ejp626

About 3/4 through Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan. Some parts are laugh-out-loud funny. One of the best lines is when the main characters start talking about shelling the capital of Absurdistan, and the narrator asks this other guy whether that is wise. He reponds, "I'm a poet, not an urban planner." Also reading some of Nabokov's shorter works. Halfway through The Eye now. Probably next book after this will be Narayan's The Dark Room.

I'm either so jaded or I just read too much too quickly. I did read Song of Kali, but can't remember anything about it. I was frankly bored by his Phases of Gravity, and that's when I decided it really wasn't worth my time to read his epic-length novels. I think I tried to read Phases of Gravity and couldn't get into it, either. But you're doing yourself a disservice by not approaching Hyperion or the Ilium books. almost done with Ilium and it's not disappointing me at all. Fair enough, but they're going to the bottom of a reallly long list.

It looks like there is some press (NESFA) doing fairly high quality SF compilations of short stories and related material. Alastair Reynolds gets this treatment here: http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Reynolds-1.html and Roger Zelazny is up for a 6 volume collection of his short stories! First one here: http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Zelazny-1.html They also are doing volumes of Hal Clement, Poul Anderson and Cordwainer Smith. I have to admit I am awfully tempted by the Zelazny. I have a few of his novels still, but I really recall the old SFBC collections Last Defender of Camelot and Unicorn Variations. Of course, I gave them up long ago, prepping for a move across the country (can't even blame Mom!). Now I want them back, but maybe this is an even better option. I think I will hold off for the moment because of financial considerations and space limitations, even more so, but I will probably get these eventually. This kind of reminds me of White Wolf Press going through most of Harlan Ellison's work and reprinting it. Edgeworks was supposed to run to 20 volumes, but I think they eventually ran out of steam at 5. However, it looks like all 6 of the Zelazny volumes are actually out -- and still in print, though who knows for how long...

I'm either so jaded or I just read too much too quickly. I did read Song of Kali, but can't remember anything about it. I was frankly bored by his Phases of Gravity, and that's when I decided it really wasn't worth my time to read his epic-length novels. Anyway, I mentioned Ian McDonald up-thread. They have just reprinted Desolation Road and there is a fairly recent sequel called Ares Express also being reprinted. I really enjoyed the first one way back when. I'll try to find time to reread it to see if it still grabs me, then plunge into Ares Express. Now his River of Gods material is very different -- it envisions a near-future world set in India in 2047. Artificial intelligence has really taken off, particularly in some of the sub-states of India, and America is barely in the picture, except as a distant bully trying to impose its moral code on the rest of the world, which in this context means no funding for artificial intelligence. The book is much more about shifting characters and their interactions, including interfacing with AI "genies"*, than the really sexy alien technology/alien encounter that is so common. Some find it boring, but this is a heck of a lot more plausible than most SF. Somewhat more fantastic than River of Gods, but similarly set in a non-western future (Thailand) -- and awfully depressing as it is basically a post-carbon distopia -- is The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and the short stories in Pump Six. I probably mentioned them elsewhere, but this is a very good read if you like darker SF with morally ambiguous characters and no guarantee that "good" (whatever that is) will triumph. Both McDonald and Bacigalupi are a step up from many (most?) SF writers in actually being able to write well, at least in my view. * some slightly different term used in the book

Don't quite have all, probably more like 75%. However, of the ones I don't have, I would only be interested in 2, so I think this is not the box for me...

Yep, probably the only way to get this out there to let a European company borrow the tapes, then we can import it back here on an individual basis.

Mine came last night. Thanks again!

I actually read a great deal of Trollope in my early 20s, perhaps a bit too young to fully appreciate it, but I did start to get into the pacing about halfway into Can You Forgive Her? I suspect someday I will read through the Palliser novels again, though I am fairly unlikely to read Powell's Dance to the Music of Time for a second time. I'd really like to read The Way We Live Now, but I have stashed it away in storage, but maybe in a year or two... Curiously, I never read any of the Chronicles of Barsetshire books, so that is something else I have to look forward to. Am mostly done with Karinthy's Metropole, which successfully conveys the overwhelming, pressing nature of this overcrowded metropolis the narrator has landed in. It actually is making me a bit claustrophobic.

As far as I know, the artwork is in the public domain as well. Why wouldn't it be? Do those PD laws cover everything equally? Or do the recordings themselves and the art itself fall under different laws? This is a very good question.... I'll have to inquire. Most labels don't bother to chase these guys down because it is too much trouble and too expensive to sue these guys in European courts. One point that was made to me a while ago (though they still didn't pursue it) is that it is not 50 years from when it was recorded but when it was issued so alternate takes that were first issued when they came out on CD and then picked up by these bootleggers were clearly breaking copyright law with this. As I said before, they didn't even bother to try to prosecute this glaring infraction. When I recorded for Fresh Sound, I had the it might be legal but it's still wrong conversation many times....... Actually, there is enough wiggle room in the current EU statute that most people go with 50 years from recording date, and it certainly would not be worth trying to sue. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32006L0116:EN:NOT My understanding is that EU copyright is in a bit of a limbo with the Parliment extending this to 70 years but it hasn't been adopted by the Council of Ministers.

