The Ghost Brigades
Moving right along, let's talk about The Ghost Brigades shall we? (If you're lost, I talked about Old Man's War previously, this is the second book in a trilogy by John Scalzi.)
This is going to be the most difficult book in the trilogy to discuss without spoilers. The thing is, this book is about some special units in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) that are known as the Ghost Brigades. But the telling you the thing that makes the Ghost Brigages special is a spoiler for Old Man's War. In fact, I think I'm going to give up. If you haven't read Old Man's War and you care about spoilers stop reading now. If you've read OMW, but you haven't read TGB, that's OK. I'll avoid spoiling the second book.
Are they gone yet?
OK, if you're still reading then you have either read Old Man's War or you don't care about spoilers. So let me recap for the latter group. In Old Man's War we learn that the CDF knows how to transfer minds. So basically when somebody turns 65 on Earth they can sign up to enlist and ten years, and give CDF a DNA sample. Unknown to the Earthlings the CDF uses this sample to grow a special body that is based on the original DNA but also has superhuman reflexes, speed, super-blood and so forth. The body also comes with a built-in computer/communicator/PDA (called a BrainPal) with a direct brain link.
Well, some people die before turning 75 or fail to enlist - leaving the CDF with an expensive body and no personality/mind to imprint in it. These bodies are given artificial personalities and enlisted in the Ghost Brigades. They are human, more or less, but they rely much heavier on the BrainPal than normal humans do. They are "born" with full-grown bodies, and they always have the BrainPal interface - so they have access to encyclopedias worth of information at the first moment they awake. Furthermore, they communicate mostly via BrainPal - much faster than normal speech and they can even send some emotional content, making them quasi-telepathic with their squadmates.
We learned all that in Old Man's War, but what does that leave for The Ghost Brigades? Well, Old Man's War tells the story of a regular inductee. He learns about the Ghost Brigades, but it's not really the focus of the story. In TGB we follow other characters - including a newly "born" soldier. So where OMW tells the reader about the CDF basic training, this book follows through the Special Forces training. The book is a little more contemplative than OMW, but there's still plenty of fighting and action.
I griped a little about info-dumping in the OMW review, and it's worse in this book. It's not a major flaw, but there's even more "Here's a big blurb about some background thing that we all need to know here." There's no literal "As you know Bob", but it comes damn close, and there are several "As you now-need-to-know Bob, here is <big blob of classified data>." moments. I said it didn't cross the line to bother me in OMW, but this one did bother me in several places.
The very nature of the Ghost Brigades leads into some contemplation about humanity. Are the Ghost Brigade members actually human? They don't have their own DNA, they don't have a childhood, and they can barely stand to talk to the "Realborn" who insist on using verbal speech communication speeds. What if the bodies they are given are even less human. Is there a threshold where on this line you have a human and on this line you have a new sapient species? It's interesting stuff, and having on a narrator on the inside lets Scalzi explore it.
Furthermore the Realborn use the Ghost Brigades as Special Forces, but it also means the Ghost Brigades are sent in for all the dirty work. The CDF is a volunteer force, but these people were created. What if they don't want to serve? Can they quit? Are they full members of society, or are they second class citizens?
The book also sketches in some more about the political structure of the Colonial Union, although this aspect of the book is less satisfying. I had questions already from OMW, and TGB opens more questions than it closes. Furthermore OMW is a reasonable stand-alone read. The ending of TGB is definitely setting up the third book.
All in all I enjoyed reading The Ghost Brigades, but it's my least favorite of the three books in the universe. Part of that is normal "second part of the trilogy" blues, and part of that is it's much more difficult to identify with a member of the Ghost Brigade. John Perry narrates OMW and The Last Colony (the third book), but he's not even ever "on-screen" in TGB. Nor does it follow Jane Sagan (although she is a major character in the book), instead following a brand-new soldier.
technorati tags:JohnScalzi, TheGhostBrigades, OldMan'sWar, BookReview, ScienceFiction
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Moving right along, let's talk about The Ghost Brigades shall we? (If you're lost, I talked about Old Man's War previously, this is the second book in a trilogy by John Scalzi.)
