Author Topic: EP156: Distant Replay  (Read 39379 times)

bolddeceiver

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Reply #25 on: May 04, 2008, 09:35:20 PM
I don't see how this story actually does say there's a single soulmate for everyone.  Just because a person is naturally, or even supernaturally, suited to make another happy, that does not by definition say that that person is the ONLY one who he or she could be happy with.



stePH

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Reply #26 on: May 04, 2008, 09:38:36 PM
So why is it that in today’s society (some/many?) people tend to believe there is that one and only ONE person for them, maybe leading them to give up on relationships when something does not fit perfectly, thinking there is something better out there, rather than working on it. Is not the recent increase of singles in society who stay single until they are well approaching the middle of their life supposed to be due to the fact that they are unwilling to settle for something less than perfect, someone who is not the ‘soulmate’ and they rather stay alone (among other reasons obviously, lack of opportunity, etc.)?

The idea of that kind of soulmate exactly made this a fantasy story, for in contrast to the story’s definition of the word, soulmates  in a realistic sense can only mean ‘two people who are well suited for each other, who share interests/values/priorities in life and still remain two entities at the same time’. Or something like that….

Similar thoughts came to me when Didi was talking about how she could never seem to find the kind of love she saw in romantic movies.  It's why I tend to hate romantic movies, love songs, and all the other popular media that condition the young (particularly young girls) to expect a situation that doesn't exist outside of fantasy.  When the reality comes up short, how can they feel anything but bitter disappointment and that somehow they have (or their partner has) failed?

I don't believe in "soulmates".  I find the notion that there's only one ideal partner for any given person, if it were actually so, rather depressing.

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wintermute

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Reply #27 on: May 04, 2008, 11:02:55 PM
I don't believe in "soulmates".  I find the notion that there's only one ideal partner for any given person, if it were actually so, rather depressing.
Statistically, your soulmate probably lives somewhere in China or southern Asia, making the chances of meeting them quite slim.

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bolddeceiver

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Reply #28 on: May 05, 2008, 02:14:59 AM
I don't believe in "soulmates".  I find the notion that there's only one ideal partner for any given person, if it were actually so, rather depressing.
Statistically, your soulmate probably lives somewhere in China or southern Asia, making the chances of meeting them quite slim.

Well, if you're going to accept a supernatural premise like "everyone has only one person they could be happy with," you could equally easily accept the idea that the distribution is nonrandom and that you are likely to encounter yours...



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #29 on: May 05, 2008, 02:15:37 AM

And TAD, I am surprised to find you are such a romantic.  :o

Well good for you and if I remember your posts correctly you have found your ‘soulmate’ (?).  Must have been the surface tension, don’t know if I understand that correctly, but does it have something to do with ‘friction’:D


*blushes*  Yup, I found her, and now she's stuck with me. ;D

I don't believe in "soulmates".  I find the notion that there's only one ideal partner for any given person, if it were actually so, rather depressing.
Statistically, your soulmate probably lives somewhere in China or southern Asia, making the chances of meeting them quite slim.

Ana Ng and I are getting old, but we still haven't walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence...

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Ob1

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Reply #30 on: May 05, 2008, 02:48:08 PM
The emotional content of Mike Resnick's stories reminds me of Isaac Asimov's writing.  He crafts his character's feelings so deftly, and they just click into the scenario so neatly.

Excellent!



Listener

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Reply #31 on: May 05, 2008, 03:37:13 PM
I thought quite a bit about the film "Dead Again" after listening to this story.  I have no problem with the idea of being reincarnated to find your soulmate.

I liked the story, but I have an issue with the sheer amount of adverbs-ending-in-ly that Resnick uses, especially when tagging dialogue.  Maybe it's just me, but those tend to jump out to me and not in a positive way.  Still, and maybe again it's just me, but I don't see a lot of stories with elderly protagonists these days.  Maybe they're just not "sexy" enough for people to want to write about them, for fear the stories won't appeal to enough people.  *shrug*

The reading was great.  I agree with the general sentiment reflected here:

I agree that Steve Anderson did a quite good job of reading the story, but I still find myself irked by most male narrators doing female voices. While they may indeed bring lots of characterization and individuality to the male characters, the female characters often have a cookie-cutter quality. I felt that, as good as Mr. Anderson was, his reading of Didi fell into that pattern. I think every male reader of fiction should listen to Neil Gaiman read his own work and study how he does his women characters. He manages to convey a great amount of characterization and variety without every falling into that let-me-just-raise-the-pitch-of-my-voice-in-exactly-the-same-way-for-every-woman-character trap that some narrators fall into.

