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Tag Archives: NFL lines
NFL Pick: San Diego Chargers @ New York Jets Preview
MetLife Stadium will be rocking and rolling for NFL betting action in Week 7, as the New York Jets take on the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers only have one loss this year, but they can't feel really great about this situation that they are currently in. They are just a game up in the loss column on the Oakland Raiders, who just acquired QB Carso.....
NFL Trends: Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets Betting Trends & Injury Report
The Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets are set to square off in Monday Night Football betting action this week at MetLife Stadium. But before you make your NFL picks for the big game on Monday, check out some of the great NFL betting trends that we have for the duel! Miami Dolphins Notes: The Dolphins are off to a rough start this season at just 0-4 SU an.....
NFL Betting: NFL Matchups for Week 6
Here at Bang the Book, we have all of the top matchups of the 2011 NFL betting campaign covered! Today, we're taking a look at the matchups for Week 6! Buffalo Bills (4-1 SU, 3-2 ATS) @ New York Giants (3-2 SU, 3-2 ATS)Spread: New York -3, Total: 50MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ - Sunday, 1:00 ET Click Here For Handicapping Match-up Details This i.....
Football Pick: Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets Preview
The two teams in the gutter of the AFC East try to take a step in the right direction on Monday Night Football betting action this week, as the Miami Dolphins face off with the New York Jets in the second game of the weekend at MetLife Stadium. We can't help but wonder if Head Coach Tony Sparano spent Miami's bye week filling out his resume for his next job .....
NFL Pick: Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears Preview
Sunday Night Football betting action heads to the Windy City this week, where the Minnesota Vikings will lock horns with the Chicago Bears in an NFC North war. The Vikings really do have the ability to go on a roll this year, and last week's 34-10 destruction of the Arizona Cardinals was just what the doctor ordered. It was a solid game for QB Don.....
NFL Pick: Dallas Cowboys @ New England Patriots Preview
Points should be flying on the board left and right on Sunday at Foxboro Stadium, as the Dallas Cowboys take on the New England Patriots in NFL betting action. The Cowboys are coming off of their bye week from last week. They have to really have some mixed emotions right now. On one hand, they were good enough to win all four of their games this y.....
NFL Week 6 Pick: Buffalo Bills @ New York Giants Preview
For the second straight week and for the fourth time this season, the Buffalo Bills find themselves as underdogs against a team that they have a better record than in NFL betting action in Week 6, as they take on the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. The offense for the Bills really appeared to be a passing machine over the course of the first few weeks.....
Football Pick: Chicago Bears @ Detroit Lions Preview
If the Green Bay Packers happen to lose on Sunday Night Football, the 1972 Miami Dolphins will be sitting with their champagne bottles waiting to see if the Detroit Lions get knocked off by the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. The Bears are more or less the forgotten team in the NFC North, as all of the accolades have gone to the Pack and the Lions. T.....
NFL Pick: Oakland Raiders @ Houston Texans Preview
Two teams that are up and coming in the AFC are going to square off at Reliant Stadium in NFL betting action on Sunday as a part of the Week 5 slate, as the Oakland Raiders pay a visit to the Houston Texans. The Raiders still think that they have a shot at making the playoffs this year even though they were beaten pretty concisely by the New Engla.....
NFL Week 5 Pick: Philadelphia Eagles @ Buffalo Bills Preview
Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park will be the site of a crucial Week 5 NFL betting tilt, as the Philadelphia Eagles look to get their mojo back against the Buffalo Bills. So much for the "Dream Team," eh? What was once considered one of the prime teams in the land is now decimated to just a 1-3 start to the season. It's not like these losses have been th.....


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It looks like the third time was the charm, for efforts to expand commercial activity along State Road 23 between Mishawaka and Granger.
Wednesday final approval was given to build two office buildings on what is now residential property at State Road 23 and Brick. Two previous attempts to rezone the same property were proposed in the past but withdrawn after questions surfaced
"At one point I think the goal was to keep commercial property west of Capital Avenue and State Road 23, but over the last several years, as I said there have been seven other businesses that located in that quarter mile," says Attorney Stephen Studer of the Krieg, DeVault LLP. "So this really is the next line which is the next light. The light after that goes pretty far into Granger so this makes sense to develop that quarter mile."
