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Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

calvertjournal.com

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Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#21

Post by trhway »

version_five wrote: post #5

The article talks about Roadside Picnic, the Russian sci-fi novel where the Stalker term was coined. I learned about this book on HN and highly recommend it.

couple notes.The movie, the book and several original scripts by Strugatskies all have partially different stories and endings (with the endings every time telling different thing).

One of the brothers - Arkady - worked as a translator in the Far East in the beginning of 195x. The large areas on the border there were deeply and strongly fortified areas of Japan Kwantung army which USSR defeated in 1945. The motif of the dangerous zone full of hazards can be traced in the Strugatskies' works from the earlier short stories where the events directly happen at those Kwantung army fortifications to the abstracted Zone in the "Roadside Picnic" and the forest booby-trapped with automated weapons in the "The Inhabited Island".

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#22

Post by version_five »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #9
version_five wrote: post #5

The article talks about Roadside Picnic, the Russian sci-fi novel where the Stalker term was coined. I learned about this book on HN and highly recommend it.

Second this recommendation. And if you’re used to sci-fi by Western authors, books by Cold War, Iron Curtain authors like Strugatsky, Lem (Polish) and others are fascinating.

Thanks for that, anything in particular by Lem that you recommend getting started with?

I find we get very little exposure to Russian / slavic authors in North America, and when I do occasionally get to read one (including the classics but also some paperbacks) I suspect how much we must be missing by not having more of them readily available and marketed.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#24

Post by pugworthy »

res0nat0r wrote: post #19
pugworthy wrote: post #17

I'm surprised nowhere in the article does it mention the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R .) They are loosely based on the novel, however perhaps more well known (in the US at least) than the book or movie.

I wonder still if much of the popularity of said stalking above is directly related to this game.

As a US resident, both the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and the Metro 2033 game series have fascinated me in their different style of storytelling than most "traditional" FPS games. I have to put them in the same group as the Half Life series in terms of replay enjoy-ability for the story and engagement.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#25

Post by ethbr0 »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #20
cdirkx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious that there are two replies here calling it a three ring binder explicitly, while if I think about it I have only seen them with two or four rings. According to the wiki article: "A few years later three-ring binders became the standard in the United States"

In US school, we were generally required to have a three ring binder every year for class. Like with #2 pencils, we're vaguely aware other types exist but virtually never encounter them.

And I'd assume they're called "X ring" binders, as opposed to just binders, because "binder" is a fairly generic term.

As for the number of rings: first mover advantage and network effects.

Paper is produced with three rings. Teachers buy three ring hole punches. Soon binder manufacturers target the most common standard. All other standards die off.

I have seen and used four ring binders in America. But three ring was the phrase that jumped out in my head.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#26

Post by ethbr0 »

hgs3 wrote: post #10
baruchel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. Tarkovski's movie is great also.

I watched Tarkovski's movie for the first time the other night. It was a lot more "artsy" than I expected (in a good way).

If you liked it, watch the Russian Solaris. It's interesting to compare and contrast with 2001.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#27

Post by akeruu »

Zababa wrote: post #2

Website seems to be down: https://archive.is/vGC6C Anecdotally, I've visited Chernobyl and I remember seeing somewhere a few empty cans and an empty vodka bottle. Both looked pretty recent. I've also seen the bus that's photographed. There was something inside, the thing with a cardboard cover and metal rings where you can put pages inside (It's called a "classeur" in French, but I can't find how it's called in Engli…

On a rather unrelated note, those binders are called "fardes à anneaux" in my dialect of French. Translating directly to "ring binders". Languages are fun

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#28

Post by telesilla »

version_five wrote: post #22
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second this recommendation. And if you’re used to sci-fi by Western authors, books by Cold War, Iron Curtain authors like Strugatsky, Lem (Polish) and others are fascinating.

Thanks for that, anything in particular by Lem that you recommend getting started with? I find we get very little exposure to Russian / slavic authors in North America, and when I do occasionally get to read one (including the classics but also some paperbacks) I suspect how much we must be missing by not having more of them readily available and marketed.

Lem is pretty accessible, a good place to start might be the Cyberiad collection of short stories. The futurological congress is also a fun read. You can't really go wrong with him, he had a great sense of humour.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#29

Post by usrusr »

pwnmonkey wrote: post #18
baruchel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. Tarkovski's movie is great also.

I like the movie but it’s also the ultimate nap movie.

Tarkowski with 30 minutes nap still beats most other movies by a large margin. I used to hate myself for the nap, but I wonder if I should stop doing that: the sequences work just so well in the nearly dreaming state.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#30

Post by Zababa »

jl6 wrote: post #13

See, some people think our current culture/civilization/capitalism will not survive climate change, but clearly there is no wasteland too blasted and dangerous for it to eventually become a money-making tourist attraction. Our culture will live on in its perversity. I fully expect people to be huffing recreational Covid in 30 years’ time.

I'm curious, why do you see this as a money-making tourist attraction and not as another way of visiting a museum?
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