well, i was trying to think of something interesting to post here, but i've landed on just an update. so what's been going on? i've started using stash my comics more and more. right now i've gotten 2 of the 10 (or is it 11) boxes of comics entered. it's a slick system and one i'm actually looking forward to filling out. of course, it's just an excuse to go through my comics again.

one of my hard drives is on the fritz again, so i'm investigating solutions. one possibility may be to freeze the drive. i'm actually thinking this will solve my problem, but i need another drive large enough to actually copy the data to.

in the world of books, i picked up down and out in the magic kingdom while in indiannapolis. it was written by cory doctorow, a prevalent internet personality and co-editor of boing boing (i must admit, i don't find anything particularly special about boing boing...i didn't even visit or stumble on it until this year, even though i knew of it). anyway, the book is good stuff. it was released in 2003 via creative commons and was freely distributable electronically, which was cool because i actually downloaded it way back then, but never got around to reading it since it was a text file...too harsh on my eyes.

the genre is safely postcyberpunk (wikipedia), but that just means it's a little easier to get into in my experience. i love the cyberpunk books of gibson, but they aren't the smoothest reading stories ever. neal stephenson's snow crash, for all my qualms with it, was easy to get into with its interesting/gripping plot and and it's postcyberpunk. down and out... keeps up the tradition, but doesn't have the condescending tone that snow crash had. i read this book in about half a day, a rarity for me these days.

doctorow definitely did his research regarding disney world and the magic kingdom, the book's primary setting. i'm quite familiar with that area, having been there multiple times and also being acquainted with it's history and backstory. his description of the places made it feel like i was there, only in the future. the characters are nicely realized, especially jules and dan, and the technology is intriguing, but not entirely far-fetched.

the key thing about this book is that it revitalized my interest in the genre. i even would like to read snow crash again, but i'd first like to read doctorow's other offerings. his ideas on what the future could turn into are just too interesting to read once and not think on them afterward.