Plans foiled again by blogging and the Internet

(tags game, book, Xbox 360, Trusty Bell, windows, English, failure)

I was going to relax by:

1. Playing some Trusty Bell (Eternal Sonata) on my Xbox 360
2. Finish up Shukufuku no Canpanella on my PC
3. Read some English fiction book, The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

but, no, I had to blog and read up on my RSS feeds and auctions and the like.

BTW, Trusty Bell looks really beautiful. Vibrant colors and cell shading. I can't yet evaluate the game mechanics but at least it's not a menu fighter. And Aya Hirano (平野綾) as the main voice actress, ugh. Wait, no ugh, I need to just listen to her acting, not her.

Do readers dream of movie adaptations?

(tags book, 1968, science fiction)

I recently read Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Most people probably know it as original story inspiring the epic movie Blade Runner.

Um, my experience of reading the book was ruined because I already saw the movie. But of course! They are totally seperate, which is why the book felt ruined. I had the silly idea that the book should have a disclaimer that it's not related to the movie. Uh.

With that said, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's timeless sci-fi.

Spoilers in ROT13 below

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Borrow books or re-read yer collection: Baxter spree

(tags book, science fiction)

Over the last couple of weeks I've been re-reading some of my science-fiction books that I purchased a long time ago. I read The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, and more Stephen Baxter stuff like The Manifold Series which includes Time, Space and Origin. I am still looking around for my copy of Phase Space. Oh yeah, I also re-read his Timelike Infinity.

I think the whole thing started when I found that haven't read his 2006 book Resplendent, which finished off the Destiny's Children series. I found a copy at my local favorite (only?) import bookstore, Kobe Random Walk.

It was a shock to learn that there were closing down, because the parent company went bankrupt. Even the web page is dead, and I am searching Google's cache for more info without success. The Kobe location is still open, but the end seems near, because the sci-fi section is dwindling.

Just this weekend I finally applied for a library card. I don't expect to use it much, but I heard browsing and scheduling a book retrieval is easy over the Internet. But what exactly am I going to read in Japanese? I want to read some romance novels, actually. Then again, I could read my copy of Across Realtime by Vernor Vinge, again.

I am reminded to read a book read a book read a mother fucking book.

Blindsight by Peter Watts, other noteworthy SF

(tags book, science fiction, free)

I read another excellent free book through Free Speculative Fiction Online, called Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a near future space fiction about what to do after first contact, although a bit more psychological than technological. There is a long bibliography which makes this fiction more rooted in fact and logical speculation than others.

Spoilers below in ROT-13. SPOILERS

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END SPOILERS

Speaking of FSFO, I've read the other shorter stories and they are great. "Stars Seen Through Stone" by Lucius Shepard has great contemporary style and a knockout theme to boot. I am also glad that Ted Chiang is back to writing, with a award nomination as well: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate".

Nostalgia at Rainbows End

(tags book, San Diego, award, science fiction)

Vernor Vinge is one writer that is close to home, both literally and figuratively. He's a San Diegan like myself, and in fact is a retired math and computer science professor of San Diego State University. He's also one of the innovative science fiction writers with multiple Hugo Award under his belt. I (claim that) am a fan, but I have not read all of his works. In fact, the only one book I have of his is a tattered hardcover of Across Realtime, which I still hold in high esteem.

I only just now accidently bumped into his latest work online through the Free Speculative Fiction Online, because I was tired of not reading the RSS feed. I saw a listing of the 2007 Hugo Award Nominees (more than 8 month old, bleh), and Vinge's Rainbows End, available for free in HTML! What sci-fi fan could turn down that? It went on to win the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel, whoa.

I recommend this book! It has the realistic sci-fi treatment of the near future (2025?) of our Internet, government big brother vs anonymous little brother, wearable computing and the standard for books, while at the same time delivering fast-paced action. Though there is lots of high-tech pizazz, Vinge delivers the human element. He weaves strained family ties and deceits among conspirators and allies.

What I like, other than the coherent plot and believable action, is that the UCSD's (University of California at San Diego) architecturally distinct Geisel Library, takes center stage. I have spent years in this building, studying for classes, meeting friends, poaching study table openings, lounging around while reading novels and trying to absorb campus life despite living off. I have danced on the "third floor". When Vinge describes sitting on the south-east end of the sixth floor, I can personally recall the fantastic view looking out the windows over the inner campus and over parts of San Diego. I know the Snake Path he mentions. Vinge was SDSU faculty, but he gave UCSD some great advertising. Despite all the nostagia, Vinge laid down some real surprises.

