Posts by Steve Parks
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Muse: Monday Linky Love (With Added Geekery), in reply to linger,
Islander, I wasn’t commenting on the popularity of Brazil (although it seems fairly well known and generally well regarded). Neither would I deny the cultural resonance that 1984 has achieved (although only a very small faction of people who use terms like ‘Big Brother’ would have actually read the book).
I suspect Steve’s comment about “better story” may not have been entirely serious – but it really depends on what kind of “story” you’re expecting.
I was being a bit glib with ‘story’ yeah. If I were to expand I would have explained why I found Brazil to be more effective cinema than 1984 is literature. But you’ve done that excellently, better than I would have. So I’ll just go and have another cup of coffee instead.
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Maybe. I agree that changes in the level of science or technology don’t have to be advances, necessarily. But in this case, the point of the argument that it isn’t SF seems to be that the future setting itself is just window-dressing. That is, it isn’t about the future at all – that’s just a way to distance his story from being ‘a bit too close to home’ as Sacha put it. I think that’s doubtful. It wasn’t set in the future at a whim. If it had been set contemporaneously he would have had to change a lot of the story – in the 1940s people wouldn’t be spying on each other through a ubiquitous transceiving television system. So the future setting and technological changes go hand in hand. There are other ways to argue for its SF status (social science fiction, dystopia) but for me the technological change is the clincher.
Not that it’s a very good story anyway. Brazil is better.
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Muse: Monday Linky Love (With Added Geekery), in reply to Sacha,
I understood it was thinly-disguised satire and that the title was originally 1948 but it was thought a bit too close to home.
Thinly disguised satire of Stalinism, yes. As for the name, that’s one suggestion, by Anthony Burgess apparently. As far as I know, it was always intended to be set in the future, after a nuclear war, and featuring technology that wouldn’t have been available at the time the book was written.
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Muse: Monday Linky Love (With Added Geekery), in reply to Craig Ranapia,
…they’re not “really” writing genre fiction but allegories for things worthy of the attention of grown-ups.
Yeah, a similar approach is used by some to try and “excuse” 1984 from being classed as science fiction.
Anyway, in other news, there are reports that Tim Hetherington, one of the directors of Restrepo, on at the World Cinema Showcase currently screening in NZ, has been killed in Libya.
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Yes sad to hear about Elisabeth Sladen too.
Plus one to what Jacqui said about adaptations, and Sacha said about LA Confidential.
85 Authors Protest At The BBC’s Treatment Of Genre Fiction. The Fundy Post’s Paul Litterick is not impressed.
The bit where he called Lord of the Rings a “steaming pile of cliches” was….ironic, right? Right?
The part where he said “at least nobody mentioned Margaret Atwood this time” was premature.
The BBC coverage also included interviews with Sarah Waters and Margaret Atwood – some of Atwood’s work, including The Handmaid’s Tale, has been described as science fiction.
From the BBC news article responding to Hunt’s claims. I guess she’ll never live it down…
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Sacha,
spoken like a man with Freeview
heh
Sorry, busy watching the Court Report. -
Anywho, Media 7 is on, meet ya all back here in 30 minutes.
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Muse: Hey Greg O'Connor, Krup You!, in reply to vangam,
Vangam, it can be both. Your contention that he peacefully expressed displeasure at "what was happening" doesn't preclude it being a dick move.
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Muse: Hey Greg O'Connor, Krup You!, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
I agree with those saying that it looks like a dick move to sing that particular song just as the police were doing what I understand was a routine check. But if being a dick got you arrested and charged, Micheal Laws should be perennially before the courts.
Risking an auto-derail here. but my issues with so-called “hate speech” laws are a wee bit more nuanced that “PC gone mad”; more “good intentions causing more problems than they solve’.
Always glad to help with derails. I consider “hate speech” laws pretty ridiculous. And yeah, partly because they lead to ridiculous decisions.
(Okay, that’s not technically an example of hate speech law as such, but it's the same approach. Besides, if you’re going to find reason to censor ‘Money for Nothing’, then at least take the opportunity to censor the whole damn song.)
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Hard News: Perverse Entertainment, in reply to Grant McDougall,
As for Palin and Bachmann being “over already” I can but hope. Apart from Obama actually losing, my next biggest fear politically is Palin winning.
Don't worry, she won't.
On the issue of Trump running, I've heard that if he wanted to run in the primaries he would be required to file a financial disclosure with the Federal Electoral Commission, which he won't want to do. So really, his running is a joke suggestion. But then, we knew that.