Slashdot Mirror
Michael Crichton Dead At 66
Many readers have submitted stories about the death of Michael Crichton. The 66-year-old author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain died unexpectedly Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," a press release said. In addition to writing, he also directed such sci-fi classics as Westworld and Runaway. Crichton was married five times and had one child.
Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.
INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.
CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat
HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.
FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.
MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. The nigger's most
Andromeda Strain was an excellent scifi movie.
I just read some sad news on Slashdot - Sci Fi writer Michael Chrichton was found dead in his Los Angeles home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
I really don't think there's consensus on whether he's actually dead or not.
Further study is required.
The 1971 version was one of my favourites as a kid... haven't seen the remake yet.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
to talk about cloning him?
At the risk of being modded troll or flamebait, let me be the first to say that whoever put that tag on this article is an asshole.
Hopefully someone will snag his DNA and clone him so he can continue pumping out tired, supermarket potboilers for pseudointellectuals.
I'm somewhat confused by why his books spend so much time writing about science (or at least science fiction) when he appears to have been personally bent on the unscientific new-age mysticism activities. Travels talks extensively about his beliefs in fortune tellers, auras, astral planes, and spending two weeks talking to a cactus. It seems contradictory to build a career on science and not approach mysticism with a more cynical eye.
Then again, the science in Critons' books usually end up trying to kill man, so perhaps it's not his love of science that drove him to write, but rather his belief that science with have its retribution on man.
Michael Crichton was great author, but also a scientist. He was one of few people who warned about the the dangerous trend of mixing politics into science, especially in regards to global warming.
His Aliens Caused Global Warming speech is a must read.
"after a courageous and private battle against cancer,"
They never say stuff like "after capitulating to cancer like a big pussy,"
But anyway, to employ another cliche-- he will be missed. Forget Jurassic Park- I still get creeped out by the proto-Terminator robot in "Westworld". And who can forget the classic 1981 cloning/CG extravaganza, "Looker". Well, everyone.
Here's an hour-long video interview with him on Charlie Rose.
Holy hell that guy got around. I have only been married once and plan to avoid that trouble in the future.
and nothing of value was lost
Your mother.
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
An earlier Wikipedia entry that told the truth about his death has been 'corrected'...
Michael Crichton has died on November 5, 2008 after a long, private battle with a velociraptor.
I remember reading "The Lost World" when I was a under-read, newly minted college graduate. One of the characters, Sarah Harding, had a sequence where she talked about George Schaller reading everything that had ever been written about a subject before he began field studies - and that once he got to the field, he discovered that almost everything he had read was wrong. The two ideas - of mastering a subject and of discovering new things about that subject - intrigue me to this day. I will miss his work.
I've seen the global warming killed him on other sites and similar cracks on this very site.
Much of his career he wrote very thoughtful science-based pulp fiction that was very influential to many of us. Time and again he was very skeptical of many of the uses of technology and almost universally anti-corporate and anti-military with his evil characters. He was a friend to the techno-luddite left until he wrote one damn book that dared questioned the religious-left's view of climate catastrophe and questioned the role of science propaganda used by both the left and right. Sadly damned him forever in many eyes.
For any of you folks who have only seen some of MC's movies, don't judge his storytelling ability without reading the books first. The Andromeda Strain is clearly a classic, but some of his later books like "Airframe" and "The Rising Sun" are good reads too.
I've don't know why, but for whatever reasons, Hollywood has slaughtered just about every title they tried to turn into a movie. The ~1970 Andromeda Strain is probably about the only one where they came close (including Jurassic Park).
Rest in peace, Mr. Crichton.
Stay the fuck away from the TV remake. Forgive me for beint this blunt, but it really is that bad.
The 1971 is perhaps the most accurate book-to-movie conversion i've seen. I first saw it arround 5 years ago, and it found it gripping. There was little a remake could improve over it.
For those that modded the parent "Troll": Michael Crichton's Web site seems to be down now, but he gave a speech called "Aliens Cause Global Warming" in which he claimed to debunk "consensus science." The gist was that political discussion of global warming too often invoked "scientific consensus," where he argued that science was not consensus-based and that such claims were therefore meaningless.
