Babel Clash

OK, I’m still here. I swore a mighty oath that I would post every day, and I betrayed that oath yesterday. I had lots of book-tour-y things to do and it got away from me. And as a result Smurfland is doomed and Christmas will never come again.

Or maybe I’ll just post multiple times today to make up for it. Yeah, I’ll do that.

I’ve been reading back through China Mieville’s posts, and as I physically resemble a smaller, less perfectly  formed China Mieville, I’m going to take him as my model.
(continue reading…)

I hope that everyone had a fun and relaxing holiday weekend.  With the holiday, it’s been a quiet weekend for debate here at Babel Clash, but I’m optimistic that it will pick up to full-steam this week with our new guest.

Babel Clash welcomes Robert J. Sawyer, author of FlashForward, WWW:Wake and the Neanderthal Parallax series.  Look for FlashForward, the new ABC TV show, to debut on September 24.

Tune in tomorrow to find out our next topic.

China,

Thank you for contributing to Babel Clash and initiating some of the geekiest debates in the galaxy.  Would you like to take your last post or two and share with everyone why checking out the the City & the City is the perfect way to celebrate the 4th of July?

Enjoy the holiday, everyone.

Hey China, following up on the music thread, how about we flip it around?  What movie was okay to poor, but the music elevated it to a new level?  I’m voting for the original Highlander with its Queen soundtrack.

I wanted so much more from the Highlander franchise.  I enjoyed the TV show, but the movies have never done much for me, even though I wanted very badly to like them.

1983, the keep. great film but unwatchable: tangerine dream soundrtrack. dealbreaker. what other films does someone need to guerilla-rescore?

morgan ironwolf. purity brown. sydney the borrible. most of my young crushes were fictional. which imaginary hotteh was your special friend?

China, for music at cons, here are my picks.

1) Blind Guardian - the German metal band.  They mix heavy and fast music with bombastic choruses that would remind you of Queen.  They’ve created songs inspired by Elric, Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance and Stephen King’s Dark Tower.  Their “Nightfall in Middle Earth” CD is my favorite.

2) The Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack.  This music energizes me every time.  It’s perfect adventure music.

China, I’m stumped on this trinary question.  I haven’t figured out a great one yet, but your post’s heading “third’s a charm” got me thinking.  What are some cases where the concluding volume in a trilogy was the strongest of the set?

A few of  my picks:  Revenge of the Sith & Return of the King (the book;  Fellowship would get my vote for best of the movies).

What is fantasy’s fascination with the trilogy?  Is it tradition in honor of Tolkien?  Proven success from Terry Brooks and his early Shannara trilogy?  Does it tap into the 3-act structure of films (beginning, middle & end)?  Is it just that authors have a hard time abandoning a fully realized fantastic setting after only one novel’s worth of adventure?

I’ve added an excerpt from The City & The City and an interview with China to the blogroll.  You can also find them here…

Excerpt

Interview

I feel like I’m out of line with the SF Tribe when I watch “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”  It’s a pulpy classic with wit and adventure, but many SF fans either don’t know it or care for it.  It’s old fashioned fun.

To answer China’s other question, my lit pick is Arturo Perez Reverte’s Club Dumas.  It’s an occult mystery with riddles and puzzles and references to the 3 Muskateers.  It inspired a Johnny Depp movie, Ninth Gate, but the film doesn’t do the root story justice.