The developer points out that the office zoning at 23 and Brick will serve as a buffer between the commercial development to the west, and residential development to the east.

subset: commoncrawl


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It's 2014 and high time you got some new music into your playlist -- seriously. It'll help that Phoenix's music scene has plenty of fresh jams and brand-new tunes to offer, as there's an overflow of gifted and prolific musicians cranking out sounds. Since many local acts will make waves, turn heads ... More >>
Eccentric Swedish metal act Ghost B.C. released their second LP, Infestissumam, in April and are currently in the midst of a massive world tour, bringing a theatrical, mesmerizing and ghastly show to the masses. For the most part, Ghost have maintained anonymity. Five of the musicians, dubbed Name ... More >>
Alice Cooper and Marilyn MansonMasters of Madness Tour, TucsonJune 7, 2013 Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson blew the Amphitheater roof off last night as they paid a visit to Tucson for the shock rock extravaganza dubbed The Masters of Madness Tour. Fans of all ages packed the house for the freak fes ... More >>
If you've been reading this whiskey-drenched, devil-horn-throwing column every week for more than a year, here's a little thank-you flashback to the beginning. In one of the first Metal Mondays installments, I talked about the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles--basically the heavy metal Gra ... More >>
Security and Cops Gettin' Wild: Look, I get it. Every drunken dickhead in town "knows someone" or thinks he has pull at the door, but that doesn't mean the hammer goes down on everyone. I was stopped by two cops who didn't want me to walk 50 yards from where the Smashing Pumpkins would be playing an ... More >>
You're going to South by Southwest, right? Or you're already there? One of those things is bound to be true. Well, we here at DC9 have got some advice for you, and we've managed to format it all into the style of commandments, because one of our favorite things to do is pretend we're angry gods. Or ... More >>
Following up last year's New Times Soundcheck, a two-day festival at Club Red in Tempe -- which featured performances by The Love Me Nots, Sugar Thieves, 2 Tone Lizard Kings, Jason Devore, The Insects, Crusher Sound System, and more -- was a serious task. But challenges are cool, right? Up on the S ... More >>
The sound of San Francisco's Soft Moon is disorienting: A darkly hyperactive Neu! mixed with the dance-floor sensibility of Depeche Mode and the stark despair of Bauhaus makes The Soft Moon one cynically-crafted machine. But the most disorientating tactic in frontman Luis Vazquez's arsenal is his mu ... More >>
As 2012 draws to a close, we couldn't be more optimistic about the state of music in the Valley of the Sun. With new bands emerging from various scenes and subgenres, it can be hard to keep up with the latest in Phoenix music. What follows are our picks for 13 acts that will make an impact on the S ... More >>
If you happened to be a member of the Valley's old school DJ/rave scene back in the mid-1990s, there was one place where you almost always hit up for both your music and gear: Swell Records. Without getting too overly hyperbolic, the music and clothing emporium owned by Russel Ramirez (which bounced ... More >>
See also: Former Friends of Young Americans Stream New Album, Estas Diluculo Where we're going, we don't need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. It may not be easy to lump locals Former Friends of Young Americans into any one specific genre, ... More >>
Illinois-based rockers Chevelle have a clear-cut formula when it comes to making music: They keep it honest and real. They've never strayed far from their controlled chaos and somehow gentle rampage or their mix of dark magnetism and gothic pop (think early Tool meets The Cure if you haven't heard r ... More >>
Johnny Cash died eight years ago today. Do you remember the first time you saw the video for "Hurt," the Nine Inch Nails song brilliantly interpreted by Johnny Cash on this album, American IV: When the Man Comes Around? I do. The song and accompanying Mark Romanek film are beautiful. You may ... More >>
Maria VassettA Perfect Circle Comerica Theatre July 25, 2011 It was just this past November that the members of A Perfect Circle ended their six-year hiatus by performing a trio of shows at Tempe's Marquee Theatre. Each of the three shows had the group focusing on one of their three albums ... More >>
www.perezhilton.comCharlie Sheen's got hos in different area codes.As we all know by now, our all-American main man Charlie Sheen is "bi-winning." He's attempting to leave drug use behind, although he's still down to get crazy with porn starts. Who can blame him? Has the country's classier, o ... More >>
Becky BartkowskiWelcome to 21 Questions, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com goes to the favotire hangout of a notable Phoenician and asks the "big" questions. This week we met up with DJ William Reed at Middle Eastern restaurant Fattoush in Phoenix. Reed walks into Fattoush and greets the ... More >>
A funny thing happened to NYC glam-poppers Scissor Sisters on their way to recording their third album, Night Work -- the band scrapped 18 month's worth of effort in order to finalize the album. Lead singer/utterly charismatic young man Jake Shears noted that the year and half of work left him "a ... More >>
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong isn't a fan of cell phones at concerts. "Put away your cell phones, this is a fucking live concert!" he yelled at Saturday night's show at U.S. Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. Still, the Valley of the Sun was ablaze with tweets from the show. Here are a few of ou ... More >>
O.C. how they run
A terrifying bag o' fun
Fatal Exception is Radio Free America's best -- and possibly final -- album
White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records
Peachcake serves up electronic party music for the indie rock crowd.
Bella may be the Valley's premier all-female band, but they won't march for anyone but themselves
Music for the Maases2 (Hope/Kinetic)
With its second record, Fine China breaks the news that, really, rock 'n' roll isn't that big a deal
Things are looking up for Southern California electro-break pioneer Überzone
The end is near -- does anyone care for a 'caack-taail'?
Not content to simply milk his invention, trance music pioneer BT continues to trip the light fantastic in a never-ending search for sound
New law makes it harder than ever to host an all-ages show in Arizona
Pop music may be in its most confused hour, but Garbage is covering all the genre bases
With its recent U.S. tour, Kraftwerk stakes its claim as the most important group since The Beatles
U2 still hasn't found what it's looking for--but has it given up trying?
A new compilation disc celebrates the mythology of Route 66
Will Silverchair's platinum success yield a golden opportunity for a slew of Aussie imports?
The guiterrorists in Germany's KMFDM "rip the system" with gallows humor and high-tech aggression
How to get musically postmodern without really trying


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Best West Coast Jazz Bands/Artists
You can click on the west coast jazz band names to see more information about that particular notable west coast jazz group. If they're near the top of the best west coast jazz artist list, though, then they should have at least some information available. All the top west coast jazz bands named on the list also have discographies on their pages if you click on the west coast jazz band names themselves.
List features Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Brubeck and more. Downvote the worst ones and upvote the best ones to see only the greatest items at the top of this list. Also, you should vote on items like Al Cohn and Art Pepper, if you like them.
All important, significant and iconic names in west coast jazz music history deserve your votes, so make sure to choose wisely. You can only vote once on this list.
The list includes all new west coast jazz bands, and if there are any missing on the list, you can always add them yourself. Just make sure they aren't already on the list and check your spelling, because this is already an accurate compilation of the best examples of west coast jazz, as well as a good place to start if you're asking yourself, or friends, exactly how to get into west coast jazz music. Especially since the bands at the top of the list will at the very least be the best choices if you're looking for a list of good west coast jazz bands with which to start out. No point in listening to them if they aren't actually good or even half-way decent west coast jazz bands.
This list answers the questions "who are the best west coast jazz bands of all time?" and "who is the greatest west coast jazz musician ever?"
If you know enough about the genre, please vote based on the quality of the band's music instead of just voting for the most popular west coast jazz bands that you might've heard of, but not really listened to closely enough to cast an informed vote.
