Memory From Your Milk Jug

Last summer on the beach, sitting looking at the stars, our conversation turned to the future. We pass through Kitty Hawk on our way to Buxton and vacation within sight of the famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

My daughters marveled at the technological progress of not just the last hundred years since that first flight, but on what's occurred since I left high school in 1978. They wondered what life might be for them in the next 20 or 30 years.

And I told them, without hesitation, that they ain't seen noth'n yet.

For instance, here's an article at newscientist.com: Plastic memory promises cheap, dense storage.

Sounds like pretty useful stuff. But I don't think one can imagine the impact of nanotech, bio-engineering, new materials.

Now I ask you, are our lives that very much different that those who have gone before over this last 10,000 years?

Hell yes.

A Glass Of Wine With You, Sir

Penny pointed me to the following article on Master & Comander

An interesting article, but unfortunately wrong. Way off. Sorry, Mr. Nevius, but you've missed the point.

I've been wondering for some time about two things. Would the movie be anything but "inspired" by the books I love so much. AND would the movie reviewers and critics bother to read the books. I'm less concerned about the first than the second.

The movie must stand on its own - I'm hoping it will be fun and not too unconnected from the characters as laid out by Mr. O'Brian. But the books are not, I must insist, a simple collection of seafaring novels. The Napoleonic Wars were NOT a footnote in history. For the most part, the readers of these novels have no desire to actually experience life on one of these voyages. It was at best unpleasant and dangerous. The books are not arcane and filled with impenetrable jargon. OK, well, they are, but that's part of the humor - got to read it to get it.

You see, these books are adventures. They tell a great, thumping story of war and adversity overcome. There's sea battles, storms, spies, and intrigue. There's romance, deceit, treachery, and triumph over incredible odds.

But what makes these books interesting is the development of these characters. Over the course of 20 books, really one long novel, we get to know Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin. We really get to know them. They are amazing men, but far from perfect. Brilliant in their own environments, foolish in others. Weak, impulsive, jealous, compassionate, but most important, competent. These men know their jobs and that is always fascinating.

I recently read these novels again, not to experience the adventure once more, but to spend some more time with my friends. In a recent New Yorker interview, Quentin Tarinteno talked about "hang out" movies. The type of movie where you love the characters so much you watch them from time to time just to hang out and not feel lonely. Aubrey, Maturin, Killick, Bonden and all the crew are my friends and I enjoy spending time with them.

Another writer recently called these novels "anachronistic". Read the fucking books before you write about them! No, these are not Hornblower novels grown up. No, they're not a anachronistic mess like "The Alienist". O'Brian's characters don't know things they shouldn't in the early 1800's. Some of the funniest scenes are with Steven as a brilliant surgeon for the time, but who thinks that the naval officers are too concerned with cleanliness.

If you have not read them, please do yourself a favor and start. Don't try to force the story into something you know or think you know. Let Mr. O'Brian tell you the story at your pace. Steven Maturin will be at your side, clueless as you, as you try to make sense of the jargon and operation of a ship of the line.

And sure, go see the movie. Just ignore the critics. They haven't read the books and they don't know what they're talking about.