Michael G. Munz

The official website of Seattle sci-fi/fantasy author and geek Michael G. Munz

Earth Day Bloggin’

By 1 Comment

Well, it’s April 22nd, and April 22nd is Earth Day. (Actually it’s a few other things as well, of course, like Jack Nicholson’s birthday, Discovery Day in Brazil, and something else I won’t talk about here, but for the purposes of this blog, it’s JUST Earth Day. Sorry, Jack.) Now it’s not my intent here to debate the merits of taking responsibility for our environment, nor to discuss whether or not global warming is something we should worry about. (I personally think it is, but I’m not going to make a case for it here other than to say that when an *overwhelming* majority of those who’ve spent their lives and educational careers learning about and studying such things agree there’s a problem, it’s just a wee bit arrogant for us laypersons to dismiss it out of hand.) What I would like to mention here briefly are two meaningful (and really rather simple) ways to reduce the negative impact we have. These are both places I’ve only recently discovered myself, so I present them not as an expert on either. I simply want to say hey, this looks rather cool and useful, and maybe you should check it out. Anyone out there who’s had experience with these places or others like them is more than welcome to comment and let us all know more.

First off, if you’re like me, 99.9% of the catalogs you get in the mail are really only good for one thing: Exercise. They provide just a little more extra weight in your walk from the mailbox to your home before getting tossed, and at least, hopefully, recycled. (I get to have EXTRA exercise because after having my parents’ mail sent to me for a year back when they were touring around the country with no permanent address, their names are still in some far-off database as being at my address. I’m not even going to bother explaining why I still sometimes get mail for my grandfather, who lived in PENNSYLVANIA and passed away OVER SIX YEARS AGO!) It’s not only annoying, but printing and delivering all that junk takes I don’t know how many tons of paper and gallons of gas, all to give you something you don’t want. Nice and wasteful, eh?

Well it seems there’s a place by the name of Greendimes.com that will help you get off all of those lists. In looking at their website, they offer a free service and two “premium” services, both of which last for 5 years. The free service gives you links to take yourself off of mailing lists, and at the very least makes for a nice hub of helpful links that will aid you in stopping a lot of this stuff from ending up in your mailbox. The premium services have Greendimes do the work for you, filter out catalogs you actually DO want to receive, and monitor mailing lists to keep you from being put back on without your really wanting it.

Frankly, I’m considering one of the premium services, as I’m a lazy, lazy man. Given the fact that their MOST expensive five year service breaks down to 60 cents a month ($36 for 5 years) and gives you two–everyone say it with me, you’ve heard these words before by now, I’m sure–energy-saving compact florescent light bulbs as part of the deal, I figure it’s easily worth it. 60 cents a month? Darn, I’ll have to get by without that pack of gum.

The other place is TerraPass, which I actually noticed from seeing a bumper sticker on the back of someone’s car. TerraPass is, to quote Wikipedia (told you I was lazy), “a social enterprise that provides carbon offsetting products to individuals and businesses. …Terrapass uses proceeds from member purchases to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects such as wind farms and methane digesters.” Basically, you can calculate your carbon footprint (for example, driving 8,000 miles per year in my Honda Civic EX has a footprint of 5,397 pounds of C02), then purchase a “carbon offset” based on that amount. As stated above, they take that money and put it toward alternative energy production, tree planting (trees take in C02 and give back oxygen), and pollution cleanup, all of which is calculated to offset the C02 that the car puts out. You can also buy offsets for things like air travel and home energy usage.

To insure they’re not just taking the money and running, they’re independently audited according to standards established by the Center for Resources Solutions (www.resource-solutions.org), and the audits are available on TerraPass’s website.

