Phil's Rambling Rants
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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Phil Parker" journal:[<< Previous 25 entries]
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04:53 pm
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Book review: The Enchantment Emporium
Today's book review is The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff.
This book takes place in a brand new world and tells a complete story. There is a lot of sex in this book. Most of it is off screen and we don't spend a whole lot of time on the details, but this is definitely not appropriate for the children of prudish parents.
I come out of this book slightly bemused. It was certainly a good book, the sort of book where I was genuinely disappointed that it was over because I don't want to leave the world. Its characters spend enough time doing realistically stupid human things to be very believable, but manage a lot of the time to be so much more sensible than my culture about their interpersonal relationships that it makes me ache. There was snarky humor, there was action with real tension, there was mystery. But it didn't feel like a Tanya Huff book. Usually, Huff gives us a world that is fairly easy to understand; most of the fun is in watching the characters and the plot. But much of this story is about trying to make sense of what's really going on. It's clear that there are very clear rules; the characters know what's going on. But very little of it is ever actually laid out for the reader; we have to puzzle it out for ourselves. It's entertaining and frustrating at the same time. I almost never re-read books -- I have far more books I want to read than I can get to as it is -- but I have a feeling that I should read this one again just to see how much I missed the first time.
9 out of 10.
Argh. A plot summary will take much more time than I have right now, so I will have to try to get to it later.
Tags: book review, fantasy, tanya huff
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01:56 am
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S J Tucker house concert
In an effort to prove that I really am crazy, when I heard that ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) s00j was doing a house concert at Casa Middleton in Waukegan today (Sunday, July 5, that is -- it's still "today" until I go to bed), at 2 PM, I decided that I would go, even though I had already bought my membership and made my hotel reservations for the aforementioned InConJunction. I actually succeeded in my plan of getting up in time to be on the road at 11 AM EDT, which would have actually gotten me to the venue on time, except that I was so stupidly full of myself for knowing where I was going that I didn't actually consult the map. I failed to recognize the area as I came to it, and roads that I was looking for by name were labeled only by route number, so I drove on by and spent at least an extra 20 minutes on my trip. So I missed the first couple of songs.
I'm not going to try to recap the concert in detail. I just want to say that, while I'd gotten enough of an impression of s00j at DucKon that I actually did this trip, I was completely blown away. She was much more than I was expecting. Amazing voice, great guitar accompaniment, wonderful stage presence and showmanship, and some songs that just reached right down into my soul. I'm still riding in the afterglow of multiple musical orgasms. Plus, I'm also aching from laughter. I hope tollers won't take this the wrong way, but I only knew "Alligator in the House" from her. When she does it, it's a fun little song, but with s00j's schtick, it's oh my god I think I'm going to die funny. The Jewish mother alligator just has to be experienced to be believed. However, that hilarity paled to insignificance compared to a number she did in the circle after the concert, "Don't Lick My Toes", in which the singer belabors in excruciating detail how that particular kink just does not work for her. There was a line in there about how it felt like being flossed with warm liver. I laughed very nearly as long and hard as I at DucKon for the Howl for Mayor McCheese.
Absolutely the only thing wrong with the concert was that it was too short. But any more wonderful would probably have burned my brain out entirely, so maybe it's for the best. Even though some people who had said they would be there weren't there, we had a good song circle after the concert. I got to sing some of my moldy old crap filk classics that I don't believe s00j had heard before, starting with Chris Weber's "Beware of the Sentient Chili" in response to her song about the salad of doom. I also got more hugs at the concert/party than I had at the con, and I got to snuggle exapno too.
EDIT: corrected the title of "Don't Lick My Toes" -- I plead lack of sleep when I originally posted.
Tags: filk, friends, music, travel
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01:31 am
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InConJunction
3 weeks ago, still riding the high from DucKon, I pulled the trigger on InConJunction. I went all by myself this time. I had a pretty good time, but it was nowhere near what DucKon had been.
( some recollections )
The InConJunction folks did a good job. It is not the con's fault that there were fewer of my friends there than I might have hoped, and it certainly isn't their fault that I was shorter than even my usual on emotional energy to connect with new people most of the time. There was a period in InConJunction's history when the con was actively hostile to filkers, but I certainly didn't have any complaints this year.
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, food, friends
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01:00 am
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Book review: Storm from the Shadows
Today's book review is Storm from the Shadows by David Weber.
