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Paul Allen Plans Sci-Fi Shrine in Seattle
ctar writes "You couldn't ask for a more appropriate or schizophrenic slashdot story...The NYTimes online was the only one carrying the story according to Google News, so this is all you get."
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more like paul alien am i rite? :cool:
The story read, "Paul Allen Proposes Shrine to Himself" I think ;-)
This is gonna be great if it is anything like the EMP. Can't wait to see it and go there and see all the sci fi stuff. The whole museum should be designed like a space station or ship. Gonna be interesting to see what they come up with.
Checking out my form of escapism.
Confused Philospher thinks this is a strange place to do so.
Wouldn't San Fransico make more sense since it is at the heart of the Federation of Planets?
Why slashdot? Why not?
Paul G. Allen, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of Microsoft,
Oh My God! I have created a Monster!!!!
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Sci-Fi Shrine for Seattle, Complete With Aliens
By STEPHEN KINZER
n the nearly two centuries between Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and "The Matrix," science fiction has captivated countless millions of readers, listeners and viewers. Now one of them is taking his obsession to a higher level, investing $10 million to $20 million to build a temple to the genre.
Paul G. Allen, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of Microsoft, is planning to build a "cultural project" in Seattle that will seek to draw visitors into the science-fiction experience.
Details of the project are to be announced today. Preliminary plans suggest that if it comes to fruition, it would be part museum, part amusement park and part little boy's fantasy.
The project will extend Mr. Allen's influence over entertainment in the Northwest. He has backed a number of films, including "Far From Heaven," and owns the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and the Portland Trailblazers of the National Basketball Association.
His new venture, tentatively called SFX ? The Science Fiction Experience, is to fill 13,000 square feet of exhibit space that has been part of the Experience Music Project, a multimedia museum devoted to American popular music, especially rock 'n' roll. (The museum was also conceived by Mr. Allen, along with his sister, Jody Patton.) Mr. Allen owns the building, which was designed by Frank Gehry and is a Seattle landmark. The science-fiction project is scheduled to open in the summer of 2004.
According to promotional material, SFX "will explore our culture through the broad, historic and compelling lens of science fiction." The material promises models of "bug-eyed monsters" and exhibits that illustrate "science fiction's alternate realities."
In an interview, Mr. Allen said the enterprise would be incorporated as a nonprofit enterprise but might eventually become a business. He called it "a hybrid project" that would have "a multimedia component" but would "not be a theme park or a ride."
The announcement of this project comes as museums in several cities are postponing or scaling down new building projects. Some arts organizations are reeling from large cuts in public and corporate giving. But Mr. Allen said he would bear all the costs of SFX himself.
"I see it as a jumping-off project for examining the future."
Plans call for a hall of fame for science-fiction heroes, another hall shaped like the interior of a spaceship and a third that would commemorate terrifying aliens and other evil creatures. SFX's advisory board includes the science-fiction writers Greg Bear, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler and Arthur C. Clarke.
Writers like those transfixed Mr. Allen when he was young. He said he was a small child when he stumbled on a book called "Spaceship Galileo" and has been "a huge fan" of science fiction ever since.
Are his teeth going to be on display?
"Paul G. Allen, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of Microsoft, is planning to build a "cultural project" in Seattle that will seek to draw visitors into the science-fiction experience."
Maybe he feels guilty for all the years he's failed to provide any culture thanks to his co-founding of Microsoft
Isn't it weird all the stuff rich guys do with their money?
I mean, If i'd made billions of bucks from starting a software concern in the early eighties, I PROBABLY wouldn't be starting a shrine to science fiction.
Don't get me wrong, I love SF as much as the next geek (and constantly have to upgrade my bookshelves,) but.... a shrine? That's a little macabre.
The guy should do something worthwhile with his bucks, like sponsor literary awards for young SF authors to help ensure the genre doesn't stagnate. Or donate a few hundred mil to Seti.
Shrine? Bah.
