Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold (bottle)
Cleveland, OH
5.8% ABV
This one was in honor of Harvey Pekar, who died while I was in Prague and didn't have access to American beer. Pekar was from Cleveland, and so I thought a fitting tribute to him would be to review a beer from a microbrewery in Cleveland, even though so far as I know Harvey wasn't a beer drinker and didn't have any particular connection to Great Lakes Brewing.
Anyway, this was a very nice dry malty lager, with lots of complexity and a crisp hoppiness. I'd definitely buy it again.
My numerical rating: 7.0/10
Showing posts with label Writing and Writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing and Writers. Show all posts
05 August 2010
23 June 2009
Shorter Vox Day
Shorter Vox Day: "You should judge a book by its cover."
(There are so many levels of horseshit in that small post of Vox's that I was originally tempted to write out an entire post drawing out the threads of the utter dumbosity -- but why waste my time pointing out such obvious flaws in the writings of the intellectually blinkered?
(There are so many levels of horseshit in that small post of Vox's that I was originally tempted to write out an entire post drawing out the threads of the utter dumbosity -- but why waste my time pointing out such obvious flaws in the writings of the intellectually blinkered?
06 March 2009
Saturday Morning Watchmen
Just ran across this while reading blogs. I can't get it out of my head. It's insidious.
I think this may be even better than "Watchmen Babies."
I know there's a videogame in development based on Watchmen, and I just hope it doesn't suck ass.
I think this may be even better than "Watchmen Babies."
I know there's a videogame in development based on Watchmen, and I just hope it doesn't suck ass.
13 November 2008
Shana Would Read This
31 October 2008
Book Meme
Found here.
Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I'm probably a weirdo in that I almost always prefer trade paperbacks for my reading. Mass-markets are priced right but thick ones almost always have that "text disappears into the spine" problem towards the middle of the book. Hardbacks are nice to have for display and just general "look at how nice that is" purposes, but with hardbacks I either feel like I shouldn't actually use the book (if it's good) or that I spend way too much on the book (if it's bad). I also have this psychological thing that makes me feel like I'm reading a children's book if the text is too large, and most hardbacks (particularly bestsellers) tend to use a very large typeface, which just means that I notice the writing flaws so much easier, since I "feel like" I'm reading a kid's book, anyway.
Bookmark or dog-ear?
Bookmark. Usually with the receipt I got when I bought the book.
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
Right now it's all random, since I'm still assembling bookcases and putting books into appropriate slots. I tend to categorize by general subject (i.e. all my science books together, all my history books together, etc.), then by author's last name, then by title. This may be because this is the scheme used by most used bookstores, which is where I generally do most of my book purchases, and I've absorbed the pattern by osmosis.
Keep, throw away or sell?
Keep. I'll throw away a book if it has become literally unreadable, and I managed to convince myself to give away a bunch of old books when I was planning the move, but I have serious issues with letting any books out of my grubby paws. This is probably a fault, but I always feel like the moment I get rid of a book, I'll need it to reference something about a week later.
Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Keep. Although my ex-girlfriend hated them and got rid of or lost a bunch of mine when she would read my books, so I do have quite a few missing. And again, if they become too damaged over time I may get rid of them.
Last book you bought?
The Order of the Stick: The Start of Darkness. I have a stack of books to-read about as tall as I am -- right now I'm reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Soon I'll read Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged, Neal Stephenson's Anathem, and Brian Francis Slattery's Liberation.
Last book someone bought for you?
Hmm.... Technically, Shana bought Red Mars for me, but that was just because we wanted to make it one purchase instead of two. Shana gave me Everything is Illuminated for Christmas last year, so that was probably the last "gift" book I got. (Oh, yeah, another friend bought me the original Ender Trilogy for my birthday.)
What are some of the books on your to-buy list?
Well, here's my Amazon wish list. I'd also like to pick up The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers, the new edition of Agent to the Stars and The Last Colony by John Scalzi.... The list is very long.
Collection (short stories, same author) or anthology (short stories, different authors)?
Eh. Depends. I've probably read anthologies more often, but for favorite authors I love to get a handle on their individual short story output.
