Having read Dune dozens of times, I don't think it can be put to screen properly (that is, doing full justice to the book) in less than 12 or so hours of screen time. It's just too dense, and that's what makes it so good. The richness of the characters and the universe Herbert creates are what have made me come back and read it again and again.
That being said, SciFi did a fairly good job and I did enjoy the series. Kudos.
Remember those little plastic 45 rpm records that used to come in magazines and stuff? You had to punch them out of the page and then they'd play on a regular record player...
just think, soon all of our magizines will come with plastic insert pages containing thin CD's full of all sorts of clutter for our increasingly giant hard disks. Or, of course, to be true to the original, compilation CD's to tease you into buying the latest Limp Bizkit or Backstreet track.
Kick ass!
-k
(with a healthy dose of sarcasm towards the end there...)
Let me start by saying that I've probly read Dune about 100 times... it's among my favorite books ever (right next to Brief History of Time and Lord of the Rings).
To start, I think that the screenplay took a few too many liberties with the story in terms of chronology and outright modifying what happened in the book.
Second, I feel there was a lack of attention to detail and, in this case, that's almost criminal -- what makes Dune such a great book is, to a great extent, the richness of the language, the attention to detail and the vibrancy of the universe Herbert creates. I got pretty pissed when they were rolling thru the village and pointed out some Fremen and they weren't wearing stillsuits! Anyone's who's read the book and paid attention would know that you would never see a Fremen out of his stillsuit.
Also, I felt like they made some odd coices about what scenes were really important to spend time on while not including other scenes which I thought were more important. I won't include all the details, but there were a few times I noticed this.
This may seem like nitpicking by a huge dune nerd, and it is, but I think that to do Dune without really following the specifics is a bad move, and lessens the quality of the finished product...
That being said, it wasn't all bad -- the effects were pretty badass and I liked sets immensely. All in all I give it a 6 out of 10, 2 docked for playing with the storyline too much and 1 more each for not attending to detail and choosing unimportant scenes respectively.
If you disagree (or agree) with me, I'd be happy to discuss it with anyone. I love to talk about Dune. Email below...
I should say that step one is to make it known that you are looking to hire people. There's not a single mention of it on the project web site (unless I've gone blind from terminal radiation). If no one knows you're hiring, you aren't gonna get too many inquiries. Set up a page which lists the openings w/ job description and such. People will see it and check it out. Too bad it wasn't already there, I'm sure the site got some traffic just off of the fact that you got posted on/.
Now, whether there are other places to advertise, I don't know... Perhaps some not too pushy posts on your local (or not local) LUG mailing list or newsgroup, assuming you think the members won't react poorly to this sort of spam. Local area newsgroups or IRC channels, etc. might be another thing to try.
If you're looking for national exposure, it's gonna cost money probly (unless you can get another post here...), but it depends on what you want.
Just my $((1/50)*(1.00))
Hope it helps somewhat...
Remember in the beginning of the Macintosh era, when all the M$/IBM devotees bitched at and denigrated Mac users because there was no choice for hardware or software, because Apple made almost all of it?
Looks like we've come full circle, haven't we.
It's the age-old battle between quality control and freedom. Of course, that also assumes that Microsoft will actually have the ability to guarantee quality, which, given Windows, I'm not betting on.
Sorry to dredge up the old OS wars, but that was my childhood, so it's pretty ingrained.
I suppose this has nothing to do with the book review, but this thread can only evolve into a discussion regarding online ditribution, so here goes my 2 cents...
I don't think that online book distribution will catch on for reasons far more mundane than finding the right marketing / payment scheme. The fact of the matter is that almost everybody (the reviewer obviously included) hates reading things on a screen and prefers the tactile sensation of a book in their hands. Face it, even the hardest core get sick of man pages after a while and consult whatever paper guide is closest at hand.
People enjoy books for reasons which transcend the content. I have an early edition of the Lord of the Rings which, I feel, adds to the enjoyment of the book. Not b/c it's rare, but because its rough, feels and smells old -- namely, it has character... something your monitor isn't likely to have, ever.
Someday, perhaps, e-books (the hardware) will mature and replace dead tree books -- good, I like the forests -- but not yet. The market isn't there because people don't want to read 1000 pages of text on a monitor. It's just not the same experience...
heres how: everyone, register, then submit everyone you can, from your best friend to the captain of the football team. it's a simple nonviolent means for protest which will show them how flawed their system is.