However, I didn't think Anderson did too bad with Didi.

I loved the little teaser at the outro.

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birdless

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Reply #32 on: May 05, 2008, 05:22:14 PM
I enjoyed this story. I can't say that it struck a particular resonance with me, but I thought it was a really cool story, and I really enjoyed Mike's "writer's commentary" that he threw in earlier. Knowing the song that inspired it made the story even more touching for me. Thanks, TAD, for the links to listen to it.

Unlike most others here, though, I didn't like the voice of the narrator—not for this particular tale. I can't remember now what I had intended to say I specifically disliked about the voice, but it just didn't work for me in this story. I think it was along the lines that it was too harsh for this piece. I hear this voice belonging to the Veteran in episode 118.



qwints

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Reply #33 on: May 06, 2008, 12:03:19 AM
I gotta say I'm surprised by the Asimov comparison - hasn't Asimov always been criticized for having fairly flat characters? I love his writing, but I never found his characters emotionally compelling in the way I found an author like Orson Scott Card's characters compelling.

The lamp flared and crackled . . .
And Nevyrazimov felt better.


stePH

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Reply #34 on: May 06, 2008, 12:11:12 AM
I gotta say I'm surprised by the Asimov comparison - hasn't Asimov always been criticized for having fairly flat characters? I love his writing, but I never found his characters emotionally compelling in the way I found an author like Orson Scott Card's characters compelling.

I agree.  When I finally got around to reading the Foundation series, I thought it was "all plot"; the characters were just there to move the story along.

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CGFxColONeill

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Reply #35 on: May 06, 2008, 03:56:19 AM
A couple of quibbles with your quibbles ;)  :
*cut*

*As for the colossal coincidences, well,
*cut*
my favorite quote on that is here Yogi Berra

as for the story my first reaction was " that is a Hugo nominee? dang the nominators must have been desperate" 
however after reading so many positive posts I am going to have to go back and re listen to it sometime soon when I am not doing HW on the side

* edit apparently I am having issues w/ links tonight*


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Hatton

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Reply #36 on: May 06, 2008, 04:38:58 AM
LOVED this one!  It had me smiling half-way through and chuckling to the end.

And it's an appropriate story for me as my wife and I approach 10 years married!

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peteyfrogboy

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Reply #37 on: May 06, 2008, 10:47:22 AM
  Still, and maybe again it's just me, but I don't see a lot of stories with elderly protagonists these days.  Maybe they're just not "sexy" enough for people to want to write about them, for fear the stories won't appeal to enough people.  *shrug*

I imagine it's more a matter of the number of readers that would be able to relate to the protagonist. An adult can remember what it was like to be a teenager, but a teenager doesn't have the life experience to fully relate to an adult protagonist. The number of people who have the experience to know what it's like to be a 70 year old man is naturally small, which reduces the effectiveness of the story on the readership as a whole. This doesn't mean that children shouldn't read stories about adults, or that adults shouldn't read about the elderly, just that there's a missing element in the experience.



Yossarian's grandson

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Reply #38 on: May 06, 2008, 12:36:42 PM
I was going to say that this story didn't do much for me. But after reading all the other comments, I'm afraid to. ;)



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Reply #39 on: May 06, 2008, 01:01:17 PM
I wasn't blown away by this one.  It was fairly engaging and had some nice moments but it didn't resonate with me the way it has with other listeners. 

I much preferred Mike Resnick's "the big guy".

Salutations


qwints

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Reply #40 on: May 06, 2008, 07:20:05 PM

I imagine it's more a matter of the number of readers that would be able to relate to the protagonist. An adult can remember what it was like to be a teenager, but a teenager doesn't have the life experience to fully relate to an adult protagonist. The number of people who have the experience to know what it's like to be a 70 year old man is naturally small, which reduces the effectiveness of the story on the readership as a whole. This doesn't mean that children shouldn't read stories about adults, or that adults shouldn't read about the elderly, just that there's a missing element in the experience.

