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Second Life Blogs Snowcrashed
Posted 2/6/2008 9:40:26 PM by Mo Hax - [Show All My Posts] Ok, just finished reading Snowcrash. Besides now understanding what everyone is talking about when they say that Neal Stephenson invented the terms 'avatar' and 'metaverse', which he admits is not exactly true in the appendix (but I won't spoil the surprise), besides that, and knowing why everyone wears a katana on their back, why you can't be a Hero (name) in SL, and why everyone likes to make really fast motorcycles in SL, besides that, well, and besides the interesting tangent into Sumerian mythology, and the radically wonderful explanation of divergent languages (I do so love linguistics) and besides the really really really (yes that is three 'really's) cool plank that Y.T. rides with telescoping wheels, and the Aleutian ocean surfing Raven pulls off, and the dog-brained rat things, besides all that I just must say I didn't like it overall.
It was not a shock to me to read in Neal's comments that originally it was intended as a collaborative work with a graphic novelist but that just didn't work out. Neal's writing style is amazingly different, fresh and the way he narrates the thoughts of everything, even inanimate objects makes it fun. I particularly liked his description of what a cute doggy thinks after it's been turned into a radio-isotope-driven rat thing (here's a hint, it thinks the same things).
I just have to say for me it was anticlimactic and devoid of any real reason to care, in fact, after his description of one possible near future--everything franchulated (his word), loglo and toxic waste everywhere, everyone pumping guns or steroids, 15-year-olds sleeping with psychopathic killers who turn out to be just nice guys doing their jobs (woops, I gave that surprise away, sorry)--well I just found myself not caring if the villain succeeded in the first place. "So what if the world is destroyed, or whatever." Plus it doesn't resolve any of the real relationship possibilities that it could have. I really wanted to see Y.T. meet up with Uncle Enzo in the end. Nope. Characters are shallow, colored-in drawings more fitting to a comic or pop-movie screen ala Matrix. And for that reason I would still recommend it. It is like watching an R-rated thrill-ride movie without the movie.
At least I can say I read the thing unlike so many poser 'metaverse-evangelists' out there referencing it without having a clue what they are talking about, or worse, making safe references to some Snowcrash-izm in front of a room of business people and a microphone that can't question them on it so they can trick people into thinking they read it. You know who you are. ;) Give Snowcrash a read. You can have mine. Just keep your expectations low and some f-bomb deodorizer around.
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Readers Comments 1. I read it about a year ago.. I had a neighbor who wore a "Poor Impulse Control" tag - which I thought he made up because of his impulsive land buying habits...LOL When I got to the part where we meet Raven in the story it was very.. *click* aha! LOL Posted at 9:54:17 PM on 2/6/2008 by fianna idora |
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