Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year 2008.
I will be visiting a friend with no internet , so will be off for some days
Here's to a lot of posting in 2008 ...
...no worries - my friend is a scifi afficionado, so I will have my fun. probably going to watch second season of "The 4400" and some other stuff.
Sunday 30 December 2007
Saturday 22 December 2007
My early Christmas.
Count me lucky.I just got a really good early Christmas present.
I talked to a friend of mine on the phone the other day and mentioned my interest in scifi, and he promptly said he probably had something for me. He had collected a pile of books for an English speaking lady in Denmark, but it turned out most of it was SciFi, and she was not really interested. But they both thought that the books should find a home and not simply be dumped. So I received 4 shopping bags full of SciFi/Fantasy books, about 100 books by authors like::
Tad Williams, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Asimov, Heinlein, Alfred Bester, Stanislaw Lem, Michael Stackpole (Fortress Draconis), Frederik Pohl, Joe Haldeman, Robert Jordan, Larry Niven, Greg Bear, David Brin, Philip K. Dick, George R.R. Martin, Kim Stanley Robinson (the full Mars Trilogy) and more ...
Most of the books I did not have already, so a very neat addition to my collection. Many of the books were even unread.
Another bag had some "normal" classic stories from Alexander Dumas and others.
Wow for an early Christmas gift! Now for finding some new shelf space.
I wonder when I get the time to read all this ...
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and a Happy New Year 2008.
I talked to a friend of mine on the phone the other day and mentioned my interest in scifi, and he promptly said he probably had something for me. He had collected a pile of books for an English speaking lady in Denmark, but it turned out most of it was SciFi, and she was not really interested. But they both thought that the books should find a home and not simply be dumped. So I received 4 shopping bags full of SciFi/Fantasy books, about 100 books by authors like::
Tad Williams, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Asimov, Heinlein, Alfred Bester, Stanislaw Lem, Michael Stackpole (Fortress Draconis), Frederik Pohl, Joe Haldeman, Robert Jordan, Larry Niven, Greg Bear, David Brin, Philip K. Dick, George R.R. Martin, Kim Stanley Robinson (the full Mars Trilogy) and more ...
Most of the books I did not have already, so a very neat addition to my collection. Many of the books were even unread.
Another bag had some "normal" classic stories from Alexander Dumas and others.
Wow for an early Christmas gift! Now for finding some new shelf space.
I wonder when I get the time to read all this ...
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and a Happy New Year 2008.
Wednesday 19 December 2007
"The 4400" is over
Just came across this info from Entil2001
Sad news as I have come to like "The 4400" as a solid story.
Let's hope (there is always hope) for a speedy end to the writer's conflict - and that the writers will get the recognition needed.
Sad news as I have come to like "The 4400" as a solid story.
Let's hope (there is always hope) for a speedy end to the writer's conflict - and that the writers will get the recognition needed.
Monday 17 December 2007
The Golden Compass
After a pause the posts begin again. Time has been a bit crazy, both at work and at home.
Yesterday I went to see "The Golden Compass" at the movies.
The movie is based on the first novel in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy "Northern Lights" - also known as "The Golden Compass", a fantasy adventure story.
The orphan girl Lyra , played by Dakota Blue Richards , sets out to save a friend kidnapped by the Gobblers, something that happens frequently, the children never returning.
Since I have not (yet) read the novels, I can not compare the movie with that, this may come later. After all a movie is never the same as the book it may have been made from.
I liked the movie , found the story captivating. The spiritual (some may say religious) aspects of the film were well treated and came through with a good balance. just that you know - I distinguish between (organized) religion (dogmatic beliefs in texts) - and spirituality (wisdom coming from within - the soul ?)
From the creepy Christopher Lee - and Nicole Kidman for that matter, to the support characters it is well played, including the very young Dakota Blue Richards. Special effects are made to tell the story, not effects for the sake of effects, making the film a pleasure to watch.
The universe Pullman has created is rather different from ours - yet has so much in common.
Very recommended for young and old alike.
Yesterday I went to see "The Golden Compass" at the movies.
The movie is based on the first novel in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy "Northern Lights" - also known as "The Golden Compass", a fantasy adventure story.
The orphan girl Lyra , played by Dakota Blue Richards , sets out to save a friend kidnapped by the Gobblers, something that happens frequently, the children never returning.
Since I have not (yet) read the novels, I can not compare the movie with that, this may come later. After all a movie is never the same as the book it may have been made from.
I liked the movie , found the story captivating. The spiritual (some may say religious) aspects of the film were well treated and came through with a good balance. just that you know - I distinguish between (organized) religion (dogmatic beliefs in texts) - and spirituality (wisdom coming from within - the soul ?)
From the creepy Christopher Lee - and Nicole Kidman for that matter, to the support characters it is well played, including the very young Dakota Blue Richards. Special effects are made to tell the story, not effects for the sake of effects, making the film a pleasure to watch.
The universe Pullman has created is rather different from ours - yet has so much in common.
Very recommended for young and old alike.
Monday 29 October 2007
Comet hunt .... Success tonight.
After what feels like an eternity of cloudy weather I got to see comet Holmes.
A bit of clear sky appeared , and the comet was just visible to the unaided eye here (the sky is heavily light polluted where I live).
Without any optical instruments it looks like a star to me - maybe it would be fuzzy in a darker sky.
Using a pair of binoculars at 15x magnification the comet is much like the pictures as seen here , with the exception of the faint green haze outside the brighter disk.
It looked bigger than I expected, and I noticed thet in order to get the most from the view, I had to use "averted vision" that is focusing the view a bit away from the comet. The brighter core is a little elliptic looking and a little offset from the centre of the disk.
If you have a pair of binoculars, you should go out and take a look. The Sky and Telescope link above gives you what you need to find the comet.
