I Don’t Need an iPad
I don’t need an iPad.
What on earth would I do with one? I have a perfectly serviceable laptop. I’m using it right now. I’ve upgraded the RAM, it runs better than ever now with Windows 7 (I never realized how much Vista screwed up my PC until I installed Win 7). I’d be nice if it had a built-in webcam (not that the iPad has one), but I could get one which would work better than a built-in if I wasn’t so lazy.
I don’t need an iPad.
I can carry the internet in my pocket with my iPhone. The iPad is portable, but certainly not in the sense that the iPhone is. It is perfectly serviceable for all internet purposes, and excels at those purposes for which one is most likely to need mobile access to the internet, especially social networking.
I don’t need an iPad.
I have an iPhone and multiple iPods. My music needs are covered.
I don’t need an iPad.
I have a Sony PSP, a Nintendo DSi, and iPhone. My mobile gaming needs are set. I have a Playstation 3, a Wii, a Mid-Quality Gaming PC, and one of nearly every system of prior generations of gaming device (sorry Sega I never got it…). My non-mobile gaming needs are set.
I don’t need an iPad.
I have a Nook. I really like it. The touchscreen is a little flaky, but I like reading from it. I works very well in nearly all lighting conditions in which a person should be reading. I can use my library’s eBook collection on it. Which makes it even better.
I don’t need an iPad.
I have a really nice TV, the aforementioned PS3, and a good deal on Cable. I don’t watch much TV or many movies away from home, except for the theater naturally.
I don’t need an iPad.
So I have one question:
WHY DO I STILL WANT ONE?!
A Tale of Two Cities (lame title, but apt…sorry)
This is the first in a series of six book reviews I intend to do for the 2009 Nebula Award Nominees for Best Novel. I will be publishing them as I finish them, with the goal of having all done before the awards are announced in May. I’ve tried this sort of thing in the past and have always failed, I think because I waited to put anything online until I had all the books read and reviewed. This lead to being a good excuse to not finish (After all, would anyone know if I hadn’t finished?). Luckily, the first book up was a throughly enjoyable experience, giving me the motivation I need to keep going.
The City and the City by China Miéville – Highly Reccomended
In The City and the City by China Miéville the City-States of Besźel and Ul Qoma are fictional cities located roughly in southeastern Europe. They aren’t specifically placed, but Turkey and the Balkans loom large. They each have their own culture and identity: architectural styles, languages, and troubles. They also have much in common, and are inextricably joined to one another.
At the same time, these neighbors are divided. Not divided in the sense of East and West Berlin were, nor are they neighbors in the same way as Minneapolis and St. Paul. Besźel and Ul Qoma are two cities occupying the same physical space. In one city a street may be lined with single family homes while it is a buisness district in the other. In some places you’re just in Besźel, in some just Ul Qoma, and in some you might be in one or the other. It is possible to see the other city, but it’s not adviseable, for that is forbidden.
Ul Qomans and Besz have mastered “unseeing”, the art of not being consciously aware of the other city when in these areas of “crosshatching” where the cities exist together. You drive your car around those in the other city, walk down the streets side by side with its citizens all without acknowledging the presence of those who are elsewhere. To fail to unsee the other city, even accidently, is to commit an act of breach and could bring down on you the wrath of Breach, a secretive police organization charged with maintaining the separation between the two cities. Breach has brutal, absolute power in its area of responsibility. It doesn’t investigate other crimes, just breach. If you breach, you disappear.
This strange and fascinating world is the backdrop for a detective story. Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Besźel Extreme Crime Squad is an archetypal detective: dogged, determined, and savvy. He’s investigating the rather grisly murder of a “Faluna Detail” (Besz cop for “‘Jane Doe”). The plot develops with many of the typical tropes of the murder mystery, the murder scene, the autopsy, bureaucratic pushback, sidekicks, etc. This is all actually a plus as is forms a familiar core to an altogether atypical series of situations. The cities are the real stars here and continue to fascinate from beginning to end as Miéville explores the implications of the world he created. In the end you have a typical, page-turning detective story that is anything but typical.
This is a great novel for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy and open-minded mystery readers. Fans of Phillip K Dick will find a lot to like here. Readers with an appreciation of place and world-building will find this one fascinating provided they can accept the world in spite of the inevitable (but mostly inresolved) curiosity about why this world is as it is. Fast-paced, fun, thoughtful, and highly recommended.
Ugh. I find this depressing…
Check this out. In case the link breaks, the gist of this feature from Christian Science Moniter is that a rare edition of a Poe work is going up for auction.