I do feel sorry for the readers who won't understand all the geographical references. Also the novel didn't feel too US centric because of all the international backdrops and characters. Perhaps that's just me expending more imagination on the areas familiar to me.

Before I end with my spoiler'd review section, I just want to say that I'm going to recommend this book to my old school buddies in an private email. I bet they'll get a kick out of it, if they haven't read it already. And yeah, I'll try to get A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, which I still haven't read!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

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Nf jvgu gur orfg bs abiryf, V'ir orra yrsg jvgu dhrfgvbaf. Jung unccrarq gb gur Enoovg!?! Nyserq Inm? Nyvpr'f genvavat? Eboreg naq Ynan?

END SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

More finger exercising: Skewb, Pyraminx, and 7 days book

(tags Rubik's Cube, puzzle, book)

There is a reason why I scope Toys 'R Us every week. Puzzles, physical puzzles that don't require electricity, portable physical puzzles.

I saw some alternative rotation shape puzzles on Rubik's Cube no hoshi. I thought, yeah that's nice. But then I found them at the store, so I picked up the "Skewb" and "Pyraminx", but passed on the more complicated "Dekaminx". The Pyraminx reminds me of my time in walking around with the family at the old Swap Meet. You know, people selling knock off stuff that maybe isn't licensed for over-the-counter sale. Back then I had a toy similar to the Pyraminx but my patience broke and so did the toy.

Let's see if I fare any better at trying to solve these by myself.

And then, by chance on one of my blogrolls I saw a link to this book Rubik's Cube 7 Days Concentration Training: Mastering Speed Cubing (ルーブックキューブ7日間集中トレーニング～スピードキューブ完全マスター) by Katsuyuki Konishi (小西克幸) (ISBN 978-4-88380-677-5). It seems to be a distillation or embellishment of the author's free site Planet Puzzle. The author himself is the current vice president of the JRCA (Japan Rubik Cube Association, 日本ルービックキューブ協会の副会長), and holds a number of contest records in the previous years. Amazon showed it as sold out, but my local Junkudo had it FTW.

This book is more promising that a previous Rubik's Cube book I bought because it teaches the basics of speed cubing, like Finger ShortCuts (FSC) and the pros and cons of doing the first step "blue cross" on the top, bottom, or side. There's even a "before you go crazy on the cube, make sure to do this" section, which starts off with "practice every day, even just 5 minutes" and "don't give up" which is good. But then there's more suggestions like "make sure to keep in good touch with your family" and "eat three meals a day" and "sleep good", which sounds kinda wonky.

Basically this book teaches you the LBL method that all the other recent books and puzzle supplements explain. The latter parts of the book do show the same endgame 57 OLL positions and 21 PLL positions, but the notation is different. It is possible that the moves are different as well, because some of the basic moves in the F2L are heavy on the F, R and U faces, unlikemy previous tutorials. The author suggests to "remember at the hyphens" within the notation, which really is helpful. In short, there seems to be more meat to chew on here. Plus the book readily references the videos available at the original site, so those who can't grok the Rubik's Cube notation aren't left out in the cold.

BTW, my average Rubik's Cube times are still hovering around 60 to 80 seconds. I measure them during my lunch break, but I only consider a 12 cube run an official time so no stats for now.

Why can't the video games be made out of paper?

(tags finance, game, book, Wii)

I was reading over my Get Rich Slowly feed and the blogger J.D. had a interesting article about the Amazon Kindle ebook vs Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscription vs Wii Virtual Console game service ("Brief Thoughts on Modern Entertainment"). First off, a blog about Personal Finance would seem to be the last place I would hear about comics and video games, but people have their vices I suppose.

Basically J.D. was thumbs down on newly digitized media that has old-world equivalents. Books and comics just aren't as appealing and as sturdy when e-ified. But J.D. gave a pass on the Wii Virtual Console. This struck me as a double standard, really. Just substitute video games in those sentences:

• I can read a ___ in the bathtub.
• If I drop a ___ — which I sometimes do — it’s not going to break.
• My ___ don’t run out of power.
• When I’m finished with my ____, I can loan them to friends. Or sell them.

Since we assume that video games must be powered by electricity and must be housed in delicate electronics, our standards of worth changes. But entertainment is entertainment.

