Book Foo, and a bit of TV Foo
Oct. 6th, 2007 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Finished: Odd John, by Olaf Stapledon
Started: Blindsight, by Peter Watts
Thoughts on Odd John behind the cut. Some spoilers, but it's a book from 1934, so it's not like it's new spoilers. ;)
Odd John wasn't quite what I was expecting. Since it was the book that first used the term Homo superior, I figured it was going to be one of those 'noble superman against the world' stories. And to a certain extent, it was, except for the noble part. The narrator seems to at least partially buy into the superman's argument that because he is so far above humans, that their morality is completely irrelevent to him, and so it excuses him when he commits horrible crimes, including mass murder merely for his convenience's sake, and attempts to play him sympathetically throughout. You probably can't take it necessarily as being Stapledon's views on the matter, of course, so maybe the fact that he never particularly sold it is deliberate.
Not sure I entirely buy the ending, either. One would thing that if they were as superior as they claimed, they'd easily have found another way to continue their work.
So, it was okay, and mildly interesting from the perspective of historical science fiction, although not personally all that enjoyable. I think this is about it for Stapledon... I've read the 'big three' of his works: Star Maker, Sirius, and Odd John. There are a few others, but they're not on my deliberate 'look for' list (if I happened to stumble across one of them I might check it out). I think I liked Sirius best of the lot.
Blindsight involves a crew of people seeking to make first contact with an alien race, but all of whom are 'freaks' in one way or another, so as to be better at their jobs. Quite enjoying it so far - one of the gauges I have is that if I lose a bookmark because I'm so engrossed in reading while I'm walking I don't notice it slipping down, I must be enjoying it. ;)
Anyway, on to some TV. Not doing a full roundup for the week, just a little bit on some of the newer shows:
Journeyman: Still tentatively holding on to my interest. I like how they're handling the relationship and the playing with different technologies etc of different times, but the actual missions he have are kind of leaving me cold.
Bionic Woman: Dropped. That 2nd ep was, if possible, even lamer than the first. Not even bothering to watch it again.
Moonlight: Still lame, but the second episode actually was an improvement on the first. Still I think the only reason I'll continue to watch it at all is because of Jason Dohring and because there's absolutely nothing else on in the timeslot I'm interested in. Believe me, I looked.
Pushing Daisies: Already saw the pilot, so this week was nothing new, but I liked watching it again, which is a good sign I guess.
Speaking of Pushing Daisies, I didn't realize that apparently they'd already finished filming the Dead Like Me DVD movie (I say speaking of Pushing Daisies, because the same person created both shows). So it's not just vapourware rumor, it's actually more or less a done deal, they just have to release it. It's set 2 years after the series. Most of the cast returned, save for Mandy Patakin (damn, but I kinda expected it - he would have been the hardest one to get back), whos character is replaced in story by another (played by Desmond from lost), presumably having fulfilled his quota but that's just a guess, and the person playing Daisy Adair, who was unavailable and thus recast (double damn, don't like recasting), but the character remains in the movie.
Lastly, one Stargate icon from the latest ep behind the cut (really non spoilery, but just in case):
Started: Blindsight, by Peter Watts
Thoughts on Odd John behind the cut. Some spoilers, but it's a book from 1934, so it's not like it's new spoilers. ;)
Odd John wasn't quite what I was expecting. Since it was the book that first used the term Homo superior, I figured it was going to be one of those 'noble superman against the world' stories. And to a certain extent, it was, except for the noble part. The narrator seems to at least partially buy into the superman's argument that because he is so far above humans, that their morality is completely irrelevent to him, and so it excuses him when he commits horrible crimes, including mass murder merely for his convenience's sake, and attempts to play him sympathetically throughout. You probably can't take it necessarily as being Stapledon's views on the matter, of course, so maybe the fact that he never particularly sold it is deliberate.
Not sure I entirely buy the ending, either. One would thing that if they were as superior as they claimed, they'd easily have found another way to continue their work.
So, it was okay, and mildly interesting from the perspective of historical science fiction, although not personally all that enjoyable. I think this is about it for Stapledon... I've read the 'big three' of his works: Star Maker, Sirius, and Odd John. There are a few others, but they're not on my deliberate 'look for' list (if I happened to stumble across one of them I might check it out). I think I liked Sirius best of the lot.
Blindsight involves a crew of people seeking to make first contact with an alien race, but all of whom are 'freaks' in one way or another, so as to be better at their jobs. Quite enjoying it so far - one of the gauges I have is that if I lose a bookmark because I'm so engrossed in reading while I'm walking I don't notice it slipping down, I must be enjoying it. ;)
Anyway, on to some TV. Not doing a full roundup for the week, just a little bit on some of the newer shows:
Journeyman: Still tentatively holding on to my interest. I like how they're handling the relationship and the playing with different technologies etc of different times, but the actual missions he have are kind of leaving me cold.
Bionic Woman: Dropped. That 2nd ep was, if possible, even lamer than the first. Not even bothering to watch it again.
Moonlight: Still lame, but the second episode actually was an improvement on the first. Still I think the only reason I'll continue to watch it at all is because of Jason Dohring and because there's absolutely nothing else on in the timeslot I'm interested in. Believe me, I looked.
Pushing Daisies: Already saw the pilot, so this week was nothing new, but I liked watching it again, which is a good sign I guess.
Speaking of Pushing Daisies, I didn't realize that apparently they'd already finished filming the Dead Like Me DVD movie (I say speaking of Pushing Daisies, because the same person created both shows). So it's not just vapourware rumor, it's actually more or less a done deal, they just have to release it. It's set 2 years after the series. Most of the cast returned, save for Mandy Patakin (damn, but I kinda expected it - he would have been the hardest one to get back), whos character is replaced in story by another (played by Desmond from lost), presumably having fulfilled his quota but that's just a guess, and the person playing Daisy Adair, who was unavailable and thus recast (double damn, don't like recasting), but the character remains in the movie.
Lastly, one Stargate icon from the latest ep behind the cut (really non spoilery, but just in case):
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Date: 2007-10-07 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-07 11:48 am (UTC)I suppose there's a slim possibility either of them could be back if the DVD is successful enough to spur on another series (as was rumored to be possible). For example, Rube could have just been 'transferred' to another division temporarily rather than being completely done, and be back. Patakin's off his other series now, so it's possible (although Daisy's actress couldn't be there because she's one of the leads in an upcoming TV series, so she couldn't be back unless it tanked).
From what I understand though, those were the only failures in the cast: Mason, George and her family, and Jasmine Guy are all back, played by the same actors.
So yeah, not the ideal situation, but better than nothing, and if it leads to another series, I'll take it.