Haven't been to Disney World since 2000. Had a business trip scheduled for the week of November 28 to December 2, so we decided to append a small vacation to the start of it from Thanksgiving through Sunday the 27th.
Stayed at the Disney All Stars Movie Resort - this was our first time staying on a Disney property despite many trips to WDW over the years. I was pleasantly surprised.
Spent one day each in Epcot, Disney MGM Studios and the Magic Kingdom. (We had done a day at Animal Kingdom back in 2000 and were not impressed.)
Ate Thanksgiving dinner at Narcoossee's in the Grand Floridian. At Epcot we ate at the Biergarten restaurant in the Germany pavilion. The remainder of our meals were standard Disney counter service.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Who's Responsible?
Gov. Sonny Perdue made it clear that he believes the responsibility of housing the evacuees rests with the federal government. "We are pleased that FEMA is willing to meet its legal responsibility to house the evacuees."
Not to be unsympathetic, but why doesn't the responsibility for housing the evacuees rest with (... radical thought coming up, try to stay with me...) the evacuees themselves?
Not to be unsympathetic, but why doesn't the responsibility for housing the evacuees rest with (... radical thought coming up, try to stay with me...) the evacuees themselves?
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The Machine Crusade
Well, this book was the crappiest one by Herbert & Anderson so far.
The disappointments started from the very beginning. I started by reading the appendix and was encouraged when I read that "seven League representatives, all of them political rivals or people who have spoken out against Iblis Ginjo, were implicated as machine spies." My first thought was, these guys have started to get their act together. Political intrigue, and they don't even spell out whether or nor Ginjo framed them. Maybe this one will be better than the last one. However, my hopes were violently dashed after a mere 16 pages, when the authors tell me that "it might even be necessary to have someone 'discover' damning evidence of Chen's 'collusion' with the thinking machines." In hindsight, I guess it's amazing that they even held out 16 pages. The apparently overwhelming need they feel to spell everything out is SO annoying. Ginjo is married to the only remaining heiress of the Old Empire. WHY, oh why, must they tell me that he only married her for political reasons? Do they truly think their readers are as dumb as they are?
The premise that the League Parliament would spend time attempting to decipher the meaning of "archaic rune symbols" as a way to determine policy is absurd. The authors are handed on a silver platter an excellent opportunity to study the role that religion plays in governing the masses (particularly given the relevance of such topics to today's "war on terror"). That's certainly the way two authors with one brain between them would have gone with this idea; instead, we are treated to the moronic concept that the government would look for guidance in ancient prophecies of doubtful authenticity and even more doubtful relevance.
As with the earlier book, to call the characters one-dimensional would be to insult one-dimensionality. Since the authors are completely lacking in any ability to write their characters in a believable way, Iblis does not say or do anything charismatic; instead the authors TELL us that he is supposed to be charismatic. Perhaps the most ludicrous treatment of a character is Serena Butler. That she would allow herself to be a willing pawn in Ginjo's play for power, as well as the ridiculously unlikely way in which she acts, defies any sense of internal logic. That she would "hide in the City of Introspection" and "say whatever Iblis told her to say" is so at odds with everything else we have ever been told about her that it completely ruins every line of text surrounding this character. It's almost as if the authors have never met any human beings and thus cannot accurately predict human behavior. Perhaps Herbert & Anderson are thinking machines.
Other characters are equally uninteresting. Omnius continues to behave in absurdly dumb ways. The depiction of Holtzman (as a fool with little understanding of science) is incredibly stupid. The Cogitors are still idiots in jars, so devoid of logic (again, we're told they are brilliant, but this isn't really reflected in anything they say or do) that they boggle the mind. Xavier has long been extremely boring, except when his actions are just unseemly, such as the lightning speed with which he married Serena's sister after her "death." Erasmus is on his way to becoming just as boring. If Jool Noret fulfills any valuable purpose in this book, I have been unable to discern what it might be. And Norma Cenva, one of the saving graces of the first book, is portrayed in very poor fashion in this one.
The writing remains monumentally bad. As just one example of this, consider that in the span of A SINGLE PAGE, the authors used six different similies. And most of them hideous groaners: "like a hammer against an anvil", "like a hawk hunting a helpless pigeon", "like a talisman", "like a morsel of raw meat", "like a spider's egg sac", "like electronic talons". (For the record, they're writing about a space battle.) Ouch!
The last 80 pages are a veritable orgy of death and devastation, as character after character bites it. (It seems like the authors were just in a hurry to finish everyone off to set up the next book.) But the really sad part is that I couldn't possibly have cared less. The vapid characters, the abysmal writing and the improbable plot and characterization (including the amazingly unlikely coincidence through which two of the deaths are linked) all conspire to give the book a thoroughly unmemorable ending. What should have been tragic deaths are just more pages to get through in a fruitless attempt to get to the interesting and/or entertaining passages beyond, which unfortunately never materialize.
The other day I was in the bookstore looking through the first chapter of The Battle of Corrin, and some sentences in it made me realize that I didn't even remember the end of The Machine Crusade. So I went back and browsed through its final chapters again. Having done that, and remembering how truly *BAD* they were, I decided The Battle of Corrin was just not worth reading. I really don't care where Herbert & Anderson take their story.
The disappointments started from the very beginning. I started by reading the appendix and was encouraged when I read that "seven League representatives, all of them political rivals or people who have spoken out against Iblis Ginjo, were implicated as machine spies." My first thought was, these guys have started to get their act together. Political intrigue, and they don't even spell out whether or nor Ginjo framed them. Maybe this one will be better than the last one. However, my hopes were violently dashed after a mere 16 pages, when the authors tell me that "it might even be necessary to have someone 'discover' damning evidence of Chen's 'collusion' with the thinking machines." In hindsight, I guess it's amazing that they even held out 16 pages. The apparently overwhelming need they feel to spell everything out is SO annoying. Ginjo is married to the only remaining heiress of the Old Empire. WHY, oh why, must they tell me that he only married her for political reasons? Do they truly think their readers are as dumb as they are?
The premise that the League Parliament would spend time attempting to decipher the meaning of "archaic rune symbols" as a way to determine policy is absurd. The authors are handed on a silver platter an excellent opportunity to study the role that religion plays in governing the masses (particularly given the relevance of such topics to today's "war on terror"). That's certainly the way two authors with one brain between them would have gone with this idea; instead, we are treated to the moronic concept that the government would look for guidance in ancient prophecies of doubtful authenticity and even more doubtful relevance.
As with the earlier book, to call the characters one-dimensional would be to insult one-dimensionality. Since the authors are completely lacking in any ability to write their characters in a believable way, Iblis does not say or do anything charismatic; instead the authors TELL us that he is supposed to be charismatic. Perhaps the most ludicrous treatment of a character is Serena Butler. That she would allow herself to be a willing pawn in Ginjo's play for power, as well as the ridiculously unlikely way in which she acts, defies any sense of internal logic. That she would "hide in the City of Introspection" and "say whatever Iblis told her to say" is so at odds with everything else we have ever been told about her that it completely ruins every line of text surrounding this character. It's almost as if the authors have never met any human beings and thus cannot accurately predict human behavior. Perhaps Herbert & Anderson are thinking machines.
Other characters are equally uninteresting. Omnius continues to behave in absurdly dumb ways. The depiction of Holtzman (as a fool with little understanding of science) is incredibly stupid. The Cogitors are still idiots in jars, so devoid of logic (again, we're told they are brilliant, but this isn't really reflected in anything they say or do) that they boggle the mind. Xavier has long been extremely boring, except when his actions are just unseemly, such as the lightning speed with which he married Serena's sister after her "death." Erasmus is on his way to becoming just as boring. If Jool Noret fulfills any valuable purpose in this book, I have been unable to discern what it might be. And Norma Cenva, one of the saving graces of the first book, is portrayed in very poor fashion in this one.
The writing remains monumentally bad. As just one example of this, consider that in the span of A SINGLE PAGE, the authors used six different similies. And most of them hideous groaners: "like a hammer against an anvil", "like a hawk hunting a helpless pigeon", "like a talisman", "like a morsel of raw meat", "like a spider's egg sac", "like electronic talons". (For the record, they're writing about a space battle.) Ouch!
The last 80 pages are a veritable orgy of death and devastation, as character after character bites it. (It seems like the authors were just in a hurry to finish everyone off to set up the next book.) But the really sad part is that I couldn't possibly have cared less. The vapid characters, the abysmal writing and the improbable plot and characterization (including the amazingly unlikely coincidence through which two of the deaths are linked) all conspire to give the book a thoroughly unmemorable ending. What should have been tragic deaths are just more pages to get through in a fruitless attempt to get to the interesting and/or entertaining passages beyond, which unfortunately never materialize.
The other day I was in the bookstore looking through the first chapter of The Battle of Corrin, and some sentences in it made me realize that I didn't even remember the end of The Machine Crusade. So I went back and browsed through its final chapters again. Having done that, and remembering how truly *BAD* they were, I decided The Battle of Corrin was just not worth reading. I really don't care where Herbert & Anderson take their story.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Revenge of the Sith
Just saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith for the second time today. I was moderately impresssed, not a bad effort at all. That was my thought after seeing it the first time, but there were many thing I felt I wanted to see again before commenting on them. Also, I figure by now anyone who wanted to see the movie has seen it, and I don't have to worry about spoilers. The movie did an adequate (if hardly brilliant) job of getting you from the end of Attack of the Clones to the beginning of A New Hope. I guess how good the movie really is depends on what the movie was about.
