Slashdot Log In
"Anathem" Exclusive Video At MySpace
Posted by
kdawson
on Wed Sep 03, 2008 01:16 AM
from the chants-of-a-lifetime dept.
from the chants-of-a-lifetime dept.
Shawn M. Smith writes "We've recently discussed Neal Stephenson's imminent new novel 'Anathem.' Now, MySpace has an exclusive video, The World of Anathem, that accompanies the book, filled with the 'Gregorian chants' and ambient noise that were so eloquently described by numerous Slashdotters who had scored advance copies of Stephenson's latest tome."
Related Stories
[+]
News: Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" Due In September 248 comments
Alexander Rose writes "Neal Stephenson's new novel, ANATHEM, germinated in 01999 when Danny Hillis asked him and several other contributors to sketch out their ideas of what the Millennium Clock might look like. Stephenson tossed off a quick sketch and promptly forgot about it. Five years later however, when he was between projects, the idea came back to him, and he began to explore the possibility of building a novel around it. ANATHEM is the result, and will be released on September 9th, 02008." Read Rose's complete posting for more information about the release of the book, which he describes as set "in a genre bending alt-future-retro world where mechani-punk technology meets space opera in a blend of the best of Snow Crash and the Baroque Cycle."
[+]
Sneak Peek At Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" 140 comments
Shawn M. Smith writes "Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle) has a new novel coming out in just a couple weeks — Anathem. Boing Boing has an excerpt from the amazing glossary (including a definition for 'bulshytt') so take a peek at a copy of an abridged glossary of neologisms and language-bending goodies from the book."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Last! (Score:1, Funny)
Really looking forward to this... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Feb. 24, 2007...
http://billsnyder.vox.com/library/video/6a00c2251f31f3f21900d414217eb96a47.html [vox.com]
Re:Really looking forward to this... (Score:5, Funny)
You actually want to read the book more after seeing that video?
You must be the one getting invited to all these market demographic studies. Did they ask you about Crystal Pepsi too?
Parent
Math music (Score:5, Interesting)
One description of the chants is that they are based on mathematics. If this is interesting to you, you might want to check out a band call Slint. They tried to create a kind of fractal timing where different threads would converge and digress over time. Dark intense and interesting music.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not the chanting. Slint is not a Gregorian style it is a punk style. Interesting side not the ablum Spiderland made a cameo in Gilmore Girls; (wife loves the show) the characters are in NY record store where the owner is famous for being all knowing, one character pulls it from the bin and asks what it is. Just goes to show there is more to that show than banter and boobs.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I like Slint and have their album Spiderland, and they supposedly started the style of music called "math rock", but I fail to find the patterns that you and others speak of in their music. Is there someone out there that has done a breakdown analysis of the music to clearly demonstrate these patterns? I think all it is is just good rock music.
All music is mathematical, and many types of music, especially classical, have all kinds of threads going all over the place that eventually converge. What is so
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I've never heard of this Stevenson guy
...dude, how many free minutes do you have left on your AOL account?
Err (Score:4, Funny)
Is this a parody? Or...? I can't imagine N. Stephenson signing off on this. I'm not a big fan of reading a synopsis ahead of time; if I hear good things about it I'll buy it and read it. The jocks in football jerseys sort of ruined any idea of the book being good. Or is this written in the tongue-in-cheek style of Snow Crash?
Re:Err (Score:4, Insightful)
Right on, I didn't want to be the first person to say this video sucked. I kept turning the volume up thinking that bad sound levels were preventing me from hearing dialog. The only way it could've been more lame is if it was posted on MySpace.
Oh, wait...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
yeah this was pretty bad. i imagine pretty much any video interpretation of his fiction is going to be terrible because his stuff is pretty far out there, and you would need a high budget to make half of the stuff actually look believable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Err (Score:4, Interesting)
As for the video, it really only makes sense if you've already read the book, so it's not particularly successful IMO.