This is going to be the most difficult book in the trilogy to discuss without spoilers. The thing is, this book is about some special units in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) that are known as the Ghost Brigades. But the telling you the thing that makes the Ghost Brigages special is a spoiler for Old Man's War. In fact, I think I'm going to give up. If you haven't read Old Man's War and you care about spoilers stop reading now. If you've read OMW, but you haven't read TGB, that's OK. I'll avoid spoiling the second book.
Are they gone yet?
OK, if you're still reading then you have either read Old Man's War or you don't care about spoilers. So let me recap for the latter group. In Old Man's War we learn that the CDF knows how to transfer minds. So basically when somebody turns 65 on Earth they can sign up to enlist and ten years, and give CDF a DNA sample. Unknown to the Earthlings the CDF uses this sample to grow a special body that is based on the original DNA but also has superhuman reflexes, speed, super-blood and so forth. The body also comes with a built-in computer/communicator/PDA (called a BrainPal) with a direct brain link.
Well, some people die before turning 75 or fail to enlist - leaving the CDF with an expensive body and no personality/mind to imprint in it. These bodies are given artificial personalities and enlisted in the Ghost Brigades. They are human, more or less, but they rely much heavier on the BrainPal than normal humans do. They are "born" with full-grown bodies, and they always have the BrainPal interface - so they have access to encyclopedias worth of information at the first moment they awake. Furthermore, they communicate mostly via BrainPal - much faster than normal speech and they can even send some emotional content, making them quasi-telepathic with their squadmates.
We learned all that in Old Man's War, but what does that leave for The Ghost Brigades? Well, Old Man's War tells the story of a regular inductee. He learns about the Ghost Brigades, but it's not really the focus of the story. In TGB we follow other characters - including a newly "born" soldier. So where OMW tells the reader about the CDF basic training, this book follows through the Special Forces training. The book is a little more contemplative than OMW, but there's still plenty of fighting and action.
I griped a little about info-dumping in the OMW review, and it's worse in this book. It's not a major flaw, but there's even more "Here's a big blurb about some background thing that we all need to know here." There's no literal "As you know Bob", but it comes damn close, and there are several "As you now-need-to-know Bob, here is <big blob of classified data>." moments. I said it didn't cross the line to bother me in OMW, but this one did bother me in several places.
The very nature of the Ghost Brigades leads into some contemplation about humanity. Are the Ghost Brigade members actually human? They don't have their own DNA, they don't have a childhood, and they can barely stand to talk to the "Realborn" who insist on using verbal speech communication speeds. What if the bodies they are given are even less human. Is there a threshold where on this line you have a human and on this line you have a new sapient species? It's interesting stuff, and having on a narrator on the inside lets Scalzi explore it.
Furthermore the Realborn use the Ghost Brigades as Special Forces, but it also means the Ghost Brigades are sent in for all the dirty work. The CDF is a volunteer force, but these people were created. What if they don't want to serve? Can they quit? Are they full members of society, or are they second class citizens?
The book also sketches in some more about the political structure of the Colonial Union, although this aspect of the book is less satisfying. I had questions already from OMW, and TGB opens more questions than it closes. Furthermore OMW is a reasonable stand-alone read. The ending of TGB is definitely setting up the third book.
All in all I enjoyed reading The Ghost Brigades, but it's my least favorite of the three books in the universe. Part of that is normal "second part of the trilogy" blues, and part of that is it's much more difficult to identify with a member of the Ghost Brigade. John Perry narrates OMW and The Last Colony (the third book), but he's not even ever "on-screen" in TGB. Nor does it follow Jane Sagan (although she is a major character in the book), instead following a brand-new soldier.
technorati tags:JohnScalzi, TheGhostBrigades, OldMan'sWar, BookReview, ScienceFiction
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Mouse Advice
Does anybody know of a mouse that has the little 2-way "nipple" scroll thingie on the top? Like a Mighty Mouse, and yet not a Mighty Mouse? Here's the thing. I really like the Mighty Mouse but Apple's form-over-function has bit them on the ass with this thing. The nipple is basically a very small mouse ball. And just like a old-school mouse it gets crudded up and stops working right. But Apple didn't make the Mighty Mouse user-serviceable - you have to BREAK parts of the case in order to open it. So far I've managed to avoid breaking it apart but cleaning the ball becomes increasingly difficult.