This is the latest in the Honor Harrington universe, a fairly direct sequel to The Shadow of Saganami, but it would probably be fairly understandable to anyone generally familiar with the universe. It ends in a sadistic multiple cliffhanger (that is, rather than bringing the multiple plot lines together for a conclusion, Weber winds each one up to a dramatically tense moment, and we hit the last page).
This book should serve as a real test of whether you're an addict or not. The overall story arc has clearly jumped the shark. The scope of the main villain's plot is mostly revealed, and it strains credibility badly. Further, the effectiveness of the villain's Machiavellian maneuvering completely shatters believability. Many, many people who have risen to positions of real authority end up doing just what the villain's script says, in a way that makes it clear that it's only happening because it's what the author's script said. The good guys, who are supposed to be smart, start putting the pieces together more because the story says it's time than because it's clear that they should understand now. There are far too many new technological twists for such a well established universe, they seem too pat, and we the readers are just led around by the nose as the author tells us just how the different bits of tech will interact in battles, and the actual details feel like they're being massaged to fit where the story is supposed to go, instead of driving the story there. And then there's the point where the book stops, which as I mentioned in my opening paragraph is about as completely the polar opposite of an ending as anyone could ever manage to write.
However, the metaphysical literary opiates that infuse the series are still present; despite all the above complaints (and the fact that I was warned about the ending before I picked it up), I couldn't keep myself from starting it, I couldn't keep myself from reading it, and only my crummy memory and inability to stay focused on anything will keep me from exploding from frustration as I wait to see how the mess shakes out.
6 out of 10. If you're not already addicted, it's almost certainly too weak to hook you. But if you are already addicted, you know you have to read it anyway. And the next couple, too.
( plot summary )
Tags: book review, david weber, sf
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06:15 am
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How Far Back Does Music Go?
From the GT list, a fascinating article about a 35000 year old flute and other signs of culture from the Ach Valley.
Tags: cool links, science
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06:32 pm
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Book review: The Shadow of Saganami
Today's book review is The Shadow of Saganami by David Weber.
This book takes place in the "Honorverse", the world of Honor Harrington, but Lady Harrington only has a cameo appearance. The story itself stands alone fairly well, and the universe would probably make sense without already being familiar.
This book has so much wrong with it that I'd have plenty of meat for a very detailed pan. It's 745 pages, which is certainly a couple hundred too many. A lot of what happens is political, and it's convoluted and contrived. A lot of it is military, and those parts include many passages of excruciating description, explicitly listing details. A number of details at many levels seem to be a bit off. Mostly, the first several chapters just dragged to the point where I remembered that when this book had first come in, I'd set it aside unread, and I was thinking that I should have stuck with my decision at the time.
But somewhere, maybe a third of the way in, Weber's magic kicked in, and I became deeply engrossed in spite of all the flaws. I complained a lot more than in the early Honor books, but I definitely had that feeling of addiction.
If you've never tried Weber, this isn't the best book to start with. (Go find a copy of On Basilisk Station.) If space navy battles aren't your thing, don't bother. But if you're hooked on Honor Harrington and haven't been able to get your fix, this does have the same feel. 7 out of 10.
( plot summary )
Tags: book review, david weber, sf
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01:03 am
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InConJunction
I had a really badly needed good time at DucKon; makes me realize that I really need to get to more cons, because it's my best chance to actually be with people. So I've just bought my reg and made my hotel reservation for InConJunction.
Hopefully I'll see other folks there. Let me know if you'll be there.
Tags: cons, friends
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09:07 pm
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DucKon
I'm going to attempt to remember the weekend in order. This will probably be long, not too coherent, and less interesting than the other 37 conreps that you've already found on your friends page.
( click here if you dare )
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends
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07:29 pm
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Thank you DucKon
I will try to manage a real con report, but I can't spend hours on it right now, so just in case I never get back to it, I want to thank everyone who helped me have possibly my best convention ever, and without doubt a really good time at a time when I needed it as badly as I ever have.
Thank you, DucKon committee, for pulling together all the wonderful stuff together. Thank you, janmagic, jerusha, and everyone else who brought in so many performers and made sure we had such a great place to play. Thank you, all the concert and circle performers who gave me more musical orgasms than I can hope to count. Thank you, all the people who made me laugh so long and hard my chest hurts today, especially Adam (anyone who was there Saturday night should). Thank you, all the lovely ladies who let me snuggle them, especially barbarakitten_t and exapno for accepting possibly too much attention. Thank you, all the people who took the time to talk to me, especially filkart and ithiriel, and congrats to you two! Thank you to everyone who offered hugs, compliments, encouragement, or just had fun while I was around.
