well you can strike out 'mad men' coz academics are generally johnny-come-latelies, but yeah.
― banriquit, Saturday, 7 June 2008 11:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Soft lips lightly traced a pattern of kisses along the back of my neck. I sighed, savoring the delicious sensation of being awakened from a sensual dream, and settled my back more firmly against his chest.
Mmm… Sam… I thought, drifting back into sleep.
The soft kisses gave way to the nuzzling of teeth against my skin, then to a series of love-bites that became ever sharper as they ascended to my jawline.
*Not* Sam.
The idea shocked me awake--or it would have, but I felt as drowsy and lethargic as if I'd had far too much ale and couldn’t quite clear my head. But the little bites were quite enjoyable, actually, teasing the fine line between pleasure and pain, and I let myself be swept away by this hedonistic dream… this dream lover… so unlike my always gentle Sam…
His lips took mine roughly. I felt no need to resist; indeed, I could not have, so overpowering were the kisses. His tongue parted my teeth and plunged inside, probing, demanding. I yielded utterly, opening to him, the intensity of the kiss making me arch my back, begging for more.
I became hazily aware of strong arms encircling me from behind. Soft fingertips explored my throat, my chest, lingering over the ring on its silver chain. The smooth circle always felt warm with my body heat, but now it seemed to burn. Without warning he pinched my nipples quite hard, leaving them tingling. I gasped and was instantly silenced by another insistent, bruising kiss. I struggled to force myself awake, to protest, but my eyes were so heavy that I could not hold them open. Then the kisses on my shoulder and throat became soothing again and the hands stroking my skin grew gentle, and once again I lost myself in a shadowy cloud of desire… Nothing to fear, no need to think…
He traced little shivery waves on my skin as his caress moved ever downward. When he took my hardness in his large hand, I gasped at the heat of his touch. He began to stroke me masterfully, quickly bringing me almost to the brink before he abruptly stopped. The other hand took over then, parting my cheeks to seek out the tight opening there. I spread my legs and pushed against his touch, feeling wanton. His hand left me for a moment but quickly returned, wet and slick. He slid a finger inside me, suddenly, forcefully, and I shuddered. He began pulling me off again in long, sure strokes, his finger moving in and out rhythmically. When he impaled me with a second finger I thought I must surely die from the intensity of it. Once again he took me right to the edge … and stopped. I writhed against him shamelessly, grinding my backside into his hips. His hard member felt hot, too hot, slippery against my skin, and then he was pushing slowly but relentlessly into me. I cried out then, I know, but there was no sound, and the world ceased to exist but for the spot where his body invaded mine.
I gritted my teeth against the pain, willing my muscles to relax. He grasped my hips and directed me wordlessly to move with him. As I did so, the pain gradually ebbed until wild pleasure surged in its place and I thrust myself hard onto his thick shaft.
Suddenly I felt something smooth and hot against my face. The ring. He stroked my face with it, though it was still bound to its chain, then parted my lips and placed it into my mouth. His finger followed it and I sucked on both, tracing the contours of his knuckles with my tongue, pushing the ring against his skin. I knew what he wanted me to do and, swept away by passion, I no longer resisted. I pressed my tongue into the burning circle of the ring, tracing its shape, feeling it pulse, then pushed it onto his finger. He gave a final mighty thrust and exploded within me, sending massive shock waves ripping through my body. My eyes flew open, though all remained dark and silent. Then his hands sought out my hardness and squeezed mercilessly. It took but a stroke or two to push me over the brink. I gasped for breath, my head spinning and my heart pounding. An image began to form in my mind and with it a dreadful, shocking realization. A circle of flame, an eye, *his* eye. Then I knew it had been him and not a dream--though I was quite alone except for Sam, sleeping peacefully by my side as if nothing had happened.
I lay spent and stunned for a long while. Despite the disbelief, the revulsion, and the shame beginning to well up, exquisite aftershocks still tingled throughout my body. The physical sensations of lovemaking remained vivid, tangible, undeniable. I cradled the ring in my hand. It remained white hot, still slicked with saliva. And it whispered to me, as it did more and more often these days, "You and I will soon meet face to face, Frodo Baggins, very soon. I am waiting."
― latebloomer, Saturday, 7 June 2008 12:07 (sixteen years ago) link
"I said DON'T MOVE," Starsky repeated, the last two words each punctuated with another slap to Hutch's behind. The blond was holding still now and Starsky smiled at the sight. Pushing his finger in all the way, he found his lover's prostate and stroked it.
