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newnumber6Book Foo:
Finished: Machines that Think: The Best Short Stories about Robots & Computers (short story collection, co-edited by Asimov)
Started: Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
Robots and AI are one of my favorite themes of SF, and this pretty big tome does a nice jbo of the history of it, hitting some of the highlights. I suppose it suffers a little from the time, it was collected in the early 80s, and a lot of it focuses on really early stuff that either I've read or feels a bit... quaint. But it was fairly enjoyable all in all... might have liked a bit less focus on robots and more on AI in general, but what can you do. Favorite of the collection's probably Ellison's "I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream" which I've read many times and even though my favorite views are much more optimistic than this, it's one of the best.
Finished: Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 (short story/essay collection)
Started: Old Twentieth, by Joe Haldeman
Here, the stories were a little frustrating. Because the writing talent in some of them were very good, but at the same time, a lot felt missing. Specifically, the story. Many of them read as great character-sketches and beginnings of stories, but then just ended instead of going where. Take for example Kelly Link's Nebula-winning "Magic For Beginners"... I liked the characters they set up, and some of the situation (although the specifics of the TV show within the TV show were kind of lame, didn't find it all that interesting), but I never felt it came together as a story, just a set of characters walking around on the fringes of one. Her other win, "The Faery Handbag" was better, though still a bit "loose" of a story. The other disappointment was a lack of SF, a bit too much fantasy, and some that's only associate with SF is that the writer is also known for it. I don't begrudge Fantasy that much in the Nebulas (and in fact, The Faery Handbag, a clearly fantasy story, is my favorite of the collection), but I'm more of a SF fan and wanted more in that vein.
...
Saw Caprica's first non-pilot episode. No real spoilers. I'm enjoying it. Like I said, I'm big on AI type themes, and so this series promises to have them in abundance, but it's a strange kind of SF, part family drama, part SF, part just weird stuff. It also does a nice job in immersing us in a different world that still feels much like our own, almost as though certain elements (like the existence of burgers, etc) are just being "translated" for our audience, there to ease the transition so that when you see more obviously out of place things (like the Pyramid games), you accept it more easily and it doesn't seem as dopey as it does in some series that try to invent their own games.
Survivors also continuing to be enjoyable, if maybe a bit iffy on science sometimes (at least, potentially, there are explanations that might account for some of those bits).
What else is going on with my life? Well, it should be no surprise, nothing.
It's starting to get to me a little. Well, more than usual. In addition to the usual way I deal with it, like elaborate fantasies of dropping out of my life and just wandering the world until I find a place I belong or something kills me (either one's good), I've actually been thinking of trying to find something more specific, realistic, and concrete to do that would get me out of the house a bit more often. But, as usual, I'm standing in my own way. Because if it's not something that I can convince myself to do, I won't do it, and I know things that should be convincing just aren't. Take, say, joining some sort of a club. Yes, social interaction's great. I can see that I might have fun, meet people, maybe make a friend. It not only could be good for me, it's something I probably should do. Yet to do that I have to go uninvited to a social situation, on a regular basis, and I just can't see myself doing it. Likewise things where I'd have to phone up somebody to make arrangements are probably unlikely. So, I don't know, my mind's running along those lines a lot more than usual, but I haven't hit on any specific thing that works as a plan, just a couple vague leanings...
I've thought about trying to take a class, maybe a once a week thing. Self-improvement could help justify it to myself, I'm reasonably comfortable in a classroom environment so long as I don't have to stand up in front of the whole class. Also, since classes do charge, once I pay, that's incentive to go, something I can use to CONVINCE myself to go. (I hate that I have to. It's a pain in the ass, like I have to walk a complicated maze in my head before I do even the simplest social things). Might be doable. Potential problems are cost (I've been putting off buying an X-Box 360 for years now), finding something I like that fits my schedule, and the knowledge that even if I do go to a class, I'm unlikely to be able to interact socially with people there any better than in university. It'd probably be something of a dice roll. If I'm lucky enough that someone talks to me, who knows, could make a friend. If not, it's paying to go somewhere every week for a skill I'll probably never use (depending on what it is).
