I just watched this TED talk by a man who makes up words to describe obscure emotional feelings such as the hunger for disaster, or the fear of achieving your goals... He describes words at one point as 'keys into people's minds.' That's very apt. Language in essence is a form of mind control. I …
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: greed kills
I really enjoyed this novel. Yes, it's kind of a tired and overdone subject, but it was executed very well, with a lot of new elements. In the very near future, the world is dominated by corporations, who's privileged employees and their families live in compounds isolated from the 'plebelands' where the regular poor folks …
Continue reading "Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: greed kills"
Missing the point: IT
I saw the trailer for this remake, and I can't help but wonder if they are missing the point a bit... I remember Pennywise the clown being a villain in cheerful, friendly guise. In the new trailer, the 'clown' is pretty much a zombie in face paint. The surface is all that matters, it seems. The scary …
How to set the tone
Look at that tree. It's a pretty normal tree, right? I tried to pick a very neutral picture of a tree--one that could be anywhere, with anything going on around it outside the frame. Anything could be happening to the person observing it. How would you choose to describe this tree? That choice should …
Fixing humanity
Oryx and Crake is getting more interesting by the chapter. The cause of this apocalypse, seems to be some combination of human greed (the usual) and genetic engineering. But not, engineering of a virus (boring) or monster (less boring but still lame) but of new and improved humans. What would happen if we tried to …

