Random Observations
- The holiday onslaught of gaming has begun in full force. Halo 3, Bioshock, and now PGR4. Mad I tell you, just mad!
- I picked up Guitar Hero II again. I'm comfortable saying that I think GHII is the Best. Video. Game. Ever. Made. At least until GHIII and Rock Band hit the streets.
- I've been sort of drifting lately. I knew I had a bunch of stuff to do, but I wasn't able to tackle it. I've had a couple of days lately where Karin came home and I was all "What? That was a whole day? Well crap!" Today I sat down and started re-reading Getting Things Done. What a great book. The funny thing is I knew what I needed to do, but somehow touching base with the basics cleared my head so I actually did it and now it's as if I had a bad head cold and suddenly all my sinuses cleared. My desk is clear, my inbox is empty and things are happening again. (For those who are curious, my Weekly Reviews had stopped being the right thing, and I got so paralyzing by figuring out the right thing to do that I did nothing. Took a couple of hours of cleaning out all the mental "Oh yeah" tags, and enough of a push through the rest of my system that I'm comfortable saying it's all captured again.
- "The bad news, which we knew was coming, is that according to Reggie, "given the level of demand and given the fact that the more we put in, the more we sell, it is still going to be difficult to get your hands on the Wii."- Reggie: Wii Holiday Hardware Supplies Will Be "Unprecedented" - Kotaku. Good god, somebody needs to smack the crap out of Nintendo. I generally try to avoid tinfoil conspiratorial declarations of manufactured shortages but here we are a year later and Nintendo still can't figure out how to make overclocked Gamecubes? No way, I don't fucking buy it. If Microsoft starts selling more 360's than Wii's I'll bet Reggie finds a way to crank up his production. I might should write a whole post on the Wii - I played a fair amount of Wii on my vacation and I'm even firmer now in the fact that I really dislike the thing. I had been saying I'd pick up one to play Mario Galaxies, but now? The only thing on it that I've played that doesn't feel impossibly sloppy is Wii Sports. (In fairness I must disclaim - I did not play either Zelda or Metroid. I'm basing this mainly on Mario Party, Rayman Raving Rabbids and using the OS itself (I was working at my parents on getting it online, so I did a lot of typing WEP passwords and the like.))
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Tags: gaming, GuitarHeroII, GettingThingsDone, Wii
- The holiday onslaught of gaming has begun in full force. Halo 3, Bioshock, and now PGR4. Mad I tell you, just mad!
- I picked up Guitar Hero II again. I'm comfortable saying that I think GHII is the Best. Video. Game. Ever. Made. At least until GHIII and Rock Band hit the streets.
- I've been sort of drifting lately. I knew I had a bunch of stuff to do, but I wasn't able to tackle it. I've had a couple of days lately where Karin came home and I was all "What? That was a whole day? Well crap!" Today I sat down and started re-reading Getting Things Done. What a great book. The funny thing is I knew what I needed to do, but somehow touching base with the basics cleared my head so I actually did it and now it's as if I had a bad head cold and suddenly all my sinuses cleared. My desk is clear, my inbox is empty and things are happening again. (For those who are curious, my Weekly Reviews had stopped being the right thing, and I got so paralyzing by figuring out the right thing to do that I did nothing. Took a couple of hours of cleaning out all the mental "Oh yeah" tags, and enough of a push through the rest of my system that I'm comfortable saying it's all captured again.
- "The bad news, which we knew was coming, is that according to Reggie, "given the level of demand and given the fact that the more we put in, the more we sell, it is still going to be difficult to get your hands on the Wii."- Reggie: Wii Holiday Hardware Supplies Will Be "Unprecedented" - Kotaku. Good god, somebody needs to smack the crap out of Nintendo. I generally try to avoid tinfoil conspiratorial declarations of manufactured shortages but here we are a year later and Nintendo still can't figure out how to make overclocked Gamecubes? No way, I don't fucking buy it. If Microsoft starts selling more 360's than Wii's I'll bet Reggie finds a way to crank up his production. I might should write a whole post on the Wii - I played a fair amount of Wii on my vacation and I'm even firmer now in the fact that I really dislike the thing. I had been saying I'd pick up one to play Mario Galaxies, but now? The only thing on it that I've played that doesn't feel impossibly sloppy is Wii Sports. (In fairness I must disclaim - I did not play either Zelda or Metroid. I'm basing this mainly on Mario Party, Rayman Raving Rabbids and using the OS itself (I was working at my parents on getting it online, so I did a lot of typing WEP passwords and the like.))
