GenesisDreams

Care Package

Books - Friends - Music I’ve received a surprise in the mail! A care package sent by Calvin all the way from Australia. It contained a variety of goodies and I really appreciated getting it. I’ve already emailed my thanks to Calvin. He has always been a great friend over the years and I even though I know he is so often busy (and/or caught up in the neurotic world of being a writer :P) am really thankful that he still takes the time and makes the effort to keep in touch. Included in this care package was a carefully constructed mix CD, and as Calvin predicted, Casual Friday by Black Leotard Front has become me new favourite song. It’s such a hip, laid-back mix; I love it. The track listing that Calvin made to accompany the CD is fantastic too, in a serial killer sort of way. I can tell he went to a lot of effort, and I’ve currently got all three pages of track titles on my wall. The care package also included a copy of The Fall by Albert Camus. I think I appreciate the book most of all, reading it while listening to the mix CD did help to "sap my complacency", as was suggested. I’m really lucky to have friends like Calvin, and I hope he knows I an very thankful for his friendship. Written while listening to Calvin’s mix CD. Fantastic stuff.

The Elephant Vanishes

Books - Fun Thursday night I went into London to see a play adaptation of Haruki Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes at the Barbican Theatre. I got the train down to London early, and met up with my friend Bull. We went to high school together, and, having finished Uni at the end of last year, he is travelling the world in search of adventure. At the moment he is working in a "Walkabout" bar in Bromley, but his shifts don't start till six, so he had time to meet up with me and have a few beers. It was good to see Bull again. We swapped travel stories. He had been to Spain last month and told me all about that, while I related (most) of my travel tales. He asked me about how everyone is doing back home, and I told him what little I knew. We are both so cut off over here. After a few too many beers we parted ways with promises to catch up in the next couple of months. He left to go to work, I went to the play. I've written about Murakami before (Midori, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Popcorn, Lord Jim, Extinction) and over the past year of so have read almost all of his work. I can't describe why I like his stories exactly, but they never fail to touch me, and at heart, I am a person who likes to be moved. The Elephant Vanishes is a collection of short stories by Murakami, and three of them (The Second Bakery Attack, Sleep, and The Elephant Vanishes itself) were adapted into one continuous theatrical performance. The style was very innovative, with movement and action and changing scenes and use of props all flowing together to form a stunning show. The actors were Japanese, and the dialogue was all in Japanese. There were "subtitles" provided on a screen above the stage, but I didn't bother with them most of the time. There was too much going on in front of me. I got a terrific seat, a centre of the stage, a couple of rows back, and from there the action and drama unfolded in a truly magical way. I love being able to go see performances like this. I actually get the opportunity now, living so close to London, and I really should take advantage of it more. Anyway so I was on quite a high afterwards. I want to see it again! I am moving into my new house tomorrow. University starts the week after next. I still have to talk about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (and I will) and also about my house, and my new housemates and all that jazz, but it will have to wait a little while longer. I don't know when we will get Internet access (or even a phone) set up in our new place. So please be patient.

How To Travel With A Salmon

Books - General - Metaposts - Music I have been really slack in updating lately. Sorry about that everyone. I have had to time to update, I've just been doing so much recently that I haven't had the energy to sit down and write all about it. I will catch up soon. I will be moving into my new place in a week, so if I don't post a big Fringe Festival and after review before then, it will likely be a couple more weeks before I get the net hooked up and everything organised for me to post properly again. I will get around to replying to all the emails I have been sent too... Sometime ^_^ Oh yeah, I'm reading some Umberto Eco and listening to lots of Faithless.

Information Rules

Books - University The set text for my Digital Economy module is called Information Rules - A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy written by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, and published by the Harvard Business School Press. Tenenbaum, a man whose textbooks I consider among the best I've ever used, describes this book as follows: "Full of powerful tools for strategic decision making, Information Rules is a valuable source for students, researchers, managers, and legislators." That's written on the second page of the book, and if Tenenbaum thinks it is a good book, I know it's going to be a good book. The Digital Economy module has been extremely interesting. Firstly it's an economic module, and I've only done a couple of economic subjects back at UQ (microeconomics and the like), so I'm being introduced to concepts I've considered before, or which have been touched on briefly by other business subjects, but which I've never studied in-depth. Secondly it's just plain interesting, learning about positive network externalities in digital industries, and issues surrounding versioning and lock-in. Studying standards wars and rights management and looking at information policy. It's all really great stuff, and reading it all I think it very much supports the statement that Shapiro and Varian make at the beginning of the book, that is: Technology changes. Economic laws do not. I plan to be a part of the digital economy, so I'm glad that I now have a much better idea of how it actually works. There are economic reasons why Microsoft gets bigger while other companies get smaller, why Sony and Phillips agreed on the CD standard, but why the phone companies still won’t standardise their networks, why different versions of products are priced differently and why versions exist at all. Things make sense now, which is always one of the best things you can get out of learning in my opinion.