I hope that I helped a lot of other people enjoy the weekend too. I refuse to feel guilty for hogging all the fun. I really needed it. But I don't want to feel guilty about not feeling guilty.
Tags: cons, friends
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11:16 pm
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Book review: In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
First, a confession. I have not posted any book reviews in quite some time. Partly I have been reading fewer novels, but mostly I have just let books awaiting review become part of the general pile of things that I'm not doing. In the hope of partially redeeming myself, I am at least going to review the book I just finished today: In the Courts of the Crimson Kings by S. M. Stirling.
This is a loose sequel to The Sky People -- same universe, but different main characters. Reading The Sky People first is not necessary. (This book does include spoilers for the earlier one, though, so reading in order is somewhat indicated.) It is a complete story in one book.
This is a rip-roaring B-movie adventure story, set in an updated-for-a-new-generation classic Mars of deserts and canals. There's a lot of really nice bits of detail in the world building, moments that just make me go "that's so COOL!" The characters are a little bit larger than life, and a little bit depth-challenged, but sympathetic enough to be engaging, and the hopeless romantic locked up inside me got all mushy over the love story. The plot is a little weak; things are just a little too predictable. And there are a couple of nits I could pick, since they poked into my suspension of disbelief a bit. But some of the images he gives us of what really advanced biotech could be like really activate my sense of wonder.
8 out of 10.
( plot summary )
( nits )
Tags: book review, s m stirling, sf
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01:00 am
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Meditation on the imperfect world
This is something I wrote this afternoon at Kickapoo with an old-fashioned pen and paper. I'm making myself sit down and post it because I'm keeping far too much stuff in my head.
I do not mean to threaten or disparage anyone else's beliefs with this. I don't know that I believe it all myself, for all that I wrote it in definite terms. This is spiritual, but not in agreement with fundamental doctrine of any religion I know. If you're tetchy about your religion, please just don't read on, because while I'd welcome an honest discussion, I'm in no mood for a fight.
( heresy within )
Tags: philosophy
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08:07 pm
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Gitmo
Closing Guantanamo might make us less safe, but keeping it open definitely makes us less American.
Tags: news, politics
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10:38 pm
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Derivative Works
The current law about derivative works is that distributing work which incorporates someone else's protected material is forbidden unless permission is explicitly granted. Exactly what constitutes distribution is somewhat shifty, and exactly what is covered by copyright, what is considered fair use, and what is incidental is even more shifty, but I don't want to get sucked into those digressions. What I'm on about tonight can be examined by looking at fan fiction. Our corporate masters, the publishing and media companies, would have us believe that it is their prerogative, due to their copyright, to decide if fan fiction is allowed -- and, to say that by default it's not, and that if we commit the crime of using their worlds and characters as a starting point for our own creativity, they are fully justified in smiting us with the full force of their legal system (I say their, for they have bought and paid for it -- but I digress), and that even if they show mercy now and then, it's not something we have any right to expect.
I think my main point tonight has leaked through into the tone of the above. I've wrestled a bit before with this monster of copyright as at applies to derivative works, but I was thinking about the issue this evening and my thoughts hit a bit of a sea change. Previously, while I have always felt that the fanficcer creating new plot but re-using someone else's world and characters or the filker retelling someone else's story in a different medium were given short shrift for the human value of their creativity, I also felt that the original copyright holders had some of the right on their own side. I had an insight tonight that makes me feel I was giving too much credit to the orthodox position.
Simply put, to deny the reader of a novel (or viewer of a movie, etc.) the right to create derivative work is to assert that they are not allowed to think and imagine about what they have read, but only to passively accept it. Creativity is a fundamental to personhood; I aver that to give a damn about a work is to actually hold it in the mind and play with it, not merely looking at what is actually there, but to consider what might have been there. At the same time, to deny that reader the right to share his derivative creation is another denial of personhood. To create something with our imagination and then to share it with another is a fundamental expression of the quality of being more than animals. Nothing we create is completely original; it all comes from a context of experience at some point. And if the audience doesn't have at least some of the same context, sharing our work brings us no connection. Thus, it seems to me, we cannot reject derivative creation such as fan fiction as less valid, as creation, simply because it takes more of its underlying context from a particular copyrighted source.