Impact the order of the items on this list by sharing this on your socia networking sites. (22 items)
- 1Up 4Down 1
Art Pepper Cool jazz, Hard bop, Post-bop
- 2Up 4Down 1
Dave Brubeck Cool jazz, Third stream, Jazz
- 3Up 3Down 0
Al Cohn Big band, West Coast jazz
- 4Up 3Down 0
Stan Getz Cool jazz, Jazz, West Coast jazz
- 5Up 3Down 0
Chet Baker West Coast jazz
- 6Up 3Down 1
Bob Brookmeyer Cool jazz, Big band, Post-bop
- 7Up 2Down 0
Bennett Friedman Hard bop, Post-bop, Jazz
- 8Up 2Down 1
Buddy Collette Cool jazz, West Coast jazz, West Coast blues
- 9Up 1Down 0
Stan Kenton Swing music, Jazz, West Coast jazz
- 10Up 1Down 0
- 11Up 1Down 0
Richie Kamuca West Coast jazz
- 12Up 1Down 0
Paul Desmond Cool jazz, West Coast jazz
- 13Up 1Down 0
Chico Hamilton Crossover jazz, Jazz-funk, Boogaloo
- 14Up 1Down 1
Dave Edwards Cool jazz, Big band, West Coast jazz
- 15Up 0Down 0
Tom Scott Smooth jazz, Jazz fusion, West Coast jazz
- 16Up 0Down 0
Nels Cline Trio Jazz fusion, Experimental music, West Coast jazz
- 17Up 0Down 0
Herb Ellis Cool jazz, Swing music, West Coast jazz
- 18Up 0Down 0
John Graas West Coast jazz
- 19Up 0Down 0
Joe Morello Cool jazz, Third stream, Jazz
- 20Up 0Down 0
Don Raffell Pop music, Cool jazz, Swing music
- 21Up 0Down 0
Gary Foster Pop music, Cool jazz, Classical music
- 22Up 0Down 0
Serge Chaloff Jazz, West Coast jazz
got a blog or website?


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I like the ring. It's very pretty and the design is exactly how it is pictured. It is a little more dainty than I expected. I have small fingers so I never want anything too big or gaudy. I just didn't expect it to be as small as it is, which is my fault for not truly paying attention to the measurements. If you want a ring to cover the whole width of your finger you may want to look at other rings.
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You do not mention any other slow network problems. We had issues with slowness on the network that we were able to eliminate by adding VLANs to our network.
Perhaps VLANs will help you too [if you do not have then already?]
We have approx. 50 network printers and in the last week or so printing to them has become increasing slower to the point where it will take 2-3 minutes from submitting the document before the printer kicks into life. The document I have been testing this with is only 53kb in size. The same thing happens if I generate a test page from the print server itself.
I've looked at a number of threads on the technet forums which suggest disabling TCP Chimney Offload, RSS and Autotuning on the print server, I've done this but it's had no effect. There is no firewall between the server and clients, all the clients are Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1. We have Antivirus on the server but on-access scanning is disabled.
Does anybody have any other suggestions on how to improve the performance?
You do not mention any other slow network problems. We had issues with slowness on the network that we were able to eliminate by adding VLANs to our network.
Perhaps VLANs will help you too [if you do not have then already?]
Check the printer defaults/properties on ther server and review the resolution your using as defaults.
Some of these printers are set far too high for what is needed and rendering to 1200 dpi takes 4 times longer than 300 dpi
Also check you topology, where is the Print Server in relation to the client and the target printer?
Eg. Client -> 2 switch hops -> PS -> 2 switch hops -> Printer
If you send a Test print from server to printer and as you say it takes the same time, what happens if you set up a TCP Printer Port on the client and print directly to the Printer?
Do you just have a latency issue on the network that you havent detected yet or is it actually a printer problem?
@DaveP - no other network problems as far as I am aware of or that we are seeing, we already have multiple vlans
@m25man - Check the resolution on the printer in my office, it's set to 600dpi which appears to be the factory default. Topology wise the printer and the client (my laptop in this case) are plugged into the same switch (core switch) and the print server is plugged into the switch with the rest of the servers. There is a 3gb fibre trunk between the server switch and core switch - actual distance is no more than 2m. Yes, when I generate a test page on the server to the same printer we still experience a delay. I haven't tried setting up a TCP printer port on my laptop and printing to it directly, but I will. I don't think it's a latency issue on the network as I am not seeing any other problems that might suggest that, nor a printer problem becuase it's happening to more than just one printer, different models aswell!
We have Print Manager Plus installed. I've stopped the service for that so I can rule that out as being the cause.
