Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time?

I stole this one from Rob, who I'm pretty sure stole it from somebody else. What can I say? We're all a bunch of greedy, bloggin' blackguards.

Anyways, it's easy to play along. Just copy the list and BOLD the movies you have seen. Don't be surprised to see that I haven't seen some of the more, er, popular SF films. I'll preface this with the fact that I've asked for Blade Runner on DVD for Christmas--so don't yell at me and call me names!

1. Metropolis (1927)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. Wings of Desire (1987)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
9. Minority Report (2002)
10. Delicatessen (1991)
11. Sleeper (1973)
12. The Trial (1962)
13. Alphaville (1965)
14. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
15. Serenity (2005)
16. Pleasantville (1998)
17. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
18. Battle Royale (2000)
19. RoboCop (1987)
20. Akira (1988)
21. The City of Lost Children (1995)
22. Planet of the Apes (1968)
23. V for Vendetta (2005)
24. Metropolis (2001)
25. Gattaca (1997)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
27. On The Beach (1959)
28. Mad Max (1979)
29. Total Recall (1990)
30. Dark City (1998)
31. War Of the Worlds (1953)
32. District 13 (2004)
33. They Live (1988)
34. THX 1138 (1971)
35. Escape from New York (1981)
36. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
37. Silent Running (1972)
38. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
41. Soylent Green (1973)
42. I Robot (2004)
43. Logan's Run (1976)
44. Strange Days (1995)
45. Idiocracy (2006)
46. Death Race 2000 (1975)
47. Rollerball (1975)
48. Starship Troopers (1997)
49. One Point O (2004)
50. Equilibrium (2002)

Heroes personality test

Your Score: Zach

You scored 41 Idealism, 58 Nonconformity, 45 Nerdiness

You gotta embrace your inner freak. 'Cause the only thing you'll regret is denying who you really are.
Congratulations, you're Zach! You're nerdy, strange, slightly snarky, and proud of it! You're also a nice guy and really trustworthy friend. Any cheerleader (or, well, anyone) should consider his or herself extremely fortunate to be friends with a person like you.

Your best quality: You're an all-around great friend
Your worst quality: You don't get along well with annoying little brothers

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

House Stark, duh

This is no surprise at all...

Your Score: House Stark

36% Dominant, 27% Extroverted, 54% Trustworthy

Responsible. Respectable. Dour. That’s not shit coming out of your ass--it’s honor. You are clearly of House Stark.

You are a submissive personality, meaning that you are more than willing to relinquish control to someone more qualified; you will unflinchingly accept any responsibility that is thrust upon you, including servitude. Unfortunately for you, your unending patience and accommodating nature often make people look to you for a leader. In essence, you are the perfect leader: someone who has no desire to lead, yet is substantially well-qualified to do it.

You are also introverted, which means that people sometimes have difficulty understanding your thought process. Your dependable nature makes you predictable, but you’ve probably got all sorts of emotional dysfunctions when it comes to more intimate relationships. There are very few people whom you trust unwaveringly, and you’re not the type to confide in other people. So cold, so aloof--so Stark.

Finally, you are trustworthy--the very definition of the word. All secrets are safe with you. All of your vows are unbreakable. True to your name, you world is a stark place; there is black, and there is white. Your rigidity tends to undercut your overall value as a friend and ally. Honesty such as yours is hard to come by, which is easy to understand when you consider how easily manipulated you are by less decent individuals. Essentially, you’re the nice guy, and you’ll always finish last.

Representative characters include: Eddard Stark, Jon Snow, and Sansa Stark

Similar Houses: Frey, Lannister and Tully

Opposite House: Baratheon

When playing the game of thrones, you play it with one sword in your hand and another up your ass.

Link: The Song of Ice and Fire House Test written by Geeky_Stripper on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Huh...

Are both Neil Gaiman and Robert J. Sawyer trying to pull a Philip K. Dick? See for yourselves.







I think this has potential to turn into one rather amusing meme: authors plus animals!

Questions for book bloggers

Found these over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf:

What are you reading right now?
About a hundred pages in on Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. So far, I like it, and I know my sister absolutely hated however much she read of it. To each his own, I say. I like floating orbs that talk and a walled-in city of undead folk.

