More Walks With The Dead

I am a little concerned that you, my classmates, have not gotten into The Walking Dead as much as I have. There was another new episode last night at 8 and it was amazing. As much as we always end up talking about zombies, I find this interesting. The show is beginning to take some very interesting turns. I don't want to get into to much detail as to ruin it for some of you, but i will tell a little. The story still is highly focused on th family aspect of living in a post-zombie-apocalyptic world. The main character's son was shot last week by accident, and this week's episode focused on the difficult choice that a family must make when put in this situation.

Is it better to Save your child even if that means he has to live and grow in a horrible world filled with zombies? You decide.

I think it would be worth it, because a life is a life.

Naturalist

The Naturalist was a pretty interesting take on the traditional view of zombies. It was fun to watch Cahill making notes about zombies such as "they don't seem to have a preference for brains." I thought it was intriguing that he became so detached from other humans that he had no qualms about using them as lab rats of sorts to learn more about zombies, in a somewhat Jane Goodall fashion. My favorite part was the conclusion he reached at the end, that zombies should just be seen as wild animals, doing what was in their nature to do. What do you guys think about this viewpoint? Are zombies bloodthirsty monsters, or just wild animals trying to survive?

Cory Doctorow

First I would like to say that I have really like Cory Doctorow's work that we have read so far, and I would like to read more once I have time. One thing I really like about his writing is that he references many of the products that we have now in his work. I feel like I connect better with the characters when I know that they use Google just as much as I do or they have the same brand of game systems. While some of his technology is more advance than ours, I like to think that we are very close to achieving some of it. I also feel that I like his stories better because he is a young adult author and I guess it is easier to connect to the character and some of the things that they go through. These are just some of my thoughts on Cory Doctorow; also who has been your favorite author so far?

Robot aliens

It never occurred to me that robots could be aliens. My imagination didn't put the two together. I've realized though that there are several examples of this:

1)I love the first transformers movie (the other two will not be mentioned). But I always wanted to disect one of the autobots to see just how they funcioned. Are their "organs" similar to ours or are they car parts?

2)My favorite robot alien though is General Grievous from Star Wars. I mean come on! He fought Obi Wan with four lightsabers! Plus we got to see his organs and how they were part robot and part alien in essence. I don't know why, but I loved his hacking cough. I guess it made him more real to me, I don't know. Do yall know of any more/have any favorite robot aliens? And who would win in a fight: robot aliens or stereotypical aliens?

I thought Plus or Minus was interesting as it explored human adaptation to living in a zero g environment. The idea of genetically engineering humans to be more suited for space exploration is something that I think could be feasible in the future. Even adapts like Glint were still susceptible to cosmic radiation though, leaving radiation resistance as the next challenge for humans in this future.

A common theme in sci-fi is the suspending of human animation through some type of freezing process to deal with the length of space flight. Usually this technology is available to everyone through some type of freezing mechanism (i.e. Fry in Futurama). This story was unique in that the hibernation process came less from external influences, but mainly from genetic engineering. Would you guys agree that this is one of the more straightforward works we've read?

Siri

Okay, I've never owned an iPhone before. But now I'm definitely wanting one. I don't know if you guys have already seen/heard about Siri. Maybe you have and I'm just a little behind. But man, it seems like just the coolest thing ever! Feels like we're finally starting to catch up a little to all the science-fiction sort of stuff; I saw someone compare Siri to Tony Stark's computer assistant in Iron Man. Siri seemed kinda relevant to all the AI talk we've had lately, so I wanted to know: what do you guys think of Siri?

The Exterminator’s Want-Ad

I would first like to say that I really enjoyed this story and found it really funny. I thought that it was interesting that before Bobby got put into prison, he was the anti-Cory Doctorow. His job was fighting the piracy and file sharing; so I was just wondering how you feel about file sharing. Another thing I found interesting in the story is that even after Bobby got out, he took one of the dirtiest jobs just because he was able to kill a socialist society. So would you take a crappy job just to keep with your beliefs in fighting a system that you do not believe in?

Also I really like some of the pop culture references in the story.

The Taste of Night

I really enjoyed this story. It was another one of those with an unreliable narrator. We don't know for sure if Nell is experiencing contact from aliens or if she is mentally ill. Referring to the doctor as Call-Me-Anne was a nice touch. And I know Marcus was supposed to be the bad guy, but I felt sorry for him. He can't relate to his wife. He doesn't understand that to Nell, whatever happens to her is as real and as tangible as the ground beneath his feet. It is hard for him to take himself out of his reality and put himself into a new one. It is frightening to imagine there are other possibilities. Thinking like that frays the fabric of reality. It is also difficult to live with someone who is mentally ill. It is usually accompanied by some sort of manipulation and self harm (Which is what her eye looks like to Marcus.) So when he seems uncaring, he is most likely protecting himself, and by extension Nell, from getting sucked into the demons of her mental illness. You can see that he cares and wants a solution when he asks if mental illness can be a side affect of a tumor. He is disappointed and angry when he finds out otherwise. I could go on about this, but I might just save it for class.