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Tags: gaming, GuitarHeroII, GettingThingsDone, Wii
Budget Rock: Rock Band Officially Priced & Dated - Kotaku
Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 will retail for a more affordable $169.99, a price that includes the game, a drum kit, the microphone and a guitar controller. MTV games blogger Stephen Totilo broke the news earlier today of the final price, also tossing us a release date bone of November 23rd, making for an extra painful Black Friday shopping experience.Budget Rock: Rock Band Officially Priced & Dated - Kotaku On the one hand: WOOT! And on the other hand: Black Friday? Really? Damnit! I can't remember the last day my shadow darkened a retail store on Black Friday. Guess that streak will end. Sadly I was still holding out for Rock Band + Drum Kit bundle, but they don't seem to have announced that. I'm not sure I need a second guitar and microphone for my own home usage, where I will play Rock Band mostly solo or online. But I guess I'll break down and go ahead and preorder the big bundle. I was sorta wanting the other guitar anyway - since it has the new five-way switch.
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Tags: RockBand, VideoGames
Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 will retail for a more affordable $169.99, a price that includes the game, a drum kit, the microphone and a guitar controller. MTV games blogger Stephen Totilo broke the news earlier today of the final price, also tossing us a release date bone of November 23rd, making for an extra painful Black Friday shopping experience.Budget Rock: Rock Band Officially Priced & Dated - Kotaku
On the one hand: WOOT! And on the other hand: Black Friday? Really? Damnit! I can't remember the last day my shadow darkened a retail store on Black Friday. Guess that streak will end.
Sadly I was still holding out for Rock Band + Drum Kit bundle, but they don't seem to have announced that. I'm not sure I need a second guitar and microphone for my own home usage, where I will play Rock Band mostly solo or online. But I guess I'll break down and go ahead and preorder the big bundle. I was sorta wanting the other guitar anyway - since it has the new five-way switch.
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Tags: RockBand, VideoGames
Spook Country Reviewed
I gloated about receiving Spook Country but I never got around to reviewing it. So let's remedy that, shall we?
For once I don't have to babble about sequels and what I'm going to spoil and what I'm not. Although SC is loosely tied to Pattern Recognition it's not really necessary to read PR before SC. If you've read PR there are a few points where you go "Aha, I get that reference." but you won't be lost if you haven't.
I mentioned in the previous post that I frequently find it a struggle to empathize with Gibson characters and that SC aggravates this by having three POV (Point Of View) characters. I have to admit I never did establish any rapport for one of the main characters (Milgrim) and that was a problem for me.
Overall, I'm not thrilled with Spook Country. It's an alright read, but it may be my least favorite Gibson book. There are several problems I had with it. First off, there's a plot thread running through it that involves virtual reality gear and it feels a little too much like somebody trying to write Gibson, if that makes sense. Part of the problem is that it's set very specifically in 2006, and that means he's got no wiggle room for the technology. It's not a question of suspension of disbelief, it's a question of whether he nails the historical information and I didn't really feel he that he did.
Second, this is the second Gibson book to have a lot of oblique references to September 11th. In PR it was still sort of a fresh thing to deal with in fiction. Not anymore. I used to like to watch Dennis Miller when he was on HBO, but I think he was permanently broken by 9/11. I kept thinking of Miller while reading SC - I really hope the next Gibson book doesn't mention 9/11 at all. In PR it worked and there was a unique plot thread tied to it. In SC it feels to me like he's just gotten . . . stuck somehow.
Lastly, I don't think I like GIbson writing contemporary fiction. He's not a technologist, he's actually sort of famously almost-Luddite - the whole thing about writing on a typewriter well after everyone else went digital and so forth. I accepted the modern setting in Pattern Recognition because it was a strong story. I'd argue that what Gibson does well is to evoke foreign places and extrapolate trends. He nails how London appears to an American in PR. I've never been to Japan but everyone who has tells me that his Tokyo is incredibly authentic. Moving into cyberspace (to be a little 1984'ish for a moment - fitting when discussing Gibson) his description of online forums in PR is just perfect. But for me Spook Country doesn't cover foreign cities, it's all New York or L.A. I was dubious about the modern setting when I started PR, but it won me over. Oddly enough that process was reversed for SC - I went in expecting another Pattern Recognition and got something . . . less.
Again, not bad but not what I hoped it would be either. I don't want to sound too down on it, I enjoyed reading Spook Country. I was just hoping for great and I got OK.
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Tags: BookReview, WilliamGibson, SpookCountry, PatternRecognition.
I gloated about receiving Spook Country but I never got around to reviewing it. So let's remedy that, shall we?
For once I don't have to babble about sequels and what I'm going to spoil and what I'm not. Although SC is loosely tied to Pattern Recognition it's not really necessary to read PR before SC. If you've read PR there are a few points where you go "Aha, I get that reference." but you won't be lost if you haven't.
I mentioned in the previous post that I frequently find it a struggle to empathize with Gibson characters and that SC aggravates this by having three POV (Point Of View) characters. I have to admit I never did establish any rapport for one of the main characters (Milgrim) and that was a problem for me.
