Yesterday was one of the bad days. I still have them, since Anita died. They come further and further apart, but there remain those days where I get to thinking about things and find myself drowning in the sea of 'Should Have Beens'.
It comes with a terrible lethargy, which makes it harder to fight: I feel up to doing nothing positive and the negative requires no effort at all. As a result I find myself reading or watching TV more than I would like, as a way of redirecting my mind. This is exacerbated by my recent Tivo purchase; meaning that I have more useless shit to give my attention to when I don't have the energy to write or get things done around the house.
On the upside I have read more books and seen more movies in the last few months than I have in the previous few years. So I feel that I should knock out some reviews in penance for the wasted time. To redeem my lost hours by doing something productive based loosely on them. To that end I offer the following reviews and should point out that there are more coming, including some Stross and a Bainks...
In any case there is a dimension of grief little talked about; often called "survivor's guilt". The excessive unfairness of losing someone like Anita leads one to wonder why one should have lived on in their stead. You feel unworthy. Wrong. You wish there was some way to atone. You crave a deeper redemption than a silly blog post could possibly bring.
And that is the theme in these reviews: Redemption. Each of these stories is essentially one of a character bringing redemption to themselves and others by their actions. Some are Christlike figures; blameless in themselves but destined to bring redemption by their suffering for the sins of others. Others are finding a more personal redemption for their own sins.
Let us start with a fairly transparent Jesus reference:
On the upside, in the end even the kangaroo achieved forgiveness for what was really a quite unforgivable sin. It almost seems unfair, really, how easy it was for her...
In many ways this was the best adaption of a Dr. Suess story I have ever seen. It stuck quite close to the original. What changes there were came off as additions rather than subtractions. The animation was excellent and the characters were (mostly) quite well done (for example Horton is unrecognizably Jim Carrey). Recommended, but think carefully before taking small children.
Now I know what I was missing and dang; this is some good stuff. The basic story is eschatological zaniness, the end of the world seen through a particularly humorous filter. All the basic features are there: Demons, Angels, the Four Horsemen, witches, witch finders, even the anti-christ come to Earth in a Omen-inspired way. Yet the story is mostly about what it means to be human.
In this case we have one each angel and demon who have lived among the humans a little too long and gone native. Add to this an anti-christ who is, in his heart of hearts, really the eleven year old boy he appears to be. Here the Christ figure is not a cartoon elephant, but rather the anti-christ himself. And he doesn't suffer to bring redemption to all so much as come to realize that, without the tension between good and evil, there isn't much left to make it worth getting out of bed in the morning. And therefore he neither forgives nor punishes the guilty, instead choosing to leave well-enough alone.
Recommended for anyone except those with no sense of humor or who get headaches whenever they try to think.
The basic story is that of Napoleon (Holmes) exiled to island of Saint Helena but wishing to escape back to France and regain all he has lost. To this end he effects a Prince and the Pauper gambit and is replaced by a look-a-like seaman in his luxurious captivity while he sneaks back to Paris, putting up with much indignity and privation along the way. There to announce himself when the trick is revealed and lead a new peasant army to glory.
However the plan goes awry when the impostor, liking his new position too much, refuses to admit to the sham and then dies. Napoleon tries to prove who he is, but eventually finds himself placed among the insane in an asylum catering to those who are each convinced they are the true emperor of France. In the end Napoleon is forced to the realization that the world (and France) no longer wants him in anything other than a historical context. And that he is a man like any other; something that brings him a surprising degree of peace.
This movie is not perfect; with the exception of Holmes the performances are a bit uneven and the writing could be improved. Yet the story is one of a personal redemption that brings a little redemption into other's lives along the way. Recommended with caveats, but if you like Holmes don't miss it.
That said, I haven't seen everything Hanks ever did. In some cases, like Sleepless, I have seen different bits at different times, but have never stuck through to the end. It is certainly true that Sleepless is a quintessential 'chick flick' (even if it does spend an entire scene making fun of 'chick flicks') and therefore not the kind of thing I am ordinarily drawn to. But my Tivo recommended it to me and I was feeling sorry for myself and, hey, I could fast-forward through the boring bits...
There was less there than I had thought would align with my own story. Sure, Hanks was playing a recent widower trying to get over his grief. But the screen depiction and my own reality diverged too widely. In the end I realized it wasn't really Sam Baldwin's (Hanks) story anyway. Instead it was about Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) attempting to come to grips with her own demons of stupidity and insecurity and about how she brought redemption to all of them by simply failing to do so in a meaningful way.
