All posts by Dan

Mister Moist

Books

I have, since late May, been chugging my way through Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, thanks in no small part to Jody‘s generosity in lending out chunks of her library. I’ve nearly caught up, but I’m jumping out of the sequence a bit right now, because the second-latest Discworld novel, Going Postal, has just come out in paperback.

Early Terry Pratchett is lighthearted fun, full of semi-disposable characters in ridiculous situations. Later Terry Pratchett… well, that’s something else again. The humor is as sharp as it ever was, but somewhere along the way, the characters stopped being mere puppets in service of the punch line, and started being the kind of people you find yourself caring about. Deeply. The result is magic — not the kind of flashy spellcasting that Pratchett’s wizards engage in, or are supposed to refrain from engaging in — but the kind that has you laughing, on one level, with almost every turn of the page, while on another it has you musing upon quite serious questions of right and wrong.

Up ’til now, Night Watch has been my favorite example of this tricky alloy, but Going Postal looks to equal if not exceed it. Moist von Lipwig is in some ways the perfect counterweight to Sam Vimes. Where the latter is a good, if gruff, man ever struggling to keep himself from crossing the line, the former is a bad, but charming, man trying desperately to claw his way across the line in the opposite direction.

I finished it this weekend; if I have any complaint about the book, it’s that it isn’t long enough. I could cheerfully have followed its characters for another few hundred pages at least. As it is, I can hope that Ankh-Morpork’s new Postmaster joins the lineup of regulars, and that we haven’t seen the last of him.

Neil Gaiman Week

Books, Music

I finally received my copy of the Anansi Boys audiobook last week, and so far it’s proving to everything I’d hoped for and more. I had known for a long time that Lenny Henry is a gifted comic actor, but even so, I hadn’t realized until now just how amazingly facile he is at slipping from one character voice into another, sometimes in mid-breath. He is, in a word, astounding.

Meanwhile, I picked up a copy of the short-story collection Smoke and Mirrors, which I’ve been reading slowly but with great pleasure. At the same time, I’m waiting for MirrorMask to make its bow in a theater reasonably close to me, preferably one of the Cameras.

And now, just to round things out, it turns out that Neil Gaiman granted an interview to Studio 360‘s Kurt Andersen. While I missed the Bay Area airing of that interview, being in a concert audience at the time, it turns out to be available as a podcast, from which it’s not too dificult to tease out the MP3. It definitely makes for rewarding listening. Having been a fan of his for years now, and even having seen him deliver a reading in person, I still manage to be surprised at just how much warmth and essential decency Neil Gaiman manages to convey with his voice alone.

Memo to Self

Computers

I don’t care how studly you think your I/O subsystem or networking capabilities are — you may be able to get away with mastering a CD using an ISO resident on a shared volume, but trying to pull the same stunt with a DVD turns out to definitely be pushing it.

“It Is A Licence To Print Money!”

Hardware, Music

On Friday two weeks ago, Frank, Meghan, and I paid a visit to the Valley Fair Apple Store to see if the new iPod nanos had arrived. Just to, you know, look.

Because I am terminally lazy, I am simply going to shamelessly crib what I wrote elsewhere.

Important Safety Tip: Do not pick one of these up unless you are prepared to buy it. Once it is in your hand, you will not want to let it go. It’s like The One Ring of portable audio players. Touch its ensorcelled metal, and you instantly covet the Precious.

It’s not just that it’s small, although it is ridiculously so. Plenty of other portable players occupy roughly the same volume. But they don’t have the deceptively-simple perfection of proportion. The nano isn’t just compact: it’s a thin, flat slab that lies lightly on your fingers, with all the controls situated exactly under your thumb, in a way that strongly suggests that nothing else has any business being there again, ever.

Also, it’s not a stripped-down player with two buttons and possibly a small numeric monochrome LCD. It’s a full-bore iPod, with a bright, high-resolution color display, the full UI, and the scroll wheel that’s such an absolute delight to use.

I’ve been using technology long enough that I’d thought I’d gotten completely jaded about the notion that next year’s model will be half the size of last year’s, and do twice as much, but holding the nano, I feel like someone in Scheduling screwed up, and let the future arrive well before it was supposed to.

I almost feel sorry for everyone else making portable music players. It’s like a bunch of Shriners got together one fine Sunday morning to race their little go-carts, and some bastard pulled up to the starting line in a Ferrari. Doom.

Apple is going to be Hoovering up design awards for this one in the year to come the way I vacuum up spilled cat litter. They’re also, assuming they can meet consumer demand, going to want an extra shipment of leaf bags for all the cash they’ll be raking in. Apparently the black 4 GB model is so popular that Apple is already having to retool production to crank out enough of the things.

Oh No

Music

The charm of the home-rolled video for “A Million Ways”, and the seductive ease of the iTunes Music Store, combined in a way that made it pretty much inevitable that I’d buy Ok Go’s latest album, Oh No.

I’ve listened to it a few times now, and it’s… solid.

“Invcincible” is a tribute to someone who either won or broke the singer’s heart — it’s a little hard to be sure, which is half the fun.

“Good Idea At The Time”, though its opening riff sounds like it was lifted wholesale from the Cars, is an answer song to, of all things, the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil”:

True about my taste
True about my wealth
Thing about St. Petersburg,
I’s never there myself

So come on
Yeah, come on

Anastasia might have cried all night
I couldn’t say myself
So come on
Yeah, come on

I ‘preciate your courtesy
Your well-earned politesse
But you got yourself into your own mess
You know the demon’s in the design
Good idea at the time
Seemed like a good idea at the time

Now how it all went down,
Only Pilate knows,
All I ever asked of him was when the bars would close…

“It’s a Disaster” is an infectiously cheery we’re-all-going-to-Hell tune:

It’s a disaster
It’s an incredible mess
But it’s all we got
Yeah, it’s all we got

“A Million Ways” is as good as it ever was, although at this point the song without the video, as catchy as it is, seems like a sandwich without the filling. Something essential is missing.

One of the last songs on the album, “Maybe, This Time”, is a sneaky little surprise. It’s quiet and understated, until you listen closely to the lyrics and realize that that’s because it’s as devastatingly businesslike as a Parkerized blade in the dark. Fun stuff.

Quite a good album overall, definitely worth your time and money. I’m afraid I have little choice but but to go back and buy their debut effort now.

Cheesy Song Lyrics — Learning to Walk Again Edition

Life, Music

Via Michael Tolcher

Pull the hair back from your eyes,
Let the people see your pretty face,
And try not to say anything weird.

Save your questions without answers
‘Til you’re old enough to know
That things ain’t as they appeared.

Before you go out in the sun,
Cover your skin and don’t get burned.
Beware the cancer — it might kill you when you’re old.

Be first in line, raise your hand,
Remember everything you hear —
That playing in the rain is worth catching cold.

Sooner or later,
We’ll be looking back on everything;
We’ll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening.
Someday you might listen to what people have to say;
Now, you learn the hard way.

We only want what’s best for you,
That’s why we tell you what to do —
Never mind if nothing makes sense.

‘Cause it all works out in the end,
You’re just like us without a friend —
But you can build a privacy fence.

Yeah, sooner or later,
We’ll be looking back on everything;
We’ll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening.
And someday you might listen to what people have to say;
Now, you learn the hard way.
Yeah, now you learn the hard way.

Some things, you have to learn them all on your own:
You can’t rely on anybody else,
Or the point of view of a source unknown.

If it feels good, and sounds nice,
Then it’s your choice, so don’t doubt yourself —
Don’t even think twice.

Pull the hair back from your eyes,
Let the people see your pretty face.
You know they like it when you smile (Find a reason to smile)

Try not to focus on yourself,
Share that love with someone else.
Don’t let the bitters bring you down, down.
Don’t let anything bring you down.

Sooner or later,
We’ll be looking back on everything;
We’ll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening.
And someday you might listen to what people have to say;
Now, you learn the hard way.
Yeah, now you learn the hard way.