Similarly, though we may not have consensus that Michael Crichton is dead, it makes absolutely no difference to him.
Breakfast served all day!
He was a great guy and really contributed to the science fiction genre. He was one of the many great writers of our time and he will join heinlein as one of the many great authors of the 20th century.
RIP and you will be missed.
I hope heinlein offers you a cup of coffee in heaven :)
As much as his later works, particularly his stance on global warming, annoyed me, I have to say that this is a great loss to storytelling. Here was a man who know how to put the risks of heedless pursuit of science without regard to the consequences in perspective. Whether you thought his writing was any good or not, I think we can all learn from his example of serious skepticism.
Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Maybe his work isn't bad for reading that you don't have to think about, but the man was barely a cut above John Grisham as a fiction writer.
For a guy who had a scientific education, he always struck me as being squarely against technology and science. I know it sells books, but why do the engineers/scientists always have to be portrayed as being arrogant and irresponsible? Surely there is some good that can come out of genetic engineering, nanotechnology, outsourcing, etc...??
I expected it to end with ...There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
First dibs!
i can't decide which is more distateful, the post or the mod-up to "Interesting."
I found the book Andromeda Strain entertaining, it was something that was easy reading and there was a puzzle to unravel. Then I reached the end of the book and thought, "That's it?". Usually the protagonists are somewhat involved in the solution to the problem.
I only read his most recent book, Next, and found that it didn't really live up to what I'd hoped from the dust jacket. It was full of interesting ideas, but eventually it just wandered off and I wondered what the point was. It also confirmed what I suspected about Crichton before I'd read anything of his -- that his books are basically plot-driven, which explains their success at airports etc. But he was clearly a modern man who liked to think and discuss ideas, and I think any Slashdotter should be able to respect that. Couldn't disagree with the "andnothingofvaluewaslost" tag more.
Breakfast served all day!
He was a fantastic story teller and had very good ideas and wrote fantastically.
If you get a chance you should pick up one of his novels try reading his earlier works he wrote under and pseudonym (A Case of need) and appreciate his young mind at work.
his later works were just a fraction of the greatness of his earlier works but still good.
he will be missed =(
p.s. can anyone recommend me another great author that i would like, i need another source of greatness now =(
A Giant Has Passed
Now, there's no need to poke fun at his height.
At least of modern times, anyway. He was writing "techno-thrillers" before critics coined the term for Tom Clancy... he gave incredibly descriptive narratives about telecom technology in Congo, years before Clancy wrote The Hunt For Red October. Like many great genre authors, he could also write outside his genre... see Eaters of the Dead and The Great Train Robbery. I was completely unaware of his battle with cancer, and news of his death made an already rotten day worse.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Commanding a nigger to chuck a spear is like commanding a Jew to steal.
You got to command the nigger to not behave as an animal; command him to put on clothes and be like the white man. Then to save his soul he must renounce his blackness before a preacher of white Jesus then baptise and slap the black out of him! Black be gone, sinner! Praise white Jesus, and you'll be accepted into white Heaven as an equal to the best president of the USA: Ronald Reagan.
He died because he realized that this Irish S.O.B. by the name of O'Bama was about to win the presidency by a landslide.
No health insurance? That fucking sucks.
"Thank God that's over."
take it however you like. :)
This post by the founder of the Mac tips website, macosxhints.com, states that Crichton was an early donor to the site. Although I didn't care for every one of his books, I was certainly a fan of his body of work and I find it very cool that he donated to a website that collects technical tips for Mac fans.
If you haven't read Travels, you're missing a fascinating autobiography and vicarious insight into what it was like to be a young man in the 1970's. Crichton documents his search for the meaning of life among every New Age craze and pursuit of that decade, intermixed with stories of his many bedroom conquests. It will lead the religious reader to conclude that he was looking in the wrong place, but the secular reader will realize that his search never ends -- the hallmark of a true scientist.
Then again, there's the part about the bedroom conquests.
