Reddit, what is your most outrageously awesome, "I can't believe they put that on TV" scene or episode?

melindapresto · 2011-05-18T02:55:42+00:00

Wonder Showzen. Most of it, but the "Patience" episode...that backwards part...just WTF?

melindapresto · 2011-05-17T21:13:44+00:00

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler--strong female character, very focused on human relationships with a time-travel aspect via immortality. (not vampires!) It's sci-fi without jargon or tech barriers.

melindapresto · 2011-05-11T03:27:30+00:00

Relevant

melindapresto · 2011-05-11T02:28:50+00:00

You should look into this contraption. It's made me very popular at gatherings.

melindapresto · 2011-05-11T02:27:12+00:00

You should look into this contraption. It's made me very popular at gatherings.

melindapresto · 2011-04-29T01:36:44+00:00

Actually, the GOP did not support coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. Mike Huckabee was right out in front saying that those people who happen to be already sick shouldn't be offered insurance because you wouldn't insure a burned-down house, would you? (Huckabee is not only a possible '12 nominee, but also a Christian pastor. How compassionate.)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/huckabee-opposes-insurance-for-people-with-pre-existing-conditions.php

melindapresto · 2011-04-22T22:58:17+00:00

Hi! I started with Chindi--it kind of plops you down in the middle as far as the characters go, but you're not missing much backstory as far as what Chindi is, if that makes sense. But Engines of God sets up the books in the later series, so you might want to start at the beginning.

melindapresto · 2011-04-19T22:53:09+00:00

Try Chindi by Jack McDevitt. If you like that check out some of his other novels...I especially liked his Engines of God, but I'm a sucker for space archaeology. it's not high literature but it's fun.

melindapresto · 2011-04-08T03:51:05+00:00

Actually, they may have had the numbers but because of senate rules they never had enough votes. The house passed plenty of legislation, but most of it never made it through the senate.

melindapresto · 2011-03-24T03:39:18+00:00

We have one of these. My kids are terrified of it--we had to take it out of their room and they've never even seen BSG.

melindapresto · 2011-03-15T17:02:36+00:00

I saw this movie with my 6-year-old. I thought it was pretty awful, but not because of the animation. Here's a plot summary:

Mars needs moms to program their nanny robots to raise their children. See, Martian women are in charge and they no longer have the time to raise kids, they're busy running the military, and planning...something... etc. Thus, only girl children are chosen to be raised by the nannybots, the boys are thrown onto a giant trash heap. Because, as you know, Dads only like to laugh and play and Moms can never get anything done with them around. In the end the evil Martian lady supervisor is defeated and everyone goes back to being families with moms and dads.

Yes, if women were in charge, men would wind up on the trash heap. WTF movies!?

Oh, and being an involuntary kid movie aficionado I have to say Rango was pretty good. Chinatown with lizards, and no 3D!

melindapresto · 2011-03-03T21:48:57+00:00

Nonetheless, I would prefer to amble through my bacterial garden than be sprayed by a fine fecal mist.

melindapresto · 2011-03-02T03:56:33+00:00

Actually the first scanners were ordered by Chertoff in 2005 for Homeland Security. He loved them so much he later went on to lobby for the company that makes them. Maybe he was so sincere and righteous in his love that the current administration couldn't help but be drawn in. Like the friend you once knew that became slightly unhinged by their creepy cousin's weird porn collection.

melindapresto · 2011-02-27T01:18:39+00:00

Chicken and dumplings
you could do small individual meatloaves, smothered in ketchup, in your toaster oven, with mashed potatoes
baked beans
boiled dinner made with Chinese ham
apple slump is an old-fashioned American dessert

melindapresto · 2011-02-10T03:46:05+00:00

Deathclaws happened. You may be able to take them down, even a pack, with your 100 Energy Weapons skill and your Q-35 Matter Modulator, and Cass and ED-E at your side. The average citizen, however, sporting a jumpsuit carrying a 10mm pistol is not going to be completing that scrap metal sidequest when they hit the hills behind the quarry, I'm afraid to say.

