Science Fiction Blog

2004-01-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

Class 13

Today in class we went over the story Getting Real and discussed how it relates to real life. I found this story very interesting on account of how it relates to NYC. I spend a lot of my time, when home, in Brooklyn so it was very interesting to see how Brooklyn and Manhattan were depicted. In this story it was interesting to see how the author portrayed the homeless and other people around the city.

Afterwards we discussed our own definitions of SF and what stories we enjoyed most in class. It is clear that everyone in the class has learned a lot and has enjoyed the readings.

We ended the period with time to do our web project and short story.

2004-01-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

Class 12

Today we briefly discussed the similarities between Neuromancer and Burning Chrome. I pretty much lost all of the discussion after we watched Trekkies.

Trekkies was probably the funniest display of culture I have ever seen in my life. I really enjoyed the groups who claimed to have their own starships that they were commanders and medics on. Putting the humor aside, the film gave me an interesting insight into the film Star Trek and the affect it has on people.

I was aware that the film and series are all about living a good fullfilling life, but I never knew how seriously people take it. Very interesting to see all these different views and very comforting to see the bond that they all share. It was great to learn the values and see how seriously they play a role in the lives of these "trekkies."

2004-01-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Class 11

Today in class we discussed the book Neuromancer at great lengths. We explained the story to the students who did not understand it and got a lot of interesting perspectives on things the book meant to portray. One interesting fact that a lot of people didn't understand was that Wintermute was instructing Armitage throughout the entire film.

We next discussed The Matrix and went over everyones responses. We again spoke about the movie in terms of what others in class did not understand as well as from a dystopian and science fiction viewpoint.

Today our group is going to meet to work on our short story and then hopefully I will be able to get moving on the webpage.

2004-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

Class 10

Today in class we went over the two articles and the first 16 chapters of Neuromancer briefly in class. The articles were not discussed much but it was good to be able to discuss the aspects of the book which I was not sure about.

The Matrix is very much apparently a SF film. It is completely demonstrative of a dystopian society in that there is mass urban decay, darkness, dreariness, false reality, etc. Computers play a large role in the film and it is clearly shown that the matrix is emposed solely through technology.

In both the film and book we've been reading it is shown that gender (as well as race in the movie) are not important aspects in Cyberpunk films.

2004-01-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

Class 9

Today in class we discussed everyones opinions on the movie Men in Black. It was interesting to hear everyones reflections on the film and how different they all were. When everyone looks for a deeper meaning for a 1/2 comedy 1/2 science fiction film you get some interesting perspectives. One that I thought was interesting was that of the neuralizer being a symbol of the transgression of power from the conservative older white people to now also young black men. Sharing the power, destruction of racism.

Afterwards we discussed the story about the bears discovering fire which was very interesting. After this we broke into our groups and began planning our short story. I'm pulling for these three right now:

1. Killball - Winner Take All
2. The Majority Report (prelude to The Minority Report)
3. Killer Asteroid

2004-01-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

Class 8

Today we went over the stories that we've read the night before and discussed the importance of race and/or racism in SF. It was interesting to pick apart Star Trek and Men in Black as a class to try to decipher the importance of different aspects in the movie in regard to race.

It was great to watch the movie after discussing the readings the night before. I definitely looked at the film in a different light and am sure that I have much to reflect on for the reflection paper.

2004-01-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

Class 7

In class today we discussed the article and as a group came up with 5 important points of the article. We then took these points and compared them to films that we've watched as well as the readings. It was interesting to hear everyone pretty much agree on the lessons implied in the stories.

Afterwards we discussed the movie and everyone told different things that they made reference to in their response papers. I found it interesting to see all the different perspectives on what was important in the movie.

The remainder of the period we worked on our webpages and my table spoke a little about our plot for our SF story.

2004-01-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

Class 6

We began class by going over the two stories and the one critique. It seemed that the majority of the class didn't take two great a liking to the readings for class, but they still did have some valuable information for us to gather from them. The most interesting factor was the comparison the article made between US Foreign Policy and Star Trek.

If there's one thing I've learned... I'm not a fan of Science Fiction which changes History. Probably on account of my slight lack of interest in History.

The rest of class we watch Star Star Trek: First Contact. I had no idea how much I was going to like that movie. The cinematics were great, special effects were excellent, etc. The storyline was awesome and I think I may become a closet Trekkie and go rent some movies.

I particularly liked in this movie how they came back and told the soon to be famous historian about how great a man he is and how important his findings were. His reaction was acted out perfectly. He was disgusted with how high they held him as he was just doing it for the money. He was probably the funniest character in the movie also. All in all I think it was a great experience seeing the movie and I look foward to seeing some of the others.

2004-01-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

Class 5

Today in class we discussed the movie Blade Runner. It was interesting to hear everyone's slightly changed opinions on the movie after being given a few days to reflect.

Next we went over the article "The Golden Age of SF is 12"
As groups we generated lists of 5 important points that the article made. Afterwards we presented our list to the class and got to explain why we felt the points made were important.

After that we discussed the stories at length. I found it very interesting to hear the different ideas people had about "Blood Music" and how the spread occured.

Afterwards we worked more on our websites

2004-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Class 4

Today in class we took the first 30 minutes to go over the short stories. I found it interesting to hear the classes views on what the story symbolized. The view that was most interesting was how some members of class related this story to animal rights.

We spent the remainder of the class watching Bladerunner. I had never seen it before and found it to be very interesting. I plan to write my response about either the fact that a Replicant was seemingly a Bladerunner, or on how interesting it is to view the opinion of the director about how our technology would be in 2019.

2004-01-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

Class 3

Today in class we went over the readings in groups. I found today's discussions much more interesting than yesterdays. I acquate this to how much more I liked these stories.

I got the most enjoyment out of sharing views with my group members and having an interactive conversation about each others opinions on the readings. I really enjoyed discussing robots and their place in society with the class.

In our discussion we began talking about the film A.I. and it striked my interest in alien life forms. For this reason I am changing the topic of my Web Research to "Life Elsewhere." I feel that I will be able to find a lot more scientific data and many more opinions on this subject than that of my old.

I've began reseraching and have found some very interesting information thus far.

I found some alien pictures for all you crazy kids:
http://ufocasebook.com/alienpics.html

2004-01-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

Class 2

In class today we started out by going over everyone's name.

After that we discussed the two articles about Science Fiction in our groups. We went over each other's opinions on the articles. Following that my group created a primo timeline covering the major eras in history and the major shifts in Science Fiction that relate accordingly.

Next in groups we discussed the short stories. We went over the similarities and differences in the stories. The most interesting we found is that they both revolve around fears. In The Immortal Mortal the prominent theme was actually a fear of death, whereas in The Fall of the House of Usher it seemed to be a fear of living. As far as Poe's writings it became apparent that the story had much in common with his actual life.

Finally we went through Dreamweaver and learned how to use the program. We began to lay some groundwork for our Research Page. I'm still going to stick with my theme of seeing into the future.

2004-01-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Class 1

The class is a little different then I had expected. Originally I thought that we were going to be watching more movies and reading less. I'm sure that the class will be fun regardless. I guess it was a bad assumption that I would be able to go through 4 years of college without having to read a book. Either way, I'm excited for the course and am sure that I will enjoy reading the science-fiction short stories.

As far as topics for the webpage I'm thinking about 'having the ability to see into the future' as mine. I saw the movie Paycheck last night and that was the premise behind it. Since it's still fresh in my mind I'll go with that as my main idea right now. Time travel may also be a good topic for the webpage.