Category > Fiction
It isn't true
Lost Eloquence
On Saturday, I was at an AFP meet.
"Have you heard about Douglas Adams?"
"No? What?"
"He died, last night. Heart attack".
Watch as a world comes tumbling down.
And I spent seven hours on trains today, notebook in hand, trying to work out what I was going to say here. Both here's, the web site and the newsgroup.
I wrote down notes about Fred Gale, my headmaster who noticed I hadn't won any commendations, and so gave me a Book Token, which which I bought my own copy of the H2G2 series.
I had the section on how DNA inspired me to start writing again.
How Arthur Dent became the metaphor for my existence.
How Douglas Adams is the only author who has written a passage I am in fits of laughter every time I read, no matter how I feel beforehand (..."There is an art, or a knack to flying"...)
In fact, I spent more time planning this than I do any story, post, poem, filk. Or anything.
But I can't say any of it. I've lost the words to describe it.
So the only thing to do is to hit you with a blindingly obvious statement that also manages to sum up the entire thing. He was so much better at that than I will ever be, but I can but try:
Douglas Noel Adams, 1952 - 2001
The future will not be the same without him.
For once, in real sincerity.
Nicholas 'Aquarion' Avenell
Reading Material
So, Books then. (I’ll add links to these when I’ve got a graphical browser again. I’m mid-compile of Firebird on Gentoo at the moment)
I’ve just finished reading “Going Out” by Scarlett Thomas, which is a Couplandesque tale of personal discovery, focussing mainly around a character who has “XP”, a rare ailment that means he is allergic to sunlight. Like Coupland, the plot evolved very slowly for the first two thirds of the book, then rapidly picks up pace. It’s very well and somewhat transparently written – rarely does the wording interfere with the plot.
It’s an addictive book, or at least me and Lonecat both found it so, having that “One more page” quality that occasionally leads to the “Bloody hell it’s 3am” quality, and I’d recommended it to anyone who enjoys Douglas Coupland.
“Welcome To Coolsville” owes more to Jeff Noon than anything else, a tale of corperate morality in a near-future world where the corperation is your friend, trust the corperation. Some nice ideas, but not a life-changing book, though the gradual slide into “Expensesland” of one of the centrals is very well done. Recommended.
Also reading the O’Reilly XSLT book and the MYSQL reference manual. A little light reading there.
Yesterday morning, however, I started re-reading Preacher from the very beginning right though to the very end, since I recently got the last book (Thanks ccooke :-)) and then sat for a while in silence. It’s amazing. The story arc, the characters, and the gradual changes of over the previous eight books are completed and resolved totally. If you haven’t read Preacher yet run – don’t walk – to your nearest large book shop and start buying them, Or get me to lend them to you. This isn’t Sandman, this is something equally fantastic, yet completely different. And if you don’t read comics, you really ought to.
The Forest, Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd is an author with a specialised genre all of his very own. He writes historical fiction which follows a place though the people who live there. ‘The Forest’ is a novel about the New Forest, as told though the stories of the families of Cola the Huntsman, The Prides, Furzeys, Grockletons, Puckles and so on from the founding of the Forest in William the Conquerors’s time, right down to the present day. From the killing of King Rufus (who died in the New Forest) though to the trial of Alice Lisle, down to the family politics of Jane Austin’s Bath, this is an epic tale which manages to wind together the past, present and future, pulling the reader slowly though the family trees and then swiftly though the fights, arguments and feuds of the families and the forest they have made their home.
If it has a fault, it is that the structure of the book (each chapter is a new generation, though not necessarily the generation after the one you last saw, and gaps of hundreds of years are not uncommon) lends itself to a slightly fractured plot-line, though Rutherfurd’s sense of narrative continuity means that the gaps between the stories are never too shear, or that a somewhat distanced narrative can occasionally make character motivations a mystery (Though this works both ways, it’s never obvious when a character’s mind is being opaqued deliberately), or a tendency towards slow movement as the setup for the new generation is explained.
The Forest is an excellent book by a master of narrative, but the structure might be a little strange and distracting to some readers. Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth reading especially if you have read, and enjoyed, previous works by the Author
Those who spoke on this:
The Reading List
Some of you, my loyal readership, will have noticed that not only are we back in the land of the standard blue-specs/aq9 design for the whole site, but where once out-of-date Vice City stats dominated the sidebar, now the more educational “Reading List” prevails. Generally, I’m reading whatever’s on the top of that list, whereupon I’ll review it and something else can go in it’s place.
