But is acid snow yellow? Because we definitely don't want to eat that.
Exceptionally cool. I dig bonsai trees, tried to grow them a couple of times, bought little kits and everything. They always fucking die. Venus flytraps too, even with distilled water. Always. Fucking. Die.
McCreary rules. I wish you'd asked what ever happened to that live album of BSG concerts that was supposed to come out.
I thought that was the one standout ad. #observationdeck
I liked this episode well enough, the Astrid stuff maybe wasn't as amazing as it could have been (for some reason I was under the impression that the two Astrids were going to make out or something) but my one big problem was that it made no sense that Prognosticating Murder Guy committed suicide-by-Olivia.
Start by using Google sketch-up for the design. Knowing the exact dimensions makes the building much easier.
Helltown? Something like that in the title? #observationdeck
Man you read my mind.
Outstanding. She's my hero. Being a bit of a furniture-building hobbyist myself, I can safely say that making it through a project of that magnitude and saying, "fuck" only once is an accomplishment in itself.
Overall I found Reamde worth reading but the least of Stephenson's books.
Part of my problem with it was my own fault: I knew it wasn't science fiction going into it, but then was disappointed when it wasn't science fiction. It nibbled around the edges at being science fiction with the T'Rain thing but then wasn't about that at all.
This book lacked the Big Ideas usually present in Stephenson books. There was no Millennium Clock, no dimensional spaceship powered by nuclear weapons, no Isaac Newton Royal Society, no Enigma-shattering cryptography.
There was almost a Big Idea hidden among the T'Rain stuff—the notion of using MMO players to perform real-world operations computers can't—but the book backed off from that without ever exploring it really.
What I want from one of his books is for my own puny intellect to wither in awe at the colossal cranium of Stephenson as he regales me with minute details of intricate shit, jacked-up plots that I have no idea where they're going and characters I've never seen before. This book had none of these things: I often found myself figuring stuff out way ahead of time.
Usually in one of his tomes I find myself learning a lot of fascinating stuff due to Stephenson's comprehensive research, but here I found only a few tidbits about air traffic control and Pacific Northwest geology.
There were many plot holes: why would the Russians kidnap Zula? Why the hell would the terrorists kidnap her? Why the fuck would Olivia fail to tell her superiors the tail number of Jones' plane? I mean, I'm not a spy, I don't work for the government, I don't even like the government particularly but if I knew the ID number of a plane full of terrorists I'd fucking scream it at anyone who would or wouldn't listen, not keep it secret and throw a hissy fit because I was pissed at how my Russian buddy—of like one whole day—had been treated.
The terrorist thing. I'm over it. I was over it a long time ago as a device in storytelling. There's not much new or interesting to be said about it generally and there wasn't here. There was never any explanation of Jones' character other than ISLAMIC TERRORIST ASSHOLE. After choosing this tired approach, Stephenson didn't go anywhere interesting with it, do anything daring or explore it.
Russian mafia stories. I'm over those too.
I liked Richard's character. Anything dealing with him was the most interesting stuff in the book. The last 1/4 or so, the whole gunfight and chase through the forest and mountains—basically everything that happened after Zula escaped—was fucking awesome and redeemed the book.
I wonder if Stephenson had a contractual obligation to deliver another 1100 page book after Anathem and just shat this out while still working on something bigger and better. I hope so.
I'm thinking of changing my name to The Black Flap now. Should be a new villain on Fringe.
Yes, that tracks. Good thinking.
My memory of it is that the purpose of Cortexiphan was so Olivia could cross universes without the physical damage people suffered from doing it in other ways--like the scarred Jones.
But what was that blood sample, was it hers? I don't remember seeing that established before.
Now let's use that same spatula to make some nice cookies!
Resident Evil 6 trailer (the game, not the movie) looking pretty damn cool, if a lot like RE2. #observationdeck
I'd read that article. #observationdeck
Outrageous--and they didn't even need SOPA. #observationdeck
That use of cgi to insert Dax and Sisko is commonplace now, but back when that first aired it was a huge deal, blowing the minds of all who saw it, the first time that tech was used on tv really. Come to think of it I need to watch that again. #observationdeck
Obviously the neighbors were getting stoned and blasting the Hypnotoad.
I know, right? By the time the Russians attacked the terrorists in China, I had already been wishing Zula would escape already for like 150 pages. Then when the Russians stormed the terrorists' apartment instead of the hackers, I was like, OK, that's a funny and clever way to finally get her released. But of course that was only the beginning of her captivity. Bugged me. #observationdeck