Now I understand that some consider this to be a bad thing, encouraging irresponsibility that can simply be purchased away and throwing money at a problem that should be solved by behavioral change. While I do see the point to this argument, isn’t the fact that people are doing SOMEthing rather than nothing helpful? Being willing to make a monetary sacrifice for environmental causes constitutes a shift in one’s mindset, which I would argue is likely to lead to other shifts along those same lines. The point is, it gets people thinking about it, and the money certainly does go to good causes. The more money spent on alternative energy sources, the more corporate interest it draws, and the greater the chance of those sources being developed further. Besides, you’re going to take that trip to Vegas anyway, right?

So there it is. I’m not saying you have to do these things. I’m still looking into them, myself, after all. But if you’re looking for ways to create a little environmental change, there you go. Two ways to be a little more environmentally conscious, along with bringing your own reusable bags to the grocery store, replacing your light bulbs with compact florescents, and turning your computers OFF when you’re not using them (I really don’t understand why people leave them on all night, anyway.) I also recommend limiting your useage of “Li’l Lisa’s Patented Animal Slurry.”

I shall now get down off my soapbox.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Why Hyperion: The Movie Worries Me

By 2 Comments

Hyperion: The Movie.

Yes, that’s what I’ve recently heard (or, more accurately, heard a while back, forgot when the news bore no fruit, and then heard again recently with renewed momentum). As someone who counts Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos among his favorite books, I meet this news with a mix of excitement and dread…but frankly a lot more of the latter.

Let me step back a moment. I first read Hyperion in college when a friend passed it on to me, mentioning his awe of the story (and also, frankly, just how damned cool the concept of the Shrike was). I was soon reading this Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel, eagerly sifting through the pages and searching for not only what would happen next, but also what had happened previously and what the hell was happening NOW. (It’s quite an impressive feat when a writer can give you just enough to fuel your hunger for more information without making you feel completely lost.) What the heck IS the Shrike? Who sent the Time Tombs back? What is the TechnoCore up to? Where in the bloody @#%&*@! did Het Masteen go?! Pausing only to beat my book-recommending friend over the head with same upon reaching the abrupt-yet-tantalizing ending of Hyperion (How DARE he not warn me?!), I was swiftly continuing to devour the sequel (more continuation, really), The Fall of Hyperion.

A great deal of what amazed me about the book (and the thing that still inspires me as a writer to this day) is the masterful way Simmons weaves the myriad of plot and character threads together so cohesively. The story is epic, and keeping it all straight as a reader–and I say this in the best way possible–requires a fair bit of focus. Keeping it all straight as the author must have been an intense task. I would later recommend the book to friends and then, as they related to me their own reading experience, I’d find myself frustrated for not being able to completely recall the part of the book they were experiencing at the time due to its complexity and the years that had past since I had read it myself.

It’s this complexity that fills me with dread. They’re supposed to be making a SINGLE movie out of both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and I just don’t see how that’s going to be possible without straining a good deal of the complexity out. Obviously this is the problem with translating any book to the screen. It’s not impossible, if done correctly, but the likelihood that it WILL be done correctly is not (to my admittedly cynical thinking), a large one.

The usual perils a film–especially a science fiction film–must go through in the process of production as executives attempt to dumb it down (“viewers are morons”) are bad enough. (Apparently the humans-in-vats idea of The Matrix was originally conceived of as a big neural network for the computers on which to exist rather than to just use the human body as a battery, but this was changed because execs didn’t think people would get the idea. Unfortunately the battery thing makes no sense. …Then again, a number of other things about those movies made no sense, but that’s a topic for another day.) Hyperion’s labyrinthine (pun intended) complexity necessitates pouring a gallon jug into a drinking glass. How much can be cut for time without making a mere skeleton of what remains? The idea of those with no exposure to the book seeing the movie and going either “I don’t get it” or “This is supposed to be a masterpiece?” frankly bothers me. Remind me to elaborate on that general concept in another blog.

Even splitting it into two films doesn’t seem workable. Granted, this would certainly give the story more room, but I just don’t see a studio signing off on two films when the first one, really, doesn’t end so much as it stops. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter had the benefit of having such a gigantic audience already familiar with those books that it’s less of a risk. Hyperion, while spectacular, just doesn’t have quite the built-in audience (at least that’s my impression; I’ve done absolutely zero research in making that assertion). Two films would be great, but exceedingly unlikely, especially as they’ve already announced it as one.

