I'm really excited about being on the Minnesota Public Radio show, "The Daily Circuit," tomorrow (Tuesday), with SF scholar Gary Wolfe and show host Kerri Miller. Show starts at 10:00am and runs until 11:00am, though the science fiction segment we're doing begins about 20 after. We'll be discussing Ray Bradbury (of course), but mostly we'll talk about SF reading recommendations: What work should everyone read - especially recent things - and what great stuff is coming out soon, like that. Here's a little blog intro to the show with a place to make your rec's if you wish to interact that way.
Click the image to go to Minnesota Public Radio's The Daily Circuit page.
It's a call-in show, so join me! If nothing else, I'd love to hear some of your recent and upcoming SF-reading recommendations: In your opinion, what should I make sure to mention?
Week in Review:
And of course:
Adventures of Jack and Stella progress:
This means I'm over half way to the 30,000 word sample I plan to complete in time to submit to an agent before the SF Writing Worshop begins. At at average of 1000 words/day (as it seems I've been doing lately), it'll be close but totally do-able. HOORAY!
Chris
Click the image to go to Minnesota Public Radio's The Daily Circuit page.
It's a call-in show, so join me! If nothing else, I'd love to hear some of your recent and upcoming SF-reading recommendations: In your opinion, what should I make sure to mention?
Week in Review:
- Prometheus rocks. It has now become one of my favorite movies. Must see again, soon. Loved it so much, in fact, that I must now re-watch the whole anthology. Started last night with the much-derided #4, Alien: Resurrection, which I have always liked (except for the last few minutes).
clevermanka had the same reaction, and came up with the best ending: Monster-Baby follows Ripley back to the Betty, Ripley terrified that it's hunting her. She jumps aboard just as the ship lifts off, and we see Monster-Baby raise its arms, look sad, and cry as it watches her leave - she realizes it just wanted to be with her, not harm her, and she can have the same emotional response as they watch the military vessel crash with her baby aboard. Fixed. You are full of story-fixin' awesome, clevermanka, here and of course in helping me work through blocks in Jack and Stella. - Astro-Porn of the Day: Two Solar Eclipses, one with Ray Bradbury. Lots of photos from the Venus transit of the Sun and the solar eclipse. Also, tons of information about the Venus transit here.
- Remembering Ray Bradbury. James Gunn's remembrance, and a few words from me. Plus a great letter from Bradbury to a fan.
- ConQuest convention report.
- Campbell Award and Sturgeon Award finalists, plus Campbell Conference update.
And of course:
This means I'm over half way to the 30,000 word sample I plan to complete in time to submit to an agent before the SF Writing Worshop begins. At at average of 1000 words/day (as it seems I've been doing lately), it'll be close but totally do-able. HOORAY!
Chris
Comments
I wrote some about it at http://jimvanpelt.livejournal.com/406169.html
K. [that said, enjoy!]
That said, I hear ya. Should be fun!
What is it you like about PROMETHEUS so much? What is so good that it overcomes the film's many crippling weak points?
What's not to like? I've seen some of the fanboy-hate online, to which I shrug and say, "Haters will always hate."
- R. Scott's being able to only color outside the lines of his established universe is the bare minimum that one would expect.
-Visuals? Feh! It's 2012, of course it's going to have great space visuals. Again, Scott's just managing to walk and chew gum here.
-cosmological horror... well maybe... but as you said, this is the ALIEN universe, so that kind of comes with the price of admission. PLUS it still doesn't compare to TRANSFORMERS when Optimus Prime notes that, having seen the face of their makers, they've seen the face of an enemy.
-I must argue, sir, with your "excellent character" evaluation. Shaw was okay (although Scott had to use some daddy-issue shorthand on her). Holloway the frat-boy scientist with inexplicablel mood swings? A geologist who is SO BAD at his job that he can't figure out that these tunnels are not, in fact, made of rock. Hoodie-biologist? Any biologist who doesn't know that if the ooze scrotum-creature has sharp teeth in its pussy-mouth and might just BITE YOU with them, he deserves what he gets. We, humanity, deserve to have xenomorph generating biohazard goo poured on us from the heavens just for letting this guy graduate. Whats-her-name, the commander who was only defined by daddy-issue shorthand? Need I go on? Need I?
-I would like to think there are cool ideas in this movie, but after so many mistakes, I can't be sure if they are cool ideas or just MORE mistakes.
-Well-put-togher. Well, yeah, again, that's more of a bare-minimum thing.
What I don't like is that it didn't HAVE to have those mistakes. You could have had the geologist and the biologist attempt to do the smart thing and lose anyway. Eh? Wouldn't that have been better? Wouldn't that have been more interesting?
If Holloway hadn't been an unforgivably selfish prick (knowing he's infected with something, but not telling anyone, even the woman he claims to love and just got through swapping (infected) body fluids with). If he had done something even remotely reasonable, wouldn't that have been more interesting? Harder for R. Scott, sure.
Lazy! Lazy filmaking! The curse of our time!
Plus, ditto what http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html says!
Now, why Hollywood keeps hiring writers from its incestuous stables rather than hiring authors who need to make things interesting without visuals, I do not understand. Your critique would be useful if this were a story or novel rather than a movie. And from what I've seen from the hater-fanboys who infest teh interwebs, most people have no idea what goes into making a big-budget film. Good luck having it work the way we, as text-authors, would do it.