This is the third comet I have seen, only Hale-Bopp in April 1997 was bright enough to be clearly seen in the heavily light polluted skies of the western Netherlands, but this unexpected view is much better with a pair of binoculars , or better a telescope using a not too high magnification 20 - 50x should be fine.
Good luck comet hunting.
A bit of clear sky appeared , and the comet was just visible to the unaided eye here (the sky is heavily light polluted where I live).
Without any optical instruments it looks like a star to me - maybe it would be fuzzy in a darker sky.
Using a pair of binoculars at 15x magnification the comet is much like the pictures as seen here , with the exception of the faint green haze outside the brighter disk.
It looked bigger than I expected, and I noticed thet in order to get the most from the view, I had to use "averted vision" that is focusing the view a bit away from the comet. The brighter core is a little elliptic looking and a little offset from the centre of the disk.
If you have a pair of binoculars, you should go out and take a look. The Sky and Telescope link above gives you what you need to find the comet.
This is the third comet I have seen, only Hale-Bopp in April 1997 was bright enough to be clearly seen in the heavily light polluted skies of the western Netherlands, but this unexpected view is much better with a pair of binoculars , or better a telescope using a not too high magnification 20 - 50x should be fine.
Good luck comet hunting.
Friday 26 October 2007
Thursday 25 October 2007
Comet bursting into the sky.
Two days ago Comet 17P/Holmes was an insignificant piece of ice barely visible in amateur telescopes under dark skies.
Yesterday all that changed . If you have a clear sky, take a look in the constellation Perseus, there you will find an extra "fuzzy star" - visible to the unaided eye. With a visual magnitude og between 2.5 and 3 it should be about as strong as the stars in the "Big Dipper", "The Plough", "The big Wagon" or whatever you may call the most well known constellation in the Northern sky. The increase in brightness is about a million times in about 24 hours - quite amazing.
Take a look at Spaceweather.com for more information - and a star map to find the comet, and Cometography for a bit of history of this comet.
Stop Press: Latest estimates are now magnitude 2 .... even brighter ... so the outburst is still in progress.
Here's hoping for a little clear sky at my place i The Netherlands ...
Good luck with comet hunting.
Yesterday all that changed . If you have a clear sky, take a look in the constellation Perseus, there you will find an extra "fuzzy star" - visible to the unaided eye. With a visual magnitude og between 2.5 and 3 it should be about as strong as the stars in the "Big Dipper", "The Plough", "The big Wagon" or whatever you may call the most well known constellation in the Northern sky. The increase in brightness is about a million times in about 24 hours - quite amazing.
Take a look at Spaceweather.com for more information - and a star map to find the comet, and Cometography for a bit of history of this comet.
Stop Press: Latest estimates are now magnitude 2 .... even brighter ... so the outburst is still in progress.
Here's hoping for a little clear sky at my place i The Netherlands ...
Good luck with comet hunting.
Monday 22 October 2007
Radio Astronomy and SETI
On 11 october a new radio telescope started operation. The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in Hat Creek, CA is planned to be extended to an array of 350 dish antennas with a diameter of 6m (20ft) The inauguration was done with the first 42 of these dishes.
The ATA is built to do simultaneous radio astronmical observations and SETI work.
More detail can be found at the website for the SETI institute ATA ppress release.
I am quite excited, since the data collected from the ATA is *much* more than from traditional single dish telescopes , and more than will come from the VLA (Very Large Array) - and for a cost much loser than for older (traditional) radio telescopes.
For more about SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), take a look at at the websites :
SETI Institute
SETI League
SETI@home
The ATA is built to do simultaneous radio astronmical observations and SETI work.
More detail can be found at the website for the SETI institute ATA ppress release.
I am quite excited, since the data collected from the ATA is *much* more than from traditional single dish telescopes , and more than will come from the VLA (Very Large Array) - and for a cost much loser than for older (traditional) radio telescopes.
For more about SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), take a look at at the websites :
SETI Institute
SETI League
SETI@home
Monday 15 October 2007
50 years of the Space Age
October 4th, 1957 saw the first successful launch of a satellite into space.
The (then) USSR lauched "Sputnik 1" becoming the first country entering the Space Age. Its characteristic "beep-beep" sound was heard by radio enthusiasts all over the world on approx. 20 MHz and 40 MHz. MOre information and a recording of the beeps can be found at the Wikipedia page concerning Sputnik 1 . (link at the bottom of the page)
One month later, on November 3rd, a second launch of Sputnik 2 with the first living being put in orbit. The dog Laika, unfortunately, had no way of returning alive to earth.
The first satellite launched by the US was Explorer 1 , on January 31st, 1958.
This marks the beginning of the "Space Race", which continued through the 1960's and 70's.
The Space Age has had a lot of "ups and downs" , and I will come up with some highlights in later posts.
The (then) USSR lauched "Sputnik 1" becoming the first country entering the Space Age. Its characteristic "beep-beep" sound was heard by radio enthusiasts all over the world on approx. 20 MHz and 40 MHz. MOre information and a recording of the beeps can be found at the Wikipedia page concerning Sputnik 1 . (link at the bottom of the page)
One month later, on November 3rd, a second launch of Sputnik 2 with the first living being put in orbit. The dog Laika, unfortunately, had no way of returning alive to earth.
The first satellite launched by the US was Explorer 1 , on January 31st, 1958.
This marks the beginning of the "Space Race", which continued through the 1960's and 70's.
The Space Age has had a lot of "ups and downs" , and I will come up with some highlights in later posts.
Thursday 4 October 2007
My little contribution to the Eurocon
A family member of mine in Denmark is a young writer (my niece). It does not come from strangers, both her parents have books published.
She writes short stories in the SF and Fantasy genre - and as far as I know, she is writing on a fantasy novel. She has had a few short stories published in Denmark - in collections with other writers.
In 2004 and 2005 she won a Danish SF award in the category 17 - 20 years old writers - and in 2006 at the Eurocon in Kiev the Danish delegation made a presentation on her behalf, and she was awarded an Encouragement Award for New Writers. I had to find thet out by looking into the list of award winners, because she never told me. Imagine my surprise at seeing only two Western European names among the long list of Eastern European writers, one of them hers.
