Dave Eggers - "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"

He's a great writer, and the beginning is gripping, but after a 100 pages I know that semi stream of conscious style, that blurting out of sentences rolling down the hill, tumbling over each other, segueing...

And then, what's left? No character arc, unless it's Toph (who *just* started to do something grown-up)

It's kinda amusing to read, but the 'I' character just ambles along. He has a lot of difficulties in his life, but never seems to change, hop, another challange, hop, another difficulty, hop... deeper emotions? Somehow I fail to grasp them.

I think I sometimes see the meaning, and zeitgeist, weltschmerz, oh give it a name. But for me it's over the top, it's forced.

no more hanging up

"Ian Bogost writes about a cultural tradition we've mostly lost as smartphones have become ubiquitous: hanging up. While we still use the terminology (in the same way we say 'rewind' when skipping backward on our DVR), the physical act of hanging up a telephone when we're done using it no longer occurs. And we don't get that satisfying crash and clatter when hanging up on somebody to make a point. 'In the context of such gravity, the hangup had a clear and forceful meaning. It offered a way of ending a conversation prematurely, sternly, aggressively. Without saying anything, the hangup said something: we're done, go away. ... Today a true hangup — one you really meant to perform out of anger or frustration or exhaustion — is only temporary and one-sided even when it is successfully executed. Even during a heated exchange, your interlocutor will first assume something went wrong in the network, and you could easily pretend such a thing was true later if you wanted. Calls aren't ever really under our control anymore, they "drop" intransitively.' It's an interesting point about the minor cultural changes that go along with evolving technology."

Utopia

British thriller miniseries about a graphic novel whose second, never published, part falls into the hands of a group of nerds, who in turn are chased by "The Network".

Amazing look & feel. The music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer  is amazing.

The story is wonderful. I liked how they did not let it end well. How the 'brother' is confused, a hit man with no soul, and confused that he is different.

Teknolust (2002)

Strange film featuring Tilda Swanton, about robots (or, "SRA") who need male chromosomes. One of them, Ruby, goes out to seduce men and so obtain "substance". The sequence in which a used condom is boiled into tea is amazing.

Amusing, a bit slow.

Music by Klaus Badelt.

Maxim Gorki - 'Kinderen van de zon'

Een groepje / familie intelligentsia bespreekt diepzinnige problemen van de mens terwijl buiten de revolutie en cholera woeden.

De geprojecteerde beelden waarin ze op het toneel rondrent, waren cool. Een deur ingaan die dicht blijft, is intrigerend.

Verder deed 't me weinig. Deels de tekst, het hoogdravend soort spreken over "de mens kan alleen gelukkig zijn.." (ik doe het hier geen recht), deels het acteren, de klucht humor.

De link met de buitenwereld vond ik minimaal. Was het juist het idee om te laten zien hoe soap-achtig ook intelligentsia zijn, daarmee de werkelijke problemen negerend? Misschien, maar dan is het idee te uitgesponnen. De beelden van dictators, wat moesten die?