Men at Work

Book Review, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was loaned to me last year from a good friend who is a 'gamer', meaning a person who plays computer games. We had often talked about games from our childhood and new games we were playing now. I do play games but my knowledge and enthusiasm is of a lesser nature than my friend Richard. I guess he is a geek, very much like myself! It was from these conversations that he recommended and loaned me this book.  

Ready Player One is set in the year 2044, the world has been in a sustained and endless recession, where resources are limited and most people live in what we would call poverty. The main character is Wade or his online pseudonym Parzival a young boy who lives in the "stacks". (Stacks are constructions of trailer homes place on top of each other to create a tower) and where the majority of the cities citizens live. In this world people seek refuge in the simulated reality of a game called OASIS. I would describe the OASIS as Secondlife meets Sims meets World of War Craft and all encompassing simulated world where anything is possible. Wade even goes to school in the OASIS rather than to one in real life. The game was created by James Halliday who I would describe as having the rock star profile of Steve Jobs and the geekery of Bill Gates with maybe a little of the philanthropy of Jimmy Wales or Larry Sanger. Halliday encompasses virtues, skills and status of real people in our own reality.

 As usual I do not want to give away to much from the book so here is a small over view taken from Wikipedia, that does not contain many spoilers!

James Halliday suddenly dies, leaving a will that states that whoever can collect three keys hidden in OASIS and pass through the matching gates will receive Halliday's fortune and a controlling stake in his company. This contest becomes known as "the Hunt" and people immediately begin the search for Halliday's Easter Egg, with the only clues being Halliday's will and his journal, the Anorak's Almanac. Those searching for the Egg are referred to as "gunters," a portmanteau of "egg hunters." Gunters devote an enormous amount of time to studying pop culture of the 1980s, the decade that Halliday grew up in and was perpetually obsessed with, in the hope it will assist them with locating and solving the puzzles involved with the egg.

As a gamer, a long time gamer this book is easy for me to read, I get the references I know a lot of the games and the 1980's pop culture, which certainly makes this book a better read for me. It is a homage to early gaming/coding and the pioneers of a new art form (and I will argue to the death that games are an art form as much as a movie or a book is). But I would totally understand that for many who don't know or have never played Zork that this book would be less compelling or even tedious. Yet put this to one side and look at it like any other Sci-Fi or fantasy novel that you have ever enjoyed with its own language and cultures and you will get the very same experience. Remember what the Lord of the Rings book was like with its Hobbits, Orks and whatever??? 

What I do find compelling is the plausibility of this future Earth, a world in recession where people seek solace in a computerized world..... we are half way there already.  The story which unfolds in this world is enjoyable and exciting (especially to my game oriented mind) but again I will state that this book is game heavy. Not that this is a bad thing. As soon as I started this book I could not put it down, it was one of those occasions where I was trying to read at every available moment and long into the night when I should have been sleeping. That last sentence says it all really.......................... Must read.

Anthony's bookshelf: grasshopper

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

I really enjoyed this book, from beginning to end, a a valid an very possible future mixed in with a fantasy style ending made it compelling to read. The many references to 1980's pop culture and gaming really made it more authentic, alt...

tagged: grasshopper and grasshopper-rating

Climate Change and the UK Storms

Current storm hitting the UK and Ireland

The ongoing weather we have been having here in UK has brought to the fore again the issue of climate change. As to whether what we have been experiencing is in partly down to an ongoing process of climate change. From just after Christmas we have been hit by storm after storm, we have been at the end of an Atlantic conveyor belt of wind and rain it seems with one storm hitting us and then another and another and another. I have lost count as to how many we have had, but it seems rather more like one long continuous storm than an endless series to me. The storms have brought high winds and turned places like Somerset in to giant lakes, this time last year we where under inches and inches of snow. As I write a relatively mild storm is passing over head, so far in my part of the UK this one has been more an inconvenience rather than a problem.  But the Met Office video below shows four storms hitting the UK and Ireland in February alone.



The UK Met Office in the last week attributed the storms in part to climate change, these storms are extraordinary in their frequency and it is this rather than their ferocity that has caused most of the problems. I myself believe that climate change is real, both as a naturally occurring event and also heightened by human activity. The planet its infinitely complex and something we do not fully understand as yet but it seems absolutely crazy to me that some people would at this point conclusively say man made climate change is a myth. From the weather records over its recorded history we can see the changes and from other sources like tree rings or Ice core samples we can see how our planet has changed over millennia. And the majority of scientist in this field feel that man made climate change is a reality. With this evidence in mind we certainly should be as a global community working harder to do something about the changes we are making as a species. I have to say as far as the argument between climate camps goes I am rather of one opinion whether man made climate change is true or not! By this I mean we have to change the way we do things anyway! Most of our energy reserves are finite and now coming to the end of their reserves, we need alternatives and climate change real or not can help instigate those changes. Living in a greener world is a win win situation, if we are impacting our environment as the evidence suggests then being greener will reduce the impact of climate change in the long run. Placing a wager on whether climate change is real or not seems like a fools game to me and by denouncing it or continuing to do as we do is making that bet!

