parabola.ca » Reading

The Dark Tower Continues

Steve — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:58:53 +0000

It was a bittersweet day when I finished that final Dark Tower book. But it looks like Roland’s story will be fleshed out some more, but in comic book form.

Official Marvel site
Newsarama 1: confirming the rumors
Newsarama 2: Interview with Marvel E-i-C with oodles of background info

It’ll be interesting to see how much crossover effect we’ll have, with people checking out comics for the first time. Yes, despite the stigma, they are a viable form of literature. At least that’s the story I stick to in light of the number of Star Wars comics I own.

What? WoT? Woohoo!

Steve — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:38:58 +0000

It only dawned on me recently to check when the next Wheel of Time book was due; the wait between volumes is agonizingly long, so it can be months and months before it crosses my mind. But today’s the day! Book 11, Knife of Dreams, is finally released and should arrive soon from Amazon. By the time a new installment hits shelves, it’s kind of hazy what exactly happened in the previous book. Luckily it never takes long to get absorbed in Robert Jordan’s writing and back on track with the story (but I still might search out a good synopsis online to be that much more prepared).

I got hooked on the series late in high school, courtesy of Adrian (if you’re lurking around out there and happen across this, drop me a comment … I really should get around to emailing you sometime). When I started university, the eighth book came out that term and I found a few people in my residence who were fans of the series. Unfortunately, as far as I know, no one I’m in regular contact with is also a reader. WoT fandom is an odd experience: each book is a #1 New York Times bestseller (and probably top seller at all online bookstores at this moment), and the fans you do meet are extremely devoted and into it, but it’s almost like a secret addiction. There aren’t may occasions for it to come up in conversation, and with little in the way of ancillary merchandise, it’s oxymoronically popular yet obscure. When you do come across a fellow fan, eyes light up and excited conversations ensue … which leads to another fun feature, in that nobody has much opportunity to verbalize WoT-isms so no one knows how to pronounce anything! Aes Sedai, Seanchan, Athan Miere, Egwene, and so much more.

So yeah, that eighth book in first term. Seven freakin’ years later and we’re only at the eleventh! But the next one will be the last of this storyline, so the end is in sight. As the years dragged on between releases, the pace of the storytelling in much of the recent volumes did too. Here’s hoping Knife of Dreams is an excellent read and sets up a finale worthy of all the promise that has built up from the early books.

Some Things Still Aren’t Easy in Old Age

Steve — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 04:06:29 +0000

So I’ve just finished the seventh and final volume of the Dark Tower series. Anyway, a chronology, to the best of my recollection:

- May, 1992: I read The Gunslinger on the drive to Florida
- Later, 1992: read The Drawing of the Three (released five years earlier) and The Waste Lands (released the previous year)
- Fall, 1997: Wizard and Glass read immediately upon its release
- November, 2003: Wolves of the Calla
- June, 2004: Song of Susannah
- Today: The Dark Tower

Twelve and a half years. That’s a damn long time, almost half my life. I’ve gotten into a mood of thinking how much has changed over that time. I have but one friend, Kyle, that I’m in regular contact with that I knew before I started reading the series (I just mentioned that to him).

The five years until volume four seemed like forever. I think I may have reread the first three sometime in the years between. Wizard and Glass sticks out because it is very much a love story, and I was at the time moody and brokenhearted over the breakup of my first serious relationship. Surely the story wouldn’t have resonated so much if I didn’t have my own experiences with love. Ha! How naïve those teenage years can be. How funny it is to think back on those times with Lauren, and our eventual on-again-off-again relationship long after I was finished with that book.

Six years later and the end of the series is finally in sight, with sai King completing the final three volumes in succession. Rereading the first four books last summer provided a much-needed distraction from the post-Billie adjustment. Not that it was overly emotional, I think we were both confident in the decision to end things and not much of a shock at that point, but after four years it was still a strange situation. It was awkward at first, but I’m glad that I can now count her as one of my best friends.

So it’s now over a year later, those final volumes have come and been devoured, associations with other stuff in my life have been formed. But contemplating things right now, as I have been wont to due with much of my time the past year and a half, leads to realizations of how old I’m getting. It’s funny how I can comment on naïveté about my teenage self when it comes to relationships, yet at the same time do I really have much of a better idea of how to proceed in such situations? I’m getting the impression of a definite ‘no’ on that front. But it almost doesn’t make sense. There was a time not so long before Billie and I split that I fully expected to be engaged at this point.