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?
Yup, I'm always ready with my to-be-read pile. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams will be following, and right behind that is Selling Out by Justina Robson.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?
PSM Magazine and an old issue of Interzone.

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
Hmm. I really didn't enjoy The Scarlet Letter. I can't believe teachers force that upon students. Ugh, what a borefest.

What's the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. And this will be an even better recommendation now that Harry Potter is finished. It's a fun YA novel where characters are read into and out of books. Trouble arises, adventure looms, and a good time occurs. Check it out!

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
Nope, only been there a few times and it was to check out the 50 cent rack.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?
Well, I know many readers either love or hate Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Me? I LOVE it. I can see how it might not sound interesting in description (an eccentric scientist works like a madman to discover how to restore a birdman's wings), but it's just so dark and layered with originality that I can't do anything but read open-mouthed in pure adoration.

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you're on the computer? While you're driving?
I do read on my lunch break. I'm not built for bathtubs. No, I am usually watching a movie or TV while watching a movie or TV--not reading. I like to read in silence. Unfortunately, I read far too much on my computer. And lastly, I like to read road signs while driving. Duh!

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?
Probably. Hey, some still do nowadays!

What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
That'd be A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. I found myself unable to put the book down at night, always whispering "Just one more POV chapter, just one more..."

Progress notes for May 1, 2007

I am 79% Addicted to Coffee

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

This--as I type with jittery hands from my fourth cup of coffee today--comes as no surprise. How addicted are you? If you beat me, you get to buy the next round of joe. Sucks to be you!

Oh, and happy May Day!

"The Songs He'd Sing"

New Words: 439
Total Words: 2,407
Pages: 6
Deadline: None
Reason for stopping: Need to think some thingies out
Stimulants: See above
Songs played loudly: "Gravity" by John Mayer, "Belt" by Say Anything
Exercise: Nada, rainy day
Mail: Signed contracts for Strange Stories of Sand and Sea and will be dropping them in the mail tomorrow
Darling du Jour: "Yup." He squirmed, wanting down. "You forgot to mention the dog though."
"Must be new."
He licked a paw. "No worries. The thing couldn't even talk. Yap, yap, yap."
Other writing-related work: Contract reading and signing
The Internet is full of Things: I really love Michel Gagné's work, and he's put up his sold-out book Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z online for free. So, you know, check it out! I'm quite smitten with his version of sheep.

Mouse dæmon

Aw, mouse! She completes me. Anyways, The Golden Compass comes out in December and, well, I'm not that excited. Seems like ever since LOTR left theaters, the movie industry has been trying to fill some fantasy void come December every year. 2006 was home to crap-filled Eragon, and I think before that was The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Meh. At least this one will have dæmons. Not daemons. Dæmons.

Some first sentences

Well, all the cool kids are doing it. Without further ado, the first sentences of five works-in-progress:

• The morning Robbie left for Etchton, two sea-blue sparrows fell from the sky, landing as hard as rocks on our front lawn. (from "The Two Birds")
• "I’m a star destroyer," Tommy whispered to the kid next to him scraping a plastic shovel down across a heap of sparkling sand. (from "Magus Again")
• Greg's summer bonfire, despite the rumors of our generation, received a small turnout, all of whom were connected to one another by nothing other than hemp jewelry and owed hits. (from "Firefoot")
• Yellow moonlight washed the Seventh Steppe Tavern in a pale skin, but only enough so to keep the firewolves at bay. (from "Casmarr and the Night Deeds")
• We knew something was wrong when our dogs started throwing up rocks. (from "The Moment I Met Them")

Con report!

My con report of NY ComicCon 2007 is now live and breathing.

In lieu of any actual news, here's my monster name or whatever. At least now I no longer have to blame my Italian heritage on me being hairy. I'm a frakking abomination, people. Can't you just deal with that?

Get Your Monster Name

Map!

I can't claim to understand what this whole map excitement is about, but all the cool kids are doing it. I'm hoping to discover that I have a huge fan base in Japan...



Create your own visitor map!

