Utopia

Well, I've finally finished reading Lincoln Child's Utopia, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's hard to say much about the story without spoiling important plot elements, so I'll have to keep this review minimal for those of you who plan to enjoy the novel for yourselves. The Utopia of the title is a theme park in the Nevada desert that immerses visitors in four different "worlds" using high-tech rides, robotics, and hyper-advanced hologram technology. The story centers on Andrew Warne, designer of the computer network that controls and trains the park's robots. Needless to say, problems—intense problems—arise, and it's up to Warne and the Utopia staff to solve the problem before the whole thing comes crashing down around them. Utopia is a good read, although near the end I found myself skimming instead of reading, in a hurry to get to the end and get it over with. The novel is just a tad longer than I thought it really needed to be, but on the other hand, I often have the same feeling at the end of a movie I'm enjoying. If you can suspend your disbelief about the technology and just enjoy the plot, and you don't mind a few formulaic characters, you might enjoy Utopia as much as I did.

Steve Jobs vs. music industry over iTunes prices

One of the really elegant things about the iTunes Music Store is that you know the price of any song you want to buy: 99¢. But now, the New York Times reports, Sony and Warner are pushing for a more complex price structure that reflects a song's age and popularity. Sony claims it's not making enough money from iTunes tracks (about 70¢ per track), and that Apple is making money hand over fist by profiting both from the sales of music tracks and from iPod sales. Yet I think it's probably fair to say that they're making more money with iTunes, in its current structure, than without it: tracks are selling that otherwise wouldn't sell, or would be downloaded from P2P networks. It remains to be seen whether Apple or the labels will blink, and if Apple blinks, whether an extra 50¢ per track will send iTunes Music Store customers back to building their music libraries in ways that don't profit the music industry at all.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

AKMA blogged yesterday about Mr. and Mrs. Smith, commenting particularly on the high body count in the film. Which led me to wonder: were their repsective agencies government agencies? And could even government agencies clean up the mess they left behind? And after some of their more public displays of aggression, why weren't the police engaged in a no-holds-barred man-and-woman-hunt to find these two paragons of reckless endangerment?

A Storm of Swords, parts 1-2

I've just finished listening to parts 1-2 (out of six) of the audiobook version of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, read by Roy Dotrice. Martin's story gets richer and more textured with every passing chapter. Martin deploys an amazing degree of detail in characters and culture. I wonder what kind of notes he must keep, in order to keep everything straight. I'm starting to need a scorecard myself to keep track of all the different characters, and listening to the audiobook makes it harder to keep them straight because I don't know how the names are properly spelled. Right now the only plotline that is not especially engaging is Bran's, but I'm hoping that it will pick up soon enough.

Joss Stone's "Whatever Happened to the Heroes"

In a comment to an earlier post on "See and Say," poster "Lucy" asked about the lyrics to Joss Stone's "Whatever Happened to the Heroes?" from the Fantastic Four soundtrack. Lucy hasn't been able to find them anywhere, and after some looking, I haven't either. And even listening as carefully as I can, I can't make them all out. Here's the best I can do; maybe someone else can help.

I wish I could fly like a jet plane
I could read the minds of my enemies
[...] the poster, carry the love box
Have a superhero to come and rescue me
I know I'm only human, only made with flesh and blood
Should have such expectations waiting here for love

(Chorus)
Whatever happened to the heroes?
Fast moves, fast cars, and remote control
I just need someone to look up to
To help me down this winding road

Whatever happened to the heroes?
Joe DiMaggio, Martin Luther King
Mother Teresa, Princess Diana
Now it's [...], take a pill for the pain
Celebrity mentality before you even spell your name

I know full of imperfections may be all we are
But I could use a good example to stop me 'fore I fall

(repeat chorus)

So whatever happened to the heroes?

Then there are some rapid-fire lyrics that I can't make out clearly, except for the words "dark side," "bury the light before my eyes" (?), and "break you down." Then the chorus repeats.

Through this exercise of trying to listen more carefully and help Lucy figure out what the lyrics are, I'm inclined to reassess my first thoughts on this track a little bit. At points, the song is deeper than it first appears, with its brief critique of drug-induced self-anaesthesization. The idea of wanting "someone to look up to" as an imitatible exemplar surely resonates with many listeners. On the other hand, the "fast moves, fast cars, and remote control" "definition" of a hero still bothers me, and I'm quite sure that Joe DiMaggio and Princess Diana don't rank in the same category as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.