Back from LA with Honorverse move news

Regarding Ender's Game, this movie should at least not have any problems with the author pissing off some of his fanbase and having activists encouraging people to not support his movie. DW's characters sometimes have odd or even caricatured politics but he's pretty good about not putting his foot in his mouth personally.

Also seriously, this project is going to be so far in the future that any impact Ender's Game has will be long forgotten, unless it somehow is a breakthrough picture the way Star Wars was back in the day, attracting a much wider audience than expected, or does something else at least as impressive as what Avatar did to get more than the usual "yet another movie in a crowded market" buzz.

solbergb wrote:Regarding Ender's Game, this movie should at least not have any problems with the author pissing off some of his fanbase and having activists encouraging people to not support his movie. DW's characters sometimes have odd or even caricatured politics but he's pretty good about not putting his foot in his mouth personally.

Also seriously, this project is going to be so far in the future that any impact Ender's Game has will be long forgotten, unless it somehow is a breakthrough picture the way Star Wars was back in the day, attracting a much wider audience than expected, or does something else at least as impressive as what Avatar did to get more than the usual "yet another movie in a crowded market" buzz.

I agree with both your points. I'm hoping Ender's Game does well. I'm offended by Orson Scott Card's statements, but I'll watch the movie. I read the book years ago and would love seeing it on screen.

I concede, and edited my post accordingly, that a Honor Harrington movie will take years to develop, but I'm hoping it is released sooner rather than later.

Kruhn wrote:I agree with both your points. I'm hoping Ender's Game does well. I'm offended by Orson Scott Card's statements, but I'll watch the movie. I read the book years ago and would love seeing it on screen.

Last time I checked, Enders Game was the only SF book on the NYT "Combined Print & E-Book Fiction". And it still is, at #12.

What was that line about publicity and getting your name spelled right?

Thank you for inspiring me to do a little research on Orson Scott Card's political views. I had been very excited about seeing the new "Ender's Game" movie until I read this:

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2013-05-09-1.html

Now I am ecstatic about seeing the new movie. Any Sci Fi author who has the courage to comment that a President and Political Party who have not honored the Constitutional requirement to pass a budget for the last five years...has my absolute support. Card's comments about Brown Shirts in America seem outlandish until you actually extract your cranium from your rectum long enough to take notice of the FBI-SHR statistics on Black vs White homicides and the anecdotal evidence that Obama has incited violence by Blacks against Whites.

Perhaps the upcoming Honorverse movie will inspire people to actually read the relevant passages of OBS and SVW and may be even House Of Steel so that the recognize the parallels between the PRH and Obama's America.

solbergb wrote:Regarding Ender's Game, this movie should at least not have any problems with the author pissing off some of his fanbase and having activists encouraging people to not support his movie. DW's characters sometimes have odd or even caricatured politics but he's pretty good about not putting his foot in his mouth personally.

Also seriously, this project is going to be so far in the future that any impact Ender's Game has will be long forgotten, unless it somehow is a breakthrough picture the way Star Wars was back in the day, attracting a much wider audience than expected, or does something else at least as impressive as what Avatar did to get more than the usual "yet another movie in a crowded market" buzz.

namelessfly wrote:Thank you for inspiring me to do a little research on Orson Scott Card's political views. I had been very excited about seeing the new "Ender's Game" movie until I read this:

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2013-05-09-1.html

Now I am ecstatic about seeing the new movie. Any Sci Fi author who has the courage to comment that a President and Political Party who have not honored the Constitutional requirement to pass a budget for the last five years...has my absolute support. Card's comments about Brown Shirts in America seem outlandish until you actually extract your cranium from your rectum long enough to take notice of the FBI-SHR statistics on Black vs White homicides and the anecdotal evidence that Obama has incited violence by Blacks against Whites.

Perhaps the upcoming Honorverse movie will inspire people to actually read the relevant passages of OBS and SVW and may be even House Of Steel so that the recognize the parallels between the PRH and Obama's America.

solbergb wrote:Regarding Ender's Game, this movie should at least not have any problems with the author pissing off some of his fanbase and having activists encouraging people to not support his movie. DW's characters sometimes have odd or even caricatured politics but he's pretty good about not putting his foot in his mouth personally.

Also seriously, this project is going to be so far in the future that any impact Ender's Game has will be long forgotten, unless it somehow is a breakthrough picture the way Star Wars was back in the day, attracting a much wider audience than expected, or does something else at least as impressive as what Avatar did to get more than the usual "yet another movie in a crowded market" buzz.

No indeed, the House of Representatives has not, nor are they required to pass a budget. They can lay taxes, collect them, and pass laws governing the spending of money. There is no "budget" mentioned in Section 8 of the US Constitution, where the powers of the Congress are specified.
As for O.s. Card's predominately religious views, none of my business, free speech, etc. But I did not like the book very much and I think the film will be very like the book. At least the making of it provided a lot of people with jobs. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

namelessfly wrote:Thank you for inspiring me to do a little research on Orson Scott Card's political views. I had been very excited about seeing the new "Ender's Game" movie until I read this:

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2013-05-09-1.html

Now I am ecstatic about seeing the new movie. Any Sci Fi author who has the courage to comment that a President and Political Party who have not honored the Constitutional requirement to pass a budget for the last five years...has my absolute support. Card's comments about Brown Shirts in America seem outlandish until you actually extract your cranium from your rectum long enough to take notice of the FBI-SHR statistics on Black vs White homicides and the anecdotal evidence that Obama has incited violence by Blacks against Whites.

