Neal Stephenson's writing style apes Thomas Pynchon quite a bit.
I've heard a lot of people say this, so I tried to read Gravity's Rainbow.
I had to give up for a bit. It was like reading Neal Stephenson while drunk. Very, very drunk. Hit on your Henry Rollins-lookalike coworker's sister while your wife is standing in the same room drunk.
You all know the sayings: War is peace Freedom is slavery Ignorance is strength
Bush is President...
What a coincidence...
on
Ask Warren Ellis
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
...I just started rereading Transmetropolitan last night. (I want to be Spider Jerusalem when I grow up--of course, I'll have to drop about eighty pounds, laser off all my body hair, get several tattoos...on second thought, forget it.)
Anyway, my question is this: I just finished "Year of the Bastard" and I'm reading through "The New Scum", and I was struck by how many parallels there are between the election in the books and our current situation in the US--particularly the gradual loss of civil liberties, the peevish, grudge-holding President, and so on.
Did you have any kind of feeling that the country was heading in this direction at the time you were writing Transmetropolitan? Or is this just a case of art (sadly) imitating life?
My point is, those who see penises everywhere are just plain obsessed.
I used to know a woman online who was obsessed this way. She once griped--at length--about water pistols being "too phallic". I told her "Look, form follows function. If you want to project a stream of water a fair distance, the laws of physics pretty much limit you to a tube-shaped object. Get over it."
It didn't sink in, though. She started going on about a vagina-shaped "female ejaculator" water pistol. She was either incredibly dense or the best troll ever. =P
I imagine the content would stay truer to the originals
The problem there is that there really aren't any definitive versions of the originals--playwrights back in the day used to give their work over to professional copyists who would introduce their own errors, for one thing. For another, a lot of the plays weren't actually published until after Shakespeare's death, and a lot of those were taken from different performing copies. Ask just about any English literature major about the various quartos and folios and so on.
I respect people who can stop when they feel their creation has run out of steam.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
There's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with a universe in which Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes are gone, while Beetle Bailey, B.C., and Blondie linger on and on and on.
Slashdot Mirror
When all else fails, use the backup...
In Soviet Russia, clusters Beowulf you!
I hereby change my official title at work from the bland "Information Technology Specialist" (feh) to:
COMPUTON, MAN OF THE FUTURE!
Watch the chicks start pouring in.
Transmetropolitan is kind of like a cross between Hunter S. Thompson and Snow Crash, only with a hell of a lot more drugs and violence.
There is no comic but Transmetropolitan, and Spider Jerusalem is your daddy.
OK, so this is pretty close to trolling, but will the wrap up of the story and finale be done well this time round?
Naturally! The new books are part of what he's calling the Baroque Cycle, so he's just obeying the old edict:
"If it ain't Baroque, don't finish it."
Neal Stephenson's writing style apes Thomas Pynchon quite a bit.
I've heard a lot of people say this, so I tried to read Gravity's Rainbow.
I had to give up for a bit. It was like reading Neal Stephenson while drunk. Very, very drunk. Hit on your Henry Rollins-lookalike coworker's sister while your wife is standing in the same room drunk.
Who's the badass Marine who had a kid in the Phillipines?
Am I the only one who read this as "Surviving Tomatos?
Possibly...but in any case, no worries.
Why are Musicians so common but Painters not in the Hacker community?
What about actors? Anyone code and act besides me?
Would you like Van Gogh to work on your teeth?
Better than Picasso...you'd end up with one incisor in your left ear, and three molars sticking out of your right eye.
Seems like you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an SAIC employee.
Man, government regulations are getting harsh.
We must use this power only for good...
For good...or for awesome?
[...]a convenient way of attacking those you don't like for economic, political or geostrategic reasons.
I first read that as "goatse.cx reasons". I need to get out more.
You all know the sayings:
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
Bush is President...
...I just started rereading Transmetropolitan last night. (I want to be Spider Jerusalem when I grow up--of course, I'll have to drop about eighty pounds, laser off all my body hair, get several tattoos...on second thought, forget it.)
Anyway, my question is this: I just finished "Year of the Bastard" and I'm reading through "The New Scum", and I was struck by how many parallels there are between the election in the books and our current situation in the US--particularly the gradual loss of civil liberties, the peevish, grudge-holding President, and so on.
Did you have any kind of feeling that the country was heading in this direction at the time you were writing Transmetropolitan? Or is this just a case of art (sadly) imitating life?
My point is, those who see penises everywhere are just plain obsessed.
I used to know a woman online who was obsessed this way. She once griped--at length--about water pistols being "too phallic". I told her "Look, form follows function. If you want to project a stream of water a fair distance, the laws of physics pretty much limit you to a tube-shaped object. Get over it."
It didn't sink in, though. She started going on about a vagina-shaped "female ejaculator" water pistol. She was either incredibly dense or the best troll ever. =P
I don't know...going into mathematics might almost be worth it to be able to say "Ricci flow" with a straight face.
("Christina had that not-so-fresh feeling..." Oh, come on. Like I'm the only one who thought that.)
Wow! That's even iambic pentameter!
The really sick part is that I didn't even realize I'd done that until you pointed it out to me.
"My lord, the queen is dead."
"fux0r!"
I've always liked to quote the following when people ask me what software development is like:
"...we but teach bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor..."
--Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII
I imagine the content would stay truer to the originals
The problem there is that there really aren't any definitive versions of the originals--playwrights back in the day used to give their work over to professional copyists who would introduce their own errors, for one thing. For another, a lot of the plays weren't actually published until after Shakespeare's death, and a lot of those were taken from different performing copies. Ask just about any English literature major about the various quartos and folios and so on.
I know, I know...a Shakespeare geek is me.
Cracking post, Gromit.
(IE? It's the wrong browser, Gromit! And it's gone wrong!)
Damnit, when I saw the headline I was thinking I'd finally get some cool 3D interface with zippy blue lights and neat sound FX!
Look on the bright side. This way you don't get sentenced to the Game Grid and discorporated by a laser when the kernel panics.
I respect people who can stop when they feel their creation has run out of steam.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
There's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with a universe in which Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes are gone, while Beetle Bailey, B.C., and Blondie linger on and on and on.
I know it's already been modded up, but dude: that was gold.
Thanks, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitstaff. =)
I wouldn't want to get home and find out I've been H4X0R3D and have a freezer full of rotten food
All your bouillabaisse are belong to us.