Far East

Favorite Tunes

            One has to be Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi, and particularly this line: Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got til after it's gone  They paved paradise and put up a parking lot 
           That peculiar feeling of loss that you had something special, and just completely wasted your opportunity, an opportunity that will never offer itself again.  So sad and bittersweet.  Live in the past all you want, but that chance is lost forever. 

The Hitler Myth

            Nearly finished with Ian Kershaw's masterful biography of Hitler, Nemesis.  Really want to read The Hitler Myth, especially after seeing the BBC special (on DVD) Warning From History, which covers some of the same ground as the biography.  Amazing how many high-ranking Nazis they were able to dig up more than 50 years after the fact, and striking how without exception they are all wealthy and in perfect health (considering their age).

Message Discipline, People!

            Hilarious.  Watching CNN briefly last night, and noticed on the scroll the news that RIAA plans to sue baidu.com for listing mp3s on their web page.  Head on over, and sure enough, the homepage does have a complete listing of mp3s for download.  Granted, you have to be able to read Chinese (and simplified at that), but plain as day are tens of thousands of mp3s for immediate download.  CNN is owned by Time-Warner, one of the members of the RIAA.  Baidu.com, while nominally private, must certainly have government backing and approval (not to mention a big investment by Yahoo, I believe).  Kind of like Google listing everything Napster (version 1.0) style.  It's almost as if CNN is trying to goad people into downloading from baidu.  Hard to know what to think.

Accelerando

            Just finished reading it.  Excellent space opera from Hug0 award winning author Charles Stross.  Plus it's a free e-book download!  No reason to delay.  Read it now!

Absolutely Brilliant

            Iain M. Banks is an amazing writer.  Just finished  Look to Windward, one in the series of Culture novels.  I had previously read  Excession, which got me hooked.  His character development, story lines, and wry humor all make his books must reads.
          In  Look to Windward  he gets into some quite deep (from my perspective) philosophical issues, which I think is kind of unusual for a space opera/sci-fi writer.  He reminds me a lot of Isaac Asimov in terms of his ability to get you into characters' minds.
            At one point in the novel one of the characters is talking about romantic mindsets, saying in effect that romantics don't really want to know others or themselves, as that will spoil the whole illusion and mystery they're trying to build up around themselves and their loved ones.  I thought that was spot on.  Avoiding anything that breaks that precious romantic bubble, no matter how many crises result.  Sticking to a kind of monomaniacal mindset, and damn the facts.   Highly recommended author.

Blecch

            Andrea Koppel (of CNN) defending Pat Robertson's remarks.  Or rather, completely ignoring his remarks, and running a piece showing what a horrible menace Chavez is.  The Network of Fubar.  Some say silence is acquiescence....

Podcast A Go-Go

            Got all the requisite stuff to start podcasting:  Soundflower/Soundflowerbed, Line-In, built-in mic, headphones, and GarageBand.  Just have to think of something to podcast about.  No clues there.  Will give it a whirl in a couple of days, either here, or elsewhere (haven't decided on that one yet).  Category is a tribute to Scifi writer Iain M. Banks.

That Was Fast

            Have decided to give up on that whole writing workshop thing.  The prof, while well meaning, doesn't seem to be that great of a writer, and my own writing isn't hurting that much.  Now if James Wolcott offers a writing workshop, sign me up.