Understanding Scifi

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

Class 13
Last night we read "Getting Real". I really enjoyed this story because it brought up a lot of good points about society and societal views. I liked how they portrayed the temp, because many times people in positions like temps to do feel invisible.

I also responded to the questions on our webpage. I really have a better appreciation for science fiction after taking this class. It's not just aliens or nerds...It's a lot more than that. My absolute favorite aspect to science fiction is the idea of possible futures.

2004-01-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

CLASS 12
Last night we read "Burning Chrome" almost like the pre-short story to Neuromancer. I could find a lot of similarities between the two. Still, I found myself missing parts that we discussed today in class. I can't figure out why this is, because I always walk away from the reading with the thought that I know what's going on.

Still working hard on my web site! Last night my group gathered to create a detailed outline for our short story.

2004-01-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

Class 11
Last night we read the final 1/4 of Neuromancer. I felt like this section of the book was a lot more confusing than the first 16 chapters. So much was happening that I got a bit confused with what was going on.

Last night we also reflected on The Matrix. This being my second time watching the movie, I feel like a got a lot more out of the movie. I recognized typical cyberpunk themes that helped me to better understand the movie.

Today's class and group discussions were essential to understanding the book and the movie. Many of my questions were answered, and many things were brought up that I hadn't thought of before.

2004-01-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

Class 10
Still being a bit behind I wasn't able to enter a blog for yesterday...but here it is! Neuromancer is quite the novel. This is my first real interaction with cyberpunk, and it's been pretty good so far. I am able to find all of the cyberpunk themes within the novel, so I feel that I have a pretty good grasp on the story. I like Molly, she seems to portray a strong woman, bringing out feminism in the novel. The whole idea of the world decaying is somewhat disheartening, but it brings up a good point as to why we should be careful with our technological advancements and dependencies.

I think that the articles about cyberpunk set a good stage for what was to come out of the novel, Neuromancer.

I am really glad that I chose cyberpunk as my research topic, because lately we have been reading a lot about it and a lot of it.

2004-01-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

CLASS 9
Unfortunately I was not able to attend class today because of a funeral up north. I did read the reading for today however. Bears discover fire was an awesome story with a lot of hidden messages as well. My whole trip up north I kept looking for bears around a fire in the medians! The group of articles that discussed writing a short story and science fiction actually brought a lot of facts out that I had forgotten about. I liked knowing that I don't have to write in the typical order...having no formula actually produces some of the most sophisticated works.

2004-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Class 8:

Last night we read quite the interesting story called Identifying the Object. At first I came away from it with a negative view. Discussing it in class helped a little, at least I don't feel like the story was pointless, but I just had a hard time getting into it. The story about time travel sparked my interest because its something that seems really interesting to me. I loved back to the future because of that idea in it. I wish the story had been a bit longer, but I still really enjoyed it. The article about race has somewhat hard for me to read because I felt like the author had to dig deep to find race issues in MIB. I'd like to go through the movie and critique the parts that he claimed had to do with race. I don't know if that is exactly what I will, but those are my thoughts for now.

2004-01-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Class 7
Last night we read a story called "Boobs"...contrary to the funny name the story was a bit dark. I liked the story, it really kept my attention and I could relate to her developing days. It seemed a bit much that she ate him, however revenge isn't usually good in any form. The article was helpful in that it explored women's side of SF...something that hadn't really occurred to me. Still learning lot's here... each new article brings me to a new level of SF understanding!

I've decided to research Cyberpunk...something I had never heard of before taking this class. I'm excited to see what it is all about and include it in my site for other SF beginners to read.

2004-01-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

Class 6
Last night we read 2 short stories...one I really enjoyed, the other I liked the idea, but it wasn't my favorite story. I liked the Ship Who Sang because it gave me another possible future. I felt like it had more emotion in it than most of the other stories we have read. Them Old Hyannis Blues had an interesting idea of making politics into rock stars. The story was alright, it was more the idea that I liked than the plot. The article we read was about a 3.5. I had a hard time drawing connections because I don't know all that much about Star Trek in the first place and I am some what hazy on our foreign policy. It began well laying out the two, but then it went solely into Star Trek.

I didn't know quite what to hope for, for our movie today "first contact", I really enjoyed it. The movie displayed a lot of science fiction themes and it really kept my attention. I'm really going to have to sit down and lay out the themes tonight before I can start to write my paper on it.

2004-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Class 5
Well we are back in the swing of things. Over the weekend we read some really awesome short stories. Ender's Game was my personal favorite because I felt like I was right there with them. I liked the element of the surprise ending I felt like I never knew what was coming. It did make me think of how young the kids are that are going into the army this day and age. Eighteen is young, at the time I felt old, but looking back...I was young and didn't have much knowledge about the world yet. Blood Music was an interesting story to say the least. I can't imagine what kind of mind would think up a story like this. Tiny microbes taking over the human body and becoming in charge. I liked the story...it just really caught me off guard. The article about science fiction was definitely informative and it presented science fiction in a different way than before. It brought to my attention all the different realms that science fiction can be used in.

I feel like I have a good start on my web page...I'm excited about it too!

2004-01-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Class 4-
Last nights reading online about the movie really set up a good basic knowledge and background for the movie Blade Runner. Some of the information was repeated through out, but all in all I felt prepared and was able to follow the movie without becoming lost.

In trying to think about where I will begin with my response to the movie, I might look closer in to film noir or the different ideas such as environmental collapse or terminal decay.

2004-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Class 3
Last night's short story reading was more my style. I felt that it was something that I could understand and therefore it served as entertainment to me.The article about Robbie the robot was my favorite, it was almost like a child's story, but with issues that lay deep inside. The story about the self-sufficient house seemed like a dream. A house that does everything for you, I'm sure would sell for big bucks on earth. The last story about the child born with mutations was a little bit of a shocker for me, I really didn't expect to find out that she had no limbs.The article did put the ideas of alien, alien nation, and alienation in to better prospective. For some reason when I think about science fiction I didn't apply alien to the illegal alien or the immigrant...I applied it to the funny looking creature from a far off planet. Clearly I'm learning more and more about this genre every day.

2004-01-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Class 2:
Thank God for class discussion! I walked away from "The Fall of the House of Usher" confused and a little turned off. Through class discussion I have a better understanding of what took place in the story and how it relates to science fiction. I hadn't even caught the element of incest, and how it played out in their lives. There was so much more to entombing Lady Madeline than originally thought.

I liked both of the informative articles about science fiction. Coming from a basic back ground knowledge in science fiction it helped me to see a lot of different aspects that exist and previously existed in the genre. One was more basic definitions and the other captured the historical aspects of it.

The story of The Mortal Immortal: A Tale, was a little more interesting for me because I could follow along better. When typing out the form I was able to better answer the questions.

Upon trying to decide a research topic I couldn't really decide on one. I think I will check out a few and see which sparks my interest. So far I'm thinking about aliens and human contact with aliens or maybe cyberdating or even the cyberpunk culture.

2004-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

When thinking about science fiction I'm not quite sure what to think. I picture the goofy alien movies like mars attacks, but know that there is much more to science fiction than that. This is a subject that I really don't know much about, but I am willing to venture into it and see what it has to offer. I am excited to check out the science fiction scene to see if it's something I will enjoy.

My research at this point is up in the air. I think the cyber dating sounds interesting...not to test out, but to see what it is all about! I want to wait till I get a little deeper into science fiction before I make any decisions.