wohoo! bought a bunch more SciFi. if all goes as planned, the 4 books i bought and the 1 i'm already reading will cover me for this month. if not.. i think i'll buy a B&N Nook, at the rate i'm buying books, it'd save money.

btw; i'm reading "South!" by Ernest Shackleton. i bought an Ian Banks book and some 3 book series by Alastair Reynolds... fingers crossed, my first expierence with both of these authors.


also, i noticed youtube has started to 'suggest people you may know' ... it did suggest someone i know. well, knew... things change right? kinda made it creepy in a way. lol.

Probably one or two people noticed i've been fiddling with the filler splash pages for some of my domain names. eventually i'll be replacing all of them.

I'm sure the web developers and informed curious noticed some random, cryptic messages 'hiding' in them. Expect more of this as i tweak, fiddle and update all the domain names.

They are a mix - kingnine.com's message directly relates to King Nine itself. the funny little song & poetry quotes popping up in the other sites are relevant to a project i've been struggling to make progress with over the past six or so months. they're sort of, vague little post it notes to myself about ideas.. memory triggers i guess. and for anyone else looking, they're amusing head-scratchers.

the quotes have nothing to do with past relationships, friends or any other personal, emotional sort of crap. they belong to this project, to quell that easy to make assumption right away. - and will be replaced with original writing once i've nailed down the next step.

i expect to continue this practice of embedded, hidden and scrambled messages as i get this project further underway. i'm excited with it, it's been something i love to do but rarely feel competent or inspired enough to try, but i think i've polished up some things i'm rusty on, and with, in the last six months or so.. so i'm giving it another try!

however, i'm planning to really get creative with the way i hide, scramble and otherwise.. 'obfuscate' the messages. i'm debating how i can make them relevant to the project in more than general reference - to make them an integral part of the 'full experience' so to speak - i would like this to be a two-layer project; something that the lay-visitor can follow and enjoy without any more effort than say, reading a book. but for the more interested, knowledgeable, etc.. a deeper experience, with some stuff just for them that is important - but not critical - to the project as a whole.

i don't know, i've got like, three different paper notebooks, an MS Office OneNote book, and like 40 (and growing) bookmarks filled with relevant bits and pieces, now i just gotta start tying it all together.

i'll put up a new journal at the same time as the real first teaser goes up and start asking people for more thoughts and feedback at that point.

Are indeed, hilarious. anyone paying attention saw the crazies going at it up there; two republican contenders and a democrat.

then one republican drops out, and endorses the democrat.

the robot - er - republican remainder has big name support, like sarah palin (i just puked in my mouth a little bit.) and he gets hung out to dry in well.. a seriously republican (and seriously gerrymandered) district.

epic. fail.

a sign of the republican party's erosion of support? fundamental loss of values? the internal war as they're split apart by neo-conservatives, libertarians, straight conservatives, and republicans - all sick and tired of eachother and proclaiming themselves 'the true party'? probably.

personally, i think it was having sarah palin (the puke taste again) back a fucking robot (no one's heard of).

i miss you upstate new york, but this is purified stupid in a vat of obvious shit.

now, back to our regularly scheduled california-bashing.

jesus.

i need a new hobby, and quick.

Finally.

Took my day off yesterday and wrapped up the last book of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Saga. Real marathon read, i think i slugged a bit over 300 pages yesterday.

All in all, awesome series. it's "Soft SciFi" - Dan doesn't dwell expansively on the hard science explanations for a lot of the technology, a little bit is hit on though, enough to rationalize some of the stuff - particularly major plot points that crucially rely on the explainers. The real difficulty was the rampant (on purpose) incongruities in time-lines. This ended up being effective, albeit, i did protest to how he framed the last two books, if only because it took away some of the dramatic tension (but he effectively replaced it with emotional tension.).

Simply put, it's four books, a bit over 2,000 pages.. and it'll run you about $30 USD for the whole series in paperback. if you like scifi and haven't read this series, I recommend it. I had started it a while ago, but finally got to the grindstone and wrapped it up.

Now, back to the past, i need to finish Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Expedition Journal - "South!"

"O Muse, sing nothing to me. I know you. I have been bound and servant to you, O Muse, you incomparable bitch. And I do not trust you, O Muse. Not one little bit." - Dan Simmons (Not from Hyperion)