Archive for the ‘ Random ’ Category
Went to sit in a Toyota GT- 86 yesterday in a dealership. Those are two books I don’t seem to find time to read..currently reading the republic of thieves. Also this post is from a tablet.. First one on this blog.
I’ve been really really busy as of late, and tired. I have a new tablet and I need to setup some wlan at the apartment and also need to set some settings on it for wordpress to make posting and doing reviews easier..boy have I got a lot of books to read & review. University keeps me busy though but maybe I’ll find the time and it won’t stop me from posting interesting things..that’s what lazyness stops. 🙂
Anyway today’s nice link: http://robertjacksonbennett.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/on-talent/
Robert Jackson Bennett nails it in his blog post how I feel about creative work as someone whose field of work in the future will involve finding people their career paths or the kind of education they want to specialize in (I might write on that in the future). There’s just no substitute for hard work and practice in any field, and you really need to be motivated by what you do. This I think is a problem often in schools that students aren’t motivated and this is reflected in their grades..why study when you don’t see the purpose or goal and have no love for the subject?
I’ve been playing with the concept on mini reviews for books so stay tuned for that. Right now I’m spending my christmas holiday doing some accounting..thank jupiter that is going to be over soon since the new person for that was chosen and I have to train her..as soon as I finish my job for the last year though.
So I’ve got a great backlog of books, that I’ve been reading for the past few months.
But I haven’t done any reviews on the books I’ve been reading as of late so this post is going to feature some of my thoughts on those books. I’ve got to be honest here though and the inactivity on this blog has been mostly because of me being busy with the “real life” so..I think I could’ve done more but haven’t done it here..lets try to fix that shall we.
Scott Lynch has a new book coming out “The Republic of Thieves” and if you haven’t read the two books he has done before (Lies of Locke Lamora/Red Seas Under Red Skies) then you should do so..these are even good books for a writer to study as his worldbuilding is in my opinion great. I also remember I have reviews to do on these two earlier books.
The latest book I read was Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” My verdict: a good book, enjoyable but nothing amazing..but I’m more of a fantasy/SF guy, that said King is always enjoyable for me and I like the way he writes and some of the characters were good and I couldn’t put this book down..oh the sleepless nights.
Books I just started reading:
– David Gemmel – Legend
– Brandon Sanderson – The Alloy of Law (this is my first book from sanderson..I’m quite excited about that since I listen to him on the Writing excuses podcast all the time )
I’m also continuing my University education so expecting that to hamper my reading progress. Maybe I’ll mention some of the books here in a post, that could be interesting there’s some good stuff there.
I realise that I haven’t been doing much posts for a while now. I guess I should explain.
I got accepted into a university, where I’m studying student councelling, life has been really busy. I’ve also been unmotivated to do any posts on the blog due to being so busy with everything that has been going on.
Done some reading though so here are quick verdicts:
John Scalzi – Fuzzy Nation
Verdict: A book to read, I found it a pretty good read, pick it up as paperback for cheap and it is really worth it.
Patrick Rothfuss – The Wise Mans Fear
Verdict: GET! I myself am waiting for the next one..if only there were more of these..(Side note: I was a little bit disappointed about the story progression and some little things but all in all it is a great book and definately worth having..I’m just nitpicking here really..)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch – Boneyards
Verdict: I really love these three books (diving into the wreck, city of ruins) and I heartily recommend each of these, that said I think Boneyards isn’t as good as City of Ruins, but considering how good that book was..Boneyards is really worth reading though you should probably not pick this book up if you haven’t read the two before it..now to wait for the next one.
G.R.R Martin – A Dance With Dragons
Verdict: Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire gets back into the good stuff (after the book before this..) and I’m glad he does that, I do hope there won’t be a long wait for the next book..we can only hope and I think the wait will be worth it.
John Steakley – Armor
Verdict: Did I tell you this book has power armors? It does. A good book, very minor flaw (Not being more books for me to read being it!). I could not put it down, read this mostly in one sitting (had to sleep at times) very worth getting if you liked Starship Troopers.
Mark Lawrence – Prince of ThornsÂ
Verdict: Good, I had some minor issues with this book (Damn you for misleading me for a bit! but thanks for it too..). Going to follow this writer and read more of his books, he can do good books..and I want to read more about the world in this book.
Well that is the update with books, next onto the kickstarter
Kickstarter projects that I like and have backed:
– http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen (Star Citizen, very promising and already funded, but kickstarter still running)
– http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity (I’m almost wishing I could already play it..)
– http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 (Mark Morgan Soundtrack! I’m looking forward to this!)
That is that, I think we have a pretty good update here, I’ll probably sometime do a video blog post with Piano music.
Today’s post is a bit different, as I’ll be talking about the recent changes in some interesting technology I’ve noticed.
As the subject is quite large I’m not going to go into details that I don’t have but we will start with the coming together of computer modelling and 3d printing for the common man.
http://wiki.makerbot.com/how-to-print
Following that link you will find a good article about 3d printing, one that lists all the 3d software that is relevant to it, for me it is quite interesting how all these programs have started to work alongside each other to enable someone to create or mould plastic parts for their own use.
So now we have the necessary tools for making our own tools/parts/funny objects, but to print them you don’t necessarily need to own a 3d printer, why you can just order what you modeled through post.
Enter shapeways a company that “we’re a NY start-up that harnesses 3D printing to help you make, buy and sell anything you want.” sounds pretty interesting and they apparently don’t cost too much and have several different kind of materials available for your printing. (this is currently the only one I know of, there are others but I have no idea about them)
So what can one do with 3d printing? http://imgur.com/a/Tnq1F take a look at this http://shoryuken.com/2012/07/03/rts-x-fighters-check-out-the-ultimate-starcraft-ii-arcade-stick/ that is pretty cool and it well presents how technology has progressed together to give someone who doesn’t work in the actual field a chance to do something like this without too much effort.
I would have to say the keypoint might be the 3d modeling software, and we can see this development somewhere else when we look at what is happening to animation when it collides with 3d modeling and games: enter the Valve’s Source Film maker http://www.sourcefilmmaker.com/ which will most likely revolutionize animation (atleast for the casual animator) and also has me drooling all over it.
These technologies are coming together, and what the end result is I don’t know but I’m sure it will be something that will have us wondering in a few years what the world was like back then when we didn’t have them working together.
If you are planning to get a decent keyboard for writing you should read up this guide.
http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/mechanical-keyboard-guide#post6009418
Mechanical keyboards are something I’ve been considering for a while, my current keyboard the logitech wave is decent but when I try to type fast with it the keys get stuck and the build quality feels flimsy..so next keyboard will be mechanical, the Thermaltake meka G1 seems interesting.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6043/capsule-review-thermaltake-meka-keyboards-and-black-element-mouse
http://isbw.murlafferty.com/ — the “I should Be Writing” podcast (“It’s a podcast for the wanna-be writer, someone who had always wanted to write but just hadn’t for… whatever reason.”) seems quite interesting, haven’t listened to this much yet though.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/category/podcast-2/Â The SF Signal podcast (one which I listen to often).
http://www.swordandlaser.com/Â Sword and Laser is another good podcast.
Enjoy.
Basil Poledouris has made some of my all time favorite pieces.
http://www.davidfarland.net/writing_tips/?a=89
Just a quick link of the day for some food of thought
swordmoon 