Most authors I read don't put out a lot of short fiction, though, so I've read astonishingly few collections or anthologies that have been published in the last two decades or so.
Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or the velvety embrace of Death?
I read the entire Harry Potter series in about six weeks after the seventh book was published. I haven't read a single word of Lemony Snicket. I think I'd rather just take Philip Pullman and be done with it.
Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Usually in the morning before Shana wakes if I get up first, and in the evenings before we go to sleep.
The books you need to go with other books on your shelves?
Too many to count. I try to get series book by book, starting with the first, so in general I'm just missing the more recent books. The most obvious "missing" books are the last four volumes of the Sandman series.
Do you read anywhere and anytime you can or do you have a set reading time and/or place?
I'm pretty easygoing. I read whenever I'm in the mood and have a few minutes, although with some "heady" or literary novels I like to wait until I have a nice chunk of time. Pynchon, for instance, is almost impossible to read in five-minute chunks.
Do you have seasonal reading habits?
No. Then again, I'm from Alabama, where we really only have two seasons: a nine-month "fall" followed by an oppressively hot three-month "summer." We'll see if I change up now that I live in the North.
Do you read one book at a time or do you have two or more books going at once?
If I'm reading a heady book, I like to also have a more accessible book to break it up. Or if one book is heavy and serious, I'll have something a little lighter -- I like to break up my reading a bit, so I always have a little something different if it feels like a slog. I will also occasionally read a few pages of an old favorite for this purpose.
What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books?
Dog-earing pages, breaking spines, leaving them open and face-down for long enough to damage them, etc. That's really only when they're done to my own books, though -- what you do with your copy is your business. I also basically never write in a book.
Name one book you surprised yourself by liking.
I liked To Kill a Mockingbird a lot more when I re-read it as an adult than I thought I would -- the book was a lot more complex than I remembered it being when I read it in ninth grade. I tend to only read books that I expect I'll like quite a bit, so I'm more likely to feel let down by a book than to find a book to be much better than I expected. Probably the only book whose quality really surprised me was World War Z, which I expected to be really silly but which ended up being nothing short of brilliant.
How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog? What are your reasons for not blogging about a book?
Lately I've been neglecting my blog, so it happens more ofthen than I'd like. I'd like to be able to write up a short review of every book I read and every movie I see, but sometimes Life Intervenes and I just don't have the time or inclination to do so.
Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I'm probably a weirdo in that I almost always prefer trade paperbacks for my reading. Mass-markets are priced right but thick ones almost always have that "text disappears into the spine" problem towards the middle of the book. Hardbacks are nice to have for display and just general "look at how nice that is" purposes, but with hardbacks I either feel like I shouldn't actually use the book (if it's good) or that I spend way too much on the book (if it's bad). I also have this psychological thing that makes me feel like I'm reading a children's book if the text is too large, and most hardbacks (particularly bestsellers) tend to use a very large typeface, which just means that I notice the writing flaws so much easier, since I "feel like" I'm reading a kid's book, anyway.
Bookmark or dog-ear?
Bookmark. Usually with the receipt I got when I bought the book.
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
Right now it's all random, since I'm still assembling bookcases and putting books into appropriate slots. I tend to categorize by general subject (i.e. all my science books together, all my history books together, etc.), then by author's last name, then by title. This may be because this is the scheme used by most used bookstores, which is where I generally do most of my book purchases, and I've absorbed the pattern by osmosis.
Keep, throw away or sell?
Keep. I'll throw away a book if it has become literally unreadable, and I managed to convince myself to give away a bunch of old books when I was planning the move, but I have serious issues with letting any books out of my grubby paws. This is probably a fault, but I always feel like the moment I get rid of a book, I'll need it to reference something about a week later.
Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Keep. Although my ex-girlfriend hated them and got rid of or lost a bunch of mine when she would read my books, so I do have quite a few missing. And again, if they become too damaged over time I may get rid of them.
Last book you bought?
The Order of the Stick: The Start of Darkness. I have a stack of books to-read about as tall as I am -- right now I'm reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Soon I'll read Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged, Neal Stephenson's Anathem, and Brian Francis Slattery's Liberation.
Last book someone bought for you?