You know what? Unless you are far more forgiving of idiots than I am, I cannot recommend Sleepless; even as much as I would like to. If this movie had a sequel it would probably involve a nasty divorce.
Here we have Chuck Noland (Hanks), a workaholic nice guy who finds himself stranded on a tiny Pacific island. The story is multifaceted. We have his effort to survive (with a wonderful scene where he finally manages to start a fire). We have the theme of time (running out, never enough, suddenly too much, yet that also not enough). We have love and loss. And we have the horror of being forced to live for four years with only yourself for company.
Of all the stories reviewed here this one depicts the most pure redemption; for Noland finds himself in a way we should all envy. Certainly he loses everything that is important to him, but he walks away from it a new man. Made over into someone he could never have been before his terrible experience. And, somehow, the better for it.
In this Noland was as alone as upon the island. No one else found anything like the same level of redemption in this story. And the very best part is the way the final scene is one of Noland standing at a crossroads. He has a universe of choices before him and it is unclear upon which he will settle. It might seem unfinished to some people, but to me this is the perfect ending. Noland has escaped from the ultimate solitary confinement into the ultimate freedom. And he knows it...
Recommended.
It comes with a terrible lethargy, which makes it harder to fight: I feel up to doing nothing positive and the negative requires no effort at all. As a result I find myself reading or watching TV more than I would like, as a way of redirecting my mind. This is exacerbated by my recent Tivo purchase; meaning that I have more useless shit to give my attention to when I don't have the energy to write or get things done around the house.
On the upside I have read more books and seen more movies in the last few months than I have in the previous few years. So I feel that I should knock out some reviews in penance for the wasted time. To redeem my lost hours by doing something productive based loosely on them. To that end I offer the following reviews and should point out that there are more coming, including some Stross and a Bainks...
In any case there is a dimension of grief little talked about; often called "survivor's guilt". The excessive unfairness of losing someone like Anita leads one to wonder why one should have lived on in their stead. You feel unworthy. Wrong. You wish there was some way to atone. You crave a deeper redemption than a silly blog post could possibly bring.
And that is the theme in these reviews: Redemption. Each of these stories is essentially one of a character bringing redemption to themselves and others by their actions. Some are Christlike figures; blameless in themselves but destined to bring redemption by their suffering for the sins of others. Others are finding a more personal redemption for their own sins.
Let us start with a fairly transparent Jesus reference:
Horton Hears a Who
In retrospect I shouldn't have taken Riley to see this movie. Yes it is rated 'G'. Yes it is based on a children's book by no other than Dr. Suess. But it really was too intense for a five year old: During the penultimate sequence when the jungle creatures were about to commit genocide, egged on by a power-crazed kangaroo, Riley was crying. And for good reason! The thought of drowning an entire civilization in boiling beezlenut oil should be terrifying for anyone, great or small!On the upside, in the end even the kangaroo achieved forgiveness for what was really a quite unforgivable sin. It almost seems unfair, really, how easy it was for her...
In many ways this was the best adaption of a Dr. Suess story I have ever seen. It stuck quite close to the original. What changes there were came off as additions rather than subtractions. The animation was excellent and the characters were (mostly) quite well done (for example Horton is unrecognizably Jim Carrey). Recommended, but think carefully before taking small children.
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
While we are on the subject of Christ figures, I finally got around to reading this so-called 'cult' novel by two of the best Fantasy writers of our generation. Yes, I know everyone has read it already. But not me.Now I know what I was missing and dang; this is some good stuff. The basic story is eschatological zaniness, the end of the world seen through a particularly humorous filter. All the basic features are there: Demons, Angels, the Four Horsemen, witches, witch finders, even the anti-christ come to Earth in a Omen-inspired way. Yet the story is mostly about what it means to be human.
In this case we have one each angel and demon who have lived among the humans a little too long and gone native. Add to this an anti-christ who is, in his heart of hearts, really the eleven year old boy he appears to be. Here the Christ figure is not a cartoon elephant, but rather the anti-christ himself. And he doesn't suffer to bring redemption to all so much as come to realize that, without the tension between good and evil, there isn't much left to make it worth getting out of bed in the morning. And therefore he neither forgives nor punishes the guilty, instead choosing to leave well-enough alone.
Recommended for anyone except those with no sense of humor or who get headaches whenever they try to think.
