Cloudherder

"The Dervish House" whirls its way to literary ecstasy

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:08:00 -0700

Let’s get down to it. The substrata. The core bits, the tiny tech, the miniscule building blocks that make up everything and everyone. The data that informs us, “you will be a green plastic bucket,” and “you will be a dandelion seed,” and “you will be a winged buzzy thing that lives 12 hours and dies an ecstatic, incandescent death.”

The Dervish House finds British speculative fictionist Ian McDonald breaking things down to their tiniest parts and reshaping them into objects of beauty. This describes not only his writing—luminous, incredibly accurate, devilishly clever, as always—but his knack for building worlds bright and brassy enough to smell and touch. It also connotes the way in which he constructs his plots: he begins with scattered characters and slowly draws connections between them, weaving their destinies together. But, above all it describes the central, pulsating idea of Dervish: nanotechnology.

We know what to expect from McDonald’s “emerging powers” speculative fiction. First, he selects a developing nation whose future holds unlimited possibilities, perched on the liminal edge of greatness or bust. He then ponders its possible near-future—no easy task in the bustling, brimming cities he chooses. He has mulled over India (River of Gods and Cyberabad Days) and journeyed into Brazil (Brasyl) in his past books. Dervish sets sights a multifaceted nation straddling tradition and innovation, stretched across two continents and trying to find a unified voice: Turkey. Istanbul, to be precise, on both sides of the Bosphorus and as nuanced, layered and loud as life.

Secondly, once McDonald has exhaustively researched his locale and given us a thoroughly enchanting, bewildering taste of its marvels, he presents us with the technological breakthrough that will define the narrative. In Varanasi it was Artificial Intelligence, in Sao Paolo it was quantum mechanics. For Istanbul, he serves up nanotech, and weaves its uses and dangers effortlessly into a tight, sinuous plot that not only excites but sings.

However familiar McDonald’s formula, he has truly outdone himself with Dervish. He has managed to incorporate the very best facets from his earlier speculative work: the astonishing detail which allows arm-chair travelers the uncanny sense that they know this culture and place; the magnificently sprawling world-building; the intelligent discussion of near-future technology and its applications; the myriad narrators and their multiple threads cinching at the end. He has also successfully culled the weaker aspects of those two novels, managing to combine the quick pacing of Brasyl and the deeply evocative splendor of 2047 India. Dervish even proffers a few characters you’ll actually like and root for, which was a difficulty by the end of River.

But, all this is pedantic.

Dervish is fun. Its plot—which unrolls over the course of a single week—is exciting, and its conclusion deeply satisfying. We are introduced to a widely diffuse cast of characters in the aftermath of a terrorist act in the center of Istanbul, each character reacting (or ignoring) the event in their singular way. As the week progresses—and we speed toward another inevitable terrorist threat—McDonald sends each of his characters chasing after their own crux or crisis. All will be touched by the dervish whirl of money, power, spirituality, fervor, past and present at the heart of their ancient city, and all will be changed by it.

Snaking its way through all of the excitement like a glittering thread is the beautifully drawn parallel of nanotechnology and the pure spiritual ecstasy found in the whirling release of a dervish: the desire to know the unknown by breaking ourselves down into the breaths and atoms of being; to create using the essence of pure matter and thus honor the act of creation; and to be able to see—just for a moment—the unseeable patterns of what makes us human, not a dandelion seed and not a green plastic bucket.

"If Google were sufficiently concerned about this, perhaps the company should issue children with..."

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:58:45 -0700

“

If Google were sufficiently concerned about this, perhaps the company should issue children with free “training wheels” identities at birth, terminating at the age of majority. One could then either opt to connect one’s adult identity to one’s childhood identity, or not.

Childhoodlessness, being obviously suspect on a résumé, would give birth to an industry providing faux adolescences, expensively retro-inserted, the creation of which would gainfully employ a great many writers of fiction. So there would be a silver lining of sorts.

”

- William Gibson- Google’s Earth - NYTimes.com

I have often suspected that the reason cyberpunk all-father William Gibson has ceased to write speculative fiction is because we have caught up to the worlds he speculated back in the 1980s. This may be true, but with this clever and well-written op-ed piece in the Times, he proves his brain is still just a couple of steps ahead of ours, pinging ideas off the digits and intertubes of our world.

Sunset/Moonrise at Golden Gardens (by eliblack) Golden Gardens...

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:22:32 -0700

Sunset/Moonrise at Golden Gardens (by eliblack)

Golden Gardens in the gloaming. Taken by a friend.

“Bonds” by Hideki Sakamoto, from the Darius Burst...

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:01:36 -0700

“Bonds” by Hideki Sakamoto, from the Darius Burst arranged album “Wonder World”.