I've a long standing set of rules which I attepmt to live by, formulated over a course of years through analysis of as many various "codes of ethics" as I could find data on. I've read religious texts and secular philosophies (though these are not so different). The bottom line is that my studies of what people, both today and in the past, have deemed as ethical/right/appropriate/honorable/moral all comes down to respect. It's my holy grail and my concience. There is no situation I've yet found where the application of respect does not lead to the appropriate choice. Determine the context and then behave in the manner that is most respectful to all involved parties.
This theory, which is first and foremost of my Three Rules for Living Right aoolies just as readily to the issues raised by Katz as any other. If a particular action is disrespectful, it shouldn't be performed. For example, writing buggy, inefficient software and releasing it under pretense of stability is disrespectful to the user. Thus, developers ought to endeavor to write clean, efficient code or at least wait for stability before relaese. This is but one example. See if you can apply it more widely. I've come to live by this code and my experience tells me it works.
I hope this has provoked some thought. Feel free to reply below, or by personal email, though if you flame me I'll just delete it - keep it, well, respectful.
Cheers, Kerry Benton krb@rsnmail.com
p.s. Three Rules for Living Right isn't a book I wrote or anything, just how I refer to the rules I live by. Just so you don't think I'm plugging a product.
I truly wish I could say I was amazed, or even surprised, by the above, but I'm only 3 years out of high school and all it's various tortures are still fresh in my memory.
I recall walking a fine line between the nonconformist/geek and whatever you wish to call the other side. It took me until my junior year to figure it out, but I reached a point where I was equally at home with the Goths (trenchcoat, black lipstick and fishnets), the Band/Theater Folk (what most would label as preppy, but not too popular), and even those folks in student council (of which I was a member). I published the High School newspaper, but so too did I read my friend Joes home-made 'zine, filled with many things I'm sure hasty administrators would have Joe banned for now (I think they hassled him even then). The point of all this is, I got lucky. I figured out that who I was could work with everyone. Most who share the tendencies we have - the internet, computers and games, RPG's, science (god fobid you should like Physics in HS), free-thought, etc. - ARE ridiculed and find HS a horrible, if not unbearable state of being.
My response then is twofold, one directed at the parents, one at any reader in high school now who feels pressure (at least) for being who they are:
FOR THE STUDENTS FIRST: Hang in there and look forward. The present may seem interminable, but so long as you continue to work hard, be yourself and set goals, you will get past this and eventually be apreciated. How many millionaires were geeks? Lots, but they're also the type that don't compromise and work their asses off. I may sound like your guidance counselor, but I can only say what I feel is the truth that I've found from MY OWN EXPERIENCE.
FOR THE PARENTS: Though any reading this are likely not the dangerous sort, my message for parents is "open your eyes, and your mind." Too many parents miss the proper signs of disfunction and instead latch onto the things the media, which has no sense except sensation, if you catch my meaning, says denote a child in trouble. It's all crap. You can tell when you kids are unhappy! And if they are, look at yourselves before you look at the TV. I don't doubt my parents were scared to death regarding many of my anti-social tendencies before 10th grade. But they overcame it with love, understanding and compassion - NOT restrictions, mandates and threats. These make it worse.
I hope I've made some sense here. And I hope more so that people read what I've said. For those that do, I will do what I've never done before in such a public place- leave my full name and email address, for comments, flames, whatever. Good day.
I've got a friend here with a similar project in the works. Linux on a 1.2 gig scsi hd with a floppy & cdrom plus an lcd. He's making it specifically for the car so he's getting the case custom made (out of clear plexiglass - iMac envy I think). A lot of the stuff is from shows so it's all pretty cheap.
As far as the linux boot speed issue raised above, our solution is to custom compile a kernel with only basic services and network (he's planning on an ethernet hookup to transfer mp3's) and mount the disk read only. I expect it'll come up pretty quick, and with the disk as RO, you can shut it off hard without any waiting for the OS to shut down nice.
That's the plan anyway. I'll have to see if I can talk him into making plans available once the final scematics are drawn up...
"An optical sensor captures images of the work surface at a rate of 1,500 images per second, and a digital signal processor (DSP) translates changes between the images into on-screen movements."