Now like I said, it’s not that it CAN’T be done, but it would seem to be a daunting task. Just ask David Lynch why his name isn’t on the theatrical print of Dune. Now there’s another epic sci-fi novel that was done MUCH better in a mini-series format. (Yes, I know, there are those of you who think the mini-series has its problems, but the general consensus seems to be that it’s quite well done, and certainly an improvement over what was released in theaters in 1984…even if Sting is sorely missing.) 😉 I would love to see Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion done as a mini-series and given enough time to develop. Even the mini-series format isn’t without it’s development dangers (just ask Ursula K. Le Guin), but it’s better than a feature film, at least from a storyteller’s point of view. On the other hand, I suppose I can’t pine for a mini-series when they’ve already announced it as a feature film, so I suppose all this is moot anyway.

So that’s what’s got me skeptical about the whole idea. Of course, it’s entirely possible it’ll be sunk into Development Hell anyway and will never see the light of day. I suppose in Hyperion’s case I’d rather see no film than a poorly done film, but there’s little I can do about it but sit and wait…and possibly reread the books again.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Stupid difficult characters…

By 1 Comment

When writing my novels, while I will shift poins of view between different characters from time to time, I generally stick to one POV per section. As such, when I do so I tend to get into the headspace of the character I’m writing so as to better present things from his or her point of view (what he or she sees, how she interprets different things, even the style of his or her–or its–thoughts, etc.).

Sometimes this is easy–especially if I’m writing from a character I particularly like. (Felix would be one of these.) Other times, it’s less so. Heck, there’s one character from my first book whose part I wound up toning down because he was such a pain in the ass to write. (That’d be Brian, if you’re curious. He’s such a putz.) It’s interesting, though, to see how I’m feeling after I finish writing certain characters. In the second book, for example, I’m occasionally writing from the point of view of Diomedes, and let me tell you, that’s a draining place to write in. It takes me a little while to switch gears back to myself, which I suppose might sound weird to some of you.

Right now, I’m working on writing a small section from a character who is SO alien to my own personality that it’s very, very slow going. Quite frankly it’s draining, both because it’s so hard to translate my own thoughts into this character’s to write the POV properly, and because the slow going makes me feel like I’m just plain going too slow. If I go to slow, I start feeling blocked, which only makes me go slower. It’s like a slog through the mud, really, and I have to work to make sure that READING it doesn’t feel like slogging, too. I don’t think it does, but making sure it comes out right is important to me. I suppose I should think of that part of the writing process as a 9-hour flight to a vacation spot. Sure, the flight (or the writing process) isn’t the most fun, but once it’s over, I’m in a spot I really want to be.

So what’s my point? I don’t really have one, I guess, but I wanted to take a break from trying to write this character’s point of view and switch back to my own brain, ’cause today I’m a lazy, lazy man. 🙂

24-Hour Short Story Contest

By Leave a Comment

Yesterday (or January 26th, at least, if you’re not reading this on the 27th) I took part in something I discovered a few years ago: WritersWeekly.com’s 24-hour Short Story Contest. Basically everyone signs up to compete (well, everyone or 500 people, whichever is smaller), and at noon Central Time the day of the contest, they email out the contest topic. Everyone’s got 24 hours to turn in a story, constrained only by the topic and a word count, which in my experience is usually around 1000 words. The topic itself is a few sentences that begin the story, though writers are allowed to change it around a bit (altering genders, names, ages, etc.) so long as the concept remains the same. Never one to be able to focus on one thing at a time (I blame it on a decade of working office jobs that force me to multitask), I decided to keep a blog as I worked. Below…is my journey. (Ah, I’m such a melodramatic guy…) The blog is in local time, so as I’m in Seattle I got the topic at 10am. Some of this stuff is written after-the-fact, but close enough. 😉

9:45am: Got up, rode the exercise bike for 10 minutes just to get the blood flowing, as I hear blood pumping in the brain is a good thing, and the brain seems to be used for writing, unless you’re penning something like “Meet the Spartans.” Ate breakfast. Food good for thinking, too!

