Christopher Moore: A Brief Appreciation

When I first read Practical Demonkeeping I was a seminary drop-out with a penchant for Lovecratian beasties and dark humor. The book resonated with me, to say the least. My second reading of the book was less than a week after I had finished it the first time. The last time I read it was when I was going through my divorce. There's a marriage falling apart in the book, and honestly, I wept while reading it that time. Everything Moore has written has been fun, funny, and strangely meaningful for me (well, I can't honestly say "everything." For some inexplicable reason, I haven't read Fluke yet).

Now we are moving towards the release of Bite Me which continues the story of the vampires begun in Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck. Moore's vampire protagonists are, in every way imaginable, cooler than Lestat, except in the area of actual coolness (where, frankly, Lestat is king, except, perhaps, as portrayed by Mr. Cruise). His books are not for children, at least for values of "not for children" that include "children shouldn't be exposed to scenes of cannibalism, sex, drug use, vulgar language, and demons." Maybe adults shouldn't be, either. But the residents of Pine Cove (as well as the other denizens of Chris Moore's imagination) are a likable, maybe even lovable, group of wacky and wonderful people. I almost feel like a Pine Cove citizen myself, at least while under the spell of the reading of his books. The nearest I've ever had to such literary comraderie are the patrons of Callahan's in Spider Robinson's books (which I was always tempted to read with an Irish coffee in hand, just to add to the atmosphere).

Not all of Mr. Moore's books are set in Pine Cove. The most recent book, Fool, is a Moorean twist on the Shakespeare's King Lear story. A bit of a temporal departure from the contemporary setting of most of Moore's novels, it is, nevertheless, an endearing bit of saucy Shakespearean pastiche (and recently out in paperback for those of who only, um, thriftily read a library copy of the hardcover).

Fool is not the only one of his books set in a different time period. Lamb, of course, sits firmly at the turn of the calendar, being the tale of Christ as told by his childhood pal Biff. While potentially offensive, the book takes seriously that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. There is no denigrating his deity nor his humanity. There are bits that are completely made up, but it's a novel, one written by an acknowledged master of humor and weirdness. If you want to be really offended, dig up a copy of Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man.

So, April 1... Bite Me. Crossing fingers for fast access to the library's copy.

Currently Reading

+ Logical Dilemmas: The Life and Work of Kurt Godel (by John W. Dawson)
+ Against the Day (by Thomas Pynchon)
+ If Einstein Had Been a Surfer (by Peter Kreeft)

Just started Logical Dilemmas. Kurt Godel was the greatest logician of the 20th century. John W. Dawson is one of the scholars responsible for the publication of Godel's Collected Works and is therefore well-qualified to write a biography and commentary on Godel. Godel's Incompleteness Theorems were the subject of my master's project in theology (basically a warning about how not to apply them to philosophical and theological topics).

Against the Day is long, to the tune of over a thousand pages. Mostly, my fiction reading these days is a bit shy of that (by some 700 plus pages). So far, the story is interesting, like most of Pynchon's work, and is filled with a cast of intriguing characters, crazy adventures, and deep wit. I know this will take me a while to finish, but so far, I am glad to be spending time in the company of the Chums of Chance. Hopefully, this will warm me up for the other two large novels I'm committed to reading in the coming year: Anathem (by Neal Stephenson) and The Brothers Karamazov (by, of course, Fyodor Dostoyevsky).

Peter Kreeft has never published a book that I have not (a) thoroughly enjoyed, and (b) been challenged and inspired by. Even his textbook on logic caused me to rethink my long standing prejudice against the "old" logic in favor of the "new" mathematical logic. If Einstein Had Been a Surfer is a conversation among three characters who individually represent science, philosophy, and mysticism (and yet, these are no two-dimensional allegorical personifications. Kreeft's characters are real people, even if they do not really exist). This book is about the search for a "Theory of Everything." The book itself does not present the details of such a Theory (no Nobel Prize in physics for Kreeft for this one!), but by talking around and through and about the issue, the reader is lead to understand better what such a theory would entail. As always from Kreeft, this work is a creative, well-reasoned piece of scholarship that is easy to take as entertainment (I'd say "mistake" but I rather suspect the reader is supposed to be entertained, in much the same way Plato entertained and instructed us with the Socratic dialogues). Recommended if you like thinking about everything.

Holiday Report

Solstice was too darn cold for sky-clad rituals, so we dug out the old gray woolen robes (again!) Kwanzaa celebrated by a clan of Irish-American leprechauns is just plain silly (trust me, we tried it one year). Hanukkah was really nice, until I accidentally knocked the menorah over, burning our synagogue to the ground. As far as Festivus went, it's better not to discuss. What happens on Festivus, and all that.

Which leaves Christmas...

Christmas was nice. I had the kids from the 22nd through the morning of the 31st. It was mostly a time of relaxing, laughing, playing, and just enjoying the moments. We went down to visit friends and family a couple of days after Christmas. I didn't get a chance to see everyone I wanted to see, unfortunately, but I suppose that gives me a reason to look forward to the next visit.