I wonder how this works on a flat single colored surface? Like drafting tables and such...
I'll believe it when I see it... though since it'll only run with Windows and is overpriced I guess that's not too likely.
I haven't been able to watch it since damn Comedy Central dropped it. Who the hell gets SciFi? Not my home and certainly not Vanderbilt University Cable, i can tell you.
Now, I love C.C., most of my TV time is spent there, but they seriously dropped the ball on that one.
At the risk of bringing up both the MacOS & BeOS in such a Linuxcentric realm, may I mention Sheepshaver. It's a $50 prog for BeOS which allows the MacOS to run in a window (or fullscreen) at native speed, concurently with the BeOS, allowing data transfer between os's, etc. A version for LinuxPPC is underdevelopment. The sheepshaver site is http://www.sheepshaver.com, for any interested folks.
is there really anyone out there who's thinking, "Gee, I really don't enjoy SEX enough... it would be way better if some low quality audio were to play at every thrust." What's wrong with this picture? Maybe i'm old fashioned or something, but I think sex is pretty damn cool in and of itself...
perhaps the wording should have been "I will/would return a copy..." I've never owned a wintel pc and so will not be returning a copy of windows. but I sure as hell would if I had such a system...
Talk about a ridiculous waste of time for completely idle and useless speculation. Big Flaw #1: In the development time frame for this "Project", the government will change substantially about 75 times, undermineing constant funding and support. Currently governments have trouble with static funding over decade time scales. Big Flaw #2: Even assuming it gets built, the creating a system which guarantees a stable, focused society for 300 generations seems to me to be impossible. In just one generation with such a limited population there would be a major shift in interests and abilities. In 30, I imagine they could compound enough to undermine the operation of the colony at all. Lack of technicians and such because little Johnny would rather be a slacker. Or went to jail.
Sorry. Pie in the sky. I almost regret wasting this much time on it...
Slashdot Mirror
Having read Dune dozens of times, I don't think it can be put to screen properly (that is, doing full justice to the book) in less than 12 or so hours of screen time. It's just too dense, and that's what makes it so good. The richness of the characters and the universe Herbert creates are what have made me come back and read it again and again.
That being said, SciFi did a fairly good job and I did enjoy the series. Kudos.
-k
Remember those little plastic 45 rpm records that used to come in magazines and stuff? You had to punch them out of the page and then they'd play on a regular record player...
just think, soon all of our magizines will come with plastic insert pages containing thin CD's full of all sorts of clutter for our increasingly giant hard disks. Or, of course, to be true to the original, compilation CD's to tease you into buying the latest Limp Bizkit or Backstreet track.
Kick ass!
-k
(with a healthy dose of sarcasm towards the end there...)
Let me start by saying that I've probly read Dune about 100 times... it's among my favorite books ever (right next to Brief History of Time and Lord of the Rings).
To start, I think that the screenplay took a few too many liberties with the story in terms of chronology and outright modifying what happened in the book.
Second, I feel there was a lack of attention to detail and, in this case, that's almost criminal -- what makes Dune such a great book is, to a great extent, the richness of the language, the attention to detail and the vibrancy of the universe Herbert creates. I got pretty pissed when they were rolling thru the village and pointed out some Fremen and they weren't wearing stillsuits! Anyone's who's read the book and paid attention would know that you would never see a Fremen out of his stillsuit.
Also, I felt like they made some odd coices about what scenes were really important to spend time on while not including other scenes which I thought were more important. I won't include all the details, but there were a few times I noticed this.
This may seem like nitpicking by a huge dune nerd, and it is, but I think that to do Dune without really following the specifics is a bad move, and lessens the quality of the finished product...
That being said, it wasn't all bad -- the effects were pretty badass and I liked sets immensely. All in all I give it a 6 out of 10, 2 docked for playing with the storyline too much and 1 more each for not attending to detail and choosing unimportant scenes respectively.
If you disagree (or agree) with me, I'd be happy to discuss it with anyone. I love to talk about Dune. Email below...
-k
kerry@NOSPAM.w3m.com
I should say that step one is to make it known that you are looking to hire people. There's not a single mention of it on the project web site (unless I've gone blind from terminal radiation). If no one knows you're hiring, you aren't gonna get too many inquiries. Set up a page which lists the openings w/ job description and such. People will see it and check it out. Too bad it wasn't already there, I'm sure the site got some traffic just off of the fact that you got posted on /.
