-------------------- "Kosh, I'd like to introduce you to our Resident schmuck and his side kick Kick Me."-Ritten
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity". -George Carlin
Registered: Jul 2007
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
The only exposure to Harry Potter I have is the Robot Chicken parody, and that's quite enough for me.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
I don't get how everyone went so crazy over Harry Potter. I mean the writing or story isn't that good, what I read of the first few books wasn't riveting for me. I despair at the future of this genre of books, seeing as all my favourite authors are dropping like flies; Jordan, Gemmell. With other authors declining in health; Eddings (last time I checked up on him he wasn't at the peak of health and with his wife and co-author having died last year), Pratchett (Saw on the news today that he has Alzheimer's). Seems like there's only one or two authors out there, who's work I enjoy, who aren't gonna keel over tomorrow; Feist is the only one who springs to mind at the moment.
Saying that though I read Trudi Canavan's - The Black Magician Trilogy, which seemed pretty good some may get some of her other stuff. So there is hope that the fantasy genre won't be dominated by Rowling in years to come.
Registered: Oct 2007
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
There's no such thing as a good fantasy writer.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I don't despair at anything's future anymore. I believe complex systems try to maintain homeostasis overall even as they grow and develop, hence, we'll either die out or be just fine. I don't really think there's a realistic chance of something like 1984 or any kind of dystopia that severe. Or even that art will die or something equally crazy. I don't even think good books will die anytime soon, although they may eventually - but there are other art forms, and still more that haven't been invented yet. I had a very vivid dream last night about home-affordable 'truly holographic' volumetric displays.
The first few books aren't where you should probably start, OverRon. They were written for children, and the target audience aged with Harry so the style changed. It only really starts getting good in my opinion with the fourth book. And the movies deviate so strongly from the books it makes me angry...
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Heheh, I wasn't moaning that we were heading to some dystopian future, more just whinging at the fact that I'll have to get off my arse and find some new authors to read.
As for holographic displays the only thing I've seen come close to that recently is the Helios display (and another one based on similar technology but I can't remember the name). As I understand it there's an air blower, which blows ionised air up and then a projector which then shines and image into that air which reflects it so we can see it hovering in the air. The other similar technology doesn't use ionised air, but blows down water vapour in the air, and the image reflects off of that instead. Although it's still a 2D image, what I've seen of it looks pretty damn cool, and if viewed from the right direction can look like a volumetric image, although the image gets distorted by air currents though.
Now I reckon they could develop a more volumetric version of that technology. Rather than just have a long thin fan which blows the air up, they should have an array of fans or nozzles in a big square shape. Instead of having them all blow upwards all the time, each nozzle only blows up when it need to put an image up in a certain spot. So with some careful timing of the projector it'll be able to display images in x, y, and z axis. I doubt anything like this would be affordable for next 10 years or so though. But then I remember when the first 40+" plasma TVs came out they cost cost like �15,000-20,000, and now you can get the for �600 or so, so maybe those Helios displays will become a lot cheaper sooner than I expected.
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
I think kids and now teens like the Potter Series because at the time they were written, there were, at least from my point of view, no books in the magic/fantasy series that could be accepted as a possibility of reality. There may well be a secret underculture of wizards and witches. THat is one of the reasons I got into them. I never really liked Lord of the Rings, because of the whole extreme fantasy thing. Midgets with magical power, and a ring that does stuff, I think. I was able to grasp Potter, because it took place in present day, ( or near present day. I think Rowling set the first book in like 1990 or 91) and understanding 21st century london is a lot less complicated than a mysticall far far away land. I read The Sorcerer's stone when I was 7, so that could contribute towards my Potter-biased attitude.
-------------------- "Kosh, I'd like to introduce you to our Resident schmuck and his side kick Kick Me."-Ritten
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity". -George Carlin
Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by OverRon: But then I remember when the first 40+" plasma TVs came out they cost cost like �15,000-20,000, and now you can get the for �600 or so, so maybe those Helios displays will become a lot cheaper sooner than I expected.
But that's because plasma TVs are complete utter crap. And �600 probably doesn't get you a very good one anyways.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
There are holograms which use lasers to create a true 3D image but they're noisy, monochromatic, and have low resolution and framerates. There are also flat monitor-like displays that have nanostructures which permit actual 3D images to be viewed in them. Wiki "volumetric displays" and so some reading
Sean: Eh, no there couldn't
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Sean, can you proof read or something, because that don't sound right.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
His magic wand, see...replace 'wand' with 'penis' in Harry Potter and hilarity ensues!
I just watched the fifth movie, and...mmmm...Tonks.
Registered: Jul 2005
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