You're doing it wrong.
Holy bajesus, check out the grimey, yellow choppers. You'd think with $10 mil to spend on a geek temple, he'd have some left over for some white strips.
I really hate Dan Patrick.
I heard a rumor (which I never bothered to check) that the Wizards-of-the-Coatse plaza in Seattle's University district went out of business. If that's true, then I suspect I know where Paul Allen's 3-floor-sci-fi shrine will be located at.
Would be a neat location!
Paul Allen left MS more then ten years go and has since been spending his share on all sorts of extravagant projects. Get over it.
When men used to be men
Next time warn me that face was going to be staring at me if I clicked the link. God block images from server Mozilla, BLOCK, BLOCK NOW!
WARNING Link NOT safe!
If Microsoft made a movie in the Matrix universe, it surely will be called "Deja-vu"
Been to BN.com lately? I think it's a bit late for that.
we have a Microsoft Security Whitepaper.
This is 21st century science fiction at its finest!
On your way out, board the flying car on the left.
Cheers, Joel
Of course because of the proximity of Microsoft, none of the companies here have any Linux or Open Source friendly positions. A job would be another nice thing to have. Maybe the Sci-Fi museum is hiring for a Linux Administrator exhibit.
The Holy Land Experience, a theme park in Orlando, based off the bible that was designed to convert Jews to Christianity by belitting their entire existence to the role of having producing Christ, and thus having fulfilled their function.
When I read about this project, I thought, "He's establishing a perpetual Con!" Then I saw the irony, and I was Enlightened.
The guy goes and does something vaguely positive, and the most "enlightened" comments on SlashDot are "Look at his teeth, haw haw haw!".
I think its a fantastic idea. A lot of people will go there to be inspired by past scifi works.
Certainly better than going to an amusement park dedicated to a giant fucken mouse.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
and you'd think he could afford a little better dental hygeine.
you can be certain this is another way to tax the locals just like his 'emp' and his 'allen' *cough* 'seahawks' stadium (300 million in sales taxes diverted to fund it). what a cheezeface.
The guy should do something worthwhile with his bucks
Like maybe donate money to save forests? or to "sustain" the Seti Project? and severl other things.
I'm not a big Paul Allen fan, but hell, he's rich, he's allready been a bit of philanthropy - let him build a Sci-Fi shrine if he wants toBesides, they already have an amusement park...though not even half the scale of the one you're referring to.
Maybe he should pay a few mil to a dentist in danger money to get his teeth removed and have a new set fitted. :P
I don't begrudge him his shrine, but I can't see how it's like some big lifetime dream... There are plenty of things that are more rad which would perpetuate SF is all i'm saying.
You're doing it wrong.
It's 'Rocketship Galileo'. And it is a great book. (if not a Great Book)
Tom
I have discovered a wonderful
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This Sci-fi thing will be part of a project that goes back three or more years. - The Experience Music Project.
I've heard that if you read it, it's SF but if you watch it, it's Sci-Fi. Is this true? I know some people who get upset if you call a book Sci-Fi.
There are plenty of things that are more rad which would perpetuate SF is all i'm saying.
I totally agree; we need to bring science fiction to the fans, and possibly even integrate it with real life.
We're getting somewhere with the portable phones. Flying cars, though, would be an excellent example of integration of sci-fi into real life. Or holographic movies!
Just bringing a little bit of sci fi into our homes would help keep the genre alive and kicking. We need more characters that can plant the seed of sci fi in children's imaginations; cartoons and movies could pique their interest, and playing with sci fi toys at a young age could help us produce the next breed of science fiction writers and visionaries.
We, too, could be visionaries, our imaginations dormant, waiting for something to trigger it to consciousness. What better way to awaken that consciousness than to roleplay an alien anal probe experiments with your lover or pet?
