shawn rider dot com

digital lit :: games :: net.art :: media

My Xbox 360's Blog


GamesFirst's Xbox - Jul 2 2009

What does a 360 have to do around here to get some gaming? Anyone?

GamesFirst's Xbox - Jul 1 2009

If GamesFirst doesn't play me tomorrow, I have this sinking feeling something really bad will happen... like a meteorite obliterates all life on earth and the EMP takes all electronic devices with it.

powered by 360Voice Bits
 

What I'm doing...

Posting tweet...

 

Latest Bookmarks

Shawn on del.icio.us

 

What I did on 2009-06-27

  • @loonyboi Welcome (soon) to the DMV! Come look up the PBS gang sometime. We play lots of Civ _and_ Fallout! #
Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Ma.gnolia
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • Shadows
  • StumbleUpon
  • YahooMyWeb

And Recently There Was...

What I did on 2009-06-22


What I did on 2009-06-16


What I did on 2009-06-15


What I did on 2009-06-14


What I did on 2009-06-13


Reading Room

Spook Country

by William Gibson

Spook Country

Tags: art, gps, scifi, virtual reality

Started reading:
20th April 2008

Finished reading:
17th May 2008

You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.

Visit Library

William Gibson looms large over the scifi scene, yet his latest, Spook Country, is not so much “scifi” as “modern mystery”. He tells the story of techno-whiz artists experimenting with GPS, virtual reality, and locative artworks. He also tells the story of the world’s smallest criminal family and the world’s most secretive advertising agency.

Unfortunately, all of this sounds much better in summary than it comes off in execution. For the most part, Spook Country reads like a lightweight airplane novel. At times, some overwrought turn of phrase or painfully convenient introduction of high technology made me cringe as a reader. Gibson is overly fond of pop-cultural references (the very minor plot element of steganographically encrypted iPods is a good example).

But whenever I’d find myself, as a reader, getting too hard on Gibson, I’d pull back and realize that I had to give credit where credit is due: Not enough writers attempt the whole tech-art heist/government conspiracy plotlines. So from that point of view, Gibson is a smashing success. And it is very refreshing to read a relatively hard-boiled story using such artsy-fartsy fodder. It fits with the wannabe-bad-boy attitude of much avant-garde digital art, too.

In all, Spook Country is not a bad read. But it is certainly not a great read. It is what it is, and that’s a pretty kick-ass novel as far as art world heist stories go.

 

Currently Reading

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels Acme Novelty Library #18 (Acme Novelty Library)

Recently Read

Spook Country The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 (The Best American Series) What Is the What Wimbledon Green

shawn rider dot com is proudly powered by WordPress | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS).