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The statement at the bottom of this diary is true

By stark (Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:11:13 AM EST) books, wii, photofc (all tags)

Inside: Ilium, Wii, PhotoFC, and a controversial discussion point included purely to drive up comments...

Reading
Ilium, by Dan Simmons. Plot overview so far: Homer's famous poem is being refought on Mars, complete with gods who appear to be post-humans with healing tanks, nanotechnology, and so forth. However, the gods seem not to know what their fates are; scholars from late twentieth century Earth are resurrected to record the events but are forbidden from sharing their knowledge of the future of the battle. In a separate thread, some rather pathetic humans on Earth are finding out more about their lost abilities, while not being eaten by allosaurs. Finally, two robots from Jupiter's moons with a common interest in Shakespeare's sonnets and Proust are sent on a mission to Mars to figure out what the hell is going on.

It's pretty bizarre. Quite fun, though, although the two non-battle threads drag a little sometimes.

Playing
Damn, the Wii is fun. My first ever proper games console, and I'm enjoying it. More than that, the gf is actually slowly getting into it.

Photographing
Am trying to get inspiration for the PhotoFC. I work in Canary Wharf, and I've been wanting to take some night shots of the area for a while now, so the theme is excellent. I have some other ideas as well, but we'll see what happens.

Discussing
Ah, I can't think of anything too controversial. Darn. Well, please try and come up with something - suggestions gratefully accepted.

Oh, and the statement in the title of this diary is false.

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The statement at the bottom of this diary is true | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)

PhotoFC by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #1 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:17:45 AM EST

Shit, did I miss that? What's the theme? Link anyone?

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It's political correctness gone mad!

Could probably do with a +1, FP by stark (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:24:54 AM EST

LinDze is organising it here - the theme is Night. I'll update this diary with a link while I'm at it...
--
U.S. Patent 5443036 concerns a device for encouraging a cat to exercise by chasing a light spot.

[ Parent ]

: Thanks [nt] by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #3 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:46:10 AM EST

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!
[ Parent ]

I missed the announcement too... (n/t) by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:59:34 AM EST

[ Parent ]

Dan Simmons by johnny (4.00 / 1) #5 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 03:22:26 AM EST

I gave up on Illium. I'm generally the type who will slog through any old thing, but that was too much. The guy is just too much in love with his mastery of trivia, which he shoehorns in everywhere, whether it has anything to do with the plot or not. Sentient robot spaceships from a far-future Jupiter discussing Proust and Shakespeare's sonnets in Cliff's Notes format for page after ponderous page? Give me a break. If I wanted that kind of stuff I would hop in my time machine and travel back 35 years & be a college sophomore again.

It took me more than a year to read "Hyperion" for the same reason. The prose is awkward, the characters are wooden, and there are Trivial Pursuit facts crammed in every corner. However, in that book the basic story was so cool that I couldn't walk away from it.

I'm currently reading "Fall of Hyperion". I've been at it for three months now. I really do want to find out what happens, but reading Simmons' prose is so much work that it's barely worth the effort.
... this is dreamworld after all... it isn't? Shit.

: I have a secret talent by stark (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 07:05:36 AM EST

for skipping through the dull bits and extracting plot from almost all overblown novels. (I struggled a bit with Gravity's Rainbow.)
I expect most writers would hate me reading their books, cheerfully missing all the subtle allusions, metaphors and poetic descriptive passages, instead saying things like "I liked the bit where he dropped the ring in the volcano".
I am interested to see if the sonnets and so forth have any sort of payoff in the second book, Olympos. And fundamentally I want to know what the hell is going on. Although I suspect that I will be disappointed...

--
U.S. Patent 5443036 concerns a device for encouraging a cat to exercise by chasing a light spot.
[ Parent ]

Was this the face by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 04:14:17 AM EST

that launch'd a thousand ships. And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}

: Amusingly by stark (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 07:07:13 AM EST

[not much of a spoiler]
One of the human observers of the war shags Helen of Troy fairly early on in the book, while morphed into the body of Paris. I can't say I would do otherwise...
--
U.S. Patent 5443036 concerns a device for encouraging a cat to exercise by chasing a light spot.
[ Parent ]

The point is pretty controversial. by Driusan (2.00 / 0) #9 Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 08:11:26 AM EST

Afterall, I'm commenting on it.

--
Vive le Montréal libre.

The statement at the bottom of this diary is true | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)