Such an elaborate setup... if even one of you laughs, mission accomplished!
evil adrian
It seems strange to amass a collection of objects at a point in meatspace, when the objects are related to scifi, given the importance of the notion, widely distributed throughout scifi, of the virtual experience, and the use of technology to recreate a place or time without demanding travel. One of the first scifi stories I ever read, in the eighties, was about a couple who troubled themselves to go to a warehouse to pick out a bike because shopping was done electronically, and there weren't (any or many) stores anymore.
We don't know what's going on in there... (cue spooky music)
"The guy should do something worthwhile with his bucks, like sponsor literary awards for young SF authors to help ensure the genre doesn't stagnate. Or donate a few hundred mil to Seti."
Or use his bucks to make Neal Stephenson stop pushing back the release date for Quicksilver . . .
It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. - Robert Anson Heinlein
http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2001/LIR.jh tml?passListId=54&passYear=2001&passListType=Perso n&uniqueId=1217&datatype=Person
College dropout from WSU, no less! Who'd have thunk he was the 3rd richest in the US??
Of course, the next year, he seems to have gained about 30 pounds and a lot of years:
http://www.forbes.com/richlist2002/LIR1217.html?pa ssListId=54&passYear=2002&passListType=Person&uniq ueId=1217&datatype=Person
The building already looks sfnal enough. I've only been to the EMP once, but was very impressed at the effort they put in to make sure it was an enjoyable, instructive experience. If the SF shrine has half the effort put into it, this will be A Good Thing.
And besides, the Space Needle is right next door.
("Spaceship Galileo"? What's that?)
"And thus praise thy blessed sceptre of the sainted blessing, for if thou taketh not the word of the spirit thou art the swine of the thy covenant and thy rod and thy staff of the only begotten son of the Lord God Almighty in heaven above, the grace of the apostles."
Amen.
There is plenty of Science Fiction in real life. Just take a look around you.
Genetic engineering, laptop computers, handheld computers, speech recognition, MRI, flatscreen TVs, MP3 players, human genome project, digital cameras, CNC machines, 3D "printers", cloning, the internet, and countless other items of everyday technology all would seem like something out of science fiction 20 or 30 years ago.
The future truly is now! It is only going to get more so, if anything the rate of change is accelerating. Some say we may see the singularity as postulated by Vernor Vinge by 2035. After that? Well, things are going to get weird.
Happy Fun Ball is for external use only.
But what about the anal probes, damn you!! :-)
evil adrian
what do we want in a Sci Fi museum, and why?
I'll get the ball rolling...
I suggest a Star Wars lightsaber, because to me it represents a great story, the fusion of technology and the magic of the Force. Plus I played with them endlessly as a kid. :)
Now it's your turn...
Cheers, Joel
ummm, once its in real life, it doesn't count as fiction.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Obviously some of us reading comments tonight are missing the point:
It was a joke.
evil adrian
What a small, sad strange world these "upset" people live in...
It's one thing to have a specialty interest, and to have special vocabulary in that interest. That's fine, and useful.
It's ANOTHER thing to get UPSET when someone, presumably someone who is not a specialist, makes a simple error in that vocabulary.
And it's yet ANOTHER layer of absurdity that the vocabulary is divided up beyond the point of even having any use- the verbs attached to either will imply the type of media. Splitting up SF and Sci-Fi is just pathetic obscure pedantry.
Getting upset about pathetic obscure pedantry is something that makes the world a little sadder place to be.
And, no I'm not upset. ;)
------ What's sadder than realizing you've filtered out your own comments?
...is that Paul Allen, himself, is an alien. Check out the picture in the top-right hand of the corner of the article, then tell me I'm wrong.
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
So little in the way of positive feedback from such a large group of geeks? It's pathetic. I'm going to hop on the ferry from my little section of the globe (South of the 49th but still in Canada) to go down and take a look. Even if it isn't the kind of thing that does it for me now, it will probably at least be something I would have loved as a kid. So at least support it for all the young geeks out there; and just to make a dig, make sure they know that bad teeth alone do not a billionare make.
