Category: Personal

Today’s Book: From a Changling Star

This is a cool 1988 novel by Jeffrey A. Carver that includes nanotechnology, cosmic strings, and Machiavellian interstellar politics and is the first in the Starstream series. Very well plotted, beginning with the assasination of our hero and his escape from death but not from an almost complete memory loss. I’ll definitely be reading the sequel Down the Stream of Stars. Carver has also posted an interesting essay entitled On Faith and the Difficulty of Writing” on his site.

Gone: Douglas Adams

At the age of 49, Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy author Douglas Adams died yesterday of a heart attack. This is very sad news as Adams was one of the few who could write really funny science fiction. I suppose it’s difficult to think of a book as funny when the Earth is destoyed in the first chapter to make way for an interstellar highway bypass but at least Arthur Dent got a ride off planet beforehand with a copy of a book with the words DON’t PANIC emblazoned on its cover. An amusing related website is Vogon Heavy Industries, a little outdated effort from the megacorp that demolished Earth. If you haven’t read these books yet (there are five in the “increasingly misnamed” Hitchhiker Trilogy), read them now!

So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish

Star Trek V: It’s Official

TrekToday has a detailed report on the Paramount announcement confirming the series name as Enterprise and announcing the actors cast in regular roles. As expected, Scott Bakula (star of Quantum Leap) will play Captain Jonathon Archer leading the crew of the Federation Starship Enterprise exploring the galaxy in the late 22nd century. The offical Star Trek website also has the news. Producer Ron Berman says none of the Internet rumored premises is correct but won’t say what the correct one really is; current concensus is a series that is largely set as mentioned here with a blend-in of 29th centruy time travel. As an optimist, I have high hopes for this series–could be seven more years of fun!

The story seems to be generating a ton of hits on the TrekToday server, as I can’t get back to the page!

The Oklahoma conspiracy

Did Timothy McVeigh act alone on April 19, 1995, when he blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City killing 168 people? Conspiracy theory cranks aside, Andrew Gumbel presents in a special report in the UK-based Independent online newspaper strong evidence that he did not and, indeed, was part of a right wing, Aryan supremacist group that robbed almost two dozen banks across the Midwest to finance their political battle. This article is very detailed; some of you may prefer the summary article instead although the longer version is well-written and quite readable.

Separately, unsurprising government bumbling has delayed McVeigh’s execution until at least June 11.

Yesterday’s book: Architects of Emortality

The second book in Brian Stableford’s trilogy, Architects of Emortality is police drama set a few hundred years after Inherit the Earth in 2494. People are living a little longer, say to 200 instead 150, though the nanotech-based escalator to hasn’t panned out; still, the latest generation may live several times that long based on new genetic engineering techniques used on embryos. Policemen Charlotte Holmes and Hal Watson and artist/bon vivant/genetic engineer Oscar Wilde are on a chase to find a mad genetic engineer who is murdering the surviving members of the University of Wollongong class of 2322; Holmes is determined not to be embarassed and Wilde is looking to the artistry in the deeds for clues. The book could have used some editing to tighten the slow spots but overall a good read that is strongly reminiscent of the British New Wave of the 1970s; I think Stableford spends more time on writing style and creating imagery than plot, while I generally prefer the opposite emphasis.

Coming next week: Fall TV Schedules

Can’t wait until then to see what’s coming (think reality shows, sitcoms, a third Law & Order, and a new Star Trek) and going (hint: 3rd Rock, Voyager, Once and Again)? Check out this Broadcasting and Cable TVinsite column. The big trend is more reality TV, like a third installment of Survivor and second servings of The Mole, Temptation Island, and Chains of Love. My can’t wait pick is the new Star Trek series, which is rumored to be named Enterprise and be set about 100 years before the original Star Trek (in other words, about 175 years from now). I would definitely be disappointed if Nash Bridges and The Job didn’t make it back.

How much TV is too much?

Sounds crazy but–the Ewing Theory

Bill Simmons has written up a wacky idea he and a friend came up with, which they call they Ewing Theory. In a nutshell, it goes:

1. “A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).
2. That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) — and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.

   When those elements collide, you have the Ewing Theory.” The column goes into detail on examples, possible future cases, and applicability to the world of entertainment. Cool!

Today’s movie: Cinema Paradiso

I spent a sleepy, lazy afternoon watching Cinema Paradiso on cable and it was definitely worthwhile. A movie that is, to paraphrase a friend, both sweet and tender at the same time. Roger Ebert sums up the appeal: “Yet anyone who loves movies is likely to love “Cinema Paradiso.” This is the story of a boy projectionist living on Sicily in the years after World War II and his substitute father, the real projectionist (powerful performance by Philippe Noiret); this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1990

Finally, a big alliance for iPlanet Application Server

C|Net has report out this morning (Sun announces software, service alliances) on a new partnership for iPlanet and Sun with i2 to develop a version of i2’s CRM software that runs on top of iPlanet Application Server. Another positive in the announcement is that PricewaterhouseCoopers is participating as a consulting partner; one thing I’ve found is there are nowhere near enough consultants for this stuff.