Allen: Can't send a PM (because I can't generate a subject line). Anyway, I'd be interested in one of the promo sets, and can work out something Wed. when I am back in Chicago. Thanks. Eric

Took longer than I wanted, but finished Bradbury's Rates of Exchange. The ending was class. I was actually disappointed by the Milhauser book, Dangerous Laughter. It's hard to explain. He was clearly inspired by the fables of Borges and Calvino, but then he tried to ground them in material reality (putting his own twist on them). Well, these stories kind of grind to a halt and crash down when you think too hard about an infinite library or building a city for the dead or what have you. So for instance, Milhauser writes about building a tower that literally reaches into heaven, that is so tall that if a family starts climbing it, then only the youngest children will be alive to reach the top. But he pushes at it for so long (and so much about the technical details of the tower) that you start to think about could they have brought enough dirt up there to farm and how could they possibly have enough water. So not only does it spoil the effect, it kind of spoils the Calvino and Borges stories he is sort of following. Thanks for nothing, Steven. I'm in the midst of a number of novels but am making pretty good progress in working through them. Mahfouz's Khan al-Khalili. It's better than The Mirage, but the main character, Ahmad, is still awfully passive and unpleasant. However, it hits harder than The Mirage, since I recognize in myself at least a few traits that he has given to Ahmad. Dawn Powell's The Locusts Have no King (enjoyable so far) Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days (short stories set in his future India, the setting of River of Gods). As an aside, if you like SF, you ought to check out McDonald's Desolation Road, which has been reissued. Paolo Bacigalupi's Pump Six and Other Stories (short stories by the author of The Wind-Up Girl) I was glad to see that this is being reissued, as the hardcover went OOP and sells for crazy prices (I am just reading the library's copy). I really thought the world of The Wind-Up Girl was interesting (a future Thailand in a post-carbon world) and actually in the same league as McDonald in terms of future world building. Valerie Martin's A Recent Martyr (my current gym book) I actually have some travel planned, so I should be able to wrap these up by next week, then read Metropole and probably mostly non-fiction for a while after that.

Looks like Rudresh is going to be at the Detroit Jazz Fest. I was about to get a little snippy about that (the Chicago Jazz Fest is looking a wee bit thin this year). Then I noticed that he is at the Chicago Jazz Showcase the last week of Sept! I'll go at least once, maybe twice. Sweet. Unfortunately, the only upcoming Apex performances are in New York, but that may change.

All I can say is this board has become so sad.

Astonishingly enough the Chicago Public Library has multiple sets of this (someone in the music collection was obviously an early supporter of Mosaic), and between them, I was able to find clean sides to listen to (yes, I gave them back). I'm pretty sure they had the Ike Quebec 45s on LP as well, and I checked them out, but I don't see these any longer in the catalog. Either the catalog is wrong, the library de-accessioned them after getting the CDs for the reference music collection or someone couldn't resist temptation. All reasonably likely.

Saw Konono No. 1 in Chicago. It was really touch and go (it was an outside concert and it starting drizzling with a chance of thunderstorms). I decided to go ahead and go to the park. I sat quite far up in the seats (much further than normal) under the huge Gehry-designed canopy which blocked most of the rain. And in fact the rain eased up and it didn't pour, which was a huge relief to all. I was surprised that essentially they opened for Kid Sister (a local rap artist, who's nothing that special). But given the iffy weather, I wasn't at all sad to be able to leave before 7:30. They played 3 pieces (the last one might have actually been a blend of two songs) stretched out at 15 minutes each.* The songs all sound pretty similar, but they have a nice groove (if a bit on the loud side) and it was still awfully cool to see them playing live. Never really thought I would see them in person. I suppose that's one of the positives of globalization -- that world music groups actually can make it over to major US/Canadian cities. Very little of this was happening 15-20 years ago. In the US at any rate, there was a bit of touring activity in the late 1960s with Mama Africa (Makeba) and a few other artists out of South Africa, but then very little until Paul Simon helped break Ladysmith Black Mambazo. At the time, I was pretty dismissive of what Simon was up to, but I was wrong (I now think). I've been exposed to some really terrific stuff, and there are still a few more great upcoming concerts (hopefully the weather will be a bit nicer for the next one). * Reminded me of my trip to the Village Vanguard where I caught Don Byron. He played two songs in his set, each a 30 minute jam.

Yeah, maybe so. The LP is in fact here. I'm going to take a look at the condition and see if that is satisfactory before making any final decisions. Who knew that within 10 years us old timers would be going on and on about how I remember a time before eBay became a cesspool and shipping costs weren't always a scam.

