Science Fiction Blog

2004-01-24T16:15:00.000-08:00

Day 13 -

Today we discussed the story "Getting Real," which I really enjoyed. At first I was reading through the story and didn't see how it related to SF at all. After reading it however, I understood that it was just like Falling Down with Michael Douglas. The main character was so isolated from society that she was pretty much an alien. The story made the "temps" seem like a different species then the "reals." We then went over our papers on what we learned about SF. Then, we spent the rest of our time working on our short story. The basic skeleton was done, but we needed to feel in the body with some facts and descriptions. After watching the Fatboy Slim video with Christopher Walken, we corrected our mistakes and concluded our story. I have a lot to do this weekend, since the web page project due date is quckly approaching.

2004-01-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

Day 12 -

Today I think we watched the best movie so far, or the funniest at least. Trekkies was a documentary that showed America the true Star Trek fans and their daily lives. We saw everything from cross dressers to a woman who actually thought she was a commander of a starfleet. This movie, although hilarious, presented some many good points. I enjoyed how some women in the movie took their love from star trek into the education field and became involved in the science field. At least they are putting their enjoyments to good use. I dont see the sense in making a book in the Klingon language. The movie made the point that wearing a sports jersey is no different then walking around in your Trek gear. I can see maybe wearing a star trek t-shirt or a pin or something. But you don't see people walking around with shoulderpads and helmet on just because they like football. We wear jerseys because we are showing our support for a team or player. Anyway, the movie did make several good points about Star Trek and i believe that overall its a good hobby for the side. It should not take over your life.

2004-01-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Day 11 -

Today we discussed a lot about Neuromancer. We broke into groups and discussed general questions that we all had about the book. Overall, I think that Neuromancer was the most confusing book I have ever tried to read. We then went into The Matrix and discussed central themes in the story. Our group discussed how Neo had to discover what reality was again. Our group is going to meet tonight in the library to begin our short story.

2004-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

Day 10 -

Today we watched The Matrix in class, which took up most of the time. It goes along with our discussion on cyberpunk. Out of all the examples of cyberpunk we have went over so far: Blade Runner, Neuromancer, and The Matrix; I enjoyed the Matrix the most. I identify with The Matrix the most and understand it the best. I think it has the best story, best visual effects, and a unique view of the future. It was painful going through Neuromancer. I really hated it because I could not follow what was going on at all. I honestly think it was the worst book I have ever read. But the principles it presents with cyberspace are similar to that of The Matrix. I think the Matrix differs from the other cyberpunk examples because it explains more about the plot, but still allows the viewer to accept the events as commonplace. Neuromancer doesn't explain anything, in my opinion. I was really disappointed with it. I think my response to The Matrix will deal with what the matrix really is and what it allows people to do who realize its lack of boundaries.

2004-01-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Day 9 -

Today we started forming up ideas for our short stories. The five of us quickly made up a page worth of creative ideas. We thought of things from Elon becoming the capital of the world to a local finding a wounded Big Foot in the woods. After we said all of our ideas, we then began to break down into more general ideas and take out concepts that would be too difficult. We limited it down to three key ideas that we all agreed on. I think we are on the right track to a great story. I am really excited with the progress we made in one day and I hope the following days will be as productive. I do not want to say yet what we are doing in case something changes, but I think that we are on the right track.

2004-01-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Day 8 -

I was really upset with the "Race" chapter in Idiom. Now I understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion and thats fine, but I disagreed with a lot of the points presented in that chapter. I don't see any argument at all with how the movie Alien shows racist aspects because the monster was black and a black actor was inside the costume. When it all comes down to the core, any work can be analyzed and I bet that there are some kind of racial aspect that I could dig up.
We watched Men in Black today and I still don't think that this movie presents racial inequalities. The story was written before Will Smith was signed on for the project and the original had two while men casted as the roles of K and J. The added comments that were added were done so by Will Smith the actor, not the character. I enjoy this movie because it is funny and I don't like breaking the movie down and looking at it this way because its not what I enjoy about the movie. In my write up on the movie, I plan to bring up how immigrants were shown in the movie.

2004-01-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

Day 7 -

Today, I found the chapter in Idiom on Gender very dry and boring. It basically just mentioned that women are growing confidence in the genre and that most started out writing a male dominated society, but later they put in their own personal beliefs and values. One portion of the article claimed that the movie Alien was a struggle between the dominant male, or the Alien monster, and the woman, Sigourney Weaver. I totally disagree with this but everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I really enjoyed the short story "Boobs." Who would think a story by such a title would be about a teenage girl who turns into a werewolf at a full moon. This story was really easy to read and this made it more enjoyable then some of the past ones we have read. I could definetely tell that this was written by a girl because all the men in the story didn't seem to care about anything and they were really abusive.

