Jonas David's Blog, page 72
July 6, 2015
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
Did you grow up in the 80’s? Do you like video games and geek culture? Then you might only be a little bit irritated by this book.
In the future, a global total immersion video game dominates the worlds economy, with most of humanity spending every available waking hour inside of it. The creator of said video game has hidden an ‘Easter Egg’ inside the game, which would grant the one who finds it complete control of the game and his company, according to his will.
The creator of this video game world, though, was obsessed with 80’s movies and old video games, and the clues to finding ‘the egg’ are all somehow related to these obsessions. This has the consequence of causing an entire generation of egg hunters, or ‘gunters’ as they are referred to in the novel, to become obsessed with the minutia of movies and games made 50 years before they were even born. (This novel is set in the future.)
It’s fun and nostalgic at first, then becomes really kind of sad and pathetic about halfway into the book, and I almost stopped reading. These characters have no interests of their own, they only like something because their game designer god-hero liked it. In one scene, a character orders a drink at the bar, and another says ‘ah, that’s Connor MacLeod’s favorite drink, good choice.’ So, it’s a good choice not because it tastes good, not because you enjoy it, but because some fictional character enjoys it. And the whole book is like this.
I wonder if the author meant it as a statement on the celebrity obsessed culture that we live in. I wonder if these characters were meant to be pathetic shells of humans whose only interests and knowledge about life revolve around movies and shows and games half a century gone. I wonder if the recitation of movie quotes as if they were some kind of sacred scripture was meant to highlight how ridiculous some of our own modern religions are, or if it was meant to mirror the deity-like status we give to actors and musicians.
Or is Ernest Cline just a big, smelly nerd who wanted an excuse to go on for chapters long rambles about the trivial details of Zork and Joust and Back to the Future and Wargames, and have big video game battles between his favorite robots and monsters?
The world may never know.
I enjoyed the book for the most part, in retrospect. It was an exciting and interesting read, and I did enjoy some of the nostalgia. I’d recommend it to people who grew up in the 80’s.
July 5, 2015
Independence
Yesterday I set off some fireworks with family at my sisters house. It seems the quality of fireworks has gone down over the past year, because these ones kept falling over and shooting at us, and a small fire was started in the bushes, which we scrambled to put out.
After that adrenaline rush, I kept thinking of how easily I could have been terribly injured. And on the drive home I kept thinking about how I could easily die at any moment, and convinced myself for a few moments that I would likely die soon.
It was a strange feeling. You can know, logically, that you will die one day. You can say all the platitudes–life is short, you’ll be old before you know it, one day you’ll wake up and realize you’ve wasted your life… etc–but feeling it is something else all together.
I realized–and accepted, on some deeper level than I had before, that my time is very limited. I might only have a couple years left, or a couple months. There is no way to know. And even if I’m lucky and have 30 or 50 years to go, that is still going to fly by extremely fast.
We have very little time to do the things we want, and we shouldn’t waste that time worrying about if we’re doing it right, or good enough for someone else.
Just do it. Don’t put it off. Do it now.
I’m going to write as much as I can before I die. And I hope that some of it will resonate with enough people to live on for a while after I’m gone.
I don’t know what this has to do with Independence day, except maybe that I’m now more independent from myself. I’m not going to rely on time or life to work out in a convenient way. I’m going to do it now, while I can!
July 4, 2015
Connectivity
I was having a beer at my local karaoke bar last night, and ‘checked in’ on my drinking app, Untappd, which lets me keep track of what beers I’ve had and where I’ve had them, and gives badges for trying different kinds. Anyway, I check in with it every time out of habit, and forgot that it posts to my twitter automatically, and mentions the brewery, and the bar I’m at.
So I check in, then a moment later the bartender looks at her phone and says “Hey, did someone just tweet?”
And I say “Oh, I guess I did.” and we start a conversation about beer and what its like running the bar’s twitter account.
People always say social media isolates us and keeps us from having real world interactions, but, I don’t think it does. The kind of people who are loners would be loners with our without social media, and the kind of people who like to talk to strangers are going to do that regardless, too. We are now a hyper connected society where anyone can talk to anyone anywhere about anything at any time. I can only see that as a benefit to society over all.
And if you happen to be in the same room as someone who reads your tweet, then real world conversations can come of it too.
PS: If you want to add me on Untappd and see what sort of beers I’m drinking, my username is jonasd.
July 2, 2015
Nano?
Well, it’s not November, but I’m doing a Nano challenge this month anyway. Sort of a half-nano. I’m going to write 22,000 words this month, which is about 700 per day. Doesn’t sound like much, but I haven’t been writing that regularly in ages, so its going to be a challenge!
