Books: Paper, screen, audio

If I want depressing, I've got my real life...

LOL

I liked the premise of War against the Chtorr, but it didn't feel like he had a clearly defined plan for the books. After a while they seemed to meander kind of pointlessly. And... bunnymen?

book podcast alert.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/lifeandfate

George R.R. Martin talks about killing off characters. There's some stuff here that is spoiler-ish, so please don't read unless you've read all of the Ice & Fire books that are currently out. No spoilers for the future books.

Recently read:

"A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan

"Supergods" by Grant Morrison

"The Victorian Internet" by

Stalled on "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell

Currently dipping into:

"The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

"Tom Sawyer"

"My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler

Thanks, Stanza!

ddt

Wow. Just wow. George Martin has the audacity to tell Tolkien how he should have written LOTR. Good thing Tolkien is long dead.

Quote

Much as I admire Tolkien, I once again always felt like Gandalf should have stayed dead. That was such an incredible sequence in Fellowship of the Ring when he faces the Balrog on the Khazad-dûm and he falls into the gulf, and his last words are, "Fly, you fools."

What power that had, how that grabbed me. And then he comes back as Gandalf the White, and if anything he's sort of improved. I never liked Gandalf the White as much as Gandalf the Grey, and I never liked him coming back. I think it would have been an even stronger story if Tolkien had left him dead.

With all due respect George Martin, you are dead wrong.

He's just voicing an opinion. But he's not seeing Tolkien's deeper intent, and the deliberate parallels to the Christian resurrection.

Oh very true. I just don't think it's a well thought out opinion.

George Martin seems to dislikes stories with any semblance of a happy ending. And that's fair enough but he has to realise that for every nihilistic "the-world-really-is-a-buket-o-shite" type series there has to be a happy-ending type series or we'd all top ourselves.

Had he written LOTR it would have been a seven volume epic with Sauron recovering his ring in the middle of the second book. Most of the fellowship would have been killed off completely with Aragorn the next to snuff it after Borimir. The last five books would have covered Merry & Pippin's adventures in exile disguised as haradrim brothel-workers and Sauraman's seige of the grey havens with his hobbit slave army. There'd be accounts of the infighting amongst the Nazgul as they realise the newly corporeal Sauron is an even grumpier boss than the witch king. Rivendell and Lothlorien would be having a pretty hard time of it - but there'd somehow still be scope for plenty of elf-sex. Gimli would somehow end up fighting a Guerilla war alongside Treebeard in what's left of Fanghorn forest - with Treebeard constantly telling him to "put away that axe."

Or something like that...

It would probably still be a great read - but somehow I'll take the original version even if nowadays it seems a little dated and cliched...

It's only cliched because everybody else recognized greatness and copied Tolkien for the next thirty years of fantasy literature.

Admittedly, I'm not a very avid reader. My boss gave me a copy of the seven habits of highly effective people which is enlightening I must say. Also reading 'looking at philosophy' while doing a short beginners course in philosophy. This is getting me back into reading, although I'm probably best of using the audio book versions while being stuck in traffic.

Just noticed the Sony reader image ....

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666384227&XID=O:sony%20reader%20wifi:dg_read_gglsrch:e&k_id=35faab90-2b01-8e49-23b9-00002a200fbb#features

Martin

OK, so I ordered an Amazon Fire. At $200 it was below my "knee-jerk lust for the shiny" threshold.

if  (
	(gizmo.shiny/gizmo.price > kThreshold) &&
	(gizmo.price < kWifePurchaseDetectionLevel) && 
	(gizmo.price < accounts[checking].getBalance() + getMoneyUnderSofaCushions())
    )
{
     orderShinyProduct (gizmo);
     debitWallet (gizmo.price);
     if (gizmo.embarassmentLevel < kTolerableEmbarrassment)
     {
	postPurchaseToSpork(gizmo);
	if (haveTimeToKill())
        {
		postGizmoPurchaseAlgorithmToSpork();
		advanceState (STATE_PREPARE_FOR_CODE_CRITICISM);
        }
    }
}

Your code sucks.

advanceState (STATE_CODE_CRITICISM_RECEIVED);

Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write goddamn login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud

ddt

Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake, take bath, take nap.
This job fulfilling in creative way, such a load of crap.

SPORK now owns your code. Sign over all rights immediately.

I'm a programmer, I am not right-enabled.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2011 12:26PM by John Willoughby.