Hutch tried not to move, but the sensations were too much and he ground back against Starsky's hand. As soon as he did Starsky brought his hand down again leaving a bright red palm print in his wake. Hutch yelped at the pain but managed to stay where he was.
"You're such a good boy, Hutch," Starsky whispered as he bent over his lover's back. "You make me really proud."
"I...I do?" Hutch whispered back, his whole body shaking with the effort of not moving while Starsky's finger continued to torment him.
"Yeah," Starsky said. "You're tryin' so hard not to move. I can tell how bad you want to. How bad you want to grind your ass back on my finger. How bad you want to thrust that hard cock of yours into something."
"Staaarsky..." Hutch cried out when the man pressed down hard on his prostate.
"I need more, Hutch," Starsky said as he pulled out his finger.
"What...whatever you need," Hutch stammered, fighting to remain still. "I love you."
"I love you, too, beautiful," Starsky said.
"What do you need, Starsk?" Hutch managed to ask.
"Fight me," Starsky whispered in his ear.
Hutch shivered as those two little words sank in. He felt his cock grow harder and wondered for a moment which one of them needed this more. Leave it to Starsky to know just what to do to give them both what they craved. Tensing his muscles, Hutch waited a heartbeat before lunging up and back. He succeeded in throwing his lover off him, but he knew he only had seconds before Starsky was on him again. Using his longer legs to his advantage, Hutch dashed toward the bedroom, seeking the illusionary safety of the other room.
He didn't even get the door closed before Starsky barreled into it knocking him to the floor. Before Hutch could make it to his knees, Starsky had one hand fisted in his hair and the other wrapped around his throat. Arousal surged through Hutch as Starsky manhandled him onto the bed.
"Get off!" Hutch snarled as his lover pushed his face into the mattress and shoved a pillow under his hips. Hutch tried to rear up again and knock Starsky off, but a vice-like grip on his testicles stilled him.
"That's a good boy," Starsky purred as he gave the tender orbs a harsh squeeze. He laughed at Hutch's gasp of pain and surprise. His own cock was strangling in his jeans as the adrenaline surged through him again. Keeping one hand on Hutch's balls, he undid his own pants and pulled his hard cock out.
"Starsky, let me go," Hutch demanded.
"No," Starsky replied as he gave the balls another squeeze. "I'm gonna fuck you until you scream, blondie. I'm gonna fuck you so hard you won't be able to sit for days."
"God damnit, Starsky. I said no. Now let me go," Hutch yelled, though he was careful not to move his body.
"I don't give a shit what you said," Starsky yelled back. "I'm gonna have you and there ain't fuck all you can do about it, partner."
"Damn it! You son of a bitch, let me go!" Hutch yelled. The pain in his testicles was making his eyes water. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
"What did you just call my mother?" Starsky spat. He jerked back on Hutch's balls and smiled at the shriek of pain it caused.
"No... Nothing," Hutch stammered as he fought the pain rolling through him.
"Apologize," came the deadly serious reply.
"I'm sorry," Hutch said immediately.
"That's better." Starsky relented and eased his grip on his partner's now bruised testicles. "Now I think someone here needs a little lesson in who's in control. And since I'm not the one cryin' over his balls being crushed, I don't think that someone's me. Am I right?"
"Yes," Hutch replied quickly. "You're right."
"What am I right about?" Starsky pressed.
"That I need a lesson in who's in...in c-control," Hutch stammered.
Starsky reached out and ran his hands over his partner's back. Hutch was shaking now, his body confused amid the cacophony of signals flooding through it. He rubbed slowly, easing the worst of it. This was, after all, Hutch and he would never truly hurt this man.
"That's right, babe," Starsky said. "Now tell me. Who's in control here?"
"You are, Starsk," Hutch replied.
"And what am I gonna do to prove that to ya?" Starsky pressed.
"Fuck me," Hutch said, his face flushing in unanticipated embarrassment. "You're gonna fuck me."
"What's wrong, babe?" Starsky asked when he saw Hutch flush. "Don't wanna be my pussy tonight?"
Hutch went beet red at his lover's use of...that word. Never in all their lovemaking had he ever thought of himself as that. Now here was Starsky telling him that was all he really was. A pussy. A pussy for his partner to fuck.