10:00am: Checked email for topic. Nothing yet.

10:01am: Checked email for topic. Still nothing.

10:02-10:05am: Repeat previous entry.

10:06am: Realized I was checking the wrong email address. Got story topic that was mailed six minutes prior:

She always kept the object safe and close to her. Mama made her repeat the promise over and over again during those last days. “I will never show it to a living soul. I will never show it to a living soul.”

She cried about Mama less now, not as much as she had before. She was missing Mama now as she did each night when she removed her scuffed shoes. She then carefully peeled the gray sock off her foot, and waited for the familiar object to fall out. Nothing happened. Panicked, she quickly turned her sock inside-out. It was gone.

Hrmm. Sounds like the main character’s a little girl, which I’m not crazy about (writing kids is not my strength), but it’s better than the time they had a bunch of kids on a school bus. (I never did come up with a good story for THAT one.) I note it’s “never show it to a living soul,” not “ANOTHER living soul.” Maybe the girl is dead or a ghost?

10:07am: Jumped in the shower to get myself presentable and brainstorm ideas. Running water is, apparently, also good for creativity. (Note: This fact offered by sellers of running water desktop fountains, so is likely suspect.) First thought: I really don’t like that “Mama” in there, and I don’t quite know why. So far, however, no really good ideas for the rest of the story are jumping out at me.

10:30am: Done with shower and dressed. I’ve gotten an inkling of a kernel of an idea that I like well enough to try to develop, and I can somewhat see where the story might go, but nothing’s exciting me yet. I’m fairly certain I’m going to go with the little girl being a ghost, but I’m worried that might be too cliche or predictable. One thing I don’t want to do is come up with something that 499 others went with.

10:45am: After more pondering and writing a few notes down, I’m taking a mental break to let things percolate. The subconscious shall work on the story, while the conscious plays a little game of Civilization 4. Maybe I’ll try using the Zulus. I’ve never tried them before.

11:45am: After numerous game restarts, have come to the conclusion that the Zulus suck, at least for me. On the plus side, I’ve gotten a few other ideas/idea fragments written down as I played. I’m off to the cafe to apply caffeine and sugar to the situation. I don’t have a full story yet, or even a full story arc…or even any real characters in mind, but at least I have a kernel to work on so that my brain won’t completely explode out of frustration. I’m a little cranky that nothing’s really grabbed me yet, though.

12:15pm: At the cafe. I really need to stop sitting at the drafty table, but oh well. My kernel of an idea hasn’t popped. In fact, with further thought, I don’t quite think I can make it work–or at least not in 1,000 words. I still like the idea of the girl being a ghost, but I’m not married to it. Hey, what if the mother’s still alive, but a vampire?

12:30pm: Still working with the vampire idea, but it’s gotten more complex, and in an 1,000-word story, complex is NOT my friend.

12:45pm: Abandoning the vampire idea. It’s just not quite working for me.

12:50pm: Spent 5 minutes staring at a blank paper and watching other patrons, completely devoid of ideas. I suppose I could just give up, but I really want to get SOMEthing written, especially now that I’ve got the book out. Nearly out of caffeine.

1:05pm: I think I might have something…

1:35pm: Okay! Not only do I have a feasible idea, but I’ve got a full outline written for the story! Or most of an outline, anyway. One of the characters isn’t quite fleshed out yet, and there are various technical details that I need to do a bit of quick research on, but I’ve got an idea that I can work with. This is going to be one messed UP story. My main character needs therapy. Headed home.