As for the storms here in the UK, fingers crossed that it will soon be over as I am so very tired of repairing my greenhouse. Luckily this is only my little problem and I am not enduring the scale of wind, rain and floods that other parts of the UK are.  

Scottish Independence

So we know the date if this year the people of Scotland vote for independence, 24th of March 2016. Obviously this is going to be a big decision for Scots and have ramifications for the UK as a whole. The referendum takes place this year but the debate is going strong between the Yes and No campaigns, though mostly north of the border. Of course its going to be big news in Scotland but you would also expect it would be in the rest of the UK too. But its not. The mood south of the border seems rather more ambivalent amongst the general population and me too. There is a general attachment in England for the concept of the United Kingdom but not so overwhelming to engage in a debate about its future, especially when the outcome is not in their hands. There is also a feeling that the rest of the UK would be better off is Scotland did become independent, that we give far more than we get in return, this 'feeling' is rather debatable.

Poll Taken August 2012

The question of course is for the Scots to decide and it should not be any other way. The main argument for independence is that Scotland will be better off economically and are aspiring to follow the Norwegian economic model. IE prosperity gained through the Gas and Oil revenues of the North Sea. Who can say weather Scotland would be better of financially? They could of course do as well as Norway or the could go the way of Ireland the next time the Banks gamble all our money away! But this is where the debate must be conducted on issues like this. The European Union membership is also something that really needs clarifying with the SNP saying it will be apart of it and the Unionists as well as some others saying Scotland will have to reapply. It does seem to me abit odd to seek to end one union for more freedoms yet eager to stay apart of another which imposes certain requirements. If anything this is a chance if independence means leaving the EU to re-evaluate whether Scotland wants or needs to be in the EU, Norway is not. In some respects independence does not seems to change much, what ever Scotland's currency it will be hitched to sterling for the foreseeable future and thus for better or worse the prosperity of the UK, the head of state will be the Queen, Scots will still move freely in the UK to live and work, they will still have the same amazing benefits they have now such as free prescriptions and University education. Little in the general day to day will change it seems.

Another big issue for Scotland and the SNP is the Nuclear deterrent based in the Hebrides and its removal. On this I would agree with Alex Salmond, in the sense that I would have it removed completely from the UK. The debate over the base is more of a point scoring political one and is far lower down on the agenda for the populace than say how better of they might or might not be. But come independence the base will have to go.    

My own personal view is that Scotland should stay as a part of the UK, but this is for my own selfish reasons. If Scotland gained independence its would undoubtedly change the face of UK politics for a long time to come. By this I mean it would remove a large part of the Labour Party base that Scotland provides, to have this removed would make it almost impossible for the Labour Party to challenge the Conservatives in general elections for many years to come. As a northerner the Labour Party is the traditional representative of old industrial regions of England, Scotland and Wales to lose Scotland would be traumatic and exacerbate the already huge London, South East bias that exists in the UK.

Who Knew German 1980s Electronica was so Good? I DIDNT! (Except for Kraftwerk)

I was wasting away my day yesterday watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not really my cup of tea but kind of getting in to it) and was loving the theme tune, it sort of reminded me of something by the Offspring and was intrigued  to see who it was buy. As it turns out it was not the Offspring but written by a guy called Nerf Herder an American Pop Punk band that I had not heard off.




When reading up the song/band I came across a comment stating that the theme sounded similar to a song from a German group called DOF. So of course I went looking for it on YouTube. The song is called Codo and when you listen closely you can here a slight similarity.



After listening to this I started clicking onto the related/suggested videos and  went of a little adventure into the world of 1980's German electronic music. And I loved it. Its all in the luck of the first selection, if you manage to pick that song of that genre and you like it! I did and picked Eisbar by Grauzone.




I have become slightly obsessed with this song since I heard it, the art work for the single is brilliant too. Next up came a song called Der Mussolini by D.A.F., which again is another amazing song,

 

Alot of people know of Kraftwerk, the mega stars of German electronic music, who brought it into the mainstream of western music. I just never considered that there would be other amazing German bands, as it is very rare that we hear any German music here in the UK. Grauzone however have really got me hooked and I have added many of there songs to my playlist. I will leave you though now with Kraftwerk's amazing DAS MODEL!