This was the first Crichton book I read, when I was in middle school, and it stuck with me for a long time. In fact, his writing formed part of the aura around science/technology for me that made me want to pursue an education and career in technology. I never saw his stories as warnings about science, I saw them as warnings about the failings of people who choose to ignore what science says for various reasons. Political, personal, etc. Andromeda Strain is a great example of this.
I have mixed feelings about his work. His earlier stuff was great, some of his latter stuff was terrible (Prey in particular). I've heard good things about Airframe but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Anyway, you can't deny his impact on the popular perception of science-- most for the better IMHO. Thanks for the books, Michael. RIP.
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if we do not take an affirmative stand against racism we are implicitly supporting it.
we tried ignoring Adolf Hitler and look what happened: 6 million jews were gassed while we sat idle.
we must never let the holocaust happen again.
plz don't say that jews steal. i'm jewish and i can tell you MOST of us work hard for what we have. yes there ARE jews who steal just as there are people in every category who steal. but the majority of us don't like thieves anymore than you do. in the ten commandments the one about stealing (#6) correlates to "I am the Lord thy God" (#1) because there are two stone tablets and both commandments are the first on their tablet. so a jew who steals is a jew who does not believe in God. also plz dont call black people that. judge every person by the content of his character. the next president sucks not because he's black but because of the wrong ideas he believes in
n/t
I personally found Crichton's work to be shallow. It was not much more than a film script fleshed out with a few more articles and conjunctions. The characters were wooden and a bit too one-dimensional. His vehement rejection of global warming pretty much showed his analytical skills were out of whack too. Not such a big thing except that he bought the political lines spun to deny global warming. The movies made from his books will, in my opinion, really only be remembered for their special effects and the inclusion of the "one novel idea" that he could inject into it. Proof: Sphere.
If he spent more time doctoring instead of writing pop kitsch, maybe he'd have known what to do to cure himself and he'd be alive.
Anyone else ever read the Great Train Robbery? I read it a year ago after I pretty much read everything else he ever wrote and loved it. Really surprised me the stuff he would tackle outside the realm of sci-fi.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
I have a mosquito that bite him trapped in amber, the gnome isn't fully complete so we will have to use some frog DNA to successfully cone him, can't see what could possibly go wrong ?
This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.
One of those sensitive, compassionate, liberal types who think Obama should be above criticism his first two years, and any negative comments about him would be "hateful" and "divisive."
Andromeda Strain was an excellent scifi movie.
And I enjoyed the movie based on it.
However, his works also made him something of a cheerleader for technophobia.
This is a grave day. He was the only decent Sci-Fiction author available today; I have read almost all of his books, including NEXT.
I was waiting for his next book. Alas, it will never be.
RIP.
Listen to parent, the tv remake was one of the most retarded things I've ever seen. For example, the whole multilevel decontamination procedure was replaced by what looked like a rave party with everyone dancing through foam with lights strobing.
He wasn't trying to say that we should be afraid of science backfiring and killing people. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park put it best: "Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
Yep the TV remake is really horrible, it's hard to think of a worse movie actually.. The 1971 version was much better, but the book is better than either of them (as you'd expect)
Sorry for being an asshole, but someone had to say it.
You are all such bad influences on me. I used to be nice.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
It was hard to escape the conclusion that Crichton was a guy who would believe literally anything anyone told him. That's one reason I was somewhat surprised to see him arguing in favor of more objective thinking in the global-warming debate.
It's not so much that Crichton believed anything people told him so much as he didn't believe in science. While his science themed books show a great interest in reading about science, the conclusion is always that Science is Wrong and Scientists are Evil or Recklessly Stupid. The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, and Prey are all about the futility of trying to contain living things. In Next, the drug that saves his brother makes him age and die early. State of Fear is no different, really. It's more strident than the rest of his books about how scientists are all arrogant fools who will destroy the world, but it really matches the theme of the rest of his work.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
has Netcraft confirmed it?
Years later scientists will find a mosquito encapsulated in amber and clone a whole theme park full of Crichtons
The Terminal Man was interesting reading. Many of the ideas in it are starting to poke onto the feasability horizon now.
(anyone else want to get electrodes wired into their brain?) ...