The reading pile is one of the most hotly contested arguments in Catrion Towers. You see, my natural reaction to having enjoyed a book is to try to get other people to read it. Lacking anyone else to pimp books at, I tend to give them to LoneCat to read. LoneCat’s ‘To Read’ pile consists of a small pile of books beside her bedside cabinet (Actually a box with a sari over it) which tends, when I do the recomendy thing, to get to the point where she can’t easily get into bed, at which point she gets upset. (Yes, me and my girlfriend sleep in separate beds in separate rooms. One day I’ll explain why).
Right now, then, I’m forbidden to add any more books to her ‘To Read’ pile. This is somewhat unfortunate, since I have quite a few books I’m still trying to get her to read (Not at all, I should emphatically point out, because I don’t have enough bookshelf space and storing large percentages of my library in her room saves me space. Oh no. That would be mean). This means that there are now four ‘To Read’ piles in our house. First there is mine, then the one beside LoneCat’s bed, then her bookshelf where she’s got all her books she wants to reread, and fourth is the growing pile in my room of books I’m going to put on her reading pile just as soon as she either a) lets me, or b) doesn’t pay sufficient attention.
Whichever comes first
Hitch-Hikers
I don’t actually believe that the HitchHikers Movie will suck as much as everyone seems to think it will.
First, a major source of annoyance appears to be that Americans have been cast as Ford, Trillian and Zaphod. First, note that Sam Rockwell (Zaphod) was in Galaxy Quest (He was Guy), second, Trillian in the TV series was american, and competely different to the described character in the books. The TV series was still good.
Second they’ve still – to the best of our knowledge – got Stephen Moore (the original (Radio & TV) Marvin) as Marvin (Though the design of the robot is kinda Gir-ish)
Third, the script is still the one DNA wrote just before he died, we’re told, with only a couple of minor changes.
Fourth, Hammer and Tongs (Who are the production company directing it) have previously done things I found quite good (They are, for UK people, the people do did BT’s ‘Exploding broadband pipe’ thing) From interviews I’ve seen, they appear to have a sense of humour.
They, basically, I think can do it.
Disney I’m not so sure on…
Those who spoke on this:
Artela:
Ah – the person playing Zaphod will probably be fine… I’m not so sure about the rap artist I’ve heard is playing Ford Prefect :-(
Aquarion:
Mos Def is a an actor as well as a rapper, and has been in things in the states since the late 80s. This isn’t an Ice-Cool style “I wanna be an actor so people will take me seriously” thing, anymore than Claudia Christian (Ivanova from Bab5, who is also a a musician and writer of childrens books) is.
Gary Fleming:
I’ve only seen him in The Italian Job remake, and he was terrible in it. I can’t imagine he’ll do a better job as Ford.
Zen
“I hug you”
“But I can’t even see you!”
“That is correct. I’m hugging you by not hugging you.”
“Is this some kind of Zen?”
“Strawberries.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“A valid one.”
“How so?”
“I am forcing you to reconsider your question.”
“Forcing me to reconsider my question isn’t answering the bloody thing.”
“This is also correct.”
“So are you going to answer my question?”
“Toothbrush.”
“That isn’t tranquility, that’s just annoying.”
“But tranquilly annoying.”
“Tranquilly isn’t a word”.
“Is too.”
“Tranquil means quiet, peaceful, still. You can’t do something tranquilly, it means you are…”
“Doing something by not doing anything.”
“Oh sod off”
Page 23
There is a meme going around at the moment where you have to:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Open the book to page 23.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
So:
“Yet when the rock came down, the white miner would never be there; he would be back down the tunnel with the other white miners, waiting for us to report that the work had been finished.”
(Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency)
Those who spoke on this:
tamara:
The nearest book to me had pictures (well, sketches) on page 23. Does that count?
Itai:
“On the present criticism, in short, Descartes’s dualism fails the test of explanatory power.” (Amazingly, The Case for Animal Rights by Tom Regan, which I didn’t read – nor ever, alas, intend to – but happened to be the nearest book.)
gilmae:
“When the giraffe’s feet get wet”
MP:
‘Are you telling me that some two-bit auto burglar concocted this whole thing?’”
– The Carl Hiassen Omnibus (this is from “Tourist Season” within that…)Annoyingly, it missed “Who stuffed a goddamn toy alligator down his throat?” and “Who sawed his legs off?”: the 3rd and 4th sentences respectively… :-)
Kegs:
“He appealed to the whole Achaean army, and most of all to its two commanders, the sons of Atreus”
Homer, The Illiad
Which was surprisingly marginally closer to hand than H2G2
Instant Book Reviews
Eric Garcia – Casual Rex
PI Vincent Rubio may sound like a Sam Spade clone, but he’s really a dinosaur, a Raptor, part of a large (pun intended) reptilian community, which, thanks to modern technology and a good deal of latex, coexists with humanity. Unless there’s a slip-up, humans remain none the wiser.
Casual Rex is a book about Dinosaur PIs. It’s a prequel to “Anonymous Rex”, which was the same premise with a new plot. It’s funny, well written, and well worth your time.
Matthew Baylis – The Last Ealing Comedy
It’s a quick novel of accidentlly becoming an English teacher, and all the problems this entails. Including, apparently, getting arrested. It’s a male chick-fic book, fast, light & witty.
Raymond E. Feist – King of Foxes
Since the end of the Serpent War series, Feist’s output has been largely avoidable. This – and the previous ‘Talon of the Silver Hawk’ – reverses this trend. Still in the world of the Rift War and Serpent War sagas, but another generation down the line. No huge overcoming evil, but lots of little ones.
Jon Courtenay Grimwood – Pashazade: The First Arabesk
More people need to read JCG. You should to. Alternate universe present-day fantasy.
Mockingbird's Wish
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
No, hang on a sec. That’s Star Wars.
It was a dark and stor…
No, that’s not right either.
I made a promise to Shelley ‘Burningbird’ Powers over a year ago that I would read her magical parable The Mockingbird’s Wish and post it.
I recorded it once then deleted it, because it was crap. Then I eventually Recorded it properly
and have been in the process of editing it since then.
Now it’s finished, read the tale and listen to the file.
The Mockingbird’s Wish (MP3, 5mb)
Oh, and it appears Shelley likes it too, which is aways nice
Coding, Not going postal, and Going Postal
So, today I took time out of my busy schedule to go buy tea.
Actually, I wasn’t getting any work done, really. I’m having a small concentration problem since we entered testing, in that the stuff I’m currently working on is Deep System stuff that is interdependant on almost everything else. This means it takes about fifteen to twenty minutes to swap all the various memory pages into place before I’m producing much new code of any real worth. Each time someone in our open plan office asks me a question, it shatters this delicate balance as I have to swap in other processes like the HTML/CSS structure. The first couple of times this happens I could possibly be refered to as “ratty” at the shattering. After five, I feel the urge to hit things. Not that the office have any real way of telling that I’m currently juggling – to switch metaphors – a couple of dozen balls at the moment, and would like to be left alone.
Net result is that I had a minor argument with someone else that is, in fact, solvable by inserting quote marks, something I realised when I had time to actually think about the problem, rather than desperatly trying not to lose my place in what I was doing to answer the question.
So I went to buy tea.
Since I’m abandoning London for the forseeable, and had run out of English Breakfast (Leaving me with only four types of black tea, five of green (which I don’t drink, but LC does), one of white and three types of Infusions) I decided to go visit Drury in Covent Garden. Naturally I got lost, so I navigated to Covent Garden Market (Specifically, the big square where the bloke who walks on his hands does his show. I’ve never been to Covent Garden without him performing there) and navigated from there. I replaced my Breakfast Tea, got some Ceylon Orange Pekoe and two packets of “Fruit Flavoured” tea – One Apricot, One Mango – and considered that I’d got off lightly.
Then I passed Waterstones.
Or rather, I didn’t. Actually, I went in. I resisted buying a number of books before I found Going Postal. Going Postal is the new Discworld book, It’s good, and it doesn’t come out until the 7th October. You could tell it wasn’t out yet, because there was a noticable lack of large displays with it on or any of the other paraphernalia I usually expect with a new DW release. Specifically, the store only had five copies.
Obviously, it now has four.
It’s good. It’s a ‘standalone’ book in the same way ‘The Truth’ was. Being that it takes place in Ankh Morpork there’s going to be background people you’ve seen before, but the only central person who is a major character is Vetinari, who starts of in a scene that is incredibly similar to one from the Colour of Magic and goes on from there.
It’s good. It also leads neatly on to the next book in the series, which is about Thud. You should go buy Going Postal
Those who spoke on this:
Senji:
For a book that’s not out yet, it’s been in Borders in Cambridge for a surprisingly long week….
stephen:
you can buy white teabags? wtf? I used to drink Earl Grey, until the thrill of barking ‘Tea, Earl Grey, hot’ at the kettle wore off.
*hangs head in shame.
Rory Parle:
I would take your advice an go buy it if it wasn’t for one thing. It’s apparently “not out” in Ireland in much the same way as it’s “not out” over there. It’s “not out” because it’s “in” my bedroom on the locker.
Tayra:
You can’t, say, put in earplugs to keep out the noise, then put a sign up on your desk that says ‘I’m sorry, but I’m really quite busy and concentrating quite hard, and if you interrupt me you’ll ruin several hours worth of work, which I will take out of your paycheck, so please just leave a note here next to this sign and I’ll get back to you later’? Something like that, anyway.