Are you using ip6. If not have you disabled ip6
Not using IPv6. IPv6 still enabled on the NIC but it has always been like that without any problems until recently.
I have checked our windows 2008 box and we also disables check sum.
I've just created a TCP port on my laptop, sent a test page to the printer I've been testing the issue with and it printed instantly. I've then sent a test page to the printer (with my laptop as the print server) and again it prints instantly.
We are having similar issues with our Server 2008 print server. We first noticed we were having issues after we ran some Windows Updates. Since then the CPU spikes and prints can take 5 minutes to come out
I will try the fix suggested and see if it makes a difference over the next few days. Thanks for the link
Just in case someone else is getting this issue, I've found that the Sharp Universal Drivers cause performance issues with all print servers (inc my 2008r2) Stick to the drivers Sharp make to the specific printer. (I was getting slowness in Word and you could see the connection to the printer take 5 or 6 seconds) This caused the program to halt until done.
My setup;
Server 2008r2 (64bit)
Windows 7 (32bit)
Thanks in advance,
Paul J
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Friday, September 21, 2007
Notice. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed collection of data for the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Study. This study will assess the implementation of the Loving Support peer counseling program in State and local WIC agencies across the country.
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November 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A lottery player in Sacramento County has hit the jackpot in Saturday night's $60 million Powerball drawing.
California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso says the winning ticket - which successfully matched the numbers 3, 8, 25, 47, 30 and the Powerball number 13 - was sold at Tooley Oil in McClellan Park, about 12 miles northeast of the capital.
The store is also a big winner, as it will receive a $300,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
Two weeks ago a Milpitas player hit the massive $425 million Powerball jackpot, but the winner has yet to come forward.
In December, one of two winning Mega Millions tickets was sold at a small San Jose gift shop for a jackpot of $648 million. The other was sold in Georgia.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
The internationally renowned Scottish author of both literary and science fiction Iain Banks has passed away unexpectedly early at 59 after suffering from an aggressive form of cancer. Iain Banks/Iain M Banks Science fiction loses a giant (credit: Murdo MacLeod) "Too soon. Iain died in the early hours this morning. His death …
A great loss to Sci Fi..
.. those Culture novels are almost (bar 2 others) the only fiction I've read over six years, or rather the only reason I read fiction after Frank Herbert's works. The Sci Fi excursions from the Culture universe, Against a Dark Background and The Algebraist were excellent too.
He will be missed.
Re: A great loss to Sci Fi..
I completely agree, but would extend it to say "A great loss to literature". The fact that such a prominent author could move back and forth (and sometimes merge) between Sci-Fi and contemporary fiction helped to demonstrate how broad a medium science fiction is as well as producing some wonderful non Sci-Fi novels.
If you haven't already read the Wasp Factory. You wont regret it.
"If you haven't already read the Wasp Factory. You wont regret it."
Most people who have read The Wasp Factory advance the opinion that they do regret reading it, for a great many reasons that do not involve the book being crap.
Personally I never saw what the fuss was about with The Wasp Factory and for the most part I can't relate to the Culture books with all their GUAs [1] either. But still, in an ideal world Iain Banks would still be here, writing books I don't want to read. Ave atque vale.
[1] GUA: Generally Unexplained Acronym
Re: A great loss to Sci Fi..
If you haven't already read the Wasp Factory. You wont regret it.
Well I'm not sure about that... It's one of my least favourite of his books.
Espedair Street is my favourite I think - I highly recommend it, especially if you're into music. It's certainly lots of fun, and one of his 'nice' books - as he said he described it to his wife. The Wasp Factory obviously being one of the 'nasty' ones - along with Complicity, which I liked. My second favourite of his normal fiction would be The Crow Road. Then, maybe, Whit. So I guess I was more of a fan of the 'nice' ones.
I think my favourite of the Sci-Fi would be Excession. Although if you're not a fan of the ludicrous ship names, there's more in that than any other. In my opinion it was his sense of humour that made his books, and the ludicrous ship names made me smile.
It's a shame, I'll miss his work. I think I'll dig out one of his books and a bottle of whisky tonight, in his honour. He also wrote a nice book on whisky, called Raw Spirit.