(would you reconsider if it made your response time quicker in an FPS?)
-ellie
I raise a glass in his honor for his work.
That said, I wonder how his folks felt when they heard the following...
"Mom, Dad, I just finished Harvard Medical School, and now I'm going to be a writer"!*
*Before anyone says it: yes, I know he wrote The Andromeda Strain while in med school.
His doctors probably forgot about the lysine contingency.
1. it's really not nice to criticize someone on their death announcement. your social skills suck
2. if you are a well-respected writer, perhaps you would have the authority to judge. but as a random asshole on the internet, your authority to judge his work is zero. oh of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but i am also entitled to ascribe a value to your opinion. the value of your opinion is somewhat below the "gee i should share my thoughts on slashdot" threshold you thought it enjoyed when you decided to post your retarded opinion
we don't care what you think, asshole, because you shit on a well-respected author on the announcement of his death. did i forget to mention that makes you an asshole? have a nice day, asshole
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
... one of the first full-length books I read was The Andromeda Strain.
Later, I read the condensed version of The Terminal Man, and remembered (and loved) the line where a doctor explains to a policeman that the subject had a radioactive battery, making him a possible contamination threat. The policeman's response was "Alpha or beta particle emitter?" When the doctor looks surprised, he adds, "I went to college. I can even read and write."
That was where I learned that even cops could have the geek nature.
Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
to admire the works of man while being wary of what he decides to do with them. being an engineer/ scientist doesn't automatically make you responsible about what you decide to do with what you create
besides, shoehorning into one character the tragic duality of man's ability to create great things, and then do terrible things with them, is a valid use of dramatic license for a fictional work. no one really confuses that with a coherent criticism of scientists or engineers in general
look at it this way: if crichton or any author went out and created engineer and science characters in their fictional works that were the paragons of virtue, this might satisfy your criticisms, but it would also be a boring snoozefest and no one would read it
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
just make all of the clones of michael crichton you create female so they can't breed. of course, this approach ignores the possibility of spontaneous hermaphroditism or parthenogenic reproduction in a given population of unmonitored feral michael crichtons on say a large remote tropical island
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
He was one of the best science fiction writers I've ever read. The sheer amount of research he put into every book demonstrated his fantastic dedication to his writing. His books contained such an amazing amount of knowledge and I am sorry to hear that such an amazing and brilliant writer is no longer with us.
...all we have to do is combine his DNA with some amphibian genes and resurrect him.
Yep really REALLY bad. The 1971 had a "countdown to extinction" feel that really gave it a sense of danger. And the ending on the remake was so damned lame it'll make you want to pull an Elvis on the TV. The only remake I can say was worse was Salem's Lot. Rutger freaking Hauer as the damned master vampire? WTF??? IMHO if you want to watch Andromeda watch the original and pretend the remake never existed. Trust me you'll be better off having never saw it.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
The 1971 [film of _Andromeda Strain_] is perhaps the most accurate book-to-movie conversion i've seen.
Check out _Rosemary's Baby_ sometime. Roman Polanski wasn't aware you were permitted to change things from the book. The result is one of the best book-to-film transfers ever. :)
Someday they'll all be gone...
...having never seen it.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
I will miss you Michael!
Hey sweet thing. I'll give you the scoop on stealing: Jews are the discarded branch, reject and isolated of the Hebrew ancestry because they did not obey God. In their sin were suceeded by alien nations that took them into Babylon by the Chaldean king Cyrus. After all course of life enduring the customs of Babylon, a creature slythered out of that country that was henceforth known as a "jew." The jew is a spawn of interbreeding and disfiguration by unselective ancestry, having no heritage other than a mismatch nationality in its own right. It, a "jew", has no correlation with the Tribe of Judah, and is more likened to a disgusting fungus that subdues a fruitful plant through a feined symbiotic relationship. Jews are nothing more than the incomplete metamorphosis of the Talmudic Synagogue of Shatan that fails to subvert the Torah Synagogue. Let them shed their remaining snake-skin "prayer shawl", and the deceit will be seen. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments from God, in testament to their sins put to correction by the very awesome Finger, the Talmud jews assembled their Sanhedrin at the base of the mountain to make their own god remeniscent to the cloud of relativity. It is funny how a jew would twist his own word, that to know "sanhedrin" is defined as 70 yet the Talmudic jews assembled their Sanhedrin with 72. The inability of a jew to count is the manifestation of an unpure dna sequence. perhaps a Gay Nigger.
