Hey Look

The Modern Word has an interview with the guy who's translating Umberto Eco's new novel. AND the New Yorker has the whole damn first chapter! I'm excited.

Umberto Eco is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna. He's also an extremely good writer. The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, and Baudolino have all been penned by his hand. If you want to read one of his books, Baudolino would probably be a good place to start because it's funny and easy to understand (on one level) while retaining the depth and subtlety of his other novels.

Not everyone likes Eco, and some accuse him, perhaps rightly so, of intellectual grandstanding. It's hard to argue that Foucault's Pendulum doesn't fall into this trap. Despite this, however, his books are extrememly interesting and rewarding reads. Plus, you just feel so damn proud of yourself for finishing one.

110,000 V Taser Canon

I'ma put one of these bad boys on the roof of my dorm. That'll keep those damn construction workers from starting up their noisy machinery at 8am.

Linked from Gizmodo

Down and Out

Just finished reading Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. (Doctorow is a co-editor of Boing Boing, which Technorati has consistently rated as the most popular blog on the internet for some time.) Thought it was pretty decent, fun to read, well-imagined. It's a sci-fi story set in the fairly impending future, but definitely not a space-opera type deal. It's just a story about a guy who lives and works at Disney World, and about his life getting crapped up, and him trying to redeem himself. The story was good, definintely worth the time. Don't know that I'd pay money for it, but fortunately, you don't have to.