2 posts tagged “book”

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My Tiny Life

Feb 4, 2008
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My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World

Julian Dibbell

At the moment, I'm about a fourth of the way into My Tiny Life by Julian Dibbel. It's an exploration of community, both virtual and real, and contains the author's experiences inside a MUD, way back in the day.

While the book is interesting both for it's subject and its content, what I find most intriguing is the sense of nostalgia its bringing up in me.

Back in the day, I participated in one particular online chatroom/MUD/forum almost religiously. I would sign in first thing in the morning when I got to work and would hang out all day, checking in with things between calls at work and chats with co-workers and the like. Nothing too unusual.

But when I first moved overseas, the only internet access was a dial up and I would get charged long distance rates as well as phone time, sometimes resulting in phone bills of a hundred to two hundred dollars. So connecting to various cyber locales became something of a no-go.

Time moves on and I lost connection with all the virtual characters I knew online and then with most of the RL people behind them and I didn't worry about it to much.

A while back, I got introduced to Second Life and tried that out for a while. I enjoyed it, but my poor little laptop just does not have the power for sustained forays into the virtual. Not to mention that I got a little creeped out. Not by the people, what few I met were fun and interesting and worth talking to. No, I got creeped out by the emptiness. I got tired of flying around looking at all the cool stuff and never seeing anyone. It was just too weird.

But now, while reading this book, I find the urge to go back. And, in all honesty, I've kept my SL account on the off chance that the place livens up, which I'm sure it will, given enough time.

So. Two thoughts: One, I'd be very curious to know if any of the few of you who read this blog travel through Second Life or World of Warcraft or an unlisted IRC channel or any other virtual place.

Two, if you have a chance, and if you've ever enjoyed one of the virtual spaces, give this book a read. You might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

Book: Clerks and Chasing Amy - Two Screenplays

Apr 12, 2007
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Clerks and Chasing Amy: Two Screenplays

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith has been one of my favorite directors ever since I first saw Clerks, way back in the day. My friends and I would quote the movie constantly; my roommate in college even wrote Silent Bob's single line on a note-card and stuck it on the back of the door to our dormroom. We called it a conversation piece.

Time moved on and we continued to watch Kevin Smith movies - Mallrats and then Chasing Amy. Then we graduated.

Fast forward a decade and I have been becoming reacquainted with Smith's catalogue; after having watched Jersey Girl and Clerks II, I went back to the beginning and watched Clerks and Mallrats again. Clerks was much better than I had remembered and Mallrats was much worse. The benefit of being ten years older, I suppose.

Anyway, while on Amazon, I came across this book, "Clerks and Chasing Amy: Two Screenplays" and decided I would give it a look. The book is just what it says, the scripts for the two films, plus the Bluntman and Chronic comic book and a short introductory essay by Smith himself. It was an entertaining, if quick, read and I enjoyed being able to finally read all the thank you credits at the end without having to stare at my t.v. screen from a distance of only three inches.

What was most enjoyable for me, however, was that these scripts are un-edited. In other words, they contain all the cut scenes and original dialogue. (If you are unaware of the original ending of Clerks, I really recommend checking for it on YouTube or somewhere - it's...different.)

It was also fascinating to see how much of the dialogue was unchanged from the screenplay to the film, something that I imagine would not be true for, for example, a Robert Altman directed movie.

I was, however, a little disappointed in the lack of content. After all, the internet is full of screenplay and script repositories, so I feel a little cheated at having paid for them. I would have preferred more commentary from Smith, in the form of footnotes, or something, to justify the cost of buying the dead tree editions of the scripts. (It has been pointed out the the copyright / publishing date on this is 1997, when there was not so much on the internet.)

In short, the book is a quick, fun read for fans of Smith or for those who are interested in the process of filmmaking, but there is not much content that cannot be found online for those who look hard enough.