A jew doesn't steal in the common sense, because he'll always leave something behind to prove that he gave a thing of value as barter. Look into the Talmud and you would find that this is negated towards Christians and gentiles, as it mocks the verry house the Lord ordained for his fellow brethern to sojourn in their time of affliction and distress that impels them to a fallen state under God as "gentile." The Talmud has written that a Christian is "a disgusting creature", "an animal", "the best of which will still be killed", and foremost that anyone finding the displaced property of a Christian of gentile should "not return it." Furthe, the Talmud provides that intercourse with "a child under three is not sex" and that they will remain virgin as the womb would heal time and time again as a finger brings tears to their eyes.
I can feel in your words that you realy aren't a jew. Perhaps you are a chinese albino serbian nigger that thinks he's a boidaeic persian. That is idolatry to think one is other that what he himself has become. A jew will always be a jew, unique as a rat, distinguished by quick movement and defecating in the verry source of its meal.
Enjoy your Obama stew.
Stalin killed over 80 million people around Russia politic just because he didn't think they were worthy of communistic ideals. Mao Se Dung did the same, following behind Stalin at somthing like 60 million China politic. Get your facts Strait(tm), because you're not/Gay.
And remember that little scronny English Bar-trained lawyer that killed milliona of Hindu and Muslim Indians versus less than 20 thousand armed Brittish officers? Ghandi doesn't kill, he lets peace do all the killing on his hehalf, moreso than famine could ever accomplish quietly.
4th November
Scientists create new life mouse frozen 16 YEARS
5th November
Author Michael Crichton dies, 66
[Intentionally left blank]
Well, yes, it was a faithful transcript of the book. But the book was as boring as bat shit, and the movie was worse.
I doubt even Crichton (or his agent) thought he was a 'great author'. More of an Arthur Hailey, if you remember that far back. A hack. Mills and Boon for nerds. Dickens. That sort of page turner.
Has Netcraft confirmed this death yet?
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
It all depends on what you want from a book. As a writer, a plonker of words on the page, ole Crich score a passing grade. His characters are mere ciphers.
But... he had way of finding an interesting idea, and making a story of it. Hitchcock called this idea the McGuffin. Hitch made the film despite the McGuffin, whereas to Crich the McGuffin was the story.
Andromeda Strain was an excellent scifi movie.
Andromeda Strain was an excellent scifi book. Don't forget where it came from.
Lock the wife and the dog in the boot of the car.
Return one hour later.
Who's happy to see you?
The 1971 is perhaps the most accurate book-to-movie conversion i've seen.
How about 2001? They changed a moon in that, and the sex of a character in Andromeda, I'd say maybe they tie.
I think one the things missed most about State of Fear is not politicization of science or global warming. In my opinion it, it is the most important point of the book. Those who are in power have used a "State of Fear" throughout history to control the public. Global warming just happens to be the example he uses in this book. Unfortunately he did not focus that much on this point, even though it seems to define the whole book. Just my opinion.
Notice how most of the posts mocking, belittling and having fun with the man's death are coming from the "How dare he question Global Warming" crowd.
State of Fear had hundreds of footnotes referencing the 3rd IPCC and actual scientific studies from actual scientists.
Regardless your view on Global Warming, he has a valid point in the book:
*Enviornmentalists feed on fear.
*The media feeds on fear.
*Politicians feed on fear.
Results in
*Echo chamber effect.
It's hard to get elected saying or to get a story on the news about how: "The sky is NOT falling, or not falling that fast, or it's not our fault that it's falling".
Apparently that is all it takes to get the altruistic, gentle Green movement dancing on your grave.
Yeah, new version sucked so bad. I'm assuming the guy who started this topic havent even seen a good scifi movie.