― latebloomer, Saturday, 7 June 2008 12:12 (sixteen years ago) link
the comments on that lj firefly thing are hilarious, viz a viz:
So, I think Joss Whedon is a rapist because it is impossible for me to believe that a man who produces a show like Firefly, a man who openly objectifies women in his interviews, a man who based the character of Xander Harris (a pro-porn, sex-obsessed teenage male in Buffy) it is imposible for me to believe that this man does not pressure his wife for sex. If he has pressured his wife for sex even if she eventually consented he is still a rapist. I know far too many women who have been, and are being, forced, coerced, manipulated, pressured into sex that they do not want with their male partners. I'd bet anything that Joss is one of these men. And if he is then he is a rapist in my books.
― J.D., Saturday, 7 June 2008 21:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Hasn't crossed her mind that his wife might actually like having sex with him?
― chap, Saturday, 7 June 2008 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link
i liked 'buffy' but never drank the 'firefly' kool-aid.
― J.D., Saturday, 7 June 2008 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link
the SF/fantasy stuff was always the worst/most ignorable thing about buffy anyway. it had more in common with 'she's all that' than anne rice.
― J.D., Saturday, 7 June 2008 21:53 (sixteen years ago) link
^ Yeah, the High School/college/teen anxiety smart-mouth zing stuff >>>> stunt men in rubber horror masks stuff.
― DavidM, Saturday, 7 June 2008 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link
but clearly it's all rape
― latebloomer, Saturday, 7 June 2008 22:57 (sixteen years ago) link
I just read that whole series of 3 posts. The degree of intellectual dishonesty is staggering. Somebody calls bullshit on her using the Dworkin "all sex is rape" formula, and she basically shuts it down and says "go argue with Dworkin, what's wrong with you, I'm just talking about some sci-fi here."
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link
A Firefly stan being not very bright, you say? For real??
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually she hates the show pretty viciously.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Why the heck she be posting there then??
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Okay are people (upthread) seriously dismissing certain (pretty arbitrarily defined) elements of pop culture as trash unworthy of academic examination? ON ILFuckingX? WTF.
Have you learned nothing from years of rockism debates? If a significant amount of people consume, enjoy, and identify with any form of media, it's worth examination. Period.
― en i see kay, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:33 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah i wrote that off as challops so boring that they weren't even worth the challops thread
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:35 (sixteen years ago) link
No, the point is that aspie rube academics only chose to engage in aspects of popular culture that let them live out their still existent adolescent hang-ups, and as such they're excessively covered by "academia" despite being, let's be honest here, of minority interest from both a mainstream and, y'know, "any good" perspective. xp
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:36 (sixteen years ago) link
"You're what?" Snape hissed out between clenched teeth.
"I'm pregnant, Sev," Harry repeated patiently, sitting down on a nearby chair.
"B-but how could this have happened?" Severus sputtered, all thoughts of the tests he'd been grading flying from his mind.
A twinkle in his eye, Harry said, "Well, when two people love each other very much..."
"I *know* that part, Potter. What I meant was, how could *you* be pregnant? You're a man."
"I am quite aware of that fact, Severus," Harry returned drolly. "But surely you must realize that while I *am* a man, I am also a wizard. A very powerful wizard, in fact, and sometimes very powerful wizards use their magic unconsciously. Remember how I beat Voldemort? He cast the killing curse, and even though I was almost unconscious, and didn't have my wand, I still managed to reflect it so it hit him instead?"
Snape looked at him skeptically. "So you're saying that unconsciously you *wanted* to get pregnant? For Merlin's sake, *why*?!"
Blushing Harry said, "Well, it was after we'd gone to see Ron and 'Mione's new twins. I was thinking that you'd make such a good father, and when you pounced me that evening, I must've focused in on that."
Severus looked surprised at Harry's words -- him, a good father? -- but thought for a moment about their situation.
"Well," he said finally. "I suppose it could happen. But in all cases where male pregnancy has happened, it was a planned event. It had to be, because both parties had to use their magic to make it happen..." He trailed off, his face draining of all color, as he realized what he was implying.
Harry grinned. "I guess it was meant to happen, then."
Severus was at a loss. "But I don't understand -- neither of us knew what the other was thinking, and without joint focus, it *still* shouldn't have happened..."
"Since both of us are powerful wizards, maybe we didn't need to know in order to focus," Harry suggested. "I'm more concerned about the numbers."
