ed_rex

Seems like only yesterday I was making an ass of myself by forgetting how to Bcc people, but it was in fact actually about a month and a half ago.

Despite the appearances here, I have been keeping busy, beavering away on a long-form writing project, getting myself back into the paid work-force as a driver, doing a lot of cycling to the Ottawa International Airport, experimenting with a technology a bit more recent than a velocipede, and taking note of some lunatic developments in urban "design".

I've also been doing some reading and expect to have a couple of book reviews posted here shortly.

Meanwhile ...

Danger! Urban renewal ahead!

City life is full of familiar risks. Traffic, pollution, crime, unfortunate fashion decisions.

But there are other dangers, too, stationary hazards that lurk right out in the open, waiting for the unwary, the distracted.

In recent years, Ottawa (and many other cities in the ostensibly advanced first world) is in the midst of a lunatic experiment in Ergonomic Selection. I speak of course, of the boxy behemoths which have replaced the old-fashioned, coin-only parking meters.

The new meters take coins, bills and any number of varieties of plastic.

And if they haven't yet, they will also soon take lives.

Don't believe me? Find out why the new parking meters are an ambulance-chaser's best friend!

Farewell to the Gutenberg era

I've taken the plunge and purchased not one, but two, e-readers. (In succession, one replacing another.)

And I fear I may never again purchase a book make of paper and ink.

¡Viva la Revolución!

Slouching towards the Singularity?

Speaking of technology, it seems I'm a little slow on the uptake, because I have only just now realized that, well, I do think about the applications of science with which we surround ourselves and on which we depend.

So, a new section, ever-so-imaginatively entitled, "Technology". The name will likely change at some point in the nebulous future, but for now my experience as an e-reader reader has convinced me I'll be talking more about the machines in our lives.

The intro page is here, though it is little more than a holding page at the moment. But if you're interested, click away.

That's it for now. Coming soon, a review of Steven Pinker's provocative new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, which claims we live in the best of all historical (if not of all possible) worlds, of Benjamin Tate's unusual epic fantasy, Well of Sorrow and, sooner than later I hope, of Von Allan's sequel to Stargazer — yes, in paper. I'm not so sure that six-inch screen is going to do for comics.

Perfect Books isn't quite the perfect bookstore (kind of like this cheap opening sentence isn't a perfect hook), but wandering the eccentric and obviously personal selections lining its shelves was a breath of fresh air after having spent some time at an enormous Chapters the day before. (Though really, memo to Perfect Books: Since you own the domain, perfectbooks.ca, having your homepage default to villagewitch.ca is just confusing. But I digress.)

I — in truth, we, though Raven kept to the sidelines and only briefly said hello to Moggy, shortly before we left — made my first visit to Perfect Books I think since I lived here around the time of the First Gulf War (you do the math arithmetic; I haven't the heart for it).

Anyway, we were there for Vonandmoggy's book-launch, the unveilling of Von Allan's second book, Stargazer. Happily, and more than a little to my surprise, there was a line-up (smallish, but a line-up) waiting to talk with the artist-writer when we arrived, and so Raven and I first did a brief auto-tour of the store itself and it seemed, as I said, to be a very good one. The SF section in particular managed, with three (maybe four) shelves, to provide me with as many interesting-looking books as Chapters managed in thrice or four times the space.

Anyway, I cut that short and wandered back to Von's table, and introduced myself. "I'm ed-rex," I said and to my pleasure my presence seemed to be his pleasure. We talked — mostly about comics and quite a lot about Dave Sim — until Moggy pointed out that he, once again, had a line.

Raven snapped a few pics (forthcoming), I paid for my book and we paid our respects then headed back out into the night. I haven't had the chance to read the book yet, but the Big C took a look while I was working in the kitchen last night and was more than a little impressed, using words like, "Great art-work" and "This is really good." I mentioned to Von that True North Perspective has a "Book End" slot and would love to feature Stargazer in it. And yes, I need to send him the promised email as soon as I finish this meandering entry.

Right. On to that email, then to finishing up a review and then to getting down to paying work.