...does everyone just mention Jurassic Part, Sphere, and The Andromeda Strain? He wrote other great books, such as Eaters of the Dead, The Great Train Robbery, and Timeline! I'll admit, though, that Next did suck.
I tried to walk into Target, but I missed. --Mitch Hedburg
I'm sorry to see the potshots being taken against the man for his global warming views. Michael Crichton was one of my favorite authors. Granted, his books could be a little light on hardcore scientific details, but they were still much better in this regard than the vast majority of mass-market fiction.
A few of my particular favorites:
Jurassic Park reawakened in me the awe and wonder of dinosaurs that had been dormant since childhood.
Eaters of the Dead was a terrific reimagining of the Beowulf saga (and a pretty decent movie as well - just ran across it on cable a few weeks ago).
The Great Train Robbery provided a vivid glimpse of the underworld in Victorian London. I particularly liked the descriptions of "flash cant" (street language) and the various sub-categories of thievery (e.g., "snowing" was stealing clothes from a clothesline, "smatter hauling" was stealing handkerchiefs). This was also made into a pretty good movie.
A lot of science fiction is difficult to make into movies because (1) requires too much off-earth or futuristic special effects or (2) is too cerebral and does translate tot he screen easily. Crichton bypassed this mainly by extrapolation dangerous implications of recently invented technology and blending into a melodrama. in fact most of his later novels read like pre-screenplays.
Clark wrote an introduction for the 2001 books in a later publication where he explained how the book/movie happened. Apparently Kubrick wanted him to write a movie for him but suggested that he write it as a novel due to screenplays being very dry and nearly impossible to read (this is so true if you ever have to read one). Seems the two began having a life of their own, with Kubrick deciding to change moons at the last minute due to him feeling that his effects team couldn't create a convincing Saturn. In the sequels of the book Clark decided he preferred Kubrick's version and edited history accordingly. Personally I always thought that was a shame, the 2001 book course of events was much better I always thought. Especially the part where Dave failed to rush off in a pod without a space suit to try to rescue a corpse. Him doing that in the movie I always felt was the weakest point in the story.
Look at me: still talking when there's science to do!
Say bad words about my book, in cold oatmeal, or I shall sue!
Agreed. Rosemary's Baby is one of the creepiest movies made.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
For the record, Rutger Hauer rocks. Just not this time.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
I'm easily amused.
+1 fashionably cynical
Michael Crichton actually dropped out of medical to become a full time writer. He had a solid understanding of basic science and this is reflected in his books. That said, he wrote science fiction, which means that the science only needed to be good enough to support the story, and not be provably correct.
A common theme in Crichton's books is the human element in technology. The villains in his books are often those who unerringly believe in the application of advanced technology to 'fix everything', without considering the unintended side effects that could occur.
A typical Crichton book starts with some genius who invents an advanced technology, and then all goes to hell as the unintended side affects cascade into near disaster. The conflict is often between the technology itself and normal people who have real trouble dealing with the dangers it causes.
His earlier books are very much better than the later ones. I suspect that Crichton got co-opted by Hollywood once got the contacts to get contracts to write screens plays for big name directors (e.g. Spielberg). You can see the transition, as the later books, like Jurassic Park, are actually written like screen plays.
Crichton wasn't afraid to promote his politics in his books. The Rising Sun has a strong political statement, nearing on the 'Japan Bashing' that was prevalent in the press at the time. It's saving grace was a good plot and some interesting characters. Had he not been so insistent on blowing on his political horn, it would have been a better book.
My biggest disappointment with Crichton was State of Fear. The book was essentially a anti-global warming manifesto. The huge list of bibliographic entries reinforces my opinion that his primary goal was trying to debunk global warming rather than write a fictional work.
---- It won't be as bad as you fear or as good as you hope, but it will take twice as long as you plan.
Michael Crichton used to write articles for computer magazines. I remember reading one where he talked about the timing how long it took you to type your name and password to determine if it was really you.
http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/index/index.php?author=Michael+Crichton
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Oh how I wish you were lying.
So Crichton isn't Hemingway. Big deal. He wrote enjoyable books, for the most part, and did so for decades. He wrote stories that kept you thinking about them after you put the book down, even if they had flaws.
