Might as well jump...

[grindmonkeh]

Which has been a more important influence on modern society or has had a larger cultural relevance: George Orwell's 1984 or Van Halen's 1984? Discuss.

(http://decibelmagazine.com/Forum.aspx?did=260244)\

The least sane part of me wants to do this.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Michael Vick on the Bears? Newsflash: Chicago Suntimes reporter Carol Slezak needs to step away from the crackpipe.

U.S. congressional members get a $4,700 pay raise this week. I'm somewhat in limbo while I wait to see if I get the admin job I interviewed for prior to the holiday break. I've got a class schedule and a real estate gig lying on the table if I don't get it, and an office and pay raise coming if I do. That's anyone's guess...I'm not holding my breath.

If I maintain this semester's class schedule then I'll have a Social Criticism of Science Fiction class with the following books on the required reading list:
Blade Runner - Dick
Time Machine - Wells
Island of Dr. Moreau - Wells
Left Hand of Darkness - Leguin
Year's Best SF 10 - Hartwell
Coyote: Novel of Insterstellar Explorat - Steele

This year I resolve to brush my teeth every day while at work. I resolve to maybe try out iTunes again now that it's DRM-free. I resolve to listen to MUSIC at work again (if I get the job with the office that is)! I resolve to...?

Comments

[charasan.livejournal.com]

Watching that video, I can't help but think of the time Wile E. Coyote tried a similar trick to catch the Road Runner. Wile E. Coyote...SUPER Genius.

I've also resolved to brush my...wait. Damn it.

[brokn2pieces.livejournal.com]

that video was amazing. wow

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

That shit is just stupid. Even if you live, you are an idiot. So say me all :-P.

I think The Disposessed would have been a better Le Guin novel for Social Criticism, but gender issues are safe enough for college - a functioning anarcho-syndicalist society is much too scary to talk about. Besides, that could never happen, right?

Blade Runner is cool (and Dick is awesome). The Island made the issue more pointed, by giving the clones actual individual identities, which makes them easier to identify with, but Blade Runner doesn't pull any punches. Time Machine? Meh. The Moorlocks are the only real social criticism, and it is something of an elitist position, no? That the working glass will be ugly troglodytes and literally eat the rich? Maybe they would just make their own food and let the other fuck off - it is a lot easier.

The Forever War might be a nice addition to that. Haldeman knows the military, and does a great job with that novel.

[grindbastard.livejournal.com]

" That the working glass will be ugly troglodytes and literally eat the rich? Maybe they would just make their own food and let the other fuck off - it is a lot easier."

Haha...I don't know how I missed your reply to this post until now. The professor of the class did point out that while Well's scenario of human futurity isn't exactly perfectly constructed, there are many writers who drew from his ideas on that theme as well as the whole concept of time travel.

I really enjoyed Left Hand of Darkness...I'll have to pick up the Dispossessed. I'll put The Forever War on the list too. And PKD is indeed awesome.

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

LeGuin is really good. The Dispossessed didn't make much of an impact in the US, but here in Europe it is somethign like an anarcho-syndicalist manifesto, read by everyone from the ocupas (squatters) to Monty Python, "...We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week..."

The magic of the book is that it shows real, human characters living in this type of society, and its benefits and limitations.

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

"That shit" being base-jumping. :-)

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

Plus, that must be cold as all hell in the winter. And they better not hit anyone with those damned skis!!

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

And I bet there is some military group training with those things, for some damned reason.