Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Let's lynch the liberals!

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  • Lucy Stewart,

    Yes, I did. But seriously... anti-Obama propaganda? To get all William Shatner for a moment, some people really need to get a fraking life.

    Nah, it wasn't anti-Obama in particular, just anti-liberals - although all the "saviour" stuff could be read as a jab if you particularly want to feel he's being persecuted. The use of "universal healthcare" as shorthard for "EVIL, RUN, DO NOT WALK!" was rather egregious - if sensible on the aliens' part, as you note.

    What really got me is that there are so many unanswered questions about the Vs - why do they look and act human? Where's there home? Etc, etc - that the scientific community would be kicking up a massive tantrum over not getting answers to, and governments would be feeling very, very worried about (especially the questions regarding are there more of you and what sort of weapons do you have, and how did you get into the solar system without us noticing.)

    But apparently everyone is just falling over themselves to like them, so Our Heroes can be shown to be the only ones who have Realised The Truth. Riiiiiiiiight.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I was quite disappointed with the lack of subtlety of the whole thing. From my vague memories of the original V miniseries, the first hint of the aliens not being what they appeared was when one of them caught and downed a mouse from a dumpster, a fair way in.

    In the remake, there's exploding floaty things and one of them gets whacked with a stick and is all lizard underneath less than an hour in.

    And Lucy wrote:

    What really got me is that there are so many unanswered questions about the Vs - why do they look and act human? Where's there home? Etc, etc - that the scientific community would be kicking up a massive tantrum over not getting answers to, and governments would be feeling very, very worried about (especially the questions regarding are there more of you and what sort of weapons do you have, and how did you get into the solar system without us noticing.)

    Um, fair enough -- it felt like they were trying to basically cover the whole original mini-series (four hours and change, I recall) in a commercial hour of television. As much as anything, I suspect that's got a lot to do with networks being leery of heavily serialised shows with a lot of loose ends. (If we ever get a chance, look at the complete fucking mess the first five episodes of Dollhouse are. In effect, they're five increasingly annoying pilots in a row. The show get a lot better when Whedon -- who assumes that not every viewer has ADHD -- is firmly in control.)

    But if you want to talk about "lack of subtlety", go back to the original -- just in case you didn't get the kick in the balls Nazi analogy, the Holocaust survivor (!) grandfather of the little turd who joined the Hitler... I mean Visitor Youth spelled it out. The major asset is Jane Balder camping her tits off...

    And compared to the major disappointments for fans of SF TV this year -- FlashForward and the truly awful new Stargate, which even Robert Carlyle can't save -- V is a fraking masterpiece. (When it's actually a solid but flawed show that I hope is going move from "watchable" to "must see" in the new year.) All I can say is: Can't wait for Caprica and the debut of the Eleventh Doctor.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    But if you want to talk about "lack of subtlety", go back to the original -- just in case you didn't get the kick in the balls Nazi analogy, the Holocaust survivor (!) grandfather of the little turd who joined the Hitler... I mean Visitor Youth spelled it out.

    Don't worry, Craig, they've got at least two more episodes to Godwin themselves well and truly this time round.

    Also note the way the only major non-white character is an alien, because, as Stargate has taught us, all black people are aliens really.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Also note the way the only major non-white character is an alien, because, as Stargate has taught us, all black people are aliens really.

    Still, rather interesting that Ryan is a traitor, who just wants to get married to his Hispanic finance and assimilate :) -- while Anna and her various hench-creatures all read as lily white.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    One day, of course, the sun's going to expand and the planet will be left to the microbes (and then not even them). That's the really depressing long-term. Hopefully we'll be out of the solar system by then; as you say, it's the only long-term survival strategy. But it'd be nice if we could keep this planet habitable for our species for a while first.

    You know, I used to be genuinelly depressed by that long-term thought when I was a wee nipper. Now I'm depressed by the prospect that the human race might still be around when the sun expands to the point of killing everything but the microbes.

    Okay, carry on.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Still, rather interesting that Ryan is a traitor, who just wants to get married to his Hispanic finance and assimilate :)

    I found Ryan the least annoying character of the bunch, actually - except for his moronic insistence on denying his fiancee any actual agency in her endangerment, but on TV I'm pretty sure that's supposed to read as "noble" rather than "stupid". If they fridge her I will be pissed.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    Also note the way the only major non-white character is an alien, because, as Stargate has taught us, all black people are aliens really.

