OMG, there are some assholes melting down right now… good.
It’s probably not this one, either:
but I’ve nearly finished it and can’t recommend it highly enough.
That is an excellent book yes! But not the one I was thinking of…
I finished Alan Moore’s Illuminations the other day. The man has some really creative ideas that I think are hindered by his actual writing. It’s a collection of very different short stories…and a novel-length satire about the comic book industry centered around the history, both comics and theatrical, of a Superman parody character. (Yes, it talks about how the character was taken from the creators, how there are no new ideas anymore, and even how the latest film version of him suffered from bad CGI because the actor’s contractual obligations to another film.) Truly interesting stuff. But the actual reading of it was not something I enjoyed. Others, who appreciate dense and purple prose, may enjoy it more than I.
I am cherishing my newly bought copy of Ursula LeGuin’s interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. Ursula K. Le Guin — Lao Tzu: The Tao Te Ching
There’s a Pratchett Humble Bundle available for another couple weeks - almost every* Discworld novel as e-book for a minimum $18 donation. US only, unfortunately, and the e-books are delivered via Kobo so that may be a dealbreaker for some folks.
* The Last Hero and Raising Steam are missing from the bundle, but that’s still 39 books in total.
It’s good that someone’s trying to keep track…
Computer scientist Walter J. Scheirer takes a deep dive into the origins of fake news, conspiracy theories, reports of the paranormal, and other deviations from reality that have become part of mainstream culture, from image manipulation in the nineteenth-century darkroom to the literary stylings of large language models like ChatGPT. Scheirer investigates the origins of Internet fakes, from early hoaxes that traversed the globe via Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), USENET, and a new messaging technology called email, to today’s hyperrealistic, AI-generated Deepfakes. An expert in machine learning and recognition, Scheirer breaks down the technical advances that made new developments in digital deception possible, and shares behind-the-screens details of early Internet-era pranks that have become touchstones of hacker lore. His story introduces us to the visionaries and mischief-makers who first deployed digital fakery and continue to influence how digital manipulation works—and doesn’t—today: computer hackers, digital artists, media forensics specialists, and AI researchers. Ultimately, Scheirer argues that problems associated with fake content are not intrinsic properties of the content itself, but rather stem from human behavior, demonstrating our capacity for both creativity and destruction.
This can probably be used as a good list for adding to the to be read pile.
Fuck censorship.
There were many reasons why having worldcon in China was a mixed bag, and this was one concern before the voting.
I tried.But I am note a big fan of Mr. Clowes. This comic book is like a newspaper comic strip abut the most irritating guy you could find in your life.
A taste of chlorine. A slow, wet love story around a public swimming pool in France. When I say it takes place in a swimming pool, I mean it. There are very few scenes out of water. The romance seems to unfold olny in cold shades of blue, turquoise and teal of the chlorinated water…
Clowes doesn’t write likeable characters. Everyone seems to be boorishly unaccepting of the world around them but incapable of doing anything or even attempting to change it until, maybe, the very end. I remember loving Ghost World in college and then struggling with it later as an adult.
The description of Wilson that I read makes it sound interesting from a conceptual level. Part of what he intends for readers to get out of it is what they “interpret” happens between strips. But if he’s just irritating through and through, wouldn’t you just imagine more of that happening but, as a reader, you’ve been spared from reading it?
Yeah, I remember trying that one too, and finding it all just, pointlessly unpleasant.
Exactly! Enid now strikes me as a geeky, borderline incel’s fantasy of a really awesome girlfriend. The film version is even worse that way.
I suggest an antidote, some Nick Drnaso.
This makes sense. I saw Ghost World with a friend who was about 10 years older than I was. I was somewhere in the my early 20s and LOVED it. He, on the other hand, didn’t care for it at all.
I wonder how I’d feel about it now, 20+ years later.
Ards Oath series
In one aspect fairly generic magic fantasy. But the MC is from a backwater village, and despite being absurdly overpowered, is a very grounded character socially. And never stops being a huge comedian
He’s tearing up the existing noble society in a good way.
(note some adult scenes, but quite minimal, easily skippable)
People who failed to understand just how much control the Chinese government has over literature and awards and are surprised that censorship of ideas or topics they want suppressed occurred at a major international convention are naive. Writing stuff the government doesn’t like can get you killed, much less have your novel removed from an award list. This is one of many reasons have the con in China was not a great idea. Although if it gets more people to realize just how bad things are there, that’s a redeeming facet.