I need a new TV show to start on netflix as I have burned through every episode of Arrested Development multiple times. I kind of want to go science fiction...so Dr. Who or Firefly...or both?

The Walking Dead

I recently watched the first episode of the new season of The Walking Dead on AMC. For anyone who is interested in this show, they have really overhauled the show in a very progressive way. Last season, the show was very gory; it was interesting none-the-less. This season, however, the show seems to center around the family life in a post-apocalyptic world. It truly was a great idea to move the show in this direction as they are targeting a much wider audience now. If anyone has not watched this show yet, i highly suggest it. It comes on AMC Sunday nights at 8 PMcentral.

Inheritance

I don't know if yall have ever read Eragon or any of the Inheritance cycle but.....THE FINAL INSTALLMENT IS OUT IN 20 DAYS!!! Yall....I have been waiting and waiting what seems like forever for Christopher Paolini to finish this series. It took him about two years per book so I think that puts the original release date for Eragon around 2002. This one took him 3 dadgum years to finish. I started this series when I was twelve. WRITE FASTER!! Anyhow, I will be at Barnes and Noble November 8. I hope we don't have anything big to read that week because my attention will be devoted elsewhere.

Because Paolini took FOREVER to write this series it got me thinking: does the author owe his/her audience anything? If Paolini didn't want to finish the series, he shouldn't have to but it would kill me as an avid reader. So I guess my intelectual answer is that an author doesn't owe anything to his/her reader but my answer as the audience is that heck yes they do. Don't start a series if you don't intend to finish it because I won't be reading you again.

This Week's Readings

So, judging from the other blog posts, I'm not alone in being a little bit confused by some of the stories. But really, I didn't find them too bad. I did feel like Under the Moons of Venus and Elegy both had an opposite style to Chiang's stories, in the sense that where Chiang over-explained the details I didn't want to know about, these authors seemed to not explain the things I wanted to know more about. In particular, I was fascinated with the concepts of the Plague Gods; I would have loved to have a little bit more backstory, maybe even a full novel based around that sort of storyline, as opposed to a metaphorical lesson sort of story. Was I the only one that wanted these to be more than just "short stories"?

Doctor Who

It's official. I'm obsessed with the doctor. I started watching last week, and now I can't stop. It's been very bad for my productivity. I was hoping that ya'll could be my support group. I love that you can still see influences from the original series. I love the personality of the doctor, especially the tenth. I haven't met the eleventh, but I've heard good things. The series reminds me of Buffy which is one of my favorites. They both have adventures that seem lame but are completely awesome! I have to give it to the British. They have a good thing going for them. On a side note, I don't mind spoilers. (Please tell me that there is someone better than Rose and Micky coming.)

Zachary Quinto is (Officially) Gay!

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/10/16/zachary-quinto-comes-out/?ref=topposts

At least there's no speculation anymore... but my poor little heart. It's broken.

Hopefully this won't have an impact on his career/the upcoming Star Trek sequel. We'll see...

What the...

Hey folks! I've been reading all our assignments so far, especially Elegy for a Young Elk, and I have just one thing to say. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I read Sean's post and it's starting to make a little more sense now, but I just wish that these authors would explain the backstories a LOT more. Or maybe I'm just thick-headed.

Sean Talks a Lot About This Week's Stories for Some Reason

After reading (most of) this week stories, I'm really impressed, especially with "Elegy for a Young Elk" and "Under the Moons of Venus". I've always found the whole singularity idea interesting, and while it was just one (incorrect) theory about what had happened in "Under the Moons of Venus", there were hints of it nonetheless, especially in the fact that animals made sentient through AI were apparently a somewhat normal occurrence by that point in time. That, and the way "Elegy for a Young Elk" handled the whole premise reminded me a lot of a Cory Doctorow story I read a while ago called "I, Rowboat", in which humanity had long since left earth, uploaded to computer arrays in orbit, leaving behind the animals and random objects that people had begun to "uplift" (make sentient by adding AI) for utility or as a hobby, among them a coral reef and the rowboat who is the protagonist of the story. I also really liked the way "Elegy for a Young Elk" handled the transition from normal humans to computers and AIs, with the progression from what seemed a lot like the 3D printers that have been made recently to nanobots to the "gods" that basically made the whole world their computer through those nanobots. It was also refreshing that they both managed to avoid the "science and technology are scary and bad" angle even when describing cataclysmic events.