Really unexpected and gorgeous composition, something that’s really rare on a CD of arranged tracks from a top-down PSP shooter of all things.

Sakamoto keeps proving to me that he’s one of people in games to really watch and listen for, beginning with his fantastic string quartets for Echochrome.

That said, I can definitely tell there are some very specific Icelandic influences going on here. Just a bit? Still awesome, however.

[afternoon reblog quickie] fuckyeaheyegasms: colorful-ice (by...

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:28:16 -0700

[afternoon reblog quickie]

fuckyeaheyegasms:

colorful-ice (by Marc)

Baby Alligator Turns Up Beneath a Car in Queens - NYTimes.com

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:54:09 -0700

Baby Alligator Turns Up Beneath a Car in Queens - NYTimes.com:

All those urban legends are untrue. Until they’re proven true by a baby alligator showing up under your Datsun.

Man Lives in Futuristic Sci Fi World Where All His Interactions Take Place In Cyberspace-The Onion

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:39:26 -0700

Man Lives in Futuristic Sci Fi World Where All His Interactions Take Place In Cyberspace-The Onion:

And this, ladies and gents, is exactly why William Gibson cannot write cyberpunk anymore.

"AVClub: There’s an ongoing argument about whether videogames can be art. Where does this film fit..."

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:07:30 -0700

“

AVClub: There’s an ongoing argument about whether videogames can be art. Where does this film fit into that argument?

Edgar Wright: I think it both eulogizes them and shows the downsides of them. I think Scott Pilgrim’s thoughtlessness and selfishness could come from playing way too many games and being lost in a world where you are the hero, the bit players are not important, they’re just items along the way, and you’re achieving experience points without necessarily having the experience yourself.

On the flipside, it’s interesting that Nintendo has become a design classic, and Mario has almost become the Mickey Mouse of our generation. I know it’s become an ongoing thing about whether videogames are art, and I think there’s plenty of examples of things that use the form in a fascinating way. Things that are more surreal or artistic, like Katamari Damacy or Vib-Ribbon.

I think where the criticism of videogames come from is where videogames are just Xeroxes of films, and when you get a film adaptation of that game, you’ve just Xeroxed something twice. I think that’s where a lot of the criticism comes from—there are ultra-violent games that are already based on a million films. But there’s definitely beauty and art and design in games. I don’t think anybody could deny that.

”

- The Onion AV Club has—as usual—an excellent interview up with Edgar Wright, director of the forthcoming Scott Pilgrim movie. The first portion of this answer lights up all the diodes in my head and really shows a full understanding—a mastery—of the nuances behind the Scott Pilgrim character. Yes, it’s a silly, wacky and fun comic series about fighting and video games and romance, but there is also a huge character arc—and that arc is not stable, not straight, and almost certainly not all positive. Will it translate to the film? Maybe, maybe not. But it sheds analytical light on the series in general, which is always welcome.

HEY.

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:02:09 -0700

Guys. What can I do to make you read The Meek? Tell me. Tell me, and I will do it, and you will read The Meek. This guy up here? This guy with the great facial expression? He is the new focus for chapter 3. His name hasn’t even been revealed and I am already in love with his smarmy tattooed greatness. Why aren’t you reading The Meek right now? Git over there!

Some Chinese bootlegger seems to be confused (what else is...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:39:31 -0700

Some Chinese bootlegger seems to be confused (what else is new?). Or, maybe I never realized what a saw-like ending Battlestar—that good-hearted tween comedy—actually has. I *did* feel a bit like a hacksaw had been taken to my jugular at its finale, but not enough to confuse Galactica with…the Enterprise? Oh, China.

Do you like art? Music? Maybe both? Check out this gorgeous clip...

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:12:25 -0700

Do you like art? Music? Maybe both? Check out this gorgeous clip from ArenaNet’s talented artists and excerpts from Jeremy Soule’s score from the game.

HD is definitely a must for this one.

I found this awesome dance clip on Reddit. I wish I could dance...

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:54:49 -0700

I found this awesome dance clip on Reddit. I wish I could dance like this. Seriously. Just wait for the guy in the white shirt…

TURF FEINZ “RIP Rich D” | YAKFILMS | ERK THA JERK | TURF DANCING in the RAIN | DANSE SOUS LA PLUIE (via YAKfilms)

San Francisco crime mapped as elevation An excellent visual and...

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:36:45 -0700

San Francisco crime mapped as elevation

An excellent visual and a very striking one, but it only shows one side of the story. The point of view of this map depicts these mountains of crime as objects in the city terrain to be avoided, as dangerous ridges to be skirted warily. This map forces the viewer, in effect, to be an outsider looking at clearly demarcated red zones. Or, this view may be that of an enforcer: these spikes on the horizon are anomalies to be hammered down into normalcy, foothills that should be stamped flat.

