As a kid reading the books I didn't pick up on The Message. I was living in Spain at the time (99.9999% catholic, religious lessons in class every week, etc) so I was either (a) dense or (b) immune.
Nowadays you'd just give kids the boxed set of Narnia and Golden Compass and let them read both sides.
I didn't try reading Lewis until I was in my 20s and my entrenched atheistic sensibilities were shocked. Probably unreasonably, but shocked nonetheless. (I much prefer his writing when his religiosity is up-front: The Screw-Tape Letters, for instance.) While the movies seem much tamer than the books, I still can't get excited about them. If I do go, it'll be because the kids dragged me.
I'm also getting a little tired of fantasy about and for kids. What about something featuring adults for a change?
(I figure it's only a matter of time before urban fantasy and paranormal romance will get their day in the sun...)
Pan's Labyrinth? Please forgive dodgy spelling. It's early in the morning and I have a cold.
I love PL. Personally, I too, am hankering for more adult orientated fantasy. But most filmmakers think fantasy is kid-stuff. Which is what a lot of the general population thiknk too, which goes to show how dumb they are.
I shouldn't get started on this subject. It's a pet peeve, and I can go on for hours, with illustrative quotes.
On another note: I'm buuying The Changeling this weekend.
Yes, PL is a definite improvement. I thought the fairytale aspect sat rather poorly against the grim realism of the rest of the tale, but it was a bold experiment and very powerful despite its flaws. I took Seb, 15, and he declared it to be the best film he'd ever seen. That's high praise from someone like him. :-)
I hope you enjoy The Changeling. Imagine it on the small screen as you go. I want to see the crabblers in three-d!
I'm hanging out for the special edition of The Changeling with David Cornish's illustrations. Until I'm rich enough to commission it, I'll just have to go for the mass paperback.
I'm probably more agnostic than atheist. It's not so much the idea of some invisible deity I have a problem with, as it is the truly sickening things humans have done to each other down the centuries on behalf of [random_deity].
Agnosticism makes so much more sense. After all, it's impossible to prove a negative, so atheists are always going to be working from an untenable position. Alas, my early reading of Robert Anton Wilson convinced me that I had to believe *something*, and this was all I could stomach. Well, this and the Church of the Subgenius. Jesus Cthulhu (http://ru.aoizora.org/jesus-cthulhu.html) wasn't around back then, alas. :-)
I would love to see the Stone Mage and the Sea as a mini series. I'd alos love to see The Nargun and the Stars re-done as a series, now we have the technology to make the spirits more "realistic" instead of puppets and coloured lights.
I'll write the theme for the inexplicable antagonists in the Orphans series. It'll just be a mash-up of an Otto von Schirach song and the "Imperial March" from Star Wars...all played backwards.
I just picked up Earth Ascendant the other day, and have been rereading Saturn Returns because, well, I barely remember what any of it's about. I have noticed one thing, though:
The storyline reads like a more high-tech version of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Jinc easily fall into the same memetic niche as the Adeptus Mechanicus (a.k.a. the machine-priests), Imre Bergamasc and his gang remind me a great deal of Inquisitors, and the Mandala Supersystem is quite similar to the Eye of Terror.
I have no idea whether you're a Warhammer 40K sport (or even if you know anything about it), but I recently discovered the wonderfully weird world of WH40K and can draw pretty close parallels. Nonetheless, I'm still down with the waist-deep Numan references. :)
I was actually rather inspired by the character of the Jinc to start writing a short musical piece as their "anthem"--or, rather, the cinematic music that would be playing during scenes involving them were Saturn Returns to be filmed...but then I realized that the Jinc themesong could only be "My Dying Machine." So I've been working on a more mangled, 8-bit, IDM version of that song with most sounds filtered through no less than 19 audio-degradation VSTs. I'll post it somewhere once I finish it!
I love Ian Watson's Warhammer books; read them when I was researching my first novel with Shane Dix and thought them deliciously dark. I wasn't consciously harking back to them in Astropolis, but the memory was probably rattling around somewhere in the back of my mind. Good stories never die. :-)
Can't wait to hear the Jinc's anthem. What a brilliant idea! Berserker remains my favourite Numan album (despite his attempts to disown everything from that period of his career). I'm going to put it on right now.
Numan needs to shape up and accept his entire musical legacy--because y'know what? ALL of it has good moments. There are even absolutely fantastic moments on Machine + Soul: uhhh..."The Skin Game"? Only one of the most skin-flaying songs I've ever heard from Numan. The sheer savagery of the lyrics is enough to make you want to transform into a cyborg killing machine!
BTW: Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn novels published by Black Library are extremely good narratives that are full of action yet are deeply philosophical as well. In fact, the novels seem one part Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun series and one part The Bourne Supremacy...a VERY strange combination, indeed. But one that brings the Imperium of Man to life so beautifully. I may end up getting at Adeptus Mechanicus tattoo to go along with my "Machman Series 4a" serial number.