On a less rambling, more discussable note, what does everyone think really happened in "Under the Moons of Venus"? Was it some force protecting life on earth by moving species to Venus just before catastrophic extinction events occurred? Was Blackett right in guessing that it might all be one big calculation in a physics simulation? Was this all planned by the trilobites or something?

Dollhouse

So I've been rewatching Dollhouse, and let me just say, don't watch too many episodes before bed. Lately in my dreams I've either been chasing people around and kicking ass or running from people trying to kick mine. Other than that, I've really enjoyed watching it again and each episode is still interesting the second time around. I'll say it again.. if you haven't seen it, watch it! Netflix has the whole series (all two seasons, bummer). Meanwhile I am about to start reading for class, and from the sounds of it I have my work cut out for me...

Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots

To start, how could a story with the title Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots be anything but AWEsome? It was a fantastic story in my opinion.

Did anyone else find it odd that Buck wouldn't sleep with her? I understand that it's the personality of Herbert but the reason they got divorced was because he was unfaithful. It's hypocritical of him to have an issue with her sleeping with other robots. To me, if he really loved her then he would never have cheated on her in the first place. Also, as a female I would be royally PISSED that my boyfriend created a robot that looked like another ex-girlfriend and wanted my personality inside her. What the heck!!! Don't get me wrong it made a hilarious section to read, but I would choose death just to spite him. I'm too stubborn to allow Buck/Herbert the satisfaction of my looking like someone else. Then again I would love to drive him nuts until he committed robot suicide so...

A real question I had though is why would Buck/Herbert stop having sex with different women after he had enjoyed affairs for so long? And on a more interesting level: would Herbert have altered Buck to make him last longer? I'm thinking yes. He apparently has a big ego so I bet he wouldn't be able to stand being that dissatisfying.

Hey guys I was just letting y'all know that the second season of The Walking Day starts tomorrow. I think it's a great show and if you haven't seen the first season it's only six episodes long and available on Netflix. Also, since its Halloween what are some of your favorite zombie movies or books? While they are not books I really enjoy the Left 4 Dead series and if you are into video games I highly recommend them. Hope y'all have a good Saturday and Roll Tide.

This Weeks Reading

At work today I began reading the first few assigned stories and I have to say that I am having a much harder time following these than the past ones. I know that there is a new author for each story so it’s harder to develop a feel for the writer, but "Under the Moons of Venus" just completely went over my head. If any of you have some input to give on what was going on please let me know. I am going to reread”Under the Moons of Venus" and "Elegy for a Young Elk" to see if I can piece it all together or find something I missed. I would really like to see what you guys think of these stories.

Was anyone else glad to see Duncan Jones opted not to use CGI in creating Moon's special effects?While there were only a few shots that took place outside of the moon base, the models they used for these shots functioned very well. I would be interested to know whether the move was to save cost or meant as a purposeful tribute to 70's and 80's sci-fi.

Mid-semester blog count

I just counted the number of original posts on the blog for each student so far. I did not count Comments, only posts that could begin new threads -- the ones for which you click New Post and Publish Post, in other words. Here's the tally.

• Six posts: Haley, our champion.
• Four posts apiece: Caleb, Kelsey, Blake, Sean, Jerilyn, Jennifer.
• Three posts apiece: Amber, Mary Grace, Levi, Allen.
• Two posts: Andrew.

Remember this passage from our syllabus: "Participating on the blog – through original posts and replies to others’ posts – is an important part of your semester grade, so get in the habit of visiting daily and contributing frequently.  The minimum class requirement is three posts per week per student, at least one of which must start a new topic or thread, and at least one of which must be a response to a classmate’s post." (Emphasis added.)

As this is Week Eight of the semester, then one easily should expect by now at least six original posts from each of you, assuming we don't count that short Week One and the Week Five when class did not meet in Nott Hall.

Safe to say that all of you but Haley are in arrears, some of you significantly so. Blog participation, remember, is 20 percent of your final grade. Fair warning! Maybe blogging about next week's stories, or about our free-range Moon discussion, will help you catch up ...

Story volunteers for Oct. 19

Correct me, please, if I wrote something down wrong.

• "Elegy for a Young Elk" (Hannu Rajaniemi): Levi Crawford
• "Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots" (Sandra McDonald): Amber Brewer
• "Under the Moons of Venus" (Damien Broderick): Allen Head
• "Alone" (Robert Reed): Haley Herfurth
• "Names for Water" (Kij Johnson): Kelsey Dueland

As before, each volunteer simply will start us talking about the story: what you found interesting or confusing or unexpected or problematic or marvelous, and what questions you have for your classmates about it.

Any context you might be able to share would be helpful, too, especially if you have some expertise or personal experience in the stuff being written about.  Material from your other classes is welcome.

You also can start blogging your reactions to these stories at any time.  You needn't wait for Wednesday's class, and you needn't be one of those volunteers listed above to wade in on any of these points.