- If the movie is meant to be about how the Republic turns into an Empire, then it is downright brilliant. Palpatine's handling of the political situation is superb. He understands human psychology intimately and can correctly predict behavior such as the Senate voting to continue the war or granting him executive powers. Furthermore, he is aware that those who prefer security to freedom ultimately get neither. His speech in the Senate chamber where he declares the Empire clearly indicates a deep understanding of the "handling of the masses." The speech in the novelization (browsed through it at Border's) is even better.
- BUT ... if the movie is meant to be about how Anakin Skywalker turns into Darth Vader, then it is mediocre. Palpatine's handling of Anakin is very poor. The only reason it works is because it has to, not from any sense of internal plot logic or consistent character development. From the first scene where he tells Anakin to kill Dooku (shouldn't he be a cowed kidnapping victim, not bordering on ecstasy as he is?), through his attempts to plant distrust of the Jedi Council (transparent!), to his story of Plagueis the Wise (could he have sounded more worshipful?) - it was all strictly amateur night. Granted Skywalker isn't very bright and his thoughts have been clouded by the dark side, but shouldn't even he have seen through this crap? "Don't you wonder why the Jedi Council won't make you a Master?" "They don't trust you." "I would doubt the Council's judgment if they didn't choose you for this mission." If you look really hard, you can see the corner of Palpatine's copy of Manipulation for Dummies sticking out of his cloak. Of course, all of this is nothing compared to the scene where Skywalker barges in on Windu and Palpatine fighting. "I'm too weak. Don't kill me. Pleeeease don't kill me." Come on now! Pleeeease spare me your righteous indignation.
Some other observations about the movie.
- How Anakin goes from killing Windu to becoming Darth Sidious's apprentice to killing a room full of small children defies all credibility. One can almost understand his turning on Windu, as Anakin is not particularly intelligent, Palpatine has been playing with his mind for some time and the political situation is not completely clear. However, once he sees Sidious kill Windu in cold blood, he just gets on his knees and says, "I'll do whatever you ask."? Why? The first mission Sidious gives him is to kill all the children in the temple and he goes do it without objection? Why? It's not like Palpatine told him "The Jedi Council tried to kill me. Go kill them." or "Go kill the separatist leaders." No! He said, "Go kill a bunch of innocent children." And Anakin says, "Okey dokey, boss, whatever you say." Seems unlikely. The novel (I know hard-core fans would consider this non-canonical) does a much better job of managing this transition.
- The Jedi handle the Anakin situation very poorly. Clearly they are not politicians. It's almost as if they are going out of their way to insult him. It is clear that he is close to Palpatine, which would make him an obvious candidate to pass information back to the council. However, it is just as clear that he cannot be trusted with this critical task.
- The visual feel of the movie was very well thought out. I particularly liked the graphic symbolism - most scenes were dark and somber, a lot of them with rain. It added quite well to the "dark side" feel of the movie. The occasional well-lit scene such as on board the Tantive IV only served to focus this feeling. The scene where Luke's uncle is looking off into the horizon did a good job of bringing to mind the famous scene from the original movie. And of course the final two battle scenes, Yoda v Sidious and Kenobi v Vader, are very stunning both visually and musical score-wise. Both battles are on a grand scale with their fantastic backgrounds, evoking thoughts of a Wagnerian opera. My only thought is that the background music could have been even MORE Wagnerian.
- The "love" scenes between Anakin and Padme are still ludicrous. The dialogue between them is ridiculous (Lucas should have had someone else write those scenes). And Christensen is the world's worst actor. Their first scene where he learns that Padme is pregnant and he says it's the happiest moment of his life he looks particularly idiotic ... the post-coital scene on the balcony of Padme's apartment is also awful ... and the scene where Padme tells Anakin "you're better than this" ... and the scene ... never mind, they are ALL awful. I don't think I've ever seen two actors with LESS chemistry.
- The space battle that opens the movie is unbelievably impressive visually but basically meaningless to the viewer. You definitely can't tell who's winning or what's going on. However, what is particularly unforgivable is that you can't tell who's who. The entire scene was just too busy.
- I found the gratuitous attempt to introduce contemporary relevance ("Either you are with me or you are my enemy." "Only a Sith deals in absolutes.") poorly done and distracting from the story.
- What could have been one of the iconic moments of American film history, the "birth" of Darth Vader, was handled absurdly - unforgivably - poorly. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"? You have got to be freakin' kidding me!