Reading? Well, over the holiday, mostly beach reading. Hopefully I'll step up to something more substantial before spring. Currently I'm reading A. Lee Martinez's In the Company of Ogres, as usual, I like my {fantasy|science fiction|horror|whatever genre} served up with a healthy side of humor.

Visual media: I finished watching Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. It was fun, although the last two seasons were not as strong as the first three. Qualitywise, I'd place it somewhere between Babylon 5 and Firefly (the latter being my all-time favorite science fiction television series). Contentwise, it's in a league of its own: mythology cloaked in intergalactic space opera. I've also been seduced to the Dark Side: I've watched all three Jeff Dunham DVD performances and laughed hysterically at all three.

Well, that's all the news that fit to post. Hopefully more sooner rather than later...

Anathem

Neal Stephenson's newest novel is scheduled to be released today (and alas, I do not have a spare $30 burning a hole in my pocket!) Nevertheless, public libraries are a good thing, so I'll be getting on the list ASAP.

Anathem is a 960 page epic about a religious order of mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers who have been living behind cloister walls. It's set in the future, on another planet, and if it's anything like everything else Neal has written, it promises to be the best read of the year. The Amazon page has an excerpt and some video of Neal talking about the book and reading from it.

In Praise of Folly

with apologies to Erasmus

Happy April Fool's Day to you, one and all! On behalf of the Not-So Great Conspiracy of Moon Jesters and Frost Knaves, welcome to one of the most ridiculous excuses for a Holly day (you did call Holly today, didn't you?)

I thought a poem would be in order. But the one I wrote was HORRIBLY depressing, so then I decided for a joke, but since the "Holly day" thing didn't go over so well... I've decided on a mundane little update.

Reading: Lots of stuff, most notably Douglas Preston's latest novel, Blasphemy. Preston and Child, whether as a literary dynamic duo or doing solo projects, deliver The Most Excellent Scientific Thrillers. I think there's a link to their site under "Authors I Grok." I've also read a couple of "Get Your Life Together" titles: CrazyBusy and Making Peace with the Things in Your Life: Why Your Papers, Books, Clothes, and Other Possessions Keep Overwhelming You and What to Do About It. Interesting reads, since chaos and/or entropy and/or slackfulness keep me in a perpetual state of crazy.

I'm working my way through season 3 of Numb3rs, which rocks beyond all crime dramas because there's MATH involved!

Easter weekend and last weekend with the kids, so life's been pretty sweet on that front.

Anything else? Um, I need a haircut and to pick up margarine from the store on the way home tonight (hey, someone want to remind me of that around 5 CST time? Thanks!)

I hope that you all have enjoyed Winter, because, with God and His druids as my witness, Spring is about to make her debut :-)

Another Random Posting

Two thirds of the way through Lost, season 3. I'm pretty sure that the story is being made up by stoned monkeys just *this* close to evolving into the next higher form of life...

Reading John F. Haught's critique of the new atheists. Some of his critiques I can rebut, but many of them I can't. Looks like I'm still a theist for another day :-)

A week from tomorrow, James Emory White will be on campus. The author of many books, including the delightful little devotional, A Mind for God, White is an exceptionally clear thinker and communicator who has thought far more about Christianity and culture than I ever will. Should be good and challenging!

I've begun thinking about board games lately. Chess, checkers, Othello, mancala, go, even backgammon (which I haven't played since I was ten... zowee, that's thirty years ago. I honestly do not remember the rules... sad, sad old man's memory). Can't tell you why my mind's been turning in that direction, just that it has.

Well, my nutritious breakfast of Pop-Tarts and Mountain Dew has been dutifully consumed and the clock suggests I should switch to worker bee mode. I hope y'all have a good weekend!

February?!? (on speed)

This has to be some kind of mistake. At this rate, it'll be 2009 before I even accomplish one thing on my Top Secret, Never To Be Spoken Of 2008 To-Do list. Time's sliding like my car on the not-so proverbial ice. Speaking of which...

Thunderstorms and tornadoes over snow-covered prairies, and now white fog blending seamlessly with the snowy horizons. Freaky weird winter weather rocks (when it isn't responsible for loss of life and limb and locomotion).

Lots of crazy thoughts playing bumper cars in my caffeine-addled mind, most all of which require some form of censoring and/or decrypting in order to be communicable (but not like a disease). As crazy as Dr. McCoy in "City on the Edge of Forever," which...

...inspired a trilogy of Trek novels called Crucible. I've recently started the first one (with McCoy as the major protagonist, the other two feature Spock and Kirk, respectively). I'm not far enough in to be sure, but I gather the author has hit upon something which I've missed my entire life!!! This is so cool, because it's so amazingly obvious... well, enough gushing. I don't want to drop any spoilers in my mania, so...

On with the show (not Trek, my blog, but that's kind of obvious.)

OH-- After a bajillion year wait, the animated Dragonlance movie was released to less than stellar reviews (see the Amazon.com page for the gory details.) Yes, the animation was less than inspired, and yes, mixing traditional animation with CGI looked goblin-awful. But... it was Dragonlance. That has to count for something...

