Comments on: Zappa, Spook Country http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/ Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:07:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: glenn branca http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10575 glenn branca Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:30:02 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10575 I agree with MarcL. Most of Womack's books are brilliant. But Spook Country reminded me more of one of his not so good books, the aptly titled Going, Going Gone. It also reminded me of Paul McAuley's Whole Wide World. Both of these guys are on Gibson's perfunctory thank you list at the end of the book. Are there ghosts in this machine? I agree with MarcL. Most of Womack’s books are brilliant.
But Spook Country reminded me more of one of his not so good books, the aptly titled Going, Going Gone. It also reminded me of Paul McAuley’s Whole Wide World. Both of these guys are on Gibson’s perfunctory thank you list at the end of the book. Are there ghosts in this machine?

]]> By: MarcL http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10568 MarcL Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:41:20 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10568 SPOOK COUNTRY reminded me of Jack Womack's awesome and hilarious and undeservedly overlookd LET'S PUT THE FUTURE BEHIND US. Readers of the latter (and if you're not one, I highly recommend it) will recognize the similarity of certain key elements around which the plots of both books revolve. SPOOK COUNTRY reminded me of Jack Womack’s awesome and hilarious and undeservedly overlookd LET’S PUT THE FUTURE BEHIND US. Readers of the latter (and if you’re not one, I highly recommend it) will recognize the similarity of certain key elements around which the plots of both books revolve.

]]> By: Rudy http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10561 Rudy Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:05:21 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10561 Dave Itzkoff reviews SPOOK COUNTRY in this week's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/books/review/Itzkoff4-t.html" target="blank" rel="nofollow">NY Times Book Review</a>. Pretty good review, though he could say more about G's style. I was thinking that if SPOOK COUNTRY had been written 10 years ago, it would be SF, but now it's not. Not every realistic book about the present WOULD have seemed like SF if published 10 or 20 years ago, so my comment is not without content. Ther's something like an SF worldview, which carries over into mimetic realism. It's the kinds of things you focus on, and what you think is interesting or funny. One slip-up by the Itz: he sez Milgrim is an ampehetamine addict, but he's in fact addicted to a certain family of tranquilizer/anti-anxiety drug, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine" target="blank" rel="nofollow">benzos </a>. This includes (as well as Rize) Xanax, Ativan, Valium, Klonopin, Halcion, etc. Trust Gibson to have a character with an addiction that hardly anyone's heard of. An early trank was called Miltown. Maybe Milgrim = Miltown Pilgrim. Dave Itzkoff reviews SPOOK COUNTRY in this week’s NY Times Book Review. Pretty good review, though he could say more about G’s style.

I was thinking that if SPOOK COUNTRY had been written 10 years ago, it would be SF, but now it’s not. Not every realistic book about the present WOULD have seemed like SF if published 10 or 20 years ago, so my comment is not without content. Ther’s something like an SF worldview, which carries over into mimetic realism. It’s the kinds of things you focus on, and what you think is interesting or funny.

One slip-up by the Itz: he sez Milgrim is an ampehetamine addict, but he’s in fact addicted to a certain family of tranquilizer/anti-anxiety drug, the benzos . This includes (as well as Rize) Xanax, Ativan, Valium, Klonopin, Halcion, etc. Trust Gibson to have a character with an addiction that hardly anyone’s heard of.

An early trank was called Miltown. Maybe Milgrim = Miltown Pilgrim.

]]> By: Philip Shropshire http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10519 Philip Shropshire Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:10:25 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10519 I found Frank's music to be very spiritual and soulful as well even though he was a devout atheist. If you really like his music then you're welcome to try out a new online music station that I've created with software out of Hungary. It's called "The Acid Jazz Channel" and features anywhere from 10 to 15 of Frank's vids. I tend to like his instrumental stuff more in that I'm a jazz fan...Real music, real musicians is the motto. You're welcome to check out the station here: http://www.threeriversonline.com/philsmusicshow.htm Philip Shropshire http://www.threeriversonline.com I found Frank’s music to be very spiritual and soulful as well even though he was a devout atheist. If you really like his music then you’re welcome to try out a new online music station that I’ve created with software out of Hungary. It’s called “The Acid Jazz Channel” and features anywhere from 10 to 15 of Frank’s vids. I tend to like his instrumental stuff more in that I’m a jazz fan…Real music, real musicians is the motto.

You’re welcome to check out the station here:

http://www.threeriversonline.com/philsmusicshow.htm

Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com

]]> By: glenn branca http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10518 glenn branca Sat, 25 Aug 2007 10:50:24 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10518 Milgrim's always high. What I'd like to know is what happened to the 100 mil. Maybe they hid it in Gibson's loft and it irradiated his mind. Milgrim’s always high.
What I’d like to know is what happened to the 100 mil.
Maybe they hid it in Gibson’s loft and it irradiated his mind.

]]> By: Rich http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10442 Rich Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:50:44 +0000 http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2007/08/21/436/#comment-10442 I recently got the DVD "Zappa- Apostrophe (')/Overnite Sensation" from Amazon. There are several extras included. A few of them are Dweezil deconstructing his dad's songs on a mixing board. Fascinating stuff. If you don't already have it, highly recommended. I recently got the DVD “Zappa- Apostrophe (’)/Overnite Sensation” from Amazon. There are several extras included. A few of them are Dweezil deconstructing his dad’s songs on a mixing board. Fascinating stuff. If you don’t already have it, highly recommended.

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