At the Eurocon 2007 she was asked to contribute an English language short story for a "Fanzine" short story collection to be released in connection with the Eurocon. Since she does not write very well in English, she asked me to assist with a translation. The story is only 6 - 7 pages long, so I got started. Not as easy as most people would think, since I wanted to translate the sense of the story, not just the words.
So there you have it - my own little contribution to the Eurocon 2007.
The book has the title "Science Fiction - The Danish Fanzine!" (Issue 15/2007)
On another note, I was talking to another participant of the 'con and, since he had the book, I mentioned the story and he immidiately went to my young niece and asked her to sign the book. He argued that young writers should be encouraged. I should have been quick with the camera (I wasn't), because this was a first time experience for her.
As an aside, she had another short story in a book released at the 'con , albeit in Danish. That book is titled "Lige Under Overfladen" (Just Below the Surface) and is a collection of short stories from young European writers (not yet well known, but who knows if and when ?)
Actually I made a second contribution by taking photos at the convention and delivering 2 CDs with all pics taken on the Friday and Saturday of the convention.
A large selection of those have been published here .
She writes short stories in the SF and Fantasy genre - and as far as I know, she is writing on a fantasy novel. She has had a few short stories published in Denmark - in collections with other writers.
In 2004 and 2005 she won a Danish SF award in the category 17 - 20 years old writers - and in 2006 at the Eurocon in Kiev the Danish delegation made a presentation on her behalf, and she was awarded an Encouragement Award for New Writers. I had to find thet out by looking into the list of award winners, because she never told me. Imagine my surprise at seeing only two Western European names among the long list of Eastern European writers, one of them hers.
At the Eurocon 2007 she was asked to contribute an English language short story for a "Fanzine" short story collection to be released in connection with the Eurocon. Since she does not write very well in English, she asked me to assist with a translation. The story is only 6 - 7 pages long, so I got started. Not as easy as most people would think, since I wanted to translate the sense of the story, not just the words.
So there you have it - my own little contribution to the Eurocon 2007.
The book has the title "Science Fiction - The Danish Fanzine!" (Issue 15/2007)
On another note, I was talking to another participant of the 'con and, since he had the book, I mentioned the story and he immidiately went to my young niece and asked her to sign the book. He argued that young writers should be encouraged. I should have been quick with the camera (I wasn't), because this was a first time experience for her.
As an aside, she had another short story in a book released at the 'con , albeit in Danish. That book is titled "Lige Under Overfladen" (Just Below the Surface) and is a collection of short stories from young European writers (not yet well known, but who knows if and when ?)
Actually I made a second contribution by taking photos at the convention and delivering 2 CDs with all pics taken on the Friday and Saturday of the convention.
A large selection of those have been published here .
Sunday 30 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (5)
Sunday : Anne McCaffrey and Zoran Zivkovic readings :
Anne McCaffrey chose to read the short story "The Ship Who Sang" (is the title afaik) , a beautiful and very emotional story that I had not yet heard or read. The story, she told, was written in response to the too early death of a close relative, and she told the audience that this was the first time she could read through the story without breaking down.
For me the surprise of Sunday was the reading of Zoran Zivkovic from Serbia. A BBC recording of his story about a conversation with God (though strictly speaking not quite Science Fiction) was very humorous, and I will try to get some more of his work for reading.
Finally a talk by Lene Kåberbøl, a Danish author of childrens books and fantasy books. What she said about the role of translators of stories struck a cord with me, since I have attempted such a thing myself - and know some of the difficulties of making a good translation - not of the words - but of the essence of the story.
Anne McCaffrey chose to read the short story "The Ship Who Sang" (is the title afaik) , a beautiful and very emotional story that I had not yet heard or read. The story, she told, was written in response to the too early death of a close relative, and she told the audience that this was the first time she could read through the story without breaking down.
For me the surprise of Sunday was the reading of Zoran Zivkovic from Serbia. A BBC recording of his story about a conversation with God (though strictly speaking not quite Science Fiction) was very humorous, and I will try to get some more of his work for reading.
Finally a talk by Lene Kåberbøl, a Danish author of childrens books and fantasy books. What she said about the role of translators of stories struck a cord with me, since I have attempted such a thing myself - and know some of the difficulties of making a good translation - not of the words - but of the essence of the story.
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (4)
Saturday (2) : More Anne McCaffrey :
An hour long Q&A session and the speech as Guest of Honour with Anne McCaffrey again showing us a *very* lively "Dragon Lady", telling her story as an author and as a person.
I took the opportunity to get a single book signed by this excellent author : "The White Dragon" , the 3rd book of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and in my view one of the very best of the extensive series.
Also the "Trekkies.dk" had an open coffee meeting . The rest of the day - until the banquet was spent chatting along with other fans - getting to know some new people.
Since I did not have a ticket for the banquet I was watching a quite amusing film about convention goers and their quirks. The title esacapes me, but it was a BBC production.
An hour long Q&A session and the speech as Guest of Honour with Anne McCaffrey again showing us a *very* lively "Dragon Lady", telling her story as an author and as a person.
I took the opportunity to get a single book signed by this excellent author : "The White Dragon" , the 3rd book of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and in my view one of the very best of the extensive series.
Also the "Trekkies.dk" had an open coffee meeting . The rest of the day - until the banquet was spent chatting along with other fans - getting to know some new people.
Since I did not have a ticket for the banquet I was watching a quite amusing film about convention goers and their quirks. The title esacapes me, but it was a BBC production.
Thursday 27 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (3)
Saturday :
A good lecture on the mysterious "Dark Energy" , which is thought to take up ab0ut 70 % of the Universe . Most of the remaining part of the Universe is "Dark Matter" , so all we can see of the totality is about 5 % of it . A bit scary, isn't it ?