The Emperor's New Clothes
I originally Tivoed this because it had the great Ian Holmes in the starring role; there was little else about the terse on-screen description that seemed interesting. I expected to give it a few minutes and then delete it, but ended up watching the entire thing.The basic story is that of Napoleon (Holmes) exiled to island of Saint Helena but wishing to escape back to France and regain all he has lost. To this end he effects a Prince and the Pauper gambit and is replaced by a look-a-like seaman in his luxurious captivity while he sneaks back to Paris, putting up with much indignity and privation along the way. There to announce himself when the trick is revealed and lead a new peasant army to glory.
However the plan goes awry when the impostor, liking his new position too much, refuses to admit to the sham and then dies. Napoleon tries to prove who he is, but eventually finds himself placed among the insane in an asylum catering to those who are each convinced they are the true emperor of France. In the end Napoleon is forced to the realization that the world (and France) no longer wants him in anything other than a historical context. And that he is a man like any other; something that brings him a surprising degree of peace.
This movie is not perfect; with the exception of Holmes the performances are a bit uneven and the writing could be improved. Yet the story is one of a personal redemption that brings a little redemption into other's lives along the way. Recommended with caveats, but if you like Holmes don't miss it.
Sleepless in Seattle
I have stated before that I think Tom Hanks is the Jimmy Stewart of our generation. He has the same range, yet in all of his varied parts he retains the same homey ordinariness. He seems like someone real. Someone you could have a beer with.That said, I haven't seen everything Hanks ever did. In some cases, like Sleepless, I have seen different bits at different times, but have never stuck through to the end. It is certainly true that Sleepless is a quintessential 'chick flick' (even if it does spend an entire scene making fun of 'chick flicks') and therefore not the kind of thing I am ordinarily drawn to. But my Tivo recommended it to me and I was feeling sorry for myself and, hey, I could fast-forward through the boring bits...
There was less there than I had thought would align with my own story. Sure, Hanks was playing a recent widower trying to get over his grief. But the screen depiction and my own reality diverged too widely. In the end I realized it wasn't really Sam Baldwin's (Hanks) story anyway. Instead it was about Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) attempting to come to grips with her own demons of stupidity and insecurity and about how she brought redemption to all of them by simply failing to do so in a meaningful way.
You know what? Unless you are far more forgiving of idiots than I am, I cannot recommend Sleepless; even as much as I would like to. If this movie had a sequel it would probably involve a nasty divorce.
Cast Away
The probable reason that my Tivo thought I would like to see Sleepless is 'Cast Away', another Hanks vehicle. I have seen this movie several times now and just recently began to understand why I like it.Here we have Chuck Noland (Hanks), a workaholic nice guy who finds himself stranded on a tiny Pacific island. The story is multifaceted. We have his effort to survive (with a wonderful scene where he finally manages to start a fire). We have the theme of time (running out, never enough, suddenly too much, yet that also not enough). We have love and loss. And we have the horror of being forced to live for four years with only yourself for company.
Of all the stories reviewed here this one depicts the most pure redemption; for Noland finds himself in a way we should all envy. Certainly he loses everything that is important to him, but he walks away from it a new man. Made over into someone he could never have been before his terrible experience. And, somehow, the better for it.
In this Noland was as alone as upon the island. No one else found anything like the same level of redemption in this story. And the very best part is the way the final scene is one of Noland standing at a crossroads. He has a universe of choices before him and it is unclear upon which he will settle. It might seem unfinished to some people, but to me this is the perfect ending. Noland has escaped from the ultimate solitary confinement into the ultimate freedom. And he knows it...
Recommended.
Just about six months ago Anita and I stopped at Third Place Books on our way home from something I now forget. I got myself a coffee and my grandson a hot chocolate while Anita went and found a book she had been lusting after: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final episode of J. K. Rowling's famous series.
I teased her about it a little, mostly because the book had been a media sensation and Anita wasn't much on media sensations. She thought I was yanking her chain because it was a kid's book and, much of the way home, proceeded to disabuse me of the notion. Being naturally contrary I took the opposite position for a while, but she did intrigue me a little with her description of how the books became steadily darker and more sinister and not so much children's fare as simply good Fantasy. She explained that they were far better than the (as I had to admit) otherwise quite good movies.
Only a couple of days later she finished reading it and, that night, she made me promise I would give the Harry Potter sequence a chance. I was more than willing to follow through right then, but the first few books in the series were ensconced somewhere in one of the book boxes filling an entire side of our storage unit; not exactly close to hand. Being me, not long after that I completely forgot about the whole thing. . .