Hmm.... Technically, Shana bought Red Mars for me, but that was just because we wanted to make it one purchase instead of two. Shana gave me Everything is Illuminated for Christmas last year, so that was probably the last "gift" book I got. (Oh, yeah, another friend bought me the original Ender Trilogy for my birthday.)
What are some of the books on your to-buy list?
Well, here's my Amazon wish list. I'd also like to pick up The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers, the new edition of Agent to the Stars and The Last Colony by John Scalzi.... The list is very long.
Collection (short stories, same author) or anthology (short stories, different authors)?
Eh. Depends. I've probably read anthologies more often, but for favorite authors I love to get a handle on their individual short story output.
Most authors I read don't put out a lot of short fiction, though, so I've read astonishingly few collections or anthologies that have been published in the last two decades or so.
Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or the velvety embrace of Death?
I read the entire Harry Potter series in about six weeks after the seventh book was published. I haven't read a single word of Lemony Snicket. I think I'd rather just take Philip Pullman and be done with it.
Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Usually in the morning before Shana wakes if I get up first, and in the evenings before we go to sleep.
The books you need to go with other books on your shelves?
Too many to count. I try to get series book by book, starting with the first, so in general I'm just missing the more recent books. The most obvious "missing" books are the last four volumes of the Sandman series.
Do you read anywhere and anytime you can or do you have a set reading time and/or place?
I'm pretty easygoing. I read whenever I'm in the mood and have a few minutes, although with some "heady" or literary novels I like to wait until I have a nice chunk of time. Pynchon, for instance, is almost impossible to read in five-minute chunks.
Do you have seasonal reading habits?
No. Then again, I'm from Alabama, where we really only have two seasons: a nine-month "fall" followed by an oppressively hot three-month "summer." We'll see if I change up now that I live in the North.
Do you read one book at a time or do you have two or more books going at once?
If I'm reading a heady book, I like to also have a more accessible book to break it up. Or if one book is heavy and serious, I'll have something a little lighter -- I like to break up my reading a bit, so I always have a little something different if it feels like a slog. I will also occasionally read a few pages of an old favorite for this purpose.
What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books?
Dog-earing pages, breaking spines, leaving them open and face-down for long enough to damage them, etc. That's really only when they're done to my own books, though -- what you do with your copy is your business. I also basically never write in a book.
Name one book you surprised yourself by liking.
I liked To Kill a Mockingbird a lot more when I re-read it as an adult than I thought I would -- the book was a lot more complex than I remembered it being when I read it in ninth grade. I tend to only read books that I expect I'll like quite a bit, so I'm more likely to feel let down by a book than to find a book to be much better than I expected. Probably the only book whose quality really surprised me was World War Z, which I expected to be really silly but which ended up being nothing short of brilliant.
How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog? What are your reasons for not blogging about a book?
Lately I've been neglecting my blog, so it happens more ofthen than I'd like. I'd like to be able to write up a short review of every book I read and every movie I see, but sometimes Life Intervenes and I just don't have the time or inclination to do so.
01 September 2008
New Chick Tract
Did you know that Christians can vanquish vampires?
That's right, Jack Chick has a new tract on his website, and it's one of the nuttiest he's ever written. And that's saying something.
Maybe that was the alternate ending to Breaking Dawn....
That's right, Jack Chick has a new tract on his website, and it's one of the nuttiest he's ever written. And that's saying something.
Maybe that was the alternate ending to Breaking Dawn....
12 July 2008
Hentai Transformers....
...and actually licensed by Hasbro? Oh. Em. Fucking. Gee.
If you remove the "underage" part of this, then that's a Transformers movie I might actually want to see!
Go check out the link. There are pictures. Seriously. Unless you happen to be at work, in which case you will probably be fired. Seriously.
So why would the Transformers hanging out with underage girls? Because, like the earlier Motormasters line, they got their power from these girls. Yet these girls didn't transform into engine blocks. No, they powered the Transformers through kisses -- hence the name "Kiss Players."
That's right: the power of an underage girl's kiss just seemed to charge Optimus Prime's engines, readying him to go into battle against the Decepticons. Because there's just nothing like suggestive sexual contact with underage girls to make the body of an extraterrestrial war machine flood with energy.