Engaged … that’s a scary thought. But here I am at twenty-five, still confused and plagued with self-doubt and getting bogged down in trying to interpret signals and hidden meanings. Surely it should be easier at this point?

I seem to remember having some sort of point before I started rambling …

But Does It Mean Anything?

Steve — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:14:12 +0000

Wow, lack of updates around here. Yeah, I’ve been busy, plus when I do have a bit of time here and there to devote to web-land, it’s to work on my new site which is coming soon. This development was prompted by a few things: the sometimes precarious existence of JediNet and hence the email address I’ve primarily used over the past six years, and the approaching-all-too-quickly end of my stay at Waterloo and hence the email and web space that goes along with that. I need something a little more permanent and under my own control, and having my own domain (cheaply) hosted seemed like the best way to go.

My classes this term are looking really good. Biostats with Professor Brown should give me a better idea of the kind of work done in my field, particularly the design and analysis of various studies like case-controls and clinical trials. Basically how statistical principles and methods are used in medical research. Generalized linear models is the other course I’m registered in, and I’m looking forward to doing some real math. Equations and symbols were sorely missed during the summer. The prof, Richard Cook, is really good and is apparently building a great reputation for himself in the biostats world. I’m also sitting in on a class on stochastic processes. That one has been really interesting so far, closer to ‘real’ math (as some of the purists would see it) than what I get in most other stats courses.

I have to mention I was in a really bad mood for most of the day. I’m currently halfway through The Dark Tower VII, and yeah I know they’re only fictional characters in a made up story … but damnit, I’ve been invested in the outcome of this series since I first read The Gunslinger back in grade seven as the family drove down to Florida. And right now, I’m so conflicted with the novel.

It might just be the most anticipated book in my life, but once I’m done reading it … that’s it, it’s over. No more adventures in Mid-World or strange reflections of our own. No more gunslingers, or Breakers, or any other of the characters and creatures that populate the series. The ka-tet will truly be broken.

I’m also torn at how this final installment is evolving. It’s amazing … and horrible at the same time. A good book should give you that feeling of anticipation and excitement in your stomach, and that’s certainly been the case. But today made me sick to my stomach, the losses are tough to bear. (BTW, that’s no real spoiler that things aren’t going to end happily ever after for our group of gunslingers.) Fine, fine, I should get a life … but at least indulge me while I get through the final 500 pages.

Campus rec is providing some opportunities to keep busy this term. I’m on soccer team with fellow grad students from statistics and actsci, as well as a mathie ultimate team â€“ both non-competitive. The first soccer game was fun, although the other team didn’t show. We had enough players for two teams, though. Mine won 6-0 and I managed to score a couple of goals. I’m also taking intermediate squash lessons, which I’ll be starting tomorrow evening.

New roommates are working out great, no complaints so far. It’s fun answering Lars’ questions about little things about our culture that I take for granted. We’ve turned him into a Gilmore Girls fan; in fact the two of us were camped out in front of the TV last week watching the season premiere.

I saw Garden State again a couple of Fridays ago. I’ve listened to the soundtrack many times between viewings and it does a great job of capturing the mood of the movie. It’s definitely one of the top movies I’ve seen this year, it has a way of lingering in your mind. I went with Donna, who seemed to really enjoy it as well, and I had a great time. I love it when you can show someone something a little under-the-radar like this movie and they can appreciate it.

Speaking of movies, the holy grail of DVD is now available as I’m sure everyone knows. I picked up the set last Tuesday and on consecutive days I went over to Luke’s so we could watch the original Star Wars movies. The older I get and the more familiar they are to me, the more the silliness of the movies comes through. But c’mon, how can you ever really critique Star Wars?

A marathon will be happening on Wednesday night … almost like a special edition 1/4 Movie Day. Me, Mike, Sven and possibly a guy from his work will be heading to Sven’s parents’ place to watch the movies back-to-back-to-back. Kick ass.

Lin came into KW this weekend to visit, and I got together with her and Sakina yesterday morning for brunch at Mel’s. With Sakina’s influence they were able to counter Lin’s chronic lateness somewhat and were only about 5 minutes tardy. It worked out well since the place was so packed we still had to wait a few more until a booth was ready. They’re trying to convince me to go to the charity ball … but that sounds suspiciously like something where I’d need to get dressed up, not exactly up there on my list of favorite things to do. And there’d be dancing, of which I’m not one to partake. And I’d be expected to *pay* for this privilege. I was noncommittal in my answer. If they can convince me there will be other boring people there I can just sit and talk to, that may be okay. We’ll see.