...this answers the question of what to do with all that space which would have housed the Jimmy Hendrick's shrine the EMP was origonaly planed to be.
nuf said
I mean, at the end of "Return of the Jedi" action here.
I was getting ready to have "Binford Special" tatooed across my back, below the penguin logo.
C|N>K
Interrupting myself
Did anyone else notice that because it's about science fiction, the article's author decided to call it a "shrine," making it seem frivolous and weird? He also puts "culture project" in quotes which, while it might indeed be taken from the promotional materials, could easily have been left without them since science fiction is indeed a part of our culture - methinks theres a bias peeking through the journalism.
End interruption
In any case, I think Paul Allen is doing a good thing here (for geeks/nerds), regardless of his ties to Microsoft's past. Personally, I think blaming him for all the evil of Microsoft is like blaming Einstein for the destruction of Hiroshima.
For those of you who have not read "The Free Lunch" by Spider Robinson, quickly procure a copy of it as fast as you can. For the rest of you (and I'm hoping there are some), are you thinking what I'm thinking?
I think he needs to build Dreamworld.
The guy should do something worthwhile with his bucks, ... Or donate a few hundred mil to Seti.
*chuckles*
Surely, you are joking?
How is Seti worthwhile? How about you too donating your spare cycles to Folding@Home or some other wothwhile activity.
Bot Assisted Blogging
Microsoft Security products fit in perfectly, I mean, it is science fiction isn't it?
Why not use the money to hack the DMCA?
Just noticed the article continues to say "Writers like those transfixed Mr. Allen when he was young. He said he was a small child when he stumbled on a book called "Spaceship Galileo" and has been "a huge fan" of science fiction ever since.". So the focus may indeed be literary, or at least one can hope. (I'd bet that the book was actually Heinlein's Rocket Ship Galileo.)
I mean, it is science fiction isn't it?
More like fantasy...
(sorry I couldn't resist! ;)
It's been three hours since the last story!!! We should be getting one any minute!
It's too bad he can't spend some of his money to redesign the horrible eyesore that is the EMP building in downtown Seattle.
I'm pretty sure a colorblind person drew out the plans while stationed on a boat in the middle of a typhoon.
Call me crazy, but this sounds like an ordinary museum. Perhaps calling it a shrine plays with the "crazy billionare" spin the NYTimes author is playing with.
I'd love to step into a full-size "alternate reality" exhibit. Man in the High Castle, anyone?
It's not that big. We're talking museum gallery here, not theme park. This is comparable to the Jefferson County, Indiana Historical Museum or the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.
see the movie "Catch Me If You Can".
Oh... Science fiction.
Then how about Bill Gates wandering the halls, a la Frankenstein or The Mummy (Or singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Barbara Walters?
Oh... Science fiction.
How about monkeyboy exhorting the troops?
Oh... OK, we've moved completely into the horror section now.
"Is This Stuff Sci-Fi, SF, Or Skiffy?"
skiffy?!?
Get off my launchpad!
Shouldn't he call it sfXP? :-)
Why am I not suprised that this is going to be in Seattle?
You have a NYT-phobia for some reason you might want to try a paper here in Seattle. The picture is better and very much younger. It looks to be about from the time M$ sold software on paper tape.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Hop up on the bandwagon!
Heck, if he wants to make a shrine, how about saving Farscape? About 10 more seasons ought to give time to wind things up - unless we get into the second generation......
Paul Allen... is expected to announce today his plans to build a Seattle facility to celebrate science-fiction literature in the same way his Experience Music Project honors popular music....
Jason Hunke, a spokesman for Allen's project management and investment firm Vulcan Inc., declined to identify the author or confirm any specific plans for the project beyond its location. But he did say the goal of SFX would be to entertain and educate the public about the place of science fiction in our culture.
"As a genre, it's much broader than just 'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek,' " he said.
