By I've been listening to the Anansi Boys unabridged audiobook recording. The narrator is Lenny Henry, an English standup comedian that you might have seen in the comedy Chef! (This has been rerun many times on PBS-if you're a fan of Fawlty Towers you must rent the DVDs now.) The key thing that makes any audiobook entertaining is the narrator's ability to match the material with a variety of accents. Henry is perfect for the Anansi Boys, the story of a sad-sack loser who discovers that his father was a Spider-god. He does everything from Jamaican to African American to upper-crust English accents. The story is quite funny and touching, and although I haven't finished it yet, I think it's probably Gaiman's best work to date. Nuff said.
Books: December 2005 Archives
By I just finished reading Smartbomb. It's a good overview of the video game industry. It takes the time to profile both leading video game designers as well as the people who rabidly play their creations. CliffyB, Will Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto, John Carmack, John Romero, Seamus Blackley, J Allard, and the makers of Ultima Online\Star Wars Galaxies (whose names I forget) are among the designers profiled. The Carmack\Romero material is a rehash of things we already know from Masters of Doom. The view on the other creators is much more revealing and fresh. For example, CliffyB does everything he can to pimp up his image. He feels trapped by the Unreal franchise and wants to do something new. Ed Fries promises to give him a 360 break with Gears of War. Shigeru Miyamoto is a company man to the core; he would never think of leaving Nintendo to start his own company. The design and initial launch of Star Wars Galaxies was very interesting. 
But the chapter on Will Wright is something else: whenever he gets accosted by fans\reporters at conferences, he gives them the "Vulcan Death Glare" if he doesn't like the question. Wright is a pretty tall dude, so he's looking down on just about everyone. The chapter on J Allard\Seamus Blackley is great, too. I didn't know that the two of them didn't get along. Nor did I know that J is actually his legal first name-he changed it to match internet addresses. I love Allard; he represents everything good/bad about Microsoft design, culture, and marketing. And I'll never forget that hoodie that he wore on the MTV Xbox 360 launch special.
Smartbomb's profiles on the fans include Angel Munoz and the CyberAthelete Professional League and online game players. Online profiles include a player who works at Best Buy during the day and returns to his dark bedroom (equipped with a decked out PC and Dolby Digital surround sound) and enters the world of Anarchy Online. His avatar has been built into a high level creature with aspects of generosity, far different from his persona at Best Buy. His entry into the world of Star Wars Galaxies is charted, and he encounters Aaron Ruby (the author). Ruby carefully writes about this in the third person to take himself out of the story.
It's a good book…if you can stop playing long enough to read! I read it on a trip. Nuff said.
See also: Smartbomb blog and web site.
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