Search found 137 matches

by caliban
Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:22 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235839

The resistance of humans to evidence never ceases to amaze and frighten me. In actuality, the "debate" over evolution and other non-controversies such as global warming usually have little to do with evidence. Instead they are really debates over colliding master narratives. In every case...
by caliban
Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:03 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143456

Harry Potter and the Parodic Titles

Half-way through, a bit punch-drunk from randomly scattered punctuations (but brush them away and there are occasional bits of beauty as well as truly surprising plot twists), I came up with a parlor game: make minor revision to the titles of the Harry Potter books that totally deflate them: Harry P...
by caliban
Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:18 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143456

Re: Colonoscopy

I'll venture one guess... the ending leaves room for more books! Don't know yet. Haven't finished. I won't spoil it either. That's the fun of the books--the narrative drive. I think Rowling understands that. She doesn't seem to see herself as a Great Artist, but a writer of a Jolly Good Read, save ...
by caliban
Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:24 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143456

Colonoscopy

We've got the last book. We're reading it aloud. No spoilers here. And again there could be trimming. I notice Rowling frequently feels the need to dramatize each step of a journey when she could just cut to the chase by the Death-Eaters. But the most irritating thing is here punctuation. Almost eve...
by caliban
Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:10 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Is the web the solution or the problem?
Replies: 5
Views: 50906

Is the web the solution or the problem?

I just ran across this article which elucidates something which has bothered me for some time: the downside of the democritization of the internet, or, as one author puts it, "The Cult of the Amateur." Namely, is the explosion of blogs, on-line comments, and even, dear friends, discussion ...
by caliban
Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:37 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143456

Harry Potter and the 10,000 page finale

Much of the problem lies in the geometric growth of the books. From the first three books alone I drew a curve and projected book 7 to be between ten and thirteen thousand pages in length. Of course, Amazon.com would have had to level to original Amazon forest to print such a text.... In retrospect,...
by caliban
Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:45 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143456

J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics

J K. Rowling and the Cauldron of Criticism : An essay The last Harry Potter book is almost out—and so are the critics’ knives, such as this blog denouncing Rowling for “toxic” prose, following in the footsteps of A S Byatt who in 2003 declared adults who read the Potterverse as having “stunted imag...
by caliban
Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:15 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Fantasy universes and worlds
Replies: 40
Views: 256196

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov ...is a multi-layered saga influenced by Goethe's Faust that can be read as satire, myth, allegory, Bildungroman. The Devil is a central character . I certainly second Bulgakov. Recently it was made into a hugely successful miniseries on Russian TV; I wi...
by caliban
Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:01 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235839

I'm tempted to do a review of this book as I did for that other masterpiece of tautology and errors, Rare Earth. But I'm not sure I can keep my temper while reading it. I would encourage you to do it. It is useful and important to point out the flaws. Particularly useful are pointing out the basic ...
by caliban
Mon May 28, 2007 7:14 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Political Science
Replies: 9
Views: 80036

I think it's already out, in the July/August issue of Analog. I haven't confirmed it because the local mystery/sf bookstore doesn't carry Analog!
by caliban
Sun May 20, 2007 10:29 am
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235839

Here are two links that briefly discuss the matter: http://www.csicop.org/sb/2005-09/reality-check.html http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-79794362.html The second is the most interesting and, perhaps, the most damning. I struggle with this, not because I am sympathetic to Gonzalez, but precisely ...
by caliban
Sun May 20, 2007 2:34 am
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235839

There are even weirder ones out who DO have tenure. One example is Frank Tipler of Tulane, who wrote "The Physics of Immortality" and has a new one, "The Physics of Christianity," which I have not read but can fairly easily presume to be an embarrassment to both communities refer...
by caliban
Sat May 19, 2007 5:18 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235839

I have no idea whether or not Gonzalez was fairly denied tenure. Maybe his book has something to do with it--I was only vaguely aware of it--or maybe not. I refuse to be snarky about it, since I don't know any of the facts (and haven't even read his book) but neither will I feel terribly bad about i...
by caliban
Sun May 06, 2007 6:09 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Political Science
Replies: 9
Views: 80036

Political Science

Athena had encouraged me to announce this when the time came... I'm having a SF story come out in the July/August issue of Analog . I don't know when it will hit the bookshelves, but I just got the author's copy a couple of days ago. When I know for sure it is available, I will post that information...
by caliban
Wed May 02, 2007 1:27 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Space and Spirit
Replies: 38
Views: 253681

Everybody just wants to hang their hat on being right (dogma) and better (purity) than those who are different. Maybe they should get a hobby or something. I think the human desire to be right and better are very difficult to overcome. It's true not just in religion but in many other arenas--even i...