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 I just finished reading Lev Grossman's new book The Magicians. I'm still sort of stunned. It's the best novel I've read in a long time; and it's heartbreaking enough that it may turn out to be one of those stories I love so much I can never bear to read it again (like Engine Summer or His Dark Materials.) I don't think I can really write a coherent review here; you can read the review by Cory Doctorow that made me rush out to the library and check it out. At the most basic level it's a deconstruction of Harry Potter and the like, with real-world characters who reminded me of early Michael Chabon. As it goes on, it tears into the Narnia series, and in general that aching desire we nerds have to escape into fantasy worlds. The heartbreaking part is experiencing the reaiistic, modern-day, likeable-but-flawed characters being torn apart by the contradiction between their childhood fantasies, and what it's like to have those fantasies literally happen. And yet, the book isn't cruel or facile; it's full of real beauty and wonder. Anyway. You should read it, if you were ever a kid who wanted to be able to do magic, or to visit Oz or Narnia, or to battle monsters in dungeons and save the world; and especially if you never really grew out of that desire but still carry it inside you like an egg. Tags: books
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I don't know what's causing this, but consumer electronics are dropping like flies around my house. First the MacBooks' MagSafe™ power adapter finally got hit with the dreaded frayed-cord syndrome. Apple's kept making these cords tougher, and this one lasted two years, which is a lot better than the six-month lifespan that PowerBook cords had. Still, that was an $80 replacement. Then the Wii stopped recognizing its disc drive, so now it can only play downloaded WiiWare games. It's out of warranty so that's going to be $200 to replace. I'm hoping there will be some Black Friday deal where i can get it bundled with a good game like the new Super Mario Bros. And then last night, I came home to find that ZOMG the kids' MacBook had gone black. Jed was pretty distraught. I fiddled with it long enough to find that everything was alive but the display (I could log in and out by keyboard, and SSH into it, and even run a Time Machine backup.) The various Vulcan neck pinches didn't do any good at resetting the problem, so I made an appointment online at the Genius Bar — they had an opening in a half hour. Jed and I drove to the mall, then had to wait a half hour at the Apple store because they were understaffed and overloaded. Jed got to play with high-end pro apps, while I IM'd with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) achariya , who works at an Orange store (it's a lot like Apple) in Orlando, and gave me lots of seekrit insider tips, like that the staff really like it if you ask them to bend over so you can wrap presents on their backs. (Not true — THANKS TANYA :-P) The good news is that the GPU keeled over, which is apparently common enough in that model of MacBook Pro that they just fix it even out of warranty without charging anything. So the computer's now flying out to the repair center where it will get a new motherboard, and then back to our house. I really don't know what the kids are going to do for a week without it... PS: If something else has to break, let it be the TV, so I can finally have the excuse I need to buy an HDTV and join the 21st century. Tags: fail, home
Music: Lähtö - Everything | Powered by Last.fm
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Moderate levels of awesomeness have resumed recently (interrupted by periods of suckiness of course.) Where by "awesomeness" I refer to occasionally doing things other than working, sitting at home, and commuting between them. Yesterday I went to the third session of the roleplaying group I've joined. (I've started spelling out "roleplaying" because "RPG" has been co-opted to mean computer games, and "D&D" means D&D, which this isn't, it's Burning Wheel, which is entirely different, even though, yes, it has orcs and elves. Sob. I didn't choose the game, OK? But it really is a good game despite the cliché setting.) Afterwards Diana & Saxy & Shawne & I took Peter out to dinner for his birthday, to Tigelleria, an Italian restaurant in Campbell that I'd never heard of. It was small, and the food was what I'd expect of a good restaurant in Italy, i.e. not anything typical. I actually felt like something simple, so I got a plate of salumi and cheeses, with nuts and acacia honey and olive spread. It came with the namesake tigelle, which are little round chewy flatbreads. Yum. I also had a very good Lambrusco (a sparkling red) and also a nice Vermentino that tasted like honey. I really want to go back, not least because I didn't have room to try their desserts, which sounded delicious. After we got home I suddenly remembered the online game of Lexicon that I'd joined, which had a deadline of 11:59PM for the "A" entries. I had no idea what to write about, on the topic of the Dieselarch Empire, so I skimmed a few of the already-submitted entries. I found some inspiration in the description of the incursion of Exobios' brought about by overuse of the Ætheric Pump … started writing a stream-of-consciousness summary … and by the time midnight approached I was desperately trying to cram in the rest of the life story of the Amakops in a condensed enough form that I could finish it by midnight. I think I did pretty well, although I had to leave out a lot of fascinating details of the Amakops' business dealings, self-imposed exile, and late-life fame as a (tentacled, ichor-oozing) author of beloved children's books. I got the basic outline in place, though, and of course there are lengthier reference works where you can look up the full details. (Lykonos's Ætheric Dreamer: The Charmed Life Of The Amakops is the best overall, though the sentimentality comes off a bit dated. It's out of print, though.)
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