I couldn't agree more. The more information that comes back from these expeditions, the more I squirm with impatience to know what may be below these surfaces. Europa, Titan, Enceladus... perhaps multiple geneses? At the very least, astonishing new worlds.caliban wrote:Fascinating stuff
Search found 380 matches
- Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:32 pm
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: News from Saturn
- Replies: 2
- Views: 41665
Re: News from Saturn
- Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:39 pm
- Forum: Musings and Chats
- Topic: Arthur C. Clarke, 1917 - 2008
- Replies: 2
- Views: 33559
Postscript
I think of Arthur C. Clarke as the last of the romantic optimists. I enjoyed his aphorisms and predictions more than his novels... and this still makes my throat tighten, both as a scientist and a human: "All these worlds are yours -- except Europa." Here is a collection of his quotes: Cla...
- Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:27 pm
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: Universals of language
- Replies: 10
- Views: 89318
- Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:22 pm
- Forum: Musings and Chats
- Topic: Arthur C. Clarke, 1917 - 2008
- Replies: 2
- Views: 33559
- Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:57 pm
- Forum: Literature and Cinema
- Topic: Fantasy universes and worlds
- Replies: 40
- Views: 256624
Re: The Master and Margarita
I finished watching The Master and Margarita , and am quite ambivalent -- I wanted to like it, but felt it was very uneven. I already commented on costumes and sets, and a bit on the acting. I think that by remaining slavishly faithful to the book, the director made a poor film -- static, with exces...
- Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:41 pm
- Forum: Literature and Cinema
- Topic: Fantasy universes and worlds
- Replies: 40
- Views: 256624
The Master and Margarita... and other unflinching visions
Calvin did unearth the Russian DVDs of The Master and Margarita , and was kind enough to send them to me. I'm through part of the first, and so far it's skin-tight in its following of the book. The subtitles, clearly from someone whose English was shaky, are hilarious! As is customary with Russian p...
- Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:00 pm
- Forum: Literature and Cinema
- Topic: Science fiction/fantasy film recommendations
- Replies: 21
- Views: 181051
In my peregrinations, I found an interesting essay on the influence of Norse mythology on Pullman's trilogy: His Norse Materials . The sections on Odin and Lucifer/Loki are particularly intriguing. Considering the detailed mappings of even secondary characters, I found one surprising omission -- the...
- Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:38 pm
- Forum: Musings and Chats
- Topic: Tell the Spartans...
- Replies: 24
- Views: 155724
Still here...
As you can tell from the relative silence, health issues are still plaguing me, to the point that I cannot get myself together to write a blog essay or even a brief forum post. A couple of things did happen to boost my mood a bit -- I was invited to join the scientific board of the Lifeboat Foundati...
- Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:26 am
- Forum: Musings and Chats
- Topic: Happy Birthday Athena!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 92122
- Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:33 pm
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
- Replies: 16
- Views: 136747
- Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:39 pm
- Forum: Literature and Cinema
- Topic: Science fiction/fantasy film recommendations
- Replies: 21
- Views: 181051
The Tin Compass
I read Phillip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials and found it interesting, though uneven -- imaginative, subversive concepts mingled with pedestrian ones and the prose was at best serviceable. The ideas were provocative enough to irk Christian orthodox of both the Catholic and Protestant persuasi...
- Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:09 pm
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: Of the Sith: An Essay
- Replies: 9
- Views: 93828
The essay is terrific and the points you both raised are important and valid (the monism of the Celtic tradition, the vital role of the Irish church, the boredom of monochromatic evil). The gods and heroes of older religions invariably become demons in newer religions -- to give the newcomer a footh...
- Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:10 am
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
- Replies: 16
- Views: 136747
- Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:00 am
- Forum: Musings and Chats
- Topic: Happy New Year
- Replies: 2
- Views: 34023
- Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:18 am
- Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
- Topic: Light Pollution
- Replies: 7
- Views: 70543