Search found 380 matches

by Windwalker
Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:45 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Fantasy universes and worlds
Replies: 40
Views: 257102

I just finished reading a two-part fantasy novel by Gregory Frost: Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet . The story unfolds on a world that is almost entirely ocean, in which people live in large "spans". There are subtle hints that the world was settled, but there are also interventions by beings...
by Windwalker
Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:15 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Battlestar Galactica: Better late than never!
Replies: 2
Views: 37696

Battlestar Galactica: Better late than never!

I saw the miniseries that launched the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica in 2003 and I loved the changes from the cheesy original: the grittiness, the elliptical style, the ambiguity in both situations and individuals, the portrayal of Cylons as near-human, the strength (and high number) of the femal...
by Windwalker
Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:01 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Large Hadron Collider
Replies: 1
Views: 28737

I know they are scheduled to activate one beam, of relatively low energy compared to the maximum that they intend to achieve. With the time difference, we probably won't know much more till tomorrow.
by Windwalker
Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:02 pm
Forum: The Art of Science, Fantasy and Science Fiction
Topic: New Gallery
Replies: 18
Views: 157534

Dear Heather -- I'm in the throes of packing for my lab move, and won't have time to comment adequately for a couple of weeks. But they are lovely... Edwardian and Gothic at the same time! For some reason, the two male figures remind me of Brontë's Mr. Rochester, via Beardsley. More later, when I've...
by Windwalker
Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:24 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Science fiction/fantasy film recommendations
Replies: 21
Views: 181418

Hobbits and Dwarves

I saw Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II this weekend. The film is cartoony, its plot is silly (to put it mildly) and del Toro, like Peter Jackson when he's self-indulgent, let his liking for macabre grotesquerie run away with him. The other thing that I became very aware of while I was watching this f...
by Windwalker
Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:00 am
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Witness a Parade of Fireworks and Planets
Replies: 1
Views: 29281

I already noticed Jupiter, it's too bright to miss. I'll keep an eye out for Saturn and Mars. The weather has been very bad for stargazing, what with the constant thunderstorms.
by Windwalker
Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:02 am
Forum: The Art of Science, Fantasy and Science Fiction
Topic: New Gallery
Replies: 18
Views: 157534

Postscript: I just realized that you created a whole sub-album. My mistake for being absent-minded! All the images are marvelous. The motifs and patterns (both thematic and stylistic) give them visual richness and mythic depth. They resemble Major Arcana cards of a Tarot deck: the fusion of animate ...
by Windwalker
Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:53 am
Forum: The Art of Science, Fantasy and Science Fiction
Topic: New Gallery
Replies: 18
Views: 157534

Dear Heather, Tattoo Blooming is wonderful -- and to me it looks distinctly Koredhani -- or Minoan, which is Koredhan's past! Her slightly hieratic stance (she could be holding a sacred serpent), her barely contained hair, the mirroring of the tattoo onto the live flower, the combination of austerit...
by Windwalker
Sun May 18, 2008 4:21 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Science fiction/fantasy film recommendations
Replies: 21
Views: 181418

YouTube to the rescue of the impatient!

In an earlier post, I complained about the unavailability of Miyazaki's studio Ghibli version of Earthsea in the US, due to intellectual property issues. Well, emboldened by the availability of every anime episode on YouTube, I typed the Japanese title of the film (Gedo Senki, loose translation: Ged...
by Windwalker
Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:38 am
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
Replies: 16
Views: 137107

Re: Another near miss

caliban wrote:Well, at least I'm in excellent company
Space Opera, yet! I have read some of the other pieces and you are indeed in very good company. I don't know if either the Stross or the Scalzi qualify as opera, but both are absolutely hilarious!
by Windwalker
Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:12 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 237140

Thorough debunking... but these people don't want to be confused with facts.
by Windwalker
Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:11 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Cyberpunk, the new generation
Replies: 19
Views: 140397

Actually, the prequel is out in hardback. I looked at the jacket -- not surprisingly, Shigeru is the main character. I really liked him in the first book, a pity he had to go. I agree with you about the subtle use of magic. I am halfway through two books that also create a totally believable world w...
by Windwalker
Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:13 pm
Forum: The Art of Science, Fantasy and Science Fiction
Topic: Physics of the Impossible
Replies: 3
Views: 46535

Dear Marie -- I didn't read this particular book by Kaku, but did read Hyperspace and Visions. I think he is good at making concepts understandable to non-physicists and non-scientists. So I'd say go for it!
by Windwalker
Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:01 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Cyberpunk, the new generation
Replies: 19
Views: 140397

Hearn's books

I just finished reading the four tales of the Otori. I liked the style, very "Japanese" without being forced (the descriptions of nature, the ono no aware ). I found the mix of realism and fantasy a bit uneasy, but I managed to suspend the disbelief enough to enjoy the story. I liked most ...
by Windwalker
Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:45 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 237140

Since Myers' expulsion -- with its Biblical overtones -- a storm shook parts of the scientific community, after Matt Nisbet (supported by Chris Mooney) suggested that Myers and Dawkins should shut up and let others present science to the public in a way that is palatable to believers. Neither Nisbet...