Pixel Theories | a gamer getting older...

By now you already know...

...that I am a big geek.  I've been watching Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DSN, and Voyager) since I was seven.  I first played VG's on the Coleco at age 3, I am a comic book nerd, I've been tinkering with computers for the last ten years, my favorite shows and movies tend to those in the Sci-Fi genre, and the books that I read typically have to do with all of the above.

It is by no surprise then that I read novels such as Cat's Cradle, a 60's Sci-Fi fiction with satirical references to religion, social hierarchy, and politics.  This book is legend among Sci-Fi readers, however I have just read it for the first time.  Vonnegut brings you in the world of a religious figure known as Bokonon, who has developed an intriguing religion on a Caribbean isle.  Our protagonist, a journalist and a man of destiny, is drawn to this island through various run-ins and events while investigating the legacy of a dead scientist.  Along the writer's way he befriends a midget, discovers a mythological super weapon, and meets the woman of his dreams.

Cat's Cradle is an informative and intriguing window to the world that we live in.  And even though the fiction is over 40 years old, it's parallels can be seen in all aspects of our modern lives.  If you haven't read it then perhaps it's because someone in your "karass" hasn't informed you; until now.

Book Review: Microserfs

This is one of the best books I have ever read.  Now, I guess I should start off with why I chose to even read this book in the first place.  About eight months ago I read JPod(2006), another novel by Douglas Copeland, which details the lives of six videogame programmers who are working on a skateboarding game at an infamous Vancouver, B.C. game publisher.  Why are the lives of JPod interesting?  Copeland brings you into their sick, twisted and hilarious world of adultery, drugs, human trafficing, and business.

Microserfs, which was published back in 1995, is by far and away one hell of a story, which for all it's similarities to JPod, a complete 180.  Or should I say JPod is a complete 180 from Microserfs.  Which deals with an ensemble cast of charachters with their own unique problems, in very interesting ways.  What makes Microserfs so good is that the characters are dealing with real problems that have tangible solutions.  The story is one of love, friendship and how people deal with the loss of both.

The book itself is written in a diary format, similar to JPod, and takes place in the early 1990's.  This circle of friends start out working for Microsoft and find their lives going nowhere, burined so deep in their work, they have no idea of who they are and what they want to become.  Soon the team moves down to Silicon Valley to start their own venture, and find that the possibilities as well asthe pitfalls are numerous.  And while the book as a whole will keep you engaged and entertained it's the journey as well as the last four pages that make Microserfs worth reading more than once.

Edited for grammar.