I'm sure someone thought this was a cute idea: combine Transformers with the popular phenomenon of anime girls, then make the girls give those Transformers cute and innocent little kisses. Who could object?
Until you see those figures. And how they're posed in promotional photographs. And the art on the box.
If you remove the "underage" part of this, then that's a Transformers movie I might actually want to see!
Go check out the link. There are pictures. Seriously. Unless you happen to be at work, in which case you will probably be fired. Seriously.
10 July 2008
Morgan Reading Mason & Dixon
Richard K. Morgan is reading Thomas Pynchon. Here's what he has to say about Mason & Dixon:
Yep, that about covers it. I've only read one of Morgan's works, but I've been eyeing Thirteen for awhile now, and this may be just the poke to get me to buy it and read it sooner rather than later.
Currently reading: Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon. Colossal seven hundred and something page epic detailing the meeting and developing friendship of those two guys who drew the famous Mason-Dixon line – though at the stage I’ve reached, they haven’t yet reached America and are busy with astronomical duties for the Royal Society. Looking up, brooding and squabbling with each other, mostly. Doesn’t sound very interesting, I know, but trust me, this is some of Pynchon’s finest work. I mean, a book set in the eighteenth century and there’s a Bill Clinton joke on page 10! There’s also a primary narrator called the Reverend Cherrycoke, a family of mad Afrikaaners called the Vrooms (the mother soberly addressed as Vrou Vroom) and an intensely knowledgable ship’s crewmember and esteemed yarn spinner called Pat O’Brien. Catch that lot, if you can. Mason and Dixon features some of best laugh out loud tricks I’ve ever seen in modern literature, along with a poignant look at the dawn of the Age of Reason and the Independence of America. However, Linda should be warned it also features more than a few “curse” words, presumably demonstrating that Pynchon, like me, is suffering from stunted vocabulary development. If you can forgive him that, though, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Just make sure you set aside a good three weeks or so to read and digest it.
Yep, that about covers it. I've only read one of Morgan's works, but I've been eyeing Thirteen for awhile now, and this may be just the poke to get me to buy it and read it sooner rather than later.
27 June 2008
A Useful Comparison
Professional asshole Vox Day considers it "no loss" that George Carlin is dead:
Then again, Vox is just begging for a comparison between his own putrid rumblings and Carlin's work, so I think it bears a moment of reflection. On the one hand, we have an entertainer with a five-decade resume, more than a dozen hourlong HBO specials dating back to the earliest days of HBO, three bestselling books, a legendary reputation among the most brilliant comedy minds currently working, and oh yeah, a Supreme Court win. On the other, you've got a guy who's done work on a few videogames, a free blog, and a handful of self-published science fiction books available for free download.
Now, I'm aware that history sometimes can be a bitch, but if we're looking to see which one of these men will have the most lasting effect on history, I'm betting on the rotting corpse.
I do, however, disagree with the commenter whom Vox responds to asking Vox to lay off the insults to Carlin. Vox describes Carlin thusly:
I never thought George Carlin was funny. Not even a little bit. It wasn't due to his language or anything, whether it was Carlin's lame routine about seven words or his cameos in movies like Dogma, I just thought he was lame, boring, and obvious from the start and never saw any reason to change my opinion. His uttered wisdom, such as it was, seemed design to impress those with average IQs; they were chock full of the illusion of intelligence rather than anything approaching the real thing.Oh, you rascally varmint Vox! Tell it like it is, man!
Then again, Vox is just begging for a comparison between his own putrid rumblings and Carlin's work, so I think it bears a moment of reflection. On the one hand, we have an entertainer with a five-decade resume, more than a dozen hourlong HBO specials dating back to the earliest days of HBO, three bestselling books, a legendary reputation among the most brilliant comedy minds currently working, and oh yeah, a Supreme Court win. On the other, you've got a guy who's done work on a few videogames, a free blog, and a handful of self-published science fiction books available for free download.
Now, I'm aware that history sometimes can be a bitch, but if we're looking to see which one of these men will have the most lasting effect on history, I'm betting on the rotting corpse.