Intertextual
Every so often I recommend people, when they don’t have anything to do, or want something to read, to go browse the archives of Intertext for a while. I’ve been reading it for several years now, and it’s been consistantly good.
I kept meaning so write things and submit them, but never got around to it.
Too late now, Intertext is dead. It will be missed.
In parting, though, it leaves us with the festive story Santa Claus Must Die!! which you should read.
See you Lotr
I’d have written this earlier, except I broke Aquarionics’ admin section with a badly formed class. ‘tis fixed now.
This weekend I did something that could be seen as slightly foolish. Me, and 10 other people, watched the entirety of Lord Of The Rings, Extended Editions, from Shire to Doom, A to Z, Beginning to all three false endings.
It took 13 hours, including pizza, dead limb and disc changing breaks. It included a count of Legolas’ facial expressions and various other fun things. It lasted from mid-afternoon on Saturday to 05:30 on Sunday morning. Then we slept. We were very tired.
As three theatrical releases they were quite good movies. As extended editions they are very good movies and in some ways tell a better story than the original books (Not as deep, certainly, but a more engaging story in places), but it’s as a single movie in three parts that they really do shine, and the running threads make far more sense. I’m still not entirely sure about some of the changes (Though the two major scenes removed – Tom & Scouring – were reasonably obvious ‘whole chunks’ to keep the thing under, say, a day) but I’m positive this is the best version of the classic series that we were ever going to get.
The weekend was fun though – although the trip back was something of a disaster – and I got to meet New and Interesting people, and exchange puns.
Which is always fun.
Those who spoke on this:
Rory Parle:
I did the same thing on New Year’s Eve/Day, but I started at 8PM so there was an additional struggle to just stay awake. I think it detracted from the movie(s) somewhat. Did you find yourself wishing they’d just left out the whole Frodo/Sam thread entirely? I mean, I know it’s the whole basis for the story and everything but wasn’t Aragorn’s story so much more interesting?
Chris
I hadn't realised this had dropped out of the archives, actually. This is 'Chris', written about two or three years ago (About 2002, I think) and later published in Extraverse. (It is not, nor should it be construed as, an example of my current mental state).
"You know the drill, Name, Number, Tone" Beep
It wasn't a dark, or stormy night.
This was depressing.
"Hi, Chris? It's Jane"
It was early evening, and the sky was bathed in a golden pink that would cause grown poets to cry. The grass was green, the red-bricked houses either side of him poked out from behind carefully pruned hedge-rows. The last time he had walked down this road he was going to school.
"Listen, please. I know the last few weeks have been tough going"
Far beyond drive-time now, the main road was empty. He had left suburbia behind and was heading into the mild little country lanes beyond. The birds were singing, and the only sound was the light crunch of trainers upon the gravel to the side of the road.
"Losing that job was a blow, I'm sure. But there is something we need to talk about that is more important"
It should have been a dark and stormy night. It deserved lightening, and thunder, and great symphonic crashes and waves. Or, at least, the kind of windy, dark night that makes you glad you're inside and not out. It deserved depressing weather.
"Us"
But there wasn't. There was just the red tinged sky of the early evening (Shepherds delight), and the bright songs of the birds in the trees and the hedge-rows.
"There isn't really any way I can say this to you, not without hurting us both, and not to your face"
When was the last time anyone had gone down this road? A bridle-path spun off to the right and he took it without thinking. It was overgrown and the path lay somewhere beneath the layers of nettles and thorns, but it was away from there. It. Everything.
"I've met someone else"
Somebody else had been here. A rusty can sat in the path, seemingly spat out of the undergrowth as an illegal alien. An undesirable. Surplus to nature's requirements. He kicked it, and the can went sailing over the remains of the barbed wire fence, landing within the field of corn.
"I feel so stupid talking to an answer phone, but I don't know where you are, and your mobile is off. You'd like him, you really would. He's called Dave, he's got a job at a securities place up in London"
There really wasn't any point. Not without her. So they hadn't known each other long, it was sudden. Quick. And it was most certainly too soon to lose her. He remembered the party they had met at, She had already got a boyfriend, but they became friends, and soon it... Blossomed.
"I feel really bad doing this to you, But I just don't love you enough any more"
There was no way he could have her now. He had her. *They* would get married, and they would have children, and in fifteen years time they would meet again and say "What would life be like if...".
No.
He found a stream in the woods at the end of the path, and sat by it. Miles from anyone.
"I'll put the engagement ring in the post. I think it's better if we never see each other again"
From his jacket pocket, he withdrew a dull metal object, Raised the gun to his temple.
The explosion lifted clouds of birds from the trees.
