Thursday, March 05, 2009

Another Disjointed Post

Tomorrow is a furlough day. Furlough days are mixed blessings. I don't come into work, which is good, but I also lose a chunk of my paycheck. Sure, we don't live in the 1800s, but $100 is still a lot of money to lose each month.

Yesterday, in her blog, Heels let the world know that the last ultrasound showed that Roo is a girl. A she or a her. That's cool. Ever since I was little I've always thought of a family as being balanced when there are two kids, a boy and a girl. I know, and knew, that those families are just as insane as any other family out there, but it always seemed balanced to me, two of each sex and all.

(Funny, I noticed that she doesn't call this baby by a nickname as much as she did her first. Maybe it's part of that more relaxed attitude toward this birth she's taking.)

What I think makes most of the older science fiction dated is the way they tried to mention the technology of the future. Especially when the books mention tapes for storing information. I know that at the time the books were written tapes were a huge advance for storing binary information, but it takes me out of the story. Better to just say the information was stored on a device than say "tape," in my opinion. Still, I do get sucked back into the story and enjoy the older science fiction quite a bit.

Thinking of science fiction, how often, in the Pern books, are the science fiction story elements that created the dragons mentioned? I haven't read much Pern, so I don't know, but I do remember reading a story about McCaffrey being unhappy with her Pern stories being thought of as "fantasy" because the origins of the people and dragons were rooted in science fiction.

The relationship between science fiction and fantasy is strange one, isn't it? One is often considered more childish than the other, but often the childish one is also thought to be more creative. Strange.

Are there any horror books I should keep my eye out for? Not Steven King or Clive Barker or Dean Koontz or Anne Rice, please. I've had enough of them in my life. Is H.P. Lovecraft really any good? And if so, where's a good place to start?

I'm pretty sure that a cold is within striking distance of me. My throat is scratchy and I've had a cough for that past few days.

During WonderCon, I saw the new Wonder Woman animated DVD movie. It was spectacular. Sort of a mix between a war movie, where it really earns its PG-13 rating (the first cut got an R) and a romantic comedy. Even though it was said to be unintentional, it has a better version of the Amazons Attack crossover that came out a year or so ago. After seeing this movie I really don't understand why it's been so hard for Warner Bros to get a live-action movie off the ground. Maybe then need to take a meeting with Gail Simone, she seems to have a good handle on the character.

Been having lots of dreams about working at 'Bucks recently. In most of them I end up working in a store where my brother also works. There are some crazy things about the 'Bucks in these dreams, but, for the most part, I go, I make drinks, I take money, and I clean, which is pretty much what a workday is like for a 'Bucks peon. If the dreams weren't so dull they might be classified as nightmares, but the never shake me awake like nightmares do.

October is a very long time away. According to the calendar, every day brings it closer, but in my brain and my body each day October seems further away.

The creator of Something Positive pointed out the new Garfield spin-off on Monday. Now he's mocking it quite brilliantly.

And now I'm done.

Be well.

5 comments:

geewits said...

I know what your Starbucks dream means. If you want to know, just e-mail me.

I'm the same way when watching an old science fiction movie that's supposed to be in the future and the phone has a cord on it or something. It does take you out of the story for a few minutes. But the opposite of that is the Johnny Quest cartoons I watched as a kid (the 60's) where they communicated with each other on video watches. That is almost a reality right now. And it makes sense that phones and all that will move to the wrist. Then you don't have to carry it around and you can't drop it. I hope you have a good "furlough."

Jazz said...

If you hit on some real good horror, let me know...

Re the cold: Take Cold FX (if that's available in the States). Boosts your immune system.

It is funny about SF and Fantasy. Basically fantasy is SF without the gadgets. Have you read the Gap series by Donaldson? Brilliant but oh so black - like his Covenant books on the Fantasy side.

ticknart said...

Geewits -- No thanks about the dream. I'll just let it be until it's gone.

Jazz -- I've often thought the same thing about science fiction and fantasy. And I've never read the Gap series. I'll keep a look out for it.

Anonymous said...

The Pern books don't really show that they ar SF based until you get quite a ways through the series.

ticknart said...

Thanks, Moooooo.