. . . until during my recent move, so soon after Anita's death, I found myself packing up the last couple of Harry Potter books, along with one from the middle of the seven. I remembered my promise then, and it started itching at me. I looked up 'Harry Potter' on Wikipedia and was amazed to find a wealth of information about the books, all cross linked and full of spoilers. (Follow the link, you will be surprised at how complete and well-written the articles are.) Clearly the fan-base for Potter included many smart (and mature) people.
Those first few books still lost in the depths of my storage unit, I looked in the 'Young Adult' section the next time I was at a used book store and walked out six bucks poorer, with a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in my hand. This was about a month ago.
Tonight I closed the covers on the final book with a deep sense of satisfaction. Taken as a whole the books were not the best extended novel I have ever read. (If I re-read The Lord of the Rings again this summer it will be the seventeenth time. Yes, I have kept count. No, I can't imagine reading the Harry Potter books even a fraction as many times.) But I don't think I have read anything longer than a hundred thousand words in recent memory which I found quite so captivating.
Harboring my own ambitions of writerhood, I found myself analyzing as I read Rowling's work. Why was this holding my attention so well? What in it worked? And what didn't?
Quite honestly there is a lot there that doesn't work. The settings and props are too fantastical by half; sometimes enough to break suspension of disbelief and drop you sputtering right out of the story. The characters are often dumb as rocks. You want to shout at them. Make them step outside themselves and pay attention for just a moment.
And right there is one of the things Rowling gets right: You care about the characters. Most of them seem real, with flaws and strengths that bump them out into three dimensions. Clearly she cares about the characters as well, otherwise why spend so much time developing minor characters into believability? Unsurprisingly the only truly cardboard characters of the lot are the ones lost to evil. Apparently Rowling found them much less interesting.
And then there is the writing itself. We are not talking high literature here; rather a workaday prose whose greatest strength is its clarity. Most of the time the words simply do not get in the way of the story. Certainly there are times Rowling gets a bit too clever, as described above, but most of the time you are simply reading the story instead of chuckling over a ingenious usage here or unpacking a hidden meaning there.
Nearly all the story is told in the tightest of tight third person narrative, with Potter as the viewpoint character. The exceptions are info-dump devices intended to bring the reader up to date as the story gets trickier and events start moving with more speed. This also works well, you find out things as Harry Potter does and, even when the foreshadowing gets intense, chances are you are barely ahead of the young wizard in figuring things out.
Which brings us to plot. The first four books are simple 'coming of age' mystery adventures, each slightly more complex than the last. Then the mysteries become far more intricate and the books suddenly slide sideways into character-driven narrative before slewing back around to adventure towards the end. This is not the usual Hero's Journey stuff either; there may be one viewpoint character, but there are too many real heros here for your standard monomyth. Each overcoming their natural shortcomings. Each making a part of the myth their own.
All of this doesn't work one-hundred percent of the time, but it works enough to hold your attention and keep you turning the pages until, by the end, you find yourself awed by the depth of the world Rowling has created. No, this isn't Tolkien. Hell, it isn't even Pratchett. But it is more than good enough.
Good enough for me to think Rowling deserves the fame and money Potter has brought her (even if I think Tolkien deserved it more). And good enough for me to thank Anita for extracting that promise from me on a hot July night...
I teased her about it a little, mostly because the book had been a media sensation and Anita wasn't much on media sensations. She thought I was yanking her chain because it was a kid's book and, much of the way home, proceeded to disabuse me of the notion. Being naturally contrary I took the opposite position for a while, but she did intrigue me a little with her description of how the books became steadily darker and more sinister and not so much children's fare as simply good Fantasy. She explained that they were far better than the (as I had to admit) otherwise quite good movies.
Only a couple of days later she finished reading it and, that night, she made me promise I would give the Harry Potter sequence a chance. I was more than willing to follow through right then, but the first few books in the series were ensconced somewhere in one of the book boxes filling an entire side of our storage unit; not exactly close to hand. Being me, not long after that I completely forgot about the whole thing. . .
. . . until during my recent move, so soon after Anita's death, I found myself packing up the last couple of Harry Potter books, along with one from the middle of the seven. I remembered my promise then, and it started itching at me. I looked up 'Harry Potter' on Wikipedia and was amazed to find a wealth of information about the books, all cross linked and full of spoilers. (Follow the link, you will be surprised at how complete and well-written the articles are.) Clearly the fan-base for Potter included many smart (and mature) people.
Those first few books still lost in the depths of my storage unit, I looked in the 'Young Adult' section the next time I was at a used book store and walked out six bucks poorer, with a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in my hand. This was about a month ago.