"The "Science Fiction Experience," or SFX, will "celebrate the broadest and most dynamic genre of our time, capture our imagination, offer new perspectives on society and culture, and invite us to ponder the universe's infinite possibilities," according to a statement from Allen's projects and investments company, Vulcan Inc... Details will be provided at a morning news conference with Allen, Seattle Center director Virginia Anderson, EMP's CEO Robert Santelli and a surprise 'award-winning, best-selling' science-fiction writer. Seattle Center spokeswoman Beau Fong said the new facility will be in the space that formerly housed the EMP's Artist's Journey, a virtual-reality amusement-park-style ride. It featured a computer-generated James Brown hosting a block party titled Funk Blast. It was supposed to be one of the museum's hallmark features but quietly closed in January."
In Soviet Russia, Paul builds YOU!
I believe this park is based on this sci-fiction?
The picture is better and very much younger. It looks to be about from the time M$ sold software on paper tape.
The picture isn't that much newer. Up until the last few years in every picture of Allen I saw he had a beard.
Happy Fun Ball is for external use only.
What an informative little blurb.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I did a search for "spaceship galileo" just in case there was a book called that, that I was unaware of. Instead, I found these idiots.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
>because he seems to buy properties and make
>projects that he shares with other people,
>often for a fee but it is America.
Do you realize just how disturbing it is to see the view that doing good, but charging a fee for it, is OK because "it is America"?
The fact that that claim can be made at all while keeping a straight face just shows how skewed America's priorities have become.
I think Mr. Allen should include the following displays in the museum:
1. The origins of science fiction, including homages to Mary Shelley (the author of Frankenstein, considered by many to be the first science fiction novel ever written), Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
2. The rise and heyday of science fiction pulp magazines from the late 1920's to circa 1950. Many of the truly great names of science fiction started writing stories for these magazines.
3. The rapid ascendency of science fiction book popularity from the 1960's on.
4. The influence of radio plays, movies and television on science fiction.
5. The influence of science fiction fandom. Allen should pay close attention to how conventions such as Worldcon spread the popularity of science fiction. He needs to mention groups such as the the pioneering Futurians in the US Northeast during the 1930's, plus long-running groups like the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society (LASFS) and Northeast Science Fiction Association (NESFA).
Don't forget, for a while Paul Allen was signing Linus' checks.
So quit fucking bitching about the Microsoft connection. The guy's bought his indulgences and paid his way out of hell.
(The F-bomb in the middle is silent.)
The board that Paul Allen has assembled sounds excellent, but one name was missing from the article. He has *got* to get Harlan on board. The man is not only entertaining as hell, but has a real passion for the history of SF. (Just don't let him hear you call it "sci-fi", or he'll rail at you about "skiffy".)
Uh, isn't that TIM Allen? Paul Allen is the guy from American Psycho that Pat Bateman killed. Or thought he killed.
sic
Come on, guys, there's no reason to register when you use the correct links into NYT!!
To me, the most interesting part of the article was the fact that the museum will be taking over space that used to be part of the Experience Music Project. Is the music museum not successful? I visited it last year, and was not all that impressed. Having to lug around portable CD players might have been a cute idea, but didn't work well in practice. IMO, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had a lot more to offer.
Is there really this much gender bias in SciFi? I mean, c'mon, we were brought up on the same stuff. There are girl trekkies, there are girl star wars fans, there are girl just about everything these days, and don't even get me started on the chick whom I used to live with, the one who actually made a peacekeepers (i think) coat, and wore it every day. Something with the Farscape stuff, that's not my scifi theme so I'm not familiar. Me, I'm more of a Stanislaw Lem and early Asimov girl. We're out here. We will go to the 'part museum, part theme park' but it won't be because it's a little boy's wonderland. (although, with all of us showing up, it might be more of a grownup scifiboy's dream house)
Seriously, it's 2003. Can we get a little gender bias LEFT OUT of the major media for a change? Especially on the Scifi thing? Now i gotta go find my chrome miniskirt and my disintregration pistol and hunt him down, with my cohorts in their coverall-type armour from some other show (Later star trek, i think) and my neighbour in her Jedi gear, and that's just so not what i needed to be doing this morning...