Sci Fi vs. Fantasy

So I was thinking about how creative all of our Sci-fi stories have been so far and I've decided that in general Sci-fi is more innovative/creative/immaginative than Fantasy. I'm not saying that the genre of fantasy is old and boring; it is by far my favorite genre. I do think though that of the material we read in Andy's dark fantastic course and the material we read now, what we read now is much more immaginative. I know I would never be able to come up with stories like Moon or The Lifecycle of Software Objects (not saying I could ever be Neil Gaiman either so don't crucify me). I also can't really guess what comes next in a lot of the material we've covered so far this year. In some of the material from last year, I had a better guestimate at what would happen. It's not that cloning is a newer idea than dragons and magic. I don't know what exactly makes me think this way. Any opinions? Which is more creative: sci-fi or fantasy?

I almost forgot we needed to be posting in the blog, that's awful. I'm at Barnes and Noble, working on my paper (because there's no way I'm spending a dime on Twilight.) Hope everyone's papers are going well!

Cory Doctorow's Essays

http://www.write4kids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/doctorow.pdf

For those that are interested, this a collection of Cory Doctorow's essays on copyrights and other matters. I found them very interesting, I am using some in my paper, and I was just wondering what some of your thoughts were on the topic.

I saw a preview for a new sci-fi movie called In Time, starring Justin Timberlake. The movie seems to be set in a future where humans have mastered control over the human body and can control a person's longevity. The rich get to live for years and years while the average man only gets 25. I'm not getting good vibes from the preview, but it would be nice to see JTimb breakout into a new genre. Hope those papers are goin well.

I've been looking around on the Ferg website, and I think you can reserve the theater. Anyone up for watching Moon maybe Tuesday night? If I can reserve it that quickly, I don't know.

I'm back!

Yes, I had semi-forgotten about the blog. My life has been ridiculous lately! However, check out this article predicting a new rise of TNG, like a phoenix from the ashes. Only much, much less exciting. If you're me, at least.

http://www.startrek.com/article/trekland-supplemental-8-is-tng-due-for-its-comeback

Paper topics...

I probably should have posted this as soon as I walked out of class on Wednesday, but I am completely stuck as far as an idea for these papers go. I can't come up with anything that I feel like I can expand upon enough for an entire paper! Any ideas, anyone? I'm desperate at this point.

Also, if anyone is writing about the calli, I saw on Chelsea Lately tonight that a school in Britain has banned mirrors and makeup! Seems pretty similar to that situation.

A Reimagining of the Justice League

Note: the links don't show up too well for me when I look at this from the main page, so I'll just let you know that they're on "Here" and "Dresden Codak".

I don't want to take up too much of the blog here, but I found something today that I thought I should share, especially given the topic of last week's discussion. Here is the Justice League as reimagined by Aaron Diaz, author of the excellent webcomic Dresden Codak.

I'll start out by saying that I think the whole thing is absolutely brilliant. In the midst of our discussion on whether or not characters like Superman are still relevant, Diaz has revamped the core group of DC's superheroes (with the exception of Batman, who he believes doesn't belong in the Justice League) to be more compelling and human. Plus, his character designs look really cool.

I really like the return to Superman's roots as a fighter of social injustice while still managing to make him seem more futuristic and believably alien than ever. It's fitting that Superman's arrival on earth drives the whole plot (well, except for Wonder Woman and Green Lantern), inspiring other people to either look into human enhancement or try their hands at fighting crime. They all have interesting and distinct potential character arcs: Wonder Woman adjusts to humanity and the modern world, Cyborg and Green Lantern would likely discover and deal with in their own ways the fact that being a superhero isn't all fun and games, Martian Manhunter deals with the stigma of being obviously alien (in addition to basically being a Superman fanboy who gets to fight alongside his idol), The Flash would eventually choose between curing himself or continuing to help people, and Power Girl would face the conflict between the protection of American interests that is her mission and the higher moral purpose that is the League's. All in all, it looks like something that I would love to read if it were ever really made (especially since I'm already enamored with Aaron Diaz's art style).

Any comments on this, or criticisms? If you got to choose a superhero and completely redesign them, how do you think you would go about it?

Humans and Gods

Here's the picture from which I got the quote that I shared in class on Wednesday about Doctor Who and Sherlock (which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it). I do think that it accurately sums up quite a number of archetypal characters (with the likes of Superman, Prometheus, or Jesus on The Doctor's side, and Iron Man, Bellerophon, and the protagonist from Understand on the Holmes side), and I'm thinking of making it or a similar idea into a paper topic.

On a slightly related note, what did any Doctor Who fans in the class think of the Series 6 finale? I absolutely loved it, but it seems to me from others' reactions that Steven Moffat has mastered the art of simultaneously enraging and delighting his viewers, of doing exactly what people expect but still keeping them guessing.