2:15pm: Back at home, having just researched a bit of the things I need to know, mostly having to do with horses. (I say “researched,” but mostly I just asked people. Thanks again, if you’re reading this!) Time for another break, frankly. I should revisit the Zulus.

2:45pm: Definitely not good with the Zulus. Okay, I really ought to start getting this story WRITTEN, huh? As Dan Simmons once wrote, I love being a writer, it’s the paperwork I can’t stand. Okay, focus…

4:00pm: Going little by little here. I’m easily distracted right now, and working my way through a paragraph at a time. I’ve forgotten to give my characters names, so right now I’ve just got placeholders. I’m terrible at naming. Curious note, the placeholder names I’ve got all seem like they belong in the Old West, though the story is set in Britain maybe 300 years ago or so. I’m blaming this on the fact that I’m reading Lonesome Dove right now.

6:00pm(ish): First draft…mostly written. Kind of. Well, sort of. More or less. The beginning is going to need tweaking (I want to change what they gave me to give it a little more of a hook and to help it stand out from the other entries), and the end doesn’t QUITE work for me. I think I may be hanging onto an element that shouldn’t really be in the story anymore, but I’ll see. The placeholder names are still there, and some of the dialogue seems to be skewing Old West, too. (Durn you, Augustus McCrae!!!) Sending the story off to two friends online at the moment for reactions, and to see if they think the ending doesn’t work, either. Oh, and I ought to eat.

6:15pm: Sounds like they both actually like the ending. Hmm. Maybe I’m better than I thought. One of them even called me a rat, which in this case is a good reaction. (I TOLD you this would be a messed up story.) The beginning does need work, though. And I need better names. Someone suggested Genghis for the name of the horse, but as this is a kindly, gentle old horse, I ain’t namin’ him Genghis, gol durnit! I’m going to do a little more tweaking and then take a break. A friend has persuaded me to go see Cloverfield tonight anyway, and that sounds like a good break.

6:45pm: Off to Cloverfield. Hope I won’t need a Dramamine.

10:00pm: Back from Cloverfield. If I get my act together I’ll have to write an actual review of that movie. I’m not sure which was more indestructible, the monster or the camera. Back to the story, though. Time for more tweaking, plus I have to get the word count down. The first draft was about 1079. Right now I’m at about 1020 or so. (I was at 1010 at one point, but I had to redo stuff.)

11:00pm: Okay, getting closer, dangit. It just occured to me that I have to TITLE this thing. Ah, well. At least I’ve gotten proper names for the characters now.

11:30ish: 997 words! …Er, wait. 998, not counting the title or “The End.” Still needs a title, though.

12:00pmish: (Okay, so the last few things I didn’t blog at the time and a making up as I type this now.) I really hate coming up with titles. Took me a while of pacing and throwing stuff out to come up with something I liked. I kept coming up with stuff that I figured 75% of the other stories might be titled, so I threw those out after realizing that. I’m going with “Troy,” which is the name of the horse. Plus it’s also got some nice subtext relating to the whole Trojan War…which I hadn’t even planned on, but it makes me look clever. (My subconscious is smart!)

12:05pm: Story’s been submitted. Hopefully the caffeine I just had won’t keep me up TOO late…

So I hear about how I did in about a month. The first time I entered, I won (2nd place), and each time since I’ve tried not to expect that I’d do as well so as not to be disappointed, but each time I do anyway. Who knows, maybe this one’ll win. I’m pretty happy with it, at least.

Christmas Eve Rambling

By Leave a Comment

So it’s Christmas Eve already. I honestly didn’t realize it had been so long since I’d written here, but I suppose that’s the holiday season for you. I’ve no particular thing in mind to blog about today, so this is likely to be something of a stream-of-consciousness entry…and I warn you, my consciousness can get a little weird. On the plus side, I haven’t just consumed an entire box of chocolate-covered espresso beans. (THAT resulted in some interesting writing, let me tell you. I wonder if I still have that? Maybe I should post it here just for people’s general amusement/horror.)

