kajarainbow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kajarainbow) wrote2005-08-02 03:47 am
kajarainbow) wrote2005-08-02 03:47 am
Entry tags:
Crass consumerism of cool art
...You know, I burnt a fair few months of saved up cash within a few weeks on buying interesting books. Then again, right now I don't have much to spend my money on, because I can't afford the real items (like actual independent living), and I already am doing a lot of savings untouched by this spending spree.
Picked up a bunch of stuff at Borders while visiting my grandmother, that Cryptomicon thingy (will see if it's any good), a random Bruce Sterling book (Zenith Angle), Singularity Sky, and Rudy Rucker's White Light. Rudy Rucker is definitely an interesting writer, not afraid to run with whatever wild ideas strike him. Made for a strange fiction on infinite number sets and a warped version of a Christian afterlife, and more than just that. I enjoyed it, though the Christian stuff had less impact on me than it would on an actual Christian. Notable for the nifty visualizations of many levels of infinity (aleph zero, aleph one, "all of possible existence" and so on).
Some interesting inspiration material so far. Singularity Sky's notable for the Festival, too. Interstellar migrating information-eaters, who offer crazy deals in trade for novel knowledge of any kind. Stories, etc.
I want to read more good nonfiction, but there's so much of it out there and I have a less clear idea of where to start than with fiction.
While I'm on the subject, I was at ConnectiCon a couple of weeks ago. It basically was sufficiently local that I could simply go with my dad and then come home after we were done for the day. The big minus of this being I couldn't just stick around into the late night and watch some of the very few anime showings I was even marginally interested in. The only thing I really watched at any length was Mermaid's Forest (interesting somewhat horrific fantasy involving immortals who've eaten the flesh of a mermaid, and the terrible things it can do to them).
But it was cheaper. No paying for hotels. Mostly, I ended up wandering around the convention looking at all the things people was doing, and getting into brief written conversations with people. I bought a set of purple jaguar ears and tail (at least I think the spotting pattern is jaguar, could be leopard or something else) and put them on with the help of the vendor. (Later I figured out how to put them on myself.) It had interesting effects, as I spent most of the rest of the convention in a more cheerful mood than most. Alas, one of the ears is now lost.
I ended up somewhat befriending a few strangers, including a staff member, three or so cute girls who were hanging out together in similar costumes with nifty fake hair falls and one of them now and then had a leash hooked on someone, and someone working for the vendor I ended up buying a lot of comics from (they had the best manga selection in the dealer's room, though I had to go to another one for American comics). I'm still thinking that next year I would like to try a more elaborate outfit. I have a lot of things I would like to get accomplished before then, though.
Notable comics:
Planetes, the most romantic hard science fiction story I've read so far. Great for making you want to cheer on ventures into outer space, too.
Sexy Voice and Robo, which I was curious about from the first time I just heard the name. It turns out to be a fun romp of this teenage girl's amateur detective/spy adventures. She picked the code name "Sexy Voice" because of her 'phone club' work, and "Robo" is the socially awkward robot-obsessed geek guy she manages to pull into all her adventures. In a way, it reminds me of both Tintin and Encyclopedia Brown, but it has its own definite (somewhat more morally ambiguous) aesthetic. Great fun and remarkably wholesome for the topics it mentions.
Three more volumes of The Maxx (this one not a Japanese comic). The Maxx is... trippy. Screwed up people who either hallucinate or genuinely cross over to a surreal alternative-universe "Outback".
I was going to do a weird convention report narrating real events from a fictitious viewpoint, but ended up not doing that. I might try it later.
Picked up a bunch of stuff at Borders while visiting my grandmother, that Cryptomicon thingy (will see if it's any good), a random Bruce Sterling book (Zenith Angle), Singularity Sky, and Rudy Rucker's White Light. Rudy Rucker is definitely an interesting writer, not afraid to run with whatever wild ideas strike him. Made for a strange fiction on infinite number sets and a warped version of a Christian afterlife, and more than just that. I enjoyed it, though the Christian stuff had less impact on me than it would on an actual Christian. Notable for the nifty visualizations of many levels of infinity (aleph zero, aleph one, "all of possible existence" and so on).
Some interesting inspiration material so far. Singularity Sky's notable for the Festival, too. Interstellar migrating information-eaters, who offer crazy deals in trade for novel knowledge of any kind. Stories, etc.
I want to read more good nonfiction, but there's so much of it out there and I have a less clear idea of where to start than with fiction.
While I'm on the subject, I was at ConnectiCon a couple of weeks ago. It basically was sufficiently local that I could simply go with my dad and then come home after we were done for the day. The big minus of this being I couldn't just stick around into the late night and watch some of the very few anime showings I was even marginally interested in. The only thing I really watched at any length was Mermaid's Forest (interesting somewhat horrific fantasy involving immortals who've eaten the flesh of a mermaid, and the terrible things it can do to them).
But it was cheaper. No paying for hotels. Mostly, I ended up wandering around the convention looking at all the things people was doing, and getting into brief written conversations with people. I bought a set of purple jaguar ears and tail (at least I think the spotting pattern is jaguar, could be leopard or something else) and put them on with the help of the vendor. (Later I figured out how to put them on myself.) It had interesting effects, as I spent most of the rest of the convention in a more cheerful mood than most. Alas, one of the ears is now lost.
I ended up somewhat befriending a few strangers, including a staff member, three or so cute girls who were hanging out together in similar costumes with nifty fake hair falls and one of them now and then had a leash hooked on someone, and someone working for the vendor I ended up buying a lot of comics from (they had the best manga selection in the dealer's room, though I had to go to another one for American comics). I'm still thinking that next year I would like to try a more elaborate outfit. I have a lot of things I would like to get accomplished before then, though.
Notable comics:
Planetes, the most romantic hard science fiction story I've read so far. Great for making you want to cheer on ventures into outer space, too.
Sexy Voice and Robo, which I was curious about from the first time I just heard the name. It turns out to be a fun romp of this teenage girl's amateur detective/spy adventures. She picked the code name "Sexy Voice" because of her 'phone club' work, and "Robo" is the socially awkward robot-obsessed geek guy she manages to pull into all her adventures. In a way, it reminds me of both Tintin and Encyclopedia Brown, but it has its own definite (somewhat more morally ambiguous) aesthetic. Great fun and remarkably wholesome for the topics it mentions.
Three more volumes of The Maxx (this one not a Japanese comic). The Maxx is... trippy. Screwed up people who either hallucinate or genuinely cross over to a surreal alternative-universe "Outback".
I was going to do a weird convention report narrating real events from a fictitious viewpoint, but ended up not doing that. I might try it later.