Tonight I closed the covers on the final book with a deep sense of satisfaction. Taken as a whole the books were not the best extended novel I have ever read. (If I re-read The Lord of the Rings again this summer it will be the seventeenth time. Yes, I have kept count. No, I can't imagine reading the Harry Potter books even a fraction as many times.) But I don't think I have read anything longer than a hundred thousand words in recent memory which I found quite so captivating.
Harboring my own ambitions of writerhood, I found myself analyzing as I read Rowling's work. Why was this holding my attention so well? What in it worked? And what didn't?
Quite honestly there is a lot there that doesn't work. The settings and props are too fantastical by half; sometimes enough to break suspension of disbelief and drop you sputtering right out of the story. The characters are often dumb as rocks. You want to shout at them. Make them step outside themselves and pay attention for just a moment.
And right there is one of the things Rowling gets right: You care about the characters. Most of them seem real, with flaws and strengths that bump them out into three dimensions. Clearly she cares about the characters as well, otherwise why spend so much time developing minor characters into believability? Unsurprisingly the only truly cardboard characters of the lot are the ones lost to evil. Apparently Rowling found them much less interesting.
And then there is the writing itself. We are not talking high literature here; rather a workaday prose whose greatest strength is its clarity. Most of the time the words simply do not get in the way of the story. Certainly there are times Rowling gets a bit too clever, as described above, but most of the time you are simply reading the story instead of chuckling over a ingenious usage here or unpacking a hidden meaning there.
Nearly all the story is told in the tightest of tight third person narrative, with Potter as the viewpoint character. The exceptions are info-dump devices intended to bring the reader up to date as the story gets trickier and events start moving with more speed. This also works well, you find out things as Harry Potter does and, even when the foreshadowing gets intense, chances are you are barely ahead of the young wizard in figuring things out.
Which brings us to plot. The first four books are simple 'coming of age' mystery adventures, each slightly more complex than the last. Then the mysteries become far more intricate and the books suddenly slide sideways into character-driven narrative before slewing back around to adventure towards the end. This is not the usual Hero's Journey stuff either; there may be one viewpoint character, but there are too many real heros here for your standard monomyth. Each overcoming their natural shortcomings. Each making a part of the myth their own.
All of this doesn't work one-hundred percent of the time, but it works enough to hold your attention and keep you turning the pages until, by the end, you find yourself awed by the depth of the world Rowling has created. No, this isn't Tolkien. Hell, it isn't even Pratchett. But it is more than good enough.
Good enough for me to think Rowling deserves the fame and money Potter has brought her (even if I think Tolkien deserved it more). And good enough for me to thank Anita for extracting that promise from me on a hot July night...
A schism in Pastafarianism.
The simultaneous publication of two books advancing the idea that the universe was created by an entity composed primarily of pasta may indicate a dramatic schism in one of the world's newest religions. "God Speaks! The Flying Spaghetti Monster in His Own Words," by noted Psychologist Jon Smith, appears on Lulu.com, a self-publishing site for print-on-demand books, on the same day that a book by the movement's founder arrives in bookstores across the nation.(Hat-tip Flutterby.)
Last night Anita and I were invited to a book launch party for Shel Israel and Robert Scoble's new book Naked Conversations. (Book blog here.)
It was a great party! Wonderful atmosphere due to the historic mansion where the party was hosted, good food, decent beer, and even an espresso stand. (Meaning that I got to sandwich a couple of Fat Tire Ales between a pair of double Americanos; my idea of good drinking!) I had some very interesting conversations, split about 60/40 between people I knew and new acquaintances.
The funny thing was how often the people I knew had little or no relation to each other, other than Robert and myself (and, usually, Robert and I knew them from different contexts); even including someone I worked with during the year I spent in Michigan a while back. I'm beginning to think that Seattle geekdom is a much a smaller community than one would expect. Alex Barnett and I were discussing this and I postulated that, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of our different social circles, there would be too many overlaps to represent them all in two dimensions. (Alex's party report.)
(Note to self: Invite Alex and his lovely wife over for dinner some time.)
Besides Alex and myself, there were several other Seattle Mindcamp alumni there. Given the subject of the book, and Scoble himself, the concentration of bloggers was very nearly at critical mass as well; any more and it would have erupted into a convention or something. This led, quite naturally, to lots of blog reports (which Scoble is listing). Plus a lot of people brought cameras, so there are Fickr streams here (start using sets Scoble!) and here and most likely more to come. Yes, I'm in some of them. I'm the handsome one.
Oh, and Chris Pirillo has a video review of the book which you absolutely must see.
