This is pretty nifty! cakeinfo!
I’ll be using this on some of my projects to do internal diagnostics.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2007.
via BoingBoing, and confirmed on Clooney’s studio site.
Here’s the story from scifi.com: SCI FI Wire:
Diamond Age, based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, is a six-hour miniseries from Clooney and fellow executive producer Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Productions.When a prominent member of society concludes that the futuristic civilization in which he lives is stifling creativity, he commissions an interactive book for his daughter that serves as a guide through a surreal alternate world. Stephenson will adapt his novel for the miniseries, the first time the Hugo and Nebula award winner has written for TV.
As I said in 2001, and again in 2005 The Diamond Age is my favorite Stephenson book.
The thing to capture is the variety of cultures in the world of the book. I’m quite stunned to see Stephenson himself doing the writing for the screen. And pleased.
Thomas Barnett got an assistant and prioritizes based on the level of effort from the asker. Neal Stephenson simply asks you to go away. Eric Raymond wrote a whole article on asking good questions.
One of my favorite articles is from Mark Pilgrim called Why We Won’t Help You (from 2003) which is actually inspirational to me, although I think to some people it will seem callous:
The short, smart-alec, Zen-like answer is that we are helping you, you just don’t realize it yet.
I note quietly that Mark’s favicon is the tajitu.
Zen is on my mind. Leah and I listened to some Alan Watts via the Alan Watts podcast in the car. It was pretty great. About the ego and spirituality and being. I really like it that a guy who has been dead for more than 30 years has a podcast.
Zen—the aspect of accepting and being—being in flow, is what I’m concentrating on today. All is well. Onward.
It occurs 45 minutes into the Long Now mp3 of the event “The Singularity: Your Future as a Black Hole;” it makes me laugh.
Why would Science Fiction stoop to this? Why are they deploying this grand mathematical notion as like, a source of “plot coupons”Well I’ll explain this to you, and if you learn nothing else about science fiction you need to know this. This is the classic Peter Nicholls definition of science fiction from 1976. It’s very difficult to define science fiction. Many people have tried. Okay…
“Sci-fi can be succinctly defined (I’m quoting him) can be succinctly defined as speculation, whether based on established scientific facts, or, on logical pseudofacts, consistent with the framework of the fiction in question, involving smelly, green, pimply aliens furiously raping or eating or both beautiful naked bare-breasted chicks, covering them in slime! red oozing living slime! dribbling from every horrific orifice, squeezing out between bulbous pulpy lips onto the sensuous velvety skin of the writhing sweating slave girls their bodies cut and bruised by knotted whips brandished by giant blonde and vast bicepped androids; and written in the gothic mode.”
That just rocks so hard.
I really like this song, available on One Step Ahead of the Spider. At some point I transcribed the lyrics, and here they are. If he put out more records, I would buy them. It’s interesting to me that though he’s still alive, or seems to be, Mark Griffen, aka MC 900 Foot Jesus, is a figure of some mystery.
Here are those lyrics:
you probably see me hanging around
i’m a very familliar face
in this town
a day doesnt go by
i don’t meet
a lot of my friends
walking down the street
i’m never too busy to stop by the way
and i’ve always have something pleasant to say
maybe some perceptive thoughts about the weather
or other latest news from wall street
whatever
i can stand around all day
making small talk
busting platitudes
blocking the sidewalk
tying people up
for hours with ease
one big talent is shooting the breeze
when they start to squirm
i really get going
but only my happy face smile is showing
why cant they see what i’m trying to hide
i’m busting a gut
laughing on the inside
it’s in their smile when they say hello
i can see they think im a little bit slow
but after awhile with me
they looked dazed
their eyes are covered
with a doughnut glaze
i really start to cook when i see that look
i hit ‘em with every cliche in the book
their knees wobble and they start to weave
it’s like they’re begging for permission to leave
they think they’re having a brush with stupidity
i dont laugh
even though it’s killing me
watching ‘em wilt like day-old flowers
ticking off the minutes as they turn to hours
they’re wondering how much more they can take
i give ‘em a friendly smile and a handshake
we say goodbye
so very politely
now say hello to the killer inside meeverybody has their doubts about my sanity
but nothing happens cause they all feel sorry for me
i got the whole town under my thumb
and all i gotta to do is keep acting dumb
“oh that boy there, they say, whatta guy
alittle on the slow side but wouldnt hurt a fly
and such a gentleman – oh yes i know
he sure cant talk your ear off though”
i take my hat and pretend i dont hear
grinning like a half-wit from ear to ear
i can think of a thousand ways to say hello
so i start through ‘em all
goin’ real slow
they listen hard and act like they care
how can they be so completely unaware
of the truth
the answer is always denied me
so i introduce ‘em to the killer inside me(feel the blast)
(feel the blast)
(feel the blast)
(feel the blast)
(feel the blast)
I have a few things bubbling on my mind.
I was quite moved by this article about bloggers in the Middle East. If there were a risk that I might go to jail for my blogging, would I still do it? This is a hard question, but I’d like to think I would. The stories of these bloggers are inspirational.
Mathowie pointed out a book called Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire, which sounds like a really great book. I would like to polish my presentation skills.
I am enjoying listening to the banter of the Daring Fireball Macworld podcast. I’ve enjoyed reading Daring Fireball for some time. The podcast reminds me that John Gruber is just a guy like you and me. Though also brilliant thinking about Mac software.
I love Scott McCloud, and I’m so happy that he’s become enough of a cultural figure that kids do reports about him. Scott wrote Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. Those are wonderful books, particularly Understanding and Making—they’re essential if you like / read / or are interested in comics.
Also, I added some code to this page to make those links to those books on Amazon a little bit glitzier.
Do you use YouTube? Me too. Here’s a story about someone whose video got more than a million hits: My Wild Million-Hit Ride on YouTube.
FTrain is writing again, with a vengeance. I love his work. Read The Problem of Nomads, for example.
Weather-wise, it’s been COLD here lately. Into the thirties at night. As far as I can tell it’s typically been warmer in Virginia where my folks live than here. That’s backwards, dude.
I have a few other things to post today. Stay tuned, and have a great day!
- Episcopal Book of Common Prayer
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