So, I recently installed Ubuntu 9.10 64bit on my pc. And, when I went to install Adobe Air so that I could test DarkRoomX it didn’t work. Or, rather the installer completed but it didn’t actually work. So, I had to dig up some instructions for getting it to work (you need to manually install some 32bit libs). Here’s the link if anyone else is trying to do the same thing:
The Vikings are Pathetic
The Vikings demonstrated that they were nothing more than pretenders today. They turned in a PATHETIC performance in their most important game of the year. Hell, they looked like Detroit. I am throughly disgusted.
A Nook Book
I just received a newsletter from Barnes & Noble trying to drum up pre-orders for their new eBook reader, the Nook. As you can guess by the graphic above, the first thing I noticed was the fucked up line spacing in their promo shot.
The shot on the left was from the newsletter I received. It’s a pretty good shot, and makes the device look attractive, but it sadly falls flat on its face if you actually look at the most important part: the screen. The featured book is Pride and Prejudice (which seems to be a defacto advertising standard for ebook readers…go public domain), and you can clearly see that the line spacing is messed up as the first five paragraphs are all bunched up.
Now, if you look at the screen on the right, you will notice that the line spacing has been corrected. So, I find myself wondering, how will these books actually perform on the device? Is Pride and Prejudice really screwed up, or did somebody notice and fixed it in photoshop? Or, was it just an early prototype that was not rendering correctly?
Based on my experiences trying convert some books to mobi reader format for my kindle, getting the paragraph spacing correct is a bit of a nightmare. I think that ebooks are basically just a compressed markup format, and the styles that get applied are related to the markup used. For example, the equivalent of the <br/> tag always seems to equate to a single line break, rather than a paragraph break regardless of how many you have.
I first came across this when I was converting some essays that were in PDF format. Occasionally my importer would split some paragraphs with two <br/> tags instead of using <p> tags. When this happened, the paragraphs ended up jumbled like the left promo shot. I assume this blunder has put the developers on their toes, and I would expect this to be right before launch.
Generally speaking, I am pretty excited about launch. I love book stores, and haven’t really been in one since I picked up my kindle. And, I really like the idea of having the in store perks for Nook owners. The Nook also has a couple of other interesting features, it looks sexier than the kindle, it supports wifi, has over one million books available, and it supports a replaceable battery. But, it isn’t all rosy.
I am concerned about the lack of qwerty keyboard. Granted, I don’t use it often on my kindle, but when I do, I cannot imagine functioning without. I am wondering if they have some kind of input system using the color touch screen in the bottom. Speaking of which, am I the only one thinking that would be pretty distracting while you’re reading? Hopefully it turns itself off when not active.
The Nook is expected to launch in late November, and should be available in a B&N near you for a test drive. I plan on giving it a once over in person, and with low price of $259 (same as the kindle), it deserves some level of consideration.
Zombieland (2009)
Earlier this week I went to the local theater and saw Zombieland. The film had been getting good reviews, and the few people I knew that saw it seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. So, I figured I would go check it out. Unfortunately the film ultimately disappointed.
The trailers I saw of the film made it look like it was going to be a comedy with zombies in. Kind of like how Resident Evil is an action movie with zombies in it. This was not the case. The movie opened with a strong horror element, as it was plagued with cheap shock scenes. This set a bad tone for the film, as the shock scenes never came back, but the threat was there.
There were comedy elements throughout the film, but they didn’t feel right for the setting. And, quite frankly, most of the jokes really weren’t very funny. I cannot remember laughing once throughout the entire film. Part of the problem was that that film took itself too seriously, inconsistently.
Mixed into the horror/comedy was coming of age drama. At the end they tried to force a lame moral to the story: “if you don’t spend time with people, you might as well be a zombie” or something like that. I guess it had something to do with the main character, and the world coming to an end to finally force him “out of his shell.” It was like they were trying to make the film something more, but it didn’t really work.
Much ado was made of the cameo in the film. I had my fingers crossed for Bruce Campbell, but that was too much to ask. The cameo was actually just Bill Murry. Granted, I like Bill, and I guess that is a big deal for a random zombie movie, but it didn’t really do it for me. Like pretty much everything else in the filme, it just didn’t feel right.
As you may have guested, my biggest problem with the film was the identify crisis. Is it a horror movie? Not really. Is it a comedy? Sort of. Is it a drama? I guess. It is good? Not really.
So, while there were interesting points in the movie, it was mostly disappointing, and run of the mill. I will give the film a 0 on my Undecim scoring system.
Tales of Ice and Fire
Last weekend I finally able to finish A Feast for Crows, the fourth book in the, A Song of Ice and Fire series. This series is one of my favorite.
Many fantasy series are what might be considered “high magic,” which basically means that every fiber of the universe is dripping with magic, and magic is integral to the function of the story. For example, any D&D novel is like this, as is the dreadful Harry Potter series. Luckily, SoIF is not.
A Song of Ice and Fire might best be described as something akin to historical fiction with light touches of mysticism that add flare to both the story, and setting. I particularly like the fact that most things that appear to be magic can be explained away as “smoke and mirrors.” But, this is contrasted with other “true” mystical elements.
One of my favorite aspect of the writing style is the gritty realism throughout. It makes you feel the grime on your skin, and smell the fresh blood in the air. It is coarse, harsh, and captures the essence of the period beautifully.
Another excellent aspect of the series is the intricacies of the plot. The books are LONG, and have several point of view characters. All of these characters demonstrate all the complexities of a living world. When you’re reading you not only have to remember about the point of view character, but you also have to remember where they are, who they’re with, and what information is available to them. Since the realm is fairly large, and they only have conventional methods for conveying information, it is always interesting to see who has what information, and to see how that information has been corrupted over time. It is also interesting to see how the plots of characters play out over time. These books play no favorites.
You never know what is going to happen in the books. It goes well beyond the classical good triumphs over evil. In fact, up to this point, good is pretty much getting its ass kicked by evil. Perhaps the most solid pillar of virtue, Ed Stark, was brutally executed for essentially no reason towards the end of the first book. I am still stunned by it when I think about it. However, to a certain extent there is a level of karma in the series as well, since things always seem to come back on people.
Granted, this is all just an insubstantial rant, and not really a review (I always get crap for posting spoilers on my site). But, I hope that I have conveyed the essence of the series, and inspire someone to pick up the first book.
On my Undecim rating scale, I whole heartedly give the series a five, and encourage everyone to pick it up.
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