Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
This is it! Isaac Asimov’s Foundation will finally make it to visual media. After the rights passing through a few hands, they’ve finally made their way to HBO. Check out the entire article at The Wrap where Jonah Nolan talks about the new project. I’ll definitely keeping tabs on the development. No dates were given, so I’ll try to hold back most of my excitement until I hear more.
It has been a while since I have read anything by Timothy Zahn. I loved his Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology. I also enjoyed the Conquerors’ Trilogy. I’d like to go back and re-read those sometime in the future, but for now I’m focusing on chipping away at my collection of books I haven’t read yet. I was very pleased at how well Zahn developed the Zhirrzh in the Conquerors’ Trilogy, so I was curious to see how well he does here in Manta’s Gift.
The Qanska are not the typical aliens you would expect so see in a Sci-Fi novel. They look like huge manta rays flying through the various levels of ever thicker atmosphere in Jupiter. The vast majority of aliens that I have read about have been humanoid. The ones that are not humanoid are usually portrayed as monsters (Starship Troopers), or there is a huge communication gap. Zahn challenges this stereotype and succeeds in describing a completely unique and intelligent alien race.
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When I learned that Stephen Hawking died, I have to admit my reaction was a bit selfish. I was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to continue contributing to science, and that the world would be a worse off place without him. I didn’t think about how his close friends and family would be impacted. I was surprised about how sad I felt as well. I can’t say I’ve ever really felt a true pang of sadness upon learning of a celebrity death. Nobody should be surprised that he died, given his long history of health problems, but nevertheless, it was shocking. So why did I react this way now? I browsed through numerous news articles and posts throughout the day today without much reaction, but I felt sad again while reading through BBC’s article on his death, and again writing this post.
Maybe it has to do with recently reading the article “The Beginning of Time” that recently popped up in my news feed. I don’t think I could truly fully understand all of his theories, but I think his explanation here was clear enough to get a good idea. I’ve had The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe audiobook on my backlog to listen to. I guess I’ll have to bump it up to next in my queue. I was already thinking about taking a break from Sci-Fi / Fantasy soon, so this makes my decision really easy.
Goodbye Stephen! Whatever the reasons, I’m truly sad you’re gone. I’m sure you will be never be forgotten by humanity, assuming we don’t destroy ourselves.
First, let me say that Battlestar Galactica is by far my favorite Sci-Fi TV series of all time. I was addicted from the beginning of the 2003 miniseries and followed it up until the series finale this week. I liked it so much that prior to season 4.5, I re-watched all of the previous seasons so I would have them all fresh in my mind. In doing so, I managed to get my wife addicted as well and took her along for the ride. I highly recommend everyone watch the entire series.
Let me start off with a huge ***SPOILER ALERT***
continue past the break for my rant 🙂 (more…)