Time’s flying by … between my extended vacation, frosh week, and two weeks of classes it’s been a couple months or more since I’ve seen a few local people. I’m setting up lunches with Greg and Sarah T for this week. I should see what Kelli and Sarah B are up to and if they’re free maybe next week.

That’s what my past couple of weeks have been like. Now the homework is starting to kick in, so I better get some more done on that. Maybe a little reading break first, though …

Now to Await the Final Volume

Steve — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 03:56:52 +0000

Just finished Song of Susannah. Yeah, it was only just over 400 pages, but I’m still surprised at how quickly I raced through it. Especially since I didn’t set aside big chunks of time to read … a couple hours here and there, plus some breaks between getting school stuff done.

After so many years of anticipation, it’s impressive how King manages to keep this story fresh, exciting, and most importantly, extremely satisfying. Unlike Wheel of Time, which just seems to be dragging on and I keep waiting for *something* to happen to move things forward, the two recent volumes of The Dark Tower just *feel* right.

Before I can elaborate, I have to comment on the fact that King is a character in part of this book. I can’t decide if it’s genius or conceipt, but writing himself into the story is at first amusing, then disconcerting, but then totally acceptable and in the end seems like it shouldn’t be any other way. If you’ve read a majority of his stories, as I have, and particularly in the last few years, The Dark Tower is kind of like the unifying force of King’s works. Thirty years of stories all come together for this. And I get the impression that writing this story has become such a focal point of his life — probably more like an obsession since he was almost killed. It’s hard to separate the truth from fiction in the final chapter (it’s very Charlie Kaufman-esque; much of it is certainly true, some of it definitely isn’t … what about everything in between?), but King has a lot invested in the Dark Tower, and it’s always been held slightly apart from his other work.

So anyway, it’s mentioned how writing these stories comes so smoothly once he starts. Within the story, it’s almost like he’s channeling the details of Roland’s quest. I find that reading it has similar qualities. I don’t speculate much on where the story’s going, develop expectations, etc. Everything just unfolds naturally as I’m reading, because this is the tale of the Dark Tower, and it is what it is. Ka.

But damn … cliffhangers are brutal.

Song of Procrastination

Steve — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 03:59:57 +0000

I’m such a slacker. That doesn’t quite describe it. I have zero motivation for the material I have due next week. I finished off one report on Thursday, and did a good chunk of the group one (I’m fairly certain it hasn’t been touched by my group members since e-mailing it to them Tuesday night) … so I’m not as concerned about those, although revisions will need to be done before Tuesday.

The major thing right now is the second data analysis for Stat 938, also due Tuesday. My less-than-stellar attention span is at an all-time low for this task. I’ve tried working on this for the past two days, but can’t build up any momentum. I just have no interest whatsoever in the analysis (and I’m constantly looking through my 830 text & notes, as I seem to have lost all intuitive feel for the material) and less so in the client report that’s supposed to go along with it.

I did a bit of work yesterday morning. Lin came over early in the afternoon and we killed a couple of hours chatting in the backyard. Then I read for a while, had a nap, ate supper & watched some more Alias, watched Jeopardy (some dude has won 21 times and collected over $750 000!), which lead to Who’s Line Is It Anyway? for an hour (why do I keep forgetting that this might be the funniest show on TV?), and afterwards was Kingdom Hospital — the only TV I had actually planned on watching. I finished off the evening by watching the final episode of season 1 for Alias, then got right into season 1 of Gilmore Girls by playing the pilot episode.

What did I do today? Some schoolwork in small spurts … another episode of GG … more reading … at least I avoided napping. I finished the book I was reading, which set the stage for cracking open Stephen King’s Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah. I’ve made pretty good progress in the book after only a couple of hours. Why can’t my homework be as engrossing? If only I could summon a fraction of the enthusiasm I have for reading right now in order to get other work done.

In fact, any enthusiasm for school right now would be nice. It’s a combination of two not-particularly-interesting-to-me classes (I can see their merit, but really, it’s just not what grabs my attention) and not having any idea where I want this degree to lead me to. Knowing this is as far as I’ll go academically and cynically low expectations of finding a career I can be passionate about have me loathing a transition to the monotonous 9-5 enslavement that awaits me this time next year.