Sneak Peek of SF Museum

maxentius writes "Posted on Trufen.net: Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, due to open June 18, is offering early "Charter Memberships" to a select list of e-mail recipients (and apparently to anyone else who happens to hear about it before the June 5 deadline). The museum will adjoin the Experience Music Project in the very odd Frank Gehry-designed building near downtown Seattle. Allen, a life-long SF fan, has been working on the project for a few years, and it will probably be the same sort of sensory extravaganza as the EMP. The e-mail promises "exclusive access" for Charter Members, including the chance to go to an pre-launch tour and party, a t-shirt, and a limited-edition lapel pin. There are many levels of membership, from "Terran" ($40), through "Hive Mind" ($75), "Replicant" ($500), all the way to "Immortal" ($10,000). It's hard to say just how this will turn out, but with the likes of Greg Bear and Forry Ackerman as advisors, and some interesting ideas, it might be okay."

Comments

if only...

[solarlux]

Now, if only more geeks could get rich. We'd have more SETI telescopes, sci-fi museums, space project funding....

nicely emblematic of an era

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's face it, boys (and most of you are boys), we've had it. Computers aren't cool anymore. The next big fortunes will be made in biotech or something else, and the suits have taken control of the industry.
We're not going to see geeks (what's that you say? he's a bigshot at Microsoft so he's not a geek? yeah, business types use their spare cash to fund a *science fiction museum*) rich enough to fund scifi museums again. So we might as well smile and remember the late 90s, when computer people actually were hip, as we work overtime for piddling salaries until our jobs are finally sent to India.

Re:nicely emblematic of an era

[AndroidCat]

Computers aren't cool anymore.

I can live with that. When I was soldering my first computer, they thought Dukes of Hazzard and CB radios were cool.

Allen is just another corporate liability limiter

[Marxist Hacker 42]

After what he pulled in Portland with the investors for the Rose Garden- declaring bankruptcy even though he personally is a billionaire- I refuse to support him in any endeavor- including the scifi museum. I also refuse to buy Blazers tickets or even watch the games on TV; it's obvious that they need to get rid of their owner for a full turnaround from the bad old days.

New Serfdom

[ThatGuyInTheHole]

While it is nice that Allen donated this money, does anyone else see what is going on here? Corporations are soaking their workers, and the US population by not paying taxes. Their bringing in exorbitant profits, and yet we thank them when they give a little back to us. It was nice that Enron, after ripping off the state of California, gave Houston Enron field. Ken Lay obviously has a good heart. This is just a new form of serfdom where our labor is taken, and we're given new shiny things to play with worth a fraction of our excess. Vil

Re:donations?

[Z4rd0Z]

Probably the same reason he needed "donations" from taxpayers to build a new football stadium. He's also trying to get the city of Seattle to build him a new streetcar to the neighborhood he owns.

Re:donations?

[foxtrot]

Hm. So a summer camp sold its land to Paul Allen, and I'm supposed to feel bad that they can't use the land anymore?

-F