In the presentation we heard that two teams had - at the same time - found some surprising results during surveys of supernovas in the furthest corners of our universe. This particular type of supernova was known (or assumed) to have a rather limited range of luminousity - and a lot of light coming from them - meaning that the distance to them could be estimated with a rather good certainty. Other sources of error (such as dust clouds) could be eliminated, and the result was that the expansion of the universe looks like accelerating in stead of slowing down - as we would expect due to gravity. So what we have is a sort of anti-gravity - but only on very large distances. Later other surveys in different fields gave similar results , so the scientists are rather certain that the effect exists. There is just no clue as to the cause of it. Rather exciting to listen to.
More on the Saturday later ...
Jan from Denmark
A good lecture on the mysterious "Dark Energy" , which is thought to take up ab0ut 70 % of the Universe . Most of the remaining part of the Universe is "Dark Matter" , so all we can see of the totality is about 5 % of it . A bit scary, isn't it ?
In the presentation we heard that two teams had - at the same time - found some surprising results during surveys of supernovas in the furthest corners of our universe. This particular type of supernova was known (or assumed) to have a rather limited range of luminousity - and a lot of light coming from them - meaning that the distance to them could be estimated with a rather good certainty. Other sources of error (such as dust clouds) could be eliminated, and the result was that the expansion of the universe looks like accelerating in stead of slowing down - as we would expect due to gravity. So what we have is a sort of anti-gravity - but only on very large distances. Later other surveys in different fields gave similar results , so the scientists are rather certain that the effect exists. There is just no clue as to the cause of it. Rather exciting to listen to.
More on the Saturday later ...
Jan from Denmark
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (2)
This was only my second Scifi convention, the first one being a Star Trek convention in Fresno,California about 15 years ago.
Thursday night :
Already on Thursday evening at the pre-registration there was convention activity. The organisers were quite happy that I offered to make some photos at the con, so they are receiving a CD with photos for every day of the con.
A nice talk with frequent convention goer - and volunteer - Wilf from the UK was already a good start for me. A quite knowledgeable fellow with a solid scientific angle as well.
Friday :
Panel with Guests of Honour. Anne McCaffrey arrived a little late and, when asked, insisted on going up the stairs to the stage (in spite of the handicap) - hats off. A few words from the guests of honour. Harry Harrison is a veteran guest of con's and has quite a few stories to tell.
Anne McCaffrey, too is very experienced in conventions and could tell of her first con's where she had good advice from (then) experienced writers, and expressed her advice to new writers : in short , if you want to write , make youself sit down and write ... every day.
Scientific lecture on Solar eruptions. This has had my interest for a long time, being a licensed radio amateur. For me the content was not new, but a condensed version of what I already knew. Only difference was - this came from a scientist's point of view.
There were lots of other presentations during the day , but these stand out for me. A lot of time went with meeting other fans and discussing science fiction, science and fantasy .
A little fun thing is a photo I made : Anne McCaffrey is also involved in the "Writers of th Future", a quarterly competition, where the winners get their stories published in collections. One moment a Star Wars Stormtrooper in full gear was "standing guard" right behind the famous author, link to the picture .
more to come ...
Jan from Denmark
Thursday night :
Already on Thursday evening at the pre-registration there was convention activity. The organisers were quite happy that I offered to make some photos at the con, so they are receiving a CD with photos for every day of the con.
A nice talk with frequent convention goer - and volunteer - Wilf from the UK was already a good start for me. A quite knowledgeable fellow with a solid scientific angle as well.
Friday :
Panel with Guests of Honour. Anne McCaffrey arrived a little late and, when asked, insisted on going up the stairs to the stage (in spite of the handicap) - hats off. A few words from the guests of honour. Harry Harrison is a veteran guest of con's and has quite a few stories to tell.
Anne McCaffrey, too is very experienced in conventions and could tell of her first con's where she had good advice from (then) experienced writers, and expressed her advice to new writers : in short , if you want to write , make youself sit down and write ... every day.
Scientific lecture on Solar eruptions. This has had my interest for a long time, being a licensed radio amateur. For me the content was not new, but a condensed version of what I already knew. Only difference was - this came from a scientist's point of view.
There were lots of other presentations during the day , but these stand out for me. A lot of time went with meeting other fans and discussing science fiction, science and fantasy .
A little fun thing is a photo I made : Anne McCaffrey is also involved in the "Writers of th Future", a quarterly competition, where the winners get their stories published in collections. One moment a Star Wars Stormtrooper in full gear was "standing guard" right behind the famous author, link to the picture .
more to come ...
Jan from Denmark
Sunday 23 September 2007
Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (1)
I have been attending the Eurocon 2007 in Copenhagen this year , and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The con had just over 400 registrered members , and some people just came and registrered on the spot, so possibly about 700 - 1000 people in total attended.
For me the main reason was the visit by Anne McCaffrey, who appeared on a panel discussion, at an interview, for a book signing and finally a reading by the author herself.
I took quite some photos at the con and will post a few of them when they are ready.
Other Guests of Honour were Stephen Baxter and Zoran Zivkovic and the artist David A. Hardy. Harry Harrison was there as well.
Several lines of presentations, readings and also scientific lectures were in the program.
I enjoyed lots of talks with other fans en between , but after 3 days of 10-24 (or more) con activity I am rather tired and will continue my "Impressions" in the coming days.
The con had just over 400 registrered members , and some people just came and registrered on the spot, so possibly about 700 - 1000 people in total attended.
For me the main reason was the visit by Anne McCaffrey, who appeared on a panel discussion, at an interview, for a book signing and finally a reading by the author herself.
I took quite some photos at the con and will post a few of them when they are ready.
Other Guests of Honour were Stephen Baxter and Zoran Zivkovic and the artist David A. Hardy. Harry Harrison was there as well.
Several lines of presentations, readings and also scientific lectures were in the program.
