I wish more science fiction was science-y.

I’m not a hard SF snob, but so much of what passes for SF these days (come on, Stargate?) is really bad space gadget opera melodrama. Science fiction, in addition to having robots, rayguns and possibly attractive people in silver bathing suits,  contain at least one big idea. One fascinating, brain twisting quandary. One hint of the almost-possible, the soon-to-be-possible. Even if it’s a bad big idea.

Give me something to chew on here, people.

Perfect scene is perfect.

PS. I get teary-eyed when Hal says “my mind is going.” Precious killer AI.

(via ronchronchronch)

Source: caucasianmale

2001: An analysis of the last ten minutes.

ETA: Let me just add Woody Allen’s comments on viewing 2001, as they resonate for me. “This was one of those times where I realized that the artist was very much ahead of me.”

It took me a long time to actually sit down and watch the film, and it took me awhile to learn to appreciate it. It’s kind of like the process of learning to ‘read’ a new musical genre. When you’re first exposed to something genuinely new, your reaction is wonder, or maybe confusion. It takes a few go-rounds to really ‘get it’; to learn how to read the nuances and pick up on the devices in operation. Watching 2001 was like that—I had no idea, at first, how to react to it, although I was reacting. (Mostly with “WTF WTF”).