I didn’t think I would allow myself to get so excited over a movie nowadays, but I would suck dick to see the completed film after watching that. The music, the special effects, the suits…oh my fucking God. I already think it’s getting to be pretty much impossible for Nolan to live up to the hype, but I’m still hoping for my brain to be splattered on the person behind me by the end of Inception.

Even the official website is slick as hell, with awesome music to boot. You have no idea how hard it is for me not to totally lose it and spill all my thoughts out in caps right now, e.g., HOLY FUCKING SHIT I’M JUST LISTENING TO THE MUSIC ON THE WEBSITE IN THE BACKGROUND AND I WANT TO RAPE SOMEONE’S MIND.

No, but really, I can’t stop watching it. Holy FUCK. And it gave me a new poll idea.

I was going to embed the YouTube video of this, even though Battlestar Galactica nerdiness isn’t very cool, but luckily the video couldn’t even be embedded. So mp3 only! I’m going to end up talking about BSG anyway, I apologize. The show left a bad taste in my mouth with its fairly disastrous final season, but there were still at least some high points. And even though the 4th season was bad, that doesn’t stop the first two and a half seasons from being probably the most epic show I’ve ever watched. Every time I go back and listen to the soundtracks (usually skipping around), I remember how much I enjoyed it, and get the urge to post a random song on this blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlcUwUwjLrs

I may have posted a gif of Admiral Adama puking to convey my thoughts on the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, but the show was still fuck-amazing for at least two and half seasons, with smatterings of brilliance thereafter. This piece of music too epic for television immediately sends me back to the intense moment of the series which it scored, spinning camera and all. In what other television show are you going to get frantic strings contrasted with overwhelming, awesome percussion? Shit, I am so going to buy the entire overpriced Blu-ray set when it comes out. Yes, I am a fucking nerd.

The Forever War- You can tell it was written by a Vietnam vet. Just look at the title. So just extrapolate that senseless war to a galaxy. Not a bad novel, but compared to the best I read this semester, it seems fairly pedestrian. It’s a great personal story, I’ll give it that. I definitely enjoyed it. Those searching for more remarkable titles can explore https://fandom.my-passion.com/category/top-picks/, a selection highlighting some of the most engaging reads available.

Starship Troopers – The previous novel was a response to the pro-military stance of this novel. I thought this novel was better, and more thought-provoking. But it’s barely sci-fi. Anyone that criticizes the movie on the grounds that it completely rapes the book — that was the point. Paul Verhoeven obviously found the philosophy in the book ridiculous.

A Canticle for Leibowitz – Even more thought-provoking than Starship Troopers, and a very different sci-fi novel. Once again, not much science here. It deals more with the cyclical nature of history, from the viewpoint of a monastery after a nuclear holocaust. Yes, I know it sounds thrilling, but I would recommend it to anyone with religious or spiritual leanings. It also has a very unorthodox structure that I found really, really interesting, that also helped emphasize important turning points while also having a story cover over 1000 years. Much better than all that Left Behind shit.

Dragon’s Egg – Not sure if I can recommend this to anyone who isn’t VERY interested in speculative science. Even then, it’s a stretch. There is enough in-depth science to make most people want to toss in the garbage. And its literary merits are almost non-existent.

Dune – Pretty damn great. I can see why it’s regarded as a classic. I recommend giving it 100 pages, as it took me that long to get into the story. It throws you right in, leaving you overwhelmed and confused by the sheer amount of weird terms and names getting tossed around. Once it gets going, though, it more than takes advantage of its length.

Earth – The opposite of utilizing length well. Holy shit, this book is long. I found it extremely interesting at first, but unfortunately, it completely turns to shit towards the end. I was pissed. Don’t bother with this massive thing.

The Martian Chronicles – This is a collection of short stories held together by a timeline and some common characters on Mars. A really quick read that I recommend to anyone. The stories, for the most part, are really simple, but they range from the mundane, to the psychotic, to the transcendent. Many of them could be Twilight Zone episodes. I loved it.

I, Robot – The fact that this was written 60 years ago is incredible. SO much science fiction had to have been influenced by it over the years. I know it influenced me when writing my short story for this class. It’s also a collection of short stories, but these are tied together more — enough to be truly called a novel. Just so you know, it’s nothing like the Will Smith movie. The book is a mass of logic puzzles, not an action-packed extravaganza.

