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I've been listening to the audiobooks, so not sure it counts but "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin.

The author is in China and this was written in Chinese (I'm assuming Mandarin) and translated. It's hard science fiction with a capital H.

Absolutely life altering.
 
Gameface said:
I've been listening to the audiobooks, so not sure it counts but "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin.

The author is in China and this was written in Chinese (I'm assuming Mandarin) and translated. It's hard science fiction with a capital H.

Absolutely life altering.
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The author, Liu Cixin, also wrote The Wandering Earth, which was turned into the biggest Chinese movie ever, and Netflix paid a ton for it in the States. Also, Three Body Problem is being turned into a series on Amazon, at a cost of $1B.

The translator, Ken Liu (no relation) is also a great writer. His novella The Paper Managerie, is the first work of fiction to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. His Dendelion Dynasty series is also brilliant.
 
gandalfe said:
The author, Liu Cixin, also wrote The Wandering Earth, which was turned into the biggest Chinese movie ever, and Netflix paid a ton for it in the States. Also, Three Body Problem is being turned into a series on Amazon, at a cost of $1B.

The translator, Ken Liu (no relation) is also a great writer. His novella The Paper Managerie, is the first work of fiction to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. His Dendelion Dynasty series is also brilliant.
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Wow! I hope they do right by this. I can't imagine even trying. $1B sounds like they are going to try. Obviously I will watch whatever comes of it.

And thanks, I know what my next several audiobooks are going to be!
 
gandalfe said:
The author, Liu Cixin, also wrote The Wandering Earth, which was turned into the biggest Chinese movie ever, and Netflix paid a ton for it in the States. Also, Three Body Problem is being turned into a series on Amazon, at a cost of $1B.

The translator, Ken Liu (no relation) is also a great writer. His novella The Paper Managerie, is the first work of fiction to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. His Dendelion Dynasty series is also brilliant.
Click to expand...
So I downloaded Ken Liu's "Paper Menagerie" and listened to "Good Hunting" and I was like I know this story. So I searched for it and found out it was part of Netflix "Love, Death, Robots" series under the same name. Obviously the written version is better.

I have honestly been moved by a few of the stories so far in "The Paper Menagerie." Ken Liu is an entirely different writer than Liu Cixin. Both are very powerful, but Ken Liu gets at my emotions much more directly.

Thank you @gandalfe! Thank you very very much!
 
Im reading Ani Di Franco's book No walls and the recurring dream and have been enjoying it thoroughly, was pleased to learn that one of my other favourite artists in Amanda Palmer was involved in the draft process.
 
read three charles bukowski books today, hilarious stuff - factotum, ham on rye and post office. He's got a good sense of how not to write the same boring **** that most people do.. excited to finish up the rest of his books and go thru the poems in the coming days.

I've been on bit of a break from reading but am about to go ballistic and take down hundreds of books by the end of the summer so i'ma bump this often.

really trying to get a lot of hard copy stuff by the summers end too, nonfiction mostly. i need to limit the hardcopies to reference work and i guess what people call coffee table material or else it'll get totally out of hand.. which kinda sucks..the consumer in me wants to collect them all pokemon style
 
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The Velveteen Rabbit. This Margery Williams classic is one I strongly feel a lot of adults should read, because everywhere I look I see them failing miserably at aging with grace.
 
"Birth of an Industry; Blackface Minstrelsy and the rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond


is my book for tonight
 
Wes Mantooth said:
Yep. Those were the same two clowns who ****ed up the last few seasons of GoT, correct?
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They did but at least this trilogy is finished.

And to be fair, GOT was a bomb ready to go off. I still have my doubts that the book's ending is going to do any justice to the body of work. The world is vast and there are just too many things happening.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
Yep. Those were the same two clowns who ****ed up the last few seasons of GoT, correct?
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I mean they were there for every GoT season, but I've seen a few things about Benioff that at least make me suspicious that he's not a good person, is where he is because of massive privilege (family), he's a compulsive liar and narcissist. Weiss is his sidekick who helps deflect attention away from how big a D Bag Benioff is. Benioff is basically a no talent hack who's faked his way into these massively significant positions, but he treats the actual talent poorly and creates a negative work environment.

**** I'll have to find a few of the videos.

So beyond that, the "Three Body Problem" trilogy is a Chinese work. It has mostly Chinese characters, delves deeply into chinese culture, begins with a very dramatic scene from the Chinese Cultural Revolution and has a very distinctly non-western/American perspective. So why entrust Benioff and Weiss with that? Not only the cultural stuff, but "TBP" is NOT a pew pew, laser beams, warp drives, time travel, special powers kind of science fiction story. There is A LOT of very complex stuff going on that is based on real scientific concepts. In the books this is explained very well. I honestly can't imagine this working in visual series form without being dumbed down and/or significantly modified.