Re: "If you haven't already read the Wasp Factory. You wont regret it."
I think it's probably more accurate to say:
"If you haven't already, read the Wasp Factory. You won't forget it."
I loved it as a teenager and thought it was brilliant; but haven't read it for a while. I may not be able to tolerate the lunatic, over-the-top melodrama any more. I should have another go.
For his SF, _Use of Weapons_, _Consider Phlebas_ and _Look to Windward_ are among his best, I think. (_Look to Windward_ is one of the most upbeat books about nihilism I know.) (Incidentally, while his SF can mostly be read in any order, _Consider Phlebas_ and _Look to Windward_ need to be read in that order for maximum effect --- they're both standalone but are thematically linked.) _Feersum Enjinn_ is also great, and _Against a Dark Background_ is majestically bleak.
For his non-SF, _The Crow Road_ is a masterpiece. _Whit_ is huge fun and less lightweight than it first appears. Plus of course _Espedair Street_; and _The Steep Approach to Garbadale_.
Then there's his crossover books, which are largely unclassifiable. _The Business_, which I love. _Walking on Glass_ which is utterly bizarre. _The Bridge_ which does everything _Lanark_ tried to but so much better. And I haven't read _Transitions_ yet...
He will keep his place on the bookshelves...
and maybe, someday, a higher intelligence will have a nice microsecond with his works.
The Player of Games
...and this just after the official announcement that western society has devolved to the point where the paid butlers spy on their paymasters and their sole excuse is to huff, puff and rant at the guy who mentioned it. (I won't go into any of the other kind of abuse that's routinely happening.)
I think there is a message here.
He managed to drag SF into the mainstream
against the inertial conformity of so many literature snobs, that's an amazing achievement. He changed the world a little, made it that bit more open minded.
Oh god.
First Pratchett now M. Banks. not going to be reading much in future.
Re: Oh god.
"First Pratchett now M. Banks. not going to be reading much in future"
And all my Neal Stephenson's read (again) as well.
Re: Oh god.
Erm. You do know that Pratchett's not dead ... yet?
Re: Oh god.
Thank Om for that. I'm expecting at least one more excursion into Discworld before I have to hear that news.
Re: Oh god.
He's not dead, but he's pretty gone now, which is very very sad. Diseases which affect the mind are the most horrific of all.
A sad loss...
... but maybe there's a GSV out there which used its Effector to copy his mind state... :-/
Re: A sad loss...
"We'll never know; if you're reading this he's long dead; had his appointment with the displacement drone and been zapped to the very livid heart of the system, corpse blasted to plasma in the vast erupting core of Chiark's sun, his sundered atoms rising and falling in the raging fluid thermals of the mighty star, each pulverised particle migrating over the millennia to that planet-swallowing surface of blinding, storm-swept fire, to boil off there, and so add their own little parcels of meaningless illumination to the encompassing night...Ah well, getting a bit flowery there."
'The Player Of Games'
Beer, cos I can't gland Crystal Fugue State.
Public service announcement
...(the M was for the middle name "Menzies" that was left off his birth certificate.)
That's Menzies, pronounced ming-iss.
That aside, this is desperately sad news. And for him to be taken at a time when the post-scarcity utopia of the Culture seems more distant than ever just about has me crying. So long Mr Banks, and thanks for all the ships.
Re: Public service announcement
I always wondered if the 'utopia' of the Culture was really meant as that, or a reflection on what society thinks utopia would be. i.e. was he a staunch liberal or was that a statement on liberalism?
Re: Public service announcement
CNN: Would you like to live in the Culture?
Iain M. Banks: Good grief yes, heck, yeah, oh it's my secular heaven....Yes, I would, absolutely. Again it comes down to wish fulfillment. I haven't done a study and taken lots of replies across a cross-section of humanity to find out what would be their personal utopia. It's mine, I thought of it, and I'm going home with it — absolutely, it's great.
Re: Public service announcement
You can count me in too!
Re: Public service announcement
Thanks Prof.
[Broadcast Eclear, sent 1370816215.7]
xGSV Slightly Perturbed
oBOFH Reg Readers
He's not dead, he's been reassigned.
