...and the VERY distant future of technology as a whole...

It is simply mind boggling to imagine a world 50 years from today. In the 1960s, we delt with the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and building our first walk on the moon. By the year 2060 I think augmented reality, cybernetics, and general high reliance on technology in general. Overpopulation will be quite a big problem by then, so I wouldn't be surprised if colonies floating in the sky will become a reality and not just in Gundam. Speaking of which, robotics and other enhancements will probably be the norm in that time. Especially considering that we may be facing some nuclear war as well.

...and the distant future of media technology...

In 15 years time, I truly believe that TV as we know it will be obsolete. With many channels still just sticking to the same tiring reality shows and sitcoms, the internet is creating original content not getting in the hands of corporate suits trying to appeal to the masses/lowest common denominator. I've abandoned TV nearly 4 years ago since the internet appeals to pretty much every niche I like, and more are doing the same. In fact, I think the whole idea of a home entertainment system will be kind of pointless in that time frame. Mobile tech will be at a level which will be more than acceptable to fulfill all our needs, and we'll probably even use cars less often in favor of a better public transit.

The near future of media technology...

In the next five years, I believe that for the most media technology will be mobile and more user based than ever before. Even today, smart phones, laptops, and other handheld devices are on the rise in popularity and showing no signs of stopping. The 25 and younger crowd get most of their important news information through blog post or other independent sources rather than through big broadcasting channels like CNN and BBC. In retrospect, I don't think the next five years will not change too much when compared to today.

Blue Man Group

On a whim, my roommate bought the Avatar extended edition on Blu-ray, which we decided to watch on that same day. As a person who watched the theatrical release in 3D, I didn't have much reason to watch this, especially since I thought it was just “entertaining, but not that great”. Since we had nothing better to do that night, we watched it anyway. Three long hours later, we watch the credits with more or less, the same opinion we originally had of the movie. One new thing I can say is that the extended scenes helped more than hurt the movie.

The visuals and world created in Avatar are by far the best things about this movie. Even without the 3D and the super huge theatre screen, Pandora looks very beautiful and vast. It really shows how much time James Cameron put into the environments. It's also one of the few CGI movies that doesn't end up looking too awkward in terms of animation and detail. As a result, I never really felt disconnected with the world.

The story left a bit to be desired, but I can understand why Cameron made it so simple. A thought provoking story combined with all the visual candy would be hard to absorb for the average viewer. With that being said, the story was straight forward and cliched. I'd hate to jump on the “Pocahontas in space!” bandwagon, but Avatar does blatantly borrow from other popular stories/movies. Fortunately (at least to me) the story wasn't really a flat out deal breaker in this case.

While I don't have the most favorable opinion of the movie, I have to say that the two people out there that still hasn't watched it yet really should. The visuals alone are just too good to pass up.

The Golden Compass

While we are still on the heroic journey, I decided to read another well known children's fantasy novel. The Golden Compass, written by Philip Pullman is different take on the fantasy genre that takes place in a less “Tolken high fantasy” setting. Instead the story takes place in a parallel world similar to ours in many ways. This detail was a plus for me, because as much as I like elves and dwarfs, it really felt like a breath of fresh air. Another aspect I loved was the whole concept of the Daemons, or the animal manifestations living in every human's soul. They have their own personality and can have influence on the soul they're living in.

The story starts out with our heroine Lyra going against her Daemon's order of hiding in the Retiring Room of the collge she is currently living in. What results is overhearing an attempt to poison her uncle and the kidnapping of her good friend (among other things). Something I found really amusing was how Lyra always ended up coincidently getting into her various adventures simply due to others actions besides her own. This causes somewhat of a snowball effect when it comes to the problems she has to face. We go from rescuing a friend to stopping multiverse conquerers within the span of this novel.

With all this in mind, I have to say I really enjoyed this book. The scale of the problem at hand is simply not what I'm used to, and I like it. For a children's book it really doesn't talk down on it's audience, with some parts that even I thought was questionable for younger readers. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something a little different in the fantasy genre. I'm hoping to eventually read the other books in the series.

The Hobbit

 Man, what a great Thanksgiving weekend! Had good eats and had quite a lot of reading material done. I started off by reading the classic novel “The Hobbit” which is my first foray in the actual literary work of J. R. R. Tolken. While I haven't read anything from him until now, I am quite a fan of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and was really looking forward to reading one of his works at some point. What I was presented with was a very charming story about the unexpected adventure of Bilbo Baggins.

One thing that Tolken is really known for is creating a living, breathing fantasy world, and this book is no exception. The attention to detail put into society is quite amazing for a supposed “children's book”. Due to it being a children's book however, it is still susceptible to the common cliches you would expect to see in a fantasy novel. However, due to Tolken's influence to the fantasy genre and epic novels as a whole, they can be easily excused. It's also a great example of a novel that follows the hero's journey cycle (which was brought up in class).

The protagonist Bilbo Baggins, an aging hobbit, is lead to an adventure by wizard Gandalf to take back the gold belonging to the dwarf's family. He goes through numerous trials that often lead in danger but in the end, succeeds with his goal. A hero's journey never ends however, and the ending leads to another adventure. With that, the hero's journey begins again.

With such a rich world and good writing, The Hobbit is a really great story for younger readers and fantasy fans in general.

Conventions of the Sci-Fi genre

Humans moving beyond Earth

Overpopulation of Earth

Earth generally a dystopia

Exploring the uncharted territory

Space travel

Artificial Intelligence

Heavy reliance on technology

Cyberspace/The Internet

Transcending beyond human (or trying to)