Currently Reading: The Einstein Intersection

Well, hasn't taken me long to read the last book, has it? I said I was a slow reader, but it was quite an easy read. Well, even though this is another thin book, reading around the net leads me to believe that this book isn't so much an easy read, so it should take me longer, not that it's a problem for me of course.

Apparently this book, being claimed as one of's Samuel Delany's best books, is pretty psychological and at the same time mythical; a pretty weird book too. Time will tell if I'll end up liking it though as many people seem to not be able to "get" the message of the book. Should be an interesting ride though.

And soon, I'll post that Venus review. Maybe in the next post even. Oh yeah, before I forget, Happy Halloween!

For now, here's the description of this book from the back cover.

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The Einstein Intersection is a novel of a strange far future when this world of Einsteinian laws, having intersected with a universe following a different set of rules, has changed - changed strangely, wonderfully, incredibly.

This is the story of Lobey, an alien Orpheus, and his adventures across a weird sumptuous world, marvelously haunted. Along his questing trail, he meets Spider, the driver of dragons; Kid Death, the red-headed killer from the sea; the Dove, fabulous love image of a world obsessed; Greeneye, victim of a ritual invented by a race dead for millenia; and Friza - the dark, silent girl Lobey searched for over deserts, through jungles of carnivorous flowers, from a quiet village to a furious city, to the shores of death, and beyond.

Currently Reading II

I've recently reading Ben Bova's Venus, so the review will come shortly. In the meantime, I've started one of the earliest Asimov books, in the period when he was still writing the original Foundation trilogy, but writing as Paul French. Apparently it is part of a series that isn't as easily available as the Foundation series, but I have a feeling it will stand well enough on its own.

I've picked up a number of classics while on a trip to Vermont this summer, so you'll see these from time to time until I've exhausted my supply.

Description from the back of the book follows:

Zero time!

Twenty-five years before, Lucky Starr’s parents had been destroyed during a pirate raid on the Terrestrial Empire. Lucky had since brooded, awaiting a chance to avenge their deaths. Now the vermin of space once more threatened the empire’s safety and tranquility. The time for sweet vengeance was near.

Lucky was at the helm as his space ship, the Atlas, was being readied for takeoff. The Luna City exhaust pit yawned as the ship’s main rockets blasted their fury into it. Slowly and with majesty the Atlas lifted and moved upwards, its speed increasing, its mission underway. It pierced the black sky, shrinking until it was only a star among stars, and then it was gone.

“One man against the pirates of the asteroids,” Lucky’s friend, Conway, mused sadly. “Soon the ship will be a rain of molten metal,” he thought. “Lucky Starr and the Atlas are doomed!”

A Month

Well, today is a month to the day I created this blog. I have to say I've really been having fun with this and I wonder where it will take me in the months and years to come. Over the course of the month, I've been tweaking the blog a bit, like adding links and customizing it a bit. The most recent addition is the logo! Like it, Love it, hate it? Let me know. Of course, it's bound to evolve over the years if my scheme and my mood ever change. One thing's for sure, it's only going to get better.

Music Review: Great Big Sea - The Hard and The Easy

The by's are back in town! It took a long time to get to this point. Great Big Sea has released their long awaited all-traditional album, The Hard and The Easy today, and after being less than pleased with Sea of No Cares and Something Beautiful*, I'm pleased to say that they've knocked this one out of the ballpark.

I think this release shows that the band understands how important their culture is, that they shouldn't be afraid to just be who they are instead of what the record industry thinks they should be. Their venture into the pop market wasn't as successful as they'd hope, and with this release, ironically, they've risked more here than they would have with their pop releases considering the all-traditional material. But I think the media is biting, and fans will be pleased to know that their raucous energy is back on this album, in full force.

Throughout the album, one can tell they enjoyed making it by the hearing the enthusiasm in their voices. You could even say they sound rejuvenated after having a lengthy hiatus, and if their hiatus is any sign of the feeling they come through on this album, then it indeed helped. Their sound on this album is more akin to what they sounded like on Up and Play, and even with hints of Turn, their voices bursting forth out of the speakers, and is a more pleasing and entertaining album than the pop laden albums they have served us for the past 2 years. The harmonies are beautiful, especially on River Driver and Graceful & Charming (Forget-Me-Not), and the instrumental arrangements are complex and interesting, even moreso than those on Up and Play.

If the music itself wasn't enough, there's even a 50 minute DVD included which promises to be quite a bargain. I haven't personally viewed the DVD yet, so I will elaborate more on it in a future post, but I think it's safe to say that this album is easy to recommend, unlike SONC or Something Beautiful*. It has easily surpassed my expectations. A welcome addition to any collection, folk music aficionados and Great Big Sea fans alike.


Album: Great Big Sea - The Hard and The Easy
Publisher: Warner Music (Canada) / Rounder (US)
Release Date: Oct 11th (Canada) / Oct 25th (US)
Bonus Material?: Yes (DVD)
Site: www.greatbigsea.ca

Excited

Ok, I haven't been this excited in quite awhile about an upcoming album, but Great Big Sea's The Hard and The Easy, their latest album which happens to be all-traditional, is hitting the stores in Canada on the 11th, just the day after Thanksgiving, and the 25th in the U.S. I'm applauding their return to traditional material as well as the return to the sound and the energy that made them popular on Up and Play. You can be sure that I'll be reviewing the album in a few days.

To hold you over, here are two songs in their entirety (I think). Don't hold me on that since I'm not going to listen to them before I get the album in order to not get spoiled. I like being able to listen to an album the first time around and having them all be new songs to my ears. If anyone listens to them (the clips), can you please confirm it for me? Thanks :)

http://www.myspace.com/greatbigseaofficial

Time to Brag

I can pause, rewind and fast-forward live TV! Yes! I just got a DVR from our cable company and I'll be looking forward to the new features of this box. No more missing TV shows, and no more conflicting schedules!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Currently Reading

I'm sure you're all curious at what I'm currently reading. I started this just a few days ago. Ben Bova's Venus. Here's a quasi-review from Amazon:

Amazon.com
Ben Bova picked his villains well for this fast-paced, popcorn-and-Milk- Duds matinee: Topping the playbill is our sister planet, Venus itself, which Bova matter-of-factly describes as "the most hellish place in the solar system." Sci-fi authors (Bova included) have all but colonized Mars by now, but few have boldly gone to the aluminum-melting, sulfuric-acid-soaked surface of the Morning Star. Venus proves a mighty, unthinking antagonist indeed--frustrating the efforts of sickly but likable rich kid Van Humphries to land there and recover the remains of his older brother Alex, who died two years earlier on another ill-fated mission.

Van gets pushed back and forth between the book's two lesser villains--his mean old cuss of a father, Martin Humphries, who's posted the $10 billion Venus Prize to the first person to return Alex's body, and Lars Fuchs, a belligerent asteroid miner and Martin's arch-nemesis, who's also decided to make a go at the purse.

Characterizations ride coach on this high-adventure flight, but remember that we're talking about Ben Bova here. It's hard to dispute the master's choices as you're following Van's well-researched, thrills-and-chills descent through Venus's pressure-cooker atmosphere. With solid science, a palatable environmental message (how could you resist commenting on greenhouse gases in a book like this?), and an inspiring character arc for unlikely hero Van, Venus delivers guilt-free, man-against-nature SF in a tight, page-turning package. --Paul Hughes
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So far so good. I gather this won't take me too long to read as it's not as dense as his very good Mars book. This is a book published in 2000, and Ben Bova seems to have a knack for predicting things in his books. Such as the prediction of life on Mars. In Venus, I was struck with a particular quote said by one of the characters in the book: "I was born in New Orleans, Mr Humphries, or what's left of it after the floods."