That's amazing, although I wonder if the chickens are actually happy in their suits.
We had pet chickens when I was a kid. If you desire a pet chicken, get a hen - for the eggs. I don't know how well they'd domesticate, though, for patita - we had outdoor chickens.
In Esperanto you could use productive affixes to make a plethora of words that don't exist in any natural languages. But a good example would be "homaraneco," which was the name of creator L.L. Zamenhof's personal philosophy. The root words mean: hom - human, ar - group of, an - member of, ec - indicates that the word being formed has the aforementioned quality, as in amikeco "friendship." So homaraneco means, roughly, humanity-membership; that is, the quality of being a member of the group of humans. It's basically a very idealistic philosophy emphasizing equality and harmony.
Frankly, I'd love to see a writer's colony produce fantasy using rules comparable to these mundanes (ie: no Tolkien middle-earth elves/dwarves/humans tales).
I've been pondering for a while a rather long low fantasy; the main problem is hashing out what is and isn't a writable story at this point. That, and the question of whether fantasy really conveys any of the ideas I'd like to convey at this point.
Does George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire go into any wackiness about races and what not? I haven't read much of it, but I don't recall any big presences in the high fantasy camp. But, for the most part, fantasy is a toxic waste dump these days.
mygothlaundry: However, I like stories set on other planets
I think the point of the Mundanes is that science fiction can be more than the frivolities of what has gone before if and only if authors are willing to abandon the stereotypical tropes they label "stupidities"; they're calling for insight, the legitimacy that SF has long wanted and been loath to earn.
It's valid to try it. Science fiction that's not published under a franchise logo or Baen or some such needs something to distinguish itself and make itself a presence again; it's a worthwhile field, and could make some very good comments about society and science from extrapolation. We need some genre of art today that looks critically at society and where it can go; I think this is quite possible within the realm of SF. Should be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Dune is wonderful, probably my favorite standard SF fare, but if they're saying 1984 is "mundane SF," then it's my favorite SF book. (Not that I can possibly wrap my mind around the notion of Other Memories in Dune as a vaguely scientific thing unless we're counting Jung as science today.)
The notion of "mundane SF" is interesting to me, partly because of the works listed as good examples of "better science fiction." Orwell's 1984 was an anti-totalitarian political work. Neuromancer was part of the cyberpunk revolution in science fiction, which was a rejection of the libertarian hard sci-fi of the late '70s and its themes and tropes, and the purposeful use of science fiction to comment on the technological and political situations of the world around the authors. Philip K. Dick was the most bizarre author I've read, and his work is hard to even define as science fiction. It is absolutely a prelude to cyberpunk, in that it comments on the world using exaggerated science fictional means, though it also had a spiritual layer that cyberpunk would lack.
I think the "mundane" movement has possibility, but needs something more than just rejection of fantastic elements to drive it.
Anyone wanting a serious discussion of these issues should check out Robert McKee's "Story," an amazing book for writers or anyone (as seen in the movie "Adaptation")
I wouldn't place much stock in Story or any of its ilk; Adaptation was an ineffective parody of formulaic scriptwriting books. Having read a half-dozen or so of the things, I can honestly say: don't waste your time.
The problem with formula books is not that they're formula - that's fine. You can do decent writing while sticking within a pre-established plot; look at some of the better hourlong TV dramas, which are much more formulaic than films, but are clearly well written. And there are plenty of good, watchable formulaic movies - a very good recent example was Pirates of the Carribbean.
The reason I say don't waste your time, is that there are too many such scripts out there. Tons. More than a sane person could ever read. Some of them are probably brilliant; some are probably awful. The bulk of them are, well, most likely average. There are fantastic scripts that will never get filmed because they're lost somewhere in a sea of submissions and get passed over. You could write the best Hollywood screenplay anyone's cranked out in a decade, and still not get it produced because there's just too much competition. Unless you have a really good "in," such as knowing someone who could get your script on a producer's desk, find an outlet that isn't Hollywood screenwriting. It's not worth the time, effort, and dedication to write a Hollywood movie only to see it languish unmade forever.
