From: Michael Marc Levy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Miscellanea
> Nicola asked about early female sf writers other than
> Brackett, Moore, and Norton. The obvious person to mention
> is Judith Merril. Better remembered today as a great
> anthologist, she also produced some classic short stories
> and several fine novels. She's still alive, by the way--gave
> an amazing talk on, among other things, her many lovers in
> the sf community of the 40s and 50s at WisCon last year.
Never read anything by Judith Merril, but now that the you've
mentioned her I remember she's been alive and in the comunity for quite a
long time. I think that in one of his autoboigraphies, Asimov, with his
usual humour, described her as a woman that if patted in the behind by a
man was able to pat him back in the same place. (Hmm, looks like there is
still hope for the US! <G>)
> Most of the best female fantasy and science fiction writers
> who came up in the late 40s or early 50s ended up being
> associated with Anthony Boucher's Magazine of Fantasy and
> Science Fiction. These include Zenna Henderson (who wrote
> the People stories), Margaret St. Claire (aka Idris
> Seabright), Katherine MacLean, and Mildred Clingerman.
And I have even begun to read the People stories! I wasn't
impressed, so this may be why I have forgotten about her. As for Margaret
St. Claire I just barely remember the name - I may have begun a book by
her, when I was younger - and K. MacLean and M. Clingerman don't ring any
bell...
========================
From: Joe Debeauchamp <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Book reviews .... where to locate.
> I wonder if anyone knows of a place for SF book
> reviews? I face the dilemma of choosing between Twelve
> Quarters by le Guin or Scanner Darkly by Dick. I thought,
> that if I read a few reviews, I might make up my mind. A
> source for book reviews helps in the greater understanding
> of the novel. This enrichment might occur on the net
> somewhere? Any ideas?
So *that*'s your method, Joe? Mine is to enter a bookstore and
browse around. In any case, I'd suggest you to check both books.
========================
From: Mike Resnick <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Miscellanea
> Northwest Smith didn't grow up with Mercurians; he grew up
> with cowboys. Really. He was the hero of an epic Western
> poem that Catherine Moore wrote as a teenager, before she
> decided to put him in a spaceman's uniform instead. The
> opening lines, as I recall, were:
> Northwest Smith was a hard-bitten guy,
> With nerves of steel and a roving eye.
> Probably just as well she put him on Mars. <g>
(snip)
Mr. Resnick, I was referring about Eric John Stark. :::very
straight face:::
========================
From: Teramis <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: TSR (Re: Nicola's Miscellanea)
>Nicola asked:
>> What's TSR, please?
> TSR originally stood for Tactical Studies Research. These
> days it is only an acronym, and the name of the publishing
> company that introduced Dungeons & Dragons (TM) and role-
>playing games (RPGs) to the world in 1974. (I used to write
> for them, as well as other RPG publishers.) For a time in
> the '80s they published a series of adventure books wherein
> the reader comes to a plot juncture and gets to choose what
> action the hero takes next, thus following the story down
> different branching paths of plot development, to its
> ultimate conclusion.
I didn't know that, Deborah, thank you. :) But I've heard of
these curious kind of interactive books.
========================
From: Edward James <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Mars Attacks!
>> Went to see Mars Attacks, yesterday evening...
>I went to see it three days ago...
(snip)
> Now _that's_ where I disagree with you. I think it's main
> probvlem was that it was simply not very funny: or, rather,
> the jokes were far too thin on the ground. It could have
> been a MUCH better parody if there had been MUCH less time
> devoted to explosions and assorted mayhem. I really don't
> think Tim Burton knew what he was rtrying to do.
> And, if you think about it, INDEPENDENCE DAY was a much more
> effective parody of most of those things you mention...
Me, I want my money back for ID4! In my opinion it failed not
only as a skiffy movie, but also as a parody. :::bleak expression on my
face...:::
Not that MARS ATTACKS! is much better than ID4, but at least it
seems to me that it works as such. Within ample limits, I admit.
========================
From: Umberto Rossi <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Twins, Re: Miscellanea
>> 2. nicola - did the romans think twins were cool because
>> twins founded the city, or did the legend arise from the
>> fact that romans thought twins were cool?
> We have at least two cases of brothers founding a city, and
> usually one of them is killed. They are Cain and Abel, the
> Romolus and Remus (I wonder if these are their names in
> English, I am only sure of their Italian names).
Remus is OK as it is, but Romolus is Romulus, or so it is
reported by my dictionary. :)
But as for Cain and Abel, I knew that Cain killed Abele while
still in Terrestrial Paradise, and that he founded Kabul only *after* he
got chased out.
========================
From: Kathleen Miller <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Mars Attacks!
> Thanks everyone, for the renewed interest in this horrible
> movie. I've seen many spoofs, but this one fell far from the
> mark. The only scene that was anywhere near funny was the
> grandmother. The rest of it was so predictable! I have never
> seen a worse spoof in my life. (Although Airplane! 2 comes
> close.)
> Kath
As a matter of fact, I've never really seen an american spoof
that worked, with the only exception of "Big Trouble In Chinatown" with
Kurt Russell. It looks as if they're all recycling the same pitifully
small repertoire of jokes, with no hope to escape. (With the risk to be
called a campanilist, I frankly prefer italian spoofs. At least it's *my*
kind of spoofs.)
========================
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 14:46:20 -0700
From: Richard Collier <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Mars Attacks!
(snip)
> And a parody? Give me o' break. I've been immersed in
> things science fictional for nearly thrity years, and most
> of what supposedly was being mocked in M.A. about the
> film/pulp cliches of the early history of our genre escaped
> me. There probably aren't more than a handful of SF
> scholars in the world who bellylaughed their way through
> such an historically rarefied lampoon. In effect, then, one
> layer of the film was inaccessible, while the other was just
> plain dumb.
I might not have said clearly enough what I think MARS ATTACKS!
is a parody of, but I still think that this movie is a parody. It
attacked, in my opinion, the following sacred cows of the american
culture: the President of the US, the military, the TV talk shows, the
comics, and the scientific establishment. How successfully is open to
debate, obviously. But with the Pope next door, it grated my nerves to
see the President of the US displayed as the best of bests, the champion
of the goods and unable to make mistakes, and I enjoyed to see a movie
that unpitifully mocked him in all ways it was able.
--
Nicola Gebendinger
Address: Via San Quirichino 12/b, I-50124, Firenze, Italia
Phone: +39-55-2336289, Fax: +39-55-2309030
email: [log in to unmask]
The scorpion is sister to the snake.
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