Hmm. Today's a bad day.
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I recently found out that Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series) was dead. And Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers. :sigh:
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Yeah, I found out about Terry a while back. I wish the man the best, he's seriously good. His old stuff is hilarious and his new stuff is extremely well written. He always has a profound message buried under the mountain of comedy and humor. One of the best writers out there.
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Arthur C Clarke worked out the orbit required for geosynchronous orbit for a novel - he did a lot more than write SF. Anthony Minghella showed you could break the mould and succeed. RIP guys :love: Elaine :rose:
Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.
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Yeah, I found out about Terry a while back. I wish the man the best, he's seriously good. His old stuff is hilarious and his new stuff is extremely well written. He always has a profound message buried under the mountain of comedy and humor. One of the best writers out there.
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
His old stuff is hilarious and his new stuff is extremely well written
Too true. They're running a televised version of The Colour Of Magic over here on Sky One this weekend. It looks like being very good.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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I recently found out that Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series) was dead. And Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers. :sigh:
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon, who strangely enough cannot be quoted directly due to an "Error on page expected ')'", which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you? - wrote:
Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series) [is] dead
Good. Now all we need is for Terry Brooks and David Eddings to shuffle off this mortal coil and the world will be free of the three worst fantasy writers in the entirety of history.
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Pete O'Hanlon, who strangely enough cannot be quoted directly due to an "Error on page expected ')'", which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you? - wrote:
Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series) [is] dead
Good. Now all we need is for Terry Brooks and David Eddings to shuffle off this mortal coil and the world will be free of the three worst fantasy writers in the entirety of history.
martin_hughes wrote:
which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you?
Paranoia - the feeling that a website has it in for you. OK - I would guess that the apostrophe in my name is fracking the "quote engine". Having read the entire Wheel Of Time series so far, I'm extremely p*ssed with him for shuffling off the mortal coil. I'm sorry, but having dragged out a series of books way past their natural die-by date, the least he could have done was beat the grim reaper off with a sh!tty stick with one hand while hammering away at the keyboard with the other.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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martin_hughes wrote:
which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you?
Paranoia - the feeling that a website has it in for you. OK - I would guess that the apostrophe in my name is fracking the "quote engine". Having read the entire Wheel Of Time series so far, I'm extremely p*ssed with him for shuffling off the mortal coil. I'm sorry, but having dragged out a series of books way past their natural die-by date, the least he could have done was beat the grim reaper off with a sh!tty stick with one hand while hammering away at the keyboard with the other.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
I'll tell you how the final book would have gone: Rand and crew travel the entire world, yet again, using Jordan's latest narrative invention to avoid describing any travel, staying at various inns, hostels and hotels - which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate - in search of yet another magical object, device, scroll, spell, all the while been hen-pecked by some perversely two-dimensional female characters who sniff a lot. Meanwhile, in some randomly generated sub-plot, a few new characters are introduced. These characters do very little except fill some empty pages and after two-hundred of which eventually die or fade into obscurity. Rand and crew, having made good use of the intermission, are now very close to the objective but - gasp! - suddenly find themselves in a real scrape. Despite the fact that they all have supremely cool magical powers, they find themselves unable to exercise such power due to conscience/intervention/not having had a cup of tea, and things are looking grim. The female characters start sniffing. Just when it seems the end for our protagonists, the Fremen hard as nails desert folk, who absolutely were not stolen wholesale from Frank Herbert, turn up and start handing out the good news left, right and centre. Rand and crew suddenly find their cool magical powers returned, complete the quest, defeat the bad guys, save the world (for the umpteenth time), go on yet another world tour (staying at various inns, hostels and hotels which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate), find that the bad guys were not in fact defeated, tour the world, find some other magical objects, sniff a bit, tool up, find that the bad guy was really just misunderstood, relent, sniff a bit more and then retire for some well deserved sniffing-accompanied self congratulation.
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martin_hughes wrote:
which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you?
Paranoia - the feeling that a website has it in for you. OK - I would guess that the apostrophe in my name is fracking the "quote engine". Having read the entire Wheel Of Time series so far, I'm extremely p*ssed with him for shuffling off the mortal coil. I'm sorry, but having dragged out a series of books way past their natural die-by date, the least he could have done was beat the grim reaper off with a sh!tty stick with one hand while hammering away at the keyboard with the other.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Jordan he knew he was dieing and prepared extensive notes for a designates successor to write the final book if he didn't live long enough to do so.