Books, like movies and even food, don't have to be "art" to be worthwhile and worthy of some respect.
As a (hack) writer myself I have much respect for authors like Crichton, (old) King, and even Dean Koontz. Their works won't be taught in school, but they sweep you away for a few hours, and get under your skin. And for me anyway, they make me want to write a book myself.* They make it look easy, in the way only real talent can.
Compare Crichton to a real hack like Robin Cook. Ugh!
I will be lifting a glass in his memory tonight, and I rarely drink. The world's a poorer place without him and his tales of Science Run Amok.
* Not that I have written a book lately because hey, I am lazy, but that's another story.
The media said, Mike was born in 1942.
Parent is 100% correct in all regards.
The book is excellent, and the 1971 movie is a very good and close adaptation.
The TV remake is just awful. It was, AT BEST, inspired by the theme of the book. Claiming anything else is just stupid.
morcego
Saying X group of people feed in fear is nonsensical.
We have plenty of evidence obtained independently that pre-dates any scaremongering.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Sad that he died, but at least he wont be able to popularize pseudo science among the non-college educated anymore.
"Timeline" is my guilty pleasure. >.>
Hey I LIKE Rutger Hauer. In the right part he makes a damned good bad guy. But in that it was like the director said "Hey Rutger,you remember that hammy vamp you played in that lame Buffy movie? Yeah,well I have a fever and the only treatment is more ham so crank it up to 11 baby!!!"
That was one of those times,like when I watched the DOOM movie I thought "WTF are they thinking? Just follow the damned story and it is a slam dunk! WTF?" Done CORRECTLY DOOM should have come off as a cross between Aliens and Event Horizon. The reason Andromeda made me think of Salem's lot was the original had a "countdown to extinction" feel to it too,just not nearly as intense. As they walked through town and it became more and more abandoned as the townsfolk got turned. I don't think I've yet seen a remake of a Sci/Fi or horror that was as good as,much less better than the original. You'd think that remaking something that had as much iconic imagery as Andromeda did they would really bring their A game. Nope. Just another cheesy bad movie that made me want the time back I wasted watching that drivel.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Does your mother know that you talk like that . . . ?
I'm sure the author wouldn't condone the trash talk either.
Grow up . . . !
Those decisions aren't matters of science; they are matters of policy (and morality and practicality and other things).
But I don't appreciate you throwing fresh mortar onto the already well-paved slippery slope that pretends to connect science to policy. You should be countering the majority-held myth of a thing called "scientific consensus." You seem to understand this well enough to teach the truth, but instead, it looks like you favor taking advantage of ignorance to make a quick dash for More Moral Ends.
Your point is righteous. Science recedes into the background.
I don't think I've yet seen a remake of a Sci/Fi or horror that was as good as,much less better than the original.
WHAT??? Now, just WHAT was wrong with Young Frankenstein?
Seriously though, I have seen only one remake that was >= the original: The Thing. I really enjoyed the remake that starred Kurt Russell.
But everything else -- yeah. What you said.
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth gets you modded -1 Troll
I can think of a worse movie ... Starship Troopers.
krenshala
I agree wholeheartedly on The Thing! I had forgotten about early '80s John Carpenter,but maybe the suck that was Vampires caused him to be blocked from my mind. That is another example of a movie that made me go WTF!!!! They are getting ready for a badass fight. They are down to the priest and one wounded slayer against 5 master vampires. And THAT is where he chooses to end it? WTF!!! My buddies that were with me when I rented the DVD said "Okay,now put in the next disc." They were shocked as hell when I told them that was it,and I agree. Who in the hell would end the horror movie BEFORE the big battle?
But I have to agree,before he went to suck John Carpenter rocked. Halloween,The Thing,The Fog,Escape from New York. All damned good movies. But my mom who saw the original thing in theaters thought it was scarier thanks to the Geiger counter they used to track it. Kind of like an early version of the Alien tracker in Aliens. Damn,now I may have to dig through my moving boxes and play The Thing game just for a little retro horror fun. Thanks!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.