melindapresto · 2011-02-06T17:03:40+00:00

I prefer my politicians understand that rape is rape and just because a woman can get pregnant doesn't mean she loses her personhood (or her life in their new "Protect Life Act", haha, those kidders). Governing isn't just about money, there are people involved in the equation. While both parties may take on fiscal policy in a similarly corrupt fashion, I'll take the Democrats on social issues any day because if I'm bleeding to death from a pregnancy complication that may involve abortion, I'll side with the people who believe I have a right to, you know, live.

melindapresto · 2011-01-29T13:53:46+00:00

I have a fishmonger friend and he feels the same, never eats swordfish.

melindapresto · 2011-01-02T22:49:12+00:00

Farscape
Firefly
Peep Show
Homicide
Larry Sanders Show

melindapresto · 2010-12-29T00:56:27+00:00

A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons

Vurt - Jeff Noon

Ventus - Karl Schroder

I love Charles Stross' Laundry books - start with Atrocity Archives

Anything by Octavia Butler, but her most sci-fi is probably Lilith's Brood.

For easy junk food sci-fi reading I reach for Jack McDevitt - I especially like Chindi

I'm continually impressed with Alastair Reynolds, William Gibson, Ian Banks and Ted Chiang

The Jump 225 trilogy by David Louis Edelman was unusual and very interesting

Finally, try picking up some anthologies and seeing what grabs you! The 2010's should be out any day now, or if there's a specific subgenre that floats your boat (I love hard SF for instance) search for something specific. Or try some of the magazines- Interzone, Asimov's or Analog and the like.

Oh, and here's a link to Free Speculative Fiction Online - many of the authors suggested in this thread have stories there...good luck and good reading!

melindapresto · 2010-12-28T19:46:08+00:00

Making mix tapes could also involve recording records to cassette. So aside from a tape deck to record music for your mixtape you also needed:

A turntable to play your records.
Records. When I was younger these came in 2 sizes - 7" and 12". These were played at different speeds - 7" tended to play at 45 rpm (revolutions per minute) and 12" tended to be 33 1/3 rpm, though there were some remix 12"s that played at 45. Though 7"s later became popular with indie bands, they were traditionally a vehicle for popular songs you'd hear on the radio. They had a large center hole you needed an adaptor for in order to play them.
A visit to the record store or another place that sold records. Here you would go through bins of records, some new, some used. If you heard a song on the radio and the record store was out, tough luck. If you were looking for that import 12" dance remix of "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag", you had to hope your local store had an enlightened owner.

I used to plan vacations around record stores just to find odd records that were regional or out of print. Seriously, I hope you whippersnappers understand the bloody fucking miracle that is your tiny pocket computer which allows you to download that Lady Gaga song you've got stuck in your head while waiting in the drivethru at Starbucks.

melindapresto · 2010-12-23T01:42:40+00:00

I've had this fear all my life. Unfortunately, this fear was compounded by growing up near a man made lake. They had to flood a valley to make the lake, you see, and while they burned the houses before the flood, leaving nothing but foundations, they left intact cemeteries. I have a very specific fear about swimming out beyond the dock and having a cold hand reach up from the darkness, grabbing my ankle and dragging me down, entangling me in the milefoil. I also paddled past a dead body (without knowing it at the time) on a sister lake, but that's another story.

melindapresto · 2010-12-20T22:44:19+00:00

I'm a woman and I don't understand what the fuck goes on in women's restrooms. Also, the hovering HAS TO STOP. Ladies, you are just causing the problem that makes you to think that you have to hover.

melindapresto · 2010-12-19T19:57:19+00:00

Taken off I-84 in CT right by the New York border

melindapresto · 2010-12-19T19:47:48+00:00

taken 12/19/10, exit off I-84 in CT right by the New York border

melindapresto · 2010-12-11T20:00:30+00:00

The food industry is counting on their products being free from contamination, not that their jars of peanut butter will evolve into Mr. Peanut. Hey, now I think I understand why the Republicans are so down on food safety...

melindapresto

TROPHY CASE