And, as the explosion rings out across the countryside, and even while the body slumps into the stream, there is a click as the caller hangs up.
And Dave's body begins to decompose.
Those who spoke on this:
Dallan:
Can I point out, aside from any incorrect initial speculation, how genuinely unnerving that story is?
Not to mention the Kay-esque misdirection.
I wasn’t aware you wrote fiction, actually, but this is pretty good.
-D.
Scream
The bone-chilling scream split the warm summer night in two, the first half being before the scream when it was fairly balmy and calm and pleasant, the second half still balmy and quite pleasant for those who hadn’t heard the scream at all, but not calm or balmy or even very nice for those who did hear the scream, discounting the little period of time during the actual scream itself when your ears might have been hearing it but your brain wasn’t reacting yet to let you know.
Winning sentence, 1986 Bulwer-Lytton bad fiction contest.
Those who spoke on this:
Rory Parle:
Is there a Bulwer-Lytton Web Design Contest too?
Ben Hutchings:
I can imagine Pterry writing something like that, but he would somehow manage to make it funny.
Potted
Lonecat bought a copy of Half Blood Prince on the day it was released.
I bought a pile of Sharpe books.
She read it, then read a bit of Phoenix, then read Prince again.
Last night, she loaned me her copy of HBP, and I took it, resolved to only read a few chapters at a time, and promptly devoured a third of it.
I finished it on the bus home this evening, less than 24 hours after I obtained it.
For sale, one resolve, barely used.
Those who spoke on this:
Laurabelle:
Ditto, except it was a library copy (it took less than 3 weeks to get to me!), and I hardly bothered making any resolutions.
Now we all get to wait another year to find out what happens next. Grrrr.
paradox:
The question is, did you guess?
It should have been obvious, of course, but … well, I didn’t.
Balance in all things.
On the plus side of the news, Anne Rice will never again write another vampire novel.
On the minus side, she doesn’t appear to have abandoned the notion of people you can kill and then they’ll be back a couple of days later.
Anne Rice is novelising the bible
- 2005-10-24 12:16:41
- By Aquarion
- From Evolving Media, Bedford
- More Journal Entries
- Filed under Current Affairs, Fiction & Media
On the importantance of qualifying your arguments
O sir, we quarrel in print, by the book; as you have books for good manners: I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheque Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct.
All these you may avoid but the Lie Direct; and you may avoid that too, with an If. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If, as, ‘If you said so, then I said so;’ and they shook hands and swore brothers. Your If is the only peacemaker; much virtue in If.
(And, from the same scene, because I love it so)
He uses his folly like a stalking-horse and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.
[Download the original file]
Attachments
A Quote
‘Mr Winvoe?’ he said, after whistling into it. ‘Ah. Good. Tell me, how much do we have in our vaults at the moment? Oh, approximately. To the nearest million, say.’ He held the tube away from his ear for a moment, and then spoke into it again. ‘Well, be a good chap and check anyway, will you?’
He hung up the tube and placed his hands flat on the desk in front of him.
[...]
‘Yes, Mr Winvoe? Really? Indeed? I myself have frequently found loose change under sofa cushions, it’s amazing how it mou … No, no, I wasn’t being … Yes, I did have some reason to … No, no blame attaches to you in any … No, I could hardly see how it … Yes, go and have a rest, what a good idea. Thank you.’
[Terry Pratchett, Hogfather]
- 2006-03-21 19:10:46
- By Aquarion
- From Home, Paddock Wood
- More Journal Entries
- Filed under AFP, Current Affairs & Fiction
Resolution
This Wednesday I’m having the windows in my flat replaced with unixes. Er, double glazing. Since my flat customarily looks like some kind of laundry-bomb-wielding country has decided my carpet is harbouring terrorism, and has started a campaign of rescue having first sent in inspectors looking for teaspoons of mass destruction; this weekend was going to be dedicated to tidying it up.
So, on Saturday I went to London to an AFP meet that spanned three pubs, a curry house and a large stretch of London before almost missing my last train home (Which leaves from – of all places – West Hampstead at twenty to midnight. Futureme take note). Then on Sunday watched ?Pirates of the Caribbean 2?:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383574/, ?Superman Returns?:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/ and then retired to an evening of playing City of Heroes.
Because of this, I’m going to talk about Resolution.
Quick capsule review of the films, btw: Pirates 2 is a series of interesting set pieces randomly scattered around a vast and intertwining plot where each of the strands occasionally swaps characters. It’s worth seeing but doesn’t end properly. Superman Returns is an interesting series of set pieces linearly scattered along a short plot where the Goodies and Baddies go for two hours without paying any attention to each other. Conflict happens when one character gets stuck in the wrong plot line. Kevin Spacey is good but not really there, Superman good, Lois good, Jimmy less good, Perry not good, Small precocious child bad. It finishes the story. City of Heroes is a series of occasionally interesting missions randomly intertwined along a series of linear plot lines which you can ignore and just hit things if you like. Because other people have to do the plot lines after you do (It’s a massively multiplayer game) nothing ever really ends properly.