I'm looking forward to reading Naked Conversations! (And yes, I did accuse Scoble of titling the book that way in order to increase the search engine hits...)
It was a great party! Wonderful atmosphere due to the historic mansion where the party was hosted, good food, decent beer, and even an espresso stand. (Meaning that I got to sandwich a couple of Fat Tire Ales between a pair of double Americanos; my idea of good drinking!) I had some very interesting conversations, split about 60/40 between people I knew and new acquaintances.
The funny thing was how often the people I knew had little or no relation to each other, other than Robert and myself (and, usually, Robert and I knew them from different contexts); even including someone I worked with during the year I spent in Michigan a while back. I'm beginning to think that Seattle geekdom is a much a smaller community than one would expect. Alex Barnett and I were discussing this and I postulated that, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of our different social circles, there would be too many overlaps to represent them all in two dimensions. (Alex's party report.)
(Note to self: Invite Alex and his lovely wife over for dinner some time.)
Besides Alex and myself, there were several other Seattle Mindcamp alumni there. Given the subject of the book, and Scoble himself, the concentration of bloggers was very nearly at critical mass as well; any more and it would have erupted into a convention or something. This led, quite naturally, to lots of blog reports (which Scoble is listing). Plus a lot of people brought cameras, so there are Fickr streams here (start using sets Scoble!) and here and most likely more to come. Yes, I'm in some of them. I'm the handsome one.
Oh, and Chris Pirillo has a video review of the book which you absolutely must see.
I'm looking forward to reading Naked Conversations! (And yes, I did accuse Scoble of titling the book that way in order to increase the search engine hits...)
German children's book. Teaching der kinder about der poppen.
I'm sorry if you are a Rice fan, but I'm not joking. Apparently a brush with death convinced her to return to Roman Catholicism in a big way:
(Meta: I found this and wrote it up yesterday (for posting later today), but![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
supergee scooped me with a funnier link. His commentary here.)
What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord."Luckily, I'm not a Rice fan. But I am wondering; could it be she is going to go somewhere completely new with the whole 'blood and body of Christ' thing?
(Meta: I found this and wrote it up yesterday (for posting later today), but
supergee scooped me with a funnier link. His commentary here.)J.D. Frazer (aka Illiad of User Friendly fame) is an acquaintance of mine since I invited him as a guest of honor to Vikingcon 18. Among other excellent qualities, J.D. is one of the the surprisingly large number of people who have managed to make a pretty good living publishing a popular web comic. A phenomenon I've discussed previously.
Well, now J.D. is disclosing his secret sauce! His new book, "Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free : Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash" is a how-to for making money with personally created content on the web. I will follow up with a review once I've gotten my hands on a copy.
Well, now J.D. is disclosing his secret sauce! His new book, "Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free : Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash" is a how-to for making money with personally created content on the web. I will follow up with a review once I've gotten my hands on a copy.
Randy Asplund an artist and a modern scribe/illumninator (and a slight acquaintance of mine from the time I spent in Michigan) has a fascinating "visual description of the first stages of making a contemporary Book of Ecclesiastes in an authentic medieval manner."
This is a work in progress, part of a larger book he has planned on creating medieval style folio books. He uses medieval tools and materials, including things that seem a bit dangerous to me (like a lead/tin alloy 'pencil'). If this interests you, make certain to check back from time to time as he updates the web pages. Also read his "The making of an Illuminated page: A lesson" and his previous book, "The Middle Kingdom Scribes' Handbook", available for download here (PDF).
This is a work in progress, part of a larger book he has planned on creating medieval style folio books. He uses medieval tools and materials, including things that seem a bit dangerous to me (like a lead/tin alloy 'pencil'). If this interests you, make certain to check back from time to time as he updates the web pages. Also read his "The making of an Illuminated page: A lesson" and his previous book, "The Middle Kingdom Scribes' Handbook", available for download here (PDF).
Glenn Reynolds interviews Ray Kurzweil about his new book 'The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology':
Still, read the whole thing! (I still need to, it's long and I don't have time this morning.)
The Singularity is a transition, but to appreciate its importance, one needs to understand the nature of exponential growth. On the one hand, exponential growth is smooth with no discontinuities, and values remains finite. On the other hand, it is explosive once we reach the “knee of the curve.” The difference between what I refer to as the “intuitive linear” view and the historically correct exponential view is crucial, and I discuss my “law of accelerating returns” in detail in the first two chapters. It is remarkable to me how many otherwise thoughtful observers fail to understand that progress is exponential, not linear. This failure underlies the common “criticism from incredulity” that I discuss at the beginning of the “Response to Critics” chapter.I wish I could be as optimistic as Kurzweil, but I just can't. It isn't that I don't think the Singularity (or at least a Singularity) is going to happen. It's just that I don't think it will be unalloyed good, nor will it come about without a lot of pain and dislocation.