Perhaps the upcoming Honorverse movie will inspire people to actually read the relevant passages of OBS and SVW and may be even House Of Steel so that the recognize the parallels between the PRH and Obama's America.

namelessfly, your comments belong in the Politics forum, not here. If you are going to make political statements, please take them there. The rules are looser there. That is why I asked Duckk to set it up. If you wish to comment on the politics of the Honorverse, that is one thing, but comments on current real-world situations belong there. I may not agree with everything you say, but what you do say does make me think more critically and deeply about what you comment on. So make your comments where they wont get you in as much trouble so I can continue to enjoy them.

Amen about my comment not belonging on this forum.

Ditto for Solberg's original comments about Card's political views pissing off the fans.

I confess that I remain amazed that the fundamental, existential struggle between socialism and capitalism that defines the struggle between Manticore and Haven doesn't piss off Weber's fan base. Aside from the brief passages on background in OBS and SVW, House of Steel was a scathing indictment of socialist politics and economics.

KNick wrote:

namelessfly wrote:Thank you for inspiring me to do a little research on Orson Scott Card's political views. I had been very excited about seeing the new "Ender's Game" movie until I read this:

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2013-05-09-1.html

Now I am ecstatic about seeing the new movie. Any Sci Fi author who has the courage to comment that a President and Political Party who have not honored the Constitutional requirement to pass a budget for the last five years...has my absolute support. Card's comments about Brown Shirts in America seem outlandish until you actually extract your cranium from your rectum long enough to take notice of the FBI-SHR statistics on Black vs White homicides and the anecdotal evidence that Obama has incited violence by Blacks against Whites.

Perhaps the upcoming Honorverse movie will inspire people to actually read the relevant passages of OBS and SVW and may be even House Of Steel so that the recognize the parallels between the PRH and Obama's America.

namelessfly, your comments belong in the Politics forum, not here. If you are going to make political statements, please take them there. The rules are looser there. That is why I asked Duckk to set it up. If you wish to comment on the politics of the Honorverse, that is one thing, but comments on current real-world situations belong there. I may not agree with everything you say, but what you do say does make me think more critically and deeply about what you comment on. So make your comments where they wont get you in as much trouble so I can continue to enjoy them.

namelessfly wrote:Amen about my comment not belonging on this forum.

Ditto for Solberg's original comments about Card's political views pissing off the fans.

I confess that I remain amazed that the fundamental, existential struggle between socialism and capitalism that defines the struggle between Manticore and Haven doesn't piss off Weber's fan base. Aside from the brief passages on background in OBS and SVW, House of Steel was a scathing indictment of socialist politics and economics.

It is a case of moving from the hypothetical to the real. The former nearly everyone can think about with a certain amount of detachment, since they have nothing invested in the outcome. The latter, nearly everyone has some baggage that they are carrying. Whether it is who they voted for or their benefits derived from the system, they have a stake in the results. In this, Weber is following in the footsteps of Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein, exploring the results of technological change on politics, religion, culture and societal interactions. Love it or hate it, that is, after all, what science fiction was originally all about. Even going back as far as W. G. Wells, this has been a staple of Scifi stories. All of them were derided and ridiculed until the press of scientific advancement caught up to their writings. But it is those writers that pushed the accepted bounds that are still remembered, while those that simply wrote to entertain faded away. And few have lasted as long or generated the kind of fan base Mr. Weber has.

There have been a lot of arguments for and against the absence of sound in space. My view is that remaining true to the science and keeping it silent is something to be exploited for dramatic effect. It is insufferably patronising to introduce sound simply because one thinks the audience is dumb.

On the other hand, I concede that laser beams would have to be shown as thin lines of light. Otherwise there would be no way for the audience to link a distant explosion to the sudden damage or destruction of the target.

However, I see a problem for the purists. Presumably the beam remains roughly constant in diameter between source and target. If the camera viewpoint is near the source, the beam would soon dwindle to invisibility on its way to the target. A similar problem occurs when the viewpoint is near the target. Is there a way to cope with this difficulty?

Digby wrote:However, I see a problem for the purists. Presumably the beam remains roughly constant in diameter between source and target. If the camera viewpoint is near the source, the beam would soon dwindle to invisibility on its way to the target. A similar problem occurs when the viewpoint is near the target. Is there a way to cope with this difficulty?

Yes. Lasers will still diverge because focusing, no matter how advanced, is not perfect. What follows is a table of beam diameterfor a common over the counter red laser expressed in millimeters (10mm to start) and distance in meters (1m to start).

Code: Select all

1 10.07995944
100 17.99594434
10000 8005.5944339
1000000 79969.44339


Also, lasers will still suffer diffusion because of interstellar gas and solid particulate. This will not be quantitavely measureable on a waller's energy weapons when their broadsides can shatter small moons, but there might be some effect when engagement envelopes are measured in light second ranges.