FTW

Cory Doctorow created a masterpiece in his For The Win novel. While everyone should thoroughly enjoy it, Anarchist will find it especially gripping.

I just realized that I haven’t mentioned this book already here and I think it’s high time I do.

During my recent vacation I went through Cory Doctorow’s latest novel: For The Win and it was immediately a favourite. It’s not often that a book which can extract such strong sentiments out of me but this one did it spades. I kept alternating between anger, excitement, happiness and so on, as I was rooting for the heroes, feeling their pain and being gripped to my seat by the very believable action happening inside.

I don’t know if Cory is an anarchist but he seems to have got the practice of anarcho-syndicalism down pat. The only thing that I think would have been improved is if the organizers of the International Workers of the World Wide Web (IWWWW, or Webblies. I kid you not, these were some of the more awesome concepts he came up with) were more decentralized rather than basically being controlled by a few of the heroes and therefore suffering tragic blows when those heroes where directly assaulted. But then again, this is a story and I’m no author so I don’t know how much one can avoid having main actors in the story that one can identify with. Also, while distribution of power is always the optimal  way to organize a union, in the real life gritty practice, that can get sidetracked. So in a sense perhaps the book was more realistic this way, while also pointing out the flaws of even a small centralization.

On the other hand, it’s obvious how much research and knowledge Cory has invested in learning about gaming and especially MMORPGs and their surrounding Agorism. This is something that might make the novel a bit more difficult to follow for internet/gaming illiterates but on the other hand it will be easier to identify with for a younger audience which has grown into this culture, and perhaps introduce them to the dark underbelly of the beast they’re feeding every month, the dark world around it and the surrounding lives of those who try to make a living out of it.

All in all, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s not written for anarchists in any sense but I can only imagine that anarchists will love it. But I also believe that it will also provide a realistic example of what Anarchist struggle is in practice to all those who prefer to imagine us as either Terrorists or Hippies.

Buy it if you can or download it for free if you can’t. Since it’s published in a Copyleft license, you’re free to read and distribute and I hope that, like me, you’ll also choose to talk and write about it. It’s definitely worth it and it’s easily the best book I’ve read in the last 3 years.

Καταραμένη Βαρεμάρα

Τελειώσα και το Neverwhere το Σάββατο (που παρεπιπτόντως είναι καταπληκτικό), αφ’οτου γύρισα απο το Final Destination, και την Κυριακή επήλθε η απίστευτη βαρεμάρα.

Χωρίς βιβλίο, χωρίος υπολογιστή, χωρίς μουσική, μόνο με το καμμένο MTV να παίζει κωλο-fakeality shows…πολύ χάλι μιλάμε.

Πάλι καλά που ξύπνησα κατα της 4 και δεν χρειάστηκε να βαρίεμαι όλη την ημέρα.

Κατα της 6μμ είχα βαρεθεί αρκετά οπότε την έκανα για πλατεία Zeil μπας και δω τίποτα ενδιαφέρον. Αφότου ξόδεψα 7 καταραμένα ευρώ για μια μακαρονάδα έφτασα στην πλατεία και χάζευα τα μπιχλιμπίδια. Σε μια φάση, όπως κατέβαινα προς (την παραλία; όχι δεν είναι Θεσσαλονίκη.) την λαχαναγορα, είδα κάτι Gothαδες να περπατάνε προς την ίδια κατεύθυνση με εμένα και είπα να τους πάρω στο κατόπι να δω που πάνε.
Αυτό αποδείχθηκε καλή κίνηση μιας και, αφότου έπαιξαν 10 λεπτά ποδόσφαιρο με ένα τενεκεδάκι (FFS δηλαδή.), κατέληξαν για λίγα λεπτά σε μια καφετέρια. Για να μην τα πολυλογώ. αποδείχθηκε οτι εκείνη την μέρα είχε Battle Of the Bands στις 8.

Είχε 10 έουρο είσοδο αλλά τα άξιζε. 8 μπάντες, 30 λεπτά η καθε μια και οι περισσότερες πολυ αξιόλογες (με τρανή εξαίρεση την πρώτη, την οποία ο τραγούδιστής χαντάκωσε εντελώς με την παραφονία του). Στο τέλος ψιλογνώρισα μερικούς απο τις τελευταίες μπάντες, που με είχαν προσέξει να κάνω headbangin’ και μου έποιασαν την κουβέντα. Δεν είπαμε πάρα πολλά διότι είμουν στην διαδικασία να απομακρύνω την ύπαρξη μου απο το μέρος, αλλα nevertheless είναι μια καλή αρχή μιας και μπορεί να τους ξαναπετύχω.

Monkey SuitΩρίστε και μια φωτό που πήρα με το καινούργιο νέο και αστραφτερό κινητό μου. Αυτή η μπάντα λεγόταν Monkey Suit (Ο Τραγουδιστής προσπάθησε να σιγουρέψει οτι θα τους θυμάμαι. Μπορώ να πω οτι πέτυχε.)
Ψιλοχάλι η ποιότητα αλλα τεσπά.

Τώρα το μόνο που μένει είναι να μπορέσω να διαβάσω τα φυλλάδια που πήρα ώστε να μπορέσω να δω πότε είναι ο επομενος γύρος του BotB.

Α, και να βρω τι να κάνω την υπόλοιπη εβδομάδα.

Meeting over

Yesterday I met with Michael Kalopoulos. He is more wise than I expected, although he did have some Ethnic positions that bordered on racism. He is a pretty nice guy and he didn’t even seem to mind that I talked to him in singular.
I spent most of the time listening (although I managed to steal a few minutes to rant about the situation with the European patents). I’ll try to visit that place again, the people in it seem very friendly.

Right now I’m sitting in my room listening to new music while reading The Great Lie

Interesting connections

Well, the last few days have been interesting. First of all I met a very nice girl and we went together to the theater (That’s a first time for me). It was actually a pretty good show. We has a very good time altogether this Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My interest is once again waning on [tag]WoW[/tag], I don’t want to abandon my guild but if my excitement doesn’t pick up soon…
Now for the interesting stuff. As I was searching for the Greek Scandals of the Church that happened lately, I stumbled onto a site of a [tag]book[/tag] on the bible, The Great Lie. The examples where quite an interesting read and I mailed the writer to congratulate him on his work. After some mail exchange I decided to call him at home (he lives in Thessaloniki as well) and after some talk we decided to meet in person today. Some friends might be coming with me and I’m pretty excited about this.
Also I stumbled into a great site on [tag]atheism[/tag] that makes for a great read while at work.
Work has also been full these days which is good since I don’t like to sit around doing nothing all day.

It’s goot to feel good. I think I’m going to watch some Babylon 5 while I wait for the time to come.

PS: Oh, I also discovered Sonata Arctica yesterday. These guys are pretty good.