Through the comments on this blog I learned that the Wii Virtual Console is also a per-console purchase system, like the Xbox Live. And sometime during November I learned that one Wii cannot hold all offered Virtual Console games. With restrictions like these and hardware that I dearly paid for breaking left and right, I am slowly questioning my gaming hobby purchases.

Questioning, yes, but not stopping. Ha.

A slice of life, Birth of Venus

(tags blog, book, news)

There is one feed on my blogroll that I let accumulate. It's as if I dread reading it. Dread is more appropriately associated with my finance and/or productivity feeds: You should be saving more, stop procastinating! Ugh.

This feed though gives me the most perspective. It's the Christian Science Monitor All Stories feed. Some stories don't appeal to me, but there are always some gems, like language learning through girlfriends or first name basis criticisms. Plus I like the slice of life stories, like dad dealing with the three-second rule or middle-aged volunteers.

I can't stop thinking about getting an Xbox 360 and Halo 3, but I must wait until this Friday, so I am also passing the time with a book: The Birth of Venus by Susan Dunant. I read it in bed and it puts me to sleep. Historical novels? About or related to striking women depicted paintings? It must be historical literature moe.

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

(tags book, English, French)

I just finished reading The Virgin Blue, a novel by Tracy Chevalier. I don't exactly remember when I got this book, but it must have been during a trip to Spain. I was enthralled by Chevalier's break out novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring, some years ago so I decided to get some more by this author. I finished this book within a day.

If you had an opportunity to find out more about your ancestors would you do it? This book seems to match some aspects of Chevalier's life: American living in Europe, infatuated with ancestors and/or history. It seems typical for a first novel. I was pleasantly suprised with the distant connection (as opposed to close) between the painting on the cover of the book and the actual story.

I drew some parallels to the 20th century's main character's plight of living in a foreign country and sticking out like a sore thumb, to my own experience. Are there some things that I do that label me as "foreigner" that I am not aware of? Well, I don't paint my shutters any ghastly colors, though. Still I can related to people insisting on speaking English to me when I try my best to speak their language.

Also, this book uses some French phrases that are beyond the reach of my high-school French, with no directly explanation in English as to what they mean. I felt dissatisfied with that, and with myself for forgetting the French. I did look up some place names that the book mentions. Ah France, shaped like a cow's head.

I want to scream at the irrationality of the people in the 16th century. Are we that close to animals? Maybe we are.

I am searching the reading guide questions now. It brings a little clarity to my "review". For example, I never considered the psoriasis as more of a coincidence between the 16th century heroine and her 20th century counterpart. Maybe she should just go back to the States because she never had the outbreak there. Haha, my attempts to keep this entry spoiler free make it irriatingly vague.

Passion to burn (through) books: Farhenheit 451

(tags book, classic)

All this time in Japan, but I still haven't read my Japanese copy of Fahrenheit 451 (華氏451度). I gave up on it and I bought the English version a couple of weeks back.

This work is memorable to me for a couple of reasons. I lent the Japanese version to a friend and he said it was translated in the mannerisms of the time (1960s?). Also this book was a required reading assignment for my junior high school English class, but after the teacher embarassed my reading group and I couldn't save it, I figured out that classic books are like sand grains falling through the sieve of my mind. They don't stick, but they sure do flash brightly.

Still I am enjoying re-reading this book after all this time. Guy Montag is fiery and passionate. He also reminds me of a mid-life crisis case. The book also keeps me contrasting its world with our reality. Anything to keep me thinking is good right?

I have some other media on this book waiting for me to review.

Harry Potter : finished him

(tags book, fantasy, English)

Looks like I snapped up that previous shot too soon. I blazed through the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. J.K. Rowling gave me an series finale that I could anticipate, but not in the way I could ever imagine. I am satisfied and contented with it.

I couldn't find the first 3 books for this shot, unfortunately.

I did have some nagging questions, and I tried searching this book for it. I realized I did not remember all of the Harry Potter lore. Fortunately we live during the Internet era, so I was able to find answers. (spoiler link 1, 2) And I agree with this review from Jenny Sawyer of the Christian Science Monitor (spoiler link 3). I didn't finish the series because of Harry Potter the character. Rowling left some bite-sized take-away messages, but I suspect I will forget them before the week is over.

Now I don't have an immediate urge to read the series again, I want to toss these books away. The next time I encounter Harry Potter will probably be on the big screen.

Oh and give me some sci-fi to counter all the fantasy I have read.

