Here's an example of how fame is not your friend:
"Ninety percent of everything is crap."
-- Theodore Sturgeon
This is the way it's commonly quoted. And if you look at that as it is, it's very negative, isn't it? It basically says the world is crap. Which does not really teach us anything.
But the story is that Sturgeon, a science fiction writer, was commenting on some people who were judging SF as being crap. So he said words to the effect of: "Sure, 90% of SF is crap, but then 90% of anything is crap."
(He probably even said "anything" rather than "everything". Different meaning.)
You see? He was not judging "everything" as being 90% crap, he was talking about not judging, in this case not judging SF by all the books which are not good, because no matter what field or medium you look at, the good stuff is in the top 10%.
So fame is not your friend. Often when something is reduced to what can survive in popular consciousness, a sound byte, all subtlety and much of the wisdom is thrown out with the bath water.
15 comments:
Ah, being quoted improperly, such a familiar feeling.
Yep, it's tough being famous. ;-)
According to the sizeable sampling that I read myself, 90% of what Theodore Sturgeon wrote was definitely NOT crap. Hugely talented guy.
O ya, Sturgeon was a top talent.
"Ninety percent of everything is crap."
-- Theodore Sturgeon
His percentage was off. It's 99.9 of everything is crap.
"Stobblehouse 2: Eolake vs Ekaloe."
Epic Sci-Fi film, tonight at eleven. Awesome reviews.
I can't wait!
"The anagram wars part II: this time it's personal."
Meh, sounds like a mediocre flick. I think I'll go see "The Passion of the Christ 2: Resurrection" instead. I hear Jesus karate chops one of the tomb guards in the neck, healing him of all sickness and forgiving him of his sins in the process.
Of course, we all know it'll be nothing compared to "The Passion of the Christ 3: Judgment Day"
Yeah. Man, if you thought the first one was violent!!...
Hey, just be glad you haven't seen the porno based on the Passion of the Christ. Although I must admit, it was by far the kinkiest thing I'd ever seen.
I hear Jesus karate chops one of the tomb guards in the neck, healing him of all sickness and forgiving him of his sins in the process.
Now I know 99.9 percent was correct with horrible jokes like this :(
I thought it was funny :)
Ouch, my ribs!
Now I know why they call you Peaceful Blade! You ARE a passionate fan of J.H. Christ, indeed.
"Love is my weapon." -- (Season 3, episode 7)
I heard that in "Holy Matrix of Christ" (the Matrix being the virtual world in the dreaming cybernetic mind of the mysterious entity named Creator), Neo-Jesus walks on liquid crystals, reads minds, remote-controls TV monitors without turning the dials, and performs several "computer code" impossible feats. Like copy-pasting alimentary data, or editing big .H2O files to rename them .WYN! But then, ubiquitous Agent Sanhedrin hunts him down for illegal source code hacking and temple trespassing, both crimes punishable by death. So they plan to execute him TWICE. How? Well, they make a back-up copy of Neo-Jesus, and sentence them both to deletion with [Shift+Delete]. Fierce!
And to think the special effects are, like, 20 centuries old. Dude, that was some awesome flick. Still a worldwide classic today.
Have you red the book of the film? A best-seller. It sold more copies than "The Da.Vinci source code" and "Harry Plus.Ter" put together. The final chapter is out of this world! I hear Sync John experiences a bad trip during a mind-meld experience.
Tomorrow, I'm hesitant between watching kung-fu flick "Moi-She vs the Golden Bull", and that arabian war epic, "The Last Prophet", both shot in the same desert. Strangely, reviewers say the latter one is more violent.
signalroom said...
I thought it was funny :)
i feel pity for you.
I wonder if that signal room guy finds the crucifixation amusing as well?
Anonymous said...
"i feel pity for you."
Samely, I feel pity for YOU, Anon.
See? A kind word is always repaid back, and promptly. Please, don't thank me, it's quite natural. My pleasure, honey. :)
(Sigh) Ah, I so love a world where every kind heart pities all the others. It's heartwarming.
Dick Peters,
I happen to know that Signalus Romus was the Roman Centurion responsible for supervising the execution of "some troublemaking jewish activist" in spring 33 A.D.
He wrote in his memoirs that he always found the crucifixion of locals "moltus divertibus", highly entertaining.
According to popular lore, he was punished by God by becoming immortal, therefore being sentenced to an eternity of snickering, until Judgement Day.
It is rumoured that he's been hired by the Pentagon on 2002/04/01 under a false name, and is attempting to scheme and bring about the End of Times through WW3 to finally rest his retched soul. His codename is presumed to be "the Hyena".
I hope this info helps.
P.S.: For safety reasons, consider all this strictly off the record!
Post a Comment