Also been thinking a bit on something for writing. Karl Schroeder, author of Ventus, Lady of Mazes, and the Virga series, who's become a fave of mine, has become "Writer in Residence" at the Toronto Reference library for the next few months. As part of those duties, he reads manuscripts from local amateur-writers and will have a one-on-one consultation with them about it. Sounds good, except that I'd have to have a one-on-one consultation to get the one-on-one consultation. I can take criticism, but I take it best when it's more or less anonymous, I can dismiss it, or take it in, depending on its nature. Once it's personalized, to anybody that KNOWS me or, in this case, that I KNOW, it takes on a whole new dimension and makes me panic (oddly enough, even if it's positive it has this reaction, it's just, obviously, much less intense and doesn't give me the weeks of depression afterward). And going in person to receive criticism/advice from somebody that I can't just walk away from the computer to get away from is the worst. If I could have him just comment on it without meeting, that might be okay, but it's not given as an option. I don't know. Maybe I'll polish something up, hope I swing up to one of my outrageously overconfident "oh my god this is so awesome I bet if he reads it then not only will he like it but he'll pass it on to someone he knows who'll get it published" phases and send it off in that mood, then even if I cycle back to the more common, and much more likely, "this is derivative crap and he'll hate it and tell me to give up, if not completely than at least on this story, and that all my ideas are wrong and implausible and even if he has good advice I won't be able to think of anything to say" phases, the appointment will already have been made and my desire not to be rude and break an appointment will overwhelm the desire to not go. (It's that maze in my head again, there are familiar paths that I know will usually lead me to a way out, even if it takes me a much longer or more complicated road than is sane). So, I don't know, we'll see. Depends on how my mood swings before the deadline's up.
(Yes, I'm a coward. I think most of you have known this already... it's one of the reasons I barely talk about myself and mostly about movies/books/TV. Sorry, I'll probably go back to that in future posts).
Edit: Oh, and I managed to read a copy of the script for the pilot episode of AMC's adaptation of The Walking Dead. Not bad. Pretty faithful to the comic at least to the point it reaches, several iconic scenes kept, but a number of minor details and most of the dialogue seems changed. But thumbs up.
Finished: Machines that Think: The Best Short Stories about Robots & Computers (short story collection, co-edited by Asimov)
Started: Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
Robots and AI are one of my favorite themes of SF, and this pretty big tome does a nice jbo of the history of it, hitting some of the highlights. I suppose it suffers a little from the time, it was collected in the early 80s, and a lot of it focuses on really early stuff that either I've read or feels a bit... quaint. But it was fairly enjoyable all in all... might have liked a bit less focus on robots and more on AI in general, but what can you do. Favorite of the collection's probably Ellison's "I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream" which I've read many times and even though my favorite views are much more optimistic than this, it's one of the best.
Finished: Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 (short story/essay collection)
Started: Old Twentieth, by Joe Haldeman
Here, the stories were a little frustrating. Because the writing talent in some of them were very good, but at the same time, a lot felt missing. Specifically, the story. Many of them read as great character-sketches and beginnings of stories, but then just ended instead of going where. Take for example Kelly Link's Nebula-winning "Magic For Beginners"... I liked the characters they set up, and some of the situation (although the specifics of the TV show within the TV show were kind of lame, didn't find it all that interesting), but I never felt it came together as a story, just a set of characters walking around on the fringes of one. Her other win, "The Faery Handbag" was better, though still a bit "loose" of a story. The other disappointment was a lack of SF, a bit too much fantasy, and some that's only associate with SF is that the writer is also known for it. I don't begrudge Fantasy that much in the Nebulas (and in fact, The Faery Handbag, a clearly fantasy story, is my favorite of the collection), but I'm more of a SF fan and wanted more in that vein.
...
Saw Caprica's first non-pilot episode. No real spoilers. I'm enjoying it. Like I said, I'm big on AI type themes, and so this series promises to have them in abundance, but it's a strange kind of SF, part family drama, part SF, part just weird stuff. It also does a nice job in immersing us in a different world that still feels much like our own, almost as though certain elements (like the existence of burgers, etc) are just being "translated" for our audience, there to ease the transition so that when you see more obviously out of place things (like the Pyramid games), you accept it more easily and it doesn't seem as dopey as it does in some series that try to invent their own games.
Survivors also continuing to be enjoyable, if maybe a bit iffy on science sometimes (at least, potentially, there are explanations that might account for some of those bits).
What else is going on with my life? Well, it should be no surprise, nothing.
It's starting to get to me a little. Well, more than usual. In addition to the usual way I deal with it, like elaborate fantasies of dropping out of my life and just wandering the world until I find a place I belong or something kills me (either one's good), I've actually been thinking of trying to find something more specific, realistic, and concrete to do that would get me out of the house a bit more often. But, as usual, I'm standing in my own way. Because if it's not something that I can convince myself to do, I won't do it, and I know things that should be convincing just aren't. Take, say, joining some sort of a club. Yes, social interaction's great. I can see that I might have fun, meet people, maybe make a friend. It not only could be good for me, it's something I probably should do. Yet to do that I have to go uninvited to a social situation, on a regular basis, and I just can't see myself doing it. Likewise things where I'd have to phone up somebody to make arrangements are probably unlikely. So, I don't know, my mind's running along those lines a lot more than usual, but I haven't hit on any specific thing that works as a plan, just a couple vague leanings...
I've thought about trying to take a class, maybe a once a week thing. Self-improvement could help justify it to myself, I'm reasonably comfortable in a classroom environment so long as I don't have to stand up in front of the whole class. Also, since classes do charge, once I pay, that's incentive to go, something I can use to CONVINCE myself to go. (I hate that I have to. It's a pain in the ass, like I have to walk a complicated maze in my head before I do even the simplest social things). Might be doable. Potential problems are cost (I've been putting off buying an X-Box 360 for years now), finding something I like that fits my schedule, and the knowledge that even if I do go to a class, I'm unlikely to be able to interact socially with people there any better than in university. It'd probably be something of a dice roll. If I'm lucky enough that someone talks to me, who knows, could make a friend. If not, it's paying to go somewhere every week for a skill I'll probably never use (depending on what it is).
Also been thinking a bit on something for writing. Karl Schroeder, author of Ventus, Lady of Mazes, and the Virga series, who's become a fave of mine, has become "Writer in Residence" at the Toronto Reference library for the next few months. As part of those duties, he reads manuscripts from local amateur-writers and will have a one-on-one consultation with them about it. Sounds good, except that I'd have to have a one-on-one consultation to get the one-on-one consultation. I can take criticism, but I take it best when it's more or less anonymous, I can dismiss it, or take it in, depending on its nature. Once it's personalized, to anybody that KNOWS me or, in this case, that I KNOW, it takes on a whole new dimension and makes me panic (oddly enough, even if it's positive it has this reaction, it's just, obviously, much less intense and doesn't give me the weeks of depression afterward). And going in person to receive criticism/advice from somebody that I can't just walk away from the computer to get away from is the worst. If I could have him just comment on it without meeting, that might be okay, but it's not given as an option. I don't know. Maybe I'll polish something up, hope I swing up to one of my outrageously overconfident "oh my god this is so awesome I bet if he reads it then not only will he like it but he'll pass it on to someone he knows who'll get it published" phases and send it off in that mood, then even if I cycle back to the more common, and much more likely, "this is derivative crap and he'll hate it and tell me to give up, if not completely than at least on this story, and that all my ideas are wrong and implausible and even if he has good advice I won't be able to think of anything to say" phases, the appointment will already have been made and my desire not to be rude and break an appointment will overwhelm the desire to not go. (It's that maze in my head again, there are familiar paths that I know will usually lead me to a way out, even if it takes me a much longer or more complicated road than is sane). So, I don't know, we'll see. Depends on how my mood swings before the deadline's up.
(Yes, I'm a coward. I think most of you have known this already... it's one of the reasons I barely talk about myself and mostly about movies/books/TV. Sorry, I'll probably go back to that in future posts).
Edit: Oh, and I managed to read a copy of the script for the pilot episode of AMC's adaptation of The Walking Dead. Not bad. Pretty faithful to the comic at least to the point it reaches, several iconic scenes kept, but a number of minor details and most of the dialogue seems changed. But thumbs up.