Now, whether there are other places to advertise, I don't know... Perhaps some not too pushy posts on your local (or not local) LUG mailing list or newsgroup, assuming you think the members won't react poorly to this sort of spam. Local area newsgroups or IRC channels, etc. might be another thing to try.
If you're looking for national exposure, it's gonna cost money probly (unless you can get another post here...), but it depends on what you want.
Just my $((1/50)*(1.00))
Hope it helps somewhat...
-k
krb1@email.com
Remember in the beginning of the Macintosh era, when all the M$/IBM devotees bitched at and denigrated Mac users because there was no choice for hardware or software, because Apple made almost all of it?
Looks like we've come full circle, haven't we.
It's the age-old battle between quality control and freedom. Of course, that also assumes that Microsoft will actually have the ability to guarantee quality, which, given Windows, I'm not betting on.
Sorry to dredge up the old OS wars, but that was my childhood, so it's pretty ingrained.
I suppose this has nothing to do with the book review, but this thread can only evolve into a discussion regarding online ditribution, so here goes my 2 cents...
I don't think that online book distribution will catch on for reasons far more mundane than finding the right marketing / payment scheme. The fact of the matter is that almost everybody (the reviewer obviously included) hates reading things on a screen and prefers the tactile sensation of a book in their hands. Face it, even the hardest core get sick of man pages after a while and consult whatever paper guide is closest at hand.
People enjoy books for reasons which transcend the content. I have an early edition of the Lord of the Rings which, I feel, adds to the enjoyment of the book. Not b/c it's rare, but because its rough, feels and smells old -- namely, it has character... something your monitor isn't likely to have, ever.
Someday, perhaps, e-books (the hardware) will mature and replace dead tree books -- good, I like the forests -- but not yet. The market isn't there because people don't want to read 1000 pages of text on a monitor. It's just not the same experience...
-k-
krb1@email.com
heres how: everyone, register, then submit everyone you can, from your best friend to the captain of the football team. it's a simple nonviolent means for protest which will show them how flawed their system is.
Read the subject. Then read it again.
I've a long standing set of rules which I attepmt to live by, formulated over a course of years through analysis of as many various "codes of ethics" as I could find data on. I've read religious texts and secular philosophies (though these are not so different). The bottom line is that my studies of what people, both today and in the past, have deemed as ethical/right/appropriate/honorable/moral all comes down to respect. It's my holy grail and my concience. There is no situation I've yet found where the application of respect does not lead to the appropriate choice. Determine the context and then behave in the manner that is most respectful to all involved parties.
This theory, which is first and foremost of my Three Rules for Living Right aoolies just as readily to the issues raised by Katz as any other. If a particular action is disrespectful, it shouldn't be performed. For example, writing buggy, inefficient software and releasing it under pretense of stability is disrespectful to the user. Thus, developers ought to endeavor to write clean, efficient code or at least wait for stability before relaese. This is but one example. See if you can apply it more widely. I've come to live by this code and my experience tells me it works.
I hope this has provoked some thought. Feel free to reply below, or by personal email, though if you flame me I'll just delete it - keep it, well, respectful.
Cheers,
Kerry Benton
krb@rsnmail.com
p.s. Three Rules for Living Right isn't a book I wrote or anything, just how I refer to the rules I live by. Just so you don't think I'm plugging a product.
I truly wish I could say I was amazed, or even surprised, by the above, but I'm only 3 years out of high school and all it's various tortures are still fresh in my memory.
I recall walking a fine line between the nonconformist/geek and whatever you wish to call the other side. It took me until my junior year to figure it out, but I reached a point where I was equally at home with the Goths (trenchcoat, black lipstick and fishnets), the Band/Theater Folk (what most would label as preppy, but not too popular), and even those folks in student council (of which I was a member). I published the High School newspaper, but so too did I read my friend Joes home-made 'zine, filled with many things I'm sure hasty administrators would have Joe banned for now (I think they hassled him even then). The point of all this is, I got lucky. I figured out that who I was could work with everyone. Most who share the tendencies we have - the internet, computers and games, RPG's, science (god fobid you should like Physics in HS), free-thought, etc. - ARE ridiculed and find HS a horrible, if not unbearable state of being.