"Numbers?" Severus asked, floundering for understanding.
Taking a deep breath, Harry broached the topic cautiously. "Well, we each have at least twice as much magic as most Wizards, and we'd gone to see the twins that evening...and I'm definitely showing more than normal for not being even three months pregnant. My larger stomach was the first clue I had that I *was* pregnant."
"You think we're having twins?" Severus squeaked.
Harry nodded. "I'm not sure, though. But it's possible."
"Oh, wonderful," Severus snarked. "I never planned on us having children to begin with, and now you tell me we're most likely having *two*?"
"Well, Sev, as you pointed out, it takes two to make this spell work. You can't blame all of this on me," Harry said, voice hard.
Sighing, Severus put his head in his hands and said, "I know. But I wish I could."
"Whyever would you want to do that?" Harry demanded, exasperated.
Directing a glare at his husband, Severus said, "Because if I recall, your dog-father still doesn't even know we're married. How in the world are you planning to explain *this* to him?"
Harry gulped. "I-I hadn't thought of that."
Nodding, Severus said, "I thought not."
Practically hyperventilating, Harry summed their situation up in two words: "Oh, shit."
― latebloomer, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:39 (sixteen years ago) link
^what he said
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I think that's valid in and of itself, though, given that modern Western culture is so lacking in universally accepted rites of passage that large swaths of society don't really ever leave adolescence.
Also, minority interest? Welcome to decentralized modern culture. Everything is a minority interest.
xxpost oh fuck it, the HP fanfic has been brought, shit is over.
― en i see kay, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Welcome to decentralized modern culture. Everything is a minority interest.
Increasingly true but not universally. (Mistaking Net-heavy life with its easily accessible multiplicity of choices for whatever constitutes reality is the problem here -- this ain't the past but it's not quite the future yet.)
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:52 (sixteen years ago) link
fyi dude is british
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 7 June 2008 23:55 (sixteen years ago) link
I just read that whole series of 3 posts. The degree of intellectual dishonesty is staggering. Somebody calls bullshit on her using the Dworkin "all sex is rape" formula, and she basically shuts it down and says "go argue with Dworkin, what's wrong with you, I'm just talking about some sci-fi here.
And it happens not just once but several times, and the women calling her on it are (allegedly) rape victims themselves who are offended by her rhetoric. Plus she gives a big-ol' middle finger to women of color too, as several folks point out.
Of course it's not really a secret that most radfem doesn't really give a shit about real-life victims, not to mention racism, but it's still pretty gross. But it's pretty clear she's living the lolcat life:
http://media.newschoolers.com/uploads/cache/images/1199518804-560780-400x266-lolcat-funny-picture-found-pills-ate-eat.jpg
― Charlie Rose Nylund, Sunday, 8 June 2008 00:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Still, even the highest rated shows (in America) fail to bring in 50% of households (only three broadcasts in history, early years aside, have done this, all before 1985), and the highest grossing film of the past decade brought in something like 25%. I'm not saying it's totally decentralized or anything, but the idea of almost any piece of pop culture being a 'majority interest' is pretty much a dead idea.
xp This is a good point.
another xpost, obviously should be focusing on my ilx debatez instead of cooking
― en i see kay, Sunday, 8 June 2008 00:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I suppose I've just got a problem with anyone saying any subject or reasoning for studying pop culture is invalid. If you don't like what's being said, cool, but criticizing the fact that it's being said just rubs me the wrong way.
― en i see kay, Sunday, 8 June 2008 00:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Thanks and plot bunnies (MWAHAHA!) to GlimmerGirl, Angel and ‘The Girls’ for betas, comments, and laffs.
― max, Sunday, 8 June 2008 00:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Thanks and plot bunnies (MWAHAHA!) to GlimmerGirl, Angel and ‘The Girls’ for betas, comments, and laffs. Thanks and plot bunnies (MWAHAHA!) to GlimmerGirl, Angel and ‘The Girls’ for betas, comments, and laffs.
this is an odd thread.
And for what it's worth: the vast majority of 90's tv sci-fi* was shit. SOOOO much horribleness came about when people realized that you could make money with a weekly syndicated program shot on the cheap in vancouver that they just all dove in, and the programming line-up of the Sci-Fi Channel was born. Shit was so bad I stayed away from checking out the updated Battlestar due to memories of all those crap shows that my roommate would watch at like 2 in the morning on a saturday night on some UHF station. Hell, even the Doctor Who tv movie was infected with this, and shot in vancouver!