Hitler ruined my haircut

Went and got my haircut today and then afterward got my passport photos done. To my surprise what I asked for looks a little similar to Hitlers Buffon! I didn't ask for a Hitler! It just came out that way! I do like it though despite its resemblance to a dead murdering madman's haircut!

America a view from over here.

In 2003 I went to university and chose as one of my subjects 'American Studies', because I thought it would be interesting. It was and I graduated with a dissertation award for my study "Black Music and Resistance, a Discourse of Oppression from Slavery to Modernity", I chose this subject because I had become very interested in the evolution of America, from its colonial begins right up to the present day and especially how this was represented in culture.

 I think I have gained a broad over view of America, of its history, its culture, music, literature and arts, broader than most in the UK. Though I am far from being any kind of expert. The United States of America is something that almost all none American's have an opinion about, sometimes informed often not. But most of what people know is based on some kind of stereotype or ideal both of which are pedalled in the cultural products of America. The stereotype or ideal may or may not be true to life but the fact persists they are absorbed and used to inform the world of what America is. 

I think the best place to start with a generalised view of America and the stereotypes that we associate with it, is the computer games series Grand Theft Auto. Some Americans are probably going WFT? right now but this game is all about American stereotypes and generalisations. It takes inspiration from many many Hollywood movies and TV shows and its creators are unexpectedly Scottish and not American. If anything shows a more stereotyped perspective of America I can not think of it. GTA shows that America is a place full of violence, crime, guns,  money and poverty. These stereotypes have been procured from films and TV, Vice City is basically a homage to Scarface and Goodfellas. San Andreas feels like it was heavily influenced by NWA and the reporting of the LA riots. Of course the stereotypes in the entire series run deeper and more complex than this. I would argue that some of them are truer than many Americans would admit but also others are but mere exaggeration. In my heart of hearts I know that the majority of Americans are not armed to the hilt with guns, but as I walked the the streets of New York it didn't stop me thinking as I looked at people "he looks like he might have a gun". I come from a country where most people have only seen a gun on the TV usually on an American TV show or film. Our life is majority gun free, yet as we sit down and watch a movie we see some actor or another running round California with a Smith and Weston. Worse still is when we get news of some shooting in a school or work place which has been rather common over the last decade and we see and here what guns can really do. The idea of America as a violent gun laden nation is a common notion amongst none Americans.

What many people forget is that America is not just the East Coast and the West Coast! There is all that stuff that surrounds Vegas! What we do see or here of mid America is usually related to religion, things like Westboro Baptist Church. Yes we know about them! unfortunately! But there must be more to mid America we just do not get to see it.

Politics well this is something else, the Election of the President is televised here in the UK, like its our own election. Amongst my own peer group and myself there is not much love for the Republicans, the Democrats a far more likeable. Obama is very popular here, as was Clinton but G.W. not so much but that's probably quiet an obvious statement. The idea and the reality that America is very divided down political lines is widespread and that many of the problems in the States is not helped by this polarised state of politics. The Republicans mostly come across as bigoted, greedy warmongers to me and many who I know. Democrats seem fairer and not bigoted but still to the right of any of our political parties. The institution of the Presidency and Presidents is very famous and I would bet most Brits could name as many if not more Presidents than  our own Prime Ministers. Still you will not see the UK going Republican anytime soon...... We don't want to be like the French! In the modern times America walks a a horrendous tightrope of world opinion, in regards to how it acts in the wider world. Since the last world war it has been regarded as the policeman of the world by many western states and as such it has acted in that role. After the war America held a popular position in the world but subsistent conflicts and engagements have for what ever reason knocked back this popularity. But for me this was always inevitable, a superpower that can project itself across the whole world is surely going to piss people off from time to time and then the resentments build up. America has at times done the wrong thing in certain parts of the world but in general I think the US gets a hard press and is at timed damned if they act or damned if they don't.    

American sports have a small but fanatic following in the UK and you can watch NFL, Baseball and NBA on TV, Indy Car/Champ Car is on sometimes and I am sure if you looked around the channels you could watch some NASCAR. The only American sport I have ever been able to watch regularly was Indy Car when I was a motor-racing fan. Other than that like most people here American sports are somewhat of an Enigma, very much like Cricket is to Americans.

I would liken Britain and Americas relationship to of a family. America being the rebellious teenager that spent alot of time in its room reading philosophy slowly getting annoyed with the rules of mother Britain. Finally egged on by its disreputable mate France running away from home to do its own thing. Though as often happens when America grew up and started to make it on its own it remembered it roots and made up with mother Britain who had mellowed in the time they were separated. I could get really elaborate with this analogy but I think this will be sufficient! We get on well now!