Category: Uncategorized

According to the PVR blog, CNET video product reviews will be available via TiVo shortly. News to me, and nothing about it on either corporate web site, but seems like a great fit. Video on a computer is OK, and better than nothing, but video on a television sure makes a lot more sense. Sounds obvious, and I won’t discount the spread of video anywhere and everywhere, but the TV is still the biggest screen in the house.

I started noting which books I read here for three reasons.

1. Saw other people doing it, and I liked the idea.
2. Subtle way to tell people who I am, without crossing the line I have in my mind about what’s not appropriate to share with the entire world.
3. A way as memory fades to avoid re-reading by mistake, since there are only so many hours in a lifetime to spend reading (great hours they are!).

With all that, this re-reading was not a mistake. Neuromancer by William Gibson remains one of my post-teen years favorites. This week marked the third time I’ve read the novel.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

Right from the start, Gibson drops the reader into a different place, with no explanation. There are no apologies, few early explanations (although some seep in along the way), and a story that hums along even when it hints at more metaphysical leanings.

I can’t tell from his website when we’ll next see a new book by Gibson, but I’ve read everything he’s published so far. The blog he hasn’t updated more than once in two years seems to hint he’s hard at work. Good for him. I can only hope Neal Stephenson is also heads-down.

When I learn about people doing interesting things in their spare time, I sigh. When I can IM folks building an interesting business at 12:30am their time, I shake my head. When I look at my rarely shrinking list of side projects I’d like to get to, I slump.

Except for occasional early morning bouts of mind-racing, I sleep at least seven hours a night most every night. Sometimes eight. And I’m a cranky-pants (thank you, Tim Goodman) when I don’t get that sleep.

I like to imagine I’m focused on the things that matter between my family and my job. There aren’t a lot of spare hours after that. Kudos to those who find the inspiration and perspiration to pursue invention of all sorts in the hours when I’m soundly asleep.

On the job, I never count the hours; rather, I feel like I don’t have enough of them to get all the right things done. (I can understand the cultish attraction of the Getting Things Done methods, even if I continue to avoid diving in.) The few times in my life I’ve had a job I hated, I counted the hours, even when I wasn’t paid by them. If I start counting the hours… it’s time to move on. If you’re counting the hours, consider your choices.

And get some sleep will you? You’re making me look bad! 🙂

Here I am blogging away, however infrequently, feeling like I’m (almost) on the cutting edge. Until, this afternoon, a friend showed me a mashup he’s been working on with a few friends.

Guess we’ll have to wait for the Wired Magazine “Jargon Watch” (Nov 2005) to make it official, but here’s the preview of some coming month’s judgment.

Wired: Mashups
Tired: Wikis
Expired: Blogs

Or maybe this blog thing can run a little longer. Even if I can’t keep up.

I’m an uncle again, thanks to Isabel and Cort. Congratulations!

I was reading Tim Bray’s brief notes on Wikipedia, which end with this observation about one possible fund-raising option.

They are also considering book-publishing as a source of income; imagine the Wikipedia History of Rock & Roll or Wikipedia Compendium of TV SciFi Lore.

Two thoughts erupted. First, talk about putting copyright and the collaborative editing process to a crucial legal test… who’s responsible if the version grabbed for rendering on paper includes some copyrighted material? Second, would the Wikipedians complain if Google Print scanned their book and made it searchable online?

I hope it happens, to further explorations of copyright, if nothing more.

If you need background on why this is an amusing thought experiment, try some background here.

Since starting clock, I’ve noted the books I read. What is rare, for me, is starting but not finishing a book. Once I take the plunge, I will soldier on even through the worst writing and plot. Always. Well, almost.

Many, many years ago, on spring break in Floria, I started Gray Lady Down, by David Lavalle. I reached page 185, but then we left, and the book was property of the rental house we were staying in, so I left the book behind. And therefore a pretty normal submarine rescue thriller, later made into a movie I’ve never seen, became more memorable than many of the good books I’ve read, all because I didn’t finish it.

Recently, I pulled Lines of Fate, by Mark Kharitonov, off the shelf. This was a review copy I’ve carried around since 1995, when I picked it up at The Atlantic Monthly office. The dustjacket sold me, but when I finally started it a few week ago… well, too Russian for me. After twenty or so pages, I decided life was too short.

I have three or four other books that I have begun over the years, but still have yet to finish. My bedside table is a mix of what I’m currently reading, what I’m looking forward to read, and what I haven’t given up on… yet. Probably one category too many there.

Leading into the holidays, Mark Hurst releases another free Uncle Mark’s Guide, for 2006. Get the free PDF. Agree or disagree, Hurt tries to free you from the tyranny of choice. Trust him or not… I do, although the NYC-specific suggestion aren’t particularly helpful, personally.

Hellboy filled a quiet Saturday night. I think I need to stop the comic-book movie streak. This film wasn’t terrible. Still, I’ve never read the comic, so I hadn’t bought into the backstory or the characters beforehand. With other movies where I have read the comic, the background brings me into the film, and then I can compare someone else’s vision of the characters with my own. This time, I had to swallow the whole kit and kaboodle at once. With comic books, that can be quite a leap at times. Hellboy serves up a mix of Indiana Jones-like fight-the-Nazi-occult action with a more serious version of the Men in Black keep-the-Earth-safe-from-paranormals mission. Typing that is a mouthful… the movie does a better job, but it’s still just popcorn, nothing more.

Skipped Parts, by Tim Sandlin, goes in a different direction than many of the books I read. I asked Vin to share some light fiction. This novel wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. It’s sarcastic-funny, and a quick read. But when the protagonist is a thirteen year old boy, living with his twenty-eight-year old mother in “exile” from a domineering grandfather, family gets a whole new definition. I’m not going to continue reading the follow-on novels in the GroVont trilogy, but the diversion was welcome, even if it wouldn’t have been a choice I’d make myself.