Subject: (urth) game, bowie, Knight

From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 19:58:08 +0000

This is a very inane post on my part, but here are a few random comments:

I managed to play that Castlevania game with Terminus Est in it.  It rips off 
all kind of fantasy literature, from Moorcock's Mourneblade to the estoc and 
badelaire already mentioned on the list.  That's a really, really cool game. 
If you aren't wearing special glasses when you go into the "last" room, the 
game ends halfway through. (Kind of like those uncritical readers of Wolfe on 
that rasf discussion - they weren't wearing the right mental glasses to see 
the huge upside down castle underneath the obvious one) Now I'm trying to 
fight the urge to start playing those stupid things again (actually, some of 
them aren't that dumb - I remember being totally confused by some aspects of 
Final Fantasy VII's plot (did Sephiroth die before the game even started? Is 
he just a clone then? Could Vincent be Aeris' father?), and the ending was 
more ambiguous than Wolfe (did all the humans get wiped out? Did the heroes 
survive in that ship?)).  I thought I kicked the video game habit in high 
school.

Thanks for the heads up on David Bowie's endorsement, Nigel.  Now for the real 
question: who would make a prettier woman - David Bowie or Mick Jagger?  While 
I readily admit that Mick Jagger may not be an attractive fellow, I've seen a 
picture of him in drag and was taken aback by the improvement. And is there 
really an extra "ding" in Vanilla Ice's rip off of Bowie's Under Pressure?

I haven't been able to find an obituary on Damon Knight online.  Was there any 
special, extraordinary cause of death, or simply a peaceful shuffling off? 
Dan'l, you seem to know.  Odd that Lafferty and Knight should die in such a 
short span of time.  Anybody have a favorite Knight work?  I like Man in the 
Tree, and I have Humpty Dumpty but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  
I recall someone saying it was very "lupine".

Have a nice day, everybody.

Marc Aramini

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From: Andy Robertson <andywrobertson at clara.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 20:14:02 +0000

Damon's obit made the NY TIMES for 4-17-02.

He was an important man - arguably (even) more important as an anthologist
and editor than a writer.    maa is right - the older generation is dying
off.

    hartshorn

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 20:09:01 +0000

Marc asks:

> I haven't been able to find an obituary on Damon Knight online.  Was
> there any special, extraordinary cause of death, or simply a peaceful
> shuffling off? 

According to the Locus Online obit
(http://www.locusmag.com/2002/News/News04Log.html)

Writer, editor, and critic Damon Knight  died shortly after midnight, on
April 15, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Oregon. He had been
hospitalized since Friday, and had been ill for some time with a number of
ailments.

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From: Jacob G. Corbin <webmaster at afriendlysbooks.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 09:25:31 +0000

As long as we're on the subject of games, I played one a while back (as I
was rereading NEW SUN, in fact - confluence!) that I think folks on the list
might get a kick out of - "Planescape: Torment".  Technically, the game is
fantastic; lovely evocative graphics, haunting music, and
decent-to-excellent voice-acting.  But the story - as PC games go - is
marvelous, and clearly heavily influenced by the heavyweights of what we
might loosely call "dark fantasy" - Peake, Carroll, Moorcock, and yes,
possibly even Wolfe.  The neat trick of the game is that it can be gotten
through almost exclusively through dialogue - mad twitchy button-pushing
skillz are wholly unnecessary - and the wonder is that much of the writing
is actually pretty good.  You play an amnesiac immortal who awakens in an
interdimensional megalopolis populated by illicit arms-dealing angels,
hive-mind robots, cultists of various stripes, and even a pregnant sentient
city block.  There're also very strong (and not wholly ironic, either)
Christian overtones, for those of you whose fancy that might tickle.  The
proceedings resonated very nicely with NEW SUN, especially inasmuch as the
ending was left pleasingly ambiguous.  Good stuff, and a deal at the 5-odd
bucks it can be had for at Best Buy.

Jacob G. Corbin

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From: Nigel Price <nigel.a.price at virgin.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 12:13:32 +0000

Lots to think about, lots of points to respond to. Let's start with the most
bizarre first...

Marc asked:

>>Now for the real question: who would
>>make a prettier woman - David Bowie
>>or Mick Jagger?  While I readily admit
>>that Mick Jagger may not be an
>>attractive fellow, I've seen a picture
>>of him in drag and was taken aback by
>>the improvement.

This is exactly the kind of question I spend a great deal of time not
thinking about. I can only say that I've never met Mr Bowie, but on those
occasions when I have encountered Mr Jagger in the pavilion at Lord's, he
has been dressed sobrely in an ordinary sports jacket and tie (a brown,
knitted tie last time, if I recall) and looked astonishingly ordinary and
not in the least effeminate. But yes, I have seen the photographs and know
what you mean. Disturbing, isn't it?

I certainly envy those of you who have met with or even corresponded with Mr
Wolfe. The friend I've been staying with in the States for the last couple
of weeks has been a techincal organiser at various local and world cons and
has met GW on several occasions. He described him to me as, "A typical
midwestern guy - very pleasant and very polite, but not someone who suffers
fools gladly. I always found him very easy and professional to work with."

That sort of fits in with the other descriptions that people have given,
doesn't it?

>>And is there really an extra "ding" in
>>Vanilla Ice's rip off of Bowie's Under
>>Pressure?

I couldn't possibly say.

More anon.

Nigel

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