I enjoyed lots of talks with other fans en between , but after 3 days of 10-24 (or more) con activity I am rather tired and will continue my "Impressions" in the coming days.
Monday 17 September 2007
"The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester
Back online after a few days (travel and a visit to a friend)
On a long trip by car I listened to Alfred Bester's novel "The Demolished Man".
The story depicts a society where the police has telepathic detectives ("esper"s) solving crimes - or even act to prevent crimes.
The "Esper's Guild" divides telepaths into firsts , seconds and thirds according to the strength of the telepaths.
Ben Reich, who is very critical of the Esper's Guild, decides to eliminate a financial competitor and attempts to escape the telepathic detectives by hiring another telepath to block his thoughts.
After many twists and turns the prosecutor (a computer) dismisses tha case because of insufficient evidence.
In the end he is, after all punished by the Esper's Guild (in spite of the aquittal) , and has his mind wiped and reprogrammed - a process called "Demolition"
The story has some nice twists and turns , and a surprising "inner journey" which I like.
The story was published in 1953 and exhibits some of the predudices opf the time, eg relating to women's "place" in society , but if you can see through that´, the story works on its own premise , though seems a bit dated in our day and age. Also - Venus is depicted as a habitable world , something which is now known to be incorrect.
In any case I enjoyed the story, notwithstanding those weaknesses
Also - in the Series "Babylon 5" JMS (J.M. Straczynski) pays hommage to the story by naming his villain telepath ("Psi-Cop") Alfred Bester.
I would rate the story 7/10.
Wikipedia entry for "The Demolished Man"
On a long trip by car I listened to Alfred Bester's novel "The Demolished Man".
The story depicts a society where the police has telepathic detectives ("esper"s) solving crimes - or even act to prevent crimes.
The "Esper's Guild" divides telepaths into firsts , seconds and thirds according to the strength of the telepaths.
Ben Reich, who is very critical of the Esper's Guild, decides to eliminate a financial competitor and attempts to escape the telepathic detectives by hiring another telepath to block his thoughts.
After many twists and turns the prosecutor (a computer) dismisses tha case because of insufficient evidence.
In the end he is, after all punished by the Esper's Guild (in spite of the aquittal) , and has his mind wiped and reprogrammed - a process called "Demolition"
The story has some nice twists and turns , and a surprising "inner journey" which I like.
The story was published in 1953 and exhibits some of the predudices opf the time, eg relating to women's "place" in society , but if you can see through that´, the story works on its own premise , though seems a bit dated in our day and age. Also - Venus is depicted as a habitable world , something which is now known to be incorrect.
In any case I enjoyed the story, notwithstanding those weaknesses
Also - in the Series "Babylon 5" JMS (J.M. Straczynski) pays hommage to the story by naming his villain telepath ("Psi-Cop") Alfred Bester.
I would rate the story 7/10.
Wikipedia entry for "The Demolished Man"
Sunday 9 September 2007
Second Hugo Award (2007) for Doctor Who
Last year the Doctor Who series received a Hugo Award for the double episode "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" . The award was for the best short dramatic presentation (less than 90 minutes).
The episodes were written by Steven Moffat, and are among my favorites from the new Doctor Who series.
They have done it again ...
This year's Hugo award for the best short dramatic presentation was awarded the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" - also writen by Steven Moffat - and also one of my personal favorites.
The same TV series receiving Hugo awards for two years in a row is quite rare - the last time I know of was when the "Babylon 5" series did that in the 90's.
It will be interesting to see if The Doctor can make it to a third consecutive award....
You can find the complete list of Hugo winners 2007 here
The episodes were written by Steven Moffat, and are among my favorites from the new Doctor Who series.
They have done it again ...
This year's Hugo award for the best short dramatic presentation was awarded the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" - also writen by Steven Moffat - and also one of my personal favorites.
The same TV series receiving Hugo awards for two years in a row is quite rare - the last time I know of was when the "Babylon 5" series did that in the 90's.
It will be interesting to see if The Doctor can make it to a third consecutive award....
You can find the complete list of Hugo winners 2007 here
Saturday 1 September 2007
Live Journal
From now on I will be posting occasionally to Live Journal as well as here - some entries may be identical , but not all
link to my Live Journal page
I like the "adding a friend system"
link to my Live Journal page
I like the "adding a friend system"
Thursday 30 August 2007
Eurocon 2007
The European Convention on Science Fiction and Fantasy takes place in Copenhagen on 21 - 23 September.
For me the most interesting guest of Honour is Anne McCaffrey. The "Dragonriders of Pern" series is one of my favorite SciFi book series, well written and with an interesting plot.
The first book of the series ,"Dragonflight" was published in 1968 , and since then a steady flow of sequels (and prequels) have come out.
You can find out more at their website Eurocon 2007
If I can find the time (and an Internet connection) I might make a few posts during the days of the Eurocon
For me the most interesting guest of Honour is Anne McCaffrey. The "Dragonriders of Pern" series is one of my favorite SciFi book series, well written and with an interesting plot.
The first book of the series ,"Dragonflight" was published in 1968 , and since then a steady flow of sequels (and prequels) have come out.
You can find out more at their website Eurocon 2007
If I can find the time (and an Internet connection) I might make a few posts during the days of the Eurocon
Thursday 16 August 2007
Stephen King in defense of Harry Potter
Stephen King has nice article about the Harry Potter books here where he critisizes the critics reviews of the latest book of being made on a very hasty reading of the book in order to be first to publish a review.
The hasty reviewers , according to King, do not get the full benefit of the book by such a fast reading. I tend to agree.
Further he talks about the appeal of the books to children and adults alike, and stresses the develpoment of the main characters from children into young adults as an advantage of the books , the young audience grew up with the characters. Good point.
Finally he noted the magic of the books that keeps the children interested in reading, clearly showing that the (paper) book is certainly not dead, even in this age of electronic media.
Read the article and decide yourself.