Popcorn, Lord Jim, Extinction

Books - Japan - Quotes Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Haruki Murakami Wow. This mix of Jungian shadow worlds and cyber-punk-ish Tokyo has totally blown my mind. I generally don’t like making statements about my “favourite X”, because it usually depends on my mood. I don’t have a favourite movie, I don’t have a favourite TV show, I don’t have a favourite actor, or band, or song, everyone who knows me will know I have a favourite anime, but until now I didn’t have a favourite author or book. Well step up Murakami and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Sorry Neal Stephenson, sorry William Gibson, sorry George R. R. Martin, sorry to the rest of you. Murakami is king.

"I closed my eyes, I felt a ripple run through my mind. The wave went beyond sadness or solitude; it was a great, deep moan that resonated in my bones. It would not subside. I braced myself, elbows against the backrest of the park bench. No one could help me, no more than I could help anyone else." Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, pp:391 (Alfred Birnbaum translation).

And no, this is not a mood thing. Like Eva, I think I will love this book however I feel. Also interesting to note is that the anime Haibane Renmei seems to be influenced by Murakami’s work. The End of The World in this book refers to a village in the middle of land surrounded by a high wall (at least on the surface, I’m not going to delve into its deeper meaning here). A lot of the descriptions of the town and the wall seem to respond directly with what is depicted in the anime. Also the protagonist in the book is a newcomer to the town who is different from everyone else and who has no memory of his previous life (just like the Haibane). It’s also interesting to recall back to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as that book contains a scene where the protagonist has a revelation while trapped down a well. Calvin, if your still collecting anime DVDs, pick up Haibane Renmei, I think it’s just started being released in Australia. In short, I love this book.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Books - Japan - Quotes

"I saw myself as the wind-up bird, flying through the summer sky, lighting on the branch of a huge tree somewhere, winding the world's spring. If there really was no more wind-up bird, someone would have to take on its duties. Someone would have to wind the world's spring in its place. Otherwise, the spring would run down and the delicately functioning system would grind to a halt. The only one who seemed to have noticed that the wind-up bird was gone, however, was me."
--Haruki Murakami, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"

I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Harukai Murakami last weekend, I've just been too busy until now (when the hall bar is closed on a Sunday night) to write about it. It was the second of Murakami's book's I had read (see my Midori entry for more details) and I like this one the best so far. It was incredibly dark in places, but I that was one of the things I liked the most about it. At some points it made me want to physically go out and find a well (read the book and you'll understand). I don't really know where I found the time to read this book. Most of it was devoured during the long train trips to and from Liverpool, or the bus trips to/from Milton Keynes. Between those points, as much as I wanted to read it, I didn't really find the time. I’ve gotten a hold of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but I think I’ll leave off reading that for a while. Murakami is fantastic, but I think I need a break from him.

Midori

Books - Japan - Quotes Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami I just finished reading Norwegion Wood by Haruki Murakami. I'm becoming more addicted to Murakami's work with everything of his that I read. He is a great writer, and his stories are so refreshing. I also think it was the right time for me to read this book. It's about going away to University, about life and love and pain and loss. It reminded me a little of Catcher in the Rye in places. I think I'm going to have to re-read it before I go. I particularly liked the Midori character; she was intoxicating, perverted, spontaneous, cute and honest.

"So I made up my mind I was going to find someone who would love me unconditionally 365 days of the year. I was still in primary school at the time, but I made up my mind once and for all." "Wow", I said. "And did your search pay off?" "That's the hard part," said Midori. She watched the rising smoke for a while, thinking. "I guess I've been waiting so long I'm looking for perfection. That makes it tough." Waiting for the perfect love?" "No, even I know better than that. I'm looking for selfishness. Perfect selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortbread. And you stop everything you're doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on you knees and hold this strawberry shortbread out to me. And I say I don't want it anymore and throw it out the window. That's what I'm looking for." "I'm not sure that has anything to do with love," I said with some amazement. "It does," she said. "You just don't know it. There are times in a girl's life when things like that are incredibly important." "Things like throwing strawberry shortbread out the window?" "Exactly. And when I do it, I want the man to apologize to me. 'Now I see, Midori. What a fool I've been! I should have known that you would lose your desire for strawberry shortbread. I have all the intelligence and sensitivity of a piece of donkey shit. To make it up to you, I'll go out and buy you something else. What would you like? Chocolate mousse? Cheesecake?" "So then what?" "So then I'd give him all the love he deserves for what he's done." "Sounds crazy to me." "Well, to me, that's what love is. Not that anyone can understand me, though." Midori gave her head a little shake against my shoulder. "For a certain kind of person, love begins from something tiny or silly. From something like that or it doesn't begin at all." Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood, pp:99-100 (Jay Rubin translation).

I like everything about this book, so much so that I'm going to take it with me. Sacrifice some of the scarce free room in my backpack, and bring it along. I might have to bring one less pair of socks! I'm listening to Norwegian Wood by the Beatles at the moment (of course!).