Well, this appears to have a reasonable resolution, but I've been waiting for about a month on a Miriam Makeba LP I ordered off eBay. I decide I had better lodge a protest, so I go check my account. As it turns out, there is a shipping notice and supposedly the LP showed up today. But the seller waited nearly an entire month before shipping it out (it wasn't lost in the mail, just not shipped on time) without any comment or notice to me. Lame. Certainly deserving of negative feedback, though I don't know I want to deal with all the associated drama that comes when you "go negative."

Happened to be flipping through Rolling Stone and they mentioned that Clapton was a big fan of Derek Trucks and that one really should listen to the version of Afro Blue on Truck's new double CD Roadsongs. So I did. It's a good cover, taken at a fast clip, some guitar wankery, but overall I liked it quite a bit.

Simplistic in the sense that having a slide rule and knowing how to use it makes you a morally superior human being, unlike the simplistic Twilight message of if you have sex you will die, die, die! I'm spending more time in the children's section of the library (to get books for my son, really) and certainly most of the juvenile literature of today seems pretty simplistic, not that there aren't honorable exceptions...

Interesting observation, though of course many of his novels were written for juveniles. Not sure if any of the juveniles would hold the same appeal to me now, though of all of them, I would probably still enjoy Citizen of the Galaxy and The Rolling Stones. Tunnel in the Sky was an early favorite, but I know that one has largely lost its appeal (for me). It has been a long time since I read any of his work. I would suspect that the short stories hold up best, perhaps followed by Moon is a Harsh Mistress and, for a real 60s time capsule, Stranger in a Strange Land. Of the later, kinkier stuff, I think Friday might hold up, but probably nothing else. I can't recall if I actually did read Cat That Walked through Walls or not. That might be an interesting experiment to read now, along with the expanded version of Stranger. However, I suspect the expanded Stranger would simply show how important editors were back in the day. Zelazny also wrote a lot of stuff in the pulp/juvenile mold, though I feel that has aged better, maybe because he often consciously worked in mythic elements. I could envision myself working my way through Zelazny again in a way that I would be unlikely to do for Heinlein. Perhaps I will pick a year to mostly reread science fiction to recharge my batteries, but I have too many other "important" things to read first, not least of which is Proust.

I would be sorry about that, since I thought Derek was taking less money to stay in LA for his little girl's eye problem (of course, maybe treatment went well and is almost over). Is he really that worried about LA being dethroned by Miami? From what I gathered, L.A. has been trying to low-ball him on a new contract or something, so he's checking out other options. From the LA Times - "The Lakers have offered Fisher about $5 million over two years. He made $5 million last season and was hoping to secure a multi-year deal worth that much annually." Maybe he's feeling insulted at them trying to cut his pay 50%, when they also just signed free agent guard Steve Blake to a 4 yr $16M contract. So he's feeling disrespected by LA (which I can certainly understand) for a contract worth $2.5 million a year (harder to feel his pain here, but ok) but then he goes to Miami which is pretty much trying to sign a bunch of ring-hungry role players for $1 million each? Isn't that the score? Miami is going to be looking to pay everyone else the league minimum...

I would be sorry about that, since I thought Derek was taking less money to stay in LA for his little girl's eye problem (of course, maybe treatment went well and is almost over). Is he really that worried about LA being dethroned by Miami? I really do find it hard to believe some of the jumped up rhetoric (outside Cleveland). Owners have been colluding since the beginning of time. Now the players do it, and they're somehow getting out of line?

Yes, but Toronto was pretty sure from the start that Bosh wasn't coming back. AFAIK they didn't make any real attempt to keep him on board, nor is their team identity bound up with Bosh. I don't know what their plan going forward is, but they seem ok with being a team in the bottom half of the East. (Probably have some secret subsidy from Stern just so he can say the sport is international like baseball or hockey.)

Dennis Rodman comes to mind. Not a top 5 player (unless looking solely at defense), but he made the Bulls "experience" quite a circus for rings 4-6. Also, I think Allen Iverson was as much of a legend (in his own mind) as LeBron, but never took it quite as far. And for all Iverson's faults, he did know the history of the game in a way that LeBron clearly doesn't.

I liked this quote: “His brand is [bleep] now,” one high-level NBA official said late Thursday. “He’s destroyed everything.” Well, winning changes almost everything. If the Three Muskateers can bring a ring or two for Miami then the sport-writers will be all at their feet again. And most people outside of Cleveland will eventually "get over" whatever it is, so long as they were entertained during the Finals. Frankly, I am amazed at how personally people are taking this. I'd say 90% of all athletes are ridiculously pampered individuals who have (unjustly) been put on a pedestal by society and are basically just a bunch of man-childs (many of the women as well). From a game theory perspective, it is actually pretty interesting watching what happens when collusion is allowed on one side but only partially allowed on the other (trades must be worked on for some contracts, not others). I'd say the Cavs and the Knicks are the biggest losers, NJ didn't seem to improve itself (maybe an opportunity cost there), the Bulls are marginally better and the Heat are heads and shoulders above the rest (simply speaking about free agency).