I do, however, disagree with the commenter whom Vox responds to asking Vox to lay off the insults to Carlin. Vox describes Carlin thusly:
An individual who devoted his entire career to tearing down tradition and encouraging disrespect and believed that humans are nothing more than meaningless collections of atomsHis central misunderstanding of reality is to believe that this is in any way an insult. We are all meaningless collections of atoms; it is those who believe in magical fairies granting eternal paradise who deserve our scorn, not those who accept the world the way it is like an adult should.
23 June 2008
The Meaning Becomes Clear
A lot of writers whose blogs I read have been fiddling around with Wordle lately. I pasted in a few ebooks I had lying around and didn't really get anything interesting, but then I happened upon an interesting idea:
(Click to embiggen.)
It's the Project Gutenberg Etext of the King James Bible. Notice how tiny "Jesus" is there in the middle, and notice which words are most prominent in the text. But yeah, religion's not a tool for social control at all, right?
(Click to embiggen.)
It's the Project Gutenberg Etext of the King James Bible. Notice how tiny "Jesus" is there in the middle, and notice which words are most prominent in the text. But yeah, religion's not a tool for social control at all, right?
18 June 2008
The Happening Pro-ID?
At least, according to io9:
Not only that, but there's also some bullshit "pro-family" misogyny going on.
I haven't seen a Shyamalan movie since Unbreakable, and I have had no interest in seeing this one, but if it really is as bad as all that I guess I really should see it just for the culture wars aspect. I wasn't even a great fan of The Sixth Sense (see my original review here from that movie's original theatrical run), but plenty of people enjoyed it, so whatever. His films since then, however, have all been critically savaged to one degree or another -- is Shyamalan really just a one-trick pony whose religious and spiritual beliefs get in the way of telling a good story?
We get tipped off to the fact that this allegedly science fictional movie is really an ID tent revival in the opening scenes where Elliot teaches his science students about evolution. He explains to them that honeybees are disappearing all over the country, and asks what some possible explanations might be. Students who say things like "climate change" and "evolution" are dismissed as being "partly right." But then when a generally quiet student finally says, "It's an act of nature that we can't understand," Elliot lights up and says that's the best answer. That phrase "act of nature," which sounds suspiciously like "act of God," crops up in the movie again and again to explain why plants have suddenly decided to kill humans.
Not only that, but there's also some bullshit "pro-family" misogyny going on.
In the film's other major Christian-influenced subplot, we discover that Alma and Elliot have "been fighting" — not only does Alma have the gal to insist that they "wait to have children," but she also went out to dessert with a male colleague without telling Elliot. What? Dessert and lack of babies makes her evil? Apparently so. Julian hisses to Elliot that Alma basically isn't good wife material and that he doesn't trust her. One of the major plot points in the film is whether Alma can somehow be redeemed through her tribulations. And by redeemed, of course, I mean: Will she learn her proper place in her relationship with Elliot?
[...]
[At the end of the movie] Alma is ready to help repopulate: She dances out the door to meet Elliot coming home from work, bubbling over with the good news that she's pregnant. Praise Jesus! At last, Alma is doing what "nature" and "evolution" want her to do.
I haven't seen a Shyamalan movie since Unbreakable, and I have had no interest in seeing this one, but if it really is as bad as all that I guess I really should see it just for the culture wars aspect. I wasn't even a great fan of The Sixth Sense (see my original review here from that movie's original theatrical run), but plenty of people enjoyed it, so whatever. His films since then, however, have all been critically savaged to one degree or another -- is Shyamalan really just a one-trick pony whose religious and spiritual beliefs get in the way of telling a good story?
29 May 2008
27 April 2008
Open-Source Boobs
This is the best commentary I've seen on the whole "open-source boobs" thing. No excerpts, no further commentary for me, just go read the thing.
(Put under the "Writing and Writers" tab because it's about events at an SF con.)
(Put under the "Writing and Writers" tab because it's about events at an SF con.)