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Stuff that matters: circuitbreakers, vacuum-cleaners coffee makers, calculators generators, matching salt+pepper shakers
Remember the episode where Fry wants to watch Star Trek but he can't because it's been banned after it became the laregest religion ever and almost destryoed the world? If this thing gets made we are all soooooooo screwed. The battle between the old testament and the new testament will now be between Kirk vs. Picard, old Trek vs. new.
Everybody denies I am a genius--but nobody ever called me one!
..It IS a preliminary look at what he's planning. I kinda dig the idea of having a museum about science fiction done right by someone with the money to buy the right people to do it. Science fiction, although still kinda snickered at by the general population as being a pastime frequented by pimply faced beta male boys, is still a beautiful dream of what our possible future could be..Its the ultimate experession of our fears and hopes and dreams, some utopian (Star Trek) some dystopian (Neuromancer, The Matrix) some edgy and in between (Star Wars)..Where else in fiction do we actually dream about the 'future'?..A shrine to that would be a good thing..If for nothing else than to show our fracturing and malcontented society that there CAN be a brighter day.. ..I have no point..;)..
One more thing: Paul Allen should try to get as much memorabilia from Forrest J. Ackerman's HUGE collection as possible to be displayed in the museum.
Without access to what Ackerman has accumulated over the years, you really can't have the type of display of the history of science fiction that Allen envisions.
While Ellison is an excellent writer that has done a number of great stories, I'd rather have the museum concentrate on the type of history that I suggested in another message here.
And DEFINITELY include as much of Forrest J. Ackerman's massive collection of science fiction memorabilia as possible, too. Without the pulp magazines of the 1920's to circa 1950 (Ackerman has a huge collection of them), science fiction as we know it today would not be possible--after all, many of the most famous authors of this genre started publishing in the pulps.
You are retarded, and here's why:
Paul Allen's thing seems to be developing properties, like museums and stadiums. Properties like these do not magically run themselves. You have to pay people to operate them. Now, I don't know if you looked outside lately, but there are no magic money trees growing anywhere near Seattle, or anywhere else for that matter.
Secondly, some of these properties, stadiums in particular, are city-owned, and thus their revenues go to the city. Therefore, the cities that profit from them should be paying for them.
Paul Allen is doing good -- by stimulating the economy. If you have to charge money to make a profit for the city, and to maintain the property, how is that skewed?
Another thing: if you're rich, you have an obligation to donate money to charity from time to time -- but not to to give everyone everything for free.
I suggest getting over your entitlement complex and learning how to do things for yourself.
evil adrian
Not to mention a freakin' dentist.
Offtopic but I like your sig - "George, the French called! They want their statue back." I agree. Tell those asswipes to take their ugly copper statue and shove it up their anti-semitic, xenophobic asses.
I'm glad at least one other slashdotter sees the truth behind France's aversion to war.
"Spaceship Galileo" by Robert A. Heinlein. Yep, a classic. Heinlein wrote one of the very few juvenile SF books that could be enjoyed by adults as well. Allen could have chosen worse.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
I'm trying not to sound old, but he should rather useful with the money - like saving a few thousand lives in Africa or Iraq.
And you definitely had more fun writing it than we had reading it.
This comment is guaranteed*
*not guaranteed
As long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg like the Music Experience. Paul, If you are going to do this, and price it over $20, it better have some kick-butt rides and those cool miniskirts from TOS.
The Star Trek Museum and simulation ride at the Las Vegas Hilton is a fairly interesting s.f. exhibit. You walk through several parts of the Enterprise before taking the ride.
Another interesting s.f. ride is the Walt Disney World's Mission Space, now in preview, and about to open later this year. People who have done that say it is fabulous.