The hasty reviewers , according to King, do not get the full benefit of the book by such a fast reading. I tend to agree.
Further he talks about the appeal of the books to children and adults alike, and stresses the develpoment of the main characters from children into young adults as an advantage of the books , the young audience grew up with the characters. Good point.
Finally he noted the magic of the books that keeps the children interested in reading, clearly showing that the (paper) book is certainly not dead, even in this age of electronic media.
Read the article and decide yourself.
Heroes on the BBC TV
The series Heroes is now being shown on BBC television (BBC2) on Sunday nights and (this week : Thursday night - it seems to move a little around)
I like what I have seen until now on the local (Dutch) channel RTL5, but still a lot of eps to go in the first season.
I like what I have seen until now on the local (Dutch) channel RTL5, but still a lot of eps to go in the first season.
Tuesday 14 August 2007
Babylon Podcast - "The Lost Tales"
The Babylon Podcast is having a Party in the month of August.
Due to the release of the first direct-to-DVD "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" (TLT) the whole month is dedicated to TLT. Starting on 8. August there was an interview with Bruce Boxleitner who played President Sheridan in the second episode of the DVD.
Following later will be interviews with Tracy Scoggins who played Colonel Lochley in the first episode - and Peter Woodward as the technomage Galen in the second episode.
Who knows - maybe we will get more insider interviews from the TLT cast and crew.
Due to the release of the first direct-to-DVD "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" (TLT) the whole month is dedicated to TLT. Starting on 8. August there was an interview with Bruce Boxleitner who played President Sheridan in the second episode of the DVD.
Following later will be interviews with Tracy Scoggins who played Colonel Lochley in the first episode - and Peter Woodward as the technomage Galen in the second episode.
Who knows - maybe we will get more insider interviews from the TLT cast and crew.
Sunday 29 July 2007
**No Spoilers** Harry Potter 7 short review
***NO Spoilers*** Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , the finale of the story of the young wizard growing up.
The final year , not at Hogwarts but in a perilous adventure for Harry, Ron and Hermione - and everybody they know. Harry turns 17, and the protection, of his home, against the Dark Lord Voldemort is over.
The trio attempts to fulfill the task set out by Professor Dumbledore, and they have to do everything on their own.
The story is well written and has some very nice twists and turns, and shows the courage and resourcefulness of everybody, as they must solve the riddles they are left with.
There has been a lot of rumors/spoilers around, and I have avoided them until now.Finally, now I can go to the forums etc and discuss the story.
I would rate the book 4/5
The final year , not at Hogwarts but in a perilous adventure for Harry, Ron and Hermione - and everybody they know. Harry turns 17, and the protection, of his home, against the Dark Lord Voldemort is over.
The trio attempts to fulfill the task set out by Professor Dumbledore, and they have to do everything on their own.
The story is well written and has some very nice twists and turns, and shows the courage and resourcefulness of everybody, as they must solve the riddles they are left with.
There has been a lot of rumors/spoilers around, and I have avoided them until now.Finally, now I can go to the forums etc and discuss the story.
I would rate the book 4/5
Thursday 26 July 2007
Books to read, DVDs to get
Just got the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" book and have started reading. Travelling a bit, so not that much time to finish it, but what I have read so far is promising.
In my book "queue" I also have some Babylon 5 books , the three trilogies :
Centauri
Technomage
Psi Core
and a few single books like "To Dream in the City of Sorrows"
Next on my list is getting the new "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" (TLT) on DVD. The official release in the US is 31 July , in Europe (Region 2) it is some time in September - I do not like the "regionalisation" of DVDs , spoilers are all over the place as soon as the DVD is release in just one place. This tempts many people to download the films (etc), even if they will buy the film in any case. I will buy it, but the delay is *very* annoying.
It looks like "The Babylon Podcast" will make August this year a "TLT" month, so spoilers are almost inevitable.
Edit (14 August) :The Babylon Podcast is indeed making August the month of "The Lost Tales" Last Wednesday they had an interview with Bruce Boxleitner (President Sheridan), and interviews with Tracy Scoggins (Colonel Lochley) and Peter Woodward (Techmomage Galen)
In my book "queue" I also have some Babylon 5 books , the three trilogies :
Centauri
Technomage
Psi Core
and a few single books like "To Dream in the City of Sorrows"
Next on my list is getting the new "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" (TLT) on DVD. The official release in the US is 31 July , in Europe (Region 2) it is some time in September - I do not like the "regionalisation" of DVDs , spoilers are all over the place as soon as the DVD is release in just one place. This tempts many people to download the films (etc), even if they will buy the film in any case. I will buy it, but the delay is *very* annoying.
It looks like "The Babylon Podcast" will make August this year a "TLT" month, so spoilers are almost inevitable.
Edit (14 August) :The Babylon Podcast is indeed making August the month of "The Lost Tales" Last Wednesday they had an interview with Bruce Boxleitner (President Sheridan), and interviews with Tracy Scoggins (Colonel Lochley) and Peter Woodward (Techmomage Galen)
Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer
A movie based on the Marvel comic "Fantastic Four"
I went to see the movie today with some friends. *No Spoilers*
An unknown force (The Silver Surfer) arrives to Earth, threatening to destroy all life on the planet.
In my view, this movie comes out better than the first one. Lots of fun moments as I remember them from the comic, including the teasing and rivalry in the "family". I loved the cameo appearance of Stan Lee. While I know many of the hardcore fans of the comic will be disappointed with the depiction of Galactus, to me it worked quite well on the big screen.
While the story may not be very subtle (after all it has its origin in a comic book) I found the unfolding fine - not dragging too long, actually the movie is relatively short. Still, one nice aspect, it is about having a choice , even at times you think that you do not.
Very nice special effects in creating the Silver Surfer
I would recommend go seeing it, even if you are a fan of the comics, in my book I would rate it 4/5.
PS. I have heard that the Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Stracynski is working on the script for a Silver Surfer movie, sounds interesting.
