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If my school had run an off-curriculum ‘CSI’ afternoon, I would have been much more interested in science. It’s nice to see a dedicated and creative teacher at work.
Reviews → Anathem
30 January 2011 · Comments (3)
Oh, what to say? I am a big fan of Neal Stephenson (thanks, Jeff, for the introduction) and finally dared to tackle his latest, Anathem, this last fortnight or so.
First off, it blew my mind. I’m not sure where some of it went. I thought Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle were highly intelligent and very entertaining — Anathem tackles subjects I know even less about, although I have a passing familiarity with their basic definitions.
The main problem I had with the novel, the first time I read it, is that it’s wholly speculative fiction. I don’t do well with these alternate worlds with different-but-familiar words. I struggled with it in early 2009 — it probably wasn’t the best novel to take with me on holiday — but this time, I decided to go for it. Once I got over the newish vocabulary, the story really took off.
I’ve mentioned Scarlett Thomas in relation to Stephenson before (in my review of PopCo); I bring her up again because her latest novel, Our Tragic Universe, and Anathem both involve long dialogues amongst groups of people, explaining crazy concepts that help move the plot along. While I found the chitter-chatter in Our Tragic Universe dreadfully dull and unrealistic (I ended up skimming and skipping because it was making me nod off), the conversations fraa Erasmas (our protagonist) was party to were, by contrast, interesting and much more plausible.
Stephenson takes really, really difficult subjects and put them almost within my full understanding. I kind of get it, but not quite. That actually made Anathem more — not less — compelling, because I was constantly trying to gain that little bit more comprehension. Like fraa Erasmas, I was a little bit behind, but felt grateful for the privilege of learning.
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I blame you for this, Robert Downey Jr: The Authorized Sleuth.
Bike lights in fog
27 January 2011 · Comments Off
A few years ago I was sitting in a hotel room with a famed Pick Up Artist (voted #1 not too long ago, I’m sure you’ll guess who he is), pretty much as the background ‘tech support’ person in case his online chat went pear-shaped. One question from the virtual floor stood out: What do I do if my boyfriend / partner / whatever’s done something to annoy me? (I’m paraphrasing; this was a while ago.)
I muttered (I thought) under my breath, You just tell them they’re annoying you and why, but Mr. PUA said that it was better to ‘punish’ the person by being a bit colder and sending ‘I’m mad at you’ signals to ‘train’ them not to piss you off.
Personally, I think that’s absolute rubbish. If you want to get a message across to someone, don’t go for ambiguity, just tell it like it is. Maybe you want to be tactful and not use words to deliberately wound, but don’t futz around with being less than clear about what you mean. It’ll make for a healthier relationship.
And I’m glad a study validates what I believe.
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Fascinating, the story behind the New York Times’ relationship with WikiLeaks.
A shower of dunces
26 January 2011 · Comments Off
Three years handed down for Tommy Sheridan’s perjury conviction. From what I can tell in the news story, his statement essentially says the News of the World are worse than me, so you should let me keep doing what I’m doing and go after them instead.
I guess this shows that seasoned politicians may not be the best liars after all. Either that or he isn’t as good a politician as he thinks he is.
Let’s move on. There’s nothing more to be gained by giving them any attention.
Happy birthday to me! I’m listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100, a ‘tradition’ I like to observe. ‘Tradition’ because I haven’t had the time to do it in years.
Memories skate away
25 January 2011 · Comments (3)
It is quite amazing that this nasty case of unlawful dismissal had to go to the Supreme Court, but I guess it was so that they could render a judgement based not only on the letter, but also the spirit, of the law.
I didn’t think any employer in America would think they could get away with doing something like this, the country is so litigious!
Elections must be coming, but not too soon
25 January 2011 · Comments Off
SRSLY? Selling a banned book is grounds for a major crime investigation?
These things can’t be kept on the down low now we’ve got the Internet. Even China cannot control their web traffic with the Great Firewall, and there is no way Singapore can be seen to be censoring it too much (First World, hor?), so all this says to me is the default response to anything displeasing is an overreaction of embarrassing magnitude.
We all knew that, but now the whole world gets to read about it too. Fabulous.
Reviews → Where Would I Be Without You?
24 January 2011 · Comments Off
In a bookshop, I would never have picked up this novel based on the jacket. Far too girly for my tastes. As you can see by the blurb, it promises to be more — and the review quotes say it’s a thriller-plus-love story.
It starts with Martin and Gabrielle, two young adults who fall in love and have a passionate, if brief, affair in San Francisco. Martin has to go home to France and like most long-distance relationships, it doesn’t work out (by page two, we ominously hear that it is his ‘last serious love affair’). Cut to 13 years later and Martin is now a police captain, working on cultural crime. He’s been tracking an ingenious art thief, Archibald McLean, who’s managed to elude capture for 25 years. He believes he knows where McLean will strike next, and what he decides to do with that information sends him on a crazy journey through Paris and back to San Francisco (what a coincidence).
Let’s start with the good things. (Read more.)
So tragic that it’s our extreme nerdiness that has made the journalist consider Singaporeans the second coolest in the world.
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Aw, sweet. This kid sold his toys at school (and got in trouble) so he could raise money for the Arizona politician who was shot in the head. He sent her the proceeds ($2.85) and a get-well card.
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I know exactly what the smokers in the study experienced (even now, ample proof that I’ll always be quitting smoking), but surely instead of purging all cinema reels of images of smoking, we should try a little harder to resist the urge?
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How do you start an email? Do you type ‘Dear [insert name here]‘? I would if it’s someone I’ve never written to before, or someone I don’t feel comfortable enough with to be casual. Politeness is still an important trait, no matter how attached you are to your smartphone.
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I can think of a couple of people who’d love a copy of Penguin By Design. Obviously, they’re all designers.