What we saw in GoT is that when Benioff and Weiss had source material to go off they did pretty good. They did massively **** up by combining two HUGE books (4 and 5) into a single season of the show, after having split book 3 into two awesome seaons. Everything in the show was at least okay through season 6, with just a few minor nitpicky complaints. Then season 7 happened. That's the season SPOILER ALERT!!! when characters started to warp across the entire map. When one of the dragons died and it was meh moment. Compare the death of the dragon to the death of Rob Stark, or Tywin, or Joffrey. Those deaths were shocking. Riveting, Emotional. The dragon died and it was like, "Eh, well, I guess I didn't think ALL the dragons would make it." It fell flat. That is 100% on Benioff and Weiss for not delivering the same emotional impact the series had been providing.

Then consider Bran in that final season especially. This is the character that is going to "win" GoT. Did they (Benioff and Weiss) build his character into the King of Westeros? Big fat NO on that. He sat in his chair and he knew things (to steal a phrase). It was up to them to build that character into the eventual King of Westeros. They failed to do that because they are dumb. Period.

Final note on their incompetence. Dany went all "mad queen". Fine. That's fine. However, we worked our way to that massive moment when the heroine of the entire damn series becomes a villian in like 3 pivotal moments in the 3 episodes leading up to it, and most of it was expressed by her bland facial expressions in response to conversations or situations she didn't like a little bit. That was weak, and that is on Benioff and Weiss.

That these clowns are being handed one of the most amazing Science Fiction stories of our lifetimes is sad.
 
How to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram Xolani

Honestly, I’ve decided not to talk about racism with those that have not read these books, both best sellers. This is where black people are coming from. Mandatory reading to understand BLM and why we march.


Going to read next:


Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America - Ijeoma Oluo


The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap - Mehrsa Baradaran


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Gameface said:
I mean they were there for every GoT season, but I've seen a few things about Benioff that at least make me suspicious that he's not a good person, is where he is because of massive privilege (family), he's a compulsive liar and narcissist. Weiss is his sidekick who helps deflect attention away from how big a D Bag Benioff is. Benioff is basically a no talent hack who's faked his way into these massively significant positions, but he treats the actual talent poorly and creates a negative work environment.

**** I'll have to find a few of the videos.

So beyond that, the "Three Body Problem" trilogy is a Chinese work. It has mostly Chinese characters, delves deeply into chinese culture, begins with a very dramatic scene from the Chinese Cultural Revolution and has a very distinctly non-western/American perspective. So why entrust Benioff and Weiss with that? Not only the cultural stuff, but "TBP" is NOT a pew pew, laser beams, warp drives, time travel, special powers kind of science fiction story. There is A LOT of very complex stuff going on that is based on real scientific concepts. In the books this is explained very well. I honestly can't imagine this working in visual series form without being dumbed down and/or significantly modified.

What we saw in GoT is that when Benioff and Weiss had source material to go off they did pretty good. They did massively **** up by combining two HUGE books (4 and 5) into a single season of the show, after having split book 3 into two awesome seaons. Everything in the show was at least okay through season 6, with just a few minor nitpicky complaints. Then season 7 happened. That's the season SPOILER ALERT!!! when characters started to warp across the entire map. When one of the dragons died and it was meh moment. Compare the death of the dragon to the death of Rob Stark, or Tywin, or Joffrey. Those deaths were shocking. Riveting, Emotional. The dragon died and it was like, "Eh, well, I guess I didn't think ALL the dragons would make it." It fell flat. That is 100% on Benioff and Weiss for not delivering the same emotional impact the series had been providing.

Then consider Bran in that final season especially. This is the character that is going to "win" GoT. Did they (Benioff and Weiss) build his character into the King of Westeros? Big fat NO on that. He sat in his chair and he knew things (to steal a phrase). It was up to them to build that character into the eventual King of Westeros. They failed to do that because they are dumb. Period.

Final note on their incompetence. Dany went all "mad queen". Fine. That's fine. However, we worked our way to that massive moment when the heroine of the entire damn series becomes a villian in like 3 pivotal moments in the 3 episodes leading up to it, and most of it was expressed by her bland facial expressions in response to conversations or situations she didn't like a little bit. That was weak, and that is on Benioff and Weiss.

That these clowns are being handed one of the most amazing Science Fiction stories of our lifetimes is sad.
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Good post. Especially the parts about dany and bran. But bran especially. Man did they ever do a ****** job with bran.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app
 
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