In reading the article, I got something out of it that I don’t think was intended. It’s because of this section:
The book’s owner is former television executive and rare book collector William Self. His 300-book collection, all of which goes on sale today, also includes rare works by Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.
Self, who is 88, has told the press that were his children to inherit the books, they wouldn’t be able to afford to pay the taxes on them.
Is it just me or is that last bit depressing. The man seems to have spent a good part of his entire life collecting these books. They are likely a part of who he is. He should be able to pass them on as family heirlooms, a way for his children (who I presume for the purposes of this post like him) to remember and honor him. He can’t…because Uncle Sam wants a cut first…
Proof That I’m a Genius…
Back in September, I shared a theory of mine based on a job posting on the Overdrive Media corporate page. Basically I postulated that an Overdrive App for iPhone was coming that would allow the user to order and download electronic titles from their library. I have new evidence that I’m right. Behold!! Overdrive Media Console for Windows Mobile! Could a version for the worlds most popular phone be far behind (yes, but its coming thats my point!)
Everything I’ve Learned Worth Knowing, I Learned from Video Games
Okay, so maybe it’s not THAT extreme. I guess I did learn a few things from school. Still it’s occurred to me recently (okay back in October, get off me) that games have had a fairly big role in shaping who I am (my parents are probably in there somewhere too).
A Love of Reading and Exposure to New Things:
I enjoy reading. I like it a lot. I had great role models in my parents. Both of them read, Dad especially. They read to me and in front of me. Mom worked with me even before I started school. They knew the six early literacy skills instinctively before the researchers got around to telling everyone. For all this I can’t say I loved reading when I was little. I was better at it than most kids my age, but it was always just “there”. Once I got out of picture books I really didn’t gravitate toward chapter books. I did read from time to time, but I didn’t really pursue it.
I’ve always liked a good story though. Movies have always appealed to me, but what really appealed to me (once they came out) were games. I still remember playing Final Fantasy IV (then known stateside as Final Fantasy II) for the first time. I remember being intrigued by the story even though (as I later learned) I didn’t completely understand what was going on.
I learned vocabulary I would have never picked up in the normal course of things (ogre, leviathan, and “spoony” come immediately to mind). I was first exposed to figures from non-classical mythology and religion here like Odin (Norse), Shiva (Hindu), and Tiamat (Babylonian). I can still lose hours reading about this stuff to this day. Basically, I learned that I was just reading the wrong stories for me. Dad has read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy but I never thought I’d like it until my little adventure with Cecil. Did I learn to love pleasure reading from video games? No. Did it have a role in rebooting my interest? Certainly.
Problem Solving and the Power of Perseverance:
I learned an awful lot from Final Fantasy IV and games like it. High up there is the importance of perseverance. These games were hard for a 12-year-old. One boss, Rubicante, was IMPOSSIBLE to beat until you learn the right pattern. He has this way of letting you beat up on him and then unleashing this powerful, “one hit kill” attack on one of your characters that ruins your pattern (almost invariably you lost Rosa, your healer).
A kid has to learn to experiment and think (unless they’re cheating) to get past these gaming obstacles. Ultimately I succeeded with a little help and a lot of luck. In sticking with it I got to have the joy associated with successful completion. Needless to say this has been a useful trait/skill in life.
Creativity:
I never knew I was creative at all until I played Sim City for the first time. Sim City opened up aesthetic reserves in me that were not in evidence until I had opportunity to build my own city. Mind you I’m talking about the ORIGINAL Sim City, specifically the Super Nintendo port, so we’re not talking about all the bells and whistles associated with the later games in the series. This game let me create the “Lego cities” I wanted without investing the Danish GDP in little plastic bricks. I loved putting together neighborhoods and trying to imagine what they looked like. I tinkered incessantly and learned to work within a budget (more perseverance). There was a time when I wanted to be an architect or an urban planner (I would have probably ended up as one if not for the work involved. It seems if you make a mistake and the building falls down, they send you to jail, who knew?). Nevertheless, I did learn that my idea of how things can go together and should look had as much value as someone else. Thats a big deal for a shy nerdy kid!
Closing:
As you’ve surmised, the title was a grand exaggeration designed to draw you in and get you to read this stuff. Nonetheless, I feel I’ve made an important point. Games are a medium for storytelling and imparting information. They create experiences just like books and movies. Different experiences, to be sure, but experiences just the same. I think it’s about time we treat them as such.
Games should not be blamed for the erosion of culture and morality. Culture is changing not eroding and morality is just the same as it always has been, we just notice the failings (and supposed failings) of others more these days. Games should be understood and respected as an important part of the culture. The sooner we get grasp these truths and grow up the better.
Sermon over.
