DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I’m doing my part to fight recession single-handedly, by spending as much money as I possibly can. Here’s a short list of the media I’ve consumed in the past two weeks.

Three excellent works of escapist fiction: Anonymous Rex, The Truth Machine, The Best a Man Can Get

Five great albums: Transatlantic’s The Bridge Across Forever (neo-progressive rock in the Pink Floyd, Genesis, Beatles vein, as interpreted by members of Spock’s Beard, Marillion, Flower Kings, and Dream Theater!)… Attention Deficit’s The Idiot King (instru-mental monster rock featuring ex-Primus drummer Tim Alexander)… Dream Theater’s Live Scenes from New York (a concert rendition of their progressive metal magnum opus, Scenes From a Memory, a rock-opera descendent of Tommy, The Wall, etc.)… the Dave Matthews Band’s Listener Supported… The Flower Kings’ The Rainmaker (melodic progressive anthemic rock).

Still to come: Camel’s Paris Collection, a live set recorded in Paris on the band’s Y2K world tour.

This one didn’t help the economy, but helped my disposition quite a bit. Elephone is a new band in San Francisco, with a trippy sound, a great vibe, and emotive vocals. You can download their first three tunes from MP3.com for free. Check it out: elephone

Let me be the first to say it: within three years, this will be a Hugh Grant movie.

The book’s concept is brilliantly summarized in this passage from the cover flap:

Michael Adams is a composer of advertising jingles who shares a flat with three other men in their late twenties. Days are spent lying in bed, playing computer and musicial trivia games, and occasionally doing a spot of work. And then, when he feels like it, he crosses the river and goes back to his unsuspecting wife and children.

I admit that women are not as likely to find this setup humorous. But I invite any females who feel slighted by the premise to read the book anyway, as you’ll enjoy the way your gender redeems itself through the character of Adams’ wife.

If you enjoy Nick Hornby’s work, especially High Fidelity, you’re likely to enjoy this book. Also, fans of the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy or other books by Doug Adams, Douglas Coupland, or Carl Hiaasen, you’ll probably like this too.

Patronize these links, man:

• Amazon (hardback)
• Amazon (paperback)

This book is strikingly different from anything I’d read recently. In the world of the book, dinosaurs haven’t become extinct, but have evolved into smaller, somewhat more flexible creatures than previously. And they live among humans, disguised in rubber human-suits. And although they’re impervious to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, they get drunk on basil.

It’s ridiculous, but very enjoyably so. The narration is smooth, the dialog is snappy, the tone is breezy, and the story makes for a fast and funny read. The plot gets a bit complicated but Garcia ties it all up at the end.

The main character is a private detective, Vincent Rubio, who hasn’t recovered from the murder of his partner a year prior. Battling a nasty herb addiction as well as vicious collection agencies, Rubio has a long battle for redemption, not to mention revenge.

Garcia has announced prequels and sequels featuring some of the same characters. I will definitely be reading these too.

Patronize these links, man:

• Amazon (paperback)

At the heart of this novel is a device that can indicate with 100% reliability whether a speaker is lying. Extrapolating from this simple concept, Halperin remakes the world, imagining huge changes to politics and the judicial system. (If laywers and politicians could no longer willfully deceive, the world would be a very different place, and Halperin describes a plausible version.)

I had two minor complaints about the book. One is that the narrator is a semi-sentient journalism computer. I may have overlooked some value-add, but it seemed to me this device detracted from the flow of the story.

The other quibble is that Halperin didn’t take on the advertising industry the way he did the lawyers and politicians. I’d have liked to see marketing execs get skewered the way lawyers do.

I strongly recommend the book to legal and political scholars, sociologists, criminologists, fans of science or speculative fiction, or really anyone with a few hours and seven dollars to kill. Although the story is aware of, and even embraces technology, it is not really science fiction — although if you enjoy SF you are likely to enjoy this for its similarities to the genre.

Patronize these links, man:

• Amazon (paperback)

In about 1980, musician Scott Ian read about anthrax in his high-school biology class. He thought the word would make a good band name… and over the next 20 years, he built Anthrax into a world-class heavy-metal band, with album sales and fans numbering in the millions.

In October, 2001, adequacy.org resident fool ‘dmg’ failed to understand any of these facts, and accused Anthrax (the band) of taking on the name “to cash in on bioterrorism.” Further, he claims that the band has a “new CD out hatefully entitled ‘Spreading the Disease’” — but this album was actually released in 1985. dmg’s ravings can be found here: Anthrax - Please, PLEASE change your name. [We have removed our local mirror of this article at the request of Adequacy.org.]

I believe ‘dmg’ is trolling. That is, she or he is purposefully writing inflammatory, specious articles, perhaps in an attempt to make a name for him/herself, or perhaps to drive traffic to the adequacy.org website.

This is not a new practice, to invent facts and create fiery accusations based on misunderstandings and rumors. It’s called tabloid journalism, and if your right to publish such opinions is provided by the 1st Amendment, it’s defended by the National Enquirer. So now we know something about adequacy.org that we didn’t know before.

anthrax.com demonstrates the band’s humor. The bandmembers don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. And their response to the 9/11 attacks, and the ongoing anthrax scare, is very human. Check out their Anthrax press release for samples of both.

In contrast, dmg isn’t particularly humorous. He has a lot to say, but little of it is endearing, well-researched, or even true.

In Building your dream PC, an anti-technologist diatribe, dmg accuses anyone who wants to build a beowulf cluster of being a “small-penis compensating weiner [sic].” I wonder if dmg realizes that the current roster of Beowulf cluster users includes most of the brightest physicists and computer scientists in the country, as well as the Center for Disease Control, which is deeply involved in current anti-bioterrorism efforts, including the anthrax scare.

In his tirade against Anthrax, dmg revealed one of his/her biases, perhaps unwittingly. S/he concedes that the bandmembers “seem like decent enough people” … apart from their “unkempt, dishevalled [sic] aggressively long hair.”

Ha! How can hair be “aggressively” long? Maybe this is a “small-penis compensating” sort of comment.

P.S. It fascinates me that adequacy.org’s Terms of Service proclaims “we reserve the right to delete comments deemed inappropriate in tone or factually false.” I can only conclude that this documented quest for truth applies only to comments, but not to staff-written articles.