Re:Sexuality in Niven's Work
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Ask Larry Niven
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Yes, I find this to be an especially interesting question, as there is a story in N-Space I believe that is somewhat homophobic...concerns a man being outcast for killing a gay man IIRC
I don't remember it that way at all. The man's motivation for killing his victim was homophobia, yes, but I'm pretty sure the story condemned him as a bigot.
Okay, Convergent Series then. The lead character summons a traditional demon -- pentacle and the whole deal.
Re:My one opportunity to ask my favorite writer...
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Ask Larry Niven
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· Score: 1
What the hell is up with Known Space? Why stop writing in that universe?
He's addressed this. Essentially, the problem with Known Space is that a great number of magic technologies have been brought into it -- the stasis fields, the General Products hulls, scrith, etc. All this stuff combines to make it hard to write stories with problems the characters have trouble solving. For instance, remember the antimatter planet that almost killed Beowulf and Elephant? It turns out you can land on that planet after all, without going up in pure light -- just wrap your hull in a stasis field.
And how about a new Smoke Ring book?
He's discussed a really cool concept for one. The idea is that Ghost Ships are gigantic organisms living and dying in the electromagnetic wave fronts thrown off by a supernova, and they come home to mate -- home to the neutron star that their dead sun left behind. A neutron star very much like the one the Smoke Ring circles...
The origin of the name is from a book by Alan E. Nourse called Blade Runner, but had nothing (or very little) to do with the plot of the movie,
William S. Burroughs also published a short book called Blade Runner, a movie in book form about the coming medical crisis. IIRC it was a somewhat-prophetic take on the future scarcity of health care. I think it came out a year or two before the movie.
I don't know if the title of the movie came from Alan E. Nourse or Burroughs, but I bet I know which one Ridley Scott would claim it was.
I'd also like to disagree with your assessment of his storytelling. I read his stuff as a teenager, when I was a far less demanding reader than I am now (I've discovered litterchure since then.)
His ideas are absolutely amazing and really thought provoking -- I liked the Christmas Tree Branch and the organisms living on the surface of a neutron star, in accelerated time. But his dialogue made me wince -- then. When I thought Ben Bova was like Shakespeare or something. I can't imagine what I would think of it now.
Now if Brittney Spears or Eminem got screwed in a movie deal, then you would have your public outcry.
They probably are! But no one will find out about it for years. Albert Goldman's math seems to indicate that the Beatles got screwed on Hard Day's Night, contractually speaking. Same trick -- they got a share of the profits, rather than the gross.
They are developing Starcraft: Ghost for the PS2, XBox, as well as the cube. It's not really a Microsoft conspiracy then, is it? It's better than their normal games which are released only to Windows PCs and Macs (2 architectures 3).
If Microsoft buys Blizzard(widely rumored, and alluded to elsewhere in comments), it'll go XBox only faster than you can say Halo.
In Columbus, Ohio, try renting anime at SHOCC Comics on Bethel(wide selection on tape, but they only recently started acquiring DVDs) or North Campus Video on High Street(many DVDs, but smaller overall selection -- and when stuff gets stolen from them, they never, ever replace it).
The reissue of the Atari games for Dreamcast was CE-based and pretty well done.
The Atari pack was very well done and CE based.
I strongly suspect that the licensing terms for CE were highly favorable to Sega -- Microsoft wanted to get CE out to developers as a gaming console OS. So it's hard to imagine that MS had much to do with Sega getting out of the console business.
Now, stealing Shenmue 2 from me, MS had a lot to do with that.
Can ya recall when "Interactive Movie" games were "in"?
Dude. "Night Trap" for Sega CD (iirc). Utter crap. Starred Dana Fucking Plato. Somehow managed to become a symbol for overly-violent video games in the alarmist media without any actual gamers having played it.
In any case, what did Sega ever put out that was that original?
No way I'm letting this pass...Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Typing of the Dead(don't give me any shit about that one, it's surprisingly enjoyable), Ecco the Dolphin, Seaman(published but not developed, so partial credit). That's just the Dreamcast era.
I don't mean in any way to say that Nintendo *isn't* innovative, but credit where credit is due.
Agreed. Now if only Nintendo would release an NES controller with the original Donkey Kong and other Game and Watch remakes built in.
Something very much like this was released by a mysterious company called Mega Joy -- an N64 controller that contained 50-odd Nintendo games. The Register has details.
A friend of mine bought this and likes his a lot, although he's not much of a gamer. The Reg mentions them selling for ten pounds in the UK; I think my friend says his was about ~$20.
It seems you can't buy them any more, of course. There are none listed on eBay, and googling for them some time back didn't turn up anything, so I assume Nintendo burned down the factory producing them, and seeded the ground with salt.
I lived in Seoul for two years as a child (1983-85), living in military housing and having a half-hour bus ride to school(on the Yongsan base, if you know Seoul) daily. I find the idea of *any* traffic violation being enforced in Korea absolutely astonishing. In Seoul during rush hour, lanes weren't even observed; there would be as many lanes of traffic as there were car widths in the road, irrespective of lane markers.
...and the Lord looked upon it, and saw that it was good.;)
That's one way of looking at it, but another way of looking at it is that now Sony intends to compete directly with Square. People play *one* of these things. They're just too time-consuming to do more than one. I bet Square is less than thrilled about this.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, Convergent Series then. The lead character summons a traditional demon -- pentacle and the whole deal.
More info here: http://www.larryniven.org/kzin/star_trek_vs_kzinti .htm
http://www.larryniven.org/chatlogs/chat060402.htm
Search for Halo. The gist is that Microsoft sent him an Xbox and a copy of Halo, hoping he would write a Halo novel.
Niven was a fan of Star Trek and wrote for the syndicated comic strip for a while. See Playgrounds of the Mind.
See also Inferno. It's set in the Christian hell -- you don't get much more explicitly religious than that.
Spike: (counting on fingers)Out...for...a...walk...(pause)bitch.
I don't know if the title of the movie came from Alan E. Nourse or Burroughs, but I bet I know which one Ridley Scott would claim it was.
His ideas are absolutely amazing and really thought provoking -- I liked the Christmas Tree Branch and the organisms living on the surface of a neutron star, in accelerated time. But his dialogue made me wince -- then. When I thought Ben Bova was like Shakespeare or something. I can't imagine what I would think of it now.
In Columbus, Ohio, try renting anime at SHOCC Comics on Bethel(wide selection on tape, but they only recently started acquiring DVDs) or North Campus Video on High Street(many DVDs, but smaller overall selection -- and when stuff gets stolen from them, they never, ever replace it).
I strongly suspect that the licensing terms for CE were highly favorable to Sega -- Microsoft wanted to get CE out to developers as a gaming console OS. So it's hard to imagine that MS had much to do with Sega getting out of the console business.
Now, stealing Shenmue 2 from me, MS had a lot to do with that.
I don't mean in any way to say that Nintendo *isn't* innovative, but credit where credit is due.
A friend of mine bought this and likes his a lot, although he's not much of a gamer. The Reg mentions them selling for ten pounds in the UK; I think my friend says his was about ~$20.
It seems you can't buy them any more, of course. There are none listed on eBay, and googling for them some time back didn't turn up anything, so I assume Nintendo burned down the factory producing them, and seeded the ground with salt.
I guess things have changed a bit...
I think you were kidding, but I can never tell around here any more.