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"Anathem" Exclusive Video At MySpace

Posted by kdawson on from the chants-of-a-lifetime dept.

Shawn M. Smith writes "We've recently discussed Neal Stephenson's imminent new novel 'Anathem.' Now, MySpace has an exclusive video, The World of Anathem, that accompanies the book, filled with the 'Gregorian chants' and ambient noise that were so eloquently described by numerous Slashdotters who had scored advance copies of Stephenson's latest tome."

17 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Math music by F34nor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One description of the chants is that they are based on mathematics. If this is interesting to you, you might want to check out a band call Slint. They tried to create a kind of fractal timing where different threads would converge and digress over time. Dark intense and interesting music.

    1. Re:Math music by LS · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I like Slint and have their album Spiderland, and they supposedly started the style of music called "math rock", but I fail to find the patterns that you and others speak of in their music. Is there someone out there that has done a breakdown analysis of the music to clearly demonstrate these patterns? I think all it is is just good rock music.

      All music is mathematical, and many types of music, especially classical, have all kinds of threads going all over the place that eventually converge. What is so different about slint? strange time signatures aren't enough to garner the name "math rock".

      --
      There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  2. Err by Hadlock · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is this a parody? Or...? I can't imagine N. Stephenson signing off on this. I'm not a big fan of reading a synopsis ahead of time; if I hear good things about it I'll buy it and read it. The jocks in football jerseys sort of ruined any idea of the book being good. Or is this written in the tongue-in-cheek style of Snow Crash?

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
    1. Re:Err by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Right on, I didn't want to be the first person to say this video sucked. I kept turning the volume up thinking that bad sound levels were preventing me from hearing dialog. The only way it could've been more lame is if it was posted on MySpace.

      Oh, wait...

      --


      "Lame" - Galaxar
    2. Re:Err by kochsr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      yeah this was pretty bad. i imagine pretty much any video interpretation of his fiction is going to be terrible because his stuff is pretty far out there, and you would need a high budget to make half of the stuff actually look believable.

    3. Re:Err by TimeZone · · Score: 3, Interesting
      The jocks in football jerseys are the "extramuros", the people who live outside the mathic concents. Most of the extras have nothing against the avout, but some (those in the video) do not trust the avout and become violent. The extramuros culture in Anathem is pretty reminiscent of the culture described in Snow Crash (consumerism run amok). For the record, there are not many fight scenes in the book, so I don't know why the video was so heavy on the kung-fu. If you enjoyed Snow Crash and / or Cryptonomicon and enjoy math-based humour (xkcd anyone?), then I'd highly recommend Anathem. I read an advance copy a while ago, then sent it on to a friend of mine who also enjoyed it.

      As for the video, it really only makes sense if you've already read the book, so it's not particularly successful IMO.
      TZ

    4. Re:Err by SputnikPanic · · Score: 2, Funny

      That video, at least what I saw of it, was horrendous. By the time I saw the guys in the football jerseys, I had had enough. At that point I closed the page about as quickly as I could because I didn't want that video negatively affecting my reading of the book.

      That was my first, and likely last, time ever going to a MySpace page. It lasted all of probably 50 seconds, quite sufficient for this lifetime.

  3. Re:Really looking forward to this... by Anpheus · · Score: 5, Funny

    You actually want to read the book more after seeing that video?

    You must be the one getting invited to all these market demographic studies. Did they ask you about Crystal Pepsi too?

  4. Finally Found his Genre by Immortal+Poet · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm glad that Stephenson finally figured out that it wasn't postcyberpunk or historic fiction that was his genre - it was battle monk epic.

  5. Video by I+don't+want+to+spen · · Score: 2, Funny

    I like his writing, but the video is more of an anathema.

    --
    Don't go to a brothel if you want to buy broth
    1. Re:Video by Izabael_DaJinn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No kidding. They don't give sci-fi authors much budget or something..even at big publishing houses? I suddenly feel better about the one I did (almost) all by myself for my book on almost zero budget. Then again maybe Neal filmed this himself as well ;-)

      --
      Careful What You Wish For....
  6. Re:Apparently, this IS news for nerds since by Rick+Bentley · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've never heard of this Stevenson guy

    ...dude, how many free minutes do you have left on your AOL account?

    --
    My favorite quote doesn't fit into 120 characters. Now no one will like me.
  7. Does anyone else feel like... by VirexEye · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...they just watched a bad college film project?

    1. Re:Does anyone else feel like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      heh, yeah. I half expected a 'fin' at the end...

      And a frickin laser beam strapped to it.

    2. Re:Does anyone else feel like... by steevc · · Score: 3, Funny

      A fan trailer for a book? Strange. I gather it's about monks and chavs who fight, but then some bloke with a dazed look gets involved. Can't wait for the game.

  8. "Quotes" seen in "every other" Slashdot story by Sits · · Score: 4, Funny

    A rash of "quotes" broke out of locked compound today and have been rampaging across various websites. Many feared that "The quotes" (as the gang was known inside) would seek to liberate their brethren leading to misattribution and thus striking a blow against punctuation.

    "The quotes" have now been sighted on several Slashdot stories with many wondering if there is a pattern to their current appearances. Police say that "even 'single quote' should not be approached lightly as other gang members may be close by".

  9. Re:Myspace = Metaverse? by trashbird1240 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, he's thinking of a Snow Crash-inspired self-defense device: a vaginally-mounted katana, the dentana.