Bleah. I started this entry thinking that I had a clear point I could state quickly, but it keeps growing more heads with each swat, I'm about out of hit points, and I need my LJ client for another post.
Tags: ethics, philosophy, society
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10:04 pm
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Philosophical comment
I wrote a comment in another journal that I want to preserve for myself where I'll see it later. Out of respect for the original entry being locked (and this being a public post) that's all I'm saying here. (The person I'm replying to is free to reveal zirself if zie wishes.)
I'm with you in finding the notion that consciousness would continue forever terrifying. Just ceasing to be doesn't frighten me. I'm not through enjoying being conscious, so ceasing to be isn't attractive and I do try to avoid it for now, but the scary parts are the unpleasant stuff that so often comes between fully functional and not there any more, and being unable to completely shake off that supposedly comforting notion that my soul might truly be immortal.
Of course, that's on an intellectual level. I still have the awful instinctive fear of death when the car starts to slip on that patch of ice. Our instinctive fear of death is one of those dirty deals we get, inevitably, because of being evolved creatures. The quality that makes us people is being able to consciously transcend instinct. We don't have quite enough of it.
Tags: philosophy
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12:45 am
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Drip... drip?
So I stick the pan from my very late dinner under the faucet in the sink and turn on the water to rinse it, and a little water trickles out, and then just a drip.
It was working fine just a few minutes back, when I rinsed the food processor and washed the cutting board. Now, nothing. I did the obvious, turned the circuit breaker off and back on. No effect. I'll poke around tomorrow and see if I can find anything, but I don't think there's anything else that I can do but call the well guy.
This is so not good. In the "multi thousand dollar repair when you haven't worked since August" sense of "not good".
Tags: home, life
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03:02 pm
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Mad Social Science!
I assume that pretty much everyone in the world either already reads Girl Genius or has decided they don't care, but I have to squee at somebody. Today's strip made me laugh the hardest I have in a couple of weeks and almost literally had me rolling on the floor.
Tags: comics, cool links, funny
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02:04 pm
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Surreal philosophy of the day
What if cosmic inflation is God looking at the Big Bang and going "Hey, cool!" The universe grew vastly in an instant because God was really paying attention to it. The universe continues to expand because God is still interested. If He gets bored, the universe closes and heads toward the Big Crunch. If He really gets tired of us, the universe just disappears.
Should we be worried that God might have ADD?
Joy is the purpose of the universe. Joy is not the absence of pain; they're something like orthogonal. Pain can get in the way of joy, but fear -- trying too hard to seek out safety, to avoid pain -- cuts us off from joy. If we let our fear rule us, and we succeed in such safety that we no longer have joy, then God will get bored with us. Do we individually disappear, or does it only mean the whole universe disappears if we all hide in our safety?
Tags: philosophy
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05:33 pm
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Book review: Starship: Rebel
I have a truly horrible stack of books I haven't written about here, and I'm going to knock off a couple before I forget them even more completely, starting with Starship: Rebel by Mike Resnick.
This is the fourth in the Starship series. It follows Mutiny and Pirate (both of which seem to have escaped my tagging of my book reviews) and Mercenary. The characters and situation would probably be a little hard to pick up without reading from the beginning.
As the saga of Captain Cole continues, Resnick continues to examine the problems of the decent individual people working for an out of control government. It's more unreal than more seriously military space opera, as Resnick relatively casually offs huge numbers of people, but the real story happens with just a few people ducking and weaving through unintended consequences, trying to figure out what's right, and finding the determination to do it. This is a little more compelling than the earlier books, but also a little more troubling with the large number of deaths that are just background description for the main story. 8 out of 10.
( plot highlights )
Tags: book review, mike resnick, sf
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04:14 pm
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Oh, yuck.
I just found a tick crawling on my belly. Now there's a sign of spring I don't appreciate.
Tags: life, nature
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09:22 pm
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Back from FKO
Made it home in one piece. More later, after sleep.
Tags: cons, travel
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09:30 am
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Book review: Dragons Wild
The first on my pile of books to review is Dragons Wild by Robert Asprin.
This is the first book in a series. Unfortunately, due to Asprin's untimely death, there is only one more book in the series. This book does a fair job at reaching a stopping point in an ongoing story.