I think that having a close relationship with an elder can give you an idea of that kind of experience. For example, the narrator in this story reminded me of my grandfather and that's why the story affected me so strongly.

Reaction might also split based on who has a significant other who they see as a soulmate.

The lamp flared and crackled . . .
And Nevyrazimov felt better.


Rain

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Reply #41 on: May 06, 2008, 08:20:20 PM
My play-by-play of the story :

5 minutes in : That old guy sure is creepy.
10 minutes in ; Yup, still with the creepy.
20 minutes in : What is the point of this story?
31 minutes in : Oh, i get it, there Was no point.

Can anyone explain this story to me? There was maybe 5 minutes of actual content stretched into 30 minutes of endless repeat.

The reading was ok, it did a good job of emulating the way an old man would think,, but it was perhaps too good since it got annoying real fast, but maybe that is because the main character was completely unlikable.

I dont know much about the Hugo awards but if this is the kind of fluff that gets nominated i have a hard time taking it seriously.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2008, 08:28:36 PM by Rain »



JoeFitz

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Reply #42 on: May 06, 2008, 09:15:00 PM
My play-by-play of the story :

5 minutes in : That old guy sure is creepy.
10 minutes in ; Yup, still with the creepy.
20 minutes in : What is the point of this story?
31 minutes in : Oh, i get it, there Was no point.

Can anyone explain this story to me? There was maybe 5 minutes of actual content stretched into 30 minutes of endless repeat.

The reading was ok, it did a good job of emulating the way an old man would think,, but it was perhaps too good since it got annoying real fast, but maybe that is because the main character was completely unlikable.

I dont know much about the Hugo awards but if this is the kind of fluff that gets nominated i have a hard time taking it seriously.

While hardly my favourite EP, I feel that I have to suggest that you listen again.

An old man just lost his wife of many decades, and then he randomly sees a young woman looks just like his wife at that age. Turns out the woman has the same name, job, dislikes and tastes as his wife had. He spends time with her. She breaks up with her boyfriend. He falls in love with her, but she doesn't fall in love with him. He finds out he's going to die. He randomly meets a young man who reminds him eerily of himself, who has just broken up with his girlfriend. He makes plans to introduce the young people to each other.

Why did you think the main character was unlikeable?



Anarkey

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Reply #43 on: May 06, 2008, 10:04:04 PM
While in general I liked this story better than most Resnick offerings, and I thought it had some great moments, and the reading was excellent, I have to ditto Rain on the creeptasticness of the protagonist.  Add to that a dose of smug ('I'll fix you up with this lovely girl, you HAVE to like her') and I found that the main character was pretty unlikeable myself.

However, I was still able to empathize with him, and I still liked the story.  Maybe it spoke to my inner creep or something.  I like that Resnick chose to portray an older man, with all the frailties and foibles that are available to such a character. I'd like to hear and read more stories with old people in them, quite frankly.  I'm a little tired of stories where everyone is between 18-25, given that I find people of that age boring most of the time (sorry, ageist, I know!  I believe your boring 20 year old self should have the same rights and privileges and make wages commensurate with your skill regardless of experience, if that makes you feel better). 

Anyway, score one for Resnick, though like Rain, I find this story peculiarly mushy to be a Hugo offering.  I had the Edward Bear sentimentality issue with it, though not nearly as bad as with Edward Bear.  The Benadryl remained safe in the cabinet throughout this episode of the podcast, and I only sneezed twice.  I'm kind of boggled by the sentimentality streak that I've been shown SF geeks have through the EP forums, and I'm still thinking about that and trying to work out what it might mean.  (By contrast, Tideline appeals to sentiment without being sentimental, IMO, not that I'm voting for the Hugos or anything). 

Also, thanks for providing the story background, mike-resnick, I find that stuff fascinating.

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eytanz

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Reply #44 on: May 06, 2008, 10:20:25 PM
I can easily see how this story can be viewed as overly mushy - I think the main reason I didn't view it as that myself is that it's been pretty long since I last read/heard something as explicitly sentimental. It's something I can enjoy every once in a while, but not if I'm exposed to it too often.