A haiku for you

Haiku2 for wistfulwritings
my favorite shop i've decided i need to enlarge my tanith
@ aboutmylife.netadvogato.orgblogger.comblogs.gnome.orgblogspot.comdeadjournal.comgreatestjournal.comlivejournal.commyspace.comspaces.msn.com
Created by Grahame

Oh, now this is funny. Especially that last line...enlarge my Tanith, indeed.

How I write

So there's been this how-I-write-a-novel meme going around the blogosphere lately (see here, here, here, and here). Unfortunately, I don't write novels. Not yet, at least. I've started some. Well, lots actually. But here's my take on the process, using short fiction as my medium.

1. Something to write on/type in (I prefer typing in Word because my handwriting is akin to that of a fourth grader.)
2. Story's title (It doesn't have to be anything great. It could be "The Far Moons of Summer's Eyes" or "On This Cloudy Day" or "The Sentry's Mark" or "Talking Cat Story." I just need a name as it helps me focus on the story. I can always change the name later if the story goes too far away from it. Most often though the name sticks and I work my story around it instead.)
3. Contemplate the idea (What if? Maybe they? Who did it? What's going on? What's the point?)
4. Write the opening scene (This is probably my favorite step. Not that I enjoy hooks when I read novels, but writing them can be fun.)
5. Scribble down notes at the bottom of the file: possible scenes, character names, grocery list, a couple of curse words
6. Write some more (This part is tedious.)
7. Contemplate the ending (I hate endings. Absolutely hate them. Most of the time I just want to write, "And then they had makeup sex and the evil robots exploded from jealousy. THE END.")
8. Look up better words in dictionary/thesaurus to replace the crappy ones I used as placeholders
9. Finish the story (Hah!)
10. Quick pass on the first draft (This is more for grammar. I'll let the first readers tell me stuff about plot holes.)
11. Hand off to first readers (Those poor souls.)
12. Second round of editing per comments from first readers (Sometimes this involves a lot of head hitting desk action, but that's all right. It gets the job done.)
13. A third read of the story
14. Possibly change its title
15. Market research (Ralan.com is the best.)
16. Format according to the proper guidelines and submit to the godly editors who will smite me for writing about yet another talking cat (Fingers crossed at this point.)
17. Forget about the story, go have something to eat, and begin the process all over again (Woo.)

And that is how it is done, most of the time. Occasionally, mainly with flash pieces, I just write nonstop, straight from the brain, and submit. Maybe that's a good thing. I've sold mostly flash fiction recently. But hopefully I'll get around to finishing Summersong one day and I'll let you know how I write a novel (at least one I'm proud of). I'm sure it involves a lot more crying.

Book meme

Here's a book meme I wasn't tagged to do but am going to fill out regardless:

1. One book that changed your life?
I'm going to have to go with Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I read this shortly after the movie came out (somewhere back in 1995) and was blown away by how much better the book was than the movie. I was young then, and really had no idea how to discern if something was good or bad or just plain mediocre. I did know, however, was that Jurassic Park was fun to read. It got my imagination all spinning like a top. That's a book that really fueled me forward to devour book after book after book...

2. One book you have read more than once?
This is an easy one to answer: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. To date, I'm sure I've read it at least five times. It's a standalone novel from the Discworld series, and features two of my favorite characters ever. There's Om, the short-tempered god stuck in the body of a one-eyed turtle, and Brutha, dumb but oh so likeable.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
I guesss I'd want something deeply involving. Maybe Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

4. One book that made you laugh?
I'm going to have to go with Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Possibly one of the funniest collabs to date, the apocalypse has never been more of a joy to read.

5. One book that made you cry?
A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and that's all I'm saying about the matter.

6. One book you wish had been written?
Hmmmm...tough one. How about Paul and the Great Sushi Avalanche?

7. One book you wish had never been written?
The entire Wheel of Time series. There, I said it.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Currently, I'm working on The Clan Corporate by Charles Stross. Quite good so far.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
When I find the time (and actually buy the book) I'd like to read Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. Dragons, dragons, dragons.

10. Now tag five people.
You, him, you, you, and her.