2004-01-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

Day 6 -

I rented Star Trek: First Contact and really tried focusing in on the Borg. I had seen the movie before and in fact it is my favorite Star Trek movie out of the ones I have seen. After reading "Representation is Futile" I wanted to see if I could pick up on how the Borg were beginning to show more individualistic qualities and they did. The Queen especially seemed to show interest in only her wants, not the whole. The Borg were supposed to a collective race that wants to assimilate all races into their own to make the perfect race. The Borg are far from perfect and while they have some cool tricks, they have many flaws. I am going to focus my write up on how the Borg started out as a collective, but almost evolve to be like any other villianous group wishing to have power.
I really didn't care for "The Ship Who Sang" because it was slow paced and had very little action. The story definetely had a feminist feel to it. I did like how the ship showed many human qualities, even love. I hated "Them Old Hyannis Blues." I did not understand the plot line at all. All the story seemed to focus on was 'what if' this person was this person and so on.

2004-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

Day 5 -

I had mixed reviews for the short stories I read today. I think "Blood Music" was a great example of a SF short story. It dealt a lot with science and described a lot of the transformations that the characters were experiencing. Vergil, Edward, and Gail are among those who experience change within the story and the reader can picture the transformations from the white lined skin to the ridges that form on their backs and elbows. Reading this story made me think of Frankenstein, where Vergil was Dr. Frankenstein finding something deep within science and he goes too far.

I really enjoyed "Ender's Game." I think that this was the best story that we have read so far. The dialogue was easy to follow and the plot was interesting. The plot twist at the end was also very surprising and entertaining. I wanted to think that something was up with Ender because of the endless battles everyday. This was an interesting view of the future, although I never can see this happening because of the innoncence of children.

2004-01-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

Day Four -

Today we went over the three short stories when class started. I personally did not like any of these stories because I thought they all needed more clarification. Then, we went on and watched Blade Runner. I had mixed reviews for this movie. I feel that it was a good story, but it was the slowest paced SF movie I have ever seen. The imagery was very entertaining and it showed a new dark and gloomy perspective of the US, Los Angeles especially. I liked Ridley Scott's commercialized view of the city with the big buildings and the ruined environment. Since I enjoyed how unique the scenery and environments were I think I will write my response on this. I think Scott says a lot about the future just through visualization.

2004-01-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Day Three -

Today we broke into seperate groups and talked about the article "Aliens, Alien Nations, and Alienation in American Political Economy and Popular Culture." This article used movies like Blade Runner, Falling Down, and The Matrix, to make a comment on capitalism in society. The article made several good points, especially within Falling Down. This would be the last movie that I would label science fiction, but the article made several good points on how an alien does not have to be a being from another world. The main character in Falling Down was an alien to society because he was from a different culture, spoke a different language, and just could not connect with anyone around him in the movie.
We then discussed the three short stories, which were better then the day before. I really enjoyed "Robbie" because of the emotion showed by a robot who could not talk. I thought this story was very entertaining, especially since it was written in 1940.
Finally we discussed the article as a class and went into such topics as the "Look behind the curtain" theory which was a little hard to understand. It basically said to find your own truth and don't get caught in the many bad habits that our society offers. I thought that this was easier said then done because sometimes we can't help but look at what society or the media has to offer.

2004-01-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Class Two -

Today we came in after reading two articles dealing with science fiction and two short stories by Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. We broke into groups with our tables and discussed many aspects with these like what the authors were trying to say, the themes, the time period they were written in, etc. It was interesting that these first two stories were said to be architypes for science fiction. They really are not what we think today as science fiction. I had a hard time seeing how "The Fall of the House of Usher" was a science fiction story because of the lack of science that was involved in the story. "The Mortal Immortal" had scientific background, so I could understand how that was a benchmark for this genre. After discussing these stories we began to learn how to use the program Dreamweaver to begin to understand how to create a web page. I learned how to place text, images, and web links to sites and video. I can tell that I am going to like this program because it's really easy to use and it looks professional.

2004-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Class one -

I can tell that I'm going to enjoy this class, as I thought I would. The biggest surprise is that this is not a film class, but a literature class. There is a lot more reading in this class then I thought, but the topics seem interesting enough to keep me from falling asleep. I am really excited about the movies that we will watch in here, especially The Matrix. I think that breaking these films down after we watch them will give a new perspective on them so we can see them from a different angle.