My response then is twofold, one directed at the parents, one at any reader in high school now who feels pressure (at least) for being who they are:
FOR THE STUDENTS FIRST: Hang in there and look forward. The present may seem interminable, but so long as you continue to work hard, be yourself and set goals, you will get past this and eventually be apreciated. How many millionaires were geeks? Lots, but they're also the type that don't compromise and work their asses off. I may sound like your guidance counselor, but I can only say what I feel is the truth that I've found from MY OWN EXPERIENCE.
FOR THE PARENTS: Though any reading this are likely not the dangerous sort, my message for parents is "open your eyes, and your mind." Too many parents miss the proper signs of disfunction and instead latch onto the things the media, which has no sense except sensation, if you catch my meaning, says denote a child in trouble. It's all crap. You can tell when you kids are unhappy! And if they are, look at yourselves before you look at the TV. I don't doubt my parents were scared to death regarding many of my anti-social tendencies before 10th grade. But they overcame it with love, understanding and compassion - NOT restrictions, mandates and threats. These make it worse.
I hope I've made some sense here. And I hope more so that people read what I've said. For those that do, I will do what I've never done before in such a public place- leave my full name and email address, for comments, flames, whatever. Good day.
Kerry Benton
krb@rsnmail.com
I've got a friend here with a similar project in the works. Linux on a 1.2 gig scsi hd with a floppy & cdrom plus an lcd. He's making it specifically for the car so he's getting the case custom made (out of clear plexiglass - iMac envy I think). A lot of the stuff is from shows so it's all pretty cheap.
As far as the linux boot speed issue raised above, our solution is to custom compile a kernel with only basic services and network (he's planning on an ethernet hookup to transfer mp3's) and mount the disk read only. I expect it'll come up pretty quick, and with the disk as RO, you can shut it off hard without any waiting for the OS to shut down nice.
That's the plan anyway. I'll have to see if I can talk him into making plans available once the final scematics are drawn up...
The press release says :
"An optical sensor captures images of the work
surface at a rate of 1,500 images per second, and a digital signal processor (DSP) translates changes between the images into on-screen movements."
I wonder how this works on a flat single colored surface? Like drafting tables and such...
I'll believe it when I see it... though since it'll only run with Windows and is overpriced I guess that's not too likely.
crimony, i'da thought that a big graphics workstation company could have come up with something cooler. I already miss the tubular cube icon.
I haven't been able to watch it since damn Comedy Central dropped it. Who the hell gets SciFi? Not my home and certainly not Vanderbilt University Cable, i can tell you.
Now, I love C.C., most of my TV time is spent there, but they seriously dropped the ball on that one.
R.I.P. MST3K, we love ya...
At the risk of bringing up both the MacOS & BeOS in such a Linuxcentric realm, may I mention Sheepshaver. It's a $50 prog for BeOS which allows the MacOS to run in a window (or fullscreen) at native speed, concurently with the BeOS, allowing data transfer between os's, etc. A version for LinuxPPC is underdevelopment. The sheepshaver site is http://www.sheepshaver.com, for any interested folks.
-k-
is there really anyone out there who's thinking, "Gee, I really don't enjoy SEX enough... it would be way better if some low quality audio were to play at every thrust." What's wrong with this picture? Maybe i'm old fashioned or something, but I think sex is pretty damn cool in and of itself...
perhaps the wording should have been "I will/would return a copy..." I've never owned a wintel pc and so will not be returning a copy of windows. but I sure as hell would if I had such a system...
Talk about a ridiculous waste of time for completely idle and useless speculation.
Big Flaw #1: In the development time frame for this "Project", the government will change substantially about 75 times, undermineing constant funding and support. Currently governments have trouble with static funding over decade time scales.
Big Flaw #2: Even assuming it gets built, the creating a system which guarantees a stable, focused society for 300 generations seems to me to be impossible. In just one generation with such a limited population there would be a major shift in interests and abilities. In 30, I imagine they could compound enough to undermine the operation of the colony at all. Lack of technicians and such because little Johnny would rather be a slacker. Or went to jail.
Sorry. Pie in the sky. I almost regret wasting this much time on it...