05 April 2008
Another World War Z Script Review
Geek in the City has another script review for Straczynski's World War Z script. I fell in love with this book when it was first published, and this is probably the film that I'm most looking forward to right now. Here's the conclusion of this script review:
Personally, I'd shoot this as a sort of Citizen Kane of zombies, with a narrator essentially going around and setting up a series of flashbacks that tell the story of the horrible events of the Z-War, and it looks like Straczynski's doing exactly that. Personally, after Children of Men, I'm pushing for Alfonso Cuaron to direct this, but I'm certainly open to seeing any talented director's take on the material.
While based on the novel, Straczynski’s script stands alone as a classic in the zombie genre. Indeed, with the right cast and direction, World War Z could stand as one of the strongest dramas in the last decade. In a way, JMS added a new element to Max Brooks’ initial vision of a global zombie war. With The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and the Straczynski script; Max Brooks’ tale is finally complete.
Personally, I'd shoot this as a sort of Citizen Kane of zombies, with a narrator essentially going around and setting up a series of flashbacks that tell the story of the horrible events of the Z-War, and it looks like Straczynski's doing exactly that. Personally, after Children of Men, I'm pushing for Alfonso Cuaron to direct this, but I'm certainly open to seeing any talented director's take on the material.
03 April 2008
If Charles Schultz Had Created Watchmen
I'm not sure where I ran across this, but it's thoroughly amusing.
29 March 2008
Does This Mean Batman's Going to Do a Stooges Routine?
Over at i09, Charlie Jane Anders has a roundup of Batman/Superman teamups, and gives a suggestion for a future version:
As crazy as this sounds, it might actually work if the tone is done just right. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of comic books in general, but I'd probably read this just for the "what the fuck was that?" factor.
So here's how I'd make the dynamic between Superman and Batman more interesting: I'd turn them into Lethal Weapon.
Superman is the cautious one, the straight arrow who does everything by the book despite (or because of) his almost limitless power. Batman is the crazy, out-of-control risktaker who keeps dragging Superman into situations he's not equipped for. Batman is the guy who sends Superman and himself diving into a black hole on a spaceship with one dud engine. He's the one who drags Superman and himself into a nest of trolls, whose magic weapons can hack Superman to pieces. He seems to make impulsive, rash decisions, but always turns out to have a plan. Sort of.
And yes, I know that since Grant Morrison's JLA Batman has been portrayed as the uber-control freak who always plans twenty steps ahead in every situation. But he's also the non-powered guy who dresses up in a bat costume, with his face unprotected, and jumps off rooftops into gunfire every night of the week. He's the crazed, half-suicidal Mel Gibson to Superman's Danny Glover.
As crazy as this sounds, it might actually work if the tone is done just right. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of comic books in general, but I'd probably read this just for the "what the fuck was that?" factor.
20 March 2008
Death of a Science Fiction Writer
Arthur C. Clarke is dead.
There's so much I could talk about. He wrote so many wonderful books, great, classic science fiction that will stand the test of time -- I don't even blame him for winning the 1974 Nebula over Gravity's Rainbow I love Rendezvous with Rama so much. He spent years researching psychic and other paranormal phenomena before declaring it to be bunk, he invented the geosynchronous satellite, the list of his brilliant short stories includes "The Star", "The Nine Billion Names of God", "The Sentinel", the wonderful-but-underrated "Death of a Senator"... and that's just off the top of my head.
I could spend hours talking about his wonderful novels. Aside from the aforementioned Rendezvous with Rama and the three amazing sequels co-authored with Gentry Lee, apart from the early promise of Childhood's End with that amazingly unexpected ending, not counting the first examination of the Y2K problem that I ever saw in a non-technical publication in The Ghost in the Grand Banks... I have a personal story. Not that I ever met Arthur C. Clarke. But I was touched by him all the same.
I was in sixth grade. Eleven years old. 1991. I used to prowl the school library looking for good books, but I had read basically everything of any interest already. I was growing past these cheesy kid's books with the young protagonists and the rocket ships on the cover and the completely implausible science. (Yes, even at eleven I was a bit of a science purist.) I was looking through the shelves one day when I saw it. It was a blue-and-black hardcover without the dust jacket. And on the spine was a title which I had seen elsewhere in the monthly Disney channel guide as a good space movie that had something to do with spaceships and space stations.