I went to see the movie today with some friends. *No Spoilers*
An unknown force (The Silver Surfer) arrives to Earth, threatening to destroy all life on the planet.
In my view, this movie comes out better than the first one. Lots of fun moments as I remember them from the comic, including the teasing and rivalry in the "family". I loved the cameo appearance of Stan Lee. While I know many of the hardcore fans of the comic will be disappointed with the depiction of Galactus, to me it worked quite well on the big screen.
While the story may not be very subtle (after all it has its origin in a comic book) I found the unfolding fine - not dragging too long, actually the movie is relatively short. Still, one nice aspect, it is about having a choice , even at times you think that you do not.
Very nice special effects in creating the Silver Surfer
I would recommend go seeing it, even if you are a fan of the comics, in my book I would rate it 4/5.
PS. I have heard that the Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Stracynski is working on the script for a Silver Surfer movie, sounds interesting.
Thursday 12 July 2007
7th Son
I started listening to a podcast book a few days ago:
7th Son by J.C Hutchins
I have only listened to the first few chapters and will decide later if I continue till the end.
more info at J.C.Hutchins' website
7th Son by J.C Hutchins
I have only listened to the first few chapters and will decide later if I continue till the end.
more info at J.C.Hutchins' website
Thursday 5 July 2007
Pulsar Measurements - Radio Astronomy Podcast
Just heard this on the podcast "Mountain Radio Astronomy". Their podcast of 8 October 2005 was an interview with pulsar hunter Scott Ransom at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville. Scott had - at the time of the interview - found about 30 millisecond pulsars in a globular star cluster called Terzan 5.
A pulsar is believed to be a quickly rotating neutron star, a supernova remnant, most of them rotating in less than a second. The pulsar has a rather small and directional radiating area that can only be registered when it is facing us.
A second type of even faster rotating pulsars - known as millisecond pulsars - rotating more than a 100 tomes per second, are found in globular star clusters.
The rotation period of the millisecond pulsars is extremely precise, approaching that of an atomic clock , and this means thatsome interesting measurements of pulsar orbits can be made.
About 20 minutes into the interview he talked about a measurement of a pulsar orbit with an accuracy that really surprised me.
The example here is the Hulse-Taylor star system two pulsars orbiting each other in an orbit smaller than the Sun.This can demonstrate Einstein's general theory of relativity, the interaction between spacetime and gravitation and an indication of gravity waves.
One other of the pulsars, Terzan N is orbiting a massive companion in an almost exact circular orbit about the size of the Sun.there is a little eccentricity, that is difference in the long axis and the short axis of the orbit, is measured as 48 cm +/- 6 cm. Less than half a meter ! Measured at a distance of 20 000 light years. Mind blowing ...
Science stranger than fiction ...
Link to Mountain Radio Astronomy
Link to The podcast MP3 file
A pulsar is believed to be a quickly rotating neutron star, a supernova remnant, most of them rotating in less than a second. The pulsar has a rather small and directional radiating area that can only be registered when it is facing us.
A second type of even faster rotating pulsars - known as millisecond pulsars - rotating more than a 100 tomes per second, are found in globular star clusters.
The rotation period of the millisecond pulsars is extremely precise, approaching that of an atomic clock , and this means thatsome interesting measurements of pulsar orbits can be made.
About 20 minutes into the interview he talked about a measurement of a pulsar orbit with an accuracy that really surprised me.
The example here is the Hulse-Taylor star system two pulsars orbiting each other in an orbit smaller than the Sun.This can demonstrate Einstein's general theory of relativity, the interaction between spacetime and gravitation and an indication of gravity waves.
One other of the pulsars, Terzan N is orbiting a massive companion in an almost exact circular orbit about the size of the Sun.there is a little eccentricity, that is difference in the long axis and the short axis of the orbit, is measured as 48 cm +/- 6 cm. Less than half a meter ! Measured at a distance of 20 000 light years. Mind blowing ...
Science stranger than fiction ...
Link to Mountain Radio Astronomy
Link to The podcast MP3 file
Saturday 30 June 2007
The SciFi Smackdown Podcast
A podcast with people having fun comparing similar aspects of different Science Fiction stories.
Their very first episode had a match between the Battlestar Galactica and the Enterprise. Follow the debate about differences, advantages and disadvantages of the two flagships.
Each episode is followed by a voicemail show or two with listener feedback of the match.
Episode 2: Captain America vs Batman
Episode 3: Heroes vs. X-men This time with another approach: The smackdown is played out as a role playing game match, playing over a few podcasts.Very Entertaining.
Episode 4: second part of the Heroes vs. X-men
Episode 5: X-wings (from StarWars) vs Starfuries (from Babylon 5). This time with a guest participant known from the Babylon Podcast - since they wanted a knowledgeable representative for the Starfuries. Yet another approach : The "combattants" are to make a sales pitch for their respective fighter. Their guest made quite a pitch for the Starfuries.
Link : Scifi Smackdown Podcast
Their very first episode had a match between the Battlestar Galactica and the Enterprise. Follow the debate about differences, advantages and disadvantages of the two flagships.
Each episode is followed by a voicemail show or two with listener feedback of the match.
Episode 2: Captain America vs Batman
Episode 3: Heroes vs. X-men This time with another approach: The smackdown is played out as a role playing game match, playing over a few podcasts.Very Entertaining.
Episode 4: second part of the Heroes vs. X-men
Episode 5: X-wings (from StarWars) vs Starfuries (from Babylon 5). This time with a guest participant known from the Babylon Podcast - since they wanted a knowledgeable representative for the Starfuries. Yet another approach : The "combattants" are to make a sales pitch for their respective fighter. Their guest made quite a pitch for the Starfuries.
Link : Scifi Smackdown Podcast
Thursday 28 June 2007
Heroes on Dutch TV
I have been watching the first two episodes of the "Heroes" series , "Genesis" and "Don't Look Back".