Otherwise [Microsoft is] toast in the long term no matter how much money they've got. They would be already if the Linux community didn't have it's head so firmly up it's own command line buffer that it looks like taking 15 years to find the desktop. -- Matthew Faithfull
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
When I discovered SF as a kid, I was lucky. My local library carried books by all of "the Big Three:" Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke. As I grew up there were more books by each othem to read. Clarke was the last to go. Hail and Farewell. :rose:
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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Pete O'Hanlon, who strangely enough cannot be quoted directly due to an "Error on page expected ')'", which is seemingly localized to him - perhaps CP has it in for you? - wrote:
Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series) [is] dead
Good. Now all we need is for Terry Brooks and David Eddings to shuffle off this mortal coil and the world will be free of the three worst fantasy writers in the entirety of history.
A five for your brutal honesty. I agree 100%.
-Sean ---- It's not that I like expensive things, it's just that the things I like are expensive. - My Wife
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I'll tell you how the final book would have gone: Rand and crew travel the entire world, yet again, using Jordan's latest narrative invention to avoid describing any travel, staying at various inns, hostels and hotels - which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate - in search of yet another magical object, device, scroll, spell, all the while been hen-pecked by some perversely two-dimensional female characters who sniff a lot. Meanwhile, in some randomly generated sub-plot, a few new characters are introduced. These characters do very little except fill some empty pages and after two-hundred of which eventually die or fade into obscurity. Rand and crew, having made good use of the intermission, are now very close to the objective but - gasp! - suddenly find themselves in a real scrape. Despite the fact that they all have supremely cool magical powers, they find themselves unable to exercise such power due to conscience/intervention/not having had a cup of tea, and things are looking grim. The female characters start sniffing. Just when it seems the end for our protagonists, the Fremen hard as nails desert folk, who absolutely were not stolen wholesale from Frank Herbert, turn up and start handing out the good news left, right and centre. Rand and crew suddenly find their cool magical powers returned, complete the quest, defeat the bad guys, save the world (for the umpteenth time), go on yet another world tour (staying at various inns, hostels and hotels which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate), find that the bad guys were not in fact defeated, tour the world, find some other magical objects, sniff a bit, tool up, find that the bad guy was really just misunderstood, relent, sniff a bit more and then retire for some well deserved sniffing-accompanied self congratulation.
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Sad indeed but far sadder was the demise of Captain Birdseye... apparently the second most recognised sailor after Captain Cook.
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Rama, one of the best games i played, after Arthur C. Clarke`s books :(
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
A thousand years from now someone on a long voyage to somewhere will be reading Clark while listening to the Beatles Stones, or perhaps the Kinks.(or maybe not).
When prediction serves as polemic, it nearly always fails. Our prefrontal lobes can probe the future only when they aren’t leashed by dogma. The worst enemy of agile anticipation is our human propensity for comfy self-delusion. David Brin Buddha Dave
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Sad indeed but far sadder was the demise of Captain Birdseye... apparently the second most recognised sailor after Captain Cook.
digital man wrote:
Captain Birdseye... apparently the second most recognised sailor after Captain Cook.
Make that thrird most recognized sailor - for although not a Captain, Popeye is THE Sailor-Man.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"How do you find out if you're unwanted if everyone you try to ask tells you to go away?" - Balboos HaGadol -
Bummer - Arthur C Clarke and Anthony Minghella both died today. Damn.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
:(( No one has mentioned Minghella...(English Patient, Cold Mountain, Talented Mr. Ripley, etc) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/movies/19minghella.html?ref=Eurpoe
What does an atheistic, dyslexic, insomniac do? He lies awake at night wondering if there's a dog.
