I Don’t Think They Saw Jurassic Park December 22, 2008
Posted by halfawake in Photos.Tags: androids, fusions, personality, roboraptor, robots
1 comment so far
Subtitle reads “A Fusion of Technology and Personality”.
I finally know what I want for Christmas.
Scifi Book Meme December 18, 2008
Posted by halfawake in Entertainment.Tags: memes, reading, scifi, scifi book meme, sf book meme, the sword of shannara
3 comments
A scifi meme, via geekylibrarian.
According to the Science Fiction Book Club, these are the 50 most significant SF & Fantasy Books of the last 50 Years, 1953-2002. Bold the ones you’ve read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn’t get through, asterisks for the ones you loved (more asterisks, more love), exclamation points for the ones you own.
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien!
- The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
- The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
- Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
- Cities in Flight, James Blish
- The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
- Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
- The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
- Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
- Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
- Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card**
- The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
- The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
- Gateway, Frederik Pohl
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
- I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
- Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Little, Big, John Crowley
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
- Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
- More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
- On the Beach, Nevil Shute
- Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
- Ringworld, Larry Niven
- Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
- The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
- Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson!***
- Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
- The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
- Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
- Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock/li>
- The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks****
- Timescape, Gregory Benford
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
Yeah… I wish I had read a lot more of these. I tried the lord of the rings but didn’t make it too far. I may try #49 on recommendation from my advisor.
It’s Trampling Time December 16, 2008
Posted by halfawake in Current Events.Tags: christmas, consumerism, elves, media, preventable deaths, root canals, shopping holidays
1 comment so far
Less than three weeks after reporting three preventable deaths on Black Friday, the media is back to feeding the holiday shopping frenzy.
YOU'LL HAVE THAT SCARF OVER MY DEAD BODY
Um. Yeah. There are 10 days left until Christmas. And if you don’t shop, like a lot, before then… you don’t want to know what happens when the clock reaches zero. You really want to know? Well, it involves toothless elves who don’t like the sound of tortured squirrels writhing in pain half as much as they like giving you a root canal before they chew your arms off. That’s right, they eat your arms, bones and all, with no teeth.
There are two types of headlines that are popular this year:
“OMG There Are Sales! Hurry Or You Might Not Get 25% Off This Merch That’s Been Marked Up 50%!”
or
“OMG There’s A Recession! Maybe You Shouldn’t Be Shopping So Much?”
We just can’t win.