This looks promising, I must say , but will wait a few more episodes and see where this leads.
In the first two episodes we meet people from all over the world, discovering that they have unusual abilities, such as flying (levitating), controlling time and telepathy, as well as a professor (and his son) studying genetics and predicting that some people will develop those abilities - and what looks like a peek into a disaster in the future
This looks promising, I must say , but will wait a few more episodes and see where this leads.
In the first two episodes we meet people from all over the world, discovering that they have unusual abilities, such as flying (levitating), controlling time and telepathy, as well as a professor (and his son) studying genetics and predicting that some people will develop those abilities - and what looks like a peek into a disaster in the future
Thursday 21 June 2007
Babylon Podcast fan fiction
It looks like the Babylon Podcast voice mails are being dominated by a piece of fan fiction (or two) Some contributors send in pieces of talks , like captain's log or whatever , creating a story within the podcast.
If you know the series well, you will appreciate the humor of these voice mails.
If you are a Babylon 5 fan , listen to the podcast , or better to the live feed. In my opinion it is well worth it.
If you know the series well, you will appreciate the humor of these voice mails.
If you are a Babylon 5 fan , listen to the podcast , or better to the live feed. In my opinion it is well worth it.
Tuesday 19 June 2007
The Babylon Podcast
The Babylon Podcast is a podcast dedicated to the TV series "Babylon 5" created by Joe Michael Straczynski (also known as JMS).
In this the hosts Summer Brooks and Tim Callender (two dedicated fans) and Jeffrey Willerth (producer on the series) deal with news about the series, have interviews with people relating to the series - cast, crew, authors etc as well as (in many of the podcasts) deal with a specific episode of the series, a section of the podcast dubbed "Deep Geeking", where the episode is analyzed, and they talk about what worked for them or not etc., and finally a voice mail section.
I have been following the podcast since September last year, when I got started in a big way listening to podcasts, and was very happy to find this one. Having some time at hand, I spent two weeks listening to the preceding 42 (one hour long) podcasts in order to get up to date.
They also record live every Wednesday evening at 18 pm Phoenix Arizona time, rather inconvenient for Western Europeans (3 am), but sometimes well worth it.
Simultaneously they have an IRC chat running, so live feed listeners can comment live. Find all info about the live feed on their website (link : Listen Live). The live feed is , of course unedited so if you join in, you get bloopers, banter and all - can be very entertaining.
Their latest show #69, released last week, was a little different : Members of the chatroom were invited to call in and contribute - they had 3 contributions, and I participated in the second section.
Today I (re)watched the final episode of Babylon 5, Season 2, "The Fall of Night" . the subject of this Wednesday's "Deep Geeking".
Link : Babylon Podcast
In this the hosts Summer Brooks and Tim Callender (two dedicated fans) and Jeffrey Willerth (producer on the series) deal with news about the series, have interviews with people relating to the series - cast, crew, authors etc as well as (in many of the podcasts) deal with a specific episode of the series, a section of the podcast dubbed "Deep Geeking", where the episode is analyzed, and they talk about what worked for them or not etc., and finally a voice mail section.
I have been following the podcast since September last year, when I got started in a big way listening to podcasts, and was very happy to find this one. Having some time at hand, I spent two weeks listening to the preceding 42 (one hour long) podcasts in order to get up to date.
They also record live every Wednesday evening at 18 pm Phoenix Arizona time, rather inconvenient for Western Europeans (3 am), but sometimes well worth it.
Simultaneously they have an IRC chat running, so live feed listeners can comment live. Find all info about the live feed on their website (link : Listen Live). The live feed is , of course unedited so if you join in, you get bloopers, banter and all - can be very entertaining.
Their latest show #69, released last week, was a little different : Members of the chatroom were invited to call in and contribute - they had 3 contributions, and I participated in the second section.
Today I (re)watched the final episode of Babylon 5, Season 2, "The Fall of Night" . the subject of this Wednesday's "Deep Geeking".
Link : Babylon Podcast
Monday 18 June 2007
Heroes coming up on Dutch TV
This coming Thursday "Heroes" begins a run on the Dutch commercial TV channel RTL5, running the pilot episode this Thursday. Hope I can make it through the commercials.
I have heard a lot of good about that one and look forward to see it.
Heroes the Series
I have heard a lot of good about that one and look forward to see it.
Heroes the Series
Doctor Who
I have been watching the new (2005 onwards) series of Doctor Who, and found it very good. Generally good story lines, often a subtle arc going through a whole season.
I am much more impressed by the new series than the old one. This should not be a surprise, since a lot has happened to scifi TV in the last 20 years. No wonder we sometimes find the older tv series a little lacking. Not just special effects, but in general.
Watched episode 11 , Utopia, of the 3rd (new) series in the week end and found it extremely promising for the 2 concluding episodes. I am not going to give any spoilers yet.
I am much more impressed by the new series than the old one. This should not be a surprise, since a lot has happened to scifi TV in the last 20 years. No wonder we sometimes find the older tv series a little lacking. Not just special effects, but in general.
Watched episode 11 , Utopia, of the 3rd (new) series in the week end and found it extremely promising for the 2 concluding episodes. I am not going to give any spoilers yet.
Friday 15 June 2007
The Babylon Lurker - science fiction and fantasy
This blog will predominantly deal with Science Fiction and Fantasy that I have seen/read/heard.
Expect my love of the TV series Babylon 5 (just look at the title) to dominate this blog , especially in the beginning.
Also expect some excursions into the realm of real science and mythology, both related to SciFi/Fantasy - and probably a lot of other diverse stuff
Jan , The Babylon Lurker
Expect my love of the TV series Babylon 5 (just look at the title) to dominate this blog , especially in the beginning.
Also expect some excursions into the realm of real science and mythology, both related to SciFi/Fantasy - and probably a lot of other diverse stuff
Jan , The Babylon Lurker
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