WWII-era clunker bikes. I had to work desperately hard to keep up with the locals, all of whom knew the score, were moving en masse like clockwork and at what seemed like at least 20 mph. The bikes are all big and heavy and the seats are pretty high (good for spotting oncoming trolleys).
I asked our rental guy why, if all the bikes in Amsterdam were basically junkers, everyone uses a monster heavy-duty double chain bike lock to secure them...? He explained that the local drug fiends will steal an unsecured bike and get 10-15 euros for it, enough for a fix. So (here's the adaptive evolution part), with the constant threat of theft, no one in their right mind would even think to cruise around on a half-decent Trek, Scott or any $15k Italian carbon fiber spaceship on wheels. I didn't see one road bike the entire time I was there.
If you go, check these guys out:
[www.macbike.nl]
Totally cylon-ic. Can we get an interior shot (i.e. its organic guts)?
Lower right hand corner of meteorite image: bi-pedal footprint...
David Hartwell's Year's Best SF 14 is even better than Dozois' anthologies...
First sci-fi novel written by a Star Trek actor: George Takei's (and Robert Asprin's) Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe, Playboy Press, December 1979 (coinciding with the release of ST:TMP).
From the back cover blurb copy: "Hosato is a killer - a saboteur - a duelist..." Cover art features a muscular, shirtless Takei blasting a robot with his laser rifle in one hand and raising his sword in the other (whilst standing atop a pile of previously killed robots.
It's absolutely horrible, but it got Bill Shatner kick-started as a "novelist."
Talking GI Joe (Astronaut, natch...), ACE paperback Philip K Dick first editions, 1987 Gibson SG with Bigsby tremolo.
I just all the respect for Abrams and the people involved in the new Trek film. I gladly accepted the alternate universe thing, but throwing in a competing pop culture icon from a completely different film is simply ridiculous, egocentric and self-serving. It proves, sadly, that Abrams really has no respect for the Trek legacy, characters and universe. Am I the only one who's pissed off at this immaturity? Maybe Favreau will throw in a Batman mask on Tony Stark's workbench in Iron Man 2...
I grew up with the original Kamen Riders (X, V3, etc.) in Japan during the 1970s, and these guys will need the classic grasshopper/cricket mask makeover to get me to pay attention again. And why even continue to use the Japanese word "Kamen" in the title? Why not just call it Masked Rider Dragon Knight?
Love the soundtrack...Is that Mastodon?
Star Trek's "story" is still viewed stereotypically as Science by the mainstream media and western culture. Star Wars' "story" is viewed just as stereotypically as Faith, which is far more accepted/tolerated/embraced in our society. Trek is (or was) threatening because of its empiricism, scientific method, problem-solving, etc.
Anyone catch McCoy's throwaway line of dialogue when he calls for Nurse Chapel in sick bay?
Scotty was way too jokey and goofball once he found himself aboard the Enterprise. Should have kept the cranky demeanor from Delta Vega. His ewok sidekick was ridiculous and completely unnecessary to the story.
Liked the going-to-warp sound effect of metal smashing on metal. Enterprise looked good throughout, especially in the long shots -- haven't seen the likes of those since TOS (all the other ST films seemed to have a fascination with extreme close-ups of the ship, and never let us see it from a distance...).
How does old Spock end up on Delta Vega? Did I miss that? Wished for some sort of nod and reference to All Our Yesterdays from the original series, what with the ice cave and all..."Get it through your head -- we can't get back!"
Please, no more scenes of vast Starfleet lecture halls/auditoriums with the council of admirals, etc. spouting expositional dialogue.
Anyway, I'll probably see it a second time. Anything that keeps the original Trek alive is worth supporting.
And of course Saldana and Quinto are going to totally get behind this canon-wrecking move and spout studio-corp-speak-ese psychobabble like "Uhura is almost a canvas onto whom Spock can project..." Both actors know they've got it made with umpteen more sequels in the pipe even before this movie screens.
Naturally, I'm bitterly jealous and envious of everyone even remotely involved in the new film...
Reynolds is genius, and House of Suns continues to prove it. Try David Marusek's Counting Heads and Mind Over Ship for similar themes of AI, clones and some damned good writing and plot. Reynolds, Marusek, and Ken MacLeod are the only SF writers who actually seem to understand the craft of writing -- concise sentence structure, realistic dialogue and pace, etc.
Am I the only one who heard Brad Pitt's character from 12 Monkey's in Urban's line delivery?
His bionic nanotube-PVC right ear can hear everything we're saying so shut up already...
Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer said it best in the flashback scene at the beginning of Annie Hall when, as a prescient and nihilistic nine year old, he just gives up all hope and motivation because he's learned the universe is expanding. "What's the point?" Same goes for this series: what's the point? We're (human civilization) just a blip on the broader ecological timescale of the planet. Gotta make good TV out of our impending demise, though.
So, how does the Eiffel Tower get bent at a 45 degree angle like that? Any structural engineers care to comment? Unless something impacted it, wouldn't the whole thing just uniformly collapse/decay (or is the image of uniform collapse and decay not dramatic enough for the History Channel?)?
Like anything else, 90% of sci fi is derivative crap that's content with the same re-hashed tropes as have been beaten to death in fantasy. But, for the 10% that is quality, I've taken to using the various "Year's Best" anthologies to ID new authors who are producing quality stuff (David Marusek comes to mind...). Plus, I buy the anthologies used on eBay or through other online shops. I don't think many people are buying much of anything indiscriminately any more, as many of us did in the go-go '90s, whether it was sci fi paperbacks or clothes or houses (especially houses...).
I'm a huge fan of Reynolds as well, and if you like his amazing concepts and characters, try David Marusek's Counting Heads. Absolutely amazing, and definitely in the vein of Reynolds. I've been searching for years for another SF writer who could hold the proverbial candle to Reynolds skill, and I think I've found him in Marusek.
Even as an imprint of a giant publisher, any new forum for SF writers should be cause for celebration. If anything, there are more and more small presses and imprints now catering to the SF crowd -- Night Shade Books, Eos, Pyr, Tachyon, Solaris... Any press or imprint that publishes Chris Roberson will always get my money. For a brilliant example of Roberson's work, check out "The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small," reprinted in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Two, edited by Jonathan Strahan, from Night Shade Books, 2008 QP edition. Genius...
"I love New Caprica!!"