The remainder of this article contains mild – but not plot detail – spoilers for Pirates 2, Superman Returns, Batman movies and X-Men III. Caveat Lecter: Reader beware of being served with fava beans and a nice chianti.
So, I’m frustrated and unresolved, because having a franchise and story that theoretically doesn’t have to end until people get bored of watching it is not compatible with actually finishing things off.
This is, incidentally, bullshit. Novels though the ages have proven you can end a story properly without closing off the world. Buffy – on occasion – managed to finish a plot arc without killing off its main characters or sending them off to (un)live (un)happily ever after. Comics have been doing this stuff for decades, finish the story but let the heroes come back next week for another adventure and, every so often, shake up their worlds when maybe they won’t.
Pirates 2 just doesn’t end, the final scene is no more conclusive than any one of twelve things in the story that are just scene changes, and it falls into the LOTR trap of “And then it ended. But wait! This is what happened to these people: And then it ended. But wait! These people ended their story like this. But wait! These people are unhappy. :-( But then they realised they could be happy :-) and then it ended! But wait! we have a final ending for this person!” with the exception that none of them actually ended anything and they all started a new plot thread.
The opposite, though, has its own problems. Batman did the resolution thing. He killed the Joker, then the Penguin, Two-Face, The Riddler. By the fourth movie he was running out of Batman villains people had actually heard of. The latest Batman movie has him fighting the Scarecrow (one of my favourite Batman villains, as it happens, but I am not a typical movie goer) though I can’t actually remember if he kills him or just turns the tables and puts him in Arkham in the movie, I suspect the latter.
So there is an advantage to merely defeating your enemies (Quite apart from their ability to come back with a more interesting plan, it sidesteps the whole “So, if you kill people to stop them killing people, is that Right” moral angle.) in continuing the franchise, at the expense of a more satisfying ending.
Upon this scale you have X-Men III, a film which revelled in killing off – or destroying – large parts of the cast of the first two movies, but then spoilt it all with the single scene of hope that negated all the emotional feedback of the initial killing (Add up the final body count, counting the pre- and post-credits sequences).
The film that did it best, I think, was Spiderman and its sequel. (And, comic fans, have you noticed the similarities between bits of the X-Men movie overplot, the Spiderman movies and the new Civil War series?). Stuff happens, the bad guy is defeated (but not gone) and we return to a non-resolved but more advanced form of life for the main characters, set up for the next adventure to push it along a bit. What I would like to see – although I doubt this will ever happen and has been specifically denied from some sides – is continuity between the movies in the same universe. I want Christian Bale’s Batman to provide technical support for Brandon Routh’s Superman, for there to be a Green Lantern film, or the JLA (A movie of JLA:Classified, for example, would be fun) and for some acknowledgement that these people work in the same worlds. Whilst they don’t fight the same people (Superman would just melt Doc Ock’s extra arms, for example) it would be nice for the world to be a bit better defined.
The big hole for this is money, really. Getting a large star from another movie to cameo in your film is probably one of those things that is really complicated in practice, but it would be nice if the movies took on some of the better traits of their less respected originals, and wove a better world around their stories.
Those who spoke on this:
Edmund Schluessel:
Palpatine might always have another clone hidden somewhere.
Ouija Typewriters
J.R.R Tolkien has a new book out
(Yes, it’s a new novel based on the same unfinished notes that were used to create The Simarillion. Still)
Those who spoke on this:
Charles:
I got my copy on Monday (like the JRRT geek that I am), you know I’m quite enjoying it even though it is JRRPosthumousLaundryLists publishing.
Hallo Death
The next Maelstrom event happens at the same time as the next Harry Potter book.
From the head ref, Matt Pennington:
(GOD is the Games Operations Desk)
Just as a teensy-weensy small point to bear in mind. If anyone so much as mentions this book or one word of the contents in my earshot in GOD I will throw you off site and ban you for life. But on the plus side I will only attempt violence against you if you are smaller than me or a girl. Try not to see this as a threat, I like to think of it more as a sort of public-service broadcast….
I’m not allowed to read the book until after the event on the incredibly flimsy basis that I will simply stay up all night until I have read it. Therefore I have to wait until later. The last time I had to “wait until later” the most moronic girl in the universe just happened to mention that Qui Gon Jin gets a bit unwell before the end of the film. I have one regret to this day. I regret that that woman is still alive somewhere….
