A big fan of cyberpunk, that's what I am

Posted on: August 15, 2004
Words like "cyberpunk" and "cyberspace" may be trite, cliched, and flat-out overused, but I still have a soft spot for them. The imploding psychology doesn't affect me and I figure even if they go out of fashion to make way for new words, oh, they'll be back — and the funny thing is, if you think they're walking verbal cliches, then you very well know what they're all about.
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I've just finished reading a novel while my ears heal (I hope they are, mercy). You may have heard of it, since it came out like a decade ago. I know I've heard it mentioned many times over the last few years, but I finally got my paws on it at the library and I'm really thankful I was able to read it. It goes by such an obvious name and it's an unbridled literary adventure. I need not even begin to explain how epic or wondrous the journey in 400-odd pages is — it's just that, that good. Bless you, Neal Stephenson, for The Diamond Age. It's "fiction" but it makes some really meaningful, entertaining social commentary which applies to real life, and I just adore the theme of growth and of contrasts (i.e. Victorian vs. Confucian thought and the study between cultures). The ending felt too soon to me, but maybe that's another notch on its bedpost.
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Some of the ideas within the book seem preposterously obvious (while keenly being presented in some futuristic cyberpunk context), but isn't it strange how often the very obtuse which juts out like a square tomato in a blueberry patch is ignored? I wonder why. Lovely, lovely book. I'm glad to hear that they still have KFC in the future (21XX?).
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Other books I've read lately include From A Buick 8 by my favorite master of the macabre, Stephen King — you know who he is.?I was a bit shocked to open the first page to discover a mention of a main character's father passing away a year previous?in the timeline. My own father passed away on 2003.08.08 so the timing was rather impeccable (as the Penguin from Batman might say).
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Oh, and since I said "books" in the plural back there: I also read a nice biography by Michio Kaku, one of the world's smartest human beings, on none other than Albert Einstein; and Yanni's autobiography, Yanni In Words. I wish I could give the latter a higher personal rating, but alas, I cannot, for technical details behind how Mr. Chrysomallis actually works his wonders are missing save for a few meager breadcrumbs… and I was hoping to learn more. So this one gets a?3/5?in my… book.?Speaking of cliche, it's certainly a cliche that the Y-man (Yanni is apparently equivalent to "John" in Greek?) gets a bad rap for making "new age elevator music" or somesuchsort, but that's an opinion held mostly by the ignorant and unfriendly who have not heard a good wealth of his musical output and do not actually take the time to listen to what the man himself has to say. BTW,?I never knew he went through so much trouble to play at the Acropolis before!
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Coming up next, I will likely be catching up with William Gibson's early canon. He is unquestionably seminal to cyberpunk although he doesn't like the term. I'm getting shades of 80s-90s nostalgia already. I wonder what a similar situation in the 70s would be? Discopunk? Right now I'm in a situation that is a simultaneous curse and blessing because there are lots of books I've wanted to read for years and get educated with, but because of my techno music, I have been putting it off for a long time. Well, I guess now's that time. I was also looking for a good cyberpunk MMORPG — why don't they do a Deus Ex one? :( — but nothing as of the here and now has caught my fancy. Got a recommendation? Please, let me know.
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In other news of the recent, Joyrex's WATMM has got MP3s of the very last Orbital concert?@ Maida Vale, the whole shebang. Gracious thank-yous go out to the webmaster for hosting such a historic event, and RIP Orbital?(tho *not* the Hartnoll Brothers) and much, much respect ado ado ado due. Go there and download it and preserve a piece of electronic music history that will be sure to be remembered in the hearts of future technophile legions. ^_^
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Threads of curiosity:
If I could be a cat, I would be…

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