...because Revelations (upon which most of this literalist cr*p is based) was the science fiction of the time. And was understood as such. Of course, the clueless great^nth-grandchildren actually believe the allegory...
As a former resident of Seattle, all I have to say is please dear god, Seattle doesn't need another Experience Music Project (One of Mr. Allen's other attempts at a "shrine" in Seattle). That thing is the ugliest eyesore there ever was.
a -building-its-not-ugly-its-art look of the thing.
Hey maybe they should put all of the music stuff in a better looking building, and turn the EMP into the Sci-Fi shrine? At least then he could justify the hideous, cat-just-coughed-up-this-technicolor-hairball-of-
Geez, I was just there and it struck me as an overpriced, extra-large Hard Rock cafe without the food. Most of it is just exhibits of old guitars and stupid rock-star clothes, with a complete focus on a music from 1960 on. For the $20 admission fee, I expected a lot more. Some of the demo rooms were cool, but for "Experience Music", I didn't do a lot of experiencing.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide piss away their disposable income instead of using it to further some worthy cause. The total amount they waste dwarfs Paul Allen's entire fortune. So, it's hardly fair to pick on Paul.
That said, it does seem weird that he would choose to build an SF shrine before getting his teeth taken care of.
Please donate your spare CPU cycles to help fight cancer and other diseases
Oh great! Now they're going to move Gen Con to the mecca of nerdyness - Seattle! Man, that's like a plane ride away! Yes, it's better than Indy (Why God? Why?) but still not as great as Milwaukee. (Safe House anyone?)
"One touch of Darwin makes the whole world kin." George Bernard Shaw
Like a huge SF library. Or he could buy a small publisher and reprint some of the really good books that are mouldering (figuratively speaking) on various authors backlists. Or bring back some authors that were writing really good original SF that were submerged in the glut of media-based offerings (not that media-based SF is inherently bad, but much of it is ironically pedestrian and repetitive, given that it is (in name) science fiction). Daniel Keyes Moran, anyone?
What this museum project on "literary science fiction" says to me is: "Not clear on the concept".
Floating face-down in a river of regret...and thoughts of you...
Another short article on this.
Operative words are "his bucks".
Means he gets to decide how to spend them.
If a SciFi museum floats his boat, well OK.
If he wants to get himself a sports team, Okie Dokie.
If he wants to gift it to me...
OTOH, buying politicians and forcing citiziens to build you a new stadium is entirely different.
And for the record, the EMP is (from the outside at least, never gone in) the FUGGLIEST building I have ever seen.
"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
...what would all the grumpy, passive-aggressive, junior-college-educated, loudmouth hippies complain about if Paul Allen wasn't manipulating the goddamn sanctity of the local political system. Seattle is truly the least enlightened and most self-congratulatory city in America.
If Paul sneezes, you can be assured it will be "in the P-I".
Free news here: Sci-fi museum Allen's latest out-there trek
we need to bring science fiction to the fans, and possibly even integrate it with real life.
First off - I did laugh!
Second - This hits a sore spot, so I can't help but mouth off. People who say they don't like science fiction, because it's made up or not real. But I think in books like Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars series (particularly the earth scenarios) or movies like Gattaca, the what if of science fiction is instructional. They get you thinking about what is over the horizon. It's a little late to start thinking about the ethics of cloning now that the cat is out of the bag. Science Fiction helps get at least some people thinking about the issues at least a little ahead of the time. Without beating them over the head with it. Not all the fiction, all of the time, but some.
SFX's advisory board includes the science-fiction writers Greg Bear, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler and Arthur C. Clarke.
Well, I guess he could, technically, but he wouldn't be providing much input as he's been dead for about 2 years now.