- I always found the end of "Return of the Jedi" quite good. Redemption of the fallen hero, blah blah blah. I could forgive Darth Vader his sins in light of his selfless sacrifice in doing the right thing at the end. In a civil war, each side generally believes that they are in the right. So the viewer can forgive murder, torture and other villainy. The destruction of Alderaan was a bit much, but Vader wasn't personally responsible for that (Grand Moff Tarkin gave the order). However, after learning that Vader began his career as a Sith by slaughtering defenseless children, killing the emperor to save his son hardly seems to warrant forgiveness for all his prior sins.
- A final comment to wrap things up. Anakin joins Palpatine because he wants to learn the trick to cheat death. Clearly, Palpatine implied he knew it since he says Plagueis taught his apprentice everything. Yet when Anakin asks about it, Palpatine's response is along the lines of "Yeah, right, sure, we'll get right on that." Not only does he continue to follow Palpatine, but he actually remains convinced that he has the power to keep Padme alive. He really isn't very bright, is he?
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
I hate it when newspapers try to do math for me...
...and get it wrong!
Since convenience stores make a profit of only 2 to 3 cents per gallon of gas pumped, owners say they have to sell an extra 3,000 gallons to make up for every sport-utility vehicle that takes off with a $30 tank of gas.
If they make 2 to 3 cents a gallon, wouldn't it take 1000 to 1500 gallons to make $30? Wouldn't 3000 gallons make them $60 to $90?
Since convenience stores make a profit of only 2 to 3 cents per gallon of gas pumped, owners say they have to sell an extra 3,000 gallons to make up for every sport-utility vehicle that takes off with a $30 tank of gas.
If they make 2 to 3 cents a gallon, wouldn't it take 1000 to 1500 gallons to make $30? Wouldn't 3000 gallons make them $60 to $90?
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Happy Birthday to me
I just learned that Baywatch actress Donna D'Errico has the exact same birthdate as me.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Ebay
I was bidding on a book on Ebay, and somebody sniped and outbid me in the last few seconds of the auction. I just learned the word "snipe", although the tactical benefits of bidding on an item at the last second had already occurred to me on my own. Now, I'm not a veteran ebayer, but even I know not to bid the price of a book beyond what the book can be had for at Amazon. D'OH!
Friday, February 18, 2005
Looking for a new dry cleaner
In Cuba, they have this saying: "Hay que estar con cuatro ojos." You have to go around with four eyes, meaning you have to keep an extremely careful eye on everybody because everyone is trying to pull one over on you.
The dry cleaner in the lobby of my building recently raised his prices, so the last time I went to pick up my cleaning, it was a lot more than I was expecting it to be. Once I had gotten home, I realized that the extra charge was a lot more than could be accounted for simply by the higher prices. Unfortunately, by that time I had discarded my receipt as well as taken all the clothes out of the plastic so I wasn't even sure how many items I had picked up.
So this time, I made a conscious effort to double check everything when I went to pick it up. I was expecting it to come out to $16.95. The owner tells me $17.95. I told him, "I'm sorry. I was expecting $16.95. Are you sure?" I was taken aback by his reaction; he actually raised his voice to me, "Not $16.95; $17.95." Perhaps he thought if he was "adamant" enough, I would drop my objection. "Well, please check. I get $16.95." He pulls out two receipts, "There. Seven shirts, $7.70. And five shirts and one pair of trousers, $10.25." He pulls out a calculator and adds the two numbers, "$17.95." He was practically shouting at me by this point. I was a bit confused for a moment and was wondering if maybe I had in fact mis-added. Then I realized that if five shirts were $5.50 and the pants were $3.75 that only added up to $9.25. I pointed this out, so again he pulls out the calculator and FINALLY reluctantly hands me another dollar in change and apologizes for the error.
I don't believe for one micro-second that this was an error. But even if I'm wrong and it actually was an innocent error, the rude way he decided to approach it guarantees that I will never be back. Idiot. I dropped $440 at his establishment over the last year. Now I'm going to spend it somewhere else.
The dry cleaner in the lobby of my building recently raised his prices, so the last time I went to pick up my cleaning, it was a lot more than I was expecting it to be. Once I had gotten home, I realized that the extra charge was a lot more than could be accounted for simply by the higher prices. Unfortunately, by that time I had discarded my receipt as well as taken all the clothes out of the plastic so I wasn't even sure how many items I had picked up.
So this time, I made a conscious effort to double check everything when I went to pick it up. I was expecting it to come out to $16.95. The owner tells me $17.95. I told him, "I'm sorry. I was expecting $16.95. Are you sure?" I was taken aback by his reaction; he actually raised his voice to me, "Not $16.95; $17.95." Perhaps he thought if he was "adamant" enough, I would drop my objection. "Well, please check. I get $16.95." He pulls out two receipts, "There. Seven shirts, $7.70. And five shirts and one pair of trousers, $10.25." He pulls out a calculator and adds the two numbers, "$17.95." He was practically shouting at me by this point. I was a bit confused for a moment and was wondering if maybe I had in fact mis-added. Then I realized that if five shirts were $5.50 and the pants were $3.75 that only added up to $9.25. I pointed this out, so again he pulls out the calculator and FINALLY reluctantly hands me another dollar in change and apologizes for the error.
