The Butterfly Effect With Jon Ronson

The Butterfly Effect With Jon Ronson is a seven-episode podcast given away for free on Audible.  It's about the effects of massive amounts of free pornography around 2008 on PornHub, although there have been other outlets like peer-to-peer files haring programs and downloading options like Megaupload and Rapidshare.  To make a story out of it, the author, Jon Ronson puts the blame on free pornography squarely on the shoulders of PornHub and its "creator," a Belgian man who simply invested in the company, tracing the effects of free porn on the pornography industry, Ashley-Madison, and on the viewers.

I never went on Ashley-Madison, but it did tickle me to find out that only a tiny percentage of its members were women, and only a tiny percentage of that tiny percentage of those women were real women, the rest being bots.  Of course, we all know that Ashley-Madison was hacked, leading to the publication of millions of members in a database searchable by zip code and name, but to add further to the humiliation - in most cases undeserved - of these men in saying that they were paying $25 a month to talk to bots, is just hilarious to me.

There is a lot of darkness to this series, of course.  It follows the stories of a couple of people who attempted or committed suicide.  Among pro athletes, there's always the thought, "if only I'd come along 10 years later and made as much as the athletes are making today."  In the porn industry, all that money was made 15 or 20 years ago, in many instances before the producers, directors, and stars were born.

Days Without End

Days Without End is a fantastic book.  I read it on Audible, which I'd highly recommend.  It's an Irish novel, and very few of us are able to subvocalize an Irish accent with the genuineness of Aiden Kelly, who gives a wonderfully authentic reading.  His accent is fully Irish but not too modern, as the book takes place in the 1850s through 1870s.  The main character is Thomas McNulty, an Irish boy who escapes the famine in Ireland in a boat to Canada.  He then becomes an Indian fighter, a crossdresser, a prisoner in Andersonville, and so much more.

It is a unique achievement to make such an epic novel fit into 70,000 words or under eight hours unabridged on Audible.  I'm reminded of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Voltaire, and Cormac McCarthy.  Days Without End is not a comedy, though; it's a very serious book.  The best praise I can give author Sebastian Barry is that I will read every book he's written, as soon as I can.  I've already purchased two more of his novels.

The Hospital: A "Mountain Man" Story

The Hospital: A Mountain Man Story is free on Audible, so I thought I'd give it a listen.  There are four "Mountain Man" books, all of which take place during a zombie apocalypse.  I know, I know, but I read on.  I'm not a huge fan of zombie stories; I only got through the first episode of The Walking Dead before giving up, and I've never read the comics, but somehow I liked this one, and I'd like to explain why.

The first of two big reasons to read "Mountain Man" beyond the free short story is R.C. Bray.  With credits including The Martian and Craig Alanson's "Expeditionary Forces" novels, Bray is quickly becoming a sci-fi audiobook powerhouse, and this is an excellent performance by him.  He's funny, dramatic, and terrifying.  The second reason is that the first three "Mountain Man" books (each barely 300 pages long) are being sold for one credit on Audible, so you get three books for the price of one.  I'm definitely down with that, and while the series isn't the first thing I'll read next - I might not get to it until September - I'll probably spend a credit on it.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a short novel for adults and young adults by Sherman Alexie.  Albert Spirit, Jr. is the narrator, a 14-year-old boy starting high school on the Spokane Reservation.  After a tumultuous first week that sees him suspended from school for attacking a teacher, that teacher encourages him to leave the "Res."  Instead of getting good grades and going to college, Albert registers for a school outside the reservation the next day.

Albert describes the abject poverty and insipid alcoholism of the Indians on the Res (many prefer the term "Indian" over "Native American" because the latter implies colonization and Americanization).  This contrasts with the spirit, warmth, and intelligence of the main character and his friends and family both on and off the Res.  The book is depressing and funny.

The X-Files: Cold Cases

The X-Files: Cold Cases is a full-cast, six-episode mini series on Audible.  Each episode is 45 minutes long, and they star David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and all the stars of the TV series, The X-Files.  The series starts off with former Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully living as Mr. and Mrs. Blake in Virginia, under the auspices of the FBI Witness Protection Program, but don't worry.  It isn't long before they're back in the FBI, working on the X-Files.

Throughout the TV series, The X-Files, or at least the first nine seasons (I haven't seen the most recent outing, but I will), there has been a mix of "Monster of the Week" and "Mythology" episodes, with most people preferring the latter.  I've always maintained that it's the mix of the two that makes the series great, and I enjoyed the one "Monster of the Week" episode in this Audible series.  I won't spoil this series by giving out any further details, but I have to say that it exceeded my expectations by a great deal.  Five stars, and all that.

The Oedipus Plays: An Audible Original

The Oedipus Plays: An Audible Original was in my wish list for a few months, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $7 for a bunch of plays I've already read a couple of times.  When it was the Audible Daily Deal a week or two ago, I bought it, and I'm really glad I did.  The three Theban plays, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone, were written by Sophocles some two and a half miliennia ago, and they remain one of the earliest examples of high drama in the world.  The "Oedipus" story has been around for even longer than that; Oedipus is the baby who is prophesized to one day kill his father, the king, and marry his mother, the queen, so he is abandoned in a forest, where he is raised by a woodsman and his wife.  He grows up, of course, to kill his birth father and marry his birth mother.

Sophocles makes the story so much more than that, of course.  The story was so well known at the time that he begins the Oedipus story with Oedipus as the king of Thebes, only referring to his origin story.  Oedipus at Colonus describes Oedipus' late life and how he dies a blind beggar.  It was written much after Oedipus the King and even after Antigone, which is the story of Oedipus' daughter, who breaks a royal decree not to bury her brother by giving him full funeral rites.

The acting in this Audible Originals production is simply superb, far above R.C. Bray's "Skippy the Magnificent," and Frank Muller's "Eddie Dean," two of my favorite audiobook performances.  This is high art and high drama, produced and acted by real professionals.  I cannot recommend it too highly.

Green Lanterns #26

Green Lanterns, Issue #26 begins 10 billion years ago, when Volthoom and Rami forge the First Ring.  Rami, of course, is a Guardian of the Universe, and Volthoom is the First Lantern, from Earth-15, which was destroyed by unknown forces.  The interplay between them is excellent, an extremely emotional Volthoom and Rami, who is supposed to have forsworn emotions, yet he is the most emotional of the Guardians.  You see Volthoom losing control and eventually...

There's a Snickers ad that I thought was part of the story; it was very annoying.  Also, the usually excellent lettering is a little too small, in particular, Rami's narration, which takes the form of script on lined paper.  I could still read it, but I had to struggle to do so.  At 44, I don't have the eyes I did at 14.  The story of Rami and Volthoom is nice, and I'm excited to see what happens between them and Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz in the following issues.  Issue #27 came out a few days ago, and I already have it.