But is that how we see crime in our own cities? So clear, so present a danger? To see it in a different light, I would invert the effect that crime has on the map: instead of a rearing mountain chain, depict the crime-ridden areas as deep sinkholes; unavoidable gaping mouths punched into the very landscape that drag everyone and everything into their circumference. For those living in those areas, the terrain is a living thing, one that can betray and drop you down with the slightest of missteps. Rather than climbing steadily up the mountain of crime and danger to a goal of gangland kingpin, gravity will do it for you—whether you like it or not. Dire, dark and very difficult to climb out of once you’ve fallen in.

From:

iheartmyart:

(via feltron, roomthily, fuckyeahinfo)

Just when I was becoming a little bored with Colbert’s...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:42:05 -0700

Just when I was becoming a little bored with Colbert’s schtick (no, say it ain’t so!) he pulls this out with Kevin Kline. Shakespearean battle, go!

“Takes So Long” The Weepies, Hideaway (2008.) With...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:07:00 -0700

“Takes So Long” The Weepies, Hideaway (2008.)

With the distinctively lovely vocals of folk darling Deb Talan, “The Weepies” play a simple strummy folk that might make you fall in love at first listen. I first heard Talan’s rough-edged, rawly emotive voice on her solo albums, the very excellent Something Burning and A Bird Flies Out. There, her skilled lyrics and bravely unadorned vocals invited comparisons to other folk-pop songstresses such as Shawn Colvin, Lisa Loeb and Sarah Harmer.

Now, going under the moniker of The Weepies, her husband’s guitar strumming and vocal backing add a texture and harmony that absolutely sings. Their mellow, Sunday morning music is shot through with the colors of homey contentment, and even songs tinged with sadness or sorrow are still soaked in bliss. “Takes So Long” is a relatively simple, straightforward song, but one that finds complexity in the tiniest of pitch shifts. Each time the pseudonymous chorus repeats, their voices ask its question a slightly different way, bringing this spare song a new gravity. Take some time to do the dishes, weed the garden and allow the distinctly un-lachrymose Weepies to accompany you on your way.

(The Weepies’ newest album was released this year, but I haven’t gotten my ears on it yet.)

“The Moon Asked the Crow” by CocoRosie, Grey Oceans....

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:24:00 -0700

“The Moon Asked the Crow” by CocoRosie, Grey Oceans. 2010

Plinky plonk music box chords begin this strange dive into the subterranean weirdness of the music of sisters CocoRosie. This song, off their 2010 offering Grey Oceans, sees their unearthy Donald-Ducky voices carried by a funky baroque tune that lends a gravity to this otherwise weightless song.

Less a fan of their singing style and lyrics, I was literally stopped in my tracks when this song first played across my headphones, its outright oddness soon subsumed by the diverting build of its disparate instruments.

Is it weird for the sake of being weird? Possibly. Is it pretentiously arty for the sake of being pretentiously arty? Probably. Still, it isn’t every day you hear something entirely, utterly new. And some days, that’s enough for me.

Yep. It’s a real thing. It’s being produced by...

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:22:33 -0700

Yep. It’s a real thing. It’s being produced by Lucasfilm and handed out at a convention in Florida. Expect fires, looting and rioting.

The Stranger, Seattle’s Only Newspaper

“On and Ever Onward” Bjork and Dirty...

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:09:43 -0700

“On and Ever Onward” Bjork and Dirty Projectors

It’s a team-up for the ages: lyrics and arrangements by Dave Longstreth, backing vocals by Dirty Projectors’ ladies, and lead singing by the incomparable Bjork. Throw in the fact that all proceeds from this mini ep—Mount Wittenberg Orca—go straight to the National Geographic Society Oceans Project, and what could be better?

The choral harmonics sweeping and punctuating the background provide such a lovely framework for Bjork’s joyful, affecting singing. Though the lyrics are quite spare, their simplicity is earnest and beautiful, almost a paean to the natural world and our progression through it.

My two line review of Inception: The Matrix and What Dreams May Come had a baby, raised it on a...

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:47:37 -0700

My two line review of Inception:

The Matrix and What Dreams May Come had a baby, raised it on a steady diet of heist movies a la Ocean’s Eleven, and let it play with that nice neighbor boy, Dark City. See it, then scrape your brain offa the theater walls.

I’d like to think he’s poking at the green screen,...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:32:31 -0700

I’d like to think he’s poking at the green screen, desperately trying to click on the headline.

nerdology:

thatisawesome:

impressed CNN is now just a guy showing headlines from CNN.com, live on-air.

Life imitating websites imitating life…