I don't believe for one micro-second that this was an error. But even if I'm wrong and it actually was an innocent error, the rude way he decided to approach it guarantees that I will never be back. Idiot. I dropped $440 at his establishment over the last year. Now I'm going to spend it somewhere else.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Sal Grosso
My wife and I went to Churrascaria Sal Grosso for lunch. This is one of those Brazilian steak places that have become so popular in the last few years. Dinner is prohibitively expensive ($39), but lunch is slightly more manageable. The format is all you can eat, with the waiters coming to your table with skewers of meat. We had
- Picanha (Rump Roast)
- Filet Mignon
- Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon
- Alcatra (Top Sirloin)
- Fraldinha (Flap Steak)
- Costela de Boi (Beef Ribs)
- Chicken Breast wrapped in bacon
- Marinated chicken wings
- Lamb Chops
- Leg of Lamb
- Pork Loin
- Pork Ribs
To round out our meal, we had a nice Brazilian wine (Miolo Cabernet Sauvignon) and carolinas (a dessert made consisting of puff pastries filled with vanilla ice cream and covered in chocolate sauce) for dessert. An excellent experience. Everyone should do this once in a while.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Greenhouse Grill
My wife and I went out to dinner at the Greenhouse Grill (in the Hyatt Regency in Marietta). We were not impressed.
- Ambiance was adequate but hardly outstanding. The view was non-existent. Noise from the bar and (even more so) from the ballrooms was overwhelming at times.
- Service was downright poor. It was slow (particularly when you consider that only four tables were occupied), and they made a $6 error on our bill.
- The menu on their website boasted sizzling sea bass and orange beef tenderloin medallions, neither of which existed on the menu when we got there.
- The food was the only redeeming quality, and even in that regard, all I can say is that the food was prepared well. It was hardly memorable, and the portions were not particularly generous.
My wife had salmon with tomato lemon jelly ($22), and I had chicken ($17). Neither plate really warranted the price.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Saigon Cafe
Had lunch there with some co-workers. I was thoroughly unimpressed. I order the pho (noodle soup) with shrimp. It was passable, but not great. I've had better. A friend ordered the pad thai (despite the name, the restaurant had a number of Thai dishes in addition to Vietnamese), and that looked like it would have been a much better than the pho.
However, what really got to me was the bad service. It was slow, really slow. And they forgot one of our entrees altogether. After bringing out the missing entree, they had still not brought out our appetizers. When we asked about them, the waitress got snotty, really snotty. "You didn't have any appetizers. I asked you if you wanted rolls, and you said no." And the tone with which she said it, as if she were lecturing to unruly children. Yeah, the seven of us are all mis-remembering. Thanks for setting us straight.
However, what really got to me was the bad service. It was slow, really slow. And they forgot one of our entrees altogether. After bringing out the missing entree, they had still not brought out our appetizers. When we asked about them, the waitress got snotty, really snotty. "You didn't have any appetizers. I asked you if you wanted rolls, and you said no." And the tone with which she said it, as if she were lecturing to unruly children. Yeah, the seven of us are all mis-remembering. Thanks for setting us straight.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
More pictures of Cuba
This picture looks like it was taken in a war zone. I've seen pictures of buildings in the middle of post-DDay fighting in France that looked better.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Cuba
La Habana, 1958 (the year before Castro took power)
La Habana, 2004
This is not a rural road; this is Calle 35 between A and B in Vedado, La Habana. (In the very heart of the city, this was once one of its poshest neighborhoods.)
Melba Gordue cleans up debris after a building collapsed in front of her house in Havana on June 26, 2003. (And, YES, she will continue living there afterwards.)
A hotel for foreigners
A hotel for Cubans
National Factory of Mirrors (insert punchline here)
"The revolution marches well. To fight, to work, to advance. Go forward!"
La Habana's transportation system
The ration book. (Sugar is rationed.)
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Saturday, January 29, 2005
The Butlerian Jihad
Just finished reading Dune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson, the first book of their most recent trilogy set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. The book presumes to tell the story repeatedly aluded to in the Dune series, about humans overthrowing their "thinking machine" masters 10,000 years before.