To describe these changes further, within a quarter century, nonbiological intelligence will match the range and subtlety of human intelligence. It will then soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge. Intelligent nanorobots will be deeply integrated in our bodies, our brains, and our environment, overcoming pollution and poverty, providing vastly extended longevity, full-immersion virtual reality incorporating all of the senses, “experience beaming,” and vastly enhanced human intelligence. The result will be an intimate merger between the technology-creating species and the technological evolutionary process it spawned. But all of this is just the precursor to the Singularity. Nonbiological intelligence will have access to its own design and will be able to improve itself in an increasingly rapid redesign cycle. We’ll get to a point where technical progress will be so fast that unenhanced human intelligence will be unable to follow it. That will mark the Singularity.
Still, read the whole thing! (I still need to, it's long and I don't have time this morning.)
Critic Doug Ireland dislikes Edward Klein's new book on Hillary Clinton 'The Truth About Hillary' for all the right reasons:
Instead of frothing like a 19th-century Comstockian prude at anyone in the book with an active sex life, Klein would have performed a valuable service had he dynamited the myth, perpetuated by the Clintons’ defenders, that the president’s private conduct had nothing to do with his governance. Quite the reverse was true.Heh... Feeling a bit catty, are we Doug? It's worth reading the whole thing. (The review, not the obviously execrable book.)
As Clinton prepared to run for his second term several years in advance, it was Hillary who brought back to Bill’s inner circle Dick Morris, an ambulant cancer on the body politic and the turncoat Democratic strategist who had crossed the street to ply his trade for Trent Lott and the right-wing Republicans. Together, the prostitute-frequenting political consultant who had fathered a child out of wedlock and the serial-philandering president and his cynical wife made the full-blown “family values” presidency the overarching theme for securing a second Clinton term.
The charade was on: Clinton decided not to implement the lifesaving recommendations even of George H.W. Bush’s AIDS Commission, let alone his own. He made permanent the ban on immigration by HIV-ers; capitulated to the religious right on explicit sex education and condoms in the schools, while his administration — and Hillary in particular — preached the failed fantasy of “abstinence”; threatened prosecution of doctors who prescribed medical marijuana for people with AIDS and other patients to restore their appetites; sided with the know-nothing obscurantists on the issue of clean needles against the unanimous advice of the medical and AIDS-prevention experts; signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law — and then campaigned on it in 1996 with stealth radio ads targeting the Bible Belt so they’d be under the radar for gay voters on the two coasts. And this is only a partial list of the concrete consequences of Bill and Hillary’s hypocrisy.
Crap. I won't be able to go to this. Anita and I are fixing a door at our place in Seattle tomorrow, continuing a project started today. (The door was kicked in by some drug-crazed lunatic who didn't even bother to burglarize the place. Apparently he was hearing 'voices' interrogating him from within the empty apartment.)
But if you are in Seattle tomorrow and can make it to the Museum of Flight, you should go to the Apollo 13 astronaut book signing.
But if you are in Seattle tomorrow and can make it to the Museum of Flight, you should go to the Apollo 13 astronaut book signing.
Some of the heroes of Apollo 13 will make their way to the Museum of Flight to meet and greet local fans. Several of these astronauts have written books since their flights, so they will also be signing and selling them during the visit. Astronauts from other missions as well as mission controllers may also appear, such as lunar module pilot Fred Haise Jr. (pictured) and Thomas K. Mattingtly II, who was part of the original Apollo 13 crew but was removed 72 hours from flight status after his exposure to German measles. He was replaced by Jack Swigert, who passed away in 1982. Mattingly later joined Apollo 16 as pilot. Nancy Conrad, the wife of the late Charles "Pete" Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, will also attend. So will R. Walter Cunningham, pilot from Apollo 7, and Apollo 13 flight director Gene Kranz. His motto, "failure is not an option," was heard round the world when he led the rescue effort after an explosion crippled the Apollo 13 spacecraft with three astronauts aboard.
Charles Stross (aka autopope) has set up a weblog to promote his new, and highly anticipated, transhumanist novel -- Accelerando! And, shades of Cory Doctorow, he will be releasing an electronc version of it soon under a Creative Commons license. KEWL!
