I didn't go to the screening thing. I did have good food and great conversation, followed by horrendous Pride Week traffic.

Also? I still get disturbed when I see obvious prostitution/drug deals happening on the side streets off Sunset. I'll never shake the sadness over it.

Anywho, I hope any LAistas who went come back with a full report.

Hmmm. Heinlein again. I like that this topic keeps coming up (not that that's surprising or anything...)

Heinlein's best works are, easily, his short stories. Most especially, the entire Future History series, encapsulated in the (now tragically out of print) Past Through Tomorrow but available in bits and pieces in several short story collections.

Of his novels, as mentioned above, his juvie novels are the most consistently entertaining, and certainly the least offensive to those who are turned of by his rather strange views on politics, religion, and women. My personal favorites are The Door into Summer and Farmer in the Sky, but I've read many many others, with names like The Rolling Stones, Space Cadet, Tunnel in the Sky, and Glory Road. Slightly less juvenile-FEELING to me, (I believe they may contain some implied sex), but still quite good and of his earlier, less crack-induced period are The Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers. I can recommend the latter with no qualms, though the former has some issues.

Where Heinlein starts to get a little weird is in his later novels. Moon, obviously, is rather controversial here, and in many places - I personally love it, but then I still have tiny remainders of a libertarian spirit hidden somewhere in the back of my mind, and read it at a time when I had that spirit in spades. You can decide whether to read it based on the previous reviews, though I'd recommend at least giving it the old college try. If you hate it, you'll have fun complaining about it. =)

Stranger in a Strange Land is even more controversial, or at least was at the time it was published. I think it's controversial nature was actually the real reason it made the best seller list - the rebellious young folk at the time of its publication read it to piss off their parents and society in general. With it's free love statements and its religious message that felt decidedly LSD-inspired, it was pretty much perfect for that time period. I, personally, think it has lots of potential, which it proceeds to squander completely, and would not recommend it to the average reader except as a historically interesting phenomenon.

Anything else that Heinlein wrote that's longer than about 200 pages should be avoided like the plague, except perhaps Job: Comedy of Justice, though that has an even more false-feeling female character than the other novels (it's kind of funny at times, though). Time Enough for Love, The Cat who Walked through Walls, Number of the Beast, et cetera are all perfect examples of, well, pretty much utter crap. The first third of Time Enough for Love is actually decent, but after that, total crap. I wouldn't recommend reading any of these books.

In conclusion, if you want to like Heinlein: Short stories, then juvie novels, then Starship Troopers, then Moon, then Stranger, and then, if you're even more die-hard than me, everything else.

The juveniles, I think, hold up best of all, because they aren't hampered by Heinlein's attempts to wedge in his concepts about politics and gender relations.

Hm. My previous exposure was a Heinlein juvie, whose title I don't remember (it took place on Mars, I think) and I loathed it -- specifically for its politics and gender relations. It was about an evil evil corporation coming to abrogate the rights of the free settlers who had settled freely and were free and settlers. The boys got guns and were upstanding and bright and honorable, and the girls were giggly and couldn't wait to follow their mothers into the kitchen. Since I read it for a (children's) library collection development class, I ended up recommending that it be discarded.

Let us say that it aged badly. I'm sure, in 1947, people must have thought it was a fun novel. Of course, in 1947, mayonnaise was one of the four food groups.

Actually, I find the later, idiotic sexaholic Heinlein novels less annoying than the earlier ones, because the later ones are like romance novels for men. The earlier ones seem to take themselves seriously.

Glory Road is NOT one of the juvenile novels. It has sex and guns and stuff. Also, adventure! Romance!

Hoo-boy, the Heinlein debate is raging amok! I've read nearly all his books and he happens to be one of my favorite sci-fi writers. I'm not sure why, because I can see a lot of the things that people are complaining about, but there's something in me that just allows me to gloss right over that and enjoy the story. Sure, most of his women are frail and ditzy, but not all. In Farnham's Freehold he presents both weak and strong women. His daughter is a pampered pussycat, his wife is the prototypical 50's housefrau, but the son's girlfriend is presented as pretty self-sufficient, she just doesn't play that big a role in the book other than the protagonist ditches his wife for her, presumably because she is the stronger woman. Personally, I suspect Heinlein was just one of those people who couldn't get inside the head of a female character. Not that he was unwilling to, because he did write books with female protagonists (Friday), but he just couldn't. Most probably because of his generational upbringing and some because he was just a plain old chauvinist pig. But for me, I actually took a lot away from a few of his short stories. One in particular, told from a female perspective, was "The Menace from Earth." Strong girl discovers she doesn't have to be a girly-girl to get the boy. It impressed me, still does. Which is why I've always thought he could have done better with characters like Wyoh. It wouldn't bother me a bit if Tim made Wyoh more participatory in his movie than she was in the book. And I'd rather see Kate Beckinsale in the part than Jennifer Connelly. So there.

And I'd rather see Kate Beckinsale in the part than Jennifer Connelly.

Interrupting Heinlein talk to mention for other Hamilton/Niagara region folk, CHTV is airing "Pink Flamingos" right now.

CHTV is airing "Pink Flamingos" right now.

Unfortunately it seems it's just a filler. PGA golf is on next saturday.

In case anyone is in the mood for some letter writing, their contact page is here

Interrupting Heinlein talk to mention for other Hamilton/Niagara region folk, CHTV is airing "Pink Flamingos" right now.

Imagine my surprise when I found this during a family barbeque. I was so excited and there was noone around, except my crazy family.

Over on the lj Wonderfalls community somebody posted that at the viewing in LA they announced December 7th as the release date for the dvds.