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        <item>
            <title>SIRENS OF TITAN: A Personal Comment</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=102&amp;comments_parentId=57</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In 1959, the year I joined the Baha’i Faith, the year I turned 15, Kurt Vonnegut published his second novel The Sirens of Titan.  By the late 1960s this novel had become a cult-book of the counter-culture.  The genre is novel, sci-fi, space-opera, black humour, satire and fabulation.  The story-line, the narrative is based on a world where machines have taken over.  The story is told by a future historian.  Faith in science, technology and progress is undermined as is humankind’s ability to shape its future.  Vonnegut questions the very nature of reality and argues that individuals have the ineluctable responsibility to make meaning out of their lives by looking within not without at organized religions.  Looking back after more than forty years, I would place Vonnegut among the first of a “New Wave” of science fiction writers who appeared in the 1960s.-Ron Price with thanks to Herbert G. Klein, “Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan and the Question of Genre,” EESE 5/98.

I had heard those enchanting sirens1 
back in the fifties; little did I know 
about their sharp rocks, the perils 
of chronic and committed rapture, 
growing dedication, deeper belief-- 
that would be later.

I’ve seen many draw near 
to those voices and, yes, 
I’ve seen them shipwrecked.
For these sirens were daughters
(so the myth goes)2 of the sea
and river gods, Nymphs partly 
bird and partly human.

Yes, their voices enchant, but 
be warned: this journey 
to their island home 
is not for the timid
and the overwrought,
not for the vainly pious,
the pusillanimous of spirit,
not for those who think this
is some kind of vacation,
who seem somehow to have
missed the point that:
this ardent, often tiring, voyage 
on this unvariable storm-lashed brig 
with the unseasonable rains,
the sweet song of the dove,
the bird, the clear beauty 
of the siren’s notes is mostly distant,
on some far-off island, faintly heard,
but they sweep me out to sea
and in full consent I drown,
though I do not like all the journey.3

1  I first heard the Baha’i Writings in the years 1953 to 1959.  These are the sirens.
2  This poem also draws on the Greek myth of the Sirens, part bird and part human.
3 I thank Roger White and his poems “Parable for the Wrong People” and “Sightseeing”(Pebbles, pp.69-75) for some of his phraseology.

Ron Price
December 20th 2004




]]></description>
            <author>RonPrice</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:14:29 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Avatar: Some Personal Comments</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=112&amp;comments_parentId=56</link>
            <description><![CDATA[AVATAR

The film Avatar has finally been released this month after being in development since 1994. I have not seen it yet, but I have read about it and discussed it with several people who have.  This prose-poem tries to encapsulate some of my initial thoughts on this blockbuster, its initial reception and some of its meaning. 

James Cameron, who wrote, produced and directed the film, stated in an interview that an avatar is: “an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods taking a flesh form."   In this film, though, avatar has more to do with human technology in the future being capable of injecting a human's intelligence into a remotely located body, a biological body.  "It's not an avatar in the sense of just existing as ones and zeroes in cyberspace,” said Cameron; “it's actually a physical body." The great student of myth, Joseph Campbell(1), should have been at the premier in London on 10 December 2009.  I wonder what he would have said.

Composer James Horner scored the film, his third collaboration with Cameron after Aliens and Titanic.  A field guide of 224 pages for the film's fictional setting of the planet of Pandora was released by Harper Entertainment just five weeks ago.  The guide was entitled Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora. With an estimated $310 million to produce and $150 million for marketing, the film has already generated positive reviews from film critics. Roger Ebert, one of the more prestigious of film critics, wrote: “An extraordinary film: Avatar is not simply sensational entertainment, although it is that. It's a technical breakthrough."-Ron Price with thanks to Wikipedia, 30 December 2009.

Like viewing Star Wars back in ’77
some said/an obvious script with an
earnestness & corniness/part of what
makes it absorbing/said another/Gives
you a world, a place/worth visiting/eh?
Alive with action and a soundtrack that 
pops with robust sci-fi shoot-'em-ups...

