Float of Fancy
Oct. 25th, 2009 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slowfoxMSN had this article about how these floating cities could be the solution to forced adaptation to rising sea-levels as a consequence of climate change:
I think they're pretty, certainly, although oddly they put me more in mind of the Arcologies of Old Earth rather than Pernik et al of Atlantis. If that sentence made no sense whatsoever, get thee to thy Peter F Hamilton pronto (Night's Dawn Trilogy).
Getting back to the floating metropli, though, it's all sadly impractical: the cities themselves are each designed to accommodate 50,000 people. The resource cost of construction looks as though it would be massive, which suggests that these floating conurbations are probably going to end up as pseudo-gated communities for the super-wealthy. That said, I'd be tempted.
For a slightly more realistic accommodation scenario, here's Tetris being played with Berlin apartment blocks.
In other news, I've finished S1 of True Blood.Um yes, it arrived yesterday. Moderation in all things 'n that...
Good series, even though bits are quite, quite different from canon, I do feel that the adaptation's mostly true to the spirit of the books. And even though we get to see so very little of him, I love Eric! And Pam! And Lafayette absolutely rocked (I really like how much more they made of him than in the books): indeed, I would rate him my favourite character.
Also, Jason Stackhouse is very well-played (just love the bit early on where he's in the Police station, and his defence is 'that couldn't have been me, I'm not that smart', and Andy and Bud just give each other a 'no arguing with that' kinda look). I gradually warmed to Sookie (wasn't that taken with her in the first ep), and learned to tolerate Sam (he's a little too smarmy for my tastes). Tara's mother was an intriguing plot-line, Tara herself is gloriously screwed up.
Bill... is still bland - although him playing Wii golf amused me. Eric just has a presence that Bill can't match, even though there were a couple of moments where Bill alludes to a slightly more scheming backstory than how things are being presented. I love the bit where Pam's the bouncer at Fangtasia when Jason turns up: Sure, you can go in. *pause* Good luck getting out.
A frustration I had with the book, and that carries through to the series, is that you're given relatively few clues as to who the murderer might be, until very late on, at which point clues all start to arrive at once.
The whole look and feel of the series is just about perfect - I like the cinematography, and the music. Very much looking forward to Hotshot, more Eric and more Pam. We caught a fleeting glimpse of Queen Sophie via flashback, and a token glimpse of vamp justice as meted out by ... was it the King of Texas? So there's so much more that they can run with for S2... but I'm guessing I have to wait a while for that.
I think they're pretty, certainly, although oddly they put me more in mind of the Arcologies of Old Earth rather than Pernik et al of Atlantis. If that sentence made no sense whatsoever, get thee to thy Peter F Hamilton pronto (Night's Dawn Trilogy).
Getting back to the floating metropli, though, it's all sadly impractical: the cities themselves are each designed to accommodate 50,000 people. The resource cost of construction looks as though it would be massive, which suggests that these floating conurbations are probably going to end up as pseudo-gated communities for the super-wealthy. That said, I'd be tempted.
For a slightly more realistic accommodation scenario, here's Tetris being played with Berlin apartment blocks.
In other news, I've finished S1 of True Blood.Um yes, it arrived yesterday. Moderation in all things 'n that...
Good series, even though bits are quite, quite different from canon, I do feel that the adaptation's mostly true to the spirit of the books. And even though we get to see so very little of him, I love Eric! And Pam! And Lafayette absolutely rocked (I really like how much more they made of him than in the books): indeed, I would rate him my favourite character.
Also, Jason Stackhouse is very well-played (just love the bit early on where he's in the Police station, and his defence is 'that couldn't have been me, I'm not that smart', and Andy and Bud just give each other a 'no arguing with that' kinda look). I gradually warmed to Sookie (wasn't that taken with her in the first ep), and learned to tolerate Sam (he's a little too smarmy for my tastes). Tara's mother was an intriguing plot-line, Tara herself is gloriously screwed up.
Bill... is still bland - although him playing Wii golf amused me. Eric just has a presence that Bill can't match, even though there were a couple of moments where Bill alludes to a slightly more scheming backstory than how things are being presented. I love the bit where Pam's the bouncer at Fangtasia when Jason turns up: Sure, you can go in. *pause* Good luck getting out.
A frustration I had with the book, and that carries through to the series, is that you're given relatively few clues as to who the murderer might be, until very late on, at which point clues all start to arrive at once.
The whole look and feel of the series is just about perfect - I like the cinematography, and the music. Very much looking forward to Hotshot, more Eric and more Pam. We caught a fleeting glimpse of Queen Sophie via flashback, and a token glimpse of vamp justice as meted out by ... was it the King of Texas? So there's so much more that they can run with for S2... but I'm guessing I have to wait a while for that.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 08:48 pm (UTC)I, too, had to warm up to Anna Paquin's Sookie, though that could be because I've always had a crush on her and she just looks wrong in blond.
Series!Pam & Eric are just the bestest. :D
I'll keep my fingers crossed that we will actually get to see Hotshot. At least it'd be a good storyline for Jason to do, so there's still a chance they might not actually wait until the very late seasons. Personally, as long as Book 4 gets made into a season, I'm all good. Obvious fan is obvious.
I wish they'd put out the dvds faster. >_>
Also, re the floating city - I haven't re-read in years, but I know the Australian cities in Otherland all extended into the sea, tethered to the land but floating. So maybe not Pernik (though that is almost exactly how I imagined Pernik), but Otherland-cities?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 08:58 pm (UTC)I am a total convert, these days, to Sookie/Eric. Series!Eric is magnificent: Bill who? :-P
Once I'd warmed up to Anna Paquin's Sook, she was ace for the part... but it was a bit of an adjustment (although looking back, I don't think I can really put my finger on *why*).
Yes, they have to get up to at least the fourth book. But by then you want to get to the stage where Eric remembers thereafter, and then... well, basically, I want them to film the lot. Film it now, and get all the DVDs out at once.
There is something terribly more-ish about Sookie. Even the DVDs are pure, pure crack!
re the floating cities, I agree that although it does look like Pernik, the enforced confinement of the setup made me think more of the Arcologies (part of Pernik's freedom was the planetary consensus, for me) - perhaps it's the high lip to the edge?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 10:26 pm (UTC)Look forward to your review though!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 07:16 am (UTC)Well, it'll probably take me 3 or 4 weeks to read it, I'm guessing, if I knuckle down and force myself to stick with it.
Or maybe I'll devour it in one sitting. Hard to say, don't you think?
It's promised to Comradette K next, after which it'll be in the post to you, along with your dad's (slightly depressing) book on Israel/Palestine.
Books ...
Date: 2009-10-27 05:37 pm (UTC)The Israel/Palestine book was indeed depressing but I felt well researched and I'm confident that what it details is the truth. It's deeply sad that those actions could have been taken by a group of people who themselves had so recently been persecuted.
It seems to boil down to the all to common ability of humans to view people of a different group to their own as 'less worthy'. Whereas we are all merely weak human beings trying to get by.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 11:08 am (UTC)