And speaking of turning SF into reality…

NASA Chief Daniel Goldin, a man with an excellent track record for delivering said this weekend that humans will be on Mars in 20 Years or Less. Who else wants to go?

Science Fiction and transcendence

Norman Spinrad, a great writer of science fiction, uses the June edition of his Asimov’s On Books column to discuss transcendence; that is, “literatures [science fiction and fantasy] whose very existence depends upon literary elements that transcend the consensus reality of their readerships.” Excellent writing and, not coincidentally, reviews of Le Guin’s The Telling, Soulsaver by James Stevens-Arce, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clark, and The Spike by Damien Broderick. The last is one I’d seen in a store and thought to read but after this review I’ll probably skip it; the review is more worthy of the reading time while the book attempts to speculate on what the Singularity is going to be like.

Art Online: Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie-Woogie

I really enjoy Piet Mondrian’s paintings. I like the way he stays with discrete colors and shapes and usually gives the eye something complex to look at using a fairly constrained palette of objects. The Museum of Modern Art, New York has posted this 1942 piece online as part of an extensive collection; each piece is accompanied by commentary in both text and audio form. Unfortunately, the site does not include search or index facilities for easy navigation.

Yes, it is true; on Friday I slipped into my fifth decade. Everyone asks how I feel but of course I live life one day at a time so there wasn’t anything explosive about the day. Friday was a good day, for which I’m glad. My girlfriend took me to lunch, I had dinner with my buddy and got to drive his Porsche Boxster (which was very cool), and when I got home my girlfriend and her daughter had decorated my house with flowers, balloons, and cupcakes with candles. Having a three year old sing you Happy Birthday is wonderful! It’s all good, for sure, but it is weird to say, “Yes, I’m 40.”

Yesterday’s Movie: Wonder Boys

Definitely for those who like subtle, intellectual humor, Wonder Boys stars Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, and Frances McDormand in a movie about writers. Coming of age tales are usually focused on the teen set but novelist Michael Chabon has set us a tale where both student and teacher need to grow up; of course they do, but it takes a lot of weed, a dead dog, and the loss of a 2600 page novel to get them there. Excellent acting and a good story.

Today’s Book: Inherit the Earth

Brian Stableford has created a rich world beginning a couple of hundred years from now in Inherit the Earth. Not bad, although the ending is a little weak and has too much talking rather than action. In this world, people live healthy, pain-free, longer lives due to improved technology and the petty conflicts of nation-states have been wiped from the board by megacorps. Into this scene, kidnappings, murders, and propoganda are used by rivals to make sure the future goes their way. More than one character observes that the post of God seems vacant and the character is reluctantly willing to fill it. First book of a trilogy, by the way, and I’m reading the second (Architects of Emortality) now.

Kissing Lessons

I am a veteran, inverterate kisser, having been at it for almost 30 years now (perhaps more if you consider those busses in the closet with Joanie when I was eight) but when I saw a link to Kissing Perfection, I had to check it out. Amazingly, the article entertained even if there was nothing new to me. In case you’re not sure, it lists the “kiss me now” messages a woman sends when it’s that time; this is good, so women know what to do so we will kiss them. The article says no tongue on the first kiss but I say go with the spirit!

This explains a lot!

In the current issue, The Onion explains that God has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Said Rev. Dr. Henry Jurgens, “God has His problems like anyone else, but He is essentially trying His best. He just has a condition that makes His emotions fly out of control at times.” If God gets mad, I guess you won’t be reading this weblog much longer…

They also have an amusing article on the Lowest Common Denominator.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing

Or so Billy Preston sang about 30 years ago. Anyway, we all understand that quantum physics is strange but sometimes it is just incomprehensible. In this Nature article, Philip Ball explains the research of two English physicists on the
ultimate no-brainer; that is, the logical proposition that a quantum computer, building on the concept of superpositions to what they term counterfactual computation, could arrive at a computational result without ever being switched on. Unfortunately, only an abstract of the original research is online.

George Carlin is a funny man

Call him Mr. Cranky, but George Carlin is a funny guy. And now he has a website with his name on it that even has (a little) original content, such as That Time of the Month–this month’s snippet is about terrorists and the White House. He is also a founding partner of Laugh.com, which I haven’t looked at yet. In case the home page seems kind of slim, put your mouse over the blue dots on the top left corner of the page and it turns out to be a navigation menu; George, shame on you for poor design!

You could also check out some Carlin humor I’ve posted.