Perception

One of the most popular kind of illusions are those that you don’t understand at first, but then you slowly adjust to them and understand them. Pictures of people standing straight up on wall, sideways landscapes, etc, are really fun. Even better is when you can do that in writing. When something can be misty and begin to form without really being clear.Jorges Luis Borges’ stories seem to have an underlying mythos cycle that is hinted at but never revealed. Each supernaturally-charged story has a plot and a MacGuffin, but also a sense of – not God, but – magic or mysticism.Many fantasy and sci-fi stories have complex historical sagas which require the reader to memorize them. Hard Sci-Fi has names and concepts and places too. Readers of these stories often feel superior because they are reading such advanced material, but often there won’t be a point to the story. 

Inversely Proportional

I have discovered that willingness to play sports in the rain is inversely proportional to sanity.

Leopard is amazing. I don’t have it yet, it’s not even out, but I’ve seen the ads. For comparison, I saw Word 2007 for the first time today, and apart from the ribbon, there was nothing particularly spectacular, not compared to iWork ‘08.

They say Douglas Adams is to Science Fiction as Terry Pratchet is to Fantasy, and as from today, I can back that statement up. Today I have begun Small Gods, a story about a god trapped inside a turtle with no believers. The structure of political commentary mixed with humor is similar to that of Douglas Adams.

Also recently, I have read the entire Space Odyssey series. Very good, unrecommended for anyone who can’t bear the illegible names of modern sci-fi/fantasy.

Harry Potter

I fear.

Most of us do.

See, the seventh and final Harry Potter book is coming out the 21st… two days. So far a ton of people I know have had full caps spoilers sent to them, and tons more – maybe even me – are going to stay off the web and email. Just until noon on Saturday, when I can happily refute any spoilers with <blockquote> Yeah, I know! </blockquote>

Today I’m going somewhere peaceful, where you can’t shout out the ending. I’ll be safe for today. We’ll see about tomorrow.

Guess

Guess what it is that this poem describes. I wrote this today.

Flexible Digits
Adapting to the Needs
Long, Jointed Limbs -
Soft, Sweaty Belly
Smells like Textures
Snap, Clap.

Each Limb’s end is
Shelled with hair in other forms
Chewed Tips and
Greasy Stomachs.

Exploring, Sending back
Pulses in Code.

Code I do not know,
Yet I interpret it correctly.

First person to guess – correctly – will be featured.

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