TZ
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
That video, at least what I saw of it, was horrendous. By the time I saw the guys in the football jerseys, I had had enough. At that point I closed the page about as quickly as I could because I didn't want that video negatively affecting my reading of the book.
That was my first, and likely last, time ever going to a MySpace page. It lasted all of probably 50 seconds, quite sufficient for this lifetime.
Finally Found his Genre (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm glad that Stephenson finally figured out that it wasn't postcyberpunk or historic fiction that was his genre - it was battle monk epic.
How I wish.
From that video preview, it looks like the space men are going to be bringing laser guns.
And you know the old saying about bring a bat'leth to a phaser fight.
Re: (Score:2)
"And you know the old saying about bring a bat'leth to a phaser fight."
"It's hard to pull a trigger when your severed arm's on the other side of the holodeck?"
Or was it "big bat'leth, big... shoes?"
Video (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Myspace = Metaverse? (Score:1)
Oh, and hat video was so bad I think it gave me cancer. Super let down from the Snow Crash Universe with cars with enough potential energy to put a pound of bacon in the asteroid belt and side-car nukes and dual samurai swords and dentanas...
Re: (Score:2)
"dual samurai swords and dentanas..."
Dentatas IIRC. Me thinks you got your Katana's crossed ; )
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
LOL. And ouch. The Sharp Strap-on. :)
Butt, where does the wakizashi go
Does anyone else feel like... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
heh, yeah. I half expected a 'fin' at the end...
And a frickin laser beam strapped to it.
Re:Does anyone else feel like... (Score:4, Funny)
A fan trailer for a book? Strange. I gather it's about monks and chavs who fight, but then some bloke with a dazed look gets involved. Can't wait for the game.
Parent
It may work, but (Score:2)
"Quotes" seen in "every other" Slashdot story (Score:4, Funny)
A rash of "quotes" broke out of locked compound today and have been rampaging across various websites. Many feared that "The quotes" (as the gang was known inside) would seek to liberate their brethren leading to misattribution and thus striking a blow against punctuation.
"The quotes" have now been sighted on several Slashdot stories with many wondering if there is a pattern to their current appearances. Police say that "even 'single quote' should not be approached lightly as other gang members may be close by".
"In a world..." (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is kind of sad. He was one of those recognizable voices that seemed to be beyond an actual human.
An awful lot of kung-fu (Score:2)
TZ
Re: (Score:2)
The scene at the beginning with Erasmus and Ala is pretty cool though. anyways, the book is awesome.
Wait. So what I'm getting here is that the video is much cooler if I've already read the book and understand what it is the video is about?
Re: (Score:2)
TZ
Non-Gregorian, non-Tibetan Chanting (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
None of that was Gregorian chanting.
No, the soundtrack that accompanies the advance copies has the chanting, this is some crazy mouth harp stuff. My bad if that was misleading.
Bad summary, terrible video! (Score:1)
That video was terrible. Someone above mentioned a college video project, high school seems to be a more appropriate designation.
At least there's one good omen this year, which is that the book comes out on my birthday.
Oh please. (Score:1)
I shut the video off right there. We need better writers than that.
Where should i start in Cryptonomicon? (Score:2)
i read the first few chapters and lost interest. When does the story start?
Re: (Score:1)
With Stephenson, usually the story starts 2/3 in...
Seriously. ...or perhaps the story is buried in the setting. There are hints of James Burke Connections kinds of things going on in some of his stuff. (Especially in Cryptonomicon.)
He is more obsessed with describing the setting and world that in a particular story. He's not particularly good with the whole character thing, either.
I adore his stuff. I've had the book on preorder for months. That video is making me regret my choice...
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Have you read the book?
The problem is that is how the book is marketed, but it is not about that at all.
Knowledge has destroyed the world several times, knowledge created by the avout and released into the public.
The avout are kept separate so that any knowledge that they create can be filtered, and they are not allowed to practically apply any knowledge that they have.
Every time the saecular world destroys the avout (called Sacks) it is because the avout invented something that lead to near destruction of