Author Topic: EP158: Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?  (Read 33556 times)

birdless

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Reply #50 on: May 22, 2008, 05:01:33 AM
Thanks, Windup, I'm glad someone else has a problem with that. And unless I missed it on listening to it twice, you didn't miss anything in your single listen. They went from forward looking philosophers to forward looking warlords without any explanation for the massive change in outlook.



contra

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Reply #51 on: May 22, 2008, 06:49:20 PM
Oh, an addition, as a Scottish person I have to criticize Steve. Sorry.

Edinburg?  Really. Edinburg appears to be in Texas...

While the Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. 

Minor point really... >_>  but still...   its not exactly a small unknown city...

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Biscuit

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Reply #52 on: May 23, 2008, 01:10:06 AM
Hmmm. Sitting on the fence about this one.

Ponderous world/galaxy building. Lots of "getting there". Minute detail. A couple of paragraphs of real time action.

Not saying that I hated it, but the multiple personalities of the MC combined with the intricate (nicely done) writing made it difficult to really pick out what the story was saying.

The only thing I could really take from it was "Human Beings are doomed to repeat themselves".


Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #53 on: May 23, 2008, 11:11:41 AM
Oh, an addition, as a Scottish person I have to criticize Steve. Sorry.

Edinburg?  Really. Edinburg appears to be in Texas...

While the Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. 

Minor point really... >_>  but still...   its not exactly a small unknown city...

Yes, REALLY, Steve... English is a phonetic language, and "Edinburgh" is so obviously pronounced "Ed-in-bra"!  How could you get THAT wrong?

Oh... wait... it's NOT a phonetic language?  Maybe that would explain it.  ;)


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wintermute

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Reply #54 on: May 23, 2008, 11:44:02 AM
Edin-burra ;)

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Anarkey

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Reply #55 on: May 23, 2008, 11:45:53 AM
I liked this story well enough, and I didn't seem to have the tone issues everyone else is complaining about (that is, I recognized a variance in tone, but it didn't negatively affect my enjoyment of the story), but there is something I'm wondering about: 

was that whole I'm wondering if I'm remembering what I'm remembering or I just think I'm remembering what never really happened that I remember spiel at the beginning one of them guns that didn't go off or did I miss some resolution?  When I heard it I was all WTF, 'it was only a dream' but at the beginning instead of the end?  How does that make it better?  Only Carroll gets away with that!

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #56 on: May 23, 2008, 11:59:28 AM
Edin-burra ;)

That's not how they said it in Glasgow!  ;D

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wintermute

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Reply #57 on: May 23, 2008, 12:18:09 PM
Edin-burra ;)

That's not how they said it in Glasgow!  ;D
You're going to trust a Glaswegian on a matter of pronunciation? Really?

I mean, really?

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #58 on: May 23, 2008, 12:42:00 PM
Edin-burra ;)

That's not how they said it in Glasgow!  ;D
You're going to trust a Glaswegian on a matter of pronunciation? Really?

I mean, really?

Nope... I'm going to use the classic UK defensive manoeuvre (sp?) of singling out a third group that you and I can mutually tease in order to deflect from our original "conflict".  It's the old, "Sure, you and I have differences, but at least we're not French!" technique!  ;)

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DKT

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Reply #59 on: May 23, 2008, 03:48:49 PM


was that whole I'm wondering if I'm remembering what I'm remembering or I just think I'm remembering what never really happened that I remember spiel at the beginning one of them guns that didn't go off or did I miss some resolution?  When I heard it I was all WTF, 'it was only a dream' but at the beginning instead of the end?  How does that make it better?  Only Carroll gets away with that!

That really stood out to me on the second listen.  At first, I thought it might explain some of the inconsistencies I thought I heard the first time, but no, from what I can tell, it didn't have anything to do with that.  Then I started to wonder if this character appeared in other stories written by the author, or perhaps a novel.  I'm still not sure, though.


Loz

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Reply #60 on: May 24, 2008, 07:50:04 PM
I found it difficult to care about this story to be honest, everything up to the last few minutes seemed as though it were scene-setting for the story and then it went into highlights from what the rest of the story would be if there's space. Steve, are you sure this was a Hugo Nominee and not an advert for Macleod's next book?

Still, I seem to recall that in previous years there's always been at least one story that has baffled me as to how and why it's considered worthy of nomination and that's this story this year.



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Reply #61 on: May 24, 2008, 08:12:05 PM
It was an enjoyable listen.  Many of my praises and complaints were already covered, so I'll just add one thing.

SPACE ELEVATOR!!!!

It just needs to be in more stories.