I tried to order a copy last night, but no go. I guess I am gonna have to go with Amazon and save a couple of bucks. Darn.
autopope) has set up a weblog to promote his new, and highly anticipated, transhumanist novel -- Accelerando! And, shades of Cory Doctorow, he will be releasing an electronc version of it soon under a Creative Commons license. KEWL!I tried to order a copy last night, but no go. I guess I am gonna have to go with Amazon and save a couple of bucks. Darn.
Cory Doctorow has a great rant on BoingBoing about changes to the book publishing industry where, of course, he also talks about Science Fiction writing:
I tell you what: writers who worry about piracy are missing the point. Piracy isn't what's going to amateurize science fiction. We're gonna get amateurized by the same thing that turned writing poetry into a hobby instead of a business: competition from more robust forms of media; our bastard progeny (games, comics, movies) are going to eat our lunch like fast mammals moving into a bronto's ecological niche.This makes a nice tie in to an earlier rant.
Or, rather, who needs books printed out on thin sheets of dead, processed trees? Why not just read everything on a computer screen?
Well, since no-one is going to comment on this, I guess I will answer my own question. Because:
But, anyway, there are some advantages to ebooks. For instance you can carry hundreds of them in a Palm or PocketPC, or even your cellphone. Also books have to be shelved, moved, stored and otherwise dealt with as the bulky physical objects they are. Mind you I am quite proud of my books; I have thousands of hardbacks and even more paperbacks. But I am an obsessed bibliophile and am willing to put up with the way they can be a pain in the ass.
This wouldn't be a problem except I don't like getting rid of books. I own somewhere in the neighborhood of five thousand volumes, even after multiple cullings to get rid of the books I don't think I will ever read again. If they were all etext I could burn the lot of them to a single DVD-RW disk. Space savings aside, this means that I could have a backup of my books! Right now a fire or flood would wipe out my entire collection.
OK, so which is it? Books or ebooks? One way to find out if etext is for you is to actually try reading some ebooks. Mind you, this is something you can get into at little or no cost; assuming you already own the computer. If you are reading this I think that is a safe assumption, and I can further assume you are already used to reading a lot of crap on a comptuter screen as well. What I cannot assume is that you know where to find etext on the net.
So here are some resources for free ebooks: H. G. Wells 'The War of the Worlds'. -- Neil Gaimen's 'Cinnamon'. -- The 'Baen Free Library' is a growing collection of SF novels available for free. -- There is a Gilgamesh translation. -- The King County library has a ebook program. -- Project Guttenburg has thousands of texts. -- Political junkies can read Machieavelli's 'The Prince' or go to this huge collection of American Constitutional classics.
Or you can just watch the etext feed on my del.icio.us page...
Well, since no-one is going to comment on this, I guess I will answer my own question. Because:
- Physical books, especially hardbacks, feel good in your hands
- I like the smell too, unless they get moldy
- You don't need to plug them in
- You can get the author to sign them
- They don't slide off of your knees in the bathroom the way a laptop does (don't ask me how I know this)
But, anyway, there are some advantages to ebooks. For instance you can carry hundreds of them in a Palm or PocketPC, or even your cellphone. Also books have to be shelved, moved, stored and otherwise dealt with as the bulky physical objects they are. Mind you I am quite proud of my books; I have thousands of hardbacks and even more paperbacks. But I am an obsessed bibliophile and am willing to put up with the way they can be a pain in the ass.
This wouldn't be a problem except I don't like getting rid of books. I own somewhere in the neighborhood of five thousand volumes, even after multiple cullings to get rid of the books I don't think I will ever read again. If they were all etext I could burn the lot of them to a single DVD-RW disk. Space savings aside, this means that I could have a backup of my books! Right now a fire or flood would wipe out my entire collection.
OK, so which is it? Books or ebooks? One way to find out if etext is for you is to actually try reading some ebooks. Mind you, this is something you can get into at little or no cost; assuming you already own the computer. If you are reading this I think that is a safe assumption, and I can further assume you are already used to reading a lot of crap on a comptuter screen as well. What I cannot assume is that you know where to find etext on the net.
So here are some resources for free ebooks: H. G. Wells 'The War of the Worlds'. -- Neil Gaimen's 'Cinnamon'. -- The 'Baen Free Library' is a growing collection of SF novels available for free. -- There is a Gilgamesh translation. -- The King County library has a ebook program. -- Project Guttenburg has thousands of texts. -- Political junkies can read Machieavelli's 'The Prince' or go to this huge collection of American Constitutional classics.
Or you can just watch the etext feed on my del.icio.us page...
- Mood:
contemplative
