Posts by giovanni tiso

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  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    In a nutshell, I don't have one

    Pffft. Everybody should have one of those.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    On which subject, Philip.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Holiday Musings,

    I'm really not sure what recent action spectacle you'd be unfavourably comparing it to.

    Other than the fact that it was trite, boring and predictable in its outcome, you mean? There is a difference between technically accomplished - brilliantly realised as you put it - and imaginative and memorable. Seeing that there is nothing that sets that scene apart (compositionally, in terms of how it is written), as soon as it gets superseded from a technical standpoint - which ought to happen in about twenty minutes from now - it will be completely forgotten.

    The action scenes in Aliens or the two Terminators are worlds apart, there is absolutely no comparison. Seriously, the exoskeleton thing, again? For crying out loud. And incidentally I think it's what ruined the otherwise excellent District 9 too, which turned about halfway into yet another derivative sci-fi action film. They're all mostly copied from Aliens, but that doesn't give Cameron a pass just because he's copying from himself.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Holiday Musings,

    China Mieville on CGI effects rotting science-fiction from the inside.

    (And he should know, being a science-fiction writer and all. Cross-threading, just like that, look at me go.)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Holiday Musings,

    And Murdoch is Australian and the film was made in New Zealand. It's a poscolonial fruit salad.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    If you mean gang-like patches, I've been trying to convince Russell to get on to that for months. He's just not exploring the merchandising potential of having all these sycophants lying around.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    I have never seen them in English, though. Are they available?

    Yes, Wellington library has the lot and I would be surprised if the Auckland circuit didn't also.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    I think Kilgore Trout is my favourite sci-fi author

    Another as-of-yet culpably omitted luminary: Stanislav Lem. I still have Solaris down as one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

    to a series of historical doorstops that on sight fill me with frankly the same horror as for e.g. the discovery of the existence of another pile of cack from Stephen Donaldson.

    I used to like him a lot, but midway through the Baroque cycle I considered having a whip-round to get him an editor. All of those books would be better off by being a couple of hundred pages shorter.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    I did, and I remain unconvinced that her taxonomy is particularly useful.

    It's an extraordinarily patronising piece, but a big step up from squids in space you'll have to admit.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    Yes, I think I had mentioned upthread she had since largely retracted, and to her credit - that's the essay I was thinking of.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

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