Harry Potter : finish him

(tags book, fantasy, English)

Though I said I didn't want to buy the hardcover version of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the previous book HP and the Half-Blood Prince left off on a big cliff-hanger. Plus I remembered that I really have to fix my RAID setup, which meant my computer would be off-line.

Unfortunately there were two downers when I bought the book. One was the price, which was about 4000 yen. The other downer was that I didn't see the special in-store display containing all of the Harry Potter stuff. Consequently I missed being able to choose between the UK adult version (bigger and different cover) and the regular hard cover. Ahh.

Read read read. This is not bad at all.

Finished The Time Traveller's Wife (book)

(tags book, fiction, science fiction, romance)

Just like one of the breathless recommendations written at the front of the book, The Time Traveller's Wife had me questioning the linearity of love. The constant jumping from time to time and viewpoint was like switching channels on the TV, random and totally unexpected. I am glad that the viewpoints are from both main characters, instead of just the time traveller's wife.

The first few pages show a Clare that knows Henry like a long-lost friend/lover but Henry doesn't know her is predictable, but the author adds zest to the scene by having her shout out and jump like she's won the lottery. Its zany and fresh but at the same time, the story has weight. I cringed and I wept as the characters experienced loss.

But ultimately we are not blessed/cursed with the unexpected, spontaneous time travelling, and we have to live love in the only possible progression we know.

From a technical point of view, I'm glad that the author didn't try to explain the time travelling too much. Its in his genes, but he's not doing Marty McFly. It was pretty funny of Henry being naked all the time. Henry is a practical man, eschewing stuff he knows he can't take with him the next time time snatches him away. He does have a lot of books, which let's the author's literary competence shine through. I must admit I tend to gloss and skip over anything that looks like a poem. I guess it needs to be a song in order to be palatable for me.

SPOILERS

I don't think it was fair that Henry visits Clare well into the future. I mean, she should be able to live without Henry but this gives her a false hope. But he knows this too and writes it in the letter. It's 50 years since he died so she could have remarried.

Anyways, how do you end a lifetime relationship?

END SPOILERS

Harry Potter has Jumped the Shark

(tags book, fiction, fantasy, English)

I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Saturday. I feel that HP jumped the shark in this book, though I will continue to read this series. Even though this book is about 800+ pages, it still doesn't feel long enough to explain the parts I'm interested in.

I went to Kobe Random Walk and I hefted the next book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but because I already bought another piece of entertainment that day I put it back on the shelf. They were having a sale on the hardbacks which worked out to be around 2100 yen, but I rather get the 1700 yen paperback to match my set and also to be able to bring it with me. Actually I don't want to buy the hardback of the last book, so I suppose I have to wait for the paperback coming in a few months?

SPOILERS

I wished Harry spent more time with Cho, actually, but given the time that the author spends on the two, its obvious she's just a side character. They kiss but it just seems so vague that there's no lasting emotion. She doesn't take part in the action either, so how could Cho be in touch with Harry's feelings. And what about Harry and Hermione and Ron? It's a love triangle waiting to burst. Maybe next book.

It feels like the author brings out Dumbledore whenever she wants to show her cards. The author has a habit of pulling hidden plots at the end and telling you I told you so. Actually in this book I could anticipate some of the story, such as Dumbledore keeping Harry at arms length. Also Snape is becoming more human to me, while Harry's beloved father is revealed to be a cruel person. The Sirius and Harry relationship was one where the two think of the relationship differently: Sirius sees Harry as more like a friend than a son, and Harry wants Sirius to be his father figure.

I found it unbelievable that people would deny or refute the truth for so long. Umbridge seems to me the right hand of Lord Voldermort but there seems to be no relation at all. And Harry's temper seems to be getting out of hand, but then again he is 16 years old.

END SPOILERS

Wanting to read Harry Potter

(tags book, fantasy)

I did start reading the fourth Harry Potter book, The Goblet of Fire, a couple of weeks ago. I stopped around the time I started the Puzzle Quest for DS. But when I decided to go to the States I brought the book instead of the electronic gaming. Though in the middle of the book was slow going, by the time I got to the endgame it was a page-turner. Romance, finally. Now I can't wait to continue reading the rest of the books.

I do have the fifth book already from my Europe trip from two years ago, and now I know that I have to obtain the sixth book. Finally I noticed the countdown at the Barnes and Borders stores for the seventh book. Only about 50 days or something.

I am not watching the movies if I can help it.