    When actually, Afrofuturism posits the theory that its whitey who is the alien based on them turning up in big ships, funny clothes, weird skin and talking a strange language who surreptitiously rounded them up, shipped them off to the new world, forced them to labour against their will and essentially act as robots to be experimented on.

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    When actually, Afrofuturism posits the theory that its whitey who is the alien based on them turning up in big ships, funny clothes, weird skin and talking a strange language who surreptitiously rounded them up, shipped them off to the new world, forced them to labour against their will and essentially act as robots to be experimented on.

    If you insist on trying to make people see things from someone else's point of view, we'll have a run of aneurysms, and don't you think that would be a terrible thing on a sunny Friday afternoon?

    (It's sunny here, anyway. I hear Aucklanders have been tragically forced to look out the window to check for thunderstorms.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    And compared to the major disappointments for fans of SF TV this year -- FlashForward

    I'm actually quite enjoying that one (despite the usual Hollywoodisms about what the FBI actually does). I think its because its based on an actual SF novel, and so part of the SF novel tradition of Big Physics problem, rather than yet another bad and implausible alien invasion plot (I'm beginning to agree with Charles Stross: absent magic, spaceships <A HREF="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/11/the_myth_of_the_starship.html">just aren't physically possible in the sense we imagine them</A>. And anyway, the idea of anyone coming all that way for mere physical resources which are common as muck pretty much everywhere is simply insane).

    Plus, the underlying xenophobia in V was really getting to me. they're different and nice, therefore bad!

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • conseismal,

    awfully sorry chaps, but Islander's recent assertions can't really be overlooked: how the hell does s/he know that "many many species" are in possession of mortal knowledge? No more abuse please Islander, just state yer case clearly and forthrightly...

    Since Jul 2009 • 54 posts Report Reply

  • conseismal,

    "...I have no idea whether other species are aware of their incipient mortality - though many many species are aware of death/proximity of death"


    i think its too much whisky!

    Since Jul 2009 • 54 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Dogs. Cats. Cetaceans. Elephants. Almost all primates. Actually, most mammals (ever been to freezing works lil p?) A lot of birds. A lot of evidence, anecdata, cortisol spikes and a lot else.

    What abuse?

    Now, the weather here is brillantly fine....but looks like a cloud over the sun.

    You are deliberately insulting. Expect no more responses, troll.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    ^Hardly evidence and why bother with the gruff response? It demeans you.

    ...but yeah, dunno if animals at an abbatoir have an awareness of death anymore than jews lined up for the gas chambers realised what was in store.

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Ashby,

    @Lucy

    In this week's New Scientist they examine Extreme Oil, all the sources of oil we have, until recently, ignored because they are too difficult or expensive to access. Largely tar sands and oil shales. They have a nice graphic showing world deposits. They point out that they consist of more fossil carbon than mankind has ever burnt over history. Considering we are fucked if we burn all the easy oil we know about except at a very slow rate, if we burn that lot, bearing in mind it costs energy to get the oil out of those sources, then a younger Dryas is well within our technological capability.

    Are you feeling lucky?

    Dundee, Scotland • Since May 2007 • 425 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    pollywog, there is a history of lil p baiting me (and others.) My response does not demean me - it indicates I am rather tired of such 'baiting.

    If you're interested in whether animals have an awareness of the nearness or proximity of death, checking out any of the examples I have given will give information.

    "jews (sic) lined up for the gas chamber" were frequently aware
    that things were wrong (going by survivors' eyewitness testimony.
    And animals at an abbattoir can smell the blood and hear the cries.

    I find it interesting that you've chipped in just after lil p before.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    Does anyone else have faith that, as yet unforeseen technology by way of a scientific revelation will solve the energy crisis and eliminate the need to burn fossil fuels at all, thus reducing carbon emissions to practically zero when applied to industry and civilization in general?

    ala Einsteins relativity theory or Rutherford's atom splitting ushering in the atomic age and nuclear energy. Could we be just one insight and genius away from free energy ?

    Neccessity is the mother of invention and we need this new invention NOW, more than we need to roll back the clock to a time of pre existing levels of emissions and trade the surplus away in some bullshit scheme. Who wants to be the last man standing in a severe climate change anyway because in the long run money won't save you ? It'll probably just prolong your agony. Just seems back asswards looking.

