Archive for February 8th, 2010

There was a recent report discussing how kids these days (heh) no longer read or write blogs. Instead, in their micro-sized ADD culture, they prefer to read status updates on Facebook. Okay, I can understand that. Part of the way I kill time is to scroll through my news updates and see what teensy morsel people have to toss out into the digital realm. It’s quick, it’s easy…and sometimes I really don’t need mundane details and 140 characters will suffice just fine. Ironically (is that the right usage? I can still never tell) sometimes people still manage to put out the most mundane details in 140 characters.

On the other hand, I don’t want just snippets. I want stories, gosh darnit! Call me a cranky, crotchety dinosaur here, but I used to like reading blogs from friends, or even people I didn’t know that well but sort of knew. There is something about a well-written personal blog with a few snarky comments is just…well, just plain entertaining to me. I like reading about the near disaster my friend had during a class, or some other befuddling musing in their head. Or perhaps it was a recent accomplishment, or a vent. Of course, I do add that one stipulation is that certain friends are just good writers. Those that aren’t…well, the entertainment value comes more from execution rather than content.

Either way, it’s sad to say that a good portion of the former blog world that I used to frequent from friends is no longer there. Of course, this was due to platforms like Xanga…and I’m convinced my cousin is one of the rare ones still existing there. (Hi Gogo).

Hand me a cane, if I wax nostalgia for a little longer I’ll be needing it during my tirade about dem whippersnappers these days.

Man, the Internet makes me feel old sometimes.

I love the public library.  Each time I visit, I am still blown away by the fact that you can waltz in, show them a card and then take a book home for two weeks (or more, if you renew it).  For those two weeks, that book is mine, mine, all mine!

I digress. In my latest visit to the SF library, I decided to pick up a no brainer book by Terry Pratchett, Going Postal.

I’ll be honest here: this was my first Terry Pratchett book.  I know, I know.  I can’t believe it either.  For a person who is a self-proclaimed avid reader, it is almost shameful.  Oh, there was that time that I read Good Omens with Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman…but that hardly counts (mostly because I half-read it on a crowded train in China, and the creepy person across my bunk was distracting me from focusing).  But that’s a whole other story.

So, without giving away a ton of spoilers - the main protagonist Moist von Lipwig is a con-artist turned postmaster…because it’s either that or, you know, death.  The problem is, he finds himself the newly appointed overseer of the post office that is absolutely run down to the ground and it must compete with the shiny, new, more technologically advanced Clacks system.  Throw in a few villains, vampires, golems, and mob mentality and you have yourself a pretty fun story.

I felt like this was a really good introduction into the Discworld series.  I don’t know if other readers feel this way, but I definitely felt a difference in the style of writing that seems distintly…British. And I mean this only because his description of scenes and nuances of comedy, were, in short: wacky and as random as losing your right sock right after you put it on.

A big plus for me was how nicely he wraps up the conflict/resolution in a tidy little bow.  The other interesting thing about the book is how easy it is to put yourself in that odd little world. Oh, and the moral of the story: you never know what you’re cut out for until you try.

Anyway, I’m already through with my second book and more than halfway through my third - Snow Crash. It’s quite interesting to read things side by side at a faster pace than I’m used to, mostly because the writing style and storylines are so starkly different. I’m curious to see how my current book turns out.