Anathem

My 2010 favorites

I hate to compare things I love.  But for the sake of a more interesting blog post, I’m going to anyway.  In real life, I don’t really like playing favorites, because different books and movies and stuff all have their own spirit, and are ultimately incomparable.  But let’s disregard that for a few moments.

For books, the nominees are books I finished reading for the first time this year, regardless of their release date.  Movies, TV shows, and film scores must be from 2010.  (Books I only read a few chapters from (which actually make up a majority of my reading) are not qualified.)

And here we go… and Happy New Year!

Year’s best live-action film…

inception (Obviously.)

Year’s best animated film…

dragon1

Year’s best TV show…

fringe

Year’s best film score…

dragon2

Year’s best non-fiction book…

genius

Year’s best fiction book…

anathem

Best whatever else…

Best documentary…

wsb

Best school…

am

By S P Hannifin, ago

Some junk I bought today (to help the economy)

Today I bought me some Piccadilly notebooks, so life can finally begin! I was looking for some notes on a story I wanted to write in my few spiral notebooks, but I seem to lose them easily, and their metal spirals get all caught in each other, and tangled, and they don’t sit on a bookshelf very well. Their big advantage, though, is that they’re cheap cheap cheap. But I decided, hey, I’m a billionaire (in the making), so why don’t I buy some nicer notebooks? Hmmm?? Why??? HMMMMM???!??!? Then I punched myself in the face and had a nervous breakdown. After that mess (which has now come to be known as my morning routine) I picked up the dagger, ran down the hall, and stabbed the cook.

OK, sorry, I’m just tired. Of being bullied around.

OK, sorry, serious blogging time…

So I went to Borders and looked at their moleskines. I know some people who just love their moleskines. But, geez, they were expensive! Fortunately someone on Twitter told me about Piccadilly notebooks. They look just about the same, but cost less than half as much. So I bought some of those. Yeah!

I Googled around “Piccadilly vs moleskine” and there seem to be a lot people quite happy with their Piccadilly notebooks. But I think you can only find them at Borders, where as moleskines are available all over the place (I think). I wonder if moleskine lovers are kinda like Apple lovers… nice quality, but expensive… although after you buy something expensive, I think you’re more likely to at least try to convince yourself that it was worth it, since you just spent a lot on it… know wad I’m sayin’ yo?

Oh, they also ended up having a hardback Anathem by Neal Stephenson on sale for $6 (cheaper than the paperback) so, though I already read it, I done went bought it. Awesome book. And hardback for $6? Great deal. (Actually, it looks like the paperback Anathem is only $3.20 on Amazon, ha! Did they print too many?)

And then I also bought Mystery Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection. Not that I have any time to be watching movies. They’re old and not the greatest of quality, but for the price, I couldn’t resist. They also had some other genres, like science fiction and horror, and though those were also tempting, I think the mystery genre of old films is probably the least crappy. (Old sci-fi films I can hardly stand. They’re usually so corny. But it’s still tempting to give them a chance…)

Um… I guess that’s it. Just me blathering about junk I bought today. I just bought it all to, you know, help the economy.

I can only let myself buy one more thing, and that’s a new pair of glasses. I looked at a few places in the mall, but looking at myself in the mirror, I just didn’t like anything, not even the glasses I have now. Maybe it’s my face, but I can’t do anything about that. So I’ll look at Walmart selection tomorrow, or some time this week…

Well, maybe two more things, because I also need a haircut. But that’s it. Although… some computer games on Amazon are lookin’ cheap… Mass Effect 2 especially… mmmmmm… but I must resist… I won’t have any time to play it anyway…

By S P Hannifin, ago

Short Anathem review

I finished reading Neal Stephenson’s lengthy novel Anathem a short while ago.  I’ve never read anything by Stephenson before, but I’ve seen his books at the library and bookstores, and they’ve always looked interesting.  This is the first one I actually decided to go ahead and read.

For someone who’s never read a Stephenson novel before and didn’t know what to expect, it’s pretty brilliant.  My mind is still a bit tired from trying to understand it all.  I doubt I’ll ever be able to, since I sort of disagree with the directions in which he takes quantum physics (another one of those “it implies the existence of parallel universes!” things, which I guess works in this science fiction setting, but from a real science point of view, I’m not convinced; not that I’m a quantum physics expert of course).  But the book is filled with very engaging topics on physics and philosophy, and Stephenson’s prose on the topics is very readable.  So even if you’re new to the topics he discusses, it’s not like reading a scholarly journal on the topic with weirdo lingo.  It might be hard to grasp some of the concepts, but that will be because of the concepts themselves (like parallel universes) and not because of the writing.  I honestly think Stephenson could write some pretty awesome nonfiction books if he so desired, and easily replace this little Godel, Escher, Bach part of my bookshelf.

I do have one minor complaint, which includes a bit of a spoiler.  So if you’re planning on reading the book, read no further so that I do not taint your opinions.

I thought the ending was weak.  Actually, I Googled around, and it seems this is not an uncommon thought for Stephenson’s work in general.  What was the climax?  It builds up to it and then we’re in the epilogue.  I could write a much more lengthy post about why I think it was weak and what I’d do to improve it, but my mind is too tired for that.  And, being a wannabe writer myself, I’ll admit that endings are probably the hardest part to please others with.  And, from a reader’s perspective, I’m generally displeased with endings anyway.  I think the best ending I know of is the ending to Ender’s Game, which I read back in 2007 (and was written back in 1985 I think?).  The only other books I thought had acceptable endings were The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick and Anvil of the World by Kage Baker (who, sadly, just passed away last month).  All the other fiction books I’ve read had either weak endings, or “to be continued” endings, which I guess don’t really count, do they?

Overall, though, Anathem is still a brilliant piece, and I will definitely be reading some more Neal Stephenson some time.

By S P Hannifin, ago