Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Stranger in a Strange Mary Sue. I just found a great old post by Teresa Nielsen Hayden on "Mary Sue". MARY SUE (n.): 1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment ... [for example] Galadriel's secret love-child (Aragorn�s unacknowledged daughter) who runs off to join the Company of the Ring, sorts out Boromir's problems, out-magics Gandalf, out-fights Aragorn during the melodramatic scene in which she reveals her true identity, demonstrates herself to be so spiritually elevated that the Ring has no effect on her, and wins Legolas' heart forever. I loved this, and was all set to blog that Robert Heinlein falls deep into this trap in some later novels--until I discoved Teresa's commenters had already said exactly this. What would Mary Sue do in my situation? Drink exotic poison and die a lingering death in the arms of Johnny Depp, as mascara ran down his cheeks on a riptide of tears.... [Betsy Devine: Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar?] 6:04:26 PM     Bush at War by Bob Woodward - given Bob's history, Bashing Nixon, Bashing Clinton - maybe this is a bridge kind of book? Another Type of Digital Divide ?. Gleaned from Esther Dyson's blog, Valdis Krebs uses his software to map the books setting out political points of view in these oh-so-interesting times. I'll bet a map of left/right blogs would look similar. Kinda looks like the two main gangs in West Side Story or the Bloods and Crips from South-Central LA, doncha think?  Thanks, Valdis.   [wirearchy News] 4:41:11 PM     Thanks to Due Diligence for this post  - Don Norman as Andy Rooney caught my eye... In fact it makes Don's point  - that things that capture attention create an emotional response...  Smiling as I write this. ======================================================== The Last Day and the Last Brain Cell The last day at ETech featured Don Norman's keynote. I have occasionally mocked Don (in a friendly way!) as the Andy Rooney of human interface - "Did you ever notice...." - as he's critiqued his way through computing and industrial design. But he's turned over a new leaf, and came to talk about 'enjoyable things', more accurately, products that create an emotional response. And the talk was a joy. Don really is a master raconteur, and his graphics were a great accompaniment - a contrast to certain other (ahem!) graphically challenged keynotes. Don convinced me to amazon his book on the spot, so he gets my pitch of day award. I had to leave Bill Janeway's talk before the end, but caught most of it. I won't recite his dismal stats on the effects of the NASDAQ and bubble bust on the VC biz, since I get to live that all the time. I think the approach to venture formation which he proposes is a valid and valuable one, and will continue to be a part of the capitalist ecology alongside the conventional round-driven model. I'll just put in one caution - that there's a bit of survivorship bias in the examples he used - eBay, et al. He makes it sound and look easy; it's not. By this point, accumulated sensory overload and sleep deprivation were starting to take their toll. and brain cells were shutting down at an alarming rate. I visited the programmable matter and XML talks, and Dan Gillmor's blogging/journo affair, but saw no eye openers. I sat in on Bunny Huang's hardware hacking talk on a lark (the last circuit I built featured 14 pin DIPs), and did learn a lot about the low cost of reverse engineering even the most complex silicon products, as well as the continued ingenuity of hardware hackers. In spite of my occasional snarking, this Etech was a worthy successor to the first. My compliments to the chefs. There was great hallway and lounge action, and I particularly enjoyed my first f2f meets with a lot of folks, of whom I'll specifically mention my blogdaddy Jeff Jarvis, Scoble, Jason Calacanis, and Allan Engelhardt. I'll post some photos over the weekend. And very lastly, my best-of-show award goes>David Sifry of Technorati. He taught me some new things about a field I've followed for a very long time, and that's a rare gift. [Due Diligence] 2:10:24 PM     OK OK - you are endlessly fascinating - juxtaposing posts - On The Perceived Hermanetics of Didactic Fundamentalism and then this one...  I am hot just imagining you in your bikini - pink hat - darjeeling dream And Great Link to Daniel Day Lewis as Cecil - talk about contrasts - Room with a View and then Last of the Mohicans - don't underestimate the flexibilty of us tweedy guys... ============================================== Cock-A-Doodle Do. Cock-A-Doodle Do Rise and shine, guys. Let's go. It's getting late. 5:22 am here I suppose that rooster noise is what woke me, figuratively, metaphorically, not literally, as there is no strutting bird anywhere in sight, but in my mind's eye, which is to say a rather sexy dream woke me, what's a girl to do, but stagger out of bed, say ... "hmmm" about that, put a light on, shuffle into the kitchen, grab the counter for balance, flip the switch on the teapot, reach for the Darjeeling to bring her back to Earth, and with spring battling winter and my dreamy landscape a hot summer beach, I don a most inappropriate but perfect costume, last summer's black and white bikini, a black cashmere sweater, a pink faux fur hat. You can't take this life too seriously you see. I think, "Who Was That Masked Man?" Maybe ... him? Maybe ... him? Maybe ... him? Maybe ... him? Maybe ... him? No, must have been ... oh yes, he's the one. [Halley's Comment] 11:13:45 AM     Thank you Halley - once again for keeping me on my literary toes.  My introduction to Uxor comes from an a capella song I sang back in high-school.  It is a very sophomoric tribute to latin lessons by John O'Keefe: Amo, Amas AMO, amas, I love a lass As a cedar tall and slender! Sweet cowslips' grace Is her Nominative Case, And she's of the Feminine Gender. Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!    Harum, scarum Divo! Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,    Hic hac, horum Genetivo! Can I decline A Nymph divine? Her voice as a flute is dulcis! Her oculi bright! Her manus white! And soft, when I tacto, her pulse is! Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!    Harum scarum Divo! Tag rag , merry derry, periwig and hatband,    Hic hac, horum Genetivo! O, how bella Is my Puella! I'll kiss sæculorum! If I've luck, Sir! She's my Uxor! O, dies benedictorum! Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!    Harum scarum Divo! Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,    Hic, hac, horum Genetivo! John O'Keefe Note the line above - "if I've luck sir, she's my Uxor."  In other words the beautiful woman he is singing about will become his wife!  Or, at least will perform some "wifely" activities...;-) Thanks again======================================================= Uxorial. Uxorial I used this word "uxorial" today on the phone with someone who knows a lot of words and he didn't know this one. It's a great word. I have nothing but avuncular or perhaps, fraternal feelings for this guy, btw. And he is not particularly uxorious either. He simply needed to ask her a question before we could plan an outing. [Halley's Comment] 10:56:33 AM

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