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March 27, 2006
Stanislaw Lem, 1921 - 2006
Stanislaw Lem, acclaimed author of postmodern science-fiction books, has passed away, aged 84. The (Ukrainian-born) Polish author wrote the book "Solaris" that was turned into two highly successful films by Andrei Tarkovsky and, much later, by Steven Soderbergh.
Two attributions I made here he didn't seem to like. He didn't particularily care about the label "postmodernist", and he didn't care much for science fiction for a lack of intellectual depth, as he said in an interview, posted on his web site. His books - I read The Star Diaries a while ago - were of extraordinary creativity. They touched some of the fundamental assumptions of our existence. What if were just of brains-in-boxes, swimming in warm liquid, hooked up to a big computer that pretends to be the world?
It's a coherent theme throughout his works. His 1971 novel "The Futurological Congress" examines if we
all could really live from fantasies instead of real things, if we could
lose our senses and only use the ultimate illusion of fantasy. His
existentialist thriller "Solaris" depicts a psychologist sent into outer
space to investigate a ship that has lost contact with Earth, ending up in a place where his memories come back to life. Wouldn't it be great to see our deceased loved ones? Would it? Sure?
Posted by dr at 8:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A blow to Scotland's smokers
No more smoking in Scotland's bars, pubs and restaurant. No more smoking in public buildings or where people worked. I celebrated the occasion with a nice Montecristo and a big glass of peaty Scotch at the HALO in Edinburgh's West End.
Posted by dr at 2:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 17, 2006
Grup Tekkan: Shunshine in Germany
Germany is laughing about & at these three lads from a forgotten town in West Germany. Born to Turkish parents, they happily sing away in their Turkish-German creole: where are you my shunshine / i'd like to let you knowowow, you're the only one that I respect!
They recorded a masterpiece of a video - wearing fine white coats, way bigger than I would have worn in my dorkiest times. The video earned them an invitation to Germany's popular TV show TV Total, and the Blogger who started the whole thing is taking his sudden surge in visitor traffic with a grain of salt: Dear 12,000 new visitors: here's blogging without video for you: one writes something, nobody is getting it.
Ismael (18), Selcuk (17) and Fatih (17) have their minute of fame, if not everybody's respect. I think they're still looking to seal the deal for their first real record.
Posted by dr at 2:05 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 14, 2006
Linux: We asked for freedom. What we really got...
Computers are tools and toys, but not objects of devotion. So while I'm not a big Mac fan-boy, I did giggle reading a Linux admin's account of making friends with his first Mac. The first thing that struck me was that all the hardware worked... The second thing that struck me was that every Apple software application worked as advertised....
With GNU/Linux on the desktop, you get a Free Operating System. You're Free to tinker with it, or Free to improve and copy it. Richard Stallman's dream come true (or better: implemented). The problem is: We asked for freedom, but what we got is anarchy.
Posted by dr at 11:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 13, 2006
Even Snowmen..
... need to go to the bathroom. This one was built by Polly and Ben.
Posted by dr at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 5, 2006
Party Flyer :)
Posted by dr at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack