BillSaysThis

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.

Books: Executive Orders, Stars and Stripe in Peril

I read books too! LOL. Last week was spent mainly re-reading Tom Clancy’s 1996 Jack Ryan novel, all 1362 pages of it. Clancy actually uses all these pages, running many subplots against a larger theme, and doesn’t spend page-long paragraphs explaining military hardware, history, or the color of the snow. In this book, Khomeini’s fictional successor as Ayatollah/leader of Iran is determined to destroy America as a world power and make his own into a major player. Ryan, suddenly thrust in an unwanted role as U.S. President, takes it on the chin (Ebola bio-war, a kidnapping attempt on his youngest child, and an assasination attempt) before fighting back and saving the day; the ending is never in doubt but Clancy makes the reader want to get there nonetheless. John Clark and his soon-to-be son-in-law sidekick Ding play large supporting roles. The site linked above is a little out of date but has some good bio/character information on Jack Ryan, Clancy himself, and a couple of good essays about Clancy and his writing. The only official Clancy site is dedicated to his computer games company, Red Storm Entertainment; his publisher, Putnam, doesn’t have a coherent Tom Clancy section but you can do a good search.

Stars and Stripes in Peril is the second book of a trilogy, an alternative history series by Harry Harrison, whose best-known work are the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill, the Galactic Hero series. Most middle of trilogy books (or movies) leave the reader hanging and unfulfilled but Harrison has written quite a few extended series in his fifty year career and avoids that trap here. Honestly, I thought this was the concluding volume of a two-parter and didn’t even realize it was second of three until I was exploring his website while writing this paragraph. The closest comparison to this series is Harry Turtledove’s How Few Remain/Great War/American Empire but while Turtledove matches Tom Clancy in driving a large number of subplots concurrently, Harrison prefers to tell the story through a (mainly) single set of characters in sequence. No matter, as both are good reads. in Peril continues the story from Stars and Stripes Forever, where the American Civil War is disrupted in 1862 by a mistaken British invasion of the South, allowing the North and South to team up against the common foe and (uneasily) reunite to kick the Brits out of the U.S., and Canada for good measure. This book takes the fight to the British Isles, after a feint into Mexico, so the Americans can free the Irish; President Lincoln is enamored of the economic and political theories of John Stuart Mills (an interesting contrast to Turtledove’s Lincoln, who becomes enamored of the works of Karl Marx and splits a Socialist party off of the Republicans). A good story and the Harrison website includes an interview with the author on this trilogy.

I watch more movies: Blow, Get Carter (2000)

And tell you about them! Short take: Blow, starring Johnny Depp as one of the first big American drug dealers in the early ’70s, was worth seeing; Get Carter, starring Sylvester Stallone, is a remake of the 1971 British original and you’re much better off seeing the original.

Based on the life of George Jung, Blow tells the story of how his father’s business failures but strength of heart combine with his mother’s obession with money and status first push Depp’s character to the top of the drug world and then off to it’s depths. An associate of Pablo Escobar, leader and visionary of the original Medellin cocaine cartel, Jung is so flush at first that the cash generated is literally bursting out of his house. But as one might expect, the greed of partners and Mr. Lawman’s relentless pursuit (Jung is busted five years after retiring from the business) take us to the necessary denouement. Depp is very strong in this character and Ray Liotta surprisingly good as his loving father but Penelope Cruz has little heft to her part other than making the picture pretty. Jordi Molla in his American film debut portrays Diego Delgado, who partners with Jung and then betrays him; Molla is fine in this part, as I never really trusted him. Ted Demme, who has previously made mostly documentaries, delivers the goods (so to speak) with strong, developed characters, good pacing, and visuals well-matched to the plot.

Update 5/3/01 Salon has a pretty good article on Depp and his emerging career. “Even more so than many of his peers, Depp has gone out of his way to work with bright, often idiosyncratic, directors, among them Burton, Roman Polanski, Jim Jarmusch and Terry Gilliam.”

Get Carter was probably not a bad choice for a remake, if you want to remake a film. The original had a definite critical cache but very limited audience awareness (that is, it did about $5 at the box office in original release and is rarely, if ever, shown on American TV), the plot is not standard Hollywoodese, and a very strong title role for a tough guy actor. Much of the original film is reused in this version–character names, script fragments, visuals (such as lots of rain and the opening train sequence under the credits)–but the original ending was very dark and, unfortunately, was tossed out. In this version, Stallone plays a mob accounts payable collector in Vegas whose bartender brother back in their working class hometown suddenly dies in an uncharacteristic drunk driving accident. The brothers haven’t spoken or been close in years but Carter (Stallone) insists on going home for the funeral and a lookaround despite some very heavy warnings and orders from his boss not to go. Director Stephen Kay, in his first major film, goes MTV artsy and that, along with the changed ending, make this film a failure compared to the original. Michael Caine, who played Carter in that version, does his usual strong job in a major supporting role here.

SopranosLand: NJ Governor quits race as charges spread

From Mercury News wire services: New Jersey’s acting governor Donald DiFrancesco, under fire for his business and real estate dealings, withdrew from the governor’s race yesterday. DiFrancesco, a Republican, withdrew just three days after he entered it Sunday, and one day after attacking his two opponents as tax profligates.

So New Jersey sails into a near-perfect political storm. It is hard to name a branch of New Jersey government, from the U.S. Senate to county sheriff, not under an ethical cloud or investigation or indictment.

NJ: A Gathering of Angels 🙂 🙂 🙂

Humor today: Useful computer features and a Pythonesque routine

Someone spent a reasonable amount of time making images of these Computer Features and they are hilarious (IMO, YMMV). Particularly the Word Tools menu and Copy dialog!

Meanwhile, Robot Wisdom led me to this bit of Monty Pythonesque humor, the hilarious Two Crystallographers from Yorkshire Sketch “by Anthony Nicholls and Phil Bourne (neither of whom are from Yorkshire, but one of whom spent two years in the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire) and with apologies to Monty Python and George Sheldrick (who is from Yorkshire).”