Don't be so pessimistic. There are still a lot of stations that play quality music. The problem is a dearth of good (and diverse) bands/groups.
Here in St. Louis, there's a great alternative station, KPNT 105.7. They regularly play good music I haven't heard before. On my drive home from work, a program called "The Pit" is on, that reminds me of Headbanger's Ball on MTV. True catharsis is blasting Static-X after dealing with ignorant jerks all day.
Like the state of popular music, radio is just starting to wake up after being knocked out by a blow to the head in the late 90s.
"But I do know that I can't stand the 'Crichton formula'."
Sphere and The Terminal Man can be summed up the same way as your examples. You forgot to mention "ten-page dissertations on aformentioned promising technology, placed in the middle of the story" in your list of cliches.
Airframe and Eaters of the Dead didn't follow his normal methods. I don't think EotD sold very well (for Crichton), although Airframe was a moderate success (and wasn't it supposed to be made into a movie? Or did I miss it?)
"...just about everybody in 1st world nations wear shoes."
True.
"...marketable to every person on the planet who wears a pair of shoes."
I don't think so. The only shoes I have that need regular polishing are ones I hardly wear. If a bottle of Nano-Polish is $5 and is good for ten polishings (or at least two), I will only need to buy a few every year.
Even at $10 and one shoe only, that's maybe $60-$100 a year for most people. And at $20 (or $10) a pair, it'd be better to save the damn money and polish them yourself. There won't be much of a market for Nano-Polish unless/until it's cheaper than conventional polish. I mean, why use nanotechnology to clean your shoes when you can have illegal immigrants do it for pennies? Of course, it could get a hell of an advertising campaign and gross billions...
I know the Nano-Polish situation is hypothetical, but it's applicable to nearly any small-time chore. To make a lateral comparison:
Nano-Car-Wash-and-Wax would be something I'd invest in, but not Nano-Squeegee.
I thought the same thing when I read the article. Prey was a pretty cool book.
This is a bit OT, but does anyone else think Crichton is a shill for some conservative/religious organization? Almost all his books are about how new technology can go catastrophically wrong and kill people in gory, fascinating ways. Jurassic Park (and sequel), The Andromeda Strain, Airframe (to an extent), and now Prey.
The fact that something may not be as fast (or as expensive) as the newest new computer hardware has nothing to do with obsolescence. It is only obsolete because they want you to believe it is obsolete.
There's very little reason someone with a video card made a year or two ago would need one of these. My Radeon 8000 works fine, thanks. $400 for a 10-frames-per-second improvement isn't what I call revolutionary progress.
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I believe that is the military Segway... approved use by licensed personnel only.
Going 40 MPH on a sidewalk, in a Segway, would be like pedestrian pinball.
"...OJ would have been convicted in a Canadian Court."
OJ would have been convicted in The People's Court.
It wasn't that funny anyway.
"...OJ would have been convicted in a Canadian court." OJ would have been convicted on The People's Court.
$40/mnth is less than my car insurance... WTF!
I dig the free health care and all, and the lower crime rate too...
Canada just made a misstep here, IMO. It happens.
Maybe the organizers and police think the Super Bowl will be more interesting with the threat of an explosion in the stands.
They're right. Beats watching Celine Dion warble "Are You Ready For Some Football?" with the Muckanut High School Marching Band.
No, sir, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again, sir!
...is Commander Riker!
He's got experience with this stuff.
Just wait until he finds out about Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes...
Seen Tool live, twice... don't pass it up. My example of Static-X was just a random rage-band I picked out. Their first album was good...
93.3 is RIGHT ON THE EDGE of my general travel area... it comes in clear maybe the last five minutes of my commute to work. It's realy frustrating!
A good way to find decent bands is (using a P2P app), browsing by username the people you download from.
It's an easy way to find some listenable material, and maybe even a new favorite band.
"Or what about those mirrored skyscrapers?"
Of course for big projects like construction, nanotechnology can be useful.
Look at Total Annihilation. You could build a command center in, like, twenty seconds.
Don't be so pessimistic. There are still a lot of stations that play quality music. The problem is a dearth of good (and diverse) bands/groups.
Here in St. Louis, there's a great alternative station, KPNT 105.7. They regularly play good music I haven't heard before. On my drive home from work, a program called "The Pit" is on, that reminds me of Headbanger's Ball on MTV. True catharsis is blasting Static-X after dealing with ignorant jerks all day.
Like the state of popular music, radio is just starting to wake up after being knocked out by a blow to the head in the late 90s.
America's Army is pretty cool, too.
Huge community, and most of them are friendly people.
"But I do know that I can't stand the 'Crichton formula'."
Sphere and The Terminal Man can be summed up the same way as your examples. You forgot to mention "ten-page dissertations on aformentioned promising technology, placed in the middle of the story" in your list of cliches.
Airframe and Eaters of the Dead didn't follow his normal methods. I don't think EotD sold very well (for Crichton), although Airframe was a moderate success (and wasn't it supposed to be made into a movie? Or did I miss it?)
Not all FPS's are repetitive. Play Deus Ex, or Undying, or etc... those are two that stick out in my mind as defining FPS's.
"...just about everybody in 1st world nations wear shoes."
True.
"...marketable to every person on the planet who wears a pair of shoes."
I don't think so. The only shoes I have that need regular polishing are ones I hardly wear. If a bottle of Nano-Polish is $5 and is good for ten polishings (or at least two), I will only need to buy a few every year.
Even at $10 and one shoe only, that's maybe $60-$100 a year for most people. And at $20 (or $10) a pair, it'd be better to save the damn money and polish them yourself. There won't be much of a market for Nano-Polish unless/until it's cheaper than conventional polish. I mean, why use nanotechnology to clean your shoes when you can have illegal immigrants do it for pennies? Of course, it could get a hell of an advertising campaign and gross billions...
I know the Nano-Polish situation is hypothetical, but it's applicable to nearly any small-time chore. To make a lateral comparison:
Nano-Car-Wash-and-Wax would be something I'd invest in, but not Nano-Squeegee.
I'd say it's worth buying, if you're a fan of Crichton's other stuff...
...which is the problem I'm starting to have with him. Prey seems like Crichton wrote it on autopilot.
I thought the same thing when I read the article. Prey was a pretty cool book.
This is a bit OT, but does anyone else think Crichton is a shill for some conservative/religious organization? Almost all his books are about how new technology can go catastrophically wrong and kill people in gory, fascinating ways. Jurassic Park (and sequel), The Andromeda Strain, Airframe (to an extent), and now Prey.
I smell conspiracy.
The fact that something may not be as fast (or as expensive) as the newest new computer hardware has nothing to do with obsolescence. It is only obsolete because they want you to believe it is obsolete.
There's very little reason someone with a video card made a year or two ago would need one of these. My Radeon 8000 works fine, thanks. $400 for a 10-frames-per-second improvement isn't what I call revolutionary progress.
"...and got better hardware to boot."
With Windows, you have plenty of hardware to boot too. And you enjoy booting it more.
"Mind you I wonder how many gamers on those servers were complaining about ping times when that was happening."
Since when are people on Gamespy not complaining about ping times?
This is just an excuse for people to blame on lag.
Goatasaur was killed by Yourname.
"omg someone must be ddosing the server"
Is this true?
Because I was thinking of going to Paris, to be on the French Wheel of Fortune.
I might have to reconsider. Getting guillotined for a bad spin of the wheel is not cool.