This is a story about how some of the people around us aren't actually human. I enjoy this theme in general, and when the non-humans are called dragons, I'm disposed to enjoy it. Asprin is pretty vague and not completely consistent about the nature of dragons. It's tolerable in a fluffy book, but it's hard to be very original while being so vague. The main thing that's fun about this book is its setting. Most of the book is set in the French Quarter, where Asprin lived for the later part of his life. The Quarter in this book is vividly drawn and fascinating, and has the feel of bring drawn from personal experience. While I suspect that other people who live there see the place a little differently, this book feels like Asprin is telling us about the place he really lived in and loved, with certain characters being dragons to make it a fantasy novel.
This book is fast paced and unpretentious. It's not deeply serious, but it doesn't have the obvious humor of the more familiar Myth series.
Nothing for the ages, but it was fun. 7 out of 10.
( plot highlights )
Tags: book review, fantasy, robert asprin
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12:01 pm
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Apple cheese curry
I've been in a rut cooking wise, so I wanted to try something a little different. I picked up a couple of Granny Smiths at the grocery store on Monday. I was figuring on a curry type thing with pork, but I got the urge to try something I really hadn't done before, so to something not otherwise too daring for me, I decided to add cheese. It's definitely different. I think it's pretty good; it's not the best dish I've ever come up with, and I won't be making it every week, but I think I might well do it again.
2 normal sized Granny Smith apples, diced
2 small ribs celery, diced
cooking oil
~½ lb. lean pork, diced
1 T chopped onion
1 t chopped garlic
fenugreek
coriander
cumin
turmeric
1 can cream of celery soup
splash of milk
2-3 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese
rice
Start the rice. Saute apples and celery while dicing pork. Add the pork and seasonings and saute until the pork is cooked. Stir in the soup and enough milk to keep it from being too gooey. Stir in cheese. Stir in rice. (If you prefer, serve over rice, but I prefer to mix things like this all together.)
Tags: food, recipe
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08:51 pm
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More spring
I went to Kickapoo this afternoon. I took the Out and Back to the haul road, out to the pond overlook for my sandwich, and then came directly back because it had gotten late. More butterflies: another mourning cloak and a bunch of the anglewings with green hair on their bodies. A dragonfly in one of the marshes. Fox sparrows, a Carolina wren, another flock of house finches, a few wood ducks. The most striking feature of the day was the frogs. In the marshy area along the haul road where the trail first meets it, there seemed to be at least half a dozen different frog calls, and they were collectively almost loud enough to make me want to cover my ears. I don't usually go ga-ga over frogs, but this was quite the amphibian symphony; I stayed by that pond for 20 minutes listening and trying to actually see any frogs. I actually saw one frog as it jumped away, and one other lump that I think was a frog but I wasn't quite sure. How hundreds of critters making that much noise can be so invisible is quite the mystery.
Tags: birds, butterflies, kickapoo, nature, walks
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09:57 am
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Butterfly!
Spring is really coming. Lots of birds about even though I didn't get out for my morning walk until well after 9. I think I heard a meadowlark. I think I heard a Carolina wren. I was surrounded by a flock of house finches for a while. I saw one phoebe by the bridge. There were two yesterday and one was singing. Best of all, there was a lovely mourning cloak butterfly. I haven't seen any flowers; I don't know what he'll find to eat. But the first butterfly has been seen!
Tags: birds, butterflies, nature, walks
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12:21 pm
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Book review: By Schism Rent Asunder
The next book review on my pile is By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber.
This is the direct sequel to Off Armageddon Reef, which you should definitely read first. This volume advances the overall story arc and ends at an only slightly frustrating place.
I could find a lot of reasons to say this is a poor book. The whole world is very contrived to create the setting Weber wanted to play in and call it science fiction, and in this book some new details about the history are revealed that border on deus ex machina. The level of gratuitous detail about the workings of sailing ships, cannon, naval battles, and such is down from the first book but still pretty high. Several major plot points, while emotionally satisfying, are just too pat; things shouldn't work out quite so perfectly except at the end of a fairy tale. It is the measure of Weber's writing that, in spite of being aware of all this, I just couldn't put this book down.
While most of the wider story (beyond the interactions of the individual characters) is pretty whimsical, this book reaches for the profound in its examination of religion. In explaining why the bad guy's version of the world religion is evil, but the good guys really are good guys and really are motivated by genuine faith, it comes pretty close to articulating how I feel about organized religion.
A lot of people will probably argue that this book doesn't deserve to be called great. It does have real weaknesses. But it grabbed me so hard that I can't give it less than a 9 out of 10.
( plot highlights )
Tags: book review, david weber, sf
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