Edit: tupo
« Last Edit: May 30, 2008, 06:47:54 PM by Russell Nash »



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Reply #62 on: May 27, 2008, 08:40:23 PM
It was an enjoyable listen.  Many of my prasies and complaints were already covered, so I'll just add one thing.

SPACE ELEVATOR!!!!

It just needs to be in more stories.

You gotta love those things. Man, I hope we get around to building one in my lifetime. Going...up!

(hate to get stuck halfway, though. The climb down would be a real hassle)



Darwinist

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Reply #63 on: May 27, 2008, 08:48:17 PM
It was an enjoyable listen.  Many of my prasies and complaints were already covered, so I'll just add one thing.

SPACE ELEVATOR!!!!

It just needs to be in more stories.

You gotta love those things. Man, I hope we get around to building one in my lifetime. Going...up!

(hate to get stuck halfway, though. The climb down would be a real hassle)

No problem.  You can skydive from the stratosphere like this guy..............DOH!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358336,00.html

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


TwangCat

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Reply #64 on: May 28, 2008, 11:00:42 AM
I felt so strongly about this episode I finally had to comment.  My only response upon finishing it was 'that was freakin' awsome!'  Not exceedingly eloquent I'll grant but I was that impressed.  I can't describe how much I want to know the rest of this guys life story.  Thank you for sharing this gem with us.



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #65 on: May 28, 2008, 11:18:09 AM
I had missed a number of posts in this thread at some point, and just happened to be scrolling back down through it this morning; I noticed a few folks were thrown by what I think of as Mr. MacLeod's "writing attitude".  Rain said it seemed like a lot was left out of the middle, and a few other people seemed to feel that they had missed something.

When I first tried to tackle The Cassinni Division, I was pretty lost, too.  But the problem was that so much was hidden within subtle subtext and clues within the characters' actions and reactions - I had to adjust how I read him in order to catch what was motivating the characters.  His Wikipedia article states "He is known for his constant in-joking and punning on the intersection between socialist ideologies and computer programming, as well as other fields."

On the downside, it's really hard to read this guy if you aren't already fairly well-read on your socialist ideology and computer programming; but if you're up to the challenge, you can learn a lot about those things by seeing how the characters interact and react to each other.  That can be annoying if you're looking for a light romp through space, but it can be extremely gratifying when you get the hang of how these characters think.  I know I learned a lot about my own assumptions about politics and capitalism by digging into Mr. MacLeod's work.

I'm sure that doesn't change anyone's opinion of this story (if you got it, you probably liked it; if not, well...), but I hope those of you that didn't like it can understand what the appeal is for the rest of us.  Does that help?

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Anarkey

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Reply #66 on: May 28, 2008, 12:04:07 PM
I'm sure that doesn't change anyone's opinion of this story (if you got it, you probably liked it; if not, well...), but I hope those of you that didn't like it can understand what the appeal is for the rest of us.  Does that help?

No, it doesn't.  Is the memory spiel a reference to some socialist or computer programmer?  Is it a joke?

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lieffeil

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Reply #67 on: June 05, 2008, 02:28:10 AM
For some reason, this one just couldn't hold my attention. I tried to listen to it twice. It may have been that I was on the bus, I don't know. I'll have to try it again at a later date.

...you've got three metric seconds.


Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #68 on: June 08, 2008, 06:33:28 PM
I'm sure that doesn't change anyone's opinion of this story (if you got it, you probably liked it; if not, well...), but I hope those of you that didn't like it can understand what the appeal is for the rest of us.  Does that help?

No, it doesn't.  Is the memory spiel a reference to some socialist or computer programmer?  Is it a joke?

I was hoping someone else had an answer... I miss a lot in MacLeod's stories because I just don't catch the references, to be honest.  He's one of the few writers that does that to me.  :$

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errant371

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Reply #69 on: June 20, 2008, 05:40:46 PM
I felt that this story was less about people than it was about politics.  As such, it mostly bored me.

Then you will probably want to stay away from Ken MacLeod.  Finding a more "political" S/F writer would be difficult; almost all of his stories revolve around politics and social upheaval.  He is, however, very well regarded in Britain and Canada.  This is probably one of his weaker stories (though I don't find any of MacLeod's work all that weak) but it does have a tangental connection to his novel Learning the World, since the future he describes here is very, very similar to that found in the novel.

What part of 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' didn't you understand?


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Reply #70 on: September 03, 2010, 04:41:55 PM
I wish I had something more substantive to say about this one, but I couldn't get into this one, not even in the slightest.  The space-tube stuff was kind of interesting, but nothing really compelled me to care what happened next, so I gave up mid-story.