[Cialug] SciFi Movie Night!

Wed Aug 5 14:00:25 CDT 2015

I'm more interested in books than movies, personally, so I'll try to
participate. Sadly, I'm traveling the 12th. I don't know what my schedule
is like that night yet, but if I'm free I'll drop an email to see if anyone
can invite me via hangout.

I will agree that RPO may not have the literary chops some would hope for
but it was a lot of fun and the plot had some great twists. I'd put it in
the category of a "very fun read" even if it's not going to get the
critical acclaim. I stand by my earlier statement, the central theme lends
itself well to a movie, which I think is as damning as it is a
recommendation. ;-)

One funny result is that I've very suddenly grown a serious disdain for
social media. Part of the setting of that book is a world that revolves
around an online social experience. The author subtly considers the natural
outcome in the world when our lives and even economy are all centered in a
virtual world. (yeah, try to resolve that with my statement above about
joining via hangout)

Some of you know that I am striving to be a writer and because of that I'm
doing a lot of research, especially in the speculative fiction area. If you
can stand something in the YA realm, "Nerve" by Jeanne Ryan is another
thriller that covers some very interesting ideas related to what happens
when our lives shift more towards the virtual world.

Another YA, this one with legs to stand with the best, is "Beautiful
Creatures" by Kami Garcia. The world and character building is phenomenal.
I came across this one simply because I was desperate for something with a
male protagonist.

And just to prove that I'm not all YA these days, I lost about 6 weeks of
my life devouring the Dresden Files and now I'm eagerly waiting the next
book. Jim Butcher is a master at sucking you into a story and then holding
your attention with an iron grip.

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 10:05 AM, jim kraai <jimgkraai at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, there's really only one proper thing to be done with this kind of
> talk:  Foster it
>
> I would like a scifi night--focus leaning towards the written and less of
> the film'd--with beer & edibles available
>
> Any objections?  ...  good, no objections.
>
> I propose such a meeting, location TBD, to be held one week prior to the
> next regularly scheduled LUG meeting
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 9:11 AM, Aaron Staker <Aaron.Staker at meredith.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Ready Player One is "ok", his new work Armada is pretty terrible an
> homage
> > to the Last Star Fighter and I'd avoid it like the plague (as much as I
> > love the 80's). Maybe I just couldn't accept it was supposed to be
> clichéd
> > for a reason...
> >
> > If you really want to get into something this year a couple
> > recommendations:
> >
> > Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson, Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and of
> course
> > The Martian by Andy Weir, if you haven't touched any of these I'd
> recommend
> > all of them without a second thought.  The Martian being the easiest to
> > tackle and perhaps the best love letter to Mars I've ever read.  Aurora
> and
> > Seveneves are much deeper and worth the effort.  The reviews on all of
> > these out there should be more than motivating...
> >
> > Cheers...
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On
> > Behalf Of Todd Walton
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 10:01 PM
> > To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group <cialug at cialug.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Cialug] SciFi Movie Night!
> >
> > Wow. I am totally now interested in this book, based on what you guys
> have
> > said.
> >
> > --
> > Todd
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 1:08 PM, Nicolai <nicolai-cialug at chocolatine.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Tue, Aug 04, 2015 at 10:59:56AM -0500, Matthew Nuzum wrote:
> > >
> > > > By the way, on the topic of SciFi: If you remember the 80's you
> > > > should check out the book or audio book "Ready Player One" by Ernest
> > > > Cline. I picked up the audio book which is read by Wil Wheaton who
> > > > really does a fabulous job (and who also has a cameo in the book,
> > > > along with Cory Doctorow).
> > >
> > > Ready Player One is a GREAT book.  Love the characters, love the
> > > story, love the sci-fi.  It's a fast read that's hard to put down.
> > > Cline has another book out now too.
> > >
> > > > I just Googled it and it appears Steven Spielburg will be making the
> > > movie
> > > > version of it soon. While the main storyline of this book I think
> > > > lends well to a movie, it will be impossible to capture it all, if
> > > > for no other reason than too many licensing hurdles. So read it
> > > > before the movie comes out. It is packed full of retro geek humor and
> > nostalgia.
> > >
> > > Yeah, I think Ready Player One (the movie) needs a bit more than
> > > Steven Speilberg.  Terry Gilliam would be up to it, or Zack Snyder.
> > > Or even Richard Linklater, who has proven himself with "double life"
> > > stories like A Scanner Darkly.  It's a bit like Snow Crash -- hard to
> > > make into a movie that faithfully tells the story while being
> > > understandable to people who haven't read the book.  (I wonder if the
> > > film will reference Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
> > > Skull).
> > >
> > > Nicolai
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
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-- 
Matthew Nuzum
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