Cyberpunk

[Nadezhda]

No, the fact that the press is reporting that Al-Qaeda hatched a plan using a tractor covered in spinning swords to attack America means reality is too awesome to exist.

Wait, seriously?

[Nadezhda]

The only google results I'm coming up with are articles saying that Osama said no, he didn't have any sword-covered tractors.  Was it Fox who reported it? 

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I also haven't read Neuromancer yet.  It's available in epub format here: http://www.epubbud.com/book.php?g=ZGC5VF4X

The only google results I'm coming up with are articles saying that Osama said no, he didn't have any sword-covered tractors.  Was it Fox who reported it? 

I found this link, that says that Navy Seals found documents in Osama's compound about this "tractor of death", but Osama rejected the idea.

[Cain]

Bin Laden,
ruining the dreams of every nine year old jihadi, one broken heart at a time

[Cramulus]

The first sentence in Neuromancer is perhaps my favorite opening line in any novel.


"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."


          ----really says it all

[President Television]

The first sentence in Neuromancer is perhaps my favorite opening line in any novel.


"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."


          ----really says it all

What sucks is that nowadays that colour is bright blue. You cannot unsee it.

[Triple Zero]

I always wondered about that line. It's an EXTREMELY cool line, no doubt, but what does it mean? Does he mean the sky actually looks like black/white static in that scene? Because this description is of a sky in the real world, right, so it can't really look like static?
Or is a dead channel supposed to be grey black, like a TV switched off?


oh and Roger, thanks for the recommendation, I've made a note of the title and will keep a look out for it.

[President Television]

I always wondered about that line. It's an EXTREMELY cool line, no doubt, but what does it mean? Does he mean the sky actually looks like black/white static in that scene? Because this description is of a sky in the real world, right, so it can't really look like static?
Or is a dead channel supposed to be grey black, like a TV switched off?


oh and Roger, thanks for the recommendation, I've made a note of the title and will keep a look out for it.

He is referring to static, but the idea is that the sky is grey.

[LMNO]

To be very clear, I see it as an overcast sky, mottled and irregular; an ominous shifting of shadow and grey.  And the light that comes through is harsh-- the clouds are thick enough to block direct sunlight, but allow a thin, sharp, menacing light to bleed through.

[Cramulus]

Yeah, I figured it was overcast, sort of patchy. Who knows what a TV tuned to a dead channel looks like in the future, but in Gibson's time, it looked gray and chaotic.


It's the first line of the novel, so it's definitely referring to more than just the sky.

[Triple Zero]

Who knows what a TV tuned to a dead channel looks like in the future

Good point.

Personally I've always imagined it as a plain boring white flat overcast sky, except a littlebit darker. So, like Uncle Wallified said. Simultaneously I'd wonder if it maybe actually was a black/white static sky, and come back to what a damn cool line it is.

Thing is, I can't imagine going from TV static to actual clouds, no matter how irregular the clouds are they can't be "flat" like static is. But then maybe I'm a geek that knows too much about random noise (clouds are 1/f noise having features at both small and larger scales, while TV static is white noise and has a flat spectrum)

It's the first line of the novel, so it's definitely referring to more than just the sky.

Apart from the obvious describing a natural thing in a very clean technological way, setting up Gibson's tone for the rest of the novel, any more?

Did I mention it's a kickass line.

[President Television]

For what it's worth, I think an animated adaptation in which the clouds are represented by static in the sky would look very, very cool.

[Captain Swampass]

For what it's worth, I think an animated adaptation in which the clouds are represented by static in the sky would look very, very cool.

But then you're getting all surreal. Which may or may not be good for a cyberpunk.

[Cramulus]

Apart from the obvious describing a natural thing in a very clean technological way, setting up Gibson's tone for the rest of the novel, any more?

my interpretation:

the sky being like a dead TV channel


-- could refer to a literal lack of authority in the world.

OR

-- could refer to a world with a lack of moral authority - the characters are hackers, mercenaries, and renegades, their morals are questionable. They live in a world where god is dead.


And I'm rusty on Neuromancer, but doesn't it follow that the heroes in the book are all people who reject the world?
I'm reminded of that character in the bar with shark cartilage in his face. Gibson describes him like, "In a world of affordable beauty, there was something heroic about his ugliness."

[Cryo]

Read all of the sprawl before attempting to understand what he meant.  Between him and Bruce Sterling, they have created a reality that isn't matched by today's or even tomorrow's technology, but for some reason, it's become a church of its own, much as Heinlein and even elron.  Really, I barfed a little in my throat reading this.

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