And if I don’t achieve it, there are certain forfeit penalties awaiting me… oh dear…
Better start typing!
June 28, 2015
Marriage
I know I’m a couple days late, but what a great day for America! We are now one step closer to having equal rights for all humans. It’s still a long way off, but getting it set in law is a huge step toward changing the attitudes of the populace.
This news, in combination with the confederate flag news, and I think we’re going to see a lot of secret bigots coming out of the woodwork to expose their hatred for everyone. Politicians and regular folk alike.
What an exciting time to be an American!
June 20, 2015
June 15, 2015
Novella
I’ve written one! Well, I wrote it nearly three years ago and am just now getting around to editing it–but! It is now nearly done, and I hope to have it out on Kindle by the end of the year.
It’s about a shape-shifting thief on Mars who is hired to kidnap a super-genius and take her to a hidden base on Saturn’s moon Iapetus, for reasons unknown to him. And when trying to complete the job, a space adventure ensues!
I’ll have more updates soon, and probably a sneak peak at the first part of it once it’s done. Keep an eye out for it!
June 13, 2015
Ex Machina
After watching the trailer for this sci-fi thriller about artificial intelligence, I had formed some opinions about it that weren’t exactly positive. It looked entertaining, but I had figured it would be another anti-technology movie where ‘new thing X that we never should have invented destroys the world!’ Which is what any move about technology seems to be these days.
Once I started watching, though, all my doubts were forgotten. The movie instantly grabbed me and never let go. There is an aura of tension and unease in this movie that builds up consistently, and is brought on by some really stellar acting. Oscar Isaac does a great job as the eccentric billionaire programmer, giving off just the right level of menace and friendliness that you never know what to expect from him next.
And Alicia Vikander, who I’d never seen before, really stunned me as the AI, Ava. She was able portray the inhuman, alien-ness of a computer mind while still being likable and relatable. I can imagine so easily how this could have gone the predictable Hollywood way, and she’d be talking in a flat, deadpan voice, never using contractions, and tilting her head to the side constantly while saying things were illogical or ‘did not compute’. Instead we get a very emotional performance, but Ava’s motivations and way of thinking are portrayed in a very inhuman way by Alicia.
The end, pleasantly, did not go how I expected it either. I highly recommend this to any science fiction fan.
I’ve said it before, but this movie got me thinking about it again. There seems to be this pervasive worry about us creating something that is ‘better’ than us, that will overtake humanity. If you are talking about a violent destruction of humanity, then sure, we should try to prevent that from happening, but there also seems to be this fear of being replaced, of becoming obsolete.
As someone who does not ever want to have children, even I can understand and feel the draw of creating another being, and helping them into the world and shaping them into a good, successful person. I feel that any artificial life we manage to create will be the child of humanity, and we should not fear it surpassing us. Would you fear your child surpassing you, and try to hold them back? I know some parents probably do, even if subconsciously. But if we create artificial inteligences that are able to live and explore and enjoy the universe better than we are, isn’t that the greatest accomplishment we, as a species, could ever achieve? To create something even better than us?
Anyway, check this movie out, definitely worth the time.
June 5, 2015
In the Water, free for a limited time
Hello! I’ve decided it’s been a while since I had a promotion, so one of my stories is going to be free on Kindle this weekend, starting tomorrow. It’s about a crash landing on an alien world, an unknown virus, deep oceans, consciousness, and more!
If you are slightly interested, might as well check it out, for free. Look here and read the preview to see how it sounds, then download it free starting tomorrow:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NSBLN9A
May 26, 2015
Blue Ruin
As far as revenge stories go, this one was a bit different.
When we first meet Dwight, the protagonist, he is sleeping in his car and eating from garbage cans. The movie does a good job of setting the scene fairly quickly, and you find yourself feeling for the character before he even says a word.
After finding out that his parent’s killer is being released from prison, he heads home to seek his revenge.
I really enjoyed this because it felt real. Dwight is just a normal guy, he’s not a trained killer, and action movies or thrillers often take these kinds of situation for granted and everything just goes smoothly and the character can throw on some sunglasses and look cool while doing it.
Not in this movie. It becomes clear pretty quick that revenge is messy and hardly ever goes as planned, especially when the one doing it is just your average dude.
This was an engaging, tense and entertaining movie, and i’d never have heard of it if not for the guys at redlettermedia saying how good it was. It’s kind of sad that movies like this hardly get noticed while everyone goes to see transformers and furious 499. Oh well. Glad I got to see it!
Recommended for anyone who likes dramas, or just a well told story. People just looking for a revenge story might not find it as satisfying.
