Vague ideas abotu Spider-Man, the Hajj, and courts
Some disconnected stuff...
I don't like the idea of Steve and Tony raising Peter Parker primarily because it knocks Ben and May out of the picture and I really don't like that; they were such huge influences on him. Especially May, there are so few mother figures with personality and influence over superheroes. It also loses my interest because a big part of Peter's heroism (to me) is that he kept on being a hero while people hated him for it, with virtually no support, trying to balance shitty jobs and friends who thought he was a flake and poverty with saving lives. I mean... once you take those things away, there doesn't seem to be much of Peter Parker left. Canon Pete's up there with Cap on the selfless heroism scale. (I just choked up thinking about Ult Peter, who in many ways was an adaption distillation of 616 Spider-Man.)
Changing the subject entirely, my British Museum magazine arrived with a special on the Hajj, and it made me think of sci-fi - how will Islam fare in space? Generation ships will presumably be off-limits to Muslims, unless they take the Hajj before they go and plan not to have children, which is not really how generation ships work. And at what point will there be too many Muslims for Mecca? By which I mean, all Muslims who are able to should make the pilgrimage once in their lives, so at what point will there be so many Muslims Mecca will be too full for everyone each year?
And totally different subject again, does anyone know any fantasy fiction set around a perambulatory court? All I can think of is that Diana Wynne Jones one, but in that they're moving around the realm for magical reasons. Moving courts are such a huge part of life pre-modern times, and yet almost all court fantasy seems to be stationary courts. Also, I would be all over a space Imperium with a travelling court in the shape of a General Systems Vehicle (Culture ship; essentially a huge city spaceship. Well. They're up to 200km in each dimension, but you get my drift). Is there anything like this?
This entry was originally posted at http://valtyr.dreamwidth.org/103391.html. Comments:
I don't like the idea of Steve and Tony raising Peter Parker primarily because it knocks Ben and May out of the picture and I really don't like that; they were such huge influences on him. Especially May, there are so few mother figures with personality and influence over superheroes. It also loses my interest because a big part of Peter's heroism (to me) is that he kept on being a hero while people hated him for it, with virtually no support, trying to balance shitty jobs and friends who thought he was a flake and poverty with saving lives. I mean... once you take those things away, there doesn't seem to be much of Peter Parker left. Canon Pete's up there with Cap on the selfless heroism scale. (I just choked up thinking about Ult Peter, who in many ways was an adaption distillation of 616 Spider-Man.)
Changing the subject entirely, my British Museum magazine arrived with a special on the Hajj, and it made me think of sci-fi - how will Islam fare in space? Generation ships will presumably be off-limits to Muslims, unless they take the Hajj before they go and plan not to have children, which is not really how generation ships work. And at what point will there be too many Muslims for Mecca? By which I mean, all Muslims who are able to should make the pilgrimage once in their lives, so at what point will there be so many Muslims Mecca will be too full for everyone each year?
And totally different subject again, does anyone know any fantasy fiction set around a perambulatory court? All I can think of is that Diana Wynne Jones one, but in that they're moving around the realm for magical reasons. Moving courts are such a huge part of life pre-modern times, and yet almost all court fantasy seems to be stationary courts. Also, I would be all over a space Imperium with a travelling court in the shape of a General Systems Vehicle (Culture ship; essentially a huge city spaceship. Well. They're up to 200km in each dimension, but you get my drift). Is there anything like this?
This entry was originally posted at http://valtyr.dreamwidth.org/103391.html. Comments: