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The Introduction
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2136
Like almost all the books I read, I haven't read this one and so start at the beginning.
I'm funny that way, I start at one cover, then read straight through until I reach the other. The only exception is when the footnotes and annotations are compiled in an index in the back of the book, then I sometimes flip back and forth, but generally reading for me is a linear experience.
But there's often the introduction to consider.
The Introduction, as you might guess, introduces the book, it puts the book, the author, the characters, in context with the time and culture in which it was written.
I have no problem with this, in fact in can be helpful.
However I do have a problem with the tendency of the plot to go a little "too" in depth on the plot, with the revealing of crucial plot points and character developments all so that whatever hack was commissioned to write the introduction can further his academic credentials. This is unacceptable. If anything is to be given away - plot, events, characterwise - then let the introduction follow instead as an epilogue, where it will spoil nothing. I'll still read it, I mean, if the book is so ominous that it requires an introduction or epilogue then of course I'll read it, if only to compare interpretations, but my reading of the authors text will be fresh and new as the author intended.
1884 - Yesterdays Future
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1262
This could be interesting. Terry Gilliam, when not great, is at the very least interesting, but we'll have to wait and see...
Tron Legacy
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 1780
Yes, I knew what I was getting into, but I'd shown the boy the original and felt obliged to take him to see the second installment. And what can you say? It's everything you'd expect.
I don't mean that in a good way.
Now because my expectations were low, very low, it would have been an easy thing to pleasantly surprise me. I mean, it's not like there isn't fodder for ideas here: there are the "lifeforms" (holodicketymorphosomethingorother...?) that spontaneously populate the world, but they're only a subplot to show how evil "Clue" (Jeff Bridges) can be. A shame, because there is potential there, as demonstrated by Conway's Game of Life. And while I like Jeff Bridges, he proved his evilness plenty well enough by consenting to come back and make this film.
And there's the idea of transcendence - Transhumanism, of a digital immortality, well, of loads of things...
None of which are touched upon even slightly here. Now it is what it is (not very good at all), so I can take it on those grounds, but - with the effects, with the countless unforseen turns technology has taken, and a decent writer - it could have been an awful lot more. For shame.
Museum of Broken Relationships
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1491
A brief explanation: In Zagreb, people have set up a museum to display those physical elements and pieces of ended relationships they no longer want cluttering their lives. They've done well, so well in fact there's now even a website. A note - the website navigation is a bit confusing, the link to the virtual collection is for emails, photos & SMS/Text messages, the "Exhibit Proper" is a different link. I've linked to both below.
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