    And i cant help but feel Copenhagen really is just a photo opportunity exercise in futility and lip service to a united inter governmental solution. Another weapon of mass distraction to fast track in a single planetary government and currency.

    Technology got us into this mess, its the only thing that can get us out. For all the talk of terraforming and living off planet, realistically that wont happen without a radical new form of energy that by its existence will eliminate the need to terraform and colonise extra terrestrially anyway.

    The danger is that any free energy device would be supresssed by the military industrial complex and associated oil cartels before blueprints for construction could be disseminated on line and perpetuating control in the hands of the super elite.

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    For all the talk of terraforming and living off planet, realistically that wont happen without a radical new form of energy that by its existence will eliminate the need to terraform and colonise extra terrestrially anyway.

    If we were somehow able to terraform other planets, surely we'd also be able to re-terraform the one we already inhabit.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    pollywog - offensive and absurd in three comments total. You're on the wrong site, please leave.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    If we were somehow able to terraform other planets, surely we'd also be able to re-terraform the one we already inhabit.

    ...that by its existence will eliminate the need to terraform and colonise extra terrestrially anyway.

    but it doesnt need terraforming, at least the bit i inhabit doesn't...yet, could do with a bit of aquaforming?

    and just thinking - go fuck yourself. just so you can add insulting to what little you think :)

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Aren't you a charmer.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Are you feeling lucky?

    Not particularly. I do feel, however, that the particular combination of events that caused the Younger Dryas is unlikely to recur; the Greenland ice sheet is *not* the Laurentide. Which isn't to say disruption of thermohaline circulation isn't possible, but the long-term capping of the North Atlantic you'd need for a real Younger Dryas situation is unlikely.

    And, quite frankly, by the time we got to that point rising sea levels would have already fucked us over quite enough. At least there's a good chance New Zealand would have the same or slightly improved climate, should the worst occur...all we have to do is fight off the boat people. ;)

    Another weapon of mass distraction to fast track in a single planetary government and currency.

    Ah, conservative Christian conspiracy theories - just the way to help your cause.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    Ah, conservative Christian conspiracy theories - just the way to help your cause.

    Cause...what cause ? But no, i'm afraid theres no room in my future for conservative christians.

    Wouldn't it be grand though if the next Einstein were an NZer and we could actually capitalise on new technology as Finland's Nokia did with cell phones, and leave the legacy of 150 years of cattle farting behind ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • conseismal,

    well, bypassing the rather unbelievable "what abuse?" followed straight away by an issuance of stiock version of same ("troll" ad nauseam) - the least islander could do is come up with some inventive abuse fr criminey's sake - and now s/he be claiming to have been 'baited' by someone with a 'history of baiting', heck, it's all just waaaaay too paranoid for me - all i wanted to do was have a free discussion with you about how you understand, in what exactly you think consists, this animal 'awareness' of mortality.. for it seems to me you are talking about simple reaction to a threat coming from an animal's environment ( i realise of course that the slaughterhouse is somewhat of a departure from environment, but..heh ) is there anywhere to be found "evidence" (and iwhat representational form would this take precisely?) that any of these cited creatures comprise in themselves a subjective brick wall by which their very finitude is conceived? By which they attempt in vain contemplate the loss of all body and context on an absolutely unknowable horizon? ie that they are "aware" of death???? Islander's typically glib talk of 'species' and 'behaviours' sounds to me like nothing so much a person desperate to deny, semiotically at the very least, the awesome burden of her humanity at any - or possibly the least - cost, and grabbing at the lightest scientific straws available to he/r at every moment..


    pollywog sounds like real fun - tech got us into it tech gets us out of it - seems plain as day aye, ah, but PA personnel are a whole lot more religious than they know/care to let on! Christian belief depends however not nearly so much on the "conservative" as faith in the utterl;y unprecedented - who is here to prove otherwise?



    best from Mr Whitebait, the littlest p pill of all..

    Since Jul 2009 • 54 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Ashby,

    @Lucy

    You are assuming that there is only way, one set of circumstances that can lead to a particular climate set point. We do not know that, so for you to rely on that is without any evidence at all.

    I should perhaps have said, a younger Dryas type event but you would have to be fairly obtuse not to think of that option I feel.

    Dundee, Scotland • Since May 2007 • 425 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Are you feeling lucky?

    Well, do ya, punk?

    (Peter Ashby: the Dirty Harry of climate change!)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

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