*at some point, should the discussion ever drunkenly wander back into that area again, it would be worth considering Harlan Ellison's distinction between "science Fiction" and "S.F./Sci-fi"
― kingfish, Sunday, 8 June 2008 11:41 (sixteen years ago) link
And for what it's worth: the vast majority of 90's tv sci-fi* was shit
http://home.comcast.net/~pccranford/sliders.jpg
― latebloomer, Sunday, 8 June 2008 11:43 (sixteen years ago) link
hated that show so much
Neat idea, tho. First season or so was fun.
― kingfish, Sunday, 8 June 2008 11:51 (sixteen years ago) link
modern Western culture is so lacking in universally accepted rites of passage that large swaths of society don't really ever leave adolescence.
let's all gather to celebrate this fact with a conference on '"quantum leap" traversing the end of history'.
― banriquit, Sunday, 8 June 2008 11:57 (sixteen years ago) link
here is a blog post, by an academic, about the wire:
http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/you-know-i-blame-the-system-the-wire-barrack-obama-and-omar-for-president/
thats all folx
― thomp, Friday, 13 June 2008 12:37 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.unmotivating.com/gallery2/d/4549-1/nerd_chicks.jpg
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Saturday, 23 August 2008 20:10 (sixteen years ago) link
OTM
― Soukesian, Saturday, 23 August 2008 20:52 (sixteen years ago) link
would
― DG, Saturday, 23 August 2008 20:54 (sixteen years ago) link
underneath the clothing and glasses is a cripplingly insecure virgin with attachment problems and an inability to understand normal human interaction
― max, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:02 (sixteen years ago) link
give me a curvy colombian wife any day of the week
― max, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:03 (sixteen years ago) link
hips don't lie
― latebloomer, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:09 (sixteen years ago) link
-- max, Saturday, 23 August 2008 22:03 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
http://www.marca.com/primeras/06/12/g1204.jpg
(real talk)
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Those footie references baffle me every time.
― Soukesian, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:33 (sixteen years ago) link
But then, I'm a SF fan.
― Soukesian, Saturday, 23 August 2008 21:44 (sixteen years ago) link
pisode 1: The sliders travel to a world where Stephen Fry is a cockney. Mallory blows him up
Episode 2: The sliders discover an Earth where everyone is gay. Mallory blows it up
Episode 3: The sliders arrive on a world that has been inverted. Guest Starring Corey Haim
Episode 4: The sliders arrive on a world where a black man is president. The black man president is astonishingly heroic, like the one in 24
Episode 5: The sliders arrive on a world with a woman as president. She is awful. Just before they slide to safety, Mallory blows her up
Episode 6: The sliders land on a world where New York and Los Angeles have exchanged position. Mallory blows it up
Episode 7: The sliders land on a world where KROOOMAGS
Episode 8: The Kromaggs slide directly into the sun
Episode 9: The sliders land on a world where televisions are upside down
Episode 10: The sliders land on a world where David Bowie never existed. Mallory blows it up
Episode 11: The sliders land on a world where onions are the size of pumpkins
Episode 12: The sliders go down the toilet but then they can't get out again
Episode 13: The sliders land on a world where Mallory falls over
Episode 14: The sliders land on a world where stairs are replaced with slides
Episode 15: The sliders land on a world where houses are upside down. Mallory blows it up
Episode 16: The sliders land on a world. Before they can look around, Mallory blows it up
Episode 17: On a world where Sliders had been cancelled, the sliders begin to cry
Episode 18: The sliders land on a world where television controls people's miiiiiiiiiiiiinds
Episode 19: The sliders land on a world where grass is blue and the sky is green. Mallory begins to shriek
Episode 20: The sliders land on a world where emotion has been surpressed by a drug known as Prozium
Episode 21: The sliders land on a world where Will and Grace had gay kissing. Mallory runs down the street and shoots a policeman, before they slide to the next world.
