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Post by whollygoats on Jul 24, 2021 14:51:10 GMT
My pirate friend started me out on a new selection, from the Syfy channel, entitled The Expanse.
Center of the tale is four plotlines: a ragtag crew of ice freighter castoffs who commandeer a Martian gunship; a hard-bitten detective on Ceres; at the highest levels of UN Councils on Earth; and, later, a hardened Martian marine who survived a unique battlefield incident. The plotlines all wend their way around a narrative of the 'Belters', living on moons and space stations in and beyond the Asteroid Belt, who have been mining and providing raw materials to the dueling powers of UN on Earth, and the Mars Congressional Republic, trying to rise above their servile role. The OPA, outer planets alliance, is portrayed as a semi-autonomous labor/terrorist organization working to secure more rights and better conditions for Belters, while Earth and Luna are smug, rich, and domineering, the Martian Congressional Republic is a scrabbling arid planet trying to transform itself and remain separate from Earth control. Mars is the most belligerent of powers and the most martial.
It is great science fiction, with noir overtones and lots of intrigue.
(As an interesting side story, the LDS are building a huge intersystem space craft (a starship) at Tycho Station, beyond the Belt, to take a colony of LDS beyond the solar system. It, of course, is portrayed as having a huge spire topped by the angel Moroni with the trumpet.)
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Post by JoeP on Jul 25, 2021 11:04:12 GMT
I've heard good things about this.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 28, 2021 14:21:35 GMT
I just binge-watched season 3....I'm totally hooked.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 30, 2021 17:10:53 GMT
And, by season three, big changes have manifest. REALLY big changes.
SHAZAM!
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Post by whollygoats on Aug 12, 2021 16:45:20 GMT
I'm halfway through season five and still flippin' amazed. This is the most top-rate science fiction I've ever seen delivered in visual media.
Awesome, sase ke?
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Post by Kye on Aug 12, 2021 18:01:06 GMT
Sounds great. I'm sorry I don't have access to it.
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Post by Kye on Nov 19, 2022 18:57:12 GMT
Against my protests (long story) my daughter has signed me up for Amazon Prime. So I've been watching The Expanse. I like it! I do have problems keeping all the characters straight, but that's nothing new for me since I'm face blind. Luckily, there's a guy that always wears a hat and a woman with a cool hairstyle. Apart from that everyone is pretty well interchangeable. But very cool show
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Post by Kye on Dec 16, 2022 15:27:25 GMT
I'm almost finished the last season and I'm still enjoying it, but I'm starting to have more and more of a problem with James Holden because he always looks like he's holding in a fart.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 21, 2022 20:04:17 GMT
Heh...For somebody face-blind, that seems a great way to track that character. It may be that in real life his vision correction requires fairly thick lenses. I don't know if he wears contact lenses or not when he does his scenes, but I would think that either might impart the look you suggest. I spent a great deal of time wondering why it was that Holden ALWAYS seemed to be where the entropic focal points, and thus major plot points, occurred. Other characters even mentioned it in the script. It was never answered....kismet, I guess.
So, have you latched on to a favorite, or favorites, of the characters? Early on, I was taken with the Josephus Miller character. A detective right out of the noir mystery genre. Then, it dawned on me how many great strong women were being depicted. It was more and more as the storyline evolved. I developed an early crush on Naomi, and developed a LOT of regard and respect for the Chrisjen Avasarala character and Camina Drummer. I particularly liked the narrative around Drummer and Klaes Ashford. A lot of my friends are particularly taken with the Amos Burton character.
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Post by Kye on Dec 21, 2022 21:48:32 GMT
Yeah, I also noticed the presence of real women, not just eye candy for the guys. Favourite character Hmm. I liked Drummer
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 21, 2022 22:01:36 GMT
Yeah, I also noticed the presence of real women, not just eye candy for the guys. Favourite character Hmm. I liked Drummer Understandable. I really enjoyed Avasarala's brute and profane bon mots and incisive decision-making skills, but I would prolly follow any order Drummer gave. She sesata; unquestioned Beltalowda. So...What did you think of the portrayal of Reverend Annushka Volovadov?
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Post by Kye on Dec 22, 2022 1:00:42 GMT
There were some good points! I liked the fact that she put her own desires above those of her family and tried to rationalize it --that felt realistic. But I guess I'm a bit too cynical in my own ministry to really relate to her wide-eyed optimism.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 22, 2022 20:36:44 GMT
Cynical? Has the reality not met the ideals you associated with the clerical life before you entered it? I would think that the unrealistic expectations placed upon most clerics would set them up for that trip to cynicism.
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Post by Kye on Dec 22, 2022 21:40:26 GMT
No, no that's not it. Since I didn't start attending church until I was in my 50's I had already developed a healthy cynical worldview I love my people, but I have no illusions. We're all pretty f*cked up
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 23, 2022 0:20:41 GMT
Ah...I see.
I tend to think of cynicism as disillusioned idealism. It is a common result of those who at one time had untarnished ideals, but life has disabused them of the innocence of such notions. Yep....We're all messed up, all right. I'm just unsure whether religion, or spirituality, for that matter, is supposed to mitigate that, or that it is part of the problem. A marker, as such.
Well, I'm thankful that there are folks like you in the ministry. It makes the much needed compassion all the more piquant.
I think you should stick with the mystics, but I'm a crackpot unbeliever. The ones I give more credence insist that 'the Tao which can be spoken is not the Tao.' Ineffability.
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Post by Kye on Dec 23, 2022 0:33:55 GMT
Yeah, I love the mystics. I did an 8 day silent retreat in August and my constant companion was Hafiz, a 14th century mystic Sufi. It was a great spiritual time, even though I was simultaneously crushingly bored.
Here's one of Hafiz's poems that I really love:
My Sweet, Crushed Angel Hafiz
You have not danced so badly, my dear, trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.
You have waltzed with great style, my sweet, crushed angel, to have ever neared God’s heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow, and even His best musicians are not always easy to hear.
So what if the music has stopped for a while. So what if the price of admission to the Divine is out of reach tonight.
So what, my sweetheart, if you lack the ante to gamble for real love.
The mind and the body are famous for holding the heart ransom, but Hafiz knows the Beloved’s eternal habits. Have patience, for He will not be able to resist your longings and charms for long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear, trying to kiss the Magnificent One.
You have actually waltzed with tremendous style, my sweet, O my sweet, crushed angel.
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Post by kingedmund on Dec 23, 2022 15:42:41 GMT
That is a wonderful poem .
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Post by Kye on Dec 23, 2022 18:49:03 GMT
Right!?
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Post by kingedmund on Dec 23, 2022 19:03:44 GMT
I hope you are doing well and ready for Christmas.
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Post by Kye on Dec 23, 2022 20:14:34 GMT
Well, things are super busy at work and I have a house full of guests so I'm a bit frazzled, but I'm trying to rise above.
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Post by kingedmund on Dec 24, 2022 23:00:33 GMT
Oh my goodness. Try to have fun and remember that you don’t get to see them often.
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