Posts by Eddie Clark
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Aw, I don't know if that's entirely fair -- SF fandom has it's fair share of bigoted arseholes (and how...), but even when you're being published by a powerhouse like TOR (which has a eclectic and crap-lite list that I'd be proud to part of)
Agreed, Craig - all hail TOR. Pan McMillan, the UK branch, publishes Hal Duncan and Jeff Vandermeer - who are both seriously awesome, but way, way more weird than the norm for commerical skiffy.
And Grant:
Although the fact that they feature teh gayz might have something to do with that...
I don't think SF fandom is scared of teh gayz. What about Delaney? Ricardo Pinto? Clive Barker? Mary Doria Russell? The latest Richard Morgan?
perhaps I should clarify. I really like all those authors. I'm glad that Pinto is FINALLY going to have the last Stone Dance book out next year. A lot of critics like them. But the readership for all of them, when compared to someone like David Weber or Terry Goodkind (ack) is tiny. Also, the latest Richard Morgan squicked quite a few blog reviewers out (it just made me laugh - Morgan is ludicrously in your face) - I read a number that essentially said "This is like George R R Martin but with too much gay."
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I think there's one circulating round the Chch libraries, cause I've read them all.
Gah! Well, Emma, you're the first other person I've come across who has. They are, I think, very good books, and seem to be oddly ignored by the SF community in general. Although the fact that they feature teh gayz might have something to do with that...
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I've found it a matter of whether there's a consistent system or not. Magic or science, doesn't matter. I really dislike spec-fic where the speculative elements are clearly being, as we officially call it at Bardic Web, 'pulled out of your arse'.
The most coherent fantasy magic system I've ever seen is in Jim Grimsley's Spec fic novels - starting with Kirith Kirin and moving on to The Ordinary and The Last Green Tree. Kirith Kirin is a very nice, well, written straight up fantasy, with a very well explained and structured magic system. The 2nd two are fantasy / SF crossovers, and give a lovely explanation of why things developed in that way. All 3 are also much better written than a lot of spec fic - Grimsley's better known as a (rather good) writer of plays and gay literary fiction. Kirith Kirin is rather terminally out of print (the other two are relatively easy to find), but I know that Wellington library, at least, has several copies.
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A couple of years ago I had to travel to Auckland just so they could look me in the eye (literally, the meeting took five seconds) because even though Italy is a visa waiver country you still needed a passport with biometric info, otherwise off to Auckland they made you scamper. And I'm from Wellington, where the American embassy is located.
Giovanni, I had the same experience when organising my flights for a year studying in Canada last year. I was transitting through San Francisco, and ended up needing to fly up to auckland to get a tourist visa for the pleasure of spending 4 hours in San Fran airport. 200 dollar visa, 200 dollar flight up to Auckland, 1 day's leave off work. For a 4 hour transit period.
This is because the visa waiver requires you to leave North America within 3 months. Not the USA - North America. This includes Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. So those of you planning study or extended vacations in any of those places be warned - if you are transitting through the States, you will need a visa.
Of course, the nice people at Air NZ now fly direct to Vancouver for only slightly more than the price of flying to California, but that wasn't available when I went...
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Tom quotes Sky CEO John Fellet as saying that recessions typically cause consumers to rationalise that they can invest in Sky as an aid to staying home and not spending money. Which is true, but it's hard to see why the same doesn't apply to Freeview.
Premium New Zealand sport. English sport. European sport. North American sport. Recent release movies. 24 hour news. Well, maybe not the last one.
Freeview is like watching TV only better, whereas SKY is TV only better plus poor mans' versions of watching a sports match in person or going to the movies. The products aren't equivalent (Yet - with some decent investment, I'm sure Freeview can build viable movie and sport channels).
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Thanks, I/S. The comment makes much more sense now.
Ignoring empirical evidence is fun!
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Tim Hannah:
Some respected commentators say National got over half the vote. Others say they got 45.45% of the vote. Who's right? Who knows? Probably we shouldn't implement the election results until we're sure.
Possibly some subtle irony I'm totally missing in your statement, but, erm... its an empirical question. There IS a right answer. The election is run by the Chief Electoral Officer. He counts the votes. Said count is here. National got 45.45% of the vote, and this is unlikely to change significantly following specials.
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You're right, Graeme, that Goff is way more of an old face that Ryall et al.
This doesn't change the fact that, of course, Key's whole premise is bollocks. You pick your best leadership candidate, not a fresh face for the sake of it. If you pick a new and exciting candidate who actually has no substance and no political nous you might manage to lose an unloseable election... anyone remember 2005?
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[The above, I'm fully aware, not entirely fair to Mr D. Farrar, but his calibre of commentators, combined with his occasional WHOO TITTIES posts, makes it not entirely unfair, either].
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Andrew:
Is there a word that encompasses homophobia & misogyny?
Kiwiblog.