But I'm surprised at people finding the protagonist creepy. I just don't see that. I can see why his initial behavior can give a somewhat odd impression, but I think it's negated pretty quickly. Definitely not still there at 10 minutes in. I'm wondering if Rain or Anarkey would elaborate on that a bit - what is it about him or his behavior that makes him creepy?

I do agree on the smug note of the ending, by the way, but I excused it on the fact that it was the ending. If the story had continued one more sentence, then the current last sentence would have been intolerable.



Anarkey

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Reply #45 on: May 06, 2008, 11:30:35 PM
But I'm surprised at people finding the protagonist creepy. I just don't see that. I can see why his initial behavior can give a somewhat odd impression, but I think it's negated pretty quickly. Definitely not still there at 10 minutes in. I'm wondering if Rain or Anarkey would elaborate on that a bit - what is it about him or his behavior that makes him creepy?

Rain will have to do her own elaborating, but for my part, there's a lot of stalkerly behavior justified in internal monologue by 'I can't be a stalker because I can't get it up'.  No.  Dude.  Your ability to fulfill the sexual act is independent of behaving like a stalker.  And engaging in a lot of convincing yourself as to how you're not a stalker is probably a solid signal that you're behaving like a stalker.  Also, the tests he keeps devising by inviting her to stuff his Deirdre hated or mentioning things he knows she won't like?  Ugh.  How much of that is justified before one is just being a jackass?  There are more instances than the narrative rule of three generally calls for, so I can only deduce he enjoys running young Deirdre through the gamut of emotion, and that it's a point about his character that he keeps testing her.  She also pretty clearly gives off 'leave me alone' signals (verbally and physically) at the beginning which he ignores, though she does seem to be persuaded by the weirdness of it all to tolerate him, and they do seem to move on to a genuine friendship at some point.  Still, after their friendship is well-established he continues to use her company for wish fulfillment (and is cognizant of it), and yet isn't at all perturbed by his use of her in this way.  It has some interesting parallels, now that I give it some thought, to the clone story, where the girl made another version of herself to get away from creepy controlling insecure guy.  In this case, had the protag not been given a death sentence, he might have continued to use Deirdre as his surrogate lover indefinitely.  It's only because he is about to check out that he works to give her a chance at her own happiness.  IOW, he doesn't become an altruist until he doesn't need her anymore (though I'll admit there's other plot elements, such as the boyfriend breakup which apply at that point).  Still, it's enough to justify a sense of creepiness for me, that's for sure.

Again, I liked the story.  But I can totally see the creepy and felt it myself, to some degree.

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Reply #46 on: May 07, 2008, 12:15:18 AM
There are so few things that give meaning to life. This story reminded me that my future wife is one of them. I listened while walking around the mall, and I noticed a lot of older couples holding hands and laughing everywhere. I suppose that that kind of connection goes on since the beginning of time, and it will go on and on... The reader was amazing!



qwints

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Reply #47 on: May 07, 2008, 01:34:18 AM
On the creepiness thing:

If the story hadn't been in the context of magical realism (e.g. if it had been on Pseduopod) he would have been really creepy. I don't think that the continued testing is any way cruel. Is it really that traumatizing to be asked to go to a movie you don't like?

The lamp flared and crackled . . .
And Nevyrazimov felt better.


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Reply #48 on: May 07, 2008, 03:41:33 AM
On the creepiness thing:

If the story hadn't been in the context of magical realism (e.g. if it had been on Pseduopod) he would have been really creepy. I don't think that the continued testing is any way cruel. Is it really that traumatizing to be asked to go to a movie you don't like?

Depends.  If you ask my wife to go see Cloverfield again, I'd say yes :)


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Reply #49 on: May 07, 2008, 03:59:15 AM
I know I'm probably the only one who thinks this but I really don't like Steve Anderson's readings.  I know this is subjective, but every story I hear him read I feel the same way.  Every sentence...is groaned out...and has a big...emphasis...on everything.   From the start... to finish... he uses the same inflection...on everything.
C'mon.
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