The various billionaires that support these sorts of projects are really just blowing their money. Sure it would be nice to be able to go and look and experience to some extent the history of SF, but wouldn't it be better to fund the creation of more and better SF for the future? Or better yet, to fund projects to convert some of that SF into something say...a little more real? I for one would love to see investment in the sort of extremely high risk, low short term return projects that can push the boundries of the human experience, maybe not today or even tomorrow, but in our future and the future of the generations ahead. Paul Allen should invest in making a Science Future instead of Science Fiction
terribly sorry, but something useful like *SETI*??? I fail to see how throwing more money down the toilet of a statistically insignificant chance of ETI could possibly be any more useful to you, me, or our children than wiping his butt with the money. we need not seek too far to find "useful" things to throw money at, look at local poverty, schools, subsidized housing, etc. or perhaps int'l orgs like UNICEF, the Red Cross, and on and on . . .
He should geta cheap ticket to africa, there are no wars there because there isno oil to steal.
btw Id build new universities with huge scholarship programs to give better job oportunities instead of keeping them unproductive and hungry all their lives.
Based on past experiences with Mr. Allen massaging his ego with pet projects like this...
1) It will cost a whole pile of tax money - even if Seattle voters vote down the idea of paying for a stadium one of the world's richest men could afford to buy with change out of his couch, he'll find a way to ram the charge to the taxpayer nonetheless...
2) It will be a butt ugly monstrosity of a building that's an utter blight.
3) Ticket prices will be $40 or so
4) Noone will want to go at that price, even though it does carry all the latest gadgets and gewgaws from Microsoft to help "interactivity".
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
We're working on them.
They're getting better and better all the time, but we have a hard time finding beta testers.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
I am so crying right now.
evil adrian
Have a print out of the first Kirk/Spock fan fic. Fan art of Spike and Angel from Buffy getting it on.
The possibilities are endless.
http://www.sciencefictionexperience.com. It's small, but has a bit of interesting information.
Tell us! Inquiring minds want to know! Is he a stinky stanky skunky?
The Vegas Star Trek experience is INCREDIBLE. Perhaps I exagerate, but I really enjoyed it. It's one thing to watch the set of the enterprise on your television, but another to actually suspend disbelief and feel that you're *on* it. I just don't really like Paul Allen (having been a Washington native for my first 24 years) and hope he doesn't screw it up like a lot of his other pet projects.
"Would you rather have a playstation addicted dork wearing a star wars t-shirt?"
With thier major media outlet biases that are ingrained even though people don't realize it they forget to check those slightly "smaller" sources.
The Seattle PI
Seattle Times
Vulcan Ventures.
Hmm.. Perhaps Mr. Allen's own COMPANY might have a little use.
http://www.sciencefictionexperience.com/
Why do they have to go there to be inspired by SF works, why can't they just be inspired by the works themselves?
If I had his money and wanted to support SF, I'd buy the SF channel, can John Edward and Shannen Doherty, and BRING BACK FARSCAPE!!!
Someone should advise Paul that he really should grow that beard back.
This means I'll finally have more than one reason to actually get around to checking out the EMP.
I'm curious to find out if this will actually increase visitors like the article says.
If anyone's actually been to the EMP could you let me know if this will all "groove" together. Thanks.
Rvitae
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/ texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=sfx17m&date=2003 0417&query=sfx
See that last sentence in the story? Who made the mistake? Paul Allen, or the Times's writer?
Sci-Fi Today, the Seattle PI, and The Seattle Times all got it right.
Only the Times and The Tacoma News Tribune have it wrong.
The Tacoma paper deserves special recognition for combining the Times story and AP wire reports, then getting the error into their lead sentence.
SFX sounds like a good way to expose a new generation to sci-fi. It's a Good Thing when kids are made to think, consider possibilities, and imagine... something they'll get none of by watching Survivor, The Batchelor or Married by America! Most TV and movies these days shrivel young minds instead of expanding them.
By my all time favorite SF author, Robert A. Heinlein. Too bad every time they make a movie of one of his novels, it's dreck.
SFX
Among other things it contains good descriptions of the first five exhibits.