I've decided to become a sci-fi nerd.
Now, to just be a sci-fi nerd is one thing, but to consciously become one certainly attains an even higher level of nerdiness.
Why would I want to do such a thing? First of all, because sci-fi is freaking cool. What's not to love about Star Wars, Star Trek, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Jurassic Park, Transformers. Face it, you love sci-fi too.
Second of all, because there's more amazing sci-fi out there to be read and seen, and honestly, Star Wars and Star Trek are just the tip of a very extensive genre. Last week when Chris and Janelle were visiting for Spring Break, we all went to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. It was pretty awesome to see the original Death Star, the Rocketeer's jet pack, and loads of other stuff from Paul Allen's personal collection.
But I was actually embarrassed to be in the Science Fiction Museum having never seen Blade Runner or I, Robot or having never read Ender's Game or Slaughterhouse Five. I was like, "What in the world!? I'm missing out!"
In response, Chris, Janelle, Clay and I promptly returned to my house to watch Contact and I Am Legend, in order to make up for lost sci-fi time.
And now I have printed out the list of the top sci-fi books, where I have sadly discovered I've only read eleven of the top 100! So--slightly more interesting than my last top 100 goal (to watch the AFI Top 100 Films), I will now attempt to read the top 100 sci-fi books. This will at least be good, in that it will require me to read Ender's Game, which will allow me to be better friends with both fiance Clay and maid-of-honor Renee.
At this point, pre-top-100, my favorite sci-fi book is probably either The Time Machine or Brave New World...and my favorite sci-fi movie is probably Return of the Jedi (who doesn't love the Ewoks, eh?), although I still have a soft spot for Batteries Not Included (which may seem dumber now than it did 20 years ago...) And I loved Firefly...
How about you? How do you stack up against the top 100? And what's your favorite sci-fi book/movie?
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Sci-Fiiiiiiiiiii
Posted by hbu at 5:03 PM
Labels: life-changing events, recommended reads
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7 comments:
Love Enders Game and the sequels. And Ursula K. LeGuin is fantastic, too.
But you MUST watch Battlestar Galactica (the new ones). Best show ever. After Firefly maybe. Or a tie.
jen
Heather, I don't know what to say. Sci-fi? Really? Tell Clay I think he's a great influence on you.
And--just so you know, I've only encountered 16 of the top 100, and that's including movies. So. I don't think that list means much. There are a few others I'd have put on there, but maybe they tread into the fantasy zone too much. There's a thin, well-defined line between the two genres. If it plays with scientific rules: science. philosophical rules: fantasy. The thing is, though, that so often the scientific and philosophic overlap--especially regarding dragons.
It just really does all come back to dragons. You need to know that on your way into sci-fi land.
Also: did you read Pastwatch yet?
And: it doesn't help to start laughing in the middle of Bible study when you realize that you just heard "reavers" instead of "reapers" in Boaz's fields. Really--you'll get funny looks. It's kind of a weird cross-over.
Jen--even though I don't know you: thanks for the Battlestar Galactica promo. I needed a new show to get hooked on. Honest. I'm all caught up with The Office now and am getting bored.
As your father I'm feeling good about reading Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat's Cradle and many other Vonnegut novels when I was in college and it was cool.
PS I also think listening to early 70's progressive rock should count too! Yes, Genesis, Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, ELP, King Crimson and many other European bands got sci-fi crazy in the 70's. Check out the artwork of roger Dean sometime!!!Rod Serling would be proud!
DAD
I too, have recently become a Sci Fi nerd.
I started reading books like Blade Runner, Jurassic Park, Matrix, and everything by Michael Crichton and fell in love with this book called Unholy Domain.
His work is similar to Michael Crichton (Hope I'm spelling his name right)(Better Google it to see if it works)
17/100
not too bad. :)
Kurt Vonnegut is my hero.Hocus Pocus is my favorite of his novels. But Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are really good too. And God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Haha, he is just good. :)
I have read 19 of the 100, not including movies I have watched. Definitely read Dune, and all of the Ender's game novels (my favorites are the first one and the last three, but they are all good). I am proud of you for opening up to the Sci-Fi genre, for a while I pretty much stuck to that.
Now I am focusing on a different genre of books: legal scholarship and casebooks. Pageturners, all of them.
I've read 4 and 3 of them are Crichton books...Yikes. Movies-17, but that is still poor for the amount of movies I have seen.
I never read Slaughterhouse Five, but a friend and I named our on-campus club "Laughterhouse Five" when I saw her reading SH5 with her thumb over the "S" on the cover and we then knew we had our new name for the sketch comedy troupe of 5
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