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February 6, 2016 11:42 AM Subscribe
Waterdrop "Waterdrop" is a science fiction film about the second kind of close encounter with aliens. It is a tribute to the critically acclaimed Chinese science fiction novel "The Dark Forest"
I just finished The Three Body Problem, the first book in the trilogy (Dark Forest is second). It's really good. Reminds me a bit of Stanislaw Lem both in its humanism and the specifics of the plot. Also fascinating to read a Chinese novel; familiar genre, many unfamiliar cultural details.
posted by Nelson at 1:02 PM on February 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 1:02 PM on February 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
Wow, good sound and 3D design. This must have taken ages to perfect.
I was dismayed by the first half of Dark Forest but I'm glad I kept with it. The second half is insane. So much so that I have no idea what the third book could possibly be about.
posted by greenland at 1:22 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was dismayed by the first half of Dark Forest but I'm glad I kept with it. The second half is insane. So much so that I have no idea what the third book could possibly be about.
posted by greenland at 1:22 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
how apt - am just about to dive into the Three Body Problem!
posted by helion at 1:50 PM on February 6, 2016
posted by helion at 1:50 PM on February 6, 2016
Is it a translated book? I've heard only emphatic praise for Cixin Liu, but haven't gotten around to his writings yet.
posted by polymodus at 3:36 PM on February 6, 2016
posted by polymodus at 3:36 PM on February 6, 2016
Why do they have Phillips screws in Alpha Centauri? Am I wrong assuming that the teardrop shaped object is a teardrop shaped alien probe? Am I wrong trying to understand anything about this video? Or just not trying hard enough?
posted by hat_eater at 3:39 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by hat_eater at 3:39 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Is it a translated book?
It is. Frustratingly, the third book is out but the translator is still working on it.
Am I wrong trying to understand anything about this video?
No, but it's not terribly literal. The audio mostly reflects the dilemma of alien contact that's really addressed in the first book. The video is a litttle harder to parse but it appears to evoke the moment of physical contact from the cited book. (It is indeed pretty insane. )
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:50 PM on February 6, 2016
It is. Frustratingly, the third book is out but the translator is still working on it.
Am I wrong trying to understand anything about this video?
No, but it's not terribly literal. The audio mostly reflects the dilemma of alien contact that's really addressed in the first book. The video is a litttle harder to parse but it appears to evoke the moment of physical contact from the cited book. (It is indeed pretty insane. )
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:50 PM on February 6, 2016
I've been meaning to get to Three-Body Problem.
Reviews have been all over the place.
posted by doctornemo at 4:23 PM on February 6, 2016
Reviews have been all over the place.
posted by doctornemo at 4:23 PM on February 6, 2016
Frustratingly, the third book is out but the translator is still working on it.
cry me a river. i just finished the first of a trilogy by kenzaburo oe (nobel prize winner yadda yadda). turns out the second hasn't been translated and the third is available only in spanish (which i can read, thankfully).
grumble. i wonder how longer before automated translation reaches the kind of quality you need here?
Reviews have been all over the place.
weird. i thought they'd been good. it's on my pile too. would be interested in -ve reviews.
posted by andrewcooke at 4:47 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
cry me a river. i just finished the first of a trilogy by kenzaburo oe (nobel prize winner yadda yadda). turns out the second hasn't been translated and the third is available only in spanish (which i can read, thankfully).
grumble. i wonder how longer before automated translation reaches the kind of quality you need here?
Reviews have been all over the place.
weird. i thought they'd been good. it's on my pile too. would be interested in -ve reviews.
posted by andrewcooke at 4:47 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
would be interested in -ve reviews.
Not sure what those are but you should read it.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:57 PM on February 6, 2016
Not sure what those are but you should read it.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:57 PM on February 6, 2016
Frustratingly, the third book is out but the translator is still working on it.
cry me a river. i just finished the first of a trilogy by kenzaburo oe (nobel prize winner yadda yadda). turns out the second hasn't been translated and the third is available only in spanish (which i can read, thankfully).
well aren't you special. for those of us waiting for the english translation of the second and third volumes of Peter Weiss's "Aethestics of Resistance," the translator of the first has said he will never do it.
posted by ennui.bz at 5:59 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
cry me a river. i just finished the first of a trilogy by kenzaburo oe (nobel prize winner yadda yadda). turns out the second hasn't been translated and the third is available only in spanish (which i can read, thankfully).
well aren't you special. for those of us waiting for the english translation of the second and third volumes of Peter Weiss's "Aethestics of Resistance," the translator of the first has said he will never do it.
posted by ennui.bz at 5:59 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
It doesn't help that he's been dead for five years.
posted by Bromius at 7:10 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bromius at 7:10 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just read them (the two first books in the trilogy) a month or so ago.
Quite interesting. I finished The Dark Forest in a single sitting, which is relatively rare for me (airport thrillers notwithstanding).
I rate them.
posted by flippant at 8:20 PM on February 6, 2016
Quite interesting. I finished The Dark Forest in a single sitting, which is relatively rare for me (airport thrillers notwithstanding).
I rate them.
posted by flippant at 8:20 PM on February 6, 2016
It's great. I read enough positive reviews to put it on the "one day" list, but it wasn't until I accidentally stumbled upon this (warning, major plot details revealed on the other side of this link) "how dare someone write a book that's not adapted to american sensibilities, there are almost no americans in it, and what's with all this foreign culture stuff, this barely qualifies as literature, I give it a C" review from avclub that I went and bought it.
posted by effbot at 9:36 AM on February 7, 2016
posted by effbot at 9:36 AM on February 7, 2016
But The Dark Forest had me set up for a different sort of end of this video. It did recapture that part of the book, though--the "before."
posted by Obscure Reference at 11:49 AM on February 7, 2016
posted by Obscure Reference at 11:49 AM on February 7, 2016
I watched the video after only reading the first book in the trilogy, and detailed reviews on Zhihu ( in Chinese) really helped me appreciate the video better.
posted by of strange foe at 10:28 AM on February 8, 2016
posted by of strange foe at 10:28 AM on February 8, 2016
Reviews have been all over the place.
That's because the books are all over the place. The first book begins with an extremely promising female character and a premise that maps the future based on China's cultural past, but then it ditches this in favor of two male characters so formulaic and expository that they may as well not exist. BUT. You want to keep reading because the slow unfolding of the aliens' narrative is creative, and it offers up a mystery that the science-minded reader AND the aliens know can't be solved, which just compels the reader to try all that much harder.
The second book is the same. The main character is excessively boring and there's a "relationship" about one third of the way through the book that is such morose emo wish fulfillment that it will make you want to throw the book against a wall. BUT. Then the book throws all of that out halfway and becomes an insane science fiction romp that ends up solving one of the unsolvable problems from the first book.
posted by greenland at 7:52 PM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's because the books are all over the place. The first book begins with an extremely promising female character and a premise that maps the future based on China's cultural past, but then it ditches this in favor of two male characters so formulaic and expository that they may as well not exist. BUT. You want to keep reading because the slow unfolding of the aliens' narrative is creative, and it offers up a mystery that the science-minded reader AND the aliens know can't be solved, which just compels the reader to try all that much harder.
The second book is the same. The main character is excessively boring and there's a "relationship" about one third of the way through the book that is such morose emo wish fulfillment that it will make you want to throw the book against a wall. BUT. Then the book throws all of that out halfway and becomes an insane science fiction romp that ends up solving one of the unsolvable problems from the first book.
posted by greenland at 7:52 PM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by mixedmetaphors at 12:49 PM on February 6, 2016