Tonight’s movie. Brings back much of the top cast of the 1984 film, and stars new faces. Predictable, charming and enjoyable. I like that Eddie Murphy lets other people steal scenes. Now do 48 Hrs.
Neuromancer is coming to Apple TV
They’ve just announced casting for Molly.
Elsewhere on the Internet, I’ve been involved in a discussion of anachronisms in the book, which was published in 1984. It’s a very 80s version of the future, with challenges for bringing to the screen today.
The opening line of the book is, ““The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” It’s a great line, but you’re gonna have to explain that to anybody under 50.
A climactic scene in the middle of the novel — a fantastic scene — takes place at a bank of pay phones. My autocorrect doesn’t even recognize the word “payphones” today, which underscores my point.
In another climactic scene, the characters are on a spaceship, and the hero asks if the ship has a modem.
A big part of the novel’s premise is that Japan is a global superpower.
Still, the story of Neuromancer still works today.
“Neuromancer” was seminal to the Generation X and younger Boomer entrepreneurs and engineers that built the Internet; in the early 90s, you saw a lot of companies and technologies with names lifted from the novel, the way “Lord of the Rings” is used today. It’s a novel that I admire but do not enjoy. Still, I’ll watch the show — could be fun.
I'm switching newsletter hosting to Micro.blog
I’m in the process of moving the newsletter version of this blog to to the same company that hosts the web version, Micro.blog.
A big part of the reason is that Mailchimp, the company that currently hosts the newsletter, is owned by Intuit, which is not a nice company. I’d just as soon not be affiliated with that company any more than necessary.
This is still a work in progress, but I hope to complete it within days.
Current newsletter subscribers should not notice much difference.
If you’re interested in subscribing to receive my posts by email, you can do that here.
However, be warned that the new service is still a little buggy. I have it configured to send out updates daily, but instead, it seems to send updates every time I post.
I’ll keep the old newsletter running until the transition is complete.
On Ask a Manager: Great reply-all email catastrophes.
Ask a Manager is a website where I can get lost even worse than on TV Tropes.
When I get stuck on a reply-all chain, I perpetuate the catastrophe with feigned innocence.
On Reddit:
I had to make a tough decision today and need someplace private to let my emotions out. Is there a good place to do so with having little chance of stumbling upon other people? Home is not an option.
Explained further here.
My previous post was a subtweet (sub-Thread?) to a Threads friend who frequently posts about their generational identity. But it’s a friendly sub-Thread, because I like this person, though I don’t know them well. I enjoy their posts. I don’t want to be argumentative.
It seems odd to me to identify tribally with a particular generation. Boomers, GenX, Millennials — it all seems random.
However, I am on the cusp between Gen X and the Boomers, and some generational researchers say that people born on the cusp of generations tend to be outliers. We outliers tend not to identify with the generation we technically belong to, and we are also skeptical of generational differences.
So maybe my skepticism about generations is just typical of my generation.
Purdue University gives itself a Wi-Fi glow-up — CIO Ian Hyatt describes how the IT department revamped Purdue’s outdated Wi-Fi, turning tech troubles into top-tier connectivity and quieting Reddit complaints. My latest on Fierce Network.
“Farewell, My Lovely” is the best movie we’ve seen in a while. Released 1975, set in LA 30 years earlier, and dripping with noir. Robert Mitchum is a perfect Philip Marlowe. Also featuring Jack O’Halloran, best known as the giant dimwitted criminal henchman of General Zod in “Superman II,” as the giant dimwitted criminal Moose Malloy. Also featuring Charlotte Rampling, who recently played the Reverend Mother in “Dune Part 2,” Sylvia Miles, Harry Dean Stanton, and Sylvester Stallone, before “Rocky” and before bulking up. I don’t think Stallone has any lines; he has a small but important role.
The IMDB trivia page is worth reading, as is Wikipedia, starting here.
Thanks, @bitdepth!
Things that don’t work: 31. “Waiting…. if you really want to do something, don’t wait for some unspecified time when it’s more convenient and then watch that time recede before you.”
Five of my favorites: “The Man Who Folded Himself,” by David Gerrold, “Time and Again,” by Jack Finney, “The Proteus Operation,” by James Hogan, “Last Year” by Robert Charles Wilson and “The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August,” by Claire North.
The 23 Best Time Travel Novels - a collection dating from the 1950’s through today. Despite paradoxes, time travel is a fascinating concept and makes a great read.
I have spent the afternoon on the daybed dozing and reading dynomight.net and I am fine with this.
Tuesday’s debate has made me even stronger in my support of Biden than before. Trump spent his entire time onstage spewing nothing but hate and lies. Lapses in Biden’s performance are trivial in context.
Phrase of the day: “swivel-eyed loon with terminal groomer-panic” (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)