You're way ahead of me. It was 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I checked it out and started reading it that day, probably during my spare time in class. (I always finished all my assignments early.) I loved it. I loved the story of Moon-Watcher, the proto-human who with his tribe nearly starved to death before a crystal alien monolith visited and taught his tribe to use tools. (Yes, in the book it was a crystal monolith -- it was changed to black in the movie for technical reasons.) I loved the way that section ended, telling us that when the Ice Ages returned that Moon-Watcher's species died out, but left another species in their place, with enhanced intelligence and social structure. Us. I loved Heywood Floyd's trip to the moon, with the zero-gee toilet, and the discovery of TMA-1 on the moon. I loved the space ship Discovery, on its slow trip to Saturn, with most of its crew in hibernation. I loved the trip through the asteroid belt, the quick flyby analysis of the composition of an asteroid. And the repair of the AE-35 communication unit, with all of the emphasis on the need to work slowly and carefully while in space.
And HAL. Oh, HAL. In a book filled with two-dimensional characters (no knock on Clarke -- that was de rigeur for SF at the time) HAL comes alive. The descent into madness and, eventually, murder by this shipwide computer, by this thing that is the very definition of the inanimate made animate, is heartbreaking. The image of HAL singing "Daisy, daisy" as his memory blocks and power are cut is a justifiably famous one -- it still maintains its power to haunt the imagination, forty years later.
And then Bowman's long journey alone in the darkness of space. Clarke's description of the loneliness on-board the lifeless Discovery is pitch-perfect, and Bowman's solitude is at once haunting and poetic. When Bowman finally reaches the monolith in orbit around Iapetus and goes into the wormhole it is the culmination of a brilliant novel, one that has subtly explored what it is to be human from the steppes of Africa to the stars and beyond.
I remember finishing the last line of 2001: "But he would think of something." I closed the book and just stared into the distance. I've read many books since then, but few that I can say were as affecting and ultimately transformative as that one. It was my introduction into books meant for adults, and it was quite a way to begin -- I would never again approach a novel in the same way again. Years later, when I had heart surgery to correct tachacardia, it was the newly-published sequel 3001 that my parents bought for my convalescence. It was largely because of that novel that I discovered a love of science, real science like astronomy and physics, and it was because of Arthur C. Clarke that I wanted to work in the space program, to be part of the future progress of the human race. It was ultimately because I read 2001 when I was eleven that I moved to Huntsville for college when I was eighteen, and while my life's path hasn't moved in the direction I thought it would, Arthur C. Clarke has a great deal to do with the man I have become since.
Sure, his later books don't hold up to the early ones. And yes, my adult eyes can find faults even in my beloved 2001. But subjectively speaking that was one of the great reading experiences of my life, and it is for that reason that I always wanted to have the opportunity to tell Sir Arthur how much he meant to me. There are few celebrities whose birthday I know, but I always tried to note December 17th, even though I knew that as an old man his time was coming sooner rather than later.
Goodbye. You'll be missed.
There's so much I could talk about. He wrote so many wonderful books, great, classic science fiction that will stand the test of time -- I don't even blame him for winning the 1974 Nebula over Gravity's Rainbow I love Rendezvous with Rama so much. He spent years researching psychic and other paranormal phenomena before declaring it to be bunk, he invented the geosynchronous satellite, the list of his brilliant short stories includes "The Star", "The Nine Billion Names of God", "The Sentinel", the wonderful-but-underrated "Death of a Senator"... and that's just off the top of my head.
I could spend hours talking about his wonderful novels. Aside from the aforementioned Rendezvous with Rama and the three amazing sequels co-authored with Gentry Lee, apart from the early promise of Childhood's End with that amazingly unexpected ending, not counting the first examination of the Y2K problem that I ever saw in a non-technical publication in The Ghost in the Grand Banks... I have a personal story. Not that I ever met Arthur C. Clarke. But I was touched by him all the same.
I was in sixth grade. Eleven years old. 1991. I used to prowl the school library looking for good books, but I had read basically everything of any interest already. I was growing past these cheesy kid's books with the young protagonists and the rocket ships on the cover and the completely implausible science. (Yes, even at eleven I was a bit of a science purist.) I was looking through the shelves one day when I saw it. It was a blue-and-black hardcover without the dust jacket. And on the spine was a title which I had seen elsewhere in the monthly Disney channel guide as a good space movie that had something to do with spaceships and space stations.
You're way ahead of me. It was 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I checked it out and started reading it that day, probably during my spare time in class. (I always finished all my assignments early.) I loved it. I loved the story of Moon-Watcher, the proto-human who with his tribe nearly starved to death before a crystal alien monolith visited and taught his tribe to use tools. (Yes, in the book it was a crystal monolith -- it was changed to black in the movie for technical reasons.) I loved the way that section ended, telling us that when the Ice Ages returned that Moon-Watcher's species died out, but left another species in their place, with enhanced intelligence and social structure. Us. I loved Heywood Floyd's trip to the moon, with the zero-gee toilet, and the discovery of TMA-1 on the moon. I loved the space ship Discovery, on its slow trip to Saturn, with most of its crew in hibernation. I loved the trip through the asteroid belt, the quick flyby analysis of the composition of an asteroid. And the repair of the AE-35 communication unit, with all of the emphasis on the need to work slowly and carefully while in space.
And HAL. Oh, HAL. In a book filled with two-dimensional characters (no knock on Clarke -- that was de rigeur for SF at the time) HAL comes alive. The descent into madness and, eventually, murder by this shipwide computer, by this thing that is the very definition of the inanimate made animate, is heartbreaking. The image of HAL singing "Daisy, daisy" as his memory blocks and power are cut is a justifiably famous one -- it still maintains its power to haunt the imagination, forty years later.
And then Bowman's long journey alone in the darkness of space. Clarke's description of the loneliness on-board the lifeless Discovery is pitch-perfect, and Bowman's solitude is at once haunting and poetic. When Bowman finally reaches the monolith in orbit around Iapetus and goes into the wormhole it is the culmination of a brilliant novel, one that has subtly explored what it is to be human from the steppes of Africa to the stars and beyond.
I remember finishing the last line of 2001: "But he would think of something." I closed the book and just stared into the distance. I've read many books since then, but few that I can say were as affecting and ultimately transformative as that one. It was my introduction into books meant for adults, and it was quite a way to begin -- I would never again approach a novel in the same way again. Years later, when I had heart surgery to correct tachacardia, it was the newly-published sequel 3001 that my parents bought for my convalescence. It was largely because of that novel that I discovered a love of science, real science like astronomy and physics, and it was because of Arthur C. Clarke that I wanted to work in the space program, to be part of the future progress of the human race. It was ultimately because I read 2001 when I was eleven that I moved to Huntsville for college when I was eighteen, and while my life's path hasn't moved in the direction I thought it would, Arthur C. Clarke has a great deal to do with the man I have become since.
Sure, his later books don't hold up to the early ones. And yes, my adult eyes can find faults even in my beloved 2001. But subjectively speaking that was one of the great reading experiences of my life, and it is for that reason that I always wanted to have the opportunity to tell Sir Arthur how much he meant to me. There are few celebrities whose birthday I know, but I always tried to note December 17th, even though I knew that as an old man his time was coming sooner rather than later.
Goodbye. You'll be missed.
11 February 2008
Hmm...
Maybe I should re-read The Plague soon. I haven't read it since my early twenties, and I'm pretty sure I'd get a lot more out of it today.
09 February 2008
Another one bites the dust
Scalzi has joined the Borg Collective, er, I mean, installed Linux on his home machine. Just one more step to the complete world takeover....
06 February 2008
Writing
If my blogging has been a bit sparse lately, it's because I'm currently working a short story, and my ass-in-chair time is being spent on that project instead of writing even more movie and book reviews.
I've got reviews of a few books and movies coming up, though, including a review of The French Connection with Gene Hackman. Also, I just finished Greg Bear's Eon this morning, and one of Shana's books Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee the other day. I'm still trying to produce content here, but, well...
Wish me luck.
I've got reviews of a few books and movies coming up, though, including a review of The French Connection with Gene Hackman. Also, I just finished Greg Bear's Eon this morning, and one of Shana's books Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee the other day. I'm still trying to produce content here, but, well...
Wish me luck.
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