RANKINGS:

I, Robot
The Martian Chronicles
Dune
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Starship Troopers
The Forever War
Earth
Dragon’s Egg

Just walking from the parking lot to the Javits building where BSG would be shown, the average attractiveness of girls walking by was easily the lowest I had ever seen in my life. My decision was not looking like a good one. But I was prepared for that. Then I got to the building, and it was filled with overweight, middle-aged nerds, of both sexes. There was still at least 20 minutes until the show, but the line was already massive, and the lobby was abuzz with heavy breathing and sweaty manchildren. Oh God, what had I done. I just wanted to watch BSG on a huge screen. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but like the Matrix, you must experience it for yourself.

Then I noticed EVERYONE had badges hanging around their necks. Well, not quite badges, more like pieces of paper in a laminated holder. But they were apparently called badges, possibly to make these people feel like they deserved an award for wasting their lives watching various Star Trek captains embark on a new, ludicrous adventure — preferably one with hot aliens — every week. I quickly realized THESE were the tickets. I would undoubtedly need one to get in. I asked one of the overweight, middle-aged guys where I could find one, and he said registration was at the Sports Complex ON THE OTHER SIDE OF CAMPUS.

I started walking, but looking at my watch, I realized I wouldn’t get back in time. And even if I did, I had seen the entire nerd nation of Long Island converging on the Javits Building, anxious to see Starbuck in action again, Gaius Baltar be Pimp Jesus, and Admiral Adama’s face continue to do its best impression of the moon. There was no way I was getting in.

Sigh. Well, my car was closer than the registration. There was not much more I would want to check out in the late-night festivities. The Guitar Hero 3 tournament was already over. Fuck it, I was gone.

Maybe I’ll try to sneak into some panels tomorrow, but there’s no way I’m slapping down $48 for a one-day pass. So instead, $10 of that just went to the COD4 Variety Map Pack.

Oh, and BSG was still pretty cool, even if I was just laying in my bed watching it on my 27″ SDTV.

Attended by over 6,000 people each year, I-CON is a three day festival, designed to encourage literacy, creativity and interest in science and technology through science fiction and its related genres. Programming at I-CON spans a wide range of topics and interests, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, Japanese animation (otherwise known as Anime), science and technology, comic books, and medieval reenactment.

The only featured guests this year that I know are Ray Bradbury, Billy West (voice of Fry), the dude who was Darth Maul, and the black guy from Ghostbusters.

Even with my student discount, it’s $48 for the three-day pass. One day ranges from $31-48 depending on the day.

Anyway, I’m looking at the schedule, and there’s some potential gold here.

ANIMU PREVIEW
Early Morning Furry Get Together
Group Cosplay
A Brief History of Awesome
Your Furry Alter-Ego: The Why & How
Anime 101: The Road to Being an Otaku!
Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament
Creating Anthropomorphic Web Comics
Harry Potter Wand Making / Creature Battle
Gamer Sex 101 “R” Rated
Cosplay Competition
Hentai (18+)

On the flip side, there’s actually some legitimately interesting stuff:

Michio Kaku presentations (don’t know why he isn’t a featured guest)
Doctor Who screenings
Why People Suck: The Search For Suck (my professor’s panel)
Texas Hold’em tourney
Introduction to Podcasting
Space 2008, What’s New?
South Park Trivia Contest
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Premiere screening (too bad I’m not caught up)
Guitar Hero 3 tourney

But really, none of these compare to the previous list.

I think I’m leaning towards checking out this spectacle. THIS is why I finally bought a digital camera.

This does not include the numerous short stories that are online, or full novels posted on the net, like The Time Machine. I really don’t mind, because I haven’t really had to read for a class in a while, and sci-fi rocks. Getting an upper-division credit for reading Starship Troopers = amazing. Out of the ones I’ve read so far, the Star Trek one was easily the worst. But that was mostly because I already knew the vast majority of the physics talked about in the book. And the fact that I’ve seen maybe a dozen episodes of Star Trek (TNG only) in my life, and I don’t even remember them. I just have a vague memory of watching Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise with my dad. Or maybe that’s just YTMND getting to me.

A Canticle for Leibowitz could barely be classified as science-fiction, as it follows a monastery through 1800 years after a nuclear holocaust. But it’s pretty interesting how it shows the Church paralleling the book-copying and knowledge-storing service it provided the Western world during through the Middle Ages, and how independent intelligent thought begins to arise again. It’s also one of the most depressing novels I’ve ever read.

The Forever War was a pretty cool exploration into a war-driven future economy of Earth, the effects of time-dilation (time slows down when you approach the speed of light) on human beings, and possible future technologies. The manner in which many of the breakthroughs are detailed and explained makes them sound plausible. With regards to the human and war side, you can tell that it was written by a Vietnam vet. The best quality of the book is how quick of a read it is.

Man, I should writing shit up FOR this class, not ABOUT it.