Reading this made me think of a comment Teresa made at Readercon about humans being "hard-wired for stories" and to a certain extent, I think that's true. As social animals, we like to tell each things, and probably start from a position that what we are hearing is "true." Marketers and PR folks exploit that. It's only when the "truth" crosses that the line to "hey, waitaminute" that the lie is exposed. It happens with products and wars. Unfortunately, not enough people get to that "waitaminute" moment, so it continues and grows. Same reasoning behind spam.
Having said that, that doesn't make it any less annoying.
I am continually confounded that this administration wraps itself in the flag and calls itself America. Election controversies aside, how does winning HALF the vote of an huge nation lead to a claim that you define all of it?
I have the will to persevere. To the next election. And the one after that if need be. And the one after that. Don't be talking to me about perseverance.
I can't believe I never saw this. Gay video bars were huge in the 80s and this video would have totally rated.
Teresa, I (now) share your bafflement at 80s video, but at the time, college for me, they were soooo cool.
Now I look at them and they actually remind me of home movies from the late 50s/early 60s. Suddenly, there's this new format/technology that everyone wants to play with but no one knows what to do, so they do silly things or things they think must be cool. I have an absurdly funny film clip somewhere of my mom's brothers--they're twenty-something--jumping up and down in place in their backyard. In suits. Because it was MOTION PICTURE film!!!
But did the lamb consent? Perhaps Johnson is a member of LAMBLA and he was shepherding the lamb to sheephood.
(I suspect a select few will get this joke.)
I was at that panel at Readercon. I mentioned in the Readercon thread that quoting China does not often convey the context in which he was speaking, or his quotes are often misconstrued. I went fully expecting to be annoyed by him based on things I'd read, but found him quite articulate and interesting.
I think, in this case, Matt Cheney's summary misfires a bit. The "missing the point" part (which I don't recall China saying) is Matt's summation of the joke (again, in my opinion). Someone asked how gaming influenced his writing. That prompted an interesting point about the conflict an author has between knowing what he's writing and writing what the reader needs to know to feel what the author is trying to convey. As a gamer, he was pointing out that it's is at once grand---the mystery of what is---and minute---how it gets that way. As readers, we want the grand, but we want it to hang together in some kind of logic. He wasn't knocking gamers--in fact, I thought he was making a world-building analogy between gamers and authors. I don't think he was saying one was better than the other.
Hi all,
There seems to be a dearth of post-Readercon comments here. (Although I am VERY much enjoying the Tolkien discussion). Did some of you regulars here not make it this year? This was my first time (and second con) and I found it fairly interesting. It's been a long time since I've been able to hear people talk about Books and Things in Books.
Patrick & Teresa: I sat in on your kaffeeklatsch. I was next to the Asperger guy. I had every intention of introducing myself and thanking you for ML, but, boy, do you two move fast. I even lurked outside Viable Paradise and STILL missed you.
I spent a lot of time stalking China Mieville panels and also ended up in his kaffeeklatsch. Reading about him online, I thought he might be a pompous pontificator, but I was pleasantly surprised otherwise. I've come to the conclusion that people quote him online and he sounds pretentious. In reality, he's someone who speaks in paragraphs, so clipping a sentence here or there takes his personality out of it. In any case, while I may not have as leftist political views as he, I found him very interesting.
In light of which, on of the most interesting panels I attended was Social Class and Speculative Fiction. The drift of this thread would have been perfect to share at the panel. I'm still ruminating about it and realized just home much I am playing with class issues in my first novel, some of it without realizing.
I also met John Scalzi, who will never remember me because it was brief, but if you read his blog, he is exactly what you expect. (Which personally I enjoyed).
Anyone else attend?
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 7 |
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