Side note: There’s a line in Legacy of Memory where Felix makes reference to a similar situation for no particular reason other than he’s Felix. (I was going to put it up here, but, oddly, to it would require a rather lengthy lead-up, so I’ll hold off on that for now.)

I think Mike’s Focus Pendulum(tm) has now swung back the other way, toward writing the second book and away from marketing A Shadow in the Flames. I’ve said it before and I like to repeat myself: marketing is draining and not very much fun. On the plus side, I’ve heard from numerous people now (some of whom I’ve never even met, which is even more cool) that they’re enjoying/enjoyed the book. Some have even ordered more copies to give to friends as gifts, which frankly is a great compliment to me.

Random tidbit about the cover of ASITF: though the city of Northgate is fictional, there IS a location in the book that is actually visible on the cover. The Aristarchus crater, in which a small part of the book takes place, is visible and actually prominent on the image of the moon. See that light spot in the dark grey a little above the nine o’clock position? That’s Aristarchus. I honestly had forgotten exactly where the crater was since I looked it up a long time ago and needed a crater name, so I thought that was kind of neat. I’ve actually no idea where those buildings actually exist, though. (I can tell you that they don’t exist so close together like that, though. It’s an image composited from a larger skyline. Each building, wherever it stands in the real world, is actually at least a few blocks from the others.)

I suppose I should get back to working on LoM–not to mention some final preparations for Christmas with my family tomorrow–so I’ll leave you with a piece of music that someone made me recall last night. It’s from the Children of Dune miniseries from the Sci-Fi Channel, and apparently written in the fictional Fremen language. The hearing the lyrics but not understanding their direct meaning has the effect of turning the vocals into another instrument in the mix, and just creates, as someone put it, a more pure and personal feeling in the listener. (It’s also used to pretty good effect in the miniseries itself.) It’s on YouTube (paired up with a fan-created montage) at www.youtube.com/watch?v=znJdaWzoRYw.

So that’s it for now. Thanks again to all who’ve read the novel so far, and Merry Christmas! (Or, at least, have a festive holiday celebration of your cultural and/or personal preference! There. Now everyone can be happy.) 😉

Mike
www.michaelgmunz.com

Hello from the Wayward…

By Leave a Comment

Hey, that title sounds like some sort of arthouse play, doesn’t it? Actually the Wayward is the name of a cafe here in Seattle (www.waywardcoffee.com) where I come sometimes. I only recently discovered it, but it’s a nice place so far. They seem to be major Firefly fans here, too.

For the moment, it’s Saturday and I’m taking a short break from doing a bit of book-marketing online to blog a bit. Marketing continues to take up more of my time than I’d like–or at least thinking about marketing and doing what I can about it. (No idea how effective I’ve been just yet, but I suppose every little bit helps.) I’d much rather be working on Legacy of Memory, but I suppose I’ve said that before.

Speaking of Legacy of Memory (the sequel to A Shadow in the Flames), I am making headway, if slowly at the moment. Right now, as I’ve been in an ASITF headspace for the past month or so, I’ve decided to reread what I’ve got of LoM just to refresh myself and recall various themes and character arcs. Of course I can’t help but make a few minor edits as I go. Minor tweaking is something that’s difficult to stop doing. I’ve purposely not reread the first book even after I got my printed copy because I’m sure I’d see something I want to change.

I’m pretty excited about book 2, even though it’s not done yet. I just think it’s a better book–not that the first book isn’t good, of course. It’s just that I can develop characters more and build on things from book 1 now that things are established. It’s also fun for me, as a storyteller, to take elements from book one that I’d purposely cooked for development later and do what I’d planned so long ago. I also think my writing skill has just plain improved a bit, as happens with most writers, so I’m necessarily more proud of this one. Now I just need to finish the first draft, do some major tweaking/editing/revising/etc., and…well, see how well I can get it to press. Then the process of writing book 3, looming on the horizon, shall begin. (If you’re curious, I’m currently thinking of Here Be Dragons for the title of that, though I originally had a different title in mine for Legacy of Memory, too, so that’s subject to change. And NO, I won’t tell you what I was originally going to call LoM. It…it wasn’t good.) 🙂

A Shadow in the Flames is now the #2 best-selling sci-fi book from VirtualBookworm.com! Thanks to everyone who’s helped get me there!

