I've mentioned in one of my previous posts that I've been
following what’s been happening to Nokia. I used to be a fan of the company.
They are were the biggest multinational technology corporation based
in Europe. Their products were ground breaking. Nokia released phones with
front cameras, QWERTY keyboard, smartphones and touch screen phones way before Blackberry,
Apple or Samsung even dreamed about them. They used to have a very good
understanding of future technologies and dominated the market for many years. I
used to proudly own their products.
That was up to the point when their new CEO took charge,
Stephen Elop. I’m not going to go through Nokia’s downfall. I went through most
of it here. However, not completely unexpected, the news arrived that Nokia was
sold to Microsoft! Elop who used to work as the head of Microsoft’s
Business Division before jumping to Nokia in September 2010 probably helped MS
buy Nokia phone division cheap. Just check Nokia’s share prices for these last
years. It’s a shame though. I feel for
the all the people who lost their jobs recently and for those who will lose it
in the future. The evil Empire Strikes back.
On another different tone, I’d like to introduce to you the
world of Saga! That’s a graphic novel for adults created by Vaughan and
Staples. Vaughan is the writer of things like ‘Y: The Last Man’, the ‘Runaways’
and co-writer of the TV series ‘Lost’. The plot of the story can be described as
‘Romeo and Juliet’ in space with aliens, warlocks, robots, ghosts, mercenaries
and all the rest. It’s about a young couple from two different worlds in war
(tech vs magic) trying to escape with their new-born child. It might sound a
bit unoriginal, but believe me the art, characters and storytelling is
exceptional. Saga is now an award winning series and I would recommend it to
anyone with a desire to read something different than what mainstream Marvel or
DC have to offer at the moment.
What’s next? Oh, yes. PC games! I’m in the process of
finishing ‘Tomb Raider’. Yes, the remake of the old platform/shooter. The
development company did wonders at bringing Lara Croft to the new era. Keeping
the same approach of having a female heroine trying to solve simple puzzles by
climbing here and there and moving stuff around while shooting baddies and evil
fauna works perfectly well. Unlike other disappointing remakes like SimCity
(oh, what a waste of money), the publisher Square Enix manages to create a
likeable character that evolves through the game trying to escape the island of
Yamatai. The island itself of course holds many secrets waiting to be solved
and sets a visually stunning setting for Lara’s adventures. If you liked the
old Tomb Raiders, I guarantee you you’ll like this one too.
Finally, I couldn't finish this geek update without a book
reference. So, I'd like to introduce to you the world of the ‘Malazan Book ofthe Fallen’. That’s an epic fantasy series written by Steven Erikson. OK, so
it’s not a single book. It’s many. Ten books to be precise that consist this
series. For the time being I’m going through number 7 (Reaper’s Gale) but I
have to say it’s really good. For those who don’t know about epic fantasy, try
to think ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ and empires, witchcraft,
demons, various peoples, gods and all that.
I’m trying not to read all books one after the other. I read
other stuff in-between. I finished beforehand ‘American Gods’ by Neil Gaiman!
That was also a good, interesting, read but I shouldn't divert from my main
topic. The Malazan Empire holds many dark stories, twists in the plot and of
course many different characters and point of views that make the books not
that easy to read. Lots of people criticise the author for the number of
characters with tongue-twisting names, the variety of locations and the deities
involved.
At first, they story looks a bit problematic and lost
without a true purpose. There are way too many characters with their agendas. Especially if you’re reading the first book and you’re
unfamiliar with the author’s ways, it seems pointless. What I have to say is
hold on. In every book that I remember there is a closure of some shorts, even
if there are some cliff hangers for the future issues. It all makes sense in
the end. To give you an idea the book I’m reading now has more than 1,200 pages
and a list of points of view that’s very difficult to count. I’m loving it
though and I can’t easily put it down.
That's what my geek little bizarre world is all about these dates. Not sure how interested you are, but I'll keep you posted nevertheless...
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