Episode 22: The sliders land on a world where bees are replaced with wasps, and vice-versa
Episode 23: The sliders land on a world where they discover that George Lucas is a Kromagg
Episode 24: The sliders land on a world shaped like a giant ubb
Episode 25: The sliders land on a world where all the atoms are in a line
Episode 26: The sliders starve to death because they land on a planet where everyone eats aeroplanes
Episode 27: The sliders land on a world where black people are allowed to vote
Episode 28: The sliders land on a world where there are only five eggs
Episode 29: The sliders land on a world where eveyone is discussing tax
Episode 30: The sliders land on a world where there is no Christianity. Mallory blows it up
Episode 31: The sliders land on a world where Mallory is not allowed to blow anything up
Episode 32: The sliders land on a world where people don't speak English they speak Kromagg, which sounds exactly like English except for its name, which is Kromagg
Episode 33: The sliders land on a world where women can only live by constantly kissing
Episode 34: The sliders land on a world ruled by a giant fat Mallory
Episode 35: The sliders land on a world where fat bearded men are hunted as big game
Episode 36: The sliders land on a world which is Wales
Episode 37: The sliders land on a world where pornography consists of a rotating triangle, emitting a humming sound
Episode 38: The sliders land on a world where everyone is dead
Episode 39: The sliders land on a world where Naked Lunch is the only program ever shown on TV, and also where everyone is constantly terrified
Episode 40: The sliders land on a world where Julian Sands is the only actor
Episode 41: The Sliders land on a world made entirely from tears
Episode 42: The sliders land on a world. It blows up
― Carrie Bradshaw Layfield (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 27 October 2008 00:31 (fifteen years ago) link
+1, Insightful.
― ian, Monday, 27 October 2008 00:35 (fifteen years ago) link
space is boring
― MPx4A, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 13:20 (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 14:30 (fifteen years ago) link
lol this thread
ilx needs some sort of ferg repository
― REMOVE THEIR EARS (country matters), Monday, 5 January 2009 14:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Some thoughts:
1. Essentially I love science-fiction because it deals with and explores the need for humans to both come to terms with and improve the conditions of their existence at the highest level (obviously also how they fuck that up).
2. Am curious about those who do not take any interest in science-fiction at all. I can see trivial reasons for their dislike, but taking my brother as an example there was a point where he stopped being a kid and i think that was the point where he also stopped being remotely interested in sci-fi. i'm suggesting that, practically or typically, all boys like it (having been more encouraged than girls to do so, generally and traditionally) until a certain dividing incident (being mocked for it by an older boy? wanting to distance yourself from it due to some acquired insecurity e.g. becoming more disturbed by aspects of it, or because you start associating it too much with people you don't like (this could happen with many other things e.g. sports). could be bollocks but based on personal childhood experience it rings true. i guess there i'm saying 'why wouldn't you love it, at least as a child?' because the visual qualities of the concept are so rich and do touch on my first point
3. I do not like that many sci-fi TV shows or even films but I wouldn't blame "Americanisation" for this - at least that is a hugely problematic term and the wrong word. But most of our influences come, directly or not, from there and through that filter and this also feels problematic and limiting. I suspect when most people say they hate sci-fi they are really talking about the way it's presented as entertainment in the mainstream market and obv. it's the most difficult area to tell convincing or believable stories which many adults have issues with.
4. But I think the biggest problem with sci-fi is how often it jars with human interest on a wide scale, as if they are in unresolvable opposition. Often what you end up with is just stories that don't have any real connection to the technology, environs and conditions the characters are operating in and could be set on historical Earth, because of the idea that as many as possible must be able to relate. Perhaps the best sci-fi accommodates this but transcends it without compromising on challenging, exotic and interesting events and objects (the design of sci-fi things generally being a big factor in the love - visualising things which don't actually exist being empowering). People like Star Wars because of how relatively well it did this.
― Bondzilla vs Mechaholmes (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 17:16 (fifteen years ago) link
i think the main prob with a lot of scifi is that it requires such a feat of world-building and few people can do that well enough to compete with, you know, the real world.
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link
That's why most of best sci-fi tend to exagerrate the real world rather than recreate a new world.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 17:30 (fifteen years ago) link
that says more about the viewer perhaps. you are a certain age before you start going 'nyarrrgh looks so fake' plus you can get great entertainment out of people's attempts to realise the fantastic even whey fail (as they so often do). sci-fi can still be great even if it 'fails' to look as believable as real life. xp
― Bondzilla vs Mechaholmes (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 17:31 (fifteen years ago) link
do you mean when people try to come up with how aliens and other planets might look?
― Bondzilla vs Mechaholmes (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 17:33 (fifteen years ago) link