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I'll tell you how the final book would have gone: Rand and crew travel the entire world, yet again, using Jordan's latest narrative invention to avoid describing any travel, staying at various inns, hostels and hotels - which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate - in search of yet another magical object, device, scroll, spell, all the while been hen-pecked by some perversely two-dimensional female characters who sniff a lot. Meanwhile, in some randomly generated sub-plot, a few new characters are introduced. These characters do very little except fill some empty pages and after two-hundred of which eventually die or fade into obscurity. Rand and crew, having made good use of the intermission, are now very close to the objective but - gasp! - suddenly find themselves in a real scrape. Despite the fact that they all have supremely cool magical powers, they find themselves unable to exercise such power due to conscience/intervention/not having had a cup of tea, and things are looking grim. The female characters start sniffing. Just when it seems the end for our protagonists, the Fremen hard as nails desert folk, who absolutely were not stolen wholesale from Frank Herbert, turn up and start handing out the good news left, right and centre. Rand and crew suddenly find their cool magical powers returned, complete the quest, defeat the bad guys, save the world (for the umpteenth time), go on yet another world tour (staying at various inns, hostels and hotels which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate), find that the bad guys were not in fact defeated, tour the world, find some other magical objects, sniff a bit, tool up, find that the bad guy was really just misunderstood, relent, sniff a bit more and then retire for some well deserved sniffing-accompanied self congratulation.
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Add Robert Jordan to that list.
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "The secret to a long and healthy life is simple. Don't get ill and don't die." Pete O'Hanlon, courtesy of Rama "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon
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I'll tell you how the final book would have gone: Rand and crew travel the entire world, yet again, using Jordan's latest narrative invention to avoid describing any travel, staying at various inns, hostels and hotels - which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate - in search of yet another magical object, device, scroll, spell, all the while been hen-pecked by some perversely two-dimensional female characters who sniff a lot. Meanwhile, in some randomly generated sub-plot, a few new characters are introduced. These characters do very little except fill some empty pages and after two-hundred of which eventually die or fade into obscurity. Rand and crew, having made good use of the intermission, are now very close to the objective but - gasp! - suddenly find themselves in a real scrape. Despite the fact that they all have supremely cool magical powers, they find themselves unable to exercise such power due to conscience/intervention/not having had a cup of tea, and things are looking grim. The female characters start sniffing. Just when it seems the end for our protagonists, the Fremen hard as nails desert folk, who absolutely were not stolen wholesale from Frank Herbert, turn up and start handing out the good news left, right and centre. Rand and crew suddenly find their cool magical powers returned, complete the quest, defeat the bad guys, save the world (for the umpteenth time), go on yet another world tour (staying at various inns, hostels and hotels which seem remarkably well stocked with food and drink given the economic and political climate), find that the bad guys were not in fact defeated, tour the world, find some other magical objects, sniff a bit, tool up, find that the bad guy was really just misunderstood, relent, sniff a bit more and then retire for some well deserved sniffing-accompanied self congratulation.
martin_hughes wrote:
the world will be free of the three worst fantasy writers in the entirety of history.
Couldn't agree more with your opinion of Terry Brooks Ambivalent (rather than anti) toward David Eddings Robert Jordan: Totally disagree! You obviously think his writing is formulaic but show me a writer who doesn't exhibit some trends after 12 books!
martin_hughes wrote:
absolutely were not stolen wholesale from Frank Herbert
Who of course didn't steal the idea from Lawrence of Arabia! :-D You don't like his work, OK, chalk one up to different tastes but the quality of his writing is actually quite good. Put Stephen Donaldson at the top of that list (the man starts paragraphs with "But" - and not "But for ...")! :mad: There are plenty of other writers in the same class as Terry Brooks, using what I am going to start calling the "see spot run" style of writing: David Gemmel and Janny Wurts (who I suspect of ghost writing Raymond Feist's more recent works) immediately spring to mind and load of others that I will never bother with 'coz I pick up one of their books, open at random and see page after page of dialogue and "xyz did this, then did that", with nothing to set the scene.
T-Mac-Oz
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Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
Add Robert Jordan to that list.
Not the "died today list"! James Oliver Rigney (aka Robert Jordan) died on September 16th, 2007. :((
T-Mac-Oz
I know :( I actually meant "the great writer that passed away recently" list He will be missed.
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "The secret to a long and healthy life is simple. Don't get ill and don't die." Pete O'Hanlon, courtesy of Rama "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon