my observations on everything right and wrong with the world - starting with myself.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
so here's my review for the unabridged audiobook of "The Traveler" by John Twelve Hawkes. I'm not sure when it will appear on Audible or Amazon...
...
"I had too many expectations"
After listening to the abridged version of "The Da Vinci Code" and listening to the wonderful narration, I was somewhat disappointed in the unabridged "The Traveler" not just for its lackluster narration, but also for the seemingly haphazard combination of fantasy and reality which is supposed to be convincing in the book.
The story was also filled with plot holes and in all honesty, the character development was not so great. I didn't think this was possible in an unabridged book...but c'est la vie.
Again, back to my initial complaints.
The narration was tolerable, but with the breadth of multi-ethnic characters in the book, all of them of different ages and backgrounds, you'd expect the narrator to at least have more than three distinct voices. I'd say that there are at least TEN important characters in the book: one 'European' woman, her father, two African-Americans, two Caucasian brothers, one ex-military general, one anal security manager, one Japanese-born-and-American-raised worker, and a scientist from New England. Of course there are many more minor characters, but regardless, the narrator only has three voices - his own, a nasal European accent that fluctuates between feminine and masculine, and an 'American' accent that goes from chicano to samoan to ebonic to southern to east-coast...you get the picture.
My other complaint is that the combination of fantasy and reality that the author wants to be convincing is just not plausible. In the story, the world is being controlled by "the tabula" who want to watch your every move while you're in "the grid". This 'grid' involves anything which can be connected to some sort of infrastructure, whether it be credit cards or property ownership or internet usage or using your real name...There are ways to get around the 'grid'...or are there?
According to the author, you can avoid the 'grid' by:
-Living in a commune in Southwest Arizona (this commune is connected to the Internet, owns their land, and makes their money by providing remote technical support to large companies)
-Using a satellite phone (let's not forget that satellite traffic is monitored because satellite bandwidth has to be owned and distributed)
-Wearing costumes and concealing your fingerprints (oh, by the way, every character that wears a costume is always carrying A METAL CASE CONTAINING A FREAKING SWORD!!!)
-Using "soft language" on the Internet to avoid the "carnivore trackers" online (I'm sure the ISP's of those who are avoiding the grid are sharing lots of music and movies online as well, since they're NEVER TRACKED DOWN)
I actually found this inconsistency entertaining...
But, I can go past the negatives and say the following positive things about this book:
-There's a neat and unexpected interview with the author after the story...if you think the plot holes in the book were glaring, you have to imagine the huge "reality holes" that the author probably needs to fill.
-The main character is a woman. I'm not sure why I find this to be so positive, but I do.
-All ethnic groups are positively portrayed. Yes. Even Samoans.
I'm sure that I would have given a much better review if I had read the ABRIDGED version...but then again, the same inconsistencies would be present.
...
The review was limited to 2000 words on Audible, so I had to cut out some parts when I submitted it. I'm not sure if it will even show up on Amazon since the review was intended for the audiobook and I submitted the review for the hardcover.
...
"I had too many expectations"
After listening to the abridged version of "The Da Vinci Code" and listening to the wonderful narration, I was somewhat disappointed in the unabridged "The Traveler" not just for its lackluster narration, but also for the seemingly haphazard combination of fantasy and reality which is supposed to be convincing in the book.
The story was also filled with plot holes and in all honesty, the character development was not so great. I didn't think this was possible in an unabridged book...but c'est la vie.
Again, back to my initial complaints.
The narration was tolerable, but with the breadth of multi-ethnic characters in the book, all of them of different ages and backgrounds, you'd expect the narrator to at least have more than three distinct voices. I'd say that there are at least TEN important characters in the book: one 'European' woman, her father, two African-Americans, two Caucasian brothers, one ex-military general, one anal security manager, one Japanese-born-and-American-raised worker, and a scientist from New England. Of course there are many more minor characters, but regardless, the narrator only has three voices - his own, a nasal European accent that fluctuates between feminine and masculine, and an 'American' accent that goes from chicano to samoan to ebonic to southern to east-coast...you get the picture.
My other complaint is that the combination of fantasy and reality that the author wants to be convincing is just not plausible. In the story, the world is being controlled by "the tabula" who want to watch your every move while you're in "the grid". This 'grid' involves anything which can be connected to some sort of infrastructure, whether it be credit cards or property ownership or internet usage or using your real name...There are ways to get around the 'grid'...or are there?
According to the author, you can avoid the 'grid' by:
-Living in a commune in Southwest Arizona (this commune is connected to the Internet, owns their land, and makes their money by providing remote technical support to large companies)
-Using a satellite phone (let's not forget that satellite traffic is monitored because satellite bandwidth has to be owned and distributed)
-Wearing costumes and concealing your fingerprints (oh, by the way, every character that wears a costume is always carrying A METAL CASE CONTAINING A FREAKING SWORD!!!)
-Using "soft language" on the Internet to avoid the "carnivore trackers" online (I'm sure the ISP's of those who are avoiding the grid are sharing lots of music and movies online as well, since they're NEVER TRACKED DOWN)
I actually found this inconsistency entertaining...
But, I can go past the negatives and say the following positive things about this book:
-There's a neat and unexpected interview with the author after the story...if you think the plot holes in the book were glaring, you have to imagine the huge "reality holes" that the author probably needs to fill.
-The main character is a woman. I'm not sure why I find this to be so positive, but I do.
-All ethnic groups are positively portrayed. Yes. Even Samoans.
I'm sure that I would have given a much better review if I had read the ABRIDGED version...but then again, the same inconsistencies would be present.
...
The review was limited to 2000 words on Audible, so I had to cut out some parts when I submitted it. I'm not sure if it will even show up on Amazon since the review was intended for the audiobook and I submitted the review for the hardcover.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Lately, I've been listening to audiobooks on the commute to work. I find that the commute has actually become quite tolerable, since I no longer have to listen to traffic reports or to inane chatter or to the same CD's that I always listen to. So far, I've 'read' "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Traveler"...one audiobook was excellent, the other was a waste of 14 hours of my time.
Anyway, my Premium Listener subscription to Audible came with a neat 'freebie' - a 512MB ipod shuffle.
I know, I know. I already have a Sony HI-MD minidisc player...and ATRAC3 is a far superior encoding format to MP3...and I know that I've ranted on and on about the ipod becoming more of a fashion accessory than anything else, but nevertheless, I have an ipod shuffle now.
This actually makes things easier for me, since the ipod shuffle can natively play Audible's proprietary 'AA' file format...so now, I don't need to burn the books on CD anymore, which is fine, since I'm out of blank CD's.
So, I picked up an FM transmitter so I can listen to the ipod in my car...we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, my Premium Listener subscription to Audible came with a neat 'freebie' - a 512MB ipod shuffle.
I know, I know. I already have a Sony HI-MD minidisc player...and ATRAC3 is a far superior encoding format to MP3...and I know that I've ranted on and on about the ipod becoming more of a fashion accessory than anything else, but nevertheless, I have an ipod shuffle now.
This actually makes things easier for me, since the ipod shuffle can natively play Audible's proprietary 'AA' file format...so now, I don't need to burn the books on CD anymore, which is fine, since I'm out of blank CD's.
So, I picked up an FM transmitter so I can listen to the ipod in my car...we'll see how it goes.
Friday, November 11, 2005
If I ever won the lottery and had a lot of time on my hands, I'd love to take a cross-country roadtrip...like go from LA to NYC or something like that.
I'd really like to experience the "Americana' that doesn't seem to exist in Southern California. I know that there's another world once I leave the Pacific Time Zone - hell, there's another world once I go past Corona on the 91 Freeway!
The only problem would be figuring out what vehicle I would take on this long drive.
Of course, if I won the lottery, I'd own a Porsche 911 Carrera S, but it would only be comfortable for two people and there's not much room for luggage, so that wouldn't be a good option. I mean, Matty *would* fit in the rear jumpseats and we could put a roofrack on it, but after a while, the suspension would probably render our kidneys useless.
I'd have a Lexus LS430 or a Mercedes E500 for Shannon, so those might be better options, but if either car runs into problems in the middle of Oklahoma, I'd be screwed.
It would definitely be much smarter to take an American car...or for that matter, as much as I'd loathe owning one, an SUV. So, I'd probably rent an SUV and drive that.
The other option would be to drive an RV, like perhaps a Class-A pusher diesel...and tow a small car behind it for a dinghy. The downside to this option would be that I'd have to find an RV park wherever we stop, and that means staying further away from major destinations...but then again, that might also be part of the fun. Oh...and gas would be expensive and we'd have to stop at truck scales. The few positive things about driving an RV would be that it has a refrigerator and a bathroom.
Either way, I'd be taking lots of pictures, but probably not this much:
one picture for every mile across America
That's insane. He should have used a digital camera.
I'd really like to experience the "Americana' that doesn't seem to exist in Southern California. I know that there's another world once I leave the Pacific Time Zone - hell, there's another world once I go past Corona on the 91 Freeway!
The only problem would be figuring out what vehicle I would take on this long drive.
Of course, if I won the lottery, I'd own a Porsche 911 Carrera S, but it would only be comfortable for two people and there's not much room for luggage, so that wouldn't be a good option. I mean, Matty *would* fit in the rear jumpseats and we could put a roofrack on it, but after a while, the suspension would probably render our kidneys useless.
I'd have a Lexus LS430 or a Mercedes E500 for Shannon, so those might be better options, but if either car runs into problems in the middle of Oklahoma, I'd be screwed.
It would definitely be much smarter to take an American car...or for that matter, as much as I'd loathe owning one, an SUV. So, I'd probably rent an SUV and drive that.
The other option would be to drive an RV, like perhaps a Class-A pusher diesel...and tow a small car behind it for a dinghy. The downside to this option would be that I'd have to find an RV park wherever we stop, and that means staying further away from major destinations...but then again, that might also be part of the fun. Oh...and gas would be expensive and we'd have to stop at truck scales. The few positive things about driving an RV would be that it has a refrigerator and a bathroom.
Either way, I'd be taking lots of pictures, but probably not this much:
one picture for every mile across America
That's insane. He should have used a digital camera.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
So I just did another google search for 'flipmack', and this is what I got:
WTF?
Just letting people know...I'm not the person in the first two search results. Who the hell is that guy? Some bisexual filipino in the UK?
That guy...is the filipino version of Jimmy Fallon...as shown by this comparison:
Jimmy Fallon (who, by the way, is not funny):
the fake 'flipmack' (who, by the way, is bisexual):
nope. that's not me.
Let's just say that he stole my online nickname, which I've been using since Kris Kross first said that inside-out is whickety whickety whickety whack.
While we're at it, this guy is NOT me:
NOT my world record
ANYWAY, original 'flipmack', ME.
Fake Fallon who Feels like Fellating Fellows every Fortnight, not me.
WTF?
Just letting people know...I'm not the person in the first two search results. Who the hell is that guy? Some bisexual filipino in the UK?
That guy...is the filipino version of Jimmy Fallon...as shown by this comparison:
Jimmy Fallon (who, by the way, is not funny):
the fake 'flipmack' (who, by the way, is bisexual):
nope. that's not me.
Let's just say that he stole my online nickname, which I've been using since Kris Kross first said that inside-out is whickety whickety whickety whack.
While we're at it, this guy is NOT me:
NOT my world record
ANYWAY, original 'flipmack', ME.
Fake Fallon who Feels like Fellating Fellows every Fortnight, not me.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
So everyone knows that I've got no coordination whatsoever...and let's not get into my lack of depth perception. I suck at team sports. That's why I did track during high school.
Anyway, Wayne can vouch for this, but I suck at basketball. I'm just plain horrible. BUT, nevertheless, my coworkers and I (we all suck...) joined our noon-time basketball league here at work...and everyone thinks we're hilarious because we basically just joke around and have fun...in complete contrast to some of the fools who take it way too seriously.
needless to say, we didn't do very well in the playoffs. we had a perfect record: 0 for 8 for the season. 0 for 2 during the playoffs.
but, we did look good. check the pics:
only the technically-inclined will 'get' my nickname/number combination. everyone else will be like, "chmod? wtf? 777? what's the significance?"
I did spend some money for next season though - I bought some Dr. Scholl's gel insoles for my painful Shaq shoes.
Anyway, Wayne can vouch for this, but I suck at basketball. I'm just plain horrible. BUT, nevertheless, my coworkers and I (we all suck...) joined our noon-time basketball league here at work...and everyone thinks we're hilarious because we basically just joke around and have fun...in complete contrast to some of the fools who take it way too seriously.
needless to say, we didn't do very well in the playoffs. we had a perfect record: 0 for 8 for the season. 0 for 2 during the playoffs.
but, we did look good. check the pics:
only the technically-inclined will 'get' my nickname/number combination. everyone else will be like, "chmod? wtf? 777? what's the significance?"
I did spend some money for next season though - I bought some Dr. Scholl's gel insoles for my painful Shaq shoes.