Obviously you’re fine discussing any part of the book in GOD unless you happen to be overheard by my other half. She is much more sensible and mature about this than me. She will use the database to find out where you live, drive round your house that night and burn it to the ground. I am told this leaves less witnesses. She has checked with the DPA and apparently this does not constitute an infringement of the act as she is not passing your data to a third party. However I think these things are best handled by face-to-face interaction with the criminal and that it is why I will be bringing a real machete to the event.
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre
I like this book.
This book is a book where one of the main characters is a geeky Browncoat – tautology, yes – it has a Duke Nukem Forever reference (A game now in production for ten years). And it’s about unsinkable rubber ducks. Well, kind of. It’s about mysticism and science and geekery and provability and people and research and jam and history and woo. Also, it’s funny in traditional Brookmyre style, it’s scottish in tone and language, and it will make you want to kill the author – but in a good way – on no less than three occasions, possibly more.
I like Brookmyre’s books, you should try one to see if you like them too. This is a good one for that purpose. All the characters save one are new – the narrator is a reoccurring from previous books – but you don’t need to know his history, so that’s fine.
Those who spoke on this:
Em:
Don’t read it before Be My Enemy, it gives away most of the really good punchlines to the whole story.
But otherwise, yes, read. Good stuff.
Words and Pictures and Freedom
Creative Commons.
So, in summery, then. The SFWA, who are a guild of writers, saw that the annoying-yet-apparently-popular site Scribd was hosting a large number of eBooks of works by its members which are still under copyright.
They compiled a list of offending articles, constructed – by looking at the list – by searching for famous authors – Asimov, as an example – and listing all of those.
Unsurprisingly, this took out some innocent texts, like various lists such as “These authors write good scifi, read them”.one of which was Cory Doctorow’s “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”, which he released under a Creative Commons Licence and is therefore miffed it’s been shot down, and is kicking up a major fuss about the entire thing.
The problem is that there are two worlds.
In Doctorow’s world, which I share to a large extent, you give away your wares for free, and if people like it they will give you money. Also, they will give you money for better quality versions, like a real book. You make money over the long term because the people who can’t afford to pay lots are balanced out by the people who can, and therefore do.
In the SFWA world, if you give something away for free, you don’t get any money for it. Also, that person won’t need to buy the physical copy, and so you actually lose a sale. This position assumes that any “honour” style payment system is flawed, because most people don’t demonstrate any.
The BoingBoing article is entirely factually correct. It misses out the bit that the takedown list is of thousands, but only three innocent books have been positively identified so far. The major problem is that the DMCA is a blunt instrument, designed so that corporations can get actual pirate material off the net ASAP without faffing around with lawyers. The major downside of this is that it means there isn’t any incentive to be very careful any blanket notices, as there isn’t any legal penalty for doing so. The only way to convince the corporations – which the SFWA count as in this instance – is by making sure that mistakes on the lists result in a PR disaster.
Addendum: As Cory points out in the comments, and as is further explained in something I linked to in the next article, the number of ‘Overenthusiastic’ items on the list is far greater than 3. As Ben points out, lying in the DMCA takedown notice is perjury, although there hasn’t been a complete legal stand for that quite yet.
But the writers – some of whom authorised the SFWA to do this – deserve to make their own decision on the whole “Giving my stuff away for free” issue, and for those who want people to have to buy the books to read the stories – which is 99.9% of them – it is entirely justified for them to want places like Scribd to come down like a ton of bricks on people who blatantly abuse the copyright.
We’ve just got to make sure innocent people don’t get caught in the crossfire.
- 2007-09-01 22:55:58
- By Aquarion
- From Walthamstow, London
- More Journal Entries
- Filed under Current Affairs, Fiction & Weblog
Those who spoke on this:
Ben Hutchings:
A DMCA notice requires the sender to claim “under penalty of perjury” a “good faith belief” that they are the copyright holder or agent for the copyright holder of the works being distributed. While I don’t believe anyone has been found guilty of perjury for filing such notices in bad faith, the EFF sued Michael Crook for doing just that; he settled out of court.
A DMCA notice can be challenged with a counter-notice, after which the ISP may restore the disputed works without incurring liability, unless otherwise ordered by a court.
Cory Doctorow:
Whoever told you that there were three mistakes on that list was talking out of his ass. At least a hundred, probably more. Take a look yourself:
http://craphound.com/sfwa-scribd-takedown1.txt
How many of those documents are novels by Robert Silverberg or Isaac Asimov?