Chin up, chaps.
I have only read "The Algebraist" and I needed to read it really slowly are all his books like that ?
Some are easier than others. Try to avoid Use Of Weapons unless you want to have to wrap your head around two plotlines travelling parallel but in reverse to each other so that the book ends and begins at the end and beginning.
State Of The Art is quite fun though. Lots of little bite sized storylets, some in the culture universe and some elsewhere.
I've read all Banks SF novels, and the 'Algabraist' was hard (but rewarding) work. Try 'excession' for something a bit more straight forward(ish).
I like "The Algebraist", but it pushes the limits of big and complex.
You can do a lot worse than start in on the Culture novels by trying "Consider Phlebas", followed by "The Player Of Games". IMO these, plus "State of the Art" are the best of the Culture books, but if you 'get' the Culture you'll probably want to read the rest as well.
I also like "Feersum Endjinn" a lot, but then I have a weakness for books written in not-exactly-English such as Antony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange". "Feersumm Endjinn" is another non-Culture novel.
/Use of Weapons/ is perhaps the best of his SF. To decry it as too hard is to miss the point of reading IMB. It is not easy reading.
The hard-of-thinking should probably stick to J K Rowling or Dan Brown.
I really don't see what was particularly hard about /The Algebraist./ I'd say the least accessible of his SF was /Inversions/ myself. (Which, to reignite an old argument, *is* a Culture novel due to the inclusion of at least one minor detail. Which this is is left as an exercise for the alert reader.)
Yes! Inversions was clearly a Culture novel, somewhat inverted.
I don't know if this is what you want to hear but.... I considered the algebraist to be the 'light relief', almost a work of comedy, as compared to the other Iain M Banks books.
I enjoyed them all though. I plan to read the non-M books at some point.
Great, great author. Damn shame to lose him.
Start at the very beginning (the very best place to start), with Consider Phlebas. If you like that, you'll like the Culture. Although you don't need to have read any of them first before picking any other one up, there are possibly some assumptions in there that you could miss. If you like the Culture, you'll like Excession, and The Player of Games has a nice straightforward plot. Sometimes he plays silly buggers, but not in all books. Once you've liked one, it gives you the desire to plod through the slow/harder/odd bits of any others.
Use of Weapons and Against a Dark Background are fun. But he does like his black humour. And watch out for those lazy guns.
Personally I thought his books were quite uneven. He was trying lots of different things, and I thought there were quite a few weak books, where things just didn't come off. I thought that happened a lot more with his literary fiction than the sci-fi. I've had a lot of fun reading his stuff over the years. There's always the sense of humour and it's often fun to try and puzzle the book out, to try and work out what he's playing at before you get to the end. And he plays fair, and usually gives you clues.
I enjoyed them all though. I plan to read the non-M books at some point.
David Hicks,
If you like music, read Espedair Street. It's clear that Banks did - and his sick sense of humour is on display as always. The Crow Road and Whit are good, and mostly nice. I enjoyed Complicity, which wasn't. And the Business is fun, although I'm not sure it's one of his best. The rest are a mixed bag, and there's quite a few, like The Bridge and Walking on Glass that could just as easily have had an M in his name.
Enough of the "it's supposed to be hard" snobbery please. He wrote books to be enjoyed.
Personally I think Player of Games is his most immediately gripping Sci-Fi novel which doesn't let sci-fi get in the way of the story. I think lots of his works take a little getting into but are always worth the effort.
Re: Algebraist
One of the few lines I've laughed out loud at:
"It's not even a proper f*cking planet!"
not entirely sure why.
/Use of Weapons/ is perhaps the best of his SF. To decry it as too hard is to miss the point of reading IMB. It is not easy reading.
Not saying I didn't enjoy it, but I was replying to someone who might want something a little lighter? You can burn through a State Of The Art short story in an hour if you're taking your time over it, stick a bookmark in there and come back tomorrow.
Taking a lead from the movie adaptations of Dicke's short stories, something like A gift from the Culture(spoilers) is probably ripe for the Hollywood treatment, too.
A Great Author
RIP Iain M Banks.