The book is somewhat better than the authors' House trilogy. I think having freed themselves of the restraints of the original Dune universe, they were able to give free rein to their imaginations and put out a better product. However, the bad prose that characterized the House trilogy remains. It seems like the authors at some point in their lives took a really bad creative writing class where they were told to use lots of flowery prose with tons of unnecessary (and ridiculous sounding) adjectives. For example, Norma never runs, she is carried by her legs. And they are never just legs, they are short legs. And it's diminutive Norma (they reuse the same adjectives over and over again ad nauseaum). So "Norma ran" becomes "Norma's short legs carried her diminutive body." Rinse, blather and repeat for 675 pages. As just one more example, on page 593, a ship doesn't enter and exit Jupiter's gravity well. Instead we are treated to the following monuments to absurd prose: "the gas giant reached out to them, beckoning with a siren song of physics" and "breaking free of the elastic threads of gravity."
Even though the prose is no better, the story is. They did a relatively good job crafting the plot, and depicting the psychology of the struggle. Iblis Ginjo, Vorian Atreides, Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen are depicted realistically - if somewhat one-dimensionally. Other characters, e.g. Agamemnon, are less believable. Could he truly believe that "the barbarians didn't understand freedom or free will" even as they were revolting against the machines' rule? It is unlikely that he could be that oblivious to reality. (As an aside, the whole "brain in a jar" concept is pretty 1930s. No wonder the "philsophical" "deep-thinking" 2000-year-old cogitors are so unrealistically oblivious to the consequences of their actions. They're idiots. Only an idiot would have his brain transfered to a glass jar.) The Titans as a whole are very poorly motivated. Let's say Omnius succeeds in its goal of exterminating humans and the Titans succeed in their goal of regaining power from Omnius. What exactly would they be the rulers of? Absurd.
On the other hand, the parallel between the cymeks and the human rulers of Poritrin (whose motivations do seem more plausible than the cymeks) is quite enlightening. It goes along the lines of the "good guys vs. bad guys" theme which I explored in my review of House Corrino. In that review I pointed out that the authors took a simplistic view of good vs. evil and did not consider valuable avenues of exploration in their writing. The fact that they do so here shows considerable growth in their writing. I look forward to reading The Machine Crusade and The Battle of Corrin (the latter only when it comes out in paperback, the books are nowhere near good enough to merit plunking down $20 for).
The authors' complete ignorance of science is blatantly obvious in almost every chapter. The absence of even a hint of the science and mathematics behind the "inventions" of Tio Holtzman and Norma Cenva, despite "discussing" them at great length, is quite odd. The authors mention "arithmetic"; what meaningful science involves only arithmetic? What calculations could their solvers work on after only the most basic training? At one point, one of the solvers sabotages a result by "moving a decimal point" and claiming nobody would notice. If the authors knew ANYTHING about mathematics, they would understand that moving a decimal point is the mistake MOST LIKELY to be noticed. If I'm expecting an answer of 10, and you give me 5 or 20 I might not notice. But if you give me 1 or 100 I will definitely notice. Duh! The science-related quotes that start many chapters are meaningless as well.
Despite the derivativeness of the robot Erasmus, they nevertheless managed to make him interesting in a macabre sort of way. What is unrealistic is that he would be so completely clueless about human behavior. Think Dr. Mengele meets the Terminator. If intelligence means the ability to learn, then Erasmus must not be particularly intelligent. (After all his "study", how could he not predict the reaction to the murder he commits?) The relationship between machines and humans at large is somehow odd. Things like robots serving as drivers of a horse-drawn carriage for a human are not realistic in light of the master-slave relationship. The resources dedicated to keeping the humans alive for slave labor are inconsistent with Omnius's oft-mentioned desire for efficiency. What do humans provide for the machines that they could not more quickly provide for themselves while consuming fewer resources? Surely a machine of some sort could do any required work faster than slave labor (which has long been known to lead to low-quality results). The final chapters of the revolt and the surprise experienced by Erasmus and Omnius on the other hand could form a fascinating study in "AI psychology" if such a thing existed.
There are several gaps in the plot, a fact which I would be remiss in not mentioning. Without providing any spoilers, I can provide one example. The flaw in the defensive measures the humans used at Salusa Secundus and Giedi Prime was glaringly obvious. That the machines did not take advantage of it in their raid on Salusa Secundus AND that no human noticed the flaw either in the original design or when Xavier Harkonnen visited Giedi Prime for the specific purpose of evaluating their defenses simply defies belief.
One last disappointment in the book is that the authors clumsy attempts at foreshadowing gave me what I believe is conclusive proof of where they are headed in "Dune 7." On page 224 it says, "By the time humans expanded into those distant star systems, Omnius would already be there. Waiting." And in House Corrino, we were already treated to "ancient enemy ... future enemy" (when Navigator D'murr Pilru goes off course because of the amal). Other brief comments in House Corrino (regarding the unnamed planet that Tleilaxu Master Ajidica was setting up to take his BG axlotl tank) made me hopeful that they might head off in another direction. But now I have no doubt, the Honored Maitres and others returning from the scattering are fleeing thinking machines. This bothers me, as I am fairly certain that is NOT the path that Frank Herbert would have taken had he been alive to write Dune 7 himself.