Of course, it doesn't count for much (except to die-hards and collectors). Counting much requires numbers that go beyond infinity. Transfinite numbers, surreal numbers, and other mathemagical delights. Someday... ah, never mind. I'm way too lazy for that anyway ;-)

Minutia and More Stuff You Don't Want to Know

Wow, Heather's right: almost a month with none of my senseless posts. That's probably part of the reason for the silence: senselessness. I apparently have less and less to say, so I've been slacking off.

Experiment #1: normally I tell my RSS reader to only deliver geek news. I spent one day, however, receiving feeds from CNN, BBC, and Fox News. Absolutely nothing I needed to know, updated way too bloody frequently for my productivity to survive intact. I would really like to be an informed citizen of this blessed democracy, but 24/7 news services provide too much information (too much pointless information). Maybe I'll try reading a newspaper or a weekly magazine like Time.

I started reading The Golden Compass. I'm only on chapter 3 (I read very, very slowly) but I'm enjoying it so far. Pullman is a very good writer. I suppose that I'll reach a point where my religious sensibilities get offended (but then again, maybe not). A co-worker who went to the film last weekend didn't find anything objectionable. Is this another case of hype getting ahead of reality?

I've also started working my way through watching Twin Peaks. TP was, back in its day, my favorite television show (a title it has forfeited in recent years to Firefly). It's weird, because everyone on the show looks so young (15+ years and now I'm older than most of them!) Still, it's as quirky, creepy, and well-directed as I remember.

Well the C----mas season is upon us (don't want to offend anybody out there by making reference to any particular deity that may be associated with this celebration). Strangely, I find myself thinking less about the holiday this year and more about the baby. There's more of a mystery there than the standard "hero born of a virgin" story. Mostly because he didn't grow up to be a typical hero (nor even a typical wiseman). Like a zen koan, the mysteries of this particular Western faith invite contemplation without complete solution. It's like my good friend the Dolly Llama says, "Baby Jesus is the bomb, dude!": a small package that will unleash fiery power upon an unsuspecting world.

Whine #1: I'm getting really, really tired of being a computer geek. Sure, I like it, but I'm getting tired of it. Does that make sense? Sometimes I wish that I only knew Windows, and just enough to get my work done. I have no reason to dabble in operating systems, programming languages, artificial intelligence, artificial life, computational math, and a host of other topics I am neither qualified to discuss nor paid to learn (and consequently, I only half-learn, at best).

On the other hand, I am paid to know more about cataloging standards, copyright law, and theological research and writing than I actually know. If you hit forty and don't know what you want to be when you grow up, you'll end up being nothing. (Not that I'd claim to be a nothing. No, that's claiming too much. Ah, if only I could a genuine and for real nothing...)

Oh, well, a very delightful day to all of you (about 1.5 readers left, by my survey)!

Reading & Watching

I recently finished Rudy Rucker's latest, Postsingular. Like all of his books, it was a wild ride through far out ideas. It was also very well written. I dropped a line about the book on amazon.com (my first, and perhaps only, time writing for them).

I'm currently reading Joe R. Lansdale's The Bottoms. I picked this up last year at a used book store, because I've like the little Lansdale I've read. He's an author from East Texas and writes a lot about East Texas. Since my dad and his whole family are from there (and fled back there after sojourning in the Midwest long enough to sire my siblings and I), I have some kind of weird (but sadly explicable) fascination with the place (Dr. Freud can stop reading now!)

I've put off reading the thing for so long because, quite frankly, it's a horror-mystery violent murder kind of story. My stomach for this genre has been gradually fading over the years. It's a good read, just dark and disturbing in places. I'll be glad to be done with it.

Other items tossed around my apartment with bookmarks in them: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design, The Nature of Number, and Devices of the Soul. I know, sad, sad taste in recreational reading.

I've also downloaded Richard Dawkins's 1991 Royal Institution Christmas lectures. This is a series of lectures given by scientists in the UK for children. It started with Michael Faraday back in the day (19th century, I guess). Anyway, Dawkins has made his lectures available online. It is amazing to watch an Oxford professor trying to connect with a lecture theater filled with children. It is disconcerting to watch him tell them that there is no creation in the universe until late in its history (i.e., after we arrive and start creating). It's rather like telling a room full of children that there is no Father Christmas (only worse, if you happen to believe in God, like, say, I do). This is the same man who says labeling a child "Christian" or "Hindu" is akin to child abuse. I've only watched the first two of the five letures, and a sense of fairness compels me to finish them (that and, despite his rabid atheism, he is a charming and engaing communicator), but scientism (as opposed to science) seems to be the order of the day.

On more mundane viewing, my friend Patti has kept me supplied with tapes of The Office, so I am current on one TV show! That's probably enough (although I'd really, really like to be seeing Heroes in real time).

Well, enough snore-fest trivia of my doings and happenings.

PS - I just checked out four more books while I was here at the library posting this. I think I may have a problem...