The Last Colony by John Scalzi.
Tor Science Fiction, 2007.
320 pages.
“Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”
— Commissioner Pravin Lal of the Peacekeepers,
Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.
Posts filed in Quotes
Quotes are fun. Fun, fun fun. Funfunfunfunfunfun.
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
The Punic Wars and Expansion — Lecture #2
2nd lecture — The Punic Wars: From Village to Mediterranean Empire.
(This post is based on a lecture held by Jan Frode Hatlen at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on August 28 2008. However, any factual errors in the text is strictly my responsibility.)
Almost Famous
Almost Famous has been described as doing for the 70s what Rock Star did for the 80s. Do I believe this description is an accurate one? Perhaps. What I do believe is that it’s a great movie.
Supposedly, Almost Famous is based on writer/director Cameron Crowe’s own experiences as a Rolling Stones journalist. In it he [...]
Rock Star
Rock Star is the movie about the young Chris (Mark Wahlberg), who idolates the Heavy Metal band Steel Dragon and sings in a Steel Dragon tribute band (from whence the immortal comment “We’re not a cover band, we’re a tribute band!” arises). The first half or so of the movie portrays Chris’ day to day [...]
Midnight Nation
“Feel the misery of the world, David Grey. For one second, I’m going to open your mind to the song of pain, the song I have been forced to hear every day and every night to the last syllable of recorded time.
For just one, fleeting second, David, feel the totality of the suffering and pain [...]
How to interpret a peculiar request
“‘Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed …’
(from Shakespeare’s will)
The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where we would dive for pearls. My lover’s words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
to his, now echo, assonance; his [...]
2007-11-28 — Quote of the Day
“In the second century C.E., Loukianos of Samosato wrote, ‘Everyone’s writing history now, and I don’t want to be left out of the furore.’ Loukianos, who was also known as Lucian the Scoffer, then produced a fantasy story called True History.”
— John M. Ford,
in the “Historical Note” to The Dragon Waiting.
A Case of Tolkien Hommage
“I tipped an imaginary hat to him. ‘At your service.’
‘Yours and your family’s,’ he replied politely.”
— Kvothe and Stanchion,
The Name of the Wind, page 374.
2007-11-08 — Quote of the Day
“Some sixty years later the dispute between king and Church flared up again. This time it took the form of a quarrel between Henry II (1154-1189) [of England] and Thomas Becket [...] Just as in the case of the emperor Henry IV [of the Holy Roman Empire] and Pope Gregory VII, personalities played their part [...]
The Princess Bride
In the latest issue of SFX (that I’ve got my hands on, at any rate), Neil Gaiman said something along the lines of, “Stardust will fall into that same genre in which The Princess Bride has been hanging around in all by itself for the past 20 years.” That’s the gist of it. And seeing [...]
Done the Impossible
Stumbled across this on Vuze the other day, and thought I’d better take a look at it, seeing as I reckon myself to be a Joss Whedon fan of sorts.
And it was good. Sure, if you don’t fancy watching geeks rant on about some stupid TV show for one and an half hour, you probably [...]
Bragging…
Is a thing commonly approved of in our current culture. But seeing as Ithink most of our current culture is crap, here’s what my English professor had to say about the first obigatory activity I handed in a couple of weeks ago:
“Hi, Terje–
This is VERY nicely done! While there are a few slips here and [...]
Ullr, the onion of war!
From Wikipedia’s kenning article:
Bárum Ullr, of alla
ímunlauks, á hauka
fjöllum Fyrisvalla
fræ Hákonar ævi;
nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða
fáglýjaðra þýja
meldr í móður holdi
mellu dolgs of folginn
Simply based on meaning, i.e. without kennings, the passage runs: “Accursed King Harald! We carried gold in our arms during all of Hakon’s life; now the enemy of the people has hidden gold in [...]
Angel: After the Fall
Here I isolate myself from the world (i.e. the wondrous interblag) for a mere fortnight or so, and when I return, what do I find out? That The Eternal Master, Mr. Joss Whedon, is helping some guy (his name’s Brian Lynch, I think) write an in-canon “Angel season six” comic!
It’s too much. I have to [...]
2007-07-26 — Quote of the Day
“The sad thing is, if an issue is laughed at and patronised by mainstream media, then it’s up against it big-time. I read some journalist recently lecturing the anti-globalisation lobby, saying, ‘This is the way capitalism works, all capitalism is exploitation and to make it try and do something else, it’s never gonna happen.’ And [...]
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Red Seas under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch.
Gollancz Fantasy 2007, 587 pages (tpb).
I think this is my first review of a sequel, but RSURS is relatively independent of The Lies of Locke Lamora, so I’ll take my chances.
The plot of RSURS is quite elegantly summed up by Locke himself, on page 554:
Why did some stupid motherfucker [...]
2007-07-17 — Quote of the Day
“I always expect trouble.”
- Verin,
“The Dragon Reborn”.
Goosebumps!
“Reaper’s Gale”, p. 365, the thoughts of Atri-Preda Yan Tovis of the Letherii Army:
“The Malazans are on our shore.”
Good Times…
Ah, ’tis been a crappy day, in some ways.
Omniously enough, it started out alright, with me and my flatmate Håvard watching “Hush” while eating dinner. And that episode is still one of the show’s (or at least the season’s) best ones; it’s funny, it’s scary, it has major turning points in the lives of both [...]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, part III
Whoa.
And when I was done, Queen’s “You Take My Breath Away” was next in line in my WMP playlist. How’s that for a coincidence?
Half-way evil Willow.
A Angel-Buffy(in-nurse-costume)-Spike dream landscape with barbed wire.
Fi fa fucking fum.
“Ladies and other ladies… the indescribable Rosenberg.” - Xander.
“Well, this is really unimpressive. One attack by the undead and Renee has [...]
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