My last thought, which really encompasses everything mentioned above, is that the story is not bad (you really want to keep reading to see what happens next), but the writing is bad, bad, bad. These guys need a good editor like nobody's business.
The book is somewhat better than the authors' House trilogy. I think having freed themselves of the restraints of the original Dune universe, they were able to give free rein to their imaginations and put out a better product. However, the bad prose that characterized the House trilogy remains. It seems like the authors at some point in their lives took a really bad creative writing class where they were told to use lots of flowery prose with tons of unnecessary (and ridiculous sounding) adjectives. For example, Norma never runs, she is carried by her legs. And they are never just legs, they are short legs. And it's diminutive Norma (they reuse the same adjectives over and over again ad nauseaum). So "Norma ran" becomes "Norma's short legs carried her diminutive body." Rinse, blather and repeat for 675 pages. As just one more example, on page 593, a ship doesn't enter and exit Jupiter's gravity well. Instead we are treated to the following monuments to absurd prose: "the gas giant reached out to them, beckoning with a siren song of physics" and "breaking free of the elastic threads of gravity."
Even though the prose is no better, the story is. They did a relatively good job crafting the plot, and depicting the psychology of the struggle. Iblis Ginjo, Vorian Atreides, Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen are depicted realistically - if somewhat one-dimensionally. Other characters, e.g. Agamemnon, are less believable. Could he truly believe that "the barbarians didn't understand freedom or free will" even as they were revolting against the machines' rule? It is unlikely that he could be that oblivious to reality. (As an aside, the whole "brain in a jar" concept is pretty 1930s. No wonder the "philsophical" "deep-thinking" 2000-year-old cogitors are so unrealistically oblivious to the consequences of their actions. They're idiots. Only an idiot would have his brain transfered to a glass jar.) The Titans as a whole are very poorly motivated. Let's say Omnius succeeds in its goal of exterminating humans and the Titans succeed in their goal of regaining power from Omnius. What exactly would they be the rulers of? Absurd.
On the other hand, the parallel between the cymeks and the human rulers of Poritrin (whose motivations do seem more plausible than the cymeks) is quite enlightening. It goes along the lines of the "good guys vs. bad guys" theme which I explored in my review of House Corrino. In that review I pointed out that the authors took a simplistic view of good vs. evil and did not consider valuable avenues of exploration in their writing. The fact that they do so here shows considerable growth in their writing. I look forward to reading The Machine Crusade and The Battle of Corrin (the latter only when it comes out in paperback, the books are nowhere near good enough to merit plunking down $20 for).
The authors' complete ignorance of science is blatantly obvious in almost every chapter. The absence of even a hint of the science and mathematics behind the "inventions" of Tio Holtzman and Norma Cenva, despite "discussing" them at great length, is quite odd. The authors mention "arithmetic"; what meaningful science involves only arithmetic? What calculations could their solvers work on after only the most basic training? At one point, one of the solvers sabotages a result by "moving a decimal point" and claiming nobody would notice. If the authors knew ANYTHING about mathematics, they would understand that moving a decimal point is the mistake MOST LIKELY to be noticed. If I'm expecting an answer of 10, and you give me 5 or 20 I might not notice. But if you give me 1 or 100 I will definitely notice. Duh! The science-related quotes that start many chapters are meaningless as well.
Despite the derivativeness of the robot Erasmus, they nevertheless managed to make him interesting in a macabre sort of way. What is unrealistic is that he would be so completely clueless about human behavior. Think Dr. Mengele meets the Terminator. If intelligence means the ability to learn, then Erasmus must not be particularly intelligent. (After all his "study", how could he not predict the reaction to the murder he commits?) The relationship between machines and humans at large is somehow odd. Things like robots serving as drivers of a horse-drawn carriage for a human are not realistic in light of the master-slave relationship. The resources dedicated to keeping the humans alive for slave labor are inconsistent with Omnius's oft-mentioned desire for efficiency. What do humans provide for the machines that they could not more quickly provide for themselves while consuming fewer resources? Surely a machine of some sort could do any required work faster than slave labor (which has long been known to lead to low-quality results). The final chapters of the revolt and the surprise experienced by Erasmus and Omnius on the other hand could form a fascinating study in "AI psychology" if such a thing existed.
There are several gaps in the plot, a fact which I would be remiss in not mentioning. Without providing any spoilers, I can provide one example. The flaw in the defensive measures the humans used at Salusa Secundus and Giedi Prime was glaringly obvious. That the machines did not take advantage of it in their raid on Salusa Secundus AND that no human noticed the flaw either in the original design or when Xavier Harkonnen visited Giedi Prime for the specific purpose of evaluating their defenses simply defies belief.