Just when I 'd found a modern SF author I thoroughly enjoyed he gets struck down in his prime. He will be greatly missed. Time to read his non-SF stuff methinks.
Re: A Great Author
May I recommend Alastair Reynolds' SF to you, especially the "Revelation Space" books. It's the closest SF to I.M.B I've come across.
Re: Alastair Reynolds
And he replies to emails
Still here in Spirit
No mention of his seminal work in search of the perfect dram "Raw Spirit"?
A lot of fans wanted to help research that one!
And I've just realised that I got 2 puns in the title. He would have liked that.
Pint of heavy is mandatory.
Sob, sniff,
Damn, that's sad, what am I gonna read now ?
I prefer to think that he has...
Sublimed? That was the theme of the Hydrogen Sonata
Just read that book a few days ago. Magnificent, but it still made me feel he was getting a bit mellow. The survival rate of the principle characters was unusually high...
I'm greatly saddened by his passing, but I'm not yet willing to try to assess his legacy. I am most familiar with his SF, and his optimism about a better future was quite inspiring. That actually reminds me of Gene Roddenberry, though I felt Banks was painting on a much larger canvas. Still, I can also consider the argument that most of his SF was just space opera, though again on the grand canvas... There were even some scenes where I felt he was almost deliberately playing for the camera, as in thinking of how it would appear in a movie.
For now my summary would be that I did not regret any of the time I spent reading his works, though some of his literary works were the source of some nightmares... His imagination was superlative, and he had great skill in transmitting his dreams into the minds of his readers. Amazing power, and it saddens me to know that there will be no more from him.
Re: Sublimed? That was the theme of the Hydrogen Sonata
The was a certain film-like quality to his descriptions. But, on the other hand, a large part of his skill at description was in describing things that couldn't be filmed and shown to human-basics such as ourselves in a form we'd be able to comprehend: seven dimensional hyperspace, battles lasting nanoseconds, solar system-sized megastructures...
Surface Detail has raised some interesting issues on what it might be like to be made immortal through technology. Hydrogen Sonata did the same on the idea of what you might do when your civilisation runs out of steam on this plane of existence (as well as briefly raising the suggesting why the Minds are so keen on keeping the humans around).
While it's a shame not to see these ideas come to fruition, I'm grateful for them having been brought up in the first place. Thank you, Iain (M) Banks.
Re: Sublimed? That was the theme of the Hydrogen Sonata
I wonder if George R.R. Martin's read any Culture novels, particularly Surface Detail. The idea of being able to kill a main character again and again would have him drooling I'd have thought!
Re: Sublimed? That was the theme of the Hydrogen Sonata
George R.R. Martin has already figured this out with ....
No I won't spoil it, just read the books.
Re: I prefer to think that he has...
Except dying is nothing like subliming, and its a mistake to consider the two as in any way comparable.
Banks did not introduce the concept of subliming into his Culture models just to make up for there not being a heaven. I suspect he'd be disappointed if people thought he'd used such a lazy plot device.
What I'd like is that his mindstate had been stored and could be uploaded to a sympathetic ship's Mind to tour the galaxy at his leisure. Unfortunately we can't do that. :(
Farewell Mr Banks,
You and your work will be greatly missed.
a committed atheist – a position he held until his death.
I think he would have liked the joke in that
And Tom Sharpe today as well
Away the Crow Road
Too early for him to go, with so much left to say. The first book of his I read, 'Complicity', was picked up in Turkey as someone else's discarded and only half finished holiday read; it blew me away, and is still one of my all time favourite books, perhaps more relevant today than it was when it was published. He had a unique gift for depicting the sense of place, experiences and banter that go with growing up in Scotland, bringing back to life for me a time I'd almost forgotten. His humour, always brilliantly dry, was at its best in the Crow Road, which apart from opening with the line "It was the day my grandmother exploded" contains an absolutely immortal description of the Himalayan region of Ladakh:
"She was in Ladakh, a place so out of the way it would take several international airports, a major rail terminus and substantial investment in a network of eight-lane highways to promote it to the status of being in the middle of nowhere."
Think he's now onboard the GSV "Well, that about bugger's it up".
What a tremendous shame - another great author lost.
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