(no subject)

[prog]

I acknowledge some burnout starting to get to me. I'm not really stressed -- the work isn't nearly as fun as (say) Volity, but also not nearly as torturous as (say) Book-writing -- but just the same, I'm pretty damn tired of working, and am goofing off more.

Here, have an update on what I'm reading.

Amber I'm on book seven, of ten. Just chewing through the text. It's good fun. As promised (and I forgive everyone who spoiled the surprise for me) there's a significant shift in tone between the first five and the last five books (with good reason). I think I like the new perspective more. For one thing, there's a suggestion that it sees Earth (and the rest of Shadow) as something more than an infinitely huge (toolshed|vacation home). I always felt a little bad about that, y'know?

Transmetropolitan OK, I think I've finally isolated the one thing that truly bugs me about this comic: I'd find it so much more readable if Spider were exactly as he is, except a total loser. That is, he strives as much as ever but is nonetheless almost completely unsuccessful in making a name for himself: the Kilgore Trout of sci-fi gonzo journalists. He can keep his contacts and friends; I just want to deny him his fame. Because his writing sucks, that's why. Nobody who rants like a mediocre blogger would have that much popular support, not even in the kraaaaa-zee future. (And before you bring up Ann Coulter, I counter that she is famous, but not popular, at least not in the way Spider is portrayed.) That would neatly solve the whole eau de Mary Sue that pervades the whole book, as well.

I still slog through it because the good bits are actually really good.

The likelihood occurs to me that a lot of mediocre bloggers write the way they do because they liked Transmet and thought they'd get a head start on writing futuristically. har

The System of the World Theoretically. It's been so long that I'm going to have to go back and start with page 1 the next time I pick it up. These books are rewarding, but so so very hard to get into, and I'm afraid that so long as fluffier fare like the Amber books lay close at hand, I'm not going to take the plunge.

Comments

Transmet

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Spider's writing is annoying. I wonder if the author is trying to make a point that people that world just suck so much that they look on anyone who will stick it to the man as a god, or something. (Or, I could say snarkily, Spider's writing can only be as good as his creator's, but for all I know, whatsisname may actually be capable of better journalism than his character.)

And on the other hand, it does seem like some pretty mediocre bloggers get a lot more attention than, in my ever so humble opionion, they deserve.

Eh, my cynical side says the future holds more of the same, only more so.

[cramerica.livejournal.com]

I've had to renew System twice already. It's great, but way too dense for me to read more than a few pages at a time.