Oh yeah.

Nov. 3rd, 2004 08:56 am
camwyn: (airstrip)
[personal profile] camwyn
Ain't gonna write 'bout politics no more for a while. Unless maybe they're someone else's politics. That could be amusing. I could pick a totally random country and get myself into a froth about the way things are being run in Lisbon, or Dhaka, or whatever the capital is of Chad... eh, we'll talk about that later, maybe. I'm just gonna say two things:

One, I started reading Snow Crash on the train in to work this morning and that is a terrible thing for a naturally cynical sysadmin who has always been vaguely afraid of having her soul sucked out by technology to read.
Two, nothing makes for good Hellblazer fanfic like the mixture of cynicism at one's country, disappointment in one's fellow human beings, and a powerful dislike of government.

Methinks this election will be just the kick in the pants I need to get the next HB:H chapter written. If only because dammit, I gotta get Neal Stephenson out of my head. I can't get more than two sentences into that book without hearing either Lawrence Fishburne or Avery Brooks narrating. This is NOT A GOOD THING when I am about to spend my day wrangling computers and walking along the bed of the River of Neon. (Side note: is it just me, or is anyone else vaguely squicked by the idea of the oncoming Matrix MMORPG? I mean, really, my fellow geeks paying for the privilege of living in a virtual world in which the premise is that we're all living in a virtual world for the sake of our silicon masters? Why don't we all just put on name tags reading "Hello, my name is CYPHER" and get it over with?") So, yeah... Hellblazer is probably the healthiest way of dealing with all of this, even if it's been a while since I last read a Sorting Feast scene. I'll catch up.

Date: 2004-11-03 06:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quintus.livejournal.com
N'Djamena :-)

Date: 2004-11-03 06:22 am (UTC)
aberrantangels: (the real world)
From: [personal profile] aberrantangels
I knew there was a "dj" in there, but I couldn't remember the rest of it; I was wanting to say Adidjan. Thanks for covering for me. (-8

Date: 2004-11-03 06:21 am (UTC)
aberrantangels: (the Matrix has you)
From: [personal profile] aberrantangels
"I don't wanna remember nothing. No-thing, understand? And I wanna be rich. Someone important. Like an actor."
"Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan."

I just thought of that for some reason.

Date: 2004-11-03 07:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com
(((((HUGS)))).

I am working on a non-politcal distractions for people on my list. I think you'll like it.

Date: 2004-11-03 07:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com
Yes, English is my native language. Why do you wonder? ;>

Date: 2004-11-03 08:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com
I'd tell you to look again, but it's an embarrassing mistake.

Date: 2004-11-03 07:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] firestrike.livejournal.com
It's not that bad. I'm sure our new President would listen to Reason.*

-M

*That would only be considered a threat if the Secret Service agent reads sci-fi.

Date: 2004-11-03 07:47 am (UTC)
aberrantangels: (geek)
From: [personal profile] aberrantangels
How far into Snow Crash are you?

Date: 2004-11-03 08:03 am (UTC)
aberrantangels: (geek)
From: [personal profile] aberrantangels
*nods* Good way of putting it. (Spoiler-free, like I'm trying to be.) Then you've still got a ways to go. I don't even think the character [livejournal.com profile] firestrike was quoting has shown up yet.

Date: 2004-11-03 08:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] firestrike.livejournal.com
Nope. Fisheye's still a ways off. She'll know it when she gets there.

Me, I want one of those black jackets with the green electrapigment text.

-M

Reason

Date: 2004-11-03 11:29 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Well, even then, Fisheye is introduced well before he uses reason. The bit is around 3/4ths through, IIRC.

At any rate, I thought the poem about King Coyote in Diamond Age was far neater.

Date: 2004-11-03 07:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lasa.livejournal.com
Snowcrash.
That book sent me into a flurry (hee) of research about memes and glossolalia.
I wound up with a 20 page research paper about glossolalia when all was said and done. I listened to glossolalia, read research from linguists, all that. Fascinating stuff. It's pretty incredible when a novel can take you in such directions.

Date: 2004-11-03 08:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mattador.livejournal.com
Snow Crash, hurrah!

'He never pulled that gun in anger. Pulled it once in Gila Highlands.'

Date: 2004-11-03 09:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deep-shadow.livejournal.com
I still fervently believe the beginning is one of the best pizza delivery scenes written in the history of man.

Snow Crash? Enjoy!

Date: 2004-11-03 09:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com
Excellent book. Read any other Stephenson yet? Cryptonomicon might be good for your Sysadmin self as well.

Re: Snow Crash? Enjoy!

Date: 2004-11-03 09:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com
I envy you: Snow Crash was my first Stephenson as well, and I loved it. No fear, plenty of time for the others.

But then again, Cryptonomicon is a looooooong book.

And his latest work, "the Baroque Trilogy" clocks in at @900+ pages per book. 3rd one's coming out this year I think.

So get crackin'! ^_-

Date: 2004-11-03 02:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lwood.livejournal.com
Ah, Snow Crash!

You're only reading that just now?

On a weird clone note, just two days ago I was expounding on its virtues on a heathen e-list, comparing Hiro and Juanita (as expressiong of Hacker-as-Trickster and Hacker-as-Seeker) to Loki and Odin (similar and likewise).

But I have always liked that book...

-- Lorrie

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