Hi,
Way back in the dim dark past, Jools and I went to Science Fiction Conventions and at one of them William Gibson was the Guest Of Honor. I should add here that William Gibson is the writer of some of my favourite books; Neuromance and the Difference Engine and Virtual Light and I’ll stop now. Anyway at the convention I had the pleasure of listening to William reading from some of his works. When I read Neuromancer for the first time ( and the subsequent times) it was at a million miles an hour, the story and the settings encouraged this. It was a ripper read.
So imagine my surprise when I heard him reading and it was in a slow and really measured voice, so much calmer. So now when I read them I can hear his voice and tend to read his books at a much slower speed.
Now to the point of all this. NPR’s Rick Kleffel had an hour long chat with William Gibson and has uploaded the podcast. Best of all when the interview ends, you can hear the William Gibson reading from both ‘Neuromancer’ and his new novel, ‘Spook Country’, which I haven’t seen yet. (Trip to Minotaur coming up I think). Well worth a cup of coffee and an hour of your time.
http://trashotron.com/agony/news/2007/08-13-07.htm#081307
The interview can be listened to at
UPDATE: BoingBoing has a podcast interview with William Gibson as well… http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/21/boingboingboing_15_w.html
MP3 Feed http://odeo.com/show/16091713/4/download/BoingBoingBoing015WilliamGibson.mp3
On with the silliness.
OK it’s Monday, you probably don’t want to be there (wherever there is) and you are reading this an attempt to prolong the actual “start of the working week” (it’s OK. that’s what we are here for). Here is a turn your brain to mush entertainment from Jools.
“This is an impedimentia flash test. The idea is that you have multiple moving objects on the screen. Some of which you have to track – all at once. Two objects is easy peasy, anymore than that and my head falls off. Do have fun.
Love, Jools.
http://www.psychology.uoguelph.ca/faculty/trick/mot.html ”
I could manage three (one time in four). Blame Jools.
Need a bit of inspiration? Have I found the toy for you. Just spin the “Wheel Of Ideas” and see what turns up. We have the “battery operated flying concept” or the “exclusive inflatable vehicle” This little web application has just the right combination of eye-catching but simple graphics and the complete lack of any practical use. In other words, Perfect for a Monday morning.
Here’s how it works. Give the wheel a spin and it will choose from a relatively small list of words. The first two words or phrases generally describe the third. In other words, every idea is just stupid enough that you can be nearly certain there’s a possibility of a good domain name.
http://www.tdbspecialprojects.com/
Continuing on with the useless things you can do to kill time, this one is from Roger C.
“Hi Thatch try this
(and type in words like “goldfish”, not just names)
http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan
cheers Roger ”
So if we take the words from the ideas generator and plug them itnt the slogan generator the question is “Have we just put advertising agencies out of a gig?” Probably not, but I’ll bet it’s lunch time before you start work.
Got one of those flashy new phones and a shortish commute to work?
Why not have DailyLit email a book to you , one segment per day. They have recently add a bunch public-domain and Creative Commons-licensed science fiction, including most of the Cory Doctrow stuff (he is in town for the writers festival. and sold out already. bugger) and Flatland (which is a good read), and let’s not forget the old favourites like Frankenstein, From the Earth to the Moon, and The Time Machine.
http://www.dailylit.com/books/alices-adventures-in-wonderland
Or there’s Alice.
This one is another in a long line of “make it go as far as you can” that has been done with everything from paper airplanes to penguins in previous Flash games. That being said, it’s a fun little diversion, and particularly so if you’re a Simpsons nut. In this one, you are Homer Simpson driving a crane with a wrecking ball on it. The rest of the Simpson family is locked inside an armoured vehicle, and your job is to whack the vehicle hard enough to break them free. This will only take a few minutes.
http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/content/games/wb/?land=us&userid=null
Over at http://www.notdeadyet.com.au/ we had an interesting week. Amy Macdonald, Paul Dateh and Ambient Teknlogy. Stroll over and have a listen.
thatch
{Currently watching: Midsomer Murders (ooh scary stuff boys & girls). the series will be over all too soon}
{Currently reading: Susan Cooper’s “Dark is Rising Trilogy” and then Spook Country?}
{Quick Status Check: Still going to hell.}
{Crop Circle Status: August: Only a measly 6. I was expecting a lot more by this time. oh well
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2007/2007.html }