Bechuga

I'm saying DFW bought a gun in order to kill his crush's husband

Switch reviewed by time travellers on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-UK-Switch-Grey/dp/B01MFADJFV/ref=sr_tnr_p_1_videogames_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484484884&sr=8-1&keywords=switch+nintendo+console

Only game I'm somewhat excited to hear more of is Suda 51's new game featuring Travis Touchdown. Can probably wait until a price decrease.

lol @ keanu

Reading The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey as research, pretty good so far and exactly what I need. Recommendations on other good books relating to epigenetics, normal genetics and similar material are welcome.

If you want to cheer yourself up Span, read The Depressed Person by DFW. Very uplifting.

Will read Delillo this year, I'm looking forward to it. Finished Midnight's Children, super good book. Also finished a short story by Sam Delany called the Star Pit (at Spiral's urging) and it's also super good. Will have to check out some of his novels (need to top up my sci-fi reserves).

Can't really remember what I read last year that came out that year, so I'll just say Jerusalem was the best book I read in 2016.

Played & finished Kane & Lynch 2 with a buddy, was fun and enjoyably nihilistic / pointless plotwise. Now we're digging into Borderlands 2, this being my third time restarting from the beginning. But it's so fun I do not mind at all. Also so many games bought in the Xmas sales on Steam. Now to find time to play the things.

My 1080 CD shelf wasn't big enough for my collection. Always assumed I had around 400-500 CDs, not over a thousand. Need to downsize.

Listened to this last night, still good album, have no idea what instruments made it but I like it lots.

Bookshelf I ordered is being delivered by a terrible delivery company we use at my workplace (UK Mail: has a 1.5 out of 5 rating on Google which is accurate), and their drivers--especially the driver who works this area--treat the parcels like shit. I know this for a fact because I load the parcels onto this driver's van every night, and he completely ignores bright FRAGILE or THIS WAY UP labels, throwing the parcels into his van like a bank robber chucking bags of cash into a getaway vehicle. I can only imagine what shape my bookshelf will arrive in, and that he know it is me who complains about the condition of it. I pray the bookshelve is so sturdy it survives his manhandling of it. And he will probably arrive so goddamn early it will ruin one of my few lie-ins I get. And he will see me in my pyjamas.

Ridley Scott did make the planet in Prometheus beautiful, and has done the same in that last trailer. My gripe w/r/t Prometheus was it seemed to be a mix of two competing ideas/approaches: an expensive art house movie with ruminations on where we came from with genre-standard horror/splatter sequences. The fact everyone died barring two characters seemed to ruin it for me: if a few other people than just the robot and new Ripley survived, maybe it wouldn't feel so blatantly confused (why would Theron's character be so dumb to not simply roll sidewards and avoid the ship? Why did Idris and his co-pilots all decide to die together for not much reason? Contrived to fulfil Fassbander + Scandanavian Girl adventures). A really great film to watch with the dialogue muted though with some good sci-fi music on (is it me or is all dialogue in films atrocious lately? Seems to be written so you can understand the film while using your smartphone for the duration...) and the director's commentary is hilarious (Scott telling movie bosses to go fuck themselves). Didn't hate it though, and I'm not exactly a movie fan nowadays. Might see the next, depending on how long it is.

I finished AtD this year. I liked it but don't think it's quite on the same level as Mason & Dixon, although it has plenty of moments worth reading it for (all those Pynchon feels & allusions to other works of his...). My crit of it is that it feels like a much longer book that has been cut down, which makes certain sections feel rushed or not quite explanatory enough. Undone by his own methods I reckon. Overall I liked either Mason & Dixon or Vineland the most out of his works. M&D felt just right in terms of difficulty and cosiness reading wise, plus Mason & Dixon are just swell to hang around with. Sort of sad when you have to let them go. Interesting how you liked Vineland best as it often gets a really bad rep (alongside AtD), any particular reason for that? I've had in on my shelf for ages without opening it but obviously I will at some point. It has all the familiar density of his other work but more concise and easier to approach, along with just as crazy scenes as his other books (insurance investigator on the trail of Godzilla?! sky pirates boarding planes in mid-air?!) along with a strange book structure that isn't normal for his work. Seems somewhat different to his other books, in a way I really enjoyed. I do find it sad Vineland gets such a bad rep, which I suspect is due to the 17 year wait between that and Rainbow, and all those critics disappointed it wasn't Rainbow 2. In my opinion, it's everything Pynchon can be in a tighter package (shorter than V.). If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you start! Critics don't know shit.

Great book by a great thinker However, the general AI conversation is rife with blind spots Everyone seems to assume that if you just create a smart brain and give it some senses, all of its beliefs about the world will naturally be 100% true, and it will thus act like economists used to think humans acted pre-Behavioral Economics (i.e. with perfect and complete information, perfect rationality, perfect self-control and perfect regard for their future) Well, no AI will be susceptible to superstition and mental illness Because those things aren't uniquely human Rather, they emerge as a result of limited information about the environment Coupled with preferences/motivational states and personality Why did Skinner's pigeon exhibit superstition when you punished (or rewarded) it in random intervals? Well, it's not because pigeons are stupid Imagine what it would require for the pigeon to have accurate beliefs about its situation: it would have to understand Skinner's mind, and whatever randomness generator he was using to dole out random punishments This probably sounds daft, but AIs will suffer trauma (The potential for trauma emerges simply from having preferences) AIs will have delusions (delusions are simply 'pigeon superstition' in the face of limited information about the environment) AIs will display OCD and PTSD Because these things are not uniquely human They are emergent properties of simply having preferences Read Ted Chiang's story The Lifecycle of Software Objects, which is about the accidental creation of pet AIs and the traumas / lives they live. I suspect this will be right up your alley: http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2010/fiction_the_lifecycle_of_software_objects_by_ted_chiang/

I finished AtD this year. I liked it but don't think it's quite on the same level as Mason & Dixon, although it has plenty of moments worth reading it for (all those Pynchon feels & allusions to other works of his...). My crit of it is that it feels like a much longer book that has been cut down, which makes certain sections feel rushed or not quite explanatory enough. Undone by his own methods I reckon. Overall I liked either Mason & Dixon or Vineland the most out of his works. M&D felt just right in terms of difficulty and cosiness reading wise, plus Mason & Dixon are just swell to hang around with. Sort of sad when you have to let them go.

Who's to say that he's not black? lets say he was. he'd def be very conscious about being on a forum with an overwhelming amount of skinny white bearded jesus fans. actively downplaying his black funkyness because those sensitive skinnies prolly wont understand him because of all their first world - i'm white and entitled - problems. Or maybe Wumbo Man and Juvith Sith are related

Just don't buy it fam no chance...missing any of his releases sends me loopy What is the most you've paid for one of his releases? If you don't mind the question that is, no need for an exact figure.

I'll be happy with just a lock of Richard's hair, preferably pubic. If you don't provide I'll firebomb your shop. From England.

*mysterious customer comes into shop* Hello, I would like 237 copies of the latest Aphex release. Do you have any Analord binders too, per chance? Worth a try. Oh, and read the rules. *leaves, crippled by boxes of vinyl*

Playing that game with the dynamic sound range on and hearing huge volumes of bassy sirens rumble out suddenly while being plunged into darkness were terrifying if great times. 60fps on PC makes the xeno so much more scary too.