Paranoia Blog
And here's a blog from the designers/creators of Paranoia.XP
Friday, February 20, 2004
Are you cleared to know this?
Paranoia is being republished as Paranoia.XP.
Waaa Hooo!
Remember, the Computer is Your Friend. Happiness is Mandatory.
And if your clearance is infra-red, please report to nearest termination booth for recycling. Have a nice day.
Paranoia is being republished as Paranoia.XP.
Waaa Hooo!
Remember, the Computer is Your Friend. Happiness is Mandatory.
And if your clearance is infra-red, please report to nearest termination booth for recycling. Have a nice day.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Cory Doctorow on E-Books
Cory Doctorow is one of the more interesting new SF writers. He not only writes about technological change, he incorporates within the very distribution of his writing. For example, both his novels (and some of his short stories) are available as e-books. For free. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Eastern Standard Tribe. A Place So Foreign.
He says it's good marketing, I think it is too. I've read his first book and will probably obtain the hard copy for the collection.
Here's a speech he's made available (through the Creative Commons Licence) on the usefulness e-books.
For a similar view that discusses the perceptual differences between e-books and "real books", here's a lecture by Umberto Eco.
My take is similar to Eco's: E-books are great for reference work but a pain in the butt for narrative works. That being said - I like the format as it makes it easy to read on the train or anywhere really. I don't think I absorb as much from e-books as I do from the printed page, however. I think I'm still trained to see anything on a screen as intrinsically ephemeral, so I don't remember it as well as words on a printed page.
This will probably change as we get more familiar with reading off screens. Certainly I mostly read the Sydney Morning Herald through their AvantGo channel. Anything it misses out, I can read on the website. The only copies of the SMH we buy now are the ones with liftouts we need (the TV Guide, Good Living and the Next supplement, and the Saturday papers.) The electronic version, however, makes the classifieds much easier to access (if you're looking for jobs, accommodation or a new car) as the information becomes searchable, rather than just browsable.
If I could download the tv guide into my Handspring, I would. Once we go to digital television, with an online program guide - will we actually need Monday's Herald anymore?
We'll see.
Meanwhile, I continue to buy books from small publishers, as that's the only way to get stories from Brendan Duffy, Kelly Link and Jeff Vandermeer.
And the books look good too.
Cory Doctorow is one of the more interesting new SF writers. He not only writes about technological change, he incorporates within the very distribution of his writing. For example, both his novels (and some of his short stories) are available as e-books. For free. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Eastern Standard Tribe. A Place So Foreign.
He says it's good marketing, I think it is too. I've read his first book and will probably obtain the hard copy for the collection.
Here's a speech he's made available (through the Creative Commons Licence) on the usefulness e-books.
For a similar view that discusses the perceptual differences between e-books and "real books", here's a lecture by Umberto Eco.
My take is similar to Eco's: E-books are great for reference work but a pain in the butt for narrative works. That being said - I like the format as it makes it easy to read on the train or anywhere really. I don't think I absorb as much from e-books as I do from the printed page, however. I think I'm still trained to see anything on a screen as intrinsically ephemeral, so I don't remember it as well as words on a printed page.
This will probably change as we get more familiar with reading off screens. Certainly I mostly read the Sydney Morning Herald through their AvantGo channel. Anything it misses out, I can read on the website. The only copies of the SMH we buy now are the ones with liftouts we need (the TV Guide, Good Living and the Next supplement, and the Saturday papers.) The electronic version, however, makes the classifieds much easier to access (if you're looking for jobs, accommodation or a new car) as the information becomes searchable, rather than just browsable.
If I could download the tv guide into my Handspring, I would. Once we go to digital television, with an online program guide - will we actually need Monday's Herald anymore?
We'll see.
Meanwhile, I continue to buy books from small publishers, as that's the only way to get stories from Brendan Duffy, Kelly Link and Jeff Vandermeer.
And the books look good too.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
More stuff on 9/11
How much more could there be? How about the point of view of one of the flight attendents. One we didn't hear about.
How much more could there be? How about the point of view of one of the flight attendents. One we didn't hear about.
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Writing
Haven't written for awhile, which is bad. I've just posted a session report for last week's Rogue Trooper game to Spielfrieks, Nigglybits and Boardgamegeek. I don't feel I've been participating in the games forums as much as I should, considering how much they've returned to me.
The experience with Short and Sweet and the free workshop I got out of it has encouraged me to work on my script writing more than short story writing, though I still need to finish my story for the Conflux short story competition. I like theatre, but I don't think it really reaches the audience it needs to address. It's fine to criticise the Howard government's approach to refugees but as long as it's within theatre it's preaching to the converted. This is the problem I have with a lot of satire in Australia. So much of it confirms opinions, it doesn't challenge them.
Though Tom Lehrer appears to be right. It's impossible to be a satirist in a world where Bush, Blair and Howard are announcing investigations into their lack of intelligence.
Haven't written for awhile, which is bad. I've just posted a session report for last week's Rogue Trooper game to Spielfrieks, Nigglybits and Boardgamegeek. I don't feel I've been participating in the games forums as much as I should, considering how much they've returned to me.
The experience with Short and Sweet and the free workshop I got out of it has encouraged me to work on my script writing more than short story writing, though I still need to finish my story for the Conflux short story competition. I like theatre, but I don't think it really reaches the audience it needs to address. It's fine to criticise the Howard government's approach to refugees but as long as it's within theatre it's preaching to the converted. This is the problem I have with a lot of satire in Australia. So much of it confirms opinions, it doesn't challenge them.
Though Tom Lehrer appears to be right. It's impossible to be a satirist in a world where Bush, Blair and Howard are announcing investigations into their lack of intelligence.
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