So what I really want is the Mighty Mouse nipple/wheel/button, but with a seam somewhere so I could crack the thing open when it's time to clean out the wheels. While we're at it, I'd quite like to get real mouse buttons as well. I hate the way the whole mouse clicks and it uses conductance to determine which side was clicks. I'd much rather have two physical buttons, thanks much.
I use the 2d a little bit (for horizontal scrolling), but what I REALLY use is the fact that it spins faster than a traditional scroll-wheel with clicky detents. I quick like the fact that I can whip it down a vertical scroll and it gets a little momentum going.
Truthfully I'd dig on some slightly better ergonomics than the Mighty Mouse as well.
technorati tags:mouse, MightyMouse, hardware, ScrollWheel
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Does anybody know of a mouse that has the little 2-way "nipple" scroll thingie on the top? Like a Mighty Mouse, and yet not a Mighty Mouse? Here's the thing. I really like the Mighty Mouse but Apple's form-over-function has bit them on the ass with this thing. The nipple is basically a very small mouse ball. And just like a old-school mouse it gets crudded up and stops working right. But Apple didn't make the Mighty Mouse user-serviceable - you have to BREAK parts of the case in order to open it. So far I've managed to avoid breaking it apart but cleaning the ball becomes increasingly difficult.
So what I really want is the Mighty Mouse nipple/wheel/button, but with a seam somewhere so I could crack the thing open when it's time to clean out the wheels. While we're at it, I'd quite like to get real mouse buttons as well. I hate the way the whole mouse clicks and it uses conductance to determine which side was clicks. I'd much rather have two physical buttons, thanks much.
I use the 2d a little bit (for horizontal scrolling), but what I REALLY use is the fact that it spins faster than a traditional scroll-wheel with clicky detents. I quick like the fact that I can whip it down a vertical scroll and it gets a little momentum going.
Truthfully I'd dig on some slightly better ergonomics than the Mighty Mouse as well.
technorati tags:mouse, MightyMouse, hardware, ScrollWheel
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The Future of Lost
ABC has agreed to let the producers of Lost set an expiration date for the series: three years in the future, the network announced May 7.Starting in the 2007-'08 season, Lost will air in uninterrupted arcs of 16 episodes each, culminating in the show's finale sometime during the 2009-'10 season.
SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel | SCIFI.COM
So Lost will have "six seasons", but seasons 4-6 will only have 2 traditional seasons worth of episodes.This seems like a win-win really. This gives the Lost people the ability to spin their plot out at their desired pace, without worries about getting cut off at the knees. The short season is a little disappointing, but I'd rather have it than the season 3 "mini-series" thing repeat.
I'll note that this pretty much completes the destruction of the traditional "season". HBO has long used 13 episode seasons (and the UK uses 6 epsodes!). Sci-Fi has been experimenting with the weird 2-part Battlestar seasons - which are closer to two HBO seasons than anything else. But Lost is a major network show, and now it's practically ignoring seasons, one of the sweeps periods (November), and the whole structure of US broadcast TV that has been in place for however many diddly-ump years now. A season is now "a large dramatic unit of shows". I like it a lot. I dislike the stupid little hiatus that has cropped up over the last few years, in large part because everyone has the same hiatus. If your "season" is only 24 episodes, fine. Just show them and be done with it. Don't skip 4 weeks in the middle and then be forced to recap everything.
technorati tags:television, Lost
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ABC has agreed to let the producers of Lost set an expiration date for the series: three years in the future, the network announced May 7.Starting in the 2007-'08 season, Lost will air in uninterrupted arcs of 16 episodes each, culminating in the show's finale sometime during the 2009-'10 season.
SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel | SCIFI.COM
So Lost will have "six seasons", but seasons 4-6 will only have 2 traditional seasons worth of episodes.
This seems like a win-win really. This gives the Lost people the ability to spin their plot out at their desired pace, without worries about getting cut off at the knees. The short season is a little disappointing, but I'd rather have it than the season 3 "mini-series" thing repeat.
I'll note that this pretty much completes the destruction of the traditional "season". HBO has long used 13 episode seasons (and the UK uses 6 epsodes!). Sci-Fi has been experimenting with the weird 2-part Battlestar seasons - which are closer to two HBO seasons than anything else. But Lost is a major network show, and now it's practically ignoring seasons, one of the sweeps periods (November), and the whole structure of US broadcast TV that has been in place for however many diddly-ump years now. A season is now "a large dramatic unit of shows". I like it a lot. I dislike the stupid little hiatus that has cropped up over the last few years, in large part because everyone has the same hiatus. If your "season" is only 24 episodes, fine. Just show them and be done with it. Don't skip 4 weeks in the middle and then be forced to recap everything.
technorati tags:television, Lost
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An Unscientific Poll
I'm curious about something. Those of you who read the site do you:
A) just check the site periodically looking for new posts
or
B) Use a RSS feed of some sort.
If you answered B) do you use:
B1) The regular feed (index.xml)
B2) The feed with both the posts and the comments (fulltext.xml)
B3) The feed with just comments (comments.xml)
or
B4) Read both index.xml and comments.xml separately
There are other possibilities, but they get increasingly less likely from here. But feel free to elaborate in more detail whatever Rube Goldberg contraption you use to access the content.
technorati tags:blog, RSS, poll
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I'm curious about something. Those of you who read the site do you:
A) just check the site periodically looking for new posts
or
B) Use a RSS feed of some sort.
If you answered B) do you use:
B1) The regular feed (index.xml)
B2) The feed with both the posts and the comments (fulltext.xml)
B3) The feed with just comments (comments.xml)
or
B4) Read both index.xml and comments.xml separately
There are other possibilities, but they get increasingly less likely from here. But feel free to elaborate in more detail whatever Rube Goldberg contraption you use to access the content.
technorati tags:blog, RSS, poll
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Musings Inspired By Catan
So first off, it was pretty much a given that Catan would come out on Xbox Live while my Xbox was hors de combat. Damnit! I hear that it's a faithful and true adaptation. Avast ye my foes! Practice and practice well. According to UPS I'll have a 360 again on Wednesday. Assuming all is well I will lay waste to a field of foes most foul. You will find yourself trading stone for sheep and then blankly surveying the devastation, weeping barren tears and asking yourself where it all went wrong.
While on Catan this Penny Arcade is funny, yes? This podcast, recorded while they were creating this strip is well worth a half-hour of ear-attention. I've endorsed their podcast product or service in the past, and the feed has lain fallow for many moons - but they woke up and had podcasts for the last two strips. Still very funny, still interesting to get a glimpse of the creative process they use, stil highly recommended.
technorati tags:Catan, Xbox360, PennyArcade, podcast
Blogged with Flock
So first off, it was pretty much a given that Catan would come out on Xbox Live while my Xbox was hors de combat. Damnit! I hear that it's a faithful and true adaptation. Avast ye my foes! Practice and practice well. According to UPS I'll have a 360 again on Wednesday. Assuming all is well I will lay waste to a field of foes most foul. You will find yourself trading stone for sheep and then blankly surveying the devastation, weeping barren tears and asking yourself where it all went wrong.
While on Catan this Penny Arcade is funny, yes? This podcast, recorded while they were creating this strip is well worth a half-hour of ear-attention. I've endorsed their podcast product or service in the past, and the feed has lain fallow for many moons - but they woke up and had podcasts for the last two strips. Still very funny, still interesting to get a glimpse of the creative process they use, stil highly recommended.
technorati tags:Catan, Xbox360, PennyArcade, podcast
Blogged with Flock