Overall, I'm not thrilled with Spook Country. It's an alright read, but it may be my least favorite Gibson book. There are several problems I had with it. First off, there's a plot thread running through it that involves virtual reality gear and it feels a little too much like somebody trying to write Gibson, if that makes sense. Part of the problem is that it's set very specifically in 2006, and that means he's got no wiggle room for the technology. It's not a question of suspension of disbelief, it's a question of whether he nails the historical information and I didn't really feel he that he did.
Second, this is the second Gibson book to have a lot of oblique references to September 11th. In PR it was still sort of a fresh thing to deal with in fiction. Not anymore. I used to like to watch Dennis Miller when he was on HBO, but I think he was permanently broken by 9/11. I kept thinking of Miller while reading SC - I really hope the next Gibson book doesn't mention 9/11 at all. In PR it worked and there was a unique plot thread tied to it. In SC it feels to me like he's just gotten . . . stuck somehow.
Lastly, I don't think I like GIbson writing contemporary fiction. He's not a technologist, he's actually sort of famously almost-Luddite - the whole thing about writing on a typewriter well after everyone else went digital and so forth. I accepted the modern setting in Pattern Recognition because it was a strong story. I'd argue that what Gibson does well is to evoke foreign places and extrapolate trends. He nails how London appears to an American in PR. I've never been to Japan but everyone who has tells me that his Tokyo is incredibly authentic. Moving into cyberspace (to be a little 1984'ish for a moment - fitting when discussing Gibson) his description of online forums in PR is just perfect. But for me Spook Country doesn't cover foreign cities, it's all New York or L.A. I was dubious about the modern setting when I started PR, but it won me over. Oddly enough that process was reversed for SC - I went in expecting another Pattern Recognition and got something . . . less.
Again, not bad but not what I hoped it would be either. I don't want to sound too down on it, I enjoyed reading Spook Country. I was just hoping for great and I got OK.
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Tags: BookReview, WilliamGibson, SpookCountry, PatternRecognition.
More on DTV HD
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Tags: DirecTV, SatelliteDish, HD
And just for Tony here's yet ANOTHER picture of my satellite dish, this taken from my backyard. It's a little easier to see the size because that turbine and chimney are both pretty much a "standard size" so that helps see the diameter. You can click the thumbnail to see a bigger copy over on Flickr.
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Tags: DirecTV, SatelliteDish, HD
The Jennifer Morgue
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Tags: CharlieStross, SciFi, BookReview, TheJenniferMorgue, TheAtrocityArchives, Pimpf
Today's book is The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross. This is the sequel to The Atrocity Archives, which I reviewed previously. I'll follow my usual protocol of not spoiling anything in TJM, but I won't worry overmuch about spoiling the first book. I don't think I'll need to much, but I also write these on the fly with minimal editing so who knows?
To quickly recap: these stories tell the adventures of Bob, who works in the Laundry. In this universe advanced math can open portals to alternate dimensions and nasty Things-Man-Was-Not-Meant-To-Know lurk there. So any computer geek with too much free time can start playing around with math that will end the universe. The Laundry is the secret British organization that is dedicated to making sure that doesn't happen. But it's also a government bureaucracy and that means that Bob also has to worry about paper clip audits, and arguing with HR about needing a new computer and so forth.
At a stylistic level, the first book was the juxtaposition of Len Deighton and H.P. Lovecraft, whereas the second keeps the Lovecraft but replaces Deighton with James Bond. I wondered how this was going to work, and the truthful answer is that I don't think it does completely. Parodying Bond is straightforward, but Bob is a well-established character and he's not Bond. Nor is he a Bond parody, or does he even think he's James Bond. The answer ends up being a little clunky - it's actually explicitly handled in the text. That is to say, there's an actual plot explaining why Bob is going to become James Bond. There's a twist to it, but to be honest it's a twist that I thought was telegraphed ahead of time.
Other than that, it's a pleasant enough book. I really enjoy the world overall. I'm not a big fan of Lovecraft, but it's certainly a DNA strand that runs through Sci-Fi these days, and the gentle mocking tone works for me. As for the demonology hacker fighting dark forces and HR at the same time . . . well what's not to like there. I enjoyed TJM, but the whole James Bond Macguffin issue means I didn't like it as much as TAA.
One thing I will note: the hardcover of TJM also includes a short story with Bob called Pimpf. Pimpf was published in Jim Baen's Universe and I really enjoyed it there. Pimpf tells the story of when Bob is working on computer gaming - specifically at the intersection of the occult and Neverwinter Nights. It's a real gem of a story, and I'm unsure whether it will be in future paperback versions of TJM. If you like the universe then you might want to at least get TJM from the local library.
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Tags: CharlieStross, SciFi, BookReview, TheJenniferMorgue, TheAtrocityArchives, Pimpf