That's amazing, although I wonder if the chickens are actually happy in their suits. We had pet chickens when I was a kid. If you desire a pet chicken, get a hen - for the eggs. I don't know how well they'd domesticate, though, for patita - we had outdoor chickens.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
In "Curious words:"
In Esperanto you could use productive affixes to make a plethora of words that don't exist in any natural languages. But a good example would be "homaraneco," which was the name of creator L.L. Zamenhof's personal philosophy. The root words mean: hom - human, ar - group of, an - member of, ec - indicates that the word being formed has the aforementioned quality, as in amikeco "friendship." So homaraneco means, roughly, humanity-membership; that is, the quality of being a member of the group of humans. It's basically a very idealistic philosophy emphasizing equality and harmony.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
In "Mundane SF"
Frankly, I'd love to see a writer's colony produce fantasy using rules comparable to these mundanes (ie: no Tolkien middle-earth elves/dwarves/humans tales). I've been pondering for a while a rather long low fantasy; the main problem is hashing out what is and isn't a writable story at this point. That, and the question of whether fantasy really conveys any of the ideas I'd like to convey at this point. Does George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire go into any wackiness about races and what not? I haven't read much of it, but I don't recall any big presences in the high fantasy camp. But, for the most part, fantasy is a toxic waste dump these days.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
mygothlaundry: However, I like stories set on other planets I think the point of the Mundanes is that science fiction can be more than the frivolities of what has gone before if and only if authors are willing to abandon the stereotypical tropes they label "stupidities"; they're calling for insight, the legitimacy that SF has long wanted and been loath to earn. It's valid to try it. Science fiction that's not published under a franchise logo or Baen or some such needs something to distinguish itself and make itself a presence again; it's a worthwhile field, and could make some very good comments about society and science from extrapolation. We need some genre of art today that looks critically at society and where it can go; I think this is quite possible within the realm of SF. Should be interesting to see where it goes from here.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
Dune is wonderful, probably my favorite standard SF fare, but if they're saying 1984 is "mundane SF," then it's my favorite SF book. (Not that I can possibly wrap my mind around the notion of Other Memories in Dune as a vaguely scientific thing unless we're counting Jung as science today.) The notion of "mundane SF" is interesting to me, partly because of the works listed as good examples of "better science fiction." Orwell's 1984 was an anti-totalitarian political work. Neuromancer was part of the cyberpunk revolution in science fiction, which was a rejection of the libertarian hard sci-fi of the late '70s and its themes and tropes, and the purposeful use of science fiction to comment on the technological and political situations of the world around the authors. Philip K. Dick was the most bizarre author I've read, and his work is hard to even define as science fiction. It is absolutely a prelude to cyberpunk, in that it comments on the world using exaggerated science fictional means, though it also had a spiritual layer that cyberpunk would lack. I think the "mundane" movement has possibility, but needs something more than just rejection of fantastic elements to drive it.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
In "The Seven Basic Plots"
Anyone wanting a serious discussion of these issues should check out Robert McKee's "Story," an amazing book for writers or anyone (as seen in the movie "Adaptation") I wouldn't place much stock in Story or any of its ilk; Adaptation was an ineffective parody of formulaic scriptwriting books. Having read a half-dozen or so of the things, I can honestly say: don't waste your time. The problem with formula books is not that they're formula - that's fine. You can do decent writing while sticking within a pre-established plot; look at some of the better hourlong TV dramas, which are much more formulaic than films, but are clearly well written. And there are plenty of good, watchable formulaic movies - a very good recent example was Pirates of the Carribbean. The reason I say don't waste your time, is that there are too many such scripts out there. Tons. More than a sane person could ever read. Some of them are probably brilliant; some are probably awful. The bulk of them are, well, most likely average. There are fantastic scripts that will never get filmed because they're lost somewhere in a sea of submissions and get passed over. You could write the best Hollywood screenplay anyone's cranked out in a decade, and still not get it produced because there's just too much competition. Unless you have a really good "in," such as knowing someone who could get your script on a producer's desk, find an outlet that isn't Hollywood screenwriting. It's not worth the time, effort, and dedication to write a Hollywood movie only to see it languish unmade forever.
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
In "Schwarzenegger wants to ban junk foods in schools."
Will you be able to get ketchup packets out of these vending machines?
posted by graymouser 19 years ago
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