One last disappointment in the book is that the authors clumsy attempts at foreshadowing gave me what I believe is conclusive proof of where they are headed in "Dune 7." On page 224 it says, "By the time humans expanded into those distant star systems, Omnius would already be there. Waiting." And in House Corrino, we were already treated to "ancient enemy ... future enemy" (when Navigator D'murr Pilru goes off course because of the amal). Other brief comments in House Corrino (regarding the unnamed planet that Tleilaxu Master Ajidica was setting up to take his BG axlotl tank) made me hopeful that they might head off in another direction. But now I have no doubt, the Honored Maitres and others returning from the scattering are fleeing thinking machines. This bothers me, as I am fairly certain that is NOT the path that Frank Herbert would have taken had he been alive to write Dune 7 himself.
My last thought, which really encompasses everything mentioned above, is that the story is not bad (you really want to keep reading to see what happens next), but the writing is bad, bad, bad. These guys need a good editor like nobody's business.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
I live among bigots!!
Last year, I attended my homeowners association meeting for the first time. Our state senator, who was running for a seat in the U.S. House, was a guest speaker. In response to a question about illegal Mexican laborers in our neighborhood, he made a comment about a building that was being refurbished next to his office and him not hearing anything but Spanish the whole time. A couple of minutes later he made a comment about "Mexicans picking peaches in south Georgia." Now, this guy knew what he was doing. He spoke for over an hour without actually saying anything. These comments were delivered in what I considered a disparaging tone, but nothing he said could be construed as offensive (since they didn't have any actual content). But he was playing his audience; he knew the anti-immigrant feelings of his audience and he played to them like a master. After his speech, I approached him and told him I didn't appreciate his comments and that some people could have found them offensive. He told me nobody could consider him a racist because he (a) supported George Bush's proposal of amnesty to illegal immigrants, (b) favored giving Georgia Hope college scholarships to illegal immigrants, (c) was opposed to a proposal before the state legislature to deputize police officers as INS agents when they stopped suspects on other grounds within the scope of their usual duties, (d) favored giving illegal immigrants driver licenses, and (e) supported the expenditure of Medicaid funds and other public assistance on illegal aliens. Well, guess what? I have the diametrically opposite position on each and every one of these items. But, hey, I was Hispanic, so I must favor these things. Another question that occurred to me was why didn't he mention these things during his speech? Well, that question had an easy answer. Because they would have run him out of town. I made it my life's work to make sure he was defeated in his bid for the U.S. House. I'm glad to report he didn't even make it into the primary runoff. Good riddance.
At this year's meeting, I had an even more annoying experience. After the meeting, one of the homeowners was ranting and raving. She wasn't intelligent enough to form a coherent thought, so I'm not sure what was up her butt, but she was talking about how our city council members must be taking money to allow "this Mexican trash..." I don't know the rest of her sentence, because I walked away. But the thought that in the year 2005 somebody doesn't know better than to utter a phrase like that boggles my mind. The fact that this person is actually my neighbor pisses me off beyond belief.
At this year's meeting, I had an even more annoying experience. After the meeting, one of the homeowners was ranting and raving. She wasn't intelligent enough to form a coherent thought, so I'm not sure what was up her butt, but she was talking about how our city council members must be taking money to allow "this Mexican trash..." I don't know the rest of her sentence, because I walked away. But the thought that in the year 2005 somebody doesn't know better than to utter a phrase like that boggles my mind. The fact that this person is actually my neighbor pisses me off beyond belief.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Battlestar Galactica
I'm watching the most recent episode of Battlestar Galactica, which I missed on Friday. I'm a little lost because I missed the mini-series leading up to it, but still I think they've done a very good job with it. Where the original series was somewhat campy (in an enjoyable sort of way), this series is a lot darker (and just as enjoyable anyway). Of particular note, I think the treatment of Balthar is excellent. In the original series, the relationship between the Cylons and Balthar was unlikely (to say the least); in this series, I find him fascinating from a psychological point of view. The interaction between Cmdr. Adama and Pres. Roslin is also quite interesting to watch. The fact that humans created the Cylons is slightly disappointing in that the "man vs his creation the machine" story had been done to death. (I guess it doesn't help that I'm currently reading The Butlerian Jihad.)
And of course, there's always an idiot willing to write a moronic review about the show, but I hope I did at least a little better than this guy. ("Galactica was originally an allegory for Western Civilization being bullied and burned in the same way we have bullied and burned other nations for centuries.")
And of course, there's always an idiot willing to write a moronic review about the show, but I hope I did at least a little better than this guy. ("Galactica was originally an allegory for Western Civilization being bullied and burned in the same way we have bullied and burned other nations for centuries.")
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