Neither I nor Gary Numan will be held responsible for any and all machman rampages fueled by "The Skin Game"!
I've started work on "The Jinc Jam" (as I've been calling it), by the way.
In fact...I've recently done a song from an EP of planned music for the old film THX 1138 (the only good movie George Lucas ever made). Check it out on Last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/Derek+C.+F.+Pegritz/thx1138%3A+incidental+sound+architectures) if you like. It seems like something that'd be right up your alley.
I'm working on two other THX-related tracks now: "Thermal Transfer" and "By the Masses, For the Masses" in the same sort of vein. I'm actively contemplating a musical career in soundtracks for books and old films that need new music. :)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 02:56 am (UTC)Nowadays you'd just give kids the boxed set of Narnia and Golden Compass and let them read both sides.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 03:45 am (UTC)I didn't try reading Lewis until I was in my 20s and my entrenched atheistic sensibilities were shocked. Probably unreasonably, but shocked nonetheless. (I much prefer his writing when his religiosity is up-front: The Screw-Tape Letters, for instance.) While the movies seem much tamer than the books, I still can't get excited about them. If I do go, it'll be because the kids dragged me.
I'm also getting a little tired of fantasy about and for kids. What about something featuring adults for a change?
(I figure it's only a matter of time before urban fantasy and paranormal romance will get their day in the sun...)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 06:48 am (UTC)Constantine isn't far off either. Less cute, more balls (if you'll pardon the gender-specific allegory). :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 09:08 pm (UTC)I love PL. Personally, I too, am hankering for more adult orientated fantasy. But most filmmakers think fantasy is kid-stuff. Which is what a lot of the general population thiknk too, which goes to show how dumb they are.
I shouldn't get started on this subject. It's a pet peeve, and I can go on for hours, with illustrative quotes.
On another note: I'm buuying The Changeling this weekend.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 02:34 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy The Changeling. Imagine it on the small screen as you go. I want to see the crabblers in three-d!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 02:14 am (UTC)Now, as for politics ...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 03:39 am (UTC)A poor hand at allegory and a vicious streak when it came to characters that crossed him.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 06:51 am (UTC)The Changeling and The Stone Mage & the Sea would work well on the small screen, as ABC mini-series shot in SA with an indigenous cast.
For sheer brutal spectacle, The Crooked Letter.
And for BSG-style hi-jinks, Evergence or the Orphans series.
How's that for a wishlist? :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 12:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 12:40 am (UTC)The storyline reads like a more high-tech version of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Jinc easily fall into the same memetic niche as the Adeptus Mechanicus (a.k.a. the machine-priests), Imre Bergamasc and his gang remind me a great deal of Inquisitors, and the Mandala Supersystem is quite similar to the Eye of Terror.
I have no idea whether you're a Warhammer 40K sport (or even if you know anything about it), but I recently discovered the wonderfully weird world of WH40K and can draw pretty close parallels. Nonetheless, I'm still down with the waist-deep Numan references. :)
I was actually rather inspired by the character of the Jinc to start writing a short musical piece as their "anthem"--or, rather, the cinematic music that would be playing during scenes involving them were Saturn Returns to be filmed...but then I realized that the Jinc themesong could only be "My Dying Machine." So I've been working on a more mangled, 8-bit, IDM version of that song with most sounds filtered through no less than 19 audio-degradation VSTs. I'll post it somewhere once I finish it!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 02:39 am (UTC)Can't wait to hear the Jinc's anthem. What a brilliant idea! Berserker remains my favourite Numan album (despite his attempts to disown everything from that period of his career). I'm going to put it on right now.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 03:52 am (UTC)BTW: Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn novels published by Black Library are extremely good narratives that are full of action yet are deeply philosophical as well. In fact, the novels seem one part Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun series and one part The Bourne Supremacy...a VERY strange combination, indeed. But one that brings the Imperium of Man to life so beautifully. I may end up getting at Adeptus Mechanicus tattoo to go along with my "Machman Series 4a" serial number.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-06 01:30 am (UTC)That's my quote for the day! I'm going to go for a walk this afternoon with that song on a loop and see what happens...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-06 05:20 am (UTC)I've started work on "The Jinc Jam" (as I've been calling it), by the way.
In fact...I've recently done a song from an EP of planned music for the old film THX 1138 (the only good movie George Lucas ever made). Check it out on Last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/Derek+C.+F.+Pegritz/thx1138%3A+incidental+sound+architectures) if you like. It seems like something that'd be right up your alley.
I'm working on two other THX-related tracks now: "Thermal Transfer" and "By the Masses, For the Masses" in the same sort of vein. I'm actively contemplating a musical career in soundtracks for books and old films that need new music. :)