Mike
www.michaelgmunz.com

Blogging/Blathering About Vista

By Leave a Comment

Hey, look at that, I’ve figured out how to put the novel cover on my blog. Ain’t technology amazing? (Sometimes I think of that and wonder how quickly any one of us nowadays would get burned as a witch if we suddenly found ourselves in the dark ages with so much as a beeping digital watch…I suppose there’s a short story in that. Hrm.)

So on with the whole geek/laptop experience, I suppose. I’m currently in a Tully’s with a mocha, actually able to type this live because they’ve got free wi-fi. It’s rather surprising that Starbucks and Barnes & Noble don’t have that–I don’t imagine it would cost that much to set up, and I’m sure places that have free wi-fi are able to pull away some of their customers. Then again, there’s a thing such as brand loyalty or just plain habit, so maybe they don’t have to. But hey, I wasn’t going to be talking about that, was I? Maybe later.

This laptop is my first experience with Windows Vista, and so far it’s actually not too bad. Oh, shocking, the Mac vs. PC ads overstated the problems once again. (I really do hate those ads…not really because I’m an avid PC supporter so much as I just dislike strawman arguments. Well, okay, so I dislike commercials in general. Someone needs to start a fund to get Jared from Subway ejected into space.) The whole issue with Vista asking you if you REALLY want to do something you just told it to do (User Access Control) isn’t that big of a deal, mostly because it’s quite easy to turn the sucker off. I suppose I really ought to turn it back on now that I’ve got it set up the way I want it so it can actually do what it’s designed to do–keeping spyware from messing with the system. Even before I turned it off, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Oh, no, an additional click or two! Whatever shall we do! Precious seconds lost! Come on, people, you know you’d only waste them anyway, right? Oh! Maybe we can all get a class-action lawsuit going against Microsoft for all those lost seconds? …Okay, maybe I shouldn’t blog while shot full of caffeine.

Other than that, it’s not too terribly different from XP. I’m a little torn with regard to the new Start Menu in Vista. I like some things about it–the search function, for example, that pops up a program if you type it in–but I miss the way XP would expand the programs with just a mouse-over. In Vista you have to actually click it, which is a little more of a pain if you’re on a laptop using a touchpad. Maybe there’s a way to change it, but I’m not sure. Then again, on my XP machine at home I use the classic start menu, so maybe even XP doesn’t do that. The file explorer windows are different from XP, too. So far they just seem to be different for the sole purpose of being different; I haven’t noticed any more easy of use. Actually one thing I miss is the button that let you go up a level in the directory. I realized after a while that I can do that by clicking on the names of the directories in the top bar there (okay, so I’m not enough of a geek to know all the technical terms), but so far I’ve yet to learn to do that instinctively the way I have with XP. Perhaps I have issues with change.

The Aero graphics are kind of amusing, and certainly pretty (okay, so I’ve played with the window-tab thing that gives you a 3-D scrolling list of all your open windows a bit too much). As many have said before me, you could just as easily turn it off and free up a bit of computing power, but I rather like having it on. It doesn’t really help me, but there is something to be said for feeling like I’m using the latest new thing. (I paid for a new laptop, it should at least FEEL shiny and now, yes?)

I don’t really have a specific point about Vista so far. If anything this is less of an intelligent article on the subject and more just stream-of-consciousness rambling on a subject I only so far have a passing familiarity with, but it’s good to just write sometimes, if only for the practice. Plus this way I can look like I’m doing something important while I sit here at Tully’s.

I should talk about something more fun next time. Civilization 4 anyone?