A mild critique of American militarism
and industrialism.....yes the military are
pure evil........the Pandoran tribespeople
are nature-loving, eco-harmonious, wise
Braveheart smurf warriors.  Received.... 
nominations for the Critics' Choice Awards
of the Broadcast Film Critics Association &
on and on go the recommendations for the..
best this and that and everything else. What
do you think of all this Joseph Campbell???
You said we all have to work our own myth(1)
in our pentapolar, multicultural-dimensional
world with endless phantoms of our wrongly
informed imagination, with our tangled fears,
our pundits of error, ill-equipped to interpret 
the social commotion tearing our world apart 
and at play on planetizing-globalizing Earth.(2)

(1)Google Joseph Campbell for some contemporary insights into the individualized myth we all have to work out in our postmodern world.
(2)The Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh, has been presented as an avatar in India beginning, arguably, in the 1960s. With only 1000 Baha’is in India in 1960 to more than 2 million by the year 2010. Baha’u’llah has been associated with the kalkin avatar who, according to a major Hindu holy text, will appear at the end of the kali yuga, one of the four main stages of history, for the purpose of reestablishing an era of righteousness. There are many examples of what one might call a quasi-cross-cultural messianistic approach to Bahá'í teaching in India. 

This approach has included: (a) emphasizing the figures of Buddha and Krishna as past Manifestations of God or avatars; (b) making references to Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, (c) the substitution of Sanskrit-based terminology for Arabic and Persian where possible; for example, Bhagavan Baha for Bahá'u'lláh, (d) the incorporation in both song and literature of Hindu holy spots, hero-figures and poetic images and (e) using heavily Sanskritized-Hindi translations of Baha'i scriptures and prayers.

Ron Price
30 December 2009 
]]></description>
            <author>RonPrice</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:11:42 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Will Heath Ledger Win the Oscar?</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=105&amp;comments_parentId=53</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Will Heath Ledger win the best actor Oscar for his notable role as the Joker in the "The Dark Knight" Batman movie?

The Academy says probably not. They are not in the habit of giving awards to sci fi actors or actors that are deceased.

What are your thoughts?

Is he worthy of the award? And if so, how should the Academy be viewed if they snub him? Will they have lost all credibility?]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:24:29 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Scariest Sci Fi ride or attraction?</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=114&amp;comments_parentId=52</link>
            <description><![CDATA[I've been on some gnarly sci fi rides.
What has been your scariest experience?
Was it on a multi million dollar Disney style ride or was it a small carnival ride?
Extra points for vomit.]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:47:23 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>RPG Artist</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=113&amp;comments_parentId=51</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Who is the best RPG or card game artist?
Tell us your favorite so we can include them in the artists sections.]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:45:14 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Tell us your best Convention story.</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=110&amp;comments_parentId=50</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Share your best convention story with us.

I've been to the McMinnville, OR Alien Dayz convention.
I have personally witnessed and photographed a UFO in McMinnville and my friend has also had first hand experiences with strange lights.
Perhaps the 50's Trent sighting was just the beginning. 

]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:40:40 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Greatest Sci Fi Movie of all time?</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=105&amp;comments_parentId=49</link>
            <description><![CDATA[What is your opinion of the greatest Sci Fi Movie of all time?

Did you know that when you are surfing around ModernSciFi.com that you can add comments to the bottom of the pages?

Set up an account and add your opinions.]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:37:36 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>ADD YOUR CLUB HERE</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=118&amp;comments_parentId=48</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Add your club here and be known.

You may also set up a free account ad set up a wiki page under the SCI FI CLUBS AND ORGS section.]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:35:15 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Any Fantastic Independent Sci Fi Projects?</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=101&amp;comments_parentId=47</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Does anyone have any recommendations for great Independent Sci Fi projects that we can showcase in the new Independent Sci Fi section?

]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 05:33:35 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>HOW DO I ADD A YOUTUBE VIDEO TO A WIKI PAGE?</title>
            <link>http://www.modernscifi.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=108&amp;comments_parentId=41</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Get a full explanation of how to add YouTube videos to your Wiki page at the following link.

http://doc.tikiwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=PluginYouTube&bl

REMEMBER: Once you add video to a page, you can add the page to the list in the VIDEO CLIPS Portal. ]]></description>
            <author>System Administrator &lt;&amp;#90;&amp;#64;&amp;#77;&amp;#111;&amp;#100;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#110;&amp;#83;&amp;#99;&amp;#105;&amp;#70;&amp;#105;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;&gt;</author>
            <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:53:39 +0100</pubDate>
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