Last time I checked, Bruce Sterling, Damon Knight and the many other writers on that list were not pen names for Bob or Isaac. None of those writers authorized SFWA to act on their behalf and several of them have said that they don’t want SFWA to act on their behalf. As my agent, Russ Galen, who represents PK Dick’s estate, has pointed out, when SFWA shows up claiming to represent PKD, it makes it harder for HIM, PKD’s actual representative to show up and get speedy treatment, since Scribd is necessarily skeptical of an army of “representatives” all claiming to be the authorised agent of the Dick estate.
Aquarion:
You are entirely correct, I did post a link later on to something that pointed out that the number of – I’m going to say “Overenthusiastic”, rather than perjurous, though it’s really the latter – Overenthusiastic items on the list was far above the three I quoted, but I do need to add that to this article.
Potting read
It is half past three in the morning. Insomnia sucks.
(This week’s AqCom banner brought to you by raindrops and blurred photos)
This post does not contain any major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though comments might.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Harry Potter books. I read the first one 7 years ago (OW OW OW SEVEN YEARS OF ARCHIVES OW OW OW) and was impressed. Slightly, reading back now, overly so. The books are very, very easy to read, a testament to both Rowling’s writing and the fact they are kids books are are meant to be, although successively less “kids books” as they go on. Each time one is released I end up finishing it within 24 hours of starting it (This time being no exception, mostly because I had plenty of reading time today.
Like the last few, it’s a bit bulky. I do like the year per book format, but it doesn’t lend itself to snappy books, really. I’m not entirely convinced it’s in as desperate need of editing as Prince was, but it’s still a bit long. She did do the thing I didn’t think she could, which was fit the tying up of all the loose ends into one book, even if some of it was a bit stretched. She also didn’t back out of the thing I thought she’d back out of, and redemption is always nice.
The big problem I have right now is that I now own one Harry Potter book.
See, up until now I’d borrowed my parents (First few), or waited for House mate/Girlfriend to buy it (Next few), but this time neither worked out, so I have a copy of the last HP book, and No Others. Either I keep it, and my nagging obsessive-compulsive whines at the back of my head. Or I buy the rest and never read them. Or I break with the habit of a lifetime and Give Away a book, which is so far against the natural order of things that bubble-sorts across the country would break in sympathy.
Those who spoke on this:
Cathy:
If you can handle nicely-kept twice-read (used! gasp) copies you’re welcome to my paperbacks of the first four books. (Hmm. Actually, I have #4 in hardback and paperback; heaven knows why since I’ve never read the paperback.)
I agree that Rowling’s simple prose make the books fantastic for blasting through in a short time. Unfortunately I find it also makes them quite uninteresting to re-read, so I’ve been reluctant to buy the last three. I did manage to borrow the fifth one, but still haven’t read 6 or 7. And since [the spoiler] at the end(?) of 6 is now so widely known as to have joined the three universal spoilers (which are: “He’s his father!”, “She’s a man!”, “It’s a sled!”), it’s dampened my enthusiasm for reading them at all since, IMO, the HP books survive mainly on plot.
Aquarion:
- I have come to the conclusion I shall give the book away.
- Whilst the Universal Spoiler (also, see http://www.dangermouse.net/media/spoilers.html) is actually true, it isn’t actually much of a spoiler, for reasons I can’t actually say because they actually are.
- In conclusion, would you like book 7? That way if you get a #6, you can at least dump almost all of the entire set on someone else :-)
Laurabelle:
I own books 1-4 but managed to avoid buying them by picking them up free from an open bookshelf at work. Does that count?
(I feel that it would be nice to have a full set, just ‘cause, but will hold out until I can pick them up for free. If that never happens, I don’t mind.)
As for the last three, I borrowed them from co-workers this summer when I re-read the whole series.
P.S. It is nearly 1am in California. Yes, insomnia sucks.
Chessypig:
Bother, I was going to offer another option, which was that you lend the book to me and I keep up my dismal record of giving books back to people by never actually getting around to give it back. But I see you already have a taker :).
A useless post
This post is entirely useless.
I mean, you already know that Warren Ellis is writing a free webcomic, issues released every friday, called FreakAngels, don’t you?
And you already know he wrote Transmet, and various other important things like the novel Crooked Little Vein which you should also read if you haven’t.
You know all this, so there is no point in mentioning it.
Is there?
Ailbhe:
Heh. The thing which annoyed me most is that I’m used to reading historical fiction by people who are experts in their period, and it’s easy to see that he isn’t an expert in any of the periods he covers. This was particularly annoying for the Austen / Heyer period, of which I have read a helluva lot.
But it’s an ok book. I preferred London, probably because I knew less of the history.
Aquarion:
Well, his next book is ‘dublin’. Make of this what you will…
Richard Clay:
I disagree. His research was excellent, enough to make every period he covered very plausible. I found it a tremendous read, far better than “OK” !!