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Book review - Count Zero (William Gibson)
Nov. 21st, 2010 02:26 pmA book and event review subtitled "Wake the Fuck Up"
I reviewed Necromancer fairly recently. I think my overall impression of that was that the ideas were great and I couldn't understand why I hadn't taken to it when I (think I'd) read it before. This book is much better. The cool cyberpunk philosophy and dystopian environment are still there, but the story is a lot more polished and fleshy. I still lost the plot a bit at the end, but this time I'm more willing to accept that it could be my own fault, and I'll probably re-read this at some point in the future.
And that reminds me that I never posted anything on when I went to see William Gibson at the Watershed. Or if I did, I found a new point to the whole experience that I've been pondering for a while, so bear with me...
I actually really enjoyed listening to him talk far more than I expected. I grabbed a ticket mostly because I knew he was cool, and because I will pretty much go and see most things live. I just have a real thing for watching artists express their craft in real life in front of me. Anything from bands to blacksmiths to be honest - watching the actual visceral clunky creation of stuff is amazing :) And the guy did not disappoint. he read a bit of his new book (which sounded good) and then talked about his work and the process of writing with a sort of gentle humour and a neat balancing act along the fine line between self-deprecating and fucking annoying false modesty ** I think he encompassed the fact that you had to be somewhat talented to write a novel, but then you also just had to graft.
Pretty much that sometimes he just sat in the space where good writing seemed to happen, and waited for it to happen again. He was also amusingly wry about the fact that he knocked up Neuromancer AFAP out of bits that he had lying around.
Anyway, that was good. But the point I wanted to eventually get to was that all the way through I kept catching sight of the guy in front of me fiddling with his bloody smartphone. He wasn't listening to what William Gibson was saying, he was just following the hashtag for the talk on Twitter and occasionally looking references up on Amazon to see how people reviewed them. WTF was that about? Apart from the fact I know people who would have loved his ticket while he sat at home and self-referenced with his phone, why do so many people not actually grab real life any more? The internet is great. Lots of my friendships are initiated and perpetrated there, and I love the fact that I can scratch a brain itch any time I like.
But there's a time and a place. I love my billhook, but I don't cut cheese with it. Although now the thought is in my head...
The last couple of gigs I've been to have been full of people not even looking at the stage but texting or FaceBooking all the way through. And it makes me uncomfortable. All those layers of damping between you and the experience at hand. And taking pictures of your life not because you're having fun and what to document it, but purposefully so that you can be seen do the thing on Facebook. Gigs sell out in minutes, but nobody is watching. They only went along because Twitter told them to.
** (ref Danny fucking Elfman on the Willy Wonka extras - oh, I just knocked up a song and it was rubbish but Tim Burton just loved it and used it on the soundtrack just as it is. Fucking twat. It's just false modesty and insulting to people who work hard at the same thing and people who would love to do that but can't. Did I say fucking twat? I meant to...)
I reviewed Necromancer fairly recently. I think my overall impression of that was that the ideas were great and I couldn't understand why I hadn't taken to it when I (think I'd) read it before. This book is much better. The cool cyberpunk philosophy and dystopian environment are still there, but the story is a lot more polished and fleshy. I still lost the plot a bit at the end, but this time I'm more willing to accept that it could be my own fault, and I'll probably re-read this at some point in the future.
And that reminds me that I never posted anything on when I went to see William Gibson at the Watershed. Or if I did, I found a new point to the whole experience that I've been pondering for a while, so bear with me...
I actually really enjoyed listening to him talk far more than I expected. I grabbed a ticket mostly because I knew he was cool, and because I will pretty much go and see most things live. I just have a real thing for watching artists express their craft in real life in front of me. Anything from bands to blacksmiths to be honest - watching the actual visceral clunky creation of stuff is amazing :) And the guy did not disappoint. he read a bit of his new book (which sounded good) and then talked about his work and the process of writing with a sort of gentle humour and a neat balancing act along the fine line between self-deprecating and fucking annoying false modesty ** I think he encompassed the fact that you had to be somewhat talented to write a novel, but then you also just had to graft.
Pretty much that sometimes he just sat in the space where good writing seemed to happen, and waited for it to happen again. He was also amusingly wry about the fact that he knocked up Neuromancer AFAP out of bits that he had lying around.
Anyway, that was good. But the point I wanted to eventually get to was that all the way through I kept catching sight of the guy in front of me fiddling with his bloody smartphone. He wasn't listening to what William Gibson was saying, he was just following the hashtag for the talk on Twitter and occasionally looking references up on Amazon to see how people reviewed them. WTF was that about? Apart from the fact I know people who would have loved his ticket while he sat at home and self-referenced with his phone, why do so many people not actually grab real life any more? The internet is great. Lots of my friendships are initiated and perpetrated there, and I love the fact that I can scratch a brain itch any time I like.
But there's a time and a place. I love my billhook, but I don't cut cheese with it. Although now the thought is in my head...
The last couple of gigs I've been to have been full of people not even looking at the stage but texting or FaceBooking all the way through. And it makes me uncomfortable. All those layers of damping between you and the experience at hand. And taking pictures of your life not because you're having fun and what to document it, but purposefully so that you can be seen do the thing on Facebook. Gigs sell out in minutes, but nobody is watching. They only went along because Twitter told them to.
** (ref Danny fucking Elfman on the Willy Wonka extras - oh, I just knocked up a song and it was rubbish but Tim Burton just loved it and used it on the soundtrack just as it is. Fucking twat. It's just false modesty and insulting to people who work hard at the same thing and people who would love to do that but can't. Did I say fucking twat? I meant to...)
